More, More, More (I Can't Let It Go) and Spotlight on Clarkson

My friend Jesse, who actually attended to Human Rights Campaign gala in New Orleans (and whose Facebook statuses for four days were all about the gala), did not tell me that Patricia Clarkson spoke about gay rights that night. I mean, I figured that would be the topic of anyone’s talk, but I didn’t know Clarkson would be the one speaking.

I love that she included references to Williams and New Orleans in her speech. I was really excited about with my English background and all. And I know I have been harping on these topics lately, but they keep finding their way into my life. So, great quotes from the speech:

“All the violets--gay Americans, lesbian Americans, Bi-sexual Americans, transgender Americans, people of color, and the people of this city forgotten by Washington in hurricane Katrina--we are all are starting to break through the mountain of straight, white, male lawmakers in Washington.” - Oh, the might saxifrage. If only should would have used that image as well. It appears that the violets need to break through the stone as well.
“This is the age of Obama. And the people who oppose these causes need to realize that. But there is someone else who needs to realize that this is the Age of Obama. Obama. It is time, Mr. President. Do not fall behind others on these issues. My God, Dick Cheney announced that he is in favor of gay marriage. And on that very day, the National Weather Service reported hell froze over. So Mr. President, please catch up. Or you are in danger of being considered "just to the right" of a man who is "just to the left" of Vlad-the-Impaler.” - My sentiments exactly. Why is Obama so backed up on this issue? Why doesn’t he address it in his policy and discourse?

[Just as a side note, a new Tony Kushner play is about to be staged, and CNN has this great interview with him, in which he states, But [gay marriage] is really not a federal issue for the executive branch. What President Obama can do is get rid of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." That's a promise from his campaign, and he should honor that promise. Seventy or 80 percent of Americans actually support the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and having openly gay and lesbian soldiers serving in the military. So it's not -- it seems to me -- even that risky. So I'm assuming that'll happen soon. ...”]

Here’s a video of Clarkson’s speech, if you would like to see/hear more:


Here’s a link to the full-text via Huff Post.


And yet again, I return to the issue that is still troubling me about Obama. Why won’t he come out and openly support gay rights? I just wonder if all his talk was jus that. A way to win a demographic.

Welcome to Gilead....

At first I wasn't going to write about this until a friend of mine made a Facebook post with her own personal take. Let's just say my blood curdled when I was checking the news on CNN and came across this interesting headline: "Plan calls Pill, IUD abortions." It had the little camera icon next to it, which means that it was a video. Usually, I don't watch their videos because you have to let them load and sit through some cheesy commercial, however, with a headline like that, how could I possibly pass up some fervent discussion I knew was going to stem from this already controversial headline and amazingly interesting (and quite horrifying possible) subject at hand.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/08/01/todd.defining.abortion.cnn

What? Are you serious? So supposedly in some final act of Republican hoo-haa, the Bush administration is trying to push some bill/act through Congress that would question the scientific stances on birth--conception or implantation? To back up my already growing astonishment, I raked some other news sources and came across this article by The Wall Street Journal (thanks Callan).

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121745387879898315.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

After just talking to Fink about how her Catholic college doesn't cover birth control, I realized that she could potentially be buying abortions under the new regime if this legislation is being passed. Yet again, I recall conversations in Scholars', of course all in Stave's classes, about abortion and what women go through to get them. I mean, do we really want to start having hanger-wire abortions and coke-a-cola douches again? Hell no. I still am just incredibly shocked by the hubris of man, thinking that he has the right to tell a woman what she can do with her body. Really.

All of this for me is just foreshadowing many conversations to come in my 1033 class. I've already printed out several articles, and I can't wait to start presenting some of this information to students to start getting them all riled up about personal and political issues. Of course, as the title of this blog alludes to, this is nothing more than a Atwood's dystopia coming to life before our very eyes. She warned us all, and unfortunately, a lot of us aren't taking her seriously.

The WSJ articles states, "A draft regulation, still being revised and debated, treats most birth-control pills and intrauterine devices as abortion because they can work by preventing fertilized eggs from implanting in the uterus. The regulation considers that destroying 'the life of a human being.'" ... The article goes on a bit later, "If the draft regulation were to prompt some insurance companies to drop coverage for prescription birth control, 'that would be fantastic,' said Tom McClusky, a strategist with the conservative Family Research Council." OMG!? Are you serious? (I must hand it back over to Callan who ingeniously in her response to this posted a picture of the Duggar family, asking the question, "Is this what the American family should be like?" It wasn't framed that way, but it was along the lines of, is this what's going to happen without birth control. Of course, I don't think it would because we would still have under the counter abortions and new, ingenuous ways of aborting.)

So of course my own personal response to this issue is to want to go out and protest any possibility of this happening in our country. However, I realize that I'm probably part of a growing minority when it comes to this issues. Trying not be defeatist and wanting to flee America is not going to change the fact that continually this country is moving slowly towards fundamentalism. Sure, we haven't started bombing each other, segregating the nation, and taking away women's bank accounts, but with the way the environments keeps deteriorating, the economy weakens, and religious indoctrination continues...I just don't see any other possibility for this country. I mean I remember being in Ecofem and talking about the wars that America is going to be fighting 50 years from now over water. I mean I just can't handle it. Why do we have to impose religious beliefs, fuck even scientinfic beliefs onto others. I don't remember there being all of this hoo-haa when Lamarck (I think that's his name) was fucking up the agricultural life of Russia. Sorry for the mini-rant.

So what can we do? Callan says we should wish that Stevens doesn't drop dead and that Obama wins so that he can put more Democrats on the bench, but is that all we can do? No. We have to continue to educate others and show that having an abortion is not evil. Abortion is an option, and let's face it, sometimes it can be the best option. Should we keep bring babies into a world that would rather rip itself apart than live in harmony? Why is it that people feel the need to have their own biological offspring, is it some biological imperative or is it a hegemony that we have already bought into for so long we can see our way out of it?

Oklahoma's Heterosexism

On July 17, 2008, the Tulsa World published the following article on their website:

"By Law Not a Hate Crime"

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080718_11_A1_hGAYCO522310

I originally saw this article in print while working in the reference section, however, quick to turn to the computer to see what the community's feedback would be, I ran a quick search of the Tulsa World's website to find the article copied in full. However, I noticed something rather peculiar about this article. On the right hand side of the article, there is a continuously updated box for most commented articles. I had noticed this box before when searching for an article about a friend's apartment fire. (PS-I was completely shocked by what some Tulsans had to say about the fire and the people of the neighborhood, not that I wasn't equally shocked by want some locals from back home had to say about that NOPD officer speeding across the CCC.)

Anyways, I thought it was so weird that David Schulte's article on this supposed "hate crime" would not allow readers to leave comments. I was partially shocked because I wanted to see what people had to say, and also, I was shocked because I felt that I should have something to say. Having experienced quite an awkward two weeks last semester trying to teach my students some "homosexual" literature (if there is even such a thing), I was not surprised that Tulsa would have such hideous hate crimes (home of the race riots of 19-teen-something). Hatred abounds everywhere. However, I was just shocked because for all of its faults, Tulsa is a really cool city sometimes, and I know that there is quite a gay population here. Also, Tulsa is home to one of the largest GLBT community centers in this area.

So just when I thought it was safe to get married and adopt, I read about what happened to Robert Stotler and his partner. I felt sorry for them, but I also felt scared for myself. Is this going to happen to me? How will I be able to deal with this? I've never been one to take kindly to neighbors (I've yet to meet any of my neighbors in the apartment complex I'm in for almost a year, and on Beehan, I had Laura...). But could I live in a community where everyone hated me because of who I am? (This fear was also (re-)sparked by watching Stephen King's The Mist, which I watched last night and recommend for all to watch.)

Fear. I was once told by Stave that a lot of gays feared what would happen after the Civil Rights Movement because they felt that after African-Americans, the WASP-y right would come after them. Low and behold, its happening. This is why sexual orientation should be protected under the constitution and federal laws. The article mentions that few wish to report because of fear of being fired or exposed. And that just a shame. I should fear getting fired because I suck at my job not because of who I suck off.

My hat is off to Stotler and his partner. They are brave men. I know that I couldn't live in this part of the country for long, and sad to say, but I am already looking for a way out. I hope they catch these criminals and they serve time (not that redeems anyone). Until then, I guess we have to hope that America and Americans can be better than they have been in past and they are right now and that one day Americans won't have to fear and hate others because of their sexual orientation.