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Friday, September 16th, 2011

#yesGayYA - Take a deeper look

[info]snacky
Have you been following the #yesGayYA story on Twitter? Maybe you've read the article in the Guardian:

YA authors asked to 'straighten' gay characters: Authors say agent offered them book deal conditional on making a character heterosexual.

The two authors in question are Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith, known on LJ as [info]rachelmanija and [info]sartorias.

[info]cleolinda has an excellent, incisive and informative summary of the whole complicated situation, including links, quotes and comments from many involved.

On Livejournal: What's going on with #yesGayYA

On Dreamwidth: What's going on with #yesGayYA

Definitely check it out.
(84 comments | Leave a comment)

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

Hamlet and the Homophobic Agenda

[info]nyoda
Orson Scott Card has rewritten Hamlet to demonstrate the evils of gayness. (Also to make the story "instantly comprehensible" by sucking all drama and complexity out of it.)

Just...follow the link. There is nothing I could say that the reviewer hasn't said perfectly already.

As of 9/12/2011, Card has responded, insisting that there are no homosexual characters in Hamlet's Father at all, only a pedophile. (Thank you, disdainful_soul, for the link!)

***

ETA: [info]scott_lynch has come up with a brilliant rendition of TOTALLY NOT GAY AND NOT WRITTEN WITH BIG WORDS version of Henry V, as written by Card.

Subterranean Press, who is publishing this novella, has gotten enough complaints about it to post a response on their website.

***

ETA2: Freethoughtblogs.com has a review as well. Their verdict? "Boring in its execution and blatantly false in its premises, it’s hard to imagine why the publisher thought it was worth printing."

Publishers Weekly delivers a cutting review and an essay called The Offensiveness Grenade.

IO9 has a story about Card's version and the protests.

NowPublic.com says that Card "apparently looked to The Room for dialogue cues" and also notes the web outrage.

The UK newspaper the Guardian has picked up the story as well.

***

ETA3:The Stranger.com has an article about this

IO9 has another article: The REAL Reason I'm Disappointed in Orson Scott Card.

NRC.nl, a Dutch site, has an article that translates to Outcry [about] Homophobic Writer.

Elbakin.net reports in French that Orson Scott Card “révise” Hamlet…

Actualitté.com writes Hamlet: Son père était homosexuel et pédophile!

***

ETA4:

Daily Kos brings up Card's book in an open thread.

The Advocate has some harsh words for Card.

Oregon's LGBTQ magazine, Just Out, mostly quotes but points out that such critical response to Card's writing is unusual.

***

And don't forget the #buyabiggaynovelforscottcardday.

***

P.S. Card seems to have had the last laugh, though. The limited edition published by Subterreanean Press? SOLD OUT.
mood: OMGWTF
(267 comments | Leave a comment)

Friday, July 8th, 2011

What is this? I don't even...

[info]staroverthebay
Even if you take Michele Bachmann out of the equation, and take politics out of it as a whole, this whole "pledge" thing is so rife with unfunny that I just... I don't even.... wut?

(this isn't what I'd call socially conservative. It's socially restrictive!) Copypasta'd under the cut in full, in case the Washington Post article has IP blockages or whatever (some people on my FLists can't view their stuff)

( Bachmann signs socially conservative pledge on homosexuality, marriage )

Honestly, I had no idea anyone could out-stupid Sarah Palin when it comes to presidential campaigning. But Michele Bachmann seems to be pulling out all the stops.

I'd advise everyone to be careful reading the comments. I read a few that were interesting and thought provoking, and then a lot of them that were just so polarized that I back-buttoned so hard my browser got a headache.
(117 comments | Leave a comment)

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

David Kato bludgeoned to death in Uganda

[info]staroverthebay
(On top of a super-crappy day at work in which I discovered that my favorite co-worker has been unfairly fired forced to resign, I end up on an article that just unhinges my rage. Dear lord, I really want to just tell the whole WORLD to fuck the hell off now...)

I haven't exactly been following the gay-rights scene internationally, but the headline that led me to this article caught my eye, and now I can't look away, it's like a horrific train wreck.

Gay Rights Activist in Uganda bludgeoned to death in his own home

( The article, for the link phobic )

Dear God. I... have no words. (I don't believe there are any comments on the article linked above, but if there are, I imagine that you would be reading them at your own risk. This sounds like it's going to be very ugly.)
(44 comments | Leave a comment)

Monday, October 11th, 2010

Paladino: Gays are brainwashing the kids!

[info]staroverthebay

Paladino Laces Speech With Antigay Remarks

(note: NYTimes requires a free account to read the article, so I've copypasta'd it here for those who don't want to bother)

( Full text of article )

The commentary I've seen on the article have been surprisingly non-rage-inducing -- though a few of them are pretty bad.

Seriously, brainwashing? Homosexuality is not okay? FUCK YOU, ASSHOLE.


ETA: It gets better, trust me! Paladino would totally hire gays, guys! He can't hate them, cuz he'd hire them! (if that link doesn't work, I copied the text to my JF here)

And Paladino has no regrets cuz what he believes is what he believes and it's totes not wrong! (if that link doesn't work, I copied the text to my JF here)

ETA 2: Paladino apologizes in perhaps typical political fashion: "I'm sorry you were upset by my honest hate-speech poorly-chosen words." (if that link doesn't work, I copied the text to my JF here)

ETA 3: In a twist of fail that may even exceed Paladino's, the Jewish Orthodox church he had support from has withdrawn support of Paladino because they don't approve of his apology.

Also, it's been found that anti-abortion Paladino has leased an abortion clinic to Planned Parenthood. And apparently has owned a gay bar in the past. Does this man know anything about how to play politics?

ETA 4: Paladino considers his children to be off-limits for political games, but not his opponent's children! He lambastes Cuomo for marching with his daughters in a Gay Pride Parade.

ETA 5: (hat-tip to [info]queencallipygos for suggesting this ETA) So Paladino is quite the email-troll. Zach Nikonovich-Kahn, a former political intern in NYC, angrily confronted Paladino in an email, and in a series of subsequent emails, Paladino basically trolled him by telling him to learn to read, to stop believing whatever he reads, to stop reading crap, and to take his "meeds" (Personally? I don't think what Zach did was very wise or professional, but Paladino's responses really do have to be seen to be believed, it is amazing how immature he is about it!)
mood: *Snarl*
(89 comments | Leave a comment)

Thursday, September 30th, 2010

The Assistant Atty. General vs. the Gay Student President

[info]honorh
This one is weird, unfunny, bizarre, strange, and altogether "Huh?"

The Assistant Attorney General of Michigan, Andrew Shirvell, really doesn't like the openly-gay U of M Student Body President, Chris Armstrong. Really, really doesn't like him. In fact, he's started stalking a blog to report on Armstrong's every move, accusing Armstrong of "promoting the radical homosexual agenda" and being, I kid you not, "Satan's representative on the Student Council." Oh, and he also joined the Westboro Baptist Church in protesting the lad. Gehayi on LJ has a nice set of links here and here. For the link-phobic, here's part of one of the first articles, courtesy of WXYZ:

( Bizarrity ahead! )

Roger Ebert also blogs about it here and here, including the interview with Anderson Cooper and a video Shirvell himself shot outside Armstrong's house.

I, personally, think Shirvell needs a hobby. Or a boyfriend.
(93 comments | Leave a comment)

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

Anti-Gay Protest Outnumbered 1 to 500

[info]kitt_in_socks
This is a little old, but still pretty awesome.

Dutchtown High School, a suburban school approximately 18 miles out of Baton Rouge, LA, decided to put on a production of the Laramie Project, a controversial play about the hate-crime murder of Matthew Shepard. As can be expected, the Westboro Baptist Church announced it would protest the production. It also picketed Shepard's funeral.

Then someone made a Facebook group dedicated to supporting the play and counter-protesting the WBC.

In the end the WBC didn't even show up. The only person who did protest the play was a local man. Meanwhile the supporters numbered in the hundreds at any given time.

(I was there for a little while, but couldn't stay very long. Most of the signs were in the same vein as the absurdist counter-protest in San Francisco--things like "Ahab hates whales" and "God hates Farmville." There were a number of simply pro-gay ones, and a pro-gay church from New Orleans was there.)

( Full text )

[Source]

Comments at source have some religious homophobes on board, but aren't as rage-inducing as they could have been.
(17 comments | Leave a comment)

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

Prom is NOT for Teh Ebil Ghey!

[info]staroverthebay
A Mississippi school was so outraged that a lesbian student wanted to bring her girlfriend (a fellow student) and wear a tuxedo that they canceled prom altogether.

You read that right.

( Full text of article )

Some days it just isn't worth it to even get online, nevermind look at headlines.
(76 comments | Leave a comment)

Sunday, March 7th, 2010

Dear Virginia: I'm so sorry. I'm so very sorry.

[info]notjo
Virginia attorney general to colleges: End gay protections

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II has urged the state's public colleges and universities to rescind policies that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, arguing in a letter sent to each school that their boards of visitors had no legal authority to adopt such statements.

...

Former attorney general Jerry Kilgore (R) agreed it would be difficult for Cuccinelli to enforce his opinion without pursuing court action. But he said college visitors swear an oath to abide by state statute.

"Board members are required to follow the law," Kilgore said. "And he's telling them what the law is."
(61 comments | Leave a comment)

Saturday, March 6th, 2010

Catholic School kicks out a pre-schooler because the child's parents are lesbians.

[info]notjo
Catholic school boots student with gay parents

BOULDER, Colo. — A Catholic school in Colorado is kicking out a preschooler because the child's parents are lesbians.

The child will not be allowed to re-enroll next year at Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic School. The Denver Archdiocese posted a statement Friday that the parents are "living in open discord with Catholic teaching."

The statement says students in Catholic schools are expected to have parents who abide by policies of the school and church. The Archdiocese said students with gay parents in Catholic schools would become "confused."

The school's decision was first reported Friday by KUSA-TV in Denver.

[Citation]
(74 comments | Leave a comment)

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

You know what we should do? Make it okay to bully queer students

[info]notjo
C&P:

Matt Windschitl and Jason Schultz, two Iowa lawmakers, have proposed a bill to explicitly remove gay and lesbian students from anti-bullying policies in state schools.

Gay and lesbian teens are currently protected by the state’s Safe Schools Act, which aims to help students who are being bullied and harassed by ensuring a safe and non-judgmental environment to report incidents. Unacceptable, according to Schultz, who said that he has nothing against gay students, but added that he needs to remove their protections because it will lead to same-sex marriage.

Yes, you read that right. Windschitl and Schultz want to remove anti-bullying measures for gay students—one of the most vulnerable and harassed minorities—from public schools because he opposes an unrelated issue, same-sex marriage. It’s a destructive message for already bullied students, for whom these lawmakers not only have no empathy, but outright disdain.

( more more more )
(214 comments | Leave a comment)

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

One more reason I prefer Massachusetts

[info]jkefka
"N.Y. lawmakers vote against gay marriage"

FFFFFUUUUCK YOOOOOOUUUUUUUU
(25 comments | Leave a comment)

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

Catholic Church gives DC ultimatum

[info]wolfshark
Catholic Church gives Washington D.C. an ultimatum over Gay marriage

Text below the cut for the linkphobic -

( Catholic Church gives D.C. ultimatum )
(71 comments | Leave a comment)

Sunday, October 25th, 2009

Pope Palpatine using Those Horrible Gays to up his recruitment stats? How completely novel!

[info]duende
Apparently unsatisfied with everything ELSE the Catholic Church has to deal with, Pope Benedict XVI decides to stick his crucifix where it doesn't belong and meddle in the affairs of Anglicans -- by inviting those displeased with Episcopalian acceptance of homosexuals to COME OVER TO THE DARK SIDE join with Rome.

( Text for the link-phobic )

A rather good article, I feel, though its appeal may be to a relatively fairly narrow audience (consisting entirely of people who A. know jack about either CoE or Catholicism, and B. actually care) followed by surprisingly insightful comments:

Is it just me, or does the picture suggest a vampire rising from its coffin? asks riggbeck.

speaking as an excatholic he is welcome to them! although they'll probably find that there are more gay priests in the catholic church rather than in the one they are leaving! observes jamijery.

This is all very interesting and informative, but I'm sorry to say that for 90% of the population, this will have no bearing on their lives. So sayeth NapoleonKaramazov in what I think is a fairly accurate estimation, begging the question "Why, then, is Duende bothering to post this?" Because I am extremely bad at math.

...Snarking aside, some of the comments actually ARE good ones:

This is very similar to Stephen Bates' article yesterday. Again, I fail to see the problem with the Vatican's proposal. A way has been found to allow a number of people who are currently Anglicans - call them Anglo-Catholics, High Church, or whatever - to move to the Catholic Church in a fashion which will make them happier than they currently are. In their absence, people in the Church of England who wish to make more changes in terms of women bishops, gay cleargy, etc, will find it easier to make those changes. Where is the problem in this? Only if you see RC / Anglican relations as some sort of zero-sum game, where the Anglo-Catholics have to be kept locked into the Anglican communion in order to keep the numbers up. --Suleyman

The Catholic Church is seen to be modern. In one breath the Pope has spoken superstision about homosexuality, and in the next, condemned Israel for bulldozing Palistenian homes. Tell them that no-one MAKES homosexuals do what they do. Do you? The idea of fearing anything let alone God seems dubious to most of the previous commenters. Fear isn't the issue regarding the accused. The only criticism about this compromise has come from rash hackers like Lucy Mangan who have distracted from whose own questionable practices, based on personal nuerosis and egocentricities, which bare no relavance to the INCREASINGLY neccessary role of a high profile, NON VIOLENT body in today's society. --GraemeFord

The usual parade of rage-inducing ignorance and thought-inducing conspiracy theories follow. ("There is no such thing as an Anglican church there are only a bunch of jumped up hypocrites who cow-towed to the divorce demands of a fat king. If you are a Christian you either follow true Protestantism or you admit you are a catholic and follow the pope, there can be no half-way house." ...What?)

As for myself, a former member of both churches, I think that is Rome wishes to corral all the bigoted homophobes into the same pen regardless of (basically irrelevant, in this case) differences in doctrine, they have my blessing -- it only makes them that much easier to avoid.
(29 comments | Leave a comment)

Monday, August 10th, 2009

I... er...

[info]t_boy

So I got this off the Malaysian news service:

Avoiding masturbation and homosexual activities are among preventive measures one could take against Influenza A (H1N1), according to an eminent practitioner of complimentary therapy.

…

I honestly don’t know what to say. I honestly do not know what to say.

…

He has a blog post explaining it all. Hell, his entire blog looks like that.

…

I bow to stronger minds to parse this further, because I think my mind just broke.

mood: OMGWTF
(74 comments | Leave a comment)

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

NYU invites an opponent of equal rights of homosexuality to teach about human rights in asia

[info]saieboux
I've been keeping an eye on this for a while and haven't seen any posts about it.

Most of the information was found in the Feministe article, (Edit) which also summarizes up most of Thio's points for those who don't want to read the teal deer.

For those not in the know, Thio Li-Ann is a strong supporter of the law that outlaws gay sex in Singapore. She is also known for her extremely strong views on homosexuality.

NYU has invited her to teach a course on human rights in Asia. This obviously prompted the LGBT students to send out an e-mail to the student body. In addition, an IT Tech guy who is also a student named Malik Graves-Pryor at NYU sent out a plea for the dean to reconsider.

Thio, in a rather butthurt fashion, sends out her rebuttal to everyone on the NYU faculty.


( Graves-Pryor' e-mail and Thio's 18 point rebuttal for the linkphobic. It is extremely long. )


More sources:
Queerty (Includes a speech she made) / Straits Times / Feministe

Edit More previous unfunny with Thio, linked to and written by [info]t_boy here
mood: Peeved
(66 comments | Leave a comment)

Saturday, June 6th, 2009

[info]harrylovesron
How does gay marriage hurt heterosexuals and their families?

I HEADDESKED TOO MANY TIMES AND NOW IT HURTS :(
(185 comments | Leave a comment)

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

And you think this will get you elected?

[info]luthe
I was torn between posting this in [info]otf_wank and [info]unfunnybusiness, but the unrepentant bigotry beat out the WTFLOL.

Anyway. Mulefucker runs for Georgia governor. When you're a reporter, you occasionally have to ask uncomfortable questions of someone. In this case, I landed an interview with the Georgia Creator's Rights Party candidate for governor, Neal Horsley, who is running on the secessionist platform. During the course of my research, I stumbled upon the fact that Horsley had screwed a mule.

Yes, his real name is Horsley, he is a secessionist, and he thinks that both abortion and gays are evil.

Shakespeare's Sister has more.
mood: OMGWTF
(64 comments | Leave a comment)

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

No Queers In Star Wars! Mod Says So, Must Be True.

[info]t_boy

From Penny Arcade: A mod on the Old Republic Boards says there's no homosexuality in Star Wars.

News post isn't up yet, so there's no writeup or linkage. Does anyone have a link to it right now? Never mind, got it.

I remember GMing a Star Wars d20 not-really-a-chronicle-because-game-died-after-first-session that had all gay PCs. Am tempted to start again now, but certainly not with d20.

mood: Grouchy
(55 comments | Leave a comment)

Whenever I Hear About You Guys Talking About Gay Marriage, I'm Reminded Of Shit Like This.

[info]t_boy

I suppose this is a reminder of how far the LGBT community in the West has come.

( Some background )

( The actual unfunny part )

You think this is bad, though? At the very least she’s Singaporean. At least in Singapore there’s a rather thin veneer of intellectual respectability that gives Our Friendly Neighbors the ability to sneer at their brutish uncivilized cousins across the Tebrau Strait.

mood: bitterly resigned
(19 comments | Leave a comment)
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