Same old nonsense, different language: a handsome “ex-gay” therapist claims to be “ex-gay” himself, thanks to Jesus, etc. He was interviewed on Aquí y Ahora, a popular Spanish-language news magazine which made no effort to interview people hurt by attempts to change their sexuality or to mention that such “therapies” have been widely discredited. This propaganda appears shortly after the Ecuadorian government’s petition-fueled efforts to close the country’s ex-gay camps. GLAAD called them out, pointing out that Aquí y Ahora has done far better in the past (it has even been nominated for GLAAD media awards), while Ricky Martin sent a sarcastic tweet asking if heterosexuals are born or made.
GLAAD has reached out to Aquí y Ahora to apologize and commit to doing a segment that provides the balance sorely lacking in the recent segment and that explains the harm done by so-called “reparative therapies.” Univision responded that they have taken careful note of GLAAD’s concerns and will respond next week.
The other day, I wrote about an awful segment on Fox’s Houston affiliate, in which the newscaster, Damali Keith, hosted hate group lackey Bryan Fischer and gay activist Ray Hill to debate the question, “Is TV too gay?” It was a truly terrible segment, as Keith asked ridiculous leading questions suggesting that the gayness of the characters on Glee was comparable to “product placement,” and suggesting that people should be concerned by the show’s early time slot. Lots of other people have taken notice since then. Mary Elizabeth Williams has an entertaining piece at Salon which cuts right to the heart of what terrible journalism this was:
During the segment, which aired after last week’s Lady Gaga-themed “Born This Way” episode, host Damali Keith kicked off by comparing the show’s gay themes to “product placement” — you know, the kind that leaves “everyone in the theater thirsty for that particular brand.” Yes, that’s how it happens, America. One day your teenage son is banging the head cheerleader. The next, he hears a few bars of Chris Colfer’s seductive warbling, and wham! Suddenly he’s “thirsty” for that particular “brand.” Of penis. Homosexuality – it’s exactly like walking past a Cinnabon.
It’s funny, because that’s actually sort of what Religious Right wingnuts believe. The fact that it’s ridiculously stupid just makes it more attractive for them.
Williams sums the whole issue up here:
You can’t unring the stupid bell, and both Keith and Fischer’s ignorant remarks have already been given the undeserved legitimacy of a platform. But as “Glee” and its ilk continue – not always successfully or convincingly, but at least always with sensitivity and consistency – to explore the issues facing gay and questioning youth and their communities, it remains crucial to keep sending the message to broadcasters to stop booking bigots.
[...]
[T]he punditsphere has got to step up and try a little harder, to say that crackpots don’t deserve airtime. Because idiocy and intolerance are neither fair nor balanced.
Hear, hear! This is what we’ve saying for a long time now, and what the media WILL finally figure out someday. Despite the crowing of bigots, there are not two sides to these issues! Science has spoken, and continues to speak as scientists learn more. Mental health associations have spoken. Child welfare experts have spoken. Every single credible expert in every relevant field is on our side of this battle, encouraging full inclusion and acceptance for LGBT people. There is no debate anymore, for this is too much correct information out there. Media outlets don’t address issues of interest to black people by asking the Ku Klux Klan for their opinion. It’s high time they stop asking the Klan’s anti-gay equivalent to weigh in on matters of interest to LGBT people, and society at large.
Williams points out that Fox Houston originally agreed to apologize when GLAAD called them out, but that they have gone back on that promise. Sign the petition at change.org to demand that apology.
Peter LaBarbera, leader of the hate “group” known as Americans for Truth [sic] about Homosexuality, is very upset that GLAAD has given an award to the Joe.My.God blog, which routinely makes fun of Peter LaBarbera! Tone matters, you guys! [No link, you know where Peter's Online Leathersex Amusement Park is.]
Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH), today assailed the blatant hypocrisy of GLAAD, a homosexual “anti-defamation” organization, for giving an award to Joe Jervis – who runs a viciously anti-Christian blog.
First off, Joe is an atheist. This is not in and of itself a breach of tone, as religion is not above criticism. EVEN Fundamentalist Christianity is completely fair game when it comes to criticizing religion. Guess who else is an atheist? I AM.
GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) gave its 2011 Media Award for “Outstanding Blog” to Jervis, a New York-based homosexual atheist and creator of the blog “Joe.My.God.” – a daily compilation of homosexuality-related news. JMG is filled with name-calling and nasty barbs directed especially at religious conservatives who oppose homosexuality.
Yeah, but Joe doesn’t actually advocate taking fundamental constitutional rights away from unhinged wingnut conservatives. He just makes fun of them, like I do.
But if GLAAD, like AFTAH, is against hateful name-calling (AFTAH has condemned Fred Phelps of “God Hates Fags” notoriety)
Bully for you. You hold the exact same beliefs as the Phelps clan, so the difference in your rhetoric — Phelps says “God Hates Fags,” whereas you, Peter, are more wordy and annoying about it — is of little consequence.
For example, Jervis routinely uses the atheist term “Jeebus” in the place of Jesus to mock Christians…
Again, religion is not above criticism. Moreover, he’s not lying about Christians, and neither do I. Moreover, he doesn’t broadbrush all Christians with the same stripe, because he understands, as I do, that the idea that Peter LaBarbera speaks for all, most, or even half of Christians is pathetic wishful thinking.
Jervis delights in referring to former Senator and potential GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum as “Frothy Mix” – repeating a malevolent smear concocted by another Christian-bashing homosexual activist, Dan Savage, who meanly “redefined” Santorum’s last name as the filthy byproduct of anal sex.
Santorum deserved it. He fired the first shot when he decided to compare gay love to “man-on-dog sex.” I find it hilarious how much wingnuts are still smarting from Savage’s campaign to redefine “Santorum.” Creative activism! Oh, and santorum only occurs when you’re having anal sex wrong. That’s the double-insult in the name that fundamentalists don’t understand.
Said LaBarbera: “GLAAD’s slogan is ‘words and images matter.’ We at AFTAH agree. Jervis’ published words reveal him to be an inflammatory, anti-Christian bigot who resorts to ‘defamatory’ smears, lies and despicable, crude putdowns to belittle people of faith. (Jervis smears LaBarbera as “Porno Pete,” falsely implying he is homosexual.)
“Porno Pete” started HERE, dangit! And we call you that, not because you may be a closeted self-hating homosexual, but because you made your “name,” such as it is, photographing leather sex events from sea to shining sea, events which are as straight as they are gay.
“Through its Media Award, GLAAD joins itself at the hip with Jervis’ brand of malicious, demeaning, anti-religious bigotry,” LaBarbera said. “This is the flip side of GLAAD’s ongoing campaign to shut down the voices of pro-family Christians – e.g., ex-“gay” Americans like Richard Cohen – from being heard in the media.
Ha ha, we LOVE it when Richard Cohen is heard in the media! He is the best “ex-gay” of all time! Let’s watch him on teevee right now. Later, Pete.
Here, without further ado, are the other tabs open in my browser:
1. A new study, done by a panel of twenty-six researchers, has come out showing the connections between bullying [of all kinds: childhood, Religious Right, societal] and higher rates of depression and suicide in LGBT people. Add that one to the growing stack our ideological opponents pretend doesn’t exist.
2. Cliff Schecter has a great new piece where he compares the Religious Right’s current freak-outs over gays to the film Black Swan, suggesting that what wingnuts fear the most with the growing tide of gay acceptance is the black swans in their own mirrors. This is a good point, as one of the hallmarks of the Religious Right is their desperate need for authority figures and rulebooks to, seemingly, protect them from themselves.
3. GLAAD and the Rainbow Sash Movement, a group of LGBT Catholics, are at odds over whether anti-gay bigots should be given airtime on networks. I tend to fall in with the Catholics here [for once], with a few caveats, mostly for the media conducting interviews. I think the FRC and AFA should have all the airtime they want, because they damn themselves in the eyes of the general populations with their unfiltered words. However, I think the media needs to drop the act where they pretend there are simply “two opposing sides,” and step up their game in calling BS when people like Tony Perkins start farting provably untrue crap out of their wordholes.
4. Chely Wright is so awesome, but sometimes integrity comes with consequences. She’s lost a lot of record sales and received death threats since coming out. Poor thing. Chely: Make like the Dixie Chicks and cultivate real, grown-up music fans.
Michelangelo thinks this is much ado about nothing. Joy disagrees. There’s another guy in the video, but he’s not helpful to the discussion.
[h/t Dan Savage, who also thinks this is much ado about nothing]
I’ll let commenters argue about this, but my initial thoughts are that, though words are indeed powerful and can be very hurtful, it’s always useful to choose one’s battles wisely. Somebody, somewhere on the internet, said of this controversy, “If Glee and Susan Sarandon are our enemies now, we’re doomed.” That struck me as sane. It could be used constructively as a teachable moment, though.
In the above link, Alvin McEwen details how, after facing the proper backlash from his bigoted, moronic screed on anti-gay bullying in the Washington Post, and after being called on it by virtually everyone, Tony Perkins decided not to respond to any of the criticisms, but instead just yelled about how he’s a victim and GLAAD is mean.
I sorta had a feeling this was going to happen. Jeremy started, fought (and won) the good fight (and then GLAAD stepped in) when the Today Show’s wedding contest began and was limited to heterosexual couples, but we still won’t be seeing any gay couples among the finalists:
After GLAAD targeted the Today show for not allowing same-sex couples to participate in their “Modern Love” wedding contest, NBC relented and agreed to include them.
But the four finalists were announced and introduced today – and there are no same-sex couples.
Glaad reports that sponsors have “refused to allow” American figure skater Johnny Weir to join the Stars on Ice Tour because they deemed him “not family friendly.”
Uh huh.
Hi, Stars on Ice, can we talk for a second? Good. As your name implies, you are a touring cast for a sport that can only be described as the “supergayest sport ever.” What did Johnny Weir possibly do that made him anything less than “family-friendly”?* Because let me tell you something, Stars on Ice: Any family that watches figure skating together who doesn’t realize how gay the sport is** is in major league denial, akin to the Clay-mates in the year before Gay-ken came out of a closet door that had been off its hinges since he went on American Idol. I mean, come on, guys — it would be awful and offensive if this was the NFL, but at least that’s a grotesquely hetero-centric environment. But, for the record, how many times did you take this on tour with you?
I mean, I’m not suggesting 100% that Brian Boitano is gay, because I don’t think he’s made an official statement on the subject, but, well, you know what I mean.
UPDATE: Ooh, and the snark level just went WAY up on this subject. Here’s what Dan Savage had to say about it:
You know what would be family friendly? A bunch of pissed of queers and Weir fans buying tickets to Stars on Ice and tossing bags of rock salt and dog sh*t onto the ice from their seats before the show.
Snap.
*And why are you being all homophobic and making me blog about Johnny Weir when I’ve made it well known that I’m Team Evan?
Join The Impact – Massachusetts, Boston GLAAD, Political Research Associates, Truth Wins Out, and local equality supporters joined in Boston on Feb. 4 to protest the U.S. Christian Right and ex-gay movement’s efforts to undermine human rights and freedom in Africa.
Media Contact: Wayne Bessen, American Prayer Hour Coordinator Phone: 917-691-5118 E-Mail: wbesen@truthwinsout.org Website:www.AmericanPrayerHour.org
Multi-City Prayer Hour Offers Alternative to the National Prayer Breakfast Whose Leaders Have Apparent Ties to Uganda’ Draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill
What: On Tuesday, February 2, 2010 key religious leaders will hold a press conference to announce the formation of The American Prayer Hour, a multi-city event on Thursday, February 4, 2010, with key events in Washington, DC, Dallas, Chicago and Berkeley. The American Prayer Hour events will affirm inclusive values and call on all nations, including Uganda, to decriminalize the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. The American Prayer Hour provides an alternative to the National Prayer Breakfast, which is sponsored by The Family (aka The Fellowship), a group with disturbing ties to those spearheading Uganda’ oppressive Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
When: Tuesday, February 2, 2010 — 10:30 a.m. (EST)
Where: The National Press Club (Washington, DC) Murrow Room
529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor – Washington, DC 20045
Who: Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church
Frank Schaeffer, author, “Crazy For God: How I Grew Up
As One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right and Lived to Take
All of it Back.”
Harry Knox, The Human Rights Campaign, Director of Religion and Faith
Moses, A gay Ugandan man seeking asylum in The United States
Rev. Elder Darlene Garner, Metropolitan Community Church, Vice-Moderator, Board of Elders
Bishop Carlton Pearson, Senior Minister at Chicago, Illinois’ Christ Universal Temple
Background: Uganda is considering the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009, put forth by parliamentarian David Bahati and initially backed by President Yoweri Museveni. If passed, the new law would unleash a vicious campaign of persecution against LGBT citizens. Bahati and President Museveni are members of The Family and are among their “key men” in Africa. The Family hosts the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. The American Prayer Hour will show that such cruelty and extremism does not represent most people of faith.
Sponsors:
National Black Justice Coalition
Religion and Faith Program
Human Rights Campaign Foundation
Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
National Religious Leadership Roundtable
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
