Archive for the ‘Faaabulosity’ Category
How White Supremacists Help Advance the Cause of Marriage Equality
So, District Court Judge Friedman recently struck down Michigan's ban on marriage equality as unconstitutional. Michigan AG Bill Schuette vowed to appeal, wasting taxpayer money (oops! my editorial comment). Now, a white supremacist group has filed a brief in support of his case, basically using the same arguments that he and similar marriage-equality foes have […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity, Laughing Matters
DOMA is Unconstitutional
With the Supreme Court set to hear oral arguments soon on whether the "Defense of Marriage Act" is unconstitutional, former President Bill Clinton has written a timely statement calling for the overturn of DOMA, a bill he signed into law: Americans have been at this sort of a crossroads often enough to recognize the right […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Mainline Homophobes Move to the Fringe
What if they gave a Supreme Court case and no one showed up? So, the Supremes are to consider California's Prop 8 and part of DOMA next month. Will there be anything substantial and sensible to consider? "Standing" is a big legal issue, because no one wants to defend these dinosaurs anymore. The arguments that […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Watching the Sea Change: Post-Election Day One
We spent election evening with friends, watching returns. I don't usually pay much attention to election returns "as they are happening"–to me it's just analyzing the results for something that's already happened–but I enjoyed everyone's enthusiasm for our democratic process. This is not to say, however, that I was not keenly interested in what the […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Signs of the End Times
Today the signs of the end time — for me, that would be the end to popular support for institutionalized homophobia in the US — are rife and reports are falling in front of me almost faster than I can keep track of them. Just to set the stage, this happens for me against a […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Today in Homophobic Voting
Today bigots in North Carolina managed to scare their neighbors into voting for the odious Amendment 1, a constitutional amendment that denies equality to same-sex couples in the state. Yet, I am calm, verging on the insouciant. Not long ago I had occasion to write this: When I started writing fiction, in 1998, it was […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Zinnia Jones on Dan Savage on the Bible
So, a few weeks ago the country's loudest, most outspoken ultrachristians got upset because GLAAD started publishing the things they said, verbatim. Using their own words apparently made it a "smear campaign" and an "attack". Last week Dan Savage gave a talk in which he pointed out, among other "bullshit", that the Bible gives instructions […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
What the Principled Republican is Believing this Week
For how many decades have we been seeing conservatives crusading under the banner that says "State's Rights"? Now, I'm sure that somewhere there are a few who actually are anti-federalist, but for the most part it's a cynical scheme employed in an attempt to derail any federal attempt at doing something distasteful to the politicians […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
Frank Kameny on "Gay is Good"
The one thing I’ve said, if I want to be remembered for nothing else, it’s back in July, 1968 I coined the slogan “Gay Is Good.” And that really, it sort of, it epitomizes really my entire approach to all the issues. You have to take an affirmative approach on these things. In other words, […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Faaabulosity
Because He's Conservative
"So I don’t support gay marriage despite being a Conservative. I support gay marriage because I’m a Conservative." — David Cameron, UK Prime Minister [quoted by Peter Lloyd, "PM David Cameron re-iterates backing for gay marriage at party conference speech", Pink Paper, 5 October 2011.]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Faaabulosity
Pride in New York
It's the Empire State Building with its gay-pride colors on, but this celebration is special. New York City's gay-pride events were already scheduled for this weekend but they are a bigger-than-ever party celebrating the arrival, late Friday night, 24 June 2011, of marriage equality in the state of New York. The New York assembly has […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity, Personal Notebook
Protecting "Traditional Spaghetti"
My purpose in quoting this news excerpt is not to recapitulate the dreary and clichéd patter of anti-gay politicians, as you will see below. BOSTON — For anyone paying attention to the Governor's Council recently, the questions were predictable, the exchanges inevitable. Charles O. Cipollini repeatedly pressed [Massachusetts'] Gov. Deval Patrick's latest state Supreme Judicial […]
In: All, Faaabulosity, Laughing Matters
You've Got to be Carefully Taught
Remarking on the news that the Catholic Church in Rhode Island was to kick off a program to "educate" parishioners about the "dangers" of marriage equality: [P]eople must be coached into seeing [gays and lesbians who wish to marry] as a threat, since the instinct is to see us as the benign lovers that we […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Faaabulosity
When Are Two Things the Same?
As a response today to the Colorado Senate's Judiciary Committee voting 6-3 today to pass civil unions, I read this (here): "It is as close to marriage as can be construed in Colorado law without using that word," said Republican Sen. Kevin Lundberg, a long-time opponent of LGBT rights. "For that reason it is marriage […]
In: All, Faaabulosity, Snake Oil--Cheap!
A Letter to MD Delegate Valentino-Smith
In the process that's trying to move a bill for marriage equality in my home state of Maryland, last week's step was to get the bill out of the Maryland House Judiciary Committee so that it can be debated and voted on by all the delegates. One of my district's delegates, Geraldine Valentino-Smith, sat on […]
In: All, Faaabulosity, Personal Notebook
George W. Trippon — The Film
Sometime last year my friend Arne introduced me to the late George W. Trippon (1916–2010) and pointed out some videos on YouTube of Trippon's program "Sew Whats New"; the episodes I saw were from the early 1970s although we're told the program ran from 1972 until 1994. George W. Trippon–who is, surprisingly, apparently not famous […]
Rainbows of his Mind
My interest is captivated by this item from Mike Tidmus [source ; his post has the links]: San Diego’s least meteorologically-inclined Christian, James Hartline, claims an airplane was struck by lightning because it flew through a rainbow — the universal symbol of gay and lesbian rights. That offense, apparently, pissed off Hartline’s god. Tweets San […]
In: All, Faaabulosity, It's Only Rocket Science
Mullen on Integrity
"Our people sacrifice a lot for their country, including their lives. None of them should have to sacrifice their integrity as well." — Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, quoted by President Obama in remarks at the signing of "The Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010" on 22 December 2010.
In: Common-Place Book, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Fulfilling the Meaning, not Redefining
I want to say to the gentleman to my left [Brian Brown], gay people who want to marry have no desire to redefine marriage in any way. When women got the vote they did not redefine voting. When African-Americans got the right to sit at a lunch counter alongside white people, they did not redefine […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Faaabulosity
Ban Ki-Moon : Reform Discriminative Laws
Human rights make up one of the three pillars of the United Nations, alongside development and peace and security. Protecting human rights means protecting the rights of everyone, without distinction or discrimination, and paying particular attention to the most vulnerable and marginalized, who may face special obstacles to the full enjoyment of their rights. In […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Faaabulosity