Concerned Bitches for America Hyperventilate Over Gay Inclusive Textbook Bill

California State Senator Mark Leno has introduced a bill into the California Legislature called the FAIR (Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful) Education Act. The act would require that public school textbooks contain information about key LGBT figures who contributed to the history of the United States and also include details about the gay rights movement. It would seem to a rational mind a simple bill that reflects the reality (1) that gays do exist in American society and (2) that some of us have made significant contributions to America. But not if one is a self-congratulatory, modern day Pharisee like the extremists at Concerned Women for America ("CWA") - an organization recently added as an anti-gay organization in the Southern Poverty Law Centers roster of anti-gay Christianist organizations.

*

As OneNewsNow - itself a propaganda arm of the American Family Association (itself a registered SPLC hate group) - reports, the spittle is flying around Penny Harrington, CWA so-called legislative director of California, who wants to drag "sexual practices" into the discussion for obvious inflammatory purposes. How a textbook's relating, for example, that Leonard Bernstein was a famous gay American composer or that the Stonewall Riots occurred in New York City involves a discussion of "sexual practices" seems far fetched. That is except to the warped minds of Christianists and professional Christians like Harrington who would deny gays' very existence if possible. Here a sampling of Ms. Harrington's spittle flecked hyperventilating over the proposed FAIR Act:
*
Penny Harrington, Concerned Women of America's (CWA) legislative director of California, says the bill mandates certain instruction in social sciences and removes safeguards from communities.
*
"This bill will prompt open discussion in classrooms of all ages about sexual practices, and these are conversations that most parents are going to consider inappropriate," she notes.
*
Under SB 48, Harrington explains that charter and alternative schools in the state will be required to adopt the changes. Only private and home schools that do not receive state funding will be exempt. So the pro-family activist is concerned that the measure will "control the moral attitudes" of students concerning alternate lifestyles.
*
"The bill's language demands that nothing can be said about the lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender lifestyle that reflects adversely on these persons. So only positive messages can be shared about behaviors that can have serious...emotional and physical consequences," the legislative director explains.
*
She adds that the FAIR Education Act will take decision-making away from local governments, and parents will not be warned about inappropriate discussions in public schools.
*
What is inappropriate is bigoted individuals like Ms. Harrington trying to inflict her religious based bigotry on other citizens and to brainwash school children with hate and intolerance.

The Pain and Heartache of Watching One's Parents Failing

Much of my moodiness and general funk today (and yesterday) stemmed from my displeasure over the holiday plans with my family and children going to Hell in a hand basket due to the freak snow storm that swept over the area yesterday. The planned get together at our house was canceled and dinner tonight with my children likewise went down the toilet figuratively speaking. After work this evening - yes, I did actually make it to the office - I braved the absolutely horrible snow and ice covered roads in Norfolk and Virginia Beach to go by sister's home to see my mother before my sister takes her back to Chralottesville tomorrow.

*

Sadly, my mother seems to be steadily failing in heath compared to even a few months ago and it rips me apart emotionally to see her a shadow of her former self (the photo above is her as a young woman) and obviously undergoing pain and discomfort. She has contended with cancer for over 13 years and combined with a stroke back in January, it is clearly taking its toll on her. Where things are ultimately headed unfortunately seems certain and it's hard to deal with. Particularly when one is a control freak such as yours truly. When I cannot "fix it" or "find a solution" I do not handle it well and the boyfriend has been wonderful in dealing with my occasional funks.

*

The obvious lesson is to value those you love each and every day and let them know just how much you treasure them. They will not be with you forever and nothing is worse than feeling that you never said all that should have been said. Too often, we let the chaos of jobs and life in general keep us from staying true to this reality.

My Readers - Thank You

There have truly been times in the past when the support - and I'd call it almost something akin to love - from readers has kept me going and carried me through some truly dark days. My readers have been my cyberspace lifeline. Sometimes the support comes in the form of an e-mail from Melbourne, Australia; other times it's an e-mail from the Loire Valley of France; or a kind e-mail from the state of Delaware. And other times it's in the form of a note or gift that makes writing this blog something special. Today at the office I received a sweet card and a gift from a reader named Stephen and his partner, Keelung, that brightened up my somewhat brooding mood that haunted me much of the day. Among other things, the author of the note said "keep the photos and the blog coming . . . your loyal subscribers." I will do my best to live up to expectations in the coming year.
*

As I have noted before, writing a blog such as this one brings many things ranging from the bad - e.g., occasional death treats and rantings from Christianist extremists - to the sweet and caring such as today's note and gift. I hope my effort and venting here also helps others who are traveling a journey of coming out in mid life (it's frightening, but a number of folks ask for my advice and I hope my thoughts are of help) or other tribulations who may learn from my errors and missteps and hopefully find the happiness and self-acceptance we all seek.

*

Thank you to each and every one of you - last month there were over 14,000 page visits. It means so very much to me. Most especially on days like today when I've needed a boost in spirits.

Monday Male Beauty

John McCain: The Man Who Never Was

I have commented on John McCain - recent nemesis to LGBT Americans due to his opposition to DADT repeal - on a number of occasions and basically posed the question of WTF happened to the man. I and many others once respected the man and supported him in his 2000 bid for the GOP nomination for president. Ten years later, I could not stand the man and his pick of Sarah Palin, a cunning cretin, sealed the deal where even holding my nose I could not have voted for the man. Is the 2010 John McCain the result of senility, obscene political cynicism, or did we simply never know the real McCain? An article in the November issue of Vanity Fair suggests that the latter may be the correct answer with McCain showing his willingness to sell his soul to remain in office. Sometimes it is better to fade from the scene with dignity and honor. Sadly, that is not the route that McCain has followed. Here are some article highlights:
*
Desperate to keep his Senate seat, John McCain repudiated his record, his principles, and even his maverick reputation, entrenching himself as the anti-Obama. Which raises the issue of whether the leader so many Americans admired—and so many journalists covered—ever truly existed.
*
[I]t fell to Hayworth, a glib galoot who was twice informally ranked among the dumbest members of Congress during his 12 years in the House, to deliver the dead-on zinger that summed up where McCain has found himself in this strange and angry political season, struggling not to win the presidency but simply to hold on to the job which defines him, and which is all he has left. “It’s really sad to see John McCain, who should be revered as a statesman, basically reduced to a political shape-shifter,” Hayworth said.
*
McCain would go on to trounce Hayworth in the August primary, by 24 points, but not before turning himself into an off-putting, almost unrecognizable political creature. . . . . McCain not only sold his soul, he went through a small fortune, spending $20 million to blow Hayworth out of the water. And far from seeing Hayworth’s challenge as a depressing indignity, McCain seemed to enjoy the opportunity.
*
The prevailing question about John McCain this year is: What happened? What happened to that other John McCain, the refreshingly unpredictable figure who stood apart from his colleagues and seemed to promise something better than politics as usual? The question may miss the point. It’s quite possible that nothing at all has changed about John McCain, a ruthless and self-centered survivor who endured five and a half years in captivity in North Vietnam, and who once told Torie Clarke that his favorite animal was the rat, because it is cunning and eats well. It’s possible to see McCain’s entire career as the story of a man who has lived in the moment, who has never stood for any overriding philosophy in any consistent way, and who has been willing to do all that it takes to get whatever it is he wants. He himself said, in the thick of his battle with Hayworth, “I’ve always done whatever’s necessary to win.” Maybe the rest of us just misunderstood.
*
As his daughter Meghan recently wrote, he has always been more of a craps guy than a strategic poker player. He has never been a party leader, like his old friend Bob Dole, of Kansas, or a wise elder, like his colleague Dick Lugar, of Indiana, or a Republican moderate, like Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, of Maine. He flies solo, first, last, and always, and his paramount cause has always been his own. That is the bracing reality of John McCain. It is the tragedy, too.
*
[T]here is no doubt that being John McCain 2010 is a colossal comedown for a man who was described just three years ago by The Almanac of American Politics as “the closest thing our politics has to a national hero.”
*
His choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate was, of course, the apogee of his hotheaded, cold-blooded self-protectiveness. Denied his own first choice, his friend Joe Lieberman, the Independent-Democrat from Connecticut, he opted instead for the only candidate his advisers thought stood a chance of reinforcing his much-dimmed reputation as a maverick. But in doing so he chose a person so manifestly unqualified for the presidency as to make him look like little more than a hack.
*
McCain and his wife, Cindy, have been living essentially separate lives for years. She has spent most of her time in Arizona while he has spent the workweek in a Virginia condominium where, he once told me, he sometimes went months at a time without ever entering the living room, simply coming home to the kitchen and bedroom late at night and leaving again early the next morning.
*
The real McCain will be lost to history. He’s got years ahead of him, but he is lost to history. The narrative is the narrative, completely untrue and unfair, but he is the old guy who ran a derogatory campaign and can’t remember how many houses he had.” Yes, you can make that argument—that the grand sweep of history, in all its majesty and indifference, will leave behind a false version of John McCain. But you can also make another argument, and it’s the one John McCain himself has been making powerfully by his behavior and example. It is that history has revealed the real McCain at last.

More Sunday Male Beauty

Can Virginia Ban Gays in Its Military?

I have previously commented on the proposed legislation threatened by Del. Bob Marshall - Virginia's gay hater extraordinaire (pictured at left) - that would seek to bar gays from the Virginia National Guard. In my view, it's yet another example of Marshall's bizarre obsession with gays which makes me increasingly suspect the man is another Ed Schrock: voting for anti-gay legislation and then looking for clandestine gay sex on the side. Mother Jones has a piece that likewise looks at Marshall's intended effort to once again try to stigmatize and marginalize gay Virginians and the likely invalidity of any such law under federal law. Perhaps the federal government ought to tell Marshall that it will move all of its federal military operations to a more gay friendly state and destroy Virginia's economy in the process (Virginia receives one the largest amounts of federal defense spending annually). Then Loudoun County residents might send Mr. Marshall into a much needed retirement. Here are highlights from Mother Jones:
*
Just two days after the Senate voted to allow gays to serve openly in the US military, Virginia statehouse delegate Bob Marshall is crafting a bill that would take a big chunk out of the federal government's expected repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Marshall proposes a full ban of gays in the Virginia National Guard, insisting that the Constitution gives individual states power over "the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia."
*
It's not the first time Marshall's railed against federal power. He's decried "Obamacare" as "a power grab by the Obama Administration and Congress to extend their insidious reach further into our private lives" and sympathizes with activists who favor a "Repeal Amendment"—a constitutional amendment that would give states the right to disobey any federal laws they find objectionable.
*
At the same time, Marshall's libertarian, individual rights-based talk doesn't square with some of his own positions: He's best known in the state as an ardent opponent of abortion and gay rights. He sponsored a successful 2006 amendment to the state's constitution that banned gay marriage. And in the late '80s, he was the research director of the American Life League, arguing that all birth control should be illegal. In 1989, when asked by a Boston Globe reporter whether abortion should be permitted in cases of incest, he replied, "What if incest is voluntary?...Sometimes it is."
*
[E]even if Marshall's proposal can pass muster with Virginia's legislative and executive branches, it's bloody unlikely to pass either the judiciary's or the military's standards. Cotton Puryear, the communications director for Virginia's Department of Military Affairs, declined to offer any comment on Marshall's proposal or the expected DADT repeal, saying that all offices were awaiting final guidance from the Department of Defense. But he did stress that "a Virginia Guard soldier has to meet the same standards...as a federal active-duty soldier." Once the state's recruiters select their candidates, they're processed for the service on a national level, going through the military's regional recruiting stations. . . In essence, Virginia Guard soldiers and airmen will serve alongside federal troops throughout their careers—including gays and lesbians, once DADT repeal becomes law.

Hampton Roads Sees its Biggest Snowfall in 21 Years

This region is truly NOT equipped to deal with snow and as the snow continues to come down at a heavy rate, the Virginian Pilot reports that we've received the most snow in 21 years. Friends with homes fronting on Chesapeake Bay are experiencing 40 mph winds and we can hear the wind blowing across the harbor on the other side of our neighbors' home across the street. Here are some story highlights:
*
The worst snowstorm to hit Hampton Roads in more than two decades likely will leave more than a foot of snow, and has closed businesses and shopping malls and left some roads impassable, including the Downtown Tunnel.
*
Blizzard-like conditions transformed traveling on the snow-laden highways into a slow and dangerous proposition. As of about 1 p.m., police reported close to 250 automobile accidents – none fatal in South Hampton Roads. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel reduced speed limits to 25 mph and fleets of snow plows tried to keep main roads clear as inches of snow continued dumping on the region. Norfolk International Airport remained open, but many airlines cancelled or delayed flights.
*
About nine inches had fallen as of 1:30 p.m., he said. The region should see at least three more inches today. Lawson said as much as 14 inches could fall in Norfolk and a foot and a half in central Virginia Beach and Chesapeake.
*
The Downtown Tunnel was closed today shortly after noon by state officials who pleaded with drivers to stay off the roads. Nora Chivers, a VDOT spokesperson, said heavy hands of snow created “near white-out conditions” at the tunnel.

The tunnel likely will remain closed until this evening, she said. Traffic is being diverted at Effingham Street in Portsmouth and at City Hall Avenue or Waterside Drive in downtown Norfolk. The Midtown Tunnel remains open, Chivers said. Many secondary roads in Hampton Roads could become impassable.

Sunday Male Beauty

The Evil of Bigotry Loses Another Big Battle

A column in the San Antonio press looks at how history will view the demise of Don't Ask Don't Tell and in the process looks at the reality that the USA on many fronts has been a follower as opposed to a leader in granting civil rights for all of its citizens. Unfortunately, this legacy of being a follower rather than a leader in equality and freedom is not a new phenomenon. Indeed, Canada (in 1807) and European countries (France in 1794; Germany in 18o7; Spain in 1811; the Netherlands in 1814; Greece in 1822; British Empire in 1833) abolished slavery decades before the bloody contest of the Civil War decided the issue in America and, even then, segregation and discrimination remained the norm - certainly in the South - in much of America for another century. The same too holds for anti-gay bigotry where other nations have outstripped the supposed beacon of liberty which the USA pretends to be. Here are column highlights:
*
[H]istory will record one Obama achievement with the appropriate drum roll and without caveats, and that is the repeal of the Don t Ask, Don t Tell legislation that banned gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military. It took 17 years from its passage for the courts to recognize that DADT is an unconstitutional infringement of the civil rights of gay people.
*
In terms of social policy, the end of DADT takes its place amidst other historic milestones, notably Truman s desegregation order and the Supreme Court s 1954 decision in Brown v Board of Education to integrate the nation s public schools. For Obama, repeal of DADT is a campaign promise kept that will help him redeem his liberal bona fides.
*
Americans like to think we re on the side of the angels when it comes to protecting individual freedom and civil rights, but history tells us we re often late to the party. Other industrialized countries did away with slavery way before we did, and without the bloodshed of a civil war. Britain outlawed the practice in the early 1800s. America lagged behind in granting women the right to vote, and women are still under-represented in elective office at every level.
*
One of the arguments against ending DADT is based on religion objections. Christian traditionalists think homosexuality is wrong and cite passages in the Bible to back up their belief. America was founded on the basis of religious freedom yet when there is discrimination against gays and lesbians it is often done in the name of religion.
*
We shouldn t be surprised that people hide behind religion. Critics of giving women the vote could find theological support for their belief that women should be in a subordinate role. Discriminating against people of color has a long history of justification and rationalization, some religiously based, some just plain ignorant.
*
Much of the world must look at us with bemusement that we took so long to reach the conclusion that sexual orientation is irrelevant to the ability of men and women to form a fighting force. The greatest armies in the world made peace with differing sexual orientations a long time ago. Israel tops the list with an enviable army that deals with existential threats every day.
*
In a new century with different social challenges, the military is shouldering a generational transformation in the way gay people are regarded, and Obama, like Truman before him, will get full credit. It will be recorded that the evil of bigotry lost a big battle in 2010.