#maybe this will get ppl to shut up about the f-slur

[gayenerd]

This comes from a 2004 interview Billie did with something called Instinct Magazine, a LGBTQ site/magazine, and it is not archived on their site because of course it isn’t. 

IDIOT'S SAVANT

Thank You Billie Joe Armstrong & Co. For Speaking Out - And Letting Us Sing Along (To Your Nine-Minute Punk Rock Songs)

We couldn’t be more excited that, this past year, Green Day scored their first number one album with the widely praised and ambitious American Idiot. It quickly became one of our favorites of the year—especially when this country needed a punk-rock-boot kick to the arse. And we tracked down singer/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong on the tour for the album, catching up with him in Boston just a day after the Red Sox had won the World Series.

INSTINCT: Hey, Billie. Let’s hope that Boston winning, especially over New York, means that Bush is on his way out. Boston was where the Democratic National Convention was, and New York the RNC.

BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG: [Laughs] Yeah, we’re hoping it turns out that way.

On a scale of one to ten, ten being worst, what kind of shit do you think we’ll be in if Bush gets reelected?

Um, I’m gonna have to go with a solid 9.5. [Laughs] It would be a perfect 10 if we got hit by another terrorist attack—or if Bush croaked and Cheney became President. That’s a scary thought.

There are a few times on the new album where you use the word “fag” or “faggot.” Personally, I think you use those words correctly, where you say things like, “Maybe I’m the faggot America,” and “Kill all the fags that don’t agree.” You’re saying that you’d much rather be a “fag” than someone who is ignorant.

Well you know I’m not a redneck. I got called “faggot” in high school and really that word is thrown at people who are different or out of step with what’s popular. Gay people are not the only ones who get called that. But they’ve used it for empowerment, you know, and I do too.

You’re used to censorship of words or phrases from your songs. Did you get pissed that radio and MTV was bleeping out the word “faggot,” even though you were saying it with punk rock pride?

A little bit. I’m more surprised that they didn’t bleep out “redneck” from [the single, “American Idiot”]. It’s just using harsh language to prove a point and give power to those not in power. Except for a few rap songs, I think it might be the first mainstream rock song to ever use that word. Maybe that’s what scared them.

Okay, have you gotten any flack for it?

No. I think people are smart enough to figure out that I’m using it as an empowering word. Anything derogatory that has been used against me, the way I sort of looked at it was, “Yeah, you can call me whatever want.” It just makes me stronger.

Back in 1995, I saw Pansy Division, the biggest queer punk band at the time, open for you guys in your hometown of Oakland. The big difference being, of course, that instead of the Gilman, you were now playing for, like, 10,000 people after the success of Dookie. Since that was your first record for Warner Bros., did they freak out about you choice of an opening act, especially when they had songs like “Fuck Like Bunnies” and “Ring Of Joy”?

[Laughs] No, nobody said anything. For us, we wanted to bring someone out who truly defines what punk rock is and show some sort of diversity. It would have been to obvious to go out with a band like Pennywise. And considering where we came from, we felt like we owed it to the scene and to our original fans. We ended up getting letters from kids saying that Pansy Division opening for us changed their lives.

If you were a gay guy for a week, what would you do differently?

Hmm, I’d probably get laid a lot more, right?

That’s a stereotype and I’m totally offended! Actually, it’s true. But don’t tell anyone.

Yeah, I can only imagine that getting two guys together makes it a little easier. [Laughs]

Speaking of stereotypes, what would you consider your “gayest” traits?

Probably shopping. But in a punk rock, metrosexual kind of way. [Laughs]

What do you consider your least punk rock characteristic?

Shopping. [Laughs] Probably bathing.

What? Your hair looks like it hasn’t been washed in a month.

[Laughs] I know—let me think again. [Pauses] I own a house, and mortgages are not very punk rock. [Laughs] Owning anything is pretty much not punk rock. [Laughs again]

What questions from journalists have been annoying you the most lately?

Probably the ones where they ask me to explain the album, what American Idiot is about. It’s so long-winded, you know, and I’m, like, Just figure it out for yourself and write about it.

Did you guys know, when you were making the record, that it was going to be this successful and have this kind of impact?

We knew we were making something special to us. We’d never had a number-one record, so we didn’t really even entertain that idea. I don’t think that there has ever been a punk rock band that has gone to number one.

The term “punk rock” has obviously morphed. What does it mean to you when you use that phrase?

What I learned from punk rock is to be an individual and to do things your own way. And if you have rules, realize that rules are meant to be broken. You should still grow as a person and I think you do that best when you don’t limit yourself.

Speaking of individuality, how would you describe your dancing style?

[Laughs] My dancing style? Um, I guess Prince meets Pee-Wee Herman.

I can see that, although I thought that was more of your dress style. So you like to slither on the floor?

I do a little bit of slithering, yes, but with platform shoes on. [Laughs]

Okay, what would you really do different if you were a homo for a week?

[Pauses] I’d probably have more female friends. There’s sort of this boundary that comes across with platonic friendships with women.

So is it because of you or them that you don’t have more females as friends? What, do you just keep looking at their breasts?

[Laughs loudly] No, it gets scary out there. It’s more of a trust issue.

What do you think that straight guys need to do to strengthen their relationships with gay men? And you know you need to do this in order to have more relationships with women.

You know, with my gay friends, it was all about just hanging out and getting used to each other’s company. But the burden is definitely more on the straight guy: stop feeling so damn threatened.

[illnessfaker]

[ cw: f-slur, rape mention ]

no reblogs pls. this is a long vent.

haha not to be a hysterical faggot crippled shut-in freak or anything but the way ppl talk abt the defensiveness around the f-slur that some gay/bi male users (and some transfem users) on here as if it's some kind superiority pissing contest thing and not primarily about...respecting the boundaries and experiences of those gay/bi male (and transfem) users. like...being on this site as a fag-adjacent person (i say that half-jokingly because it sounds silly on one hand but on the other that's the most accurate descriptor of my gender identity, lol) is becoming increasingly draining and upsetting with how "progressive" homophobia against gay/bi men is apparently becoming, like, a meme among lgbtq people and that's acceptable somehow bc lgbtq people aren't cishets or because it's "only online" and therefore doesn't matter.

like idgaf abt ppl who aren't gay/bi men (or transfem) using the f-slur in every single context possible. if they're affectionately referring to their gay/bi male (or transfem) friends with that word (so long as said friends are comfortable with it) that's one thing. who cares. i even rb'd something where a cis butch (iirc) lesbian was talking about a gay man she knew who she was affectionatly calling a faggot and the things she said warmed my heart. if they're throwing it around at every opportunity or using it as an edgy insult against random strangers on the internet, that's another. the users on here who do the latter also regularly display behavior that like...shows a pretty clear disdain for gay/bi men (or transfem ppl) not apart of their online or "irl" circlejerks and echo chambers, and that is in no way disconnected from their love of using the f-slur, lol.

the "it's only online and so it's unimportant uwu go outside" thing also really feels like such a spit in the face as someone who both lives in a rural area full of cishet white men with guns that might try to kill me if i walked out of the house in drag (not to mention i live with my bf and his family and his parents are homophobes themselves i'm sure), and is also someone with health issues that usually keep me at home and in bed when i'm not working. i didn't always live here but even in my hometown the only "lgbtq space" i had was the high school GSA which didn't do shit other than the day of silence and was attended by people i did not feel safe around (e.g. my ex-friend who was very emotionally manipulative and ended up raping someone.) i don't have any other lgbtq spaces to go to other than online ones. if i never joined tumblr i might still be a self-hating cishet girl, or i might be dead, who knows. like, i've accepted at this point that personhood isn't something i'm allowed in (outside of my whiteness) so fuck me i guess if we need to but the idea that other young, impressionable, and/or traumatized lgbtq people who only can meet other lgbtq people and learn about lgbtq things online for whatever reason don't deserve to have us make an effort on cultivating internet spaces that are as accessible and safe for them as possible, or that their experiences and feelings are somehow unimportant is just...vile. like ofc not everyone needs to "pander" to "logged on" disabled fags like myself maybe but if you have any kind of large following on social media maybe consider that the things you say and do on said social media have like...an actual effect on other people instead of pretending that it's "just online" and therefore consequences for your actions either don't matter enough (to you personally) or somehow don't exist.

but going back to the fag thing, most popular lgbtq tumblr users on my dash i see nowadays just...simply do not give a shit whatsoever about gay/bi men, to the point they're normalizing "progressive" and "acceptable" homphobia against us bc they've convinced themselves due to the bigotry some gay/bi men (often cis, white, and wealthy mind you) exhibit we are "the cishets of the lgbtq community," despite horrific violence still being committed against us every day and despite other lgbtq people being capable of engaging in that violence themselves. ppl make thinly veiled jokes and memes where the punchline is men having sex with each other or effeminacy as if those things aren't primary avenues for gay/bi men being abused, assaulted, and killed (including acts of abuse and assault of a sexually-driven nature), as if said jokes and memes don't serve to normalize the mentalities that drive homophobic hate crimes. it's not like...a coincidence that most lgbtq people who makes these jokes aren't gay/bi men (or transfem). this doesn't even get into how things like homophobia and anti-effeminacy can pretty much boot certain gay/bi men from manhood...or womanhood...or any place in gender altogether.

call me exlusionary if you want but i think it's fair to say that the chances of people who aren't gay/bi men (or transfem*) facing the repurcussions of those mentalities in any meaningful way, the chances of these people actually having lived as or going to live as "faggots" is any meaningful sense is slim to none, and that's why they're so comfortable participating in this shit, and that's why i'm triggered(tm) by them "reclaiming" faggot (which doesn't really involve reclamation bc calling random strangers on the internet or gay/bi men you hate a slur isn't reclamation you morons), because frankly if you're not apart of either of those groups, you're just not a fucking faggot. it's not your word just because some rando on overwatch called you it for picking hanzo in comp. period. end of story. it's also just extremely absurd to try and claim faggotry as something you experience while...readily and happily engaging in homophobia and fag-hate (which isn't synonymous with the former term but i'm talking abt ppl who probably seldom ever engage which discussions and theory surrounding how homophobia instrumentates itself in society - or at least that which doesn't conform to their worldview). within the gay/bi male community there's plentu of masc "straight-acting" gays who weaponize this shit against fem gays and they (should) get held accountable in the same way. you're not special.

and god, being told my gendered experiences as a fag-adjacent person where (white) cafab women are fully capable of engaging in social forms of "oppression" against me and other fags in undeniably gendered ways is somehow an outlier and therefore not reflective of broader social by (white) masc urbanite tbros with definitively more social standing than i'll ever have in my life, as if i somehow developed this understanding of gendered violence just based off my own life and not...the reported and sometimes even recorded experiences of countless other fags who get mocked and silenced because anything that deviates from a watered down, shoddy cis feminist take on gender is fake news(tm) or bordering on saying misandry exists (like no it doesn't exist but acting as if homophobic shit like anti-sodomy laws, for example, has zero to do with gay/bi men's manhood is just nonsensical). convos on here abt gender being mostly dominated by (white) cafab women or sometimes (white) masc trans guys is such a mistake lmao.

anyway i'm tired and stressed and pretty done with having "acceptable" homophobic shit shoved in my face on a daily basis both online and offline but nevertheless i must persist because i'm not lucky enough to have anywhere else to go, really. just...think critically abt ur actions regarding gay/bi male sexuality and gender-stuff pretty please. please.

( *disclaimer just in case that i definitely don't see transfems as some "type" of gay/bi men. there are transfems who identify with gay/bi manhood and/or faggotry. there are transfems who don't. that's entirely up to them. thank u. )

[blackwoolncrown]

Someone sent me an ask and it literally disappeared when I was responding but anon you really are playing me and yourself for stupid if that’s your line of reasoning. Gay people using the f word and lesbians using the d word to self label.....like...you really think you have a point? Go to your room and try again that shit was mad dumb boo.

Like the ask was literally “i just wish ppl would spend morre time trying to understand us (queers) before shouting at us” UM SORRY but listen.

People trying to tell you they don’t want to be labeled queer is not the time for you to whine about how no one’s listening to you. Your reason for id’ing queer is relevant to YOU it is not a leveraging point to get other people to use the same label so maybe while you’re whining about no one listening to you start giving a shit that you’re trying to externally label people with a slur that hurts them and maybe things will start working more smoothly.

Gay dudes can call themselves what they want. That’s THEIR business bc THEY are the recipient of said slur. Same with lesbians. Same with trans women. Same with black people.

But you know who doesn’t get to decide? OTHER people. And you know what happens often enough? No group is a monolith and there are plenty of people in each group who do not associate with the slur- they choose not to reclaim it.

And the logic what ‘well gay guys call themselves ____’ is IRRELEVANT this is the exact shit I was talking about when I said I’m tired of people not getting it. You don’t get it.

What INDIVIDUALS CALL THEMSELVES is different than telling OTHER INDIVIDUALS WHAT THEY ARE CALLED it is an offense to their autonomy ain’t no one gotta be called queer just bc you are! The world has more than just you on it shut up already!

[omegawizardposting]

I remember a while back people got upset at this cishet black dude for using the F-slur but bc the ppl getting mad were white they were told to "stay in their lane" and honestly I think about that a lot

YO MAYBE THE CISHET BLACK DUDE SHOULD PRACTICE WHAT HE PREACHES

Legit, the last time I heard the f-slur (or ANY well-known slur) used by cishet white YouTubers was in the site’s early years. Once people started calling that shit out, cishet white people shut up REAL fuckin’ quick. I cannot think of a single time in the last, idk, DECADE, that I’ve heard even a semi-popular cishet white YouTuber use a slur of any kind, ‘cause they know they boutta get SHIT ON, dude.

Meanwhile, these cishet black dudes I (used to) watch out here slinging the f-slur around like it’s nothing in 2017.

I do NOT understand, do they think all minorities are allowed to throw all slurs around??? That just ‘cause they’re black they can say the f-slur? What the FUCK is going on, why is this such an issue, some of these dudes have 500k subs OR MORE, one of them is one of THE biggest, most popular PokeTubers on-site, and another one is one of his best friends, who’s also fairly popular, and they just GET AWAY with that shit.

Why???????????