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Saturday, April 12, 2008
Unrepentant Philly Gay News Keeps on the Attack
Well, not that I expected any better, but the Philadelphia Gay News, which ran a silly Obama hit piece alongside an interview with Clinton last week, continues to try to paint Obama in an unflattering light.
Last week, contrary to the PGN's claim that Obama is "avoiding" the gay press, Obama sat down for a frank discussion with the nationally distributed LGBT magazine The Advocate. Well, I guess that just wasn't enough for publisher Mark Penn and his local bar rag.
His primary thesis appears to be that local gay publications are the only ones that count. He even makes the absurd and unsupportable claim that "Only the local gay press will ask detailed questions." Seriously. This guy has been drinking his own Kool-Aid for a bit too long.
Two things to take heart in:
1) He published my letter to the editor (see below), and
2) His column was infinitely less credible than his last, as he came off very defensive and infused with a sense of petulant, offended entitlement (see farther below for my most recent email to him).
Published Letter to the Editor:
Dear Mr. Segal and Ms. Blazucki,
I read today your article in the Philadelphia Gay News entitled "Clinton Talks; Obama Balks" and the accompanying editorial "Letter to a Candidate". After reading these, I felt compelled to write to tell you how dismayed I was see such slanted and accusatorial coverage.
Under the auspices of writing an article about your interview with Hillary Clinton, you take great pains to cast Barack Obama in a very unflattering light.
This is especially troubling, considering the fact that Mr. Segal is a donor to the Clinton campaign. You failed to disclose this important fact in your article and, as a result, unsuspecting readers might think that this article was an unbiased piece of journalism, rather than a slanted missive penned by someone who donated at least $1,000 to the Clinton campaign.
I consider Senator Barack Obama to be an amazing advocate for LGBT issues. Senator Obama has spoken to a variety of audiences, both inside and outside the LGBT community, on LBGT issues, including audiences expected to be hostile to our concerns. For example, Senator Obama spoke out at Ebeneezer Baptist Church and Rick Warren's Saddleback Church about the damage that homophobia causes. I challenge you to find an instance where Hillary Clinton has appeared in front of a hostile audience and spoken out on homophobia or other LGBT issues.
Your article asserts that Obama is not speaking to the LGBT community because he has not granted enough interviews to the gay press. Quite to the contrary, I would argue that Barack Obama is, in fact, speaking to our community, albeit in a different manner.
The gay ghettoization of the post-Stonewall era is steadily eroding, as evidenced by the straight gentrification of previously gay strongholds such as the Castro and West Hollywood. Part and parcel of this de-ghettoization is the diminished need in large parts of our community for "gay only" media.
In Mr. Segal's "Letter to a Candidate", he claims that "the local gay press is to our community what churches are to the black community." I hope, upon further reflection, you realize that this is at least just a bit overstated. When I found word of your article on Clinton and Obama, it was the first time that I -- and most of my friends -- had bothered to read something in a "gay publication" in over ten years, except to find out what the local hotspot was for the coming weekend.
Barack Obama speaks to each and every one of us because we are all, at our root, Americans. And when Barack Obama speaks to Americans, Gay Americans, Lesbian Americans and Transgendered Americans, he doesn't need to do so through the mouthpiece of a "gay publication". He speaks to me through ABC News, The Economist and he speaks to me through his rallies and campaign emails.
Very truly yours,
[Monitor]
My Latest (and I hope final) Email to Mr. Segal:
Dear Mark,
I just read your new column "Obama Goes National, Still No Local". Obviously not appearing to pay much mind to our correspondence of last week, I found your newest column to be defensive, unapologetic and infused with a sense of offended privilege and entitlement.
I was planning on writing you another thoughtful and reflective email to address your points. However, if you truly believe that most gay people have any use for a local gay rag like yours beyond a quick bar read or a skim through the event listings and personals, I don't really have much to say that would have any chance of getting through to you. This is especially evidenced in this highly overreaching (and patently absurd) gem: "Only the local gay press will ask detailed questions." Such baseless and unsupportable tripe does not belong in a publication that you claim to actually have any redeeming merit in the realm of national political commentary.
Disappointed,
[Monitor]
Posted by Metavirus at 4/12/2008 05:09:00 PM
Tags: Barack Obama , Election 2008 , LGBT Issues , Pennsylvania , Rebuttals
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