Reichen Lehmkuhl is not a vapid queen.

He only plays one on TV.

The reality TV star/jewelry shiller/queer role model is upset because Next magazine named his current show, Logo’s The A-List, one of the worst television shows of 2010 :

The A-List: New York (Logo)
Where to begin? The “reality” show everyone loved to hate probably cancelled out 100 “It Gets Better” videos with its cringe-worthy depictions of Reichen, Rodiney and the other vapid queens trying to impress upon viewers why they’re important. (Hint, if you have to explain why you’re A-list, you’re probably not.)

Sadly, this has upset Mr Lehmkuhl and he objects to being referred to as a “vapid queen”. (He does have a point; he’s a bit too butch to be labeled so…more accurately, he should have been labeled, “a vapid MUSCLE queen”.) He responded with a letter that accused Next magazine and writer Dan Avery of “bullying” (is that the new queer response to any kind of criticism towards anyone of the big queer family regardless of the validity of the criticism?) Here’s the letter, in full:

Dear Dan,

I just read in a column distributed by Michael Musto that you were quoted in saying that the reality show that I did over the summer, “The A-List New York”, was merely “vapid queens” trying to impress on everyone why we are important. You specifically mentioned myself and my boyfriend, Rodiney.

First, I don’t appreciate your bullying words. You can save your “vapid queens” comment for, well, no one. I can’t even imagine speaking this way about other human beings. That you would reduce my existence to someone who is a “vapid queen” says more about what you don’t know about me, along with the kind of person you must be. Is this seriously how a “senior editor” at a magazine talks about people?

Second, I’d like for you to point out which scene(s) depicted me or Rodiney trying to impress upon anyone how “important” we are. Is it that you IMAGINED scenes like this? Or do you just feel less important by default? Trust me, there are no scenes where we impress any sort of thing on anyone. We aren’t like that as people, on or off the screen. We are humble, caring, HUMAN BEINGS, in case you forgot to explore that side of us. We lived our summer on a TV show and had 3600 hours of filming reduced to 3 hours that you actually saw, broadcast over 10 episodes that we watched, sometimes in horror, at all that was left OUT that would have depicted us as balanced people who react accordingly to situations. That you would make a public accusation that we would ever think we are “important” or “more important” than anyone else, is ridiculous. It’s ignorant.

Statements like the one you made are without grounds, damaging, and simply not true. I’m asking you to retract your destructive statements. I’m asking you to apologize for calling anyone on the show a “vapid queen”. It’s a disgusting, self-hating, catty, and obnoxious way to speak about people within our community, especially for people who do not deserve it.

I just celebrated the end of DADT. I had a really rewarding morning on the Gayle King show, recounting the hard work we have all done to end this policy. I’m breathing sighs of relief as I reflect on my 9 years of military service, and the 10 years after that I spent fighting the ban. You don’t get to see any of that on A-List. Surprise, surprise. But as I celebrate, it’s a shame that I have to tune into a highly distributed publication to find someone who couldn’t possibly know the first thing about me, calling me a name like this, and accusing me of doing anything close to trying to impress my “importance”. If just being ourselves, speaking at charities, having a 3 day fight in our relationship (that was turned into a whole season), and working on projects that are important to us and the people we care about make YOU feel less important, that’s not our problem. It’s yours. It’s horrible.

Please retract your statement. If you took the time and energy to actually find out who we are as people, I can only hope that you would feel sorry for saying what you have. You’d have a million more nice things to write than the fabricated garbage I just read on Michael Musto’s column. Please also apologize for your foul use of bullying language on me, Rodiney, and the rest of the cast.

Very Sincerely,
-Reichen Lehmkuhl

Poor, poor Reichen…no one understands him! He works so hard at self-promotion and gay equality and his jewelry and self-promotion (oops, I already mentioned that!) and no one appreciates all his hard work! It’s tough being pretty, and buff, and appearing on vapid, reality TV shows and jetting around the country doing personal appearances and going to the gym a lot and being a role model and fighting to end DADT and other such stuff! How dare people judge him and think he’s a vain, full of himself, shallow, celebrity hack just because he appears on a show called “The A-List” that was promoted as a “Gay Housewives of New York” clone. Why would anyone think less of him for trying to further the Queer Cause by appearing on such a show?

WHY?!??!?

What a vapid douche.