'Bachelor' Just Said Some Really Homophobic Stuff

I cannot tell you how much my head reels whenever someone makes ignorant and intolerant comments about the gay community. Except I will tell you, because it really bothers the crap out of me. Friday night, Bachelor Juan Pablo Galavis expressed his views against a gay Bachelor, discounting the possibility of having a gay or bisexual man on the show in the future. (UPDATE: ABC has issued a statement regarding Galavis' words, while Galavis has issued an apology, blaming a language gap for his words. Read it here.)

First of all, that was a big mistake. He’s absolutely entitled to his own opinion and has the freedom to convey it, but you’d think that after all the Duck Dynasty backlash, celebrities would have learned by now. Although not quite as insensitive as Phil Robertson’s interview was, Galavis admitted having gay men on the show would be “too strong… too hard to watch on TV,” to Sean Daly of The TV Page. “I respect them but honestly I don’t think it’s a good example for kids to watch that on TV,” Galavis said. “It’s hard… it’s hard. It’s a very thin line, you know?” No, I don’t know.

Before continuing his spiel, however, he proceeded to pull the “but I have gay friends” card by pointing out his friend Peter. Yet that didn’t stop him from dissing his peers anyway during his interview.

“You have to respect everybody’s desires of and way of living, and it would be too hard for TV,” Galavis said. “And there’s this thing about gay people that… it seems to me you know, and I don’t know if I’m mistaken or not, but...You know I have a lot of friends like that, but they’re more ‘pervert’ in a sense. And to me the show would be too strong… too hard to watch on TV.”

Wait, did he really use the term “pervert” when referring to his so-called friends?

In response to his comment about the show affecting children, how does he think it affects them now? That is, if they even watch The Bachelor. Yet even so, any child or adolescent who currently views the show is not receiving what one might consider a “normal” outlook on how love works. Dozens of women attempting to woo the same man, who, pretty much flirts and hooks up with most of them until he finds his perfect match, doesn’t seem like a good influence on children to me.

Plus, I’m not sure if you’re living in the age of the dinosaurs my friend, but gay men and women have appeared on TV shows across the world. In terms of reality TV shows, Big Brother Canada, Project Runway, Face Off, Ghost Hunters, Iron Chef America and The Real World are a mere few titles that have been welcoming to the LGBT community. As for fictional TV series, Pretty Little Liars, Modern Family, Girls, Glee, Orange Is the New Black, Scandal, American Horror Story, The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones have shown their acceptance of differing sexual orientations.

Once upon a time, Bill O'Reilly claimed that the "alternative lifestyles" shown on Glee would lead to gender-based experimentation and referred to those viewers as "dopey kids." Heed my warning, Galavis. You do not want to become an O'Reilly.

HBO is also set to premiere its new show, Looking, on Sunday, which follows the lives of three gay men. The fact that Looking was greenlit is not surprising because whether gay, straight, black or white, everyone should learn to co-exist with one another and be accepting of how the world works right now, even on TV. It’s 2014, people, so get with the program.

Galavis was the first minority Bachelor in the show’s 11-year history, according to NPR. That’s a milestone in and of itself, and yet he has no shame in taking opposition against other minorities. What is going on here? Sorry, Galavis, but that handsome face of yours isn’t going to dig you out of this one.

Images: Huffington Post