The summer of our gay discontent – The Boston Globe

August 18, 2021 News Editor

This summer should have looked as chromatic and lively as “Schmigadoon!,” instead, we got “American Horror Story.” No, really. The newest season of “American Horror Story” is set in Provincetown. Pretty much everyone has been enduring a cruel summer, worse than any Bananarama song could have foretold, but this season has also featured one nefarious slap after another for the LGBTQ community.

Some of the most notable anti-gay sucker punches came from celebrities. Matt Damon gave a bizarre interview to the Sunday Times in which he told the newspaper that his daughter had rebuked him for using what she called the “f-slur for a homosexual” in a joke “months ago.” Ooo, well if it was months ago, I guess that’s OK.

Then, in an even odder follow-up, the Oscar winner stressed that he had never used the insult against anyone off screen. “This conversation with my daughter was not a personal awakening,” he said. He went on to say that growing up Boston, he heard the word being thrown around “constantly and casually” before he knew what it meant. This really grinds my gears. I can’t speak for Damon’s personal experience, but the actor did not grow up in Boston, he grew up in Cambridge. He was in high school plays at Cambridge Rindge and Latin and had a drama teacher. He went to Harvard. I’m the same age as Damon, and I’ve always known what the word meant. While we’re at it. Let’s give the word some power. Nearly every story about the incident politely referenced the slur as “f*****.” The word is faggot. It’s important not to diminish it with a parade of conflict avoidant asterisks, because it stings.

I’m going to give Damon the benefit of the doubt, at least this time. He’s gone gay for pay at least twice in “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” and “Behind the Candelabra.” You can’t get much gayer than playing Liberace’s lover.

One celeb I will not be giving the benefit of anything to is DaBaby. The rapper inexplicably went on the verbal attack against gay men. During his Rolling Loud Miami set, the rapper launched into a rant about sexually transmitted diseases. “If you didn’t show up today with HIV, AIDS, or any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases that’ll make you die in two to three weeks, then put your cellphone lighter up,” he told his fans. There were additional comments, but I think we’ve heard enough.

Later on Instagram, he made sure to clarify that his LGBTQ fans aren’t “nasty gay n*****” or “junkies,” in a sort-of apology to save his career as he was swiftly dropped from concert festivals around the country. Gee, thanks.

But then he deleted his apology. Moving on!

Various pride flags hang from the trees in Mayor Danehy Park in Cambridge during the Let Trans Athletes Play event. Let Trans Athletes Play was sponsored by the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth, the Cambridge LGBTQ+ Commission, the Mayor’s Office of the City of Cambridge, Fenway Health, and GLSEN Massachusetts. Christiana Botic for The Boston Globe

On July 4 weekend, Provincetown became a COVID-19 test case for the efficacy of the vaccines. More than 1,000 cases were traced to public and private parties that took place that weekend. The majority of those infected had already been vaccinated. After a year of avoiding a widespread breakout, the town itself became a super-spreader event. On the plus side, there were just seven hospitalizations. Happy birthday, America!

It’s understandable that people in the LGBTQ community were looking to gather and celebrate. For a second year in a row, there was no Boston Pride as the virus lingered and the Boston Pride committee continued to face criticism for not being inclusive of Black and trans members of the community. As a result, the 50-year-old organization folded. Happy Pride!

COVID-laced parties and misinformed celebrities are bad. What was far worse were the string of anti-trans bills that quietly and hatefully slithered into law throughout Hot Mess Summer (and all of 2021, for that matter). According to the Human Rights Campaign, 17 anti-LGBTQ bills have been enacted into law since the beginning of the year. The majority of these laws are aimed at stripping rights away from the trans community. That’s on top of the more than 200 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in state legislatures in 2021.

Once again, a majority of these bills target the trans community. Nearly 70 of them are aimed at youth sports and the ridiculous idea that kids should be prohibited from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity. There’s another batch of bills that prohibit transgender people from having access to restrooms or locker rooms consistent with their gender identity. I thought we’d moved past that whole bathroom battle, but I guess hate never really goes away.

Despite all of this, as we drag ourselves through the final weeks of August, I still have hope. I no longer have hope for that carefree mirage of summer 2021; that train pulled out of the station a few weeks ago. But I do have hope that eventually things will turn around for the LGBTQ community. We’ve been kicked around, called names, and experienced legislative discrimination for centuries — one particularly lousy summer won’t leave us disheartened for long.

Next summer, I’ll hope for rainbow sprinkles on everybody’s cupcakes.

Christopher Muther can be reached at christopher.muther@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @Chris_Muther.