The Big Deal About Chick-Fil-A

All I hear from my well meaning(?) conservative “friends” on Facebook lately is “What’s the big deal about Chick-fil-A?”, “Doesn’t the owner have any rights?”, and “He’s just expressing what he believes.” Among other things.

Okay… “What’s the big deal about my being Bisexual”. “Don’t I have any rights?”, and “I’m just expressing what I believe and how I feel”.

In other words… right back at ya, babe!

And the thing is, if it were just a matter of Dan Cathy expressing (saying) what he believes… I wouldn’t give a shit. I, frankly, could not care less what one individual’s thoughts about homosexuality are. I don’t even give a good “God damn!”, when a group of them stand around protesting funerals making themselves look like inbred morons (yes, Westboro Baptist, I’m talking about you). Words alone are not the fucking problem.

The problem is that Dan Cathy doesn’t stop there. All those wonderful “chikin” sandwiches are making him huge bucks. He takes those huge bucks and donates them to various organizations. Again, that’s not something I really give two shits about either. I give money to various organizations from time to time.

But when those organizations (WinShape, Focus On the Family) are hell bent on portraying the LGBT community as “deviants”, “sinners” and worse, and have a certain amount of leverage with lawmakers (separation of church and state, my ass) and have made it clear that they think I and others like me have no rights because we are somehow less American, less Christian, and less human than they are… then you bet your sweet ass I’m going to get my panties in a twist and protest it!

And guess what? That’s my right as an American citizen.

If my way of protesting is choosing not give him any of my money so he can’t turn around and use it against me… so be it. It’s my right.

If I choose to rant about in a blog post laced with profanity… too fucking bad for you. It’s my right.

I don’t deny Dan, or his brother Donald for that matter, their rights as Americans or “Christians”… I just wish they’d stop trying to deny me mine!

*Blogger’s note: All opinions expressed in this blog post are my own.

Eagle Scouts resign to protest Scouts’ anti-LGBT policy

Last week, the Boy Scouts of America announced that it has no intention of changing its policy of not allowing openly LGBT people to serve within its ranks or work with the scouting program. Now, according to the Atlantic a protest movement is roiling the organization from within as generations of Eagle Scouts resign from the program over its refusal to change the policy.

“After a confidential two-year review,” read Boy Scouts of America’s July 17 statement, “Boy Scouts of America has emphatically reaffirmed its policy of excluding gays.”

Since then, dozens of Eagle Scouts, the highest honor a BSA member can attain, have returned their medals to the organization. While the Scouts claim that only ten Eagle Scouts have resigned, the blog Boing Boing has been publishing letters from Eagle Scouts who have resigned from scouting, and the number is much higher than that.

The Eagle Scout award requires that a scout earn at least 21 merit badges, each one with a set of skills and requirements to learn and master. In addition to these awards, an Eagle Scout must have conceived and executed a large-scale community service project. Few boys stay in scouting through high school and even fewer of those attain the rank of Eagle. Two million Eagle Scouts have completed the program since the organization was founded more than a hundred years ago.

The protest, while it still involves a fairly small number of scouts, is significant in that it is the first time the group has been challenged from within. Previous protests of the group’s anti-LGBT policy have generally been from LGBT rights groups not affiliated with the Scouts. Boy Scouts of America’s policy currently reads, “While the BSA does not proactively inquire about the sexual orientation of employees, volunteers, or members, we do not grant membership to individuals who are open or avowed homosexuals or who engage in behavior that would become a distraction to the mission of the BSA.”

Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. voted at its national convention in 1991 that the organization had no official interest in members’ sexual orientation. Its policy reads, “As a private organization, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. respects the values and beliefs of each of its members and does not intrude into personal matters. Therefore, there are no membership policies on sexual preference.”

The group reaffirmed its commitment to diversity in 2003, saying in its pamphlet What We Stand For (.pdf): “The Girl Scouts value diversity and inclusiveness and, therefore, do not discriminate on any basis… We believe that sexual orientation is a private matter for girls and their families to address.”

Boy Scouts of America took the issue before the Supreme Court in 2000, which ruled in favor of the Scouts and the organization’s ban on LGBT members, leaders and volunteers.

Read the original story at the Raw Story

Kickstarter Enables LGBT-Themed Projects to ‘Go for Gold’

The 2012 Olympic Games are in full swing, and a sense of worldly camaraderie has filled the air. Every four years, we enthusiastically support our respective country’s athletes in their quest to bring home the big win in the form of a gold medal. These inspiring male and female athletes make major sacrifices to represent their country in the best light.

Food for thought: Where is the LGBT camaraderie? Every day, non-athletic men and women in ourcommunity work to represent us in the best light with creative projects that are a true representation of same-sex-loving people. How can we cheer on modern LGBT pioneers with eager support in their efforts to bring home the proverbial gold medal in their respective areas of focus? The answer: Kickstarter.

Kickstarter is the premier funding website for creative projects started by everyday people. The funding website has become “the new black” thanks to the thousands of individuals who pledge millions of dollars to projects in a variety of creative fields. Kickstarter has created a new way to successfully fund projects that would otherwise sail into obscurity. This is monumental for our community. We sometimes exhaust all our efforts to bring mainstream awareness to LGBT issues and receive little fanfare. This can all change with a creative idea, supporters of that idea, and the use of Kickstarter.

In the spirit of bringing mainstream awareness to LGBT issues and going for the proverbial gold, my husband and I have started our very own Kickstarter campaign to financially support advertising efforts for our new book, The Best Workout Is “Sex”: A Gay Guide to Your Ideal Marriage. As independent, first-time authors of a book that talks about the importance of marriage equality for all, our Kickstarter will be used to encourage book retailers to carry physical copies of the title in stores around the country. It’s such a daunting task to get a new genre of relationship book noticed by mainstream stores, but there is hope. LGBT-themed Kickstarter campaigns have successfully met their goals by raising enough money to introduce something new to the mainstream before, and it will happen again. Check out a few successful Kickstarter campaigns that we can all be proud of as members of the LGBT community:

• Drag Dad, by Bjorn Floki, was successfully funded on July 27, 2012. The project raised funds to support a documentary about a 6-year old boy named Jeremiah and his father, Tyra Sanchez, winner of season 2 of Rupaul’s Drag Race on Logo.

 

• Love and Equality: The Faces of Same-Sex Marriage, by Natalie Gruppuso, was successfully funded on June 10, 2012. Supporters funded the project to display portraits of married same-sex couples and publish the images in a book.

 

 

• Partners: A Show of Portraits of Same-Sex Couples, by Katherine Meredith, was successfully funded on July 13, 2011. The project raised funds to promote thought and reflection on the subject of equality for all.

 

Kudos to Kickstarter for creating a platform in which everyday people can take their inspired project, present it to the world, and potentially meet fundraising goals to bring an idea to life. Kickstarter is indeed the new form of commerce and patronage, and this platform can be so beneficial to LGBT-themed projects seeking a mainstream audience.

Do you have an idea or project that can be a true representation of the LGBT community? Are you ready to go for the proverbial gold in your creative field? You may want to think about utilizing Kickstarter. Be inspired to create, and never be afraid to ask for the help you need. You never know who will support your vision and make your dream a reality.

Read the original story at Huffington Post

Democrats Draft Gay Marriage Platform

Reblogged from Republican and Democrat Daily:

Democrats appear ready to embrace same-sex marriage as part of their party platform, a policy shift that reflects an expanded acceptance of gay rights in mainstream politics.

The move would place the party in line with the beliefs of President Obama, who in May became the first sitting president to declare that gay men and lesbians should be able to marry.

Read more… 562 more words

Chick-fil-A Dustup Shows Freedom For Fundies is a One-Way Street

In his latest screed, New York Times columnist Ross Douthat implored those who are opposed to Chick-fil-A’s anti-gay views to, “Say what you really think: that the exercise of our religion threatens all that’s good and decent, and that you’re going to use the levers of power to bend us to your will.”

Well, let’s toss the idea right back at Douthat. “Say what you really think: that you and other fundamentalist Christians are superior and that allowing people with whom you disagree to have equal rights and opportunities threatens all that’s good and decent, and that you’re going to continue in the un-American business of using the levers of power to bend us to your will.”

Fundamentalist Christian authors George Grant and Gary North best summarized this view in their infamous book, Changing of the Guard:

“But it is dominion we are after. Not just a voice. It is dominion we are after. Not just influence. It is dominion we are after. Not just equal time. It is dominion we are after.

This is precisely what fundamentalists have been doing for as long as they could get away with it. When it was permissible, they would bully non-Christian students into reciting their sectarian prayers in public schools.

How about race?

“If Chief Justice Warren and his associates had known God’s word and had desired to do the Lord’s will, I am quite confident that the 1954 [Brown v. Board of Education] decision would never have been made,” Rev. Jerry Falwell once wrote. “The facilities should be separate. When God has drawn the line of distinction, we should not attempt to cross that line.”

For much of American history, secular Americans were forced to abide by repressive Blue Laws, which dictated when people could drink alcohol or sell goods and services. For example, until April 2011, one could not buy alcohol in Georgia on Sundays because the states’ former governor, Sonny Perdue, was a right wing teetotaler. Even now, instead of individuals having the right to decide when they drink in Georgia, it is voted on in each county.

Given this historically despotic behavior by religious majorities, isn’t it rather hypocritical for fundamentalists to now claim that their religious freedom is threatened because Boston mayor Tom Menino is against having Chick-Fil-A open up in Boston?

“You can’t have a business in the city of Boston that discriminates against a population,” the mayor said, with his comments echoed by the mayors of Chicago and Washington, DC.

The histrionic fundies are now pretending to be martyrs. However, I’d love to have them answer a simple question: If Gov. Perdue can use his beliefs to tell people they can’t have a cold beer on a hot summer day in Georgia, than why can’t Mayor Menino use his equally heartfelt beliefs to tell people that they can’t have a greasy chicken sandwich in Boston?

The answer is that fundies believe that religious freedom is a one-way street. For example, they can gang up on secular and religious minorities and vote for a dry county and that is “liberty.” But if voters ever decide to vote for a city free of fundie fowl, it suddenly becomes a perfidious act of religious persecution. You either adhere to their values, or they scream “victim!”

The same principles apply for marriage equality. There are religious denominations and clergy who would perform same-sex unions. However, they aren’t allowed because fundies think that their beliefs supersede both secular law and the religious freedom of others.

Chick-fil-A CEO, Dan Cathy, is an example of this double standard. While he trumpets his own personal religious liberty, he funds the Family Research Council (FRC), a group that has no compunction about limiting freedom.

“The oft-repeated mantra ‘you can’t legislate morality’–the contention that moral arguments have no place in formulating public policy–is absurd,” FRC writes in a brochure opposing same-sex marriage. “It is the duty of legislators to evaluate the right legislation needed to correct some wrong or injustice, or promote some positive or good result.”

Isn’t that exactly what Mayor Menino is doing – using his sense of morality to correct an injustice?

Contrary to their insincere shrieks, there is no crisis of religious liberty for fundamentalist Christians. The problem is that they have been drunk on their own power for so long that they equate the exercise of religion with forcing others to live by their restrictive rules. Because they can no longer dominate, dictate, and discriminate without push-back, they are whining that they are somehow suppressed.

The truth is, Chick-fil-A should be able to open wherever it wants in the same way that I should be able to marry in any state that I want. However, as long as fundies insist on a puritanical pecking order where the “moral” majority rules, they have no basis in which to complain when they can’t have their fundie fowl in Boston. The fundies must decide if they want dominion or democracy, but it is doubtful that both ideas can co-exist in the free society they claim to cherish.

Read the original story at Truth Wins Out

Out Proud 2012 Olympians

Hate, homophobia are learned attitudes

I have been an ally for the LGBT community for many years, and in that time, I have spent a great deal of time getting to know this wonderful community of people, and their history.

LGBT people have been present throughout history, in every culture throughout the world. Homosexual orientation has also been proven to exist in hundreds of animal species. This is not just a “choice” exclusive to humans. In fact, it’s not a choice at all. Think about it. Did any of us choose who we love or are attracted to?

When I planned to move down to the Twin Cities, one of my gay friends and his partner took me in for a couple months while I searched for an apartment of my own. In the time that I lived with them, I saw no different a relationship dynamic than any heterosexual couple I’ve ever seen.

I also know several same-sex couples who are married, and some of them do indeed have children. Children who are well cared for, and are more than likely being taught that we are all unique and that’s OK.

As much as people want to grasp the “ideal” family of 60 years ago, the fact of the matter is there are all sorts of primary caretakers of children, single parents, other relatives, friends, etc., and their ability to care for these kids has nothing to do with sexual orientation or gender.

Hate and homophobia are learned attitudes that are constantly projected so unjustly in this world it’s disgusting. Homophobic bullying has resulted in many youth taking their own lives because they feel they live in a world that does not want them in it, or they can no longer put up with how they are treated by people who don’t understand them.

Knowing that, I am so grateful that one of my best friends didn’t succumb to an ordeal he went through in high school. He wasn’t even out yet but a bunch of kids beat him up for being gay. That’s something that’s stayed with him, and believe me, I want nothing more than to be able to take away the pain he’s felt because of it.

Imagine what it would be like to live day after day, hearing nothing but negativity about people like you, and living in constant fear for your safety even though you’ve done nothing wrong.

Sadie Ruge

Woodbury, Minn.

Read the original opinion at Bemidji Pioneer

Sarah Palin Gives Thumbs Up To Anti-Gay Chick-fil-A

Sarah Palin is joining a who’s-who of conservative activists — Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Rev. Billy Graham, The Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America — in supporting Chick-fil-A, the fast food chain that has donated millions of dollars to anti-gay organizations, including “reparative therapy” groups like Exodus International.

“Stopped by Chick-fil-A in The Woodlands to support a great business,” the former Alaska governor tweeted on Friday night and posted a picture of her and husband Todd giving a thumbs up to the restaurant:

Sarah and Todd Palin

Chick-fil-A is one of a very small number of major national companies that refuses to offer any employment protections to LGBT employees. In fact, the company received a 0 rating from the Human Rights Campaign and has a record of firing employees it believes engage in “sinful” behavior. Activists from across the country are protesting the company after its president condemned homosexuality in a recent radio interview.

The Palin’s, meanwhile, have long been accused of being hostile to gay and lesbian equality. During a recent episode of Bristol Palin’s Lifetime Show, Life’s a Tripp, her young son used the epithet “faggot” to deride his aunt. Asked about the incident in Los Angeles recently, Palin grew visibly upset and proclaimed, “I like gays. I’m not homphobic and I’m so sick of people saying that just becuase I’m for traditional marriage,” she said. Her parents’ very public enthusiasm for a company that donates millions to groups that try to “cure” people of being gay, however, may undermine her claim.

Read the original story at Think Progress

Sally Ride’s Final Public Act: A Gift To LGBT Community

“In addition to Tam O’Shaughnessy, her partner of 27 years, Sally is survived by her mother, Joyce; her sister, Bear; her niece, Caitlin, and nephew, Whitney; her staff of 40 at Sally Ride Science; and many friends and colleagues around the country.”

That was the final sentence of the announcement on the Sally Ride Science website of the death this past Monday of the first American woman to travel into space. Most newspaper obituaries, including the obituary in Sally’s local newspaper, U-T San Diego, quoted the sentence nearly verbatim, and failed to answer any questions a reader might have about the sentence.

But one journalist was more inquisitive that day. Chris Geidner, who works at BuzzFeed.com, talked to Sally’s company and to Bear Ride, her openly lesbian sister, and confirmed within a couple of hours that there was a breaking news story hiding inside a humble obit: An American hero had just come out of the closet publicly.

Even before Geidner’s reporting, I’d emailed U-T editors to note what may not have been immediately obvious: That Tam is a woman and the obituary didn’t seem to mean business partner. I also asked the U-T editors, “Does it matter?”

A short while later, I realized it does matter. While, on the one hand, public figures coming out is no big deal nowadays – did anyone spill their coffee over Anderson Cooper’s recent revelation? – this may well be the first time that someone who is already in the schoolbooks has come out of the closet.

A sentence or two now will be added to those history books, and that will matter a whole lot to gay and lesbian young people who have to cope with the harsh environment of high school, where any kind of difference, but particularly being gay, still can make one a target for bullying and abuse. (California actually has a law requiring that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, or LGBT, history be included in textbooks.)

This was a gift that Sally Ride, said by her family to be a very private person, gave to other LGBT people upon her passing.

“Sally never hid her relationship with Tam,” Bear Ride told The San Francisco Chronicle. “Sally’s very close friends, of course, knew of their love for each other. … Sally had a very fundamental sense of privacy – it was just her nature – because we’re Norwegians.”

Bear told the Chronicle she hopes Ride’s revelation “makes it easier for kids growing up gay that they know that another one of their heroes was like them.”

Fierce debate erupted on gay-activist listservs within moments of the announcement of Ride’s death. Some people scolded Ride for not coming out during her lifetime, arguing that that would have made a bigger difference in the world. Others defended her decision not to take that step into the limelight.

Yes, Ride could have come out if she felt like it. Current-day La Jolla is not at all an unsafe place for same-sex couples. But she had no obligation to do so, and neither does any other public figure.

Not every gay or lesbian person wants to be an activist, and when a public figure comes out, he or she can be thrust into that role by the media, which start asking the individual’s opinion on every gay topic of the day.

Not every gay or lesbian person even considers his or her sexual orientation one of the most important pieces of his or her identity. For some, it’s just another thing, like being left-handed, or Episcopalian.

If anyone deserves a bit of scolding, it’s the news media, which went about its business for around 24 hours before realizing that this obituary was not a run-of-the-mill obituary and that there was a surprise, and breaking news, lurking in the list of survivors.

By the second day, there were stories everywhere about Ride’s coming out.

And I suspect this piece is one of several on Sunday op-ed pages around the country today.

American hero Sally Ride did one more great thing the day she died. She showed America, again, that LGBT people really are everywhere, including even in outer space and already in our history books.

Read the original story at UT San Diego

San Diego LGBT organization demands homophobic radio ad be pulled

Half an hour after rock radio station 105.3 aired a homophobic ad, Canvass for a Cause took the issue on directly, mobilizing activists to call-in and formally complain. Within two hours, the station stated they were pulling the ad.

The ad, which publicized 105.3, not only made fun of men touching each other, but terminated with a voice saying, “That’s so gay!” The LGBT community is one of the remaining groups that can still be openly discriminated against, and so any act of homophobia must be responded to quickly.

Those who called the station asked to speak to the director and, upon being connected, gave their names and stated their affiliation with Canvass for a Cause. They then made the station aware that CFAC is a grassroots organization of over 40,000 members and over 40 staff backing the fight for LGBT equality. The callers concluded their message by telling 105.3: “If you do not get back to us, saying the advertisement for your morning show is pulled, we will start a local campaign toboycott both the show and the station…Until then, we will assume that the advertisement is still being aired and we will begin publicizing our boycott.”

This message was clearly heard. After only two hours of staff and volunteers calling in, a CFAC activist was informed by a representative from Clear Channel that the ad was being pulled.

“Because of the role media plays in shaping perceptions, it is key in the path towards achieving acceptance and understanding of our community,” says Cal Strode after receiving this news. “We have a duty to hold media accountable for the messaging it produces. I talked to a programming producer for Clear Channelat around noon today and expressed the concerns of our community. I received verbal confirmation that the ad would be pulled and was told that while it was not the intention of the commercial, they are a friend of the community and would go ahead and pull it.”

Although Canvass for a Cause and the public are still waiting for the official email from the station stating their apologies, the response to callers demonstrates the power of community members expressing their opinions. This success proves the potential of grassroots organizing and of empowering people on an individual level.

Moving forward, it is necessary that we hold the station accountable for never airing the ad again. Canvass for a Cause urges community members to make sure to continue to call in if they hear any anti-gay messaging on radio stations like 105.3.

Read the original story at LGBT Weekly