Why two bigots ate their words

[struggle4progress]

Sherry Wolf describes the wave of protest against two Sacramento disc jockeys who spewed hate about transgender youth
June 15, 2009

WHEN SACRAMENTO radio hosts Rob Williams and Arnie States used their May 28 show on KRXQ to spew anti-transgender filth into the airwaves--they called gender-bending children "freaks" and "idiots" who deserved to be beaten--some listeners were shocked and horrified.

But more importantly, they took action.

Within hours, Facebook, MySpace and listservs were abuzz with protest messages and petitions. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation went on the offensive, and literally thousands of people from across the country called, e-mailed and texted their outrage at this repulsive hate speech to the radio station ...

After multibillion-dollar corporations like McDonald's and Bank of America withdrew sponsorship of the show due to Arnie and Rob's crass stupidity, the two hosts weren't only forced to apologize. More importantly, they devoted their June 11 show to transgender issues and exposed their drive-time audience to transgender people, and their families and issues--providing a rare educational moment on shock-jock radio ...

http://socialistworker.org/2009/06/15/why-two-bigots-ate-their-words