Rose McGowan Criticises Gay Community

[Main Pop Girl]

"Charmed" actress Rose McGowan has a bone to pick with the gay community -- but first she has an apology to make.

McGowan recently spoke with filmmaker Bret Easton Ellis on his podcast about sexism and misogyny, and the topic turned to her frustration with what she sees as a lack of support from the gay community for women's rights.

"I see now basically people who've fought for the right to stand on top of a float wearing an orange speedo and take molly (MDMA)," McGowan said. "And I see no help, and I see no paying it forward, and I have a huge problem with that. ... There are so many things to help and do, and I see no extending of a hand outside of the gay community to another community, and that's a problem for me."

She also said that "gays are as misogynistic (as straight men), if not more so. ... I have an indictment of the gay community right now; I'm actually really upset with them."

Some have turned to Twitter with criticism of the actress, saying McGowan's observation doesn't hold water.

Twitter user J. Kimball Currier told McGowan: "I fought for the right to marry the person I love, not to take drugs in speedos on a parade float. That's spite, plain & simple."

When the backlash poured in, McGowan took to Twitter, in addition to posting opinion pieces in The Advocate and The Huffington Post, with an apology and a clarification.

"I made a dumb generalization, and for that I apologize," she said in her opinion piece. "For everything else I said, no, I will not."

"Where does it say that because of a man's sexual preference, I don't get to point out character defects?" McGowan continued. "When equal pay for women was voted down by every male Republican there was no LGBT outcry. I wondered why that was? After all, lesbians are women, this affects them, too, right? Misogyny infuriates men, and it endangers me as a human."

To be clear, "Gay men certainly aren't MORE misogynistic than heteros, but I've met some that have come damn close," the actress and director said. "In some ways it's more damaging, because it's coming from supposedly enlightened people.

"I do expect more from a group of people that understands discrimination. ... What I want is for gay rights activists to help other disenfranchised groups. These activists are experts while so many other groups flounder. It's time to share the wealth and knowledge."

While some have been offended by McGowan's remarks, others say she has a point -- albeit a poorly articulated one.

I kind of understand what she means to an extent, but I think the main problem here is that there isn't as big of a focused movement for feminism as there is for gay rights. Basically everyone in the LGBT community just wants gay marriage, whereas with feminism there's a lot of different, somewhat more minor issues that different people are aiming to address and not one unified thing to aim for. I see what she's trying to say tho.

[Matilda Mantis]

Biting  the hand the fed her I see.

[Main Pop Girl]

Biting  the hand the fed her I see.

What has the LGBT community "fed" her tho?

[Cypher]

To be fair, she does seem to support gay rights though. I remember back in the early 2000's, she was starring on Charmed and her character had to help a lesbian couple. I feel like in that episode, her personality broke through her character's personality, and you could see she really wanted to help them at all possible.

So regardless of the beef she has with the community, it's cool to know that she supports and cares enough to even have these types of criticisms.

[Baby V Alex]

I support and agree with this bitch

[Main Pop Girl]

To be fair, she does seem to support gay rights though. I remember back in the early 2000's, she was starring on Charmed and her character had to help a lesbian couple. I feel like in that episode, her personality broke through her character's personality, and you could see she really wanted to help them at all possible.

So regardless of the beef she has with the community, it's cool to know that she supports and cares enough to even have these types of criticisms.

Yeah, I think you're right tbh. She probably wouldn't feel qualified to talk about this kind of thing if she didn't feel a strong connection with the community. I really do understand her frustrations, I'm just not sure the reasoning behind her argument is quite right.