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Kevin Spacey Doesn't Get To Distract From Assault Allegations By Playing The Gay Card

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In a report/interview with Buzzfeed, Star Trek: Discovery star Anthony Rapp shared a harrowing moment in his young life where, as he says, Hollywood star and Broadway actor Kevin Spacey attempted to have sex with him when Rapp was 14 years old.

In a statement in response to the allegation, Spacey acknowledges that the encounter could have occurred, but that he doesn't remember it if it did. He then takes the opportunity to declare that he chooses "now to live as a gay man", putting to bed decades of rumour and speculation as to his sexuality.

But this story isn't about his coming out; at least not that way. This is still the story of how Spacey tried to engage in sexual relations with a minor.

What Spacey does here is the most epic of manipulations — not just of public opinion, but of the media, in an attempt to detract from the true core of this story: that he has allegedly tried to come onto at least one young man who was below the legal age of consent.

Many media outlets will make the entire story about his decision to come out, but that is not what we should be focusing on.

The fact of the matter is that being out has not been important to Spacey ever before in his career. When it may have actually helped other LGBTQ people to see someone like them be successful, Spacey chose to remain in the closet for the sake of his career and comfort in the very homophobic environment of Hollywood.

It is worth noting that Rapp has been openly gay for decades, and has used his position to help as a visible gay man however he can.

The bottom line is that Spacey deciding to come out now points to a sinister motive. By considering the context of the situation, it seems like he hoped it would distract the media away from the facts of the story by confirming something they all knew for years, but could never officially say or comment on.

If this indeed was his aim, it is beyond heinous. He callously uses a moment that some find to be a difficult or tumultuous event as a smokescreen for alleged proclivities and actions, and in doing so, wilfully throws the entire gay community under the bus for personal gain.

His coming out statement not only belittles Rapp's allegations, but also actively uses two elements that have been conflated with homosexuality for years to detriment to the community and individuals living within: he suggests that being gay is a choice, and conflates homosexuality and paedophilia.

https://twitter.com/JackDRunyan/status/924858376835788800

For the record, there is no connection between homosexuality and being attracted to children or adolescents, but it is a stigma that has haunted the gay community for decades. However, Spacey brings up the ugly spectre of this so-called connection again between the lines of his statement by pointedly not acknowledging the reality of the allegation — that he came onto an underage boy —  and instead using his homosexuality to draw away from the truth of the matter. And the truth is, if these allegations are to be believed, that Spacey exhibited sexually predatory behavior against a minor — which is something quite independent of his nature as a gay man.

Of course, the LGBTQ+ community can see exactly what Spacey's aim was with this statement, and we are absolutely livid. The fact that he chose right now to express his sexuality speaks volumes. If being a part of the community didn't appeal to him before, we sure as hell do not care to be his barrier now.

https://twitter.com/mutateing/status/924904540146503680

Frankly, Spacey does not get to use being gay as a shield. He does not get to manipulate and hold up the LGBTQ+ community when it serves him, especially when it is to serve as avoidance from the real problem at hand.

https://twitter.com/jesswithsleeves/status/924936338629066752

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Joe GlassAbout Joe Glass

Joe Glass has been contributing to Bleeding Cool for about four years. He's been a roaming reporter at shows like SDCC and NYCC, and also has a keen LGBTQ focus, with his occasional LGBTQ focus articles, Tales from the Four Color Closet. He is also now Bleeding Cool's Senior Mutant Correspondent thanks to his obsession with Marvel's merry mutants. Joe is also a comics creator, writer of LGBTQ superhero team series, The Pride, the first issue of which was one of the Top 25 ComiXology Submit Titles of 2014. He is also a co-writer on Stiffs, a horror comedy series set in South Wales about call centre workers who hunt the undead by night. One happens to be a monkey. Just because.
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