Rights Groups Want Latino Media To End Gay Pranks, On-Air Ridicule

The San Francisco Chronicle ^ | April 16, 2005 | Rona Marech

[MisterRepublican]

When the call came on his cell phone, Roberto Hernandez was driving to work in San Francisco. The caller, who identified himself as Juan, said in Spanish that he had met Hernandez at a gay bar and wanted to see him again.

"Refresh my memory, there are so many Juans," said a puzzled Hernandez. The man described himself as slim with "a very nice butt." Eventually, the caller offered to give Hernandez his phone number -- then announced that the conversation was being broadcast live nationwide on the "Raul Brindis and Pepito Show," a Spanish-language morning radio program.

"Why did these people have to treat me this way?" Hernandez said of his public outing, which led the Federal Communications Commission to fine the station owner $28,000 this year. "Why the hell do they think I deserved something so brutal and humiliating?"

Such on-air mockery of gay men, lesbians and transgender people is common on Spanish-language radio and television, media watchers say, and it has raised the ire of gay rights groups.

"If I were to put on a scale the sensitivity of Spanish-language radio to gay and lesbian issues, I would have to put it at less than 1 on scale of 1 to 10," said Iván Román, executive director of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. "It's ridiculous. It's seen as perfectly normal to ridicule gays and lesbians, to see them as less than human."

In a regular segment on "Los Guapos de la Mañana," a morning radio program that airs on KBUE-FM in Los Angeles, a transgender female character discusses celebrity gossip while a song about a gay man who died of AIDS is played in the background, according the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, which has posted recordings of the show on its Web site.

[robertpaulsen]

"Refresh my memory, there are so many Juans,"

And so leetle time.

[jocon307]

LOL!

[MisterRepublican]

"Why did these people have to treat me this way?" Hernandez said of his public outing, which led the Federal Communications Commission to fine the station owner $28,000 this year. "Why the hell do they think I deserved something so brutal and humiliating?"


So "outing" is bad? Well, unless you happen to be a Republican.

[Publius6961]

"Why did these people have to treat me this way?" Hernandez said of his public outing, which led the Federal Communications Commission to fine the station owner $28,000 this year. "Why the hell do they think I deserved something so brutal and humiliating?"

It is clear that it escapes this pervert idiot that he "mistreated" "brutalized" and "humiliated" himself?

Does the pervert gene track the low-IQ gene?

[Publius6961]

"It's ridiculous. It's seen as perfectly normal to ridicule gays and lesbians, to see them as less than human."

I wish this clown would explain what's ridiculous about it?
Militant, in-your-face perverts invite the normal world's disdain and ridicule. More circumspect gays probably never get to experience that kind of trauma.

[Oztrich Boy]

The caller, who identified himself as Juan, said in Spanish that he had met Hernandez at a gay bar and wanted to see him again.

"Are you a homosexuak, I am Juan?"

[fella]

If they are so normal and proud to be what they are, why do they get so upset and ashamed when they presented to the public to be what they are. It appears to me that the truly insensitive ones are the ones filing the law suits.

[whereasandsoforth]

I say this individual was treated badly. But I refuse to be outraged with him. I'll be outraged at this behavior as soon as homosexuals get out of my schools, get out of my scouts, get out of my politics, get out of my courts, take their parades off my streets, stop perverting the civil rights cause, and stop pretending their sexually obsessed lives are morally equal to the lives of normal people.

[RichInOC]

Cruddy thing to do to a co-worker. This guy was an ad salesman for the company that produced the show. I mean, I know it's the Morning Zoo and all, but still...it was a cruddy thing to do.

That said, "Refresh my memory, there are so many Juans..." is still funny.

[DumpsterDiver]

"Obviously, it's very hard to be gay in Latin countries," said [Roberto] Hernandez, who grew up in Mexico but has lived in San Francisco since 1991. "I moved away to a place that would welcome me -- and to find this is very traumatic."

I guess it was a big shock to Roberto when he found out that Mexicans bring their culture with them wherever they go. You can run, but you can't hide.

[Woodworker]

Great - Homosexuals, welcomed in the Democrat Party, go after Spanish-Language radio and TV. Sounds like a Howard Dean plan to increase the Democrat share of the Hispanic vote. One more of the special interest groups that comprise the Democrat Party turns to a mad dog attack.