By Tim Young, Director of Marketing for Liberty Alliance
Ellen Page, an actress you may never have heard of before, (starred in the movies Juno and Inception)”came out” the other day at the Human Rights Campaign’s ‘Time to Thrive’ conference in Las Vegas.
The progressives that are finding this touching and emotional are stupid not to realize that they’re falling into the trap of a really big publicity stunt.
So did it work? Is she famous again? Is she a household name?
So many people are saying that, “She’s so brave to come out as gay in Hollywood…” Seriously? Hollywood? Are you listening to yourselves? There was a logical fear that Hollywood that is entirely progressive and pro-gay marriage would persecute her for her sexuality? REALLY? Who do you think you’re kidding?
This isn’t the first time that we’ve seen this in recent years. Remember Anne Heche? She was gay for a while. No one knew who she was before she came out as a lesbian, and then we all knew her. She made a couple of movies, made a bunch of money, then well… the gay angle didn’t work anymore, so she went back to being straight.
It’s a shame that Ann wasn’t younger, she could’ve waited ‘til now when coming out as gay goes viral on the Internet and you become untouchable by anyone and everything.
In fact, I’m sure that some people will read this commentary and say that I’m homophobic, when I’m far from it… I’m just logical. I’m a director of marketing… I know how to get attention for things and spin them to my client’s advantage.
Like for instance, say you’re not an actress struggling to avoid obscurity, but rather a college football player destined to be drafted as low as the third or fifth round… or not at all. If that player were gay and I were his manager or marketing team, I would tell him to come out. Why? Because if the NFL doesn’t draft you, you’ll get just as much, if not more press than if they did.
Becoming the first out gay player in the NFL is a huge deal… being out as gay and not getting drafted might even be a bigger deal. Either way, you’re going to be making BANK as a motivational speaker at progressive events for the rest of your life.
And don’t get me wrong, that sportscaster from Dallas who went on a rant about how the NFL allows rapists, sexual predators, criminals, etc. off the hook, but they are more worried about a gay guy was spot on… but that’s an entirely different conversation.
So if any of your careers need a boost in the next few months, it would be a great time to just… come out and be gay. If you have a huge forum to do it in, great! If not, just tell a dramatic story online and make sure that you spread it everywhere possible (Buzzfeed, Reddit, Gawker.) Progressives will eat that stuff up! It also doesn’t mean that you have to necessarily be gay… I’m certainly not debating whether or not Ellen Page or Michael Sam are… Anne Heche though… tough call.
Your sexuality is something personal. The world should probably ask more questions as to what the ultimate goal is for someone choosing to come out in public at what seem to be the right time and place.
