ahh, the gay bomb

I don’t get a lot of emails asking me to put things up on the MERI blog, but I’ve gotten 3 messages asking why I haven’t reported on the Pentagon’s recent disclosure that it was, in fact, trying to develop a non-lethal chemical weapon to make enemy soldiers gay, thus rendering them useless in war. Not sure if the theory is that gay soldiers are namby-pamby mama’s boys who couldn’t handle a rifle, or if it’s because we all know that gay guys can’t keep their minds out of the bedroom long enough to perform their job of waging war, but it’s all around a pretty offensive proposition. And we wonder why there’s such resistance to repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

So I haven’t put anything up here because (1) it doesn’t really have a darn thing to do with marriage, or equality, or Rhode Island; (2) there isn’t much to say that doesn’t reinforce terrible stereotypes, and (3) any number of gay-related bloggers have said far odder/wittier/insightful things than I will ever come up with. But I did find a funny, and slightly snarky, review of the innuendo and stereotyping that reports on the subject have rent throughout the blogosphere over at LAist:

This story was a golden opportunity for us bloggers, and this is the best we could do. Barely a smattering of headlines playing on homosexual stereotypes.
The Bomb That Dare Not Speak Its Name
By Their Breath Shall Ye Know Them
Not That There’s Anything Wrong With It
How The Republicans Learned To Stop Worrying And Develop A Gay Bomb
Pentagon Scraps “Make [Gay] Love Not War Bomb” Plans
Weapons of Gay Destruction
Gay Bomb Plans Blasted Open
You Dropped The Gay Bomb On Me Baby.

Let’s review the rules of covering gay-themed news:
–It is always appropriate to use the words penetrating, probing and insert.
–All graphics should be tinted pink or lavender.
–Bonus points for including any image of a hunky, shirtless man, no matter how flimsy the premise.
–If the story pertains to women, bonus points for including any image of a cast member from The L-Word.
–Double bonus points for somehow working a rainbow icon, pink triangle or AIDS ribbon into a graphic.

Thank you. Today’s class in stereotypes & journalism is now over.