Joy Reid's homophobic blog posts

[Torie]

Regardless of if she did write them, it was over 10 years ago. I dont think it matters at this point.

Edit: This is coming from a gay man. Not a straight ally.

Yet Mike Pence’s electroshocking is still relevant today. Cool.

Maybe because Pence continues to be a homophobe?

Not personally supporting gay marriage (while pretty much allowing the issue to stay dead and not reopen it) does not equal homophobia

It's like saying not personally supporting abolishing segregated facilities does not equal racism.

Just what exactly is "homophobia"?  Just what exactly is a "homophobe"?

That word is thrown around a lot, but I don't understand just exactly what qualifies one to be classified as such.

Let's keep it simple. It is somebody who thinks that gays, etc., should be treated differently from heterosexuals, in a disadvantageous way.

[Torie]

I'm curious how other gays feel about this. (I know the Republican outrage at Joy Reid posting homophobic comments is completely sincere.)

I find her past comments offensive, even for 2006, and I think she should apologize for them, and I don't find the hacking stories remotely credible. That said, she has evolved in who she is now, and isn't being homophobic. And there's certainly a double standard where women and POC are hounded out of jobs for offenses that white men are easily forgiven, and I'm not happy taking part in driving her out of this role when the torches and pitchforks are carried by people who were surely saying the same things in 2006, and who laugh at them when their friends say them in 2018. Just sayin'.

*I* have certainly noticed that what has changed in 20+ years is not that homophobia has disappeared, but that social acceptability of homophobia has largely retreated, at least when we're in the same room as the speaker. So I don't expect the people I come into contact with to have purged their hearts of their homophobia, but I do demand respect in how they engage with me and others. Except for her lack of apology, Joy does this now.

As you have noted above, the problem here is that she made up an absurd story and failed to apologize. If she had apologized, and said her views evolved over time as she became more informed, and thought about the issue, that would have been fine. Case closed.  In fact, I admire people who are able to shed prejudices over time based on the data that emerges, or with which they become familiar, and/or letting the better angels of their nature come to the fore.

I think her real problem is that she lacks guts. Gutsy people have no problem owning up to their mistakes, and try to learn from them. We all have character flaws (e.g., I am still more arrogant than I would like to be and should be, and need to work on the humility side of the ledger). Confessing to them is good for the soul.

Anyway these days I feel kind of sorry for homophobes. To be a homophobe now, is equivalent to being a pathetic f'ing socially toxic loser in most places. And some of such homophobes, know to at least keep their mouths shut about it.

[Torie]

These morons who act like 2006 was equivalent to 1956 in terms of attitudes toward homosexuality aren't doing her any favors.

It was 37 years after Stonewall ffs.

Can I get a link to some screenshots of the articles? The only one I've seen so far just said "straight people tend to think gay sex is gross (just like gay people probably think straight sex is gross)".

Did you read to the end of the article wherein:

"Rachel Maddow, who is openly gay and is now Reid’s colleague at MSNBC, was also the frequent target of attack on the blog. Other posts from the same time period openly oppose gay marriage and criticize the idea that the issue should be decided by the courts."

OH, and gay people don't think straight sex is gross, unless they are weirdos. I find it weird when folks who know next to nothing about gays are so confident as to what is in their heads, and how they are wired. Ah, and I remember opebo, who was just so confident that tops and bottoms (I don't think he knew about versatiles but I digress), were almost akin to two different species, and was desperate to know which I was. LOL.

[Torie]

Regardless of if she did write them, it was over 10 years ago. I dont think it matters at this point.

Edit: This is coming from a gay man. Not a straight ally.

Regardless of if Trump said what he said on the Access Hollywood tape, it was over 10 years ago. I don't think it matters at this point.

Why one standard for Trump and one for Joy Reid?  Is it one standard for one's friends and another for one's enemies?  That's an ethical question.

One little difference here is between someone getting fired for saying something offensive on the one hand, and just not voting for such a person on the other.

[Torie]

Yawn, this shouldn't be a controversy.,

Hack.

There is no need to get personal here. This contentious thread has so far avoided that. I hope we don't start now.