Does anyone actually care what Gary Bauer thinks?
I see that Gary Bauer is pushing hackneyed "gay agenda" line yet again:
" . . .A conservative spokesman and former U.S. presidential candidate warns that efforts to advance the homosexual agenda will intensify when the new Democrat-led Congress convenes Thursday. Gary Bauer of American Values believes the homosexual rights movement sees the new Congress as a vehicle to make further progress in getting homosexuality to be considered a protected civil rights category."
Oooh I'm so scared (those who are familiar with ghetto girl dialect can slur their vowels now).
I'm going to fight my first impulse of insulting Mr. Bauer by referring to him as Skeletor (come on, you know he looks like the villain from Masters of the Universe) because I really don't care about him.
When Bauer was the head of the Family Research Council, he did have some degree of power. But since resigning to run for President in the 2000 election, he has become as irrelevant as an 80's hair band.
I do sincerely hope, however, that is new Congress do their duty and work to pass laws that will make life better for the gay and lesbian community.
After all, we are Americans, too.
Can we stop the flow of lies?
I like to go online and check out sites that are anti-gay. I find it empowering to know what the other side is thinking. Reading their lies reminds me of the work I need to do by writing my book.
It can get depressing too. Today, I located a South African web page that spoke against gay adoption. No doubt the creators of the page considers themselves Christian and it is for this reason that they oppose gay adoption. I have no problems with this. What I have a problem with is the information the page contained, like the following:
A study of 4340 adults in five metropolitan areas of the USA showed that bisexuals and homosexuals (about 4% of the sample) compared to heterosexuals:
· exposed themselves sexually to more different bodies (more frequently admitting to participating in orgies and reported larger numbers of sexual partners);
· more frequently participated in socially disruptive sex (e.g., deliberate infection of others, cheating in marriage, making obscene phone calls);
· more frequently reported engaging in socially disruptive activities (e.g., criminality, shoplifting, tax cheating); and
· more frequently exposed themselves to biological hazards (e.g. fisting, bestiality, ingestion of faeces and sadomasochism).
That is Paul Cameron's infamous ISIS study of the early 1980s. Bear in mind that the citation does not mention Cameron as the author of the study nor does it talk about how Cameron conducted the study.
It does not mention:
That only 41 gay men and 25 lesbians took part in this study,
the study consisted of over 500 questions, given to the first person answering the door, and was picked up a week later, and
the study has been discredited over and over again.
The South African web page piece contains other distortions.
Which leads me to ask this question: can we ever stop the lies?
That web page is just one of a myriad of web pages that repeat Cameronesque lies about the gay and lesbian community.
When people seek to do evil, they are usually successful. Mopping up the mess they make tends to take a long time. And it is tiresome work. And it does get discouraging at times.
I guess I should be reminded of the title of a song Shawn Colvin sings:
Steady On!
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Book stuff and history
Yaaaayyyy! I've finished making the copy editing changes in my book and it only took two days.
Now I get to do it all over again.
Seriously though, I have given myself a deadline of February 1 for my manuscript to be fully ready to be published.
I would like to give huge props to Joe Brummer for his excellent recap of last year's events. I didn't realize that so much good was done for our community. I encourage everyone to read it.
Lastly, I received an interesting package in the mail from my copy editor. It was a book he wrote entitled We're So Glad You Asked: 52 quizzes for the Whole Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Heterosexual Family.
It is an excellent book that challenges readers to become knowledgeable on gay history.
We need more of that.
I am an African-American and the proud history of black people has been drilled in me on many occasions. My schools celebrated Dr. King's birthday long before it became a national holiday. We celebrated Black History Month when it was originally Black History Week with a schoolwide assembly in which we all participated.
The sense of urgency had by those who taught me to love my African-American heritage is something the gay and lesbian community needs.
There has been so much discussion on the similarities and differences between the African-American and gay rights movement. I have sat on the fence because I believe that both groups want to disavow or acknowledge the similiarities based on selfish reasons.
I will acknowledge that both groups are similar in one way: we have been miseducated and taught to hate ourselves.
Just as some folks want to push the idea that African-Americans and black people in general did nothing to contribute to the history of the world, some people want to deny the gay and lesbian community our rich heritage.
They want to keep us in the dark, pushing the idea that we are defined by how some of us have sexual relations.
The anti-gay industry wants to hold us back from being celebrating our orientation while they tell the world how nasty and evil we are.
We shouldn't let their ignorance stop us. We need to tell the story of Alexander the Great, who conquered much of the known world before he was 33; of Billy Tipton, who started her own jazz combo; of Bayard Rustin, who organized the 1963 March on Washington, of Egyptian queen Hatshepsut and Swedish queen Christina, both ruling as capable as a man.
The list goes on and on.
We owe to our gay children that they know these people.
And we owe it to ourselves. A refresher course in pride never hurts.
Yaaaayyyy! I've finished making the copy editing changes in my book and it only took two days.
Now I get to do it all over again.
Seriously though, I have given myself a deadline of February 1 for my manuscript to be fully ready to be published.
I would like to give huge props to Joe Brummer for his excellent recap of last year's events. I didn't realize that so much good was done for our community. I encourage everyone to read it.
Lastly, I received an interesting package in the mail from my copy editor. It was a book he wrote entitled We're So Glad You Asked: 52 quizzes for the Whole Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Heterosexual Family.
It is an excellent book that challenges readers to become knowledgeable on gay history.
We need more of that.
I am an African-American and the proud history of black people has been drilled in me on many occasions. My schools celebrated Dr. King's birthday long before it became a national holiday. We celebrated Black History Month when it was originally Black History Week with a schoolwide assembly in which we all participated.
The sense of urgency had by those who taught me to love my African-American heritage is something the gay and lesbian community needs.
There has been so much discussion on the similarities and differences between the African-American and gay rights movement. I have sat on the fence because I believe that both groups want to disavow or acknowledge the similiarities based on selfish reasons.
I will acknowledge that both groups are similar in one way: we have been miseducated and taught to hate ourselves.
Just as some folks want to push the idea that African-Americans and black people in general did nothing to contribute to the history of the world, some people want to deny the gay and lesbian community our rich heritage.
They want to keep us in the dark, pushing the idea that we are defined by how some of us have sexual relations.
The anti-gay industry wants to hold us back from being celebrating our orientation while they tell the world how nasty and evil we are.
We shouldn't let their ignorance stop us. We need to tell the story of Alexander the Great, who conquered much of the known world before he was 33; of Billy Tipton, who started her own jazz combo; of Bayard Rustin, who organized the 1963 March on Washington, of Egyptian queen Hatshepsut and Swedish queen Christina, both ruling as capable as a man.
The list goes on and on.
We owe to our gay children that they know these people.
And we owe it to ourselves. A refresher course in pride never hurts.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Massachusetts GODDAMN Massachusetts
Well I hope everyone had a good holiday. I spent a good bit of time editing my manuscript while totally ignoring this blog.
And now when I am ready to come back to it, an issue hits me in the face with the urgency of a runaway locomotive.
By now, everyone has heard what has happened in Massachusetts, so there is no need to rehash it. Check out this link if you are not aware of the situation.
What is happening gets me angry on so many levels. The first level, of course, is envisioning the press releases that will surely come from Agape Press and that bunch.
Trust me when I say that there is nothing more annoying than a self-righteous gloater.
On a more important level, I cringe to think about another go-round on the "marriage train fight."
I'm probably in the minority when I say that this fight over marriage equality has revealed a bourgeois element of our community.
This point was driven home to me when I read the article about how difficult it is for gay students to get gay/straight alliances started in high schools, despite the fact that the law is on their side.
Meanwhile us black gay men and lesbian women are still fending for ourselves, invisible to two communities that won't give us any respect or visibility.
I am all for marriage equality but gaining it is not the salve for the ills affecting our community. I know gay men who are out but have a negative view of our community. Some don't even know why we should fight for the rights that should be ours, including the right to take care of our families. Some have drunken the kool-aid of lies and actually believe that being gay condemns them to a life of loneliness and vapid sexual relations. Why? Because while there has been so much work about our legal rights, no one has said a word about our spiritual and psychological well-being.
Legal rights are good things, but having a positive spiritual and psychological foundation is more important. Having pride in ourselves is not something we can get from a clique of friends, going out to a club, our material possessions, or fighting for rights that some of us don't even feel we deserve to have.
We have been forgetting that for too long.
Well I hope everyone had a good holiday. I spent a good bit of time editing my manuscript while totally ignoring this blog.
And now when I am ready to come back to it, an issue hits me in the face with the urgency of a runaway locomotive.
By now, everyone has heard what has happened in Massachusetts, so there is no need to rehash it. Check out this link if you are not aware of the situation.
What is happening gets me angry on so many levels. The first level, of course, is envisioning the press releases that will surely come from Agape Press and that bunch.
Trust me when I say that there is nothing more annoying than a self-righteous gloater.
On a more important level, I cringe to think about another go-round on the "marriage train fight."
I'm probably in the minority when I say that this fight over marriage equality has revealed a bourgeois element of our community.
This point was driven home to me when I read the article about how difficult it is for gay students to get gay/straight alliances started in high schools, despite the fact that the law is on their side.
Meanwhile us black gay men and lesbian women are still fending for ourselves, invisible to two communities that won't give us any respect or visibility.
I am all for marriage equality but gaining it is not the salve for the ills affecting our community. I know gay men who are out but have a negative view of our community. Some don't even know why we should fight for the rights that should be ours, including the right to take care of our families. Some have drunken the kool-aid of lies and actually believe that being gay condemns them to a life of loneliness and vapid sexual relations. Why? Because while there has been so much work about our legal rights, no one has said a word about our spiritual and psychological well-being.
Legal rights are good things, but having a positive spiritual and psychological foundation is more important. Having pride in ourselves is not something we can get from a clique of friends, going out to a club, our material possessions, or fighting for rights that some of us don't even feel we deserve to have.
We have been forgetting that for too long.
Friday, December 29, 2006
WHEW! My manuscript returns
I know that it's a stupid title but that was the first word that came to mind when I opened the package sent by my copy editor.
I have tons (and that's not an exaggeration) of work to do in applying the corrections he sent. As such, I will be busy for a while. I will cotinue to post but barring something major taking place(and with people like Peter LaBarbera and Lou Sheldon around, it is possible), count on me being less loquacious than I usually am.
Meanwhile, Jim Burroway of Box Turtle Bulletin wrote an excellent piece about the hypocrisy of the anti-gay industry - New Survey: 95% Have Had Premarital Sex
Hypocrisy in the religious right? No way.
More sarcasm on my part; it's starting to look like a trend.
I know that it's a stupid title but that was the first word that came to mind when I opened the package sent by my copy editor.
I have tons (and that's not an exaggeration) of work to do in applying the corrections he sent. As such, I will be busy for a while. I will cotinue to post but barring something major taking place(and with people like Peter LaBarbera and Lou Sheldon around, it is possible), count on me being less loquacious than I usually am.
Meanwhile, Jim Burroway of Box Turtle Bulletin wrote an excellent piece about the hypocrisy of the anti-gay industry - New Survey: 95% Have Had Premarital Sex
Hypocrisy in the religious right? No way.
More sarcasm on my part; it's starting to look like a trend.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Dancing around the Federal Equal Access Act
In Minnesota, some folks are all upset because while a school district brought in gay groups for voluntary staff workshops, it said no when they wanted to bring a conservative organization, the Minnesota Family Institute, to present "the other point of view."
The school district claimed that it said no on the grounds that the presentation is based "on religious beliefs and that schools avoid religion."
But based on what Abby Ludvigson, coordinator of the Institute's seminar program, is quoted as saying, the school district should base its opinion on the fact that the Minnesota Family Institute is going to tell lies:
"They're putting our children at risk by affirming a lifestyle that is dangerous and unhealthy."
The issue of gay student safety in schools is one that I am very point blank on. Students should be allowed to form gay/straight support groups and legislation that would keep gay students from being bullied should be passed with the utmost fervor. Also school staff should be educated on their gay students.
I personally believe that for the most part, gay children are our responsibility. We older gays and lesbians have a responsibility to make sure they are not only proud of their orientation, but that they also make the right decisions in their lives. We should be at the forefront of pushing for these things.
So I get angry when I hear people like Abby Ludvigson turn the tolerance argument on its head.
This is yet another tactic of the anti-gay industry. In court battles regarding gay/straight clubs in high schools and the like, they have been on the losing end thanks to the Federal Equal Access Act. This act guarantees the right of students to form clubs, including gay/straight alliances. With these alliances come the knowledge that schools have to be educated on the needs of gay pupils.
Seeing that they cannot use the courts to block students from forming these groups, the anti-gay industry has engineered a new tactic. They claim that students should have the "right" to hear the other side of "homosexual argument." They claim that school districts should show "tolerance" for the supposed "ex-gay" side.
They have also banded together and started the "Day of Truth" to combat GLSEN's "Day of Silence."
The "Day of Silence" speaks to the problems that gay students face on a daily basis in schools.
The "Day of Truth" is yet another way for the anti-gay industry to spread their Paul Cameroneque lies, which serves to villify gay youth and make them at risk.
Now I believe in tolerance for people who think that homosexuality is a sin. However, I do not believe in allowing people to come into schools and, in the name of tolerance, spread the lie that homosexuality is some sort of death sentence.
This argument for tolerance has created a stalemate between us and the anti-gay industry. What we need to do is to combat it with truth.
First of all, no study has ever said that homosexuality in itself is a "dangerous lifestyle." No study has ever said that being openly gay will guarantee a short lifespan or disease.
Studies do say that negative outside influences can lead to gay youth making bad choices. These negative outside influences include being bullied by classmates or not having access to proper information regarding one's sexual orientation. Or maybe being told by a well-meaning but ignorant wannabe authority figure that being gay is some sort of death sentence.
When gay children are given proper support, they grow up to be contributing members of society. However, what the Minnesota Family Institute wants to give are lies.
What's next? Saying that gay children need a lobotomy?
Who cares if its dangerous. After all, shouldn't one show tolerance for all opinions, even if some opinions are lies?
In case you couldn' t tell, that was sarcasm.
In Minnesota, some folks are all upset because while a school district brought in gay groups for voluntary staff workshops, it said no when they wanted to bring a conservative organization, the Minnesota Family Institute, to present "the other point of view."
The school district claimed that it said no on the grounds that the presentation is based "on religious beliefs and that schools avoid religion."
But based on what Abby Ludvigson, coordinator of the Institute's seminar program, is quoted as saying, the school district should base its opinion on the fact that the Minnesota Family Institute is going to tell lies:
"They're putting our children at risk by affirming a lifestyle that is dangerous and unhealthy."
The issue of gay student safety in schools is one that I am very point blank on. Students should be allowed to form gay/straight support groups and legislation that would keep gay students from being bullied should be passed with the utmost fervor. Also school staff should be educated on their gay students.
I personally believe that for the most part, gay children are our responsibility. We older gays and lesbians have a responsibility to make sure they are not only proud of their orientation, but that they also make the right decisions in their lives. We should be at the forefront of pushing for these things.
So I get angry when I hear people like Abby Ludvigson turn the tolerance argument on its head.
This is yet another tactic of the anti-gay industry. In court battles regarding gay/straight clubs in high schools and the like, they have been on the losing end thanks to the Federal Equal Access Act. This act guarantees the right of students to form clubs, including gay/straight alliances. With these alliances come the knowledge that schools have to be educated on the needs of gay pupils.
Seeing that they cannot use the courts to block students from forming these groups, the anti-gay industry has engineered a new tactic. They claim that students should have the "right" to hear the other side of "homosexual argument." They claim that school districts should show "tolerance" for the supposed "ex-gay" side.
They have also banded together and started the "Day of Truth" to combat GLSEN's "Day of Silence."
The "Day of Silence" speaks to the problems that gay students face on a daily basis in schools.
The "Day of Truth" is yet another way for the anti-gay industry to spread their Paul Cameroneque lies, which serves to villify gay youth and make them at risk.
Now I believe in tolerance for people who think that homosexuality is a sin. However, I do not believe in allowing people to come into schools and, in the name of tolerance, spread the lie that homosexuality is some sort of death sentence.
This argument for tolerance has created a stalemate between us and the anti-gay industry. What we need to do is to combat it with truth.
First of all, no study has ever said that homosexuality in itself is a "dangerous lifestyle." No study has ever said that being openly gay will guarantee a short lifespan or disease.
Studies do say that negative outside influences can lead to gay youth making bad choices. These negative outside influences include being bullied by classmates or not having access to proper information regarding one's sexual orientation. Or maybe being told by a well-meaning but ignorant wannabe authority figure that being gay is some sort of death sentence.
When gay children are given proper support, they grow up to be contributing members of society. However, what the Minnesota Family Institute wants to give are lies.
What's next? Saying that gay children need a lobotomy?
Who cares if its dangerous. After all, shouldn't one show tolerance for all opinions, even if some opinions are lies?
In case you couldn' t tell, that was sarcasm.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Careening towards the new year
A couple of things are happening.
First from Massachusetts, a victory for our side.
The Massachusetts Supreme Court said that it cannot force lawmakers to vote on a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. The court rebuked the legislature for not voting, but regardless, Massachusetts is still the only state that allows gay marriage and that won't change for a while.
However, the only joy I can take from this decision is that it will drive James Dobson and company out of their minds with anger.
I really don't like this new tendency to base the success or failure of our movement on whether or not we get marriage equality. The success of the gay rights movement will not be decided on whether or not we can walk down the aisle, but whether or not many of us feel that we deserve to walk down the aisle.
Meanwhile, former President Ford passed away yesterday and it got me thinking about Oliver Sipple, the man who prevented Ford from being assassinated in 1975.
What happened to him was a negative in the history of gay America. Sipple was a closeted gay man and because of his diligence, he found himself to be a "poster child" for gay rights, even though he didn't want to be. Sipple was outed by those who claimed to be on his side and slowly his life was ruined because of it.
This is not to blame anyone for what happened. If anything, it should serve as a reminder to those of us who are leaders in this struggle for equality to never forget the individuals they are trying to help.
Behind the movement are individual people with different lives and different circumstances. Some may be able to come out quickly, but others will take time; that is an unfortunate fact of life.
If it becomes okay to sacrifice the life of one person for the greater good (i.e. visibility), then we have lost our souls.
Remember that the next time a new controversy about a "closeted" movie, television, or singing star takes place.
A couple of things are happening.
First from Massachusetts, a victory for our side.
The Massachusetts Supreme Court said that it cannot force lawmakers to vote on a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. The court rebuked the legislature for not voting, but regardless, Massachusetts is still the only state that allows gay marriage and that won't change for a while.
However, the only joy I can take from this decision is that it will drive James Dobson and company out of their minds with anger.
I really don't like this new tendency to base the success or failure of our movement on whether or not we get marriage equality. The success of the gay rights movement will not be decided on whether or not we can walk down the aisle, but whether or not many of us feel that we deserve to walk down the aisle.
Meanwhile, former President Ford passed away yesterday and it got me thinking about Oliver Sipple, the man who prevented Ford from being assassinated in 1975.
What happened to him was a negative in the history of gay America. Sipple was a closeted gay man and because of his diligence, he found himself to be a "poster child" for gay rights, even though he didn't want to be. Sipple was outed by those who claimed to be on his side and slowly his life was ruined because of it.
This is not to blame anyone for what happened. If anything, it should serve as a reminder to those of us who are leaders in this struggle for equality to never forget the individuals they are trying to help.
Behind the movement are individual people with different lives and different circumstances. Some may be able to come out quickly, but others will take time; that is an unfortunate fact of life.
If it becomes okay to sacrifice the life of one person for the greater good (i.e. visibility), then we have lost our souls.
Remember that the next time a new controversy about a "closeted" movie, television, or singing star takes place.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Holiday over, back to the battlefield
I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas. Mine was nice and quiet - my favorite type of holiday. And I even managed to get some work done.
Which reminds me - I want to marry my copy editor.
Okay maybe not, but over the weekend, he spoke to me about my manuscript and gave me a bunch of excellent ideas for making my prose better. Thanks to him, I took care of a problem that had plagued me since I finished my manuscript.
And speaking of problems, a while back, someone wrote in (in a not very nice way) that our friend Robert Knight of the Concerned Women for America had moved on to the Media Research Center (MRC). The MRC is yet another one of those right winged, the world sucks until everyone does what we think they should do groups.
At the time, I wasn't aware of the move because I didn't see any press release and such. Apparently though, Mr. Knight has moved on.
Robert Knight figures greatly in my book due to his lying exploits with the Concerned Women for America and the Family Research Council. It really doesn't matter where he goes because Mr. Knight has created an interesting paper trail and I have copies of almost all of it.
Lastly, I think our friend Peter LaBarbera is slipping:
Chevron scholarships are available to students in the University of Colorado's School of Engineering who are in the "gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender" community or who support its activities through volunteering. WorldNetDaily reports that CU engineering students received an e-mail recently that offered $1,000 scholarships from Chevron for meeting those qualifications, and writing about their involvement in an essay. It was a move the story quotes a school official as saying is Chevron's attempt to benefit engineering field minorities that are "under-represented." Peter LaBarbera is president of Americans for Truth, a group that monitors homosexual activity in the culture. LaBarbera thinks the scholarship symbolizes a society that increasingly rewards people for sinful behavior. "It's a shocking thing when you come to the point where America is going to have affirmative action based on affiliation with homosexual practices," says the activist. According to LaBarbera, the practice of affirming homosexuality is everywhere -- from the educational and corporate worlds to the political realm. "America is becoming a society that is rewarding people for practicing homosexual sin, essentially -- and it's incumbent upon Christians to speak up and say how wrong that is," he adds. The Americans for Truth spokesman says a society cannot be healthy when it rewards people for what he describes as "unhealthy and immoral behavior."
No claims about the "short life span of gay men" or how Chevron is rewarding "dangerous behavior?"
Why Peter, are we getting to you?
I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas. Mine was nice and quiet - my favorite type of holiday. And I even managed to get some work done.
Which reminds me - I want to marry my copy editor.
Okay maybe not, but over the weekend, he spoke to me about my manuscript and gave me a bunch of excellent ideas for making my prose better. Thanks to him, I took care of a problem that had plagued me since I finished my manuscript.
And speaking of problems, a while back, someone wrote in (in a not very nice way) that our friend Robert Knight of the Concerned Women for America had moved on to the Media Research Center (MRC). The MRC is yet another one of those right winged, the world sucks until everyone does what we think they should do groups.
At the time, I wasn't aware of the move because I didn't see any press release and such. Apparently though, Mr. Knight has moved on.
Robert Knight figures greatly in my book due to his lying exploits with the Concerned Women for America and the Family Research Council. It really doesn't matter where he goes because Mr. Knight has created an interesting paper trail and I have copies of almost all of it.
Lastly, I think our friend Peter LaBarbera is slipping:
Chevron scholarships are available to students in the University of Colorado's School of Engineering who are in the "gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender" community or who support its activities through volunteering. WorldNetDaily reports that CU engineering students received an e-mail recently that offered $1,000 scholarships from Chevron for meeting those qualifications, and writing about their involvement in an essay. It was a move the story quotes a school official as saying is Chevron's attempt to benefit engineering field minorities that are "under-represented." Peter LaBarbera is president of Americans for Truth, a group that monitors homosexual activity in the culture. LaBarbera thinks the scholarship symbolizes a society that increasingly rewards people for sinful behavior. "It's a shocking thing when you come to the point where America is going to have affirmative action based on affiliation with homosexual practices," says the activist. According to LaBarbera, the practice of affirming homosexuality is everywhere -- from the educational and corporate worlds to the political realm. "America is becoming a society that is rewarding people for practicing homosexual sin, essentially -- and it's incumbent upon Christians to speak up and say how wrong that is," he adds. The Americans for Truth spokesman says a society cannot be healthy when it rewards people for what he describes as "unhealthy and immoral behavior."
No claims about the "short life span of gay men" or how Chevron is rewarding "dangerous behavior?"
Why Peter, are we getting to you?
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