Introduction
The speaker in the “Why am I so gay?” video skillfully conveys the significance of embracing one’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) identity and working for underrepresented populations via a number of rhetorical strategies. Using personal tales and experiences to demonstrate his ideas is one of the most successful persuasive techniques. By relating his personal journey to embracing his identity and advocating for LGBTQ rights, the speaker makes his message more relatable and engaging.
The humor application to ensure audience engagement makes his message more memorable, and this is another powerful rhetorical strategy. It facilitates audience openness and receptivity by breaking down boundaries. Furthermore, the speaker uses repetition and parallel construction to stress their key arguments. For instance, he consistently emphasizes the importance of embracing one’s identity and utilizing it to effect change. The use of personal anecdotes, repetition, parallel structure, and humor in this speech portrays the speaker’s struggle to embrace their identity and the visibility, significance, and acceptance of LGBTQ persons.
Personal Anecdotes to Build Credibility
A personal anecdote is a brief story, usually based on personal experience, that a speaker can use to illustrate a point or convey a message. Through the application of personal anecdotes to demonstrate his journey toward embracing his LGBTQ identity and advocating for marginalized groups, the narrator presents himself as a credible author. He discusses his struggles to conceal his identity as well as the significance of role models or mentors in his life. His use of tales to stress the need for continual campaigning and change demonstrates his dedication to the cause. The speaker’s tales engage the audience and make his message more memorable by appealing to their emotions.
For instance, he makes jokes about being referred to as “The Smoke of Satan” and tells poignant anecdotes about the difficulties experienced by LGBTQ folks, such as the high rates of homelessness and assault (Lloyd, 00:17:54). By creating an emotional connection with the audience, he enables them to comprehend the significance of his message. The speaker provides facts to help the audience understand his difficulty by relating his experiences of needing to continuously monitor his movements and voice to conceal his identity.
Throughout his HIV/AIDS studies, he equally recounts instances of bias and resistance from officials. By relating these stories, Lloyd enables the audience to understand the challenges faced by LGBTQ individuals, as well as the importance of embracing one’s identity and fighting for marginalized populations. Additionally, he utilizes historical evidence to illustrate the significance of the LGBTQ movement and the necessity of ongoing change and advocacy.
Humor as a Tool for Engagement and Connection
Conversely, the presenter employs humor to show himself as a qualified author. He cracked a joke about his Sicilian ancestry and attended the School of Foreign Service, then again joined a Catholic school, which left people in laughter. This joke helps establish a more approachable and likable impression of himself.
He mentions, “people started to make fun of the way that I moved my hands when I talked, which was really just because I am Sicilian. (Laughter) more to do with that than anything else” (Lloyd, 00:04:17). This joke is significant because it serves to build a more friendly picture of the speaker. By revealing this personal information, the speaker creates a more human connection with the audience and makes them comfortable during the talk session.
Additionally, the humor application helps break down barriers and create a more responsive audience, which is essential for conveying the speaker’s message of embracing one’s LGBTQ identity and fighting for oppressed populations. Alternatively, the speaker says, “…by meth lab, I mean a research lab where I studied people addicted to meth. This is what it looked like. It was not a trailer in Albuquerque, I promise. (Laughter) Yeah. It was 726 Broadway…” (Lloyd, 00:06:22). The statement is designed to be humorous and evoke laughter from the listeners.
By making fun of his research facility and himself, the orator demonstrates humility and becomes more likable to the audience. The speaker employs irony and sarcasm to emphasize the difficulties experienced by the LGBTQ population, such as the inability to marry in certain places, but the possibility of getting dismissed due to sexual orientation. The narrator connects with the audience and makes his point more personable and unforgettable via the use of humor.
Repetition and Parallel Structure
On the other hand, the presenter employs parallel structure and repetition to emphasize important ideas and create memorable messages. Repetition is seen when the speaker repeats the word “I blame you,” by mentioning that he taught for four years in Sunday school, which makes him a qualified author (Lloyd, 00:17:09).
In this speech, the speaker emphasizes the difficulties faced by the LGBTQ community as well as the requirement of visibility and approval through the use of parallel structure and repetition. Throughout the speech, for instance, the speaker repeats the phrase “I am so gay” multiple times to highlight various issues facing the LGBTQ community (Lloyd, 00:21:37). This phrase is repeated to appeal to the audience’s emotions and create a memorable message.
Similarly, in the following quote, the speaker employs parallelism “I am so gay because 40% of all homeless youth are LGBTQ; I am so gay because 1 in 12 trans people will be murdered” (Lloyd, 00:21:56). By applying the same structure for the two phrases, the narrator emphasizes the density of these concerns and appeals to the audience’s emotions by emphasizing the violence and discrimination the LGBTQ group faces. Generally, the repetition and parallel structure of this speech contribute to developing a unified and persuasive message that appeals to the viewers’ emotions and calls for visibility and acceptance of LGBTQ individuals.
The speaker discusses his physical impairment and the difficulties he had in world navigation: “I had to expend all of my creative energy on covering what it was that made me different” (Lloyd, 00:04:50). This indicates that the speaker felt compelled to conform to cultural standards and expectations and had to work hard to conceal his actual identity to be accepted. The use of the term ‘creative energy’ implies that this was a challenging and tiring process for the presenter, requiring great effort to sustain. The speaker explains that they will no longer attempt to conceal themselves, as they are exhausted from exhausting their energy in the process. LGBTQ groups prefer to own themselves and apply their identities to alter the surrounding structures.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the speaker employs a range of rhetorical strategies to deliver his point and establish rapport with the audience. Personal anecdotes are used to illustrate the challenges faced by the LGBTQ community and the speaker’s journey toward acceptance and self-identification. Repetition and parallel structure are employed to emphasize essential themes and convey a memorable message, while humor makes the presentation more engaging and relatable.
The speaker’s use of personal tales makes the speech more accessible and establishes a personal connection with the audience. Additionally, the whole speech employs humor to make the message more engaging and relevant. The speaker employs self-deprecating humor to emphasize the hardships encountered by the LGBTQ community. Repetition and parallel structure accentuate and convey a memorable message by emphasizing key themes. The speaker uses parallel construction to emphasize the seriousness of the challenges faced by the LGBTQ population, as well as the repetition of the phrase “I am so gay” throughout the speech.
Work Cited
Lloyd, T. (2020). Why am I “so gay?”. TED Talks.