Alex Morse is the newly-elected 22-year-old mayor of Holyoke, Massachusetts. He’s also a gay. But watching CBS’ 150-second-long news segment on Morse, you wouldn’t know it because they didn’t even bother mentioning it in passing.
Accidental oversight? Not enough time? Irrelevant detail? It just kinda reminds us of when NBC neglected to note Matt Mitcham’s boyfriend in the stands during Mitcham’s golden Olympic victory.
Deliberate? Maybe. Worth mentioning? Definitely.
Via Gawker
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Timmmeeeyyy!!!
Irrelevant detail. Hey is the mayor of Holyoke, not the gay mayor of Holyoke. If he were straight, CBS wouldn’t mention that. Don’t complain when gays are being treated like everyone else.
Mark
Why should it matter if he’s gay? It’s irrelevant information. They probably fitted an awful lot more important information about him as a mayor in their two and a half minutes anyway.
ke
Timmy, irrelevant? Shut the fuck up you ignorant jaggoff. Visibility is everything to gay people. Everything. I’m sick of assholes, homophobic assholes, gay or not, telling gay people to ignore the most important part of who they are. Living in a society that spits at gay people regularly, it is crucial live out and proud. Strength in numbers. Openness and honesty are the two most important attributes of being gay.
ke
Mark and Timmy are not gay.
America
Ewwwww. Thank you, Timmy, Mark, and CBS. We agree. Gross, huh? Yeah.
Love,
America
America
If he were straight, yes absolutely we would be interested in his girlfriend or wife, what she was wearing, them kissing, holding hands and celebrating his victory. But, since he’s a sodomite, no. Not interested. Irrelevant information. CBS knows this too.
Love,
America
Hephaestion
If he was straight you can bet your booty the wife or girlfriend would have been interviewed for the segment. Straight people never see their own homophobia.
Cam
@Timmmeeeyyy!!!: said…
“Irrelevant detail. Hey is the mayor of Holyoke, not the gay mayor of Holyoke. If he were straight, CBS wouldn’t mention that. Don’t complain when gays are being treated like everyone else.”
_______________________________-
That is a lie, if he was straight they would have asked if he had a girlfriend and how she felt about him winning etc… People in politics are ALWAYS being asked about their families, trotting them out etc…
Marie
His sexuality should not matter. I agree with Mark.
Dallas David
I’m sure that when the Mayor of Holyoke wants to make it a topic of discussion, he’ll issue a press release. Until then, it’s like heterosexual politician’s extra-marital infidelity. Their personal business until they make it an issue by claiming to be a better person for his faithfulness to his wife.
IMHO, the nice thing about CBS omission of this trivia is that they did so without a controversy. That says a lot about Massachusetts. But for the Houston mayor (a lesbian) there were definitely some nasty anti-gay news stories about it.
So.
PilateError
Congrats to Alex Morse! If CBS won’t acknowledge your “gay,” I’m sure others will!
xander
So many new people commenting here on this article…..and all saying the same thing. [sniffing] Smells like a trollapalooza!
At any rate, if it was his choice not to come out in the CBS piece, then I’m not thrilled with him, but he’s got to do it his way. If CBS slanted the story, that’s prob a disappointment — especially if he’s partnered.
I wish him well as Mayor,
Kieran
Maybe if Alex got beat up or jumped off a bridge, CBS would decide to play up the “victimized gay” angle. But who wants to hear about a young, successful gay man in America?
Dirty Ole Man
yawn
B
No. 8 · Cam (replying to Timmeeyy): “That is a lie, if he was straight they would have asked if he had a girlfriend and how she felt about him winning etc… People in politics are ALWAYS being asked about their families, trotting them out etc…”
For what it is worth, no information about the spouses of the mayor of the city I live in (population over 64,000, which is larger than Holyoke) was published, even in our local newspapers: our mayor is not elected directly but appointed from the city council by a vote of the city council. This is a typical arrangement in small cities with non-partisan elections. In our case, they might talk about how long they’ve lived in town and whether they own a house or not, when running for city council, but nobody really cares one way or the other about their partners/wives/whatever. To really
raise some eyebrows around here, you’d have to do what one nut who ran for city council some years ago did – this guy claimed he was the reincarnation of some Egyptian god. He got more than one vote: his and the Alzheimer’s vote from people who confused him with someone else, or votes from a few senior citizens who had trouble reading the ballot because they left their reading glasses at home.
The people who trot out their wives or girlfriends tend to be running for partisan offices, usually at the state level or higher (or perhaps a major city, not one of the really tiny ones).
Chadboy
Son of a meat packer, likes a saxophone in his mouth and wants to revive theatre in Holyoke. Do we really have to say he is gay?
ke
CBS doesn’t want to be accused of promoting homosexuality. Now, talking about Jerry Sandusky non-stop, that’s the type of news Americans want to hear about when it comes to anything homosexual. America does not like gay people.
ke
A positive influence like this kid = promoting homosexuality/corrupting the youth.
– CBS/America
jeff4justice
Likewise, most LGBT blogs ignore alternative party candidates.
jeff4justice
@Chadboy: LOL
jeff4justice
Gays who say “what does it matter if he’s gay” may as well join the repeal SB 48 homophobes.
We’re an oppressed minority group. Of course it fucking matters when LGBT people breakthrough the adversity of a country that denies us basic human rights.
Also I don’t people hear people say “What does it matter if Obama is heterosexual” (or Bush when he was Prez) when they talk about his wife and kids.
Hetero politicians flaunt their families in the public’s face all the time. It’s only when the gays do it too that people freak out.
Gay it up!
DavyJones
@Hephaestion: For a segment less than 3 minutes long? If he was married, and she was somewhat vocal during the campaign *maybe* they’d include her in the segment, but probably not. A girlfriend? No way they’d interview her.
seaguy
Did anyone ask the mayor if he requested that not be mentioned because he does not want to be known as “the gay mayor” but rather just as a mayor?
Riker
CBS News has fallen a long way over the years. The desk that was once home to Walter Cronkite, the most trusted man in America, is now home to Katie Couric’s Legs.
JAW
Looking at the background at his rally… I did not see any of his signs announcing that he is Gay… Perhaps he does not wear it on his sleeve.
A vast majority of Gays and Lesbians live quiet lives… We do not march in parades, fly rainbow flags, live in Gay neighborhoods, Only have gay friends. Most of us let people know we are Gay as needed… Being Gay is only a part of who we are.
Remember that CBS is the parent company of that great Gay icon that promots LGBT People in a positive way… that Icon is the cable channel… LOGO
gurlanboi
He on national news selling his run down home town. That’s what he talks ab out. He’s not lookin for penis this 150 seconds of his life. He keepin it real an that inspires me to be real. The constant reverse witch hunt dragging gay into everything keeps guys like me in the closet.
the other Greg
@Riker: Katie Couric left CBS quite awhile ago.
jason
You know what the BS in CBS stands for? You got it.
It’s not a gay-friendly TV network at all. It’s run by the liberal Leslie Moonves.
Cam
@Dallas David: said…
“I’m sure that when the Mayor of Holyoke wants to make it a topic of discussion, he’ll issue a press release. Until then, it’s like heterosexual politician’s extra-marital infidelity.”
________________________
This is an obvious anti-gay troll. Comparing a persons sexuality to cheating on a spouse? Disgusting.
Cam
“No. 26 · gurlanboi · Member · 1 comments”
_______________-
Gee, a “Member” has come on here and makes a rude comment about gays….and yet they have only ever made 1 comment.
Troll alert.
Velocifero
Hetero trolls are unhappy that gay people are smarter, Politcally more savvy and don’t need to pander to some mythical cloud god or Jesus fables to garner voters in the 21st Century. Also points out that their stupid tea party is over. Though funny how the Disney owned ABC has better representation of gays then the blandness of CBS…
Timmmeeeyyy!!!
@ke:
Timmy, irrelevant? Shut the fuck up you ignorant jaggoff. Visibility is everything to gay people. Everything. I’m sick of assholes, homophobic assholes, gay or not, telling gay people to ignore the most important part of who they are. Living in a society that spits at gay people regularly, it is crucial live out and proud. Strength in numbers. Openness and honesty are the two most important attributes of being gay.
Ke, being gay may be the most important part of who you are, but it isn’t the most important part for everyone, nor is it the only aspect of our lives. I’m an artist so I do lots of interviews, but those interviews deal with my artwork, not my relationship with my husband (married 2 months ago in NY after 15 years together). If my artwork deals with aspects of sexuality or relationships then I talk about it, but I don’t talk to every interviewer about how gay I am as an artist. My spouse and I are completely out to our neighbors, family and friends. We are starting the process of foster parenting. We fight for social justice and equality for all (and we recently won in NY). But not every waking moment is spent thinking about how gay we are.
I understand the importance of role models, especially for young people. Alex Morse doesn’t distance himself from the work he’s done for LGBT rights (just check out his website), so it’s not hidden from his constituents. But this story was about the youngest mayor and the problems he faces, not the gayest mayor and the problems he faces. I would love for CBS to do a story about gay mayors (there are certainly plenty of them). But that’s not what this particular story was about.
BTW, I have no idea what a jaggoff is, but I know LGBT folks have the maturity to have a conversation, even one about which they feel passionately, without resorting to name calling, so I’m going to assume that jaggoff is something really positive, so thank you.
Timmmeeeyyy!!!
@ke:
Ke, being gay may be the most important part of who you are, but it isn’t the most important part for everyone, nor is it the only aspect of our lives. I’m an artist so I do lots of interviews, but those interviews deal with my artwork, not my relationship with my husband (married 2 months ago in NY after 15 years together). If my artwork deals with aspects of sexuality or relationships then I talk about it, but I don’t talk to every interviewer about how gay I am as an artist. My spouse and I are completely out to our neighbors, family and friends. We are starting the process of foster parenting. We fight for social justice and equality for all (and we recently won in NY). But not every waking moment is spent thinking about how gay we are.
I understand the importance of role models, especially for young people. Alex Morse doesn’t distance himself from the work he’s done for LGBT rights (just check out his website), so it’s not hidden from his constituents. But this story was about the youngest mayor and the problems he faces, not the gayest mayor and the problems he faces. I would love for CBS to do a story about gay mayors (there are certainly plenty of them). But that’s not what this particular story was about.
BTW, I have no idea what a jaggoff is, but I know LGBT folks have the maturity to have a conversation, even one about which they feel passionately, without resorting to name calling, so I’m going to assume that jaggoff is something really positive, so thank you.
Timmmeeeyyy!!!
Apologies for the double post. Hopefully a moderator will remove one of them.
ke
Timmy, I think you and I both are immature. I shouldn’t call people names, and you need to learn to become a man, and become less self-loathing.
(the) Rooney
@ke: Awww. Now that you’ve made up, I have the kumbaya tape ready. Let’s sit in a circle and vibrate our lungs as we prepare to sing.
ke
@jeff4justice: 100% correct. Gay people who live ‘quietly’ do it because they are afraid. They are apart of the problem whether they agree with it or not. Their lack of visibility hurts the gay community. They might as well vote ‘no’ on a gay marriage initiative in November elections. They are apart of the problem, and the saddest part is they don’t care
ke
@gurlanboi: coward.
Henry
@ke: You are no more gay than Timey is, Charles. You’re just a tranny who’s brainwashed himself into thinking he’s a woman on the inside. I mean, you call transsexuality a mental illness and yet you ARE transsexual. Your behavior is certainly self-defeating, like a woman’s. But that’s not the same thing as being a woman.
Jim Hlavac
Well, good and young man the new mayor might be — here’s another newly elected gay mayor everyone seems leery of talking about — him or his gayness; and no gay blogs seem to want to touch the man’s story either (well, I did.) He is the 60 year old Bruce Harris of tiny Chatham Borough New Jersey — just 8900 citizens. What makes Mr. Harris very unique is that he’s African-American — but even that doesn’t blow him off the charts — no. He’s a Republican! Yes, America’s first African-American gay Republican mayor — in a town with only literally 89 other African-Americans according to the 2010 census — which means at least 1,167 White voters thought that a gay black Republican would be good. And if that isn’t a story that is newsworthy for CBS, and gay blogs, I don’t know what is. But I doubt they’ll do it — he’s a gay African-American Republican, which is somewhat worse, I’m told, than a fair haired gay European-American Democrat.
And if anyone trusts any news outlet they are deluded.
Timmmeeeyyy!!!
@(the) Rooney:
Where exactly is the self-loathing or the immaturity? I fought hard for marriage equality and ENDA in NY and now I’m working on getting those rights nationally. I’m entirely out to everyone who is important in my life. I’ve appeared in local papers and televisions as a gay man. I work with our local LGBT youth group. In fact, I started an LGBT youth group in Indiana more than 20 years ago. I’m not bragging, I’m just saying I’m out and doing my part to make the world a better place. I’m also involved in non-LGBT issues that affect my community because LGBT isn’t the only issue in the US that needs the attention of our citizens.
I hope you are doing the same.
Timmmeeeyyy!!!
UGH! What’s up with the comments today? The above was a reply to Ke, not (the) Rooney. Apologies to @(the) Rooney.
David Ehrenstein
@Timmmeeeyyy!!!:
20 years? You’re very late to the party Timmmeeeyyy!!!
I became a gay activist in 1969.
That you believe that Mayor’s gayness is an “Irrelevant detail” shows you’re not an activist but a KAPO.
Now don’t go all Taylor Garrett on us dear. Take chill pill — and take Jimmy LaSalvia’s cock out of your mouth.
Timmeeeyyy!!!
@David Ehrenstein:
Congratulations. You win. You’re gayer than me. Sorry I was late to the party, but I was one year old in 1969.
So I think it’s reasonable to not mention someone’s sexuality in a 150 second story that is not about someone’s sexuality, and I’m a Nazi sympathizer? That’s all you have to add on the topic of this post? Thanks for your enlightening contribution to the discussion.
Interesting
If one must lie (for example: heterosexuals don’t discuss relationships in politics) to justify CBS lack of coverage of a newly elected gay guy elected to office, then that means one has no arguments to defend the straight-washing.
Riker
@the other Greg: Did she? I wasn’t aware. I stopped watching CBS Evening News after they cut a hole in her desk so her legs would show.
the other Greg
@Riker: heh, well maybe Scott Pelley looks good in shorts. Why the double standard, CBS?
Ed
The mayor is “a gay”?????? A gay what? The writer sounds like someone from Focus on the Family. Does anyone edit this stuff?
Ed
The article reads:? “He’s also a gay.”
“A gay” what????
Is the writer a member of Focus on the Family? They are the ones who call a gay person “a gay.”
Someone should edit your copy.
ewe
@Ed: so true. i cannot stand when we as a community shoot ourselves in the collective foot. “A Gay” sounds so incredibly ignorant. Are there any examples anywhere of people saying “a Straight?” I am not an object.
ke
@Timmmeeeyyy!!!: If you were as mature as you say you are, you wouldn’t argue with long, rambling posts. Now, I’m going to be the adult, and walk away. Take care.
Andy
We should be able to safely and nonchalantly mention that Morse is gay on national news without it being a big deal. The silence is very conspicuous in this case. Not talking about his sexuality continues to make being a gay politician an unmentionable taboo. Come on CBS! Just drop it in there along with his alma mater and his stance on the half-penny sales tax increase. It’s simply a part of who he is.
The American Media
ATTENTION SODOMITES! WE ARE NOT INTERESTED IN YOUR HOMOSEXUALITY NOR ARE WE INTERESTED IN THE PROMOTION OF IT! THE MAYOR IS NOT A HOMOSEXUAL. JERRY SANDUSKY IS!
DavyJones
@Ed: You must be new here? Queerty writers often use the term “a gay” to refer to someone as gay, or the term ‘teh gays’ to refer to gays as a whole. It’s meant to be snarky; thumbing their noses at ignorant fools who coined the terms in the first place…
@ke: You seem to either be trolling or else entirely missing the point. Which is that being gay does not have to be a central focus in every gay person’s life. Obviously as a part of their being; it affects their life, but that doesn’t mean it has to be front and center at every moment, less they should be thought to be ashamed of their gayness… Gay people as more than ‘gay people’, we are people first. We live our lives, we work at our jobs, we contribute to the Arts and Sciences, we’re politicians, and doctors; and we happen to be gay. The point being that ‘gay’ is the secondary adjective, not the primary.
DavyJones
@Ed: You must be new here? Queerty writers often use the term “a gay” to refer to someone as gay, or the term ‘teh gays’ to refer to gays as a whole. It’s meant to be snarky; thumbing their noses at ignorant fools who coined the terms in the first place…
@ke: You seem to either be trolling or else entirely missing the point. Which is that being gay does not have to be a central focus in every gay person’s life. Obviously as a part of their being; it affects their life, but that doesn’t mean it has to be front and center at every moment, less they should be thought to be ashamed of their gayness… Gay people are more than ‘gay people’; we are people first. We live our lives, we work at our jobs, we contribute to the Arts and Sciences, we’re politicians, and doctors; and we happen to be gay. The point being that ‘gay’ is the secondary adjective, not the primary.
Zeus
Watching that story, it would have been weird and out of place to mention “oh he is gay, too”. This was all about him being so young and getting elected, nothing to do with him being gay.
ke
@DavyJones: Davy, whatever to cope with your homosexuality. I am gay first. You are not. Take care.
ke
“oh he is gay, too”. Yes, exactly. Some gay kid interested in politics seeing this says to himself, “If he can do it, I can do it.”
lambillio
completely irrelevant that hes gay. and NO if he were straight his girlfriend or wife would not be interviewed. what the hell does that have to do with anything!? get off it and just let him be. it will come out eventually anyway, not that it should. the guy may want to keep his private life to himself as much as he can…
Henry
Since Morse is running for office, it’s inevitable that people will know he’s gay, so they might as well get it over with and announce it on television. Any public or semi-public official in a trusted or otherwise authoritative role has to be willing to make many details of his life public. It would be like a college professor in Georgia trying to hide his anti-Semitism. He would be exposed sooner or later.
Chris
Why is it when someone disagrees with the career homosexuals opinions they are labeled trolls? The regulars on queerty take themselves and their influence (or lack thereof) way to seriously. LOL
New-B
Every good news story has angle. This angle was something along the lines of “fresh young politician with fresh young ideas is going to tackle the age old problems of Holyoke.” There could have been a dozen other angles, including the gay mayor angle, but the reporter chose the one he did, I’m guessing in part because he was able to work in the popular storyline about the economy. We do know that Mayor Morse is not closeted since his credentials as a gay organizer are on his campaign website. We also know from a HuffPo article that Morse said “”My age was a bigger obstacle to overcome than my sexuality,” and that being gay was never a campaign issue, for him or his opponent.
1. It could be the reporter chose not to report Morse is gay because the reporter thinks it’s something to be hidden.
2. It could be the reporter chose not to report Morse is gay because he is actually gay friendly and thought to himself “hey, it’s unimportant to his job whether he’s gay or straight I wouldn’t point out that a person is straight, so I won’t point out that a person is gay.”
3. It could be that Morse himself asked the reporter to not make being gay a focus of the story, so the reporter left it out all together.
4. It could be that CBS top brass is entirely homophobic and “straight-washed” the story as one commentor said.
We may never know the real reason why it wasn’t mentioned that Morse is gay. In my opinion it would have been nice to mention it. But to create some sort of conspiracy of CBS being homophobic seems a stretch to me.CBS news has done other stories about LGBT issues, so I’m not sure why they would pick this story to shy away from the gay story line. I’ve also never noticed Scott Pelley to be terribly squeamish about LGBT issues in his reporting before.
In the meantime, there are real, known homophobes fighting against LGBT rights every day. How about those Republican presidential candidates, for instance. It seems to be a much better use of our time to fiercely and vocally fight the known enemy, than to argue about a possible insult of omission from a maybe enemy.
And while we are not in a post-gay world yet, this story may give us some insight into what a post-gay future may just look like.
ke
I’m the only one called a troll because I disagree. And, I am absolutely a career homosexual. And, damn proud of it.
Timmeeeyyy!!!
@Chris: So true.
But for the record, I haven’t been labelled a troll. I’ve been labelled an immature, self-loathing, nazi-sympathizing jaggoff troll who sucks Jimmy LaSalvia’s cock.
Simply because people don’t like my opinion.
Timmeeeyyy!!!
Poor victim @ke:
You’re the one calling people names on this comment thread.
jeff4justice
@ke: Amen. While I empathize with people who feel they cannot come out, as an activist for 8 years I have seen many LGBTs in both suburbs and cities decline to try to better their LGBT community in any kind of way – socially or politically.
Just as successful black Americans like Tavis Smily and Magic Johnson give back to make black communities better, LGBTs especially in small town/rural/suburb areas need famous and/or successful people to help inspire and motivate and mentor other LGBTs to bettering things.
Despite all I lack, i work hard my CA town to do this.
Adam
He also isnt the youngest mayor in America.
pbh679
I am a son, a brother, a lover, a coworker, a mentor and a friend.
I’m also gay.
I don’t think being gay is a qualifying factor.
While I think that it is interesting that he is gay, I don’t think it was necessarily relevant to the story Mitch was telling. I think his age is more of a challenge to his election than his homosexuality. Especially in his geopolitical.
I also just want to say that the amount of vitriol being tossed around in these comments makes me really sad. I just read them all and the way we’re talking to each other is just flat out disrespectful. Everyone’s entitled to an opinion, and you’re entitled to an opinion on that opinion, but do we really need to get so nasty? We need to work together on equality. How can we expect people to respect us if we can’t respect each other?
ke
Good for you Jeff4Justice. Your visibility as an out and proud gay man means everything. Thank you for my rights! Because it’s guys like you who are out there on the front lines for gay civil rights. It’s because of you and GLBTs like you that I have rights.
Interesting
He was endorsed by Victory Fund, a gay organization. That tells me he wanted to be identified as gay. The rest of you are speaking, as usual, from your ideology rather than facts.
http://www.gaypolitics.com/2011/11/08/nations-youngest-gay-mayor-elected/
All I had to find that was put in his name into Google and gay to see what came up. By the way, his name in fact naturally causes the Google algorithm to want to include gay in the search (so that means its been a fairly recent number of searches for it. So you don’t even have that as an excuse that you didn’t know that there was this coverage).
CBS was straight washing, and the people posting here are jerkwads with an agenda outside of what the candidate himself wanted.
Jason Jenkins
I’m fascinated that some of you think that every single time a straight man is profiled on the news, he is asked about his wife or girlfriend. Do you get all your news from Logo, E!, and TMZ? This piece was almost entirely focused on his mayoral win. His background coverage was VERY brief. At what point in the middle of it were they supposed to scream, “Oh, and he’s GAY!!!” without it seeming like it was beside the point?
Timmeeeyyy!!!
@Interesting:
Yes, as pointed out by previous posts, Morse is openly gay, even his campaign website says so. He and others have also stated that being gay wasn’t an issue during the campaign. Neither he, nor his opponent brought it up. Only Morse himself can say whether he felt his sexual orientation should have been included in the CBS story. And only the reporter can tell us whether the omission was malicious or not.
There are a variety of opinions of how important this “insult of omission” (as one poster put it) actually is. Just because some of those opinions differ from yours, that doesn’t make other commenters a “jerkwad with an agenda.”
Timmmeeeyyy!!!
From the candidate’s mouth, Alex Morse talks about the CBS interview and the omission of his sexuality. The topic comes up at about 1:10.
http://youtu.be/Shvla4Paybk