Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Rachel Maddow annihiliates 'ex-gay' Richard Cohen over Uganda bill

 

 From Daily Kos:

Rachel Maddow just completed one of her patented epic takedown interviews.  This one was with Richard Cohen author of Coming Out Stratight and Gay Children, Straight Parents.  Cohens work is one inspiration for the proposed homosexual death penalty law in Uganda.  

. . . As soon as the interview commenced Cohen condemned the proposed Ugandan law, claiming that he was a proponent for tolerance and understanding of gay people.  Maddow pointed to a section of Coming Out Straight in which Cohen quotes a debunked study claiming that most molestation of children by teachers is by gay teachers, that gays target children for recruitment and so on and so forth.  Cohen promised to remove that section of his book when the 3rd edition is released, and acknowleged the faultiness of the study's.   Score one for Maddow.

And it gets better:

Maddow also asked Cohen to justify a quote from Gay Children Straight Parents in which Cohen lists a series of reasons on why children may be gay.  Amongst those reasons were divorce, and race.  Maddow asked how race could possibly be a factor and initially Cohen denied that was in the book.  Maddow held the book up, read the page number and the list again at which point Cohen pleaded that she was reading out of context.  Maddow read the preceding paragraph from the book, in which Cohen explains there are several reasons children may be gay etc etc...  Cohen then challenged Maddow to read the passage following the list, and it had no pertinence to the question.  Finally Cohen just came out and admitted that race has no influence on whether or not a child may be gay.

One of the most electric moments in the interview came when Maddow told Cohen that he had "blood on your hands" because his work was being used to justify the persecution of gays.  It was just riveting.

I've seen the interview and the words of Daily Kos does not do it justice. To borrow an old term, Maddow figuratively "ripped out Cohen's heart and held it front of him so he could watch it beating while slipping away."

I especially liked the part where she takes Cohen to task for using discredited researcher Paul Cameron ( if Maddow wanted to do a future show on Cameron and how the religious right continues to use his work, she could have a series of shows).

It just goes to show that having a "fierce advocate" is nice but nothing beats having one of your own take down the right.

It's like a narcotic. I need more of it.



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9 comments:

Mykelb said...

Score another one for our beloved Rachel. She showed up that ex-gay charlatan for the delusional, anti-gay, greedy bastard living off of the neuroses of people who cannot reconcile their religion with their sexuality. He is truly a devil disguised as a messenger of christ.

D. G. Habersang said...

Maddow FTMFW!

thepulpit said...

It's also stated that Cohen cheated on his wife with a few ( 1- 20) NY guys. Can we say sanctity of marriage?

Also, Cohen denied to Rachel his book states Race as a cause for gaydom, when in fact Rachel showed us; however, I know like you know Cohen is alluding to Black folk. That media ho is trying to agitate the ignorant church going Black women like JL King.

Anonymous said...

OMG!! That guy is fucking brainless! I just can't believe these things are happening in the 21st f*king century. Rachel is awesome in the interview, very professional, and I love her facial expressions. Go Rachel!!

Anonymous said...

The other part of Rachel's show is far more scary than Cohen, it is the efforts of C-Street and others in the religious right to infulence the Ugandans. They are all up to something, and I think it has to do with Ugandan oil.

Think about it. If the Ugandans really want to do something about homosexuality and they believe in Cohen's (and similar "therapists") work, why not put gays in the treatment programs and "cure them"? It would save a lot of money, be much better PR than "we're going to kill them", save the expense of incarceration and look much better in the eyes of the world. And if their goal is to eliminate homosexuality in their country, this would be a way to do it (assuming that the therapy works, which is a big assumption.)

I think the Ugandans will make the law they propose, but I think they are doing it to get attention. They may not actually enforce the law.

There is oil somewhere in that country, and they probably want to sell it. So they need to get a lot of attention so they can get customers.

Of course, this could backfire if no one buys the oil because of their law, but then again, if people need oil, they'll buy it no matter what.

Anonymous said...

This was definetely a good interview, although I don't think that Rachel "annihilated" him.

I certainly don't agree w/ anything Cohen asposues, but it's a stretch of logic to say that he personally has "blood on his hands" because someone took something out of his book, and used it as part of an extreme, clearly evil legislative purpose.

Nothing that he publishes or practices advocates, in any way, punishing gay people, let alone killing them.

BlackTsunami said...

Dear Anonymous,

I respect your difference of opinion and please respect mine when I say that if you truly watched that interview, you are dodging like a child playing dodgeball in gym class.

Cohen used bad information to make an inaccurate claim regarding gays and children. And someone took that information to help create a hideous anti-gay law.

That alone does make him culpable.

And it contradicts your last statement:

"Nothing that he publishes or practices advocates, in any way, punishing gay people, let alone killing them."


We are seeing the effects of his statements now in Uganda. So I guess what he published did advocate punishing gay people in a way.

Unknown said...

Your beloved Rachel, fuck her in her ass. Bunch of pervs..fuck you

BlackTsunami said...

Forget Watching Hugo Chavez. You should watch your potty mouth. I only posted your comment to show your immaturity. Figures.