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Jay Leno Apologizes for 'Gayest Look' Comment
Compiled by the DiversityInc staff
April 03, 2008
Jay Leno Apologizes for 'Gayest Look' Comment
Late-night host Jay Leno is apologizing to actor Ryan Philippe and the LGBT community for comments that many, including Philippe, perceived as insensitive, reports Newsday. In a March 19 interview, Leno told Philippe, who played a gay man on the soap opera "One Life to Live," to "look into the camera and give his 'gayest look.'" Philippe refused. In an interview with People magazine, Leno said, "In talking about Ryan's first role, I realize that what I said came out wrong … I certainly didn't mean any malice. I agree it was a dumb thing to say, and I apologize."
40 Years After MLK Death, Small Progress for Memphis Sanitation Workers
Forty years after the death of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Memphis sanitation workers are continuing to fight for equal rights, reports USA Today. Days before his death, King led the workers to Memphis City Hall to express their grievances, which included a union contract, decent wages along with basic requests for uniforms, regular breaks during the workday and places to wash the muck, maggots and filth off from the trash, according to USA Today. These workers have seen little progress. Although they have a union contract, regular raises, paid vacation and sick days, many are forced to work past retirement age because they still lack a pension or 401(k) plan. "We have to work to pay our bills; you can't hardly survive on what we make now," 72-year-old Nathaniel Broome, who makes $15 an hour, told USA Today.
Oklahoma Rep. Gains Anti-Gay Support
Yesterday, supporters of Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern and her anti-gay comments demonstrated at the Oklahoma Capitol, holding signs that read "We Stand With Kern" reports 365gay.com. Early last month in a speech, Kern told a small group, "The homosexual agenda is destroying this nation; it's just a fact. I'm not gay bashing, but according to God's word that is not the right kind of lifestyle. It has deadly consequences. Studies show that no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted more than a few decades," reports 365gay. LGBT advocacy groups called for state House Speaker Chris Benge to censure Kern, he refused.
Bureaucracy Stalls Sentencing Equality
Federal sentencing guidelines, aimed at stopping the racial inequality between prison sentences for powder and crack-cocaine offenders, have backlogged, granting very few offenders freedom or reduced sentences, reports the Los Angeles Times. A month into effect, only a handful of inmates have been released, and only 3,000 of the estimated 20,000 have had their sentences reduced, reports the Times. After a nearly two-decade debate on the racial disparity involved in the sentencing, the U.S. Sentencing Commission approved the guidelines in December. The sentencing disparity affects Black men more than any other demographic. Attorneys involved in the cases blame the bottleneck on bureaucracy.
Commentator Bashes Children's Movie for Gender Inequality
NPR commentator Peter Sagel is criticizing the Dr. Seuss movie "Horton Hears a Who"--a children's movie that features an elephant that saves a small town of Whos from destruction--for gender discrimination, reports NPR. In the movie, the mayor of Whoville has 96 daughters and one son, and it is that one son who saves the day. The movie also ends with the father and son embracing, with the daughters nowhere in sight.
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