MR. GAY WORLD RESPONDS TO AFRIKAANS SINGER FURORE
Francois Nel, South Africa’s Mr. Gay World 2011, has responded to Afrikaans singer André Swiegers’ controversial comments about flamboyant gay people.
Swiegers caused a furore on Facebook after he posted a status update that read: “If someone is gay, I accept it. It remains weird that some gay men swing their asses when they walk (sometimes looks as if they’re clenching a credit card between their buttocks).”
He added: “It’s usually also that group who puts on a show with their hands while speaking with affected voices. Don’t understand it; most refined women don’t even speak like that. There are very few things as irritating as people who put up a show.”
Swiegers has refused to retract his statements and insists that they were not homophobic and that he has no problem with gay people as a whole.
“There is a certain part of this group that irritates me and others (some gays), just as loudmouth-brandy drinkers with large bellies can irritate some people, just as political statements can irritate some people,” he said.
“Certainly not only people in the gay community that have strange/annoying habits. There is a difference between what I consider weird or irritating, and to outright insulting someone. The latter is out.”
Nel, who was crowned Mr. Gay World in Manila in March, asked in response if we are “consumed by fitting in and being regarded as ‘normal’? Who defines what makes the man? Is there a confusion between what makes the man and being macho?”
On his blog he also criticised Swiegers for not using his celebrity as a platform for more important issues.
“Is it not of higher importance to address issues like HIV, obesity, bullying, rape, crime? and womanising amongst many. I admit I don’t really see the flapping wrists and walking tendencies of some gay men as high priority here,” Nel said.
“Here’s to dreaming of a world where we all coexist in peace, tolerance and acceptance, even with the differences or “irritations”… we own. No matter the flexibility of your wrist, the sway in your walk…” he added.
Francois..get over yourself already. I identify as gay but I don’t like flaming queens either, but if that’s your groove, that’s your groove. Does my personal taste (to which I am so entitled to, regardless of that chip on your nail) now render me half-homo?
Why don’t you read Gregory Taylor’s letter above.
Go Francois. Well said.
Spoken like a true Beauty Queen …. World Peace….
You know, I really think the gay community has grown over-sensitive. It is in every person’s right to like or not to like something. We don’t HAVE to like everyone. So he doesn’t like flapping queens, that’s his choice, AND he DID post it on HIS PERSONAL Facebook page. Celebrity or not, he is human and entitled to his own opinions, just like we all are, and just because he is a celebrity does not mean he HAS to be gay-friendly, and if he is not that he is a bad person. We all express personal opinions online everyday, but that is all it is, your opinion. Really! We need to stop being so damn easily offended. There are even gay men who don’t like effeminate gays. It is their choice. We expect people to accept US for who we are, yet we are not prepared to extend that courtesy to others. FACT: There will ALWAYS be gays, butch and effeminate. FACT: There will ALWAYS be people who do not like gays. Thats life!
well said @LOL. i think it would be as simple as some friends and fans pressing the dislike button if it comes up on their page! period!
like
@IMHO, really we are quick to scream i dont “like”. in terms of personal taste (what you would date thats diffrent. But based on the comments of the musician,..thats a bit too harsh. In the community ,you have the many that some how belive the more straig
Who the fuck is this asshole Swiegers anyway … just because he sings a few songs and a few people know who he is doesn’t make him a celebrity. Should we actually give a fuck what he says. We should rather be “comforted” by the fact that it has been proven that homophobic people are the ones with the most skeletons in the closet. *minces off*
No offence Jack, but your comment simply indicates how typically-gay-way-over-the-top-sensitive some/most gay men are. So much so, your kind fail to see fact from flamboyant fantasy. Nowhere in the article do i get the impression Swiegers is out and out (pardon the pun) homophobic. If anything he is merely “queenophobic”. There is a difference. About 2kg of base and mascara’s difference honey. Sadly it’s those who weave their own issues of insecurity into responses like your that turn “queenophobes” into stark raving homophobes.
lol @ ‘minces off’
The way yoe speaks is the way you are – you are the lost soul!!
Fransie, hon…You should listen to yourself once in a while. Your ignorance is shameful and to pretend to represent a certain faith: horrific. Thou should not judge sweetie, yet you do, so kindly get of your trident and stoke your own fire.
I agree with Francois. I would like to add: We must respect others the way we want to be respected. If someone wants to “flap” – let them. They do not tell you what you must and mustnt do. If you do not like it, then ignore it. We do not have to comment on everyone and everything. You might not know the reason behind that persons way of acting and therefore has no right to comment.
I attended an all-boys’ school from the age of 8 years old right through to the age of 18. After finishing senior school, I had to do compulsory military training and I served my country for the full duration of the national service. This was during the “Apartheid” days when South Africa was still very conservative and segregated. From an early age of 3 years old, my parents recognised that I was different from other little boys. I was often bullied and teased by the other boys at school. My school life is something that I have chosen not to remember well, because it is just too painful. I didn’t know why I was so-called “effeminate”, it’s just how things were. For me, it seemed so natural to be like that, just as natural as it appeared for some boys to swagger when they walked and to be very in touch with their masculine side. I honestly wished that I could be masculine like them and really did persevere. It wasn’t that I was weak, because I was tough, but I still retained more feminine traits than masculine one’s. Some may have perceived this as an exaggeration of the feminine traits or that I was deliberately trying to get attention. I can honestly say, that I wasn’t trying to draw attention to myself at all. In fact, I had very low self-esteem and contemplated suicide. It was never my intention to offend anyone by the way I walked or held myself. After many years, I began to strive towards being more “straight-acting”. However, this felt unnatural to me and it was an act. My life had become a stage and at the age of 20, I decided to be true to myself and others. My family and close friends have been so supportive and if it hadn’t been for their strong love, I would most surely have ended my life. I still carry the emotional scars from my childhood years and still to this day, I have hang-ups about being seen as “effeminate”. It would be wonderful, if people didn’t judge the LGBTI community so harshly, but sadly, I think this will still continue for many years. LGBTI people that haven’t even been born yet, will probably suffer the same ridicule somewhere in the world. When I read this article about Andre Swiegers, it disturbed me so much, because it is not necessary for some people to put others down, particularly the minority groups who are not bringing physical harm to anyone. Mr Swiegers, please try to see things from our perspective. What if one of your children or close relatives was very different from the so-called “norm” and people were making fun of him/her? How would you feel? It doesn’t mean to say that because you expressed those thoughts publicly on your own wall page, that you are a bad person. Not at all, it just means that you are probably unaware of the ramifications that your public thoughts will have on others. You are a public figure and some may see you as their hero, therefore some of your fans could feel that because Andre Swiegers thinks it is ok to make fun of us, then they can too. Anyway, all we can hope for is a better world for all of us. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Thanks Gregory for sharing this heartbreaking story with us.
Well done! And with your permission, will post it on FB (I presume seeing this forum is public that you won’t mind it there either).
Wow….this is such a powerful letter. It really shows such courage and inner strength. Well done Gregory. One thing you are, is brave, courages and show true inner stength and beauty, and that is all what matters. The ill-formed and deliberateky hurtful people are all truely unhappy deepdown. You are real, they are not. Congratulations on such a well put, respectful reply.
LOL. All the profiles on the gay dating sites always specify “no fats, no fems”. Don’t think it’s only Mr Swiegers that doesn’t like the flapping queens…
im afrikaans and never even heard of this guy before maybe we need to look at who is really looking for attention
True – see here Swiegers ‘wil net sy loopbaan bevorder’ afrikaans.news24.com/Vermaak/Nuus/Swiegers-wil-net-sy-loopbaan-bevorder-20110916-2
He must be such a bad singer… no one knows about him.
So please shut your mouth up mr….hard wrist!!! and tight up your ass coz you can get fuck by one of us anytime.
The response from Gregory on Mamba is brilliant and eloquent. I’m going to post THAT on my FB wall. Predictably a bunch of moffies defended Swiegers, saying his comments were OK because lots of gay men can’t stand effeminate behavior either. And of course there are always the comments exhorting us to not be ‘so sensitive’ which infuriate me. Was I ‘too sensitive’ when the ongoing onslaught of cruel comments I got as a not-so-butch schoolboy nearly destroyed me? Swiegers’ comments amount to bullying – and as someone who aspires to be in the public eye he needs to be more sensitive about the message he is putting out there.
Ditto!
I think you are choosing to be a victim here…
I really do not see how a comment on his personal facebook page is now bullying of gays.
This is a storm in a tea cup. Swiegers has been given far to much attention – unjustifiably so. Some of us should just chill a bit!
I love the screaming queens, the fuzzy bears, the baby doll dykes. I love the muscle mary’s and the cargo pant brigade. I love the fats and the femmes and everyone in between. I love everybody because you are my brothers and my sisters. Peace and love and light to you all.
Well said luv!
Ditto!
I am gay, amazingly proud of it! This guy is a clown! Lets show him the power of the pink currency! Oh no! I forgot, I dont even know who the fuck he is… Another loser trying to create a bit of hype for himself.
One word!
boycott!!!
Forgot to say – I am not flapping or feminine! But dont fuck with my brothers and sisters! Funny that he chose to poke the gay community, makes you wonder if he doesent secretly has a craving for a stiff one!
First and foremost – well done Francois Nel, for once again proving why you are the most deserving ambassador in the world for our community!!!!! I wholeheartedly concur with your response.
Secondly – it is such a shame when a “celebrity” needs to make shock waves, just to get attention, due to a failing career… Los maar eerder die bedryf vir diegene wat werklik kan sing, en NIE ander mense probeer afbring, net om n “statement” te maak nie… Ek het nou nie n graad in Sielkunde nie (o nee wag, ek het! LOL), maar ek dink daar is n paar serious “Daddy issues” hier…
DittO!
I have never even heard of this asshole. I read his note on Facebook and I find it disingenuous. Clearly he is a homophobe and it doesn’t matter how he tries to sugar coat it. I guess the only time he “likes” us is when he can get his little paws on our pink money.
Ditto!
Julle regverdig jul self in die gruwel wereld en gay is ‘n self keuse en moet nie jou keuse as ‘n fout voor Elohim se voete kom neersit nie. Dit is jul keuse en basta met alle teenstellings – dit bly’n gruwel in God se ordes. Amen!
Frans, ek wonder my vrek oor wat JY, O Allerheiligste, dan op HIERDIE GRUWELIKE gay site doen? Is jy dalk bietjie nuuskierig? Geraamtes in jou eie kas dalk? Ek dink jy is “secretly” self gay, en BASTA MET ALLE TEENSTELLINGS
lol S hom Piet!
Julle regverdig jul self in die gruwel wereld en gay is ‘n self keuse en moet nie jou keuse as ‘n fout voor Elohim se voete kom neersit nie. Dit is jul keuse en basta met alle teenstellings – dit bly’n gruwel in God se ordes. Amen!
Frans, jy het nie ‘n clue waarvan jy praat nie. Waar staan dit in die Bybel dat homoseksualiteit verkeerd is? As jy die Bybel met bietjie meer insig lees sal jy agterkom dat daar na straight mans verwys word wat teen hul natuur gaan en met ander straight mans omgaan – soos wat ons in ons tronke kry – as voorbeeld. In die Bybelse tye was die verskynsel van homoseksualiteit soos ons dit vandag ken nie bekend nie.
I cannot agree more with what he said. Yes i am gay, and im proud to be a gay man, but for heavens sake its all the “queens” that give us a bad name. Why do you have to act like a girl, and talk like one? I am a dude and I dig dudes.. If i wanted to be with a girl, I’d be straight.
theres more to us than our sexuality and if you going to act like a girl, then you gotta deal with the comments. Freedom of speech. He’s only pointing out the obvious!!
Ditto!!!
Please read the reply of Gregory Taylor below.
I really hate the way straight men bounce when they walk.
Can I please get the same publicity now?
LOL … perfect! But alas no, you do not seem to be a talentless over the hill hillbilly …. so back to the salt mines, some of us have to work for a living! *wink*
This ‘flapping of wrists’ and ‘swinging of hips’ is part of gay culture as is ‘watching rugby’ and ‘drinking beer’ for straight culture (a general statement). We live in a complex world where our cultural lines blur into each other like for me who does ‘flap his wrists and likes to ‘watch rugby’.I was not always a wrist flapping rugby watcher, I was taught differently when I was going through my gay training in the 80’s, But I am this person now and the people who dont like who I am are not within my own ‘wrist flapping rugby watching’ culture. If we are to accept each other in South Africa we will have to be tolerant of all the ‘things’ that make up who we are. Intolerance breeds hate and through hate people like Nontsikelelo Tyatyeka are killed.
ditto~!
DIS DIESELFDE ANDRE SWIEGERS WAT GAY OUENS GEBRUIK VIR SY EIE GEWIN. SY KAMSTIGE VRIENDE OP DUSSLTROOM WAT HUL RESTAURANT OPSTEL SODAT HY ‘N SHOW KAN LEWER DAN IS DIE GAYS GOEDGENOEM. SIES SKAAM JOU. MENS MOET OPLET WAT JY DEESDAE S. KYK WAT HET NOU BUVOORBEELD MET DARREN SCOTT GEBEUR. HY HET NOU SY EIE NEK GESNY.
Ditto!
I agree with Swiegers. It is always OTT (over the top). Being gay myself it irritates the hell out of me as well. Those queens always seems to force themselves and their loudness onto everybody. They can be in general an embarrasment. I don’t see why they need to advertise that they are gay. Imagine if real woman carries on like that? I understand the whole thing of each to himself, but then keep it to themselves. They don’t need to be so load and be more considerate of other people.
Dis you read what Gregory Taylor wrote below?
This is how one bigot would respond to another bigot. I just thought that I would take the liberty to respond so freely whilst everyone else seems to be hurling nasty insults around without a care in the world for whom it might be hurting. Swieggers may think he looks sexy with his swagger, but it actually looks like he has a huge rotten turd stuck in his pants. The stubble that is growing on his wrinkled and lifeless face looks like it still contains some of yesterday’s breakfast and I won’t mention what else! His hairstyle really makes me think of a cross between an ageing drug infested wannabe rockstar/ pornstar and a Father Christmas with a bad case of mange. I won’t even start on his music, which is more like noise pollution and very irritating. To those who defend him and who have the audacity to say that flamboyant gay people bring gay people a bad name, think again, take a long look in a mirror. What you’ll see, that is if you look long and hard enough, will be frightening! You’ll see the the monster within yourselves looking back at you! Develop some brain cells please and stop thinking that your way of life is the only and right way! It is this monster inside of you all that would give anybody a bad name, not these refined and civilised people that you seek to pass harsh criticisms against. The best friends I’ve ever known have been flamboyant gay people and God, what a very dull world this would be without them. My God, it would be a Swieggers world with stinky unshaven guys walking around with turds in their pants whilst scratching their hairy balls infected with crabs and lice!
But you are totally off course here, mate! You are apart from being utterly nonsensical in what you say, the one hurting insults and achieving absolutely nothing apart from being a brainless ‘monster’ you are referring to. The so-called ‘flamboyant gay people’ have a right to exist and carry on with their lives, of course, but they – the queens – are irritating in the same way other people are irritating in my opinion. And I reserve my right to tell them that and do not expect to be attacked verbally by a pea-brained nonentity spewing forth his inanities and insults. F.U!
I am an openly gay man. And this might upset certain of my fellow fags. But I also have a problem with feminine gays. They are the source in my opinion of people immediately stereo typing all gay men. We are not all like that. I also get irritated when I hear a gay man screatch and start flapping away!
@ Franscois: You sound so ignorant about gender and sexuality. Further more, it sounds like you think that masculinity is superior to femininity, I hate to burst your bubble, but it aint! I would rather have a gay man flapping away than trying to make a c
I agree with Swiegers.
I don’t agree with Swiegers
Read the new article on Mamba “Can the gap be bridged?” – wherein Eusebius McKaiser is quoted as saying: “The issue of homophobia and prejudice within the LGBTI community itself was brought up by an audience member who spoke of his unease with his gay friends who expressed disgust at other more effeminate gay men.
McKaiser commented that gay men and women often do not stand up against homophobia in their midst. “Ask yourself how often you accept or challenge homophobia when you’re around others – in the office or with friends. If you do not challenge homophobic behaviour you are no better than those who are attacking lesbians in our society.” …
I’ve read this article a number of times and looked at precisely what Swiegers has said and I cannot come to the conclusion that he’s being homophobic at all. He’s merely stating that he finds certain mannerisms weird. Nowhere does he say that he finds them wrong or that people should desist from them.
When I first came out and started interacting with other gay people, I also found it weird that men kissed each other when they greeted and it took me a very long time to get used to that. That does not mean that it’s wrong.
Every one of us here has a list of behaviours that annoys us. These are all opinions and nobody has a right to tell us we’re wrong and neither do we have the right to tell those that annoy us that they’re wrong.
I personally hate it when people whistle at me when they’re trying to get my attention. I am not a dog. I have a name. This behaviour is predominantly performed by working class black men. Does that make me a racist for being annoyed. I think not.
If you read Swieger’s comments again, you’ll see “some gay men swing their asses”, and “a certain part of this group” clearly indicates that he’s not referring to all gay people, only a subset. This means that his comments cannot be said to be homophobic.
Very many of us have had bad experiences with homophobia in our pasts and we tend to enter a defensive mode to protect ourselves whenever anything that remotely resembles prejudice pops up. We should instead analyse them and be objective.
Before you pass judgement on his comments, read them a few times and leave your own prejudices at the door. Those that have taken offence should then see that his comments are not an attack, they’re not a judgement and they’re not a condemnation. They’re merely a disclosure of what he finds weird and strange.
I applaud him for his honesty. I’d rather have people telling me to my face what they’re feeling than have treat me with smiles to my face and whispered hatred behind my back.
There is a fine line between personal taste and bigotry and I don’t feel Swiegers has crossed it.
Rob
Haha that’s rediculous. No way
Femmes are likely equally annoying to both gay and straight people but the community and the world would not be the same without them. I’m not ever going to date one but love them no less for who they are, just as they are. No lines have been crossed here.