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LGBT

Bill O’Reilly Worries ‘Glee’ Encourages Teens To Experiment With Alternative Lifestyles

By Zack Ford on Apr 20, 2012 at 1:50 pm

The introduction of a trans teen on this week’s episode of Glee has the Fox News gang in a tizzy again, concerned that LGBT identities are “wild” and not part of “nice family” programming because they might encourage young viewers to experiment with these “alternative lifestyles.” In a discussion Bill O’Reilly hosted, Gretchen Carlson complained she might have to explain diversity to her 8-year-old:

CARLSON: Here we go again, pandering to .3% of the American population that considers themselves transgender. Now I get to explain this to my 8-year-old, if i want her to see a nice family show with some nice music.

O’Reilly then added that by including unique characters and controversies in the show, it encourages teens to “experiment” with “alternative lifestyles”:

O’REILLY: If children hear it, unsupervised children who don’t have parents watching, they might go out and experiment with this stuff… When I was a teenager and I saw James Dean smoking, it made me want to smoke…

CARLSON: I don’t think that watching Glee is going to suddenly make kids transgender, but experimentation… I wholeheartedly believe in today’s society that kids are experimenting with homosexuality. [...]

O’REILLY: A lot of these dopey kids are confused about who they are. They’re confused.

To her credit, Jeanine Pirro defended LGBT teens, saying “you can’t parent sexuality.” Watch it:

By trying to “protect” young people from understanding gender and sexual orientation, the Fox News crew is ensuring that those topics remain taboo and that people who identify as LGBT continue to be stigmatized. As Pirro pointed out, students who identify with Glee characters are empowered by that visibility, a positive message Carlson shouldn’t have to explain to her daughter.

NEWS FLASH

Bill O’Reilly Sticks Up For Transgender Miss Universe Contestant | Conservative Fox News host Bill O’Reilly seemed supportive of a transgender woman’s right to compete in the Miss Universe competition during his show on Friday. During a segment about Miss Universe’s decision to prohibit Jenna Talackova from participating in the pageant because she is trans, O’Reilly asked, “What right does the Miss Universe pageant have to violate this lady’s right to be a woman? They are basically saying because you weren’t born a woman you don’t have a right to be a woman..[I]t doesn’t sound right to me.” The comments represent a significant evolution for O’Reilly, who in 2010 compared transgender people to Ewoks. Watch the segment:

Related Posts

Media

O’Reilly Defends Geraldo Rivera On Hoodie

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Mar 26, 2012 at 10:35 am

On Friday, Fox News contributor Geraldo Rivera sparked a backlash when he seemingly blamed Trayvon Martin for his own death, saying the Florida teen should not have gone outside wearing a hoodie. “I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin’s death as George Zimmerman was,” he said.

Few came to Rivera’s defense, including his own son, who was ashamed of his father, according to Rivera himself. But on Friday night, Rivera finally found someone in his corner — Fox host Bill O’Reilly.

Appearing on The Factor that night, O’Reilly said he agreed with Rivera, explaining that he faced a similar public outcry over a separate event in which people thought the host was blaming the victim. Saying they were both simply offering “a cautionary tale,” O’Reilly said he and Rivera were doing the “exact same thing” and that “your advice was good advice, my advice was good advice.” “If you dress like a wannabe gangster, some knucklehead is going to take you at your word,” Rivera added. Watch it:

But perhaps not all cautionary tales are meant to be followed, even by those who tell them, as Rivera and O’Reilly were photographed wearing hoodies together at a Yankees game:

Media

Bill O’Reilly Attacks Sandra Fluke: Claims She Wants Government To Pay For Her ‘Social Life’

By Judd Legum on Mar 2, 2012 at 9:14 pm

Bill O’Reilly has joined Rush Limbaugh’s sexist assault on 30-year-old law student Sandra Fluke. On tonight’s broadcast, Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly attacked and mocked Sandra Fluke, claiming that Fluke was insisting the government pay for her “social life.” O’Reilly’s attack mirrors Limbaugh, who has insisted on that Fluke’s advocacy for contraception coverage is motivated by sexual promiscuity. Watch it:

Bill O’Reilly’s attack is not only sexist and mean spirited, he has his facts completely wrong. Fluke is advocating for contraception to be covered under Georgetown University’s private insurance plan. Fluke became active on the issue “after her friend developed ovarian cysts and found that the oral contraception she needed to stop the cysts from growing was not covered under the school’s insurance.”

We need to take a stand now against Limbaugh and O’Reilly’s hateful attacks. Sign our petition and let Sandra Fluke know that you are on her side.

Update

Later in the broadcast O’Reilly said: “So let me get this straight, Ms. Fluke, and I ask this with all due respect, I am: You want me to give you my hard earned money so you can have sex.” He also states that, while he opposes contraception coverage, Viagra should be covered.

LGBT

Bill O’Reilly: Cut Santorum Slack For Spouting Anti-Gay Rhetoric, He’s ‘Inexperienced’

By Zack Ford on Feb 22, 2012 at 11:54 am

On The Tonight Show last night, Jay Leno challenged Bill O’Reilly about Rick Santorum’s comments on social issues: “He doesn’t like condoms, he doesn’t like birth control, I don’t understand this anti-gay thing. It doesn’t make any sense to me,” Leno said. O’Reilly responded by defending Santorum, saying that people should disregard the “dopey past comments” he has made because he’s “inexperienced”:

O’REILLY: I think people should define their religion and why they believe and what they believe if you’re running for president. I think they should do that, but I don’t think they should be saying, “Well, my religion is better than yours,” or anything like that. Look, Santorum is a guy is who is inexperienced in this arena. He got drawn into a few things. He’s made some past comments. Everybody has dopey past comments… so we have to cut him a little slack… He’d be wise to say, “Look, I said what I said, now let’s get into the economy,” and that’s where he should go.

In fact, O’Reilly seemed to think candidates’ histories should be disregarded entirely, suggesting also that Newt Gingrich’s conversion to Catholicism made him an entirely different person. Watch the interview:

(HT: Gawker.)

Alyssa

Bill O’Reilly’s Lack of Compassion On Whitney Houston’s Death

By Alyssa Rosenberg on Feb 14, 2012 at 4:07 pm

I think Bill O’Reilly is correct that Whitney Houston is perhaps not the best example to deploy if you want to make the case that legalizing narcotics would decrease violence related to the drug trade and make it easier for addicts to get help (I happen to agree with at least a limited version of that case). But the rest of this statement doesn’t exactly count as brave truth-telling. Watch it:

There’s nothing bold, counterintuitive, or perhaps more importantly, compassionate about saying cruel things about addicts like: “Whitney Houston wanted to kill herself. Nobody takes drugs for that long if they want to stay on the planet.” I’ve been fortunate enough not to be touched directly by addiction, but it’s my understanding that the compulsion to use has little to do with a specific suicidal ideation. And of course, you can have an addiction and still love life and depending on the level of use, contribute to society. Whitney Houston’s fans know she’d struggled for years with a disease—not failed morals. Whitney’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, who O’Reilly mentioned had been hospitalized in the wake of her mother’s sudden death, is probably more aware of anyone else on the planet of what it’s like to live with her mother’s particular failed fight against addiction.

Nobody Bill O’Reilly to remind them that Houston’s addiction robbed her of many productive years of her career and was painful, embarrassing, and detrimental to her. And there’s nothing brave about blaming addicts for the societal consequences of their addictions.

LGBT

Howard Stern: ‘I Will Do Everything I Can For Ellen DeGeneres’

By Zack Ford on Feb 9, 2012 at 3:40 pm

Howard Stern took a significant chunk of time on his radio show today to defend Ellen DeGeneres from the conservative group One Million Moms’ boycott of JC Penney. During the impassioned discussion, he admonished Republican presidential candidates for their anti-gay rhetoric and highlighted the portrayal of bullying in Rolling Stone’s article about Minnesota’s Anoka-Hennepin School District:

STERN: First of all, I’m proud of JC Penney for not buckling. You know, I am not the world’s biggest Ellen DeGeneres, but I’ll tell you what: I will defend her to the end. If JC Penney fires Ellen DeGeneres, I will call on all my listeners to boycott JC Penney and I will do everything I can for Ellen DeGeneres. I mean, I was so outraged.

This defense of the gay community is a must-listen (language NSFW):

Additionally, DeGeneres thanked Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly today for defending her on his show. Watch it:

(HTs: Joe.My.God. and SheWired.)

LGBT

Bill O’Reilly Defends Ellen, Says Push To Fire Her Is Reminiscent Of A ‘McCarthy Era Witch Hunt’

By Igor Volsky on Feb 7, 2012 at 9:28 am

Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly stuck up for Ellen DeGeneres last night in a segment about ‘One Million Moms’ proposed boycott of JC Penney, which has named the openly gay comic and talk show host their spokesperson. “If you remember with the McCarthy era, in the 50s and they were trying to hunt down communist sympathizers and not let them work and put them. What is the difference between McCarthy era communist blacklist in the 50s and the million moms saying, ‘Hey, JC Penney and all you other stores don’t you hire any gay people, don’t you dare.’ What is the difference?” O’Reilly asked:

O’Reilly’s guest Sandy Rios defended the boycott and explained that since DeGeneres has “chosen to act out her lesbian lifestyle and marry her partner…people that believe that marriage is between a man and woman and children should not be exposed to propagandized in homosexuality have a moral problem with that.” “It’s disturbing to them. They are trying to say to JC Penney please don’t do that,” she added.

JC Penney has said that it has no plans to break ties with DeGeneres and has issued a statement emphasizing, “we share the same values as Ellen.”

LGBT

Santorum Claims ‘I Haven’t Been Talking A Lot About’ Gay Issues

By Igor Volsky on Jan 5, 2012 at 9:00 am

Surging GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum sought to distance himself from his anti-gay record and rhetoric, just one day after coming in a close second in the Iowa caucuses. During an appearance on Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly Wednesday night, the former Pennsylvania senator said that while he does support annulling all same-sex marriages through a federal constitutional amendment outlawing marriage equality, he is has spent little time discussing social issues and has instead focused on economic matters:

O’REILLY: To rescind — rescind it after a licenses already given. That’s a big deal.

SANTORUM: The federal government would have to pass a constitutional amendment and if the Constitution says that marriage is between a man and woman, then things that are inconsistent with that would not — would be inconsistent with the Constitution so –

O’REILLY: Would you be doing that if you were elected president? Would you be campaigning for a constitutional amendment in that way?

SANTORUM: I would — well, if you pass a constitutional amendment that says marriage –

O’REILLY: So would you — would that be — would that be in the forefront of your — of your administration?

SANTORUM: As you know, Bill, if you’ve been following me out on the trail, I haven’t been talking a lot about this. Although I strongly believe in it. What I’ve been talking about as I did last night on my acceptance speech where didn’t talk about this issue, I talked about the importance of getting this economy going and talked about my grandfather and coming here for freedom. And this is the fundamental issue in this campaign is whether government is going to be big and obtrusive and telling people how to manage their — their lives or — and are they going to support the basic values of faith and family that allow government to be limited and allow our economy to be strong. Those are the things I talked about and did across Iowa. I’ll be talking about those things here in New Hampshire.

Watch it:

Santorum may have failed to mention LGBT issues in every one of his 350 Iowa town halls, but as ThinkProgress has chronicled, he did spend ample time arguing that gay couples “destabilize” society and comparing same-sex relationships to inanimate objects like trees, basketballs, beer, and paper towels and even tried to blame the economic crisis on gay people. As Santorum explained back in August, religious people have a constitutional right to discriminate against gays: “We have a right the Constitution of religious liberty but now the courts have created a super-right that’s above a right that’s actually in the Constitution, and that’s of sexual liberty. And I think that’s a wrong, that’s a destructive element.”

Santorum also slipped in a coded reference to marriage in his Iowa acceptance speech Tuesday night, saying, “Those are the same people that President Obama talked about who cling to their guns and their Bibles. Thank God they do. They share our values about faith and family. They understand that when the family breaks down, the economy struggles.” In de-emphasizing the issue in New Hampshire, Santorum is acknowledging that Granite State voters are less driven by social issues than economic concerns — and that’s particularly true when it comes to the state’s own marriage equality law.

Health

O’Reilly Challenges Rick Santorum On Opposition To Birth Control

By Igor Volsky on Jan 5, 2012 at 8:30 am

Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly challenged Rick Santorum on his opposition to contraception last night, noting that the former senator’s claim that states have the right to outlaw birth control is extreme and out-of-touch with the beliefs of most Americans. Santorum responded that while he disagrees with the use of birth control, he would not necessarily advocate for its repeal:

O’REILLY: You say that the states should have the right to ban some contraception. That’s right off the bat going to be a big one.

SANTORUM: Well, the states have a right to do a lot of things. That doesn’t mean they should do it. Someone asked me if the states have the right to do it? Yes. They have the right to do it, they shouldn’t do it. I wouldn’t vote for it if they did. It doesn’t mean they don’t have the right to do it. As you know, Bill, you’re a Catholic, Catholic Church teaches contraceptive is something you shouldn’t do. So when I was asked the question on contraception I said I didn’t support it.

Watch it:

Santorum is trying to distinguish his religious beliefs from his governing philosophy to suggest to moderate voters that while he personally opposes contraception, he would do little to limit women’s access to it. But that’s not entirely honest and here is why: Santorum does disagree with the Supreme Court’s 1965 Griswold v. Connecticut ruling (which struck down a law that criminalized the use of contraceptives by married couples) and believes that the question should be left to the states. At the same time, however, he has also pledged to defund federal funding for contraception if elected president and publicly address the “dangers of contraception in this country.” “It’s not okay. It’s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be,” the former Pennsylvania senator explained during one interview in Iowa. In other words, Santorum would not sit on his religiously-inspired anti-contraception beliefs — he would work to move federal policies and public beliefs against it.

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