GLAAD Reacts to NY Post's Slur

Looks like I'm not the only one who thought the always-homophobic New York Post hit a new low when it tried to turn "toe-tapper" into a slur for all gays.

Here's the release I just got from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation:

GLAAD CALLS ON 'NEW YORK POST' TO
DISAVOW USE OF ANTI-GAY SLUR

New York, September 7, 2007 - The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) today called on the New York Post to apologize for and disassociate itself from its use of an anti-gay slur in today's edition.

On Sept. 7, the Post ran an item repeating rumors and innuendo speculating about the owner of an explicit online profile. The item used the term "toe-tapper" as a description of gay men: "The photos on the site do not show the fellow's face, but the profile does feature pictures of a toe-tapper posing naked in various positions, including full frontal."

The New York Post's use of "toe-tapper" as a slur to disparage gay men is only the latest episode in the tabloid's long history of offensive content -- including the defamatory anti-gay AIDS coverage in the 1980s that led to GLAAD's founding. On Feb. 25, the newspaper insultingly headlined an article about a young transgender person "Free to be He-She." In the April 12 article "Attack of the Killer Lesbians," a group of young women involved in an assault were referred to as "a seething Sapphic septet" and as "bloodthirsty young lesbians." These offensive and dehumanizing descriptions continued in the Post's coverage of their trial. In addition to its defamatory coverage, the Post has long published virulently anti-gay cartoons by Sean Delonas. Most egregiously, Delonas depicted a man carrying a sheep and wearing a veil in front of a marriage license window two days after the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex civil unions in October 2006.

"Whatever nostalgia the Post has for the prejudices and stereotypes of the 1980s, it really needs to outgrow them -- or a least stop acting them out in public," said GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano.

About GLAAD
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and inclusive representation of people and events in the media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. For more information, please visit www.glaad.org.

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