Dan Savage defends the ill-advised nature of his mocking of Marcus Bachmann:
Gay people who point out how fruity Bachmann is aren't saying there's something wrong with being fruity, or gay, or with guys who look, speak, walk, or dance the way Bachmann does. A lot of us look, speak, walk, and dance that way. And we don't think there's anything wrong with us for looking, speaking, walking, or dancing that way—I've never met a gay man who objected to Modern Family's Cam. And we certainly don't think there's anything wrong with being gay. But Marcus Bachmann sure does. He thinks there's a whole lot wrong with being gay. When we point out that this same Marcus Bachmann acts like a huge homo—like a messy, married, dishonest, closeted version Cam—we're hoisting that pansy on his own hateful petard.
Marcus Bachmann is attacking us and we're we're claiming him. We're embracing him, we're saying that we recognize ourselves in him, and that turns the stigma Marcus Bachmann promotes back on Marcus Bachmann.
Not all jokes that work within a community work outside it. So while gays and lesbians might understand that mocking Bachmann as "fruity" isn't a value judgement on gays themselves, homophobes don't. What they understand is that "fruits" are to be mocked. And what they hear people like Savage saying is, "You're right."
