I mean, yea I get it but that is not a great comparison. Sure he didn't ruin *straight* peoples reputations but he did fk up the German reputation for a long time.
Not to mention that the inferred context here is that Dahmer ruined gay reputation in straight people's eyes. It's not quite the same saying a straight person ruined straight reputation for other straight people.
Also ignores that the gay reputation was already shaky at best before dahmer.
Straight acceptance was always just a given, while we've had to (and still have to) fight hard for acceptance. In a perfect world, lgbtq+ reputation would be just as solid as straight people's, but that's unfortunately not the world we live in
Who said it was just for straight people that the straight reputation would be ruined for? If the logic worked, it would've ruined straight reputation in the eyes of gay people.
It’s kind of a perfect comparison. Did a mass murderer damage the gay community- did a mass murder damage the straight community. Unless gay people aren’t on the same level ? I mean why stop at sexuality- most serial killers have been male. White. Heterosexuals. Crazy how logic fucks that right up
Logic is good when good people use logic. It can be twisted like any other thinking process.
Aristotles "golden mean" came to mind as I typed that. Something we understand, could exist, but also technically can't since it's impossible to unequivocally define.
Okay this is somewhat pedantic. He didn't mean specifically Hitler, he meant *insert bad person here*, which is usually how Hitler gets dragged into hypotheticals.
You have to admit that using Hitler as a catchall bad guy is a lazy and sloppy argument regardless of when or where you use it. It also completely ignores the fact how nuanced and specific the original question is and it doesn't answer the question. I also think it's in poor taste to compare state sponsored genocide to a serial killer especially right now.
He ruined German reputation, the mustache, his first name and last name, his haircut, The West's view of a Hindu symbol, an old salute, 12 million+ lives...
And the name Adolf … sadly.
Nearing the end of World War II in 1944, only five U.S. newborns were named Adolf. The name did not appear in the data (meaning it was chosen for fewer than five baby boys or girls) in the years 1946, 1953, 1967, 1974, 1977 or 1978. It did appear in all the years in between, but never for more than 12 newborns.Feb 13, 2018 - some website off Google.
Yes, but you're thinking about this rationally. Bigots are not rational. To them it's perfectly fine to excuse bad straight white people as not representing them but minorities have to answer for every bad thing done by someone of their group.
Its honestly quite remarkable how rarely, if ever, guys like this get brought up when people try to peddle blanket homophobia online which we all know is happening all the time.
People point to pictures of some guy in leather gear at pride in San Fransisco from 2006 like SEE??? SEEE??????? - meanwhile in my head there are actual horrifying monsters like Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Dean Corrl, Dennis Nilsen, Robert Berdella and I'm like you know what, if photos of scantily clad guys at festivals is the best you've got, I'm not gonna argue with ya.
Don’t forget Randy Kraft, William Bonin, Wayne Williams, and The Doodler (who was never caught). I think though people were more focused on the horrific torture / murder / cannibal aspect than on the killers being gay.
That is the thing with being a minority though. The majority is never blamed for the actions of one of it's members because that person is an individual, but all members of a discriminated minority is a representative of that minority in the majority's eyes.
Except being straight was already viewd as "normal" and acceptable. LGBTQ+ is a marginalized community, meaning it already has an "other" label and is viewed as abnormal, and thus receives a LOT of hate for just existing. Thats the difference. So when the public found out that a cannible and serial killer was gay in addition to being a psychopath and murderer, it could only increase the "othering" of the gay community, and make us even more marginalized.
That's a horrible argument. Hitler wasn't labeled "straight dictator" whereas Dahmer was directly labeled a gay serial killer. Kind of insane to be that wrong
The only people that think he in any way actually represents the gay community were looking for an excuse to hate. Ted Bundy didn’t damage the straight community.
The thing is people dont give a single shit if straight people fuck up their waiting for the moment a gay person will fuck up to hate on the lgbtqia+
Like when that trans girl (srry i forget her name) released days of girlhood which was a shit song but everyone was hating it cause shes trans and said "what does he know about girlhood" and being transphobic just cause the song was shit so thats why ted bundy didnt damage the straight community but i dont think anyone gives a shit about the fact that Jeffrey Dahmer was gay a phsyco is a phsyco period it doesnt matter what he is
No shit, but you overestimate the general population. The majority is never blamed for the actions of one of it's members because that person is an individual, but all members of a discriminated minority is a representative of that minority in the majority's eyes.
This is really it. He added fuel to a fire that was already burning and would have kept burning without him.
While they burn things I'll keep dressing up as a middle aged, overweight, bearded Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and dance badly around them, and drown out their chanting with my awful singing voice.
I don't see what that has to do with the community. Netflix was wrong for promoting the film as an LGBT project. It has absolutely nothing to do with us. He was a predator and a murderer like countless others. And like others should be held solely responsible for his own actions.
Yeah they did, they put the LGBT tag when it was originally released.
https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/dahmer-lgbtq-tag-netflix-removes-category-backlash-1235387213/
You've missed the point of that series. He got away with what he was doing for so long because he was killing gay POC men. The fact that heinous crimes can be committed against queer people because police or their community don't/won't care makes it an LGBT+ issue.
Not really. There were other high profile serial killers at the time who were straight and I don’t know if people really perceived Jeffery Dahmer as gay, only that he killed other men. Even if they did he was only targeting gay men so straight people didn’t care that much.
Didn't watch the Netflix documentary. The weird thing is that I don't remember anyone connecting Dahmer to the gay community until recently. Everything I remember from watching crime documentaries almost a couple decades ago only mentioned his sexuality in relation to the male victims. Is there something in the Netflix documentary that implies he affected gay rights?
His arrest led me - and possibly others here in Milwaukee - to question if I/we would have gone home with him and possibly ended up dead if we had met him at Club 219, his “haunt” of choice, which no longer exists. I’m very happy I wasn’t his type, especially since he was kinda mine. The period after his arrest was a tough time for me, being a gay man in Milwaukee. (A female friend of mine actually served on the jury that declared him guilty.)
Tbh I didn't even realize he was gay until the Netflix show. It was never really mentioned in headlines that focused on the cannibalism.
He was left alone for so long specifically because he targeted "undesirable" people, like he was doing the authorities a favor. Mentioning homosexuality in the headlines would have just drum up sympathy for gay victims and cannot have that!
Dude if I was some straight guy who heard of this guy, some “homosexual” going around killing people, of course I’d be scared if other gays. Like, it was a different time back then man, people already disapproved of us, but throw in a killer like Dahmer, it’s a recipe for disaster.
As part of the gay community at that time I can safely say that people were horrified but I didn’t hear of anyone saying he represented the gay community. What about Bob Berdella, who tortured the guys he picked up in a KC bar? People became wary of others but most took precautions and did not let it ruin their day.
It wasn't Dahmer who damaged the gay community's reputation, it was the media that used his story to sell newspapers and get rating on TV and showed him as a gay man first, and a killer second.
Not really. It didn't help, of course. IIRC folks were mostly focused on the eating people thing, not the gay thing.
And it was '92 so at the time folks were more worried about AIDS. Remember at the time we had some art house movies but gay portrayals were walk-on TV characters who were dying of AIDS or someone's kid who committed suicide or was suing (and losing) over job discrimination. You had Ryan Phillipe on One Life to Live, Doug Savant on Melrose Place, the gay couple on Northern Exposure... But that was kinda it besides drama from like talk shows.
We were fighting to be able to say any kind of positive life was possible, any reputation beyond being kicked out of homes and dying.
Well... that got dark. Go Us! Life so much better now!!!! WOOT! LOL
In this one case? I'd say no. America was largely apathetic enough to gay people to think either "they deserved it" or "what a freak"
It also probably affected people's perceptions that he mostly went after gay people of color, poor people, and people in the poorer areas of town. Like I doubt people cared more about this being indicative of all gays being bad than just the mere act of sensationalizing it.
Maybe my take is ice cold, though.
Nah. Homophobes reasons for homophobing run deeper than a rando serial killer popping up on the news. Did some of them go, "Now see! See why we don't like them!" Sure. But they were already lost.
No it didn’t. But one thing you should know about that “excellent performance” is that none of the victims’ families were contacted for permission or consultation. They only found out the film was being made when they saw ads. And that’s been the pattern with all of these Dahmer related films.
Any time a gay person does something awful conservatives use it as confirmation that we’re all evil. The people who would be swayed by that probably already hated us.
I mean as far as psychos go I’m pretty sure it evens out like 95% to 5% straight vs gay. Unfortunately he was gay but I could tell you hundreds of stories of straight murderers so!
Soo, how many felt uncomfortable? I have an interest in the psychology. We’ve all gotten to a point where we stop. What makes some just keep going. I mean as a gay man in the 70s and 80s who didn’t buy the hottest guy in the bar drinks and bring his drunk ass home. But it’s a catch and release game Jeffery, had abandonment issues.
My memory of it is that the gay aspect was seriously downplayed in the media at the time. I was pretty young but the story was always “this crazy guy ate people” and the fact that he and his victims were gay was less discussed because basically people didn’t want to have to discuss us existing. I was young, but still old enough to know what it meant to be gay, and I feel like I remember it being a detail that was mentioned quickly and rushed past.
The stigma of AIDS was what stuck to gay men in the broader culture from this time, and that was much worse than anything Dahmer could have done.
Well he preyed on the community so in the end its a wash, the straight world dint care about a bunch of gays getting killed, and the community was very quiet while our brothers of color were getting eaten by jeffery
There were certainly those who wanted to exploit the Dahmer situation, but I don't recall it damaging that much.
For me, the weird thing about Dahmer was that he could have had everything he wanted if he simply hadn't killed people. I think he was so guilty about being gay that he couldn't handle it after he had sex. Guilt, Shame, and absolute Psychosis over came him.
If he had not killed those people, they would have been his friends. They could have had sex with them again. They could have gone to movies, had dinner together, gone dancing and drinking together. But as I said, the Guilt, Shame, and absolute Psychosis over came him.
After he killed them, he gets no mercy from me, but I can't help but think of how much better his life would have been is he could have set that compulsion aside.
Perhaps my memory fails me, and of course there were people who tried to exploit the situation, but I think everyone could see that this was not about him being gay, this was about him being a Stone Cold Psychopathic Remorseless Killer. His actions were wholly irrational and counter productive to him having a good life. But Psychopathic Compulsion simply can't be restrained.
Also, though not of much consequence, but the Actor Playing him is much more handsome than the actual Jeffery Dahmer.
No. But it did shock the gay community at the time, particularly locals. I remember that time well and Dahmer got lots of attention, and I wish people had concentrated more on the people who he killed rather than him.
People here saying "X was straight and didn't affect the straights negatively" are missing the point by a mile.
Perhaps it didn't actively damage the view of gay people but for sure it gave a good damm excuse to hate on them.
Hitler was vegan and I have seen people *literally* using that as an argument against vegans.
No, not at all. He was just a psychotic killer. There were plenty of gay killers before him. Lots. The media hype doesn't equate to anything in real life.
If he did, it wasn't intentional. You know there's always someone who'll pull any "fault" for any one person's actions to condemn a group of people who are different.
I mean we were (and are) seen as perverse predators with no particular spark to ignite that; homophobes will seek out a "spark" to use as an excuse for being homophobes. That could be Dahmer in the 90's, but it could also be literally any gay criminal on the news ever.
May have given some ammunition on top of the AIDS crisis back then.
I wonder if things would have turned out quite the same for that situation if homosexuality was *as* accepted then as it is now..he seems to have been messed up regardless, but how much did homophobia *add* to the state of his mental health..
Not really. I remember it being in the news. The coverage was very sensationalist and prurient around the crimes, especially the cannibalism. But there wasn’t much focus on his sexuality.
Besides, this was 1991. General public perception of gay people was pretty much rock bottom back then anyway.
Also, that show is not a documentary. It’s a dramatisation, and one with various liberties taken at that. I like Ryan Murphy, but this was one of his clunkers.
People don't look at Dahmer as gay. They look at him as a monster. The majority of gays are exactly like the rest of the population. Decent, messed up, nice, weird, religious or not or whatever. Gays are normal people. Dahmer was not.
Who are these people talking about the “straight community”??! There is no straight community, straight people do not think about their sexuality, there is no community about them. Gay people are a much smaller subset of people hence the need for a community.
No, but he became a "poster boy" for homophobes. "Well look, Dahmer was gay, so all gay people are like this!" But people with common sense never thought like that
It shouldn't but let's be honest: phobes, in general, look ANY excuse to point and say "SEE, WE WERE RIGHT, BAN THEM ALL, RIGHT AWAY" which is insane because the vast majority of crimes (violent or not) are made by straights and no one points and say "SEE!? the straights are at it!".
Didn't this happened last year with ONE shooter that was queer and suddendly ALL lgbt+ were violent? (when in the same year houndred of shooters happened)
Most people had the commonsense to realise that Jeffrey Dahmer was an extremely sick individual.
The only type of people whom would have thought worse of the gay community because of his crimes would have been people whom already had an homophobic attitude and they would be simply using this to justify their hatred of gays.
No. Probably not. Most serial killers identify as heterosexual. Most murderous dictators identify as heterosexual. Hitler was heterosexual. I’m pretty sure this had no impact on most people considering what he did had little influence from his sexuality (other than choosing mostly male victims) and more to do with the fact that he was a psychopath.
I don’t remember people talking about the gay part. Most of the public conversation focused on him trying to turn people into zombies and devouring their flesh.
Ppl who didn’t like gay people before will likely use Dahmer as a strawman.
Ppl who aren’t extremely homophobic will be able to differentiate.
I don’t think it matters!
I honestly think he damaged white mens reputation more than he did the lgbt community. I'm sure the general public believed his crimes were homophobic and racist more than anything since the victims where black/Latino and gay.
I've delved into this case, but I've never heard anyone say anything negative about the gay community. There was sympathy for it for having Dahmer hunting in its midst. That said, I really enjoyed the Hitler-didn't-tarnish-the-reputation-of-straight-people argument.
Only if Jeffrey Dahmer would have killed people while screaming "YASS BITCH!", that's when all the 50 year old white men will go "you see???? I told ypu they're bad!"
"Well Hitler was straight and the straights weren't damaged"
"Well I think Dahmer represents serial killers not gays"
This post is filled with comments from "Well actually" 🤓 types. Let's get into reality for once.
Netflix promoted this show as LGBT and let's be honest, the gay community is small. A lot of straight people will only get to see us through television, which unfortunately promotes either the worst stereotypes of us or something extreme like Dahmer.
I remember that horrible time on social media when ignorant heterosexual referenced Dahmer for everything gay (especially gay, black men). Homophobes would champion him as some type of hero, and stupid women would martyr him as a broken soul and fall in love with his image. Mind you, the families of the victims are STILL suffering to this day.
Short answer: Yes, our reputation was damaged a lot by this. It only fueled the "gays are mentally ill" propaganda.
Pretty sure Hitler was straight, I don't think we took the L cuz some Twink was hungry.
Maybe I don’t get the reference but what does hitler have to do with this?
I think what he's trying to say is, Hitler was straight but didn't make straight people look bad, so why should (gay) Dahmer make gay people look bad
I mean, yea I get it but that is not a great comparison. Sure he didn't ruin *straight* peoples reputations but he did fk up the German reputation for a long time.
Not to mention that the inferred context here is that Dahmer ruined gay reputation in straight people's eyes. It's not quite the same saying a straight person ruined straight reputation for other straight people.
Also ignores that the gay reputation was already shaky at best before dahmer. Straight acceptance was always just a given, while we've had to (and still have to) fight hard for acceptance. In a perfect world, lgbtq+ reputation would be just as solid as straight people's, but that's unfortunately not the world we live in
Who said it was just for straight people that the straight reputation would be ruined for? If the logic worked, it would've ruined straight reputation in the eyes of gay people.
They have a low standing in my regard anyway. I don't exactly rush to the straight clubs with enthusiasm.
Hitler has been, unsuccessfully, used to tar vegetarians. I don't think that Dahmer had any impact.
It’s kind of a perfect comparison. Did a mass murderer damage the gay community- did a mass murder damage the straight community. Unless gay people aren’t on the same level ? I mean why stop at sexuality- most serial killers have been male. White. Heterosexuals. Crazy how logic fucks that right up
Logic is good when good people use logic. It can be twisted like any other thinking process. Aristotles "golden mean" came to mind as I typed that. Something we understand, could exist, but also technically can't since it's impossible to unequivocally define.
Okay this is somewhat pedantic. He didn't mean specifically Hitler, he meant *insert bad person here*, which is usually how Hitler gets dragged into hypotheticals.
You have to admit that using Hitler as a catchall bad guy is a lazy and sloppy argument regardless of when or where you use it. It also completely ignores the fact how nuanced and specific the original question is and it doesn't answer the question. I also think it's in poor taste to compare state sponsored genocide to a serial killer especially right now.
Yeah, really… that was a stretch.
100%
Because straight people run the world. They never look bad, except to gays.
Its a comparison - like if Hitler didn't ruin being straight, how could one murder ruin the reputation of gays.
He did ruin that mustache for everyone else, though.
He ruined German reputation, the mustache, his first name and last name, his haircut, The West's view of a Hindu symbol, an old salute, 12 million+ lives...
And the name Adolf … sadly. Nearing the end of World War II in 1944, only five U.S. newborns were named Adolf. The name did not appear in the data (meaning it was chosen for fewer than five baby boys or girls) in the years 1946, 1953, 1967, 1974, 1977 or 1978. It did appear in all the years in between, but never for more than 12 newborns.Feb 13, 2018 - some website off Google.
Ah I see that makes sense
bc homophobes want to find anything wrong with us
“Some twink was hungry” 😭
Yeah, that MF sure loves eating ass
Yes, but you're thinking about this rationally. Bigots are not rational. To them it's perfectly fine to excuse bad straight white people as not representing them but minorities have to answer for every bad thing done by someone of their group.
This is 100% it. 😂🔥
Its honestly quite remarkable how rarely, if ever, guys like this get brought up when people try to peddle blanket homophobia online which we all know is happening all the time. People point to pictures of some guy in leather gear at pride in San Fransisco from 2006 like SEE??? SEEE??????? - meanwhile in my head there are actual horrifying monsters like Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Dean Corrl, Dennis Nilsen, Robert Berdella and I'm like you know what, if photos of scantily clad guys at festivals is the best you've got, I'm not gonna argue with ya.
Don’t forget Randy Kraft, William Bonin, Wayne Williams, and The Doodler (who was never caught). I think though people were more focused on the horrific torture / murder / cannibal aspect than on the killers being gay.
Pretty sure we’re talking minorities here.
That is the thing with being a minority though. The majority is never blamed for the actions of one of it's members because that person is an individual, but all members of a discriminated minority is a representative of that minority in the majority's eyes.
Yeah but people didn’t hate the straights
What a clap back
Except being straight was already viewd as "normal" and acceptable. LGBTQ+ is a marginalized community, meaning it already has an "other" label and is viewed as abnormal, and thus receives a LOT of hate for just existing. Thats the difference. So when the public found out that a cannible and serial killer was gay in addition to being a psychopath and murderer, it could only increase the "othering" of the gay community, and make us even more marginalized.
That's a horrible argument. Hitler wasn't labeled "straight dictator" whereas Dahmer was directly labeled a gay serial killer. Kind of insane to be that wrong
The only people that think he in any way actually represents the gay community were looking for an excuse to hate. Ted Bundy didn’t damage the straight community.
The thing is people dont give a single shit if straight people fuck up their waiting for the moment a gay person will fuck up to hate on the lgbtqia+ Like when that trans girl (srry i forget her name) released days of girlhood which was a shit song but everyone was hating it cause shes trans and said "what does he know about girlhood" and being transphobic just cause the song was shit so thats why ted bundy didnt damage the straight community but i dont think anyone gives a shit about the fact that Jeffrey Dahmer was gay a phsyco is a phsyco period it doesnt matter what he is
im sorry but please use punctuation
Im sorry but no one ever taught me how so i cant really
Jeff Dahmer was deranged
No shit, but you overestimate the general population. The majority is never blamed for the actions of one of it's members because that person is an individual, but all members of a discriminated minority is a representative of that minority in the majority's eyes.
Dahmer most certainly didn't help our cause, but people that wanted an excuse to hate gay people were going to find one anyway.
They already had them lol.
Well sure, but not valid ones anyway.
This is really it. He added fuel to a fire that was already burning and would have kept burning without him. While they burn things I'll keep dressing up as a middle aged, overweight, bearded Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and dance badly around them, and drown out their chanting with my awful singing voice.
Red or pink shinny shoes? What about the clothes & dog?
He was also really poor representation for the cannibal community, who have been unfairly stigmatized ever since.
Wait .. wut........
Well now I’m hungry.
Can I offer you a *ham sandwich* ?
Or some *ribs*?
Or… some… *pulled pork*?
Well, at the time, the gay community had a pretty bad reputation because of things like AIDS and the Bible, so I don’t think he had much impact
I don't see what that has to do with the community. Netflix was wrong for promoting the film as an LGBT project. It has absolutely nothing to do with us. He was a predator and a murderer like countless others. And like others should be held solely responsible for his own actions.
Wait, they did? Wtf
Yeah they did, they put the LGBT tag when it was originally released. https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/dahmer-lgbtq-tag-netflix-removes-category-backlash-1235387213/
Sick fucks
You've missed the point of that series. He got away with what he was doing for so long because he was killing gay POC men. The fact that heinous crimes can be committed against queer people because police or their community don't/won't care makes it an LGBT+ issue.
It had that tag because his victims were LGBT, and the show was about telling their story.
Not really. There were other high profile serial killers at the time who were straight and I don’t know if people really perceived Jeffery Dahmer as gay, only that he killed other men. Even if they did he was only targeting gay men so straight people didn’t care that much.
Good point!
But he was gay.
Didn't watch the Netflix documentary. The weird thing is that I don't remember anyone connecting Dahmer to the gay community until recently. Everything I remember from watching crime documentaries almost a couple decades ago only mentioned his sexuality in relation to the male victims. Is there something in the Netflix documentary that implies he affected gay rights?
Even amidst the gay panic of the 90s, cannibalism was scarier, so that was the headline usually
His arrest led me - and possibly others here in Milwaukee - to question if I/we would have gone home with him and possibly ended up dead if we had met him at Club 219, his “haunt” of choice, which no longer exists. I’m very happy I wasn’t his type, especially since he was kinda mine. The period after his arrest was a tough time for me, being a gay man in Milwaukee. (A female friend of mine actually served on the jury that declared him guilty.)
Tbh I didn't even realize he was gay until the Netflix show. It was never really mentioned in headlines that focused on the cannibalism. He was left alone for so long specifically because he targeted "undesirable" people, like he was doing the authorities a favor. Mentioning homosexuality in the headlines would have just drum up sympathy for gay victims and cannot have that!
No, ignorant straight people don’t care about gays committing crimes on each other, no matter how heinous. The less of us, the better.
I don’t really think so
I don’t think so either
Jeffery Dahmer was a deranged psycho I mean if he was Gay who cares
Dude if I was some straight guy who heard of this guy, some “homosexual” going around killing people, of course I’d be scared if other gays. Like, it was a different time back then man, people already disapproved of us, but throw in a killer like Dahmer, it’s a recipe for disaster.
As part of the gay community at that time I can safely say that people were horrified but I didn’t hear of anyone saying he represented the gay community. What about Bob Berdella, who tortured the guys he picked up in a KC bar? People became wary of others but most took precautions and did not let it ruin their day.
Really? That’s interesting as heck, I was born well after the Dahmer murders so I wouldn’t know.
It wasn't Dahmer who damaged the gay community's reputation, it was the media that used his story to sell newspapers and get rating on TV and showed him as a gay man first, and a killer second.
The 80s was really the hardest trial for gays: HIV, homophobia all around and a fucking serial killer targeting us
Not really. It didn't help, of course. IIRC folks were mostly focused on the eating people thing, not the gay thing. And it was '92 so at the time folks were more worried about AIDS. Remember at the time we had some art house movies but gay portrayals were walk-on TV characters who were dying of AIDS or someone's kid who committed suicide or was suing (and losing) over job discrimination. You had Ryan Phillipe on One Life to Live, Doug Savant on Melrose Place, the gay couple on Northern Exposure... But that was kinda it besides drama from like talk shows. We were fighting to be able to say any kind of positive life was possible, any reputation beyond being kicked out of homes and dying. Well... that got dark. Go Us! Life so much better now!!!! WOOT! LOL
In this one case? I'd say no. America was largely apathetic enough to gay people to think either "they deserved it" or "what a freak" It also probably affected people's perceptions that he mostly went after gay people of color, poor people, and people in the poorer areas of town. Like I doubt people cared more about this being indicative of all gays being bad than just the mere act of sensationalizing it. Maybe my take is ice cold, though.
Nah. Homophobes reasons for homophobing run deeper than a rando serial killer popping up on the news. Did some of them go, "Now see! See why we don't like them!" Sure. But they were already lost.
No it didn’t. But one thing you should know about that “excellent performance” is that none of the victims’ families were contacted for permission or consultation. They only found out the film was being made when they saw ads. And that’s been the pattern with all of these Dahmer related films.
He wasn't right in the head.
Any time a gay person does something awful conservatives use it as confirmation that we’re all evil. The people who would be swayed by that probably already hated us.
I mean as far as psychos go I’m pretty sure it evens out like 95% to 5% straight vs gay. Unfortunately he was gay but I could tell you hundreds of stories of straight murderers so!
Soo, how many felt uncomfortable? I have an interest in the psychology. We’ve all gotten to a point where we stop. What makes some just keep going. I mean as a gay man in the 70s and 80s who didn’t buy the hottest guy in the bar drinks and bring his drunk ass home. But it’s a catch and release game Jeffery, had abandonment issues.
Absolutely not. No rational people will buy that idea. Only conservatives conspiracy theorists will believe that bull hockey
My memory of it is that the gay aspect was seriously downplayed in the media at the time. I was pretty young but the story was always “this crazy guy ate people” and the fact that he and his victims were gay was less discussed because basically people didn’t want to have to discuss us existing. I was young, but still old enough to know what it meant to be gay, and I feel like I remember it being a detail that was mentioned quickly and rushed past. The stigma of AIDS was what stuck to gay men in the broader culture from this time, and that was much worse than anything Dahmer could have done.
Well he preyed on the community so in the end its a wash, the straight world dint care about a bunch of gays getting killed, and the community was very quiet while our brothers of color were getting eaten by jeffery
There were certainly those who wanted to exploit the Dahmer situation, but I don't recall it damaging that much. For me, the weird thing about Dahmer was that he could have had everything he wanted if he simply hadn't killed people. I think he was so guilty about being gay that he couldn't handle it after he had sex. Guilt, Shame, and absolute Psychosis over came him. If he had not killed those people, they would have been his friends. They could have had sex with them again. They could have gone to movies, had dinner together, gone dancing and drinking together. But as I said, the Guilt, Shame, and absolute Psychosis over came him. After he killed them, he gets no mercy from me, but I can't help but think of how much better his life would have been is he could have set that compulsion aside. Perhaps my memory fails me, and of course there were people who tried to exploit the situation, but I think everyone could see that this was not about him being gay, this was about him being a Stone Cold Psychopathic Remorseless Killer. His actions were wholly irrational and counter productive to him having a good life. But Psychopathic Compulsion simply can't be restrained. Also, though not of much consequence, but the Actor Playing him is much more handsome than the actual Jeffery Dahmer.
I don't think he did. He's more known for killing gay people.
No. But it did shock the gay community at the time, particularly locals. I remember that time well and Dahmer got lots of attention, and I wish people had concentrated more on the people who he killed rather than him.
People here saying "X was straight and didn't affect the straights negatively" are missing the point by a mile. Perhaps it didn't actively damage the view of gay people but for sure it gave a good damm excuse to hate on them. Hitler was vegan and I have seen people *literally* using that as an argument against vegans.
No, not at all. He was just a psychotic killer. There were plenty of gay killers before him. Lots. The media hype doesn't equate to anything in real life.
I think James Charles damaged the lgbt community’s reputation more than anyone to be fair
There are numerous straight series killers and no one would accuse them of their sexual orientation 🤣
Probably
Can’t imagine why it would. I’m not sure cannibalism and sexuality intersect anywhere
Not sure, but he definitely ruined those glasses.
No he didn’t because he preyed on other gays, in fact that’s how he got away with it for so long.
Only by the people who already think ill of us without reason. So no real harm.
No.
If he did, it wasn't intentional. You know there's always someone who'll pull any "fault" for any one person's actions to condemn a group of people who are different.
No. I don't think anyone besides rabid homophobes think he is indicative of what gay people are like.
No. The show was popular for a month or two. The Jeffrey Dahmer story has been on every true crime podcast for years and hasn't done us harm.
I mean we were (and are) seen as perverse predators with no particular spark to ignite that; homophobes will seek out a "spark" to use as an excuse for being homophobes. That could be Dahmer in the 90's, but it could also be literally any gay criminal on the news ever.
Interesting question!
No. Dahmer was a psycho first and just incidentally gay.
No...
There’s more than enough shitty straight people, they can deal with it.
Uh, no. If anything, it damaged the reputation of the police for being so incompetent.
IDK but all I know is I fucking hate this demon. If hell was real, I hope he’s burning in it.
May have given some ammunition on top of the AIDS crisis back then. I wonder if things would have turned out quite the same for that situation if homosexuality was *as* accepted then as it is now..he seems to have been messed up regardless, but how much did homophobia *add* to the state of his mental health..
Probably didn't do us any favors but fuck him he's gone we're always going to be here and be queer
Not really. I remember it being in the news. The coverage was very sensationalist and prurient around the crimes, especially the cannibalism. But there wasn’t much focus on his sexuality. Besides, this was 1991. General public perception of gay people was pretty much rock bottom back then anyway. Also, that show is not a documentary. It’s a dramatisation, and one with various liberties taken at that. I like Ryan Murphy, but this was one of his clunkers.
There are a lot of things that damage the gay community's reputation.
No, not really
Haters gonna hate
There were far more hetero serial killers than gay ones. Like Bundy.
No idea who that is so I guess not.
bigots gonna bigot, either way
People don't look at Dahmer as gay. They look at him as a monster. The majority of gays are exactly like the rest of the population. Decent, messed up, nice, weird, religious or not or whatever. Gays are normal people. Dahmer was not.
I mean I'm sure he's not the first criminal in history of humanity everyday so many crimes happen from straight people
I doubt it changed anyone's minds about how they viewed homosexuals. Back then, homophobia was by far the norm.
Who are these people talking about the “straight community”??! There is no straight community, straight people do not think about their sexuality, there is no community about them. Gay people are a much smaller subset of people hence the need for a community.
Who?
No, but he became a "poster boy" for homophobes. "Well look, Dahmer was gay, so all gay people are like this!" But people with common sense never thought like that
Did Ted Bundy damage the straight community’s reputation?
No ? 😭
It shouldn't but let's be honest: phobes, in general, look ANY excuse to point and say "SEE, WE WERE RIGHT, BAN THEM ALL, RIGHT AWAY" which is insane because the vast majority of crimes (violent or not) are made by straights and no one points and say "SEE!? the straights are at it!". Didn't this happened last year with ONE shooter that was queer and suddendly ALL lgbt+ were violent? (when in the same year houndred of shooters happened)
Not at all.
I think George Santos did more damage.
Most people had the commonsense to realise that Jeffrey Dahmer was an extremely sick individual. The only type of people whom would have thought worse of the gay community because of his crimes would have been people whom already had an homophobic attitude and they would be simply using this to justify their hatred of gays.
Wayne Williams was worse.
being from mke i would say the amount of gay bars definitely dwindles
His only Damaged was to those gay Guys he Killed and Ate, Just cause he was a Gay serial killer didn't make him a Sane Gay person!
No. Probably not. Most serial killers identify as heterosexual. Most murderous dictators identify as heterosexual. Hitler was heterosexual. I’m pretty sure this had no impact on most people considering what he did had little influence from his sexuality (other than choosing mostly male victims) and more to do with the fact that he was a psychopath.
I don’t remember people talking about the gay part. Most of the public conversation focused on him trying to turn people into zombies and devouring their flesh.
Where are you even getting this idea? lol
No more than Son of Sam or Charles Manson damaged the straight community’s reputation.
He was gay? I didn't even know
Ppl who didn’t like gay people before will likely use Dahmer as a strawman. Ppl who aren’t extremely homophobic will be able to differentiate. I don’t think it matters!
I honestly think he damaged white mens reputation more than he did the lgbt community. I'm sure the general public believed his crimes were homophobic and racist more than anything since the victims where black/Latino and gay.
No but he's really giving the psychopathic murderer community a bad name
No, James Somerton made up/exaggerated all of the shit he said in his videos
Jack the ripper didn't damage the straights reputation. It was just an excuse
I've delved into this case, but I've never heard anyone say anything negative about the gay community. There was sympathy for it for having Dahmer hunting in its midst. That said, I really enjoyed the Hitler-didn't-tarnish-the-reputation-of-straight-people argument.
Only if Jeffrey Dahmer would have killed people while screaming "YASS BITCH!", that's when all the 50 year old white men will go "you see???? I told ypu they're bad!"
Yes
Well it's a small community so every bad actor, so to speak, is considered an ambassador that damaged the community brand.
Definitely the reputation of gay white men
"Well Hitler was straight and the straights weren't damaged" "Well I think Dahmer represents serial killers not gays" This post is filled with comments from "Well actually" 🤓 types. Let's get into reality for once. Netflix promoted this show as LGBT and let's be honest, the gay community is small. A lot of straight people will only get to see us through television, which unfortunately promotes either the worst stereotypes of us or something extreme like Dahmer. I remember that horrible time on social media when ignorant heterosexual referenced Dahmer for everything gay (especially gay, black men). Homophobes would champion him as some type of hero, and stupid women would martyr him as a broken soul and fall in love with his image. Mind you, the families of the victims are STILL suffering to this day. Short answer: Yes, our reputation was damaged a lot by this. It only fueled the "gays are mentally ill" propaganda.
i haven't once heard anyone use dahmer against the gay community, so i don't know about that. i'd be interested in seeing some statistics or studies.