Co-mingling with Blowhard Bill

Ol’ Blowhard Bill O’Reilly was at it again recently, fuming over gay people going to baseball games.

Specifically, O’Reilly was upset about an outing to a San Diego Padres game organized by a gay group there. What upset Bill was the fact that the Padres had the nerve to sell tickets to a group of gay people when they knew God-fearing parents were going to be bringing their kids to the ballpark that very same game.

“So thousands of gay adults showed up and co-mingled with straight families,” Ol’ Blowhard said.

Oh, my God! They did what? They (can we even say this word?) “co-mingled?” And with straight families?

Gosh—the horror! Now all those straight parents have to explain “co-mingling” to their innocent little kids.

Ol’ Blowhard even went into the history behind such things, explaining how “the Disney Company really ignited the ‘gay deal’ by doing the promotions at their theme parks.” Funny—I thought a bunch of gay people got together and “ignited” “the gay deal” by deciding to buy tickets and go to DisneyWorld on the same day. Well, I suppose it is Disney’s fault—after all, like the Padres, they had the gall to sell tickets to gay people.

Finally, Bill went on to note, “It is not unreasonable for parents to object to any public sexual displays at family friendly events.” OK—so is Bill saying that the next time two gay parents are at the ballpark with their kids, they should call security when they see a straight couple hugging, kissing or holding hands? Just trying to be “fair and balanced,” you know…

Turn the lights out…

Maybe Blowhard Bill would find the tactics of Poland’s current far-right government more to his liking.

News reports there say the government is compiling a database of all the gays and lesbians in the country. This comes on top of reports that the deputy health minister is heading up a new government effort to “cure” gays.

All this has gays and lesbians starting to flee Poland in record numbers, heading for more tolerant European countries such as Britain and Ireland.

“There are clearly reports that some are saying thousands of LGBT people are fleeing Poland,” said Julie Dorf, of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.

You know, you’d think a country that went through the Holocaust would kind of have a historical memory that it’s a bad move to start saying some groups of people should be singled out for repression.

Other European governments have voiced increasing discomfort with Poland’s hard right turn of late. Maybe it’s time to go beyond voicing discomfort and impose a few economic sanctions.

Too gay

Facebook, the popular social networking website, is taking their concern about all things gay a bit far, according to a New Zealand woman.

When Rowena Gay tried to join Facebook, she was denied.

“Please enter a legitimate name,” the website said.

The Sydney Morning Herald took it a step further. They tried to join using the last name “Gay” and got the same response. But when they tried using “Hitler,” no problem.

“That’s a bit tough,” said Duncan Gay, a leading Australian politician who pointed out that the name is pretty common in Australia and New Zealand.

So far, there’s no word on whether Facebook is going to tweak their system a bit.

Cancel or allow?

I’m betting there’s some tweaking going on over at PlanetOut, Inc., which owns the Advocate, Out magazine, Gay.com, PlanetOut.com and other interests.

The company, which has been undergoing pretty hefty financial struggles lately, just got an infusion of cash from Cascade Investments, which joined with other private equity partners to purchase a majority stake in PlanetOut.

Cascade, it turns out, is the investment vehicle for one Mr. Bill Gates. Yep—that Bill Gates, as in Microsoft.

So what’s in store for the country’s largest gay magazines now, you have to wonder. Can a magazine get a virus? Will you open up your new copy of the Advocate only to watch the words disappear, the page turn blue and an error message pop up?

Oh, well—maybe this was what Bill’s been working up to all this time. “I’ll create the world’s biggest software company, achieve near-monopoly status, make billions and then, finally, I’ll be able to become a gay magazine publisher…”

Who knew?