Shock Jocks Continue Assault on LGBT Rights

by Michael Jones · 2008-11-21 07:49:00 UTC
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radio studio"If you're insane, hate the family ... hate your mother and father, hate the Bible, hate the church, and hate the synagogue," you oppose the California gay marriage ban.

This piece of drivel comes from radio host Michael Savage, who when he wasn't slamming President-Elect Barack Obama over the past 11 months, he was riffing on one of his other favorite subjects, LGBT issues.  And he's not alone.  According to Media Matters for America, Shock Jocks continued their assault on LGBT rights this year, especially when talking about issues like gay marriage and gay adoption.

"Smears against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered Americans are routine among conservative talk radio hosts, and the 2008 election has provided them with specific issues to address," writes Media Matters.  "...legal rulings and ballot propositions regarding same-sex marriage prompted several radio hosts to target the LGBT community, in some cases suggesting that same-sex marriage will 'lead to legal human-animal marriage.'"

Media Matters cites Savage as one of the more offensive commentators this year.

But Savage isn't the only culprit, and offensive commentary toward LGBT persons didn't stop with the Election.

In fact, just this week on a Massachusetts radio station, WEEI-AM Sports Radio 850, radio hosts offered a parody on the fact that Boston was a finalist for the 2014 Gay Games with such homophobic dialgoue as "The Gay Games flame is coming into the stadium. His name is Bruce and he’s from San Francisco."

And that's one of the least offensive jokes they used.  (It's also not funny.)

Media Matters also cites a number of other shock jocks, including hosts on a Denver's 630 KHOW-AM, who called gay conduct "immoral" and "unnatural" while talking about gay adoption; hosts on Denver's 850 KOA-AM, who said that same-sex marriage would lead to "legal marriages between same-sex parents and their off-spring."  Ugh.

But the worst may be the radio show, "The War Room With Quinn and Rose," which on November 6 (two days after the Election) said that gay marriage produces nothing but AIDS, and that as a result, the U.S. should "charge homosexuals more for their health insurance." And this is a show that is proudly broadcast on XM and syndicated by Clear Channel?

The Media Matters report, Radioactive Smears: Local conservative radio contributes to the echo chamber of conservative talking points and falsehoods, is a good read.  You can also take action by going to the Media Matters Action Center, and learning how to contact local radio stations that play hateful and anti-gay commentary and urge them to stop, or by signing up as a reporter so that you can help keep track of anti-gay comments whenever they are spewed by shock jocks.

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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