Live link to today's hearing.

Stop bigotry, make USA friendly to all!

Sort of a long article written by a student at the University of South Alabama. She did a great job.

 BillJ wrote: 
But still old enough to have a nephew who's kissing someone like THAT.    I guess I'll get used to it eventually, but was still buying the "My boy is a virgin" thing until this weekend.  Now I am forced to acknowledge that he's an almost adult.  sigh.

 BillnDollarBaby wrote:  
Not very.

This weekend for the first time, I met my nephew's significant other, Louis.  I adore the boyfriend.  I also got to see my nephew kiss someone for the first time.  The only thing that wierded me out was seeing my nephew kiss someone, like THAT, for the first time.  Wasn't I rocking him to sleep last week?  How do they get old enough to do THAT so fast??!!  And how old does that make ME!!??  Dammit.  What happened to the little kid??!!

 OCDHG wrote: 
Me, I have no problem with polygamy, as long as everyone is of legal age and wants to be there.  I have seen some interesting programs with adult "sister wives" who love the set up.  If they like it, and their religions allows it, more power to 'em.

 n4ku wrote: 

February 24, 2009

 

My Oscar Sunday started with a call from an old and dear friend who hadn't phoned in a while. That he contacted me at all was something to be celebrated, for we had been out of touch with each other. I thought he might have been calling about the Oscars, because in the old days, we would dial each other incessantly throughout the spectacle. It was our Super Bowl.

But that wasn't it. Within a few minutes of saying hello, he was telling me he was in the middle of some very tough times and — the good news — that he was getting the help he needed. In the course of that help, he said, he reached out for a Bible, but was confounded by the choices that confronted him. It had been a while since he had gone to that source for guidance, and the world of Bibles had changed since his Sunday school days.

Which version to choose? Someone ran down the choices, and added, "There's even a faggot Bible."

My friend — who is the sweetest man I know, and gay — was taken aback by the nasty word attached to the information, and told the imparter that he was gay. Either the other person didn't hear, or didn't care. My friend had bigger worries, made his choice and moved on.

I was haunted by this call throughout the day. I was concerned for my friend and his well-being. And I was hurt, and angered, that he had to put up with the "faggot" stuff on top of everything else he was going through.

But the morning's conversation really hit home as I settled in to watch the Oscars on Sunday night. My friend and I wouldn't be calling each other to dish on clothes or speeches or wins and losses, but I felt as if he were sitting right beside me — especially when Dustin Lance Black won his well-deserved original screenplay award for "Milk."

That is the very good movie — with a great and Oscar-winning performance by Sean Penn in the title role — about the gay rights activist Harvey Milk, who helped start the equal rights movement for gays and lesbians before he was assassinated in the late 1970s. "Google" Harvey Milk if you don't know about him; better yet, go see the film when/if it's re-released after its Sunday Oscar wins.

I can't remember how deep into the telecast Black gave his speech, but I do remember thinking that it was too bad that it was past too many people's bedtimes, because everyone needed to hear what he had to say about writing this "life-saving story."

Excising only the preliminary thank-yous, here is what Dustin Lance Black said:

"When I was 13 years old, my beautiful mother and my father moved me from a conservative Mormon home in San Antonio, Texas, to California, and I heard the story of Harvey Milk. And it gave me hope. It gave me the hope to live my life. It gave me the hope one day I could live my life openly as who I am and then maybe I could even fall in love and one day get married.

"I want to thank my mom, who has always loved me for who I am even when there was pressure not to. But most of all, if Harvey had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he'd want me to say to all the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told that they are less than by their churches, their government or by their families, that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights federally, across this great nation of ours. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you, God, for giving us Harvey Milk."

Despite the continuing attempts to marginalize or penalize members of the gay community with narrow or hateful interpretations of holy books, enactments of spiteful and exclusionary laws, and exercises in devastating family politics, I believe what that enlightened young man said.

I believe, as others have, that the arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice. So it will bend toward justice for this maligned and mistreated community, as it has for others in the past.

Yes, young gays and lesbians need to know this, as Black said.

But so do older gays and lesbians who are still being slagged by the ignorance of the greater culture, even when they reach out for a book about love and hope, as happened to my struggling friend.

Just as important, though, the rest of us, we who belong to a majority that has bullied this minority forever, need to hear and heed this message if we want to be the beautiful, wonderful creatures of value we think we already are.

 Alpo7_jrtr wrote: 
That should go under Bug Reports & Feature Requests -

 greengarden wrote: 

I'm hearing a lot of arguments about this issue, ranging from the evening news to discussions with close friends. I'd like to emphasize what I think this ad campaign is trying to say. The people involved here are not articles of legislation, judicial decisions, or lines from sacred text. These are individuals who are trying to connect with a loving partner, raise a family, and fully participate in society. These are people whose hearts break when they are denied. Breaks my heart too.

 AliGator wrote: 

Ali,
Fine...and thanks for the civil discussion...

mk

 musik_knut wrote: 
That was an advertising push by religious groups; the Mormon Church comes to mind. If memory serves, the protests were against those churches that had spent millions on Prop 8 ads.

We can just stop now and agree to disagree, if you'd like.

 romeotuma wrote: 

Does having a harem mean multiple honey-do lists?

 AliGator wrote: 

As I understand it, that was more a grass roots people push, not a Party push...

With that said, I have nothing but endless condemnation for those on the losing side who took it upon themselves to disrupt the right to peacefully assemble in places of worship...as an added insult, those who engaged in detestable dissruptions of those practicing their religions, were PC...California went heavy for President Obama and like all other states, Mr. Obama garnered 9+ of every 10 black voters...and those voters went 7 out of ten for Prop 8...yet, no demonstrations against 'black' churches...

 musik_knut wrote: 
This is exactly what happened in California.

 AliGator wrote: 

Ali,
Perhaps because the US population has a greater devotion to religious practices than say, most European countries...in so many ways, we are not Europe...some folks wonder why...I say, thank God. You visit almost any of the great Cathedrals in Europe and they sit, almost empty, any day of the week...and perhaps many countries have marriage defined by their government...that would strike me as government intruding into what has historically been a religious ceremony... As a Repubican, I was irritated to no end that some within my Party were pushing for a Constitutional Amendment that would define marriage...

mk

 oldslabsides wrote: 
The Conquistadorks.

 oldslabsides wrote: 

 AliGator wrote: 
We got Baptists - Spain don't.