Richardson Mum on Gay Debate

[Colobo]

I find this quite interesting and revealing:

Richardson who has been generally supportive of LGBT issues as governor and has openly been courting the gay vote is still recovering from a gaffe that surfaced last week in which he used a Spanish word last year in a radio broadcast that has a double meaning - that many activists said was a homophobic slur.

Richardson, who is of Hispanic heritage, was a guest on Don Imus' syndicated radio program on March 29, 2006.

Imus, who later lost his job over making racial comments, jokingly said one of his staffers suggested Richardson was "not really Hispanic."

Richardson replied in Spanish that if the staffer believes that, then he is a "maricon."The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation says the word means "faggot" in Spanish.

In a statement this week, Richardson said that in the Spanish he grew up speaking, "the term means simply 'gay,' not positive or negative."

C'mon, Bill- "Maricón" means "faggot" in Spanish, not "gay", and it has a VERY negative connotation in Spanish (one of the greatest insults a man, gay or straight, can be subject to).

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/07/071307richardson.htm

[malta blue]

1. Whether it means "gay" or "faggot" - the point is why

was "maricón" used in the first place? How did this answer the question?

Oh Bill - what a lame excuse...can I have my donation back now?
:mad:

[marshall]

5. Can he go to "gay slur" rehab?

Somebody needs to find out where Isaiah Washington went to recover from his habit of using gay slurs.

[terrya]

2. Maybe Richardson can appear at that debate...

and formally apologize to the GLBT community for the use of an offensive word like "maricon".

[dsc]

3. That is beyond disappointing

This may be his final straw for me in regards to primary support. I was leaning toward him but his debate performance has been lousy and he was a disaster on MTP. His resume and his record are both great, but his performance and this are worrying. I would have preferred him to have been honest here and say that he shouldn't have used the word, not that it wasn't a terrible insult.

[rudeboy666]

4. Strange Spanish

Richardson must have had an eccentric upbringing if the word 'maricon' had an ambiguous meaning.

In Latin communities, this word is universally understood as an epithet__definitely negative.

[ripple]

6. Even more appalling than the comment itself

is the lack of media attention it received. If it had been a racial slur, the media would have been all over it, and rightfully so. The double standard is appalling.

[Laughing Mirror]

7. He says the remark was meant playfully

And he's courting the gay vote? He's suffering from a severe case of delusion. He can forget that gay vote right now.

http://washingtonblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=13390