Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters

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#@*!"

Thursday, October 21, 2010

FRC's Tony Perkins will not address the errors in his anti-gay piece, but he will play the victim

The Family Research Council's Tony Perkins received a lot of criticism for a piece he wrote last week on National Coming Out Day.

In the piece, Perkins complained that "homosexual activists" were "exploiting" the recent suicides of lgbt teens. He tried to make the case that homophobia didn't lead to these suicides but that homosexuality itself was a "dangerous lifestyle:"

There is an abundance of evidence that homosexuals experience higher rates of mental health problems in general, including depression. However, there is no empirical evidence to link this with society's general disapproval of homosexual conduct. In fact, evidence from the Netherlands would seem to suggest the opposite, because even in that most "gay-friendly" country on earth, research has shown homosexuals to have much higher mental health problems.

In several places, including the comments section below his piece, Perkins got skewered. A main point of those criticizing Perkins was the fact that he distorted several studies to make the case that homosexuality was a "dangerous lifestyle."

Media Matters for America called him out:

Perkins suggests that these tragedies are not caused by the homophobic attacks these individuals were subjected to, but rather because "homosexuals experience higher rates of mental health problems in general, including depression," and, according to Perkins, there's no "evidence to link this with society's general disapproval of homosexual conduct." Unfortunately for Perkins, the article he links to says no such thing.

Perkins links to a February 2002 American Psychologist article, which reported on the "results of several breakthrough studies are offering new insights on gay men, lesbians and bisexuals." While Perkins is right, "Several studies suggest that gay men, lesbians and bisexuals appear to have higher rates of some mental disorders compared with heterosexuals," he's totally wrong that these rates have nothing to do with discrimination. In fact, the article immediately goes on to report that "[d]iscrimination may help fuel these higher rates." The article reported: "In a study that examines possible root causes of mental disorders in LGB people, [Susan] Cochran [PhD] and psychologist Vickie M. Mays, PhD, of the University of California, Los Angeles, explored whether ongoing discrimination fuels anxiety, depression and other stress-related mental health problems among LGB people. The authors found strong evidence of a relationship between the two." Several other studies back up this finding.

Jim Burroway of Box Turtle Bulletin pointed out this error in Perkins's piece regarding his "evidence" from the Netherlands:

While the study’s authors notes that the Netherlands is generally more tolerant, it doesn’t mean that LGBT people there are free from anti-gay bias and stress. After all, “more tolerant” is not the same as tolerant. And as for the study’s findings, the authors offered this explanation:

The effects of social factors on the mental health status of homosexual men and women have been well documented in studies, which found a relationship between experiences of stigma, prejudice, and discrimination and mental health status. Furthermore, controlling for psychological predictors of present distress seems to eliminate differences in mental health status between heterosexual and homosexual adolescents.

And John Aravosis on Americablog pointed out how Perkins and his group, the Family Research Council, promotes the work of the discredited Paul Cameron.

On Tuesday, Perkins answered back at his critics and did he clear up the points made about the errors in his piece?

Of course not.

He directed all of his attention to attacking GLAAD (the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) for their complaints about his piece:

In the last two weeks, FRC has had a front row seat to the effort by homosexual activists to intimidate the media into silencing conservatives. When the Washington Post published my op-ed last week about the need for an open discussion about the negative consequences of homosexuality (so that these people might have the freedom to leave the lifestyle), the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) threw a (predictable) fit. They accused the Post of giving me a platform for "anti-gay bullying" and urged readers to flood the paper with complaints. Now there are plenty of problems with this scenario-not the least of which is GLAAD's definition of bullying. Despite how threatened they are by the truth, there is nothing more compassionate than trying to rescue people from a lifestyle that is physically and emotionally destructive. GLAAD doesn't see it that way. Just as they did with Matthew Shepard, they're exploiting Tyler Clementi's tragic death as a weapon to scare Christians into retreating--or, in this case, as a way to pressure the media to muzzle any opposition.

The link to GLAAD's supposed "hissy fit" contains links to Burroway's criticisms, Aravosis's observation, and links to a few more problems with FRC's standpoint.

But Perkins chose not to address these. Instead, he chose to claim that he and his organization are victims of homosexual activists trying to silence Christians.

I didn't know pointing out someone's errors is the same as silencing them. Maybe it is in the case of Perkins and FRC.

If they couldn't lie about the lgbt community, maybe they wouldn't have anything else to say.

Company pays 20K settlement in gay harassment lawsuit and other Thursday midday news briefs

N.J.-based Sony DADC to pay $20K settlement to ex-employee in gay harassment lawsuit - Excellent news

Video: Wherein a tongue-tied Bob Vander Plaats gets smacked down. Hard - I love it when someone pushing distortions gets schooled.

Bless Those Who Persecute You: The Just Response to Gay Bullying - A piece on the Huffington Post by a very good friend of mine, Rev. Candace Chellew-Hodge

Peter LaBarbera Unclear on Meaning of Word ‘Blackmail’ - I'm not going to say a word about Petey. It's just too easy.

1:30 PM ET: Join us for a live chat with ally Congressman Patrick Murphy (D-PA) - Don't miss this!

Hundreds in South Carolina hold vigil for lgbt youth

From Fox News:

Hundreds of candles burned Wednesday night in memory of five bullied youth, all either gay or questioning their sexuality, who in recent weeks have taken their own lives.

“Seeing the teens on the news who committed suicide, it hurts deep down inside because I was there just a few years ago,” says Justin Wise.

Wise, 22, says he was harassed throughout grade school, but now he's taking a stand.

Wise was one of the speakers at the candlelight vigil held outside the front steps of the state house, which focused on the message “it gets better.”

“We are out here to show those kids we are here, and you have a support system,” says SC Pride member Jennifer Tague.

Many of the attendees were wearing purple, because the color on the LGBT flag represents spirit.

“When you put a face out there and you talk about an incident people react,” says Elke Kennedy, whose son died in 2007 from a hate crime.

Click on the Fox News link for the video which unfortunately does not embed. The picture above is Founder of SC Pride, PFLAG Columbia, and the Harriet Hancock LGBT Community Center, Harriet Hancock addressing the audience at the vigil.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Julian Bond - Lessons should be learned from Tyler Clementi's suicide and Eddie Long controversy

Julian Bond, activist and chairman emeritus of the NAACP, has just published a short but very pertinent piece tying together the suicide of Tyler Clementi, the Eddie Long controversy, and the atmosphere of homophobia which led to both. It deserves a read:

Some who believe in Biblical literalism find sanction for their anti-homosexuality there, but selectively ignore Biblical injunctions to execute people who work on the Sabbath (Exodus 35:2), to crack down on those who get haircuts (Leviticus 19:27) or to condemn those who wear clothes with more than one kind of thread (Leviticus 19:19).

We wouldn’t think of executing someone for having a Sunday job, but homophobia literally kills. We know Tyler Clementi’s name because his death has been in the news, but did you know about 13-year-old Seth Walsh of Tehachapi, Calif., or 13-year-old Billy Lucas of Greensburg, Ind., who also hanged themselves, or 13-year-old Asher Brown, 13, of Houston, Texas, who shot himself in the head? They all endured anti-gay harassment and bullying until the pressure became too great, as it apparently did for Tyler Clementi.

In the aftermath of the Atlanta scandal, many are given to call Bishop Long’s church “The Church of the Down Low.” This refers to the homophobia-inspired fear that forces many Black gay men into underground lives in a secret sexual world—secret even from family and friends—a covert world on the “down low.” The price some of us pay is AIDS.

As the Atlanta Constitution’s Cynthia Tucker wrote, “Bigotry fuels the scourge of AIDS in Black America, and the plague is making its greatest inroads into the population from which come the worker bees of the Black church: Black women.”

We need to sweep these prejudices away, as the Supreme Court did in 1967 when it eliminated the ban on interracial marriage.