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Alum criticized for transphobic remarks - Fox News panelist calls out "pregnant man"(Red Eye)
Berkeley Beacon ^ | 4/17/08 | Gabrielle Dunn

Posted on 04/20/2008 9:07:06 PM PDT by bahblahbah

An Emerson graduate has recently come under fire for alleged homophobic and transphobic comments he and fellow panelists made on a Fox News talk show.

Bill Schulz, who graduated in 1998 with a BA in Print Journalism, name dropped the college on the late-night "Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld," last week when discussing Thomas Beatie, the first legally-recognized pregnant man.

"This little Ewok that she's going to crap out might even have a third eye," Schulz said on the program.

A female-to-male transgender, Beatie took hormones to become a male in his late 20s and married a woman who could not have children.

After five years of marriage, the two decided that since Beatie's female reproductive organs were viable he should carry their child.

Beatie, currently six months pregnant, broke the news in a first-person article in The Advocate last month followed by a high-profile appearance on "Oprah."

An ultrasound on the television show revealed the couple is having a baby girl, who currently looks healthy.

On an April 9 episode of "Red Eye," a talk show known for its irreverence and coverage of news, entertainment, sports and gossip, Schulz discussed Beatie and the media phenomenon surrounding him.

He suggested a reality show should follow Beatie's child arguing that his testosterone levels would inevitably cause extreme birth defects.

Andi Wheeler, Emerson's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Commissioner for the SGA, who viewed the segment, said she feels Schulz's words should be taken as a warning for how Emerson students should conduct themselves in their professional lives.

"I think we should use this as an opportunity to reevaluate our prejudices before it becomes too late and our students are making fools of themselves on national television," she said.

This is not the first instance of an Emerson alum receiving criticism for alleged homophobia.

Wheeler said last year she led a petition against Emerson alumna Lisa Barstow, communications director for the Massachusetts Family Institute, a non-partisan public policy group that denounces on its Web site, among other things, the "homosexual agenda."

And according to a Jan. 28 article in The Boston Globe, State Representative Brian Wallace, an Emerson alum, was one of five people who initially voted against homosexual marriage and then switched their vote to save it after being lobbied by gay rights constituents in his district.

If he had not, Wheeler said the issue would have been on the ballot in November.

Wheeler also said while she found Schulz's comments on "Red Eye" disgusting, she hoped they could help open a dialogue about the general ignorance of transgender issues she sees at the college, even among GLB students.

"The fact that the Emerson alum brought up that he had attended Emerson College is an even bigger slap in the face to this institution," Wheeler said. "But even the most liberal students I have heard use terms that if they had known better, they would have known it was offensive to the transgender population."

In the broadcast about Beatie, Schulz also gave a detailed description of transgendered sex. He said he learned about it from an acting major friend during his time at Emerson who dated a post-op female-to-male transgender person.

Schulz said the friend ultimately could not go through with the intercourse and "ran out."

"Red Eye," a year-old show which runs at 3 a.m., is hosted by former U.K. Maxim publisher Greg Gutfeld.

It has been the center of debate before, most recently when panelist Julie Banderas called Sen. Barack Obama "Halfrican" because he is half-black, half-white.

Another controversy following the broadcast was over Fox Business Network reporter and Schulz's fellow panelist Tracy Byrnes' use of the word "gooky" to describe Beatie's pregnancy. Beatie is half-Asian, half-white.

Emerson's Director of Multicultural Student Affairs Tikesha Morgan said the word, defined by Merriam-Webster Online as an offensive term for an Asian person coined in the 1920s, is still hurtful.

"Anyone who is conscious and knows enough should know that's not a good word to use at all," Morgan said. "To the Asian population, that word still means something harmful, maybe even deadly, to them."

Gutfeld also stirred up the controversy on the Web by refusing to call Beatie by male pronouns, despite his legal status as a man.

On "Oprah," Beatie said he feels the pregnancy does not change his definition of himself as a male.

"I feel it's not a male or a female desire to want to have a child. It's a human desire and I'm a person and I have the right to have my own biological child," he said.

On "Oprah," Beatie said hormone treatments gave him a "small penis" and that he is able to have normal intercourse with his wife. Schulz and Gutfeld incorrectly state on the show that Beatie has an "intact vagina" and is therefore female.

At the end of the segment, available for viewing on YouTube, Schulz refers to Beatie as a "him." Andy Levy, another "Red Eye" regular emphasizes his opinion that Beatie is a "her." Schulz replies, "Okay, her, whatever."

Last September, Emerson officials announced the change to gender-neutral bathrooms in 21 on-campus restrooms to accommodate students who preferred not to identify as one gender.

The move garnered media attention for the school, largely positive. Wheeler said this was a step in the right direction institutionally but that Emerson students' attitudes still need work.

"Somebody can support gender neutral policies but they might throw the word 'tranny' around nonchalantly," Wheeler said. "And that essential difference, I think, is something that is going to take a much longer time than simply changing the signs next to a bathroom."


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: billschulz; homosexualagenda; redeye
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To: flaglady47

He’s an avowed chubby chaser actually...and I agree with him that “Intact Vagina” is the best. band. name. ever!


21 posted on 04/20/2008 10:07:45 PM PDT by Uriah_lost (This space reserved for a decent candidate,,,lemme know when we get one.)
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To: bahblahbah
i guess i fail to see the 'story' ... besides a homosexual couple being 'married' and 'having a child' ... that's the only story i see here.

if you wipe away the rabid lib media foam.. you'd quickly see a woman was inseminated and will give birth (**gasp** shocking! say it isn't so! blasphemer! flog him!!)

i guess tab-A/ slot-B was too much for the lib brain to comprehend

22 posted on 04/20/2008 11:16:11 PM PDT by sten
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To: Uriah_lost
LOL I agree with you. RedEye is very cutting edge comedy and it is what most comedians wish they could do but are not intelligent enough to do or grasp after having sold out to whatever the latest modern day pop culture fads(cathy griffin, etc) are and spending all their time trying to make new uses for same ole’ boring 4-Letter words.

What I like about RedEye is they seem to be only ones that have to courage to make complete fun of modern day pop culture and their total disregard for anything PC.

23 posted on 04/20/2008 11:22:43 PM PDT by Captain Beyond (The Hammer of the gods! (Just a cool line from a Led Zep song))
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To: bahblahbah
"This little Ewok that she's going to crap out might even have a third eye," Schulz said on the program.

That there is worth turning on the TV to hear, LOL.


24 posted on 04/20/2008 11:49:02 PM PDT by M203M4 (True Universal Suffrage: Pets of dead illegal-immigrant felons voting Democrat (twice))
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To: bahblahbah
Andi Wheeler, Emerson's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Commissioner for the SGA, who viewed the segment, said she feels Schulz's words should be taken as a warning for how Emerson students should conduct themselves in their professional lives.

"I think we should use this as an opportunity to reevaluate our prejudices before it becomes too late and our students are making fools of themselves on national television," she said.

Bill Schulz is a professional fool. He's doing his job. The person who should be worried about looking like a fool is someone who declares herself a pregnant man.

25 posted on 04/20/2008 11:50:09 PM PDT by L.N. Smithee
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To: bahblahbah

26 posted on 04/20/2008 11:55:56 PM PDT by kcvl
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To: Question Liberal Authority
Life must be pretty good if you're a trans-gendered male who's really a female who claims to be the first pregnant man, and the worst thing that happened to you is that someone made a wisecrack at your expense at 3 AM on a cable tv channel.

Amen!

27 posted on 04/21/2008 12:51:13 AM PDT by L.N. Smithee
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To: bahblahbah

One of the few humans to whom “Go f-— yourself” is a possibility. There’s a grinding noise in my tranny...


28 posted on 04/21/2008 5:45:46 AM PDT by Sender (Stop Islamisation. Defend our freedom.)
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To: headstamp 2

I was born a man but identify as a fire engine and if you deny me my right to be a fire engine, you sir, are worse than Hitler.


29 posted on 04/21/2008 6:33:37 AM PDT by massgopguy (I owe everything to George Bailey)
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To: bahblahbah
trans phobic disgusted

.. better   

No fear involved, just plenty of revulsion.

30 posted on 04/21/2008 7:03:54 AM PDT by tomkat
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To: flaglady47

I don’t know that he is actually gay. And considering that all three of the guys on Red Eye will play ‘gay’ for a punchline, it’s hard to tell who is who. And honestly, that makes the humor better since everybody is fair game on virtually any issue to be the butt of a joke. And since nothing on the show is of any real importance beyond its ability to set up and deliver on a punch line - I’m okay laughing at just about anything including jokes about shorty-robes and houseboys named Julio.

I guess I’ve just got thick skin and am comfortable with my own identity.


31 posted on 04/21/2008 5:03:29 PM PDT by bpjam (Drill For Oil or Lose Your Job!! Vote Nov 3, 2008)
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To: headstamp 2

Damn straight I’m transphobic, homophobic, biphobic, whatever. These people ARE scary


32 posted on 04/28/2008 8:29:53 AM PDT by SaintDismas (.)
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To: bahblahbah

The inmates truly are running the asylum.


33 posted on 04/28/2008 8:34:20 AM PDT by lady lawyer
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