The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Austin Gates Is a Victim of Abuse, Homophobia, and a Really Bad Haircut

Posted on | February 21, 2013 | 50 Comments

Perhaps this video requires no introduction. Perhaps I’m wrong to suspect that readers will fill the comments with insensitive sarcasm. At any rate, if we rule out the possibility that this is some kind of twisted parody of a “coming out” confession, I’ve got a feeling that Austin Gates is destined for viral video stardom:

 

OK, sarcastic commenters, do your worst. H8rs!

 

Category: Gays

Comments

50 Responses to “Austin Gates Is a Victim of Abuse, Homophobia, and a Really Bad Haircut”

  1. gunga
    February 21st, 2013 @ 2:33 pm

    …but mostly a bad haircut.

  2. Dan Collins
    February 21st, 2013 @ 2:36 pm

    I just find that sad, really.

  3. Mike G.
    February 21st, 2013 @ 2:50 pm

    I didn’t listen to the whole video. Got the gist in the first minute. His Mother knows he’s gay, but evidently doesn’t approve. Doesn’t have any friends. He’s depressed. Guess what kid, in the current climate, everybody is depressed…you’ll get over it.

    And the haircut…definitely a Korean Bowl cut, but someone knocked the bowl askew.

  4. Ben Kenobi
    February 21st, 2013 @ 3:00 pm

    Typical of the current generations douchetasticness. So you’re gay, whoopee. Instead of wanking on some video that you can post so all your buds can make you feel better, how about dealing with your mom like an adult.

    What an asshole. Man up and move on with your life. Nobody promised it would be easy, so quit complaining.

  5. McGehee
    February 21st, 2013 @ 3:23 pm

    Austin Gates is a victim of the idea that being a victim is the key to higher self-esteem.

  6. FenelonSpoke
    February 21st, 2013 @ 3:44 pm

    I don’t think it’s a bad haircut; I just don’t think he cut his hair. My son has hair like that because he refuses to let me take him to the barber and with a 13 year old it’s not the hill to die on. That being said, the kid should have talked to his mom-not make a video.

  7. 20thCenturyVole
    February 21st, 2013 @ 4:07 pm

    Right. Depressed teenager, says he has no friends, mom doesn’t approve.

    I’ll notify the media, shall I?

  8. Finrod Felagund
    February 21st, 2013 @ 4:12 pm

    To be fair, I had a horrible haircut (and ugly glasses to boot) at his age, too.

  9. Steve Skubinna
    February 21st, 2013 @ 5:20 pm

    The great thing about the internet is that now drama queens can reach a vast audience. This guy could be the next “Leave Britney ALONE!!!!” dude. Ten years from now he’ll have graduated college and be working under a new name, a la Tawana Brawley.

  10. Bob Belvedere
    February 21st, 2013 @ 5:30 pm

    Didn’t we all?

  11. BT
    February 21st, 2013 @ 6:45 pm

    If his mother is indeed beating him up as he’s been describing, I hope word gets out and the cops intervene. I don’t think he mentions in what city he’s in. I hope someone can do something because the kids need to be taken out of that home and away from the mother.

  12. jakee308
    February 21st, 2013 @ 11:00 pm

    He needs to stop getting his hair done with highlights. It’s too ghey.

  13. Wombat_socho
    February 21st, 2013 @ 11:34 pm

    I guess he missed out on the whole “It Gets Better” explosion of pro-gay videos. Welp.

  14. Adjoran
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 1:05 am

    Watched the first couple of minutes only, got the idea. I am sympathetic to the kid’s dilemma, too – but at some point he has to realize that putting it on YouTube isn’t going to be an intimate, private expression. So there’s that. Good luck, Austin.

    Hey, I played with my sister’s Barbies, too, when I could. Played “undress,” touched their boobies, and was totally mystified at my examination of the crotch. Just couldn’t imagine what all the fuss was about, suspected something was being hidden from me. The hip joint allowing for 360° degree leg rotation would have been really cool for Kung Fu fighting, though.

    Holy BatFluke, Poopman! I’ve slipped into my own youthful confession, and you want sarcasm. Or satire. Sorry!

    How about retitling the piece, “Barrett Brown: The Early Years”

  15. Adjoran
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 1:07 am

    Yeah, but none of us killed the President!

    A boy can dream, can’t he?

  16. Adjoran
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 1:11 am

    Or he could break out into a rousing chorus of “Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen,” rearranged as an uptempo dance number with lots of Jazz Hands!

  17. Never Doubt That Kurt Eichenwald Cares Deeply About Gay Kids With Bad Haircuts : The Other McCain
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 7:13 am

    […] I posted a “coming out” video by a mopey kid with a bad haircut. This evidently enraged a Vanity Fair […]

  18. Bob Belvedere
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 8:14 am

    Heh.

  19. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 9:04 am

    I would think a gay kid could get a better haircut. Now my hair is just fabulous!

  20. CB_Demented
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 9:44 am

    You know…this is pretty pathetic on your part. What did this kid ever do to you? Are you really that homophobic…or do you just have some kind of fetish for picking on kids for the way they look? Do you fear “the gay” might rub off on you or something?

    Guys like you are why I’m no longer a member of the Republican party. You’ve perverted the good name of conservatives, who at one time were the champion of civil liberties and fairness. It’s because of bigoted asshats like yourself that I constantly have to defend true conservative ideals because of the small mindedness of pseudo-religious right wing republicans. And they are pseudo-religious…because if they truly believed in Christ, they’d have listened to his message about tolerance.

    This video is reprehensible…and should be beneath any true Conservative. Goldwater would have slapped you in the face for this type of behavior in his day.

    And before your pompous mind gravitates to calling me just another whining progressive, I’m a veteran, a member of the 2nd Amendment Foundation, the Federalist Society as well as one of the early members of the Tea Party. I just have no use for your brand of small minded bigotry. Men like you are the reasons the democrats have been consistently winning elections despite their complete lack of vision or ability to lead this country where it needs to go.

    I’m not going to email your sponsors…that’s just deferred censorship. And I’m sure you’ll now mock me as well, and that’s fine. I’m not a kid, and I invited it by calling you out for being the ass you are.

    So go ahead and pick on someone who isn’t some young kid who’s being bullied just because of who he is. Hide behind the internet and spew your invective if you must. The 1st Amendment gives even cowards like yourself the right to your bully pulpit. Show us all what a big man you are.

  21. Austin Lindsey Gates
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 9:51 am

    Thank you. I didn’t even know this was here and now it’s like, what the hell. :'(

  22. Austin Lindsey Gates
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 9:51 am

    I don’t have highlights!

  23. Austin Lindsey Gates
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 9:59 am

    No one is in any danger.

  24. Mike G.
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 10:37 am

    This kid is snickering in his Cheerios right now.

    He made a bet with his buds that he could get “so many” hits on a stupid video and would make fools of some people on the internet who would jump to defend him against all the sarcasm he knew would come at him for making the video.

    Great news for Austin…you fell for it.

  25. Ron Kemp
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 11:54 am

    How amazingly insensitive for you to post this in the light that you have done. Even worse, you people have nothing better to do but to try and verbally beat down a young person who opened his heart and shared his pain with the world-at-large. I would hope that there’s a special place in hell for you all.

    We wonder why we can’t get a handle on schoolyard bullying. We wonder why the teen suicide rate continues to grow, ESPECIALLY amongst LGBT teens. Well, we need look no further than the ignorance shown here…by adults!!! Shame on you. Then again, that was a wasted comment. If you had any type of compassion, you wouldn’t be here leaving juvenilistic, hurtful comments in the first place, would you.

    Austin is a wonderful young man. His story is heartwrenching and has touched to souls of many caring people worldwide…present company excluded, of course. And, in just the scant few days since the video’s release, his attitude and confidence has risen noticably. That’s what WE’RE about. Building people up. There are enough people, like YOU, who are just lying-in-wait to tear someone down. Shame on you all.

    Oh, and there’s NOTHING wrong with his haircut.

  26. Vanity Fair writer goes berserk launches boycott against The Other McCain | The Daley Gator
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 11:55 am

    […] that will teach McCain not to poke fun of goofy haircuts. Such things enrage writers at places like Vanity Fair, who automatically launch into Super Emoting […]

  27. Ron Kemp
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 12:03 pm

    What a true-blue idiot you are. The comment above yours, asshat, is from Austin. The teary emoticon should tell you something. It won’t. Jerks like yourself have no feelings.

  28. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 12:05 pm

    For a cow I have a fabulous look and hair. Who ever down dinged me is a H8er (and probably jealous).

  29. Mike G.
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 12:09 pm

    The kid has pwned everybody. It was all a scam. Notice that earlier, his comments on this thread had a link to his facebook/disqus account, but now he is identified as guest.

    Welcome to the “I was scammed by Austin” club.

  30. WestCoaster
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 12:38 pm

    do you people have nothing better to do with your lives than assume on an off chance that this kid is faking it? The consequences of this being real with your incessant bullying are FAR worse. Not that bullying is EVER ok but a child? He’s not asking for pity, he’s sharing his story. I happen to know that this kid lives in the bible belt, it is a COMPLETELY different world out there when it comes to growing up gay. He has had very little support up until recently and has felt very alone. He shared this piece of himself to let others know that THEY aren’t alone. I don’t know this kid personally as I live on the west coast but I know someone who does and I can assure you that it was no joke. It was extremely childish for the site owners to chose to pick on a teenager instead of someone their own size. So shameful.

  31. Steve Skubinna
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 1:14 pm

    “I’m a veteran, a member of the 2nd Amendment Foundation, the Federalist
    Society as well as one of the early members of the Tea Party.”

    And on the Internet nobody knows you’re a dog. But concern trolls are easy to spot. Take a Midol and chill. Read the First Amendment while you’re at it.

  32. Steve Skubinna
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 1:15 pm

    We don’t need feelings. Drama queens and internet attention whores provide more than enough for all occasions.

  33. Mike G.
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 1:39 pm

    Oh I’ve got feelings and you just hurt them. I feel so blue now…how can I ever get on with my life? ( That was sarcasm, by the way.)

    http://youtu.be/6-oHYYaw9jA

  34. d.allen halbrook
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 3:42 pm

    austin your nightmares and flashbacks are whats called PTSD…its real and you can get help for it…your video is so sad i wish i were there in atlanta to let you live with me to let you lvie your life how oyu choose

  35. saphrl
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 3:56 pm

    Posting this only shows how small and petty you are. You really have nothing better to do than harass a teenager?

  36. Steve Skubinna
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 6:57 pm

    You run a flophouse in Atlanta for young gay runaways? Does the Vice Squad know about it?

  37. Steve Skubinna
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 6:59 pm

    Yeah, how rude of McCain to intrude on Austin’s private moment with the whole internet.

  38. Steve Skubinna
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 7:02 pm

    Be careful… probably half of the underage kids you meet in chat rooms are police. You probably don’t want to end up on TV. But what do I know, maybe you do?

    Yeah, I know, you guys are “trying to help” them. Which is why you answer the door to the camera crews wearing nothing but a pink ribbon on your willie. It’s all about putting the poor conflicted kid at ease. What’s the word? Outreach?

  39. Alan Page
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 7:12 pm

    “What’s the ugliest part of your body? Some say your toes, some say your nose. I think it’s your mind” Frank Zappa.

  40. Alan Page
    February 22nd, 2013 @ 7:17 pm

    Actually you are wrong. I found this video, by accident, on Youtube and posted it to a page on Facebook concerned with Teen bullying and gay suicide.
    It then went viral on me.
    “Ever look around before you say you don’t care.
    Shut your f–king mouth about the length of my hair.
    How would you survive if you were alive?
    S—y little person” Frank Zappa.

    Austin’s a really sweet kid and doesn’t deserve your crap.

  41. Eternal Teenage Angst | Goldfish and Clowns
    February 23rd, 2013 @ 2:13 am

    […] I to actually address the kid, I’d drop him an email. No big public displays pro or con; no rushing to ridicule or offer retort to said ridicule. Nothing other than a simple, straightforward and private […]

  42. WestCoaster
    February 23rd, 2013 @ 3:13 am

    um what? your post was completely irrelevant and I do not have a willie thank you much. In REAL life I know a person who in REAL life knows this kid. So I’m not sure what your ramble was all about.

  43. just a guy
    February 23rd, 2013 @ 8:32 am

    Of course. A kid opens up about the abuse he has suffered and the feelings it has caused, so what should responsible, mature adults do? Let’s bash his hair! Yeah! cause kids now days need proper haircuts, that will solve everything evil they come across in life! In fact….now that I see how many of you guys are obsessed about his hair…perhaps there is a little gay man inside every one of you. Next video you share, you will complain about the color blocking of some kids clothes and how they should never wear THOSE shoes with THAT purse.

  44. BWD
    February 23rd, 2013 @ 9:52 am

    And you are a victim of the idea that gays make themselves victims to recover from the harm idiots like you cause them!

  45. Mike G.
    February 23rd, 2013 @ 1:13 pm

    Ah…so Austin has you to thank for all this. Smooth move dumbass. You do know the internet is public domain, right? As I tell my kids, the internet is forever. Don’t put it out there if you don’t want people to see it or comment on it, good or bad.

  46. CB_Demented
    February 23rd, 2013 @ 3:03 pm

    How do you know? Do you have any proof for your assertion? Is it worth the risk that you’re wrong to denigrate some kid so you can pump up your e-peen and show all the other internet tough guys how cool you are by writing quips about a stranger?

    Are you that low of a human being that you would mock someone you don’t know on a hunch? Do you think it makes much sense, if he really was just faking it for amusement, to bring greater attention to something that pathetic by speaking out against it?

    Oh…that’s right. You didn’t think, and you don’t care. You’re a pseudo intellectual internet badass, and it doesn’t matter who’s on the other end of your accusations. Cause you gotta prove how cool you are by picking on a kid.

    Does it make you feel good hero?

  47. CB_Demented
    February 23rd, 2013 @ 3:08 pm

    And on the internet, everyone knows what an ass you are by condoning this type of behavior.

    What’s amusing is when you internet heroes start talking about the 1st amendment, proving your ignorance extends to the law as well. Allow me to edify you, bigot. The 1st amendment stops the government from restricting your speech. What it doesn’t do is keep private citizens from telling you what a coward you are when you show your ass by exercising that right.

    The 1st amendment protects your right to be a bigot and a bully. It doesn’t stop the consequences for your short sightedness…or other people from exercising their right to tell you what a bigot your actions show you to be.

  48. No More Mythology
    February 23rd, 2013 @ 5:24 pm

    I’m friends with Austin. YOU are an ass.

  49. No More Mythology
    February 23rd, 2013 @ 5:31 pm

    What scam, dickweed? How is he benefitting? He ISN’T. You ass-hatted twat.

  50. McGehee
    February 23rd, 2013 @ 10:22 pm

    Gays already are victims — of the silly notion that people who have never met them give a shit how they get their rocks off.

    Get over yourself, child.