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Friday, February 23, 2007
It would seem that the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is damned if it does its job, damned if it doesn’t.
Last year, critics sounded off that the media watchdog group was silent during the page scandal that broke around Sen. Mark Foley. (GLAAD president Neil Giuliano claims the group was working behind the scenes.)
This year started with a flurry of activity as GLAAD lead calls for apologies for anti-gay remarks by Isaiah Washington, Paris Hilton and Tim Hardaway. Then there was the infamous Snickers commercial during the Super Bowl.
GLAAD recently condemned comedian Charles Knipp, who performs in black face as Shirley Q. Liquor, a welfare mother. That has led some in LGBT community to question GLAAD’s priorities. “GLAAD needs to focus on the big picture and not waste its time on a two bit performer like Shirley Q.,” wrote Marc Felion and Fausto Fernos, gay hosts of the “Feast of Fools” podcast.
According to its mission statement, GLAAD is “dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and inclusive representation of people and events in the media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.”
Giuliani told The Washington Blade that its stance against Knipp was a “unique instance. We very clearly recognized,” he said, “that what we were doing in that case was standing with those organizations and individuals in the African-American community that asked us to take a stand against that racism.”
And though we agree with Giuliano in taking a stand against racism, we question whether this specific instance, as he said in a press release “has risen to a level of visibility and importance that we feel compelled to add our voice to those speaking out against this awful portrayal.”
Knipp’s performances across the country, including New York City, have been met with outrage and protests, often resulting in shows being canceled. This is understandable since the Shirley Q. Liquor character is built on controversial images many consider racist and offensive. But it is possible for an artist or performer to use such loaded images and stereotypes to uncover truths. (Little has been said about Knipp’s actual act, and we haven’t seen it so cannot offer an opinion.)
Popular drag queens, for example, employ stereotypes that many find offensive. Particularly relevant would be Flotilla DeBarge. This popular African American performer recently starring in Broadway’s “The Threepenny Opera.” In other instances, she has reveled in the low-brow: She passed around a bucked of fried chicken at one show and played a mammy in another.
Will GLAAD condemn her next? Giuliano told The Washington Blade that GLAAD took action this month against the Shirley Q. Liquor routine partly because he and other gay leaders recently attended a seminar on racism.
The debate over Knipp’s Shirley Q. Liquor has raged on for many years. Comedian Margaret Cho and pop icon RuPaul have spoken out in favor of Knipp. Many activists have spoken against him. Both sides make legitimate, intelligent arguments that also involve complex issues such as freedom of expression and political correctness.
We commend GLAAD for condemning racism, but we question whether the organization’s goal is best attained by joining this particular fight.
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