Transgender woman denied McDonald's job; anti-gay slur used

This is just appalling:

Seventeen-year-old Zikerria Bellamy applied online for a position as a shift manager or crew leader at an Orlando McDonald's. When she went in for the interview on July 28, Bellamy says a manager forced her to check a box indicating her gender.

[...]

She said she was told she would not be granted an interview and received an angry, hateful voicemail from the manager later in the day.

"You went to [indistinguishable] McDonald's today," the message says. "It doesn't matter how many times you go down there. You will not get hired. We do not hire faggots. You lied to me. You told me you was a woman. And then you lied to me. You told me you were seventeen. I can't believe you. You're a lying brother. How could you ever lie to me?"

How is it any business of that man's?  This woman is presenting and identifies as a women, therefore she is a woman.  His calling her a man and using an anti-gay slur is unutterably disrespectful.  He had no business leaving her a hateful message on her voicemail.  So add harassment to the strikes against this guy.  


Given that this is not the first time a McDonald's employee has discriminated against potential employees, or customers.  You would think that McDonald's would do something about the bigots they employ so that this discrimination does not continue to happen.  


You can fill out this form to let them know that gender discrimination is against the law, and it's unacceptable for McDonald's to condone this bigotry from their employees.  


I certainly hope this man is no longer employed there, but I might be hoping for too much here.


H/T sexgenderbody via Twitter

Dragon Age features "controversial" gay sex

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I wanna see you strut, Adam

My co-worker described to me Lambert's performance at last night's AMA (which I had not seen because...well, I am miserably uninformed I guess), mentioning his nails, make-up, and hair.  And, most importantly, that he kissed a man on stage.  My immediate and unquenchable response was "OMG, and I missed it??"

Now, I must interject a moment with a little personal info on myself: I identify as a straight woman.  That being said, I still find it extremely attractive when two men kiss (hell, if straight men find two women kissing hot, why can't I with the opposite?).  And I'm not shy about it.  In fact, I often blurt this out at any remote mention of homosexuality.  In a way I suppose I'm trying to help fight the heteronormative notions of sexuality, especially those concerning how the public views celebrities.  I mean, it's pretty damn shitty that straight people can be affectionate in public, but we expect homosexual people to keep it out of our sight.  How the hell is that fair?  But at the same time I recognize that I'm objectifying gay men in a way that straight men have objectified lesbians into a straight male fantasy.

At any rate, my co-worker reacted in much the same way as most people do when I divulge this bit of information (to date, the only exceptions I have known were the awesome friends I made in college--you all know who you are), and she said "You like that?"  She then went on "I don't mind that he's gay, but I don't need to see all that."

This is nothing new.  Straight people who purportedly have nothing against homosexuality--provided that they don't have to look at them being gay and whatnot--have been saying just that, and similar "I don't hate gay people but..." followed by "I don't want to have to look at it / they better not hit on me / etc." and other similar bigotries.  And I do think that they think they're not homophobic--heck, some of them love out and proud celebrities.  But I also think that the lack of self-examination regarding their own discomfort when confronted with homosexual people (specifically gay men) being unabashedly sexual with the people they're attracted to is quite evident of a heteronormative culture.  Yet rather than question this discomfort, we're more content to pressure homosexual men and women into not being "too gay" so us straights don't feel all icky.  Or something.

My co-worker also mentioned Adam Lambert's album cover, and his make-up, saying that she wished "he'd tone it down."  She said that it seems like after American Idol, he's just gotten more gay (I know I know--she's pretty damn ignorant, but she's willing to listen to my lectures, and she just inspired a post for me.  And what she's saying is not exclusive to just her, but our culture as well).  Which sort of ignores the fact that straight men have been wearing make-up long before Adam came to gay it up (ugh, I am so sorry I just had to type that), and also is presumptuous given that there are plenty of gay men that don't wear make-up.

I pointed out to her that Adam was pressured to keep his sexuality hushed while he was still a contestant on AI, and it's only now that his season (yes, his, damn it!) is over is he able to be the performer he wants to be.  And I find it pretty damn offensive that in the year 2009 we applaud a gay man for having such immense talent, and applaud straight male performers for objectifying women on stage, or being highly sexual with women on stage as if they're nothing more than props, but when we see the same gay man being sexual with anything but the prescripted woman, the homophobia comes out.

So, fellow straight people: you can't say you support gay rights, or gay people in general, or that you don't hate gay people, and simultaneously cite your own disgust as reason for them to not engage in sexual behavior befitting the sexuality in which they identify.  Get the fuck over it.

No one loses their damn mind as we're constantly bombarded with images of straight sexuality.  Open any magazine and you see ads, articles, an array of images that reinforce a heterosexual norm.  Heterosexual relationships are constantly viewed as standard, and anything else is deviant.  If we were to view Adam's very same performance and replace all male dancers with women, these people wouldn't even be complaining.

But I suppose there's something that straight people find threatening in Adam that they've not had to face before: not only is Adam Lambert gay, but his lyrics lack the ambiguity straight people might feel safer listening to.  We know the "you" in his songs is not a woman.  And any "body" that Adam sings about desiring isn't going to be that of a woman.  Hell, "Fever" begins "There he goes, My baby walks so slow," giving a definitive gender to his sung love-interests.  And as his album gets more attention, it will only be a matter of time before we start hearing the homophobic panic about a gay man openly singing about loving other gay men (omg, the horror!).

Adam Lambert is in a sudden, strange position right now.  It really just sucks that in order for him to be himself, he's going to be criticized by uncomfortable straight people.  And he's going to be blasted by critical gay men, too.  Oh, wait, he already is.  But gay or straight, I think it's pretty shitty that anyone is asking Adam Lambert to compromise himself so the rest of us can be comfortable with him.

But maybe if he makes them all uncomfortable enough, some of them will start to question why that is.

crossposted

Looking for...

Often have I (and certainly others) have been accused of looking for racism, of looking for sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and a ton of other things when I've criticized movie, a book, a commercial, etc. Some gentle troll usually points out that "of course you'll find [insert offensive thing] if you're looking for it," followed by the accusation that I'm looking too much into it.

Normally I don't think about this stuff very much since it's all a silencing technique that those of ignorant minds employ because they'd rather not acknowledge the ways in which they're privileged, much less have a discussion about it, confront it, work on seeing the ways in which they're privileged and doing something about that. But this has been nagging at me for a while now.

Yes, if I look for racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc., generally I'm "rewarded" in finding it. You know why that is? BECAUSE IT'S THERE. It's such an ignorant thing to say that if you look for it you'll find it. I can look for anything and find it--I see racism in Transformers and in our daily treatment of non-white children; I see sexism in tons of ads, I hear sexism and anti-feminism in daily conversations, and homophobia in a movie that's supposed to challenge it. BECAUSE IT'S ALL THERE. I'm not making shit up--I'm finding something that exists and I'm confronting it, challenging it, and all I get is silencing techniques.

I challenge stereotypes because they're in our television shows, commercials, ads, and conversations. They're ignorant and they do not represent all people of a given group. I challenge homophobia and transphobia and sexism because white, cisgendered, straight male is not the fucking standard, and all others a deviation from that standard. There's pervasive hate everywhere; obviously I have no trouble finding it.

Yes, I'm looking for offensive othering commentary because I'm not content with ignorantly gobbling this shit up. I look for it and find it, just as I can look for an object near me and find it. OMG! There's my cat! I was looking for her, and I found her! What do you know? Just like how I found racism in this comic. Amazing!

In my acceptance, I'm too sensitive; In other's hatred, they're standing up for what they believe in

This is something that's been bothering me for some time. I am sure my fellow womanists/feminists in the community will be able to relate; I have been told countless times that I am too sensitive, that I'm looking too much into something. This is the usual response I and others get when we call out racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia. As allies, we try to stand up and preach love and acceptance, human rights and equality for all, and instead of being praised for our bravery, our courage for speaking up against a person or group we challenge to think, we are accused of being weak and sensitive. Why does no one acknowledge how difficult and sometimes frightening it is to stand up to someone else, when sometimes that "someone else" is a member of our own family, or a beloved friend? Weakness would be not speaking up in the first place, not challenging the hateful beliefs of others that some people are worthy of privilege, and others are not.

And then you have someone like Carrie Prejean, whose beliefs have taught her that denying human rights to some people is okay. She is exulted for standing up for what she believes in (check out the comments), praised for her unwavering faith. Her faith and beliefs justify denying others human rights. While I myself am not religious, I come from a family that is--but my own mother knows enough that her faith is no excuse to hate others.

Standing by your beliefs is all well and good, but not when it legitimizes hatred. And also, if we're really going to praise people for standing up for what they believe in, then it should apply to me too, and others like me. I am not sensitive. I am not weak. Don't embrace someone else's hatred because she's adamant about a faith that excludes a large group of people and simultaneously charge me with "looking too much" into something. It's a blind sort of silencing dismissal, saying that what we believe and call out is unimportant. It's all bullshit.

Another Product of our Rape Culture

I was flipping through the channels this morning, and Comedy Central was doing some behind-the-scenes thing for I Love You, Man starring Jason Segal and Paul Rudd. I'm sure by now we're all familiar with the trailer, particularly the part where Thomas Lennon's character Doug kisses Rudd's character, which is fucking hilarious right? I mean, they totally just turned a bromantic moment into a hilarious homophobic one! Awesome!

Well, as if that isn't bad enough in itself, Lennon, when discussing what happens in that scene says, that it wasn't really making out with Rudd, "I kind of just rape his mouth." OMG! Now we're being homophobic, and laughing at rape! And what makes it funnier is that it's between two dudez, therefore it's a joke, not real rape. Which also perpetuates the straight male fear that if your buddy's gay, he's going to want you--maybe even rape you!

Notice the type of movies Comedy Central promotes: nothing but homophobia-misogyny-douchebaggery.