Friday, January 24, 2014

'How I nearly quit blogging today but changed my mind' and other Friday midday news briefs

After over seven years of blogging, I finally ran into a post which made me contemplate chucking the entire thing: 

C-SPAN becomes latest outlet to give Tony Perkins an undeserved, egregious pass - From my blogging pal Jeremy Hooper came this post about how Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council was able to appear on C-SPAN, give the visage of innocence, and swear (without the courtesy of lightning striking) how organizations like his doesn't engage in "inciting rhetoric." And boom! An epiphany struck me square in the heart. What in the hell have I been doing these seven and a half years. I'm 43-years-old and feel like I have been digging in a desert because sometimes it seems that my efforts to address anti-gay propaganda is doing no good. I don't do this stuff for free. I do it because it's a way that I feel that I can contribute to the lgbt community - in tribute to those who have been hurt by these lies in the past and in pursuit of a future in which our lgbt children can make good choices about their lies unencumbered with folks setting land mines on their self-esteem. It's not enough for me to blog about any old thing. I have to be accomplishing something, putting something down that the entire lgbt community can use. And I swear sometimes I feel like I am getting absolutely NOWHERE when folks like Perkins can get away with stuff like this.

 I appreciate my readers and those who support me but it's a DRAG when I realize how those who have more power to address the issue of anti-gay propaganda DO NOT address the issue. But then we get caught up in issues like should Tom Daily and Dustin Lance Black should be dating. Sorry but I could care less who is dating who. But I do care when someone in my church repeats a lie that a pro-gay law will lead to pedophilia because a "Christian spokesman" on a news program said so. And sometimes I feel like the master of a dead art because very few people in our community seem to be interested in studying how these anti-gay groups operate  instead of simply calling them "bigots" and making lewd comments about their body parts on Facebook.

So I was going to pull the Yoda trick from Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and retire in seclusion, hoping that one day someone would get where I was coming from. But then I remembered that a family trait of mine is a certain stubbornness in that we never like to stop a task before we finish it. In plain English, it would stick in my craw if I were to stop now before I could get to the point where I am satisfied enough to say "I've done my duty." So I decided that I will do something probably fruitless but spiritually satisfying (keep reading below):

How They See Us: Unmasking the Religious Right War on Gay America - This link will take you to the exact adobe acrobat copy of my booklet. NOT a webpage that will allow you to read it or download it but the copy of the booklet itself. I've been pushing this booklet for over a year now so many of you are probably tired of it, but it's important. Years from now when it's all said and done, people are going to want to know the real story of lgbt equality, as well as anti-gay propaganda and oppression. Who knows? Maybe this book can give them the answer. At any rate, if you haven't read it yet, now you don't have to go through so many changes to read it. And if you have read it, you can email it to others, maybe perhaps some legislators (hint, hint.)

In other news (if I haven't driven you nuts already):

Focus On The Family: Nondiscrimination Protections Discriminate Against Christians - Yes it doesn't make sense but this IS Focus on the Family we are talking about.

How To Write About Transgender People - A lesson we ALL need to learn.

Sabrina Franco, 4 Year Old, Pens Letter Asking Australian Prime Minister To Legalize Gay Marriage - On the subject of marriage equality, the children seem to always make more sense than the adults.



Jon Stewart presents . . .The 2014 Sochi Homophobic Olympics


How in the world did I miss this? Jon Stewart calls out worldwide homophobia in relation to the upcoming Sochi Games as only he can in his irrepressible style.