Tomorrow, October 8, 2010, we'll be at Regency theaters, right across the street from APU on Foothill, for the special opening of the award-winning film Like Dandelion Dust now playing throughout Southern California. We'll be interviewing some special guests involved with the making of the movie, plus we'll have some great giveaways from KKLA and some great stuff from the movie, like T-shirts, books, and DVDs. Come on out!
400-408 – Andy Bales, CEO of the Union Rescue Mission ("Donate and make a difference by calling 213-347-6300 or online at urm.org"). Andy shares the great news that CBS' The Bold and The Beautiful recently gave them a check for $25,000 in partial thanks for their participation in two upcoming episodes of the show airing on 10/28 & 10/29. Just enough to pay for URM's street Thanksgiving celebration.
413-423 – "Trickle-down homophobia?" As Christians, we're against all bullying, not just bullying against blacks, Jews, whites, Hispanics, women or gay teenagers.
If it's "politicians" that are the problem, as Kathy says, then Kathy – and those who agree with her – need to change public opinion and elect politicians who agree with them. Let them pass a Prop 9 legalizing same sex marriage. Right now, public opinion and the ballot box are against them, not only in California but across the country.
If it's "religious leaders" that are the problem, then Kathy can work to change the leaders and the religions – which is what this is really all about. She wants to silence religion in the public square from saying homosexuality is sinful, unnatural, and morally wrong. She wants to censor and criminalize God's word. What she's really saying is that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are all morally wrong about homosexuality, and that she, and those who agree with her, are morally right. Her fight isn't against people, it's against God and nature.
Even if she and those who agree with her were to pass new laws that criminalize criticism of homosexuality, it would still be immoral. Abortion, slavery, and same-sex marriage have been, are, and will forever be, morally wrong even if they are made legal. This attempt to pass new laws in order to normalize immoral behavior, may succeed in producing new laws. But it will still be immoral, wrong, and against nature. Something doesn't become moral when it becomes legal, it's moral if it's moral, whether it's legal or not.
428-437 – FULL (3:09) Larry King (10/4/2010) had on actor/comedian Wanda Sykes, Tim Gunn from TV's "Project Runway", and Kathy Griffin to blame Jim Demint, conservatives, and "religious leaders" for what Griffin calls "trickle down homophobia" and the suicides of gay youth. Focusing on the slew of gay teens who have committed suicide in the past week as a result of bullying, the panel of gay rights activists spewed offensive bile toward preachers of traditional social values. "The blood is on their hands," decried Griffin, referring to the bullies who abused the gay teenagers, and religious leaders and political figures who oppose gay marriage and the repeal of the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy.
(:39) LK & WS (10/4/2010) – LK, "Why are gay people bullied? For what purpose?" WS "I think it stems with society. I mean, when society as a whole, has told, has basically told the kids that it's okay, that we're a group that you can pick on, that you don't have to treat as equal. I mean we see that in, you know, in the laws and everything else that's out here, and in the churches that they preach that homophobia is wrong [sic], you pretty much have given kids permission to disrespect and you know cause harm to the gay and lesbian community."
(:39) LK & TG (10/4/2010) – LK "Tim you see that as a good reason?" TG "Well Larry, I think that it's also fear related, fear of the unknown, um, it stems from insecurities, I believe there are many issues around this. I also want to add, when Wanda cites the churches, um, the Human Rights Campaign, has a statistic, which is that there are still 33 states in this nation where one can be fired for being gay. So, that puts gay people in the same category as those who are committing heinous crimes, and what does that really mean? It's a conundrum to me."
(1:34) LK & KG (10/4/2010) – LK, "Do you think, Kathy, that heterosexual society, looks the other way?" KG, "Look, let's cut the crap. I think that the way that we had trickle-down economics in the '80s, this is trickle-down homophobia. And I really want people to connect the dots. And that's why I believe there's a connection between Prop 8, 'don't ask, don't tell,' and now the string of teen suicides. It's almost sanctioned to bully gay people and treat them as second-class citizens. And I get very nervous when the parents of these so-called bullies defend them, saying, 'Oh, kids will be kids,' when you find out that the teen suicide rate is four times higher for a gay person. Think about how tragic suicide is period. But, why would you want to make it four times higher? For what? These kids are just being themselves....I think a lot of the so-called religious leaders play into it, and the politicians certainly aren't doing enough. There's a lot of very right-wing, conservative people that absolutely sanction this behavior. And there's a lot you can do to finally put a stop to it.
LK, "Wait, you're not saying that this religious person would say it's okay to bully a gay person? They may say...
KG, "Really!? Have you talked to Jim Demint today?"
LK, "He would say it's okay to bully a gay person?
KG, "He doesn't think there should be gay teachers!" So, yeah. When I say so called religious leader, I mean, not of course all religion is bad, but there are a lot of people under the umbrella of I'm a religious leader or gee I don't mind gay people I just don't want them in my church, I don't think they should marry, I don't think they should serve openly. I did an episode of My Life On The D List where I talked to a gay serviceman who said he was in his barracks with his pal in Iraq, who said you know what we should do? We should go hang a fag from a tree outside. He thought that was his friend. He was serving in Iraq. So this is all kind of sanctioned quietly at this point."
443-452 – Calls
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• YouTube (10/4/2010) Kathy Griffin on Gay Suicides, "Trickle Down Homophobia". Part of the "It Gets Better" Project on YouTube started by Dan Savage and Perez Hilton.
(:36) KG 1 – Hi everybody! It's me Kathy. This is regarding the string of recent gay teen suicides. But I'm not just speaking to the gays, so listen up, everybody. LGBT folks, I've met you. I've seen you at my shows. I know you're there. Even in the Bible Belt where you think you're alone, you're not alone. I see you, and there's help. I've spent a lot of time with homeless gay teens, and it can be heartbreaking. These are kids who, in some cases, have been disowned by their families—kicked to the curb like dogs. What I learned is that they're up to four times more likely to attempt suicide than straight kids. Four times more likely.
(:29) KG 1B – There's a great organization that everyone should support; it's called the Trevor Project, and the people there are dedicated to preventing suicide among gay youth. They have a 24-hour, toll-free, confidential lifeline. So anyone who is feeling depressed or suicidal, please call them. The number is 1-866-4-U-TREVOR. They also have a great website, thetrevorproject.org. I also put a link on my site, kathygriffin.net, so you can get to there through that as well.
(:31) KG 2 – I happily do standup ALL over the USA, including some of the most conservative areas. I did a special in the Bible Belt, and look: those places may not look like the gay neighborhood in the large city near you, but trust me. There are many gays and lesbians there too. So all the gay teens who are watching this, even if you're in a very Republican area, or a conservative town, you're not alone. News flash! If 10–12% of the entire country is gay, so are the people in your neighborhood. And there's nothing wrong with them. And there's nothing wrong with you.
(:19) KG 3 – So let's talk about these bullies. I just don't think they came up with this anti-gay bias on their own. They weren't born with it. The politicians, so-called religious leaders, and pundits who have made careers out of saying that being gay is wrong, or immoral, or that gays are somehow "less than"—they all have blood on their hands.
(:34) KG 4 – Yes, all you anti-gay public figures, and you know who you are, you have the blood of these dead teens on your hands. Remember trickle-down economics back in the eighties? Well this is just… trickle-down homophobia. That's why it's so important that Prop 8 gets thrown out by the Supreme Court, and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" gets repealed. Because right now the message the government is sending our young people is that it's unacceptable and inferior to be gay. And that's when you grow up thinking you're a second-class citizen, but you're not.
(:21) KG 5 – As you know, officially I'm not a parent, though unofficially I'm guardian to my 90-year-old mother Maggie and her box of wine. And I have to say, it really drives me crazy when I hear that parents are defending these bullies. Parents saying about these kids that are bullying, "Oh they're just being kids." [EDIT That's bullxxx.]. It's about right and wrong.
(:21) KG 6 – And by the way, no I'm not a lesbian, although I have played one on "Law and Order: SVU." Thanks for nothing Emmy voters. But what I can say with great confidence is it does get better. You know why? Two words: Suze Orman. Yeah. There you go. About three hundred million reasons why there's nothing wrong with being gay. Thanks.
512-523 – How do fatherless families contribute to bullying?
• ABC News (10/7/2010) 10 Celebrities Sticking Up for Gay Teens. In Wake of Suicides, Hollywood Shares Tales of Torment and Rallies Around New Cause: Stopping Anti-Gay Bullying.
• AP (10/7/2010) N.J. Senator Seeks Anti-Bully Law After Suicide.
• Fox News (10/7/2010) Celebrities Share Experiences With Bullies in Wake of Teen Suicides.
TH 523 – Don Rohde @ Galpin Ford (818) 262-2092. For the past 38 years, Don has been a sales manager at Galpin, the #1 volume Ford dealer in the world for the past 20 consecutive years. Galpin has been family-owned and operated for the past 59 years, and 90% of their business is repeat or referral. Galpin offers Ford, Lincoln-Mercury, Honda, Mazda, Saturn, Volvo, Jaguar, and Aston Martin. Located in the heart of the San Fernando Valley at Roscoe and the 405, it's Galpin Ford (galpin.com).
528-539 – Calls
T-TH 540 – Tom Graffeo, one of the "Money Guys" at Applied Financial Planning (866-SEEK-COUNSEL, SeekCounsel.com) invites people out this Saturday, October 9th from 10:00am to 4:00pm, to the Wild Rivers Water Park in Irvine for the Strong Tower Ministries (strongtowerministries.info) event with great worship from headlining Christian artists, and meet some of the various ministries that Strong Tower helps. And for you runners, there's a benefit 5K Run- Walk that starts at 8:00am.
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• USA Today (10/7/2010) McDonald's, 29 other firms get health care coverage waivers.
• Kevin Baxter, LA Times (10/6/2010) Phillies' Roy Halladay throws no-hitter in 4-0 playoff victory over Reds. He becomes the first to throw a postseason no-hitter since Don Larsen's perfect game for the Yankees in the 1956 World Series. Halladay threw a perfect game against Florida in May.
