My Farmer's Not Gay, Is Yours?

Others have noted The New York Times' laughably tardy foray yesterday into reporting on real-life women whose husbands later come out as gay, a la Brokeback Mountain.

But as an alert reader pointed out, there was a curiously gay-unfriendly reference near the top of the article.  After relating the story of Amy Jo Remmele, a rural Minnesota woman who was divorced from her husband after she discovered his Gay.com profile, reporter Katy Butler then includes this seemingly gratuitous line:

"Mrs. Remmele — now married to a farmer who raises cattle, corn and soybeans — is one of an estimated 1.7 million to 3.4 million American women who once were or are now married to men who have sex with men."

If Ms. Butler doesn't toe the Times' GLBT line a little more carefully, she could find herself yanked from the Old Pink Lady's gay beat.

I suppose it's germane that Mrs. Remmele is now remarried, but that bit about "a farmer who raises cattle, corn and soybeans"?  Are we to think that she is somehow less likely to wind up with a gay man because her hubby is some strapping pastoralist stereotype who's out bucking bales of hay every day?  Perhaps she could have made her point more clearly by writing: "Mrs. Remmele — now married to a farmer who puts his penis into her vagina every day ..."

Obviously, Ms. Butler didn't see Brokeback Mountain, because if it taught us nothing else, it was that cowboys are all humping each other like ferrets.

[Note: There is at least a thin mist of sarcasm hovering over this post.]

Comments

[North Dallas Thirty]

Question: is the sarcasm in response to the topic, or to the reaction to the topic?

Personally, I could care less what Ms. Remmele's husband raises, but I don't find it particularly offensive or unfriendly that it was included.

And, for the fiftieth time, the individuals shown in Brokeback were not cowboys. They herded sheep, not cattle. :)

[Malcontent]

I think I'll leave my meaning intentionally opaque. It can be a subject for future homologists to discuss. :-)

[T]he individuals shown in Brokeback were not cowboys. They herded sheep, not cattle. :)

Allow me to quote from the story by Annie Proulx:

Ennis said he'd been putting the blocks to a woman who worked part-time at the Wolf Ears bar in Signal where he was working now for Stoutamire's cow and calf outfit ...

And as you'll probably recall, Jack was at least an aspiring "cow"boy:

"You won't catch me again," said Jack. "Listen. I'm thinkin, tell you what, if you and me had a little ranch together, little cow and calf operation, your horses, it'd be some sweet life. ..."

[North Dallas Thirty]

LOL....but, counterpoint, it doesn't say he was herding cattle, just working for the outfit. Obviously, Ennis was mucking out stalls and driving the feed wagon. :)

As for future homologists, that's a scary thought.....can you imagine what people will be thinking about us when they dig up our blogs in about 50,000 years or so?

[hank]

I read that article yesterday, and thought it was odd that they mentioned farming and soybeans. but even stranger that they failed to say if those numbers (pretty HUGE numbers) repersented "to date", or "per year" or wharever. Also, the difference between 1.7 million and 3.4 million is a pertty big gap.

[Jamie]

Why, yes, my cowboy IS gay.

You're all jealous, aren't you, beeeetches? =)

Did I mention he used to model, too?

[Diane]

I just want to know why the hell that article was in the Health & Fitness section.

[Josh]

Do ferrets really hump that much?

[mjames]

Diane -

Because you have to be healthy and fit to herd sheep/cattle/work for the outfit?

[Malcontent]

Josh: How about "weasel-like mammals"?

[Mike]

"Married to a farmer who doesn't raise eyebrows or men's pulses..."