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muscadineA coalition of GLBT organizations is hosting Unity '04, a "celebration of GLBT strength and unity," which just happens to be taking place in Boston while the Democratic Convention is in town. Uh huh.
Anyways, Margaret Cho was lined up as the featured entertainment. As you can see from the link above, this is no longer the case. HRC now lists the featured entertainment as "special performances" by Brian McKnight and Vanessa Carlton.
Why?
Some of the organizations chickened out. After the Whoopi controvery, they're afraid of igniting another media firestorm with Cho's material. Cho's manager pointed out, though, "Dennis Miller can make gay jokes about Senators Kerry and Edwards at a recent Bush rally in Wisconsin to a complete absence of media scrutiny. No one demanded a tape of that event or alleged that his comments as a comedian might reflect poorly on Bush." She alleges the decision was made due to pressure from the DNC or the Kerry campaign, but sponsors of the event deny this.
HRC claims it was a decision made by the group sponors, but not all the groups involved agreed with the decision. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Thursday withdrew its sponsorship of Unity 2004. "We are dismayed that Margaret Cho has been disinvited," said NGLTF executive director Matt Foreman. Gay Democrats are also distancing themselves from the decision to dump Cho. "It wasn't our decision," said John Marble, a spokesperson for National Stonewall Democrats.
The Sponsors were: Bay State Stonewall Democrats, Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network, The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and Leadership Institute, Human Rights Campaign, MassEquality, National Center for Transgender Equality, National Coalition for LGBT Health, National Stonewall Democrats, The Task Force, Service Members Legal Defense Network.
You can contact HRC and tell them what you think about the decision using the info here:
http://www.hrc.org/Template.cfm?Section=Contact_US
You can let the NGLTF know you support (or oppose) their decision to withdraw using contact information on this page:
http://www.thetaskforce.org/contact.cfm
You can let the NSD know you support (or oppose) their decision to withdraw using contact information on this page:
http://www.stonewalldemocrats.org/contact.html
You can contact GLAAD to express your opinion and ask where they stand here:
http://www.glaad.org/contact.php
You can contact the Victory Fund's President with this email address:
chuck.wolfe@victoryfund.org
You can contact NCTE here:
http://www.nctequality.org/contact.asp
You can contact the National Coalition for LGBT Health here:
http://www.lgbthealth.net/aboutus.html
You can contact the SLDN here:
http://www.sldn.org/templates/about/record.html?section=10&record=163
first seen on dailykos, news story at 365gay, more news stories trickling in on Yahoo
Anyways, Margaret Cho was lined up as the featured entertainment. As you can see from the link above, this is no longer the case. HRC now lists the featured entertainment as "special performances" by Brian McKnight and Vanessa Carlton.
Why?
Some of the organizations chickened out. After the Whoopi controvery, they're afraid of igniting another media firestorm with Cho's material. Cho's manager pointed out, though, "Dennis Miller can make gay jokes about Senators Kerry and Edwards at a recent Bush rally in Wisconsin to a complete absence of media scrutiny. No one demanded a tape of that event or alleged that his comments as a comedian might reflect poorly on Bush." She alleges the decision was made due to pressure from the DNC or the Kerry campaign, but sponsors of the event deny this.
HRC claims it was a decision made by the group sponors, but not all the groups involved agreed with the decision. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Thursday withdrew its sponsorship of Unity 2004. "We are dismayed that Margaret Cho has been disinvited," said NGLTF executive director Matt Foreman. Gay Democrats are also distancing themselves from the decision to dump Cho. "It wasn't our decision," said John Marble, a spokesperson for National Stonewall Democrats.
The Sponsors were: Bay State Stonewall Democrats, Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network, The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and Leadership Institute, Human Rights Campaign, MassEquality, National Center for Transgender Equality, National Coalition for LGBT Health, National Stonewall Democrats, The Task Force, Service Members Legal Defense Network.
You can contact HRC and tell them what you think about the decision using the info here:
http://www.hrc.org/Template.cfm?Section=Contact_US
You can let the NGLTF know you support (or oppose) their decision to withdraw using contact information on this page:
http://www.thetaskforce.org/contact.cfm
You can let the NSD know you support (or oppose) their decision to withdraw using contact information on this page:
http://www.stonewalldemocrats.org/contact.html
You can contact GLAAD to express your opinion and ask where they stand here:
http://www.glaad.org/contact.php
You can contact the Victory Fund's President with this email address:
chuck.wolfe@victoryfund.org
You can contact NCTE here:
http://www.nctequality.org/contact.asp
You can contact the National Coalition for LGBT Health here:
http://www.lgbthealth.net/aboutus.html
You can contact the SLDN here:
http://www.sldn.org/templates/about/record.html?section=10&record=163
first seen on dailykos, news story at 365gay, more news stories trickling in on Yahoo
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no subject
Date: 2004-07-22 07:16 pm (UTC)you gotta be kidding...
Date: 2004-07-22 08:56 pm (UTC)But gays caving in to REPUBLICAN PRESSURE? The fuck? Which party was in apoplexy over gay marriage and tried to amend the goddamn Constitution? Which party's members publicly compared homosexuality to incest and bestiality? Which party's platform explicitly refuses gays protection from job discrimination?
And they're not even the Log Cabin Republicans, a group I've never understood. Really stunned here.
P.S. Is Margaret Cho gay? Just curious.
Re: you gotta be kidding...
Date: 2004-07-22 10:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-22 11:01 pm (UTC)I read somewhere that with greater acceptance of gays, gays would become more conformist. This may hold to that premise.
Clint
no subject
Date: 2004-07-22 11:53 pm (UTC)Oh, yes, definitely. Just as has happened/is happening with other minorities. Other terms used to refer to roughly the same position is assimilationist or "mainstream" (although sometimes the latter is used with a slighly different meaning). Or, if you're feeling snarky, "I got mine." Log Cabin Republicans are pretty firmly entrenched in this view, but even the HRC is probably more assimilationist than not.
In opposition is...well, pretty much everything else. Militant, liberationist, revolutionist, radical, progressive. And perhaps somewhat separate from both, libertarian. I tend to fall into the progressive/liberationist categories, so I don't really see this as a good thing (big surprise, I know!). And which is why I generally prefer to support NGLTF and more localized grassroots groups. This latest incident just confirmed for me I wasn't mistaken in my judgements.
Jason
no subject
Date: 2004-07-23 04:10 am (UTC)I wish there was a better word to call people like that rather than all of the super-charged ones I know.
Got a better word for "pussies" that doesn't turn something so lovely into a derogatory term?
no subject
Date: 2004-07-23 05:05 pm (UTC)The ones I could think of or find that seem to carry the least baggage: craven, cur, dastard, doormat, heel, invertebrate, louse, paper tiger, poltroon, pushover, rat, recreant, reptile, rotter, sad sack, scum, toad, weasel, worm, wretch. Any of those strike your fancy?
I'm partial to doormat and weasel, at least in this particular case. Maybe rotter, if I was feeling sufficiently cross-cultural.