Nov 15 2008
You know that $700 billion bailout? Did you know the Federal Reserve gave $2 TRILLION in emergency loans? And they won’t say who that money went to? That’s your money.
Google is better than the CDC at following flu epidemics.
PZ writes about Mormon support for Prop 8 in CA.
Obama includes gender identity in his employment non-discrimination policy for his administration.
Nov 13 2008
Femmes of Power: Exploding Queer Femininities
This book looks absolutely fantastic:
“To us, femininity is neither phallic fantasy nor default, it’s beyond surface and it certainly does not passively wait to come alive through a (male) gaze. Fiercely intentional, neither objects nor objective, we have stuff to get out our chests. But speaking bittersweets truths to power takes both busty bravery and some serious padding.”
Nov 09 2008
Proposition 8 in California passed last Tuesday. The proposition overturns a recent California Supreme Court decision recognizing same-sex marriage by ammending the state constitution to say “”Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” This was heartbreaking news for many LGBT people across the country. We wondered how one group could make so much progress while another took such a huge step back.
Then the news came that California African American voters, who’d overwhelmingly supported Obama, had voted in favor of Proposition 8 70% of the time. I was so hurt when I heard that. Why would people that understood discrimination vote to take away civil rights from an entire group of people? Especially when exactly the same arguments were used to deny interracial marriages until the late 1960s:
1) First, judges claimed that marriage belonged under the control of the states rather than the federal government.
2) Second, they began to define and label all interracial relationships (even longstanding, deeply committed ones) as illicit sex rather than marriage.
3) Third, they insisted that interracial marriage was contrary to God’s will, and
4) Fourth, they declared, over and over again, that interracial marriage was somehow “unnatural.”
So I’m angry and confused and wish our schools taught history better. But I was even angrier when I heard about this over at Pandagon:
Los Angeles resident and Rod 2.0 reader A. Ronald says he and his boyfriend, who are both black, were carrying NO ON PROP 8 signs and still subjected to racial abuse.
Three older men accosted my friend and shouted, “Black people did this, I hope you people are happy!” A young lesbian couple with mohawks and Obama buttons joined the shouting and said there were “very disappointed with black people” and “how could we” after the Obama victory. This was stupid for them to single us out because we were carrying those blue NO ON PROP 8 signs! I pointed that out and the one of the older men said it didn’t matter because “most black people hated gays” and he was “wrong” to think we had compassion. That was the most insulting thing I had ever heard. I guess he never thought we were gay.
Responding to ignorance and hate with ignorance and hate makes the situation a lot worse. And in this situation, people were alienating members of their own community.
Nov 03 2008
Tomorrow, in addition to voting for a new president, people in Arizona will be voting on Proposition 102. Prop 102 would add the following to the Arizona constitution:
Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state.
A similar measure, Prop 107, was on the ballot in 2006. It did not pass. Arizona law already defines marriage as between one man and one woman. The proposition would make further gains in civil rights for queer people more difficult. More worrying to me is the homophobic sentiment the very well-funded Yes on 102 campaign is stirring up in my home. Every day I receive fliers and phone calls suggesting that by not voting yes on 102, marriage will be ruined for straight people and our community will be damaged somehow. This is simply untrue. First of all, if 102 does not pass, gay marriage will become legal in Arizona. Secondly, even if it did, in California, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Maine, Hawaii, the District of Columbia, Oregon, and Washington where some form of same-sex partnership is legal, divorce rates have not skyrocketed, there is no epidemic of pedophiles, people have not suddenly started hating children or being mean to their neighbors. Society has not fallen apart.
If you live in Arizona, Florida, Arkansas, or California, I hope you vote no on the homophobic ballot initiative in your state. Your vote is affecting the lives of people you know and care about. To vote for these propositions will do you and your community no good. It is just cruel.
I have adopted moms that mean the world to me, the day that they were able to get legally married was one of the happiest days in my life. Even though the institution of marriage isn’t my favorite thing in the world, seeing the looks on their faces, being privileged to be one of their witnesses meant the world to me, and remains one of the most important days in my life. A few months later the state of Oregon sent them a letter telling them that their partnership of over 13 years was not recognized, and that they were no longer married and my heart broke for them, and every other couple that received that letter.
Many people who support these initiatives, say they do so in the name of “family values.” But if you vote for these propositions, you are hurting families.
Aug 17 2008
The US government conducted a huge raid for illegal immigrants in Postville, Iowa. They haven’t explained why some are being deported and others are being jailed. Wives of the arrested men have been fitted with leg monitoring bracelets and basically been told “You can’t work, you can’t leave and can’t stay.” The local Roman Catholic church is now caring for the women. A priest responds to the situation:
He said he understands that the people arrested were illegal, but he said they were also desperate.
“This was their last option. They would not have chosen this as their first option. They wanted to feed their families. Scripture tells us to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, give shelter to the shelterless. If you and your family were starving, what would you do?” [via holographicme]
Russia’s not playing nice with Georgia. [via 3QD]
Helen Boyd interviews Monica Canfield-Lenfest. Includes my new favorite word: queerspawn.
A moving post on teaching. I want to be a good teacher someday, but I’ve got a very long way to go.
When their high school refused to let them organize, the Okeechobee, FL Gay-Straight Alliance asked the ACLU for help. They’ve won the case. Notably, the decision requires the school board to “take into account the well-being of its non-heterosexual students.”
Jul 16 2008
Why is there so much anti-American sentiment in the world?
Rove is a criminal, on vacation.
Knowing about the economy is important if you’d like to be president, McCain.
No, I’m not a big Heinlein fan.
Rich people use drugs (poor, brown people go to jail for it).
Why having the legal protection of marriage is important for queer couples.
Jun 06 2008
That’s how right-wing crap works. It’s not meant to advance or even partake of discourse; it’s meant to end it. One can argue the worth of Hillary’s policies or her voting record or her position on the war till the cows come home; but when she’s reduced to being a bitch, that pretty much ends the discussion. And when it’s as pervasive as it’s become in the past decade, its effects are paralyzingly toxic.
These numbers are particularly maddening given how debilitating the condition can be: Women with really bad vulvodynia can become unable to walk, wear pants, or sit without pain, and it can last for years or even for a lifetime. Imagine, by contrast, how the medical community would approach a disorder that made any friction unbearably painful for one in six penises.
Now I do speed read. Sometimes I miss the nuance of a sentence and need to go back because it is too complex to fly through so quickly. This one I staggered through several times not because of speed but out of sheer goggling.
Pharyngula reminds us we’re all going to hell.
May 23 2008
What happens in the brain when people orgasm. I thought it was especially interesting that different types of female orgasms look incredibly different in the brain. With clitoral orgasms, the brain gets very very quiet - the article describes it as “widespread neural power failures,” but at least some non clitoral orgasms actually activate the emotional part of the brain.
Eugene Debs’ 1918 court speech.
Illdoctrine on the “gay rapper” question.
Because when we find ourselves believing killing a man makes us more of a man but loving a man makes us less of a man, it’s probably time to re-examine our criteria for manhood.
Fat discrimination in the medical world.
Cocaine and Thorazine - recommended for children.
Childhood obesity isn’t really an issue. But hungry children are. I found this statistic particularly depressing:
two-thirds of all children growing up in poverty have one or more working parents, and one-third have a parent working full-time, year round
It’s unacceptable that people who work hard every day can’t feed themselves and their families.
Flagstaff passed 5 resolutions to keep the bus system up and running and make it even better. Hooray!
Most anti-immigration stances aren’t about making America better, they’re about ignorance and hate.
Mar 28 2008
Siberia is melting fast and so is Antarctica
Fox news: Democrats are mommies, Republicans are daddies
No frogs + no bats = serious bug problems
Dolphins give their girlfriends flowers too
Velorution (why doesn’t my school do this?)
Follow the money - which politicians get money from oil companies
The music biz and the moral high ground
Mar 13 2008
Poor Brazilians figuring out who’s really screwing them over
John McCain thinks I’m a baby machine
Another university goes after the people who aren’t really cheating
It’s a computer, it’s a mouse brain!
Frida Kahlo, survival, and the stories we tell ourselves
Poorly trained campus police + assault rifles = dead students
Pulp fiction cover art (and atheists)
