Via JMG: Mark Bingham's Mom Fires Back

TMZ interviews Alice Hoagland, the mother of openly gay 9/11 hero Mark Bingham.

"Yes, my gay son was known in our family for bringing me flowers on my birthday and Mother’s Day. He also was known for careening down the rugby pitch, and, on the morning of September 11, 2001, for charging unarmed down the aisle of a doomed Boeing 757 to face knife-wielding Islamist thugs in a hijacked cockpit."

She adds, "No one among his pick-up team of fellow passengers was asking 'Are you straight? Are you gay?' No one doubted that a guy who weighed 220 and stood 6’4” tall - who could run over a charging opponent on the field, and ran with the bulls in Pamplona earlier that summer - would be an asset to a desperate group trying to overcome a threat onboard an airliner."

"The world has its share of strong, heroic gay men. Gay men in sports uniforms and military uniforms have been winning America’s games and fighting America’s battles for a long time: quietly, humbly, and in the face of vicious bigotry." "I hope you and I may have an opportunity to talk sometime. I prefer to believe you didn’t mean to offend. Good luck to you."

BAM! Also: Suh-NAP!

Labels: 9/11, Jetblue, Mark Bingham, radio

Reposted from Joe

Civil rights leader: NOM e-mails 'scary'

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma March 29, 2012

Straight Ahead

Go very deep into yourself. Let body and mind fall away. Experience the absolute basis of reality. But the path doesn't end there. This is just the peak of the mountain. You need to continue the journey. Where do you go when you’re at the peak? Straight ahead. It’s always straight ahead. Straight ahead when you’re on the peak means down the other side of the mountain back into the marketplace. That’s where your realization needs to manifest. Otherwise, what’s the point?

- John Daido Loori, "Straight Ahead"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via AmericaBlog Gay:

Lesbian feminist Adrienne Rich dead at 82

From the Advocate:

Rich came out as a lesbian in the 1970s and had been with her partner, writer Michelle Cliff, since 1976.

Her poetry and prose showed feminist sympathies from the 1950s onward, and her 1980 essay “Compulsory Heterosexuality and the Lesbian Continuum” challenged the idea that heterosexuality was the only normal orientation and formed the heart of theories of lesbian feminism. Her work features prominently in gender studies classes. 

She also wrote passionate antiwar poetry and concerned herself with issues of class. In 1997 she turned down the National Medal for the Arts, writing to President Bill Clinton, “The radical disparities of wealth and power in America are widening at a devastating rate. A president cannot meaningfully honor certain token artists while the people at large are so dishonored.”

Via JMG: Real Men Don't Bowl With Pink Balls

Followed up with: “Friends don’t let friends use pink balls.”

HRC's Fred Sainz responds via press release:

“This is another example of Rick Santorum intentionally making ignorant statements that have a real impact on LGBT people. Whether he’s comparing our marriages to inanimate objects, saying our children would be better off with a parent in prison as opposed to two loving same-sex parents, or calling open military service a ‘tragic social experiment;’ he’s proven that he thinks LGBT people are second-class citizens not worthy of dignity or respect. In this case, he’s advancing tired gender norms by implying a boy should be ashamed or embarrassed to use a certain color bowling ball.”

Labels: asshattery, dumbassery, GOP, Rick Santorum

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Less Religion = More Gay Rights

More here. (Tipped by JMG reader Matthew)

Labels: Gallup, LGBT rights, polls, religion

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Concerned Women Are Concernstipated About Those Liberal Lovers At Starbucks

"I’ve known for a while that the founders of Starbucks were left-of-center. But I convinced myself that, so long as they stayed out of public policy, I could remain a customer. Sadly, this is no longer the case. What is most frustrating about Starbucks’ liberal support is that it totally disregards the traditional views of many customers and staff members. Considering that there are twice as many conservatives as there are liberals, Starbucks should heed [NOM's] warnings. Ponder the impact of lost business from loyal customers. In this economy, I was willing to spend more on a cup of coffee than a gallon of gas! Big Oil vs. Big Coffee; I’m not sure which would win. Coffee-loving, traditional values voters deserve more respect. I guess it’s time to bite the bullet and drink the overly strong office coffee." - Chelsen Vicari, writing of the Concerned Women For America.

 

Labels: boycotts, Concerned Women Of America, hate groups, LGBT rights, NOM, Starbucks

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR - DANNY ROSE.mov

Danny Rose - What Are We Waiting For?

Clip description:

This is my marriage proposal video to the love of my life. I cant imagine anyone telling us we cannot get married! The song is available on iTunes and 100% of the profits will go to marriage equality.

This is quite the production.




(Via Towleroad)

Labels: gay weddings, marriage equality, pop music

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Corporations Plead With NOM: Please Please Boycott Us TOO!

Labels: FAIL, hate groups, Starbucks, stock market

Reposted from Joe

JMG HomoQuotable - Larry Kramer

"Why can't we, once and for all, bond together to fight for our mutual needs? Where are the leaders who can lead us on this journey to our equality? Where's our army? I don't see either. We face this coming election naked and unprepared and as always exceptionally vulnerable.

"What does that say about how much the gay population wants to fight for these rights that I speak of? I think we help to kill each other by not fighting together to get these rights, by fighting each other instead, and not fighting against all the hate that's always out there coming non-stop from our enemies.

"And just like all the Jews in the world couldn't form Hannah Arendt's army to save all their brothers and sisters, the gays of today once again do the same. You'd think one day we'd learn. You don't get anything unless you fight for it, united and with visible numbers. If ACT UP taught us anything, it taught us that. We had greatness in our hands, but we couldn't quite carry the ball over the goal line.

"I'm not certain I see where that necessary anger and firepower is going to come from as we approach another election, where our rights are going to be on the table for fighting over by one and all, the haters and the non-haters and the ones being hated. At this moment in time, I am not very sanguine. In fact on certain days I get downright depressed.

"All the more reason then to celebrate ACT UP's 25th birthday, at least as a touchstone on our never-ending journey to find our equality and with the hope that one day we can get -- and keep -- our act together. So happy birthday, ACT UP, to all my dead brothers and sisters we couldn't save in time. I'm sorry we're no longer doing much that is productive to celebrate that you lived, that you were here, and that some lucky ones -- all the rest of us -- still are." - Larry Kramer, writing for the Huffington Post.

Read the full essay.

Labels: ACT-UP, activism, HIV/AIDS, HomoQuotable, Larry Kramer, LGBT History

Reposted from Joe