Anecdote time.
a close friend of mine is gay and he's deep into the gay scene and the community and activisms and all that jazz, and we were talking about stand up comics, and the subject of Eddie Murphy's RAW and Chappelle's jokes, and he said that himself, personally, laughed his ass off at the sillyness of Eddie Murphy's "Gay police" skit. His reasoning that that those kind of jokes are somewhat harmless, but that he drew the line at Anything that was degrading, demeaning, humiliating or prone violence against gay people.
I felt that Chappelle's trans part seriously felt out of touch, I must say.
So my friend is in his early fifties, so he's from another generation that still had to keep his orientation secret, as people were pretty hostile back then. Maybe he just grew a very thick skin over time. He said he used to be fucked with a lot when he was younger and got into lots of fights with skinheads and stuff like that back in the days. It was way harsher back then for gay people, but he didnt downplay how hard it still is today. He said he was also struggling with the new era of internet activism, he said he simply didn't like the almost vengeful tone that he finds in newcomers. He understands the frustrations and struggles of the youth coming up, but he's a bit worried that this 'payback' tone will eventually take over. He's been at this for a long time, so it was interesting to hear his worries.
I wonder if it's a point of view that is shared a lot between "older" gay community people.
