Pride Month has come and gone, Gentle Reader, with no comment from this desk.
It's not that I'm in some way insensitive to the subject; instead it's more of a desire, once again, to stay off the beaten path.
And in that spirit, I do indeed have a story of Gay History...but it's not from the Summer of '69...instead, this story was already well underway before the Summer of '29.
So put on something très chic and let's head on over to Harlem...at the time of the Renaissance...because it's time to meet Gladys Bentley.
(Crosspost from Impolite Company)
I went to a little girl's adoption homecoming party this weekend. I'm sure that most of you who read this don't know it but I'm adopted. You can't tell by the way I look or talk or dress but I was raised by two parents (eventually three after the death of my adoptive mom and my dad's remarriage) that I wasn't physically related to. There might have been some times when I was in grade school when I was secretive about this fact but for most of my life I've been pretty open about it, as my parents were open about it with me. It was always stated plainly and beautifully, "Unlike most parents, we got to choose you." And that had the desired effect, it made me feel special, made me think that I had gotten something extra rather than being denied something that everyone else had. So when I got invited to a friend's daughter's homecoming party I was very excited to be able to say "yes" and to be a part of making sure this girl felt special for being adopted.
For years now, religious fundies have gone around claiming their and only their extreme and bigoted form of religion represent true faith.
And these fundies have used religion to divide people, to spread fear and promote hate. I'd accuse these nutcases of using the Lord's name in vain, but unfortunately they have used religion effectively as a weapon and have driven many from the church.
Well, many progressives including TK's moiv and groups like From Talk to Action, progressives are taking back religion from these fundies.
It was a decision enthusiastically supported by its members and one which Rev. Bradley Schmeling, the man in the center of the storm, called "a crack in the dam."
Well, here's to hoping a few more cracks in the dam appear and finally tear that wall down because there is a real thirst in the world for something spiritual and hopeful.
And religious fundamentalists around the world having been keeping it from us.
In a revealing and important CNN poll, for the first time ever a majority of Americans, 56%, do not believe that gays can change their sexual orientations even if they wanted to (and why the hell would y'all want to?). That's an amazing 20 point increase from 1998 when only 36% believed gays truly were, well, um, gay (as opposed to confused, experimenting or, oh I dunno, just rebeling).
20 POINTS in just 9 years - wow! That's an impressive increase. At a time when our President's bigotry promotes homophobia and unscientific ideas on homosexuality (and everything else), this number is another movement towards equality and acceptance.
And it's not simply a case of Americans giving up on trying to "save the queers" though I have no doubt that some did just that. The rest of the poll indicates there has been a signficant change in the public's opinions on homosexuality since the 70's when only 13% of Americans actually believes gays were born gay.
The simple fact that Americans are beginning to see that there is a hard-wired cause of homosexuality is progress. For one thing, if there is a biological basis for homosexuality and not bad parenting or an abusive childhood, then under religous doctrine God not Man created gays to be gay.
That will have IMHO a significant impact on the treatment and attitudes towards gays because someone who is seen as one of God's creations is viewed significantly better and humanely than someone who is thought of as the byproduct of Man's social failures.
This shift in attitudes moves us away from that dangerous idea - which at its most benevolent was misguided and paternalistic and which at its worst was hateful arrogance and bigotry - that gays were simply "acting out" and needed "tough love" or to be "fixed."
Gays were in fact just being themselves. And now that Americans are realizing that gays can't be changed, that there is no "fix," then they have to figure out something else to do with gays.
Oh my god. Are we going have to (gasp) learn how to live with gays!
In 1983, during the height of the 80s AIDs crisis, the FDA banned gay
men from donating blood. Given the rate of infection and the ignorance
surrounding the HIV virus, I can't fault the FDA from implementing the
ban - AT THE TIME. Given the safety issues involved, it made sense to be
careful till we understood the disease better and could insure the
safety of the blood supply.
What doesn't make sense to me is that the ban was for life. I
understand that AIDs scare terrified everyone, but a lifetime ban lives under
the irrational fear that we were never going to get control of the
disease. In 1983 we knew nothing about the disease and it was a death
sentence. Today, AIDs and HIV-infected patients live 15, 20 or more years
after diagnosis and who's to say that 10 years from now we don't find a
cure.
Are you really going to keep banning people for life over something
that could one day be just the common cold?
Defending its decision, the FDA stated that it could not risk the
safety of Americans because it could not guarantee 100% safety. And what is
that risk? Today it is 1 in 2 million donors.
ONE IN TWO MILLION!?!? Are you kidding me? Are our blood banks so full
that we can turn away 1000s of healthy donors? And in case you are
wondering, our blood banks are always begging for new donors. How
many Americans died in car accidents or surgies because they need blood.
How many of our soldiers spilling their own blood in Iraq are
hurting or have died because these bigots wouldn't let their homophobia
overcome the medical science?
Wow! Texas just became the first state to order all its school-aged girls to get the controversial HPV vaccine. Human papillomavirus, or HPV, is a common cause of STDs and can lead to cervical cancer and other gynecological cancers.
But why is it controversial? It's not except that some conservative groups believe girls with the vaccine will have more sex. That's right. These groups would rather expose young girls to HPV-related cancers than give them a vaccine that could save their lives.
So did Perry, who plays often to his anti-abortionist and religiously extreme base, suddenly grow some brains and a heart? Nope. Perry reasons for signing this executive order had nothing to his concern for "the safety and welfare of our children." The reason - the only reason - is that Merck, the maker of the vaccine, gave Perry alot of money and lobbied him hard.
Perry has several ties to Merck and Women in Government. One of the drug company's three lobbyists in Texas is Mike Toomey, Perry's former chief of staff. Perry also received $6,000 from Merck's political action committee during his re-election campaign.
And just in case, you needed a reminder that it wasn't his heart that changed but his bank account, here's a photo of Rick Perry at another signing. It was at a church, where he signed an Anti-abortion bill. It was at the same signing that he told gays to find some other state to live in.
So, it wasn't safety or intelligence that won. It was money. However, at least this time, young women and girls of Texas won't be losing to the political pressure of the religious reicht and the politicians who kiss up to them.
