Box Turtle Bulletin
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News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyJune 27th, 2010
Is Peter LaBarbera working for the Kansas City Star?
Seems like it. For some reason, the KC Star decided that an article about today’s Gay Pride parade in New York City should be accompanied by this photo, from last year’s pride parade in San Francisco.
And, of course, this is the photo that pops up on Google News to illustrate the 973 news articles about Gay Pride events around the world. Stanley Cup? nope. Ernie Banks? not a chance. The elected officials or PFLAG or health services or even baton twirlers or drag queens? un-uh. This year’s image for Gay Pride is a year old picture of a nude man on a bike.
Oh goodie.
UPDATE: The picture appears to have disappeared from the KC Star website.
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Gueney
June 27th, 2010
Wow, when there’s an agenda, they mean business. How do you even combat that nonsense?
tim
June 27th, 2010
Kincaid – you have a real problem with perspective. Posting that picture has nothing to do with the vileness of LaBarbera. Even if it was inaccurately attributed. The fact that you can’t make a distinction between the two makes your reporting more suspect every day.
Btw – even with the ruling allowing evangelicals to give out literature at Twin Cities Pride – it went without a hitch this weekend. A win for the first amendment and for our rights.
paul j stein
June 27th, 2010
http://www.kansascity.com/contact_us/ send them a comment, I did !
Neil D
June 27th, 2010
If transgender people are worthy of inclusion in our community, so are nudists!
God love ’em!
There is value in sticking your finger in the eye of our enemies.
johnathan
June 27th, 2010
Timothy:
I’m going to agree with tim on this one. It seems you didn’t read the caption on the photo. It clearly read:
“FILE – A member of the Mike’s on Bike rides his bike nude down Market Street during the San Francisco’s 39th annual gay pride parade on in this June 28, 2009 file photo. San Francisco’s 40th annual gay pride weekend drew thousands to Civic Center Plaza, with even more expected Sunday June 27, 2010 for a parade, a Backstreet Boys concert, and a prerecorded address from U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/06/26/2046171_sf-gay-pride-parade-celebrates.html?storylink=omni_popular#ixzz0s6g0PLoV”
Having that information included doesn’t create such a biased newspaper, at least in my opinion.
Emily K
June 27th, 2010
Last I checked, naked men were what being at a gay event was about 3 decades ago.
I get that people here mourn the loss of the by-gone promiscuous gay ghetto culture, but it’s time to get over it. I’ve never seen anything like this at Philly Pride. You usually see this as Naked Bike Ride. But that’s different. And it’s not even a gay event.
Just because it goes against the same kind of reserved attitude that bigots and Christians might have doesn’t mean gay people don’t also have it. Nudists are fine but when the mainstream media still brings up pictures of naked men hanging out in public when people search the terms “gay pride” on the internet, this is a step backwards.
Unless people stop seeing us as stereotypes, we’re not going to be seen as human by people who aren’t gay and have little to no contact with gay people in their lives (uncloseted gays, that is). This photo doesn’t help.
And aside from that, it’s a year old, and it happened on a different coast. That’s just shoddy.
Lindoro Almaviva
June 27th, 2010
and not the best angle or bun either.
penguinsaur
June 27th, 2010
Ah the old trick of ‘accidentally’ putting up the most embarrassing, insulting and stereotype reinforcing picture you can possibly find, even if it has no relation to the story, next to an article about something. This reporter has a future at FOX News.
johnathan
June 27th, 2010
Let me modify my comment just a wee bit. I agree with tim in the point that the inclusion of that picture does not equate to the KS Star reporter to Peter LaBarbera. That was a far stretch, and in my opinion, a little too biased for my tastes.
On the other hand, as a younger person, I am quite put off by the inclusion of nude men, and all of the other embarrassing, insulting, and degrading scenes of pride as being the sole representations to the outside community of what pride represents. Further, the KS Star was irresponsible in not placing pictures of the grand marshals or happy families with rainbow flags is suspect. But vile a la Peter LaBarbera — NO!
That is the point I was trying to make, and while I cannot speak for tim, it was his first paragraph with which I found agreement.
Jonathan Barnett
June 27th, 2010
The article is from AP and the photos are probably AP file photos. That could also explain why they are at the top of any Google search (though not the one I just ran).
The way the Star chose to run them in this report is a throwback to the last century and not representative of the paper the last few decades. I know, because as editor of a gay publication, I covered their progressive policies on domestic partnership rights for their employees, as well as the issue of publishing gay survivors in obits in the 1990s.
Must have been a weekend editor that let the article post the way it is, though that is a pretty lame excuse.
Muscat
June 27th, 2010
while i agree with the general sentiment that this was irresponsible and probably deliberately chosen to reinforce stereotypes, nude men (or people in general) are not embarrassing, insulting, or degrading.
Mortanius
June 28th, 2010
I’ve noticed Kincaid’s views before regarding the Leather Community. Seems if he had it his way, there would be no diversity in our Gay Pride events that do not match his ideal world of Diversity. Which would be married gay couples wearing traditional wedding bands, dockers/slacks, dress shirts or appropriate DINK/Suburbanite clothing. The only way to distinguish them from any hetero-sexual couple would be that they are walking hand in hand. Other than that, his view of diversity ends there.
We are to drive the same vehicles, live in cookie cutter homes, raise children just like the Hets.
I’ve also noticed a lack of reporting on the fact that this year’s International Mr. Leather is a Transman, but reporting on the “freaks” of the GLBT community is not what this site is about.
I still like the reporting, just saying that everybody has a bias and sometimes Kincaid’s can come through as is his right to do so, since it is his site.
Wulf
June 28th, 2010
Lt. Dan Choi was the Grand Marshal. He appeared in the march* in uniform. But, did the MSM or the star focus on that? Or show photos of that? No, of course not. Instead, they show a participant who’s a throwback.
*Yes, it’s a MARCH–officially and technically–but, sadly, not in spirit much anymore. It’s the Heritage of Pride March, the organization behind it for years is Heritage of Pride (HOP).
Corporate-sponsored celebration isn’t wrong or unworthy or unhelpful; but, there are still RIGHTS to be FOUGHT for.
David Wood
June 28th, 2010
This photo was from San Francisco’s 40th Pride parade yesterday not last year’s. He appeared on the live comcast telecast. He was part of the “Mikes on Bikes”contingent. Why is this any worse than the nude bike events that occur all over the world?
Jarred
June 28th, 2010
while i agree with the general sentiment that this was irresponsible and probably deliberately chosen to reinforce stereotypes, nude men (or people in general) are not embarrassing, insulting, or degrading.
I agree with the bolded part. (Actually, I agree with it all, but I want to focus on the bolded part.) I’d also like to go a step further and suggest that part of the reasons such sloppy journalism continues to hurt us is because, despite quickly tossed out disclaimers saying the opposite, many in the LGBTQ community still react as if there is something wrong with nude men and nude people in general.
Jonathan Barnett
June 28th, 2010
There are two photos published with the AP story in the KC Star. Both are attributed as 2009 file photos. What’s not clear is if they are AP file photos or KC Star file photos. Maybe Mikes on Bikes is a regular feature at the SF parade? The other photo is of a pair of outrageous men celebrating 30 years together.
There is nothing “wrong” with nudity OR outrageous attire. What’s wrong is presenting either as being representative of the gay parade, let alone the gay community.
It is a habit that the MSM has had trouble breaking and that made it worth pointing out, imo.
If they were two of dozens of pictures of various elements of the community in a slideshow it would have been different.
It is also pretty inexcusable that they weren’t even from this year’s event, since that is what the headline touted, given the current state of technology.
Jarred
June 28th, 2010
What’s wrong is presenting either as being representative of the gay parade, let alone the gay community.
Realistically, is that’s what being done. Is any picture supposed to be taken as “representative” of the whole of an event or group that is being discussed in an article?
And even if it is, then what picture should be chosen as representative? Single and childless LGBTQ people may not find pictures of kids being pulled in colorfully decorated wagons as representative. Jocks may not find men dressed in business suits as representative.
No one picture or pair of pictures is ever going to be truly representative of the parade, let alone the gay community. So why are these two particular non-representative pictures more objectionable to other non-representative pictures you might prefer the paper to use?
Priya Lynn
June 28th, 2010
Jonathan said “There is nothing “wrong†with nudity OR outrageous attire. What’s wrong is presenting either as being representative of the gay parade, let alone the gay community.”
I agree.
Jarred said “No one picture or pair of pictures is ever going to be truly representative of the parade, let alone the gay community. So why are these two particular non-representative pictures more objectionable to other non-representative pictures you might prefer the paper to use?”.
Because nude people is a rarity at this parade and a picture of casually dressed participants would have been much more representative because that’s what typically is seen.
Burr
June 28th, 2010
It’s definitely an AP photo because I saw the same photo on articles about gay pride parades on several websites. Take it up with them.
Shouldn’t a photo representing the parade have a picture of.. oh.. I dunno.. a parade? Instead of just one guy?
It’s just way too obvious what they’re trying to pull.
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