Tough E-Nuff

So, over the weekend, two Marines were arrested for the assault of a gay man in Georgia.  Apparently, they thought the man was winking at him.  According to the man, he was squinting, and tried to tell them this.  With his back to the Marines, one of them punched him in the head and ran.  According to the USMC the Marines felt threatened.

Yes.  Two large and burly Marines felt threatened by what they thought was a gay man hitting on them by winking at them.  Okay, admittedly, I haven’t seen the gay guy they cold clocked in the back of the head and ran away from as he lay unconscious.  Maybe he was a hulking brute.  Maybe he was an expert in Karate.  Something that would leave two men, trained to be human killing machines (lethal even without a weapon), to feel threatened by a gay man winking.

And I’ve seen this a lot from guys who attack gays.  Guys who suffer from the “Gay Panic.”  They are all testosterone and “masculine.”  They are tough.  And they are terrified of the gays even looking at them slightly funny.  It causes violent fits of revulsion.  It would be funny if it were not so damn tragic.  They have to aggressively show they are straight.  TOTALLY STRAIGHT.  And if a gay man so much as expresses interest in them, they must hurl insults or fists.  I do not understand this.

Now, I get not being open to a gay relationship if you are a heterosexual.  I am not gay, so yeah, I have no interest or desire for it.  But it just doesn’t translate to something that needs to cause such fear and revulsion.  It is not some attack on my sexuality.  It is not a threat to me.  And for two men, again, trained to be weapons react in such a way is sad and pathetic.  I hold a Marine to a better standard than this.  I expect them to be able to handle being flirted with by someone they are not interested in with self control and respect.  I mean, if they thought a woman they were not interested in was harassing them, would they have punched her in the back of the head as well?

As an aside…I wonder…has it occurred to these guys that is how women might feel when a guy they have never met starts attempting to hit on them?  They might be uncomfortable?  Nervous?  Repulsed?  Of course not, the women are supposed to be flattered.