According to an online edition of Michigan's LGBTQ newsletter, a group of 300+ straight and gay women wore lavender shirts to the recent University of Michigan/Penn State women's basketball game.
Sunday's protest served as a triumphant moment for gay folks, especially considering the massive turnout. It showed that there are people in the state of Michigan (and nationwide) who will not stand for discrimination. The best part: Some of these people aren't even gay. They're just on our side. Now that, that's a victory.
Personally, I think the writer is hyperinflating the magnitude of the protest. Penn State won't step up to the plate to handle Portland until 1) Jennifer Harris' case settles very unfavorably, 2) Portland overtly discriminates again or 3) Portland begins to lose. Given that she just netted her 600th win, those prospects don't look too good.
Nonetheless, its good that the issue hasn't been lost amidst a million other concerns. Portland is an arrogant nasty bigot. But the greater shame rests on Penn State for allowing her to get away with it.
WHO SAID TALK is cheap? Probably not Steelers linebacker Joey Porter. On Thursday, the National Football League fined him $10,000 for calling a Cleveland Browns player a derogatory term associated with gay men. (Earlier in the season, he was fined $15,000 for other comments made to an official in a game at Atlanta). To his credit, the Steelers player apologized for the anti-gay remark to anyone who was offended -- anyone, that is, except the target of his wrath, Kellen Winslow. Unfortunately, that is part of the problem -- an insult draws from a common pool of prejudice and a player can't throw it at one person without splattering the larger group. Not too long ago, anti-gay slurs were part of the common language of men's sports, but then so were racist remarks. The NFL is right not to tolerate hate-filled words of any sort.
Interesting aside ...Leo Patterson of Derry took the time to write in to the Trib and share his belief that the media has made a mountain out of a molehill on this issue.
Enough is enough. No one in this country has a right to not be offended. Winslow got over it. Any other "victims" can tell Oprah how Joey's comment impacted their already pathetic lives.
He couldn't just leave it at "get over it" could he? He just couldn't resist the little underhanded "you pathetic loser" slam! This is Joey Porter's fan base.
Joey Porter thinks he's being treated too harshly for describing Cleveland Browns tight end Kellen Winslow as a "fag" following a recent game. Apparently, Porter grew up in the neighborhood where men don't take responsibility for their actions, but point their fingers and petulantly stomp their feet when they are called on the carpet for misbehavior. Here's Joey from Friday's Post-Gazette:
"I just don't understand how you can get a DUI or fail a drug test and nothing happens," Porter said. "You say something, you get fined. That just don't make any sense.
"You'd think if you get a DUI or something, you should get fined. If you fail a drug test, you should get fined. But for saying a word, you get fined. That's kind of backward to me."
While it is an interesting point, I doubt Joey is leading the charge against drug and alcohol abuse in the NFL. He's just deflecting attention and trying to minimize the seriousness of his offense.
Joey also thinks its the media's fault.
"There was enough publicity about it," Porter said. "Y'all keep talking about it. Y'all going to make them do something. If y'all wouldn't have just kept talking about it, [the fine] wouldn't have happened. Y'all need a story so you keep talking about it. So they say, all right, let's fine him then because everybody seems to be upset about it."
Earlier in the week, he blames his childhood b/c "everybody used that word." Today its the media. How much longer til he actually blames the gay community? Note how he thinks his fans are simple sheep without the capacity to recognize a slanderous comment when they hear one.
But in one sense, the fans are to blame. Whether Hollywood or professional sports, we create these meglomaniacal bastards to keep us entertained and amused vis a vis the cult of celebrity. Pay someone $14 kajillion for anything and it goes without saying that you've created hubris beyond all proportions of decency. I'm sure that short of actually murdering someone - perhaps a child - in cold blood, these is little Joey Porter could do that would cause his fans to turn on him OR force him to grow up and act like a man instead of a spoiled little child.
I would just like to say it was a poor choice of words in the comment I made toward Winslow," Porter said. "If I offended anybody, I apologize for that."
I guess how we used that word freely, me growing up using it, I didn't think nothing of it like that," Porter said. "Like I said, I apologize to anybody I offended on it.
Translation - it doesn't really matter if we offend homos but let's cover our asses with some lame quasi-apology.
Note how Porter uses this as yet another opportunity to demonstrate his bad ass poseur street cred as demonstrated by intionally poor grammar and a complete failure to take responsibility for his actions. Sort of like Santonio Holmes and domestic violence. Minus the bruises.
PG sports columnist Ron Cook calls this particular Porterism the "worst of all" of his "macho, most-feared-man nonsense." He also points out the obvious.
Porter has made millions from the Steelers and the NFL. He, like any player, coach, team official or league official, has to realize who makes all that jack possible. People from every race, religion, ethnic background and sexual orientation buy NFL tickets and merchandise. It's pretty stupid to use a derogatory term that's insulting to any group.
Bingo, Ron. Trouble is the Steelers seems to care less about the money spent by domestic violence victims and the gay community.
Hmmmm. Thursday night the Steelers beat Cleveland in what turned out to be a good game (for us in Pittsburgh) played in frigid temperatures. That wasn't good enough for hallowed Steeler linebacker Joey Porter. Porter took umbrage with a late hit by Cleveland's Kellen Winslow on a Steeler player.
Here's the quote from the Tribune-Review minus the f-word:
"It was late, that's what (slur) do," Porter said. "He's soft. He wants to be tough but he's really soft."
Nice. Fags hit late. Who knew?
I caught this story on KDKA tonight (not up on the website yet). Interesting how most people thought it was unsportsmanlike and "inappropriate" language. No one was saying that about Michael Richards were they? If a white player used a racial slur in the same situation, he'd be crucified. One guy said he didn't mind it all. At least he's honest.
From Blog'N Gold comes this word about Steelers fans ...
"Everybody in Pittsburgh loves the Steelers. Not likes, not follows, but loves. And I don't mean Everybody but, it is everybody, the old ladies, the lesbians, the gay men ... college professors, annoying hipsters (not ironic), feminists. Everybody in that city loves the Steelers."
What about the bisexuals? Do they have no strong football preferences?
I can say this about Steeler love amongst the lesbians and bisexual women - a few years ago, I organized an adult toy party open to any local interested LGBTQ woman. It ended up being a Steeler playoff night. So even though we packed the GLCC with toy curious women, many others cancelled in favor of their Steelers. I had multiple calls from women who were actually angry with me for making them choose. As if I could predict the playoffs!
I have to admit my Steeler-mania has been colored by a year's residence on the Northside. There's something very ardor-quenching when you confront the members of the Steeler Nation face to face in all their rude, boorish behavior. Now I rather enjoy watching the local vandals break into the cars. Its sort of poetic justice for being too cheap to pay for parking and clogging up my neighborhood. One particular asshole chained his grill to the fence in the field behind our house and left it there all season. Its not your private villa dude!
I'm also hopeful feminists rethink the whole Steeler bit given their f*cked up decision to sign avowed thug Santonio Holmes. That decision undid lots of hard work by feminists and women everywhere on domestic violence initiatives. But no further word on that b/c the trial has been postponed until after the season. And Steeler lovin' women everywhere will find a reason to justify it ....
If you are toy curious, go to Girls Night In for more information on how to organize your own toy party.
A quote from Santonio Holmes' attorney in a late-night PG article is so f*cking outrageous that I had to post. I need to sleep, but this seems more pressing for all you late night blog readers ...
As you know, Santonio faces domestic violence charges stemming from a June 19 incident in which the mother of his daughter called 911 to report physical abuse.
Guess what? She's refusing to testify which is not uncommon for domestic violence victims. It doesn't make her a bad woman or complicit in her abuse. It makes her a human being who is probably under terrible duress from all the media scrutiny and high power muckety mucks who need their meal ticket to walk away from this little situation.
Here's what got my goat ... a quote from Holmes' attorney Sam Shemansky:
"As DV cases go, this is not World War III," he said. "This is not a woman with her eye blackened shut. It's nothing like that. It's polar opposite from that. My hope is that after we've fulfilled obligations on our part, that the government will be willing to follow the wishes of the alleged victim and dismiss the matter in its entirety."
Excuse me? The polar opposite of a woman having her eyes blackened shut would be a woman in a healthy respectful relationship with a partner who doesn't abuse her. NOT SOMEONE WHO ABUSES HER A LITTLE BIT ....
This is so NOT the polar opposite. Not someone who has been arrested twice in the past 3 months. Not someone who got a traffic citation after damaging another person's car and only made restitution when facing a warrant. Not someone who sets the stellar example of fathering three children in multiple states with different women all at the ripe age of 22.
Santonio Holmes is a thug. Pure and simple. He's a thug with talent sort of like Mike Tyson. And if he gets rewarded for playing mister fucking contrite, he'll end up Mike Tyson. Too bad all the poor women he batters along the way won't have the consolation of a multi-million dollar contract.
If the Steelers sign him, shame on them. And a pox upon their 2006 record.
From the cool chicks at Feministe (including the title which is just perfect) ....
* Women don't really understand Title IX or the variety of ways in which impacts education (not just sports and athletics)
* It is under continuous attack b/c we obviously discriminating against boys
* It hasn't been enforced effectively
* The current administration wants to deep-six it. Surprise, surprise.
The uber-cool Women's Law Project hosted a Title IX seminar a few years ago which your Correspondents attended. It was fascinating for moi as someone who did not really understand it, especially the aspects of gender discrimination underlying anti-bullying programs.
Here's a few tidbits from the WLP website on Title IX things you should know about here in Pennsylvania:
Slippery Rock University - The lawsuit was brought on behalf of twelve student athletes and a coach against Slippery Rock University (SRU). The lawsuit, filed three months after SRU announced it was going to cut three women's varsity sports, claims that SRU provides neither equitable athletic opportunities for its female students nor equitable treatment of female student athletes.
Back in the 80's, I decided to join the track team. The women's team had historically been just a goof off team -- they literally had been doing each other's nails at practice. Then the school decided to put the entire track program under one coach, Mr. Shar. That was my first year. We had the same resources, the same commitment, the same expectations. Only three women lettered, including yours truly and I got it b/c I was the only woman on the entire team who showed up for every practice and every event even though I only scored one point the entire season.
My point, aside from bragging about my glory days - ahem, is that a lot of people criticized the rest of the women's team for being uncommitted, undisciplined, lazy girls who preferred to do nails than develop their talents and skills. No one EVER said a word about all those years that these talented women had been shunted off to the side with a do nothing coach, no support, no equipment, nothing. It was like being set up for failure -- they give us the resources and a few of us succeed which proves that the rest of the girls weren't worth the resource invesment. What a load of crap. In fact, I think the fact that I excelled is due to having the best resources from the get go and not having to undo years of second class citizenship.
7:01 PM ------- Live tonight on KDKA, John McIntire talks with Mary Cheney for the lesbian perspective on the Ben Roethlisberger situation .... tune into 1020 AM ....
7:15 PM -------- Mary Cheney's book has sold less than 6,000 copies since its May debut according to OnePageQ.
7:16 PM -------- Marriage amendment "its a bad idea, how about that?" says Mary.
7:17 PM -------- She sounds like she's chewing on a duck. She came "darn close to quitting." She was troubled working for George Bush, but she stayed for Daddy. He thinks discrimination should be left to the states. She also stayed b/c terrorists will hurt our country so she didn't have the luxury to be concerned about same sex marriage.
7:20 PM --------
7:23 PM -- ----- President Bush has at least tried to have a civil discussion around this.
7:25 PM --------- President Bush wakes up every morning thinking "what am I going to do to keep this country safe?" Just like her Dad.
7:27 PM --------- "People can look at it that way and its a valid opinion. People can look at it another way and its a valid opinion." WTF?
7:29 PM ---------- John tosses gay rights softballs to Mary Cheney. She is possibly the most boring controversial guest he's ever had on the air.
7:29 PM ---------- The Western state of mind. People treat people as individuals. Even gays. Or poor people. Maybe even poor black gay people.
7:30 PM ---------- KDKA is going to my hometown West Mifflin this week. Our former police chief faces more than 19 counts of drug charges. Its a great town.
7:32 PM ---------- Mary's partner Heather is a nice person who doesn't bitch slap people. She's supportive blah, blah, blah.
7:34 PM ---------- Parents come to her book signings and her book helps them deal with having a gay child. Or they are happy that she says nice things about her parents. Because people don't do that these days.
7:35 PM ---------- We have purposeful and decisive leadership in Iraq. They've held 3 elections. A cabinet has been named. We got the big one. But there are still a few insurgents. John: "and 100,000 innocent civilians are dead." Mary: "give me a name to verify that."
7:40 PM ------I try to call and the phone rings incesssantly.
7:41 PM ------ A woman calls her on working for the Coors family and reaching out to gays for a conservative company. Mary takes credit for making the entire Fortune 500 gay friendly.
7:43 PM ------- NOW ITS MY TURN! Mary is making a difference by being open about who she is. Iraqi gays have more important thiings to worry about than being gay. Then I got cut off. Oh well ....
7:45 PM ------- I should have listened to my gut and watched the rerun of Friends and Seinfeld. Or cleaned the cat litter. I can't believe I got suckered into calling. Note: I allowed myself to get suckered -- I was not the sucking victim of any one particular person.
7:47 PM ------- Her goal was to write a book that she could be proud of and sell a few copies. Pittsburgh is not on the book signing list.
*************************************
Overall, this was not very exciting. She had nothing noteworthy to say about gay issues. She did show some spunk defending the Iraq war, but has this weird delusion that the President wakes up every day thinking how to keep America safe. I think Paris Hilton has more insight into the life of the typical American homo than Mary Cheney. Ah well ... kudos to John for putting her on the air.
From 365gay comes the tidbit that lawyers for Jennifer Harris, the former player suing Penn State coach Rene Portland for harassment and discrimination, have expanded the scope of the lawsuit. This move comes after Portland made public statements degrading Harris and dismissing her athletic accomplishments.
?We're not saying Rene does not have a right to defend herself. Of course she does,? said Harris' attorney, Karen Doering, of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. ?But the law does not permit her to make defamatory statements, which is what she has done by claiming that Jennifer was unable to make contributions to the team.?
The Tribune Review reports that the NCLR has also filed a formal complaint with Penn State's Affirmative Action Office.
"Graham Spanier is the one who said, if she is found to have violated the discrimination policy again, and this is defamation as opposed to harassment, she would be in violation of the school's policy," Doering said. "So, we will see if he does anything."
Of course he won't do anything. He didn't really mean he would fire the winningest women's coach ever at PSU. He meant that he would slap her on the other wrist after checking to make sure she didn't violate the real discrimination policy (aka other minority protected classes).
If Portland were to be fired, she could probably have a nice second career as a housemother for the Duke Lacrosse team.
