I can’t stand Jim Rome. The screaming has always grated on me, his homophobia comes and goes, and he’s more style than substance. So it was with great joy that I heard from Ted Rybka at GLAAD that they had taken Rome to task over his coverage of the Ronaldo hooker story, in which Rome used the phrases “trannies,” “shims,” “he-she,” “she-males,” and “getting his freak on with some post-ops.” To his credit, Rome apologized.
Interestingly, on the same day we had a post on this blog that described the hookers as “transvestites” – which goes against GLAAD’s standards. Rybka told me that GLAAD would rather we didn’t use that term because the term “transvestite” carries with it some negative baggage. “Cross-dresser” is the term of GLAAD’s choice, and they even got AP to change the “transvestite” in their story about Ronaldo’s tryst to “cross-dresser.”
Rybka acknowledged though, as so many people do, that it is very different when a gay publication uses terms like “tranny” and “fag” than when the Associated Press does. Personally, I don’t care what term a news story uses about gays or trannies transgender folk. But if it means Jim Rome gets a talking-to, I’m all for it. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
I can’t stand Jim Rome. The screaming has always grated on me, his homophobia comes and goes, and he’s more style than substance. So it was with great joy that I heard from Ted Rybka at GLAAD that they had taken Rome to task over his coverage of the Ronaldo hooker story, in which Rome used the phrases “trannies,” “shims,” “he-she,” “she-males,” and “getting his freak on with some post-ops.” To his credit, Rome apologized.
Interestingly, on the same day we had a post on this blog that described the hookers as “transvestites” – which goes against GLAAD’s standards. Rybka told me that GLAAD would rather we didn’t use that term because the term “transvestite” carries with it some negative baggage. “Cross-dresser” is the term of GLAAD’s choice, and they even got AP to change the “transvestite” in their story about Ronaldo’s tryst to “cross-dresser.”
Rybka acknowledged though, as so many people do, that it is very different when a gay publication uses terms like “tranny” and “fag” than when the Associated Press does. Personally, I don’t care what term a news story uses about gays or trannies transgender folk. But if it means Jim Rome gets a talking-to, I’m all for it. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
