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Well that's interesting

I had the opportunity to visit the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum in Birmingham Alabama this past week. The Museum itself is relatively new, as museums go, having been initially built in the past thirty years. The museum traces the history of the fight for civil rights, especially the fight for civil rights for African Americans, from the end of slavery up until current day struggles.

Although a fair amount of information is given for historical context, the bulk of the museum concentrates on the years from 1950-1970 when Alabama was embroiled in bitter civil rights controversies including the desegregation of schools, public housing, colleges, workplaces and other public accommodations including public transit.

Of course, the Museum covers not only recent history but also current history, addressing areas of the world where the struggle for civil rights is ongoing (which is to say, everywhere I suppose, but they concentrate on specific areas). The exhibits mostly are targeted towards school children, although I certainly learned a lot myself.

Right now the Museum has a short term exhibition in a special hall specifically built for short term exhibits. It is a photography projected depicting lesbians in the deep south. In the exhibit there are a number of couples who have been photographed. Names are not included with any of the photos, and there is little information given about their stories. The participants were given the option of being anonymous or not; the anonymous couples are turned away from the camera. In some photos, one of the women turned towards the camera and another is not.

It's an interesting exhibit to have in a museum visited mostly by school children. When I looked through the guest book, many of the comments were positive although some (above) showed there is plenty of education still to do.

Fun Things Rick Santorum Says

And this is the guy Missouri Republicans want for president?

This long circus of primaries and candidate jokes is getting really tiresome, and we don’t have a single conservative candidate who is in touch with what it really means to be an average American today (but what else is new?). Rick Santorum, however, is an especially annoying face that won’t go away; in fact, he won the primary in my state, which is another bit of depressing information. I have to wonder what my fellow Missourians are going by when they voted for Santorum. Was it, perhaps, one of the following fun quotes by the Rickster?

“We don’t need food stamps because obesity rates are so high.” This statement doesn’t just show Santorum’s inability to compute basic correlations and data (x does not equal y; that’s like saying we don’t need sunscreen because lots of people don’t get sunburned), it also shows that he’s simply not following current events or scientific data. Any doctor or scientist worth her or his salt will tell you that obesity is not simply an indication of having food; it is a sign of poverty, often the indication of buying poorly made, cheap food with lots of calories and no nutrition—whether it is a 99-cent burger or the macaroni and cheese and kool-aid that many of us grew up on. In fact, many people feed their children sugar water for the extra calories so they won’t starve, making them gain weight without giving them the nutrition that they need. To make this kind of statement, Santorum is proving that he has no idea what it means to live in poverty—and he shouldn’t have a job in which he’ll have to make decisions for people who do.

“I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them someone else’s money.” Seriously? There are so many things wrong with this sentence that I can’t even begin to address its racism, its privilege, its hubris, its disgustingness. When called out on this sentence, Santorum pulled a Ron Paul and claimed that he didn’t say black, but simply “blah.” Not only is he completely stupid; he thinks that by denying his association with a racist comment (cough-Paul-cough), and being incoherent in his speech (cough-Bush-cough), he’s going to be able to hide his racism.

If your parents are gay, it’s better that they are in prison than that they are home caring for you. This is a statement Santorum made when speaking to children at a boarding school. He’s not just against those yucky gays getting married, folks; he is against them having children or even existing outside prison walls! Because, you know, it’s better to have your children without a parent, growing up in the foster system and molested or otherwise abused and potentially even homeless than, you know, being raised by a gay person.

This is really the guy you want as president, Missouri republicans?

Is Rick Trying To Tell Us Something

So recently Rick Santorum has gotten his weirdo dude boxers in a twist because a well known website accused him of being gay. Well, Trickie Rick (as Kate Clinton says “The P is silent.”) I've got news for you. No one can accuse you of being gay because you can accuse someone of something that is bad. You can accuse someone of trying to make pandas extinct or of taking the last wasabi cake or of not being a good tipper. But you can accuse someone of being gay because being great is really really fun. And also awesome. And also potentially better than being heterosexual, since there's no real evolutionary reason for us to exist, yet we keep popping up.The second reason no one is accusing you, Rick Santorum, of being gay is that the gay community does not want to claim you Rick! You're a weirdo! You brought your dead baby's body home for your children to see and kept it overnight! You say strange things in public! You don't wash your hair enough!

So although I would never do this impossible thing, accuse Rick Santorum of being gay, I do often wonder if he's trying to send out secret “please help” messages to the gay community. It started with that thing where he compared gay sex to man on dog sex,much to the great surprise of the AP reporter doing the interview. I don't think there;s anything that could convince me more that someone wants to be schooled on gay sex than to compare it to something that is absolutely, ludicrously not like. It can't be that Santorum is so dumb that he actually thinks two men having consensual sex is like someone getting hot and heavy with Fido. I mean the man did graduate from law school right?

Oh Rick Rick Rick Rick: Open Mouth, Insert Foot

Some people, when they're floundering, get very quiet. My best friend, when she's in a sticky situation will become very low-key, talk in hushed tones and won't use more words than necessary. If you ask her why she'll explain “I'm trying to think my way out of this.”Rick Santorum really needs to spend some time with my best friend. Although, come to think of it, I like my best friend, so I really wouldn't wish Rick Santorum on her.

I lived in Philadelphia for ten years when much of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh was trying to get Santorum out of the Senate. I say Philadelphia and Pittsburgh because he was basically only liked in the middle of Pennsylvania and that's where the majority of his voting block was from. Although I hated what he did politically, and the ridiculous things he said, I almost felt sorry for the guy. He clearly seemed to believe what in the things he did and in even the totally wacko things he said. When he told the LA Times reporter that gay sex was like a person having sex with a dog, he didn't back down, even when the reporter was clearly giving him an out. And then there was the crazy story of him bringing home his wife's miscarried fetus for his other children to hold “We brought him home to welcome him” he would write later on his website “he was a part of our family.” Creepy, right? And a little gross. But at least seemingly sincere.

These days Santorum seems to have gone the way of Fox news “look how crazily right wing I am!” His latest: too many Americans go to college and gay sex is the same as incest. I heard that there's a likeness out there floating around made entirely of gay porn stills. I say he just about deserves that.

Red State Blue State

In 2004 In Georgia, the first state to go to Bush in the election was the same state where over 80 % of folks voted that "marriage should be between one man and one woman." I was performing at a queer women's event, called Ladyfest South, that weekend and the need for that event could not have been more clear.

That experience, got me thinking quite a bit about about the the whole red versus blue states cultural combat and how many queers I know (myself included) migrated from a a red state to a blue one. It would follow that because of this mass migration folks in the red states are statistically less likely to have one of us queer folks as a neighbor, making discrimination all the more palatable to them. Add that to the fact that queers are more likely than the average straight person to have progressive views, well it makes me wonder how much queer migration figures into the overall political scene.

Of course, do I want to move back to Hartford, Wisconsin? (population 4,324 if you count cows as equal to people, which if you live in Hartford, Wisconsin you do. Um, no. I mean NO! The idea of living in place where everyone looks alike, the biggest social event is the Friday night fish fry at the local bar, and probably 90 % of the activities I currently engage in on a regular basis would be unavailable literally gives me the chills. Yet, wouldn't Hartford, Wisconsin look different if I lived there? At least a little? It's not a sacrifice I want to make personally, but as I watch the political situation in our country go from bad to “get your passport and have a bag packed” worse, I wonder when it will be time for the queers to migrate back.

Those Crazy Christians

I'm obsessed with one zany religious right preacher in particular right now: Joyce Meyers

Of course I'm not talking about all Christians. I'm talking about people in the religious right who claim that the LGBT community is obsessed with sex; that we throw poo at each other, that we are a privileged, moneyed minority. You have to wonder: should people who live in crystal cathedrals throw stones?I'm obsessed with one zany religious right preacher in particular right now: Joyce Meyers. You've probably seen her on tv: she has a daily show that's on it just about every major market and most of the minor ones at well. I never miss it. I love the upbeat "it's time to start enjoying everyday life" theme song, the message of freedom from the "demons of codependence" and the fact that she has a face lift every few years and tells people just to get over it (hey, she's on tv, after all).

My mom once gave me a whole set of her tapes called "Eat and Stay Thin" which promises to "restore a healthy balance in your life by letting Joyce reveal to you biblical revelations exposing common misconceptions regarding weight control. That was the same year she gave me a copy of the "The Weight Loss Bible" (the subtitle was: the Bible for People Who Want to Lose Weight) in which the author exhorted the reader to only eat foods mentioned in the Bible. I guess the theory is that after 5 days of loaves and shes for
breakfast and sacrical lamb for lunch and dinner, you'd be too bored to overeat. I still have that book, it's right next to the Help Lord, the Devil Wants Me Fat, a book my mom gave me in childhood.

Anyway, in addition to discerning WWJW (What Would Jesus Weigh) Joyce talks a lot about affirmations, which she calls "confessions." There's a list on her web page with the explanation: "Please Note: This is a list of confessions developed by Joyce Meyer. They are based on scripture and she began confessing them over her life in the early 1980s)."

Some of my favorites are:

All my children have lots of Christian friends, and God has set aside a Christian wife or husband for each of them. (the fact that she is praying for a wife for the boys and husband for the girls goes without saying)

I dont give the devil a foothold in my life. I resist the devil, and he has to flee from me.

I catch the devil in all of his deceitful lies. I cast them down and choose rather to believe the Word of God. (Joyce has a very personal relationship with Jesus, and with the devil. it's kind of like the good and bad side of the Force)

My son (name) has a sweet personality, and he is not rebellious. (wouldn't you love to be the target of this confession!)

I am an obedient wife, and no rebellion operates in me. (whoa!)

I am rich - very rich. (this is true by the way, the woman is a multimillionaire)

I have a finished basement (doesn't this sound like some kind of euphimism?)

I have a beautiful wedding ring (sounds like we've come full circle)

I'd like to suggest another affirmation/confession not just for Joyce, but for all the religious right: I will mind my own business and stop waging war on gay people.

Ho Ho Homophobia!

Well, finally! An acknowledgment that of all the winter holidays, Christmas is just way too gay.

One of the first to really be public about this acknowledgment was Cherry Knoll, Michigan, principal Chris Parker who had to deal with one of his teachers who decided to remove the the word “gay” from the song “Deck the Halls.”The teacher gave his students a music sheet with the verse reading, “Don we now our bright apparel.” If you recall, the original words were “don we now our GAY apparel.” Right, too gay.

So you and I understand that the word GAY was probably used with an earlier meaning, that is, “festive.” But what exactly happened in the Cherry Knoll music room that made the teacher feel that the word was misunderstood? Did his students show up in gay meaning “queer” apparel? And if so, what did this look like?

I'm imagining a tee shirt with a unicorn jumping over a dolphin in the wake of an Olivia Cruise Ship. Or maybe an “I heart the Bee Gees” embroidered jacket, worn either completely ironically or without any irony at all? How about nothing from the waist up except a full size Madonna tattoo? A skin tight jumpsuit airbrushed with 15 different distinct scenes from the Wizard of Oz?

I could see how this would be disruptive to a junior high music class, in the way that nearly anything would be disruptive to a junior high music class. And just in case, changing the “gay” to “bright” didn't degay Christmas enough, Conan O Brien's staff came up with a a completely homophobic Christmas album. Because Christmas, you know, just too gay.

Anti Bullying Legislation Takes A Scary Turn

recent attempt in Michigan to have “bullying for religious reasons” exempted from a statewide anti-bullying law

Let's be clear on this. When I was a kid The Wizard of Oz scared the holy bajesus out of me.

And I don't mean oh I giggled a little nervously when the Wicked Witch came on screen.

I mean that movie scared me:

When the flying monkeys swooped down, it made me almost pee my pants (and by “almost pee my pants” I of course mean “I flooded the entire basement with an unfortunate yellow stream”)

Because of the Wizard of Oz I was afraid to be alone at night and had nightmares for weeks.

I was still talking about in therapy a decade and a half later.

But watching it through Queer Eyes at a party in the West Village a few years, I became just as enamored with it as the next homo. I cried at the first few notes of “Over the Rainbow” and when the Cowardly Lion sang "I'm afraid there's no denyin', I'm just a dandy lion” it made me want to get up and dance just the teeniest tiniest bit.

I got teased at school for being afraid of the Wizard of Oz (they'd made us watch it, for some reason, in second grade), I got bullied at school for carrying my books the wrong way and for walking the wrong way.

This is why a recent attempt in Michigan to have “bullying for religious reasons” exempted from a statewide anti-bullying law scared me more than watching the Scarecrow get almost set on fire by the Wicked Witch of the West.

If the effort had prevailed, it would have put an official legal stamp of approval on certain kinds of bad behavior as long as it was motivated by religion. It's almost unfathomable where that could lead. On the other hand, it did get the religious homophobes to admit that they wanted to use religion to bully us. Which is scary, but I guess if you've got a Wicked Witch around, you want to know where she is and just how wicked she is, in case you've got a spare house to drop on her.

Unique? Now That's A Good One!

I'm not really one of those queers who thinks marriage is what we should be fighting for. In fact, I feel the fight for marriage actually masks bigger problems we should be addressing. For example, a common argument to make gay marriage a priority is marriage is needed so that partners can provide health care for each other. But really, should health care be based on relationship status? How about basing access to health care on something crazy like, I don't know, needing health care?

Having said all that, I can't help but get my boxers in a knot about homophobic institutions using gay marriage to distract from their own problems. The absolutely best at this is the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. Invariably any time the church addresses the pedophilia scandal to the media, they mention homosexuality as if it's the homosexuals in the church, not the pedophiles, that have been causing problems. It's an amazing job of spin.

This month the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops launched a ludicrous website called Marriage Is Unique for a Reason. If I didn't know better, I would assume it's a parody site with gems like "marriage has never been about the relationship of just any two adults." It also threatens that if gay marriage becomes legal " [Because] Law is a teacher, such a law would teach many bad lessons" including that a "mother and father would become interchangeable and gender would become inconsequential"

The use of “bad lessons” is silly enough (what is this, kindergarten) but the whole website hinges on the argument that marriage between and a man and a woman is the only permissible one before God because it is the only union capable of producing children. Yet the church doesn't have a funny looking website dedicated to prohibiting a union between a post menopausal woman and a man. Or a man with very low sperm count and a woman. Or two people who just don't like sex.

And of course, the implication is that all lawful before God before marriages could result in children because, of course, no Catholics use birth control. Uh yeah, except for a recent survey revealed that less than 2 percent of Catholic women actually follow the rule. I guess no one has told the Conference of Catholic Bishops that Catholics just aren't having huge families anymore. So, good job that, bringing the church into the digital age with arguments that haven't been effective for decades.

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