It's very simple...

You want to read a good summary of l'affaire Polanski, read Kate Harding's piece, or Little Light's. Me, I'm through reading reading about this. People's apologia for this admitted criminal is not funny stupid, it's sad stupid.

So, Tom Batiuk is responsible for this idiot?

I don't know if I'd ever seen Michael Savage before today. Sure, I'd heard him on the radio a few times, and read a lot of virtriolic crap that spewed from his mouth, but when I read a story today on Joe.My. God. (about his show being dropped from a few stations), I had an epiphany. He smirks like a Funky Winkerbean character. Hell, I think he is a Funky Winkerbean character! Specifically, Les after the time-jump. If you don't know what I mean, count yourself lucky. No, I don't read FW daily, but I do read The Comics Curmudgeon every day, so I probably see the 'bean several times a week, which is plenty. Well, don't just take my word for it. I give you... photographic evidence!

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I rest my case.

The problem with gender stereotypes...

I read about that "ex-gay" therapy program in Poland, at which they claim to "help lesbians, gays and bisexuals." The story says "Men at the center are taught to play football and women are taught to cook." But what about the bisexuals? I mean, we already play football and cook.

via Pam

Mommy! I touched my special area!

It's not even noon, but this may be teh st00pid of the day. Parents in the Schenectady, New York area are all up in arms because the school proposes something other than abstinence only sex education. Of course, with that program in place, the county has managed to have the second-highest teen pregnancy rate in the state--and mind you, the fleshpots of New York City comprise five counties, so that's some achievement. (Joking, folks, joking--despite searching, I haven't figured out which county's rate is highest.)

This is the best part of the whole story. It seems some parents looked into the materials being used by the schools, and were pretty darn upset by them.

Arlene Whittingham said she did research as well and found educational materials directed to children between the ages of 5 and 8 which indicate that girls and boys have body parts that feel good when touched.

Whittingham said she found it “quite unconscionable” that an organization could suggest sharing such information with school students.

Yeah, that's unconscionable, all right. After all, kids would never even think of such a thing if some evil brochure didn't tell them about it.


via Feministing

Mehdi Kazemi has been granted asylum in the UK

And about damn time. Full story here.


via Petulant at Shakesville

Mildred Loving on Marriage

I'm sure you all (or at least those of you who are in the U.S.) know by now that Mildred Loving, one of the plaintiffs in Loving v. Virginia died about a week ago. Ms. Loving always said she was not a political person, and in all the years since the Supreme Court decided the case, refused to say much about it. However, last June, on the fortieth anniversary of the Loving decision, she did issue a statement. If you haven't read it before, it's worth looking at.

Loving for All

By Mildred Loving

Prepared for Delivery on June 12, 2007,
The 40th Anniversary of the Loving vs. Virginia Announcement

When my late husband, Richard, and I got married in Washington, DC in 1958, it wasn’t to make a political statement or start a fight. We were in love, and we wanted to be married.

We didn’t get married in Washington because we wanted to marry there. We did it there because the government wouldn’t allow us to marry back home in Virginia where we grew up, where we met, where we fell in love, and where we wanted to be together and build our family. You see, I am a woman of color and Richard was white, and at that time people believed it was okay to keep us from marrying because of their ideas of who should marry whom.

When Richard and I came back to our home in Virginia, happily married, we had no intention of battling over the law. We made a commitment to each other in our love and lives, and now had the legal commitment, called marriage, to match. Isn’t that what marriage is?

Not long after our wedding, we were awakened in the middle of the night in our own bedroom by deputy sheriffs and actually arrested for the “crime” of marrying the wrong kind of person. Our marriage certificate was hanging on the wall above the bed. The state prosecuted Richard and me, and after we were found guilty, the judge declared: “Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.” He sentenced us to a year in prison, but offered to suspend the sentence if we left our home in Virginia for 25 years exile.

We left, and got a lawyer. Richard and I had to fight, but still were not fighting for a cause. We were fighting for our love.

Though it turned out we had to fight, happily Richard and I didn’t have to fight alone. Thanks to groups like the ACLU and the NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund, and so many good people around the country willing to speak up, we took our case for the freedom to marry all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. And on June 12, 1967, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that, “The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men,” a “basic civil right.”

My generation was bitterly divided over something that should have been so clear and right. The majority believed what the judge said, that it was God’s plan to keep people apart, and that government should discriminate against people in love. But I have lived long enough now to see big changes. The older generation’s fears and prejudices have given way, and today’s young people realize that if someone loves someone they have a right to marry.

Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don’t think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the “wrong kind of person” for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people’s religious beliefs over others.Especially if it denies people’s civil rights.

I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard’s and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That’s what Loving, and loving, are all about.

Thank you, Mildred Loving. Rest in peace.

Ah, Fox News... so entertaining!

I mean, this was meant for a joke, right? (Take a gander at this post over at Bitch, Ph.D., and we can all have a laugh.)

Okay, okay, I know they weren't joking, but I just don't want to believe they don't know the Lincoln -Douglas debate were not between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, who didn't even spell his name the same fucking way. But when I see this video, well, I have to admit these guys are even more ignorant than I thought.

And thanks to Wonkette for her original post, which inspired me to make a new tag.

The Daily Fail strikes again

So, I was reading an article on the Daily Mail website about how young women who inherit their body type from their hippy mothers (no, not mothers who like to wear patchouli and wear love beads, necessarily) should literally diet and exercise their asses off. The impetus for this is a picture of Princess Beatrice in a bathing suit which shows that the girl has the nerve to have hips, just like her mum! Mind you, the writer starts out by saying the princess is not by any means fat. So, burning calories is supposed to do what exactly? (Leaving aside the argument about how effective weight loss is in those of us who actually are fat, of course.) And then some ass of a commenter refers to the woman as morbidly obese.

When I was done banging my head on the keyboard, I noticed that there was a link to a story about an alleged Jimi Hendrix sex tape. My curiosity aroused, I followed the link and read the story, which was accompanied by a number of photos, including this one:



The caption is "Hippy values: Hendrix pictured with two un-named women in the late sixties." Well, I am notoriously bad at putting names with faces, but those two unnamed woman sure as heck looked like half of the Mamas and the Papas to me. And, whaddaya know— a Google Image search for "hendrix phillips elliot" brings up many instances of that same photo. Now, I know nobody considers The Mail a great newspaper, but FFS, if I of all people am better at identifying the people in a photo that they are, they're more pathetic than I realized.

via Shapely Prose

Brilliant!

The video says it best: Is there any motherfucker leading the "family values" movement who doesn't want to give dudes a blow job in a mens' room?

via Feministe

I swore I wasn't gonna mention him again...

But I couldn't help myself. Fred Phelps has an all-new website, called godhatesireland.com. Check out the banner he's using:



So, now God hates America, Canada, Sweden, Ireland, and, of course, "fags" of every nationality. The Westboro Baptist church would slash its webhosting bills dramatically by combining all of its websites into one. It could be called something like "God hates everyone except Fred Phelps, his wife, and those of his kids who are still speaking to him dot com."

The reason Ireland is now the object of Freddy's vitriol is that civil partnership legislation is being introduced there, with the full backing of the Prime minister. Read the story at 365gay.com.

via Pam's House Blend

Attack of the smooching baby dykes continues in the PNW

Two fourteen-year-old girls,
Maika Rich and Jocelyn O'Neal, were kicked off a bus in Portland, Oregon for kissing. Radical Russ has the story at Pam's House Blend.

The good news is the driver will be punished for violating the bus company policies against a) putting minors off a bus,and b) ejecting anyone from a bus without providing other means of transport. What the punishment will be is not clear yet.

The real question is: what the heck is going on in the Pacific Northwest with the extreme reaction to kissing teen lesbians? First, that incident in Gig Harbor, Washington when the school released the videotaped kiss to the parents of one of the kids, and now this. I've never been up that way, so I don't have a clue. Anyone?

Update from Fight OUT Loud via Russ at the Blend:

Fight OUT Loud has been in contact with the girls and their families. We have been guiding and assisting them in getting some sort of resolution. We have also issued an "action email alert" to our over 1000 members, which has resulted in flooding the offices of Trimet, the mayor's office, and the tourism board.

I have been in constant contact with the Portland Mayor's office as well, which has no direct control over TriMet or discipling the bus driver. While they cannot directly affect TriMet, I feel they have a duty and obligation to pressure the bus company to do the right thing and (a) fire the driver, (b) at the very least remove the driver from the route so the GLBT youth will not have to come in contact with him on the way to the Sexual Minority Youth Recreation Center, a safe haven for gay youth, and (c) make the punishment of the driver public to help put to rest the concerns of the girls and the community as a whole.

I would greatly appreciate if you could help spread the word about our efforts. To see how exactly what our efforts are and the services we provide, go to our webpage (www.fightoutloud.org) and check out our "action alerts". We really need to lend our voices to these girls and express our outrage at the whole situation.

-Waymon Hudson
President of Fight OUT Loud
www.fightoutloud.org

Once again, it's all about the dick

I've been following the story of Shumail Raj and Shahzina Tariq in various online news sources. The short version: the Pakistan married couple was sentenced to three years in jail for perjury because the husband, Raj, who is transgendered, was deemed female by the court. Same-sex marriage is illegal in Pakistan, as is sex reassignment surgery, but what they were convicted of was lying about the gender of Raj.

When I first read the story, it said that Tariq claimed she married Raj so she wouldn't be forced into a marriage with someone else, apparently a man to whom her uncle owed money. Since then, the couple have recanted that story, and say they married for love.

In a country where SRS is illegal, what happens with a person who's had it? How does does one decide this person's gender? At first I thought it was gonna be the old "you popped out of the womb looking female, therefore you're a woman.*" Nope, that wasn't it. I read story after story before it dawned on me how the court came to decision. What I discovered was that Shumail Raj doesn't have breasts or a uterus (they were surgically removed) or a vagina (sewn up), and does have--I'm sure this wasn't taken into account at all--a male self-identity. Sounds like a guy, don't you think? Well, no.

A couple of the stories I read referred to "problems with the surgery." And then it hit me--Raj doesn't have a penis! After all, what girlie parts you have or don't have is pretty meaningless in this world. How many times have we heard the difference between men's and women's genitalia explained as what men have and women don't? Yup, when you come down to it, the almighty 3-piece set (or lack thereof) determines all.

To demonstrate just how unimportant other (non-phallic) body parts are in the grand scheme of things, a doctor said Raj is a woman because, although it would take some special medical procedures, he could conceive and give birth to a child. This wasn't just any doctor, folks--this is the guy who removed Raj's uterus in the first place. Hmm, so maybe the surgeon didn't remove the ovaries when he did the hysterectomy, and I guess the vagina could be opened up to allow birth, and there's always the oh-so-popular C-section, but where exactly is this alleged fetus supposed to hang out while it's coming to term?

When is SRS not SRS? When you're the doctor who did it and you're under investigation, apparently.

The couple has been sent to jail in seperate women's prisons, but say the three-year sentence is no matter, because they are in love, and will be together eventually. Their lawyers plan to appeal is. The International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission is involved, along with other human rights organizations. There is information on how to take action, and to offer moral and financial support at the IGLHRC website.

*This approach is the one taken by American writer Debra Dickerson, who wrote her reaction to the story at the time the press was still working the forced marriage angle.

OK, being jailed for being transsexual is, like, bad, but half a planet full of women who so fear marriage that they leap to marry transsexuals (i.e. women) to escape their fate also seems relevant.

So not only is this transsexual man a woman, says Ms. Dickerson, but objecting to being forced to marry against one's will to settle a debt--and not even one's own debt, mind you--means one fears marriage? I don't even know what to say to that.

I hope you're sitting down for this one, folks

David Hyde Pierce is gay.


via Joe.My.God.

For the second time this month, Tinky Winky breathes a sigh of relief

According to Pink News, Ewa Sowinska is dropping her investigation of whether Teletubbies turns kiddies teh ghey. If you recall, the Polish ombudsman for children's affairs was concerned about--yawn--the fact that the male character Tinky Winky carries a purse. When I read the article in a rather cursory fashion, I realized they aren't likely to say a television program with a big ol' fuh-laming queen might just be innocuous, or even beneficial, to early childhood development. That's fine, I'm just as happy with them admitting that television (and this show in particular) is fantasy, and that it shouldn't all be taken so damn seriously.

Then I looked at the article again, and this quote from Sowinska's spokeswoman caught my eye:

"They are fictional characters, they have nothing to do with reality, and the bag and scissors and other props the fictional characters use are there to create a fictional world that speaks to children," Ms Lipinska said.

My second thought was "Obviously, these folks aren't so hostile to The Homosexual Agenda™ after all." My first thought, of course, was "They spelled her name wrong."

I don't know how to tell you this, but Charles Nelson Reilly is (blank)

The Boy put it well: "...and the world is that much less flamboyant."

Fred Phelps--irrefragably evil

I've figured it out: Fred Phelps has a bet on with someone that he can use the word "irrefragable" in a speech every single day.

To hear what the hateful old bastard has to say about the new grandchild of another hateful old bastard, proceed to Pam's House Blend. You can even see his comments. I've transcribed them and put them in comments over there.

Honest to God, I'd like to go one fucking day without having to read about something like this. Just one. Is that too much to ask? I guess I could not read any blogs (or newspapers, or magazines), or turn on the TV, and live under a damn rock. Sometimes that rock seems pretty inviting.

All Falwell, all the time

Several posts ago, I said I wouldn't blog any more about Falwell's death. Then the Westboro Baptist Church wingnuts got involved. "Okay, one more post," I thought, "then I'm finished." Then Ann Coulter put her oar in. After that, I thought, okay, this story has gotten as interesting (or bizarre) as it's going to, so there's no need to give it a lick of attention. Right?

Well, it seems that was just wishful thinking on my part. Now it seems a student at Liberty University decided that the best way to discourage WBC protests of Falwell's would be to set off a bomb or two. Here's the story on CNN.

I won't say I won't ever mention Falwell here again--who knows what further wackiness will ensue.

On an odd but positive note, people have been finding me because The Bisexualist is the #1 Google hit for "cause of Falwell's death."

Ann Coulter is a vicious bitch

Ugh. That is all. As you were.

Yo, Orlando--represent!

Remember when people made fun of Jimmy Carter for quoting Dylan? Not nearly as funny as a Republican congressman quoting LL Cool J. Go to Think Progress to see Representative Ric Keller, uh, represent. It could be worse--at least he didn't quote the part about pulling out his jammy and making it go "blaw."

Are we in bizarro world?

The Westboro Baptist Church--you know, Fred Phelps and friends--are going to "preach" at Jerry Falwell's funeral. Why? Among other things, it seems they didn't like Rev. Falwell's "God loves everyone" doctrine.
I get it--they're talking about the other Jerry Falwell, the nice one, not the one who said feminists, pagans and homosexuals are the reason the WTC isn't there anymore. Besides, he was apparently an Arminian*, and you know how they are.

Pam's House Blend has an image of the press release. Go there if you must read this sort of bullshit for yourself. Go ahead, you know you want to, and this way you don't actually have to go to the WBC site.

*No, he didn't change his name from Falwellian. Seriously, I have read this Arminian/Calvinist thing before, as well as other seeming minor doctrinal differences between various schools of thought and frankly, I have never figured out what the heck the big deal is. That's what happens when you don't have a good grounding in Christian theology. That's just one more thing that makes me a prime example of the type of person Rev. Falwell (the nice one) said makes this country great.