Governor Patterson has said that NY will recognize legal same-sex marriages from other states and countries.
He's doing a poll on whether people support it. If you're interested in taking 15 seconds to lodge your support, just call 1-518-474-8390. You will talk to a live person from the Governor's office during business hours or leave a phone message after that.Just say 'I support the Governor's directive on honoring same-sex marriages,' then give them your 5 digit (New York) zip code.
As if her verbal incontinence were not enough, Sally Kern has released the following press release (via Oklahomans for Equality). More on this later.
“To put this simply, as a Christian I believe homosexuality is not
moral. Obviously, you have the right as an American to choose that
lifestyle, but I also have the right to express my views and my fellow
Oklahomans have the right to debate these issues.
“In recent years homosexual activists have begun to aggressively
promote their agenda through the political process, often providing
substantial financing to candidates who agree with their views,
including many running for state legislative races. National
publications such as Time, The Atlantic and USA Today have noted that
trend. That is their right, just as it is my right to voice opposition
to their agenda, which I have been asked to do at several public forums
in recent months. That’s what democracy is all about. It appears some
homosexual activists believe only one group is allowed a voice in this
debate. I disagree.
“A vigorous debate on an issue is not ‘hate speech’ – it’s free speech.
I have made clear my opposition to the agenda of homosexual activists,
but I have never endorsed or supported any hateful action targeting
individuals on the other side of this debate and never will. The fact
that many gay rights activists claim anyone opposing their agenda is
engaging in ‘hate speech’ says more about them than me.
“Most Oklahomans are socially conservative and believe marriage is a
sacred institution, the union of one man and one woman, and that the
traditional family is worth protecting and preserving. When I
campaigned for office, I promised my constituents to stand up for those
values, and I do not apologize for keeping my word.”
Ah, ah, ah. Nothing gets my blood flowing like a good homophobe story.
People: here is the question of the week: what the hell are people in the good state of Oklahoma drinking? Seriously: what's in their water? (Hint: Tom Coburn is from Oklahoma.)
Here at Lingual Tremors, we'd like to introduce you to our inconsistent segment, the "Idiot of the Week." For your consideration: Oklahoma State Representative Sally Kern. What makes Representative Kern so special is her diatribe about homosexuality and the way in which it is signaling a "death knell" for this country. Apparently this is the stuff of public events for Ms. Kern. Because, you know, elected public officials are all excellent and well-trained theologians.
"Not everyone's lifestyle is equal, just like not everyone's religion is equal."I'm just wondering--whose religion does she think is better?
"I'm not gay bashing, but according to God's word, that is not the right kind of lifestyle."What Bible is she reading?
"I honestly think it's the biggest threat our nation has, even more than terrorism or Islam, which I think is a big threat."Well, I guess we can revoke all of the public financing for the war in Iraq, since homosexuality is a bigger threat than terrorism... I think the superiority of a particular religion is also implied here...
"They are going after two year olds."What two year old goes to school?
"One of my colleagues said We don’t have a gay problem in our community…
well you know what, that is so dumb. If you have cancer in your little
toe, do you just say that I’m going to forget about it since the rest
of you is fine? It spreads! This stuff is deadly and it is spreading.
It will destroy our young people and it will destroy this nation."Being gay is like giving the country cancer. Is this woman kidding?
Said diatribe was at a public event about campaign financing. Specifically: it was about campaign financing for a gay candidate running for a state office in Oklahoma (see below). What's even more frightening? Before she was in the legislature, this woman's chosen profession was teaching. Would you want this woman teaching your children and warping their minds? Do you want her making decisions about your government? Any government?
The account given on YouTube took my words out of context and omitted
other parts stringing certain words together to make it appear I was engaging in hate speech. I was not and would never do such a thing. The YouTube account is a blatant misrepresentation of my talk.
As an American, you and I, and everyone else has the right to
express our opinion. I said nothing that wasn't true. The homosexual
agenda is real, the movement is aggressive, and it is a very real
threat to the sacred institution of marriage and the traditional family
unit. They are actively seeking to remove conservatives from the
political arena. My talk was to a Republican group and I was speaking
about the homosexual agenda to defeat conservative Republicans. They
want to silence anyone who does not approve their lifestyle. They want
their freedom but don't want those who disagree to have their freedom.
Read that carefully: the account on YouTube "is a blatant misrepresentation of my talk" in which Rep. Kern asserts "I said nothing that wasn't true. The homosexual agenda is real, the movement is aggressive, and it is a very real threat to the sacred institution of marriage and the traditional family unit." [Grammar Girl moment: so, does "nothing that wasn't true" mean that now, in the present, it is true?] So, even when defending herself, she upholds her hate speech.
I encourage you to write to our good friend Sally and let her know what you think: sallykern@okhouse.gov. I think it's important for Sally to know that her kind of vitriolic hatred & stupidity is what's wrong with the United States. While you're at it, you might like to make a contribution to the good folks at the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, who made the YouTube video you just watched. (I think this kind of immediate reaction is fantastic--it's a great video and gets the point across very well) It's their job to get lgbtq folks & lgbtq allies elected to public office and to give homophobes like Sally the pink slip. Let's make her "ex-representative" Kern.
Jim Roth's campaign for Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner: Roth is Oklahoma's only openly gay elected official and he's up for re-election.
This video was released by the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund:
The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund is the nation's largest LGBT
political action committee and the only national organization dedicated
to increasing the number of openly LGBT elected officials at all levels
of government. Since 1991, the Victory Fund and its national donor
network have helped hundreds of openly LGBT candidates win election to
local, state and federal offices.
Yet another reason to sigh and wish Gore was running (oh wait! No I don't! If he were running, he wouldn't be able to be a forward thinking leader). Current again (which, by the way, Al Gore is connected to. He's chair of Current TV--also on the site). If you haven't been, head on over there. It's good stuff.
Glad to live in a state that actually thinks about what accepting money from the feds means. Via a little red hen:
"New York is rejecting millions of dollars for federal grants for
abstinence-only sex education, the state health commissioner, Dr.
Richard F. Daines, announced..." New York Times, September 21, 2007.
Daines called it a "failed...policy...based on ideology rather than
on sound scientific-based evidence..."
Of course this is going to put a strain on programs that have accepted that money in the past. However, excising abstinence only from our sexual education training can only help. Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!
I'm 3 days late on this, but apparently the NYPD was harassing folks at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project anniversary celebration. The update is that Reggie and Ileana, who were arrested, are out and no charges were filed. Yay! However, for a detailed account of the events, here's Jack at Angry Brown Butch:
PRESS RELEASE:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Police Brutality Strikes Fifth Anniversary of Sylvia Rivera Law Project
NEW YORK - On the night of Wednesday, September 26, officers from the
9th Precinct of the New York Police Department attacked without
provocation members of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project and of its
community. Two of our community members were violently arrested, and
others were pepper sprayed in the face without warning or cause.
The Sylvia Rivera Law Project (www.srlp.org) is an organization that
works on behalf of low-income people of color who are transgender,
gender non-conforming, or intersex, providing free legal services and
advocacy among many other initiatives. On Wednesday night, the Sylvia
Rivera Law Project was celebrating its fifth anniversary with a
celebration and fundraising event at a bar in the East Village.
A group of our community members, consisting largely of queer and
transgender people of color, witnessed two officers attempting to
detain a young Black man outside of the bar. Several of our community
members asked the officers why they were making the arrest and using
excessive force. Despite the fact that our community was on the
sidewalk, gathered peacefully and not obstructing foot traffic, the
NYPD chose to forcefully grab two people and arrested them. Without
warning, an officer then sprayed pepper spray across the group in a
wide arc, temporarily blinding many and causing vomiting and intense
pain.
“This is the sort of all-too-common police violence and overreaction
towards people of color that happens all the time,” said Dean Spade,
founder of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project. “It’s ironic that we were
celebrating the work of an organization that specifically opposes
state violence against marginalized communities, and we experienced a
police attack at our celebration.”
“We are outraged, and demand that our community members be released
and the police be held accountable for unnecessary use of excessive
force and falsely arresting people,” Spade continued.
Damaris Reyes is executive director of GOLES, an organization working
to preserve the Lower East Side. She commented, “I’m extremely
concerned and disappointed by the 9th Precinct’s response to the
situation and how it escalated into violence. This kind of aggressive
behavior doesn’t do them any good in community-police relations.”
Supporters will be gathering at 100 Centre Street today, where the
two community members will be arraigned. The community calls for
charges to be dropped and to demand the immediate release of those
arrested.
I was a little taken aback by this one. Just when you think we've come a long way comes this latest AIDSphobic incident. I first saw this at Pandagon. Here's the original news item at NBC 15:
A couple who checked into a recreational vehicle park with their 2-year-old foster son were told the boy couldn't use the showers, pool or other common areas because he has the HIV virus.
The couple said that in the future, they will not discuss their foster son's condition to avoid this kind of prejudice. The owner of the RV park was concerned that the child might spread the disease by using the common areas or the pool. In rural Alabama, it seems, there's still a lot of work to be done in HIV/AIDS education.
"Most people know you can swim in the same pool or use the same bathroom without the danger of contracting the virus. Definitely, we still need education efforts out there, especially in rural areas," said David Little, executive director of Mobile-based South Alabama CARES, an AIDS education and outreach organization that serves 12 counties in south Alabama.
There are more than 8,252 AIDS cases in Alabama (those are AIDS cases, not HIV cases based on the 2005 CDC surveillance report). Clearly HIV/AIDS is an issue in Alabama, but education efforts need to go a lot further. We hear a lot about HIV/AIDS in urban areas; the subways and billboards often carry educational messages about HIV/AIDS. In rural areas, however, where car culture dominates, I'm not sure where people would get this education. There may be some PSAs on the television or radio, but they don't dominate in the same way visual rhetoric speaks to urban culture. Coupled with increasingly conservative abstinence-only sexual education programs and science curriculum dominated by creationist rhetoric, it seems like rural areas, particularly in the South, have some amazing challenges ahead because medically accurate information is hard to sell.
Kathy Hiers, CEO of AIDS Alabama says:
"Unfortunately the South has the top ten cities for STDs in the country, it's been that way for as long as I can remember. And by the same token the South is absolutely exploding with HIV disease. We are seeing the disease move along socio-economic lines into poor communities, rural communities, women and certainly minorities and young people.
Hiers is the CEO of AIDS Alabama. AIDS workers have known for years the virus was moving to rural areas. To try to stem the tide of infection Alabama launched a rural outreach program called the Alabama Rural AIDS Project. Hiers says launching the project was no easy thing.
Do head on over to Blabbeando for the best pictures of Thursday's demonstration by ACT UP in response to General Pace's comments. The photo narrative is great, telling the story of Thursday's demonstration. My favorite is Matt Foreman's sign: "Pace is Immoral. Gays are Fabulous." And the pictures of the rainbow flag wrapping up the recruitment center in Times Square are amazing. Go ACT UP!
Here we are back again on day two of live Hillary Clinton blogging. As with last night's web cast, tonight's web cast will be archived later, so you can watch it at your leisure.
Clinton will be doing this again tomorrow (1/24) both at 7 p.m. You can e-mail your questions in 2 hours before
the webcast begins. I'm going to go through her question/responses again tonight:
1. Aesthetic: still wearing pink, only this time covered up by a blueish gray suit coat. Lose the pink. Seriously.
2. Clinton is hitting on a lot of the same themes she did last night: health care, middle-class lifestyle, and benefits for reserve troops returning home from Iraq. I'll skip some of the repeat questions.
Not surprisingly, people are asking questions about the struggles of people to make ends meet. Interestingly, Clinton talks about expecting help from your government. She compares expectations for the relationship between a people and its government to the kind of post-WWII society that sought to offer social programs to people to make their lives better economically. Clinton invoked "renewing the promise of America" meaning health care costs, saving for education, making a commitment to retirement plans, the environment, a strong union movement, and "sharing the wealth" between employers and employees-- in short, "where are the wage increases?"
3. Interestingly: what is Clinton's position on the FDA? Clinton said that she is continuing to fight for the independence and scientific standing of the FDA. WOO HOO! CLINTON IS TALKING ABOUT THE POLITICS OF PLAN B AND THE FDA. She is retelling the history of the FDA struggle over Plan B. EXCELLENT HILLARY! I didn't think she'd take this on so early in the campaign. Congratulations, Hillary, you just signed on most of the feminists in the blogosphere. She's now widening her discussion to testing for comparative effectiveness of drugs. Finally, she's moving away from drugs altogether and discussing food safety. She wants to have a separate agency responsible for food safety. But, until that's possible, she wants to increase funding for FDA. All in all, an excellent plan to return the FDA to a more scientific basis.
4. On integrity in the voting system: Clinton is discussing the "Count Every Vote" act and the importance of ensuring that people's votes count. She is aggressively critiquing electronic voting machines. She's also singling out the intimidation of voters. She's addressing lots of the concerns that we heard out of the last several elections to protect the right to franchise: phone calls and flyers suggesting that people can't vote. "We're supposed to be the model of democracy. We cannot afford to have a voting system that's a laughingstock. That would be the beginning of the end." One of the things I noticed last night is that Clinton is not pulling her punches. She is really hitting certain issues head on. Good, solid answers. Good response to the question.
5. On Iraq and an exit strategy: "I'm against the President's escalation...for more than a year and a half I've advocated for something quite different." She's addressing the on-going need to address the political struggles in Iraq. Sorry, Hillary, but this isn't going to be enough to win over those voters who are angry that you voted for the war in the first place.
6. On gay and lesbian issues: looking straight at the camera, head on, eyes focused she said: yes, I would feel comfortable supporting lgbtq legislation. She pointed to discrimination saying "Americans should be against discrimination." She couldn't have been more clear about how supportive she is. This was a very strong set of answers about the need for discrimination to end. Give that woman a GLAAD award already. No mainstream candidate other than Dean has addressed LGBTQ issues so clearly and definitively so early one. I've followed the issue She listed major issues for the LGBTQ issue like inheritance, visitation in hospitals, etc., and, very importantly: "I support civil unions."
7. Clinton takes on a great question about blogging and talked about the role she hopes it will play in helping to connect to potential voters. This is the Clinton strategy in a nutshell: make it real.
Okay, like last night, another strong standing. Clinton is hitting some issues harder than I thought she would this early on. She isn't afraid to show her real, strong opinions on issues. High marks tonight on women's and lgbtq issues. I'm even more pleased than I was last night. Excellent work!
There's been a lot of chuckling in the liberal community this weekend over Rev. Ted Haggard's admission that he was involved with a gay man in Colorado. I don't have issues with the man who outed Haggard; in fact, I applaud his desire to address the hypocrisy of Haggard's teachings. But much like I felt when Jim McGreevey's admission that he is gay, forced him from political office, I feel sorry for these men and the lies they thought they had to live. I feel sorry that they weren't confident enough in their own selves to follow their hearts. Instead, they chose to live closeted in a mean and bigoted world. And, in Haggard's case, to contribute to the bigotry. How much do you have to hate yourself to live his life? How much do you have to believe the dominant paradigms? He's in my thoughts, not in my jokes, this week. And, tonight, I am especially proud of my gay, male friends who are strong and proud enough to live life they way they want to. Thanks for being role models.
No, it's not anything like Everclear. Forget your swinging single's life. The federal government's new message is: ever abstinent. If you thought abstinence-only programs for teens were bad, the government is now targeting unmarried adults with an abstinence-only program for people from 12-29. So, if you're a woman, you are perpetually pre-pregnant at the same time you're ever-abstinent. Sharon Jayson at USA Today reports:
The federal government's "no sex without marriage" message isn't just for kids anymore.
Now the government is targeting unmarried adults up to age 29 as part of its abstinence-only programs, which include millions of dollars in federal money that will be available to the states under revised federal grant guidelines for 2007.
The government says the change is a clarification. But critics say it's a clear signal of a more directed policy targeting the sexual behavior of adults.
"They've stepped over the line of common sense," said James Wagoner, president of Advocates for Youth, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit that supports sex education. "To be preaching abstinence when 90% of people are having sex is in essence to lose touch with reality. It's an ideological campaign. It has nothing to do with public health."
The problem spurring on this new program? Women who have children "out-of-wedlock." Well, buy me some pearls and a vacuum cleaner and call me June Cleaver.
The Ali Forney Center for Homeless LGBT Youth has this fantastic ad campaign on the subways and around town in New York City. It's a catchy and visually evocative series of ads (there's also a lesbian version) that really challenges viewers. In a city of Budweiser and Dr. Zizmor chemical peel ads, this refreshing lgbtq advocacy makes me really, really smile on the subway. Kudos to the Ali Forney Center.
The Purple Tremor called me yesterday from a family wedding (she is a relatively new owner of a "Migo," and she loves to use her phone!). She informed me that she was very disappointed because she thought they were going to a commitment ceremony and not at a wedding. I asked, "what's the difference"? Here is her answer:
"A commitment ceremony is for anyone who loves each other and wants to be together forever."
"A wedding is for people who might get divorced."
Yeah. That's my little sister. Could I be more proud?
I'm back. I promise I will post info on my Louisiana trip later this week. Thanks to all who have asked. In the meantime, you can look at pics by clicking on my flickr badge below.
I'm posting this hurriedly before dashing to work. Gary, over at American Agenda, has been calling people's attention to the PA Marriage Protection Amendment. I have LOTS to say on this, but for the moment, dash on over to:
Gary's site for an explanation of the issues. He has lots of posts, but this will get you started. This will give you names and addresses and phone numbers of PA reps. The Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights to sign a petition against the amendment.
Let's give our PA friends a little "action" love! Protest the PA Marriage Protection Amendment!!!
Reuters reports an attack in a gay bar in Massachusetts late Wednesday night.
When told he was in a gay bar, [Jacob] Robida walked into a back
area where several men played pool, reached into his coat and
pulled out a hatchet, police said.
He lunged at several men, striking two in the face with the
hatchet before several of the bar's 18 patrons attempted to
restrain him. He then drew a gun and began firing in the
pink-walled venue, according to police and witnesses.
The larger community seems supportive, which is good; there's already been a vigil and public officials have come forward with supportive statements and Barney Frank has used the incident to call for national hate crimes legislation. Robida, an 18 year old Neo-Nazi, seems to me to be the poster child for continued diversity work in the K-12 schools.
Forgive me, for I have sinned. I missed the premiere of the controversial Book of Daniel because I was out having a drink with my lesbian sister and my boyfriend (with whom I have lived for 9 years and we have sex and we're not married) last Friday night. For the record, that's 1. alcohol 2. homosexuality 3. sex before marriage (and a whole lot of left-leaning politics that I won't get into here...)
Did I mention that my dad is a minister? (And that actually none of those are in the 10 commandments...)
On any given day, I can be a little petulant when I am being controlled. Call it the gift of perversity. Egalia over at Tennessee Guerrilla Women followed the antics of The American Family Association and Two Rivers Baptist Church in having the new NBC dramedy, The Book of Daniel banned from WSMV in Nashville.
And so, in solidarity, I watched the show this Friday night because Egalia wrote:
I didn’t see the show. Thanks to the vigilance of hyper sensitive
Christians like Pastor Sutton and his politically active Mega Church, I
won’t get the opportunity to make my own judgement. Since I am not a believer,
I am absolutely certain that I would never ever hold the same views as
Pastor Sutton. If, as I’ve heard, the series questions and pokes at old
time religion, I might enjoy it, because I am, frankly, sick and tired
of having Christianity rammed down my throat.
But that is the
point, isn’t it? Disbelievers, pagans, subscribers to the theory of
evolution, all of us are meant to be silenced.
I probably wouldn't have ever watched the show (because I don't have TiVo and who is really home on a Friday night?). However, I felt I needed to watch the show since it had also been banned in: KBTV in Beaumont, Texas WGBC in Meridian, Miss KARK in Little Rock WTWO in Terre Haute, Ind KNSW in Wichita, Kan. KSNG in Garden City, Kan. KSNC in Great Bend, Kan. KSNK in Oberlin, Kan.
Remind me not to move to Kansas. But more importantly, what's all of the hoopla?
We've had a bit of a lingual seizure here at Lingual Tremors for the last week--sorry for the absence of posts. However, it seems that homophobes momentarily took my tongue (and my fingers!) hostage. I just couldn't get up the energy to write as I fought off the homophobes on campus and in the media. Ugh.
Meanwhile, however, the ever lovely Dr. X sent me this brief cheer up:
Eugene Mirman over at the Village Voice did a piece on a "Christian" phone company that occasionally calls him to change his phone service. This is in response to what the company deems AT & T and MCI's "homosexual friendly" policies. You can read all about it in the article--but better, make sure to click on the link at the end of the article "Here's the Call." Mirman recorded one of his conversations with the company's telemarketer and heckles her (and the beauty of sarcasm, sometimes, is that people don't pick up on it) saying things like "AT & T sells sex favors?" and ""Oh my God, our Canadian pervert neighbors..." and "Basically God hates AT & T, MCI and Verizon?" It's a sad commentary on our current "family values" obsessed society, but a somewhat cheering and hilarious moment when Mirman turns the tables on the phone representative.
The Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church made two controversial and conservative rulings yesterday. First, Beth Stroud, the Germantown UMC pastor who outed herself in a sermon last year, was officially defrocked. While many people who follow church law expected this decision, far more shocking was the decision that:
Rev. Edward Johnson of the South Hill, Virginia, United Methodist
Church was within his rights for refusing to admit a homosexual man to
church membership and should not have been suspended for doing so.
The ruling said Johnson followed church law that gives the
pastor-in-charge the right to decide who can be received into
membership. It said he should be reinstated and given back pay to July
1, when he had been removed by his bishop.
Both of these rulings send a dangerous message about the not so "open doors" of the United Methodist Church. The Reconciling Ministries Network writes:
All Saints Eve 2005 is a sad day. Comfort will not come easy. As we
prepare to name the losses to the church on all Saints Day, the
Judicial Council has lengthened the list considerably. In decisions
released today, a majority of the Judicial Council of the United
Methodist Church removed the credentials of Rev. Irene Beth Stroud and
allowed the reinstatement of a clergyman that refused to accept a gay
person as a member declaring his action permissible.
We
call upon all United Methodists to respond in prayers offering care to
those in denial, shock, grief, dismay, or anger. We encourage you to
gather together.
The decisions of the Judicial Council
create a tragic moment in the history of our United Methodist Church.
The outcomes were surprising in their severity and in their disregard
for United Methodism. The harshness toward clergy continues a pattern;
the harshness toward lay members is shocking. Be careful. Often such
discriminatory rulings unleash long-harbored hatred.
It's a sad day, a tragic day, a day of grief and loss when doors were slammed shut and people were cast out. However, as angry and saddened as I am, my foot is still in the door jamb. That door isn't shut all the way & it will NOT be as long as we keep working to keep that door open. In solidarity & mourning--
GLSEN (gay, lesbian, & straight educator's network) has released its new study on harassment in schools, "From Teasing to Torment". The study finds, not surprisingly, that harassment is a major issue in K-12 schools, with many kids feeling truly tormented by their classmates.
YOU CAN'T WRITE FICTION THIS OUTRAGEOUS. Or, why bother when the government does it for you? Yeah. Allow me to take a page from Twisty here and offer you some fashion advice. Have you thought about tunics and robes? Perhaps in red? Yet again, it's time to brush up on your Atwood.
I suppose the following news doesn't come as much of a surprise in the "women can't get birth control," "women on welfare need to get married," and "women can't have abortions," but here is today's Handmaid's news via Feministing:
The Booman Tribune reports that Republicans in Indiana are drafting legislation that would make marriage a requirement for motherhood and would include criminal penalties for unmarried women who become pregnant. I’ll just let that sink in a sec.
According to a draft of the recommended change in state
law, every woman in Indiana seeking to become a mother through assisted
reproduction therapy such as in vitro fertilization, sperm donation,
and egg donation, must first file for a "petition for parentage" in
their local county probate court.
Only women who are married will be considered for the
"gestational certificate" that must be presented to any doctor who
facilitates the pregnancy. Further, the "gestational certificate" will
only be given to married couples that successfully complete the same
screening process currently required by law of adoptive parents.
Every nice democratic nation needs its Aunt Lydia. Ours is: Indiana Senator Patricia Miller who is behind this legislation. Think of her as Aunt Pat looking out for your interests. Remember, Aunt Pat knows better than you do. And, this might, perhaps, set the stage for all mothers down the line. And what about mothers who are pregnant but not "gestational certificate" worthy? Because, you do have to be worthy. Oh yeah. William "you could abort every black baby in this
country, and your crime rate would go down" Bennett has demonstrated that Republicans aren't totally against abortion. Yeah. Like I said, let's hope there's a plethora of red robe styles to choose from. I'd like mine organic and from cafepress...
Read On, Fearless Order of the Misfit-Womb (or future leaders of the uterarchy)
Of course. In the "you've got to be kidding me" column of the day, the New Orleans disaster is being blamed on the gay community. From 365Gay.com:
An evangelical Christian
group that regularly demonstrates at LGBT events is blaming gays for hurricane
Katrina.
Repent America says that God
"destroyed" New Orleans because of Southern Decadence, the gay
festival that was to have taken place in the city over the Labor Day weekend.
"Southern Decadence" has a history of filling the French Quarters
section of the city with drunken homosexuals engaging in sex acts in the public
streets and bars" Repent America director Michael Marcavage said in a
statement Wednesday.
"Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed
a wicked city." Marcavage said.
"From ‘Girls Gone Wild’ to ‘Southern Decadence’, New Orleans was a
city that had its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin. May it never
be the same."
"Let us pray for those ravaged by this disaster. However, we must not
forget that the citizens of New Orleans tolerated and welcomed the wickedness in
their city for so long," Marcavage said.
Can Chavez extradite Marcavage, along with Robertson?
This past weekend, compliments of Female Parental Unit, Ph.D., I went to see Oedipus at Palm Springs, the new play by the Five Lesbian Brothers: Maureen Angelos, Babs Davy, Dominique Dibbell, Peg Healey & Lisa Kron. OPS has been getting excellent local press, including a write up in the New Yorker.
The play centers on a weekend retreat at a lesbian resort. The 2 couples, engaged in long-term, serious relationships, arrive for some fun to celebrate Terri's birthday. What begins as a light-hearted comedy, full of nudity, quips, and well-timed humor, turns into one of the most haunting plays I've seen in a long time.
So here I am, whiling my summer days away in the library writing about HIV/AIDS and Coburn is holding up Lester Crawford's nomination as commissioner of the FDA because he wants condom packages relabeled to expose their "ineffectiveness" to STDs.
Now, people, it won't shock you to find out that I'm not flagellating myself in a closet as the last American virgin with impure thoughts. Instead, I'm a healthy, sexually active 30 something. So, let me be the first to ask you: Have you seen a condom package lately? It doesn't promise life, love, happiness and freedom from all diseases. It doesn't say "use this and you're home free, baby! Woo hoo!" What it does do is suggest that you'll be just a smidge safer if you're using a barrier than, say, doing the naked nasty with Mr. Charming from the bar last night.
Can we PLEASE circulate actual, factual information in this country? HIV/AIDS rates are RISING in the U.S. and it's due, in part, to the U.S. government's irresponsibility in promoting false information and deadly choices like "abstinence." We've gone from a government that responsibly took the lead in HIV prevention--albeit long into the epidemic--to a government that forces schools to teach abstinence only sex ed and encourages the rewriting of textbooks to support that position, that removes accurate information about condoms from the CDC website, that has withdrawn federal funding for programming that's not abstinence based, and that proposes people like Jerry Thacker to head up the President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. I feel like I'm living in a big novel and you never know where the next fictional moment will emerge.
I'm a broken record here: we don't have a cure for HIV, but we do know how to effectively enact prevention in this country. We have a proven track record of prevention and maintenance. And, that record is going down hill rapidly. I wonder what Canadian condoms say...
Action Steps:
Give Tom's D.C. office a call and let him know what you think about new condom labels: 202.224.5754
The United States of America, at least in the Northeast, is very invested in teaching children about the history of racial segregation, impressing upon fertile, young, minds that "separate but equal" is not something the U.S.A. will ever stand for again. Not only are all Americans equal, but the idea of segregation is morally repugnant. (Of course, the school system is still segregated economically and often racially). The promise of a democracy, we tell children, is that everyone is equal. Which is not exactly true, but then when has education ever been bastion of "truth"? However, in today's society, economic, social and political disparity is perhaps most apparent in the "institution" of marriage.
I recently returned from a business trip, where I had to share a hotel room with a colleague. Once morning she awoke to tell me that she dreamed I got married. And then, she asked if she might ask why I am not married. It's not that I wouldn't look fabulous in a white gown holding a killer bouquet of flowers. I'm a gardenia and daisies girl. But even I can put my love of flowers on hold for justice because the larger question is who would have to watch me do that?
So I began a little story I like to call, "why I will not participate in discrimination." My partner and I have been together for almost 11 years in a committed heterosexual relationship. And in that time, we have become increasingly committed to resisting marriage. Luckily for us, we were young and idealistic when the Republicans passed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. Nothing gave me more pleasure than writing to my local Republican representative to announce my decision to renounce the institution of marriage in response to the DOMA because on paper, I'm the prime target for a little wedding celebration: my partner and I are both Ph.D.s, both gainfully employed, both avid voters, both American-born citizens.
But we have many gay friends and family members, all of whom are denied basic rights in our society like social security benefits, benefits like family & medical leave, disability, or medical benefits. In the early years of the AIDS epidemic, same sex partners were routinely denied access to Intensive Care Units because they weren't "family." And, I won't even begin to enumerate the issues around gay parent adoption here. So, for me, the question of marriage is a question of equality. Why should I have active access to "rights" and "privileges" that are denied to those I love? And, why in the world would I ask them to participate in a ceremony to celebrate my privilege over theirs?
Marriage, in the U.S.A. is as much about economic union as it is about love. The number of couples who are actively married in a religious setting--and who continue to support their local church, synogogue, etc.--is declining. Marriage isn't about the ultimate union before God. It's about property and money, and often about women still being chattel. So, why should a shagging heterosexual couple "earn" the right to a wife or husband's disability benefits any more than a same sex couple? Why should a heterosexual immigrant be able to claim a green card just because he/she can put up with his/her heterosexual lover's idiosyncrasies? Any idiot can get pregnant and claim undying love for a man. And the government is very excited to exhort said "father" to assume parental duties.
For my money, I think the U.S. government has no business regulating personal relationships of any kind, same sex or heterosexual. What goes on in the bedroom should have no bearing on national policies and laws. And, if the government is going to regulate what "love" is, then it should be an equal opportunity regulation, open to one and all. If the U.S. is going to pride itself on its history of equality and ensuring that all people are equal, then it needs to begin to overturn those laws that continue a new and oppressive history of segregation.
All of this serves as background to say tonight, woo hoo for Canada! One more reason to love the country that spawned my beloved Margo, hockey, and Anne of Green Gables. Now Anne can ditch loathsome Gilbert for Emily of New Moon! There's the sequel I want to write!
Beth Duff-Brown reports "Canada Lawmakers OK Gay Marriage Bill." According to the new law, passed late Tuesday, 28 June 2005, same sex couples will now receive the same legal protections as heterosexual couples.
Places to consider moving to: Canada Netherlands Belgium Spain (see Let's Hear it for Gay Spain in LGBTQ)
I am not a Boy Scouts fan. A few years ago, we made the difficult decision as a family to withdraw my younger brother from the Boy Scouts. Although the Boy Scouts had provided him with a good outlet for social interactions with other children, we, as a family, felt that the Boy Scouts' policy towards gay scout leaders promoted a form of homophobia we could not support. After several phone calls, my mother determined that 4H did not have the same kind of homophobic policies; so, my brother and sister began their time with 4H instead of the Scouts.
Today's news brings further reports of problems with the Boy Scouts. Apparently, instead of working to offer young inner city children the advantages the Boy Scouts' program might bring to conflicted communities, Boy Scout leaders chose, instead, to artificially report the numbers of Black children served by the program. AP News, ABC and USA Today all report the scandal, based in Georgia, in today's news. Instead of leading the way toward a truly inclusive society, instead, the Boy Scouts chose to limit inner city children's access to their programs while simultaneously benefiting from false accountings of their Black and inner city populations.
While local papers, like the Tennessean report feel good news items of local Boy Scouts' accomplishments, I would like to suggest that the Boy Scouts would be a far more effective organization if it taught young boys how to live in, respect, and work for, a democratic nation defined by many different peoples.
The sea heaves up, hangs loaded o'er the land,
Breaks there, and buries its tumultuous strength. ~Robert Browning I don't subscribe much to the idea of heroes; my own saddest bildungsroman moments revolved around the realization that people I had idolized as heroes in my youth turned out to be so fallable, so human. I don't like the idea that hero worship ultimately leads to disappointment.
But, if I were going to nominate a hero for these troubled times, it might be Rev. Irene Elizabeth Stroud and Rev. Jim Hallum or their predecessors, Rev. Karen Dammann and Rev. Jimmy Creech. Rev. Stroud made headlines recently as a lesbian who is also a United Methodist minister. Earlier this year she was defrocked by a jury of her peers in a trial about Methodist juridical policy; Rev. Hallum has been her lead counsel. Today, the United Methodist Northeast Jurisdictional Committee on Appeals reversed the previous verdict which removed Stroud from her work as an ordained United Methodist minister. Anticipating an appeal on the part of the church, Stroud has stated that she will not return to the work of an ordained pastor until the matter is fully settled.
What saddens me about Beth's struggle is that what I have to say on the matter hasn't changed since I was in the seventh grade. I have been a United Methodist for my entire life; sometimes people find my lefty beliefs at odds with institutionalized religion. But the church has always seemed comfortable with my fervent belief in social justice. What the world sees as a contradiction, my church communities have viewed as an asset.
Always nomadic, because of my father's work as a United Methodist pastor, for me, the church has always been as much of a stable definition of "home" as I have known. Outside of my nuclear family, the church was the next identifiable "structure" of home. I grew up in and made my home there; it's something that can and does follow me as I move from place to place.
Like all relationships, however, my own commitment to the church is often troubled. Beth Stroud is the latest manifestation of that psychic and emotional disturbance. If you're unfamiliar with the United Methodist Church, it is a church governed by democratic gatherings of delegates who decide local church policy--based on geographical gatherings called "Conferences"--and international policy every four years at "General Conference." I grew up an active voice in this process. And, when I was in the seventh grade, I was proud that my conference was one of the first conferences in the country to take a position on homosexuality that differed from the official church stance. We were leading the way toward change.
This might surprise you, particularly if you live, work, think & worship outside of institutional church structures. For me, however, it was the action of a church which had nurtured my own social and political beliefs. I understood the church as the place where we worked to make society a better place.
Even at that young age, I took part in the debates over that vote, passionately arguing for an inclusive church. I was influenced by my parents, but also by the people from my own local church who set a powerful example for me about faith in action. I didn't understand the church as a place dictated by defining exclusive categories of "belonging" and "outsider." I thought we had won the vote because we had to; it was the only "right" thing to occur. And I was devastated the next year when the conservatives in the conference mustered enough votes to overturn that vote. I was especially devastated as I watched a gay friend, also in attendance, turn away in tears as people we knew and loved made public declarations of prejudicial exclusivity based on narrow definitions of church teachings.
Over the years, I made the decision to stay in the church and work with a small, committed group of people actively working to change church policy. So much of my life has been in the church, that I didn't feel like I could distance myself. Instead, I wanted to remain engaged in trying to change the institution I love.
But as I read the news today, I feel a little bit like a rock along the coastline. Nothing I have to say here is new. Nothing I have to say is earth shattering. I've been making the same arguments for almost 20 years. And, the conservatives have been spewing their hate speech. I feel like the waves keep coming and coming and it's my job just to stay firm and unmoved. Yet, how does that change anything? We're not really talking to one another--we continue to talk past one another.
A few years ago, Jed Bartlett famously took on a "Dr. Laura" like character and spewed a much-circulated speech with various "rules" in the Bible that we don't follow today. It was a funny cultural moment as the sacred and the mundane came together. At the same time, however, it was also a moment when I really had to question what I was about. Jed's arguments were so simple, so apparent, and yet received so controversially.
It made me wonder what I'm about; I think character might be measured by the way we learn to talk with those whose views are so different than our own. Many days, I find my own character lacking; when I go "home," I feel like I should be sheltered from the ills outside of the doors. I don't want to have to fight at home. And yet, inevitably, in Bible Study or in a random comment, someone will raise "the issue" and I have to continually make a decision about how to move forward. Some days, I do that well, but often I fail miserably.
When I think, then, of the idea of a pastor, I'm reminded that Jesus was primarily a teacher; that's what ministers do--they help people to see the world around them in a different light. I am proud to have had many great teachers in the church from my parents to my youth leaders to the pastors of the churches I have joined as an adult. I am proud that I have found among those teachers a place where I could learn how to be a better leader, where I could learn to negotiate the difficulties of the spirit in a modern world. Today, Beth reminded me that the journey toward change is hard; her courage and joyful spirit also reminded me that along the way, we have to be steady and solid in our own spirit.
So, today, I want to celebrate Beth and her faithful companion in this quest, Jim Hallum. I admire their strength and leadership in moving Beth's case forward. I don't know Beth or Jim, but I feel like I do. I feel that if we were seated together at the same table, we would recognize that glint of hope in one another's eyes. And if I lived in the Philadelphia area, I would be proud to call either one of them an everyday hero, and a pastor I could learn from again and again.
Spain is looking better and better... for those of us getting increasingly tired of the United States of Conservative Christendom, Spain's lower house of parliament approved a bill which, if approved by the Sena
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