Written: 3/31/2012

This makes me fucking insane.  The fact that this kind of thing happens drive me up the wall and makes me just want to rage against every being in the Catholic hierarchy, as well as those that can’t understand my frustrations with the members of the Church that lets this continue:

Father Marcel Guarnizo, the cleric who presided over the ceremony, doesn’t like gay people: during communion he refused to give the grieving daughter a piece of the Eucharist. From The Advocate:

Barbara Johnson says that Father Marcel Guarnizo told her, “I cannot give you communion because you live with a woman, and in the eyes of the church that is a sin.”

Denying Ms. Johnson the Eucharist apparently wasn’t enough for Fr. Guarnizo, who reportedly “left the alter” when Ms. Johnson delivered her mother’s eulogy, and later refused to attend the gravesite. 

To deny someone, on one of the absolute saddest days of their lives the closure that they need, is horrific.  He not only denied her communion, but refused to finish the funeral, not even going to the grave site.  The priest has been suspended, but now is saying that his diocese is lying about the whole situation and he tries to let his bigotry stand.

AmericaBlog has he summation:

So this was pretty bad. But it’s hardly any worse than anything the Vatican, or US Cardinals, do on a daily basis to gays, or to pro-choicers. How is the Catholic churches annual attempt at influencing the US elections on behalf of the Republicans, when they ban John Kerry, for example, from taking communion, any less “intimidating”?  And it’s not intimidation when the Catholic church cuts off services to foster children in Illinois and DC than simply treat gay people fairly?  Trying to influence legislation by abandoning needy kids isn’t intimidation?  Talk to the kids the Catholic bishops used as their pawns.  And let’s not even speak of the intimidation involved in aiding and abetting the rape of young children.

I know that there are good people out there who are Catholic, I can see how it can bring peace and good things to someone’s life.  But I cannot understand how people can allow things like this to happen.

Update: You’ll notice that this is Part V, although I think I lost Part III.  The others aren’t really ready to be published, they will take a lot more work, but I’ll be working on them eventually.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 3/31/2012

I guess sometimes I forget that those coming behind me still have it tough.  That school is still sometimes hell, and oftentimes, not from classmates, but from school principles and administrators.

Case in point, Dorthy Bond, a principal from Tennessee was forced to resign after telling LGBT students that they were going to hell.

I could never understand treating children like that, and especially someone in education spreading untruths like that.

 All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 3/31/2012

This is floating around, and I’ll share it from AmericaBlog:

I’ve been forced to explain homosexuality to my kids (aged 3 and 4) because their uncle is gay. This incredibly difficult and traumatic experience went as follows:

Child: Why does Uncle Bob go everywhere with Pete?
Me: Because they’re in love, just like Mummy and Daddy are.
Child: Oh. Can I have a biscuit?

We’re all scarred for life. Scarred, I tell you.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 3/31/2012

The Internet and the media has exploded with the fact that, surprise, NOM is a bigoted organization!

Some of their internal memos were leaked, revealing part of their strategy to be driving a wedge between African Americans and gays:

The strategic goal of this project is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks – two key democratic constituencies. We aim to find, equip, energize and connect African American spokespeople for marriage; to develop a media campaign around their objections to gay marriage as a civil right; and to provoke the gay marriage base into responding by denouncing these spokesmen and women as bigots. No politician wants to take up and push an issue that splits the base of the party. Fanning the hostility raised in the wake of Prop 8 is key…

NOM also included in their strategy, hiring dumb, pretty celebrities to be spokespeople.

AmericaBlog follows up, wondering who saw this plan, and then decided to fund them.  We sadly, may never know, even though on many occasions, NOM has been ordered by the courts to follow campaign finance laws, they still refused to disclose their donors.

The Onion follows up with some great pieces of satire as well, make sure to check it out.

Rob has an amazing piece, please go and take the time to read it, it breaks down NOMs lies and puts out so succinctly some of the details of this whole situation.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 3/31/2012

I’m fairly certain that this will be my friends when I come out, instead of really talking about me coming out, instead talking about CSS, design and typography.

Check out the story here.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 3/12/2012

The Good Man Project has an amazing piece up about intolerance.  So much rang true with me.  A few bits:

I was afraid of what might happen if I did come out. What if it all went pear-shaped and we couldn’t work together anymore? I was spending the majority of my time with these people; if we didn’t get along it would make the work environment insufferable.

When I think back on it, I always feel resentment toward my co-workers for making me feel like I needed to hide who I was.

I let my own assumptions about conservatives affect the way I handled the situation

From the first statement, I know what will happen if I come out, I’ll lose my job.  Although it’s interesting to see another perspective. 

Yeah, the second statement rings really true.  I really hold ill feelings towards the situation I’m stuck in, and I’m always afraid that that will spill over to individual people.  Yes, they often do things that offend me, and bad-mouth the LGBT community.  I tend to try to push those feelings down because I have to work with these people, but I hold so much resentment and anger inside.

And on the flip side of that, I do have to remember that these are people too, people that I’ve probably angered.  And overall, even though they all have their idiosyncrasies, we all work well together.

It’s a tough balance, and I’m tired of walking it.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 3/12/2012

Once again, hockey is in the news, and in another good way.

The You Can Play Foundation launched, and it’s pretty awesome.  Check out their video:

I’m very happy to see this, as much as I really hope other sports will follow suit (and there has been progress, such as the inclusion of sexual orientation protection in the new NBA player agreement), but it’s great to see the NHL take this first step.

And as I write this, the Pens are on a 9-game winning streak, a new statue of Mario was just unveiled and it looks like Crosby will be back, probably in four days.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 2/21/2012

Sometimes it’s hard to remember that we’ve made so much progress under President Obama:

The Obama administration on Friday said it would not defend the constitutionality of statutes blocking same-sex military spouses from receiving marriage benefits — including rights to visitation in military hospitals, survivor benefits, and burial together in military cemeteries.

In a letter to the House speaker, John A. Boehner, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said that the Justice Department shared the view of plaintiffs in a lawsuit in Massachusetts that such laws — including a part of the Defense of Marriage Act, and statutes governing veterans’ benefits — are unconstitutional.

Good for the administration.

In the bigger picture, this belongs on a growing list of positive steps the administration has taken in this area over the last three years. The president and his team, though still “evolving” on marriage equality, have successfully repealed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law, expanded federal benefits for the same-sex partners of executive-branch employees, signed the Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law, cleared the way for hospital-visitation rights for same-sex couples, lifted the travel/immigration ban on those with HIV/AIDS, ordered the Federal Housing Authority to no longer consider the sexual orientation of applicants on loans, expanded the Census to include the number of people who report being in a same-sex relationship, and directed U.S. agencies abroad to ensure our humanitarian and diplomatic efforts “promote and protect” the rights of gays and lesbians.

At the same time, Obama has also endorsed repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, and stopped trying to defend DOMA against federal court challenges.

Let’s just make this a bullet list for easy reading:

• Stop defending statues blocking same sex-military spouses from receiving marriage benefits
• Repeal of DADT
• Expanded federal benefits for same sex partners of executive branch employees
• Hate Crimes Prevention Act
• Hospital visitation rights for same-sex couples
• Lifted the travel and immigration ban on those with HIV/AIDS
• Ordered HUD to no longer consider sexual orientation on loans
• Expanded the census to include same-sex couples
• Directed US agencies abroad to promote and protect the rights of the LGBT community
• Endorsed the repeal of DOMA and stopped defending it in the courts

Written: 2/21/2012

Over at Slog, they are dissecting a dumb anti-gay argument.

Basically it goes that some members of the LGBT community would not take a pill making them straight, if such a thing existed.

Really, in the eyes of bigots, it’s going to be damned if you do, damned if you don’t, but we’ll ignore that for this moment.

Now yes, I often say that no one would choose this life for themselves.  Why would anyone want to be the subject of hatred and bigotry, discrimination in the workplace, housing, pay and marriage rights.  Being blamed for all kinds of things from natural disasters to terrorist attacks?

But this is how I am.  Who I am.  I can’t imagine not being me.  Yes, life is hard, much harder than it should be, but I have to look at the positive and take what I can get and make the most out of my life.

And I would bet someone who is straight would say the same thing.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 2/21/2012

Remember how I talked about protesting too much, and how usually those who do are guilty of what they’re railing against?

Well, in case you missed it, check out the story of Sheriff Babeu, who has been a huge anti-immigration proponent who was…wait for it…sleeping with another man who is (possibly) an illegal immigrant.

He threatened the man to keep the story secret, but it exploded in his face.  I’m posting about it since he also came out at the same time as talking about the relationship, so there’s the gay connection.  Read more about it here.

All my best,

The King of Spades