Reading his op-ed published in the
Philadelphia Gay News and elsewhere, you'd think that National
Gay & Lesbian Task Force head Matt Foreman was serious when he
says:
First and foremost, everyone in the community, no matter where he or she is on marriage -- for, against, don't know or don't care -- must unite to fight the backlash. If we do not, we will lose. Period.
Second, because we cannot win this by ourselves, each of us must speak openly and directly to our families, friends, neighbors and co-workers.
Which raises, again, Foreman's decision to remain utterly silent on the marriage question last month when he took the podium at the 40th anniversary civil rights rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial, presumably out of deference to anti-gay black church leaders whose support he covets for NGLTF's broader left-liberal, big-government, income-redistributing agenda. (For more, see Rick Rosendall's column, "A March in the Wrong Direction," on this site.)
Throwing Stones at Arnold.
The
San Francisco Chronicle's
story about Arnold Schwarzenegger's 25-year old interview with
the long-defunct "Oui" magazine shows gay activists of the left
once again joined at the hip with their opposites in the religious
right, who are also making hay over the interview. The Chronicle
buries Schwarzenegger's full comments, which included a strong
statement against stereotyping gays, while repeating the business
over his long-ago sexcapades.
The paper quotes the big guy and provides responses as
follows:
he referred to gay people as "fags," saying, "I have absolutely no hang-ups about the fag business; though it may bother some bodybuilders, it doesn't affect me at all." "
"I think he's got a problem, bordering on a fixation" about gays, said Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco.
Michael Andraychak, president of Los Angeles' Stonewall Democratic Club, which opposes the recall, called on the actor to apologize, saying gays react to "fag" much as African Americans react to "the n-- word." "
Toni Broaddus, program director for Equality California, the statewide gay-rights group, said she was troubled by Schwarzenegger's description of group sex in the gym. "
Who knew that "queer" would become politically acceptable (at least among "progressives") but that "fags" would remain verboten? Or that gym sex would become a target of the lesbigay left?
What the young Schwarzenegger actually said, speaking in a language not his own, was this:
Asked whether he was "freaked out" by being in such close contact with guys at the gym, Schwarzenegger said, "Men shouldn't feel like fags just because they want to have nice-looking bodies...Gay people are fighting the same kind of stereotyping that bodybuilders are: People have certain misconceptions about them just as they do about us. Well, I have absolutely no hang-ups about the fag business..."
We report, you decide.
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