To put February 12th in broader perspective, it was also the day that 15-year-old Lawrence King was killed by a 14-year old-classmate.
I guess it was a bad day to be gender variant in America -- like too many days are.
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
Apparently, God hates me personally, or I wouldn't ever have seen this. Someone on The Blend said these folks aren't supposed to listen to secular music. I ask you, do you see any evidence at all here that these kids ever have?
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
There's some very interesting stuff about ex-gays and ex-ex-gays over at Pam's House Blend. If you want a good laugh, trust me--you must watch the video clip from Fish don't Fly.
Reading this post put me in mind of an experience one of my college friends had back in, oh, this would've been around 1980. This friend--let's call him Dick, whose hatband he equaled in gayness--had gotten a job in the mailroom at CBS headquarters in New York. The job made him nervous. It was a hotbed of guy culture, and what's more macho than mocking anyone who's different? Dick lived in fear that his queerness would be discovered and he'd be the next target of his coworkers' jokes.
One evening, though, Dick called me, breathless with excitement. For once, he told me, he was enjoying the tendency of the mailroom boys to stereotype and pigeonhole people. That day, they came into the mailroom from lunch laughing their heads off and talking about all the "faggots" outside the building. Why? It seems 60 Minutes had run a story on the possibility of changing one's sexual orientation which included an interview with a psychologist (or psychiatrist--sue me, I don't remember, it was over 20 years ago) who said essentially you are what you are, it's a waste of time to try to change homo- to heterosexual or vice versa. This got the panties of the ex-gay folks in a bunch, and they (I believe it was Exodus) organized a demonstration outside Black Rock to proclaim their success in converting to heterosexuality. As my friend described it, a line of men marched past the building, limp-wristedly holding picket signs and lisping the chant: "I changed! I changed!" Well, he had a tendency to exaggerate. Still, the point is, these so-called ex-gays weren't fooling anyone but themselves.
And of course, the minute anyone mentions Exodus and similar organizations, I think of Overcome, and this brilliant bit from Mr. Show:
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
