Well, we just received word that we've been chosen as one of the "Best 100 LGBT Blogs" by the UK's Lesbian & Gay Foundation. How great is that?
The list includes some of the heavy hitters, Andrew Sullivan, Joemygod, and towleroad and we're happy to be included among them.
As the editors wrote:
"LGF online have scoured the internet to bring you the most informative, entertaining and inspiring blogs from around the world...the blogs in this list have a call to arms, they want to inform you about your LGBT rights, and they want you to use them."
In highlighting the Gay Wisdom blog they mentioned our founding principle:
"Committed to the certainty that gay consciousness plays a special and important role in the evolution of life on Earth."
Something uplifting for Pride...and the weekend...
When seniors at a public high school in the Bronx, Mott Haven High, cast their votes for "Best Couple" earlier this year, they chose a pair they admire but who definitely defy the stereotype of best couple. ....
... Victoria Cruz and Deoine in their own words:
"When the papers came out for people to vote, it said "best couple: pick a boy and a girl." Deoine and Maribel went around to every class telling them to vote for us. Deoine asked if I voted and I said "no," but then I was thinking about President Obama and I told myself "one vote could make a difference," so I scratched out "boy" and I put "girl".
"Teachers, classmates, and people outside tell us we are "perfect"...but we're not. We go through the same mistakes other relationships go through—disagreements (a lot of those, oh my God), we're both stubborn, and we have broken up a couple of times. But, we're still staying close. And next year, we're both going to college in New York. Hopefully this love lasts forever."
...Enough with fair-weather politicians who take our money, march in our celebrations and then screw us in the back room (and not in a good way) or tell us to be patient. No action? No money. The idea I like best, so far, is sending a check, made out to the Democratic National Committee with the amount $0.00 filled in and in the memo: DUMP DOMA! DUMP DADT!
And what better way to celebrate Gay Pride Month, forty years after the Stonewall riots, than by signing up to go to Washington in October and demanding action? And as my friend David Mixner is suggesting, we all need to bring a straight friend -- or two -- with us. Sign up now. Sign up here.
the founder of our magazine, published the first issue of the "White Crane Newsletter."
The year was 1989 and Barzan was leading a Gay Men's discussion group in the San Francisco Bay Area. The newsletter was a way to share more information about the historical and cultural roots of Gay people.
The newsletter was distributed to members of the group, who passed it along beyond the group and this blossom that grew into a quarterly that is now the twenty year old magazine known as White Crane.
Barzan chose the name because in the ancient traditions of China and Japan, the white crane is a symbol of happiness and wholeness. Suggesting high-flying aspiration and convention-defying independence, it is an appropriate symbol for the Gay spiritual quest for meaning and wholeness. In that first issue Barzan described White Crane's mission:
"The driving force behind this newsletter is my belief that as gay men we have a unique and wonderful spirituality to share with each other. A spirituality that is, in part, due to our gayness but also because we have all experienced oppression of who we are as gay men...This has forced us to drink from our own wells, exploring new ways that lead to our authenticity."
We got a nice note from our friend, philosopher, playwright and rabblerouser, Arthur Evans:
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
The Stonewall Riot, which initiated the modern phase of the gay liberation movement, occurred at a Manhattan gay bar forty years ago this June.
Other gay riots occurred before Stonewall, but they were flashes in the pan. Stonewall was unique because its energy persisted in various organizational forms for decades. This fusion of new energy with organizational continuity is what triggered the gay revolution.
Unfortunately, I missed the Stonewall Riot itself. However, I was deeply involved in two groups that it generated: the Gay Liberation Front (G.L.F), and the Gay Activists Alliance (G.A.A.), the second of which I helped create.
In those days, politicians avoided us, the media derided us, members of the clergy called us sinful, and psychiatrists said we were sick. The same was true of even the most liberal elements of society.
For example, Carol Greitzer was the city council member for Greenwich Village and a leader of the most liberal Democratic club in the state. Yet she refused to accept, or even touch, a simple petition calling for basic civil rights for gay people.
The Village Voice, one of the most liberal newspapers in the U.S., refused to accept any ad that appealed to gay people. The New York Times refused to use the word “gay” in its news reports.
In sum, we were excluded from both civil society and the body politic. Which meant we had to elbow our way in. And so we did, using “zaps.”
These were vociferous, but nonviolent, personal confrontations with homophobes. Zaps combined theatricality, humor, and impassioned eloquence. G.A.A., in particular, at the instigation of Marty Robinson, perfected zaps into an art form.
For example, Herman Katz, the City Clerk, was responsible for issuing marriage licenses in New York. One day in 1970, out of the blue, he made scornful comments to the press about the very idea of same-sex marriage.
So Marc Rubin and Pete Fisher of G.A.A. organized a take-over Katz’s office. With Marc and Pete in the lead, about a dozen of us suddenly appeared in Katz’s inner sanctum, bearing a big wedding cake with two same-sex figurines on top.
We gave coffee and donuts to the clerical staff. Pete strummed his guitar, while the rest of us sang enthusiastically about the delights of gay romance.
I took over the phones and told callers that the office was only giving marriage licenses that day to gay couples. “Are you a homosexual?” I asked one nonplussed caller. “No? Well then, you’re out of luck. Try New Jersey.”
Naturally, the police came and took us away. But the spectacle, which had been witnessed by the press, made engaging news copy.
Because of highly publicized zaps like this, hundreds of gay men and women who had been closeted were inspired to step out into the light and join the struggle.
Thanks to the lasting consequences of the Stonewall Riot, it is now possible for politicians in some parts of the nation to be openly gay. In fact, in places like San Francisco, being openly gay can help build a career in politics.
Which is a good thing. But I hope we never forget the sassy attitude of the Stonewall era to all people in authority, including even gay politicians.
Stonewall means having a sense of self worth, thinking for yourself, and taking on all the bullies.
Well, Fred Phelps, homophobic knuckle-dragger (wait, that's not really fair to knuckledraggers is it?) has made a nice video in celebration of LGBT Pride month. His enunciation is perfect.
enjoy!
Actually, it's from the good folks at Good As You.
Cathy Renna has alerted us that New York is about to be slimed.
Apparently Congregation Beth Simchat Torah will be subjected to the blandishments of Kansas bigot, Fred ("God Hates You") Phelps and the inbred members of his Westboro congregation family, this Sunday.
Led by Phelps, the Westboro Baptist Church is a hatemongering organization known most widely for picketing the funeral of Matthew Shepard, for their protests at the funerals of servicemen killed in Iraq, and most recently, for protesting at the funeral of Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns, the security officer killed at the National Holocaust Museum in Washington.
Inspired by a gift from fine furniture magnate, Mitchell Gold, CBST will be participating, as many other LGBT organizations have, in a fundraising effort to counteract the attacks by this group.
Gold has pledged $10 per minute that the Westboro Baptist Church representatives are picketing. Their presence will benefit us! We can tell them each minute how much they are raising for the GLBT community!!
Congregation Beth Simchat Torah requests that if you have a tallit (a prayer shawl, usually worn at Shabbat morning services and whenever the Torah is recited) please bring it.
The also request that if you would like to make colorful signs, please consider using:
"We are all created in God's image" "God loves all of us" "God made me gay"
...and similar messages
8:45 AM on Sunday, June 21st at our Bethune location.
I'd like to suggest some other colorful signage:
"Your God seems awfully testy." or "Your God is not my God...get over it." or "Maybe Your God Needs Some Anger Management Counseling."
So...$10 a minute...times 60 minutes per hour is $600...I say let's see how long we can keep them there...
Apparently the President of Change (perhaps he means "spare change"?) is counting on the idea that no one is going to check too closely when he issues these pandering crumbs tot he GLBT community. The Office of Personal Management policy paragraph (below) regarding "new" benefits available to domestic partners? --these benefits have been available for YEARS !!!!
For civil service employees, domestic partners of federal employees can be added to the long-term care insurance program; supervisors can also be required to allow employees to use their sick leave to take care of domestic partners and non-biological, non-adopted children.
Nothing new here.
1) See the OPM website which permits long term care to be extended "Qualified Relatives" that includes:
QUALIFIED RELATIVE- The term ‘qualified relative’ means each of the following: The spouse of an individual described in paragraph (1), (2), (3), or (4).
A parent, stepparent, or parent-in-law of an individual described in paragraph (1) or (3).
A child (including an adopted child, a stepchild, or, to the extent the Office of Personnel Management by regulation provides, a foster child) of an individual described in paragraph (1), (2), (3), or (4), if such child is at least 18 years of age.
An individual having such other relationship to an individual described in paragraph (1), (2), (3), or (4) as the Office may by regulation prescribe.
2) During the Clinton administration -- guidance was requested about whether sick leave could be used to take care of same-sex partners and/children. The answer came back that a federal employee could use their sick leave to take care of, attend doctor appointments, or even attend funerals for anyone who had the "close approximation of family". This was a guidance memo -- not policy -- but it has been available since the mid 1990's.
According to one Lisa Polyak of Baltimore, Maryland, the reason we know this is that she has worked for a Department of Defense Agency for 23 years and even DOD allowed her to take sick leave to care for her partner and her non-biological child.
In case no one noticed, or read their tweets lately, there’s a bit of a revolution going on now in Iran. Why should the LGBT community care?
As reference, imagine a United States of the late 80s when Pat Robertson was making a serious run for the president. Now, imagine a worst-case scenario where he’d actually won, and through a series of power grabs had declared the U.S. a Christian nation and that biblical law would take precedence over any silly old constitution or flawed laws that man might make here on earth. Then as the voice of God on earth (since after all God had gotten him elected) he starts making new laws based purely on his conservative take on literal biblical interpretations. It’s not just him making laws, it’s God guiding his hand on the pen. If you didn’t agree with him, then you obviously were a godless heathen, and had no place in the new world order. Soon women aren’t allowed to cut their hair, shellfish is banned, adultery is punishable by stoning, and gays and lesbians have to start going into hiding.
We dodged a bullet on that one, it wasn’t until much later, when in his opinion God was sending hurricanes to Florida to punish the gays – that we realized just what a total nut job Pat Robertson was, and he’s only gotten worse over the years. It’s scary to think though, that this man did mount a serious campaign, with serious backing. This in a nutshell is a version of what happened to Iraq in 1979 with the Islamic revolution. There was some serious corruption in Iran at the time, and some serious abuses of power. The revolution at the time seemed to many like a breath of fresh air, it seemed to be that someone with their “values” was representing them, and finally the average Joe was getting his day in the sun. However, as in many revolutions, it seems one corrupt regime was just swapped for another.
Iran, with the 1979 Islamic Revolution, became the touchstone for many of the radical Islamic movements that would follow. To consolidate power, it became oppressive, restrictive, tyrannical, and for many downright deadly. It would also lay the ground work for some of the worst atrocities against the global LGBT community seen this century.
Sharia law is not kind to the LGBT community. In theory, Sharia law lays interpretations of Allah’s will and implementation of law with a small group of highly educated, devout, highly-ethical, impartial and practical clerics. However, in recent years, these clerics, such as Grand Ayatollah Alia al Sistani in Iraq and the now in Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have become increasingly self-serving, and increasingly more concerned about consolidating influence and staying in power. In Iraq there was the 2006 fatwa issued by Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani, that gays and lesbians should be killed in the most severe ways. In Iraq still, under the watch of the U.S., honor killing of homosexuals is still constitutionally protected as Sharia law. We all know how gays fare here in the U.S.
Then, in Iran, let’s not forget the public hanging of two gay teens in 2005. Persecution of LGBT people also leads to vast abuses in power. Don’t like someone? Someone becoming a political threat, one tribal group or another getting out of hand? – just throw around a few accusations that they’re gay or lesbian, they’re molesting boys, breaking up marriages, and people start to disappear. Oddly enough this all happens in a culture where homosexual acts are common, but there seems to be a huge line between using a man for sexual relief, and actually being “gay.”
Then there’s just the atmosphere created for LGBT people in this environment. We’ve seen first hand in this country how a strident right-wing government, with all it’s rhetoric, baiting, bashing, and hate speech, can lead to real dangerous conditions. Where it creates an atmosphere, where otherwise good people will look away and let violence and often murder go unheeded. It creates an atmosphere where people, even blame the victims for “flaming” or “just asking for it.” There’s an atmosphere where we have such ludicrous concepts like gay-panic defense pop up in court. Under militant Islamic rule, the LGBT community becomes the ultimate “other," much as in this country, where the issue of gay marriage is used by the right to play to the base. The LGBT community is demonized and blamed for weakening, even destroying, the very foundations and institutions that make us who we are as a nation.
This is not to say that if there was a change in regime in Iran that there would be a lavender revolution that would follow the green; however, we could hope that members of the LGBT community in Iran would at least not be hunted down and murdered. Obama has worked hard to remove the United States as a presence in Iranian politics. The hardliners there often pull out the threat of a boogie man U.S. to build base support, and divert attention from bread and butter, home grown issues like the economy and human rights. Sound familiar? Yes Iran hardline politicos use U.S. influence much like the right here in the U.S. uses gay marriage. All too often in Islamic countries gay and lesbians are not so much demonized on religious grounds (there is in fact a long history of tolerance going back centuries) they are more demonized as a symptom of western corruption. Remember Ahmadinejad’s UN speech: “There really are no gays in Iran!”
So why should the LGBT community care about what’s going on in Iran? First this truly does directly impact our community in the middle east. Then there’s the larger issue of just common decency. As members of the LGBT community we should be sensitized more than most to oppression and tyranny, we should always be out front in helping not just ourselves, but those who are ideologically part of our community, those seeking freedom and to live openly and democratically under a fair constitution. As members of the LGBT community here in the United States, even with our battles still to be fought, we must appreciate our relatively secure and open lives here in comparison to our community in the middle east. We just also think outside the box a bit, look outside of our country and yes, even outside of our community to support all of those fighting for a better life now in Iran.
