Why I Won't Come Out on National Coming Out Day The Bilerico Project *************************************************************This blog attempts to bring together newsworthy articles pertinent to and regarding the GLBTQ community, its sub-groups, and all its individuals, with multi-faceted health, political, social, media and cultural issues. Liberation and Equality issues. And though this posting by Yasmin Nair for The Bilerico Project Report is not the opinion of this blogger (myself), it is another viewpoint worthy of consideration and rational discussion. Please handle it as such. *************************************************************
I've blogged before about how we don't really have a way of describing the political diversity within the American queer population on LGBT issues. So I'm humbly proposing a few terms to discuss the way people think and talk about same-sex marriage. We're far from uniform within the queer community when it comes to our beliefs about this institution and our activism around it, and instead of starting from zero every time we talk about what X or Y person thinks about it, it would make sense to develop a meta-political vocabulary.
I came up with six rough categories, based not on polling data or studies since I don't know of any that are sufficient to this end, and therefore these terms are entirely inappropriate in a policy discussion. It's based instead on what I've learned from reading several dozen queer blogs and a dozen queer journals daily for going on three years now, as well as political discussions here on the site and among friends. Sure, there are as many beliefs when it comes to same-sex marriage as there are people in the LGBTQ population, and there's lots of diversity within these categories, but it's a starting point.
In order of descending size:
Continue reading "Toward a same-sex marriage political vocabulary"...
The following has been clipped from The Bilerico Project Report dated 18 September 2009.
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What nuggets happened this week that Projectors should know about but none of the contributors got around to blogging? Why funny you should ask...
Gay and bisexual teens are more vulnerable to eating disorders (Hat tip to Barbara)
Following up on Toni Broaddus, Kip Williams and Robin McGehee's response editorials, frequent guest blogger Adam Bink has his own thought on the federal vs state strategy for LGBT rights.
The Ohio House of Representatives passed House Bill 176, the Equal Housing and Employment Act. State Representative and Republican candidate for Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, previously an LGBT ally, flipped positions and voted against the legislation.
After President Obama extended the National Emergency for one year last Thursday, experts noted that the move allows him additional time to sign an executive order suspending Don't Ask, Don't Tell. So far it doesn't look like he will. (Hat tip to Indra)
Across the United States, thousands of kids are kicked out of their homes each year for being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.
Comedian and actor Eddie Izzard, a "47-year-old cross-dresser with no sporting inclination," completed 43 marathons in 52 days, a feat of jogging that covered 1,100 miles. (Hat tip to Robin)
The following haas been clipped and posted from The Bilerico Project Report dated 16 September 2009.
Equality; being involved in LGBT politics means that I probably utter or hear this word a hundred or more times every day but, do I truly understand what it means? What are the implications it carries for my private as well as my public life?
I work for One Kalamazoo, a ballot question committee campaigning to affirm a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender inclusive Non-Discrimination Ordinance in Kalamazoo, MI. The ordinance was passed unanimously ...twice by the city commission and derailed...twice by a small group of opposition. It will go to a city-wide vote on November 3. I've been working for this ordinance for quite sometime now and I've observed closely as new faces joined in support.
Equality can mean many things to different people. In fact, it means many things to me, for instance; it means I should have the same civil rights as you. It means I don't get to judge you and you don't get to judge me. It means that how much money somebody makes doesn't give them the right to treat me as their lesser. Often, our opponents accuse us of demanding "special rights." Not true. "Gay agenda"? Maybe; if you consider fair and equal opportunity for everyone an agenda. Within the context of my politics, it means that others shouldn't be allowed to deprive me of the same rights and considerations under our common laws that are widely taken for granted. It's not right that my viability as a person can be called into question because I may not conform in some way to mainstream standards which are unthinkingly and unquestioningly agreed upon by a fictional majority. That is my understanding of the public position of the LGBT equality movement as well.
The following has been clipped from The Bilerico Project Report dated 14 September 2009.
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I'm sure you've all heard by now that Rep. Jerry Nadler plans on introducing a bill to repeal DOMA in the House, and that Barney Frank isn't co-sponsoring because he's worried that the "certainty principle" will be a poison pill that will kill the bill and that it will be a distraction from other legislation like ENDA.
Personally, it seems like a rather academic debate right now considering that the bill won't be voted on until at least after the 2010 midterms and that it won't pass the Senate in Obama's first term, if it does pass within the next decade. Sorry, I just don't feel the optimism here.
But there are also plenty of reasons to think that Frank either should or should not cosponsor the bill. There is a strategic debate there, and we're having it because the person at the center of that strategic debate is Barney Frank, one of the gay movement's smartest, most powerful, and staunchest actors. If it were anyone else, he'd probably be shouted down as an "uncle Tom" or a "traitor." If anyone would have paid attention in the first place.
More extreme (in rhetoric and emotion, not politics) members of the LGBT population have already gotten fed up with Frank. Aravosis is now referring to the Congressman as "formerly gay," because apparently having a different opinion on a strategic discussion means that you're no longer allowed to suck dick. Joe Sudby, who generally shows more restraint, said:
But, sometimes, we really need our allies to be our allies, not just the smartest people around.
His comment is fairly representative of what a lot of people are actually saying when they call someone an "uncle Tom" for not agreeing with them that marriage is the most important issue ever, for example. They don't want people to think on their own or help out as they can - they want loyalty.
But loyalty isn't defined as loyalty to the community or loyalty to a certain goal. It's defined as "You're a good, loyal, real gay person if you agree with me." For some reason, it's not a definition people on the left use, but the center-left/big-city liberal section of the community that's always just assumed it had the God-given right to define the strategies, goals, and composition of the LGBT movement.
The following has been clipped from the Saturday 12 September 2009 issue.
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It is remarkable how little progress gay people have made in securing the basic protection against discrimination on the job. In 29 states, it is still legal to fire workers for being gay. But momentum is building in Congress for the first federal law banning such discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
Federal law has lagged behind the reality of American life. There are now openly gay members of Congress from between-the-coasts states like Colorado and Wisconsin. And according to the Human Rights Campaign, a gay-rights advocacy group, 85 percent of Fortune 500 companies have policies protecting gay employees from discrimination.
But gay rights advocates have for years faced opposition to a federal civil rights law from the religious right, and from parts of the business community, who argue that it would lead to a flood of litigation.
Bipartisan bills have been introduced in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, modeled on existing civil rights laws that cover race, religion and sex. Unlike some past bills, these include gender identity, protecting transgender people from discrimination.
The bills were written to meet some of the concerns of opponents. The law would not apply to religious organizations, or to businesses with fewer than 15 employees. It would not allow for quotas or “disparate impact” lawsuits, which generally use statistical disparities to prove discrimination.
There is reason for cautious optimism. In 2007, the House passed a nondiscrimination law that did not cover transgender people. The current Congress is more Democratic, and even in the past two years, gay rights have made significant strides. As states and localities have passed antidiscrimination laws, it has been clear that they do not disrupt the workplace, and they have not resulted in an enormous number of lawsuits.
Supporters in the House think they have the votes. The biggest hurdle is likely to be winning the support of 60 senators, the de facto number now required for most legislation because of filibuster rules.
People who believe in workplace fairness should lobby senators to get on board. It is unacceptable that in a nation committed to equality people can still be fired in more than half the states for being gay. Congressional leaders should make passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act a top priority.
The following has been clipped from the Daily Headlines of 365gay.com posted 09 September 2009.
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OF INTEREST . . .
Several dozen individual parishes and four dioceses nationwide voted to split from the national church after the consecration of the first openly gay Episcopal bishop.
The following has been clipped from the Bilerico Project Report posted 03 September 2009
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Dan Savage, Chill With Your Race Baiting [sic]
Dan Savage just won't give up pimping that thoroughly discredited meme about the Prop 8 loss in Ca-lee-forn-ia.
"I do know this, though: I'm done pretending that the handful of racist gay white men out there--and they're out there, and I think they're scum--are a bigger problem for African Americans, gay and straight, than the huge numbers of homophobic African Americans are for gay Americans, whatever their color.
"This will get my name scratched of the invite list of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, which is famous for its anti-racist-training seminars, but whatever. Finally, I'm searching for some exit poll data from California. I'll eat my shorts if gay and lesbian voters went for McCain at anything approaching the rate that black voters went for Prop 8."
Damn, just when we thought the drama over Prop 8 had subsided a bit, here comes Savage pouring gasoline on the smoldering embers..
As I entitled this post, LET ME ADD SOME FAGGOTS* TO THE PILE, rather than let it extinguish or be extinguished by some do-gooder. It is about time to clearly clarify once and for all, and mayhaps even to do something about it, the apparent discrepancy between white racist homophobia and black racist homophobia, whether the racism be within or without the communities. (*check out the original definition of the word!)
Via Politico comes news that the archdiocese of Washington D.C. has officially affirmed its support of the "Marriage Initiative of 2009," banning gay marriage in the District of Columbia. In effort to stress the definition of marriage under civil law as the union between a man and a woman, the archdiocese wrote letters to 300 priests to advance the Church's position.
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