Relatively speaking.
We ditched the POS commenting system that Haloscan “upgraded” to (JS-Kit’s Echo) and are now using the native Wordpress system. Comments are still moderated because of trolls, those with reading comprehension problems, and spammers.
Expect a few more changes, mostly cosmetic, down the highway. Otherwise things at this point should be as they were.
Things will be looking very different around here for a while as I change things to fix this comment system malfunction. It’s all well and good, really, as I’d been planning to change the theme and some other things anyway. So if it gets unrecognizable and/or wonky for a while or even changes from visit to visit don’t worry. It will all settle down soon and return to normal. Relatively speaking.
Haloscan decided to do a mandatory “upgrade” and they’re putting us through the ringer. As such, please don’t attempt to leave any comments until this mess is straightened out as they’ll probably end up lost in cyberspace. Thanks!
Yes, I’ve been away a while. As I noted previously, it’s a long story and forgive me if I meander.
We lost marriage equality in Maine, just as we lost it last year in California. Once again lies, bigotry and fearmongering trumped love and equality. It doesn’t matter that the bigots (the very same bigots who ran the campaign in CA) simply recycled the lies they used in CA. It didn’t matter that we pointed out that they were lies, and recycled lies at that. People chose to eradicate the rights of same-sex families once again.
They spread lies, fear, hatred and propaganda. We’re forced to refute the lies and beg for our rights from people who have no business withholding them in the first place. Millions of dollars and countless agonizing months/years later all we end up with is another defeat.
The problem is that our rights are not something that should be put on a ballot. Human/Civil Rights are not a matter to be subjected to “the will of the people”, the whims of the public, the popular vote.* No other group has been subjected to this indignity, and it’s wrong that we are time and time again. It has to stop. Until we as a nation recognize that we will get nowhere.
Ultimately it comes down to this: This never-ending cycle has been devastating to me. It has drained me physically, emotionally and spiritually. It was also turning me into something I didn’t particularly like.
Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one.
Friedrich Nietzsche
In my fight against the anti-gay monsters I was becoming perpetually angry and losing my capacity to see good in people. While I’m aware that there are decent Christians and clergy people out there I automatically cringed on sight of words like church, Christian, pastor, priest, religious. I was so used to them being used as a weapon against me and mine I expected nothing but bad from them. It got to the point that I bristled when I heard the word “children” because the bigots have used “the children” against us so virulently and successfully. It’s sad, really, because those children are innocent pawns in this sordid mess just as we are.
It shouldn’t be like this.
Once upon a time, when I was young and idealistic, I thought I could change the world. As I got older and wiser I realized I couldn’t and I became content doing what I could on a smaller scale. I worked for two decades in Human Services helping people with developmental disabilities and people with mental illnesses. I still give to charities and do what I can to make a positive impact on my community and the world.
Where I erred was letting myself once again think I could make major difference. I let myself get too involved in broad-scale situations over which I had little to no control, and it’s had deleterious effects on me. I need to once again recognize my limitations and focus on what I can achieve rather than getting caught up in idealistic notions.
In my absence from TGA I’ve been reading more, and enjoying my kittens. The spoiled little things now have a stroller (yes, they have strollers for pets) and we take walks around the neighborhood. I’ve also taken up loom-knitting. I now have a box full of hats and scarves I’ll be sending to one of the local shelters for homeless families. I’ve also created a lovely rainbow scarf for my wife, a multi-color set for my niece, and I’m working on a two-tone set for my nephew. I’m finding this much more fulfilling and productive than tilting at windmills.
So I’m going to try changing the focus on this blog. Previously I blogged almost exclusively about LGBT and atheist concerns. I’ll still include those of course, but I plan to leave the heavy “fighting” to others, in order to preserve my own sanity. I will include other topics more frequently than in the past, and see where things take me.
Thank you for bearing with me in my absence and I hope you like the changes!
*Anybody who disagrees is more than welcome, as I’ve stated more than once, to put their rights on the next ballot. I have yet to see anybody rise to the challenge.
Regular readers have probably noticed I haven’t been posting much lately. It’s a long story (isn’t it always?) but the result of it all is I’m weary and currently don’t feel much like doing what I’ve been doing.
So for now I’m going on a latte break. In the meantime I invite you to read the fine blogs and other sites linked in my sidebar. 
Recent videos, news and blog posts from various sources.
RRRW hatefest against LGBT people.
You Are Friends With an Atheist
If you live in the United States, you are almost certainly friends with at least one atheist, agnostic, nonbeliever, skeptic, or unaffiliated humanist, whether you know it or not. And your friend almost certainly endures prejudice and unequal treatment, whether you know it or not. And your friend is roughly as decent, good, loyal, honest, courageous, and generous as your other friends, and you know it.
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Those who get along without God are not lynched or stoned in this country, but neither do they have equal rights or acceptance. They encounter prejudice and cruelty on a personal level often. They pay taxes that support “faith based” programs and discriminatory organizations, as well as proselytization in the military, they see religion and religious based pseudo-science imposed on their children in public schools, and the stigma attached to their free-mindedness restricts their participation in public life. There are probably 20 atheists in Congress, but only one who admits it, and he won’t use the word. President Obama’s parents were both atheists, whether or not they used that word for it, and he got along fine without religion but would not have gone far in politics had he not adopted it.
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Pastor may have lost post over Prop 8
Surprise! It’s not because he supported “traditional marriage” or advocated for Proposition 8. So much for the claim that religious people are being persecuted by us for pushing their bigotry masquerading as religious beliefs.
The pastor of the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Sacramento was removed from his post by the denomination’s regional leadership Monday without explanation. LGBT activists believe his firing, which began in earnest in January, is likely the result of his ordination of three gay parishioners to leadership positions within the congregation and his staunch opposition to Proposition 8.
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Why should it matter to you if Proposition. 8 is upheld by the Supreme Court, especially if you aren’t gay and you don’t care about anyone who is gay? The bottom line: Are you part of any minority — single mothers, people over 60, Mormons, children of alcoholics, truck drivers? If so, your legal rights could change if the California Supreme Court rules to uphold Proposition. 8.
Right now, Californians are supposed to be treated equally under the law, and there are equal protection laws that allow residents to fight discriminatory treatment when it happens. By upholding Proposition 8, the Supreme Court will make the new law of the land “equal protection by majority rule.” If you are part of the majority, you get equal protection. If you aren’t, you don’t, whenever enough people vote away your right to be treated equally.
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How important are your equal protection rights? Are you ready to lose them?
Virginity Fetish: How Our Obsession With “Sexual Purity” Hurts Women
There is a moral panic in America over young women’s sexuality — and it’s entirely misplaced. Girls “going wild” aren’t damaging a generation of women, the myth of sexual purity is. The lie of virginity — the idea that such a thing even exists — is ensuring that young women’s perception of themselves is inextricable from their bodies, and that their ability to be moral actors is absolutely dependent on their sexuality. It’s time to teach our daughters that their ability to be good people depends on their being good people, not on whether or not they’re sexually active.
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If we’re to truly understand the purity myth, we have to recognize that this modernized virgin/whore dichotomy is not only leading young women to damage themselves by internalizing the double standard, but also contributing to a social and political climate that is increasingly antagonistic to women and our rights.
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10 Years After Matthew Shepard and Media Still Can’t Get It Right
Ten years ago, a gay University of Wyoming student was picked up at a bar by two young men, driven out to the middle of nowhere, pistol-whipped, tortured, robbed, tied to a fence and left for dead. Eighteen hours later he was found — still alive but comatose — by a bicyclist, who at first thought the seemingly lifeless body, its face completely covered in blood except for the skin-colored trails left by tears, was a “scarecrow.”
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Perhaps fearing a hate crimes bill that protects gay, lesbian, and transgender people will soon be enacted — thanks to a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers and the president — many media conservatives have seen fit to maliciously attack the legislation, just as 20/20 twisted and misreported the events surrounding Shepard’s death.
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Reporters, hosts, anchors, and pundits — indeed, all Americans — are free to feel and speak as they wish about the gay, lesbian, and transgender community. It’s their right, even if they aren’t being honest. Unfortunately, too many have chosen to use this freedom with complete disregard for the facts.
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Cardinal Cormack Murphy-O’Connor: Secularists and atheists are “not fully human”.
Antigay Activists Falsely Report APA Change of View Regarding ‘Gay Gene’
The notion that a single gene might determine sexual orientation was briefly proposed and swiftly rejected in the early 1990s.
That hasn’t stopped antigay activists from circulating the myth that, because numerous researchers in the past decade have found a mix of biological factors and possibly other unknown factors in the formation of sexual orientation, therefore these experts must believe in the existence of a single “gay gene.”
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WorldNetDaily, LifeSiteNews, Virtue Online, and Peter LaBarbera’s Americans for Truth all parroted A. Dean Byrd of NARTH, who repeated his previous false assertions that “activist researchers” have contended anytime in the past decade that there is a gay gene.The antigay activists (Byrd included) illogically contend that, because there is no single gene that determines sexual orientation, therefore sexual orientation is caused entirely by the environment — lousy parents, in particular — and therefore, they insist, anyone can “change” their sexual orientation with sufficient right-wing Christian brainwashing.
Not so, said the APA last year:
Many [researchers] think that nature and nurture both play complex roles; most people experience little or no sense of choice about their sexual orientation.
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‘Coming out’ can be a trial for atheists and agnostics
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According to a religious identification survey conducted in March by Trinity College in Connecticut, about 12 per cent of Americans now identify themselves as atheist, or non-believing, while another 12 per cent describe themselves as agnostic, or unsure whether there is a God.
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Many students compare what’s taking place to the “outing” of the gay community, and describe their decision to go public with their atheism using similar terms.
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“People ask, ‘how do you live life as an atheist? How do you fit in the community?’ ” he said. Many fear getting kicked out of their homes or losing key friendships. “I know the analogy of coming out as a gay person is not perfect, but in a lot of ways it really does fit.”Many atheists say they regularly face hostility, and even threats of violence.
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Year of the Bible Resolution Contains False Claims
Rep. Thad McCotter is co-sponsoring House Resolution 121, which calls on President Obama to declare 2010 “The National Year of the Bible.” Unfortunately, the resolution contains historical inaccuracies that undermine its credibility. For instance, the resolution states:
Whereas shared Biblical beliefs unified the colonists and gave our early leaders the wisdom to write the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States…There are several problems with this statement. First, the notion that the colonists had “shared Biblical beliefs” that unified them is inaccurate. In reality, 11 of the 13 colonies at the time of the writing of the Constitution had established churches that denied equal rights not only to non-Christians but to other denominations of Christianity.
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Perhaps even more inaccurate is the claim that those “shared Biblical beliefs…gave our early leaders the wisdom to write the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.”…
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We also know from what sources the ideas found in the Constitution are derived because they are spelled out in great detail in the Federalist Papers, written by James Madison, John Jay and Alexander Hamilton. In those 85 essays, written to explain and defend the new Constitution to the people of America, the Bible is nowhere mentioned at all. Nor was the Bible ever mentioned as justification for anything during the debates at the constitutional convention in 1787. The intellectual sources for the provisions of that Constitution were found in the same places Jefferson looked to for the ideas in the Declaration, particularly Locke, Sidney and Montesquieu.
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A church lobbyist in the Telegraph’s story used the term “militant atheist”, and said that “militant atheists were attacking the children”. I’ve heard the term used before, but didn’t really think about it in depth until now. What exactly is a militant atheist? The word militant has a very strong and very negative connotation in today’s post 9/11, 3/11, 7/7, and Mumbai world. When someone says militant, what is the next thought in your head? I know for me it conjures up terrorist, extremist, guerrilla, and other less than desirable labels. The word is very much associated with violence and unrest. Naturally this is done on purpose by the religious right to discredit and demonize atheists. Trying to define their opponents with a negative label, easily repeatable slogan or caricature has been their strategy for a long time. Anyone reading a “tax and spend liberal”, or a “flip flopper”? The fact is atheists aren’t militant in the sense we think about today, if anything they could stand to be more forceful in their rejection of faith (new atheism). What purpose do these negative labels serve? Well, from an academic stand point, it’s much easier to dismiss the militant atheist, or Darwinist Dawkins, than it is to the Oxford Professor of Evolutionary Biology Dawkins.Atheists and theists alike can agree the above mentioned terrorist attacks were all done by religious militants. Ever heard of an atheist terrorist attack? No. Large religious gatherings in the Muslim world often include burning effigies, anti-American chants, threats and calls to violence against non-Muslims and the staple riotous mob. In using the term militant atheist, apologists want to stir up images of Dawkins igniting a crowd with fiery, Palin-esque speeches. Christians pal-around with Satan maybe? How about Christopher Hitchens leading a mass protest/riot with an alleged “militant atheist” fringe, burning churches and attacking believers? During the annual American Atheists Convention, did the atheist take to the streets? Did they Burn effigies of the Pope? Were there calls to harm and indeed murder theist? The fact is, you will never see anything like that. Atheist do not display the raw hostility and hatred that is found in many theist groups. Hopefully by now you can see the point I am driving at here. Just because a theist group can have moderates, and militants, doesn’t mean this structure applies to all ideological organizations. There are no militant, terrorist, or extremist atheists in the modern world…
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In the Theist/Atheist system, only one can be said to militant. To suggest otherwise is at best a misrepresentation, and at worst an outright lie.
“Confused Children” TV Ad.
Ostensibly children, who can grasp the fact that God is Himself, His own Son and the Holy Spirit–and not be traumatized by the notion that God sent his only son to Earth to be brutally slaughtered to appease Himself, will be irreparably confused and psychologically damaged by learning that some children have two mommies/daddies instead of one of each. But since when have the NOMbies ever made sense?
And speaking of NOMbies….
Today is Blogging Against Disablism Day.
This is the day where all around the world. Disabled and non-disabled people will blog about their experiences, observations and thoughts about disability discrimination. In this way, we hope to raise awareness of inequality, promote equality and celebrate the progress we’ve made.
As frequent readers of TGA may know, I worked for two decades in Human Services with adults who had a variety of disability diagnoses. I also have numerous family members with disabilities. I’m a strong advocate for the rights of people with disabilities and detest all forms of discrimination against them.
I’ve seen many forms of discrimination against people with disabilities, or disablism. Just a few of them include:
*Presuming the disability diagnosis defined the individual/putting the label first instead of seeing the person before the disability.
*Talking to a family member or caregiver rather than the individual based on the assumption that the individual cannot speak for themselves and/or cannot understand.
*Assuming the individual is incompetent rather than presuming competence just as one would with a person who doesn’t have a disability label.
*Ignoring the individual’s expressed desires and needs based on the presumption that they’re “too disabled” to really understand anything.
*Treating the individual as a perpetual child regardless of their chronological age.
For more information: Queers United has a wonderful list of links for the LGBT disabled community and Diary of a Goldfish provides dozens of links to other BAD and disability related posts.
Last night my wife stopped accepting comments from rabid whackjobs thanks to the flood of illiterate hate-filled garbage we’ve been receiving the past few days. Considering what I just found on Haloscan I’m doing the same thing. On the Carrie Prejean matter I will put through no more nonsense from reading-impaired, anti-gay, historically-challenged RRRWers who think they’re being persecuted because LGBT people refuse, more and more, to take bigotry lying down. If you want to compare LGBT people to ax murderers and pedophiles, claim no gays died in Nazi Germany (some 15,000 or so did) or claim I’m being a bigot for calling out Carrie Prejean’s bigotry start your own blog and exercise your right to free speech there. I’ll no longer give you a platform for your offal.
Like many bloggers I review my server logs routinely. One query I saw a few times over the past few days, picture of gays recruiting, made me think of the new design my wife added to her shop just the other day (yes, this is a shameless plug of her new stuff as well as an attempt to make a point):
Face it, bigots, you aren’t going to find any “picture of gays recruiting” because there is no such thing. We don’t recruit, you do.
While doing some research I stumbled across this fabulous blog. Slap Upside the Head addresses current events, anti-gay bigotry and the absurdity of the RRRW with sardonic wit and pointed cartoons. Here is a small sample, but please click the link to see more. Slap Upside the Head has been added to my Blogroll as well.
That’s Not Religious Freedom
David Popescu, the crazy fringe candidate from Sudbury who declared that all gays should be killed during a federal election debate, has been charged by the Greater Sudbury Police Service for two counts of the wilful promotion of violence and hatred toward an identifiable group.
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Already, some right-wing commentators have leapt to Popescu’s defense, claiming that his prosecution is just an example of the oppression and intolerance that Christians are currently facing.
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Meanwhile, in the United States,
Gay couples in the United States are in bitter-sweet celebration this week after a court victory won the right of same-sex marriage in Connecticut, a week after California lost it due to Proposition 8’s passage. Emboldened by what happened in California, anti-gay lobby groups are already working hard to reverse Connecticut’s court ruling, which they call “undemocratic.”
Undemocratic: That’s a word we’ll be hearing a lot of from anti-gay groups down South for a while, at least if Canada’s history on the matter is any indication.
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In 1885, Canada’s history was forever marred by the Chinese Immigration Act, brought into law through a democratic vote. Having already settled in North America, the people decided that legal barriers were necessary to keep out Chinese immigrants; they introduced a fifty dollar head tax for each Chinese immigrant, a small fortune at the time. This lasted 15 years until, in 1900, a second democratic vote increased that fee to five hundred dollars. Not long after, a third democratic vote severely restricted the number of Chinese immigrants that could be on any given boat to Canada, depending on the weight of the boat. Finally, in 1923, Canada banned Chinese immigrations entirely. The law wasn’t repealed for 24 years.While the controversy was different, the concept was the same. The majority could tyrannize an unpopular minority, and protests or protections from this were dismissed as undemocratic.
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The Disastrous Consequences Of Same-Sex Marriage
December 6th—that’s the day the motion to re-open the same-sex marriage debate will be brought forward. The vote itself can happen right then, the day after, or after the Christmas break. And you know what that means! We’re one step closer to the 2006/2007 Marriage Debate Drinking Game!
The Rules:
Drink the specified number of shots whenever the following words are uttered in the House of Commons:
* Traditional (1 drink)
* Children (1 drink)
* Polygamy (2 drinks)
* Sanctity (2 drinks)
* Social Experiment (3 drinks)
* Constituent Survey (3 drinks)
* I, Stephen Harper, will protect minority rights and the Charter (Your body-weight in kilograms divided by 3)…..
I could play a similar game with our own RRRW bigots, but I’d have to substitute espresso shots as alcohol tends to trigger my migraines. Of course I wouldn’t sleep for days after a typical debate but I’d get a heck of a lot of work done.
NJ Issues Gay Divorces. Still No Gay Marriage.
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New Jersey happily recognises same-sex marriages performed out-of-state, but in-state, only civil unions can be issued for gay couples. Well, now a New Jersey couple who married in Canada in 2004 wants a divorce so one half can re-marry. Canada won’t issue a divorce because they aren’t citizens; New Jersey, until now, wouldn’t do it because they could only dissolve gay civil unions, not marriages; and, of course, Canada won’t let the other half re-marry if they don’t get a proper divorce first. What a mess!
Enter Judge Mary Jacobson, who ruled that the couple should be able to get a divorce within New Jersey because the state has a history of divorcing foreign marriages. This ruling comes much to the chagrin of The Attorney General’s Office, which had argued that only civil union dissolutions should be allowed for same-sex couples in-state, even if they were fully married, not civil-unioned. The argument resolved around the idea that allowing same-sex divorce would eventually lead to same-sex marriage.
So, there you go. Civil unions have become entangled in the long tentacles of the law, the state is arguing that divorce leads to gay marriage, and we’re now left with this fun fact: In New Jersey, same-sex couples can’t get married—but they’ll be happy to divorce you!
Churches Call for Ethiopian Ban on Homosexuality
The Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant churches in Ethiopia have gathered to formally call on their government to enact a constitutional ban on homosexuality. Being gay is already illegal in Ethiopia with prison sentences of up to five years—but why settle for boring, old illegal when it can be constitutionally illegal!
An anonymous spokesperson for the church coalition spoke to journalists after their meeting to explain:
For [gays] to act in this manner they have to be dumb, stupid like animals. We strongly condemn this behaviour; they have to be disciplined and their acts discriminated—they have to be taught a lesson.
Yes, having solved all those pesky, dire famine and plague issues, Ethiopia’s churches are finally moving onto other priorities—and what better way to start than to judge and punish all those dumb, dumb gays that are holding back the country?
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Anti-Gay Marriage Commissioner Sues Saskatchewan
Orville Nichols, a civil marriage commissioner from Saskatchewan, is suing the provincial government over a requirement to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.
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Ah, yes. Ever since I was a wee lad, I always imagined my special wedding day being held in a church that thinks I’m a horrible, horrible sinner—priest nervously presiding over us at gunpoint… government agents standing cross-armed by the newly kicked-in cathedral door. But that’s not terrifically likely.
See, religious institutions are exempt from Canada’s Charter of Rights, and may deny services to whomever they wish. Many religions refuse to wed inter-faith couples unless one converts, and are well within their legal rights to do so. Likewise, churches are not required to marry same-sex couples.
But here’s the thing: A civil marriage commissioner is acting on behalf of the state. Nichols is not an ambassador of his religion and he may not deny his public service to anyone based on their religion, race, disability, or sexual orientation.
So, basically, if this case succeeds, that means I also get to deny my services to whomever I want. So watch out, Bluetooth headset users! Your day is coming.
I can see why Slap Upside the Head was voted Best GLBT Blog in Canada. It’s definitely on my daily reading list.
