Rights Groups Want Latino Media To End Gay Pranks, On-Air Ridicule

[siliconefreak]

This makes me so angry. What can we do about it?
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By Rona Marech
San Francisco Chronicle

When the call came on his cell phone, Roberto Hernandez was driving to work in San Francisco. The caller, who identified himself as Juan, said in Spanish that he had met Hernandez at a gay bar and wanted to see him again.

"Refresh my memory, there are so many Juans," said a puzzled Hernandez. The man described himself as slim with "a very nice butt." Eventually, the caller offered to give Hernandez his phone number -- then announced that the conversation was being broadcast live nationwide on the "Raul Brindis and Pepito Show," a Spanish-language morning radio program.

"Why did these people have to treat me this way?" Hernandez said of his public outing, which led the Federal Communications Commission to fine the station owner $28,000 this year. "Why the hell do they think I deserved something so brutal and humiliating?"

Such on-air mockery of gay men, lesbians and transgender people is common on Spanish-language radio and television, media watchers say, and it has raised the ire of gay rights groups.

More: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/04/16/MNGVOCA6MD1.DTL

[mitchtv]

1. hard to do anything about it if you don't listen

publicizing the sponsors is your best bet.

[MADem]

2. That outfit is rather socially retarded, IMHO

If you watch some of the variety shows on Spanish language TV, you see the same sort of stuff. Everyone roars with laughter (though it might be a bit forced). And it isn't just gays that get it--women, especially, (portrayed as either stupid or mindless sex objects) and other ethnicities take it on the chin as well.

It seems to me that a lot of Latin media in this hemisphere is stuck in that odd 70's timewarp that was seen right here in the USA not too long ago (and even now,sadly, though to a slightly lesser degree), where "I was only KEEEEEEEEEDING!" is the excuse for insulting people.

[queerart]

3. Take It From Someone That Lives In New Mexico

This behavior will never stop....

Ever....

It's just that simple.....