Cultural Heterosexism

Cultural heterosexism does not refer to the beliefs of a "culture", or a society. That is what heterosexism is. Cultural heterosexism is one of the ways in which heterosexism is taught and perpetuated in a society, through its cultural products - movies, music, television, art, literature, etc. For years, heterosexuality was forbidden in Hollywood films, and when it was finally permitted, representations of homosexuals were always deviant, unhappy, and their relationships were doomed to failure. Today, cultural heterosexism continues with misrepresentations of LGBT lives, and while there is increased visibility, it continues with under-representation of diverse images of queerness. We have a long way to go, though we have come a long way in recent years. When Ellen DeGeneres came out in 1996, it seemed like the sky was falling. Her sitcom was soon canceled and it seemed her career was over. Now, she is one of the most beloved television personalities, she is out, in a relationship, funny, and loved by many. Queer characters exist on many TV shows and in many movies. A few mainstream films have been produced with prominent LGBT characters in somewhat fulfilling roles. Change has been slow in coming, but it definitely has come and continues. Here is a sweet scene from Ugly Betty that would have been unimaginable in 1996 when Ellen came out. These days it is becoming more and more normal. It gives me hope.

What if everyone were gay?

This very powerful, short film looks at a world where the tables are turned, where homosexuality is the norm and heterosexuality is the perversion. As unusual as this may seem, it's the world LGBTQ children have to endure every day - just the other way around.

Effects of Heterosexism

The Pew Research Center just released the results of a study of LGBT Americans. While they reported that things are better than they've ever been for them, there is still room for improvement. Many respondents reported being rejected by a loved one, facing discrimination or slurs, or being physically attacked or threatened. Seems it's not always easy to be happy when you're not completely accepted. You can read more about the survey here.

Monosexism

Another term I learned recently is monosexism. Here is a blog post about a report that looks at the effects of monosexism on bisexuals.

cis-sexism

One of the reasons I love teaching my heterosexism class is that I continue to learn new things. This time around, I learned about the term cis-sexism, which is a better way to describe the systematic oppression and discrimination against trans communities.
Here is a link to a blog called Deeply Problematic which does a very good job of explaining the term.

How many gay people does God have to create...?

This is from mediate.com

While the topic hasn’t been in the news much since the Justice Department’s decision not to defend the Defense of Marriage Act, the battle over same-sex marriage rages on in the states. During a hearing on a proposed constitutional ban on same sex marriage in Minnesota, Democratic state Rep. Steve Simon asked a rhetorical question that elegantly crystallized the issue, and despite the measure’s advancement along party lines, could prove an effective rallying cry for marriage equality.

Simon spoke eloquently about the question of “nature vs. nurture,” wondering if sexual orientation could fairly be compared with “skateboarding or gardening,” and drew a round of applause when he posed the question, “How many gay people must God create before we accept that he wants them around?”

It was a compelling moment, but the entirety of Simon’s comments were just as compelling. From the beginning, he cannily identifies the problem with such measures, that they are largely based on religious justification.

Stonewall

The Stonewall Rebellion was the official beginning of the modern queer rights movement in the United States. Up until the riots began in June of 1969, homosexuality was criminalized and many considered it a mental disorder. This was the beginning of a decade of liberation and visibility, which would soon be pushed back by a backlash from the growing religious right and the outbreak and devastation of AIDS. In spite of the setbacks, gains were still made and the struggle continues.

Heterosexist Propaganda

Here is an ad funded by NOM, the National Organization for Marriage. Notice how it uses fear to persuade voters to vote against full marriage equality. What is the fear? It doesn't matter. What matters is that fear is being used to motivate people to take away the rights of their fellow citizens. Click the link above (click on NOM) to see how much money the National Organization for Marriage has been able to raise using hatred and fear. I'm not sure if NOM is a religious organization, but other organizations, employing similar tactics, like the Mormon and Catholic churches, receive this money tax exempt. This is a business folks. It has nothing to do with morality or any actual threat. Someone's getting rich off of this stuff.



Here is a parody of the same ad. Sometimes it's good to laugh at the ridiculousness of the fear-mongering.

What does the Bible really say?

"For the Bible Tells Me So", is an excellent documentary that looks at what the Bible really says about homosexuality, taken in the context of the culture and the times in which those things were written. Those who quote scripture as justification for denying full equality to sexual minorities, "cherry pick" and often ignore other biblical admonitions that they find "inconvenient". Every now and then I get the e-mail that has been circulating for years asking how much would be a fair price to sell my daughter into slavery, something that is sanctioned in the Bible, but would obviously be unheard of for most American Jews and Christians. Popular culture has also taken this on. In this clip from The West Wing, also featured in the documentary, Martin Sheen takes on a radio talk show host who seems to resemble Dr. Laura Schlessinger. This is how I would like to see my president respond to those who use the Bible to deny me my rights as an American citizen. Maybe one day I'll see it.
Until then, I'll watch this clip again and again and dream.

Norma Gay

Kathy Griffin is (in her words) a "potty mouthed comedian", but she is also an incredible straight advocate for lgbt equality. In this episode of "My Life on the D List", Kathy decides to use her celebrity to campaign against Proposition 8. It's great to see examples of how to talk to people and get them to question their unquestioned assumptions. Sure, you might not be gay or lesbian or might not even support same sex marriage, but how would your life be affected if same sex couples had the same rights as you? Wouldn't the world be a better place if we were all equal? In a world where people are motivated to vote out of fear, a simple appeal to logic and fairness seems to do wonders.

The birds and the fish...

Why did thousands of birds and fish mysteriously die? According to Cindy Jacobs, from Generals International (GI is some sort of Christian ministry of which Cindy claims to be a "prophet" of the Lord), it was because of the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

I don't know why these birds and fish suddenly died, but I would suspect some sort of environmental pollution. But no, not this woman, she is convinced that God punishes us for our sins of acceptance and equality. It seems like it is a comedy routine, but it's for real.

Fred Phelps

Fred Phelps is a notorious homophobe. He is obsessed with homosexuality (makes you wonder) and somehow manages to travel across the country with his followers (his family) to protest everything from soldiers' funerals to Santa Claus, all because "God Hates Fags". Phelps is a classic example of how the disease of heterosexism can infect not only an individual, but an entire family, and how serious it can get. Once again the Bible plays a pivotal role. When people believe God has sanctioned their hatred, there really is no reasonable way to deal with them is there?

Again from the Southern Poverty Law Center website.

Fred Phelps


Fred Phelps is America's most notorious anti-gay activist. On his "God Hates Fags" website and in tracts sent from his church compound in Topeka, Kan., Phelps and his congregation — composed mainly of his extended family — pump out reams of anti-gay material, much of it so vulgar that many anti-gay activists complain that Phelps has given them a bad name. Phelps and his followers have crisscrossed the country to picket the funerals of AIDs victims and engage in other, similar protests. But it is his group's picketing of the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq — to tell the world, as Phelps argues, that their deaths are God's punishment for America's "fag-enabling" ways — that has inspired almost universal revulsion and contempt.

In His Own Words
"America is doomed for its acceptance of homosexuality. If God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for going after fornication and homosexuality then why wouldn't God destroy America for the same thing?"
—Undated pamphlet, "What is the message of the Westboro Baptist Church?"

"Rabbi Lawrence Karol is an apostate Jew who denies the faith of his fathers, militantly promotes the anal-copulating agenda of Topeka's filthy fag community, and persecutes the Lord's people just as his vermin ancestors did in killing the Lord Jesus Christ and their own prophets and persecuting the apo[s]tles of Christ. Hence they live filthy lives of sexual perversion, greed, violence, and oppression of the Lord's people. This is why the vile Jews of Temple Beth Sholom promote sodomy and persecute Baptists."
—1996 press release regarding Westboro Baptist Church's protest of a Topeka, Kan., synagogue

"The Rod of God hath smitten fag America! ... At left is the filthy face of fag evil. [Hijacked American Airlines pilot] David Charlebois. One of the hundreds of fags and dykes and fag-/dyke-enablers working for American Airlines... . If the fags have a secret funeral for David Charlebois — in order to frustrate WBC's [Westboro Baptist Church's] plan to picket his funeral — WBC will picket his house... . The multitudes slain Sept. 11, 2001, are in Hell — forever!"
—2001 comments on one 9/11 victim

"Military funerals are pagan orgies of idolatrous blasphemy where they pray to the dunghill gods of Sodom and play taps to a fallen fool."
—2006 comment on picketing soldiers' funerals

Criminal History
Since 1951, Phelps has been arrested repeatedly for assault, battery, threats, trespassing, disorderly conduct, and contempt of court. He has been convicted four times, as well as disbarred, but has successfully avoided prison.

Background
From a small compound in Topeka, Kan., Fred Phelps and his 100 or so followers at the Westboro Baptist Church have made their mark on history by pumping out what may be the most crudely vitriolic and sustained expressions of unrelieved hatred of homosexuals in America today. He and his flock — primarily composed of most of his 13 children, their children and other relatives — have picketed events ranging from theater performances to the funerals of fallen U.S. soldiers to children murdered or killed in traffic accidents. These protests share a simple theme: Attacking America's perceived tolerance of homosexuality and celebrating God's perceived wrath as just rewards for "fags" and "fag-enablers." Phelps' activism is driven by the worldview expressed in his infamous catchphrase, "God Hates Fags," which is also the name of his church's website.

Although he does not physically attack homosexuals, Phelps calls for them to be tried and executed, and celebrates the death of those who do meet a violent end. Most famously, Phelps and his supporters picketed the 1998 funeral of Matthew Shepard, a gay student brutally murdered in Laramie, Wyo., carrying signs reading, "Matt Shepard Rots in Hell" and "AIDS Kills Fags Dead." Phelps also attempted without success to build a granite monument in Cheyenne, Wyo., declaring: "Matthew Shepard, Entered Hell October 12, 1998, in Defiance of God's Warning: ‘Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is abomination.' Leviticus 18:22."

Born in Mississippi in 1929, Phelps dropped out of Bob Jones University in 1947. He got his first taste of media attention in 1952 when a major newsmagazine profiled his street preaching crusade against "dirty" humor. After earning a law degree from Washburn University in 1962, Phelps went on to build a reputation as, of all things, a civil rights lawyer. But his law career began to crumble in 1979, when he was disbarred in Kansas for perjury. He continued to rack up complaints for false testimony until, as part of a 1989 plea deal, he agreed to cease practicing in federal courts.

It was in the late 1980s that Phelps kicked off his anti-gay crusade with picketing of a Topeka park allegedly frequented by homosexuals. In the early 1990s, he began a torrent of anti-gay pickets across America that continues to this day. His hundreds of actions have resulted in extensive (and often stupefied) media coverage, as well as numerous local, city, state and federal laws seeking to curb Phelps' activities. In fact, his attempts to picket in Canada resulted in that country's first hate-crime law, informally known as the "Fred Phelps Law." Other legislation sparked by Phelps' protests includes the federal "Fallen Heroes Act." Passed in May 2006 after Phelps made headlines targeting the funerals of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, it prohibits protests within 300 feet of any national cemetery from 60 minutes before to 60 minutes after a funeral. Twenty states have since passed laws similar to the Fallen Heroes Act, while many cities, including Phelps' hometown Topeka, have enacted local ordinances tailored to thwart Phelps. The American Civil Liberties Union filed suits in Missouri and Ohio on behalf of Phelps' church, without success.

While at first glance Phelps appears a caricature of a socially conservative Christian rightist, he is no patriot. His Topeka compound — which houses his church and five homes occupied by relatives — is draped with an enormous upside-down American flag, representing a fallen nation whose seas are protected by what he calls a "fag Navy." He has targeted not only liberal, but also conservative icons such as Ronald Reagan, whom Phelps picketed for sending an ambassador to the Vatican. (Phelps thought this a breach of separation of church and state; he has also denounced the Catholic Church over sex scandals.) Phelps has also publicly praised a number of America's official enemies, including Fidel Castro and Saddam Hussein.

Because his professed hatred for homosexuals runs so deep and overflows in such bizarre and bilious ways, some have questioned the source and nature of Phelps' commitment to the "cause" of anti-gay activism. "I'm so tired of people calling him an ‘anti-gay activist'," one Topeka resident told the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2001. "He's not an anti-gay activist. He's a human abuse machine."

Targets of this "abuse machine" extend beyond those normally attacked by anti-gay activists. Westboro Baptist Church members under Phelps' orders have picketed Bill Clinton's mother, Sonny Bono, Frank Sinatra, Bob Dole, Jerry Falwell, the Ku Klux Klan, Santa Claus and the 17 sailors killed aboard the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000 — all of whom Phelps has attacked as "fags" or "supporters of the fag agenda." In 2009, WBC members began viciously attacking Jews and protesting in front of synagogues holding signs reading "The Jews Killed Jesus" and "God Hates Jews."

When Phelps the elder passes from the scene, his baton of hate is likely to be picked up by his children, most of whom remain loyal to their father and are active in his church. Phelps' daughter and Westboro leading-light Margie Phelps, who works for the Kansas Department of Corrections, appears set to claim her father's mantle, despite having more wide-ranging interests than her gay-bashing, former civil rights attorney father. In 2004, Margie Phelps was arrested while protesting a dedication ceremony for the Brown v. Board of Education Historical Site in Topeka.

The Anti-Gay Movement

Here is a very good essay from the Southern Poverty Law Center website looking at the rise of anti-gay movements in the wake of Stonewall - fueled by and fueling the rise of Christian fundamentalism in the U.S.

Essay: The Anti-Gay Movement

By Heidi Beirich

While conservative Christians have led historic crusades against a number of "evils" in America — witchcraft, alcohol, communism, feminism and abortion, among others — homosexuality was never more than a minor concern until 1969, when protests in New York City launched the contemporary gay rights movement. The first stirrings of anti-gay organizing came the following year when, according to historian Susan Fort Wiltshire, ambitious small-town preachers in the Northwest Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church began to exploit anti-gay sentiment. These preachers realized that virulent anti-gay rhetoric could "fill football stadiums for revivals in such tiny Panhandle towns as Tulia and Clarendon and Higgins and Perryton," Wiltshire says.

The crusade went national in 1977, courtesy of Anita Bryant. Best known as a spokeswoman for Florida orange juice, Bryant had converted a runner-up finish in the 1959 Miss America pageant into a lucrative career singing "wholesome family music." Bryant later said she knew next to nothing about gay people when she attended a 1977 revival at Miami's Northside Baptist Church. The preacher there railed against a new Dade County ordinance that protected gay people from discrimination, saying he would "burn down [his] church before [he] would let homosexuals teach in its school." Bryant was so impressed by the dangers of this new "homosexual agenda" that she launched an initiative to overturn the anti-discrimination ordinance, winning with a 70% vote.

Bryant then founded a national group called Save Our Children. She took her anti-gay message on the road, helping fundamentalists organize anti-gay ballot campaigns in the handful of American cities that had passed gay rights laws. These ballot initiatives would become the single most important organizing tool for the fundamentalist right, transforming thousands of previously apolitical churchgoers into grassroots activists. Like many modern anti-gay groups, Save Our Children's primary tactic was fear-mongering. Not only were homosexuals "sick," "perverted" and "twisted," they posed a very real threat to American families.

Save Our Children collapsed in 1979, after Bryant had a well-publicized divorce and breakdown, but not before her success in getting national publicity and large donations caught the eye of right-wing strategists like Paul Weyrich and Richard Viguerie, the pioneer of right-wing direct-mail fundraising. The campaign was also picked up by more explicitly religious leaders. Inspired by Bryant, budding Christian Right "family activist" Tim LaHaye painted a full-blown portrait of alleged gay desperation in his 1978 book, The Unhappy Gays. LaHaye, now famous for co-authoring the blockbuster Left Behind series of end-of-the-world religious thrillers, wrote that succumbing to the demands of the gay rights movement would be a mistake of apocalyptic proportions — literally. "The mercy and grace of God seem to reach their breaking point when homosexuality becomes normal," LaHaye wrote. "Put another way, when sodomy fills the national cup of man's abominations to overflowing, God earmarks that nation for destruction."

The cover of The Unhappy Gays featured a close-up photograph of rusty chains, symbolizing the "captivity" of homosexuality, a popular theme in anti-gay circles. "Moral fidelity among homosexuals is almost unknown," LaHaye claimed, citing as evidence "one psychologist writer" (unnamed) who "suggests that it is not uncommon for a homosexual to ‘have sex' with as many as 2,000 different people in a lifetime." This "incredible promiscuity" leads to a life of lonely, selfish desperation, he wrote, but there is hope: "Homosexuals are made, not born!" and can be cured by being "born again."

This idea that being gay is a choice is a key concept in the anti-gay movement. If homosexuality is genetic, as most scientists believe, the movement to deny equality to homosexuals is just as discriminatory as Jim Crow segregation, an analogy anti-gay groups want to discourage. For that reason, several Christian Right groups, in particular Focus on the Family, offer a religious type of "therapy," often called reparative therapy, that supposedly "cures" homosexuality. Today, there are at least 200 such "ex-gay" programs run by American churches, religious counseling centers and religious colleges.

These reparative or ex-gay therapies have been discredited by virtually all major American medical, psychiatric, psychological and professional counseling organizations. The American Psychological Association, for instance, declared in 2006: "There is simply no sufficiently scientifically sound evidence that sexual orientation can be changed. Our further concern is that the positions espoused by NARTH [the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality] and Focus on the Family create an environment in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish." The American Medical Association, for its part, officially "opposes the use of ‘reparative' or ‘conversion' therapy that is based on the assumption that homosexuality per se is a mental disorder or based upon the a priori assumption that the patient should change his/her homosexual orientation." These organizations and other professional associations uniformly reject the idea that homosexuality is a mental illness.

Defamatory propaganda about gays and lesbians is a mainstay of the anti-gay movement. Perhaps the most influential anti-gay propagandist is Paul Cameron. After losing his job teaching psychology at the University of Nebraska, Cameron set himself up as an independent sex researcher in the late 1970s, churning out scores of anti-gay pamphlets that were distributed mostly in fundamentalist churches. Cameron's "studies" falsely concluded that gay people were disproportionately responsible for child molestation, serial killings and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Gay people, according to Cameron's baseless claims, were obsessed with consuming human excrement, allowing them to spread deadly diseases simply by shaking hands with unsuspecting strangers or using public restrooms.

Cameron's research was debunked repeatedly in newspaper and magazine exposés, which showed his studies to be anything but scientific. But he soldiered on. Even after being expelled from the American Psychological Association in 1983 for violating ethical standards in his work, Cameron tried to stay in the game by now referring to himself as a sociologist — until the American Sociological Association passed a 1986 resolution declaring, "Paul Cameron is not a sociologist, and [this group] condemns his constant misrepresentation of sociological research."

Despite the crackpot nature of Cameron's theories and methodology and its very public debunking, his claims were extolled by numerous leading figures of the religious right. Right-wing commentator Pat Buchanan and William Bennett, secretary of education in the Reagan administration, were publicly embarrassed when they touted Cameron's 1993 study claiming that gay men have only a 42-year life expectancy. As reporters quickly discovered, Cameron had based the study on obituaries printed in a few gay newspapers — hardly a scientific sample.

In recent years, the Christian Right has been incensed by court decisions favoring gay equality. Particularly enraging to its leaders was the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned the convictions of two Texas men arrested for having consensual sex. Writing for the majority inLawrence v. Texas, Justice Anthony Kennedy said the men were "entitled to respect for their private lives." The state, he declared, "cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime." The decision was remarkably popular. A national survey found that 75% of Republicans and 88% of Democrats wanted to see state sodomy laws struck down, as they were by the Lawrence decision.

For religious crusaders, however, Lawrence was the most unsettling court decision since Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion. Fundamentalist groups filed 15 briefs supporting Texas' sodomy laws, only to see their arguments — that gay sex was a threat to public health and "traditional family values," and that gay people do not deserve equal rights — shot down. "Six lawyers robed in black have magically discovered a right of privacy that includes sexual perversion," said an infuriated Jan LaRue, chief counsel for Concerned Women for America, a hard-line Christian Right group. "This opens the door to bigamy, adult incest, polygamy and prostitution," added Ken Connor, president of the Family Research Council.

Even more troubling in these quarters was the 2004 decision of the Massachusetts Supreme Court holding that gay citizens had a right to marry under that state's constitution. In the wake of that decision, anti-gay leaders ratcheted up their call to arms. "America stands at a defining moment," said Lou Sheldon, founder of the Traditional Values Coalition, which has touted Cameron's claims for years. "The only comparison is our battle for independence."

Immediately after the Lawrence decision, the now-deceased D. James Kennedy, president of Coral Ridge Ministries, issued a similar call to arms. Now that America's courts were "officially off-limits to the moral framework that has allowed us to enjoy freedom and prosperity," Kennedy said, the holy war on gay rights should be renewed on the battlefront of public opinion. Kennedy and other anti-gay activists began pressing for a federal law banning gay marriage. For right-wing evangelical ministries like his Coral Ridge Ministries, which brings in more than $35 million annually, the stakes were never higher.

Since Lawrence, dozens of states have passed referenda, laws and amendments banning gay marriage, and groups like Coral Ridge and Focus on the Family have spent millions on ad campaigns and get-out-the-vote campaigns to support those efforts. Marriage equality remains a hot topic on cable TV and talk radio, especially on conservative shows. At the same time, however, a growing number of states have legalized gay marriage, and public acceptance of such unions has been growing. Ultimately, some legal and political experts believe, marriage and other types of equality for gays is likely to become the law of the land.

Heidi Beirich is the director of research and special projects for the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Discrimination at the Electric Company

Here is a post from a man, recently married to his same-sex partner, who faced discrimination at the Electric Company when he tried to change his name on his account. What surprises me, but actually shouldn't, are the comments below the post, many of which blame the victim for taking legal action. While it is clear to me that the employee clearly refuses to change the name because he believes the marriage certificate is not legal, many who commented blame Mr. Torres for not trying again with another employee (he did) or asking to speak to a supervisor (he did). Why are Americans so quick to deny the existence of discriminatory behavior and so quick to blame the victim?

You can read the full post and comments here:

http://johntorresbrooklyn.wordpress.com/2010/12/17/discrimination-charge-against-evil-con-ed/#comment-54

Now that Eufemio and I are legally married, we set out today to assert that fact. We visited different government agencies, banks, companies, etc. to change their records to reflect my new last name, armed only with our Vermont Certificate of Marriage (and NO court order since the marriage certificate is sufficient). So far, we had no problems whatsoever, except for - - of all people – - Con Edison. This morning we visited their customer service center at MetroTech in Brooklyn. Customer Service Representative Mr. Navarro asked what he could do for me. I answered, I recently married and I need to change my name on my Con Ed account. I showed him my most recent bill, driver’s license and same-sex Marriage Certificate which, incidentally, is exactly identical to an opposite sex marriage certificate. Navarro read the document and tossed it back at me saying that it was not legal. I explained to him that it was legal. He said I was wrong. I told him he was discriminating against us and that I would file a charge.

Imagine that! A customer service representative at the electric company is the sole caretaker of the sanctity of heterosexual marriage. What exactly was he enforcing? His own prejudice and hatred. He wasn’t enforcing any New York State or City law – - in fact, he was breaking the law. He wasn’t enforcing any policy of his employer. He was enforcing his personal opinion, even though by doing so he violated my civil rights. And, I will do absolutely everything in my power to see that he is punished to the full extent of the law.

THE SAME DAY, I went to the Harlem office of the New York State Division of Human Rights and filed a charge of discrimination on the basis of gender, sexual orientation and marital status. You see, if I had been a woman who married a man, Mr. Navarro surely would have congratulated me and changed my name on the account no questions asked. But because Mr. Navarro is a homophobe, he took it upon himself to enforce his hatred of gay people. As a result, he is named as respondent in the charge which seeks relief in the form of a letter of apology from Mr. Navarro, the correction of my account information, and a copy of a promulgated written policy of Con Edison explicitly stating that CSRs are to accept a marriage certificate as proof of name change for ALL customers, even the ones who are men and even the ones who are gay and legally marry other men.

An additional complaint will be filed with the Public Service Commission, a government agency set up to police utility companies and make sure they don’t screw customers because these companies are given lucrative franchises and they are often the only choice a consumer has. If I don’t like the way Con Edison treated me, I can’t exactly take my business elsewhere. There aren’t any other companies that will deliver electricity to my apartment. I will ask that the Public Service Commission issue a fine to Con Edison for failing to properly train their employees.

I will also follow up with the State Attorney General’s office, asking them to force Con Edison to obey the laws of the State of New York or face the consequences.

Lastly, I am writing a letter to the Human Resources Director of Con Edison complaining about the behavior of this particular employee and enclosing the three other complaints. I will ask that they all be included in this worker’s personnel file.

That should about do it for Mr. Navarro. Merry Christmas, a-hole. Looks like you effed with the wrong gay.

Our Gay President?

Published on Saturday, December 18, 2010 by CommonDreams.org
Our Gay Commander-in-Chief

by Harvey Wasserman

As "conservatives" scream and yell about gays in the military, they might remember that in all likelihood we have already had a gay Commander-in-Chief.

His name was James Buchanan. He was the 15th President of the United States.

A Democrat from Pennsylvania, Buchanan is discreetly referred to in official texts as "our only bachelor president."

In fact, many historians believe that he may well have been "married" to William Rufus King, a pro-slavery Democrat from Alabama who was our only bachelor Vice President.

The two men lived together for years. Andrew Jackson, never one to shy from bullhorn bigotry, was among those who variously referred to them as "Aunt Nancy" and "Mr. Fancy." Other Washington wags called them "Mr. & Mrs. Buchanan," and the like.

The nature of their relationship was never officially confirmed or proclaimed in public. They were widely referred to as "Siamese twins," slang at the time for a gay couple. But there was no incriminating gap dress or heartfelt double-ring ceremony, civil or otherwise. It was not uncommon at the time for men and women of the same gender to live together and even share a bed while remaining sexually uninvolved.

Buchanan was once engaged to marry a wealthy young woman named Ann Coleman. But the complex affair ended with her mysterious, untimely death. When King became ambassador to France in 1844, Buchanan complained that "I have gone wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any of them."

With no Moral Majority or Bible thumping fundamentalists to plague them, the King-Buchanan liaison was generally embraced as a political and personal fact of life in a nation consumed with real issues of life and death, freedom and slavery.

In 1852 King was elected as Franklin Pierce's Vice President. But on an official mission, King contracted a fever and died, leaving Buchanan alone and deeply distraught.

In 1856, Buchanan defeated John C. Fremont, the first presidential candidate from the new Republican Party. Buchanan did not run for re-election in 1860, when Abraham Lincoln was the victor.

Buchanan's presidency was plagued by economic and sectional disaster. He was a "doughface" northerner with sympathies for southern slavery. Devoted to consensus and compromise, he was swept away by the intense polarization that led to Civil War.

Through his entire time in the White House, President Buchanan lived alone. His niece served as "First Lady." He stayed unmarried, and had his personal letters burned upon his death, further fueling speculation about his sexual preferences.

Maybe it's time those legislators so fiercely opposed to gays in the military face the high likelihood that at least one Commander in Chief would probably be among them.

Harvey Wasserman's SOLARTOPIA! OUR GREEN-POWERED EARTH, A.D. 2030, is at www.solartopia.org. He is senior advisor to Greenpeace USA and the Nuclear Information & Resource Service, and writes regularly for www.freepress.org.

Seth Walsh

Seth Walsh was a 13 year old boy in California who committed suicide because he could not endure the teasing and harassment at school because he was gay. Here is a heartfelt message from his mother. My heart goes out to his family and to all of the queer kids who are harassed and bullied on a daily basis while their schools do nothing for fear of a backlash from parents who claim religious objections.

Proposition 8

Perhaps nothing symbolizes better the fight for LGBT equality as has the fight for same-sex marriage rights in the U.S. Beginning in Hawaii, hope has risen and dreams have been crushed as state after state debated the rights of same-sex couples to have full recognition of their relationships by the state and to have access to the same rights that all heterosexual couples receive when they get married. Even convicted felons, who are stripped of most of their other rights of citizenship, have access to the over 1400 rights that married couples receive; hospital visitation rights, immigration rights, tax benefits and inheritance rights, to name a few.

Here is an interview by Bill Moyers, one of the best journalists of our times, with the two lawyers, one liberal, one conservative, who took on the fight against Proposition 8, the California ballot measure that changed the California State Constitution to take away existing marriage rights for same-sex California couples. For the first time in American history, a constitution was amended to take rights away from a group of people. The majority decided the fate of a minority.

The arguments for Prop 8 are mostly based in Christian biblical interpretation and laced with fear-mongering and misinformation. This interview not only lays out the argument for marriage equality, it very clearly shows how heterosexism is maintained and propagated by religious and political leaders. While it doesn't really explore the motives of those who so vehemently oppose equal rights, I believe profit and power are ultimately behind any attack on any minority group in this country.

Take a look at the interview here.

Here is a map showing marriage inequality in the United States. We have a long way to go.

Gay Parents Refused Service

What Would You Do is a program on ABC that sets up bystanders to see how they will respond to a variety of different situations. In this clip, actors play same sex couples and a bigoted waiter. In most cases, other patrons in the restaurant did not step in, saying it was none of their business. This contrasts sharply with other episodes in which people were denied service because of their religion or race. This series is doing wonders in highlighting the issues we as Americans still face when it comes to our biases and prejudices and how people who are targets of oppression must deal with so much on a daily basis.

Homophobia at the Smithstonian

Here is a column from the NY Times that looks at how homophobia leads to censorship and fear of funding cuts at the National Portrait Gallery. The writer seems surprised that homophobia exists in Washington. Maybe that is good. Maybe it is incidents like this that will wake people up to the reality that most people with less privilege live.

You can read the article here.

Daniel Choi on John McCain's Hypocrisy

Daniel Choi is an American hero. He was discharged under Don't Ask, Don't Tell. He is an Arab linguist, his skills crucial in our wars in the Middle East. Yet, after he came out on the Rachel Maddow show, he was discharged.

In this interview he makes the very necessary connection between government policies and the continued bullying of lgbt youth in schools. When religious leaders bash gays, kids get the message that it's okay on the schoolyard, when our government discriminates against gays, kids get the message that it's okay on the schoolyard.

Lieutenant Choi seems to completely believe that as an American soldier he is fighting for our freedom. I'm glad he believes it and I'm glad he's on our side.