Anti-gay bullies are no joke

Americans seem to find a lot of entertainment value in watching celebrities destroy themselves. Witness, for example, the brisk ticket sales for Charlie Sheen's recent meltdown tour.

But even by that low cultural standard, Tracy Morgan's recent rant in Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium against gays and lesbians is just plain sad, if not pathetic to the point of causing a public nuisance.

Both he and the auditorium have since apologized. The best that might be said for the co-star of NBC's "30 Rock" and former "Saturday Night Live" cast member is that maybe he was trying to put his audience on with his June 3 rant. Maybe he was trying to play a black Archie Bunker and things -- like his mind -- went out of control.

Several audience members reportedly walked out when Morgan said homosexuality was a choice because, "God doesn't make a mistake." By the way, like others who argue that homosexuality is a choice, Morgan did not explain why homosexuals would want to make that choice, since it obviously exposes them to ostracism and abuse, especially from people like Morgan.

"Gay is something that kids learn from the media and programming," he said, sounding like the late Rev. Jerry Falwell's crusade against the Teletubbies.

He also scolded gays to stop "whining about something as insignificant as bullying." What if his son were gay? Morgan said he "better talk to me like a man and not in a gay voice or I'll pull out a knife and stab that little ----- to death."

Afterward, Tracy said in X-rated terms that he didn't care if he angered gays because "they can take a ... joke." Days later he was more contrite. He apologized profusely. He partnered with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. He met with homeless gay teens and a mother who lost her child to anti-gay violence. He swore up and down that he didn't have an anti-gay bone in his body.

So it goes. We've become so accustomed to such gaffe-and-apology rituals from various newsmakers that this one wouldn't be particularly noteworthy, except for another happenstance: Morgan's tirade leads a parade of celebrity gaffes that turned this year's LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) Pride Month into a pageant of gay-bashing with the stars.

There was singer Chris Brown, who apologized via Twitter for shouting "gay" among other epithets at photographers in Los Angeles. There was singer Cee Lo Green who apologized for scoffing "I'm guessing you're gay?" in a Twitter response to a critic's negative review.

Both episodes echoed Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant's apology and $100,000 fine for yelling anti-gay slurs at a referee in April. And let's not forget Chicago Bulls' Joakim Noah's $50,000 fine in May for directing a similar slur at a fan during the Eastern Conference Finals.

Sure, these folks are only entertainers. But if there's anything gay and lesbian teens don't need it is celebrities like Morgan, in particular, who make light of bullying and other harassment. High school can be hellish enough for teens, gay or straight, without TV stars cheering on the knuckleheads.

"I was beat up or taunted every day," a gay friend, now middle-aged, recalls of his four years in a mostly black high school on Chicago's South Side. "I think the worst part was feeling all alone. Not having anyone to talk to about it. Not even in my own family."

Stories like his helped me to understand why various studies show gay and lesbian teens are more likely to be bullied and commit suicide than their heterosexual peers.

It is also sadly significant that all of the above examples happen to be black Americans. A 2009 Pew Research Center poll, for example, found blacks (64 percent) to be more likely than whites (48 percent) or Hispanics (43 percent) to say homosexuality is morally wrong.

Sadly enough, a lot of those anti-gay attitudes often are encouraged by black churches. Pulpit declarations to "Hate the sin, love the sinner," too often encourage people to hate both.

With youth violence and HIV, among other plagues, troubling our communities, the religious institutions that historically led the fight for racial equality have important new bridges to build within the black community. Maybe Tracy Morgan can help.

Email Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page at cpage@tribune.com, or write to him c/o Tribune Media Services, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, N.Y. 14207.