MSNBC fired shock-talk-show host Michael Savage on Monday for anti-gay comments. The National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC) has called for more responsibility in programming on the part of MSNBC's parent company, General Electric Corp. One of General Electric's holdings is NBC, which has also drawn previous scrutiny.

The bombastic host of a cable channel TV show, who got his start in radio, referred to an unidentified caller to his show Saturday as a "sodomite" and said he should "get AIDS and die." An MSNBC spokesman determined that was beyond
their limits of acceptability, calling the comments "inappropriate."

There was no immediate comment from Savage.

"Savage was the most notorious example of a trend of dehumanizing transgenders in the media," said Vanessa Edwards Foster, chair of NTAC. "We're pleased that MSNBC has taken action, but this was a rather audacious incident - even for
Michael Savage. We still question why MSNBC would hire him in the first place."

An author as well as TV personality, the caustic Savage has been one of radio's hottest personalities on the conservative radio circuit. His extreme messages struck a chord with hard-line conservatives by simultaneously wrapping them
in the cloak of both persecuted victim and eminent majority.

The Paul Revere Society, a group Savage founded, advocates closing borders, deporting illegal immigrants, requiring health tests for immigrants and eliminating all entitlement programs. Like those of President Bush, Savage's views resonated with a largely male, largely white and financially secure viewership. To a segment of a population who felt put-upon, Savage personified their frustration and indignation.

The televised version of "The Savage Nation" - title of his most popular book - began March 8 amid protests. Gays and lesbians as well as transgenders were frequent targets of derision on his radio show, but he tended to avoid the
subject initially on the TV version.

That peace was broken May 3 when he squared off against transgenders by ridiculing the California legislature's effort to extend the same civil rights to the transgender community that all other Californians enjoy.

Savage's firing was prompted by his response to a phone-in comment. The subject of the call-in segment dealt with airline horror stories, and Savage took a call from a male listener. The caller began, "Half an hour into the flight, I need to suggest that Don and Mike take your ..." until he was cut off and his words became unintelligible.

"So you're one of those sodomists. Are you a sodomite?" Savage asked. The phone-in guest answered affirmatively.

"Oh, you're one of the sodomites," Savage shot back. "You should only get AIDS and die, you pig. How's that?"

Savage then launched into a tirade. "Why don't you see if you can sue me, you pig? You've got nothing better than to put me down, you piece of garbage? You have got nothing to do today, go eat a sausage and choke on it."

He then made a crack about wanting a caller who "didn't have a nice night in the bathhouse who's angry at me today. These bums . . . mean nothing to me," he said.

"MSNBC, isn't the worst network," said Foster, the chair of NTAC, "but they've certainly taken numerous potshots at the queer community's expense. Chris Matthews' Hardball, was bad enough. But Savage Nation actually made Matthews
look relatively moderate! Savage was brought in with the knowledge he is an incitant - someone who will stir things up."

"One would assume that news media would be unbiased, would be more responsible in their programming," Foster added. "NTAC hopes that MSNBC has learned from this experience and will make more even-handed programming decisions in the future."

Founded in 1999, NTAC - the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition - is a §501(c)(4) civil rights organization working to establish and maintain the right of all transgendered, intersexed, and gender-variant people to live and work without fear of violence or discrimination.