For those of us who have been following this thread, I wanted to provide an update, which has been a thunderous and deafening silence... at least to this date.
... not that I particularly expected or required a response -- though I am still hopeful. From the beginning, I saw this as an opportunity to speak to hateful rhetoric in a loving way that did not require a compromise in our mutual underlying request to be respected as human beings.
I originally sent out an email to the station manager, the reporter and the station's public relations official. After not receiving a response in a few days, I followed up with a hard copy letter to the station manager and CC’d CBS corporate, in NY. After another week, I sent out a short article to a "friend-of-a-friend" who works at the local newspaper (who felt the topic was too hot to handle), as well as letters explaining the situation to the HRC, GLAAD and to EqualityTexas. A few days after that, our local PFLAG president copied the story to an email list of several hundred local GLBT rights supporters. Finally, I posted the story to our new "tridd" website (
www.tridd.com) -- which is a community-building project for the disenfranchised GLBT and HIV population in East Texas....
By all accounts, response from our own community has been overwhelmingly supportive, even if there has been no response otherwise.
While I'm still hopeful that KYTX might someday "come around" in their thinking, I'm feeling that we've taken this phase of our efforts to reconcile with the station as far as we can.
I have mixed feelings about pushing any harder for a response. I'm inclined to believe that the point has been made -- that the station will already be more inclined to treat us fairly in the future. After all, much change in attitude happens without the satisfaction of our being able to watch it. Then again, some might say that I should now consider a more public demonstration of our dissatisfaction....
What are your thoughts?
Peace and love, Troy