I noticed of late that the "news" section is becoming political and partisan

[iKate]

I noticed of late that the "news" section is becoming too uncomfortably political for me.

I mean, I come here to get advice, network and help people, but the front page has TWO stories slamming Republican politicians.

I get it that the GOP isn't the best on gay rights, nor are they on trans rights. I don't think the Democrats are all that good either. Marriage equality was done through SCOTUS, and it is a constitutional right anyway. It's not a partisan thing.

And not for nothing, DOMA was signed by President (Bill) Clinton. RFRA was also, and it was also sponsored by Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

But that is beside the point.

It's not so much politics about issues, but the news section has become a place to attack people.

Can we have some better news rather than hit pieces?

I'm not threatening anything but because of all the politics I'm finding my time online is better spent elsewhere. One place in particular (not trans oriented) has banned political discussion for about 10 years now. And it is a really nice place to chat because of that. Otherwise it was just "libtards this" and "neocons that" which was totally totally dumb.

Do we WANT to tell the world that we are only of one political persuasion? I certainly am not. I am an independent and I have voted for both R and D. The first thing I heard from my friends when I came out was, "so you're gonna be a hardcore liberal now?" I told them, "what gives you that impression?" I then explained that we are diverse. They didn't know that. They figured we all were just automatically by default part of the Democratic party.

Something to think about.

[stephaniec]

sorry, as far as I know for myself , maybe out of all the stories I've ever posted in the news section I might of posted one political one about Rush Limbaugh , but I'm not sure. I always try to post helpful articles along with some sad tragic ones. I'm truly sorry you feel that way. I've posted quite a lot of stories in the past year and I'm truly not aware of any of my postings being slanted in any particular direction. I'm again sorry If I have done that.

[iKate]

sorry, as far as I know for myself , maybe out of all the stories I've ever posted in the news section I might of posted one political one about Rush Limbaugh , but I'm not sure. I always try to post helpful articles along with some sad tragic ones. I'm truly sorry you feel that way. I've posted quite a lot of stories in the past year and I'm truly not aware of any of my postings being slanted in any particular direction. I'm again sorry If I have done that.

I should clarify I meant the front page, not the news part of the forum.

And politics itself isn't bad, but these seem like hit pieces which are generally frowned upon in journalism circles.

[Jill F]

What about all those articles where conservative politicians are helping our advancement?  Where are they?  I'd sure like to read one. 

[Tysilio]

What about all those articles where conservative politicians are helping our advancement?  Where are they?  I'd sure like to read one. 

So would I.

It's hard to ignore the fact that the current spate of hate legislation (so-called "religious freedom" acts, anti-trans bathroom laws, etc.) is, umm... not coming from Democrats.

We're not the ones making it a partisan issue.

[Dee Marshall]

Sadly, I have to agree. I changed my political affiliation over this and would change back in a minute if I felt safe with them. The "party of Lincoln" has been coopted by people who don't have our best interests at heart and it makes me very sad. I don't necessarily believe the Democrats are much more behind us, but at least they're not actively against us. I look at a lot of news and pass along anything I find pertinent to Wynternight. If I saw any positive message about the Republicans, believe me, I would have passed it on. Kate, my friend, if you see stories about Republicans that will give us hope, by all means send them to the news staff. I for one would love to read them.

[stephaniec]

Kind of weird, I've been posting news for a while and I don't think I've seen one positive story yet from the party of the president that made this nation great. I can't imagine a man as great as Lincoln would of excluded anyone. I go as far as saying I bet my life on it.

[stephaniec]

and to be fair I don't see much from any party.

[BenKenobi]

The Republican Party has been hijacked by racists and so called christians who want nothing more than to have every thing set up for the straight white cis-hetero men. Few friends i have who identify as Republican are progressive for anything.
I'm sure there are some out there but the bigots scream them down or the member simply switches parties such as Charlie Crist.
The reason why there are no stories praising progressive republicans is simply because if they came out it would be political suicide.

[Marlee]

...and now the partisan politics infiltrates this thread.

[Wynternight]

The moment I see an article about a conservative that isn't trying to pass anti-LGBT legislation then I'll write about it. Until then, as editor, I think it's important to write what I hear and see and so far it's all attacks from the extreme right. More and more so called "Religious Freedom" bills are license to discriminate against LGBT people. The community needs to know about them so I write them.

As an aside, I've never voted straight ticket so I just go where the news is.

[Wynternight]

It is, at this moment, impossible to separate LGBT issues from politics. I'm not going to write articles about the gown Caitlyn Jenner wore to the ESPYs. I'm going to write about things that affect the whole community.

Also: these are not "hit pieces." Hit pieces open us to defamation claims. There are factual stories which can be easily verified.

The moment I see "libtard" or something similar being said anywhere on this forum I will shut that person down so fast they won't know what happened.

I'll keep this topic open for civil discourse but the moment it gets ugly or someone steps over the line it will be shut down.

[Jill F]

The moment I see "libtard" or something similar being said anywhere on this forum I will shut that person down so fast they won't know what happened.

I have to concur.  That is offensive on so many levels and has zero place here, or quite frankly, anywhere.

[Marlee]

as long as you'll hold the same for name-calling coming from the far left. It's much more likely to occur as it has before.
The real problem is with the slanted media. They won't even do an article on support for LGBT if it comes from a conservative. See Greg Gutfeld, Eric Bolling and Kathryn Lehman to name a few.

ohh wait! maybe you can't see what they say unless you dig the net deeply...point made.

[Wynternight]

as long as you'll hold the same for name-calling coming from the far left. It's much more likely to occur as it has before.
The real problem is with the slanted media. They won't even do an article on support for LGBT if it comes from a conservative. See Greg Gutfeld, Eric Bolling and Kathryn Lehman to name a few.

ohh wait! maybe you can't see what they say unless you dig the net deeply...point made.

One: you're accusing me of bias which I don't appreciate and two: you're being very sarcastic and disrespectful which I don't appreciate.

You've made no point here with me save that you have no wish to engage in civil discourse. I already said name calling would not be tolerated so you should have been able to infer that meant from any side of the discussion. If I need to be very specific I shall do so:

Name calling of any kind shall not be tolerated. Point made.

[Stephanie G]

I just want to say the whole left right dynamic in and of itself is ridiculous. It is just a grouping of ideological principles, we should be focusing on individual principles not on them as a group. Just for the record I am more libertarian than anything.

[Marlee]

One: you're accusing me of bias which I don't appreciate and two: you're being very sarcastic and disrespectful which I don't appreciate.

You've made no point here with me save that you have no wish to engage in civil discourse. I already said name calling would not be tolerated so you should have been able to infer that meant from any side of the discussion.

I never accused you of anything Wynternight. (unless you are the left-leaning media)

Also, you use of that term (which I will not repeat) clearly implies that you feel any name calling would come from someone with any different view (which I took offense to) and I really don't understand what you find "disrespectful" in my post. I speak my mind..but am always respectful.

[Wynternight]

One: you're accusing me of bias which I don't appreciate and two: you're being very sarcastic and disrespectful which I don't appreciate.

You've made no point here with me save that you have no wish to engage in civil discourse. I already said name calling would not be tolerated so you should have been able to infer that meant from any side of the discussion.

I never accused you of anything Wynternight. (unless you are the left-leaning media)

Also, you use of that term (which I will not repeat) clearly implies that you feel any name calling would come from someone with any different view (which I took offense to) and I really don't understand what you find "disrespectful" in my post. I speak my mind..but am always respectful.

"ohh wait! maybe you can't see what they say unless you dig the net deeply...point made."

Comes across as sarcastic. Maybe it wasn't intended to but sans facial cues and voice it seems as such to me.

And no, my use of that word was not making any implication at all. If I find a word like "repug" being used it will be treated with equal displeasure by me.

[Marlee]

"ohh wait! maybe you can't see what they say unless you dig the net deeply...point made."

yes. in the context of the post it was a sarcastic dig on the media. I never mentioned you at all.

[Wynternight]

"ohh wait! maybe you can't see what they say unless you dig the net deeply...point made."

yes. in the context of the post it was a sarcastic dig on the media. I never mentioned you at all.

That was unclear at the time.

This topic has run its course so I'm shutting it down lest it become heated (or more heated).

Anyone with links to people of any ideology assisting the LGBT community feel free to send them to me and they'll get put up as front page content if they're important enough or placed in the news forum or a subsection on the main page.