The woman who loves to hate us dykes and faggots is at it again. Diane Gramley, the high priestess of Pennsylvania family values, has snagged herself a story in the Beaver County Times outlining her "concerns" about recent outreach from the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) to the Ambridge Area School District.
The Ambridge School District caught our attention late last year when School Board member William Scherfel referred to the high school's GSA as a "sex club" and its members as "fags." Scherfel later "apologized" by claiming he didn't remember making the comments while acknowleding that he may have used the word fag since he grew up in that era.
In the meantime, GLSEN has stepped up and offered to work with the school district to raise awareness of LGBTQ issues, a move that could actually improve the learning environment for gay students and possibly assist the school district in avoiding lawsuits.
"We just want to help schools understand, so they can deal appropriately and develop some sensitivity to that particular minority," [Network co-chair Tom]Wyse said.
Ambridge Area High School Principal Alan Fritz has said he'd be receptive to having a professional development workshop for teachers, but it was something he would have to discuss with the superintendent."
Aghast at the thought of tolerance in Darryl Metcalfe country, the AFA of PA is riding to the rescue.
But Gramley said such sensitivity workshops overstep the boundaries of proper public education because she said it pushes acceptance of homosexuality and threatens the First Amendment rights of those who believe homosexuality is a sin.
"Unfortunately, a school board member made a disparaging remark. That was not called for at all, but if the principal accepts an invitation from GLSEN, that's going in the wrong direction," Gramley said.
What direction would that be? Why straight to hell, of course, with a pit stop in San Francisco to pick up some kicky thigh highs and a pink feather boa.
Note Gramley's subtle reference to Christian persecution with the First Amendment argument. That insidious tact seems to work very well if the minds of my colleagues are reflective of general sentiments. They do feel like they are under attack for being Christian, rather than for trying to shove their brand of Christianity down our throats <insert obvious gay joke here>.
It is heartening that Principal Fritz is willing to consider training for the faculty and staff. And Ambridge still has a Gay-Straight Alliance club with the goal of fostering understanding and creating bridges between gay and straight students. However, as recently as mid-December, the GSA founder described an environment of increasing intolerance among the student body especially since Scherbel's comments.
Well, duh. When an elected official sets the bar low, can you be surprised that weak minded adults as well as their spawn scurry underneath it? The ignorance of the common heterosexual is sometimes truly astounding. These desperate little people truly seem to believe that their way of life, their identity will be destoyed if their children even associate with a known homosexual much less have a conversation or <gasp> actual dialogue.
Ambridge - breeding homophobes, one salvation at a time.
Per today's post at his Macyapper blog, it appears John is back in town and rarin' to go. Word on the street -- okay, in yesterday's Post-Gazette which is practically the same thing minus the labor tension and stale donuts -- is that John may soon pop up on a local FM talk station. Namely, KDKA's FM sister station 93.7 WRKZ.
Scott Paulsen will host a new talk show on WRKZ, starting in April. And John McIntire, whose nightly talk show on KDKA has been dropped, is in talks to move to the FM sister station.
Whoever is on the new FM talk lineup, McIntire says, "The handcuffs will be off. The restrictions one might feel on KDKA will be lifted. And that's a really exciting prospect."
Considering those handcuffs permitted him to repeatedly use the term "carpet muncher" in his bits satirizing the Bush/Cheney stance on homosexuality, it will be mighty interesting to see how far he can go on FM talk. Note: we don't object to satirical usage of seemingly offensive language to describe lesbians, especially when said satire is directed at our beloved leader.
The talking version of 93.7 is supposed to appeal to men it would seem between 25 and 50. Hmmm ....
I'm sorry. I can't stop thinking of it as B94 and remembering Quinn and Banana. Given Jim Quinn's litany of conservative hate spewing from the other end of the dial, its ironic that McIntire might fill his old slot. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Regardless, the lesbians say "Hurrah!" for the return of McIntire and his merry band.
ps: Ledcat swears she heard that John is supposed to guest DJ tomorrow on WYEP at 9 AM ....
Ohhhh ... in a nice courtroom twist, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction to Commander McNeilly reinstating her to the rank of Commander. You'll recall all the glorious details when Commander McNeilly blew the whistle on the nefarious goings on of Dennis Regan the political hack driver who would be Public Safety Director. Thanks to McNeilly's release of documents indicating that Regan had used his political power to help out the policeman brother of his girlfriend, Mayor Ravenstahl was forced to launch an investigation and Regan resigned.
I think Cathy McNeilly is a mighty grand woman who did what had to be done for the best interest of the city. I think Mayor Ravenstahl threw his lot in with the devil when he kept Regan around and can't wipe that stank off fast enough. No amount of mucking about with the Redd Up crew is going to help with that, Luke. Especially under oath in a federal trial. With the ACLU on the same side as a Pittsburgh police officer. Woo hoo ... we can't make this shit up.
And I live in McNeilly's neck of the woods, Zone 1 so I am especially happy to have her back on deck. We need some kick-ass, take no shit from anyone women around here.
Seriously, this is a good thing for city employees who shouldn't have to feel that the law protecting whistleblowers doesn't apply to them just to feed Luke Ravenstahl's boy-who-would-be-king mania. Given all the smoke, proverbial and Marlboro alike, that's being blown around City Hall, its amazing anyone has the lung power to pucker up and whistle. More power to 'em.
Good news for members of the LGBTQ community working for a handful of our local employers. From the Post-Gazette ...
Mellon Financial Corp., US Airways and GlaxoSmithKline were among 142 companies ranked as the Best Places to Work for Gay, Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender Workers. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation's 2007 rankings include companies that implement policies and practices to promote fairness and equality for GLBT workers, the foundation said.
Mellon Financial was featured in a Post-Gazette article for supporting employee driven affinity networks
Individuals can be fired in 33 states if they are gay, lesbian, or bisexual, and 42 states if they are transgender. HRC recognizes these Best Places to Work for GLBT Equality as companies that have made a commitment to end discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in the workplace.
The index only considers Fortune 500 companies and excludes governments, non-profits and hospitals (that's a shame). Criteria include:
* Including sexual orientation and gender identity and expression in company non-discrimination policies.
* Offering diversity education that includes sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.
* Offering equal benefits to domestic partners, including health coverage
* Supporting transgender employees with transition guidelines and wellness benefits.
*Recognizing and supporting GLBT employee resource groups or company wide diversity councils
* Engaging in respectful and appropriate marketing/philanthropy to the LGBT community
Some other companies of interest on the ranking (at least my interest):
In another stunning effort to spin negative publicity, City Councilwoman Darlene Harris claims that she did not order a smoke eater machine to de-stuffify her office. Ms. Harris simply wanted some box fans and now she is outraged, outraged I tell you, that someone mistakenly spent $1200 on the smoke eater.
"I wanted a little square box" with a ventilation fan, she said. Gesturing at the 2-foot-by-4-foot Trion Eliminator Series SE 800E mounted in the ceiling above her desk, she said, "When I came in and saw that thing, I couldn't believe it."
Harris, along with Student Body President Doug Shields, was featured in a recent Post-Gazette article about illicit smoking in the City-County Building. Both admitted that they smoke in spite of a smoke prohibition rule going back before our new county-wide ban. Neither seemed the least bit penitent which doesn't bode well for them to follow the new law.
To summarize thus far, Harris has completely missed the point that this is about SMOKING not a smoke eating machine. Her umbrage is matched only by her ridiculousness. Not only is she refusing to take responsibility for breaking the law, but she's now pointing fingers at her political enemies whoever they may be:
She said she has asked Public Works Director Guy Costa why the device was ordered and installed when she only wanted a ceiling fan.
"I'm still trying to find that out, and I don't know if I ever will," she said. "I'd like to know, is this politics, or what?"
Yes, Darlene, it is politics at its most sad when an elected city leader openly violates the law because she's too lazy/proud/arrogant to go outside like the rest of the city employees. It is politics at its lowest when an elected city leader shifts responsibility for her own stupid choices onto the shoulders of said city employees. Public Works gets enough guff without having to ante up for your mistakes.
It is politics at its most disgusting when an elected city leader assumes we are foolish enough to be distracted from her illegal activities by other issues.
Ms. Harris said she has occasionally smoked in the office on nights when she was working late. She said she's been working hard to get more plainclothes police in North Side neighborhoods, catalog abandoned houses, identify drug and prostitution hot spots and write legislation to govern absentee landlords.
Let me get this straight --- according to her logic, if we want a more lawful community, she's going to have to break a few laws. If we want healthier communities for our families and children, she's going to have to compromise the health of her staffers and others who visit the building. If we want absentee landlords to take responsibility for their property, she's going to need the freedom to place responsibility on others.
She should have left well enough alone after the last article. Doug Shields came off like a giggling schoolboy with a big man-crush on Luke, but that's nothing to the political harridan that is Darlene Harris.
James M. Edwards of Squirrel Hill is not happy with Carol Mullen of Edgewood. So very not happy that he took the time out of his busy schedule of sanctimonious self-congratulations to pen a little missive to the Post-Gazette. Edwards took umbrage with a letter Mullen had published on December 26 offering her insight into the tragic suicide of local Presbyterian pastor, Brent Dugan.
Mullen had the audacity to suggest that perhaps KDKA was not solely responsible for this tragedy and that perhaps Reverend Dugan's inner turmoil over his homosexuality could be traced to the Presbyterian Church's anti-gay stance.
The Presbytery's long history of supporting the Presbyterian Church (USA) ban on the ordination of sexually active gay people certainly could not have helped the Rev. Dugan as he struggled along on his faith journey. By forcing him to feel "less than" his heterosexual peers, it seems that the Pittsburgh Presbytery was very clear in the message of condemnation and exclusion.
Point well taken, I thought as I sipped my coffee and read her letter. KDKA made a colossally stupid decision to spin this tragic little story of Reverend Dugan's sexual turmoil as a ratings grabbing expose. But its shortsighted to ignore the reasons Reverend Dugan may have sought solace in an adult bookstore or an illicit relationship rather than feeling free to live an open, authentic life as a homosexual man and a pastor.
Edwards, apparently, is just the man for the task. He thinks Dugan had made his own bed by hooking up with an anti-gay church.
The church tenet is and always has been not to permit this -- the Rev. Dugan has to have known that, and was working within the sanction. What precipitated his suicide was KDKA -- that was the new pressure in his life and correlates directly with his suicide. The Presbytery was continuing what always has been.
Does he seriously think Dugan was just happily rolling along as a closeted homosexual? That the anti-gay hostility emanating from church leadership (and the pews) was not a "pressure" for Reverend Dugan? Can Edwards really be that simple-minded? Or just that hateful? Ah ....
To try to shift blame to the Presbytery is an act of malformed logic equal to that which tries to rationalize homosexual ordainment and homosexual marriage -- they are pure acts of politics to advance an agenda -- not welcome or helpful in a religious denomination.
Legislation has not brought Ms. Mullen the change she wants; court proceedings now haven't either. She descends to using a man and his family's personal tragedy to hurl an indictment in the wrong direction. Ms. Mullen: Please desist on Presbytery bashing.
Well, I guess the gloves are off, you sanctimonious prick. What's not welcome or helpful in a religious denomination is intolerance, ignorance and hate. Unfortunately, you seem to have the upper hand in some denominations, but there are puh-lenty of Christian communities where my people are welcomed and affirmed, even ordained.
If you don't want us in your church, fine. But you don't get to hang your sanctimonious wreath on Brent Dugan's grave and point fingers at KDKA.
But the really sad thing is that while Ms. Mullen tried to elevate one man's suffering and personal tragedy to call us all to accountability, Edwards continues to diminish Reverend Dugan's full personhood by denying the pressures of living a closeted life in the Presbyterian Church.
Back in March, we reported on the West Virigina Sheriff who denied CPR to a dying gay man under the pretext that the man was HIV+. The man, Claude Greene, died later that evening at a local hospital. Greene's friend was present at the scene but was physically prevented from performing CPR by Robert K. Bowman, Sheriff of Welch, West Virginia. Greene's mother filed a federal lawsuit claiming her son's civil rights had been violated along with a myriad of other chages, including a violation under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Significant issues remain to be sorted out in this litigation, but at this initial stage, Faber's ruling permits the case to go forward on the basis that the estate may have a valid federal civil rights claim against the city and Bowman for the way in which Green was treated on the day of his fatal heart attack.
It is a complicated situation and far more legalistic than I can pretend to understand. Bowman's folks claimed that since Greene was dead, there was no reason for a civil rights case. Bowman's folks also seem to claim that he prevented bystanders from performing CPR out of concerns about HIV transmission. The federal judge noted that there is no record that performing CPR on an HIV+ person would present a transmission risk.
The bastard was willing to let the wrongful death move forward. Fortunately, the judge cleared the way for the whole kit and kaboodle.
Did I mention that Greene was not HIV+? Nope, he was just gay. And, thankfully, the idiot responsible for his death could pay the price for his bigotry and hate.
Sadly, Claude Greene has already paid the ultimate price for it.
The Post-Gazette's Big Kahuna himself , David Shribman, dedicated his weekly column to a subject near and dear to our hearts - public libraries. It seems some libraries are contemplating replacing underutilized classics with modern hot properties to conserve shelf space. Ick! Shribman correctly points out the damage this move can cause:
Some of the slow-moving books in the Fairfax library system remain of incalculable value to humankind and remain the foundation stones of our civilization.
The fact that no one has recently checked them out does mean no one should be able to do so.
I am a huge fan of the Carnegie Library. I visit my little branch in Woods Run (Brighton Heights) on a weekly basis. Thanks to the power of the network, I have access to a million titles without having to head into Oakland (another mighty fine but hard to access library). Right now my library tote bag contains a coffee table book written by U2, a few paperback mysteries, several movies (including Akeelah and the Bee), a novel by Margaret Atwood, and a book on contemporary etiquette dilemnas by Emily Posts's granddaughter. I pick stuff up like the last item when I browse around the new releases tables -- things I would never buy, but might like to read. Last week, I checked out the book on children's etiquette written by Whoopi Goldberg just because I wanted to see what it was like.
What I haven't been is attentive to are the classics I'm always claiming to want to read. While I doubt my modern tastes have been making a serious dent in the library circulation, Shribman's point is well-made. I last read Aristotle, Plato and Tolstoy in graduate school; Alice Walker, Thoreau and Willa Cather were even further back in my academic history. Perhaps its time to dust off my acquaintance with the books that made me think beyond the limits of my own experiences. What a lofty pledge!
Another excellent thing about the Carnegie Library - they provide us access to books that others might not want us to read. We have a great little book on our coffee table (under the 8 zillion magazines) title "And Tango Makes Three" that tells the true tale of two gay male penguins who are raising their own chick. It was a source of contention in school libraries that quivered at the hands of the mighty right wingnuts and their gay hostility. While school libraries debate censorship, the Carnegie Library has multiple copies at your disposal.
