The Young Turks, "Homosexual" Defenders

The Young Turks creator/host Cenk Uygur

Okay, maybe I'm one of those old dinosaurs who still gets my news from RSS feeds, CNN.com and Google News, so I was only dimly aware of this little outfit called "The Young Turks" which broadcasts a daily newscast on YouTube and claims to be the first internet TV news show.

Actually, when someone brought the following clip to my attention I inferred by the "Young Turks" name and generally pugnacious attitude of host Cenk Uygur that they were some sort of Young Republican outfit. They sure looked the part. 

Turns out these folks consider themselves liberal progressives! And that makes this video far more disappointing than if you'd seen something like it on FOX News. And you easily could.

Here's the setup: Co-host Ana Kasparian wrote a blog post which examined how children of gay parents did in school compared to their peers. She referred in this post to "homosexual couples" and "homosexual parents" – which isn't all that big a deal really – but someone pointed out to her that "homosexual" actually has a negative connotation, and it would have been better to say "gay couples" and "gay parents" instead. (There's a reason why groups like NOM and Focus on the Family will never say "gay" - only "homosexual." Swapping those two words in poll questions for instance actually swings public opinion by 16%.)

Watching Kasparian walk through the objective data showing that the choice of using "homosexual" instead of "gay" is actually detrimental to the GLBT community, and then having Cenk Uygur actually dismiss that as gays...  sorry, homosexuals... being overly sensitive and unreasonable is truly infuriating.

Last time I checked the "gay community" (is there really such a monolithic thing?) wasn't calling for a ban on the word "homosexual." But given the determined use of that term by Christian conservatives it really does seem like someone who is generally pro-gay, once aware of the negative connotation, would make the choice to not use it.

Why exactly does Uygur feel the need to draw a line in the sand and continue making the choice to refer to gays as homosexuals?

Well, more power to him if that's what he wants to do. I can't speak for the "gay community," but I at least won't be tuning in.

Hey, perhaps while Uyger is at it he can draw a line in the sand to preserve the use of word "negro?" One wonders what his African American sound guy would have to say then.