Billy Porter Is Not Trying to Eradicate Masculinity

You all can relax now.

I don’t have a screenshot of the tweet, but some woman retweeted a picture of Billy Porter’s amazing outfit at the Oscars and claimed the LGBTQ community had an agenda of erasing masculinity.

We’re not trying to get rid of your precious hunks in their sweaty wife–beaters and grey sweatpants. We’re not looking to make every man switch his bomber jacket and a fresh pair of Jordans with a nice, flowing dress. We’re not coming after masculinity at all.

What we are coming for is toxic masculinity.

You know, the kind that makes fathers beat their sons for showing feminine characteristics? What about the kind that makes young men feel like they can’t cry and have to bottle up their emotions? Did you forget about the kind that praises men for showing anger in destructive ways, yet berate women for showing any kind of anger?

We’re after the kind that let Kevin Hart say he’d break a doll house over his son’s head if he was gay. We’re after the masculinity that told men that joke was funny while kids are simultaneously being murdered if someone even suspects they’re raising a gay son. Kids and teens are abused, neglected, and even kicked out for not following society’s strict gender rules.