A.C. Transphobe
What is Mario Lopez doing hanging out with Candace Owens?
I’ve come to learn that I’ve been cited in a new book about how social justice advocacy is somehow trampling on free speech. Given how foolhardy I find the premise, I was not surprised to find the author citing a whole bunch of anti-trans concern trolls and their junk science myths about transgender kids.
Though I was named, the author was not brave enough to actually cite my own reporting on the matter, so why not check out the big investigation I did on the topic and just ignore the conservative propaganda.
Onto today’s news…
Don’t Ask, Don’t Trump
One of the activists who once chained himself to the White House fence to protest “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is now one of Trump’s biggest supporters. Gay conservative Rob Smith says he lost a lot of his gay friends when he came out as a conservative, and even more when he came out as a Trump supporter. He’s not white like many other gay conservatives, but he does share their anti-trans beliefs.
Interestingly, Smith’s not the only activist from that 2010 DADT protest who’s turned conservative. Miriam Ben-Shalom has also become an anti-trans activist, even participating in a panel of TERFs at the Heritage Foundation in 2017.
Another anti-LGBTQ judge for life
The Senate really isn’t doing much at all, but it is rubber-stamping all of Trump’s judicial appointees, forever changing the landscape of our courts for the rest of our lifetime. Today the Senate confirmed Brantley Starr, who helped bring down the Obama administration’s guidance protecting transgender students.
Hate crimes on the rise
A new report found that hate crimes in the U.S. had the highest spike in 2018 since 2015, having risen every year for the past five years. The most common perpetrators were white nationalists and conservative extremists, while the most common victims were LGBTQ, Jewish, and black people.
Today show platforms hate
The Alliance Defending Freedom usually limits their press appearances to Fox News and other conservative outlets, but for some reason Today decided to give them and their fight against trans athletes a platform. As Media Matters’ Alex Patterson notes, the show didn’t identify ADF as an anti-LGBTQ hate group, but only “a Christian law firm that has previously fought against transgender causes.”
This segment is a classic example of how “both sides” journalism totally fails, by amplifying hate and excusing it as part of a “controversy.”
A dog ate Mario Lopez’s homework
The fact that anyone would go on Candace Owens’ show on PragerU is an alarm that gives out a warning, because you know it’s not going to be a source for a lot of book learning. Mario Lopez sure didn’t pass the test, spouting a whole bunch of anti-trans nonsense, and now he’s definitely in a mess.
Lopez thinks it’s “dangerous” for parents to affirm a young kid who is expressing a transgender identity. “It’s sort of alarming,” he said, “and I just think about the repercussions later on.” He’s wrong, and he’s hurting people by saying this. In fact, how a family reacts to a trans kid will be the biggest factor in their mental health outcomes, and affirming them at a young age doesn’t involve any permanent changes. (Hey, it’s another opportunity to promote my own reporting!)
I’m not sure why anyone still cares about Mario Lopez, but he definitely shouldn’t be invited to talk about social issues anymore. In the same interview, he also said the #MeToo and #BelieveWomen movements are “dangerous” because “people lie,” and he defended Kevin Hart regarding his past homophobia, which got in the way of his hosting the Oscars. I guess those are the kinds of ideas you develop when you miss the bus.
Lopez apologized Wednesday afternoon:
The comments I made were ignorant and insensitive, and I now have a deeper understanding of how hurtful they were. I have been and always will be an ardent supporter of the LGBTQ community, and I am going to use this opportunity to better educate myself. Moving forward I will be more informed and thoughtful.
But it’s not all right, because that apology does nothing on its own to save the trans kids from the kind of family rejection he just endorsed.
50 Cent’s transphobic too
I don’t want to waste space in my newsletter explaining a feud between 50 Cent and Young Buck, but I do want to call out 50 Cent for his recent transphobia. He’s got a history of anti-LGBTQ statements, but that doesn’t mean he gets a pass just because it’s expected.
Straight Pride drama
If you’re in the mood for some pure Schadenfreude, stop on over to the official blog of the Straight Pride March. Every single company that “Super Happy Fun America” claimed to be in discussions with about sponsorship sent them cease and desist letters. On top of that, PayPal has permanently limited their account, preventing them from using it to collect donations.
They accuse all of these companies of being “heterophobic.”
LGBTQ mention (singular) at the Democratic Debate
I promised a fresh round-up of LGBTQ mentions from the second round of Democratic debates, but they literally didn’t come up during the first night. Pete Buttigieg was on the stage, but didn’t mention his own marriage or anything like that. The only reference came at the very end, when Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) called Trump a “homophobe” during his closing statement:
GLAAD was monitoring the debate too and called it a “missed opportunity” that CNN didn’t even feel it worthwhile to bring up any queer topics.
Marianne Williamson’s oddness resulted in a few more memeable moments and a genuinely compelling answer on slavery reparations. But after joking about whether or not she’s a gay icon during the previous debate, I’m now more disturbed by her history on HIV. As an anti-vaxxer, she and her mystical healing were already a nonstarter for me, but now after learning about the way she told gay men to love their AIDS, I just can’t see her as an innocent spirit.
Hope for transgender casting
The reboot of The L Word has cast two transgender actresses, and Marvel has also put out a casting call for a trans woman. This is refreshing news in the wake of ScarJo’s nasty comments about what roles she should get to play.
Lessons from old sitcoms
Among the many cool projects my buddy Matt Baume produces is a video series called Culture Cruise, in which he looks back at older representations of queer people and issues to reflect on their impact. His latest video picks up on the recurring appearances of a female impersonator character on All in the Family in the late 70s.
As Matt points out, the storylines were groundbreaking in both good and bad ways, drawing significant connections to lessons the queer movement has learned since then:
Hopefully tomorrow’s round-up of the second debate will have more to offer!
Until next time, stay platinum!