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Gay Joke Costs Gay Reporter His Job

Gay Joke Costs Gay Reporter His Job

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A Minneapolis TV reporter never meant for his 'big HOMO dads' line to go public, but it did.

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A joke that was never meant to go public, but did, has cost a gay TV reporter in Minneapolis his job.

Last weekend Mark Saxenmeyer of station KSTP was advising a colleague on a news story about a gay Twin Cities couple who had been invited to attend the White House Easter Egg Roll with their twin sons. When the coworker, Katherine Johnson, stepped away from her computer, Saxenmeyer "wrote a few things into the Web script to make her laugh," he told the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

When she came back, he advised her to delete his additions "because obviously that would not be funny out of context," but she missed one of them, and the story went live on the station's website saying the twins had been invited to participate in the White House event with their "big HOMO dads." The phrase was subsequently removed, and Saxenmeyer was let go from his job Tuesday.

"I made a profoundly stupid mistake," Saxenmeyer told the Star Tribune. "There's just no getting around that. I have apologized profusely. It was stupid, inappropriate, irresponsible. It is beyond comprehensible. ... I especially don't want the gay community to be hurt or offended in any way. They are the last people I would ever want to malign and disparage."

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Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.