Gay Activists Hit Fox in Viral Video

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Stephen Beale, GoLocalProv News Editor

 

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Local gay activists are expressing their outrage over the failure of marriage equality in Rhode Island in the best way they know how—an expletive-laden music video that parodies Cee Lo Green’s 2010 hit “F**k You.”

The video spares no effort in ripping House Speaker Gordon Fox for backing civil unions instead of forcing a vote on gay marriage and compares him to everyone from Uncle Tom to Benedict Arnold “in a pink tutu,” complete with accompanying visuals. The video features the lead singer, Jim Carroll, and an entourage of back-up singers taking the Statehouse by storm. Cutaways show less-than-flattering images of Fox.

“I think that’s one of the most awesome things about the time we live in,” Carroll said. “A big bunch of fat hairy gay guys can get out and say what we feel.”

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The video casts members of Bear Providence, a social club that Carroll leads as president, although he says the video was not an official club event.

‘Now Gordon, Gordon, Gordon…’

Carroll said it is the only reasonable response to the absurdity of an openly gay man supporting a law that makes gay couples second-class citizens. “What is the appropriate tone for being a second class citizen? What kind of a tone am I supposed to have?” he said.

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Adding insult to injury, he said some in the gay community felt that Fox had been talking down to them, in explaining that civil unions was a necessary compromise.

Their message to him?

“The meaning of the video I can tell you in three words: ‘We’re very disappointed’” Carroll said in an interview.

Or, as he puts it in the video: “Now Gordon, Gordon, Gordon why do you want civil unions so bad? (So bad, so bad, so bad) … Oh Why? Why? Why? Why?” (Please note the video contains profanities and other language that is inappropriate for children. This link will take you to a site where the video can be viewed.)

Carroll hopes the video catches the attention of the Speaker. “This is just a reminder that we are paying attention and he does need to step it up and not play the political games,” Carroll said.

It appears the video has indeed achieved its desired result. Yesterday, Fox issued a response to GoLocalProv.

Fox agrees: Separate is not equal

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“Although it's not the best way to show it, I understand the frustration expressed because they are disappointed. I want to tell the community that I hear them and I have not given up on the cause,” Fox told GoLocalProv.

In some ways, the fact that Carroll has already married his partner in Massachusetts makes the failure of marriage equality in Rhode Island all the more painful for him. “My marriage, which is recognized 10 minutes up the road in Massachusetts, is not recognized in the city and state in which I was born and love,” Carroll said. “I’m having all the bad parts of being a citizen without getting all the equal benefits. Frankly, it’s 2011 and I’m tired of it.”

It turns out that Fox agrees with what much of Carroll and others are saying about civil unions.

“In my role as Speaker, I have to balance what is achievable now with what will be achievable in the future,” Fox said. “During this debate, some people have said that separate is not equal and I agree. I will not stop pushing for marriage equality, nor should they.”

The Speaker added: “Civil unions was a necessary compromise to gain passage of legislation that now immediately provides all the rights, benefits and protections enjoyed by those who are married.” He noted that the legislation does not have any language that defines marriages and it avoids a potential referendum question that “would have been very divisive to our citizens.”

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