Comments

  1. geekysteve says

    She is an Oscar nominated actress (Juno) with a very respectable list of accomplishments. She works in probably the most gay friendly industry (in spite of her justifiable criticism of Hollywood’s obsession with stereotypes). She has frequently appeared before large audiences and even been on live television. She has every reason to be self possessed.

    Yet, she was clearly terrified. That alone should serve to illustrate just how toxic the environment is that “different” people are subjected to on a regular basis.

    And I know that everyone here already knows that. But I despair that the rest of the world can’t recognize that fact.

  2. says

    Ah Juno! That’s where I’ve seen her!

    Anyway, the poor thing looked like she was going to break down in tears at a couple of points; I can barely imagine the strain she must have been feeling. I’m glad she made it through okay.

  3. Patria Volk says

    Wow, she is sooooo special because her idea of ‘sex’ is using her vagina with another vagina, which is like screwing a hole with another hole. I believe lesbians should be free to do their silly stuff but what is sooooo great about it?

    What’s next on the agenda? Celebrating people coming out as incest-sexuals? When did progressivism turn into a sexual deviancy contest?

  4. Beatrice, an amateur cynic looking for a happy thought says

    Patria Volk,

    Knock off the homophobic trolling.

  5. says

    Patria Volk #7

    Wow, she is sooooo special because her idea of ‘sex’ is using her vagina with another vagina, which is like screwing a hole with another hole.

    Your lack of imagination is noted.

    I believe lesbians should be free to do their silly stuff but what is sooooo great about it?

    Uh, you know: having the courage to tell the whole freakin’ world about her sexuality, when there are people out there who will make no bones about the fact that they hate her for that sexuality. Your lack of empathy is also noted.

    What’s next on the agenda? Celebrating people coming out as incest-sexuals? When did progressivism turn into a sexual deviancy contest?

    “Sexual deviancy”? Really? There’s a “back to the 1950s” thread around here somewhere. You should feel much more at home there.

    This is possibly the least angry, most polite reply you’ll receive on this thread.
    No need to thank me.
    Fuck off.

  6. The Mellow Monkey: Non-Hypothetical says

    Good for Ellen. I can’t imagine how terrifying that must have been for her. ♥

    Patria Volk @ 7

    …her vagina with another vagina…

    Ah, I remember being about ten and feverishly trying to figure out what two women might do together in bed. As it turns out, everything everybody else does.

    Now, why did she need to come out so publicly? And why are people applauding her for doing so? Because the default assumption is that everyone in the word is a cis heterosexual. Simply to be recognized for who she is and for her relationships to be accepted as normal instead of some dirty tabloid secret, she has to announce it. Does she want to? Probably not. She doesn’t look like she’s enjoying it.

    But it will help. It will help her to simply be able to be herself. It will help those queer ten year olds like I was realize that, hey, this really is okay. Ellen Page is not announcing what she does in the bedroom. You have no idea what the details are of her sex life, or if she even has one. Ellen Page is telling us who she has relationships with, because our relationships are part of our public identity and having to hide them means we have to hide far too much of ourselves.

  7. stevem says

    Re Patriarch Volk @7:

    So Love is nothing more than Sex to you? And Sex is only “in-out” to you? And Lesbians only want (deviant)Sex? What century are you from, the 15th?

    You win, it only took you 6 comments before you trolled your “homo ~=~ incest” trope. Getting in under 10 makes you the Trollest Troll.

  8. Goodbye Enemy Janine says

    Patria Volk, that was a piss poor attempt at troll. Go hang you head in shame.

    And never comment here again. Just from that one example, it is clear that you have nothing to say.

    On a better note, Ellen Page is getting nothing but cheers and squees on the lesbian sites I have been reading.

    Great!

  9. woozy says

    Patria Volk = patriarch folk? A Poe? Maybe. That’s going to be my call. Although a troll or a simple homophobe are also possible.

    If a poe: a poe is supposed to be satire (anyone can imitate a homophobe; the trick is to satirize a homophobe) and thus a good poe should really have more irony or be over the top or be simply weirder than what you wrote.

    I’m still calling a poe as I’m having a hard time imagining a homophobe visiting this sight rather calmly expecting a prosaic yet inane argument to be convincing. That and the funny name.

  10. ledasmom says

    Patria Volk @ 7:

    I believe lesbians should be free to do their silly stuff but what is sooooo great about it?

    As opposed to the dignity personified that is heterosexual coupling.
    Same @ same:

    When did progressivism turn into a sexual deviancy contest?

    Evidently our notions of deviancy differ. To me, sexual deviancy would be any sexual activity that involves coercion of an unwilling person or assault upon a person who is not capable at that time of consent. Your notion of deviancy appears to include happy and willing pleasurable sex between two people. I prefer my definition to yours.
    I will not even get into your apparent conviction that a person’s referring to their sexual orientation indicates that they are engaging in sex or will be engaging in sex or anything about how they plan to engage in sex.
    This is the only reply I intend to make to you; I am sure you have not read the above with any intent to fully consider it; fuck off.

  11. says

    Patria Volk seems like the kind of alias Vox Day would use. Probably not him though. But whoever this is I assume either they’ve been lurking here for a while, or are another of the semi-regular pests using a new alias. After all it seems unlikely they’d stumble across this specific post and decide it would be the best place to introduce themselves.

    Good luck to Ms. Page. I think more of the world has gotten past the “She’s a lesbian, how can she play straight people?” failing, but there are still some out there, presumably including some folks in the business.

    (The answer to that question, for those who don’t get it, is “She’s an actor. You know, one of those people who get paid to pretend to be something they aren’t. Just like Clint Eastwood. Or did you really think he spent part of his life as a trucker with an orangutan sidekick?”)

  12. The Mellow Monkey: Non-Hypothetical says

    Goodbye Enemy Janine @ 14

    On a better note, Ellen Page is getting nothing but cheers and squees on the lesbian sites I have been reading.

    On one lesbian site that has a bad history with bisexual and trans* issues, I did see someone being snotty. Specifically, they were complaining that she was identifying as gay instead of lesbian. A warning that she would inevitably betray lesbians everywhere by turning out to also be attracted to men was issued.

    I’d like to think that was just a troll, but the comment was reflecting some pretty common attitudes. Sigh.

  13. kevinalexander says

    Woozy,

    Patria Volk = patriarch folk?

    .
    Patria is Latin, means fatherland and volk is German, means people. It means he (she?) is likely an admirer of Mussolini and that guy Godwin was talking about.

  14. AsqJames says

    “Patria” – Spanish for “country”, also “fatherland”
    “Volk” – German for “people”

    I don’t really want to Godwin this thread, but it really seems like there’s a word missing here. Something to do with leaders maybe?

  15. magistramarla says

    I’m another old fogy who didn’t immediately recognize this young lady, but I did see Juno and loved it.
    I’m so glad to see more people coming out and providing good role models to young people who are questioning their sexuality and feel alone in the world.

  16. woozy says

    @7.

    Well, I have to admit that at the last three parties parties I attended when I tried to regale friends and colleagues with rousing stories about my penis and some of the vaginas I’ve engaged it with, my anecdotes were met with blank stares and hostile looks. I was perplexed because surely this should be a topic of natural universal interest.

    I went home and asked my Uncle Fred “When did progressivism turn into a sexual deviancy contest?” He asnswered “October 23, 1974; it was a Wednesday.”

  17. plainenglish says

    Well said, fellow Canadian, Ellen Page. Way to go! Mi casa es su casa. It is odd that we often choose to deny the pain so freely and readily inflicted by groups blinded by the sickness in traditions, by Christians and Muslims who use old writings and long-term hatreds to actively punish rather than to love others. Perhaps Patria Volk @7 is neither a Christian or a Muslim but simply a proud misogynist with a painful hard-on. What is so great about vagina to vagina, indeed… what is so great about a blind prick and a blind hole? What is so great about appreciation of life, about Saturday, about being able to hold somebody’s hand for some or no reason on a walk down the road? What is so great about sliced fresh tomato on buttered toast with a bit of mayo? What is so great about hate, Patria Volk @7? What is so great about fear?

  18. says

    As an intro to Ellen Page movies for those who don’t know her, may I suggest “Whip It”. Great cast, also Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut. And second-best roller derby movie ever.

  19. rq says

    the dignity personified that is heterosexual coupling

    This was worth a laugh. Yes, ‘dignified’ is definitely the word I’m looking for when picturing people having sex. :D

    Well done, Ellen Page! *salutes* Thank you for this. And desperately, I hope your fear is unwarranted. But… There’s the world we live in.

  20. ChasCPeterson says

    screwing a hole with another hole

    bwaha.
    Reminds me of the old Texas boy I remember seeing quoted long ago to the effect that he didn’t have nothin gainst ho-mo-sek-shuls but he couldn’t see what was fun about goin off in the bushes to bump dickheads.

  21. says

    kevinalexander (#19) –

    Patria is Latin, means fatherland and volk is German, means people.

    Or in other words, “vox populi”. The cretin is claiming to speak for “the majority”.

    But only if that means the majority of the bigots.

  22. knowknot says

    #7 Patria Volk

    – What you don’t get is what a lot of people don’t get. Which is unfortunate, because in a perfect world it would be obvious, because it is fundementally human.
    – The applause (or “celebration”) that occurs when people do things like this is not in response to the statement of homosexuality, or any other factor in the speaker’s personality. It is in response to the courage required to say and be and act in accordance with one’s heart, gut and mind when it is not completely safe to do so, and with the others’ suffering and well being as a focus.
    – Put another way, it is in response to compassion in the face of risk.
    – If “coming out” were generally seen as this – as any honest personal exposure including real concern for others – then many potential actions related to a wide range of “causes” by any given individual would be seen equally. Not as an isolated “identification,” but as something profoundly and deeply human in the only way that matters in the end.
    – Problem is that we can’t see that when it’s “one of them” (whoever “they” are at the moment) is involved.

  23. Rey Fox says

    Not really any more piling on needed, but it’s pretty funny that the thread right before this one with it’s lovely hole-on-hole comment is “I’ve discovered a time machine!”

  24. nich says

    I remember when my commanding officer had his wife pin his rank on at his promotion ceremony and then gave her a light kiss at the end of the ceremony. Man was he yelled at for celebrating his heterosexuality…

    Another time at the office, a coworker was having a loud telephone conversation with her husband about their Valentine’s night plans and said that she had something extra special planned for him when they got home. Boy, did she get it for publicly celebrating her heterosexual relationship…

    And then this one time, on a kiss cam at a sporting event, this heterosexual couple made out to a loud chorus of booing and yelling as their heterosexuality was being celebrated in front of tens of thousands of spectators. We didn’t stand for people making such a BFD out of heterosexuality…

    Oh wait, none of that fucking happened because every fucking day is a celebration of heterosexuality.

  25. stevem says

    re 31:

    YES!! Applause, because it is very brave to admit one loves others that are of the same sex as oneself. If only it were more common, no applause would be expected. Consider, Patria, if it were brave for someone to “come out” as HETEROsexual, and THEY were considered DEVIANT by snobs such as yourself. No one is telling you to have sex with a womenz [as if any would want to], nor are they telling you to watch [what those preeverts do in private is PRIVATE]. Go back to your rock and hide under it, where you just crawled out from.
    Still reading Patria? if so, Goodbye [your buddy, Putin, is waiting to welcome you].

  26. zmidponk says

    @Patria Volk

    You know, if this world was as just and as fair as it really should be, the fact Ellen Page announced she was gay would indeed be nothing special, as it would about as newsworthy and headline making as if she had announced that she’s actually naturally platinum blonde, but has been dying her hair. This world is not as just and fair as it really should be, hence the applause, in recognition of the courage needed to actually publicly admit being homosexual, leaving you open to the discrimination and hate that regularly gets directed at homosexual people for the crime/sin of existing.

  27. says

    I’ll just share what I said on Facebook:

    This is something that is overlooked by those people on certain ends of the political spectrum: being in the closet can and is unhealthy for many people (not for all obviously). Being able to come out and share with the world an aspect of yourself can be incredibly liberating and can lead to a lot less stress and frustration. It can improve your quality of life and your mental health. So the next time someone says “why did so and so have to tell the world they’re gay”, the proper response should be “FUCK YOU” (that’s not actually the *proper* response, but it’s the *best* one)

  28. says

    Patricia Volk:

    Wow, she is sooooo special because her idea of ‘sex’ is using her vagina with another vagina, which is like screwing a hole with another hole. I believe lesbians should be free to do their silly stuff but what is sooooo great about it?

    What’s next on the agenda? Celebrating people coming out as incest-sexuals? When did progressivism turn into a sexual deviancy contest?

    I haven’t watched the video, but I highly doubt she said anything about being “sooo special”.
    You are an insensitive, homophobic, pathetic human being.
    You have no idea what it’s like to be gay.
    To sit at home at night and cry yourself to sleep because you think you’re the only person on the planet who feels attracted to members of the same sex.
    You have no idea what it’s like to feel ostracized by your family and friends, your coworkers and peers simply because you are attracted to members of the same sex, which is something you have no control over.
    You have no idea what it’s like growing up feeling pressured by society to conform to expectations despite the fact that YOU SIMPLY CANNOT.
    You have no idea how hard it is growing up with no one to look up to as an example.
    You have no idea what it’s like to be subjected to ridicule, mockery, hatred, violence, threats, intimidation, harassment, or an insecure job environment simply because you are attracted to members of the same sex.

    You have no idea how deeply FUCKING PISSED OFF AT YOU I AM RIGHT NOW, YOU HATEFUL SHITSTAIN.
    I’m crying right now because you have the audacity to come here.

    How dare you demean Ellen Page because she has sex that you don’t like. It isn’t any of your goddamned business. It’s her life and she’s doing nothing to harm others in the process of simply trying to live. Don’t like lesbian sex?

    DON’T HAVE IT!

    But don’t you come here preaching your hatred and intolerance. As said recently by a popular sportscaster (paraphrased), you don’t have to “get” it when it comes to homosexuality. But dammit…we’re here. We’re not going away. We’re not hurting anyone. We just want to continue existing, to eat, sleep, breathe, shit, love, strive, excel, fail, succeed, marry, be single, have jobs, buy cars, and do the same things everyone else on the planet wants to do. And we should have the right to do so without people like you telling us we should stay in the closet and hide ourselves so that you can feel comfortable at night in your little bubble of existence.
    HERE of all places, which is one of the few havens of progress on the internet that doesn’t just support queers of all shapes and colors. This place is a haven for survivors of sexual assault, for people of color, for trans* individuals, for women, for people with disabilities, for people who are discriminated against and marginalized by people in society JUST LIKE YOU, who would treat us like shit simply because we don’t exist the way you think we should.

    Fuck you you vile human being.

  29. nich says

    Tony@37

    Small nitpick. The poster’s handle was Patria Volk, not Patricia. Has a vaguely Stormfront kind of stink to it.

  30. woozy says

    Seeing as when the very first gay person came out all homophobia and discrimination ended completely and utterly, I don’t see why any second person needs to come out. In fact, I think its very insulting and selfish if anybody except the first person ever expresses an opinion as that just takes time away from my processing important news like the Justin Bieber trial. I think it’s all very fine if you want to be gay but you have no reason to tell me about it. Isn’t it enough that I know that one gay person exists on the planet? There isn’t any reason I need to know that there are *two* of you, is there?

    –Putria Joke

  31. Reginald Selkirk says

    … but I did see Juno and loved it…

    It had some good points, but the abortion clinic scene was deeply shallow.

  32. fernando says

    I like this actress, and it is quite courageous of her to declare in public her homossexuality.

    But it will be an happy day to mankind when it will be so simple and normal to someone declare that is gay, like it is to someone to say that “my favourite colour is gren”.

    Im quite optimist and i think that, despite some setbacks and much misinformation and archaic traditions, the day will come.

  33. Gregory Greenwood says

    I have the utmost respect for this courageous and eloquent woman. It is the the severest indictment on society that coming out is clearly so difficult and painful even for someone who is a professional actress and used to public speaking. Claims that we live in a post-homophobic society continue to ring hollow with every passing day.

    ———————————————————————————————————————-

    Patria Volk @ 7,

    I am a cis/het white guy who is the recipient of unearned privilege along multiple axes. I very much live life on the easiest possible settings, and most of my problems are entirely of my own making. I have no frame of reference readily to hand by which to understand the hell that LGBT people, especially those who are young and still grappling with their own sexuality, go through. And yet I differ from you in one critical regard – I at least try to show empathy toward those who suffer under the lash of society’s uncaring bigotry.

    It is actually quite simple – I remember the most traumatic events from my own life, the times when I have felt most isolated, wronged, rejected and ashamed, and then I remind myself that the worst I have ever experienced wouldn’t even register as the merest blip on the radar of the day to day life of pretty much any LGBT person. They have to endure being told over and over again, both directly and by means of the ambient attitudes still so prevelant in our culture, that they are corrosive to socety, that a core aspect of who they are is somehow an immoral abomination, and that their love is, to use the ugly term you so carelessly employed, ‘deviant’. Even many of those who try to be less openly discrimonatory still wind up rendering down the vast and glorious variety of the wide spectrum of people who identify as LGBT into a series of mocking and dehumanising stereotypes.

    LGBT people are crushed under the weight of the blind, unthinking fear and hatred of legions of people too ignorant, too self involved, or too secure in their entirely wrongful certitude that the way they live is the only ‘right’ way to recognise the humanity of anyone who differs from themselves. Their daily lives are all too often a struggle of a magnitude that people like you and I can barely even imagine.

    I think of all that, and then I try to do whatever little I can to make the world around me just a tiny bit better or, failing that, I at least avoid making it any worse. Like Ellen Page says in the video, it really isn’t hard. All you need to do is see the humanity in LGBT people, a humanity that is shared with every one of us, no matter what our sexual orientation or gender identity may be.

    It isn’t hard, and yet you have failed spectacularly to pass this basic test of ethics. I don’t know if your post was incredibly insensitive trolling, a feeble and incompetent attempt at satire, or outright homophobic bigotry, but the end result is the same – you are promoting attitudes that lead to vast suffering and large numbers of entirely preventable deaths of wholly innocent people.

    I don’t write what comes next to insult you, to anger you, or as an exercise in hyperbole; it is nothing more or less than the truth.

    Directly or indirectly, people like you have blood on their hands.

    Think about that. Really think in depth about what it says about you as a person, and then reconsider your life and priorities. Ask yourself – is this really the kind of person you want to be?

  34. David Marjanović says

    What is so great about sliced fresh tomato on buttered toast with a bit of mayo?

    Nothing – tomato is an abomination, and so is mayo. Next question? :-)

  35. says

    @24:

    Yeah, “Whip It” is a great movie! My first introduction to Ellen Page’s work, and it turned me into an instant fan. A little fast and loose on the details of roller derby, but meh, okay, she didn’t write the thing. Very awesome of her to give a speech like this.

  36. ChasCPeterson says

    1. sliced fresh tomato; a good one, not a supermarket one
    2. sliced fresh semolina bread; lightly toasted
    3. sliced fresh mozzarella; the soft wet kind, not the firm dry pizza kind
    4. a sprig of fresh basil leaf
    5. sea salt or, if hardcore, an anchovy or two.

    = yum, the Perfect Food.

    (but mayo? yes, an abomination)

  37. spamamander, internet amphibian says

    I’m way too late for the lame troll, but it did leave me a bit confused. If coming out means you’re announcing what kind of sex you like to have, where does that leave my daughter? She identifies as bi-romantic and asexual. Then again, I forgot bisexual people and asexual people don’t exist.

  38. says

    When “Patria Volk” speaks of the evils and deviancy of love and sex, there is a very important lesson to be learned: do not have sex with Patria Volk.

  39. mangobingo says

    Apologies if this isn’t appropriate for this thread, but I watched “Call me Kuchu” last night. Amazing film – talk about bravery in the face of massive bigotry. Anyway, it made me want to donate to or otherwise show support for people in countries that make it shitty for LGBTetc. people. Any of you know what would be a good organisation to send some cash to?