“On top of having ordinary sexual shame, and on top of having shame for being gay, the dignified homosexual also feels ashamed for every queer who flaunts his sex and his faggotry, making the dignified homosexual’s stigma all the more justifiable in the eyes of the straights. On top of that he feels shame about his own shame, the fatedness of which he is powerless to redress,” (Warner, 32).
Warner is stating that some homosexuals may not feel a sense of kinship with other homosexuals. In fact, Warner is saying that the behavior of homosexuals who embrace or parade their homosexuality may actually repel the homosexuals who do not share these characteristics. Warner’s statement reminds me of an episode of the television show “Glee”. In this particular episode, Kurt Hummel, a gay member of the glee club, is bullied by one of the boys on the football team named Dave Karofsky. To give some background, Kurt is openly gay and he dresses and acts in a flamboyant manner. The bullying continues until Kurt confronts Dave in the boys’ locker room. The confrontation reaches an apex when Dave kisses Kurt, a reaction that Kurt had not been expecting in the slightest. Kurt attempts to help Dave sort through his confusion and embrace his homosexuality, but Dave denies that anything happens and resumes bullying Kurt. This situation is very similar to the one that Warner describes. Dave, who is a football player and therefore perceived to be masculine and heterosexual, is perhaps jealous of Kurt, who is gay and is accepted as gay by other members of the community. Even more so, Kurt’s flamboyant dress and manner might suggest to Dave that if comes out then he too will be perceived as flamboyant. Though Warner is perhaps talking about already openly gay people, it certainly can apply to this situation between an openly gay person and a closeted person.