mysid

I was so nervous last night watching the election results that I actually threw up. No lie. Thank goodness they declared President Obama the winner before I went to bed last night, or I wouldn't have slept a wink. I wanted to do a Snoopy-esque happy dance, but my husband and I have a tacit agreement not to exult too openly when the other's candidate loses.

But I did feel like dancing in the streets, waving a rainbow flag, when I heard that not only did President Obama beat Mittens, but four states, FOUR, either voted in favor of marriage equality or voted against an amendment banning it.*

To quote Debbie in Queer as Folk: “A word of advice, my sweet Emmett - mourn the losses because they are many. But celebrate the victories because they are few.”

For a complete roundup of significant votes, see this entry by gehayi.

*Minnesota voters defeated a ballot measure that would have made marriage discrimination part of their state constitution, and voters in Maine, Maryland, and Washington voted to legalize marriage equality.

So...I've got this Chick-fil-A gift card. (A student gave it to me as an "end of the school year" gift.) I have no temptation to redeem it, because (A) my family and I have never really liked the food, and (B) I don't want to patronize any business that financially supports anti-gay causes. (And no, those aren't listed in order of importance.)

However, if I leave it unredeemed, Chick-fil-A gets to keep the money that my student's mom spent on it, so I kind of want to redeem every penny of it. But as much as I want to do that, I can't even stomach the thought of setting foot in the place.

I thought about mailing it to my sister-in-law as I know she'll have no qualms about eating there, but encouraging her to go seems wrong. I don't go into Philly on a regualar basis, but when I do, I always see panhandlers at certain intersections. Maybe I'll give it to one of them the next time I go. I know it'll get spent, and he/she will get a hot meal.

I just ordered this "I Support Marriage Equality" bumper sticker for my car. (Don't worry, I'll stick it on a car magnet and attach it that way. I'm not going to ruin the car's paint.)

I've wanted something in support of LGBT rights on my car for a while, and I decided to go with this one after reading an article about how reframing the discussion by using the term "Marriage Equality" instead of "Gay Marriage" or "Same-sex Marriage" actually helps influence people to see the issue as one of fairness. Makes sense to me.

This speaks for itself, without saying a word:



(PS--It's from Australia.)

As I may have mentioned before, both of my daughters have been involved in Girl Scouts, but I refused to allow my son to join the Boy Scouts. He asked to join once, but I had to refuse due the anti-gay membership policy of the Boy Scouts of the USA. (I was scrambling to find an alternative for him when I realized that if they didn't have a cookie sale like the Girl Scouts, he wasn't interested anyway.)

Now I have even more reason to be proud of the inclusiveness of the Girl Scouts. A troop recently allowed a transgender child to join. Idiots are, of course, calling for a boycott of the upcoming annual cookie sale. Supporters of inclusiveness are using this as an excuse to buy more cookies!

Here's a link to the CNN story.

How Bachmann Lost a Young Conservative
by Michael Smerconish, Philadelphia Inquirer Columnist

Michele Bachmann, meet Ben Haney.

In other circumstances, Ben could have been a real asset to your campaign. He's a 28-year-old Republican with experience as a traveling advance man for John McCain and Sarah Palin in 2008. Ben was born and raised in the critically important suburbs of Philadelphia. Having taught government at a high school, Ben now runs his own real estate investment company and co-owns a bar in Old City. In fact, one of his business partners is Rob McElhenney, star and creator of the TV show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

( Read more... )

Ben also has a political observation he wishes to share. Signing a pledge that says he and others chose their sexuality, your husband's equating homosexuals with barbarians, and attempts to pray out of one's sexual preference are shortsighted and show your naivete about winning the presidency.

Such beliefs may win you the votes for the Republican nomination, but they all but guarantee that you will not win the moderate voters who continually decide presidential elections. To them and most of the nation, your positions are out of touch, insulting, and downright flaky.

Original can be read here.

Sing it with me:

I-- love New York!
'Cause it's so exciting!
I-- love New York!
'Cause there's no place like it!
I-- love New York!

There isn't another like it.
No matter where you go.
And nobody can compare it.
It's win and place and show.
New York is special.
New York is diff'rent, 'cause there's no place
Else on Earth quite like New York and that's why

I-- love New York!
I-- love New York!
I-- love New York!

Yay! Marriage Equality in New York State!

ETA: I wonder if my cousin and her partner (who in live in NYC) will get married now? They've been together forever.

Others on my friends' list have been sharing their stories of being bullied. And although I was severely bullied in junior high, that's not the story I want to tell today. Let me tell you instead of bullying that was prevented.

I was in high school--I don't remember what year. When had a test in math, and girl in my class--let's call her Karen--had forgotten to study. She decided to skip class, hope the teacher believed she was absent, and take the test tomorrow. I didn't think that was quite fair to those of us who had studied, so when the teacher asked if anyone knew where Karen was, I told her that Karen was skipping class because she hadn't studied. (I know, probably none of my business, but I remember feeling very strongly that her taking an extra day to study was unfair.)

When Karen heard what I'd done, she was livid. I heard her shouting that she was going to kill me, and given that she was a lot bigger and stronger than I was, she probably could have. But when she started to come at me, her best friend--let's call her Carmen--got in between us, looked Karen right in the eye (or in the chin; Carmen was tiny) and said, "Mysid just told the truth, so leave her alone."

Karen just stopped dead in her tracks, turned on her heel, and walked away from me. She could have made my life hell, but instead she never did a thing to me. And that, my friends, can happen when people stand up to defend the bullied. Thank you, Carmen, wherever you are.

Just when I think there's hope for the future, someone comes along and makes me ashamed to be human. Iowa has a law that makes bullying in school illegal. Two Iowa legislators want to change the law so that GLBT students will be excepted from it's protection. The actually want to make it legal to bully GLBT students while leaving the anti-bullying legislation in place for all others. They want to make it legal to bully GLBT students in school. It boggles the mind.

Read more about it in this article.

The article contains contact information if you want to e-mail the two homophobic idiots yourself. ( My letter to the idiots )

I decided to write my letter from the POV that "bullying is bad" without even bringing "le gay" into it. Perhaps they'll be less knee-jerk "Oh, it's written by one of them, so I can ignore it." Besides, I'd write the same letter if it were any minority group they were approving bullying for.

They're in favor of bullying, and people actually voted for them! It really, really, boggles the mind.
.

Or maybe a bumper sticker?