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During the Equality Alabama Gala on Saturday, several awards were handed out, including a media award, given to WBHM for its radio series “Gay and Straight in Alabama“. Accepting the award was producer and reporter Bradley George. On the series:
It’s been a whirlwind spring for advocates of same sex marriage. Four states — Iowa, Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire — recognized such marriages. That flurry of activity is drawing attention to the concerns of gays and lesbians. But that conversation seems largely absent in Alabama.
And it’s true — the lives LGBT people lead in deep Red and even Purple states are largely ignored by folks in large gay metro areas where rights are often expansive and taken for granted, including civil unions, DPs, etc. These are rights LGBTs in Alabama can only dream about at the present time. The five-part series of reports (with another segment that was a call-in program) touched on these aspects of LGBT life in Alabama.
- Domestic Partner Benefits. Diversity statements or equal opportunity policies are not unusual, but for some gays and lesbians those words are not enough.
- Spirituality. For many gays and lesbians, coming out is an overwhelming experience. They face, family, friends, coworkers and sometimes the most daunting of all, their church. The message delivered from the pulpit leaves many at spiritual crossroads. Some feel obligated to be someone they’re not. Others try to decide what part of their spirituality to keep and what to discard.
- A religious black woman, Marie Sutton, discusses Gay Marriage. It’s hard not to get excited about a wedding, especially if you’re a woman who loves romance. But for WBHM commentator Marie Sutton one invitation turned into months of conversation about homosexuality, the bible and the meaning of “love thy neighbor.”
- Bullying Gay Students. It’s a phrase many kids use almost daily: ‘That’s so gay’. Experts say that the use of homophobic slurs in schools is on the rise. Two 11-year-olds recently committed suicide after being bullied with anti-gay taunts. And though a new law requires the Alabama Department of Education to come up with a policy prohibiting harassment, that new policy isn’t likely to mention sexual orientation.
- The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” culture in Alabama regarding sexual orientation. Don’t ask, don’t tell’ is a phrase often associated with the military. But it also applies to the lives of gay and lesbian civilians living in Alabama. Those who are out face possible discrimination. Others spend their lives hiding their true selves.
At the links you can both listen to the pieces and read the transcripts.
Bradley George came up to me after the dinner to say that he reads PHB (and that he also lived in NC — btw, in the district of horrorshow Virginia Foxx). Part of his research landed him at the Blend on my post about journalist Bob Moser’s excellent article for OUT Magazine in 2004, “Unsweet Homo Alabama,” which asked the pertinent and timely question “Is Alabama really the worst place to be a gay person in Bush’s America?” He wanted to find voices in the state to talk about life as it stands now. I did a short interview with Bradley about this:
Surf over to WBHM and listen/read about the series and discuss…
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I gave two talks at the conference earlier in the day. Obviously I couldn’t blog or Tweet it; Zach at Sweet Homo Alabama did during “Online Activism.”
4 Comments
Keep up the good work in Alabama!While no single state in the union seems to have come around to full equality guaranteed under the law, I’ve been coming around to understand just how oppressed all of you are in these Red/Purple States. There’s still work for me to do in Nevada on trans-inclusive anti-discrimination laws and marriage equality, and of course all my friends & family in California are so close to securing marriage equality once and for all next year. Still, I think our community needs to remember more often that we can’t ignore states like Alabama and North Carolina where LGBT families can’t even count on the most basic legal protections that those of us in Las Vegas and Southern California take for granted.
eew… I went to WBHM’s site and listened to Marie Sutton talk. I cringed all the way through her spiel on how as a hetero and a Christian with a lesbian co-worker she “loves the sinner but hates the sin.” (Yackity-yack-yack…) Well, at least she feels like that’s progress. Why is that so many people presume that being non-heterosexual excludes being Christian? Hmpf!
Those who stand up, no matter which decade are brave and heroicThe earliest National and Blue State LGBT leaders had no role models, or guaranteed game plan of what issues should be worked on first. We had as many failures as sucesses, but when we suceeded, we could build on that gain.
No one pattern or strategy for Human Rights fits different regions, so you will also ebb and flow with gains and loses. Here in Louisiana it reminds me of second lining,
“one step forward, and two steps back.”
It’s refreshing for an older gay man, to see the fresh new warriors steping forward in their states.
Tip of the hat to Bradley.
Finally, good newsto come out of Alabama with Bradley George. Professional speaking voice worth listening too.