The Suquamish Native-American tribe in Kitsap County, Washington, this week made same-sex marriage legal on tribal land, reports The Seattle Times. Heather Purser, a commercial diver who lives in Seattle but was raised in Kitsap County off the reservation, sparked the issue with tribal council after months of attending meetings. She was assigned a tribal attorney who asked her to get proof that the tribe recognized homosexuals by collecting stories from the elders.
That effort was dropped until she moved to Seattle and met her partner. This renewed her efforts with the Suquamish Tribe.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Via AmericablogGay: Mormon study looks at gay experience within church
There is a study of 1,000 gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender Mormons being conducted by Utah State University, and is said to be the first to focus on that particular demographic. One of the gay Mormons featured in this article claims to have given a talk to his congregation as to how the Holy Ghost had been a comforter to him:
Watching television one day with his mother, Clayson said he pointed out that one of the "Survivor" cast members was both gay and Mormon.
"She said, 'You can't be both,'" Clayson said.
It's a dilemma many gays in the church face as they struggle with their identities as both homosexual and religious faithful.
No, that is not true. It depends on one's denomination or theology as to whether or not there is any sustained cognitive dissonance for someone who is gay and a religiously faithful person. The analogy I would make is between being a member of GOProud or Stonewall Democrats, and then making a spurious claim one can't be both gay and politically active. It depends on the policies that group stands for. True, being an active Mormon or Catholic and gay is a stretch, but being a progressive member of the United Church of Christ is not inconsistent in the slightest.
One can make the argument that one is both gay and working within an organization to make it more progressive, but it is self defeating and ridiculous to claim one believes the tenets of an organization that disagrees with your very right to exist.
Via AmericaBlogGay: American Heritage Dictionary has a new editor: Steve Kleinedler
Congrats to Steve Kleinedler, on his new job as Editor of American Heritage Dictionary. He knows words. In 2009, Steve wrote a powerful post about the death of his husband, Peter Dubuque, which revealed how "ordinary" same-sex marriage had become in Massachusetts. I've linked to that post many times over the past few years. It really moved me and a lot of other people.
Andrew Harmon wrote an article about Steve's new job at the Advocate, including a link to his post at AMERICAblog:
“The job of dictionaries is primarily to describe how language is used, not to dictate how it should be used,” lexicographer Steve Kleinedler, The American Heritage Dictionary’s new executive editor, wrote in a 2009 op-ed.
The statement is part American Heritage Dictionary ethos, part personal experience. In 2009, Kleinedler’s husband died suddenly, just two months after Kleinedler and fellow editors had revised the definitions of several marriage-related words to reflect the changing culture. The definition of widower, for example, was revised from "a man whose wife has died and who has not remarried" to "a man whose spouse has died and who has not remarried."
“In the shattered aftermath of profound loss, an obsolete or incomplete definition of widower would seem an insignificant detail,” Kleinedler wrote, “but all such trivial details viewed together coalesce into a constant reminder of a two-tiered, unequal system. Therefore, having had the ability to revise the definitions that appear in a major American dictionary took on an important resonance for me.”
Kleinedler ascended to the dictionary’s top editor position Monday after 14 years on staff. He previously served as supervising editor.
Changing words, changing society.
Via AmericablogGay: Rick Santorum takes a swipe at Dan Savage
Monday, August 1, 2011
Via JMG: NAACP Stages First-Ever Panel Discussion On Black LGBT Rights
Clip via No More Down Low TV. A partial clip description:
reposted from Joe
The debate gets heated when the current NAACP president is asked how can the LGBT community take the NAACP seriously when its current board members are out saying that gay rights are not civil rights, referring to current NAACP board member Rev. Keith Ratliff recent statement: "Gay community, stop hijacking the civil rights movement."
reposted from Joe
Via NPR: Shots - Health Blog: Can Therapy Help Change Sexual Orientation?
Can Therapy Help Change Sexual Orientation?
A debate over the value of conversion therapy has been raging in psychological circles for more than a decade. Two men who underwent the therapy, with vastly different results, share their story.
A debate over the value of conversion therapy has been raging in psychological circles for more than a decade. Two men who underwent the therapy, with vastly different results, share their story.
Via JMG: SOUTH CAROLINA: Paper Prints Wedding Notice For Interracial Gay Couple
Andrew Sullivan points us to the above wedding announcement published by South Carolina's largest daily newspaper. Rather than smile at the image of all those good ole boys freaking out over today's paper, let's wish the happy couple our best. (Whoops, smiling anyway.)Today's "say wah?" is via JMG: Anti-Gay Group Vows: We'll Overturn California's "Nazi" LGBT History Bill
More anti-gay hate groups are piling on the petition drive to place a repeal of California's LGBT history bill on the June 2012 ballot. Today, it's the World Congress of Families. "When people have [voted], and Governor Brown knows that he has an issue that would fail when put to a popular vote, of course, they just go around the people," Jacobs explains. "They essentially implement their will. And, of course, in a democracy, that's not the way things are supposed to work. It's certainly something that forces our children to be indoctrinated in a certain way. It's like a Nazi state or a communist type of way of dealing with an issue." And he contends the bill has enforced the homosexual agenda on children in the state. "What the homosexual movement has done with ... SB 48 [and] in general, in calling for equality, what they're calling for is special rights," the pro-family group spokesman notes. "We don't have special things in education to teach people to change history based on a particular Christian worldview or Muslim worldview, but they go beyond that."
My addition: That's because we all know that the Nazis "loved" those gays as much as they "loved" those Jews.... hey zoose! Have these guys ever heard or seen a pink triangle?
Via JMG: Porno Pete - No Longer Tax Exempt
Ex-Gay Watch reports today that Peter LaBarbera's SPLC-certified hate group, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH), lost its tax-exempt status in 2010. Yanked by the IRS!According to the IRS, the tax-exempt status of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) was revoked on 5/10/2010 (PDF). The reason for this action is listed by the reporting organization Guidestar as a “failure to file a Form 990, 990-EZ, 990-N, or 990-PF for 3 consecutive years.” These forms are required of legitimate non-profit organizations for review by the IRS and the public. While the current incarnation of AFTAH appears to have been active since 2006, we found only one form 990-EZ on file — for the year 2009 (PDF). In this, total receipts are listed as $110.000, out of which Peter LaBarbera received a salary of $75,000. For perspective, this is approximately the same salary plus benefits claimed by Exodus president Alan Chambers. Exodus lists eleven employees and a million dollar budget.Ex-Gay Watch notes that AFTAH's "about" page STILL CLAIMS that donations are tax-exempt. (See the screenshot below.) They add: "Thousands of organizations exist which claim that homosexuality is a sin or otherwise immoral, only eighteen are listed as true hate groups by the SPLC. AFTAH is one of them."
Via JMG: Cher Tweets About Crazy Eyes
"Just got spam letter from M. Bachman! My reply: Woman go back to school take history! If I was on my deathbed & your best friend was JESUS, I wouldn't vote for your gay-hating, bully-loving, poser Christian ass!'" - Cher, tweeting about Michele Bachmann.NOTE: I corrected a bit of Cher's notoriously poor typing to make this more legible. The second sentence above was sent in all caps.
Via AmericablogGay: WWJD regarding same-sex weddings?
If you are a gay progressive Christian like me, you've probably already contemplated this question. Thought it might be good discussion for a Sunday morning.
Even if you aren't and have been victimized by those who claim to speak for Jesus and wanted ammunition then this post should help. "What would Jesus do (WWJD)" regarding the question of gay marriages or if he was invited to attend one? A straight Christian attempts to answer this question, some consider thorny, and comes to the very same conclusion I already have, but he does an even better job of his justification than I could:
Wondering what Jesus would do if he were invited to a gay wedding naturally enough led me to the New Testament. And therein I found these quotes:
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices — mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law — justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.” (Matthew 23:23-24); and
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.” (Matthew 23:13); and,
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.” (Matthew 23:15). And last but hardly least:
“Love your neighbor as yourself,” [said Jesus]. “There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:31)
When I next went looking for anywhere in the Bible where Jesus says anything at all about homosexuality, I learned that Jesus spent about as much time talking about gays and/or lesbians as I do talking about button collecting and/or sea horses: none. Of course, it’s entirely possible that Jesus did say many crucially informative things about homosexuality, but that when he did no one around him happened to have handy an ostrich feather, sappy stick, or whatever it was they used for pens back then. Which would make sense, actually. If you’ve spent any time at all reading the New Testament, you know that Jesus’ disciples weren’t exactly Johnnies-on-the-spot. They were just normal, everyday guys.
Go there and read the rest of it. It is really good, and this straight but not narrow guy most definitely has the heart of Jesus Christ.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
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