This interview with prominent ex-gayRichard Cohen is bound to get a lot of play in the coming weeks, and if you haven’t seen it, I gotta say it’s fairly epic. Maddow takes him apart. Watch his body language get twitchier by the minute. He definitelyneeds a hug by the end.
Side note: Last night @maddow live-twitter denizens (think Crack Van on estrogen) were primed for this like a pay-for-view boxing match. Watching it as it aired, though, I felt myself getting weirdly uncomfortable as Maddow pressed on toward the takedown. Now, this might get taken out of context but bear with me (we lesbians do like to process our stuff). In short, I first felt like she was taking it too personally, that it made her seem less credible. For the record, of course she did obviously show she took it personally but what I had to remind myself was that this wasbeside the point. One, because the show isn’t a straight (no pun intended) news show, it’s commentary. Two, and more importantly, what she charged Cohen with is – sadly – accurate.
I bring that up because I’ve had that reaction before, not just regarding GLBT issues in the media, but with respect to other instances where progressive or liberal views are brought forth in the mainstream, usually when countering someone like a Cohen, or a Palin, or a Bachmann. For me, it’s a sign of how, despite my conscious efforts otherwise, I’ve internalized the false framing regarding the primacy of balance. Note to self, Chuck Todd, David Gregory, and others: some shit is just inherently UNBALANCED. Keep that thought front and center as we move toward 2012 and more of the weird turn pro.
Uganda legislating to kill and imprison gays is unbalanced. The C Street Family tinkering with policy in Uganda and elsewhere abroad is unbalanced. Persisting in attempts to refute scientific fact with subjective belief is unbalanced.
p>I’m not going to delve too much into the underpinnings of the pray-the-gay-away and/or ex-gay movement, as I think they speak volumes all by themselves. However, something the ex- and prayed-away gays don’t like to focus on, and Maddow notably does here, and in the preceding interview, is thatit’s a big business. I do wonder whether Cohen et al would make this their life’s work if there wasn’t a percentage in it?
p align=”center” class=”asset asset-video” style=”margin: 0pt auto; display: block;”>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640
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