girlie girl

that's what denise sometimes calls me when she's trying to get my attention, expressing disappointment, or just being silly. because of it, i'm proud to say i find her neither insulting or homophobic. it makes me laugh ... and that's exactly what i did when i read about what arnold said about lawmakers:

"If they don’t have the guts to come up here in front of you and say, 'I don’t want to represent you, I want to represent those special interests, the unions, the trial lawyers ... if they don’t have the guts, I call them girlie men,' Schwarzenegger said to the cheering crowd at a mall food court in Ontario."

boy, did that piss some people off:

"Democrats said Schwarzenegger’s remarks were insulting to women and gays and distracted from budget negotiations. State Sen. Sheila Kuehl said the governor had resorted to “blatant homophobia."

further ...

"'It uses an image that is associated with gay men in an insulting way, and it was supposed to be an insult. That’s very troubling that he would use such a homophobic way of trying to put down legislative leadership,' said Kuehl, one of five members of the Legislature’s five-member Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Caucus."

of course it's an insult! most likely intended to get lawmakers to re-evaluate what the heck they're doing. people do it all the time. negative reinforcement. it's like that scene in "miracle" (my new favorite movie) where herb calls mcclanahan a candy ass to get everyone fired up. and arnold's not even trying to win a gold medal.

i wonder if the cheering crowd in the food court received similar criticism from the democrats for encouraging an elected official to not only have a personality but also attempt to relate to his constituency by referencing pop culture.

maybe the democrats are right. maybe arnold really meant to insult the entire LGBT community (he's the governor of california, right? just checking.) while at the same time standing up for school and employee rights. maybe i should be offended, too, because i'm a woman.

or! maybe the democrats shouldn't worry so much about arnold's unintentional homophobic denunciation and go back to their desks in washington to re-read that memo from bush ... the one about legalizing discrimination against gays and lesbians? yeah, that's right.

wow ... where did that come from? i never pay attention to the government.