Reality doesn't want reality when it comes to trans people. Note this RealityWanted.com casting call, entitled Talk Show Casting for Transexuals & Drag Queens (emphasis added):
Are you an over the top drag queen who performs in nightclubs??
Are you new to the drag scene??
Are you or do you know of an over the top transexual who would like to share their story on TV?
If you said yes to any of the questions please reply with a recent pic, contact information, and a brief description of what you do.
"Over the top transsexual who would like to share their story on TV" seems to me to be a euphemistic way of asking for "freak" trans people to exploit and mock.
I'm dismayed and discusted by the idea that an "Emmy Award Winning Talk Show" isn't looking for trans people with real experiences to talk to; they're looking for "reality show" trans people they can point to as freaks. Considering how many trans people have trouble finding housing and employment, and how many have been violently killed and listed on the Remembering Our Dead list -- in large part due to the societal stigma associated with being trans -- having this kind of a casting call to search for trans people to exploit and laugh at is absolutely unconscionable.
I wish the casting call listed exactly which "Emmy Award Winning Talk Show" was making the pitch -- I'd like to have a chat with the show's host and the show's producer about the abysmal blackness of their souls.
Warren bent over backwards to be inclusive, and that was the trouble. He was so bland and general as to be useless (Rev. 3:16: "because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth").IMHO, it was heinous; if Warren wrote that prayer by himself, imagine the hoary, treacle-filled sermons delivered at Saddleback.Rev. Lowery was rich and deep and multivocal: one friend counted no less than four hymns tucked away inside his benediction. But not Warren. He was sunny and bright and had at best half a voice. He has obviously not learned that you have to scratch deeper than the surface to embrace the whole. It's nice that he worked in the Jewish sh'ma and part of an Islamic prayer into his text, it's nice that he name-checked Martin Luther King among the cloud of witnesses. But those are what you learn in Ecumenical and Interfaith Studies 101. I see no evidence that Warren took on a different worldview as he wrote his prayer. There was only the determinedly optimistic vision of Jesus-as-Universal-Nice-Guy. I half expected to see Pat Boone show up in heavy metal gear to help the struggling preacher along.
On such a grand occasion, it takes a daring preacher to hold his or her own. You have to be willing to make the most alarming pronouncements about God and God's intentions to capture the audience's attention and let them know that something important is taking place.... fumbled through a recitation of variations on the name of Jesus, followed by a clumsy transition to the Lord's Prayer. Any pastor worth his salt knows that you only drag that out when
1. you want to conclude with participation from the congregation, and/or
2. when you don't know what else to say.
I'm guessing that Warren was going for 1., and didn't quite realize that it would fall flat with a very public crowd made up of all faiths and none, leaving him to appear as if 2. were the case.
The Washington Blade reports that some unidentified deep pockets threw the LCRs a lifeline.
A number of donors have come to the rescue of the Log Cabin Republicans in an attempt to alleviate the group's debt of at least $100,000, according to Patrick Sammon, the group's outgoing president.It's apparently slash and burn time at the operation, already down to a skeleton crew of Patrick Sammon as president (he steps down at the end of January) and director of communications (and BlogCabin scribe) Scott Tucker. The latter told the Blade he has stepped down.Sammon confirmed earlier this month that his organization had at least $100,000 in consolidated debt. He told the Blade Wednesday that a number of donors have recently committed "upwards of $125,000" to the organization.
"So I hope and expect that by the end of March, our long-term debt ... will be all paid off," Sammon said.
And all of this is going on as the LCR is planning its national convention, slated in April. With a budget slashed an estimated 35-40% less than 2008's, it's difficult to see how barebones that will be. Who's invited?
Sammon said this year Steve Schmidt, the campaign manager for U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) during his 2008 presidential bid, and Megan McCain, the senator's daughter, are expected to be guests at the convention.Related:The convention will have a theme focusing on the "future of the Republican Party," Sammon said.
* LCR's coffers are depleted
* * The Blend Log Cabin Republican Files
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