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08/07/2006
What Joe, couldn't find a way to work in Rosie or Elton?
Responding to the news that Rick Santorum has signed a pledge declaring his office's hiring practices won't discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, writer Joe Murray says to Agape Press:
Rick Santorum, the darling of the social conservatives and two-term senator clinging to his job like a shopper to a garment at a blue-light special, has signed the pledge guaranteeing that Ru-Paul's (sic) employment application is welcomed at his office...
And of the GenderPAC-initiated pledge that Santorum signed, Murray says:
Since the "project" was conceived, GenderPAC has been roaming the halls of Congress seeking signatures at the bottom of its propaganda pledge. The pledge reads, "[t]he sexual orientation and gender identity and expression of an individual is not a consideration in the hiring, promoting or terminating of an employee in my office." Call it the Coco Peru clause.
Then later in his commentary, Murray asks of Santorum's motives:
At a time when the American public was fleeing same-sex nuptials' cause like George Michael a London park, why would Santorum sign a propaganda pledge that bestows legitimacy to a cause Santorum has long fought?
Hmm...allusions to homosexual entertainers in gay-unfriendly writing? Looks like someone's been consulting his style guide again:
So helpful for them, that guide. But seriously, Joe -- Coco Peru?! Even we find that one a little too obscure to use.
Santorum's Surrender? [Agape]
**Note: Miss Coco Peru was slightly offended that we voiced surprise at the idea that the "pro-family" crowd knows her name. She writes on her website:
"...a gay website, goodasyou.org, responded to Joe Murray´s article with a piece titled:
"What Joe, couldn't find a way to work in Rosie or Elton?"
And they ended the article with this:
"But seriously, Joe -- Coco Peru?! Even we find that one a little too obscure to use."
WHAT? Okay, wait a minute, it´s okay for me to say that I´m obscure, but a gay webpage saying that I am too obscure and that the author should have used Rosie or Elton? OUTRAGEOUS! But how like the gay press to want to once again refer to those openly gay entertainers who made fortunes being in the closet. Am I the only one who finds it a little sad that when the Rosie´s and Elton´s and Ellen´s and all the rest of them come out, the gay press always gives them cover stories on the National Gay and Lesbian magazines, and we label them our heroes, and give them honorary GLAAD Awards? I wonder where Anne Heche is keeping her honorary GLAAD Award nowadays?"
We must first say that we were not speaking to anyone's merits or applauding anyone's achievements; we were merely commenting on the abundance of gay personalities Mr. Murray utilized in his piece. Are we surprised that a "pro-family" writer knows Miss Coco Peru and that he would expect his readers to also know her name? Yes, a little bit. Just like we wouldn't expect most in our community to automatically know the names Robert Knight or Louis Sheldon, even though they are household names for the religious right. A writer must know his audience. Frankly, we'd be shocked if Mr. Murray's readers are fans of Trick, Girls Will Be Girls, or Logo's "Wiscrack" series.
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