Garrison Keillor: another gay-basher for Obama

[bidenista]

For those who have forgotten, here's Garrison talking about The Gays and parenting in 2007:

...now gay marriage will produce a whole new string of hyphenated relatives. In addition to the ex-stepson and ex-in-laws and your wife's first husband's second wife, there now will be Bruce and Kevin's in-laws and Bruce's ex, Mark, and Mark's current partner, and I suppose we'll get used to it.

The country has come to accept stereotypical gay men—sardonic fellows with fussy hair who live in over-decorated apartments with a striped sofa and a small weird dog and who worship campy performers and go in for flamboyance now and then themselves. If they want to be accepted as couples and daddies, however, the flamboyance may have to be brought under control. Parents are supposed to stand in back and not wear chartreuse pants and black polka-dot shirts. That's for the kids. It's their show....

More: http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/03/14/keillor/index_np.html

Unsurprisingly, protests by the gay community followed. Here's Dan Savage's reaction:

...What Keillor wrote today on Salon is every bit as offensive as Ann Coulter’s “faggot” joke about John Edwards and relies on the same set of cultural prejudices....

More: http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/03/fuck_garrison_keillor

For those who are wondering why I wrote "another" in the title, meet Obama-backer Donnie McClurkin.

[speedoo]

1. Are you serious? Do you really think Garrison Keillor hates gays?

I don't think you know much about Garrison Keillor.

[bidenista]

2. no, i don't think he hates them. but i doubt mcclurkin "hates" them

Still, Keillor's content to publicly inflame negative stereotypes.

[struggle4progress]

34. " ... I live in a small world — the world of entertainment, musicians, writers — in which gayness is

as common as having brown eyes. Ever since I was in college, gay men and women have been friends, associates, heroes, adversaries, and in that small world, we talk openly and we kid each other and think nothing of it. But in the larger world, gayness is controversial. In almost every state, gay marriage would be voted down if put on a ballot. Gay men and women have been targeted by the right wing as a hot-button issue. And so gay people out in the larger world feel besieged to some degree. In the small world I live in, they feel accepted and cherished as individuals, but in the larger world they may feel like Types. My column spoke as we would speak in my small world and it was read by people in the larger world and thus the misunderstanding. And for that, I am sorry. Gay people who set out to be parents can be just as good parents as anybody else, and they know that, and so do I ..." <Garrison Keillor, Prairie Home Companion website, 17 March 2007>
http://www.publicradio.org/columns/prairiehome/posthost/2007/03/17/ordinarily_i_dont_like_to.php

[ellisonz]

3. You have no sense of humor.

[bidenista]

5. yeah, i guess gay-bashing is funny when you think about it

Thanks for opening my eyes.

[ellisonz]

19. He's not bashing. He's satirizing the whole debate.

[madrchsod]

6. humor has died in america

[bidenista]

7. if you guys find this kind of stuff funny, you'll enjoy michael savage

He's a scream by your standards.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

14. Actually Michael Savage is very funny, albeit unintentionally. nt

[Bluebear]

39. You said it.

[WCGreen]

15. Truly truly no sense of humor....

I bet the OP laughs his ass off when GK bashes Bush...

[mondo joe]

4. "If they want to be accepted as couples and daddies, however, the flamboyance may have to be brought

under control."

Oh yuck.

[Bluebear]

37. sigh

[Elwood P Dowd]

8. Garrison's article has been posted on DU how many times now??????

Give it a rest.

[bidenista]

9. i didn't see the issue acknowledged here

And I certainly haven't seen a good answer.

[UALRBSofL]

11. Thanks for posting

The article speaks volumes

[mdmc]

10. A Prairie Home Companion is an American treasure

I love listening to Garrison Keillor

[Maddy McCall]

12. You obviously know nothing about Keillor's schtick.

I love him, even if he's endorsing the wrong candidate.

:)

[bidenista]

13. i know plenty about keillor's schtick

I have a recording of him reading Lake Wobegon Days. His "schtick" does not make this kind of humor, if that's what it is, acceptable.

[Maddy McCall]

18. Read his political articles.

Realize that a lot of what he says is tongue in cheek.

[mdmc]

16. thank you for this link to salon

:kick:

[terrya]

17. Those swishy fags

Yes, this is offensive. I completely agree with Dan Savage's outrage.

[zulchzulu]

20. Why are some Hillary supporters such complete asshats?

Only college dropouts with a problem understanding basic comprehension would think Keillor is a homophobe. It's funny that a lot of college dropouts also support Hillary.

Connection? I think so.

[bidenista]

21. compelling argument

Maybe you should've joined your college's debating club. You might've learned something.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

22. your post is kinda elitist dont you think. just for the record i graduated from nyu

and currently am in grad school

[Straight Shooter]

23. Why are some Barack supporters so oblivious and insensitive to the GLBT community?

Oh. Wait. You're not insensitive. You want to "embrace" them.

[MagickMuffin]

30. Your post is INSULTING.................. talk about your asshats!

I'm not sure who I will vote for in the primary now that Edwards is no longer in, although I'm still considering casting my ballot for John.

But there are a lot of people in this country who do not even have a college education who will be voting for our candidates, and for you to diminish them is rude and uncalled for. Way to go, zulchzulu.

Does having a college education make you think you are smarter than the rest of us?.?.?

Mad king Boy George has several degrees from colleges. And boy oh boy we all know how well his college education has worked out.

Just because someone has a degree doesn't mean they are smarter than those who don't have degrees.

I think this is a huge problem with people making blanket statements only to inflict harm.

I guess Obama supporters are in a league ALL in their own. Gee I hope those uneducated poor people don't vote for him and only vote for Hillary.

[VarnettaTuckpocket]

31. Elitism and homophobia go hand-in-hand it seems n.t

[Bongo Prophet]

32. Damn, zulchzulu! I had you as one of the more intelligent DUers, but this elitest insult says a LOT

Intelligence is not the only measure of a person, and formal education is not the only measure of intelligence.
Try developing some empathy, some reason - and develop an inner bullshit censor that will give you PAUSE before insulting a whole classification of people.

WE NEED TO RESPECT EACH OTHER MORE.

Please try to work on that, and consider that some, for various reasons - economics, health, etc - have less FORMAL education. If you dismiss their input, your respect for democracy is suspect at best.

Do you think insults are the best way to proceed, in convincing others of the high ideals set forth by your candidate?
Did you give anyone HOPE with your insult?
Do you think Obama looks down on the community he served as an organizer? I really think not.

Now, I realize you qualified it by saying "with a problem understanding basic comprehension" and I suppose you meant "a problem with" or just "lack of" -- or did you mean they have a problem understanding comprehension itself?
That is very clouded communication - if you were my student, it would be noted and marked in red.

"WHAT THE HELL! DID YOU GO TO A COMMUNITY COLLEGE?"
See how I just insulted community college students and alum there?
Ain't I just the coolest?

"HAHA you are poor!"
Is this what you want to sound like, some "Nelson Muntz" jerk who's parents wasted money on an education, but never taught the kid the basics of respect and common decency toward others? Do they not teach that in college, and therefore you deem it not worthy?

So much to learn, you have.


But beyond that --
Please take a break from spreading your great judgments on people, and meditate a bit on the true WORTH of humans.
Someday, when you are old, some non-degreed person may be changing your catheter, or COMPASSIONATELY caring for you.
You have some missing parts in your psyche, man.
Please consider this.
Seriously.

I would NOT send you out to canvass for votes - you lack the people skills.
Shoulda taken a CLASS, I guess.
Ah, but the bottom line here is: MUCH of what you need to know in life is learned OUTSIDE of a formal environment.


Edited to get names spelled correctly. A matter of respect.
Consider yourself schooled.

[John Q. Citizen]

24. OMFG! That is so shocking. And here, in the same piece, he's even bashing hetero parents!

Can you even imagine! Oh it's just sooo depressing. I am like, soo upset.

Nature is about continuation of the species -- in other words, children. Nature does not care about the emotional well-being of older people.

I see in the paper that the U.S. Department of Education laid out $750,000 for a study that shows that going to art museums and looking at art is good for schoolchildren, which I would have been happy to tell them for, say, $500 and a nice lunch. I also have some thoughts about the defecatory habits of bears, if the Forestry Service is interested. If the government is paying large sums of money to have the obvious pointed out, then I am your man. Ask me about this war and I'll tell you for free.

I grew up the child of a mixed-gender marriage that lasted until death parted them, and I could tell you about how good that is for children, and you could pay me whatever you think it's worth.

Back in the day, that was the standard arrangement. Everyone had a yard, a garage, a female mom, a male dad, and a refrigerator with leftover boiled potatoes in plastic dishes with snap-on lids. This was before caller ID, before credit cards, before pizza, for crying out loud. You could put me in a glass case at the history center and schoolchildren could press a button and ask me questions.

Ok while he's maybe getting a little to close to the line in the top part, check out the next part.

I am gonna never listen to that man again for what he has to say there, can you imagine?


snip..

Back in the day, that was the standard arrangement. Everyone had a yard, a garage, a female mom, a male dad, and a refrigerator with leftover boiled potatoes in plastic dishes with snap-on lids. This was before caller ID, before credit cards, before pizza, for crying out loud. You could put me in a glass case at the history center and schoolchildren could press a button and ask me questions.

Monogamy put the parents in the background where they belong and we children were able to hold center stage. We didn't have to contend with troubled, angry parents demanding that life be richer and more rewarding for them. We blossomed and agonized and fussed over our outfits and learned how to go on a date and order pizza and do the twist and neck in the front seat of a car back before bucket seats when you could slide close together, and we started down the path toward begetting children while Mom and Dad stood like smiling, helpless mannequins in the background.

Under the old monogamous system, we didn't have the problem of apportioning Thanksgiving and Christmas among your mother and stepdad, your dad and his third wife, your mother-in-law and her boyfriend Hal, and your father-in-law and his boyfriend Chuck. Today, serial monogamy has stretched the extended family to the breaking point. A child can now grow up with eight or nine or 10 grandparents -- Gampa, Gammy, Goopa, Gumby, Papa, Poopsy, Goofy, Gaga and Chuck -- and need a program to keep track of the actors.

So not only does Keillor hate gays but he hates heteros too! I guess he just hates everyone!!!!!

We soo need Dan Savage to run for President. He's would be like the best president ever.

Do you know if he and Hillary are close? Maybe she will chose him for her running mate. I mean if that mean old Obama meany doesn't dash all my dreams like a smashed bottle of Drambuie on a brick wall, that is!

[f the letter]

33. Thanks for providing that context..

Garrison Keillor is not a homophobe, and satire is not hate speech.

[Moloch]

25. Obama's record on gay rights is quite clear.

He isn't responsible for everything everyone who supports him says. I understand the Clinton campaign knows it is headed for major defeats on Tuesday, but this is not going to help ameliorate the crushing losses.

[bidenista]

26. "crushing losses"?

Heh. I doubt that.

[Bluebear]

35. True. He is comfortable hiring "ex-gay" ministers to lead his events. Disgraceful.

And quite clear.

[hulklogan]

27. This article is just like every other Garrison Keillor joke...

not. funny. :puke:

[Fierce]

28. Keillor is a tired, bigoted old man

whose writing is inflated, pompous and precious. He's done. Too bad so many listen to him.

[dsc]

29. a couple of things

One, the article is offensive, as even Keilor acknowledged when he apologized.

Two, Keilor isn't a homophobe. He wrote an idiotic article, and unlike the candidate he endorsed, admitted his error and apologized.

[Faryn Balyncd]

36. Reading the article, I see absolutely NO evidence of "gay bashing" . . . However . . .

. . . . it does seem like use of the term "gay basher", an inflammatory label, should be reserved for cases in which it is based on fact.

[donheld]

38. How stupid posting that

You should be ashamed of yourself!

[chascarrillo]

40. Who did Dan Savage endorse?

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=496336

For all the heated disagreements between the Democratic frontrunners, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the policy differences between the two senators are pretty minimal. This can easily be missed while watching (and, for a lot of excited Democrats, participating in) the most interesting nomination fight in a generation. But the fact is both candidates support the urgent, fully defined, and popular Democratic agenda that has emerged after eight years of George W. Bush's catastrophic presidency.

Under Bush, the number of Americans without health insurance has soared from 39 million to 47 million; the gap between rich and poor has reached an unprecedented and precarious divide thanks in part to Bush's top-down tax cuts, with the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans now earning nearly 25 percent of all income; and the $275-million-a-day fiasco in Iraq continues with nearly 4,000 American troops and 700,000 Iraqis dead.

This would seem to be a political environment in which it would be impossible for Democrats to lose. But we have felt this confident, and been burned, before. Thus, the crucial question facing the Stranger Election Control Board was this: Which candidate is best suited to take on the formidable and conniving GOP—and Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and America's cowed "liberal" media—in November? The SECB believes the answer to this question is Barack Obama.