Just A Few Items to Show You How I Feel About It

Back To Life Before Facebook

Natasha! Damn Moose and Squvirrel
deleted Facebook account!
How vill ve ever keep up vit them?

I have deleted every post and photo from my Facebook account. And deactivated the account.

The election cycle did me in. And now it has gotten even worse...

Hope to lower my anxiety and blood pressure (figuratively on the BP - I think mine is OK).

Hope to focus on the things that matter...without the Facebook interchange...which is so a waste of time. So much worse than porn!

Really, how many more good years are left me? ten? twenty? (that would be pushing it)...no longer want to waste a good part of my day checking the "posts" of friends and foes and passing on headlines and news clips and pictures of puppies and kittens and silly videos and sickening sweet sayings and posters.

My Political Rant for July

 FOR ANYONE WHO THINKS Republicans are friends of the LGBT Community, think again.

The Republican Party is no longer a viable option for anyone committed to LGBT rights, human rights, or any legitimate social issue. 

Never my party of choice, but until the Reagan era, I considered the GOP as able to debate and compromise and work toward the common good. NO LONGER! 

The party has been hijacked by religious extremists, ideologues and outright wackos. How anyone of reason would want to be associated with this NEW, UNRECOGNIZABLE GOP is beyond me. 

It no longer has to do primarily with conservative values or conservative economics - its values are way beyond conservative. 

Rather it now fosters repression, divisiveness, obstructionism, and theocracy as preached by illegitimate christianists and white supremacists; it fosters fear of anything different from white, male-dominated cultural "norms" like shopping at Walmart in sweatpants, drinking beer by the 12 pack and watching football while supporting the rhetoric of lowering taxes on the wealthy and privatizing social security, letting the poor and the sick die off, refusing to bake cakes for the gays, making laws about who can use what restroom and who can refuse to issue a marriage license because of Jesus. 

SO DON'T TRY TO TELL ME THAT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY OR ANY REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE HAS ANY IOTA OF RESPECT FOR LGBT PERSONS OR WILL EVER LOOK OUT FOR OUR INTERESTS!

UPDATE: Here’s the apparent final draft version of the section on marriage of the GOP Platform 2016 via the New York Times:

“The data and the facts lead to an inescapable conclusion: that every child deserves a married mom and dad. The reality remains that millions of American families do not have the advantages that come with that structure. We honor the courageous efforts of those who bear the burdens of parenting alone and embrace the principle that all Americans should be treated with dignity and respect. But respect is not enough. Our laws and our government’s regulations should recognize marriage as the union of one man and one woman and actively promote married family life as the basis of a stable and prosperous society. For that reason, as explained elsewhere in the platform, we do not accept the Supreme Court’s redefinition of marriage and we urge its reversal, whether through judicial reconsideration or a constitutional amendment returning control over marriage to states.”

Our Lives Matter - People Just Don't Get It

Russ's comment inspired a poster which I posted on Facebook:

Of course people had to remind me that ALL LIVES MATTER. I was even reminded that ANIMAL LIVES MATTER. Which inspired this response:

PEOPLE WHO JUST DON'T GET IT!
Lets not lose sight of the fact that there exists a deep seated abhorrence of homosexuals in our society and in most religions, including Western and Eastern Christianity, Orthadox Judaism, Islam and others. 

This has spilled over even to non-believers in our society. Civil Laws have been based on this abhorrence for years. For years! 

The fact that I and other LGBT persons have to be vigilant in certain crowds and in certain parts of this country even today, attests to the degree to which we have been hated, despised and discounted and dismissed, not to mention done violence to. 

Yes, all lives matter, but on Sunday, June 12 in Orlando, Florida, LGBT LIVES MATTERED as did LGBT dead and wounded. 

STOP MINIMIZING THIS FACT. 

Not everyone has had to live in a society where their love was called "the love that dare not speak its name", where men and women were arrested for "fraternizing" or dancing in pubs and bars, where people were fired from their jobs if they were discovered to be gay or lesbian, where LGBT partners were denied the right to visit a loved one in the hospital, where the likes of Matthew Shepherd was strung up on fence to die, where families could legally confiscate the estates of sons and daughters they once disowned and leave their dead child's partner penniless, where LGBT individuals could have their heads bashed in just for being seen leaving a gay bar, where 49 of us could be slaughtered in Orlando. I could go on... 

What this tragedy is about is not guns or automatic weapons, though those issues have been rightly highlighted. It is about the deep-seated, visceral hatred of homosexuality and any other sexuality that is not hetero-normative. 

No other minority is, by virtue of their existence, considered EVIL and sinful. LGBT's have been labeled evil, sinful, disgusting, and worse by religious leaders. We were called heretics and burned at the stake - the likely origin of the word "faggot" as in "throw another faggot (wood bundle) on the fire." THEY PICK AND CHOOSE WHICH BIBLE OR TORAH OR QURAN PASSAGES TO THROW AT US WHILE IGNORING "LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR" OR ADMONITIONS AGAINST WEALTH. 

This is what gives bigots and sexually conflicted individuals PERMISSION to KILL. 

Permission to kill those who threaten their strict, myopic, black-and-white world-view. 

YES, PERMISSION TO KILL. 

People who call themselves "pastors" or "preachers" and heads of religion-based organizations, many of them so-called-christians are, at this moment, calling for executing gays and lesbians. They are rampant on the internet. Nut-jobs? Maybe. But there are people who take them seriously. 

And even the "nice" Catholics and Lutherans and Episcopalians, and Presbyterians, and AMEZionists, and Evangelicals, and Seventh Day Adventists and Mormons and Greek Orthodox so many other "nice" christian denominations that are not calling for outright execution have contributed to this culture of name-calling and judgement and moral condemnation.

This is the background in a nutshell of the world that has engendered and fostered and reveled in hatred and discrimination toward LGBT/sexual minorities. 

Yes, people. You who cannot stand the fact that we are asserting our rights to live and to love and to exist in dignity along side everyone else. People WHO JUST DON'T GET IT!

Recent comments in response to Facebook rants

I just get so fed up.

In reply to a rant against Transgender Rights:

You totally don't get it. Transgendered people don't "just wake up one day and state" that they feel like they're the opposite sex. And surgery has nothing to do with being transgendered - it is, for those who can afford it, a way to more fully become physically who they are psychologically and emotionally and spiritually. There are genetic and chromosomal differences that contribute to gender dysphoria. The problem is that the religious far right has confounded the issue and is perpetrating out and out lies to engender fear - unfounded fears - in people who don't have the desire or intelligence to inform themselves of the facts. You may be sick of the "transgendered stuff and all of their rights" but thank god or your stars that you don't have to live as a transgendered individual. I've met and known transgendered individuals and believe me, it is absolutely ludicrous for any of them to be using the bathroom corresponding to their assigned gender at birth. If Theo or Samuel walked into the men's room right behind you, you wouldn't bat an eye. They have been doing so for years. Now some bathroom nazi is going to ask for their birth certificates (and yours) before allowing them (and you) into the men's room? And they, beards and all, would have to go to the ladies' room and potentially "scare little girls" a whole lot more than a trans woman ever would. Ludicrous. Absolutely ludicrous.


In reply to a rant against Obama:

You bet I'd vote for Obama again. He is intelligent, dignified, understands international relations and foreign policy, and had done an excellent job DESPITE Republican obstructionism and outright hatred and disrespect. Your poster is simplistic nonsense. I'd hate to see the current republican candidate making critical decisions. He has made the US a laughing stock around the world. The international community is certainly already planning a strategy to deal with a loose cannon in the Oval Office.

THE HATE AND LIES CONTINUE

As one of my Facebook readers said, a rare sign for those who are
prone to express such sentiments:
All of the words are spelled correctly

BUT OF COURSE IT IS OK IF THEY WAVE THEIR BIBLES AND PUT A CROSS AND AN AMERICAN FLAG ON IT AND BRAND IT AS REPUBLICAN.

As I say in the epilogue of my memoir:
"Our sexuality, our gayness, is mostly invisible to others. Coming out and being out involves being visible—both when we look in the mirror and when others see us. Sometimes, in order to be visible to others, we have to be “in their face.”

Sometimes we need to tell our stories, each of us, story after story, after story, until they “get it.”
Because “they” are still trying to define “us,” tell us who they think we are, tell us that we are objectively disordered or immoral or sinful or worse.

Who are “they” and who do they think they are?

Unfortunately “they” are not only the ignorant and bigoted, but often otherwise intelligent and sometimes even well-meaning individuals. Why do “they” think they know more about our sexuality, or us, than we do? More to the point, why do they care?

Certainly “they” outnumber “us” and we’ve always been an easy target. Does their inability to save our souls or change us, or to limit our freedom somehow make them inadequate or fearful? What is in it for “them” that they so persist?

It amazes and frustrates me that our stories—the actual lived experience of gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender individuals—are so summarily ignored, discounted, and dismissed.

It baffles me that many vocal and influential individuals persist in holding to and disseminating absurd, erroneous, and irrelevant opinions about us.

This is unacceptable and can no longer be tolerated.

“They” can only make their own positions tenable by repeating questionable scriptures, fabricated “studies,” pseudo-science, and OUTRIGHT LIES —and repeating them over and over as they wholly disregard us and our voices.

Who Am I To Judge?

Looks like the Vatican has confirmed that Francis' meeting with Davis was in no way meant to be "a form of support of her position in all of its particular and complex aspects.” - possibly one of the rooms in a series of rooms the Pope wandered through in lieu of a reception line. But there is a video of Pope Francis meeting with, conversing with and exchanging warm handshakes and hugs with a long time GAY friend and former student AND HIS PARTNER OF 19 YEARS. 

Who am I to judge?

Exactly - who are we to judge? I have seen judgements being made literally right and left about every aspect of Pope Francis' visit and his speeches - from conservatives to LGBT liberals and anarchists. (I am not talking about thoughtful, reasoned critiques.)

And beyond judgements, there was outright vitriol and ignorance. Especially in the comment threads on Towleroad and other blogs.

The verbiage on this topic and many others sickens me. While I want to stay informed about LGBT issues, I have had about as much as I can take with the juvenile name calling, thoughtless, unprofessional editorializing and other nonsense that is rampant both in blog posts and in the comment threads.

It is ruining any credibility of the bloggers and making the internet experience wholly unpleasant.
T
And there's this from yesterday: Esquire Article

A speculative article, but highly palusable.

The blunder was that this so-called meeting (likely a receiving line where people were shuffled in for a brief face-to-face handshake and souvenir rosary beads) wasn't seen as an opportunity for political fodder. It is being used to claim Papal and RC support for Davis and her "case" - hopefully something that was not intended and now seems to have become the focal point for the entire Papal visit. I don't need Francis to be my "friend" but I do "pray" that he will steer the massive RC ship in a more loving direction. The backlash against Vatican II has had years to consolidate under Ratzinger and John Paul II/Benedict XVI and Francis ain't going to change it in his lifetime.

HERTZ UPDATE

UPDATE: IT PAYS TO BITCH

Response from Hertz via Better Business Bureau:

This is in response to your case file for Leon O'Hart.

We apologize for any confusion regarding the charges billed and for any misunderstanding
regarding our Additional Driver policy. This fee applies to anyone, including a spouse, .... etc.(Details about the charges which I already knew and which I enumerated in detail in my complaint, so they just repeated that). 

As a gesture of our concern, we will refund the Additional Driver fee and Fuel Purchase Option. A credit of $158.22 is being issued to the American Express account billed. Please allow 3 to 5 business days for this credit to post to the account.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review this matter.

Almost couldn't believe what I was reading...they actually are refunding a part of the cost!

I was required to answer "yes" or "no" to whether I accepted the response: I ticked "yes" and added the note as follows:

I accept the refund as the response from Hertz. However I am disappointed that Hertz did not address the issue regarding its employee's misrepresenting the AAD charge as a New Mexico Law. I am afraid that the ABQ office will continue to tell customers that the ADD is a New Mexico law, rather than a charge that Hertz chooses to require - a charge that other companies doing business in New Mexico choose not to require.

CANNOT BELIEVE HERTZ RENTAL CAR RIPOFF

We recently used the Hertz website to rent a car for pick-up in Albuquerque 

We were given a quote at the HERTZ FIFTY PLUS rate for $177.71 after taxes and fees. NOT BAD. No where was there an option to add an additional driver.

Due to a change in pick-up time we called Hertz to add an earlier pick-up (noon instead of 8:30pm for which we expected an extra charge, but we were not told what the charge was to be nor were we sent any email confirmation of the change.

When we arrived at the Hertz office at the Albuquerque airport we were shocked at the humongous additional fees that were never disclosed upon booking.

LET’S TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT HOW THE CHARGES WERE EXPANDED UPON PICK-UP

QUOTED at Booking:

1 Week at (includes 50+ discount) $114.50

Airport concession fee recovery   $13.00

Customer facility charge  

(NO mention of NM Surcharge)           $15.75

Rental surcharge   $14.00

Vehicle licensing Cost Recovery     $1.15

Energy surcharge     $1.49

Subtotal $159.92

Taxes   $17.79

TOTAL RENTAL $177.71

Amount charged to card $114.51

Amount at time of rent   $63.20

TOTAL $177.71

____________________________________________________

ACTUAL

1 Week at $127.23

1 day at $  18.18

        Subtotal                                      $145.41

        Discount 10%                              -  14.54

        Subtotal less discount                 $130.87

Airport concession fee recovery   $28.95

Customer facility charge 

(NM SUR & CFC)                                 $36.16

Rental surcharge   $14.00

Vehicle licensing Cost Recovery     $1.31

Energy surcharge     $1.49

FPO    (fuel)                                          $ 32.32

Authorized Additional Driver                 $94.50

             

Taxes   $35.28

TOTAL RENTAL $360.88

Amount charged to card -$130.87

Amount at time of rent             $ 230.01

TOTAL $360.88

Even adding the extra day at $18+ this is nearly $200 more than we anticipated spending! 

Even if we agree on the FPO (Fuel Purchase Option) $32.32 (another "gotcha")

How does HERTZ justify the more than doubling of the Airport Concession Fee Recovery cost and the Customer Facility Charge (from a quoted price of $28.75 to $65.11? (a $36.36 increase!)

There is only one Albuquerque and it is in NEW MEXICO, so if these extra charges are specific to New Mexico, why were they NOT given in the initial booking?

As far as HERTZ’s Authorized Additional Driver scam to cheat us out of another $94.50, consider this:

On a previous trip to Albuquerque we rented from Enterprise and as is their policy we were not charged for a spouse as additional driver. We obviously were mistaken to assume that Hertz was competitive in this regard and so expected that a spouse was included as an authorized driver at no additional charge. Especially since we had used the HERTZ FIFTY PLUS.

This might have been merely a disappointment but the up-charge came with outright lying, deceit and misrepresentation by the Hertz employee at the desk. Not only did he not even ask if we were eligible for any exemption (AAA for example) he outright lied about why Hertz was charging for an additional (spouse) driver by telling us it was New Mexico LAW

IN FACT THERE IS NO NEW MEXICO LAW THAT REQUIRES CAR RENTAL AGENCIES TO CHARGE FOR A SPOUSE AS AN ADDITIONAL DRIVER

IN FACT THERE IS AN ABSENCE OF LAW PROHIBITING SUCH CHARGES.

A LAW THAT REQUIRES SOMETHING IS NOT EQUIVALENT TO THE ABSENCE OF A LAW THAT PROHIBITS IT.

THE RENTAL AGENT OUTRIGHT LIED ABOUT NEW MEXICO LAW.

Even when we returned the car and mentioned to the attendant that we were charged additional for spouse as second driver, he told us “No, that’s not right, there’s no such law.”

We also called Enterprise and their agent confirmed there is no such law.

WE WILL NEVER USE HERTZ AGAIN!

Stubbornly Hanging On To The Past

In my memoir, I spend a good number of pages telling about my difficulty in being a good Catholic boy.

At moments since writing "Did You Ever See A Horse Go By?" I've thought that my story is old, outdated and irrelevant.

But I keep reading articles that make me think that the difficulties I experienced as a young gay kid are just as relevant now; and with some of the religious backlash that's been going on, more relevant than ever.

I think the Catholic Church in the 1950s and 1960s, despite its old school traditional thinking, was a lot more subtle in its admonitions than it is today, Pope Francis notwithstanding.

Things were not always spelled out then, and when they were, it was with what may well have been, to a young child or adolescent, code words - words like self abuse, adultery, heavy petting, impure thoughts, and the like.

But somehow, some of us, if not most of us, got the message. But our transgressions, however, were only discussed in the privacy of the confessional.

The list of possible and morally suspect transgressions are now being spelled out in no uncertain terms: “public support of or publicly living together outside marriage, public support of or sexual activity out of wedlock, public support of or homosexual lifestyle,” as well as support or use of abortion, surrogacy, artificial insemination..."

Funny, no specific mention is made of supporting corporations that hoard money and make their executives wealthy off the backs of the poor, or supporting the death penalty, or violence against sexual or ethnic or racial minorities or abuse of children, women, and others, or trading in human lives or injustice in the legal system, overcrowded prisons, poverty, raping the envioronment, etc, etc.

Instead, bishops and archbishops like Cordileone in San Francisco are devising moral litmus tests for school teachers and school employees  (and HERE) that require professed adherence to these cleric's rigid and often misguided interpretations of Catholic dogma and tradition.

In addition, they are now calling their teachers and I assume the janitor and the secretaries "ministers"  - legal rather than religious language that will permit them to discriminate against/terminate any employee who does not pass or fails to maintain passing the litmus test of orthodoxy, and without cause - or recourse to legal action by the fired employee.

So, yeah, things change and things remain the same. And, yeah, perhaps my little memoir still has some relevance in 2015.

Spare Me the Hatred Couched in Pious Platitudes

I received one of those emails today with a cartoon about pledging allegiance to the flag, etc. that was just a cute way to promote ideological hatred. I will NOT repost it here.

This is the kind of email that serves only to foster hate and divisiveness in an already polarized country. Hatred of minorities couched in patriotism and “christianity” is particularly insidious. Such tactics can be and are often used to target other minorities and groups as well, so beware if you fall into a unpopular category.

Other emails tout the glory of the “good old days” but let us not forget that the Italians, the Irish, Catholics, Mormons, Blacks, Native Americans, Latinos, Polish, Jews and many other ethnic and religious minorities were ostracized, beaten, murdered, and discriminated against for no other reason than the fact that they were somehow “different” than the prevailing majority.

In many respects, ours is a disgraceful history. As Americans we should have learned by now to not only tolerate others but to embrace our differences. We are a nation of immigrants, a so-called melting pot. People from all races and ethnicities and religious persuasions have contributed to America’s greatness. 

Furthermore, our constitution prohibits the establishment or primacy of any religion by the government and at the same time cannot prohibit the free exercise of religion. 

"Separation of church and state" (sometimes "wall of separation between church and state") is a phrase used by Thomas Jefferson and others expressing an understanding of the intent and function of the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. (Wikipedia) 

And regrettably, religion has often been and often continues to be used as a tool of hatred and to justify hatred and discrimination. Religion, when used as such, is done a great disservice. 

In my opinion, people who use veiled references to religion (and/or patriotism) to promote hatred of other religions or groups of people are, to put it bluntly, hypocrites. 

And, as I said earlier, such tactics are regularly used to attack any other group that a particular religious “practitioner” deems an infidel or sinner. Fundamentalism of any kind — Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or otherwise — are all similarly intolerant and dangerous. 

And for anyone on this list who is gay or lesbian, or bi or trans, doesn’t this strike you as scary and frightening? Replace the word “Muslim” with “gay” or “lesbian” - doesn’t the hatred then sound familiar?

Go ahead and believe in “your” God, practice “your” religion, but don’t make laws that make me a part of it. 

And don’t think that just because YOU believe a certain way, that makes you morally superior or gives you the right to discriminate against me or others. That is NOT what America is about.

So circulate your pious platitudes to your heart’s content. But don’t expect me to just smile and not to call out hypocrisy when I see it.

I’m tired of hatred couched in sentimental crap and phony religious piety. AMEN.

Why I Won't Vote For ANY Republican in 2014

My letter to the Editor of the Bristol Observer which appeared in Friday's edition. Thanks to you bloggers and news feeds, I gleaned the details from the internet. This goes along with video posted below (last post).
FEEL FREE TO REPRINT, REPOST, MAIL IT TO YOUR EDITOR

To the Editor:

            I will not vote Republican. Period.

            I’m sure there are a few well-meaning Republican candidates out there, but well-meaning is not good enough. I cannot, in conscience, foresee casting my vote for any Republican. Here’s why:

             Any political candidate who calls her/himself a Republican (and I’ve noticed over the past twenty years or so that that label on their mailings is usually in very small print, if it is there at all) – must implicitly approve of GOP views against marriage equality, unbridled campaign financing by big corporations, legislation that would institutionalize discrimination against gay, lesbian and transgender individuals under the guise of religious liberty, regressive immigration legislation, the primacy of fundamentalist christian doctrine in legislation and government, “reparative” therapy for LGBT individuals, the right to bear assault weapons, and a whole litany of idiotic, insensitive and misogynistic pronouncements by a host of Republican wing-nuts, among them:

             Glen Grothman, a Republican state senator: "I've interviewed over a dozen people who check out people who pay with food stamps, and all felt people on food stamps ate better — or at least more costly — than they did. [People] who work in food stores indicate that many people who use food stamps do not act as if they are genuinely poor." 

             Todd Kincannon, former executive director of the South Carolina GOP in a Tweet “I hope the dumb bitch who initiated physical violence with her NFL player fiancé learned a good lesson when he justifiably beat her ass.”

            Stacey Campfield a Republican Tennessee state lawmaker, who introduced a “Don’t say gay” bill in 2009 who also said "Most people realize that AIDS came from the homosexual community. It was one guy screwing a monkey, if I recall correctly, and then having sex with men. It was an airline pilot, if I recall." He also introduced a bill that would cut welfare benefits to parents whose children aren't doing well in school.

         Renee Ellmers, a two-term Congresswoman from North Carolina. “Men do tend to talk about things on a much higher level…We need our male colleagues to understand that if you can bring it down to a woman’s level and with everything that she is balancing in her life — that’s the way to go.”

          Arizona state representative Adam Kwasman, mistaking a bus full of America children on their way to YMCA camp for undocumented immigrant children: "I was actually able to see some of the children in the buses. The fear on their faces.... This is not compassion."

         Rick Perry of Texas GOP which in June adopted their new platform that supports “reparative therapy” for The Gays: "Whether or not you feel compelled to follow a particular lifestyle or not, you have the ability to decide not to do that. I may have the genetic coding that I'm inclined to be an alcoholic, but I have the desire not to do that, and I look at the homosexual issue the same way."

             Scott Esk, an aspiring candidate for the Oklahoma House of Representatives who when asked if he thinks the Gays should actually be put to death based on his religious beliefs, said: “I think we would totally be in the right to do it.”

             Pam Bondi as Attorney General of Florida said about not wanting to recognize same-sex marriage: because those marriages would "impose significant public harm."

             Representative Andy Gipson, a Republican legislator about the Mississippi Religious Freedom Restoration Act says the bill protects “Christians in the state from discrimination,” meaning people can use their religious beliefs to discriminate against anyone, most notably The Gays.

             Republicans Mike Enzi of Wyoming and Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, introduced a bill that would allow adoption or foster care providers to refuse service on the basis of their own personal religious objections. (While aimed at gay and lesbian couples, the bill could be used by non-christian agencies to deny adoption of children by Christian couples!)

             Arizona Republican Jim Brown said this on Facebook: “I want folks to think about something. I want folks to think about how slavery really works. Back in the day of slavery, slaves were kept in slavery by denying them education and opportunity while providing them with their basic needs.  Not by beating them and starving them. (Although there were isolated cases if course) Basically slave owners took pretty good care of their slaves and livestock and this kept business rolling along.”

            Additionally, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has named 19 members of Congress, 18 of whom are Republicans, who “go out of their way to oppose any step toward equal protection under the law or to protect LGBT Americans from violence, discrimination and harassment.  They proactively work to undermine existing legal protections and promote anti-LGBT discrimination.” These congresspersons sponsor or co-sponsor, in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Federal Marriage Amendment, the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act, the Marriage and Religious Freedom Act, the Military Religious Freedom Protection Act, and the State Marriage Defense Act; in the U.S. Senate, the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act, the Marriage and Religious Freedom Act, and the State Marriage Defense Act.

            The 19 are: Senate: Ted Cruz, R-TX, Michael Enzi (R-WY), James Inhofe (R-OK), Mike Lee (R-UT), Jeff Sessions, (R-AL); House (14): Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Andy Harris (R-MD), Tim Huelskamp (R-KS), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Walter Jones (R-NC), Mike Kelly (R- PA), Steve King (R-IA), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA), Mike McIntyre (D-NC), Randy Neugebauer (R-TX), Steve Pearce (R-NM), Tim Walberg (R-MI), Randy Weber (R-TX)

            The people I mention ( and there are so many more) are not just loose cannons; they speak for their party and they espouse Republican ideology. So, to the obstructionist Republican congresspersons, Republican candidates, national or local, I say: If you belong to the club, to the Republican party, I must assume that you are more or less sympathetic to the beliefs and principles that are antithetical to my own. You will not have my support, nor in the case of the local ballot, my vote.    

Capitulated to the FB

Let me just say I have been a Facebook holdout till now.

I have reluctantly opened a Facebook page.

I did so kicking and screaming, and I'm doing even more kicking and screaming since going on FB. The only reason I gave in was because the people who published my book said it would be a good idea to have a Facebook page.

I'm not so sure. I despise Facebook.

I have been on Blogger for years and yes, there have been a few glitches and some irritating, user-unfriendly features. But nothing like Facebook. Facebook is an out-of- control harpy. Always nagging at you to "like" something or add something or find new "friends".

Those who know me know I don't "like" much and I don't have a lot of friends, just a few good ones.

Facebook constantly bombards you with what everybody and their brother "likes" -  like if Joe said he just farted, somebody is going to "like" that and then FB tells everybody they are connected to that they "liked" that Joe farted.

Who the hell CARES?

So, despite the fact that I am out there, the whole concept of "social networking" and especially the obnoxious, intrusive, Facebook version, is antithetical to my personality and style.

Facebook asks: "What's on YOUR mind?" That just about covers it for now.

Repair the Damage

It is time to repair the damage (if that is even possible) caused by ex-gay therapies and religious "ministries" that have caused harm to LGBT individuals over the past decades.

This letter is worth a read and should be widely distributed.
From GayStarNews Reprinted here without permission:

9 former ‘ex-gay therapy’ leaders apologize and call for its banning

Some of the leading figures in the global ‘ex-gay’ movement have signed a joint letter of apology and have now pledged to denounce attempts to ‘cure’ people of their same-sex attractions

01 AUGUST 2014 | BY ANDREW POTTS

Leading former figures from ‘ex-gay’ groups including Exodus International and Love In Action have today released a letter of apology and a pledge to work to undo the harm they have done.

The group includes Exodus International co-founder Michael Bussee, Courage UK founder Jeremy Marks, Coming Back founder Bill Prickett, Love In Action outreach director Tim Rymel and executive director John J Smid, Paraklete Ministries founder Darlene Bogle and Yvette Schnieder who earlier this week announced her support for the banning of so-called reparative therapies on minors.

Some of the former ex-gay leaders who signed the letter have apologized previously or have acknowledged that reparative therapies do not work but this is the first time this many former ex-gay leaders have joined together to call for their banning.

The former ex-gay leaders released the joint letter as part of the US National Center for Lesbian Rights’s #BornPerfect campaign which is seeking to have ex-gay therapies banned in the US in the next five years.

Read the letter and the full list of signatories below

“Conversion Therapy, also known as “reparative therapy”, “ex-gay therapy,” or “sexual orientation change efforts” (SOCE), professes to help lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people to change or overcome their sexual orientation or gender identity. The majority of those who practice this “therapy” often do so with little or no formal psychological training, operating instead from a strict religious perspective, believing homosexuality to be a “sin.”

At one time, we were not only deeply involved in these “ex-gay” programs, we were the founders, the leaders, and the promoters. Together we represent more than half a century of experience, so few people are more knowledgeable about the ineffectiveness and harm of conversion therapy. We know first-hand the terrible emotional and spiritual damage it can cause, especially for LGBT youth. We once believed that there was something morally wrong and psychologically “broken” about being LGBT. We know better now.

We once believed that sexual orientation or gender identity were somehow chosen or could be changed. We know better now. We once thought it was impossible to embrace our sexual orientation or sexual identity as an intrinsic, healthy part of who we are and who we were created to be. We know better now. Looking back, we were just believing (and sometimes teaching) what we had been taught—that our identity needed mending. We grew up being told that being LGBT was disordered, sick, mentally ill, sinful, and displeasing to God. We grew up being told that loving, same-sex relationships were shallow, lust-driven, deceived, disordered, and impossible.

We grew up with the repetitive message that LGBT people were not enough — not straight enough, not Christian enough, not manly or womanly enough, not faithful enough, not praying enough. Never, ever enough. “Toxic” probably sums it up best. That message is poison to the soul. Especially a child’s soul. It can take a lifetime to get rid of that old programming and replace it with healthy, non-toxic views of yourself. Recovery from conversion therapy is difficult at best. Some remain forever scarred, emotionally and spiritually.

Conversion therapy reinforces internalized homophobia, anxiety, guilt and depression. It leads to self-loathing and emotional and psychological harm when change doesn’t happen. Regrettably, too many will choose suicide as a result of their sense of failure. In light of this, we now stand united in our conviction that conversion therapy is not “therapy,” but is instead both ineffective and harmful.

We align ourselves with every major mainstream professional medical and mental health organization in denouncing attempts to change sexual orientation or gender identity. We admonish parents to love and accept your LGBT children as they are. We beseech the church to accept, embrace, and affirm LGBT persons with full equality and inclusion.

As former “ex-gay” leaders, having witnessed the incredible harm done to those who attempted to change their sexual orientation or gender identity, we join together in calling for a ban on conversion therapy. It is our firm belief that it is much more productive to support, counsel, and mentor LGBT individuals to embrace who they are in order to live happy, well-adjusted lives. We fully support the aim of #BornPerfect to bring an end to conversion therapy.”

Signed:

Brad Allen
Lay Leader Volunteer (2005-2007)
Church Network Coordinator (2007)
Exodus International Headquarters

Darlene Bogle
Founder, Director, Counselor (1985 to 1992)
Paraklete Ministries

Michael Bussee
EXIT (1974-1979)
Co-founder (1976-1979)
Exodus International

Catherine Chapman
Project Coordinator (2000-2003)
Women’s Ministry Director (2005-2007)
Portland Fellowship

Jeremy Marks
Founder (1988 – 2000)
Courage UK
Exodus Europe (1988 – 1989)

Bill Prickett
Founder, Executive Director (1986-1988)
Coming Back

Tim Rymel
Outreach Director (1991-1996)
Love in Action

Yvette Cantu Schneider
Executive Director (2001-2005) Living in Victory Ministry Director of Women’s Ministry (2008-2011)
Exodus International

John J. Smid
Executive Director (1987-2008)
Love In Action
Exodus International Board of Directors (1990-1995; 2002-2008)

- See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/9-former-‘ex-gay-therapy’-leaders-apologize-and-call-its-banning010814#sthash.n4wToxOZ.dpuf

I'm Getting - Check One: (_)Nervous, (_)Disgusted, (_)Depressed, (_)Scared, (_)Drunk

Who Needs A NEW Monster?

Just been reading (I Should Be Laughing, RH Reality Check, Alliance For Justice, and others) about Hobby Lobby, the Supreme Court, Forced Arbitration, "Christian" Arbitration, the Congress Suing the President, and other disturbing matters.

The other day I listened to NPR interviewing the author of The Collapse of Western Civilization, A View From the Future. While that is mostly about global warming, the underlying problem of Western Civilization's failure to respond was cultural.

And I think by  cultural is meant the likes of Rush Lamebrain, the Christian right and other anti-science and anti-intellectual bozos along with the One Percent, their cash cows and Corporate Power and Money - the forces that are currently at work dismantling our Democracy word by precious word.

It seems that religion in the marketplace is the new norm, the Supreme Court justices are the new Opus Dei Bishops, and that the west coast is burning, leaving the faucets open, while the rest of the country is falling apart from tornados, failing infrastructure, Big Brother and Sharknados while the do-nothing Congress, another new norm, is going on vacation again - (they only actually don't work when they're at work, so what's the difference?)

So I can check all of the above except "drunk" - unfortunately, I don't drink - save for an occasional beer or wine - and could not even force myself to drink enough to get drunk at this stage of my life - but you know, I sometimes wish I could.

Does Money Make You Mean?

I'm sure this isn't popular with most Republicans and others who are leaving the rest of us behind. The lecture is a little dry, but the example of the Monopoly Game and the drivers of luxury cars are illustrative.



I've blogged about wealth and disparity before. If you're interested:

HERE

HERE

HERE

HERE

HERE

HERE

Panti Bliss on Homophobia (Video & Text) - This Has Been Going Around and Should Keep Going Around

Other blogs have posted this video and a few have given some background. I posted it on Feb 5th and I think it is important enough to re-post it, in case one of my few readers hasn't seen it. It concerns a controversial commentary by Rory O'Neill, aka drag queen Panti Bliss on an Irish Saturday night TV show in which the performer referred to certain individuals as homophobic. The TV network immediately caved to those individual who threatened law suits and paid out 85,000 Euros to settle out of court. READ MORE HERE

I have said before, and I will say it again: We LGBT folks should no longer stand silently by while allowing straights to define the conversation about our sexuality, our lived experience, our rights. They should not be the ones to define what it means to be gay or lesbian or bisexual or transgender. They should not be the arbiters of our morality, our choices, or whether or not we conform to the unrealistic and oppressive standards of some mis-interpreted scriptures.

What was the controversy in Ireland about? It was about the appropriation of the word Homophobia by straights who were allegedly libeled when referred to by Panti as "homophobic". In Panti's words:

So now Irish gay people find ourselves in a ludicrous situation where not only are we not allowed to say publicly what we feel oppressed by, we are not even allowed to think it because our definition has been disallowed by our betters.

And for the last three weeks I have been denounced from the floor of parliament to newspaper columns to the seething morass of internet commentary for “hate speech” because I dared to use the word “homophobia”. And a jumped-up queer like me should know that the word “homophobia” is no longer available to gay people. Which is a spectacular and neat Orwellian trick because now it turns out that gay people are not the victims of homophobia – homophobes are. (emphasis mine)

Panti says it well and better than I do.

And as someone else much wiser than I once said, (and I paraphrase): "let those who have ears hear" but sadly many with ears will stick their fingers in them and make babbling noises with their voices to block out hearing the truth: (full text below)



I personally think this is the essence of our current struggle: that non-LGBT are still defining the conversation about us. 

This has to STOP.

No longer can bigoted, homophobic, self-appointed experts, or those who consider themselves morally superior, or those who have some religious or political agenda be allowed to dominate the conversation about US, about our lives, about our rights, about or future. Let alone the ignorant, rigid, homophobic, religious literalists who insist on spreading their hateful opinions and illogic in comment sections of internet blogs and news journals.

Am I being too repetitious? Let me repeat in other words.

Further, there shouldn't even be a debate about us in the halls of congress, in the blogosphere, in the churches.

As far as I'm concerned, this phase of conversationwith non-LGBT folks is OVER:

- whether or not we "choose" to be gay or lesbian or bi or trans,
- whether or not we are "intrinsically disordered",
- whether or not we "deserve" rights,
- whether or not we "recruit" young people, or are pedophiles
- whether or not we should marry, or adopt children
- whether or not we should be able to order a wedding cake,
- whether or not we should be allowed to visit a partner in the hospital,
- whether or not we should be fired by the Catholic school,
- whether or not we should be allowed to march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade,
- whether or not we should play NFL football,
- whether or not we should be made "unmentionable" in our schools,
- whether or not we should be imprisoned or tortured or put to death for who we are.

The only conversation now, the only conversations we should engage in, are those in which we participate as full citizens with the dignity of full equal rights.

Full transcript of Panti Bliss' speech:

Hello. My name is Panti and for the benefit of the visually impaired or the incredibly naïve, I am a drag queen, a performer, and an accidental and occasional gay rights activist.

And as you may have already gathered, I am also painfully middle-class. My father was a country vet, I went to a nice school, and afterwards to that most middle-class of institutions – art college. And although this may surprise some of you, I have always managed to find gainful employment in my chosen field – gender discombobulation.

So the grinding, abject poverty so powerfully displayed in tonight’s performance is something I can thankfully say I have no experience of.

But oppression is something I can relate to. Oh, I’m not comparing my experience to Dublin workers of 1913, but I do know what it feels like to be put in your place.

Have you ever been standing at a pedestrian crossing when a car drives by and in it are a bunch of lads, and they lean out the window and they shout “Fag!” and throw a milk carton at you?

Now it doesn’t really hurt. It’s just a wet carton and anyway they’re right – I am a fag. But it feels oppressive.

When it really does hurt, is afterwards. Afterwards I wonder and worry and obsess over what was it about me, what was it they saw in me? What was it that gave me away? And I hate myself for wondering that. It feels oppressive and the next time I’m at a pedestrian crossing I check myself to see what is it about me that “gives the gay away” and I check myself to make sure I’m not doing it this time.

Have any of you ever come home in the evening and turned on the television and there is a panel of people – nice people, respectable people, smart people, the kind of people who make good neighbourly neighbours and write for newspapers. And they are having a reasoned debate about you. About what kind of a person you are, about whether you are capable of being a good parent, about whether you want to destroy marriage, about whether you are safe around children, about whether God herself thinks you are an abomination, about whether in fact you are “intrinsically disordered”. And even the nice TV presenter lady who you feel like you know thinks it’s perfectly ok that they are all having this reasonable debate about who you are and what rights you “deserve”.

And that feels oppressive.

Have you ever been on a crowded train with your gay friend and a small part of you is cringing because he is being SO gay and you find yourself trying to compensate by butching up or nudging the conversation onto “straighter” territory? This is you who have spent 35 years trying to be the best gay possible and yet still a small part of you is embarrassed by his gayness.

And I hate myself for that. And that feels oppressive. And when I’m standing at the pedestrian lights I am checking myself.

Have you ever gone into your favourite neighbourhood café with the paper that you buy every day, and you open it up and inside is a 500-word opinion written by a nice middle-class woman, the kind of woman who probably gives to charity, the kind of woman that you would be happy to leave your children with. And she is arguing so reasonably about whether you should be treated less than everybody else, arguing that you should be given fewer rights than everybody else. And when the woman at the next table gets up and excuses herself to squeeze by you with a smile you wonder, “Does she think that about me too?”

And that feels oppressive. And you go outside and you stand at the pedestrian crossing and you check yourself and I hate myself for that.

Have you ever turned on the computer and seen videos of people just like you in far away countries, and countries not far away at all, being beaten and imprisoned and tortured and murdered because they are just like you?

And that feels oppressive.

Three weeks ago I was on the television and I said that I believed that people who actively campaign for gay people to be treated less or differently are, in my gay opinion, homophobic. Some people, people who actively campaign for gay people to be treated less under the law took great exception at this characterisation and threatened legal action against me and RTÉ. RTÉ, in its wisdom, decided incredibly quickly to hand over a huge sum of money to make it go away. I haven’t been so lucky.

And for the last three weeks I have been lectured by heterosexual people about what homophobia is and who should be allowed identify it. Straight people – ministers, senators, lawyers, journalists – have lined up to tell me what homophobia is and what I am allowed to feel oppressed by. People who have never experienced homophobia in their lives, people who have never checked themselves at a pedestrian crossing, have told me that unless I am being thrown in prison or herded onto a cattle train, then it is not homophobia.

And that feels oppressive.

So now Irish gay people find ourselves in a ludicrous situation where not only are we not allowed to say publicly what we feel oppressed by, we are not even allowed to think it because our definition has been disallowed by our betters.

And for the last three weeks I have been denounced from the floor of parliament to newspaper columns to the seething morass of internet commentary for “hate speech” because I dared to use the word “homophobia”. And a jumped-up queer like me should know that the word “homophobia” is no longer available to gay people. Which is a spectacular and neat Orwellian trick because now it turns out that gay people are not the victims of homophobia – homophobes are.

But I want to say that it is not true. I don’t hate you.

I do, it is true, believe that almost all of you are probably homophobes. But I’m a homophobe. It would be incredible if we weren’t. To grow up in a society that is overwhelmingly homophobic and to escape unscathed would be miraculous. So I don’t hate you because you are homophobic. I actually admire you. I admire you because most of you are only a bit homophobic. Which all things considered is pretty good going.

But I do sometimes hate myself. I hate myself because I f*cking check myself while standing at pedestrian crossings. And sometimes I hate you for doing that to me.

But not right now. Right now, I like you all very much for giving me a few moments of your time. And I thank you for it.

Get Wow!ed over this: