Google Apologizes For Gay Translation

Google apologized for having offensive terms when using Google Translate when searching the translation of gay.  Homophobic slurs were under the terms listed, such as poofs and pansies.  That's a big oops.

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Jillian Michaels Misunderstood

Jillian Michaels really upset some people with her comments about being 'normal':  

I don’t know that I am comfortable talking about being gay now, to be honest with you. The gay thing has always been hard for me. When Heidi and I are out and somebody older asks, ‘Are you sisters?’ I say, ‘We’re friends.’ I guess it comes from thinking that they will be shocked or disturbed. Look, I wish I had some strapping football player husband. It would be such a dream to be ‘normal’ like that, but I’m just not.

I truly think people are being way too hard on her.  She obviously struggles with being gay and she was just being open about that.  I don't think her honesty makes her homophobic.  Let's look at the bigger issue and see why society makes people feel this way.  She released her apology:

 I am deeply disheartened and sorry to hear that members of the gay community have misunderstood the points I was trying to make about being 'out.' I attempted to shed light on how hard and scary it can be to be out. That gay families get attacked and even small daily interactions involve others being 'shocked and disturbed' by the gay lifestyle. I was saying if along the way in my life that had been a choice I would have made it, but it's not who I am. Gay is not a choice. If I was ashamed of who I am, I would be in the closet. Considering my family was on the cover of People magazine, I think I'm pretty far from that.

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Jonah Hill Apologizes

Jonah Hill put himself in a bad situation over the weekend.  He was being harassed by the paparazzi and shouted some bad gay slurs at one guy who wouldn't leave him alone.  My heart goes out to him because of course it was caught on camera and is all over the news.  I don't think it is ok to use that kind of hateful language but I also don't think stars should be bombarded by idiots with cameras.  He seems genuinely upset by it all on when he apologized on the The Tonight Show.

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Clayton Morris Actually Apologizes

Rarely do tv personalities apologize unless there is huge pressure from the public.  Clayton Morris from Fox News is actually the exception for once.  He made an ignorant comment about changing his gender on Facebook to intersex and without public outcry he apologizes later on.  I'm impressed because it is a small step forward and hopefully these comments won't be made in the future so apologies won't be called for.

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Nigel Lythgoe is Sorry

Nigel Lythgoe issued a formal apology for his homophobic remarks in the So You Think You Can Dance premier. Lythgoe stated:

"I sincerely regret the fact that I have upset people with the poor word choices and comments I made both during the taping of the So You Think You Can Dance audition and on my personal status update," said Lythgoe. "I am not homophobic and it was extremely upsetting for me to be classed as such."

"I believe the sexual orientation of an auditioner or contestant is irrelevant. The fact that I have unintentionally upset people is distressing to me and it is obvious I have made mistakes that I must learn from. I trust that my humor will be more sensitive and mindful moving forward."

GLAAD president, Neil Giuliano, has acknowledged the apology, saying:

"We certainly appreciate the dialogue and the opportunity for Nigel to help further educate people about how words and images matter," said Giuliano. "His sincere words are appreciated."

It's a shame that it took him so long to take responsibility for his idiocy, but better late than never. Let's hope this is the last of it. However, I just finally watched the clip (below the cut if you're interested) and the comments were worse than I thought. The other judges weren't much better than Lythgoe, but there was a twist I wasn't expecting - one of the dancers was straight.




Lythgoe was undoubtably the worst of the bunch with his comments, but I'd like to see the other judges apologize as well. They were blatantly reinforcing rigid gender role stereotypes and I have absolutely no doubt after watching this that they were cut from the competition for their choice of dance partners rather than anything to do with talent.


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