I'll be quick.
This kind of thing I can't condone, especially when you're supposed to be the party of the people, all the people.
Correction: Dems reject Cher impersonator
ATLANTIC CITY, NJ, United States (UPI) -- A New Jersey gay rights group thought a Cher impersonator, who happened to be a man, would liven up a Democratic Party meeting but met resistance instead.
The state Democrats gathered in Atlantic City, which Steve Goldstein, founder of Garden State Equality, a gay-rights organization, booked 'Cher' to appear in full Cher regalia and lip-synch a few of the singer`s greatest hits.
But before the impersonator could hit the stage, a state party official approached Goldstein and -- as witnesses told the Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger -- said, 'We can`t have THAT walking in the hallway. What if the press sees that? What if they report on that in tomorrow`s papers?'
'Cher' did get in a couple of numbers, however, and among those dancing was state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, a 71-year-old grandmother.
'Cher wasn`t great,' Weinberg told the Star-Ledger. 'But I survived it. And I didn`t catch anything. I`m still wearing women`s clothes.'
Personally, I'd like to know what 'state party official' that was so that I could write them a letter or address them with an LTE in the Press Of Atlantic City.
We can't have 'THAT' walking in the hallway? What if the press sees that?
Right. So instead of the press seeing tolerance, diversity, and acceptance of people from all walks of life, they get to see what looks like a homophobic reaction to seeing a cross-dressing Cher impersonator, hired to appear by a gay-rights organization, and how you were concerned with -- [gasp] -- what the press might say!
Well, let me be the first to congratulate you. Thanks. You're reaction has now become the story, not the otherwise non-story presence of a Cher-look-a-like, or for that matter, what the gathering in Atlantic City was for, what the highlights of the Dem meeting were, etc.
Foot, meet mouth. Mouth, foot.
Update [2006-9-15 18:6:7 by Stand Strong]: - Star Ledger - and it sounds worse:
And that created a ruckus when she arrived at the Democratic Party convention in Atlantic City last week to sing and dance at the meeting of the gay caucus.
"We said listen, this is Atlantic City and it's a pretty irreverent place," says Steve Goldstein, founder of Garden State Equality, the state's leading gay-rights organization. "So let's have a little fun, and be a little campy."
Goldstein had no idea what was coming.
Party leaders were not about to let the gay caucus fix this image of the Democrats in the mind of the public. Certainly not during an election season.
So as "Cher" walked the hallways at Bally's Hotel and Casino before her performance on Friday evening, the party sent young workers to tear down the posters advertising her show.
Then Diane Legreide, the party's executive director, marched straight at Goldstein with a full-volume dressing down.
She doesn't recall her exact words and says her major concern was that Cher's performance might make too much noise.
We can't have THAT walking in the hallway," they all recall Legreide saying. "What if the press sees that? What if they report on that in tomorrow's papers?"
Interestingly, in this article, is this little tidbit:
"I got calls on this from all over the country," says Barbra Casbar, head of the New Jersey Stonewall Democrats. "The blogs have really gone off on it. We just need respect. It comes down to that."
Well Jesus, Barbra, how about working aggressively to clarify what happened and/or offer some sort of explanation? Instead, I have to read about it initially on Raw Story, a huge blog that probably gets more hits that the NJ Star-Ledger!
I won't quote the last page of the article, but it makes some points that clearly need to be properly rebutted.
Shame on that!