homophobia

After witnessing some of the ugliest effects of sports culture play out this past week, it's good to see that some douchebags are being held (somewhat) accountable for their actions. In Buffalo, Wyoming, Pat Lynch stepped down as Buffalo High School football coach after circulating a "Hurt Feelings Report" survey for his team before a playoff game. The survey asks you to check if you are "thin-skinned," "a pussy," "a queer," "have woman like hormones [sic]" among other options.

Yesterday, Republican Presidential hopeful Herman Cain clashed with Piers Morgan about whether or not people are born gay. Here's the video:

The important thing to know is that Cain sets out saying that "homosexuality is a sin" because of his "Biblical beliefs," but Morgan quickly steers the conversation into "born this way" territory, outraged that Cain won't concede his point. Cain's response: "What does science show? You show me evidence other than opinion, and you might cause me to reconsider that... Where's the evidence?"

I have a confession to make. I was raised in an evangelical Christian home, and when I was much much younger... I was a fan of contemporary Christian music (CCM). Oh, yes. I reailzed just how much of an affront to music it is almost half of my life ago, but lately, I've been thinking about just how entrenched it is in the ideology of the Christian Right. Consider this awful 1995 track by Twila Paris called "Rescue the Prisoner." (The "prisoner," it turns out, is a member of the LGBTQ community who is said to be "demanding rights" and "defending wrong.")

In May, Religion Dispatches published my first interview with former darling of the Christian contemporary music scene, lesbian singer-songwriter Jennifer Knapp. Then over the summer, I got to meet and interview Knapp in person while covering the Wild Goose Festival, an event that celebrated (predominantly Christian) spirituality, justice, and art. We talked a bit about the limitations of Christian music, feminism and sexuality on the same day she filmed the "It Gets Better" video below. I'll be critiquing some evangelical Christian music later in the series, so I'm very excited to share unpublished parts of our interview with you here today: 

Bringing you fine, feminist work from around the web!

• Bitch YA Blogger Jessica Stites follows up on police response to Ms.' petition demanding they apologize for having a woman who reported her rape fined.
• Queerty shares a video and list, "Just In Case You Forgot Why The Family Research Council Is A Hate Group."
• Monica at TransGriot provides a history lesson about the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot. (Trigger warning for discussion of racism and physical violence.)
• Bitch contributor Sady Doyle reports on Friday's protest of last week's shameful "not guilty" verdict at the Raw Story.
• Shakesville's Melissa McEwan comments on the latest fail by the New York Times. (Quotable: "This column smells like barf.")
• Tom at Original Plumbing talks about the Lambda Literary Awards and being an out artist.
• Check out V-Girls' latest project: collecting photo, video and text submissions for the I Am an Emotional Creature workshops they'll be leading with Eve Ensler in South Africa.
• The Guardian reports on author Naipaul's eyeroll-inducing insistence that no woman could write as well as him.
• Feministe's Clarisse gives us the rundown on feminist sci-fi awards!
• Bitch contributor Emily Manuel blurbs about the "fauxtreversy" around baby Storm's biological sex being a secret and the "imposing their ideology" accusation at Tiger Beatdown.
• At AlterNet, Laura Rena Murray explains the wrongheaded practice of police pointing to condom-carrying as evidence of being a sex worker... and the oft-dismissed bill that would prevent it.
• Mother Jones reports on the FIFA soccer scandal.
• WTF? Feministing discusses Cadbury's new ad, which compares Naomi Campbell and a chocolate bar.

Any reactions to the pieces we've shared? What else have you been reading?

 

Bravo, Frisky, for exposing so many angles of biphobic bullying!

Oh, wait. Is that not your intention?

Time for a link exchange! Here's a glimpse into what we've been reading:

• Hopping mad about the misleadingly-named Independent Women's Forum's misinformation about the pay gap? Feministing tells it like it is.
• Also at Feministing, check out this report from the 2011 Civil Liberties and Public Policy Conference with video and quotes from the Transfeminisms panel.
• Bitch contributor Chally Kacelnik finishes her series in response to the question "Where are you from?" on Feministe.
• Shark-Fu at AngryBlackBitch powerfully responds to the streak of racist billboards attacking black women. (via Bitch Flicks)
• AfterEllen's Dorothy Snarker cheers on Sundance's acquisition of feminist favorite My So-Called Life!
• Bitch contributor Emily Manuel opines on what the term "pro-life" should actually mean at Tiger Beatdown.
• Speaking of Tiger Beatdown, their founder Sady Doyle (who is also a Bitch contributor) writes about convicted assaultant Jeffrey Gray, who was elected to office despite his crimes against women. (Trigger warning for domestic abuse and rape.)
• The Huffington Post reports on the discovery that middle and high schools in New Jersey were filtering QUILTBAG-related content from school computers. The filter is being removed thanks to the ACLU.
• Amanda Marcotte has a new recording up at RH Reality Check about the Slutwalk, the claim that "uterus" is a dirty word and more!
• Jill does a hilarious takedown of Dove soap's advertising on I Blame the Patriarchy.
• Ms.' blog interviews the women behind the feminist play The Panza [Spanish for "belly"] Monologues!
• In the WTF category, Queerty shares the U.K.'s new, but still bizarre and revealing, rules about gay men giving blood.
• ColorLines addresses the Grammy Awards' recent decision to cut some of their awards categories and how this may affect artists of color.
• The annual Austin queer music day party GayBiGayGay is releasing a book! That comes with a free CD of bands that play! Check it out or pre-order your copy today!
• Also check out the environmental documentary Vanishing of the Bees, likely headed to a theatre or classroom near you!

OK, we've published plenty of posts here on Glee and how it maybe isn't all it's cracked up to be. Many of us are not exactly what you'd call "fans." We know the show has problems. We get it.

What we don't get, however, is Douchebag de la Semaine Bret Easton Ellis' recent tweets about the show. To quote:

I like the idea of 'Glee' but why is it that every time I watch an episode I feel like I've stepped into a puddle of HIV?

Hm. We don't know Bret. Maybe it's because you are wrongly associating gay characters on television with a virus in a way that is not only douche-y but outrageously homophobic and ableist?

You know the fury that comes over you when you're affected by other people's prejudice? The coldness, shock, or devastation when they put you or your loved ones down over race, sexual orientation, age, gender, size, class or ability? Maybe you felt it when your folks wouldn't let you bring your partner to a family celebration, when a white woman crashed your MLK event to announce that she deals with racism too, or when a classmate blocked your path to stare at your walking aid. Despite what a lot of defensive apologists might try to tell you, these incidents do matter: They're called microaggressions.

Read more about this amazing website after the jump!

Fast food chains, with their unhealthy menu options and shady labor practices, are already kinda douche-y. The well-known chicken hawkers (tee hee) at Chick-fil-A, however—not satisfied with just serving fried food to the masses—have raised the douche bar this month by being totally homophobic.