F-word as bad as the N-word

  

by Jim Buzinski.

The recent fines in the NBA for Kobe Bryant and Joakim Noah using “faggot” has engendered a lot of talk about language and what is and isn’t a slur. Mike Freeman of CBS Sportsline has a provocative column where he says that calling someone a “faggot” is the same as calling a black person a “nigger.” Freeman, who is black, is especially critical of African American jocks who use the “F-word” with abandon.

That word is the same as the N-word. Yes, it is. Don’t look at me like that. Yes. It. Is.

This won’t be a popular stance among some of my African-American football acquaintances, but it’s a truthful one and it’s a conversation that needs to be had.

When black men degrade gays, we are hypocrites. We cheapen our own history and struggles. It remains stunning to me why more African-American athletes (not all by any stretch but enough) don’t understand this. When a slur is aimed at us, we feel the impact. So why wouldn’t gays?

Freeman asked for my thoughts:

“I find it sad and ironic that athletes from a group long oppressed by language and the power of certain slurs would easily toss them around about another group,” said Jim Buzinski, who runs Outsports.com, a site dedicated to the coverage of gay athletes. “There will be people who will argue there are historical differences, and while true, does not somehow make one slur ‘more acceptable’ than another. Hateful words are hateful words, period.”

I would think that Freeman’s point is logical and unassailable, but every time this issue comes up we hear people giving a pass to the use of “faggot” and claiming there is no equivalence with other slurs (just read the comments on his column to see this in action).

I am always bothered when minority groups try and out-do each other in claiming the discrimination and oppression they have suffered is somehow worse than what another group endured. This is not a game of one-upsmanship. “Faggot” is used to demean people when myriad other neutral curse words can be uttered, so the speaker of the word recognizes its power to hurt. I hope this becomes self-evident to more people and applaud Freeman for tackling it head on.

I would love to know what others think about this issue since it seems everyone looks at it a little differently.

http://outsports.com/

Hate crimes in London's Soho on the rise

Homophobic attacks in London's Soho and the gay-friendly borough of Westminster increased last year, according to the Met Police.

New figures released by Scotland Yard revealed that anti-gay hate crime increased by 26 per cent, from 117 to 148 incidents, from April 2010 to April 2011.

Soho is famously regarded as the queer area of the capital.

The figure contradicts the capital's overall hate crime stats, which saw incidents fall by 0.1 per cent and total crime dropping 0.5 per cent across the 32 London boroughs.

The borough of Harrow suffered the biggest increase in assaults, with crimes soaring by 125 per cent. Likewise, Islington saw a significant jump with incidents rising from 82 to 131, a surge of 60 per cent.

The boroughs of Havering, Kingston-upon-Thames and Enfield weren't dissimilar, joining Westminster as some of the worst offenders in the Greater London area.

However, there was good news for some surrounding boroughs. Barnet experienced the biggest drop, down 60 per cent, and also recorded the lowest number of incidents for homophobic crimes last year.

Greenwich and Bromley have also seen some big drops. In Bromley, their figures dropped to 38, down from 78, whilst Greenwich's incidents halved.

Barking and Redbridge also halved the number of attacks in their area.

In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said they were committed to tackling all forms of hate crime.

“The MPS treats homophobically motivated crime very seriously and regards any form of hate crime as unacceptable.

“We are resolutely committed to tackling all forms and categories of hate crime and welcome victims coming forward so that we can work towards identifying and arresting perpetrators.”

The Met Police was recently voted Best Police Force in the Pink Paper Readers' Awards 2011.


Danny Lee


http://news.pinkpaper.com

SLDN Praises Obama For Opposition To Republican's Anti Gay Stance

by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
By now everyone is aware that the Republican Party wants to derail the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell because their narrow little core of voters is very anti-gay while the rest of the American public- both Democrats and Independents, are, shall we say, more tolerant. Recently, President Barack Obama came out swinging attacking any attempts to disrupt the repeal of DADT or to expand the Defense of Marriage Act through the National Defense Authorization Act.

Aubrey Sarvis, the Executive Director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, has commended President Obama for rejecting such prejudice stating “We are heartened to see the White House standing firm against attempts to use the defense spending bill as a vehicle for delaying or derailing repeal and expanding DOMA. The most troubling is the Akin language which infringes upon the religious liberties of chaplains, service members, and Department of Defense civilian employees. This would set a dangerous precedent. At SLDN, we are focused on the Senate, where we should be better positioned to fight back these attacks.”

http://lezgetreal.com

Growing Acceptance For Gay Athletes 2011

EnlargeBill Kostroun/AP

Villanova's Will Sheridan goes up against Seton Hall's Stan Gaines in 2007. Sheridan recently announced that he is gay.

  

In the past couple weeks, Phoenix Suns President Rick Welts, former Villanova basketball star Will Sheridan and ESPN sports radio host Jared Max all announced they are gay.

But the locker room and sports arena are still difficult places for gay and lesbian athletes. NBA stars Kobe Bryant and Joakim Noah were both recently fined for using gay slurs, though both athletes later apologized and insisted they aren't homophobic.

New York Daily News sportswriter Michael O'Keefe tells NPR's Neal Conan that the question of how to react to gay athletes was first raised years ago, in professional women's league sports, when WNBA MVP Sheryl Swoopes announced she was gay.

"The world didn't end then; the skies didn't part," O'Keefe says. But that level of acceptance has yet to be reached among male athletes.

"Whoever the athlete is that ultimately comes out in the middle of his career, it's going to be a difficult thing ... [but] it may not be as difficult as we once thought," O'Keefe says.

He points to the prevalence of openly gay artists, lawyers and politicians and says it's only a matter of time before we see the same thing happen in men's professional sports.

"There [are] four major professional men's leagues in this country. They each have about 30 teams," he says. "[These are] thousands of athletes we're talking about. There's got to be some gay players in all four of those leagues."

http://www.npr.org

New True Blood Photos: Season Four Pics

  by JENNIFER ARROW

John P. Johnson/HBO

HBO's True Blood, aka summer's sexiest series, returns June 26, and we've got your first look at the promo stills of all your favorite characters!

Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) has suited up for a serious new character turn, Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) and Hoyt (Jim Parrack) are struggling with popular prejudice against their unconventional pairing, Pam (Kristin Bauer von Straten) and Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) look sexier than ever with great new hairstyles, Alcide (Joe Manganiello) has tragically decided to wear a shirt, Sam (Sam Trammell) appears to be a man on a mission, and Sookie (Anna Paquin) is still working out her relationship with the fairy folk (not to mention her relationship with Alexander Skarsgård's always delightful Eric Northman).

Want to see the photos for yourself?

Click through our galle

Eonline

Anti-trust lawyer has learned that he owes $15Milto the boy he sexually assaulted.

Aaron Biber

​Aaron Biber is behind bars. His reputation and career are shot. His family life is over. And now the former anti-trust lawyer has learned that he owes $15 million to the teenage boy he sexually assaulted.

Of that, $10 million is for punitive damages, and $5 million for assault, battery, and emotional distress, ruledHennepin County District Judge Denise Reilly.

Biber was once a partner with Gray Plant Mooty, treasurer of the state bar association, and a home owner in Shorewood, but he threw all that away. He started grooming a neighborhood boy to satisfy his predations, sexted the teenager pictures of his erect penis, got him drunk, and had sex with him--once so roughly the boy needed medical attention. Now he's a disgrace, sentenced to 18 years in prison.

"We are now left to try and pick up the pieces and help my son face the long-term challenges of overcoming the multitude of mental health issues created by the actions of the defendant," the victim's father wrote to the judge before sentencing. "This is a life changing event. As his father, the impact of this will be with me every day, with my every breath, for the rest of my life."

By Hart Van Denburg

City Pages

20.5 Carat Diamond Engagement Ring!: Kim Kardashian’s

Kim Kardashian had long dreamed of the perfect man—and the perfect ring. “In high school I went to Macy’s and bought this fake ring, my ‘perfect’ ring, and this is almost the exact same,” she says, staring down at the 20-plus-carat gem Humphries designed with jeweler Lorraine Schwartz, a longtime Kardashian friend who has not only decked Kim in her gorgeous jewels for events like the Emmy Awards but has also created engagement rings for stars like Beyoncé. Wanting something distinctly her own (“Khloé’s is a radiant cut,” she says of her sister’s ring), the reality star loves the classic design. Humphries had simpler requirements: “I just knew I wanted it to be big!” And he got more than big, as Kim gushed, “It’s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,” says Kardashian of the ring. “It’s perfect.” The 16.5-carat emerald cut center stone is flanked by a pair of 2-carat trapezoids, for a total weight of 20.5 carats! Humphries even managed to work out the design without Kim knowing. Kardashian explains, “[Lorraine] always listened to what I would want and the shapes I love. I had said I loved an emerald cut and they were scheming and plotting for a while.” Humphries confided his plans in his parents, but felt confident in his decision. “I knew she’d love it–she better!” –Jennifer Garcia

Nick Saglimbeni

Patrick McHenry, the rudest, most shameless Republican

 BY ALEX PAREENE

YouTube screen shot

Patrick McHenry

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-Countrywide) called Elizabeth Warren a liar at the conclusion of a House Oversight subcommittee hearing that had already consisted mainly of Republican members of Congress getting very basic information about Warren's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau completely wrong. 

McHenry has been one of the most completely shameless of House Republicans since his arrival in Congress, in 2005, when he immediately and publicly endorsed Tom DeLay's brilliant plan to exempt himself from ethics rules as his connections to Jack Abramoff began to end his career. But he was born to be cheerfully corrupt: He's a product of the College Republicans, an organization that trains little Lee Atwaters, Karl Roves and Grover Norquists in the arts of scorched-earth campaigning and wholly irresponsible "governing" on behalf of the monied interests that bought you your job. The ethos is win by any means necessary, legal or quasi-legal (or worse, as long as you never get caught), and McHenry was very good at that, according toBenjamin Wallace-Wells' memorable profile of the then-freshman in the Washington Monthly.

After the College Republicans, and a failed state legislature race, McHenry moved on to truly insidious conservative astroturfing/push-polling/communications firm DCI, then worked for Rove, then took a political appointment in the Bush administration, then moved to the district he now represents, where he started a real estate company that did not actually buy or sell any real estate, so that he could run for Congress as "a small businessman."

Once in the United States House of Representatives, McHenry personally intervened in a wild and bloody College Republican National Committee chair election, on behalf of a personal friend of his who'd become slightly toxic after he sent fundraising letters attempting to trick "elderly people with dementia" into donating to the CRNC. And he was successful! The horrible kid won, against all odds:

In other phone calls, McHenry was more blunt: "He told me, and several of my friends that we were done in politics if we didn't support him," another College Republican chapter president told me. (McHenry has admitted that he and Deans made the calls but denied that they threatened anyone's career). Over the course of two weeks, after a couple of a dozen calls, McHenry prevailed upon those in the North Carolina delegation to change their votes, removing three votes from Davidson's column and putting them in Gourley's. Gourley ended up winning by six votes; had North Carolina voted the other way, Davidson might have won.

Another of McHenry's first acts in Congress, Wallace-Wells writes, was to champion a bill that was specifically written to rip off a large portion of his constituents, by making it "much harder for government to regulate or block the conversion of credit unions into banks ..." He is a close ally of major consumer financial institutions with a plum assignment to the Committee on Financial Services, which is great for raising money.

It's only natural that Elizabeth Warren, whose mission is to protect consumers from unethical and predatory practices by these institutions, is Patrick McHenry's enemy. You can complain on his Facebook wall all you like, but the Republican from North Carolina is incapable of feeling embarrassment.

And his treatment of Warren will only make him a bigger conservative hero and an even more attractive investment opportunity for major banks.

• Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon. Email him at apareene@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @pareene More: Alex Pareene

Lady Gaga passes Oprah to top Forbes 100 list

Posted by LGBT Weekly

Lady Gaga tops Forbes' Celebrity 100 list for 2011\Source: Lady Gaga

Influence, wealth and recognition are the name of the game when it comes to topping the annual Forbes Celebrity 100 list. Power, prestige, talent and beauty certainly play a role in winning one of the 100 coveted slots – but ultimately, it’s the fans that catapult our biggest stars into the stratosphere.

Thanks to her 32 million Facebook fans and 9.5 Twitter followers, not to mention a passionate and controversial gay rights advocacy influence and a whopping $90 million in earnings from her Monster tour, Lady Gaga has toppled Oprah Winfrey this year and claimed the No.1 spot on the influential Forbes list. MSNBC reportsthat Oprah, who has only relinquished the top spot three times in the last seven years,  remains close at Gaga’s heels at No.2. Teen pop sensation Justin Bieber, another social media success story, snagged the No.3 slot for 2011.

Forbes’ Celebrity 100 list, which has been published annually since 1999, runs the gamut and includes actors, television personalities, athletes, supermodels, authors, musicians and performing artists. Inclusion in the list is measured according to entertainment-related earnings and visibility across media channels ranging from print and television to radio and web presence – including this year’s big star-makers, Facebook and Twitter.

http://lgbtweekly.com

MSNBC Suspends Ed Schultz Over Remarks

BREAKING: 

 by Mark Joyella  

MSNBC has announced that Ed Schultz will be given a one week suspension without pay for “unacceptable” comments Schultz made, callingLaura Ingraham a “right wing slut,” and then, in a second comment, a “talk slut.”

The comments were not made on Schultz’s MSNBC program, The Ed Show, but on his syndicated radio show. Still MSNBC has released a statement late Wednesday:

MSNBC management met with Ed Schultz this afternoon and accepted his offer to take one week of unpaid leave for the remarks he made yesterday on his radio program. Ed will address these remarks on his show tonight, and immediately following begin his leave. Remarks of this nature are unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

Here are Schultz’s complete comments from the radio show:

“And what do the Republicans thinking about? They’re not thinking about their next-door neighbor. They’re just thinking about how much this is going to cost. President Obama is going to be visiting Joplin, Mo., on Sunday but you know what they’re talking about, like this right-wing slut, what’s her name?, Laura Ingraham? Yeah, she’s a talk slut. You see, she was, back in the day, praising President Reagan when he was drinking a beer overseas. But now that Obama’s doing it, they’re working him over.”

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/breaking