A synopsis of the past week’s news… Did SOPA and PIPA make anyone else’s head hurt?
As a website owner I thought it would be in my best interest this past week to gain an understanding of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) under consideration in the Senate. After reading numerous articles – specifically those claiming to “break it all down” in “easy to follow” language – I just ended up feeling like maybe owning a website perhaps isn’t for me. However, I did comprehend enough to realize that I’m having trouble choosing sides on the issue. Simply put, the legislation is aimed at shutting down sites that share pirated movies and other content. Sounds like a good idea. But, opponents feel that if passed, it could be used to target legitimate sites where users share content – threatening free speech, innovation, and enabling law enforcement to block access to entire internet domains due to infringing material posted on a single blog or webpage. Sounds scary. Giants of the internet like Google, Wikipedia, Craigslist, and Reddit.com made their positions clear on Wednesday by temporarily shutting down their services or directing users to an anti-legislation page. One the other side of the coin, and relevant to our community, was Kathy Wolfe, Founder and CEO of Wolfe Video and Wolfe Releasing. In a piece written for The Huffington Post, Kathy explained how dangerous online piracy can be to the LGBT film industry: “Though my team and I are consistently amazed with the speed at which our world has evolved, we have been disheartened to witness the rapid rise of online piracy. Not only has piracy negatively affected our bottom line, but more significantly, it has undermined the careers of many talented aspiring filmmakers… Filmmakers often risk their personal finances in the process. When online thieves undermine the market for their films these artists have no chance to compete.” Read the full article, HERE. For now though it looks like Wolfe will have to wait for legislative support in her battle against piracy as just two days after the broad Web protests, lawmakers delayed action on the measures.
In some easier to follow news from the past week, hit NBC comedy 30 Rock made headlines in the LGBT community after Thursday’s episode revisited star Tracy Morgan’s real life anti-gay controversy. On the episode, the fictional “Tracy Jordan” offended the gay community, inciting a boycott of his show, when he commented that if he “turned into a gay” he would just stare at his man part all day. This lead to Tina Fey’s “Liz Lemon” explaining his actions by stating to the public, “He’s not capable of hate. He’s just an idiot who doesn’t 
know what he’s saying.” The fictional Tracy also reached out to GLAAD, whom the real life Tracy worked with after his homophobic comedy routine in June, but on the show he mistakenly called the trash bag manufacturer, GLAD, instead. Overall I thought it was really clever of Fey to write the incident into the show but I was disappointed that the fictional “joke” wasn’t nearly as offensive as what the comedian actually said. I could forgive “Tracy Jordan” for what he said but not even Tina Fey could convince me that a bit about killing your gay son is excusable. GLAAD, however, totally supported the episode: “I thought it was hilarious, “ said Senior Director of Programs Herndon Graddick to The New York Times. “We’ve been called worse than trash bag manufacturers and look forward to seeing the second part next week.”
In other news out of GLAAD last week, the group announced their nominees for the 23rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards. Nominees include Glee, J. Edgar, Modern Family, Albert Nobbs, Anderson Cooper 360, Lady Gaga, Ebony, Pretty Little Liars, Marie Claire, and Pariah. First time nominees include: Dancing With The Stars, Conan, The Voice, the David Letterman Show, and The Big C. The Awards will be held in New York City on March 24, Los Angeles on April 21, and in San Francisco on June 2. Check out www.glaad.org/mediaawards for more. (Want even more awards’ news this awards’ season? Don’t forget to vote in our CherryGRRL Second Non-Annual Readers’ Choice Awards now!)
In addition to GLAAD, it was a busy week for some other non-profits we love. The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) announced that it will honor seven heroes in the movement for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender equality at its 2012 Anniversary Celebration—which marks its 35th year—on May 5, 2012 at San Francisco’s Metreon Cityview. NCLR will honor out actress Jane Lynch, of “Glee” and “Julie & Julia,” for using her fame as a platform to further LGBT equality, and for being an outspoken advocate for creating safer, welcoming schools for LGBT children. Six students from Minnesota’s Anoka-Hennepin School District will also be honored for their courage in standing up against a district policy that prohibits staff from discussing LGBT issues, prevents staff from effectively addressing bullying, and has created a hostile environment for students who are or are perceived to be LGBT or gender non-conforming. Happy 35th NCLR!
In related news – both for the bullying awareness and acronym usage – GLSEN released a new report last week on school climate, biased remarks and bullying, Playgrounds and Prejudice: Elementary School Climate in the United States. The report, based on national surveys of 1,065 elementary school students in 3rd to 6th grade and 1,099 elementary school teachers of K-6th grade, examines students’ and teachers’ experiences with biased remarks and bullying, and their attitudes about gender expression and family diversity. The surveys were conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of GLSEN during November and December 2010. The group also released Ready, Set, Respect! GLSEN’s Elementary School Toolkit, an instructional resource developed to help educators address issues raised in Playgrounds and Prejudice, particularly teachers’ willingness to address but lack of understanding of biased language, LGBT-inclusive family diversity and gender nonconformity. For more on both of those valuable resources visit www.GLSEN.org.
In the land of TV and film, I somehow missed George Clooney’s comments last Sunday at the Golden Globes in which he took a few moments to speak out on behalf of marriage equality, calling it “the last leg of the civil rights movement,” and criticize GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney for being on “the wrong side of history.” Check out the handsomeness:
Clooney’s comments came before one of Romney’s competitors (not that he would have been any better for us), Rick Perry, dropped out of the GOP race on Thursday. Perry now supports Newt Gingrich. Ugh… just, ugh.
And where is our current Commander in Chief on the issues of gay rights and equality? Maybe he’ll tell us on Tuesday. Thinkprogress.org reported that White House Press Secretary Jay Carney didn’t rule “in or out” the possibility that Obama would endorse same-sex marriage during Tuesday’s State of the Union address. More on that, HERE.
And finally this week, some additional quick items of note: A D.C. woman has filed complaints with federal health authorities and the main hospital accreditation commission after staff at Washington Adventist Hospital denied her permission to visit her same-sex partner, who was taken there after suffering a seizure; a nurse practitioner, whose alleged harassment of a lesbian Marine veteran sparked an online backlash campaign, was removed from her job; Presbyterians opposed to gay clergy split from the church on Thursday, announcing in Orlando a new denomination called the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians; and Teen Mom 2 star Kailyn Lowry has allegedly had a few lesbian flings in her vast 18? years of life. Radaronline actually called this last bit a “bombshell.” She’s a “teen,” folks – these “flings” took place in middle school. Middle school. I feel gross even mentioning this at all and really wish I had ended this week’s column in a better place. Here, join the fight against puppy mills:
