I must admit that no matter how old I get I never get used to jokes about sexuality or gender.  Even when I know the person and I know they mean no harm, it just gets right up my nose.  However, I have no problem when members of the community have good humored joke about each other.  Some of the best lesbian stand up, for example, is about u-hauling, truck driving lesbians and it’s hilarious.  Same goes for drag queens taking a dig at gay men.  For this reason I found Irish comedian Oliver Callan’s decision to come out very interesting.

Callan stars in RTE’s satirical radio show Green Tea where he caricatures some of Ireland’s best known personalities.  He has been accused of homophobia by including satires of the likes of David Norris and Louis Walsh in his show.  Last weekend on Saturday Night Show Callan came out, thus dashing any hope anyone had of calling him homophobic!  At least, that’s the thinking.  To be fair, I am not taking about a Tracy Morgan rant here, I am talking about attempted good fun.  But does that end the debate, is it ok for gays to go on TV or radio and mock other LGBT’s?

Take David Norris for example, Callan has gotten into trouble more than once for his camp portrayal of the senator, however, according to his interview over the weekend, Callan insists Norris loves his impersonation.

Personally I hate when the media feeds into the notion that all gay men are camp and all lesbians live in a house filled with cats and flannel shirts. I do, however, think people have to be able to laugh at honest humour and although it gets on my nerves, I really know in my heart that I need to cop on and realise that as long as it’s all in good fun and the comedian is laughing with us and not at us, that it’s all good, no matter what the sexuality of the joker is.  However, feeding into stereotypes will always make my blood boil, I just can’t help it.

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