MY PARENTS WENT TO AN ANN COULTER RALLY AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS STUPID T-SHIRT

Meanwhile, deep in the heart of darkest America (i.e. Aurora, CO):



For the record, I don’t think the kid should have been suspended. I’ve said before that dress codes are bullshit, to include banning t-shirts, and that applies regardless of where you sit on the political spectrum.

However, there’s two bigger things here that don’t seem to be getting as much attention but probably should:

1. Parents pushing ignorance and prejudice onto their kids.

2. Schools pushing patriotism on students.

This is an argument I’ll never win, I know, but I’ve never liked “Show Yr Patriotism” days (or whatever they’re called now) in schools. I don’t care if yr a fifth-grader or a grown person: dressing up in national colors doesn’t make you any more patriotic than pledging allegiance to a flag by rote memory. But then I’ve been known to quote George Bernard Shaw, so I would say that, wouldn’t I?

As for Dad teaching his son that Obama is teh terrorz ... well, I can’t add to what I’ve already said about the tendency of adults to push their prejudices, politics and religious views onto their kids.

Back to school,

This is dF

PRIME TIME TV: DOUBLE THE GAY, DOUBLE THE FUN!

As long as everyone’s freaking out over Clay Aiken and Lindsay Lohan, here’s some added perspective:

ITEM: Broadcast television will have 16 gay and bisexual regular characters in prime-time series this fall, more than double the seven of a year ago, according to a new study from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation:

These characters accounted for 2.6% of all the regular characters in TV series, up from 1.1% last year and 1.3% in 2006.

I mention this partially because many moons ago in grad school, I read a thesis in which a student did a study like this covering TV shows from the 1950s up to somewhere in the mid-late 80s (when the thesis was submitted). That study also rated how GLBTs were portrayed (i.e. positive/negative, realistic vs stereotypes, etc). I don’t remember the exact numbers, but suffice to say GLBT characters in prime time were rare, and were usually camp or serial killers (or, better yet, camp serial killers).

Progress! Now if they’d only allow GLBT sex scenes on TV ...

Anyway, I’m still waiting for someone to map a study like this against the number of GLBT actors/actresses on prime time TV, regardless of whether their characters are straight, gay, bi or whatever. I have five American dollars that says the GLBT percentage for actors/actresses vs characters is way higher. Which would be fun.

Not ready for prime time,

This is dF