Doin' Time with Chuck D (Oh, and Montel Williams)
I spent the day on the set of the Montel Williams Show, well, most of it was spent in the green room, but I did get to sit next to Montel and in front of a camera for a bit too. The theme to the show (which will air on February 20th) is Montel's Must See Documentaries of 2007.Kids of Skid Row is a documentary filmed by a homeless teenager living on Skid Row in Los Angeles. Hip Hop--The Business Behind the Music is a film about sexism, violence, and identity in the Hip Hop industry (which will air on PBS on the 20th as well). Abomination--Homosexuality and the Ex-Gay Movement is a short film that looks at the dangers of the ex-gay movement.
So the Montel people wanted me to appear on the show because of my personal history with one of the topics. And as you can see from this reunion photo of Chuck D and me, yes, I really did ghost-write rap songs for Public Enemy during the 80's.
Okay, I am not ready to out myself as a rapper. But I did appear as an ex-gay survivor along side of fellow survivor, Lance Caroll. It was great to finally meet him.
The documentaries about homelessness and the hip hop culture were both so powerful. Seeing the issues of poverty and racism so powerfully portrayed, I thought, why do we have to spend so much time debating gay issues when we have real issues in the world to address? All that time and energy expended by the conservative anti-gay church that we then counter. Ah, why can't we just get this thing settled so that we can move onto much more critical issues in America and the world that affect so many more people.
But there is work to do with the ex-gay movement and the understanding and acceptance of transgender people, lesbians, gays, and bisexuals. Homelessness among queer youth is on the rise. Focus on the Family's anti-gay roadshow rolls into Phoenix this weekend. Religious leaders continue to twist the facts in hopes of making political points.
Truth Wins Out has released a video today with Dr. Kyle Pruett explaining how James Dobson distorted his research to criticize same-sex parents.
posted by Peterson Toscano @ 9:30 PM
3 Comments:
Excellent video by Dr. Pruett!
This is a perfect example of how we can let our opponents condemn themselves with their own words and actions. Dr. Pruett was very gracious in his comments regarding Dr. Dobson while refuting his conclusions. This makes for a discussion that can actually be heard by those who disagree with him.
The mother of someone I knew from college used to be a producer on the Montel Williams Show, I think. (I had VIP seating to a Sally Jessy Raphael Show, back in the day... ;-)
-- Tom D.
Wow, Dr. Pruett handled that in a sincere, diplomatic, and non-reactionary fashion. Very classy and entirely appropriate given the situation. It is a pity that Dr. Dobson (as of the time of this comment) refuses to talk with him for the sake of clarity. It's interesting how he (Dobson) chose to cite this man's research, but as soon as Dr. Pruett pointed out the lack of context in Dr. Dobson's quotation, Pruett was called a "homosexual activist". This speaks for itself I believe.
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