Beyond feminism, she may need to brush up on grammar.  Today's faux pas features an inquiry about sexually objectifying mothers by "Proud Feminist."

Here's where I want to know why a Proud Feminist would address this question to Cat's Call.  Specter makes Ruth Ann Dailey look like a raging feminist what with her obsessive focus on the most superficial elements of women's lives -- dating, clothes and what she terms "Cattitude."  It was all good.  Cat played at being a journalist.  Jealous other would be journalists bitched and moaned about her good fortune. And feminists did their thing.

Until "Proud Feminist" had to crash through the fourth wall.  She asks for advice over taking umbrage at the sexual objectification of mothers.  Cat doesn't disappoint.  She does, however, answer the wrong question.

[T]here's no inherent problem with women (mothers or not) being viewed as "sexual."

There is an inherent problem with confusing sexual objectification and sexuality.  Viewing a mother as a sexual being is fine.  Objectifying her as a sexual thing is not fine.  There's a big difference.  The difference between a being and an object. 

Cat, you should check out Feministing which might help you better understand the distinction.  If you are going to continue writing advice for women, we need you to really put some effort into understanding feminist issues.  You may not consider yourself a feminist, but you have a responsibility to the women in the region to at least decry sexually objectification of any woman. 

Cattitude doesn't justify ignoring the plight of your sisters.

This made me laugh. And cry.  Our favorite Pennsylvania-flavored fundie, Diane Gramley of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania, has issued a call for all good Christian families to boycott the City of Brotherly Love for being too gay friendly.

It seems that Philly has ratcheted up the drive to attract gay tourist dollars by unveiling several dozen rainbow street signs in the gayborhoods that cater to the LGBTQ community. 

Gramley is outraged! 

According to Gramley, the city was prompted by the Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus to approve the street signs. "What the city of Philadelphia is doing is looking for the homosexual [tourism] dollars," she says. "They need to know that if they are going to be accommodating homosexuals, then they're going to lose the traditional family dollars."

The city of Philadelphia is not family friendly, says Gramley -- and families should not choose Philadelphia as a vacation spot, she adds. The AFA of Pennsylvania leader believes a loss in tourism dollars is the only way the city is going to get the message.

"Let's face it," she says; "the majority of people in America hold traditional values, or they at least believe that homosexual acts are not right -- and we need to just send that message to Philadelphia."

Gramley says the country's Founding Fathers would be appalled that Philadelphia is now being touted as a "mecca" for homosexual tourists.

Let's face it.  Gramley is another hate-spewing pseudo-Christian bigot with the temerity to think she can successfully boycott an entire city.  At least she had the smarts to do it before football season gets underway.  Good Christian men may object to Justin Timberlake exposing Janet Jackson's breast during a football game, but what's a few prancing queens compared to the Eagles?

You know what really pisses me off about Gramley's sanctimonious "family values" boycott?  She's right -- Philadelphia is not a family friend place, but it has nothing to do with homosexuality.  This year, the city has seen more than one homicide per day.  The poverty rate in Philadelphia is the highest of any major US city.  The city is overwhelmed by guns.  The police force has been reduced.   The number of people who are homeless has risen. 

These things impact real people's lives -- 1.5 million people.  Real families with two parents, single parents, grandparents, etc.  These are REAL issues about which a family association should be concerned.  Taking action to address any of the above would be a wonderful way to honor the Gospel and the call to social justice.  But this isn't about Jesus or social justice or honoring anything.  It is about hate, intolerance and a rejection of the essence of Christian love.

Diane Gramley and the AFA of FA:  putting the FU in family values.

h/t Pam's House Blend make the jump if you want to read some really atrocious comments from the wingnuts ...

We made a few modifications to the blogrolls ...

Pittsburgh's Gay Male Blog - a fun sometimes serious frolic through Pittsburgh's gay male world.  lots of gay male pictures interspersed with great commentary on the Catholic church. 

Transburgh - excellent resource for Pittsburgh's trans community.  my friend is the author and working on a related podcast.

Blogging Feminism:  Websites of Resistance - i found this link at Feministing.com (already on the blogroll)  Sometimes its difficult to make time to read more than the local blogs, but this is one well worth the effort.

Agent Ska - i'm embarrassed that it took me this long to add one of my favorites.  Maria and I are organizing the first ever Pittsburgh Women's Bloggers Conference and I hope Agent Ska will be the keynote speaker.  :-) 

Just some random Saturday morning LGBTQ stuff ...

Pam's House Blend contributor Ken from Mississippi has a nice little piece on the activism of coming out.

As I've said many times here at the little coffeehouse, the most radical, powerful bit of activism that we can do as LGBT citizens is to come out of the closet, live openly. The power to effect change and acceptance is to let your friends, family, work colleagues and people see that our lives are as normal and mundane as theirs, and that there is nothing to fear by expanding their world view to include a more diverse view of people.

Also from Pam, John McCain calls gay members of the military an "intolerable risk."  Sigh.

This weekend is the first regional meeting of the International  Lesbian and Gay Association in Africa. According to Pink News out of the UK, 38 African nations - all members of the United Nation -criminalize consensual same sex activity. 

There's a report on PageOneQ that an Iraqi gay man was beaten and tortured by Iraqi police - for being gay - while Americans were present. For being gay. 

The EU's Court of Human Rights has condemned the ruling that banned the Warsaw Gay Pride festival, saying it violated the EU Human Rights Charter.  Warsaw hasn't been kind to Gay Pride as we've reported before.

And you've probably heard that Rosie O'Donnell made Time's list of the 100 Most Influential People.  W did not make the list.  Sadly, Archbishop Peter Akinola of the Anglican "Hate the Homo" theological tradition made the list.  That's really scary.

Sigh.  PittGirl.  She gets all the cool guys.  Eric Heyl reads her blog AND sends her email.  And uses queering as a verb. 

I was all sad and sighy for a few moments.  No one from the Trib reads this blog and I make relentless references to them.  Sigh. 

However, not all is lost for the lesbians can count both Chris Potter and John McIntire as one of us.  At least sometimes, when they aren't out crusading for truth, justice and the top 100 synonyms for boobs.  Wait, that's just McIntire. 

I wonder if Mike Seate reads gay blogs as often as he frequents gay bars?  Hmmmm.

You aren't that surprised are you? 

The Trib's editorial board clicked their heels and jumped into line with the right wingnuts clamoring about the House of Representative's extension of federal hate crime protections to the LGBT community.  It passed 237 to 180 while a companion bill works its way through the Senate.  W, of course, is going to veto it. 

Here's what the Trib has to say about it:

So, if somebody shoots dead a homosexual -- actual or perceived -- he would face the added hate-crime offense as opposed to someone who shoots to death a heterosexual.

Did the shooter hate the heterosexual less?

"H.R. 1592 would further carve out 'tiers' of victims, putting more importance on crimes committed against a Rosie O'Donnell than against her next-door neighbor," the Family Research Council reports.

They neglect to point out that shooting someone because they are gay happens a lot more frequently than the equally terrible crime of shooting someone because they are heterosexual.  Its not the fact that a homosexual has been shot, you idiots; it is that they've been short BECAUSE they are homosexual.

The truth is that wingnuts are freaking out because they won't be so free to spew their inciteful hatred in the guise of free speech.  They claim their thoughts wll be censored, but that's patently untrue.  They will just be held responsible for violence based on intolerance. 

The Trib doesn't fail to play the fear-mongering card ...

From capital crimes to organized religion, the adherents of hate-crimes legislation don't seem to know where to stop. A Catholic city official in Canada, for example, got slapped with a $1,000 fine for suggesting a gay couple's lifestyle was not "normal."

Again, not quite accurate.  I feel like daveyoe what with all this fact checking and n'at.  The Canadian city official was opposed to a gay pride proclamation, but took it a step further by denouncing homosexuality as unnatural and abnormal.  That's inappropriate behavior for an elected official and, apparently, a violation of Canadian Human Rights ordinances.  However, the nutters spin it as a suppression of DeCicco's Catholic beliefs. 

They should relax because the worst DeCicco would face in the US is a short stint in rehab and an appearance on Oprah.  While he might be unelected, he'd get puh-lenty of $$ on the wingnut speaking circuit and be personally annointed by Big Daddy Dobson.  Not too shabby for a little dude from Kaloomps, British Columbia.

Seriously, those of you who are white and heterosexual, take a moment to think of the many ways in which you can express your identity without repercussion.  I have to think very carefully about holding Ledcat's hand in public.  I can not kiss her good-bye 99% of the time.  We can't enjoy the simplest display of public affection without some qualm because of the very real possibility that we will encounter hostility.  The majority of the time its merely dirty looks and muttering.  But you never know.  You have to be careful.  I love Ledcat too much to expose her to potential violence just for the pleasure of holding her hand while we walk down the street. 

Violence against gays is a very real issue in our society, much of it driven by hate rhetoric dripping from the fervored wingnuts and their merry minions of faith.  I believe their speech is protected.  Parry if you must, but be careful not to thrust.

I spent 90 minutes detailing what I deemed an historic event for Pittsburgh's LGBT community and the local Democratic Party.  The party detailed it thusly (h/t Progress Pittsburgh):

GLBT: A good crowd representing the GLBT community in the area met with a dozen candidates and discussed issues of concern within the community, raising health care partner benefits coverage questions among several topics discussed during the evening. Local GLBT bloggers called the forum ?historic? and applauded the ACDC outreach into the community. Former Judicial candidate Hugh McGough served as moderator for the event and helped to usher along candidates new and familiar with GLBT community issues. Following the event, long discussions and networking occurred over far too many cookies and many in attendance asked hat these events become standard ACDC procedure.

You gotta be freakin' kidding me.  Cookies?  That warrants a mention in the one paragraph devoted to this event.  Cookies.  Like we are a bunch of church ladies who got together to discuss an upcoming social.  Please note, I only got one cookie because I was busy chatting. 

Plus, I have the sneaking suspicion they lifted some of the concepts from my blog post as I believe I am the only local LGBT blogger who covered the meeting and practically the only LGBT political blogger in Pittsburgh.  The phrase "usher along candidates new and familiar with GLBT community issues" is what tipped me off.  This is a neat little way to sidestep the criticism some of us raised about the candidates lack of preparation. They aren't underprepared; they are just "new."  How nice for them. 

So when exactly do they become old?  Cause I swear Len Bodack and Sheriff Mullen have been around the block a few times if ya know what I mean.  <wink wink>

Here's the thing ... the little paragraph is great ... so when is the next meeting?  How about having a lesbian moderate it -- maybe Betty Hill or Dr. Emilia Lombardi?  And we definitely need a little more "T" so be sure to get the word out in the trans community.  When will the LGBT subcommittee be formed?  Or an openly LGBT individual hired on by the committee? 

I have a better idea -- how about if the candidates turn out for PrideFest so they can interact with thousands of LGBT community members from all over the county.  How about if Rich Fitzgerald and Doug Shields turn out a few new members of their respective councils?  And I hope Dianna Wentz proves she really is supportive of the gay community in spite of her personal religious beliefs by turning out for the most important LGBT political networking event AFTER the primary.  It is all symbolic, you see, but it can send a message to our community.  Click on the pretty little button on the top right side of my blog for all the PrideFest information you need.  I'll be the one with the small blonde dog and the petite Ledcat. 

Next time, come to us.  I'll even let you borrow my blog.

From Weds' PG

"This is a congregation that has been dealing with these issues for years, long before I ever came on the scene," Rev. Weaver said. "This congregation is concerned about the shift of the denomination away from biblical standards."

He believes that reports endorsed at last year's General Assembly weakened the church's commitment to the doctrine of the Trinity and paved the way for local option on gay ordination.

This is the Memorial Park Presbyterian Church in McCandless, the largest Presbyterian church in the region. They are evangelical and are heeding the call of a breakaway evangelical group that seems to believe in take your toys and go home theology. 

But that's just my reaction when I see the doctrine of the Trinity on the same level of concern as gay ordination.  I mean seriously ... the Trinity seems like it should be a bit more important in terms of theological differences than a homo leading the flock.  I don't think New Hampshire is about to descend into Hades anytime soon and they have a queer bishop.  Of course, they are liberal Yankees and Episcopalians ...

Buh-buh!

I found this while cleaning out some boxes.  Ok, while moving some boxes around the attic to make it look like I had cleaned them out.  Maria convinced me to post it thinking you might get a kick out of it.  That was senior year of college ... November 1991.

The inscription reads ..."To a great intern  Rick"  However, since I was one of the many staffers who forged his name on a daily basis, I cannot verify the authenticity of the signature.  I can verify that the dust on the bottom of the picture is from my attic. And I'm wearing a sweater my grandparent's bought me for Christmas the previous year. 

For further proof, here is the note Rick's secretary Debra sent along with the photo.  Apparently, I stuck it behind the picture which has fused itself to the glass in a permanent "man on dog" tribute to Mr. Santorum.