Monthly Archives: January 2007

“What You People Should Do”

I’m shamelessly cribbing this post by Chris Douglas from bilerico.com, because it’s so true and bears repeating in as many places as possible — so hopefully people like RiShawn Biddle with see it.

As long as we’re contemplating the advice from the straight community about the strategy employed by various sectors of the gay community, I’ll add my own beef.
Ever since this assault on the Constitution was launched, I’ve spent time talking quietly with lobbyists, business people, public relations folks, politicians and political donors who, upon coming to understand the damage this amendment does to decent gay and lesbian citizens, begin to tell me what the gay community needs to do, describing a massive and obvious task of education.
Enough.
The glbt community ranges from 5-10% of Indiana’s population, or 1 in every 20 to 1 in every 10. When it’s all said and done, we’re still a minority, one that like other minorities in the past (black, Jewish, Asian…) has been victim to every form of stereotype, mischaracterization, denigration, or dire warning. A minority. We can do only so much alone. If members of the straight majority do not take personal responsibility to assist in this task of education, we’re sunk.
I was once witness to an outrageous racist incident in the Air Force. I didn’t say to the female black officer colleague of mine, who had been viciously harassed, “Here’s what you need to do; I’ll watch.” Instead, I said “I will do whatever you want me to do in your support.” And I chewed out my commanding officers, American to American, rank be damned. I was angered by a clear miscarriage of justice… one that had nothing to do with me…. but one that required my acquiescence as an observer. Nothing doing. The cadet codes include the words: “We will not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do.” Standing up to such actions was and remains a matter of honor in itself.
Those who are not in our minority, but who disagree with this assault have an obligation not merely to disagree, but to speak up… not merely to advise, but to assist. We cannot preserve our constitutional standing as free citizens all by ourselves. We need you to speak up, too. Not only as a matter of the defense of the Constitution and American freedom, for which we are all asking young men and women abroad to die, but as a matter of American honor, you must speak up, whatever the discomfort you may feel.

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How Islam Rationalizes Prostitution

A bizarre sexual practice sanctioned by Islam that has re-emerged in Iraq because we invaded, according the the Washington Post:

Temporary ‘Enjoyment Marriages’ In Vogue Again With Some Iraqis
BAGHDAD — Fatima Ali was a 24-year-old divorcee with no high school diploma and no job. Shawket al-Rubae was a 34-year-old Shiite sheik with a pregnant wife who, he said, could not have sex with him. If people are looking for filing for divorce in Virginia, then they can get some help from here.

Ali wanted someone to take care of her. Rubae wanted a companion. People can hire fathers rights lawyers from here, during or before a divorce.

They met one afternoon in May at the house he shares with his wife, in the room where he accepts visitors seeking his religious counsel. He had a proposal. Would Ali be his temporary wife? He would pay her 5,000 Iraqi dinars upfront — about $4 — in addition to her monthly expenses. About twice a week over the next eight months, he would summon her to a house he would rent.
The negotiations took an hour and ended with an unwritten agreement, the couple recalled. Thus began their “mutaa,” or enjoyment marriage, a temporary union believed by Shiite Muslims to be sanctioned by Islamic law. If you need help with divorce law, family law lawyers for hire can be checked out before things get out of hand.

The Shiite practice began 1,400 years ago, in what is now Iraq and other parts of the region, as a way to provide for war widows. Banned by President Saddam Hussein’s Sunni-led government, it has regained popularity since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq brought the majority Shiites to power, said clerics, women’s rights activists and mutaa spouses.

“It’s a cover for prostitution,” said Um Akram, a women’s rights activist in Baghdad. “Some women, because they don’t want to be prostitutes, they think that this is legal because it’s got some kind of religious cover. But it is wrong, and they’re still prostitutes from the society’s point of view.” Um Akram, like the mutaa spouses interviewed, asked that only parts of her name be published.

Boy, anything can be rationalized if you just write it into your religion. We’re certainly improving things over there.

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links for 2007-01-26

Continue Readinglinks for 2007-01-26

Ugh, hospital soap

I washed my hands in the locker room at the Y after my swim class, and discovered they have started putting the horrid antiseptic soap used by hospitals into the soap dispensers at the sinks. Talk about stomach churning. I still feel like I want to throw up. And the worst part is that it takes days to get the smell to go away; you can’t just wash your hands with something pleasant, because the smell just lingers. So now my hand smell like death, and I’m going to be away all night because of it. I swear I’m taking my own soap in my gym bag from now on.

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Retrofitting with Square Wheels

One of my favorite writers, Ian Williams, has this to say in a recent blog post:

There are three issues, for me, that bear specific importance to the survival of my family: drastically reducing our carbon output, jumpstarting research on stem cells, and securing ALL loose nuclear materials in the world. If we make headway on those things in my lifetime, I will consider this era to be largely successful.
Yet all three have ticking clocks. It is only a matter of time before some very bad people get their hands on weapons-grade nuclear material. We only have a decade – at most – to stop a potential environmental holocaust. And I would like to unlock the stem cell secrets before any one of us, currently healthy reading this blog, starts to get Alzheimers, Parkinsons, or has a spinal injury.
That’s three clocks. One ticks down to an American city flattened into glass, one ticks down to you not remembering your own children, and one ticks down to billions dead because of a little change in the weather. I’m not being histrionic or even cavalier. It took me a lot of Celexa, therapy and a healthy dose of nihilism to come to grips with it. They all loom, but all come with a saving grace: THEY ALL CAN BE PREVENTED IF WE ACT IN TIME.
Let’s leave aside the nuclear material problem, because that’s my own little bête noire. The other two issues, however, are being roadblocked, again and again, by American religious fundamentalists. If we don’t stop them, they will actually end up killing us. I’m not being histrionic. Their efforts to suppress the news of global warming and their stalwart opposition to stem cells will, if nothing else does, eventually end your (or your kids’) life before its time.
I was listening to this story about two brothers who are trying to bridge their cultural divide: both are Christian, but one is a pro-war Republican who believed the Earth was created in seven actual days by God, and the other, well, votes for Democrats. They discuss how they’ve decided to get together more often and see where they have common ground.
The evangelical brother’s biggest problem with… I dunno, people that don’t agree with him, I suppose… is their perceived superiority. He doesn’t like the disdain, and he’s enraged by conversations where he’s perceived as an idiot.
For me, it’s summed up in a metaphor. Suppose there is a car that is supposed to drive us into the future. A lot of people with a lot of skill made the car, and it was almost done and ready to go, when another group of people come along and say “nice car, but it needs square wheels.”
“Square wheels?” the craftsmen say, “You’re… you’re joking, right?”
“No,” the group says, very loudly, “And I’ll thank you not to act so smug.”
“But round wheels work infinitely better than square wheels.”
“We don’t care. We firmly believe, to the depths of our hearts, that square wheels are the way to go.”
“We’re not putting square wheels on the car! That’s totally fucking stupid!”
“HOW DARE YOU CALL US STUPID! WE’RE GOING TO LIE IN FRONT OF THE CAR UNTIL YOU PUT OUR SQUARE WHEELS ON IT!!!”
“We’re sorry, we’re sorry,” say the craftsmen, “Maybe we can compromise… um, maybe octagons? Um…”
That argument? That’s where America is right now. The future is coming on incredibly fast, the clocks are ticking. We’re dying to go, excited about a future that could be so much better for ourselves and our families. We could be so far along on the journey, and yet we’re stuck retrofitting our vehicle with bling from the Dark Ages.
That time has expired. We have work to do. For the love of your God, please get your Hell out of the way.

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links for 2007-01-25

Continue Readinglinks for 2007-01-25

Steph Mineart’s Corollary to Godwin’s Law

I’ve had an observation rolling around in my head for many years, but as far as I can tell, I haven’t put written it on my site yet, although I know I’ve pointed it out in email on the gayindy mailing at various times. It popped back into my head as I was thinking about SJR-7 and the testimony that will occur.
There’s a long-standing internet meme called “Godwin’s Law” (also known as Godwin’s Rule of Nazi Analogies) that says “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.” In other words, in any debate, eventually one person will suggested that the argument the other is making is somehow fascist, or comparable to the Nazis.
I’d like to propose a corollary to Godwin’s Law, based on my observation of religious figures in discussions on the subject of equal rights for gay people. And if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to name it after myself:

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Which Famous Feline Are You?


Which famous feline are you?

You’re the Cheshire Cat. Your mysterious aura and your penchant for riddles keep your friends guessing. You dislike staying too long in any one place. Your advice is always sound, if somewhat enigmatic. The sum total of this is that people are always following you and you just WANT TO GET AWAY!
Take this quiz!




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