Queerty to defence of glitter-bombed Savage

BY NATASHA BARSOTTI – An Xtra Vancouver report about a
glitter shower Dan Savage received at the hands of queer activists inspired a spirited Queerty response.

The Jan 21 “serenade,” the third sparkly salvo
with which the sex columnist and It Gets Better co-creator has been targeted,
was the work of a group calling itself the Homomilitia.

Speaking with Xtra after the glitter bombing, activist
Fister Limp Wrist accused Savage of “ableist, racist, transphobic, fat-phobic,
sero-phobic and rape-apologist attitudes and views.” Activists handed

audience members bright pink pamphlets outlining their accusations as they
entered the Vogue Theatre in downtown Vancouver.

Among the accusations listed: Savage has “repeatedly
placed blame on Black and Latino communities for the success of homophobic
legislation”; he has “repeatedly made derogatory and pathologizing
remarks about fat people”; described HIV-positive people who have unprotected
sex with HIV-negative people as “deadbeat infectors”; and he is part of a
“broader trend of privileged cis-gendered gays who routinely ignore trans
issues and transphobia.”

But Queerty editor Dan Avery says Savage is not
anything-phobic,” even as he’s not a fan of Savage’s
anti-Santorum shtick or his attempts to get Family Research Council’s Gary
Bauer sick by licking doorknobs.

Natasha Barsotti is originally from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. She had high aspirations of representing her country in Olympic Games sprint events, but after a while the firing of the starting gun proved too much for her nerves. So she went off to university instead. Her first professional love has always been journalism. After pursuing a Master of Journalism at UBC , she began freelancing at Xtra West — now Xtra Vancouver — in 2006, becoming a full-time reporter there in 2008.

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