Context matters, I only saw a few minutes of the Globes - I don't have tv - but even I know that there were a bunch of jokes about prosthetics, prosthetic penii in particular. I'm pretty sure Leto was riffing on that theme and not making light of what it means to be transgender. Also the goal-post moving that means that saying "transgendered" makes someone a bigot is fucking ridiculous. It makes your friends into your enemies instead of going after your actual enemies.

Sean Penn and Heath Ledger are/were two good examples of actors capable of playing gay with dignity and grace, and I guess James Franco (but not Jake Gyllenhaal. That guy couldn't gay panic fast enough on the talk show circuit). Also, her performance didn't get a lot of lasting attention, but Felicity Huffman managed not to embarrass everybody in the media with Trans America. But yeah, this shouldn't be a class of actor we're capable of counting on one hand.

I can see the offense that may have been taken by Douglas' comment, although it's reaching. Leto however is guilty of nothing. Except perhaps bringing sympathetic attention to a marginalized community.

I'll let the comments from the Salon article do the talking:

"How ridiculous. Way to TRY your hardest to find something offensive to complain about."

"The LGBT community should be thankful these films were made at all, and that Leto, McConaugey, Douglas, Damon lent their prestige and worked diligently at difficult roles taking professional risks. At least the Globes gave them awards and further PR for the LGBT cause. What has the LGBT community done to say "thanks" ?"

"Oh spare me your artificial outrage Daniel. I only saw Leto's speech and it wasn't at all homophobic, DBC was a very serious film about a difficult topic, all Jared did was try to conjure up some humor out of the film rather than act like some holy matriarch for AIDS and transexuals. Grow a sense of humor."

"Salon has got to quit with these articles. I guess they're working. I'm commenting and I gained them a click, but they are journalistic garbage. Salon has gotten soooo preachy and full of fake outrage. Anything a person in the public eye says is now at risk of Salon's high-horse scorn. Keep your mouth shut, America or you too could be a bigot."

"I too am outraged. Over the fact that every nuance of my disgust with this article has been covered by almost every other commenter so far."

I will say that "Jared Leto and Michael Douglas, two men who date women," is some shade-driven phrasal politesse I'm gonna have to mull over.

OOOOOH duh, it's D'Addario, hence the outrage-bait shade.

What did McConaughey do beyond looking stoned and riffing on his Dazed and Confused persona? "Allllllright alllllllright alllllright. That's why I like the Golden Globes. I get older, and they stay the same age..."

would some one explain to me why kissing a man on the lips, affecting a swish and a lisp, or wearing clothes originally designed for women, is so damn difficult ? particularly for an actor ?

@4: "I'll let the comments from the Salon article do the talking:

...

The LGBT community should be thankful these films were made at all, "

Those comments do speak wonders. Gay and transgender persons aren't lapdogs that should enjoy every stale crumb of feigned respect you drop from your table.

@9 Actually, these films do damn important things for the LGBT community. For people under the age of 18, the AIDS is a problem in Africa, not a disease that decimated the gay community. Many people today have a hard time remembering that at one point AIDS was a death sentence and that being gay was something that people hid their entire life.
Admittedly, trans people can legitimately complain that DBC lumped them in with LGB issues rather than seeing them as distinct. But rather than point that out, you complain that it wasn't perfect and is therefore an insult.

Agree with most commenters...this smells like outrage invention, done for the sake of clicks.

@11: If you want to say that the movies have done great things re:awareness, that's fine. If you want to say that persons should grovel for these things without ever complaining about disrespect (as per those "positive" comments from Salon) that's where things get cringey.

Hard to beat how Jim Carrey handled Letterman: http://www.queerty.com/jim-carrey-not-en…

They've taken the video down, but the article captures it.

God damn. It is true: The Right wing seeks converts. The Left wing seeks traitors.

@15: The difference here is that the "Right" wants numbers, progressives actually want persons who call themselves that to be forward thinking and of good character. Crazy, I know.

I don't shun people I know for fucking up, but definitely for persons who think I'd be "unreasonable" for disliking repeat at-their-expense homophobic and transphobic jokes.

What would be reasonable would be linking to the actual comments in question each individually - since they were on video and easily linkable - so people could then judge what was actually said in context.

Rather than, you know, this contextless lumping Leto and McConaughey together with Douglas (whose statements were at an entirely different event) in one huge third-hand outrage pile.

But I suppose in the age of easy internet sanctimony I have an old outdated idea of constitutes as reasonable.

If it's as presented, it's crappy. But I'm not worrying about it enough and jumping deep into outrage, nobody's being "ejected from the progressive movement", an article states that actors participated on some level in what appears to be mockery towards gay and trans persons.

There's no thoughtcrime, no witch hunt, no inquisition, just "this sounds shitty as stated." Doesn't stop you from falling all over yourself to compare us to purity-test conservatism, of course.

Neither speech sounded particularly hateful to me. Douglas' sounded maybe a bit clueless in tone, but the guy's 70.

Who said anything about "hate"?

Serious business.

@8 the acting difficulty is portraying that type of person without becoming a stereotype or caricature of them, the career difficulty is in making sure you don't get typecast.

@22: The former is definitely part of the craft, but question- Has any straight actor, ever been "typecast" as gay for playing a gay role?

If the worry is that people might think he's gay in his personal life, homophobic jokes to "deflect" really do take away from the perceived "braveness" of taking on the role.