After a whirwind tour of our nation's capital, we are back here in not-so-sunny Pittsburgh and glad to be home. We visited my alma mater, stopped by the National Zoo to see the pandas (only saw the papa), toured the Museum of American Indians (wow) and strolled through Georgetown and Chinatown. Ledcat went to the Holocaust Memorial which I've seen several times while I was at my workshop. We stayed in a ridiculously overpriced hotel -- the most significant difference between this one and a regularly overpriced hotel seemed to be the down comforters. ...
But back to the homo news from here and around the globe ...
First, a follow up. You may recall the fine upstanding Philadelphia couple, Joseph J. Catto and Shawnita Armonstrong Catto, who wrote in to their local paper expressing their disgust that homo-marriage is compared with interracial marriage. Just a quick mention that a fellow reader, Vanessa Burk of Medford, NJ, took a few moments to slap down the Armstrong-Catto hypocrisy:
It's sickening to know that even a couple of interracial status cannot understand that all minorities are in the same boat and should work together.
Who are they to judge anyone, seeing as if they were to have fallen in love in 1940, they would have had a very difficult time trying to live for love. Do not judge other people's feelings. The two of you getting married was a choice you made, being gay is not.
Here, here Vanessa. The mighty-white wingnuts have done an excellent job sowing discord among American minorities. Its sad how frequently we step on each other in our scramble to reach the pinnacle of acceptance among the MWW. The sooner we realize their agenda and work together for human rights, the sooner we might realize they ain't ceding an inch of ground to anyone outside of their club.
Some good news from the Bush Administration ....the Prez signed the Pension Protection Act which includes provisions protecting two aspects of the financial interests of same-sex partners. Check out the Advocate for more details.
A gay porn star is heading to Israel to provide a live sex entertainment show for the Israeli troops ... how is it possible that they object to Gay Pride, but permit a live gay sex show????
A New York women's wrongful death case dismissed because she has no legal standing as a spouse. Even after 18 years together and coparenting two children. Sigh.
Cincinnati gays will be protected from discrimination in housing and employment now that their homegrown hate group has withdrawn its petition to force a voter referendum on the matter (the non-discrimination policy was previously passed by city council). Or more precisely, now that the gay-affirming residents have proven that the referendum petition was fraudulent, containing hundreds of false signatures. Ha!
Well, that's it for this morning .... off to try out my new coffee grinder and unpack. Uggg.
Our girl and mistress of family-values flavored hate, Diane Gramley has mounted her high horse again and that's never a good thing.
Seems Big Mama D has figured out that three Pennsylvania Congressman have signed the non-discrimination pledge sponsored by Gender PAC. She believes this opens the door to all sorts of hell ...
Three PA Congressmen Allow Men Dressed as Women to Come to Work . . . .
At least that's what their signature on the Gender PAC/Human Rights Campaign Diversity Statement will allow!
It has come to our attention that Congressman Robert Brady (D - 1st), Congressman Mike Doyle (D - 14th) and Congressman Jim Gerlach (R - 6th) have signed onto a Diversity Statement from Gender PAC and the Human Rights Campaign.
These groups are two radical homosexual rights groups.
You'll recall that this is the very same document our very own Rick Santorum signed and then unsigned, blaming the original signature on the work of someone in his office. I'm sure he can count on Diane's vote.
Here's the source of Diane's concerns:
You may want to remind them that there was a situation in Carbon County, PA where a male prison guard decided he was transgender and began coming to work dressed as a woman. He was fired, but because of the prison union being from Allentown (which had added 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity' to their Human Relations Ordinance in 2002), the guard sued and was reinstated. Our news release brought up the questions of strip searches, locker room and restroom usage!
Diane must be hanging out in the same circles of some of my more saucy friends b/c those are frequent topics among them as well ...
Here, here to Liz Carrier of Squirrel Hill. Her letter "Campaign Comment" in today's Post-Gazette roundly boxes the ears of both Rick Santorum for running a negative campaign and the Post-Gazette for reporting on to the exclusion of covering actual issues.
Liz points out that telephone polls follow the grand old Pittsburgh tradition of ignoring young people who are much more likely to use cell phones than land lines. (I'm sure the white yuppie Repubocrats who aspire to nestle under the wing of old white men hedge their bets with both a landline and cell phone).
She continues:
It is not enough to tell us who is "winning" the election (according to a not necessarily accurate poll); I want to know why I should or shouldn't vote for either candidate.
These seem like a reasonable request, Liz. Coverage of issues. Inclusion of young people's perspectives. Where have I heard that before?
Liz seems to have done her homework on the issues without the help of the Post-Gazette.
And to my fellow young voters, I say this about Sen. Santorum: I will not be voting for him, because of his votes in Congress against increasing the minimum wage, against increasing funding for Pell Grants (which provide federal financial aid to college students), against expanding Head Start, against expanding federal after school programs, against the EPA's Clean Air Mercury Rule, to say nothing of his continued support for the war in Iraq and his blatant homophobia.
Those are sound reasons to vote against Rick Santorum. I guess his spokesfag didn't fool you into thinking he's a homolover deep in his heart, huh?
The American Psychological Association has released a press statement, taking a strong stance against conversion theory. Conversion theory is predicated upon the notion that you can change sexual orientation and is a core component of the controversial ex-gay movement.
"For over three decades the consensus of the mental health community has been that homosexuality is not an illness and therefore not in need of a cure. The APA's concern about the positions espoused by NARTH and so-called conversation therapy is that they are not supported by the science. There is simply no sufficiently scientifically sound evidence that sexual orientation can be changed. Our further concern is that the positions espoused by NARTH and Focus on the Family create an environment in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish."
NARTH is the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality. They have a whole litany of quack scientific studies that "prove" homosexuality is a choice. Check out Truth Wins Out which monitors the abusive practices of the ex-gay movement.
These NARTH people are pathetic, abusive monsters. They prey upon vulnerable people, take all their money in payment for so-called therapy, treatment, even camps and, of course, leave them bitter and disillusioned when it doesn't work (not to mention broke).
Note that the APA rightly calls out perennial homo-opponent Focus on the Family who will be making a stop in Pittsburgh this fall.
Our further concern is that the positions espoused by NARTH and Focus on the Family create an environment in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish."
This is a critical point. The Jimmy Dobsons and Rick Santorums of the world don't openly call for violence against homosexuals, but they are major contributors to the cultural environment in which contempt for gays takes it that one step further. They are standing at the top of the slippery slope pouring down the lube ...
David at 2PJs put together a nice post on this waffle ...Santorum had signed a pledge not to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation in employment matters. Now he's withdrawing his signature.
But there's more to the story ...
According to Gay City News, it was a staffer who signed the original document. The issue is not homosexuality but the inclusion of gender identity. Rick doesn't want to hire trannies. Shocker!
Santorum?s out gay communications director, Robert Traynham, said that the statement was signed by an aide on Santorum?s behalf under the misapprehension that it was ?consistent with our office manual,? which he said does ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, but not gender identity or expression.
Traynham said they have ?legal issues? with the inclusion of protections for people of transgender experience. ?It is not something we would accept,? he said, adding that Santorum still does not believe federal law should protect people based on sexual orientation.
When he says "legal issues," Santorum's spokesfag really means reelection issues. Thankfully, they have a lot of fodder for their hate campaign what with all the immigrants to persecute so Pennsylvania's transsexual community is safe. For now.
Its good to know the Senator's signature means something. Click on the image to see the original document.
Ledcat caught the ad in the morning Post-Gazette ... nearly a quarter page image of one of the Grand-Poobahs of Christian bigotry - James Dobson. Dobson's organization, Focus on the Family, alternates between churning out right-wingnut hate-laced propaganda and browbeating people into injecting more Christian extremism into their lives (and their parenting).
But he's coming to Pittsburgh with his merry band of bigots ...are you excited?
Dobson's trail of evil slime has left its disgusting stench throughout the United States courtesy of his "Stand for the Family" tour. Along with his own personal gay bashing message, he brings along a few other stellar examples of Christian perversion ...
Tony Perkins, founder of the Family Research Council. Just this past spring, he equated Brokeback Mountain with the Matthew Shepard story because they are both "works of fiction."
Dr. Ken Hutcherson aka Dr. Blackman (I'm not making that up). He's angry that gays are claiming the civil rights mantle. He's not too fond of uppity women either.
Gary Bauer, President of American Values. They protect life. And marriage. And family. And faith. And freedom. Bauer believes that gay marriage will make us just like hedonistic Europeans who have destroyed their families.
Snarkery aside, these guys have power and a hell of a lot of money. Pam's House Blend did a great post on the vast amounts of resources these organizations command in their unrelenting war on all of us progressives. According to Pam, in 2005 these guys spent a half a billion dollars on anti-gay efforts.
So they are rolling into Pittsburgh on Wednesday, September 20, 6:30 PM at the Mellon Arena. You can get a ticket for $7.00. The first 500 people get free books so they can revisit all the hate-rhetoric later.
I'm sure Santorum is frothing at the mouth to have the Mac-Daddy of Intolerance himself come to town and preach the Gospel of Rick. Make no bones about it -- Jimmy D. and his minions want to do anything necessary to keep their boy in the Senate. They will play all the cards AND spend millions of dollars if that's what it takes.
This really sucks. Its bad enough when Tim McGraw or some other Froggy favorite takes over the stadium area with all his yinzer would be redneck manly men and the slack jawed women who love them. Now we are going to have swarms of smarmy self-righteous men and the brainwashed helmet-haired women who love them running amok in Uptown. Nothing says rush hour nightmare like yinzer suburbanites in minivans.
Is a protest worthwhile? If I have to walk past the feti images to get into the Dixie Chicks concert, why not stage our own stand for ALL families outside of Mellon Arena? Who's with me?
An upstanding couple from Philadelphia took the time to spew their anti-gay bigotry vis a vis a letter to the editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Like a lot of hate, it sounds so very rational and well-thought right up until that fatal little vicious jab. I'm going to post the whole letter as a classic example of how reasonable bigots can appear:
PROPONENTS OF same-sex marriage discredit their position by continuing to equate it to inter-racial marriage. The comparison is not only historically inaccurate but morally offensive.
Before the abolition of slavery and the subsequent ratification of the 14th Amendment, blacks were not permitted to marry at all, even within their race. To enter into the sanctity of marriage recognizes "What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder." Hence slaveholders wouldn't have been able to sell, trade or give away "chattel" if it would separate family.
It is quite a leap of jurisprudence to claim the equal-protection clause for previous servitude includes sexual disorientation, but outrageous to compare human bondage to aberrant behavior.
Joseph J. Catto & Shawnita Armstrong-Catto
Philadelphia
So Mr. Catto and Ms. Armstrong-Catto are morally offended by the homosexual struggle for equality. Fair enough. They are free to wallow in their hatred and equally free not to marry a homosexual. I'm sure they are a delightful couple to have over for dinner and probably contribute regularly to some gay-bashing church deep in the bowels of Philadelphia.
And they might feel right at home in southwestern Kansas where a local thug stole a rainbow flag that a 12 year old boy purchased for his parent's bed and breakfast. The parents flew the flag because it was a gift and as a symbol of non-discrimination. The boy bought it because it was pretty -- he had no clue about the symbolism. The parents are determined not to succumb to hatred and have ordered two more flags as replacements.
Like the Amstrong-Cattos, one of the towns citizens had no qualms sharing her bigotry with the world.
Waitress Vicky Best says such a flag has no place in Meade.
"It's hard enough to keep your kids on the straight and narrow without outside influences like that," she complains. "We stay in a small town to stay away from the crap like that that's happening in big cities," she says, calling homosexuality "biblically wrong."
Ah, Ms. Best, does that crap include theft and stealing?. Why flying a rainbow flag is likely to corrupt young children and send them prancing off to NYC and San Francisco while your tacit endorsement of THEFT will probably have no impact whatsoever on their moral development --- your kids will likely grow up to be as intolerant and bigoted as you. Congratulations!
I read Zober's profile in the Post-Gazette a few times. He sounds like an accomplished, dynamic man who may turn out to be a good politician. But the article describes in some detail the exact moment of white male privilege that propelled him from Americorp worker to deputy mayor:
One day in 1997, his AmeriCorps role took him to the City-County Building, where he participated in a ceremony for Lead Free Pittsburgh Day and handed out pamphlets. An avid Pirates fan, he was wearing a button in support of a plan to boost the sales tax to fund new stadiums.
The button caught the eye of then-city Councilman Jim Ferlo, who opposed the plan and, unprovoked, lit into the young volunteer.
Mr. Zober parried Mr. Ferlo's arguments. "I was impressed with Yarone for his willingness to stand on his own two feet and put up with someone like me," said Mr. Ferlo, now a state senator.
The next day, Mr. Ferlo offered Mr. Zober a job in his office.
I truly doubt most white guys "get" how this works because it is such a routine part of their day -- these inter-white-guy connections that generate professional and personal opportunities that are closed off to the rest of us. The other night I was part of a group of six for a few moments, four white men and two white women. The men introduced themselves to us women, but then spent the remainder of our time chatting amongst themselves about their common ground -- sports woven in with career plans, wedding plans and future plans. I wasn't particularly upset about it, but it is low-key example of the dynamic. The other woman injected herself into the conversation a bit, while I chose to take in the moment. The distinction, of course, is that we weren't automatically included in the conversation - we had to be proactive to break into that almost unconscious white male dynamic.
I'm not suggesting the mighty whites avoid contact at all costs. But the only way to expand this dialogue is to introduce some diversity into the mixture --- if the "group" includes multiple women, people of color, people in motorized chairs, homosexuals, etc. the conversation tends to be more inclusive. And since the group dynamic tends toward exclusiveness, its going to take intentional maneuvers to make sure these voices are at the table.
Jim Ferlo introducing Yarone Zober to Bob O'Connor is a supreme example of while male privilege. And when the women got in the way of the plan, they were cut out. So let's not insult the rest of us by trying to wrap this Administration in a mantle of diversity. You can't have it both ways. If Zober is a competent deputy mayor, that's a good thing for all of Pittsburgh. But the rest of us are entitle to question how many competent people who aren't white heterosexual middle class men have been repeatedly passed over for lack of those credentials.
Disclosure: I was in that group of six in the capacity of Lesbian Correspondent so the larger situation was, in fact, a significant inclusive gesture. By a white male with access and power (John McIntire of KDKA). So it does happen. We just need it to happen throughout the centers of power more frequently. We need more allies.
Chris Potter has gone round the bend, perhaps due to reading too many rants about Pittsburgh driving habits. I know he's got this whole young, hipsteresque, artsy street cred from editing the city's only alternative paper, but I think his white middle class male roots have reared their ugly head ....and he may be heading for membership in the Allegheny County Young Republicans Democrats. They might even make him Deputy Chief White Guy.
In this week's column, Potter delves into the Thursday Morning Massacre to question the potential political motivations (and machinations) of former Chief of Staff BJ Leber and City Solicitor Susan Malie. He concludes that both "sides" engaged in backroom politics, a fair conclusion. But Potter goes one step further defending the Irish Mafia machinators against the label of "old boys network":
Except that Zober, whose appointment triggered this mess, is not a particularly old boy. He?s a 31-year-old professional, with a law degree and everything. Even some of my ?progressive? friends ? people who backed City Councilor Bill Peduto for mayor last year ? say Zober is a smart, decent guy. After years of whining about how Pittsburgh?s ?young people? are ignored, should we be outraged if one is poised to become deputy mayor?
Give me a freakin' break, Chris. Only another young white heterosexual middle class male would possibly try to defend this as a young people issue. There are hundreds of uber-qualified women, people of color, people with disabilities, people with same sex partners and so forth living in this region. And we will NEVER have entree into the old boys network. Zober may be the nicest guy in the world with all the qualifications one would desire in an appointed mayor, but its ludicrous to somehow distance him from the old boys network. If Zober were a chick, black or spoke with a funny accent, he would be safely tucked away somewhere on a semi-defunct advisory committee.
Potters' column is a classic example of how far we have to go in the struggle for equal representation here in our fair city. He claims we shouldn't have to choose between having smart women and smart young people. Yet all of his political columnists are white middle class heterosexual men.
Frankly, I am tired of being reassured by white middle class heterosexual men that you have my best interests at heart. Yet every time we turn around, more of your kind land the big jobs, the columns, the media slots, the appointments, etc. God love all the progressive white men out there but you need to share some of your actual privilege with us.
Next up, which white middle class guy will fill Alan Cox' slot on WQED's "Off Q"? Wait and see ...
