Can you imagine superheroes for lgbt rights in Colorado? If you can't, you aren't imaginative enough, because the GLBT Community Center of Colorado has just launched a website and a youtube cartoon featuring these spandex-wearing characters:
My only question is, where's Scoobie-Doo? There is also a full website where you can sign on for updates and take advantage of viral email to let other people know.
This quote, from David Mitchell's brilliant novel, Cloud Atlas:
And after the last weeks in Iran, electronically via internet and mobile communications as well. And we have seen how corporations that offer internet and mobile services can sell out to repressive governments to further their own interests.
A website has been launched to promote gay tourism in Israel. From the images on the home page, you would never guess that lesbians existed. But hey, I don't any websites from Egypt extolling Pride celebrations in cities all over the country, as this site does. (The very fact that I praise something while at the same time criticizing it is about as Jewish as you can get). And I've got to say, the site certainly makes a visit look like a lot of fun.
Okay, I am not talking about the government: recently a Christian fundamentalist group secretly infiltrated the membership of a women’s rights group called AWARE, the Association of Women for Action and Research.
At the urging of their “mentor” Dr Thio Su Mien, these new “members” nominated and then elected a completely Executive Committee because, according to Dr Thio Su Mien “AWARE has become a single purpose organization overly concerned with promoting lesbianism."
Much like the raving fundies in the United States, Dr Thio Su Mien seems rather obsessed with queer sexuality. When she served in the Parliament of Singapore she spoke out against the decriminalization of “sodomy” using language that was so strikingly similar to that used by Christian Dominionists in the United States. In fact, the new president of the organization, Josie Lau, was in charge of a fund raising promotion by a Singapore bank, DBS, that raised money for James Dobson’s Focus on the Family (or at least the local Singapore branch). This led to a rather noisy protest around the bank that they certainly weren’t looking for. But that’s a sideshow background to this story…
Of course, AWARE is in no way a single purpose organization, or even an organization that is about lesbianism. But this is what the right does: they lie. And they use the fear of queer to further their agenda, which in this case includes removing sex education from the Singapore school system.
You see, the fundies who engineered the coup were upset that AWARE had been brought in by the Singapore school system to provide age appropriate sex ed. And in fact, the Ministry of Education (not exactly a raving liberal organization there) made very clear in an official statement following these baseless claims that:
The schools that engaged AWARE found that the content and messages of the sessions conducted were appropriate for their students and adhered to guidelines to respect the values of different religious groups. The schools did not receive any negative feedback from students who attended the workshops and talks or their parents.
Having taken over the organization, it was discovered that these newly elected members of the Executive Committee were in fact all members of the same church, the Church of Our Savior. In the few weeks after they took control they spent tens of thousands of dollars above the monthly budget and above the organizations own spending cap.
This coup, for it is nothing less, has created a furor in Singapore, and rallied the old members of AWARE, some of whom had not been as active recently, which enabled this wholesale takeover.
The press covered the story, often portraying it as a fight between the Christian Right and the “Gay Lobby.” And while there is a gay rights movement in Singapore, AWARE is not it. But of course, any organization that empowers women and educates the young about making informed and responsible decisions about sexual expression will be a target for the right, and will be tarred with the queer label.
The coup mobilized the AWARE membership so that an Extraordinary General Meeting was called and members who perhaps hadn’t been as active recently showed up to show the fundies the door. And in fact, they were most ceremonially, and democratically, deposed.
This is in fact the kind of tactics the Dominionists and their minions have used in some places in the Republican party to turn it to their ends. And it is why that party, which could be a true partner in government and a rational and loyal opposition, has devolved into irrationality and irrelevance. It is also why we must be ever vigilant, and never apathetic, in our role as secular citizens (regardless of our private and personal beliefs) in a country where there is no state religion.
Of course, you might be wondering about the ad just above and to the right and why it's here. Remember, this is a blog by a queer Jewish Buddhist adman, and the ad above was run in Singapore to promote Scrabble. The sentiment that “this is the only time you will enjoy getting sodomised,” could only have been written by a straight man in a culture where queer sexuality is terrifying. In a place where sexual expression of love between men is punishable by law. And in a culture where that ludicrously quaint and rather inaccurate Biblical term is still in use. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to get back to a Facebook Scrabble game I am most sure to lose.
Jungian analyst David E. Schoen, in his book, The War of the Gods In Addiction, writes:
This speaks to what is happening right now in the way some Republicans and Fox News are fanning the flames of hatred. And is a serious warning of the trouble that could be brewing.
The interesting insight in this observation though is that this hatred energizes people away from feeling hopeless. And responsible people would want to consider in just what ways the people who have been attracted by this insanity are indeed feeling hopeless. Because this is what must be addressed.
Of course, we've heard the "presenting problem" in the last few days — members of the middle and lower middle class believe the line they've been fed about paying more taxes. Or they are rightly angry about feeling squeezed financially while bankers collect bonuses for driving the country into a ditch — and hopeless about their ability to affect change in their own lives, blaming forces on Wall Street, which make a good target, since they certainly share blame.
Democrats are not demagogues — at least not in my lifetime. They do not rally popular anger. Right now though, I think in a most un-Buddhist way, that fire must be fought with fire. That the lies must be met head on with strength.
And quite frankly, I think the laws that enabled media domination (so that Murdoch can own two papers and a TV network in one market) ought to be repealed. And the FCC should be as vigilant about calls for violence as they are about wardrobe malfunctions.
Hate is emotional crack cocaine. And the Republicans are feeding it to that part of the population that feels hopeless for whatever reason. Kind of like supporting the Taliban to get rid of the Russians -- it comes back to bite you in the ass.
But when I read that right wing hate groups are on the rise, that gun sales have skyrocketed since the election, I hear governors talking secession, and congressmen calling for political killings. And I don't hear enough in the mainstream address this insanity — well, for all the signs that equated Obama with Hitler, this sure looks like the right is fomenting a rather rabid form of fascism. And it's time to pull the fire alarm.
Is there a 12-Step Program for Hate? There ought to be.
In today's Week in Review article on marriage equality in the NY Times the facts about the Democrats official response to the decision of the state Supreme Court is completely ignored. Rather, we get a generalization instead of what actually happened:
Uh, well perhaps generally speaking. But since this article purports to be about the slow sea change in attitudes (in the same edition the Style section opines whether Adam Lambert is gay and if so, whether he can win on Idol, in a story that's about 3 weeks late to the part) the reporter does not do the homework to find out what the Democrat's leadership response in Iowa was. So here it is for those of you who haven't seen it is a statement that is anything but neutral:
A joint statement from Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal and Iowa House Speaker Pat Murphy on today’s Supreme Court decision:
“Thanks to today’s decision, Iowa continues to be a leader in guaranteeing all of our citizens’ equal rights.
“The court has ruled today that when two Iowans promise to share their lives together, state law will respect that commitment, regardless of whether the couple is gay or straight.
“When all is said and done, we believe the only lasting question about today’s events will be why it took us so long. It is a tough question to answer because treating everyone fairly is really a matter of Iowa common sense and Iowa common decency.
“Today, the Iowa Supreme Court has reaffirmed those Iowa values by ruling that gay and lesbian Iowans have all the same rights and responsibilities of citizenship as any other Iowan.
“Iowa has always been a leader in the area of civil rights.
“In 1839, the Iowa Supreme Court rejected slavery in a decision that found that a slave named Ralph became free when he stepped on Iowa soil, 26 years before the end of the Civil War decided the issue.
“In 1868, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that racially segregated “separate but equal” schools had no place in Iowa, 85 years before the U.S. Supreme Court reached the same decision.
“In 1873, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled against racial discrimination in public accommodations, 91 years before the U.S. Supreme Court reached the same decision.
“In 1869, Iowa became the first state in the union to admit women to the practice of law.
“In the case of recognizing loving relationships between two adults, the Iowa Supreme Court is once again taking a leadership position on civil rights.
“Today, we congratulate the thousands of Iowans who now can express their love for each other and have it recognized by our laws.”
