why i love this image

okay, first off, this is not a real shirt. or wasnt when sir ian mckellen was at the anti-pope rally in hyde park in london. (they were protesting benedict xvi's policies on queers in the catholic church while he was visiting the uk) it initially read: 'some people are gay. get over it.' which i like as a slogan in and of itself. here is the story of how it got changed to what you see above. it has very little to do with what im about to say, except to point out that ian mckellen didnt intend any of the things that i am about to interpret from said t-shirt, because he did not make or wear such an item of clothing (tho it seems they are now available to purchase). if only the people who will be sporting them in the future would think about the shirt the way i do, as follows:

note, this goes on the assumption that you know about the 'get over it' campaign and that you first think of 'some people are gay' instead of 'im gandalf and magneto'. that reference in place, it says at least 4 things that i love. well, two things on two levels--

1) it says, look, im a gay man that has played at least two of the most iconic roles in film in the past decade and if you can respect me for what i do you can respect me for who i am.

2) it says, these two roles are as different as night and day and i can play both of them, so dont think you can type cast me (literally or figuratively) because im gay.

now, i will extrapolate off of these first two themes to come up with what i really want it to say:

3) it says, im so beyond needing to even say im gay cuz you should be over it already, so ill just reference two incredible roles ive played to remind you how it would be just as absurd for you to hate me for who i choose to fuck as it would be to hate me for who i choose to play.

4) it says, this conversation is way past sexuality, this conversation is about identity. and im identifying as not just one person, but two fantastically different people, not ordinary men but unbelievably powerful men, not even humans but super-humans, neither of them real people or even based in the real world. so, yes. i just took every single criterion for identity and brought each of them to an absolutely absurd level. ***isnt it about time you fucking got over it?!?***

and this, my friends, is why i love this image. i dont even care that it was photoshopped after the fact or that sir ian didnt know about it. i feel like we should all have a shirt like this, specific to us, that says everything we want to say about queerness (and non-queerness) and identity.

maybe mine should say: 'im peter pan, huck finn, and buddy glass. and ive got tits. how about them apples?'