Sam Smith has an Oscar and a bunch of Grammys. You probably do not. I certainly don't. And maybe he didn't "deserve" some of those awards. Maybe he didn't deserve the Oscar in particular. But what I know is that he probably didn't force anyone to vote for him with sexual favors, so it is kind of isn't his "fault" that he won some awards.
Sam Smith also misspoke. When he won his Oscar, he misspoke. Have you ever misspoke? I did. But just Once.
Sam Smith in a moment of nervousness and being misinformed thought and said that he was the first openly gay man to win an Oscar. He said it in a statement of support to the GLBT community. The is during a time when things are better for the gay community, but progress needs to continue. Positive visibility and support are still needed. But many of his gay community tribe did not support him back.
You would've thought that Sam Smith had said he was going to kidnap and BBQ one of Angelina's and Brad's children from the reaction that he got.
"How dare he speak and not know his gay history!! Said one voice, "And also Sam Smith use to be FAT!" said another gay history knowing gay.
This is what I know. Sam Smith is 23 (and 21 when he was FAT for you gay historians). Do you remember when you were 23? I do. Very well. It was the year I started to come out of the closet, and while I know now is a wildly different time, I would not have known my gay history either. In fact, I'm pretty sure most 23 year old gay people now don't know their gay history much less know a list of openly gay Oscar winners. It doesn't excuse it. But maybe let's just lighten up a bit. Let's stop eating our own.
One thing I do know is that at the age of 23 (and for Sam Smith earlier), I wasn't giving speeches in front of millions and millions of people talking about how proud I was to be gay. Yeah, it's a different world now than it was back then. It isn't as big of a deal for a 23 year old singer to be out and proud (though there are still many many who are probably closeted at that point in their careers of many kinds. ) Let's not forget our own histories. Some of us at 23 didn't have the speck of courage that Sam Smith showed in his Oscar speech. And if we did, maybe we would have misspoke too? Or maybe not. But let's lighten up a bit. Let's practice some kindness. The Internet is an easy place to be a queen bitch. Let's stop eating our own.
#freesamsmith
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