Honestly, by themselves, I couldn't care less about Ann Coulter's latest comments. Read the second paragraph in what I said about Tim Hardaway. Was anyone really surprised? I mean, she's already called Al Gore a fag and insinuated that both Bill and Hillary Clinton are gay. So why should her comments suddenly ascend above a third-grade level now? Meanwhile, as I noted in this blog's early days, the unmarried Coulter has been known to pal around in West Hollywood with lesbian conservative Tammy Bruce -- whom I stupidly called Tammy Baldwin in that post to which I'm referring. Totally different person.
I'm also not a big fan of the demanding a renouncement game from everyone aligned with a certain political movement, a practice I most commonly associate with Sean Hannity. However, to their credit, a lot of conservative bloggers--including The Lone Star Times' David Benzion and, of all people, Michelle Malkin--had harsh words for Coulter. But of course, a lot of folks out there were quick to jump on any dissenters in an effort to protect their right to call people a faggot -- which they have, of course, but I suppose free speech to them means freedom from criticism as well. And that got me to thinking: This just hasn't been a great year for the gays so far. Let's see:
1) Some pipe-wielding monster in Detroit beats a 72-year-old guy to death after calling him a faggot.
2) A guy gets beat up after leaving a PATH train because he was wearing pink pants.
3) Michael Savage equates Melissa Etheridge raising a child to child abuse.
4) The Tim Hardaway nonsense.
This is all in the course of a matter of weeks. And to think none are related to the other is folly. Degrading someone to subhuman status in speech trickles down the idea that it's OK to beat such a person with a pipe. Perhaps as this nastiness reaches a crescendo, we'll continue to hear more sane voices from the right like Benzion who at least know how to disagree respectfully.
In happier gay news, I didn't realize until now that this guy came out the other day:
Christian Chavez. Never heard of him? He's a singer with pop group RBD, which spun off from the soap opera "Rebelde." Don't ask how I knew who he was. But welcome to the fold, Christian!
4 comments:
I saw the clip, and the really scary part was listening to the audience laugh and applaud at Coulter's remark. I wish people who react that way to the Coulters and Hardaways of this world would stop and think for a second: what if those hate-filled words were directed at someone they loved or one of their friends or someone they admired. But of course, they don't. And you're absolutely right about the connection between dehumanizing a group of people and acting violently toward them. People think "it's just words." But as you've shown, it's not.
Quite true, esther. And that's why coming out is so important. See, it all ties together! :-)
Malkin was just upset that Coulter eclipser her "Conservative Hotties Wet T-Shirt Contest/Trampoline Party" planned for later in the day.
I still have to hand it to Malkin, though. She's held strong on this while other "Christians" -- namely, Sean Hannity -- see no problem with this "schoolyard taunt."
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