Written: 9/23/2012

The Catholic Church is refusing to sell a piece of property to gay people.

Let’s put this in perspective.  What do you think would happen, if the Catholic Church refused to sell a piece of property to a Jewish person.  Or a diner refused to serve a Hispanic person?  Or a gas station that wouldn’t sell to women.

Yeah, outrage.  Not wringing of hands saying that they can stand up for their religious beliefs.  Public outrage, and rightfully so.

Read the story here.  And just remember, if you see a story like this, just substitute another group for LGBT and think if there would be outrage, from yourself or others.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 9/23/2012

Homophobia in professional sports once again is back in the news:

Why do you hate the fact that other people want a chance to live their lives and be happy, even though they may believe in something different than you, or act different than you? How does gay marriage, in any way shape or form, affect your life? If gay marriage becomes legal, are you worried that all of a sudden you’ll start thinking about penis? … I can assure you that gay people getting married will have zero effect on your life. They won’t come into your house and steal your children. They won’t magically turn you into a lustful cockmonster. They won’t even overthrow the government in an orgy of hedonistic debauchery because all of a sudden they have the same legal rights as the other 90 percent of our population—rights like Social Security benefits, child care tax credits, Family and Medical Leave to take care of loved ones, and COBRA healthcare for spouses and children. You know what having these rights will make gays? Full-fledged American citizens just like everyone else, with the freedom to pursue happiness and all that entails.

Minnesota kicker Chris Kluwe comes out swinging after a Maryland legislator tried to silence a Raven’s player.

You can read the entire letter, published on Deadspin here.

And a great followup here:

I don’t want to spend the whole column quoting Kluwe, but he asks Burns a question that should be put to all fearful haters who believe a few lines in their particular faith’s special book will excuse their loathsome bias forever: “Why do you hate freedom?

Update: Kluwe came out swinging and was an immense force for good, probably turning the tide on Minnesota not putting hate into their constitution.  He continues to be a sane voice (and a huge gaming nerd, so he’s fun to follow on Twitter), and a much welcome addition to the dialogue.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 9/23/2012

The Good Men Project has an article up, that I’ve touched upon before:

Sometimes I’m so exhausted that I can’t read another hate crime horror story or risk walking down a city street holding the hand of my boyfriend because, in the back of my mind, I have to think: is it worth it? Am I going to be safe? And oddly enough, it’s not really the physical violence that scares me. It’s the words.

The truth of the matter is, I’m tired too.  Tired of having to protect myself, even when I should be able to just be myself.

I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to get past that, the self-protection mode is one that comes easily, and one that I default to. I hope to be able to move past that, but until then, I’ll continue on, unbeknownst to most why I always appear so tired.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 9/23/2012

The Good Men Project has a great poster they’ve shared:

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 8/26/2012

One of my favorite sites, the Good Men Project absolutely hits it out of the park with an awesome article.

Two quotes:

You’re not waiting in line 20 minutes for waffle fries to make a point about free speech, or you’d be just as quick to defend the speech of someone you disagree with, like me. You’re showing your “appreciation” for Chick-Fil-A because “I hate gay people” is so unpleasant to utter aloud. It’s much easier to say, “I’m going to eat this chicken sandwich.” Right now, appreciating Chick-Fil-A is the safest form of homophobia there is. No wonder so many people are flocking to their restaurants. And if anyone gets offended, you can plead innocent.  “What?  I don’t hate gay people. I just like fill-in-the-blank [breast tenders, religious tolerance, the First Amendment].”

If that’s your argument, then at the very best you’re kidding yourself. Let me make it perfectly clear, though, that you’re not fooling me. Chick-Fil-A has donated millions of dollars to anti-gay groups and has given every indication that they will continue to do so. We’re not just talking about organizations that oppose gay marriage. These are hate groups that claim that homosexuality can be cured, that being gay is linked to child molestation and that gay people shouldn’t be allowed to raise children. You can imagine why this would be a particularly sensitive issue to me.

And the second:

I’m not saying that everyone who dines at Chick-Fil-A is a bigot or my mortal enemy. It’s possible some people go there out of convenience or necessity. Maybe it’s the only place at the mall food court their kids will eat or it’s the only drive-thru they pass on their way home every night. It could be that they work there and rely on the employee discount. I’m not going to judge everyone who patronizes the business. Life’s complicated, and we all have our own reasons for doing the things we do.

But if you’re going to eat Chick-Fil-A to make some political point, at least have the courage to be honest about the point you’re making.

You don’t like gay people.

The sky is blue.

End of discussion

Go read the whole thing here.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 8/26/2012

Submitted without comment (aside from the fact that for those unaware, Brian Brown is the current president of the leading anti-equality organization, the National Organization for Marriage, and he recently had a dinner debate with Dan Savage from which this quote comes from):

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 8/26/2012

Hugh Hefner came out with this amazing quote:

“The fight for gay marriage is, in reality, a fight for all of our rights. Without it, we will turn back the sexual revolution and return to an earlier, puritanical time. Today, in every instance of sexual rights falling under attack, you’ll find legislation forced into place by people who practice discrimination disguised as religious freedom. Their goal is to dehumanize everyone’s sexuality and reduce us to using sex for the sole purpose of perpetuating our species. To that end, they will criminalize your entire sex life…This is a religious nation, but it is also a secular one. … No one should have to subjugate their religious freedom, and no one should have their personal freedoms infringed. This is America and we must protect the rights of all Americans.”

Also, on a related note, I just finished the book by Zach Wahls, and he did mention that his moms bought him a subscription to Playboy when he was in high school, with the caveat that they had to read it first (which they did once, and that was it).  Kind of strange, yet progressive.  Although I guess at the time he was growing up, with the access to the Internet, it was a good way to allow access but approve of the source.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 8/26/2012

I think I wrote something about this before, but there were multiple organizations trying to kidnap children from gay parents. Now, turning it on its head, the mother is suing those organizations with an organized crime suit.

Interesting to read, although I don’t understand all the legalese.  I’ll be interested to see what more comes of this.

Read about it here.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 8/26/2012

Once more Lebanon is in the news, and not for good reasons, two men have been arrested for having “immoral relations.”

Anonymous attacked the website of the PM of Uganda to call out the rampant homophobia.

Even though there is so much homophobia in the world, we have to fight the injustice where we can (often a right-wing talking point that we should be fighting homophobia oversees instead of here, giving them a free pass for a while), so we continue to fight where we can.

All my best,

The King of Spades