You think gay guys hated trans people before? Bette Midler had long been a champion of gay rights and has always been sacrosanct to the old queen community. Picking a fight with her is bound to get some feather boas flying online.
Meh, I think too many women, including Bette Midler, have this delusion where they believe all gay men see women as human beings and that they respect women. Often times, OTHER gay men will point this misconception, because they are more realistic about their own group. The big name celebrity women simply don't see reality because their money cushions them from real-life conflict. I think wealthy women live in more of a delusional fantasy world bubble than their male counterparts, but that's another topic altogether. They seem shocked when the gay male community "turns" on them for "wrong-think". These women mistakenly believe these men see them as anything more than objects, living fashion dolls, replacement mommy figures. If she doesn't turn over and grovel for forgiveness immediately, I fully expect there to be a large number of gay men and troons suddenly declaring her "old boomer fish", "ugly old granny", "stupid fat TERF", calling for her cancellation, or whatever. While she might have enough "fuck you money" not to be affected by this, she still might not know what hit her. Suddenly being "painted black" by the rainbow cult seems emotionally jarring for "allies". It's like a total betrayal.
Women at large need to wisen up about rainbow men-- note how many gay men champion child sexual grooming in public schools-- women need to wisen up even if it's just to protect their own children. This mistaken idea "gay men are always benevolent" among women makes them more inclined to act as gay men's free cheerleaders and enablers, and to welcome gay men into women's spaces/professions like cosmetology, fashion, hair design, teaching, nursing, certain kinds of entertainment, etc, and inevitably the gay men dominate over the women within these spaces. That's what men often do whenever they can-- they take over and become the "leaders" of whatever spaces they inhabit, particularly if the majority of the rest of the group is smaller/weaker/younger/female. Note how many of the drag queen promoters are gay men who work in children's education?
I'm not saying it's a "negative" trait, but it's simply the way men often are regardless of orientation. Gay men often do not respect women any more than the average straight man. They might often be worse as of late, seeing women as useful idiots, and using their official "victim" status as a form of protection from scrutiny. If women criticize them, these women get smacked down or ostracized by the group in mean-girl style-- by these same gay men. That same identical phenomenon happens with troons-- they infiltrate and take over women's groups, sports, professions. If there are fag hags and gay men already in leadership positions, the troons will be appointed over the women. It creates an obvious power imbalance where gay men are at the top of the hierarchy in women's spaces.
It's just interesting to see this dynamic happen over and over again in real life, especially in my line of work-- gay man enters women's group, then becomes the appointed leader (older women ALWAYS seem to promote gay men over other women), then he polices and controls the women's behavior by the nature of his leadership role. Some gay men become total assholes once they're in the leadership position-- maybe it's because they've spent most of their lives being the omega in men's groups? Once they get into a power position over others, they brandish that power like a billy club? One can see that kind of dynamic in controlling mothers in conservative cultures-- they feel helpless and worthless growing up, but once they have power over a child, they act like tyrants because they enjoy that feeling of power so much and have craved it for so long.
I've seen a SHIT TON of privileged and powerful gay men promoting the hell out of troons, femme boys, etc., to the point of cheering troons on while they make threats against women who dare criticize them. I'm talking gay male politicians, entertainers, cultural icons, academic leaders. The gay men think it's funny-- because they think women are stupid fish and that our opinions don't matter. They already find women physically repulsive, so it shouldn't be a shock when they throw women under the bus for other men's approval. Like I said before, they will eviscerate Midler before long unless she grovels for forgiveness, because men often operate on a "bores before h0es basis", including gay men. Perhaps they love gaining straight males' approval for putting women "back in their places"? Seems it's like that dynamic I mentioned before, where due to feeling "helpless" throughout life, once gay men have a "power position" over another group (like women for example) they weird that power like a billy club.
