Friday, January 26, 2007
Why We Fight
Every once in a while it is important for us to remember why we fight. To some of us, those of us who raise our voices every day in protest of the hatred we see in the world, the answer seems obvious. We fight for equality. But when one looks closer at that word, that reason, the rationale is not as easily defined as one would wish. Is it equality under the law? Equality in the eyes of our friends? Our families?
Every person has a reason why they fight this struggle for LGBT rights. Every person has a story that makes it that much more personal to them. I have a story. I have a dozen stories to tell you about why I fight every day for LGBT equality. I have another dozen stories for why I fight for racial equality, for class equality, for gender equality. I could tell a hundred thousand stories and they would all be different and they would all be the same.
But it all boils down to one simple thing. I, and all others who stand with me, fight for the recognition of every person’s dignity and inherent value.
Think about that for a second. Let it roll around in your head. Every person’s dignity and value. It’s not an easy concept – that every person has value.
That is why, to me, work on LGBT rights is inextricably intertwined with all other social justice movements. I am not just fighting for my dignity or your dignity but for the idea that each person has the same inherent dignity and value. That is equality.
When we win anti-discrimination laws, have a GSA in every school, an out politician in every statehouse, marriage equality in every state, the fight, for me, will have just begun. Legal recognition is the least of the battles. The greater battle has been fought, is being fought and will continue to be fought in the hearts of people throughout the world.
I fight for a world where all people are not just viewed under the law as equal, but where all people view all people as equal.
So long as a single sliver of inequality exists in the heart of just one person I will not stop fighting.
This is why I fight. Why do you?
Thursday, January 25, 2007
We have a situation (room): Cheney rails Blitzer
Video: A Wolf earns Veep's loathing: Good As You
The ironic part is this... in 100 years no one is going to have any idea who the hell Dick Cheney was...his major legacy will be a self-loathing lesbian daughter who had a child.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
What was that about marriage, Michelle?
Apparently the Representative knows a thing or two about not letting go of a man. From KTSP TV:Bush then leans over to kiss another congresswoman, but Bachmann is still holding on. Bachmann then gets more attention, a kiss and an embrace from the president. A few seconds later, Bachman's hand finally comes off the presidential shoulder.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Intolerable Tolerance
Some, such as Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out, argue that it is the ex-gay movement that poses the greatest threat to LGBT equality. I simply cannot help but agree.
The ex-gay movement says sexual orientation and gender identity can be changed through religious conviction and therapy. They teach a doctrine of “love the sinner; hate the sin” that is rapidly being embraced by the evangelical Christian community, a community which over 50% of Americans identify with. These beliefs create an atmosphere that condemns LGBT individuals, perpetuating verbal and emotional violence, while falsely convincing people that they are LGBT-supportive.
The ex-gay movement can trace its origins far back in history, including to Nazi Germany, where some of the original experiments on “changing” sexuality were conducted. Today, therapy can include anything from religious consultation to electro-shock therapy (yeah, it still happens). For more information on the ex-gay movement visit Truth Wins Out.
But the real danger comes from the misinformation the ex-gay movement uses to indoctrinate well-meaning religious individuals. The belief that sexual orientation can be changed is hardly novel, however the perpetuation of this myth to a new and increasingly LGBT-friendly generation does worlds of harm to both LGBT and allied youth. People begin to believe that they can be ‘tolerant’ of LGBT people while still trying to change them. However, it is theis often loudly spoken belief that LGBT individuals can and should change that does the most harm.
Take, for example, the case that PageOneQ recently exposed in Montgomery County Maryland. Due to a fluke in the schools flyering policy, an ex-gay group, P-FOX(Parents and Friends of Ex-gays) will be the only organization providing materials to the district’s schools on February 1st. Thousands of students will be exposed to the anti-gay views of this organization while being provided no opposite viewpoint that affirms LGBT individuals.
How many of those students will begin to believe that they can ‘tolerate’ their friends’ sexuality while continually trying to change them? How many LGBT students will be told they should change or else go to hell by friends who think they are doing the right thing? LGBT individuals already face huge amounts of societal pressure to not accept their own identity. Every day four more youth kill themselves because of their queer identity and the verbal violence that surrounds them. Adding in friends who think they are helping but are in fact only adding to that verbal violence does not help the situation that most LGBT individuals face. The mental and emotional harm is done is apparent. And because of the ex-gay movement these students will continue to think that they are being tolerant of LGBT individuals and have no need to change themselves. After all, to christians who have bought into the ex-gay messaging, it’s the LGBT kids who need to change and become better people, not them.
Here's the scoop.
Brokeback is coming out on super super fantastic double DVD edition. And Universal Home Video has given the site 5 copies to give away. So... drop me an email at brokebackdvdcontest@gmail.com and I will notify 5 winners next week.
Here are some fun clips from the movie and you can read a list of the DVD's features here.
Monday, January 22, 2007
A new server.... Again?
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Major tech issues
Mike
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Four out of four! DNC adds policy to website
Good news. I had a feeling that once the political arms of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) added their non-discrimination policies to their respective websites that the DNC itself would feel the pressure to add it as well. Bingo!
I am happy to report that my campaign to have all of the national party arms add their non-discrimination policy to their websites has been a 100% success.
Here's a recap and an easy way for you to gain the attention of folks in positions to make things happen. Armed with a $9.20 domain name -- www.WhereIsThePolicy.com -- (the most important activist tool of the 21st century) an activist can demand and make change.
Here's the recap:
The matter of these policies came to my attention when a political activist in Florida told me this past April that the non-discrimination policy of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) did not include "sexual orientation" as a protected class. Over at PageOneQ I did some investigating and reporting.
In response to my report, the Committee yanked the policy and, within a couple of days, reposted it with "sexual orientation" listed. There are lingering questions as to whether or not the policy was quickly changed or whether it was simple an error of omission on the website. You can read these and judge for yourself:
In response to inquiry, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee yanks job policy from website and UPDATE: Dem. Organization Changes Website.
At the same time, I learned that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) did not have their policy posted at all. At first the staff there were not very responsive. Once I asked them to confirm their individual emails so I could post them on this site to ask readers to write them on the omission they got it together and posted the policy.
I summarized the story here:
Finally, the Democrats are getting it....
In the same article I reported that the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Governor's Association (DGA) did not list their policies on their sites. When I told some friends that I was going to pursue this, they asked me to wait until after the election. I postponed my campaign for nine months, until this week when I decided to pick this up and run with it.
I visited all four sites. The DCCC was missing the policy they had on their site previously. In all fairness, they did a redesign and as soon as I spoke to their press office, they linked it.
The DGA was next. At first I encountered a little bit of resistance. I explained that The DSCC and the DCCC had added it and that now that the election was over I was poised to launch WhereIsThePolicy.com to encourage the national Democratic organizations to post the policy. Within a few days the DGA had the policy posted too.
Now that the political arms had done the right thing, it was time to move on to the national Committee. They were a little tougher. The DNC spokesperson defended, time and time again, the Party's decision to not post the policy on line.
Not only did the party appear to be hiding its non-discrimination clause from the public, but also an individual calling the DNC about applying for a job was refused a copy of the policy. "Unbelievable," I thought.
"We do not post any personnel policies on our website," I was told back in April and again this week.
"This is not a personnel policy, it's a public statement," I explained to each person at the DNC I spoke with. Non-discrimination statements not only serve to educate perspective employees, but also are an important signal to other political organizations and companies.
Unsatisfied with the response I was getting, I decided to escalate the contacts and spoke with the Director of Communications of the DNC. I explained my campaign and why I thought the policy should be posted on line. I also asked who at the DNC was directly responsible for the decision to omit the policy from the site.
It wasn't more than a day or so when I received an email from the DNC's communications office. They added the policy!
Four out of four! It's nice to know that with a little bit of activist pressure, even one guy at one computer, can change these huge organizations.
So: The DNC, DSCC, DGA, and DCCC... Not bad for a couple of hours work.
Cost of www.WhereIsThePolicy.com: $9.20
Cost of web access, one week: $16.00
Demanding and receiving action from multi million dollar political machines: Priceless
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Buses, Bibles and Youth, Oh My!
Equality Ride 2006
The part about the Equality Ride that draws me like a moth to the rainbow-colored flame is the purposeful approach to direct action. The Equality Ride is not about getting in people's faces, but we certainly aren't afraid to. It's a rare thing for the LGBT community, whose lack of visibility has pretty much defined the movement so far. The direct action and complete honesty that the Equality Ride and SoulForce offer is a breath of fresh air that reminds us of similar, necessary actions that have taken place during every other civil rights movement. I hope it's a sign of the times - maybe we are finally ready to stand up and shout "no more!”
On a side note I leave on a flight in one and a half hours for D.C. where I will be attending People for the American Way's Young People For conference. Yes, that means I had a total of two days here in sunny Florida and did not sleep at all tonight. Wish me luck!
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
$9.20 can buy a lot of attention and action
I received a couple of emails asking me if I felt that it was fair to characterize my exchange with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as a "victory." Well, considering how adamantly these organizations were opposed to my request to post their non-discrimination policies on-line, I do consider it a success for the little guy when he can spend $9.20 to bring four multi-million dollar groups to the table... And when he gets two of those organizations to move in less than 24 hours that is a victory.
It really is kind of funny.
One guy asks the Democratic National Committee, The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic Governors Association to add their non-discrimination policy to their website. They say "no," he slaps back, they say "yes." (Activists have fought long and hard for those policies to be created. It makes no sense to keep them hidden in a personnel director's file cabinet.)
Early on in my effort to have these policies posted, the DSCC fell into line. It took them a few emails. Sources inside the DSCC tell me they quickly added "sexual orientation" right after I made my inquiry. That doesn't really matter, though. They heard the concern, they posted the policy.
The others weren't so easy to convince.
Then, yesterday at 10:50am, I bought a domain: www.WhereIsThePolicy.com.
BOOM! The very morning that I bought the domain and explained to the DCCC that I was going to launch the site, they got the message.
And late yesterday afternoon, word comes from my request of the Democratic Governors Association that they had added the policy to their site, too.
Remember, when I made this request EVERY one of these organizations initially refused to put their policy on-line.
OK, so I took a couple of slaps. Granted, it's certainly not a victory along the lines of passage of a comprehensive hate crimes bill or ENDA... Still, progress is made in small steps and the story here is not that the DCCC or the DGA added their policy to their site, but that one person, sitting at a computer can get the attention of these multi-million dollar a year political organizations and smack them into line to do what they know is right.
Although the DNC is resistant, I have a feeling once they see that all of their constituent groups are lining up on these, they too will see the benefit of posting the policy.
Monday, January 08, 2007
VICTORY: DCCC to add Non-discrimination policy to website today!
I wrote a note explaining that I had hoped it was not necessary to launch my new domain purchase, www.WhereIsThePolicy.com.
Mike,YES! ONE person can move mountains. Now, onto the DNC!
I understand you had some questions about the posting of the non-discrimination policy on the DCCC website.
The non-discrimination policy is listed on our individual job descriptions -- we're happy to post it on the jobs page also -- since it is on the descriptions themselves we didn't think to post on main page -- but we will make sure that is changed. I have been assured that this will be done by cob at the latest. If there is anything else I can assist with—please don’t hesitate to ask.
Best
[name redacted]
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Captions please....
let Foley get his hands on this.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Happy New Year
Some exciting things are around the corner... Kyle heads out soon for Equality Ride training and I'm working closely with my friend Liza to create a new site which I think will make a big contribution to the community and the 2008 elections.
As soon as the new year arrived, so did big lgbt news. In an op-ed in today's New York Times a former Chairman of the Joint Chief's of Staff, General John M. Shalikashvili (Ret.), callsfor teh repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
I wrote an article about it on my news site, PageOneQ.com.
The fun thing about Google ads is that they run based on the text on the page... here's a couple of fun combos courtesy of Google and my article on gays in the military.
