These Gay Men Are Partners, Not Predator and Victim

Twitter flips out over MP’s younger boyfriend

Selfie tweeted by UK MP Luke Pollard nearly a year ago, featuring himself and his partner. This photo attracted little attention.

Sometimes same-sex relationships have age gaps, just like straight relationships. It’s not the norm, but it happens. Often when older gay men have younger partners, people flip out in outrageously homophobic ways. Maybe they don’t realize how prejudiced their reactions are, but the disparities are striking and toxic.

Over the weekend, Twitter flipped out over a photo UK Labour MP Luke Pollard posted of himself and his younger partner. While many people offered congratulations, hundreds of Twitter users reacted with what I can only describe as nauseating levels of homophobia.

Homophobic reactions to gay partners with age gaps are ordinary

Here is a sample of some of the reactions on Twitter to the above photo. Please don’t think these comments are outliers. If you go to the thread, you’ll find hundreds more just like them. In a moment, I’ll tell you about other cases just like this one and about my own…