Real Christians Are Not Bigots

May 11, 2012 by Leave a comment

If any Christian churches in Albuquerque or Santa Fe want to put up a billboard something like this one by a church in San Diego (maybe excluding the odd “Christianity for All” coda, as my friend Kevin points out), I will make a contribution to make it happen. I encourage my friends, Christian or not, in other states, to make the same offer.
 There are lots of bigots who clothe their bigotry in Christian  makeup. I know many Christians, and hardly a one of them is bigoted. It seems the only ones we hear about on TV or in the news are of the gay-bashing, Koran-burning, funeral-desecrating variety. If there is a war on Christianity, it is this: that the most despicable people who self-identify as Christians are the only ones who get media attention. Fred Phelps has a church that consists almost exclusively of members of his own family. The Koran burner has a church of, I think, 12 members. They get all the media attention they want.
What about the nuns Nicholas Kristof wrote about this week, or the missionaries he’s written about before, who do some of the most caring work in the most dangerous circumstances? What about the Protest Chaplains who have offered counsel during the Occupations in Boston and New York City? Well, they don’t spend a lot of time on PR. Phelps, et al, are mean-spirited attention addicts. The media gives it to them.
It’s time to remember that Christians have founded hospitals, that Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Reverend Ralph Abernathy were  Christians. That Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Christian. They set the standards. Let’s dust them off and shine them up again. The Christians I know should be proud of who they are and the communities they have made and strengthened. They are not bigots. They are not pro-ignorance, anti-science. Those who are Republicans are not the caricature of Republicans that the Tea Partiers have made of the party – a caricature that my father, a lifelong Republican, would never recognize. The Christians I know are more concerned with being a light and a comfort in the world than they are with being a power in the world.
I will go a step further than my original offer. I am going to seek out churches that feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and comfort the outcasts, here in Santa Fe and in Albuquerque. I’m going to suggest that they, perhaps in concert with other churches (and perhaps also synagogues and mosques and temples) they know, put up a billboard like the one above, and I will promise to raise some of the funds to make that happen. Again, I encourage you to do the same in your home towns.

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Dear North Carolina

May 10, 2012 by Leave a comment

So you have defined marriage as being between a man and a woman.

Have you considered defining “man” and “woman”?

After all, there are many varieties of gender, not just the two. There are the common XX and XY types. BUt I am told that there are also XXY, XXXY, Y with mutated X, and X with mutated Y, the intersexed, the transgendered and, I am sure, more.

So why stop at defining marriage? Think of the government jobs that could be created by requiring blood tests AND chromosomal and genital exams for every marriage license. For those of indeterminate gender, some kind of panel will have to be formed, to see what gender category the person fits in and whether they can be permitted to love someone who is not their exact opposite in chromosomal distribution.

Really, it’s just like miscegenation: once you say “white” and “black” don’t mix, you’re in a pickle. Who, exactly, is white, and who, exactly, is black? Some definitions really are useless for any but the most academic use, and applying them to law just makes life and governing more difficult.

You think you have settled the matter, NC. But your work has just begun.

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President Obama Endorses Same Sex Marriage

May 9, 2012 by Leave a comment

President Obama, by endorsing same sex marriage today, spanks North Carolina the day after a large majority of its voters limited its own citizens’ civil rights.

Will the DNC follow Obama’s lead and move the Dem Convention out of Charlotte? Would they hold their convention there if NC had just voted to reinforce segregation?

The last time Dems had their convention in Charlotte, in 1860, they nominated Stephen Douglas. Who ran against Abraham Lincoln. We know how that worked out.

Democrats: Endorse Love, and Leave Charlotte. If you want to share that sentiment with the party, there is a petition here.

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Celebrating Love, Because We Have No Surplus

April 27, 2012 by Leave a comment

Worth re-posting from time to time.

Do we have such a surplus of love in the world that we should put a lid on it when it is found?

This video moves me every time. Not because of the cause it represents. But because it shows that rare thing, a relationship that begins, and builds, and gets to the point where both parties realize that what they have is not from some Hollywood fantasy, but is real and worth committing to, for better or worse. What is worth spending your whole life on? What an amazing experience, to have someone decide that you, of all the wonderful things in the world, are the one thing to which they wish to commit their lives and energies, and to feel the same about them.

This video shows a basic human experience, like a meal with good friends, like pulling off the road to watch a sunset, like being sick and scared, like taking pleasure in a good book or movie. Like being born. Like dying. Except this is love, which makes all the others better.

There is nothing to fear here, and so much to celebrate. Please share. Again.

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The Do's and Don'ts of Being a Good Ally

April 10, 2012 by Leave a comment

Reblogged from Esoterica:

1. Don’t derail a discussion. Even if it makes you personally uncomfortable to discuss X issue…it’s really not about you or your comfort. It’s about X issue, and you are absolutely free to not engage rather than try to keep other people from continuing their conversation.

2. Do read links/books referenced in discussions. Again, even if the things being said make you uncomfortable, part of being a good ally is not looking for someone to provide a 101 class midstream.

Read more… 463 more words

Outstanding. This is an excellent reminder of most of the mistakes I'm ashamed to admit I've made myself. Sometimes being a good ally means leaving the safe space to the people you are supporting.

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Survey Says: Homophobic? Hate Gays? Here’s Your Closet

April 9, 2012 by 1 Comment

A new survey shows if you’re strongly homophobic, you might be a redneck gay.

Or both. Imagine the irony, and the fear of being found out. I first began to see it in the Navy. I noticed that the really homophobic men (for instance the ones afraid of gays looking at them in the shower) were afraid of something more than just someone they though was “abnormal”. They were afraid of being attacked, but not because of a real threat. I began to see there real fear: if a gay man came on to them, they might not be able to say no. So they try to prove they don’t have any tendencies by being loudly anti-gay. And t’s not just effeminate guys like Marcus Bachman, it’s also tough jocks who bully the gay kids in high school. And later in church.

So most people in the GLBT community and I have long assumed that if you hate one, you might be one, or at least are afraid of being somewhere higher up the Kinsey scale. Several studies have already shown the correlation, and here’s more definitive proof:

I’ve been saying it for years. Glad I lived long enough to see study after study back me up:

Homophobia is more pronounced in individuals with an unacknowledged attraction to the same sex and who grew up with authoritarian parents who forbade such desires, a series of psychology studies demonstrates.

The study is the first to document the role that both parenting and sexual orientation play in the formation of intense and visceral fear of homosexuals, including self-reported homophobic attitudes, discriminatory bias, implicit hostility towards gays, and endorsement of anti-gay policies. Conducted by a team from the University of Rochester, the University of Essex, England, and the University of California in Santa Barbara, the research will be published the April issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

“Individuals who identify as straight but in psychological tests show a strong attraction to the same sex may be threatened by gays and lesbians because homosexuals remind them of similar tendencies within themselves,” explains Netta Weinstein, a lecturer at the University of Essex and the study’s lead author.

“In many cases these are people who are at war with themselves and they are turning this internal conflict outward.”

The paper includes four separate experiments, conducted in the United States and Germany, with each study involving an average of 160 college students. The findings provide new empirical evidence to support the psychoanalytic theory that the fear, anxiety, and aversion that some seemingly heterosexual people hold toward gays and lesbians can grow out of their own repressed same-sex desires, Ryan says.

Dan Savage makes it clear:

So don’t be homophobic, homophobes, because people might think you’re gay. And if you really don’t want people to think you’re gay, being supportive of gay rights and comfortable with gay people is way better cover than screaming and yelling about the evils of homosexuality. Just sayin’.

via Seattle Columns – Savage Love – Dan Savage – The Stranger, Seattle’s Only Newspaper.

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Chris Christie’s Gay Marriage Veto: We’re Going to Override It

February 25, 2012 by Leave a comment

Now this IS good news. Now, who can use this to their best political advantage: ignorant haters or the folks who deserve their rights?

Governor of New Jersey at a town hall in Hills...

Image via Wikipedia

New Jersey nearly made it to the finish line. Unfortunately, a governor driven by national ambition derailed the fight for equality and fairness. But Governor Christie’s veto only delayed the day and time when we finally establish marriage equality in the Garden State — because it is going to happen in New Jersey, and we are going to override his veto.

Two weeks ago, the New Jersey State Senate and Assembly passed legislation that would establish true equality in the way we treat same-sex couples. It would officially recognize same-sex couple unions for what they are: marriages. Along the way, we encountered the usual hysteria that pops up anytime this issue is mentioned. We heard the same old claims, all of which are based either on fear, hatred, or simple misunderstanding. We heard the ridiculous statements about this opening up a Pandora’s Box that would allow people to marry their dogs. We heard all the inane observations from those who in no way, shape, or form would have been impacted by this legislation.

In the end, my colleagues proudly stood up and rejected those arguments. They stood with those whose only request is to be treated like everyone else. It was an enormous accomplishment, particularly in the Senate, where just two years ago a similar bill failed by a vote of 14 in favor vs. 20 against (it required 21 votes in favor to pass). At the time, I abstained from voting, unfortunately — a decision I immediately regretted.

In two years’ time, however, I and many of my fellow colleagues came around to see this issue for what it was: a matter of equality, fairness, and justice. In the end, the Senate passed marriage equality by a 24-16 vote, with two courageous Republicans defying their governor and voting for what was right. The enormous shift between this latest vote and the one we took two years ago clearly spells out that the days of treating same-sex couples as second-class citizens in New Jersey are numbered.

Unfortunately, Governor Chris Christie refuses to be part of the solution to this problem of inequality. Driven by national ambition that would rather see him be president (or vice president) than do what is right, the governor first tried to deflect his position on the issue by calling for a public vote on whether or not same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.

Anyone who is a student of history knows that you never, ever put the rights of the minority up for a vote of the majority; the majority will almost always vote it down. Not only was Governor Christie clearly ignorant of history on this issue, but his newfound sense of populism (the governor never seems to ask for a public referendum on any other issue) was also a way to relieve his Republican colleagues in the Legislature of their duty to serve the people. Our job as legislators is to act. If we are going to simply punt on every difficult issue that comes up, we might as well pack our bags and head home.

Luckily, the majority of legislators were able to see the governor’s action for what it was, and we passed marriage equality. Unfortunately, the governor last week vetoed the bill. As if the veto weren’t bad enough, the governor also called for an ombudsman to oversee the state’s current civil unions law. It was shocking. Governor Christie was actually advocating for a taxpayer-paid position whose main function would be to continue our state’s failed policy of discrimination. The governor would have been better off simply vetoing the bill — his new conditions are frankly an embarrassment.

The governor’s actions are disheartening, but they certainly do not represent the will and determination of the people of New Jersey. We want to join the ever-growing number of states that recognize that two people who love one another and want to be in a committed relationship should have the same rights as everyone else, regardless of gender. We don’t want New Jersey, which has led the way on so many other progressive issues, to be stuck in neutral while a country like South Africa, which only a generation ago had state-sanctioned racial discrimination, has already moved ahead on this issue.

I know many of my Republican colleagues believe marriage equality is the right thing. Unfortunately, Governor Christie has put political pressure on them to keep them from voting how they wish. I know we can change their mind. I know they are good people who want to do the right thing. And I know that in the end what is right and fair will ultimately win out. Though the governor has placed his feet firmly on the wrong side of history, he simply cannot stop the tide of fairness and equality that is rising not just in New Jersey but across the country. We are going to get this done.

via Stephen M. Sweeney: Chris Christie’s Gay Marriage Veto: We’re Going to Override It.

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Apparently, it IS natural, Mr. Santorum: Over 1,500 Animal Species Practice Homosexuality

February 23, 2012 by 1 Comment

Rick Santorum has been widely quoted as saying that homosexuality is “against nature”. In fact, he has said that any sex act that doesn’t involve procreation is against nature. Once again, science begs to differ:

Homosexuality is quite common in the animal kingdom, especially among herding animals. Many animals solve conflicts by practicing same gender sex.

The Norwegian Natural History Museum of the University of Oslo is hosting the first exhibition that focuses on homosexuality in the animal kingdom.

“One fundamental premise in social debates has been that homosexuality is unnatural. This premise is wrong. Homosexuality is both common and highly essential in the lives of a number of species,” explains Petter Boeckman, who is the academic advisor for the “Against Nature‘s Order?” exhibition.

The most well-known homosexual animal is the dwarf chimpanzee, one of humanity’s closes relatives. The entire species is bisexual. Sex plays an conspicuous role in all their activities and takes the focus away from violence, which is the most typical method of solving conflicts among primates and many other animals.

“Sex among dwarf chimpanzees is in fact the business of the whole family, and the cute little ones often lend a helping hand when they engage in oral sex with each other.”

Lions are also homosexual. Male lions often band together with their brothers to lead the pride. To ensure loyalty, they strengthen the bonds by often having sex with each other.

Homosexuality is also quite common among dolphins and killer whales. The pairing of males and females is fleeting, while between males, a pair can stay together for years. Homosexual sex between different species is not unusual either. Meetings between different dolphin species can be quite violent, but the tension is often broken by a “sex orgy”.

Homosexuality is a social phenomenon and is most widespread among animals with a complex herd life.

Among the apes it is the females that create the continuity within the group. The social network is maintained not only by sharing food and the child rearing, but also by having sex. Among many of the female apes the sex organs swell up. So they rub their abdomens against each other,” explains Petter Bockman and points out that animals have sex because they have the desire to, just like we humans.

Homosexual behaviour has been observed in 1,500 animal species.

“We’re talking about everything from mammals to crabs and worms. The actual number is of course much higher. Among some animals homosexual behaviour is rare, some having sex with the same gender only a part of their life, while other animals, such as the dwarf chimpanzee, homosexuality is practiced throughout their lives.”

Animals that live a completely homosexual life can also be found. This occurs especially among birds that will pair with one partner for life, which is the case with geese and ducks. Four to five percent of the couples are homosexual. Single females will lay eggs in a homosexual pair’s nest. It has been observced that the homosexual couple are often better at raising the young than heterosexual couples.

When you see a colony of black-headed gulls, you can be sure that almost every tenth pair is lesbian. The females have no problems with being impregnated, although, according to Petter Boeckman they cannot be defined as bisexual.

“If a female has sex with a male one time, but thousands of times with another female, is she bisexual or homosexual? This is the same way to have children is not unknown among homosexual people.”

via 1,500 animal species practice homosexuality.

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Progress.

February 21, 2012 by Leave a comment

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Women’s Health and Contraception Experts Testify to Congress at Request of GOP

February 16, 2012 by 2 Comments

Five Transsexual MDs/Ministers Testify Before Congress

 

Now, before all my liberal readers jump to conclusions, I have been able to find little to no information about these five men. There were actually nine men scheduled to testify in this hearing led by Congressman Darrell Issa. It is about the intersection of – some would say conflict between – religious liberty and a woman’s need for available, affordable contraception. It’s difficult, from the photo, even to make out the names of these five who are testifying, so Googling to learn about them is impossible.

We could, of course, assume that these are all misogynists, representatives of the most patriarchal, fundamentalist branches of their respective religion. But we don’t know that. The fact that they are all men of the cloth does not preclude the possibility that they are each medical doctors and post-op transsexuals as well. We just don’t know. How the GOP could find nine transsexual MDs who are ALSO religious leaders is a story I hope will soon be told. I’m not saying that all of them are post-op transsexual MD ministers. Maybe only a plurality of them are. Or just a few. That would be more likely, even in a nation of over 300 million. It’s possible, I suppose, that none of them are, but that is highly unlikely. What would be the point of having nine natural born men, some of whom may be celibate – or even pedophiles, for Christ’s sake – testify about the intercourse between contraception and dogma, if the only thing they know about preventing conception is avoiding sex, or only having sex with those who are not likely to make you pregnant? That would be absurd or, potentially, obscene.

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