The Catholic Church strikes another blow for homobigots everywhere.  365gay.com reports that Catholic Charities of Boston will no longer provide adoption services because they choose not to comply with the states human rights law requring them to not discriminate against GLBT parents.  The Catholic Church wants a special exemption from the law. 

They want to be free to discriminate AND accept state funding.  Only in W's America!

Today in Pennsylvania, there are over 21,000 children in the foster care system (I know this from my day job).  That is in a state that ALLOWS gays to foster and adopt children. 

It is pathetic -- absolutely pathetic -- that the right wing is trying to use CHILDREN as leverage against gays.  Vulnerable children are fodder for their latest attempts to paint queers into a corner or back into the closet.  They are going to keep these kids in foster care for years longer by turning away gay foster and adoptive parents.  That's some family values for ya.

I'm looking forward to Bishop Wuerl's response ....

Sue

      During the Thursday evening broadcast, KDKA news stepped over the line covering a local fire.  A Trafford fire left 10 people homeless; everyone made it out alive and unharmed. 

But to get the sensational angle, David Highfield  stuck a camera in the face of one victim who was clearly distraught over the deaths of her pet cats not to mention the destruction of her entire home.  Her despair was so sad to watch and not something anyone of us viewers needed to witness directly in order to understand the magnitude of her losses.  I felt like a voyeur and it pisses me off that KDKA violated her anguish. 

Last night at 6 PM, Patrice King-Brown took a few moments to express compassion for the gentleman whose home was vandalized days after a school bus crashed into it.  That's what I like about Patrice -- she's seem cool, collected AND compassionate. 

So why couldn't David Highfield show some of the same restraint and given us some real reporting instead of a voyeuristic show?   Ick.

 

Last night, we went to see Crash at The Manor in Squirrel Hill.  This is one of your lesbian correspondents stating that Crash deserved the Oscar for Best Picture over Brokeback Mountain.  I loved Brokeback and believe it to be one of the best movies in my 35 years of movie watching.   But Crash resonates through America and was one of the best movies in my 35 years of movie watching.

People are creating a false racism vs homophobia dichotomy.  Both rip apart the heart of this nation of equality and justice for all.  Rather than pitting them against one another, we should take a closer look at their crossover messages. 

I walked out of Crash deeply shaken and contemplating how I identified with the white characters in the movie.  And how I as a lesbian identified with the minority characters.  And I don't have any answers this morning. 

Crash deserved the Oscar.

 

 

Last night, KDKA talk show host John McIntire interviewed a local presbyterian minister under investigation for joining two women in marriage.  Reverend Janet Edwards is facing disciplinary action for officiating at the June 2005 wedding of two lesbians.  A wedding your lesbian correspondent attended. 

John and Janet discussed the issue for nearly 45 minutes and took an array of telephone calls.  Some were typically homophobic, even hostile.  Janet responded with aplomb and compassionate rationality. 

But toward the end of the segment, a male caller asked why churches are regressive rather than progressive.  Janet gave a wonderful answer about history, values and classical tradition.  The caller listened attentively and then quietly told her that this was the first time he has ever heard a member of the clergy affirm homosexuality on the radio.  He thanked her and hung up.

Now both John and Lynn Cullen speak often and loudly in support of the gay community and gay issues.  And while we appreciate their love and their words, its even more powerful that they create a forum mfor the world to hear OUR voices.  As the caller implied, hearing it from a member of clergy MATTERED to him. 

So thank you to John and Lynn for creating that connection.  You both rock!

Tune into the John McIntire show tonight on KDKA when John interviews local
Presbyterian minister Janet Edwards. They'll be discussing the Presbyterian
Church response to Edwards' performing a wedding for two women this past
summer.

8 PM on KDKA.


Sue

  Was a former Giants lineman denied access to the Super Bowl media center, game and parties because he is gay and HIV positive?

The NFL says his sexual orientation and health status have nothing to do with it.  Uh huh.  

Simmons, who played for the Giants from 1979-81 and Redskins in 1983, disclosed that he is gay in 1992. He was the first former NFL player to come out as HIV positive 10 years later. He now works as a supervisor at a halfway house in Long Island.

From the Center for Lesbian & Gay Civil Rights

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Value All Families Coalition is sponsoring buses from Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and the Lehigh Valley for the March 14th Anti-Amendment rally in Harrisburg. If you are interested in taking a bus from: Philadelphia contact the Center at 215-731-1447 ext. 10 or c4crinfo@center4civilrights.org; Pittsburgh contact Dana at 412-858-3057 or equalitynow@msn.com; or the Lehigh Valley contact PA-GALA at 610-863-4961 or smblack@epix.net. The following organizations are sponsoring the buses: Human Rights Campaign, Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights, Philadelphia Family Pride, Mountain Meadow, PA-GALA, GLOW at PP&L, MCC of the Lehigh Valley and Lehigh Valley PFLAG, among others.

The Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights is coordinating the rally opposing the anti-family state constitutional amendments. The rally will occur in the Capitol Rotunda at 2:00. Lobby training will be held a block away from the Capitol building at 11:00 at St. Michael Lutheran Church,118 State St., Harrisburg. The coalition encourages people to visit legislators that day in Harrisburg from 12:00 to 1:45.

Fom Monday's Tribune Review.

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"Marriage is a sacred union of two people who are committed to each other, without regard to gender," Janet Edwards said. "I do not feel I have done anything wrong. On the contrary, I felt I was holding up the vows of my ordination."

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This is an excellent article about a local Presbyterian minister facing scrutiny for performing a wedding for two women. 

I was honored to be a guest at this wedding.  Perhaps it is the latent Catholic in me, but the wedding was sacramental and reverential and real.  It was important to me in at least a million ways.  Again, I am not particularly artful today.  I hope you'll read the article in the Trib and tune in to John McIntire's upcoming interview with Janet Edwards on KDKA. 

Sue

From Wednesday's Post-Gazette, this response from the Rev. Luke Mbefo, C.S.Sp., associate professor in the Theology Department at Duquesne University to Sunday's Forum "A Gospel of Intolerance"

I'm having a rather unpleasant day so I'll refrain from too much editorializing.  Reverend Mbefo seems to believe that Africans' worldview of the ordering of society (divinely ordered) prohibits them from accepting homosexuality.  He's much more artful in his article.

While I respect and honor Reverend Mbefo's intent to portray Africans as active defenders of classical values rather than passive "consumer" of foreign ideals, I cannot help but wonder how African women feel about these same classic family values. 

Its the same family value crap over and over again.  God's will, the order of society, etc, etc, etc.

None of it justifies the Anglican Archbishop openly supporting attempts to criminalize homosexuals.  His moral obligation is to treat all of us with love and human dignity.  This legislation is so far from any pretense of love or dignity that he appears to be doing Catholic Vatican retro "I am holy man" paraodies rather than leading his church.

I warned you I wasn't up to it today. 

I'm not a fan of Catherine Specter's alleged advice column in the Post-Gazette.  In fact, I'm secretly convinced she was planted by the Mellon-Scaife contingent to subtly shift PG readers back to "when men were men and girls were girls."  Her advice has mostly been ridiculous and demeaning.

Today, however, she took herself to a new low endorsing silence in the face of overt racism for the sake of self-preservation.  The question stemmed from a renter whose landlord made racist comments about other (african American) tenants.  Her question:

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Question:  I don't feel right paying money to someone with those values, but I have a lease. Can you put my mind at ease until I can move out?

Cat's Response: Of course you kept your mouth shut; otherwise next week you'd have no heat. It seems callous, but there's a reason people separate business from personal matters. Look, for all you know your dry cleaner is a bigot, but he presses a shirt like nobody's business. Would you still go there if you knew? No, but only because you have the choice. You don't have that option when you're bound by a lease.

Cat's Call: Stay cool, remain friendly with your neighbors, and hightail it outta there when you get the chance.

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Apparently, Catty was too busy applying lip gloss to pay attention in history class.  Because guess what?  Silence is complicit endorsement.  This reader wants to feel better for not speaking out against injustice and racism.  She doesn't get a pass from me or any other reasonable person. 

Guess what Catty?  There are LAWS to protect people from racist landlords.  Including retaliation by turning off your heat.  There are resources right here in Pittsburgh that your reader could call if she felt the need ... Fair Housing Partnership which enforces fair housing laws is a good place to start.  So your argument for self-preservation is complete crap.

Catty, this woman wanted to rationalize remaining silent in the face of racism. You had the opportunity to provide a thoughtful answer to educate people on how to respond to overt racism.  You blew it by minimizing the real issue. 

In 2003, PG columnist  Tony Norman wrote this about Ms. Specter "She believes the burden of living a good life means acting generously, even when it's against her best interests."

I don't see it.

Pgh Lesbian Correspondent's Call:  Tony Norman's sabbatical cannot end soon enough.