Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters: Oct 22, 2010

Friday, October 22, 2010

Know Your LGBT History - That Certain Summer

That Certain Summer was a groundbreaking television movie which premiered on ABC in 1972. It told the story of a teenager (Scott Jacoby) who finds out that his divorced father (Hal Holbrook) is gay and in a relationship with another man (Martin Sheen) while visiting him during the summer.

It was one of the first movies to deal with the lgbt community on a sympathetic level. The movie can be described as sad - the ending was at least. At the time, it was highly controversial and but successful, garnering several Emmy nominations and one win (Jacoby for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Drama).

It was also viewed as a huge success by the critics.

From Wikipedia:

Marilyn Beck of the New York Times called it "one of the finest pieces of drama you'll see this year on large or small screen." Judith Crist described it as "a giant step for television" in New York. TV Guide declared, "Television grows up," and in his review in the Los Angeles Times, Charles Champlin opined, "It is the best movie for TV I have yet seen . . . a film which would do honor to any size screen."

'Real' Rolling Stone smacks Ugandan homophobia and other Friday midday news briefs

African 'Rolling Stone' Impostor Spreads Hate Agenda - Rolling Stone magazine strikes against homophobia in Uganda and a bad mark on its good name.

Poll: churches to blame for suicides of LGBT youth - Supposed people of God, there IS a problem here. You can either deny or do something to combat like good Christians would do.

NOM/FRC/IFF sure have a funny way of honoring Spirit Day - The "puke" bus runs along. That's right, I said it.

Gay student teacher gets Oregon job back- This is what happens when the community steps up.

Janet Porter Prays For Control Of the Government - Again? You just can't stop the crazy in Janey.

President Obama: It Gets Better (and how the lgbt community can respond if they wish)

As you can see, President Obama has filmed a "It Gets Better" video expressing his support to lgbt youth. Now some in the lgbt community have expressed themselves by saying how can he film such a message in light of his actions on DADT and DOMA.

Of course some of these folks were the same ones asking where was his "It Gets Better" video after Secretary of State Hilary Clinton filmed hers. However, their points are relevant and should be expressed.

But one thing our community always seem to forget that while our anger is good, the way we show it sometimes ends up biting us in the ass.

Let's be straight here - Queer Nation is gone. Act-Up is gone. Stop resurrecting those insurrectionist take-no-prisoner ghosts and delusions of grandeur. As much as you would like to be short, to the point, and brutally honest, telling the President that "talk is cheap" and "fuck you" is stupid, immature, and totally contradicts the points you are trying to make.

And let's not forget this moment here. A while back, we couldn't get any president say the word "gay," much less "lgbt." Hell, in South Carolina, we can't even get Republican gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley to say the word "gay."

The fact that Obama actually filmed this video demonstrates that slowly, but surely, we are winning.

So how about appreciating his gesture, saying thank you, but reminding him that work needs to be done on his part. Something like (and you don't have to repeat me exactly like this):

Thank you for the video, Mr. President. We are extremely pleased that you took time out of your day to speak to the youth and let them know not to allow bullies rob them of their self worth . . . now about that other stuff with us adults, i.e. DADT and DOMA. Don't you think it's time for you to stop pussyfooting? Just a suggestion.

Maybe it's just me but I think that goes a longer way than saying "you've got blood on your hands mother#@*!"