Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 17:16:45 -0400
From: Gabo3@aol.com

New York Newsday - Thursday, April 13, 1995
SEEING RED OVER THE VELVET SLUR
by Gabriel Rotello

	New York - "I think it started at Studio 54 in the late 70s," Hollywood
super agent Sandy Gallin told Out Magazine last November. "Somebody must have
pointed to a group of people - and some of them could have been straight,
because Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager could have been there, and Bianca
Jagger and Diane Von Furstenberg are supposed to be a part of it - and said,
'Oh, there's the Velvet Mafia.'"
	Whoever started it, it stuck. These days it seems that whenever Gallin and
his powerful friends David Geffen, Barry Diller, Calvin Klein  and a few
others are mentioned, the phrase Velvet Mafia cannot be far behind. It became
especially prevalent recently, when Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner left
his wife for a male lover and it was widely reported that pressure from the
"Gay Mob," not straight editors' reticence, suppressed the story for weeks.
 	Although their accomplishments  may be sources of pride for many gay
people, these tycoons increasingly find themselves cast as members of a
nasty, vindictive, homosexual cabal that supposedly rules the entertainment
world with an iron swish. So before "Velvet Mafia" gets any further esconsced
in the lexicon of trendy phrases, let's stop and recognize it for what it is:
the 'in' homophobic slur of the '90s, a way to stigmatize powerful gay men as
'fags' and get away with it. 
	Gay people are hardly the first social underdogs to face the charge that
they themselves are conspirators and oppressors. Both Italian-Americans and
Jews have long labored under this kind of stigma, and it hardly seems
coincidental that most members of this latest supposed cabal are, in fact,
both gay and Jewish. If gays in general are new to this kind of slur, it's
probably because powerful homosexuals only recently came out of the closet.
But once they did, it didn't take long for the slimy epithets to start
slithering out after them. 
	An article in the current issue of Spy magazine is a classic example. Writer
Mark Ebner purports to "peek over the lavender walls of Tinseltown," where he
discovers nothing but a vicious old queen network of homosexual power,
conspiracy and sleaze. Think of the gay influence in Hollywood, he writes,
"as a Pink Curtain. Behind that curtain is a power so far-reaching it's
mind-boggling." He depicts an insidious conspiracy that includes everyone
from the LAPD to Micky Mouse. "Does anyone doubt the existence of a gay
influence" at Disney? Ebner gushes. "Five top executives, not to mention a
host of underlings, are all gay."
	Golly. Next thing you know, somebody's going to discover a Protocol of the
Elders of Queer buried under the Magic Kingdom.
	Of course, entertainment magnates aren't the only homosexuals said to be
just a tad too successful. A favorite fiction of the right is that gays are
richer than straights, and therefore could not possibly need legal
protection. When activists challenge this myth, it's argued that they are
responsible for it themselves. After all, don't upscale gay magazines trumpet
their subscribers' demographics and profile the few open gays in positions of
power? We've all heard of blaming the victim, but this has to be a rare
instance of blaming the victim for not appearing to be a victim! 
	In any event, there's a big difference between celebrating gay success
stories on the one hand and turning them into sinister conspiracies on the
other. Self made millionaires like Geffen and Gallin are indeed powerful, and
they probably gag at the rhetoric of victimhood that is so much a part of the
gay movement. But their being tarred with a criminal metaphor demonstrates
that even the most successful openly gay men in the world can't escape the
schoolyard slur. The phrases may change, but in the end "Velvet Mafia" is
just a post-modern version of "rich faggot." And just as offensive.

(Gabriel Rotello's column appears every Thursday in New York Newsday. He
email address is Gabo3@aol.com)