These Bob Mackie Gowns are fabu-loussssssssssssss!
Posted on 11/29/2008 12:21:07 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
It’s a national turning point. A figurative call to arms for the queer community. The cross-country response to the passage of California’s Proposition 8 and other anti-gay ballot initiatives is among the greatest and loudest rallying cries for equality ever heard from the LGBT community.
Journalist Rex Wockner is calling it “Stonewall 2.0” Others are talking about a new wave of inspiration and the death of a “passive era” of LGBT lobbying and advocacy. Writer Andrew Sullivan says groups like the Human Rights Campaign are becoming increasingly irrelevant in the face of the need to adapt to new realities and challenges.
On Nov. 15, untold hundreds of thousands of citizens in more than 300 cities across the nation took to the streets to proclaim a new movement for equality. Twenty-six-year-old, Seattle resident Amy Balliett’s JoinTheImpact.com — the informal “organization” behind the call for a national day of protest — created a powerful, national coalition of young and relatively inexperienced activists the likes of which the LGBT movement has not seen in decades.
With just a few clicks of the mouse and the dedication of local, self-appointed organizers across the country, Balliett tapped into the growing frustration and stirred more passion than the national LGBT movement has been able to muster since the days of ACT-UP and Queer Nation. The visibility and level of public debate created in the firestorm of Nov. 15’s public outcry over California’s, Florida’s, Arizona’s and Arkansas’ patently offensive violations of civil equality is priceless.
If only we’d seen such a movement before the election. Or perhaps before the other 27 states in the union defined me as a second-class citizen. I guess now was the appointed time for the bubble to burst.
The Carolinas’ almost 3,000 protesters pale in comparison to the thousands-strong protests in cities as far flung as New York and L.A. But for a region of our size and political climate, our local participation in this national moment of anger, frustration, hope and Pride — joining the protests in other rural, conservative regions — was nothing short of a revolutionary moment in LGBT activism.
As I sat and watched NBC National News more than three weeks ago, witnessing thousands take to the streets in West Hollywood and San Francisco, I knew we were in for something big. I just couldn’t imagine how big it might be.
In Raleigh, 1,400 braved the rain and wind to hear politician Jim Neal and activist Jimmy Creech speak out for queer equality. They marched to the Capitol. They marched to the Governor’s Mansion. In Wilmington, more than 100 people gathered with only days notice and listened to “One Tree Hill” star Sophia Bush condemn the passage of Proposition 8.
In Asheville, 300 crowded into downtown Pritchard Park. Hundreds attended a rally and march in Charleston. With only 24 hours worth of planning, 150 attended a one-hour vigil outside the South Carolina State House in Columbia and 60 marched through the campus of Appalachian State University in Boone.
In Greensboro — the city where the internationally historic Woolworth sit-ins were spawned almost a half century ago — more than 300 attended a rally and made their call for equality heard across the Western Piedmont.
Why didn’t we see this action and passion before the election? Why now? Why here? Why did it take almost 40 years since our first brave stand at Stonewall?
For the first time in the history of our nation, a state left the already-present civil rights of a minority up to the whims of public opinion. Our rights were left out to dry, without a hope, as they were slaughtered by a simple majority vote. In the words of columnist and gay activist Wayne Besen, we were left victim to mob rule.
The courts — the institution charged with protecting the minority from a tyranny of the majority — surely have their plates full. (As of my deadline, the California Supreme Court had yet to rule on the legality of Proposition 8 and its passage at the polls.)
This is America. The majority doesn’t have the right to vote out of existence the civil rights of the minority. In other words, your so-called “right” to “majority rule” ends where my nose begins. We’re a Republic — with constitutionally-guaranteed equality and protections for those who always need it the most.
The sense of utter disappointment and anger is no doubt fueling this new wave of round-the-clock online and on-the-street activism. It’s the sense of the unfairness of it all — situations and events completely antithetical to the principles laid out in our founding documents — that’s pushing formerly complacent queers and their allies to lift their collective voices together in national strains of “We shall overcome.”
Now, activists are calling for a “day without a gay.” Just one day, on Dec. 10, when LGBT people and their friends and family stay away from work and society, driving home the fact that we are, indeed, an integral and much-needed part of this nation and world. Too bad I work for a gay company, or else I’d stay home, too.
In 1969, gay and transgender citizens had to fight against the overbearing police abuse in a seedy Greenwich Village bar. Now, our movement makes another dramatic move from our once dark and shadowy existences onto America’s Main Streets — and quite literally so.
“Out of the closets and into the streets!” That was the refrain heard from activists in years past. It’s reality now.
We’re here. We’re queer. And we deserve equality. How dare you take it away? That’s why we’re pissed. California’s Supreme Court did its job interpreting their state Constitution. In the most sweeping state court ruling ever on the equality of queer Americans, the California Court finally applied its state’s equal protection clause and the full weight of state government to the protection of our civil rights. In legal mumbo jumbo, sexual orientation, like race, gender and religion, is a “suspect class” — a minority experiencing real, everyday and institutionalized discrimination, and in need of the highest levels of protection.
Boy, did that piss of the theocrats or what? The forces of the Religious Right think they have won their great “Moral Armageddon.” They think they’ve out-smarted the Founding Fathers — great men who saw the promise of America and knew that, one day, all people might be privy to its great ideal.
The Right will come back for more. They’ll keep taking until there’s nothing left to take. First marriage. Then, domestic partner benefits; they tried that in Alaska. In Arkansas, we already see where they’re headed — no adoption and no foster parenting. Next we’ll see our love banned; Lawrence v. Texas overturned. Like the right to reproductive choice, our right to privacy will be slowly usurped by misguided “states’ rights” courts and legislatures.
If the Religious Right — something of which they are neither — can take away one civil right, why not others? If the Mormons can organize to force their religious beliefs on an entire state, why not ours? What will be taken away next? What religious group will step up next to organize against the principles that have made our nation that great shining beacon for the rest of the world?
As for radical fundamentalists’ claims of violence targeting them — so what? Of course, that’s not how I really feel, but it is my first reaction. For all these years, gay and transgender people have been bashed and victimized and killed and now — only now when the “Christians” are the target — is the issue of hate and violence something we’ve got to stop. Where were these voices condemning the violence against our queer brothers and sisters? These self-righteous, sex-obsessed theocrats weren’t interested in saving any dirty, old queer’s life. Now that they’re the targets, now is the time for warning and caution? I call bullsh*t.
All of these questions, these raw emotions, our unknown futures — all of this and more are guiding our movement now. I’m not naïve enough to presume I know what the future will bring or what our movement will look like or accomplish in the next few months, much less the next few years. All I know is that it feels like everything has changed.
When my rights are put up to simple majority vote — everything has changed. When conservative and misguided religious forces organize to strip away my human dignity and equal protection under the Supreme Laws of our states and nation — everything has changed. When propaganda and lies lead my family and friends to vote against me — everything has changed. When it looks like those who quite possibly broke the law to strong-arm their way into violating my civil rights will go unpunished — everything has changed. When radical Christian Dominionists continue to march into gay neighborhoods and force their stifling, inhumane lies and deception on gay people already hurt and pained by the sins of the church — everything has changed.
A new day has dawned. An era has come and gone. Fresh faces and new voices are being added to the cry for equality everyday. I hope and pray like hell that our momentum doesn’t die. Go to the streets! Drown out the voices who would attempt to trample our Constitution and kill our humanity. Equality’s opponents must be shown that America’s promise of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” isn’t dead.
Until my full and equal civil and human rights are recognized, I’ll not stop fighting. Until the voices of anti-gay hatred are just as nearly silent as the voices of America’s racist past, I’ll not stop fighting. What do I want? Equality. When do I want it? Now.
These people are nuts.
PA-LEEZE.
> This is America. The majority doesn’t have the right to vote out of existence the civil rights of the minority. In other words, your so-called “right” to “majority rule” ends where my nose begins. We’re a Republic — with constitutionally-guaranteed equality and protections for those who always need it the most.
Strictly speaking, is the stuff that I've set out in bold true?
The essence of Democracy is "one man, one vote, majority rules." Now I know that you don't have a "Democracy" in the US, you have a "Constitutional Republic". But surely what Democracy you have in the US is quite a bit stronger than is suggested by the writer?
Our New Zealand version of Democracy (One man, two votes, majority gets to negotiate who rules) certainly is.
Very little in that screed is accurate. Our Constitution and it’s Bill of Rights is the blueprint and rulebook for our way of life, and Mr. Comer would do well to read it.
"Queer"
2. of a questionable nature or character; suspicious; shady:
4. mentally unbalanced or deranged.
Kinda says it all.Particularly with this clown.
> “Queer”
I propose a different, brand-new appelation: “Odd”
It more accurately describes the subject matter at hand.
“I will thlap him with my purth!”
Sounded like a threat to me.
“We’re here. We’re queer. And we deserve equality.”
Somebody tell this clown that gays already have the same rights heterosexuals do. We cannot marry a person of the same sex either. He doesn’t want equal rights, he wants special rights.
These idiots are delusional
Exactly! Well said.
What size of lube do you want? Extra large!
The same sex marriage battle in a nutshell:
Political Front: 30 states now passed a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. Everywhere the issue won, even in liberal states, even during liberal surges everywhere else. The federal courts are sufficiently conservative to insure that same sex marriage will not be legislated from a federal bench in the near future.
Cultural Front: Homosexuals have won wide acceptance in society. Everyone knows a gay celebrity. Gay themed shows and movies are watched by millions. Thousands of companies offer benefits to same sex couples. Politicians march in gay pride parades. The nations youth is very accepting of homosexuality, and all demographics are showing a move towards acceptance of same sex relationships.
Prognosis: Culture directs politics. Slowly but surely homosexuals will gain wider and wider acceptance until they begin making political progress. Only a major religious revival or some other enormous cultural shift could halt the process.
These Bob Mackie Gowns are fabu-loussssssssssssss!
It's really pretty sick and twisted. What they do with their bodies is another story. It's what takes place in their minds which is the true hazard, ime.
This is the utter stupidity of the thinking right here. Conservatives on this are the ones who are defending Natural Law in all this and saying that rights are *not* up for a vote...that "we are endowed by our CREATOR with certain inalienable rights". Rights come from God, as the Declaration says. And God's feelings on this particular matter are plain as punch. It's the sodomites who think the state can invent new rights and new definitions of marriage out of thin air.
You know, I'm even sick to death of arguing this issue. Because it doesn't matter. They don't listen. They don't want to listen. These folks will upend heaven and earth to preserve their free exercise of sodomy with moral approval.
But then I look at the financial news and I am more and more convinced that the judgment of God is almost upon us. Let's see how the gay bars and bookstores and bathhouses do when inflation spirals out of control and there are lines for bread and soup. The moral degeneracy of this nation is about to reap a terrible harvest--may God spare us from the worst of it.
Strictly speaking, is the stuff that I've set out in bold true?
Both the federal and state constitutions provide means for amending them. In the case of the California constitution the voters can, by a simple majority, amend the constitution. Other states have similar provisions in their constitutions, and needless to say you don't hear any complaints from liberals when they amend a constitution to suit their political goals.
At the federal level the process is much more complex, requiring a super majority of states to ratify the amendment. Some amendments pass to good effect, like the one that outlawed slavery, other amendments burden the citizens like the amendment which enabled our income tax. One amendment - prohibiting drinking alcoholic beverages - was so stupid it was repealed.
In each case civil rights were lost. In the case of slavery the citizens deemed that freedom for all people was more important than the property rights of a minority.
The arguments of those who are trying to force a re-definition of marriage onto the rest of society by creative use of the legal system that somehow they are losing rights is nonsensical. They could seek to overturn the various specific laws or policies which they alledge are the cause of the discrimination, but interestingly they do not.
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