The Northwoods Is No Place For A Pink Flamingo
Religion
Say What?
May 3rd
54 million Americans over the age of 18 do not believe in evolution.
And this is acceptable?
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Teabagging for Jesus
Apr 17th
Pay special attention to the last part of this important video:
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Some things take a long time
Mar 24th
I don’t usually write much about kids. Honestly I just don’t have that much interest but once in a while there are things that come up that deserve to be written about, one of which has had national media attention, the other might in only a matter of days. This is about High School Proms. Yes, that tragic event that occurs once in a kids life and hopefully not more than that where they awkwardly go out to dinner at a restaurant they can’t afford, buy flowers for their dates that they can’t figure out how to put on, dance to music that they don’t like, and eventually leave and go off to some after-party that is always far more interesting than the prom. This year has been a little special and it has to do with gay kids.
First: Mississippi Prom Canceled after Lesbian’s Date Request – From USA today and nearly every other national Media outlet in the country. This is a story about Constance McMillan of a small town in Mississippi that sought to bring her date, another girl, to the prom so she could be uncomfortable at the prom right along with everyone else. The school board ended up denying her request and also, canceled the prom entirely to avoid having to allow her to bring her date. Their position was that she was quite allowed to attend, just not with another woman. With the FULL support of her parents, She and the ACLU sued the school board and yesterday a Federal judge ruled that Constance’s civil rights were violated and the school board acted inappropriately. During all of this parents organized a “private” prom since the school was no longer going to have one. Guess what, Constance was not invited. This story is not over and you’ll hear more about it.
Second: Derrik Martin GOT the OK to bring his boyfriend to his prom in a little town in Georgia, the school board not really even discuss the matter only saying that they had no policy against it. How did Derrick’s parents react to the news? They swiftly kicked him out of the house.
There is one thing that I want to focus on here in both of these stories and that is the parents. EVEN in 2010, parents all over this country continue to forcefully kick their children out of their house because their child had the self-confidence and courage to come out of the closet. I bet you didn’t know that one of the largest groups of homeless youth’s are GLBT kids. Throughout my life I have met a number of people who have not spoken to their parents since high school because their parents could not deal with their sexuality. It really troubles me that this 18 year old senior, who is an honors student and already has a scholarship to a university in the fall now has to prepare for the next phase of his life with no support from his parents. On the other hand Constance will not have the same issue. She also is 18, an honors student and headed to collage in the fall with the full support and encouragement from her parents. It should bother EVERYONE reading this blog when this sort of thing occurs.
I was pretty fortunate. While I’m sure that my parents had to make adjustments in their thinking when I came out to them and I know that each of them had various concerns, not once did I ever have to deal with any of the coming out process without their support. Coming Out is a big deal, especially for a teenager. 50 years from now it might not be but even today, it still is. Those of you that are straight will NEVER fully appreciate what it takes and what it means to come out and I say that with all due respect, it is simply not something you will ever experience. I was 17 or 18 and I had written a lengthy letter through which I came out to my parents. I spent a good 2 months writing that letter, and re-writing it and during that time I had built my own alliances with my friends in case things went the wrong way once I came up with the courage to give my parents that letter. I had a place to stay if I had needed it, I had a support group of people outside of my own family if I needed it. Well, I never needed to utilize any of that because while it did take some getting used to, my sexuality did not define my existence to my parents. It was not a simple process for any of us but it was not an issue that would end our relationship or traumatize it beyond repair. I was still their son and especially as a minor, they still understood that they had an obligation to put up with me until I was at least 18 or until I got out of high school. They of course continued long after that and continue to support me today. Derrick is never going to have that sort of support from his parents and he’s at an age when honestly he might need it the most. I know that was the case for me, I needed my parents more after high school than during it it seems. His relationship has fundamentally changed because his parents are unable to accept their son for who he is. It’s sad and it should upset you to know that this STILL occurs in this country in 2010.
So, the next time you are talking amongst your friends and one of them tells you they just kicked their kid out of the house because he was a queer and well Jebus just don’t like them queers you know, think long and hard about will happen to that kid and why your friend suddenly doesn’t love him or her anymore. It should make you really question that friendship.
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Christianist Watch
Mar 8th
OK, I stole that from Andrew Sullivan. He has an almost daily blog post about the hypocrisy of the religious fringe in this country and around the world. I thought the below was pretty interesting. Turns out, Christians tend to be more raciest than the general population. There are plenty of things that you can draw from this, one of the big ones being that Christians tend to associate only with themselves and that includes a break down by denomination, which then includes a breakdown into race. Evangelicals = White Anglo, Protestants = Norwegian / Eastern Europe, Catholics = Latino, Southern Baptist = Black / African American. That’s just skimming of course but association is a big part of who we are as humans and as cultures. So the most interesting quote for me on this was:
“The authors failed to find that racial tolerance arises from humanitarian values, consistent with the idea that religious humanitarianism is largely expressed to in-group members. Only religious agnostics were racially tolerant.”
Here is a link to the PDF of the Study. Sadly you have to be a subscriber to see the whole thing.
I find this relevant because I consider myself a religious agnostic. I’m not quite to the point of Atheism, but science has not yet explained zero to me (the point of origin). Religion just can’t do it because the facts don’t support the theory and I’m not willing to just imagine something as factually wrong as Genesis. As a general rule, I don’t have an issue with the idea of a God or Gods. What I have an issue with are humans who believe THEY are God which stems out of ALL organized religion. I also consider myself to be pretty racially tolerant. I attribute much of that to my upbringing, which, even though it was not hugely diverse, I was able to take away an understanding of different cultures and races. As a child I was exposed to people all over the country as I toured with the American Boychoir and I met and stayed with everyone from Black deep south Evangelicals, to Upper New York State Jews with the stereotypical accents. I’ve sung music from every corner of the globe and not only did I sing it but it was expected that we actually understand where it came from and the language it was to be sung in and the culture it was created in. I spent 10 years of my life with a second generation Armenian American whose father was deeply rooted in the culture of his upbringing. I was able to experience a culture that I had not previously been exposed to and I benefited from that exposure. I think the difference with me is that I’ve not ever limited myself to association with only one type of person or one color of person because beyond that I believe we are all human and all of the same species with the same goals and aspirations. You are not of a different species because you have dark skin and I don’t. You are not a different species because you have blond hair and blue eyes and my hair happens to be brown. You are not a different species because your speak broken English or because you wear a Turban. I think that Christians tend to forget the commonality of humanity. They get so wrapped up in shouting their messages that they forget the common and core message of their faith. That is precisely what bothers me about organized religion and it is precisely why I refuse to attend a church. I’m not going to limit my life and my experiences to a congregation of similar thinking and looking individuals just for the sake of a common belief in God. And I’m certainly not going to associate with individuals who can not accept the idea that skin color is irrelevant to being a human. The year is 2010 and it is inexcusable for any individual of any race, of any creed, of any origin to antagonize people not like themselves simply because of that fact.
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It’s Betty Time
Feb 25th
Another video from Ms. Betty Bowers….it’s satire folks. Get over it.
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Gary Glen and Co. at it again in Michigan
Feb 6th
Four Christians on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit challenging the recently enacted Hate Crimes Prevention Act, arguing that it seeks to criminalize deeply held religious beliefs that are in opposition to homosexuality.
Read Box Turtle Bulletin’s take on this story here. Find out exactly the only thing these Christians must want.
This shit get’s old, luckily so are the people espousing this bile.
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Christianist Garbage
Jan 15th
“What I’m illustrating here is that you’re a blockhead. What I’m illustrating here is that you’re a close-minded bigot who is ill-informed. If you had listened to this program for a modicum of time, you would know it. But instead, you’re a blockhead. Your mind is totally closed. You have tampons in your ears. Nothing is getting through other than the biased crap that you read.”
Quote from Rush Limbaugh, responding to a female caller who did not appreciate Rush’s remarks on the tragedy in Haiti. And this is the man that is supposedly the leader of the GOP and supposedly a Christian. Do you wonder why I have such a hard time with religion? It is the behavior of the few who took away my belief that the church could possibly do something good for the world. I have no patience for it and no tolerance for their spineless arrogance because not a SINGLE religious political group or individual has demanded that this man shut his fat face. Silence = agreement. End of discussion.
By the way folks, I realize that many of the pictures I post on this blog are offensive to some. What comes around goes around, when you all decide to stop the hate, the persecution, the idiocy, and the general abuse in the name of your God, I’ll discontinue using your icons as fodder to piss you off.
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Are you Insane?
Jan 13th
Between the comments of Britt Hume suggesting that if only Tiger Woods converted to Christianity he might be absolved for his infidelity, now Pat Robertson has stated that the recent and devastating earthquake in Haiti was retribution from God for making a pact with the devil. It’s troubling that these “Christians” are being broadcast at all on TV and being allowed to spread their rather misguided opinions. That’s the price of freedom we pay in this country. Any jackass can get on TV, don a tin-foil hat and make a complete ass of themselves.
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This Christmas Eve
Dec 24th
Sitting at home tonight on Christmas Eve listening to the broadcast of King’s College Choir Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols and thinking back to doing this same service nearly 10 years in a row with the Grand Rapids Choir of Men and Boys. That service is so burned into my head, I can even recite each of the lessons nearly word for word. Honestly I think it’s the only religious service that ever had any impact on me in-so-far as spirituality is concerned. This is a hard time of the year for me, not really because of any mental stress but because I don’t really have much of an opportunity for singing this time of year, in particular singing the music I love and in the style that I love. There are a few choral ensembles up here in the northwoods but with a retail schedule, I simply don’t have time outside of work to make commitments. That’s the one thing I hate about my job. I’m so tied to it that I have no time for anything outside of work. I suppose that’s just like any number of other people on the planet but it just bugs me. I always made room in my life for music in the past, sometimes to the exclusion of just about everything else. That was back though when having a job and a career wasn’t necessarily a huge priority, nor was it an expectation. I have no doubts that in my retirement, if that ever happens, I’ll be involved once again doing this sort of thing. My worry is though that even now, my voice is so out of shape that it can be exhausting. I should find a vocal coach up here to keep me in shape should I ever have another opportunity.
I managed to finish wrapping all the Christmas gifts tonight. I hate wrapping gifts. I did take my time at it this year though so they look a lot better than in years past. Tomorrow I head out to the parents house for a nice Christmas dinner and some time out at the lake. We are getting freezing rain tonight, hopefully that will not cause too many problems on the roads tomorrow. I know the plows won’t be out at any point tomorrow. They don’t work unless they absolutely have to up here. That can be a disadvantage of living up here, you pay all kinds of money for services that are lackluster at best.
I hope everyone has had a good holiday season, the decade is nearly over and it has flown by. There have been lots of changes in my life over the past decade, in particular the last half of the decade. It’s hard to believe sometimes where I’ve ended up. I’ve learned though in life not to have have any regrets. We all have to make choices about the path we want to follow in life. If we fail to take risks and make changes every now and then, life can become pretty boring. Who knows where I’ll be in another 1o years, or 20 years. Planning that far ahead simply doesn’t allow for opportunities.
As we prepare to close out the year, thanks to all of you who continue to read my blog. This past year this blog has had about 1500 unique visitors. Of those, 300 of you have been back here more than 5 times and 30 of you have been here 20 or more times (amazing what analytical software will tell you). I don’t know who you all are but the things I write about must be interesting enough to keep you coming back. I appreciate the fact that you are interested. I hope everyone has a great “Festivus” and I look forward to continuing this blog and writing about lots of random things for years to come.
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