Episode 33 - LGBT News Transcript
LGBT News Transcript for Episode 33
Host: el_em_en_oh_pee
El_em_en_oh_pee: This is the LGBT News segment for episode 33, I’m el_em_en_oh_pee with this month’s news.
The big controversy of the day is, of course, centred around Chick-Fil-A, as the story goes the Jim Henson company nixed their partnership, a toy run intended to last through August 18th, with the the chicken food chain because, and I quote, ‘The Jim Henson Company has celebrated and embraced diversity and inclusiveness for over 50 years and we have notified Chick-Fil-A that we do not wish to partner with them on any future endeavours. Lisa Henson, our CEO, is personally a strong supporter of gay marriage and has directed us to donate the payment we received from Chick-Fil-A to GLAAD’ end quote.
Chick-Fil-A responded by posting notices on their stores that Jim Henson Company puppet toys are being recalled due to reports of fingers getting stuck inside them. But wait there’s more. People associated with Chick-Fil-A allegedly created dummy Facebook accounts for the express purpose of trying to clear the restaurant chain’s name among the masses. Other fallout from Chick-Fil-A’s public stance against gay marriage includes Thomas Menino, mayor of Boston, vowing to block the opening of a restaurant within the city, especially along the Freedom Trail, and Ed Holmes announcing that the restaurant has lost a loyal follower.
In other sad news astronaut Sally Ride recently passed away, leaving her long term partner Tam O’Shaughnessy without benefits thanks to the wonders of the American government.
Also sad, one of the increasingly small gay-rights rallies in St. Petersburg has ended with the arrest of eight activists. Although homosexuality has been decriminalised in Russia for a while now spreading of homosexual propaganda is still a significantly finable offence.
As pretty much everyone is aware, the Olympics are going on right now. Apparently spectators cheered when a gay man carrying the torch kissed his boyfriend. Unfortunately not everything is fine and dandy in the world of the Olympics. The International Olympics Committee has introduced gender verification tests that measure the levels of androgens to see if athletes should compete as men or as women. Ostensibly to avoid the controversy surrounding Caster Semenya in 2009 these guidelines at heart are still sexist, trans*phobic and very, very problematic.
A woman from Lincoln, Nebraska was recently attacked in her home. This attack, which could technically be classified as torture - and I’m not going to repeat the details here- , was deemed a hate crime by officials, largely due to homophobic slurs that were painted on various walls at her house.
The Boy Scouts continue to flop, reaffirming their anti-gay stance this month rather than overturning it. They should take a leaf out of the Girl Scouts’ book in my opinion. This decision has, predictably, lead to a lot of fall out and I’ll be linking to a parent’s beautiful response to this whole mess in the Post Show Post. Here’s hoping that people start adopting the beautiful idea that David Levithan put out in his young adult novel Boy Meets Boy, the gender neutral and all-inclusive Joy Scouts.
The new Archbishop of San Francisco Salvatore Cordileone was one of the ringleaders in the Catholic Church’s strategy to pass Prop 8 in California a while ago, and is one of the most prominent anti-gay American Catholic Church officials overall. That’s an interesting choice for the Pope given the general gay-friendly atmosphere of San Francisco.
In an entirely different vein the Episcopal Church has overwhelmingly voted to support a same-sex blessings liturgy. This will have a three year trial period, at which point its permanence will be voted on. Although it’s not quite the same thing as a marriage the church does allow secular same-sex marriages on location-by-location basis in states where gay marriage is legal. The Episcopal Church has also overwhelmingly voted to allow the ordination of transgender people, with a non-discrimination clause of the Church changing to now include gender identity and expression. Good for you, Episcopal Church.
Google has a new initiative: Legalise Love, dedicated to helping LGBT Google employees in countries where homosexuality is criminalised.
The New York City Council has designated $3.3million to help create the Bea Arthur Residence for homeless LGBT youth in East Village.
Earlier this month 21 leading Hispanic organisations in the United States announced their endorsement of Familia es Familia, a comprehensive bilingual public education campaign aimed towards building support for acceptance of LGBT family members in the Latino community.
Conversely the Witherspoon Institute in Princeton has funded a study which has found that children do best in families formed from the marriage of their biological mother and father, and not in families with gay parents. This study has been attacked by over 200 prominent scholars and academics as being biased and flawed, with unsatisfactory peer reviews and they have gone so far as to call the integrity of the Social Science Research Journal into question.
And, in case you missed it, Anderson Cooper came out at the beginning of this month, and musician Frank Ocean has openly admitted to having been in a relationship and having loved a man in his past. His friends Beyonce and Jay-Z have both issued comments in his support, although some select Target stores - despite the company’s recent ad campaign featuring gay couples - have reportedly refused to sell his recent album Channel Orange.
And that’s it for the news this month, if I missed anything please drop us a line in the comments section of this episode’s Post Show Post.
Transcribed by: angelbabe_cj
Host: el_em_en_oh_pee
El_em_en_oh_pee: This is the LGBT News segment for episode 33, I’m el_em_en_oh_pee with this month’s news.
The big controversy of the day is, of course, centred around Chick-Fil-A, as the story goes the Jim Henson company nixed their partnership, a toy run intended to last through August 18th, with the the chicken food chain because, and I quote, ‘The Jim Henson Company has celebrated and embraced diversity and inclusiveness for over 50 years and we have notified Chick-Fil-A that we do not wish to partner with them on any future endeavours. Lisa Henson, our CEO, is personally a strong supporter of gay marriage and has directed us to donate the payment we received from Chick-Fil-A to GLAAD’ end quote.
Chick-Fil-A responded by posting notices on their stores that Jim Henson Company puppet toys are being recalled due to reports of fingers getting stuck inside them. But wait there’s more. People associated with Chick-Fil-A allegedly created dummy Facebook accounts for the express purpose of trying to clear the restaurant chain’s name among the masses. Other fallout from Chick-Fil-A’s public stance against gay marriage includes Thomas Menino, mayor of Boston, vowing to block the opening of a restaurant within the city, especially along the Freedom Trail, and Ed Holmes announcing that the restaurant has lost a loyal follower.
In other sad news astronaut Sally Ride recently passed away, leaving her long term partner Tam O’Shaughnessy without benefits thanks to the wonders of the American government.
Also sad, one of the increasingly small gay-rights rallies in St. Petersburg has ended with the arrest of eight activists. Although homosexuality has been decriminalised in Russia for a while now spreading of homosexual propaganda is still a significantly finable offence.
As pretty much everyone is aware, the Olympics are going on right now. Apparently spectators cheered when a gay man carrying the torch kissed his boyfriend. Unfortunately not everything is fine and dandy in the world of the Olympics. The International Olympics Committee has introduced gender verification tests that measure the levels of androgens to see if athletes should compete as men or as women. Ostensibly to avoid the controversy surrounding Caster Semenya in 2009 these guidelines at heart are still sexist, trans*phobic and very, very problematic.
A woman from Lincoln, Nebraska was recently attacked in her home. This attack, which could technically be classified as torture - and I’m not going to repeat the details here- , was deemed a hate crime by officials, largely due to homophobic slurs that were painted on various walls at her house.
The Boy Scouts continue to flop, reaffirming their anti-gay stance this month rather than overturning it. They should take a leaf out of the Girl Scouts’ book in my opinion. This decision has, predictably, lead to a lot of fall out and I’ll be linking to a parent’s beautiful response to this whole mess in the Post Show Post. Here’s hoping that people start adopting the beautiful idea that David Levithan put out in his young adult novel Boy Meets Boy, the gender neutral and all-inclusive Joy Scouts.
The new Archbishop of San Francisco Salvatore Cordileone was one of the ringleaders in the Catholic Church’s strategy to pass Prop 8 in California a while ago, and is one of the most prominent anti-gay American Catholic Church officials overall. That’s an interesting choice for the Pope given the general gay-friendly atmosphere of San Francisco.
In an entirely different vein the Episcopal Church has overwhelmingly voted to support a same-sex blessings liturgy. This will have a three year trial period, at which point its permanence will be voted on. Although it’s not quite the same thing as a marriage the church does allow secular same-sex marriages on location-by-location basis in states where gay marriage is legal. The Episcopal Church has also overwhelmingly voted to allow the ordination of transgender people, with a non-discrimination clause of the Church changing to now include gender identity and expression. Good for you, Episcopal Church.
Google has a new initiative: Legalise Love, dedicated to helping LGBT Google employees in countries where homosexuality is criminalised.
The New York City Council has designated $3.3million to help create the Bea Arthur Residence for homeless LGBT youth in East Village.
Earlier this month 21 leading Hispanic organisations in the United States announced their endorsement of Familia es Familia, a comprehensive bilingual public education campaign aimed towards building support for acceptance of LGBT family members in the Latino community.
Conversely the Witherspoon Institute in Princeton has funded a study which has found that children do best in families formed from the marriage of their biological mother and father, and not in families with gay parents. This study has been attacked by over 200 prominent scholars and academics as being biased and flawed, with unsatisfactory peer reviews and they have gone so far as to call the integrity of the Social Science Research Journal into question.
And, in case you missed it, Anderson Cooper came out at the beginning of this month, and musician Frank Ocean has openly admitted to having been in a relationship and having loved a man in his past. His friends Beyonce and Jay-Z have both issued comments in his support, although some select Target stores - despite the company’s recent ad campaign featuring gay couples - have reportedly refused to sell his recent album Channel Orange.
And that’s it for the news this month, if I missed anything please drop us a line in the comments section of this episode’s Post Show Post.
Transcribed by: angelbabe_cj