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I'll be frank, my previous diary on school bullying touched a nerve both here on DailyKos and also at Pam's House Blend. I want to share these comments with my readers and also use this opportunity to respond. Emotions were (rightfully so) very raw on this issue, and to understand the full context I do encourage all readers to check out Part I of this pair of diaries for background. I want to thank every single commenter for sharing their thoughts. More than anything else, I appreciate your time and thank you for adding to this very important discussion.
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I have never endured a more difficult experience than the cliquey, judgemental, make it or break it middle school crowd of my childhood years. I'll be perfectly honest, at 20 years old, those memories are quite fresh in my mind. I'm sure you can relate in some way.
I know, I'm well aware of the demographics of Dkos, however I also am aware of the universality of assholes, bullies and jocks throughout time, culture and class. If not middle school, then high school or certainly college. So many of us Kossacks can recall those dark experiences of school harassment in the form of intimidation, humiliation and sometimes violence.
Some of us, like me, remember those days as perpetrators. I know it may be hard to imagine, but for us reformed bullies, the experiences can sometimes be far worse than anything we dished out. Please allow me to explain.
Is helping the LGBT community important to you? Is defending my rights, your rights or the rights of friends and family something you care about? If it is, and you live in New York City, I’m sure you can find 3 or 4 hours to help fight for equality this summer! Please make some time for equality and civil rights and watch our combined efforts win this November! Read below for more info.
On May 17th, 2004 we were victorious in the marriage fight in Massachusetts. As every battle energizes the movement for marriage equality, likewise every defeat sets back our mission for equality by years, if not decades. Our thriving and passionate marriage equality movement stands to face the largest setback in the 21st century this November if California passes an amendment which would wipe out all signs of progress that we have made for equal marriage.
By Eric Francis
This topic is presented in honor of Gay Pride Week, an opportunity for queer folk to celebrate their sexuality and reflect on the coming out process. Enjoy the following editorial on queer sexuality and Happy Pride!
YESTERDAY we brought up the topic of queer, which is actually not a new topic for Planet Waves; we just don’t usually call it that. Queer means different, and it’s not that difficult to be different when it comes to sex. In fact, it’s the easiest thing in the world — we’re all different. However, many factors, such as social condition to act a certain way, or to seem a certain way, so that people think you’re not a certain something else, influence how people act. The truth is, we’re all different and we feel different on the inside. As my friend Beth once said, we’re all baskets inside of boxes.
The military’s need for qualified and experienced personnel continues to grow. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee recently released data showing the Army has doubled the number of waivers it grants to recruits convicted of violent felonies including manslaughter, rape and kidnapping. In an attempt to meet personnel goals Pentagon leaders have recently relaxed enlistment standards regarding age, physical fitness, education and criminal records. The discharge of lesbian and gay Americans, however, continues.
Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT) is the military's ban on openly serving lesbian, gay or bisexual service members. It was enacted by a Democratic President and has been sustained by both Democratic and Republican congresses for over a decade. Like many progressive initiatives, Democrats in Congress, who remain too skittish about being labeled a "Gays before Berets" party, have not brought up the issue in any meaningful, challenging way this session.
Let's be perfectly clear. As a person of Caribbean descent, the LAST thing I want to be in this post is condescending. I admit very upfront that I do not know much about Caribbean culture- or Jamaican culture in particular- however coming from a Guyanese family, with family members scattered throughout the Carribean, I have a vague, but proud, connection to the region.
This connection, as I continue to discover and nurture it throughout my life, encourages me to speak out against the ills existing in my ancestral homeland. As progressives, we show our love and pride for our roots by always seeking out the better in those very things which give us meaning and comfort. As I explore the highly emotional details of rampant homophobia in Jamaica in this post, I do it out of love for the Caribbean region, which has thrived despite a history of colonialism, natural disasters, slavery and the shackles of contemporary neo-liberalism.
The LGBT rights movement long ago has invested itself in a state by state election strategy. National politics has disregarded our concerns for decades, literally, with no national legislation on LGBT rights ever being passed and signed into law. What little we have made progress on, like support behind the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, has been severely tarnished by the move by centrist LGBT leaders and some allies to give generous exclusions to religious institutions from the bill and take out the rights of transgender, gender variant and gender non-conforming individuals from the Act.
2008 will hold the fight for the presidency and congress in the spotlight, but left at the margins of societal consciousness is the state by state fight LGBT people will be waging to either preserve their newfound rights or to prevent their already unprotected status from becoming even more marginalized by the electoral power of bigots, marriage amendments and ignorance. This post is a start at covering some of the battlegrounds for the LGBT rights movement this fall. It's more than California and marriage equality, as important as that issue is to many in the LGBT community. Below the fold I outline 2 battle fields, though there are certainly many more, that I intend on involving myself with this year:
XPosted 5/21/2008 7:47 AM PDT on MyDesert.com and Calitics.com
Greg Pettis, in his 14th year as Cathedral City Councilman, former-Mayor Pro-Tem of Cathedral City, and Democratic Candidate for the CA 80th Assembly District, has received the endorsements from every member of the California Legislative Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Caucus in Sacramento. Pettis has widespread support in the LGBT community Nationally, State-wide, and locally because of his progressive stands on issues important to the LGBT communities: Pettis fully supports the HIV/AIDS communities, universal healthcare, a strong local economy, good local schools and responsible academic oversight, a healthy environment, equality and justice for all Californians, and mentoring other members of the LGBT community.
Recently, thousands of Flight Attendants of Aloha and ATA airlines have been laid off, due to their respective companies going out of business. As any working person can contend, this is a terrible time to be unemployed. Covered by contracts negotiated by the Association of Flight Attendants, these flight attendants leave stable wages, health care benefits, and a path to retirement behind for the unemployment line.
As an American I am honored to have protection from the nation's most advanced military.
As a valuer of critical thought I worry about my protection- our military- becoming a force of imperialistic ambitions.
As a student of history I am glaringly aware of the sordid misuse of our armed forces.
As a descendent of a worldly family I recognize the military as my family's ticket from third world poverty into American prosperity.
As an activist I realize the disproportionate amount of racial minorities and working class individuals in our armed forces.
As a queer I understand the need for queer individuals to be able to openly serve in our armed forces.
The Left's relationship with our armed forces is both deep and estranged at the same time. Many of the left's proudest moments: the Civil Rights Movement, the Anti-Vietnam War movement and the Chicana/o movement- in large part were made possible by returning veterans settling back into their communities and realizing that the social order could not remain as it was before they left to fight overseas.
Public Displays of Affection are a touchy subject for a single person to defend. Many single people see couples practicing PDAs as a flaunting act. Many see it as a needless showing of affection that is not appropriate for public areas.
It was Freedom to Marry Day (FMD) at American University two days ago and there was this map that I saw that I had conflicting feelings about. I remember when it was being made. It was a regular Queers & Allies meeting. This meeting was meant to be a prep for FMD, so we were making fact sheet signs on pieces of white posterboard paper. I remember just sitting there being the room DJ and enjoying conversation with a person I've recently grown to like a lot in a non-sexual way (awkward phrasing I know).
Help us write the Texas Democratic party platform! While you're caucusing Tuesday after the primary, help us shape the future of Texas politics by urging precinct resolutions at your precinct convention.
We're asking all Texans (yes, even republicans) to try and pass Non-Discrimination and Safe School resolutions at their precinct conventions. Our Democratic Non-Discrimination Resolution urges the Texas Democratic Party to support legislation that would prohibit discrimination based upon sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. Our Safe Schools Resolution urges support for legisation that would set minimum acceptable standards for schools to address the growing problems of bullying and harassment.
It may not be obvious, but the more precincts we have that pass these resolutions, the better chance we have of getting these resolutions into the party platform. So please, download the resolutions and help us by trying to pass them at your convention Tuesday night!
Primary season is unavoidable. As Obama by the day becomes more and more the presumptive Democratic nominee for President, we begin to see many individuals of the Democratic progressive community coalesce around his candidacy. Today, Obama announced the support of both the Teamsters Union and the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers. This of course happening just days after the Service Employers International Union announced its endorsement of Senator Barack Obama. These unions will play a big role in trying to resolve this drawn out primary by attempting to project Obama to victory in the March 4th Texas/Ohio primaries.
Obama has a lot of labor-friendly support to thank thusfar and unions will be holding him to it if he can win the general.
Barbara Grier said, "It is the closet that is our sin and shame." This is a bold statement. If LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) individuals want to mount a meaningful challenge to heterosexism bold statements will be required. For too long it has been deemed acceptable by the LGBT community to argue for acceptance of LGBT individuals that "choose" to stay in the closet. The decision to stay in the closet is a coerced choice that harms not only the individual but also the LGBT population as a whole.
Every single person who comes out of the closet (with the possible exception of Ted Haggard) benefits the project of gay rights and equality. Coming out of the closet challenges two of the fundamental pillars of heterosexism. First, it challenges the belief that gay people do not exist. Second, it confronts the belief that being gay is a disease that only affects non-normal people.
This diary is a response to Kagro X's front-page post, What's up with Congress, anyway?, about the Bush administrations anti-democratic abuse of veto power. Kagro examined the issue from a separation of powers stance on the FISA bill.
I want to take it one step further and examine the problem from the spirit of representative democracy (i.e., are We the People getting what We want?) and focus on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which has been issued a veto threat by the president. It's a less sticky issue that's easier to poll than FISA legislation and one that I've followed closely this year.
And I'm using it as an example because I'm one of those Radical Homosexual Activists you hear so much about. But even us confirmed RHA's want democracy to work.
First, to understand the abuse on our democracy of Bush's peculiar veto, let's talk about why we even have a veto in the first place and a 2/3 requirement for overturning it.
Alexander Hamilton explains the need for a veto in the Federalist Papers:
Just a quick and funny video from the Concerned Women for America news conference on the "mini Sodom and Gomorrah" held every year in San Francisco. We call it "Folsom Street" but after you watch this video you'll see that the Christian Right has many more names for it.
It's time for action. There is so much discussion on the major blogs about diversity and the blogosphere. The question often asked is how can we make the most popular progressive blogs more diversified. One component of the answer is simply to diversify the content. "Linking our Way to Diversity" is a model made for progressive sites to follow. Together, we can link our way to equality.
