"Do they want to see them hold hands in public and make out? We could get a lot of people together for a demonstration of homosexuality, if that's what it takes."
-- Joel Paramo, student editor of the East Bakersfield High School newspaper, responding to school authorities' refusal to allow the paper to publish stories about gay students because it couldn't prove the students were open about their sexual orientation.
Sunday, May 29, 2005
Monday, May 23, 2005
Why do we need such a thing as LGBTIQ Pride Month?
In 1967, two years before the Stonewall Rebellion, Mike Wallace said this on 60 Minutes: "The dilemma of the homosexual: told by the medical profession he is sick; by the law that he's a criminal; shunned by employers, rejected by heterosexual society. Incapable of a fulfilling relationship with a woman, or for that matter, with a man. At the center of his life, he remains anonymous. A displaced person. An outsider."
In 1986 then-Cardinal Ratzinger (who is now Pope Benedict XVI) published a document titled "On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons." The letter referred to homosexual orientation as an "intrinsic moral evil." After the document was published, many bishops ruled that Dignity (a group of Catholics that works for respect and justice for all gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons) could no longer use church facilities to meet.
It was still illegal in NY in 1991 to run a business that catered to homosexuals, just as it had been in 1969 at the time of the Stonewall Rebellion. I don't know if the law's still on the books today.
In 2005, after his arrest for, among other violence, allegedly bombing a nightclub with mostly lesbian patrons, Eric Rudolph said, "Any conscientious individual afflicted with homosexuality should acknowledge that a healthy society requires a model of sexual behavior to be held up and maintained without assault. Like other humans suffering from various disabilities, homosexuals should not attempt to infect the rest of society with their particular illness."
As of May 18, 2005, on their web site, White Aryan Resistance (which has games on its web site entitled "Shoot the fags before they rape you" and "Don't let those spics cross our border," as well as cartoons divided into sections called "Niggers, Gooks, Beaners, ZOG..." ) says, "...Homosexuals must be encouraged to separate their lifestyles from the community at large. Homosexuality must not be taught as a positive lifestyle ... The best that Aryan heterosexual society can do is to limit their collective influence and keep the closet door shut..."
As of May 18, 2005, Peter Sprigg is quoted on the Family Research Council web site, saying, "[An] element of the homosexual agenda is to get "sexual orientation" added to the categories of protection under anti-discrimination codes in private organizations and under civil rights laws in the public sector. In fact, homosexuals should and already do have all of the same rights under the law as any other citizen, such as the right to vote, the right of free speech, and the right to trial by jury. Those rights are truly "civil" or political in nature, and the exercise of them does nothing to infringe on anyone else's freedom. However, adding "sexual orientation" to civil rights laws governing private employment and housing does infringe on the rights of others--namely, the normal right of employers and landlords to make economic decisions based on their own best judgment. Governments normally interfere with such economic freedom only when the alleged "discrimination" is based on characteristics that are inborn, involuntary, immutable, and innocuous, such as race." [NOTE from Beth Reis, co-chair, SAFE SCHOOLS COALITION: Apparently Mr. Sprigg doesn't realize that most non-discrimination laws also prohibit firing someone for her religious beliefs ... which are neither inborn, involuntary, immutable nor, obviously, innocuous.]
As of May 18, 2005, Richard G. Howe is quoted on the American Family Association web site, saying, "Homosexuality is being forced upon us through legislation, taught to our children in school and promoted in the powerful arts/entertainment complex. If it is true that homosexuality has the destructive effects on the individual and society that many believe, then it behooves us to know our enemy and forestall any further advance of homosexuality by understanding what it is, what the homosexual community is up to, and how to answer their arguments in the open marketplace of ideas."
[NOTE from Beth Reis, co-chair, SAFE SCHOOLS COALITION: Mr. Howe doesn't realize, I think just how few teachers feel that they'd be supported by their administrations if they even spoke up in response to anti-gay bullying, no less taught in affirming ways about the LGBT rights movement or even two-mama families. The ranks of brave teachers have grown in the 17 years since the Safe Schools Coalition came into being, but they are still a small minority in most parts of the United States.]
The Safe Schools Coalition is a public-private partnership of 80+ organizations (government agencies, schools, community agencies, churches, youth/student groups, gay/lesbian groups, human rights groups) and 400+ individuals working to help schools become safe places where every family can belong, where every educator can teach, and where every child can learn, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.
Safe Schools' website: http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org
In 1986 then-Cardinal Ratzinger (who is now Pope Benedict XVI) published a document titled "On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons." The letter referred to homosexual orientation as an "intrinsic moral evil." After the document was published, many bishops ruled that Dignity (a group of Catholics that works for respect and justice for all gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons) could no longer use church facilities to meet.
It was still illegal in NY in 1991 to run a business that catered to homosexuals, just as it had been in 1969 at the time of the Stonewall Rebellion. I don't know if the law's still on the books today.
In 2005, after his arrest for, among other violence, allegedly bombing a nightclub with mostly lesbian patrons, Eric Rudolph said, "Any conscientious individual afflicted with homosexuality should acknowledge that a healthy society requires a model of sexual behavior to be held up and maintained without assault. Like other humans suffering from various disabilities, homosexuals should not attempt to infect the rest of society with their particular illness."
As of May 18, 2005, on their web site, White Aryan Resistance (which has games on its web site entitled "Shoot the fags before they rape you" and "Don't let those spics cross our border," as well as cartoons divided into sections called "Niggers, Gooks, Beaners, ZOG..." ) says, "...Homosexuals must be encouraged to separate their lifestyles from the community at large. Homosexuality must not be taught as a positive lifestyle ... The best that Aryan heterosexual society can do is to limit their collective influence and keep the closet door shut..."
As of May 18, 2005, Peter Sprigg is quoted on the Family Research Council web site, saying, "[An] element of the homosexual agenda is to get "sexual orientation" added to the categories of protection under anti-discrimination codes in private organizations and under civil rights laws in the public sector. In fact, homosexuals should and already do have all of the same rights under the law as any other citizen, such as the right to vote, the right of free speech, and the right to trial by jury. Those rights are truly "civil" or political in nature, and the exercise of them does nothing to infringe on anyone else's freedom. However, adding "sexual orientation" to civil rights laws governing private employment and housing does infringe on the rights of others--namely, the normal right of employers and landlords to make economic decisions based on their own best judgment. Governments normally interfere with such economic freedom only when the alleged "discrimination" is based on characteristics that are inborn, involuntary, immutable, and innocuous, such as race." [NOTE from Beth Reis, co-chair, SAFE SCHOOLS COALITION: Apparently Mr. Sprigg doesn't realize that most non-discrimination laws also prohibit firing someone for her religious beliefs ... which are neither inborn, involuntary, immutable nor, obviously, innocuous.]
As of May 18, 2005, Richard G. Howe is quoted on the American Family Association web site, saying, "Homosexuality is being forced upon us through legislation, taught to our children in school and promoted in the powerful arts/entertainment complex. If it is true that homosexuality has the destructive effects on the individual and society that many believe, then it behooves us to know our enemy and forestall any further advance of homosexuality by understanding what it is, what the homosexual community is up to, and how to answer their arguments in the open marketplace of ideas."
[NOTE from Beth Reis, co-chair, SAFE SCHOOLS COALITION: Mr. Howe doesn't realize, I think just how few teachers feel that they'd be supported by their administrations if they even spoke up in response to anti-gay bullying, no less taught in affirming ways about the LGBT rights movement or even two-mama families. The ranks of brave teachers have grown in the 17 years since the Safe Schools Coalition came into being, but they are still a small minority in most parts of the United States.]
The Safe Schools Coalition is a public-private partnership of 80+ organizations (government agencies, schools, community agencies, churches, youth/student groups, gay/lesbian groups, human rights groups) and 400+ individuals working to help schools become safe places where every family can belong, where every educator can teach, and where every child can learn, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.
Safe Schools' website: http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org
Rights of Man by Thomas Paine
Review
http://www.buzzflash.com/hartmann/05/05/har05005.html
"Some people think that FDR invented the progressive income tax when
he raised income tax rates on the super-rich to 90 percent. Some
believe that LBJ invented anti-poverty programs when he more than
cut in half severe poverty in the US by introducing Medicare,
housing assistance, and food-stamp programs in the 1960s. Some
believe that Jack Kennedy was the first president to seriously
talk about international disarmament, a conversation that Richard
Nixon carried on in pushing through and getting ratified the
anti-ballistic missile (ABM) treaty so recently discarded byGeorge
Bush Jr. Some believe that Teddy Roosevelt - the Republican Roosevelt -
was the first to seriously discuss the "living wage," or ways that
corporate "maximum wage" wink-and-nod agreements could be broken up.
Some believe the inheritance tax to prevent family empires from taking
over our nation was the idea of Woodrow Wilson, or that FDR was the
first to think up old-age pensions as part of a social safety net
known today as Social Security.
"But it was actually Thomas Paine who first developed all these themes
in their modern political context. He did so in his book "The Rights of Man.""
http://www.buzzflash.com/hartmann/05/05/har05005.html
"Some people think that FDR invented the progressive income tax when
he raised income tax rates on the super-rich to 90 percent. Some
believe that LBJ invented anti-poverty programs when he more than
cut in half severe poverty in the US by introducing Medicare,
housing assistance, and food-stamp programs in the 1960s. Some
believe that Jack Kennedy was the first president to seriously
talk about international disarmament, a conversation that Richard
Nixon carried on in pushing through and getting ratified the
anti-ballistic missile (ABM) treaty so recently discarded byGeorge
Bush Jr. Some believe that Teddy Roosevelt - the Republican Roosevelt -
was the first to seriously discuss the "living wage," or ways that
corporate "maximum wage" wink-and-nod agreements could be broken up.
Some believe the inheritance tax to prevent family empires from taking
over our nation was the idea of Woodrow Wilson, or that FDR was the
first to think up old-age pensions as part of a social safety net
known today as Social Security.
"But it was actually Thomas Paine who first developed all these themes
in their modern political context. He did so in his book "The Rights of Man.""
Thursday, May 19, 2005
George Ex-Gay?
"Lee, in George Bush's GayGate, writes -- "Why is Bush so hostile to the idea of gay marriage? Perhaps because until 1987, George W. Bush was gay.
"According to a group of 29 Yale classmates who comprise Gay Ivy Leaguers for Truth, Bush was 'known to be at least sexually experimental throughout his time in college.'
"One of Bush's alleged former boyfriends, Anthony Berusca (Class of '70), told The Dallas Morning News that Bush was 'deeply conflicted about being gay, even somewhat self-hating.'
"Berusca is convinced that this conflict led to Bush's drinking problems, but describes the President as a 'gentle, caring lover.'
"In 1986, the Bush family arranged for George to join Worthy Creations, a church group in El Paso that focuses on converting homosexuals through faith.
"A year later, Bush claimed to be straight, born again, and engaged to Laura Welch (Kitty Kelly in "The Family" wrote that Bush's twin daughters were not his offspring, but from a donor at a fertility clinic)."
"According to a group of 29 Yale classmates who comprise Gay Ivy Leaguers for Truth, Bush was 'known to be at least sexually experimental throughout his time in college.'
"One of Bush's alleged former boyfriends, Anthony Berusca (Class of '70), told The Dallas Morning News that Bush was 'deeply conflicted about being gay, even somewhat self-hating.'
"Berusca is convinced that this conflict led to Bush's drinking problems, but describes the President as a 'gentle, caring lover.'
"In 1986, the Bush family arranged for George to join Worthy Creations, a church group in El Paso that focuses on converting homosexuals through faith.
"A year later, Bush claimed to be straight, born again, and engaged to Laura Welch (Kitty Kelly in "The Family" wrote that Bush's twin daughters were not his offspring, but from a donor at a fertility clinic)."
10 stories you haven't read
The United Nations Department of Public Information has selected
10 stories from around the world that, though out of the
international spotlight, are in need of serious coverage:
1. Somalia: Steps on a path to fragile peace in a shattered
country
2. Tragic blind spot in health care for women
3. Northern Uganda: A humanitarian crisis that demands sustained
focus
4. Sierra Leone: Building on a hard-won peace
5. Actors for change: The growth of human rights institutions
6. Cameroon: Farming in the dark
7. Island after the hurricane: Grenada struggles to recover from
devastation
8. Behind closed doors: Violence against women
9. A viable alternative: Curbing illicit drugs through
development
10. Environment and health: New insights into spread of
infectious diseases
http://www.un.org/events/tenstories/
10 stories from around the world that, though out of the
international spotlight, are in need of serious coverage:
1. Somalia: Steps on a path to fragile peace in a shattered
country
2. Tragic blind spot in health care for women
3. Northern Uganda: A humanitarian crisis that demands sustained
focus
4. Sierra Leone: Building on a hard-won peace
5. Actors for change: The growth of human rights institutions
6. Cameroon: Farming in the dark
7. Island after the hurricane: Grenada struggles to recover from
devastation
8. Behind closed doors: Violence against women
9. A viable alternative: Curbing illicit drugs through
development
10. Environment and health: New insights into spread of
infectious diseases
http://www.un.org/events/tenstories/
Losing your religion
The experience of losing your faith, or of having lost it, is an
experience that in the long run belongs to faith; or at least it
can belong to faith if faith is still valuable to you, and it
must be or you would not have written me about this. I don?t
know how the kind of faith required of a Christian living in the
20th century can be at all if it is not grounded on this
experience that you are having right now of unbelief. "Lord, I
believe; help my unbelief" is the most natural and most human
and most agonizing prayer in the gospels, and I think it is the
foundation prayer of faith.
- Flannery O'Connor
experience that in the long run belongs to faith; or at least it
can belong to faith if faith is still valuable to you, and it
must be or you would not have written me about this. I don?t
know how the kind of faith required of a Christian living in the
20th century can be at all if it is not grounded on this
experience that you are having right now of unbelief. "Lord, I
believe; help my unbelief" is the most natural and most human
and most agonizing prayer in the gospels, and I think it is the
foundation prayer of faith.
- Flannery O'Connor
Friday, May 06, 2005
GeorgeJr and Darfur
"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain their neutrality."
John F. Kennedy
Maybe for Bush also since he has not said anything about the genocide occurring in Darfur, Sudan for over 113 days. That's almost four months of silence on a genocide that may eclipse Rwanda. What's with this country's highest leader?
John F. Kennedy
Maybe for Bush also since he has not said anything about the genocide occurring in Darfur, Sudan for over 113 days. That's almost four months of silence on a genocide that may eclipse Rwanda. What's with this country's highest leader?
Faith
"We will be a better country when each religious group can trust its members to obey the dictates of their own religious faith without assistance from the legal structure of their country."
- Margaret Mead
- Margaret Mead
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
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