Sympathy

Question of the Week

Are you concerned about the ballot outcomes in North Carolina, Minnesota and Washington?

The New Wedding Color: Khaki

According to Wipe Out Homophobia, this is Cory Huston and Avarice Guerrero getting engaged at Camp Pendleton.  The bended knee--very traditional.  One male marine proposing to another for all to see--not so much.

God's Man on the Gridiron

Ron Brown, 55, is an assistant football coach at the University of Nebraska.  He also leads a Christian ministry, hosts a Christian radio show and writes a column for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes' magazine.

Are you sensing trouble?

Last month Brown testified at an Omaha City Council hearing against an ordinance protecting LGBT people from discrimination.

"The question I have for you all is, like Pontius Pilate, what are you going to do with Jesus?" he asked. "Ultimately, if you don't have a relationship with him, and you don't really have a Bible-believing mentality, really, anything goes . . . At the end of the day it matters what God thinks most."

God might've rolled his eyes that Brown gave his address as Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.  I know I did.

Barbara Baier, who sits on the Lincoln Board of Education, was peeved.  She wrote to university officials asking the coach be fired, noting the university has a non-discrimination policy that includes sexual orientation, and that Brown creates a dismal atmosphere for gay student-athletes.

Brown is feeling cozy and warm in a martyr's mantle.  "To be fired for my faith would be a greater honor than to be fired because we didn't win enough games," Brown told The Associated Press. "I haven't lost any sleep over it. I realize at some point, we live in a politically correct enough culture where that very well could happen."

Whether that could happen to a football coach in Nebraska is the question.  Cornhuskers pray to Jesus—to beat Oklahoma.

A Gay Gone Wild

Josh Rimer gives Madonna the gay treatment--as if that isn't redundant.  Fun stuff.  Thanks to The Bilerico Project for sharing.

This Week's Quote

Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.

James Baldwin

Source:  Quotationary

True Equality

Wipeout Homophobia on Facebook has posted a bunch of pix from past Prides, and this is my favorite.

A Familiar Issue Needs to Vent

I'm Gay Marriage, and I'm mad.

Those alleged experts over at the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press—and what a stupidly long name that is—conducted a national survey to find out which issues matter most to voters, and I'm certain the pollsters were drunk and the respondents were house pets.

C'mon, what other explanation can there be for putting me, Gay Marriage, at the bottom of the list?  The BOTTOM, for chrissakes.

Oh, I get it that the Economy takes the top spot, followed by Jobs.  Those show-offs.

Freakin' 86 percent of voters rated the Economy as "very important" to their vote.  Don't they know what really counts?  I'm Gay Marriage, with the power to bring down civilization!  Prioritize, people!

And such pretenders are next on the list.  The Budget Deficit, Health Care, Education, Medicare, Energy, Taxes.  Amateurs, one and all.

Taxes earned a 61 percent rating, so you'd think I'd be showing up at least in this range, but nooooo.  Instead, it's a different fear that gets the love:  59 percent of these dolts decided Terrorism is "very important" to their vote.  What does Terrorism have that I don't?

The people of Pew—so aptly named—conducted this so-called survey from April 4 through April 15.  It's crystal clear to me that a bunch of those surveyed had given up thinking for Lent.

The impossibly boring Foreign Policy collected a 52 percent rating, with the Environment just behind.  Please, the Environment.  Like whether the earth can continue to sustain life could possibly matter as much as whether two men can register at Crate & Barrel.

Iran is next on the appalling list, then Gun Control and Afghanistan.  Looks to me like Afghanistan is getting the shaft, too, seeing as the U.S. is fighting a war there.  I wish we could join forces—Gay Marriage in Afghanistan—and double our numbers.

You're just dying to know what my score is, aren't you?  To see how low I've sunk?  Well, Immigration comes in at 42 percent, then Abortion at 39 percent and Birth Control at 34 percent.

And.  Then.  There's.  Me.

I, Gay Marriage, bring up the rear at 28 percent.  Less than 30 percent of voters consider me critical to their vote.  I could die for the shame.

Once I was in the big-time.  I'm talking a mere two presidential elections ago.  In 2004, Karl Rove made me a star.  I firmly believe I gave George W. Bush Ohio, which won him re-election.

Now?  Now Bush's wife says gays should be able to marry and his campaign manager has come out!  How can a wedge issue work under these conditions?

Can't give up.  Must regroup.  Abortion and Birth Control are down here in the cellar with me.  The economic situation has everyone's attention.  If it turns around, I bet the hot-button social issues will rise again in the polls.

At least past Foreign Policy.  Sheesh.

But the Pew-y president said I don't energize the conservative base like I used to.  Some older Americans have even changed their minds about me.  Turncoats!  Poltroons!  Sissies!

Maybe I really have lost my mojo.  I'm deeply depressed.  Abortion and Birth Control and I should join a therapy group for social issues whose hot buttons have cooled.

How else can I, Gay Marriage, recover my self-esteem?  I could fight back—threaten that in addition to bestiality, I'll lead to mandatory sex with unicorns—but my heart isn't in it.

I have to face it.  I'm not the issue I was.  I'm impotent.  And there ain't no Viagra for me.

Question of the Week

Do you feel the GLSEN-backed National Day of Silence, happening today, is a good thing?

It Helps to Think this Way

Archie, Betty and Veronica Get a Gender Makeover

In an issue called "The Great Switcheroo," Archie Comics will gender-bend.  And how.  In the August 22 issue, Archie will turn into Archina, Betty becomes Billy and Veronica will be Ronnie.

The town of Riverdale is not experiencing a frenzy of gender-reassignment surgery.  It's experiencing something much cheaper—magic.

"Upon overhearing the guys and gals of Riverdale grumbling over how the other half has it easier, (Sabrina the Teenage Witch's) mischievous cat Salem turns the town upside down when he dishes out the ultimate genetic makeover," Archie comics explained in a press release.

So the issue will hone in on gender and gender roles.  Should be interesting.  It seems to me, though, that the ultimate switcheroo in Riverdale would be turning Jughead into a vegetarian.

This Week's Quote

I don't exercise.  If God had wanted me to bend over, he would have put diamonds on the floor.

Joan Rivers

Source:  Great-Quotes.com

A Stand-Up Guy in St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg's new anti-gay law is being tested—by a straight man.

Outside a theater in the Russian city, Sergey Kondrashov held up a sign reading, "A dear family friend is lesbian.  My wife and I love and respect her . . . and her family is just as equal as ours."

What it lacked in pithiness it made up in heart.

Along with Igor Konshetkov, a gay man who also held a sign, Kondrashov was arrested for violating St. Petersburg's shiny new ban on gay propaganda.

What is a ban on gay propaganda?  Damned if I know.  I read news accounts when the law was being considered that hedged and hinted at what a ban would entail.  No more Prides seemed to be the only certainty.  Did all this nebulousness surrounding the proposed law stop St. Petersburg politicians from passing it?  Not on your (Russian) nelly.

The Advocate reported that Kondrashov said confusion about how to define the law marked his detention, and the judge in his hearing noted it was a tall order to wrangle a legal decision from such a vaguely written law.

Himself a lawyer, Kondrashov expects the case to drag on as long as a Russian novel.

Asked why, as a straight guy, he protested the law, Kondrashov gave two reasons.  He said the law violates his rights granted by the Constitution of the Russian Federation.  The other reason "is that a friend of mine is a lesbian and I felt that I had a moral obligation to her."

Lucky gal.

It Can Be Time-Consuming

Question of the Week

Now that Rick Santorum is no longer running for the presidency, what sort of employment do you think he should seek?

Barney Calls Out a Nitwit

Rep. Allen West, a Florida Republican, told constituents at a town hall event this week that as many as 80 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus are members of the Communist Party. 

Rep. Barney Frank, the openly gay Massachusetts Democrat, responded this way to The Huffington Post:  "Not even Joe McCarthy would have said anything so stupid and dissociated from reality."

Frank is retiring this year.  Is there some way we can refuse to let him?

It's Been Around a Few Years

From, obviously, the Wipeout Homophobia on Facebook page.  I love the page, but will someone tell me why "Wipeout" is one word?

Condoms Dance and Sing

You must view this Indian PSA.  Next stop, Bollywood!  Thanks to Charlene M. for sharing the video.

This Week's Quote

Happy Easter, Gay People of the World: you have indeed risen in the last few decades from centuries of persecution and oppression. May this be a great holiday for you all wherever you are. You are winning the battle for equal rights. And your victory over discrimination and hate is a victory for all oppressed persons. Happy Easter!

Anne Rice

Source:  Rice's Facebook page

Catholics and Gay Marriage: Schisms-R-Us

I'm not Catholic.  Which makes my fascination with the American arm of the Catholic Church a little strange, but it also means I can watch its contortions without fretting over its future.

That's good, because I think the church in this country, while not in its death throes, is suffering from a rupture and a nervous condition.  The church's hold on its members has ruptured, and that's going to make any denomination nervous.

A couple of months ago came reports that 98 percent of Catholic women have used contraceptives.  Although the statistic has been criticized, American women by any measure are as likely to stick with Catholic-mandated natural family planning as the Pope is to become a Zumba instructor.

Then there's the homosexuality issue generally, and the gay marriage issue specifically.  When Gov. Martin O'Malley of Maryland signed marriage equality into law on March 1, he became the fifth Catholic governor to do so, in clear opposition to the will of Catholic bishops in those states.

As far as I know, none of these governors has been denied communion or excommunicated.  But their trips to the confession booth must be deafening.

After grappling with her Catholic faith, Gov. Chris Gregoire of Washington happily signed a marriage-equality bill in February.  Opponents are now gathering signatures for a referendum to axe the law.  Seattlepi.com reported that the Archdiocese of Seattle sent a letter to the faithful, saying it plans to have parishes collect signatures.

I guess we can add a new Catholic sacrament to the current seven.  Right up there with the Anointing of the Sick will be the Employing of the Bic.

Seattlepi.com noted that the push to kill the gay-marriage law might make lay Catholics twitchy.  For starters, the Archdiocese of Seattle has long championed civil rights.  This time the Catholic hierarchy is batting for the other side.

Plus there's the fact that the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) is backing the campaign.  NOM internal memos, recently revealed in litigation in Maine, advocated a strategy of pitting African-Americans and Hispanics against gay-rights groups.

Jesus would be nauseous.  And a number of Washington Catholics don't feel so well, either.

A recent event in a Minnesota high school practically shrieked the disconnect between Catholic clergy and laity.  At DeLaSalle, a Catholic high school in Minneapolis, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis held a required assembly, for seniors only, about marriage.

The kids suspected what was coming.  Catholic education doesn't make dummies.

A priest and a volunteer couple spoke, and student Matt Bliss told the Star Tribune that all went swimmingly for the first three-quarters of the marriage presentation.  Then the speakers implied that adopted children and children with one parent are lesser.

Since at least four of the students present were adopted, this was not just baffling but dippy.

"When they finally got to gay marriage, [students] were really upset," said Bliss.  "You could look around the room and feel the anger.  My friend who is a lesbian started crying."

The couple compared gay love to bestiality.  Several students argued with the speakers, and one girl held up a sign that said, "I love my moms."

I'm betting the priest wished for a posse of nuns armed with two rulers apiece.

Student Lydia Hannah said the kids were suspicious when only seniors were required to attend. "We put two and two together," she said, referring to Minnesota's constitutional amendment limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples.  "All of us will be able to vote next fall."

Some clearly won't vote the way the U.S. Catholic Church wants them to.  Even the students at a Catholic school aren't buying what the church is selling.  The clergy better pray to the patron saint of ruptured relationships—if not lost causes.

What Do You Get When You Cross a Lesbian and a Librarian?

But--shhhhhhhh--don't tell.  And quiet over there!

A Full-Service Church in Ft. Lauderdale

Question of the Week

Have you ever owned a gay pet?

The Mother of All Tearjerkers

Read this piece from the blog called Single Dad Laughing and you'll anguish at how bad things can be for gay kids, and you'll exult at the truth setting a family free.   That's a lot of emotion for a Thursday.

Twists in the Pageant To-Do

Jenna Talackova is back in the Miss Universe Canada pageant.  Sort of.

The transgender beauty from Vancouver was disqualified because of a rule that contestants must be "naturally born" females.  Talackova was born male, knew she was female by age 4, began hormone therapy at 14 and had gender-reassignment surgery at 19.

Her disqualification earned international headlines.  With that kind of publicity, the inevitable happened:  Donald Trump and Gloria Allred got involved.

Trump owns the Miss Universe organization, which released a statement saying Talackova could compete "provided she meets the legal gender recognition requirements of Canada, and the standards established by other international competitions."

Talackova said the statement isn't clear enough. "I wish Mr. Trump would just say, in plain words, whether or not I will be allowed to compete and, if I win, whether I will be allowed to represent Canada in the Miss Universe competition," she averred. "I also want Mr. Trump to clearly state that this rule will be eliminated because I do not want any other woman to suffer the discrimination that I have to endure."

Attorney Allred noted that Talackova never demanded that Trump prove he's a naturally born male, or show his genitals.  For this we can all be grateful.

Fred Phelps in Space

Mr. Sulu (George Takei) posted this image, courtesy of a fan, on his Facebook page.

No, You're Boring-Sexual

This Week's Quote

Before coming out to my family, I would dedyke my apartment.  Some call it "straightening up."  Go through bookshelves and take out all the books with "gay" or "lesbian" in the title and put them in backward.  It’s like being on the wrong side of a trick bookshelf.

Kate Clinton

Source:  Don't Get Me Started

The Word