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The Party Expects Its Enemies to
Engage in Public Self-Criticism
Report for January 31,
2004
An AP writer used some terms which Sodom's
censors say could result in "conjuring up negative gay
stereotypes." Of course, AP has dutifully apologized for doing
something other than singing the praises of sexual perversion.
AP flubs gay custody story. News service 'regrets'
article on flaunting' gay 'lifestyle.'
By Christopher Seely, January 23, 2004
Washington Blade, http://www.washblade.com/2004/1-23/view/actionalert/APflub.cfm
A gay man in Tennessee, ordered by a judge there not to discuss his
"gay lifestyle" with his son, was also the subject of news
stories that are now coming under criticism for conjuring up negative gay
stereotypes.
The Jan. 8 story from the Associated Press also appeared in two of the
state's leading newspapers, the Tennessean in Nashville and the Commercial
Appeal in Memphis.
The article began: "A gay father can't flaunt a homosexual lifestyle
when his son is around, a state appeals court has ruled."
Officials with AP have since apologized for the dispatch, which used
language like "flaunt" and "lifestyle" considered
pejorative to gays without citing it to the court's ruling.
"We regret the error," said Jack Stokes, an AP spokesperson.
Editors at the Tennessean and Commercial Appeal did not respond to
interview requests by press time.
The AP stylebook states that writers and editors should steer clear of
references to gay, homosexual or alternative "lifestyle," Stokes
said.
"We violated the Associated Press style guidelines in repeatedly
referring to 'homosexual lifestyle'and 'gay lifestyle,'" he said.
The wording of the opening sentence riled officials with the Gay &
Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, which launched an Internet campaign
targeted at the story's author, Matt Gouras, to show that the lead was
inappropriate, according to Chalee Snorton, southeastern regional media
manager for GLAAD.
Gouras, who works for AP, could not be reached by press time.
Besides running counter to AP style, the article's lead also
sensationalizes a gay man's court-ordered closet, lessening the severity
of his situation, Snorton said.
"GLAAD was concerned by the usage of the terminology particularly
because of the content of the story," Snorton said.
"The term 'homosexual lifestyle' is too vague an expression to
describe our lives as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people and
only serves to conjure up negative stereotypes about our community."
The word "flaunt" projects images of gay men being "oversexualized"
and "deviant," Snorton said.
"There is a difference between reporting accurately to describe LGBT
people in a fair and accurate way versus using terminology like 'flaunting
a homosexual lifestyle,' which is inflammatory," Snorton said.
The gay father, Joe Hogue, was barred from "taking the child around
or otherwise exposing the child to his gay lover(s) and/or his gay
lifestyle," a divorce court judge ordered in 2002.
But Hogue broke that restraining order later that year, telling his son
that "when someone is gay, they are born like that," prompting a
Williamson County, Tenn., judge to throw Hogue into jail for two days,
after Hogue's ex-wife complained to the court.
Hogue appealed the ruling to the state court of appeals, where a judge
threw out the jail sentence, but took no issue with the lower court
removing the child from the father's "gay lifestyle."
Homo-Fascism
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