Affirmative action on The Biggest Looser

There is a game of sorts that old school Navy folks played as part of their training when the advanced to senior enlisted ranks. They are assigned what is called an egg division. A division being a group of Sailors that would be assigned under this senior Sailor. Some divisions could be as big as 50 or more and others small with 5 or 6 people. The Sailor in training is given a dozen eggs (or some other item like a 12 GI Joe figures, or rocks anything really) but the name "egg division" is widely understood. So the idea is to have the Sailor undergoing training come up with an appropriate division, they have to create records for each of their "Eggs" having the appropriate number of males, females, black, white, asian, junior, and senior ranks ect. There is a purpose to get the Sailor thinking about the wide range of backgrounds his (or her) Sailors will have when he (or she) becomes their boss. While constructing these "egg divisions" creativity is reward, but the important thing is to have the proper make up, having the right percentage of females, males, etc… of course to take it to the extreme you might have someone that will have a black-jewish-female-with a handicap to cover down on at least multiple minority groups. So today while walking the dog I was somehow reminded of that exercise when something hit me.

A couple of weeks ago Bob, one of the trainers on The Biggest Looser "came out" - if you will - on TV. Of course it was no secret that Bob was either gay, or at least was allergic to women parts. But having Bob come out officially now puts two of the three trainers in the gay column or three of the four permanent cast members (when you count Alison Sweeny which I ALWAYS do). So what is the make up of the cast without sexual affiliation? 50% of the permanent cast is female (the other 50% would then be male for those counting at home), this matches the same percentage of the population, and Dolvett the third trainer is black, (the other three are white so 25% of the staff is so called minority) - no asians or hispanics, you kind of have a fair makeup of the country as a whole, since about 15% of the population is black another 10-12% is hispanic and so on… I can sympathize with certain minority groups that have made the observation in the past that when they watch TV they do not see themselves represented. I do not think that case can be made today. Most TV and an increasingly amount of movies are casting to make the population of the shows (or movies) look like real life America. But what has me wondering, can the straight people now complain that when they watch The Biggest Loser they do not see themselves reflected?  Since there is no way 50% of the people in this country are gay. Does the Biggest Looser need to fire one of the gay trainers and replace with an hispanic straight trainer?

I am not really suggesting that any protests or personnel changes be actually planned. I don't care about Bob or Jullian's sexuality and other than the fact I am disappointed that Julian is not on the market for straight males - like I would have had a chance; I am really indifferent to who or what they run around the house with during naked wednesdays.

Here is my internal drama. A few times in the last couple of weeks I have had friends on Facebook post some LBGT (or other similar groups) links about gay friendly companies or gay not friendly companies or whatever. I keep seeing Chick Fil A is the devil and everyone of them should be burned down, or other companies should be banned since they do not offer vacation to people that want time off to marry their cats or something. This is where I get really pissed off in my head. I enjoy George Takai's daily Facebook posts that make me laugh or think about interesting things. I know who he is because he was on Star Trek, but respect him for his work on recognizing and educating about the Japanese that were interned during WWII and is passionate about his other causes. One of those causes happens to be related to LBGT communities and that is cool, I don't partake but love that he is using his celebrity and fame to do good things for a lot of people. I also respect and enjoy some conservative leaders and organizations who will continue to advocate for family values which they feel means being straight. I don't really give a steaming pile on either side of the fight but when someone actually goes out of the way to destroy a whole company or shut down a movie or golf course or whatever because one person at the top of a company has a personal opinion that does not meet their own. I do not have any plans on not laughing at Mr. Takei's posts on Facebook.

So Chick Fil A is evil and Starbucks is apparently good since they have pro-gay policies. Ironically a few days ago I stopped by both places within a couple hours of each other, then I came home and watched The Biggest Looser. Guess I am going to be stuck in purgatory for a long time no matter which side all of this God is on.