California’s Proposition 8 is headed to the Supreme Court. Hundreds of companies and families as well as Republicans are submitting briefs urging the 9 judges to allow gay people to marry. I thought that was ridiculous. Why would judges want all of that underwear? Then, after a quick talk with some people, I found out what a brief was.
I’ve never filed a brief to the Supreme Court, so I thought I would post mine here. I’m sure someone will tweet it to them.
Portia and I have been married for 4 years and they have been the happiest of my life. And in those 4 years, I don’t think we hurt anyone else’s marriage. I asked all of my neighbors and they say they’re fine.
But even though Portia and I got married in the short period of time when it was legal in California, there are 1,138 federal rights for married couples that we don’t have, including some that protect married people from losing their homes, or their savings or custody of their children.
The truth is, Portia and I aren’t as different from you as you might think. We’re just trying to find happiness in the bodies and minds we were given, like everyone else.
Coming out was one of the hardest things I ever did. I didn’t intend to be on the cover of Time magazine saying, “Yep, I’m gay.” The truth is, I don’t even remember saying that. I mean, I definitely said the “I’m gay” part. It’s the “yep” I don’t remember. I’m not really a “yep” person. “Yes siree Bob” maybe. But not “yep.”
In the words of Benjamin Franklin, “We’re here, we’re queer, get over it.” And there’s another famous quote that says “A society is judged by how it treats its weakest members.” I couldn’t agree with that more. No one’s really sure who said it first, so if anyone asks, tell them I said it.
I hope the Supreme Court will do the right thing, and let everyone enjoy the same rights. It’s going to help keep families together. It’s going to make kids feel better about who they are. And it is time.
*I was just told Benjamin Franklin did not say that first quote. I apologize and see that I have a lot to learn about stuff.
March 2013
3 posts
February 2013
12 posts
Just finished reading an interview in the Sunday Herald with Nicola Sturgeon. She leads the Yes Scotland campaign for independence, as well as being deputy leader of the Scottish National Party and a big part of her job is utilizing social media to connect with voters. Apparently she receives a lot of abuse, up to and including death threats, while doing so, particularly via Twitter. I just find this unbelievable. Most importantly, I find it pretty disgusting that people use the internet as a shield to hide behind while they spread their vicious hate – it’s cowardly, irritating and just plain childish. The internet has such great potential for spreading knowledge, and ‘love’ (forgive me for my hippie moment), it seems such a terrible shame to waste that opportunity by using the incredible resource that we’re lucky to have to try and hurt others. Don’t people have better things to do with their time? But it also occurred to me, if you do insist on using your Twitter account or any form of online communication to make someone else’s day just a little bit more miserable, why not target your anger at someone who might actually deserve it? Send an angry email to the companies who try and keep homosexuality out of video games, or those who run adverts discriminating against women. Tweet a racist football player. Not a politician who is trying to do her job, and in her view at least, try and make Scotland into a better place. Considering all the benefits that her party have brought to Scotland, I’m thinking that perhaps she’s not doing such a bad job, and even for those who clearly disagree, can it really be argued that her work has been so terrible she deserve to die for it? There are much worthier candidates of the anger channeled towards her. I am in no way encouraging anyone to go and abuse others over the internet, or in any other way for that matter, but if you do insist on wasting your time in this way, why not actually do it in a way that might make a difference, or pick a target a little more deserving? You’ll still be a bit of a git if you ask me, but at least you’ll be a git with a decent cause.
This is the one song everyone
would like to learn: the song
that is irresistible:
the song that forces men
to leap overboard in squadrons
even though they see beached skulls
the song nobody knows
because anyone who had heard it
is dead, and the others can’t remember.
Shall I tell you the secret
and if I do, will you get me
out of this bird suit?
I don’t enjoy it here
squatting on this island
looking picturesque and mythical
with these two feathery maniacs,
I don’t enjoy singing
this trio, fatal and valuable.
I will tell the secret to you,
to you, only to you.
Come closer. This song
is a cry for help: Help me!
Only you, only you can,
you are unique
at last. Alas
it is a boring song
but it works every time.
Margaret Atwood
Also I would recommend checking out this article. If I could, I would put every poem up on this blog – some incredible women, who created inspiring work.
December 2012
3 posts
Even if they are never verbalized, the rules of bodily conduct for females become clear early on: when school administrators reprimand you for the inch of midriff that shows when you lift your hands straight in the air or youth group leaders tell you that the sight of your unintentional cleavage is what causes godly young men to fall, you learn that your body is dangerous and shameful and that it’s your responsibility to cloister it in a way that is acceptable to everyone else. You learn that your body is a topic of public debate that everyone is entitled to weigh in on, from a male classmate telling you that those jeans make your ass look huge to the male-dominated United States Congress dictating the parameters that rape must fall within to be considered legitimate. To be a woman, and to live life in a woman’s body, is to be held to a set of comically paradoxical standards that make you constantly second-guess yourself and jump through a million hoops in pursuit of an impossible perfection.” —Stop Catcalling Me | Thought Catalog (via ceedling)
November 2012
5 posts
Jump Twice as high
Be Twice as smart
Run Twice as fast
Think Twice as fast.
All this to be equal” —My Grandfather (via assassinofthesubconscious)
October 2012
6 posts
To be twenty again,
believing with such fervor,
sure of the way,
committed unto death if need be.
Willing to offer myself without reservation,
to share my talents and hopes
without equivocation.
To be twenty again,
believing change is possible
because I have changed,
believing barriers can be lifted,
distrust transcended
because I have known friendship
across the color line, deep friendship.
To be twenty again
and to know the power
of a social movement
that transforms its participants
as well as the world,
to know I’ve found a place, a way of life that allows love of God
and commitment to justice
to flourish side by side.
To fall in love again and again
with life and idealism as it manifests
first in one and then another
young man’s eyes.
I lived so intensely,
believed so absolutely,
felt so acutely.
I had the energy to do so
and lacked the experience
to feel afraid or use caution.
I grew outside the bounds
of my white, middle class upbringing.
I grew outside the experience
of my professors at college.
There were times of connection
and transcendence,
times of anger
and fear of losing all we’d worked for.
There were times of trust
and times the trust shriveled
in the light of a sharp afternoon.
Oh, to be twenty again
and refuse compromise.
To believe justice is attainable.
That love will replace greed.
To believe people can live
and work in mutual respect for one another.
To be twenty again
and believe it is all possible.
[I wrote this poem after seeing Debbie Rand at the 1994 reunion in Jackson Mississippi. Debbie spoke of missing the fervor and idealism we had in 1964.]
Copyright © Chude Allen, 1994, all rights reserved.
(Source)
The real Mitt Romney said we don’t need any more teachers in our classrooms. But the fellow on stage last night, he loves teachers—can’t get enough of them. The Mitt Romney we all know invested in companies that were called “pioneers” of outsourcing jobs to other countries. But the guy on stage last night, he said that he doesn’t even know that there are such laws that encourage outsourcing—he’s never heard of them. Never heard of them. Never heard of tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. He said that if it’s true, he must need a new accountant.
Now, we know for sure it was not the real Mitt Romney, because he seems to be doing just fine with his current accountant. So you see, the man on stage last night, he does not want to be held accountable for the real Mitt Romney’s decisions and what he’s been saying for the last year. And that’s because he knows full well that we don’t want what he’s been selling for the last year. So Governor Romney may dance around his positions, but if you want to be President, you owe the American people the truth.” —President Obama in Denver, CO today (via barackobama)
September 2012
13 posts
August 2012
15 posts
I’m doing an experiment. Every time you see this on your dash reblog it and add What is one thing/quality you love about yourself (could be abstract/personality/physical/anything really) But you must add one thing.
My odd eye color. Which consists of dark navy grayish green and amber.
I really like this idea.
My nose. Its a decent shape, and the break added character to it.
― Caitlin Moran, How To Be A Woman” —Margaret Ann Fletcher
@Pro_Abortion
Early this year I had an abortion. Please speak out against those who feel that it is their given right to hand down judgement, abuse & question my choice (via margaretannfletcher)
Can’t even begin to describe how horrific this story is, or how angry it makes me. Please take a look, sign this petition and make a difference. Every single signature counts.
Please sign this petition to have offensive Facebook groups - such as one ridiculing cancer - removed.
