Wayne Besen - Author, Activist, Columnist, Public Speaker

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

TruthWinsOut.org's Wayne Besen was a guest on Fox's O'Reilly. The topic was comedian Jay Leno's apology to the gay community over an offensive joke on his show.

40 Comments:

I'll record it and just watch the part with you. O'Reilly makes me retch. You should try to get on Bill Maher---that I would love to see.
posted by Anonymous, at 4/02/2008 2:18 PM

I just watch the O'Reilly show and i must say that, as always, the Gay men and nothing but heterophobic. They (as express my Mr. Wayne Besen) always want their views and belief to be forced through the "throat" of other, while in parallel standup to opposed the other group from expressing their views. In San Francisco, CA, the gay family mock the Christian’s Lord, Jesus, but no gay man not even Mr. Besen see anything wrong, but when someone make a joke, harmless joke, hell is release. Like Bill O'Reilly concluded, the society is being coerced and bullied by minorities, like the gay movement. If you have the right to make fun of others, why are you so troubled when others do same?

A society where is okay to insult Christianity, but promote other un-natural and perverted alternatives. Do to other what you want others to do unto you my late mother use to tell me.

Edafe
posted by Anonymous, at 4/02/2008 8:55 PM

There's nothing "Natural" about Christianity.
posted by Emily K, at 4/02/2008 9:51 PM

the idea that a minority can bully a majority is a huge oxymoron. It's deceptive semantics like this that makes Bill O'Reilly's paycheck so big.
posted by BlackTsunami, at 4/02/2008 11:55 PM

Mr. Besen is an idiot.
First and foremost we are all human beings first, not gender race
or gay. I wasn't aware that Gays had such a thorn up their side. I always thought they had a great sense of humor,(apparently not when it comes to them). Haven't they ever heard people make fun of the Irish, Polish, Jewish, Blacks, Whites, Christians, Etc, Oh and I forgot, Presidents, Heads of State, 1st Ladys, the list goes on.
When we can't laugh at and with each other we will never be able to accept each other as equals. So stop bringing negatative attention to your group whatever it may be, and accept being made fun of in the same way you accept people putting you on a Pedestal.
posted by Anonymous, at 4/03/2008 12:36 AM

"Do to other what you want others to do unto you my late mother use to tell me."

Exactly, Edafe.

But the correct term of what "christians" are experiencing isn't "mocking" or "being made fun of". It's called "backlash". And there's plenty more to come, not just from the gays - and deservedly so. Hallelujah!

The funny thing is the "christians" will blame the gays for their downfall, but the problem is "christians" using nutballs as their representatives: Matt Barber, Peter LaBarbera, Randy Thomas, the PFOX crew, to name a few.

When you have idiots to represent you and "god", expect to look like idiots.

Don't blame us! Blame yourselves, for being such psychos.
posted by S., at 4/03/2008 2:20 AM

What we are talking about here is stereotypes. And if I recall I have not heard a Polish joke in 20 years! They weren't that funny and people got tired of it. The gay joke is prevalent in the Hispanic society and seemingly in mainstream America (Es maricon! and everyone falls apart laughing). Not too different from Jay Leno's "give me your gayest look" comment. The answer to that is "Fuck you, asshole!" Followed by a punch in the mouth! And then the question, "how do you like my gayest look now?" People like Edafe and Bill O'Clueless think that just because they have seen some one mincing away in a TV program that all gays act the same and when insulted, assaulted, or attacked will fall apart and take it willingly. To all of the above assholes (Edafe, Bill O'really?, and Jay Leno), you are on notice, keep trying it see what it will get you! Betcha you don't call a black person, nigger to their face or ask to give you their best Afro-American look! Edafe you may be a straight and a Christian to boot but I see you are an idiot as well. Wayne, you were well spoken and made your point clearly and emphatically. But it didn't make any difference to Bill O'Dick. When he doesn't have a clever riposte, he just dismisses those who disagree. And in the end isn't that what the gay joke is about? Being dismissed as not important or even relevant?
posted by richard schillen, at 4/03/2008 8:32 AM

Edafe,

Who do you work for? Do they pay you alot? You are fooling no one. Unless you are a closet case, you wouldn't know this site if some group didn't direct you to it. What a tool.
posted by Anonymous, at 4/03/2008 10:00 AM

When Christians are rightly condemned for their offensive actions and for their inability to respect people in general, they suddenly cast themselves as the victims. Give me a break. When you manage to stop people like Rep. Sally Kern (Oklahoma) and her 1,000 "Amen!"-crying supporters (who appeared at an April 2 rally) from saying things like "Gays are worse than terrorists", maybe then we can all sit down and talk about respect. But until then, the backlash will indeed continue.

Too many of you are unmitigated phonies who advance idiocy, ignorance and intolerance in the of God, so please don't act all offended when thinking people wretch when they encounter you and your poisonous drivel. The Amish, for example, are certainly an interesting bunch to say the least, but people leave them alone. Why? Because THEY leave others alone, and they are afforded the same respect. Fundamentalist Christians are not "mocked" because of their religious beliefs; they are mocked because they anger people with their division and appaling self-righteousness.
posted by Anonymous, at 4/03/2008 10:02 AM

Oh, Likewise with anonymous idiot. If the two of you are not hte same person.
posted by Anonymous, at 4/03/2008 10:04 AM

Chris,

They are tools and trolls. They are paid to take us away from the task at hand. Not worth getting pissed at.
posted by Anonymous, at 4/03/2008 10:05 AM

The point has already been well made, but I wanted to add my 2 cents. Gays (and most other minorites DO have a good sense of humor--it's a survival mechanism), but there is a difference between good natured ribbing and insulting stereotypes. "Give us your best gay look", was the later, because that 'look' is obviously supposed to be something girlish or 'faggoty'. Leno would never ask a black guest to do their best minstrel impersonation or an Asian to 'give us your best Fu Man Chu look'. And Edafe, the only thing that 'mock the Christian Lord' and everything He stood for is the exclusionary biggotry, hate and ignorance of plastic christians such as yourself. Christ always sided with the marginalized and persecuted, He would break bread with a bunch of campy drag queens before a table full of holier than thou Pharisees like you and yours!
Red V
posted by Anonymous, at 4/03/2008 10:52 AM

Wayne, You are a gentleman and a scholar. Oreilly is clueless.
posted by Anonymous, at 4/03/2008 11:41 AM

The 'give us your best gay look' comment was bad enough, but I think the crack about his parents being proud of him because his first role was a gay character (meant in a derisive way) was EXTREMELY insulting and shaming. I can imagine how a gay kid or teen would feel hearing that coming out of that lantern jawed ass who makes his living reciting jokes written by other people who are underpaid.
And oreilly saying white christian men are fair targets for jokes shows how pathetically stupid he really is. They have all the power and are in the majority. It's not ok to insult anyone, but WCM are not the same as dumping on struggling minorites. Oreilly also said that he dare not make any jokes on his show about any minority. I wanted to say, why would you want to??! Of course we know the reason for that; it makes people with low self-esteem feel superior, even though he and his are anything but!
posted by Anonymous, at 4/03/2008 2:43 PM

I can tell you right now, quack "ex-gay psychologist" Jim Phelan is one of these 'anonymous' trolls here on Wayne's blog.

He tries to bait people, and then posts whatever response he gets on Wayne's blog, to his own blog. You know, since he's all scientific and everything. I know this, because he used an older reply of mine on his blog - wow, his sources are REALLY scientific. A medical genius he is, that James Felon.

Phelan needs to get a life, or at least try to figure out the next "ex-gay conversion" technique, with popsickle sticks, rubber bands, or whatever the hell those quacks do.
posted by S., at 4/03/2008 2:50 PM

I have to be really honest Wayne, for all that I admire about you and your work, the one thing that bugs me about you is that you go on Fox News. I think it hurts your credibility.

You might think it's part of the fight, to go and challenge them on their turf, etc. But I think it's just playing their stupid game.

If (for some reason) I were ever asked to be on Fox, I would tell them to stick it. That's just my opinion.

As for "gays are shoving their beliefs down my throat", excuse me, but what a crock of bullshit. Did someone try to make you gay? Did any gay person say that being straight is wrong? Did they try to pass laws against your rights?

Nobody's doing anything to you, quit yer bitching.
posted by Anonymous, at 4/03/2008 4:24 PM

"Betcha you don't call a black person, nigger to their face or ask to give you their best Afro-American look!"

Of course not - they are two completely different things - race and sexual preference

"When you have idiots to represent you and "god", expect to look like idiots"

uh ... that would be almost 80 percent of the country
posted by Anonymous, at 4/03/2008 7:19 PM

Great job, Wayne. You made your points very well.

Here's an excellent example of exactly what Wayne was talking about -- where being gay (or being allegedly gay) itself is the punchline. It was posted on YouTube by CBS, no less, on July 13, 2007. It's atrocious: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obdI_MuQW6Y.

At least two problems: The punchline c. 0:28 -- extremely offensive. And WTF about "crying." Lemme guess -- that's a gay thing, too?

But the punchline c. 0:28 is an absolutely perfect example of “being gay, itself” as an insult, and a topic of derision. Leno was doing the same thing. And Phillippe understood that.

Keep educating, Wayne. I'll do my part, too.
posted by Anonymous, at 4/03/2008 7:35 PM

"uh ... that would be almost 80 percent of the country"

Exactly.

The self-appointed nuts, who represents "god" and "christians" in this country makes 80% of this country look like idiots.

Of course if I were a "christian", I wouldn't want the likes of Matt Barber, Peter LaBarbera, Stephen Bennett and Jim Phelan representing me.

Who the hell would want a piss-wallowing bathhouse-porno producer like Peter LaBarbera representing them? Idiots, obviously.

Kick the nuts to the curb, and maybe "christians" might be taken seriously. Someday - but no day soon!
posted by S., at 4/04/2008 7:40 AM

The most "unnatural" thing of all is religion, all of it. It is strictly a choice, a primitive, superstitious one at that. You have to be insane to buy into any of it. The biggest hoax the world has ever witnessed and the one that is at the root of wars, discrimination, patriarchy, bigotry and hypocrisy. It produces the likes of morons such as O'Reilly, Mabon, Wildmon, Fallwell, Roberts, Savage, Keyes, Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, Kerns, Santorum, Bauer, LaBarbera, Cohen, Nicolosi, the list of endless.
posted by Anonymous, at 4/04/2008 8:35 AM

It was a great show by Wayne Bessen. We get so used to this so called harmless jokes that we are not aware that they are hurting people.

To compare this with any insults to Christianity is a joke!. I have not heard show me your best Christian look! Would it be the Cross of Calvary!
posted by Anonymous, at 4/04/2008 10:23 PM

Oh please. There was nothing wrong with the dialogue on Jay Leno. It was off color and offended some people. But O'Reilly has a point - you can pick on some but not on others lest you be labled a homophobe, or racists or chauvanist or whatever. Geez- I've made far more extreme comments to my gay friends and they're still laughing. There was nothing malicious about this and anyone who calls for more is being over reactive - besides they've probably said the same thing to one of their friends at one time or another but don't want the world to know it.
posted by Anonymous, at 4/05/2008 2:57 AM

Eshto,

I've hear alot of gays tell those who are no longer living a gay life that there is something wrong with them and the way they think and they ought to be out and proud? Isn't that sayingbeign straight is wrong? Please - don't start with new things to now "qualify" what you meant - the message is still the same. Being straight is wrong if you had/have gay feelings.
posted by Anonymous, at 4/05/2008 3:00 AM

Anonymous:

Are you serious? Obviously, no one said there is anything wrong with being straight.

There is, however, much wrong with trying to be straight when one is not.

Playing this sick and dishonest game often comes with a steep financial and psychological burden that is unhealthy. Bringing a spouse and children into this charade often causes divorce and traumatizes kids.

So, I think all rational and wise people believe that if a person is born gay, they are better off in a relationship with people they are actually attracted to. It tends to work better this way.

Our message is pro-straight, in that we care enough about heterosexuals that we don't want them to marry confused and delusional fundamentalists who selfishly make the life of the straight spouse hell, so they can go to heaven.
posted by Wayne Besen, at 4/05/2008 9:40 AM

Yup! I cringe whenever I hear 'gay lifestyle' There is no more a 'gay' lifestyle than there is a heterosexual lifestyle. I guess I have a blue-eyed lifestyle and a left-handed lifestyle too!
posted by Anonymous, at 4/05/2008 10:41 AM

Oh yeah Eshto - like any therapy doesn't cost money and you are so concerned with the financial well people of others??? - And of course you had to qualify it - Why do you even care??
posted by Anonymous, at 4/05/2008 1:11 PM

"I've hear alot of gays tell those who are no longer living a gay life that there is something wrong with them and the way they think and they ought to be out and proud?"

What do you mean by "living a gay life"? LOL

If you mean by clubbing every night around a bunch of Abercrombie-wearing lushes and glassy-eyed dopes, you have no idea what it's like to be gay.

I grown out of that phase about a year after I "came out", and I'm still as "out" now as I was back then.

Some of us have better things to do, and preferably with friends, and not shady barflys.
posted by S., at 4/05/2008 8:03 PM

Beware, the Ken Hutcherson/Russian/Lithuanian fundamentalist anti-gay "Watchmen on the Walls" people as well as anti-gay Jamaican groups have discovered the comment sections on the gay blogs. They're often identifiable by their very broken English.

Edafe is clearly an example of one or the other.

Zeke
posted by Anonymous, at 4/05/2008 10:33 PM

Totally agree with you Scott. I started clubbing at 16 and finally had it out of my system by the time I was 19. There is so much more to the gay life than clubbing - well - life in general!!
posted by Anonymous, at 4/06/2008 2:18 PM

Oh, Oh!! I have a cat household lifestyle!
posted by Anonymous, at 4/06/2008 2:20 PM

"Totally agree with you Scott. I started clubbing at 16 and finally had it out of my system by the time I was 19. There is so much more to the gay life than clubbing - well - life in general!!"

Same here, started when I was 20, and was over it by 22. You'll catch me at a club maybe twice a year nowadays (IF that), and only with a group of friends.

Besides, the music at clubs nowadays sucks - no comparison to the 90's music we had LOL

One word looped over and over for 30 minutes - that ain't no fucking music! You have to be on some serious drugs to enjoy THAT crap.
posted by S., at 4/08/2008 12:12 PM

This comment has been removed by the author.
posted by 說妳美美美睫美甲紋繡預約0915551807, at 3/31/2009 11:37 AM

This comment has been removed by the author.
posted by 說妳美美美睫美甲紋繡預約0915551807, at 1/09/2010 10:40 PM

This comment has been removed by the author.
posted by 說妳美美美睫美甲紋繡預約0915551807, at 6/25/2010 5:42 AM

This comment has been removed by the author.
posted by 說妳美美美睫美甲紋繡預約0915551807, at 8/11/2011 12:03 PM

This comment has been removed by the author.
posted by 說妳美美美睫美甲紋繡預約0915551807, at 5/02/2013 1:14 PM

This comment has been removed by the author.
posted by 說妳美美美睫美甲紋繡預約0915551807, at 8/06/2013 10:50 AM

This comment has been removed by the author.
posted by 說妳美美美睫美甲紋繡預約0915551807, at 5/23/2014 9:20 AM

This comment has been removed by the author.
posted by 新北接睫毛板橋美睫預約推薦 0915551807, at 3/29/2015 5:33 AM

This comment has been removed by the author.
posted by 說妳美美美睫美甲紋繡預約0915551807, at 5/24/2015 10:48 PM