Recently in LGBTIAQetc. Category
Too much campaiging and far too many companies. I'm proud that people want to sell things to me, are you?
Otherwise, a nice parade but I didn't make it to the festival.
This sums up the entire debate for me. View another great image gallery on this issue.
There is much to say about all of the events of this week: a powerful victory in Kentucky, Howard Dean's exit from the Presidential race, and the thousands of marriages taking place in San Francisco. Since I am busy I will simply share this incredible photo gallery with you.
It is almost as if this were designed to show how far we still have to go in this society: The AP reports today 7-year-old Marcus McLaurin was punished by his 2nd grade teacher for using the word "gay" in class. The boy had been asked about his father and mother by another student to which he responded simply that he had two moms, that his mom was gay. When the other child asked for explanation, McLaurin told him: "Gay is when a girl likes another girl." A teacher overheard and told him that "gay" is a "bad word." In the principal's office McLaurin was forced to repeatedly write "I will never use the word `gay' in school again" and was referred for counseling.
Situations like this make clear that Queer families exist in our society. Gay and lesbian parents have children that deserve respect in school. An increasing number of unmarried heterosexual couples are choosing to have children on their own terms. For a host of good reasons, not least of which is the Equal Protection clause of our Constitution, gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to participate in the institution of marriage. This step, as big as seems before it happens, is not enough. Our family law and related policies should adapt to the changing reality of our nation for the good of children like Marcus McLaurin.
Instead of sending this 2nd grader to therapy perhaps his teacher ought to be exposed to all of this great "gay" TV we hear so much about these days. Queer Eye is on tomorrow night and Angels in America premiers this weekend on HBO.
This past weekend was CapitalPride and I left my camera in my desk at work, how silly!
Despite a full day of rain on Saturday the sky cleared at 6 in time for the parade kickoff at 6:30. Julie, my parents, and I watched from the sidewalk around Dupont Circle and had a great time. Last year I marched with PFLAG so it was nice to watch the entire parade this year. There are, as a point of clarification, quite a few cod pieces in the world, far more than I had previously thought.
In part due to weather and in part because of the bad economy both the parade and the street festival the next day were smaller than previous years. I spent Sunday morning operating the Americans United for Separation of Church and State table with Beth while the festival got going. Other than a horribly overpriced food experience, Pride is such a wonderful opportunity to get to see the LGBT community, family, and friends come out and celebrate their culture and their identities.
I have often heard people complain about these events because they represent to some a needless expression of difference. I have even heard them called a continued source of the problems and discrimination. If this is the case it is not because these wonderfully proud people are standing up and enjoying who they are, the problem is with a system that fails to accord full protections to what they are standing up for. Without a Pride celebration and without LGBT organizations we would not know the true depravity of the opposition as highlighted by Attorney General John Ascroft's refusal, the first at a federal agency, to allow the employee group to have a Pride celebration. Many thanks to Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, Democrat of New Jersey, for leading the charge in defense of federal employees (you will note when reading this article that "Senator Russell D. Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, said in a statement today that he had asked Mr. Ashcroft before confirmation about DOJ Pride's use of government facilities. Mr. Ashcroft said then that he had "no intent to treat this group differently than any other."")
If on the other hand these events are not feeding into the problem of discrimination and are simply expressions of difference and identity they still warrant protection and celebration. If we are to struggle to preserve autonomy as the highest value of a free and open society then ought we not reap the benefits of celebrating the cultures and identities that individuals in our midst live for themselves? I love the Pride celebration because I am being given an opportunity to publicly celebrate as an ally with a strong, healthy, and diverse community of individuals that share this city with me.
Failing all of those reasons, it was at least an opportunity to expand my collection of pins for good liberal causes. My favorite new one is from Amnesty International.
Who is this guy?
