If You Think 'Straight-Acting' Is An Acceptable Term, You're An A**hole

Three days the Huffington Post posted an article called "If You Think 'Straight-Acting' Is An Acceptable Term, You're An A**hole" At first glance I thought the article header was a bit harsh because everyone is entitled to their opinion but as a gay male I have encountered this term multiple times and I finally came across an article that addresses this. 

What the author of this article states is "Being "straight-acting," for a gay man at least, is directly related to how convincingly he is able to present traditionally masculine mannerisms. The term is so markedly offensive because its very existence insists that there is a particular, instantly identifiable manner of being gay (defined by effeminacy)." To me I can affirm to this being completely true. In the gay community white masculine men are held on a pedestal knowing that all gay men want them because of how they act and how they look. Instead of being stereotyped as those stereotypical queen gays that are always portrayed they can pass off as heterosexual which is in turn fighting against a stereotype. To me it's absolutely fine to be a masculine gay man but what I have really seen with this is that a lot of gay men, like the author, purposely try to butch themselves up to try to be more appealing to other gay men. The true purpose of acting and showing a more masculine appearance is not really for oneself but just to attract more partners. In a sense you're not truly a masculine man as a man who is trying his hardest to be someone that gains approval by others. This is a sad event for me because as gay people we are constantly trying to fit into the heterosexist society we live in and a way we do this is by building a community for ourselves where we can be who we are. I think the "straight-acting" phenomenon is opening cracks and destroying our community as a whole by now dividing the feminine and the masculine men with the feminine men getting the less end of the stick. To me there is nothing wrong with being masculine and if that's who you are then that's great! What I'm saying is that we shouldn't have to act a certain way in an already marginalized community to not feel marginalized and unwanted within our community.

If you want to read the article yourself you can find it right here http://www.huffingtonpost.com/noah-michelson/straight-acting-stonewall-roland-emmerich_b_8189298.html?utm_hp_ref=hpmasculinity