In the FDNY, slurs are more than horseplay (A culture of hate toward gays, women, minorities)

NY Daily News ^ | January 21, 2004 | TOM RYAN

[xsrdx]

Verbal abusiveness has always plagued the bottom half of society including fire, police and the military.

I guess the "top half" must be lawyers, actors, and talk show hosts?

Rest easy, the "bottom half" will gladly rescue you from your burning Upper East Side loft, and their efforts abroad will keep your NASDAQ portfolio humming...

[justshutupandtakeit]

That statement appears to be totally FALSE.

[Dan from Michigan]

Tom, quit whining like a little bitch.

If my place is burning down, I don't give a damn if the firefighters are PC or not. What matters is if the fire is out, and everybody is safe.

[gcruse]

I love the Dice. I had his HBO special on laserdisc and must have played that thing a hundred times.

[KantianBurke]

"I bet no one here woke up this morning and thought 'how can I help a midget'?" :>

[Devil_Anse]

You got it. And here's a little secret: any homosexual men who happen to wander into such a group often get a little thrill from hearing that sort of talk. They like to check out the straight guys, and they LOVE the attention.

[kingu]

I wonder when the Gay Heroes of 9/11 Memorial is going to be built?

[GovernmentShrinker]

And you have personal, certain knowledge that he was always celibate? How do you know that -- because he was a Catholic priest? Yeah, right, sure.

[petercooper]

They boooooo-d Hillary, that's good enough for me.

Do you know that when Viacom (or whoever) released that benefit concert on video, they edited out the booing at hill and bill. Those bastards. I have it taped live though.

[BlessedBeGod]

On New Year's Eve, one firefighter attacked another in an assault preceded by what some newspapers are calling "a homosexual slur." The victim has been hospitalized with severe head injuries. FDNY spokesmen call the assault an isolated incident resulting from "horseplay." Mayor Bloomberg called it an "altercation." Some reports have portrayed verbal harassment as a firefighter's rite of passage.

With these paragraphs, the writer is already discredited by mischaracterizing what happend. Reasons for the fight also include alcohol and one firefighter accusing the other of taking advantage of his colleagues. It wasn't simply because of slurs.

[BlessedBeGod]

Fr. Mychal Judge was not gay, and that was pretty well documented after 9/11.

[Richard Kimball]

Verbal abusiveness may be a tradition in the FDNY but it has nothing to do with creating good firefighters. It is also a violation of the law. For the mayor and the department's officials to tolerate a culture of prejudice is unacceptable and an insult to the gay, lesbian and minority firefighters who have given their lives in the line of duty.

To the New World Order, the primary function of every organization is not their mission. It is to indoctrinate the organization to the values of the NWO. That being said, an assault is an assault. If two guys were goofing around and one got hurt, that's different. No person should be assaulted on the job by coworkers, but the purpose of this article is to create an impetus to require cultural diversity training in the FD.

[jimt]

But despite braving the worst hell anyone can imagine, they are afraid to live openly as gay men within the Brotherhood.

Another shrill demand for "celebration". Sorry, Mr. Ryan. You are entitled to live as you please, and others are entitled to disapprove.

[ohioman]

Somebody tell this faggot to shut the hell up. Doh!

[NYCVirago]

These descriptions are unbelievably dismissive. An anti-gay slur followed by a physical attack is not horseplay, whether the victim is gay or not. It is a hate crime.

So, even though neither of the firemen involved in this fight were gay, it was a hate crime, because somebody said an anti-gay slur. Right.

[presidio9]

And you have personal, certain knowledge that he was always celibate? How do you know that -- because he was a Catholic priest? Yeah, right, sure.

And you have "personal, certain knowledge" that he was not always celibate? If so, I'm not sure I want to know where you got it.

Or who you plan on giving it to.

An accusation of homosexuality on a priest is a very serious charge. It is you who needs to document that chage.

And, yes, BTW, the vast vast majority of Catholic priests do honor their vows.

[NYCVirago]

With these paragraphs, the writer is already discredited by mischaracterizing what happend. Reasons for the fight also include alcohol and one firefighter accusing the other of taking advantage of his colleagues. It wasn't simply because of slurs.

Yep. The one who got sent to the hospital had a rookie work his Thanksgiving shift, then worked the shift anyway to get extra overtime. The other guys were ragging on him for the next month about doing that.

[gathersnomoss]

Does anyone have a link for the booing of HRC video?

[presidio9]

Does anyone have a link for the booing of HRC video?

Speaking of Hillary, Father Mike's was the one and only 911 funeral she attended. After the gay community decided to turn Judge into a martyr for their cause Hillary headed right up to her adopted home state to console them. 300+ other firemen received no such commiseration.

Father Mike reached out to a lot of people. If he were gay, his most likely way of dealing with it would have been to addressing it publicly: "Look, I'm a gay man, but with God's help I'm trying to be celibate."

[gathersnomoss]

Did he die because of a fatal heart attack? The excellent video that was filmed from inside the towers did not indicate his fate.