Something that really bothered me about Keith's commentary about Prop 8

[dsc]

First, it really was great.

But here is what bothered me. How can he not know any gay people well? That really shocked me that he apparently knows no gay people. Yes, sports is homophobic and thus that part of his life he likely knew no gays. But he has been a commentator, anchor for several years now. I have to wonder about the MSNBC newsroom. Are there no gays working there, besides Rachael? Maybe he took dramatic licence but if he didn't it has to make us pause. Great that he supports us anyway but sad that he apparently knows no gay folk.

On edit This isn't about Keith, it is about the people around Keith. My point is, that I am presuming that there are gay employees at MSNBC but I am also presuming they evidently aren't out. That is my point. Is MNSBC a hostile enviroment?

[peace13]

1. Why look for something to pick at?

Why? Maybe he knows gay people but he doesn't know that they are gay. Go figure.

[madeline_con]

2. He does, he just deosn't know they're gay.

That would be my guess. And, if the gay person never mentions it, it's not as if he'd know "automatically" or something.

[Ian David]

4. Tucker Carlson's wife might not know he's gay. Why would Keith? n/t

[Ian David]

3. Rachel Maddow, Michael Musto... Sure, Keith knows gay people. n/t

[hlthe2b]

5. Maybe he meant none in his immediate family...

Among work colleagues, well, these are generally aquantances.... I wouldn't quibble on this point, I don't think...

[mondo joe]

6. My suspicion is that Keith is a big nerd, socially awkward and not that *close* to that

many people.

He certainly knows gay people. If no one else, there's Rachel. But he may not feel personally involved with them - or many hetero people.

[Berry Cool]

7. Keith didn't say he doesn't know any gay people.

He said:

1. he's not gay

2. he had to strain to think of any of his family members who are

3. he has no personal stories of close friends or colleagues who are "fighting prejudice that still pervades their lives."

In other words, if the gay people he knows are fighting prejudices, they haven't told him, so he doesn't have "stories" of it that provide the foundation for his opinion.

This could be entirely true. The gay people he knows may be keeping many of their struggles to themselves and not sharing them with him. And some of them may have fewer struggles than others. (Rachel Maddow, for example, at least in the marriage area--she's apparently happy just being partnered and has no wish to marry her girlfriend. And it's not like Keith doesn't know Rachel's gay. Duh.)

So what he's really saying is not that he knows no gay people, but that he has heard no personal stories courtesy of close friends or relatives whose problems have touched his heart and given him a personal stake in this. His opinion, in short, doesn't "have a face on it"--it's just a general belief that in a world in which ANY love relationship stands such a small chance of success, how can it be right to stand in the way of any two people who say they are in love and want to get married--whoever they are?

Edited to add: he's a nerd, all right, but hardly a friendless one. Half the people he talks to from Los Angeles are people he used to work with years ago when he lived there, and he still keeps in touch with them. Seems to me a huge number of his news sources are personal friends. Not to mention which there's his whole involvement in the baseball and baseball card collecting world. Whew.

[Creideiki]

8. IIRC, Rachel lives in Massachusetts

So she can get married.