Andy DehnartA photo of Project Runway 4 winner Christian Siriano and his boyfriend Brad Walsh was used to illustrate a December Details magazine chart feature about “The Rise of the Douchefag.” Their photo appears next to stock art, including a bottle of bleach (a reference to the chart’s mention of anal bleaching) and an iPhone featuring a photo of a naked man.
While it isn’t clear in the print magazine version, the online version of the story uses Christian and Brad’s photo with this text: “Gay: Always with a pocket square/Gay Douchebag: Always with a pocket gay.” Christian is not wearing a pocket square in the photo. Brad Walsh told Queerty:
“I’m not sure why the fact that my boyfriend is shorter than I am is funny. I think it’s a flimsy joke to begin with. But calling me a ‘gay douchebag’ is fine. I am gay, and they are allowed to think I am a douchebag. That’s their opinion. It’s the use of the word ‘douchefag’ that I have a problem with. I don’t appreciate any magazine referring to me as a ‘fag.’ I don’t like that word. I wouldn’t be happy with a primarily gay publication calling me ‘fag’ either. If OUT Magazine called me a fag I would be just as upset. It’s not appropriate, and it is offensive, and you’d think on the eve of 2010 that would be clear by now. It’s a dumb article, and it really stretches to be funny. But that’s their choice.”
Earlier, Walsh objected to the phrase on Twitter, and Queerty suggests that led Details to change the headline of the online version of the story to “Meet the Gay Douchebag.”
Update: A commenter reminds us that Christian was criticized for using “tranny” as an insult.