Did we let Michael Sam down?

Our attention spans as Americans seems to be dwindling from 15 minutes to fifteen seconds to 15 characters.  If we catch a story on Facebook, we either like it without reading it, bitch and moan about it in the comments section without reading it, or we give it the one click and if asked to click one more time to go to a primary website, we couldn't be bothered.  Well, we're bothered enough to go back and rant in the comments about having to click more than once to get to the story. 

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Wait, what was I writing about? Oh, Michael Sam. How soon we forgot that he was on ABC's Dancing With the Stars (DWTS).  Most of us were reminded that he was on the show because he was just voted off this week.  We were collectively excited when we heard the announcement of his participation, but when it came time to watch and support him, where were we?  Stars always receive support from their brethren, if they are good or bad.  Without pointing fingers, there have been many stars on past and present seasons that have outstayed their welcome on that show.  Was Michael Sam good enough to earn our votes?  Get out attention?  Have our support?  Some say no, yes, maybe!  Did it matter if he was any good?  Didn't he deserve our votes anyway?  Well, I was one of those gays that didn't watch and didn't vote so I do feel that I did let Michael Sam down and I am sorry for that.  

Now that he has come out, become engaged, and is not playing football, has Michael Sam cleared our radar?  Has our attention span died when it comes to him?  If this were in the UK, his presence on the show would have been a much bigger story.  Over the past two years, the British equivalent of DWTS has constantly debated what to do with gay contestants and how far the envelope can be pushed.  Do they allow same-sex partners?  The debate never dies down.  For more info on this UK debate, click here for stories on this topic covered by GAYSTARNEWS.COM.  But we are not the UK and I don't think we even discussed the issue too much when Carson Kressley was on and we didn't with Michael Sam.  Chaz Bono was a past contestant, but no one questioned whom he would dance with in the competition.  Sam might have been the perfect candidate to push the issue once again if he was willing and able to do so.  DWTS producers decided in 2011 that ballroom dancing is traditionally a male – female coupling and that seemed to be it. They did offer the same-sex dance partner coupling to Portia de Rossi back in 2010, but it is stated she declined.  I guess failing at the girl-on-girl action, they best just stick with boys dancing with girls.  Is ABC under the impression that two men could be too threatening the first time around?  Do we need to have two women dancing together first?

And maybe that is why we did not pay attention.  We didn't have anything to get our panties in a twist, to bitch and moan about, comment and scroll down.  We were able to click "like" and move on.  Maybe people just saw him as the token ex-football player DWTS has on each season and not as a representative of LGBT Americans.  If we had the same-sex pairing, we would have watched.  Damn, um, straight we would have watched.  But they didn't so we didn't.  Since our attention span is so short, did we need reminders on Instinct and other gay social media to get us to tune in and vote?

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Here below are videos of his 4 weeks on the show.  It's too late to vote, but watch and see how well he did.  His most memorable performance media wise was the first where the judges commented on his glorious bum.  Some viewers wished the pants were white and their wishes came true in week 2.  The last week he was on, week 4, also made the news when he spoke of his relationship with his father which was severed when he came out. 

And once again, I'm sorry Michael for not supporting you.   We should have no problem clicking more than once on any story relating to you. 

 

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