More Than Just ‘Over the Top’: And Yes, There’s Something Wrong with That

Regular readers of mine will know that I occasionally use examples from some of the old Seinfeld episodes in order to make a point. And fans of Seinfeld will no doubt recall the show in which Jerry and GeorgeGeorge had been incorrectly perceived as being a gay couple by an eavesdropping female New York University reporter.

Jerry and George were not gay yet their fear of perhaps being seen as homophobic dictated throughout that particular episode the use of a certain tag line, being this one: "…not that there’s anything wrong with that." So if nothing else, even in 1993, Seinfeld took on relatively controversial subjects on a fairly routine basis. Of course, in this instance, Seinfeld’s perceived edginess was really being played more for laughs than for any real social commentary value.

And yet that particular line itself seemed to express, at least for Seinfeld, a rare bit of slight uncomfortableness in admitting that it was okay for anyone to admit to being gay. It was still the early nineties, after all. And whether it was the writers, the network censors or simply just the times, it just didn’t seem very smart or politically correct to simply state the facts of the situation outright. At least not absent the postscript line that had to follow.

Over recent years gays and lesbians have for many reasons, I believe, managed to gain a much wider acceptance from the whole of society. I can easily remember a time when that was simply not the case. If gays and lesbians were in fact actually accepted by straights at all, they were still almost always identified with some sort of footnote as if that required further elaboration. Rarely were gays and lesbians accepted simply as being just people. And in many parts of the world today that acceptance into mainstream society is still rare and in some cases it is virtually unheard of.

In recent years, more thoughtful and sensitive television and movie portrayals of gays have, I believe, probably contributed to the straight population’s acceptance and recognition of, if nothing else, the equality and humanity of members of the gay and lesbian community. It has taken many years for this to occur, but many of us appear to have at the very least accepted the idea that a person’s appearance and lifestyle choices have very little to do with one’s abilities or with their right to equal participation in the human experience.

Even if the general population has moderated somewhat their previous generally intolerant stance, however, there is still clearly some discomfort afoot; not so much with a person's "coming out", but with exactly how that person chooses to go about revealing their own lifestyle preferences. Even so, if gays and lesbians truly want to blend in and be accepted by the majority of people in today’s world, moderation probably still needs to be a consideration for them.

"Out" after all does not necessarily imply outrageous and inappropriate public behavior. Extremes of all kinds sooner or later do not help the cause for receiving more humanitarian treatment for everyone across the broader spectrum of humanity itself. Not surprisingly, this morning the networks and cable news are replaying select parts of former American Idol Adam LambertAdam Lambert’s performance last evening on the "American Music Awards".

His "For Your Entertainment" performance, which was billed in advance as "eye-popping"” briefly simulated gay oral sex on live television. Well, sorry – but that’s not entertainment - that’s public lewdness. During the latest season of Idol, my wife and I were big fans of Lambert. We both believed that he was clearly the superior vocal talent. And yes, we had heard and read many of the stories about him that alleged he was gay. Still that news didn’t affect our opinion of him as a human being.

I did not see last night’s performance live, but both mainstream news and the Internet today have cooperated by offering almost endless replays of Lambert’s segment. And if there was any doubt previously as to Lambert’s sexual and lifestyle preferences, those doubts have now probably been erased for just about everyone. He clearly has not only just come "out", he has come out in a clearly "overstated", way "over the top" manner.

And for that, I believe that his own actions during his performance last evening served not to improve the standing and acceptance of gays and lesbians with straights, but instead to possibly damage some of the previous gains made in regard to both tolerance and respect for fellow human beings. Unlike the postscript sentiments expressed in that old Seinfeld episode, Lambert’s way over the top, outrageous exhibition, and his in-your-face public flaunting of his gay sexuality clearly says for me that "there was plenty wrong with that."