browngirl: (libertyjustice (clauclauclaudia))
browngirl ([personal profile] browngirl) wrote2010-03-02 11:20 am

"Johnny Weir responds to commentators who questioned his gender, example he sets"

If this journal were made of paper I would cut this article out and paste it in. So... that's what I'm doing.

Johnny Weir responds to commentators who questioned his gender, example he sets
(by Mandi Bierly)

"Johnny Weir held a press conference Wednesday in Vancouver to address remarks made by two veteran sports commentators during the Olympics suggesting that his fabulousness (our word) is a bad example of, and for, male figure skaters and joking that he should undergo a gender test."

The part I wanted most to remember:

"As you’ll hear him say in the two clips we’ve embedded, he’s not asking for an apology. He says he believes in free speech and wouldn’t want these men fired for expressing their opinion. (“I’ve heard worse in bathrooms and whatnot about me,” he quipped.) He just wants them to think before they speak — and to imagine the damage they could do to people like him and to generations of children whose parents may not give them the same freedom and support his did if they think their child will only be ridiculed for being who he or she is. “I would challenge anyone to question my upbringing and question my parents’ ideals and feelings about bringing up me and my brother, who’s completely different from me but taught very much the same way that I was,” Weir said."

"He summed up his message — ”I hope more kids can grow up the same way that I did and more kids can feel the freedom that I feel to be themselves and to express themselves” — and his belief that the concepts of masculinity and femininity are old-fashioned. “There’s a whole generation of people that aren’t defined by their sex or their race or by who they like to sleep with. I think as a person you know what your values are and what you believe in, and I think that’s the most important thing.”

*refrains from commentary on the phrase "this may not be politically correct, but..."*

The whole article is worth reading (though the comments contain assorted sorts of ignorance, as ever).

[identity profile] cappyhead.livejournal.com 2010-03-02 04:27 pm (UTC)(link)
I loves him very very much.

[identity profile] browngirl.livejournal.com 2010-03-03 03:04 am (UTC)(link)
He has won my fangirl heart.

[identity profile] karadin.livejournal.com 2010-03-02 04:32 pm (UTC)(link)
GO JOHNNY! He's a role model beyond his sport, IMHO.

[identity profile] browngirl.livejournal.com 2010-03-03 03:05 am (UTC)(link)
That's why I wanted to save this, exactly.

[identity profile] halleyscomet.livejournal.com 2010-03-02 05:23 pm (UTC)(link)
It's not often you see "class act" so nicely interwoven with "fabulous."

[identity profile] browngirl.livejournal.com 2010-03-03 03:05 am (UTC)(link)
He sparkles in so many different ways.

[identity profile] halleyscomet.livejournal.com 2010-03-03 03:51 pm (UTC)(link)
But he sparkles in a fabulous, manly way, not a wimpy way like those lame Twilight "vampires."

Sorry, I'm afraid for the next couple of months any mention of something "sparkling" will spark a knee-jerk reaction wherein I mock Twilight and it's emasculated, women hating protagonists. :)

[identity profile] browngirl.livejournal.com 2010-03-11 12:33 am (UTC)(link)
And that? Is perfectly fine with me. :D

*sends Eowyn to skewer Sparklebutt*
med_cat: (dog and book)

[personal profile] med_cat 2010-03-02 05:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Hear, hear!

[identity profile] browngirl.livejournal.com 2010-03-03 03:06 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah. :)

[identity profile] hitchhiker.livejournal.com 2010-03-02 06:43 pm (UTC)(link)
absolutely amazing thing for him to do

[identity profile] browngirl.livejournal.com 2010-03-03 03:07 am (UTC)(link)
*nod* Yes. I love the tack he took, not wanting an apology or retribution at all but pointing out the consequences of people's statements.

[identity profile] bikergeek.livejournal.com 2010-03-02 07:09 pm (UTC)(link)
A very dignified and classy response to an assholish comment. Go him.

[identity profile] otherdeb.livejournal.com 2010-03-02 10:31 pm (UTC)(link)
I saw the press conference on tv during the Olympics, and I was blown away by his response, especially his defending the right of the commentators to say what they wanted. Definitely a class act!
Edited 2010-03-02 22:31 (UTC)

[identity profile] emboline.livejournal.com 2010-03-02 10:36 pm (UTC)(link)
I am learning to really love this guy. Not so into the whole figure skating thing, but he is an amazing person who deserves respect for his ability to be himself despite the pressure to conform.

[identity profile] eustaciavye.livejournal.com 2010-03-02 11:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Indeed. I'm a huge skating fan but even if you don't give a shit about skating you've got to admire the guy. I should note he's been graciously handling media criticism since he was about 16 and doing it with more class than most older adults.

[identity profile] achinhibitor.livejournal.com 2010-03-03 02:30 am (UTC)(link)
OMG!!! A figure skater might be gay??? Next, someone will be telling me that women hockey players like drinking beer (http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/2010wintergames/Controversy+takes+some+shine+gold/2631173/story.html)!!!

[identity profile] browngirl.livejournal.com 2010-03-03 03:07 am (UTC)(link)
Shocking, I know.
(Man, what a party that must've been!)
brownbetty: (Default)

[personal profile] brownbetty 2010-03-03 02:44 pm (UTC)(link)
I know, I love that it's an OMG controversy.

My mother, (clearly a Canadian) asked, “Well, did they get cigar buts on the ice? Because then the reprimand is very understandable.”

Me: “From the Olympic committee? Just let the zamboni driver loose on them.”

[identity profile] achinhibitor.livejournal.com 2010-03-04 03:32 am (UTC)(link)
More seriously, there is this modern trend that to be an athlete, politician, or otherwise in the public eye, you must be an exemplary human being in all ways. Whereas not too many decades ago, it was understood that you would choose your occupation as much by your character flaws as by your skills. In this case, someone is dumping on Johnny Weir for not living up to his standards of masculinity. But Johnny Weir isn't running for Mr. Universe, he's doing something damned close to ballet on ice. (And when did we lose the principle that the attraction of a career in journalism was its compatibility with alcoholism?)

Perhaps the ne plus ultra of this silliness is Tiger Woods. As far as I can tell, his body count is at least an order of magnitude less than JFK's, and nobody thought that got in the way of JFK being president. (And LBJ was mightily annoyed that JFK had more of a reputation for being a horndog than he did.)

... grumble, grumble, the kids these days, grumble ...

[identity profile] achinhibitor.livejournal.com 2010-03-03 02:31 am (UTC)(link)
More seriously, I had to look up Johnny Weir to see who he is. I ran into this tidbit:
Death threats from animal rights activists also forced Weir to alter his housing arrangements for the Vancouver Olympics.

[identity profile] browngirl.livejournal.com 2010-03-03 03:08 am (UTC)(link)
Well, I never got the impression that figure skating was your sport. But it's a good thing Google's here for us, isn't it?

[identity profile] achinhibitor.livejournal.com 2010-03-04 03:23 am (UTC)(link)
I'm not much into sports, but I did watch a reasonable sample of the Winter Olympics. There was one figure skater (or perhaps ice dancer, I don't know the idfference) who got some rerun time -- his physical control was absolutely perfect.
gingicat: deep purple lilacs, some buds, some open (confused/stressed - tangled-up kitten)

[personal profile] gingicat 2010-03-03 12:47 pm (UTC)(link)
And...
ext_12246: (Default)

[identity profile] thnidu.livejournal.com 2010-03-03 03:08 am (UTC)(link)
W.
T.
G.
!!!

[identity profile] browngirl.livejournal.com 2010-03-03 03:09 am (UTC)(link)
*grin* Yeah. :) This was definetely news that made me happy.

Re: Ahem

[identity profile] browngirl.livejournal.com 2010-03-03 12:40 pm (UTC)(link)
*beams*

To put him in a post with those pants -- that's high and deserved praise indeed!