SwimFinsSF

Acceptance or Phobes

Ok.. So maybe I’m being too sensitive.. but i’ve seen a couple of things in the media lately that have really bugged me.. The first is this video floating around by Jimmy Kimmel as a response to the I f-ed Matt Damon video that his lady did (I’m not gonna link to it but just search YouTube and you’ll find it). So I know its intended to be funny and they’ll say they didn’t mean anything by it.. But to me it came across an awful lot like white actors doing black face back in the day.

The other case was on Make me a Supermodel (I’ve gotten sucked into it by Kevin – kind of like watching a train wreck..). Last night there was a scene where one of the guys decided to start calling two of the other guys on the show gay and women. There is a lot of back story that makes it not entirely surprising that it happened – this guy seemed to be having his masculinity threatened by some of the modeling stuff and having his gay roommate hitting on him. But regardless the producers and editors found it an interesting thing to show but kind of presented it in a ‘well thats not cool but its no big deal’ kind of way which I thought was shitty. It really rung awful similar to people calling us ‘fag’ in high school and then brushing it off…

It just feels some times like because we’ve gotten some more acceptance in the media we’ve also made it OK to parody but they haven’t quite figured out when parody is actually funny and when its just obnoxious…

Anyway – I’m probably just being silly but it bugged me…

Tags: gay, gltb, media

A serious and a comical note… on Pages

Rather than blather on my own opinions about all the crazy crap that has been going on in Washington lately I’m going to leave it to others…

First – a serious commentary.. I heard this on KQED on the way to work yesterday and couldn’t agree more… Take a listen:

Tue, Oct 10, 2006 — 7:37 AM

It’s So Not the Gay Thing

Listen (RealMedia stream)

Download (MP3)

The Mark Foley scandal is about many things, mostly power. The one thing it’s not about, says Kate Kendell, is the disgraced Congressman’s sexual orientation.

Host: Kate Kendell

And now – From Jon Stewart – a HYSTERICAL segment from the daily show (thanks to Towleroad). Again – VERY well put.

Damn Barney – Well Put

In case you haven’t seen it check out the speech Rep. Barney Frank gave today on the marriage amendment… VERY well put

(This video thanks to Good as You)

Bite me George

This just in…

Supporters Lose in Gay Marriage Ban Vote

By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer

Wednesday, June 7, 2006

(06-07) 08:57 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) —

The Senate on Wednesday rejected a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, dealing an embarrassing defeat to President Bush and Republicans who hoped to use the measure to energize conservative voters on Election Day.

(read more…)

Seems Mr. Bush has lost two more votes since the last time they tried this – and both Republicans.. Seems even his party is starting to think that writing hate into the most sacred document in the nation might be a bad thing…

Oh… And by the way.. If you want to see the results look here and if you want to read the text of the proposal itself look here.

1. cook dinner, 2. wash clothes, 3. find frog.

A friend just forwarded me this article from sfgate. You really should read it – its very well written and sums up my frustration with this whole issue of people having issues with ‘Gay Families’.

I won’t rant on further. Just read the piece. Its worth a few minutes out of your day.

Gene Shalit steps up! :)

This was just released by GLAAD and i’m thrilled:

GLAAD ALERT UPDATE

January 10, 2006

GLAAD Applauds Shalit’s Response

Today show reviewer regrets Brokeback comment

On Jan. 5, Gene Shalit, in his review of “Brokeback Mountain” on NBC News’ Today show, referred to the character of Jack as a “sexual predator” who “tracks Ennis down and coaxes him into sporadic trysts.” Based on an outpouring of passionate emails and phone calls by Today show viewers angered and hurt by Mr. Shalit’s assertion, GLAAD asked for an apology from NBC and Mr. Shalit for a comment that was certainly heard by many as defamatory.

On January 10, Mr. Shalit responded to GLAAD’s request for an apology with a statement saying, “In describing the behavior of ‘Jack’ I used words (‘sexual predator’) that I now discover have angered, agitated, and hurt many people. I did not intend to use a word that many in the gay community consider incendiary. . . I certainly had no intention of casting aspersions on anyone in the gay community or on the community itself. I regret any emotional hurt that may have resulted from my review of ‘Brokeback Mountain.'”

GLAAD thanks and applauds Mr. Shalit for clarifying his comments and making clear in his statement that his words were not intended to be defamatory to the LGBT community.

To read Mr. Shalit’s statement in its entirety, go to glaad.org or click here:

http://www.glaad.org/action/alerts_detail.php?id=3849

The man has a lot of class for standing up and issuing a statement like this. He may not have liked the movie or Jack’s character and thats fine – its his job as a critic to make such calls. But his choice of words was poor and its really classy of him to say as much…

Woo hoo… Go Gene..