GayWisdom

Uganda's Gay Killings & the American Right Wing

Rachel Maddow does a masterful job of connecting the dots between Uganda's reprehensible and barbaric proposed "KILL GAY PEOPLE" law and the American Right Wing and its members in the U.S. Congress.  A must watch video clip:

World AIDS Day

It's World AIDS Day. 

That's nice.

...and I'm reminded of some Black comic's comment about February being "African American History Month"..."typical...we get the shortest month."

Which is to say, one day to remember is woefully shy of the task. 

I remain angry at the homophobic, puritanical, punishing, sex-fearing, "christian" response to HIV-AIDS. And how long it took Ronald Reagan to even say the word "AIDS" (and that it took the death of a closeted movie star and a heroic Elizabeth Taylor to finally get him to utter it.) I remain angry at the idea of "innocent victims" of this disease. 

I remain angry at how little memory there is for how Gay people responded to this, growing up, growing together, growing institutions. How little memory there is for how Gay people fed and sheltered and cared for one another...and angry that my friends are still sero-converting in 2009.

I remain angry at how brutally expensive AIDS meds are in the U.S. (and how cheap they are elsewhere) while the nimrods and the bloviators and the moralizing hypocrites in the Congress (yeah...I'm talking to you Joe Lieberman!...you ugly asswipe!) squash a public option...the only real way to provide competition to the profit-seeking, blood-sucking insurance companies...that would provide healthcare coverage for every American citizen, just like every other industrialized nation in the world! 

Shame on the Senate. Shame on our elected officials. 

Shame on the churches who came so late to the aid of the neediest and who still foment discrimination against gay people.

And every time I hear another fear-mongering "news" report on H1N1 and the vast over-reaction to it (several thousand people die from the flu annually, H1N1 or not) and how people with HIV were shunned by their communities, deserted by their families and died in fear, it makes me want to break something. And it makes me wonder ...it makes me sad... to think of how things might have been different if the reaction when "Gay cancer" first appeared had been anything approaching the H1N1 hysteria.

The New Harry Potter Star: Now THAT'S Magical!

Hey...It's Monday...it's a gray cold day where I am ...and his smile is so sunny.

Two Spirits

This documentary, reviewed in the most recent issue of White Crane is a MUST SEE. 

YES WE CAN!

If you are on Facebook...and who isn't these days?...you can now help White Crane. JPMorgan Chase is promising that the first 100 eligible organizations (and White Crane is eligible) with the most votes, will receive a $25,000 grant and will have the opportunity to  share how they would put $1 million to use. 

Then, Facebook users will vote on those top 100 charities. Chase will grant the charity receiving the most votes $1 million, with the five runners-up getting $100,000. Additionally, an Advisory Board will distribute an additional $1 million to the organization of their choice from all that are nominated.

So please...if you are on Facebook...take a moment to help White Crane.

Pretty please.

No Surprise Bishops

The Associated Press is reporting that the Catholic Church's years-long investigation into child-abuse shows no link between homosexuality and the abuse of children. 

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (infamous of late for injecting themselves in the Gay Marriage debates in Maine and now the District of Columbia, commissioned the study from the John Jay School of Criminal Justice and the results have come in:

"What we are suggesting is that the idea of sexual identity be separated from the problem of sexual abuse," said Margaret Smith of John Jay College, in a speech to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

I guess they're just to have to stow one of their canards away.

"At this point, we do not find a connection between homosexual identity and the increased likelihood of subsequent abuse from the data that we have right now."

Let's hope they pay attention to Margaret.

Frabdapulous Joy! A song!

With a nice sing-a-long subtitles, New York cabaret singer Shelly Goldstein sings a song about Marriage Equality.

Maggie Gallagher Speaks

You can thank Jeff Whitty (of Avenue Q) for this bit o' truth.

The Maine Idea

"Basic constitutional rights cannot depend on the willingness of the electorate in any given state to end discrimination. If we were prepared to consign minority rights to a majority vote, there would be  no need for a constitution."  - David Boies

"You can't put a civil rights issue on the ballot and let the people decide. You have to have elected officials who have courage to make the right decision. If you left it up to the people, we'd have slavery, depending on how you worded it." - Former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura, responding to Maine's vote on CNN.