Happy happy Joy joy

If I was in a worse mood, I’d rant about how my gay friends could encounter difficulty this Valentine’s day expressing their love in public.

But Bahamute just surprised me with chocolates. So, I’m in a pretty good mood. All I’ll say is Happy Valentine’s day, one and all. May you be free to love the one you choose.

The Daily Huff: School Edition

The day after the historic announcement made by the Pentagon opening the door (a crack) for same sex couples, we're right back in the soup.

Another high school Teacher(My information was incorrect. It's just a coalition of students and one teacher. The Official prom acepts GLBT couples) is fighting to keep the prom 'Traditional, aka no homos, bro.' While Indiana isn't known for being a 'liberal' state, this is just sickening.Students and A SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER,  Diana Medley, are fighting for a separate prom, no gays allowed.

Says the teacher helping fight for anti-LGBT rights "No, I honestly don't [think gay people have a purpose in life]. Sorry, but I don't ... A gay person isn't going to come up and make some change unless it's to realize that it was a choice and they're choosing God." This person is a TEACHER of children with learning disabilities. Someone those LGBT students see every day. A person who LITERALLY GRADES THEM. There is no therapy for this kind of hatred. To be told by the adults in your life that you have no purpose? How can a person handle that, especially during the teen years AND when they're already special ed?

My favorite LGBT pro blogger, Dan Savage, had this to say: "The anti-gay haters at Sullivan High have a facebook page: 2013 Sullivan Traditional Prom [It has since been removed]. One of the organizers of this hate group would like us to know that "this is not a hate group." 2013 Sullivan Traditional Prom is just a group that has been organized with the sole purpose of creating an alternate prom that excludes gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students and to achieve that end the group's members are calling LGBT kids "offensive," sick, and sinful. What's hateful about that? Besides, you know, everything?"

The SUPPORTIVE facebook page, Support the Sullivan High School Prom for All Students is still up and over 17k likes strong.I urge you, Like this page, spread the word.  I think Dan said it better than I ever could:

"There's no way to stop the haters at Sullivan High School from holding an independent prom for the special (bigoted) kids. But here's what we can do: we can make a noise so loud enough that all the queer kids at Sullivan High School hear it. Those kids need to know that there are people -- a lot of people -- who think this shit is wrong."

 We're out here, kids.  And we're sorry you're going through this shit.

UPDATE: I jsuet emailed Ms. Medly this message

God does not condone hate. He makes no mistakes. Gay people do not chose to be gay any more than people chose to be straight. It is genetic. God is the only one who defines our sexuality. He made us all. And to tell people that you're being a bigot on God's behalf is worse than shameful: it is a sin, just ask killing is His name is still murder.

I urge you: reach out to pro-gay Christians. Learn from them. There is a mountain of Biblical evidence supporting God's love and acceptance for all people. To believe anything else is blasphemy.

Seek love, not hate. It's what Jesus would do.

Shayna Lax

The Daily Huff: Government edition

A small town in Ohio is losing its homophobic mayor.  78 year old Mary McAngus submitted her resignation after complaints about calling Officer Kyle Calendine ‘Queer’. She also reportedly said “I don’t like a Queer working for the village [of Pomeroy].” The village Police Chief Mark Proffitt told her that such remarks could open them to a lawsuit.

I don’t know how to feel about this report. On the one hand, a discriminatory leader was removed from power. On the other hand, the removal probably had more to do with money and its potential loss rather than action on behalf of civil rights. There is no apology hinted at for  Office Calendine.   We’ll just have to hope the village he serves doesn’t turn on him for ‘losing their mayor.’

On a much happier note, another step down the long path to civil rights has been taken.  ThePentagon has announced it will extend certain rights to same-sex couples andtheir families serving in the military. According to the Huff, “. The benefits include commissary privileges, access to family support initiatives and joint duty assignments.” Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is responsible for this.

God bless him.

Said Panetta “It is a matter of fundamental equity that we provide similar benefits to all of those men and women in uniform who serve their country.”

YES! YES! YES

This is not the end of the road by any means. Homosexual couples in the military still can’t get burial rights at national cemeteries, on-base housing or certain travel expenses for spouses, due to DOMA and its definition of what makes a spouse. This is part of a bigger struggle. But there’s no shame in the joy of small victories. Every step takes us a little closer to the future.

It is coming. And we will be there to see it.

The Daily Huff

Well, my Daily Showing may have been iced last night, but at least there’s the Huffington post!

AOL runs Huff news in its feed daily. This morning I found two stories about religion and homosexuality. The first was heartening: A grandmother standing up in front of her pastor and the whole congregation on behalf of her grandson. Quote the Huff:

A kid that attends the church and is in high school is gay, and apparently his parents wrote to the pastor asking what should be done about this. The pastor took the letter the parents wrote, and read it to the entire congregation, outed the kid, and told everyone that they would "work together to address this problem of homosexuality."

My grandmother stood up at this point, said "Thereare a lot of problems here, and him being gay is not one of them." She apologized to the boy, then walked out the door. She just got back from turningin all the stuff she was responsible for for the church's yard sale and BibleSchool activities.

So, not only did the Pastor out the kid in front of the community, he condemned him. The pastor (and I use that term loosely) was apparently pretty ticked off, but Grandma is sticking to her guns. You go Grandma!

This type of thing saddens me beyond belief. The Church is supposed to be a place of love and acceptance. Even if you believe being Gay is a sin, to publicly shame this child is beyond the pale. It could easily end in an attack on him by ‘pure’ Christians, schoolmates, or God only knows.

If this turns into a suicide, I hope that pastor is tried for murder.

At least the kid has ONE family member he can turn to.

I know the pain of an intolerant pastor. I have all but stopped my church attendance because of his views on homosexuality. “Gays will not inherit the kingdom of heaven.” These are words that have been spoken at my church by the man on the pulpit. It makes my heart ache that such a man of God could be so misled and wrong. In everything else, he is a model pastor, dedicated to his flock. If I were Gay, would he have outed me thus? I think not. I think he would have had more kindness and discretion…all while considering me a sinner.

The other story is equal parts sad and hilarious; sad that a man can say such nonsense and be believed, and hilarious in that someone in this day and age can believe women on the pill are full of dead babies. Kevin Swanson, another candidate for Pastor of the year Quote the Huff:

Said Swanson:

What’shappening is they want homosexuals to be able to be involved in adoption andfoster care as much anybody else. So picture a nice little home-school family,just trying to do the right thing. An anonymous tip comes in, social servicesswoops in, they grab the kids in the year 2022, and the kids get remanded intoa home with homosexuals, and these particular homosexuals happen to be tiedinto NAMBLA and other things.

I am so sick of hearing about how NAMBLA is entrenched in the gay community and all gays are pedophiles. More straight men are pedophiles! In fact, 90% of pedophiles are straight. You don’t have to be gay to molest little boys. You have to be SICK. He also implied that gays will burn Christians at the stake. That’s not what flaming means, buddy.

Oh, but the fun with Swanson doesn’t end with the homosexual community. Quote the Huff:

Meanwhile,Kevin Swanson has made Right Wing Watch headlines two more times since hisinflammatory "burning at the stake" comments: for claiming that women on birth control have wombs "embedded with dead babies", and for saying that allowing gay Boy Scout troop leaders islike allowing convicted child molesters and serial killers to teach in preschools.

Wha—Jhu—Haps---Sorry, just having a Grandpa Simpson style breakdown. I mean…HOW CAN SOMEONE BE THIS DUMB?!

Worse yet, how can people BELIEVE HIM?!

I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.

Actually…I like this planet….YOU get off!

Late for a very important date

March is getting closer, and without my daily fix of the Daily Show (DAMN YOU LACK OF CABLE!) I’m woefully behind on what’s happening in the movement. The last I heard, the republican lawyer defending DOMA was a joke, and things were looking up for the cause. Tonight, after rehearsal for my latest play (Mel Brook’s New Musical Young Frankenstein) I’ll hit the interwebs for all the latest gossip. Hooray for the information age!

Winter

I sit on my office, and I can just glimpse the snow falling on the road. It's the pretty kind of snow, the stuff that won't stick and doesn't get too deep. Perfect for watching through a window. I wonder if Grizz and Langly are at home watching it.

We missed a couples night out with them Saturday  as both were sick with the flu. Langly's voice was so rough I thought I'd called my boyfriend by mistake. The two of them usually take good care of themselves. If they're still sick Wednesday, we'll miss our usual couple's night.

Wednesdays, Bahamute and I always head over to their house. We bring a dessert or cook dinner, watch The Daily Show, and play Mice and Mystics. Grizz and I gab about the Nostalgia Critic and the latest Horror movies while Langly and Bahamute talk games and PC issues. When we get really crazy we break out a bottle of wine or some Woodchuck hard cinder. A good time is had by all.

It's one of the best days off the week. If we weren't in a show opening 2/15 (EEK!) I'd barge over there with hot soup and tea. Bahamute is the star, though, and can't afford to lose his voice. I'm the closest thing to his understudy, and a female Dr. Frederick Fronkensteen isn't going to cut it.

So I sit. And it snows. And I worry. 

Daily Show FTW

John Steward just did a big piece on the upcoming DOMA Supreme-Court hearing in March. Me, Bahamute, Grizz, and Langly got to watch as the insane arguments of the republican lawyer were expertly lambasted. Such arguments as:

"Marriage should be limited to unions of a man and a woman because they alone can "produce unplanned and unintended offspring," opponents of gay marriage have told the Supreme Court. By contrast, when same-sex couples decide to have children, "substantial advance planning is required," said Paul D. Clement, a lawyer for House Republicans.

So, if you're infertile, sorry! You're marriage isn't valid either. But if you're thirteen, stupid, sexually active, and have willing parents, congratulations! You're a husband AND a father!

It's so stupid, I want to laugh. And so many people take it seriously, I want to cry.