Obama Ad About LGBT Advances

httpv://youtu.be/8tmCEE5cjIc

I heard a small excerpt of an interview Meghan McCain had Tuesday with Michelangelo Signorile‘s radio show. I have nothing against Ms McCain. I think she has been a positive voice for LGBT rights in the past and she certainly doesn’t spout the hateful rhetoric that is getting to be standard with so many Republicans. But something she said really bothered me. In talking about supporting Romney, she excused his anti-gay stances by saying that not all people are single issue voters. When asked about Obama’s coming out in favor of marriage equality, she said it was just words and he hasn’t done anything.

I think he’s done a lot. When you’re treated like a second class citizen, nothing seems like enough until you have full legal equality and you feel safe everyday – that may be a long way off, but no other president has done so much for our community.

I’m not typically a single issue voter, either. But when one candidate is promising to do whatever they can to grant you equality, and has made many, many steps toward that goal, and the other is v0wing to reverse all those rights and write discrimination into the Constitution… that’s an issue that certainly gets my attention.

Immigration Appeals Board Decision Offers Hope for Binational Gay Couples

The Immigration Board of Appeals recently refused to to affirm the previous denial of green cards to four same sex, binational couples. Under current immigration law, legally married heterosexual couples can apply for a green card for the foreign spouse. Not so with gay couples. Because of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), legally married same sex couples have no federal recognition, and therefore green card applications are always denied. Until now.

The Board’s has ordered U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services “to determine whether the marriages are legally valid and whether, notwithstanding DOMA Section 3, the spouse would qualify for a green card under the Immigration & Nationality Act,” for four same sex couples. This is the first time the Board has taken such action.

As half of such a couple – I welcome the news! One step closer to some assurance of us being able to stay in this country – equality seems to be closer each day!

Read the entire article from The Advocate here.

A True Demonstration of Christian Values

My Ex-wife tipped me off to this photo. This group showed up at the Chicago Pride Parade with wearing “I’m Sorry” t-shirts and signs of contrition for the rampant homophobia seen so often in church’s recently.

It reminds me, again, that not all Christians hold such judgmental, bigoted ideals. I am sometimes guilty of lumping them all into the same basket – which is unfair. I hope to find more examples of what I’ve always thought of as true Christian values of love and acceptance – and I’m sure if I look, I’ll find plenty

Wasting Their Lives on Homophobia

I love this cartoon posted on Wipeout Homophobia on Facebook’s wall. I’ve always found it curious that there are so many people who spend such a huge amount of their time on the lives of other people. Many, but not all, of these people say they are motivated by their religion. If I remember right, most religions have several tenets that say you should do no such thing. Such as:

“Do to no one what you yourself dislike.”

—Tobit 4:15

“Recognize that your neighbor feels as you do, and keep in mind your own dislikes.”

—Sirach 31:15

or in the New Testament:

For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

-Galatians 5:14

or here:

Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven

-Luke 6:37

I wonder if these people will wake up one day, as I think many did after the civil rights battles of the 1960’s, and wonder why they were driven so. I think it would be exhausting to hold so much hate for your fellow man.

LZ Granderson and the Secret Gay Agenda

This is a great TED Talk from journalist LZ Granderson. He reveals all the secrets the of gay agenda, the gay lifestyle and what it is the gays in this country are really after.

It is so worth the 18 minutes.

NickadooLA: I’ve reached …

NickadooLA: I’ve reached this point in life where I’d rather say something and regret it later than to not say something and regret it later.

Watch: Gay Soldier Booed at GOP Debate and His Husband

The brave soldier who asked a question during a GOP debate and was viciously booed by the crowd, has joined Freedom to Marry. Stephen Hill and his husband, Josh Snyder, discuss what marriage means to them and what rights DOMA denies them.

httpv://youtu.be/WZDzOLeCWfQ

Great Pride Photo!

I love this photo! Go to the IDF Facebook page and share! Looking forward to the day when two men holding hands turns not one single head. I’m getting optimistic!

Note To the Airline – No 29E

My friend, Patti posted this article on her Facebook wall. It may have been going around for a while, but this is the first I’ve seen it. It make me smile as I have been in that seat on more than one occasion.

enjoy the article here.

Jason Alexander’s Apology – Best Ever

Last week, the actor Jason Alexander, probably most famous for playing George on “Seinfeld”, made a few comments on The Late Show with Craig Ferguson that had many in the gay community upset. To read about the incident and see a video clip, check out towleroad.com. I try not to include negative material here, so I decided not to mention it. But then I read his apology. And what an apology it was.

It seems like every few weeks, someone famous makes some comment that can be taken offensively. The apologies are usually half-hearted “non apologies” that say they didn’t mean to offend anyone, so people shouldn’t be offended.

Really? I shouldn’t be offended because you say I shouldn’t? So many times in my life I’ve heard people exclaim, “He’s too sensitive!” I heard it in grade school when someone would make a racist remark and one of the few black would get upset. “Don’t be so sensitive!” When my friend Mark, who was intellectually challenged got upset because someone called him “retard”, he was just “being sensitive.” Or when my husband asked a friend to stop using the term “gay” pejoratively, he was told, “You are way too sensitive, lighten up.”

Doesn’t it seem like the privileged (that is white, straight males) are always concerned that the people they are ridiculing are too sensitive (racial minorities, the disabled, women, gays)?

Well Mr. Alexander didn’t say the gay community was too sensitive. He pointedly and eloquently apologized and then went on to say why it was so important that he do so. Below is just a small excerpt. Read the entire apology here.

For these [gay] people, my building a joke upon the premise I did added to the pejorative stereotype that they are forced to deal with everyday. It is at the very heart of this whole ugly world of bullying that has been getting rightful and overdue attention in the media. And with my well-intentioned comedy bit, I played right into those hurtful assumptions and diminishments.

Hats off to Jason Alexander – too few people own their mistakes, and far fewer make amends so well.