Lez Keep It Real

There were two things I wanted to tackle with my pen today (or keyboard as the case may be) and I couldn’t decide which topic tickled my fancy more. So, I decided to comment on both.

First, CNN. I rarely check the top news media sites such as CNN or Fox unless I’m insanely bored or there’s a certain event occurring that I need to gain a little more insight about. Otherwise, I think both media outlets have gone a little awry. However! What I happened upon while perusing CNN’s website made me say, “Hey, look at this! Go CNN!”

CNN has a feature called I-Report, where they explore a certain topic or issue as a special report. The thing that made me say, “Neato!” though, was the fact that they often use the public eye as the source of information. Hence the clever name, I-Report.

The I-Report that interested me the most was the one called, “Fighting for Acceptance”

The feature focuses on the GLBT community, highlighting coming out stories, pictures and e-mails, polls, articles and video clips about gay and lesbian life. The brilliant producers of this special I-Report even break down the major issues concerning the GLBT community. which will most certainly weigh heavily in the upcoming election.

CNN –

THE ISSUES

Job discrimination:
While a growing number of companies in the United States provide benefits and protections for their LGBT employees, it is still legal in 33 states for an employer to fire employees based on their sexual orientation, according to the Human Rights Campaign, and legal in 42 states to do so based on gender identity. Several members of Congress in April introduced the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2007, the latest version of some three decades of federal legislative efforts to address the issue, none successful.

Hate crimes:
There have been more than 113,000 hate crimes since 1991, according to the F.B.I., which says that 14 percent of them were motivated by a bias against sexual orientation. The House of Representatives voted in May to add gender, sexual orientation, and disability to the categories already covered by federal hate crimes law. President George W. Bush has promised to veto.

Military service:
In the two recent CNN-sponsored debates, all eight Democratic presidential contenders indicated they wanted to change the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy so that gays and lesbians could serve openly in the military; all 10 Republican contenders said they did not.

I would just like to personally give CNN a pat on the back for doing something that most other media outlets would be afraid to touch. Could you imagine a feature like this on Fox News? I doubt it. The heads over there would rather focus on big, scary lesbian gangs and fostering the fear of homosexuality in as many middle Americans as they can. I have never, ever (and I do watch both CNN and Fox News from time to time so that I can have an unbiased view of the same news report being one station leans more liberal while the other leans more conservative) seen one single news broadcast on Fox that shows a homosexual or a homosexual organization in a positive light.

I was so impressed with CNN that I even participated in the I-Report feature by sending in a photo of my own. It’s up on their website, let me know if you find it!

For more on CNN’s I-Report, go here.

Second, Rosie O.

I admit it. I check Rosie’s blog. I find her amusing, smart, courageous, overbearing, clever, risky, and sometimes sad. The thing is that she is real. Even when she’s saying stuff that most of us would put a foot in our mouths before we ever got it out, she’s being real. Whether I agree with her or not, I admire her spirit. I wanted to share with you all a little haiku she wrote about the President’s commutation of Scooter Libby’s jail sentence.

When I found out that good, ol’ G-Dub decided to spare his comrade, I almost puked. I think that Rosie sums it up pretty well here:

PARDON ME

only commutation
of obstruction of justice sentence
by a president
ever

so basically
they can do whatever they want
blatant disregard
for everything our country is about

cheney is an evil man
baby bush a horror

armitage takes the fall
thinking it would end it all
scare the truth away
out the wife

but then fitzy showed up

holy shit
what to do about patrick
ask libby
he’ll do anything

dick says do it
i will get u out
scooter says ok
guilty

and like cheney promised
ka boom
libby is free
lil georgie said he can go

that smug smirk
privileged pampered fool
this is like a bad movie
really pathetic

THE GUYS IN CHARGE R CRIMINALS
IMPEACH CHENEY THEN BUSH
ASAP

In the words of Forest Gump, “That’s all I have to say about thaaatt.”

cnn, rosie, i-report, gay issues, scooter libby, president’s commutation, impeach cheney, forest gump, fighting for acceptance