Yesterday I was lucky enough to participate in a brief discussion about the rightness or wrongess of the word "Retard" and there are several diaries about the specific word going around now.

My point of this diary though is not on that specific word and the connection to the movie but more in general, when are, or are their situations when some words OK to be used and if so, when are those times, and who can the words be used by and who makes these rules?

The diary itself will not be long, but I hope the discussion it prompts will be.

<More after the break>

I often think long and deep before deciding about posting a diary about gay issues alone. I even gave more thought to this diary.

What would you say if I mentioned someone who did/said:

Gay people are a security risk.
Gay people are not good role models for our children
The heterosexual lifestyle was "morally superior"
Reduced AIDS funding
Prohibited federal funding to a program that showed the gay "lifestyle as normal"

Who is this person? Jesse Helms? George Bush? John McCain?

No. No. And No.

Sam Nunn.

The point of this diary is that we as GLBT and our friends need to educate people who attack us. If education does not work, we need to attack back. I do not care if these people have a "D" or an "R" next to their name. My "fear" is that all too often we forgive our friends and overlook statements by others in their party that we would be deeply offended by if said by others. We cannot stand idly by. Hateful words are hateful words no matter their source.

<More after the break>

Something happened to me a couple of days ago which has never happened before. The New Yorker cover story has been keeping it fresh in my mind all day today, and now I just have to get it out. More after the jump..

Yesterday, I wrote a long diary about my feelings about same-sex "marriage" as opposed to civil unions, about the California ruling, about liberal hand-wringing over whether gay marriage will be used as a wedge issue in this election, my feelings as an activist and lesbian who has been in a committed relationship for 8+ years, my disappointment with Barack Obama, and whether gays and lesbians should grab the reigns of the gay marriage issue in light of our successes in California and New York, or patiently wait for a better political environment to push for fairness and equality.

This morning I read David Pauls Kuhn's cover story about the subject in Politico
which suggests the likelihood that no matter how gays handle the situation, fundamentalists will try and push gay marriage as a wedge issue, and rally their troops against it with threats of fire, brimstone, and polygamist seniors defiling herds of adolescent sheep.

In this context, I think the situation is worthy of more reflection. If you care to join me, take my hand for the jump...  

I've cross posted this diary to my blog, where you'll find a photo of the minister who gave the talk, along with links to his ministry in South Africa and the BAR story.

Actually, the headline at Afrik.com, an aggregator of news from Africa, reads President plans to kill off every single homosexual. The sub-head reads

Gambian President Yahya Jammeh says he will "cut off the head" of any homosexual caught in his country.

The Gambia, a former British colony in West Africa, already has made homosexual conduct a felony punishable by imprisonment for a term of 14 years.

Now, Pink News reports,

Gay men and lesbians must leave the country within 24 hours or face "serious consequences," the President of Gambia said on [last] Thursday.

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing. – Albert Einstein

On Saturday, I wrote in sorrow and anger about the United Methodist General Conference’s failure to change its anti-gay policy. I was, and remain, sad and angry, but not so much that I don’t appreciate the stand that our bishop and our conference delegation took on this issue.

Bishop of the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference, Robert Hoshibata, wrote about his role in the demonstration.

Read on below the fold.

I haven’t told my son yet that the denomination in which his father has been a minister for his entire career has decided once again not to remove the stain from its official policy that homosexuality is "incompatible with Christian teaching." I doubt that he cares now. He has already felt the sting of rejection, which is now mutual.

On April 30, the General Conference of the United Methodist Church at its quadrennial meeting, this year in Fort Worth, once again refused to change its pronouncement of judgment on gays and lesbians by a vote of 504-417.

In an act of witness in front of delegates to the 2008 United Methodist General Conference, more than 200 people declared that the denomination's policies and practices against homosexuality are "sinful" and that "sexuality is a gift from God."
Primarily dressed in black, demonstrators walked onto the legislative floor at the Fort Worth Convention Center, formed a two-lined cross around the communion table located in the center aisle and draped it in a black shroud to witness against the church's stance on homosexual practice. They entered silently, but once all demonstrators were in place, they sang, "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?"

So now Hillary Clinton thinks it is really funny that she is so tough she makes Rocky Balboa look like a "pansy".  Thanks Governor Easley:  why don't you just say:  Hillary Clinton is so tough she makes Rocky Balboa look like a FAG.  I mean, that's what you meant isn't it?

“This lady right here makes Rocky Balboa look like a pansy,” said Governor Mike Easley, D-N.C., today, referring to Hillary Clinton. “There’s nothing I love more than a strong powerful woman.”

 And nothing I hate more than a man who is a sissy, right Mike?  

Maybe the long campaign has made me exhausted.  But not tonight.  Me:  I am fired up.

This election will be about???
Iraq, Economy, global warming, war on terror, Immigration, abortion / alternative lifestyles-rights?

What does that mean?

According to MSNBC, the Senate has dropped gays from the hate crimes bill.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...

WTF?!?!?! This is disgusting.

Is the middle class a reliable ally in serious transformative struggles? Why is it that in most historical confrontations it chooses to side with the upper class? Can middle class politics be corrected and if so, how? This article analyses precisely these and other important issues.

I'D LIKE TO READ PART ONE OF THIS ESSAY—>CLICK HERE

Are you a Liberal? Do you think you're "middle class"? Do you swear by individualism?  Are you black or gay? Then this article is for you.
INTRODUCTION: This essay hopes to do more than just instruct and inform; it hopes to be empowering, and, in more ways than you expect, transformative.

    Hillary Clinton showed poor judgement when she, along with Edwards and Obama, refused to commit to ending the war in Iraq and bringing all the troops home even by 2013, but neither Clinton nor Edwards would have ever been as pathetic and yes, even stupid enough to agree to take part in a southern concert tour and appear on the same stage with Donnie McClurkin, as bad a homophobe the south and the republicans can put out. Obama has tried desperately to bandage the wound he's given to his gay supporters, but the patient is dead and so is Obama's hopes for attaining the presidency.