Asterisk

An interesting press release found its way into my mailbox this morning. I’ll post the release here with my comments interspersed.

California ‘Corruption Footprint’ Not Wanted in Middle America
Contact: Linda Harvey, Mission America, 614-442-7998

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sept. 9 /Christian Newswire/ — Traditional families, especially children, will be harmed if California forces its sexual deviance on the rest of America, says Linda Harvey of Mission America.

Harvey joins other pro-family groups later this month in San Francisco to protest and expose the Folsom Street Fair, a public street orgy which includes sado-masochism, full nudity and homosexuality. They will also discuss the urgent need to pass Proposition 8, the ballot initiative upholding traditional marriage.

First things first, the Folsom Street Fair is not a LGBT-specific event. It contains elements that are driven by the B&D and S&M communities. I’m not about to go into those things here except to say that while there is overlap amongst the communities, they are not the same. Ms. Harvey’s release acknowledged that separation, then promptly began lumping them together.

Secondly, could we stop with the pro-family nonsense? Pro-family doesn’t include the withholding of Civil Rights.

Third, a law’s traditional nature doesn’t necessarily translate into intrinsic right-ness. It just means it’s something people have been doing for a long time. Laws that prohibited women from voting were repealed ages ago, for example.

The event falls on Sunday, September 28, following “Leather Pride Week.” The alleged crowd estimate of 400,000 has no age restrictions, merely warnings about the “adult oriented nature” of activities. Last year, children were observed in the crowd where they could witness, for example, bare-bottomed men being whipped.

“There’s one big question: why?” said Harvey. “How can Mayor Newsom, city officials and even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (who represents San Francisco) tolerate disturbed people publicly displaying this deviance as police stand by and do nothing to stop it?

It’s always interesting to me that people don’t get their knickers in a twist over that Festival of Hetero Hedonism we call Marti Gras. They certainly don’t release nonsense press releases about outlawing traditional marriage because they don’t like what traditional people do in New Orleans.

“California’s unsustainable sexual license is not an export we welcome in middle America,” said Harvey. “We don’t want same sex ‘marriage’ legalized, nor to have our children taught to praise homosexuality, as California children now must do after the passage of SB 777 and AB 394. And we don’t want naked people having sex in our streets.” Under the new laws, children must be taught favorable viewpoints about homosexuality and transgenderism. Other opinions are banned.

Linda just told a big lie about SB 777 and AB 394. Neither law requires anybody to “praise homosexuality”, as Linda suggests. Both laws are aimed at protecting LGBT kids from harassment by peers or teachers in California’s schools. For more information, go here for SB 777 and here for AB 394. (Both links are pdfs)

Again, nothing in either law requires anyone to “praise homosexuality”. They simply require people not to abuse LGBT kids. This is a good thing.

If Proposition 8 fails — and Democrats like Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama succeed in their stated goal of repealing the federal Defense of Marriage Act — all states could be forced under the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution to recognize homosexual ‘marriages’ legalized by a CA court ruling in May.

Joining Mission America for the protest are Americans for Truth, American Family Association of Pennsylvania, the St. Joseph Men’s Society and other concerned groups.

James Dobson is on Linda’s side. I don’t think I need to say any more about that.

“The ‘corruption footprint’ of California is staggering,” Harvey stated. “Sadly, San Francisco is a dying city discarding its children. Its only hope is the ‘offset’ provided by the fresh air of California’s traditional, caring families. Hopefully, these families will turn this state around and spare the rest of America from the polluting effects of California’s moral decay.”

Do I really need to go into all the atrocities some traditional parents do to their kids? Do I really?

Linda, you seem to have a real problem with Civil Rights for all Americans. Your entire press release is one offensive jab after another. You should probably cut that out.

Please see Box Turtle Bulletin for more information on Mission America and founder Linda Harvey. I’m not linking to her organization, but she included her phone number on the press release, so it’s fair game. In case you missed it at the top, the phone number is 614-442-7998.

I have a new hero today, a young man named William Sleaster. This happened in early September 2007, but I didn’t find out about it until today in early September 2008, which is kind of confusing to keep pointing out, so let’s throw caution to the wind and treat it like it happened today. It’ll be an adventure!

The set up: John McCain photo op/Q&A session with high school kids.
The place: Concord High School in Concord, New Hampshire.
The problem: John McCain is a bigot who doesn’t know what LGBT means.
The other problem: The brave William Sleaster, bisexual sophomore at Concord, is at the microphone.

Let the games begin!

I’m pulling from two sources, beginning with the New York Times:

William Sleastor, 16, asked Mr. McCain what he planned to do about “L.G.B.T. rights.” When Mr. McCain looked puzzled, the student explained that the initials stand for “lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.”

“I had not heard that phrase before,” Mr. McCain said.

A national leader who has voted on (usually against) legislation on civil rights for LGBT people doesn’t even know what LGBT stands for? If that isn’t evidence of McCain being a bit out of touch, I don’t know what is.

Returning to the Concord exchange with CNN’s truncated transcript:

SLEASTER: Do you support civil unions or gay marriage?

MCCAIN: I do not. I do not. I think that they impinge on the status and the sanctity of marriage between man and woman.

SLEASTER: So you want to take away someone’s rights because what you believe it’s wrong?

MCCAIN: I don’t put that interpretation an my position, but I understand yours.

It could have ended there, but in a bold move, Mr. Sleaster pressed forward. Again from CNN’s interview transcript:

MCCAIN: You want to have one more? You’re doing great.

SLEASTER: I came here looking to see a good leader. I don’t.

May he never lose his chutzpah.

That aside, the opinion that the federal government should withhold civil rights from a minority group should be challenged.

If anyone’s being disrespectful here, it’s John McCain. He’s disrespectful of me by claiming that my theoretical legal marriage to a man causes damage to his legal marriage to a woman. It’s disrespectful to suggest that the legal contract of marriage has any impact whatsoever on non-legal religious marriage.

So good on ya, William Sleaster. Keep fighting for what’s right. Keep holding their feet to the fire. And keep living your life without compromising your self.

I’m not a big fan of church marquee signs anyway, but this one’s worse than all the horrible puns and pseudo-Christianity combined.

(It's from a song. Don't worry, I'm old too.)

From yesterday’s Columbus Dispatch:

“It’s not something that is really a shock if you’re a scriptural person,” said the Rev. Dave Allison, pastor of the 100-member church at Havens Corners and Reynoldsburg-New Albany roads. “We meant that as a loving warning to teens. … The Scriptures tell us that you should not do what the song tells you to do. The Scriptures are not ambiguous on this issue.”

The song, which has topped the charts and become an international hit, is about a girl kissing another girl.

Allison said he has heard from people who, he said, either were not familiar with the song and didn’t understand the cultural reference, or didn’t understand the message.

Lynne Bowman, director of Equality Ohio, a gay and transgender advocacy group, said every church has a right to its beliefs. Havens Corners has made it clear to everyone who drives by that it is not a welcoming place that accepts all people, she said.

She noted that the church’s vision, stated on its Web site, is to grow in membership. “Obviously they’re making a statement as to how they don’t want to do that,” she said.

She said Equality Ohio has identified at least 300 churches in Ohio that welcome gay people looking for a church home. “That sign just tells them where they cannot go to find the love and faith in Christ,” she said.

Ms. Bowman got it exactly right. I’m glad Mr. Allison put it out there. Now I know where this minister and this congregation stand on the issue, and I know where I’m not welcome on Sunday morning.

As of this afternoon, the church’s website is down for exceeding their bandwidth limit following local and regional attention from news media and the blogosphere. (They’re back now! Hooray!)

The sign was changed yesterday due to the pressure, but the message remains.

(hat tip to Good As You, which everybody should be reading anyway)

I’m coming up on my one year Out-iversary, and I’ve been thinking about the closet lately. Mostly mine, but also the closet of a man I used to know.

Ten years ago, I had a coworker (I’ll call him Tony). Tony was what you would call FLAMING. He was a gym bunny with blond highlights, a bad half-handlebar mustache, and a major lisp. He often wore tight jeans that showed off his pert buttocks that swished back and forth when he walked.

It’s awesome that he was so free with his appearance and whatnot, but Tony was also in the closet. Deep in the closet. As in, he even had a fake girlfriend back home.

Every couple weeks Tony would take a long weekend and drive north to see his family and his girlfriend Carla. Every time he mentioned her name, people exchanged sideways glances in disbelief.

Then in 1999, Tony died. Tony was an über-health nut, almost fanatical. Turns out there was a history of heart problems in his family that he couldn’t get away from. His death was a complete shock to everyone.

There was another surprise awaiting me at the funeral home. There with his parents and siblings sat Carla. Except it wasn’t Carla, it was Carlos. Tony had changed his boyfriend’s gender to stay in the closet at work. I was dumbstruck.

I didn’t speak to Carlos that day and of course I haven’t heard from him since. But every now and then I wonder about him. How long had they been together? How did they meet? Were they a cute couple? How did they decide on the work-closet, or was Carlos even aware of it?

While I researched the David Davis case, I ran across a blog comment that I’ve seen before. “Why do you have to tell people? Everything was fine until you started telling everybody!” Tony is the reason I know the comment is wrong. Because everything wasn’t fine. It was fine for people on the outside, but it must have been painful for Tony and Carlos to hide what I can only assume was a loving, caring, wonderful relationship.

That’s what makes me so sure that throwing our society’s closet door wide open is a good and righteous thing to do. No one should have to hide a loving relationship for fear of rejection in another, be it personal, professional, or spiritual. No one should have to hide who they are because of the very real possibility that someone might hate them.

Yet the Jimmy Dobsons of the world continue to wield their hate, and too many gays and lesbians continue to live in their closets in fear of that hate.