Episode 033: Don’t Worry, Be Gay!

With all this talk about same-sex marriage and who should and shouldn’t be allowed to live as they please, Heit & Cheri say, “Don’t worry, be gay!” After all, why shouldn’t people who want to allow the state to govern their relationship be allowed to volunteer for this invasion into their personal lives?

The show kicks off with audio of Michael Eric Dyson’s excellent monologue when he hosted The Ed Show on MSNBC on the hypocrisy of the Black church for their stance on President Obama’s recent announcement that he personally supports same-sex marriage. Heit & Cheri discuss the hypocrisy of the Black church in depth. Other topics discussed include Obama’s “Yes We Can” campaign song, the Kennedy-Nixon Debates, John F. Kennedy’s address after calling the National Guard to the University of Alabama, Obama’s failure to address Black issues, confrontation between U.S. Representative Corinne Brown and Florida State Attorney Angela Corey (Marissa Alexander), Lil Boosie beating the murder rap, Ron Paul suspending campaign, April unemployment, and Heit & Cheri announce that each week they will showcase a new song and discuss it on the show.

Segment 1

• Discussion of Michael Eric Dyson’s comments on the hypocrisy of the Black church’s opposition to Barack Obama personally endorsing same-sex marriage. We discussed the question of whether his endorsement will affect the Black vote in a recent video.
• Banning same-sex marriage will not get rid of gay people, and that is really the source of the objection–some people want to do away with gay people.
• The hypocrisy is that Black people should understand what it’s like to be denied basic rights of citizenship, yet many have adopted the same type of intolerance and bigotry that’s been directed toward them by racists.
• Dyson’s point that gays have been present during the fight for civil rights. If straight people can get married, so can two people who are not straight. There’s no problem with two same-sex people signing business contracts together, but the issue is that they want to control what is happening in the bedrooms of other people.
• If you don’t like something, don’t participate in it. These people don’t want to see gay people, just as there are people who don’t want to see natural Black hair, or Black love on the silver screen–it is an intolerance of people who are different. Black people, of all people, should understand the struggle for acceptance.
• Everyone should have the ability to live as they choose, so long as they are not adversely impacting others.
• Heit asks how gay marriage will affect Blacks as a whole. It won’t. It’s all about trying to control the behavior of another group.
• There are gay people in highly visible positions within the church, but everyone turns a blind eye, as they capitalize off of the talents of the gay members of their congregation.
• In the Black community, the LGBT lifestyle is generally not accepted within the culture.
• Churches don’t turn down the donations of gay members. The relationship of gays with the Black church is similar to the relationship Blacks have with the Democratic Party. They give all of their votes, money, and support, but don’t receive the support.
• There are many other “sins” according to the church, but they single out homosexuality–as if they aren’t living deep in the transgressions according to their own ideology. You shouldn’t have anything to say if YOU don’t even follow your own rules.
• The bottom line is that Blacks will continue to vote Democrat.
• The NYT and CBS conducted a poll that says Obama and Romney are neck-and-neck. Of course, this doesn’t represent the popular vote; it is all part of the news reality show to keep people engaged.
• Another purpose of releasing these polls is to sway public opinion. The story isn’t as great if the media doesn’t make it seem as if it’s a tight race.
• The last really tight race was Gore vs. Bush. Gore conceded because he couldn’t publicly admit that an election could be stolen. Of course, Gore was paid in the form of a Nobel Peace Prize and a climate PowerPoint that would earn him millions.
• Heit mentions another Michael Eric Dyson speech in which he points out that Obama is not a Black savior or messiah. This is part of the problem that we have now–many Black people had very high expectations of Obama–as if he would be able to right all the wrongs Blacks are suffering.
• Cheri gives Obama’s “Yes We Can” campaign song as an example of how rhetoric can make people believe.
• Discussion of the Kennedy-Nixon debates, and how Barack Obama’s rhetoric is very similar to JFK.
• Audio of JFK’s speech after he sent the National Guard to protect the rights of Black students who wanted to attend the University of Alabama. He points out the disparity between the realities of life as a Black versus a white person in the United States.
• Mention of how Obama has failed to really address the issues facing the Back community–yet Kennedy did just that 50 years ago. Obama is silent on the problems of Blacks.
• It’s been 150 years since slaves were freed, and very little about the actual realities of Black life have changed–for the average Black person.
• These days Black culture is all the rage, but nobody is willing to trade their skin color to actually BE Black. This is what JFK was saying in his speech. Like Paul Mooney said, “Everybody wants to be a nigga, but don’t nobody wanna be a nigga!”
• Will Barack Obama EVER make some statements like JFK? Perhaps after he’s re-elected.
• The new French President Francois Hollande wants to tax at a rate of 75 percent for people who make more than 1 million euros per year.
• Discussion of the idea that campaigning politicians will make rhetoric, knowing that they won’t implement these courageous stances in their actual policies. It’s all talk for the cameras.
• Would JFK have signed the Civil Rights Act?
• Discussion of the confrontation between U.S. Representative Corinne Brown and Florida State Attorney Angela Corey over Marissa Alexander’s 20-year sentence. We discussed the Alexander case on Episode 030: Ground Your Stand, in which she tried to use the “stand your ground” defense for a domestic dispute with her husband.
• The confrontation was a disgrace. The way Rep. Brown handled the situation is embarrassing. First, she was too emotional, she was rambling, and she didn’t have her facts straight when she mentioned that a man in Jacksonville received 15 years for murder (while Alexander received 20 years for supposedly firing a warning shot).
• Brown argues that Alexander’s case should have fallen under the stand your ground defense and that she was overcharged for the offense.
• Brown also fails to adequately articulate her point, simply rambling on…
• Angela Corey presented herself as if she was the one in charge. She pointed out that those confronting her don’t understand the system or the process.
• If you don’t like the way the system is working, then change the system–or do away with it!
• Discussion about the petitions circulating on Facebook for Marissa Alexander’s release. What will the petition accomplish? Are these online petitions truly effective?
• You need to ensure that the petition is addressed to the correct parties–those who have the authority to redress the grievance.
• We must be smarter about the information we receive and whether it makes sense before jumping on the arm chair activism bandwagon.
• Signing petitions mindlessly dilutes the power of the petition, and it creates the whole culture of inaction–you spend time doing things that don’t do any good.
• Heit mentioned a petition on Facebook for freeing Lil Boosie and how remedial it was.
• Discussion of the Lil Boosie case and how the criminal justice system can work to your advantage if you have adequate defense. He beat the murder rap. He was able to make it look as if he didn’t have anything to do with the murder–whether he really did or not.
• Barack Obama drew from the Clinton “We Can Do It” ad from 1992 for his whole “Yes We Can” theme.
• Discussion about how the media is writing old news as if it’s new. This time they’re reworking the whole angle about the FBI possibly charging Zimmerman with a hate crime. We’ve known this for weeks! There’s nothing new about this story.
• Ron Paul has suspended his active campaign. He’s just stacking his campaign racks now!
• Just because you agree with something, to want it to happen, doesn’t make it any more likely to happen.
• Discussion of the drop in the unemployment rate for April. Of course, it’s not that people found jobs, but rather that their benefits expired and they dropped off the unemployment rolls.
• Heit explains why he wants Mitt Romney to win. He wants people to see that little about the policies of the U.S. will change with the change of president. He wants people to see that Romney and Obama are really the same.
• Heit & Cheri announce that each week they will showcase a new song and discuss it on the show. Please send us any suggestions you have.

Audio Credits:

“Michael Eric Dyson’s Stand on President Obama’s Stand on Same Sex Marriage” – Michael Eric Dyson via YouTube
“John F. Kennedy – Address on Civil Rights” – via YouTube
“05.11.12 Rep. Brown Confronts Angela Corey on Marissa Alexander” – via YouTube
“Black Wish” – Last Poets

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