What's up with Raw Story's headline about McKellan? (Uses a homophobic pejorative.)

[DavidDvorkin]

It links to a BBC story about his receiving death threats because of his homosexuality, but the Raw Story headline uses a pejorative to describe him.

It's still on the Raw Story main page, the last time I checked. Perhaps they need to vet their employees more carefully.

[malaise]

1. Please post a link n/t

[DavidDvorkin]

6. The link is the main page:

http://www.rawstory.com/

The offensive Raw Story headline links directly to the BBC site, where the headline is neutral.

[Faygo Kid]

16. It's stll there at 2:45 EDT. Disgusting.

I would expect this from some of the right-wing "news" sites, but Raw Story? What the hell are they thinking?

[malaise]

24. Thanks n/t

[sandnsea]

2. worst loading site online

I never go there because whatever code they use, sucks ass big time. Maybe you want to give us a clue as to what the slur is.

[DavidDvorkin]

7. The first two syllables of the word "homosexual"

It's just possible that someone thought that was a standard short form, but that seems unlikely.

[jgraz]

3. Screen grab

Right down at the bottom.

[Drum]

4. Ew.

That's pretty sloppy and (IMO) poor journalism. Enough crap headlines like that in the papers here, wish it weren't on Raw Story's page. I like Sir Ian besides, so am particularly bummed at that. :(

[DavidDvorkin]

8. Thanks for posting that

Makes it much clearer.

[jgraz]

11. BTW, "Homo Galdalf" and "Ian McKellan" both have 11 letters.

:wtf:

[yardwork]

29. So it was a deliberate slur. That really makes me mad.

That source is considered to be unreliable here at DU. This is a clear indication about why.

[dsc]

5. unflipping believeable

I have fired off an email.

[DavidDvorkin]

9. There are lots of outraged comments over there

[jgraz]

13. Link to comment page

http://www.rawstory.com/comments/51817.html

Monthly subscribers especially should chime in.

[lonestarnot]

10. Geeze Louise! WTF!

[orleans]

12. before i looked on the bbc link i thought maybe raw story was quoting

the bbc

nope.

who the fuck thought up that little headline? (phobic much?)

[Ian David]

14. If it was a gay person who wrote the headline, then they would PROBABLY get a pass. HOWEVER...

... since RawStory is not a gay website, I don't think they're eligible for a "Queerty Waiver" or "Mike Rogers Exemption."


For example, Queerty is a gay site by a gay author that routinely uses the "homo" shorthand:

Fri, May 25, 2007 —
Homo-Journo Takes On Falwell Festivities
Wags Finger at Party People
http://www.queerty.com/queer/jerry-falwell/homojourno-takes-on-falwell-festivities-20070525.php

RawStory NOT a gay site.

No Queerty-waiver for them.

I'd also say that you should be allowed to use it in a SMS text message where you are limited to 120 characters or less, so long as it's not being used in a homophobic context and you don't have room for 6 more letters.

[DavidDvorkin]

17. Possibly the headline was written by a gay employee who used the word automatically

I'm trying to find reasons to excuse Raw Story.

[Ian David]

19. I think RAW story is trying to appear "edgy."

Doesn't necessarily excuse them.

[yardwork]

31. Doesn't excuse them at all.

[yardwork]

30. I'm gay and I assure you that I never, ever use the term "homo."

"Queer" is one thing. "Homo" is right out.

[Hekate]

15. Wait -- I thought that was Dumbledore? Regardless, I don't care what my wizards do with their wands

...as long as they use their powers for the good of all.

Hekate

[DavidDvorkin]

18. That was Richard Harris

[gatorboy]

20. Dumbledore's an imaginary gay person, Ian the actor, who plays Gandalf , is gay.

[Hekate]

25. I am aware of the distinction. It was a joke, a pun, a play on words.

:eyes:

Hekate

[gatorboy]

26. Work on those puns, muggle.

;)

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

21. As I understand it...

Those two columns of bottom stories come in from a news syndication service called "Mochilla". Raw Story did not create that content, some jerkoff at Mochilla did. I would confirm that that was Mochilla content and then aim my wrath at them.

[DavidDvorkin]

22. The offending article is gone now, along with the comments page

It would be a good idea for Raw Story to apologize on its front page and explain what happened, instead of acting as though nothing had happened at all. There must be a lot of frequent readers, not to mention subscribers, who remain offended.

[dsc]

23. I got an email back from them apologizing and stating it won't happen again

lets hope that is true.

[SidDithers]

27. I don't give rawstory any hits...

after they threw atheists under the bus last year.

Truthfully, this type of headline from them doesn't surprise me in the least.

Sid

[jgraz]

28. What happened with atheists? I totally missed that.

[SidDithers]

32. Austin Cline summarizes pretty well here...

http://atheism.about.com/b/2006/04/24/melinda-barton-religious-bigot-most-atheists-are-whackjobs.htm

R/T was pretty worked up about it too, including a big fuck-you from DU's resident rawstory columnist.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=214&topic_id=64952

There are lots of places for liberals to get their news and opinion on the web. Not that it matters to them, but rawstory doesn't get my readership.

Sid