I’ve been receiving some flack for calling the Mr. Mission Competition (which also happens to be a fundraiser for the respectable Leukemia Lymphoma Society) “obnoxious.”  The argument, as it has been argued, is that it’s a fundraiser for cancer research, so the organizers deserve a pass no matter how lame of an idea it might be.  CLASH SF’s illustrator, Stacey Toth, even went so far as to draw up a lovely illustration depicting me as a monkey under the headline “People Like to be Mean.”

And maybe they’re right.  Maybe an awkward, highly-suspect competition run by bros and burners and marketing types deserves that pass because it’s raising money for a good cause.  And if my criticism was in any way interpreted as discouraging people from donating to cancer research, I offer my sincerest apologies.

However, when the promoters essentially call people ‘faggots’ for criticizing them, it gives me pause.  Are these people really noble do-gooders hoping to rid the world of cancer, one questionable event at the time? Or are they just out-of-touch, backwards-thinking homophobic pricks capitalizing on a culture for self-promotion?

I’ll leave you to be the judge of that.