Another year, and another time I’ll use my blog as a blog.  This year I’ll be talking about the whole of Pride weekend, marriage equality coming to Pa. and all the related stories to it.

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Dustin Lance Black, screenwriter of “Milk” and boyfriend of Tom Daley (not really important, they’re just cute together), was recently asked to speak at his alma mater’s graduation.

However, once they realized there naked pictures of him  on the internet, they rescinded the offer, citing their previous sex scandals and not wanting to draw attention to those issues.  Well, guess that backfired, since now it’s back in the forefront of everyone’s mind.

We’re quickly getting to the point where no one running for political office won’t have naked pictures somewhere on the Internet.  Teenagers (and adults) have cell phones with cameras, it’s going to happen.

The pictures were lifted off Black’s ex-boyfriend’s computer, and he won in court after suing them, because of how they were procured.

But Black hits back, and his response is eloquent:

For too long now I’ve sat silent on this issue. That ends here and now and with this sentence: I did nothing wrong and I refuse to be shamed for this any longer…

And yes, we were doing what gay men do when they love and trust each other, we were having sex. I have never lied about my sexuality. If you invade my privacy, this is what you will find. I have sex. It brings me joy, fosters intimacy and helps love grow. I hope anyone reading this can say the same for themselves and for their parents…

With this cruel act, PCC’s Administration is punishing the victim. And I ask you this: If I was a heterosexual man or woman with this same painful injury in my past, would PCC’s Administration still be rescinding such an honor?

I think it’s a good response, and it’s nice to see.  I hope it makes other organizations think twice about things like this in the future.

All my best,

Mike

Geoffrey McGrath, along with other adults, started a Cub Scout Pack and Boy Scout Troop at the Rainer Beach United Methodist Church, an inner-city church in Seattle.

This church had never had Scouting units before, and they quickly signed up 15 youth between the two, most of them kids who had never had any experience with the Scouts.  The kids like the camping, and programs and the community service opportunities.

McGrath is a gay man (we’re friends on Facebook through our work with Scouts for Equality and I’ve been living vicariously through him and his husband’s pictures from their recent trip to Italy), and RBUM knew this.  And was happy to have him.

The national BSA office revoked his membership, but he continued to work with the kids, refusing to let the units fold, lest the kids not have a chance to experience the program.

Well, on (Good) Friday, national revoked the charters from the church, because the church refused to kick out McGrath.

Yes, you read that right, national decided that those fifteen youth, those two units (it’s all about the numbers, believe me), should all be kicked out, because they want to discriminate against one gay man, even after the city council and mayor of Seattle (which I believe includes the President of the Board of the Chief Seattle Council) sent a letter to national taking them to task for revoking McGrath’s membership.

The story exploded on Facebook, was picked up by news outlets all over the country, including Time Magazine.

In the meantime, Pack and Troop 98 are now working to find another program (since they aren’t allowed to use the BSA program, advancements or uniforms), and they are looking into if they can transfer into other units.

Most people realize that this adult policy will not be around for much longer.  This is going to be looked back as one of the ugliest incidents BSA every choreographed.

All my best,

Mike

Today, the ACLU announced that they submitted a motion for the trial for marriage equality in Pennsylvania to move it to summary judgement.  Basically what that means is both sides have agreed that the case can be decided by the judge on the briefs submitted.  No witnesses, although the judge may decide to ask for opening statements.

This moves up the entire timeline.  The deadline to appeals to the motion are due by May 12, so anytime after that date, we could have a decision from the judge.  Originally arguments were set to take place in June, so this really is moving things up significantly.

As of right now, marriage equality is batting 1,000 since the Supreme Court decisions last summer, but every single time a stay has been issued.

So, my thinking is now that we’ll have a decision by the end of May, a stay, and hopefully a failed appeal by the end of the summer.

The other side of the coin, Corbett, who is in a precarious position for his reelection could choose not to appeal.  I think he will appeal, but he may want to try to gain some votes, even at the expense of losing some of his base.  If that is the case (which again, I don’t think will happen), most likely some right-wing group will try to swoop in and claim standing to keep the appeal going.  If that happens, my guess is it will take a while for the courts to decide if they have standing or not, further delaying the process.

Anyway, if you want to read more, the ACLU of Pennsylvania has an FAQ here.

All my best,

Mike

So Pope Francis, in a new interview, said that he would be open, in certain circumstances, to civil unions.

The way it was worded, I actually don’t know if he was specifically talking about same-sex couples.  But even if he was, he framed it in such a way that was insulting to begin with:

“Marriage is between a man and a woman. Secular states want to justify civil unions to regulate cohabitations, mainly to resolve issues involving their finances, such as health assistance. We need to look at different cases and evaluate them.”

The question was posed about civil unions, not same-sex marriage, so it really may or may not be about same-sex couples, I think it’s hard to tell either way.

But if it was about same-sex couples, Pope Francis is not recognizing that same-sex couples can be in love.  He is stating he only sees our relationships as means to tax breaks and joint health insurance.  Like our relationships aren’t real or don’t matter.

And that’s hurtful.  And bullshit.

We’re not that different, it’s not a hard concept to understand two men or two women in love with each other.

Is it progress?  I suppose it is, though.  Just as soon as January, the Vatican denied the Pope would ever be in favor of same-sex civil unions.  So again, yes, it is some progress, but we shouldn’t have to beg and scrape for the crumbs that get thrown our way.

And of course, arch-homophobe Cardinal Dolan said in an interview that we’re twisting the Pope’s words (and many people may be, like I said, I’m still not convinced he wasn’t talking about civil unions for heterosexual couples) and Francis is really not in favor or any recognition, and it would make him feel uncomfortable.

Note to self: don’t invite Cardinal Dolan to my future wedding, wouldn’t want him to feel icky.

And of course, Dan Savage hits it on the head.  It’s a long quote, but it’s worth it:

Would gay people be willing to accept civil unions in place of marriage? Would we be willing to compromise with conservative Christians? Would gay people be willing to settle for all the same rights, responsibilities, and protections of marriage right now in exchange for leaving marriage for opposite-sex couples? I told my friend we would.

In 1985.

When gay men were dying by the tens of thousands at the height of the AIDS crisis—when gay men were being dragged out of the hospital rooms of their dying partners by homophobic family members, when gay men were being barred from the funerals of their deceased partners, when gay men were being evicted from their homes after the deaths of their partners (many evicted gay men were sick and dying themselves)—conservative Christians could’ve stepped in then and said, “This is wrong. Whatever we believe about homosexual acts, brutalizing people like this is shockingly immoral and deeply un-Christian. Clearly there needs to be some sort of legal framework to protect people in loving, committed, stable same-sex relationships from these appalling cruelties.”

Conservative Christians did no such thing. They celebrated AIDS, they welcomed the plague, they said it was God’s judgement and they insisted that gay people deserved this pain and suffering—those of us who were sick and dying; those who were being dragged, barred, and evicted; those of us who were watching our friends and lovers die—and that it was only a taste of the pain and suffering that we would face in hell after our deaths.

The way gay people were treated at the height of the AIDS crisis made the importance of marriage rights—the importance of being able to declare your own next-of-kin—scaldingly apparent. Some of the most impassioned fighters for marriage equality, like Andrew Sullivan, cite what they witnessed in AIDS wards as their primary motivation. If Christians had looked at the suffering of gay men in AIDS wards in 1985 said, “The lives, loves, and rights of these couples must be protected,” and if conservative Christians had proposed civil unions then and gotten a civil unions statute signed into law by the conservative Christian president they helped elect, that might’ve halted the push for marriage equality before it could even get off the ground.

But now that we’re winning marriage—now that victory is assured—the pope is willing to maybe think about supporting some type of civil union scheme. I’ll say to the pope what I said to my evangelical Christian pal: that fucking ship has fucking sailed. What the pope is saying to gay people in 2014 is this: “Okay, now that you’re winning marriage, here’s an idea: give marriage back and we will give you civil unions… which we once opposed with the same intensity and in the same apocalyptic terms that we oppose marriage today. Is it a deal?”

No deal, Francis.

All my best,

Mike

I’m Lebanese, and from most outside perspective, Beirut (the capital city), is a partially-Westernized, big city, in the middle of a volatile part of the world.  I was trying to convince my boss of this, and then of course they went and had two car bombs the next week.  Stable, it may not be, but from pictures I’ve seen, it’s a beautiful city on the Mediterranean.

Lebanon, also has a large LGBT community, and as far as that part of the world goes, they have more freedoms than most.  Recently, the Lebanese court ruled that homosexuality is not a crime:

The court ruled that homosexual relationships do not “contradict the laws of nature” and therefore cannot be considered a crime….The assumption that homosexuality is a result of disturbances in the family dynamic or unbalanced psychological development is based on wrong information.

It’s a step forward, and it’s great to see in Lebanon, of all places, so hopefully it is thinking that will continue throughout all the corners of the world.  You can read more about the court ruling at the Good Men Project.

All my best,

Mike

Been a while since I’ve written about the BSA, so I wanted to take a minute and discuss the current state of things.

January 1 the new policy went into affect, allowing openly gay, lesbian and bisexual youth to join (girls are able to join Venturing at age 14).  And of course, the sky has not fallen.  From all views, it has been a total non-issue, just like we kind of figured it would be.

Now, the policy itself is hypocritical, since it tells youth that it’s okay that they’re gay (or bi), but once they become an adult, ‘we don’t want you anymore.’

And it also creates the problems, that in the above mentioned Venturing program, youth is defined as a member under the age of 21.  Meaning a gay Scout can earn his Eagle in a Troop, be forbidden from being an adult volunteer, but could at the same time have three more years in a Crew as a youth member.

And we knew this going into it.  My best guess is that national knew it too, and sees it as an easy out.  It’s an easy fix, and once enough of the country realizes how crazy and two-faced this policy is, it’s a quick and easy fix.  Add to that, the fact that former Defense Secretary Robert Gates is the new President, considering he is man who implemented the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, I don’t think we’re far out from full equality.

And this is not hypothetical.  A youth in Maryland, Pascal Tessier, became the first (known) openly gay Eagle Scout under the new policy in February.  And while this was the more important part of the change, it’s still incredibly important to all full equality: otherwise we’re telling LGB youth that they’re broken and they’re not worthy, and we don’t give them role models to look up to.  And companies will continue to pull back funding, such as Walt Disney World, which will not donate to the BSA until the policy is fully inclusive.

Scouts for Equality continues their great work, and I’m happy to keep supporting and working with them behind the scenes:

Here in Pittsburgh, I volunteered last year at MountainFest II after enough people begged me to.  Even though I was uncomfortable, it was nice to be back at camp, and most of the camp volunteers are freaking awesome and I was happy to see them again.

I’m also working with the Camp Staff Alumni Association, which is a separate non-profit, so while I can’t be a registered member of the BSA, I can still volunteer through the CSAA.

And I know this policy will change, and probably faster than I imagine.

All my best,

Mike

For those unaware, the LGBT community is great at commandeering technology.  Case in point, the myriad of hook-up apps available for smartphones.  The most well known one is grindr, and a new comedy video features women reading real messages from the app.  Warning, not safe for work, but funny (and a bit sad):

All my best,

Mike

See, the title is a little bit of a pun, since I’m going to be talking about Pennsylvania.  Oh, I amuse myself.

So, Pa. is the only state in the northeast that doesn’t recognize same-sex couples (all New England and Mid-Atlantic states have marriage equality, except New Jersey which has civil unions, and they’re moving towards marriage).  And on top of that, Pa. has no employment protection for LGBT workers, meaning outside of areas (such as Allegheny county or places like State College), employers are able to fire workers for no other reason than that they’re gay.

So if we are successful in obtaining marriage equality, we’ll also be the only state to have done so without a state-wide ENDA.  Of course we’re ass-backwards.

Our Governor is kind of the laughing stock of the country.  One of his staff previously compared same-sex marriages to the marriages of 12 year olds, he has now said a better analogy is that of incest.  And he has the fucking nerve to laugh:

And if you couldn’t hear the drum beating before, now we have explicit calls from Brian Sims to vote him out of office:

Our job isn’t just to be frustrated with the homophobia coming from the Governor’s Mansion, it’s to do everything we can to ensure that his chapter in Pennsylvania’s political history is as sad and short as his record on schools, economic development and civil rights.

But this is also the state that has said spousal benefits for same-sex couples is just like throwing money at cats and dogs.  There is also a line of thinking (that I lost the link to, of course Nope, found the link), that he specifically used that reference to further demonize and demoralize LGBT citizens in very pointed way; either way, he’s an asshole.

But marriage equality is being fought on four different fronts:

1. ACLU lawsuit, the first in the country brought after the DOMA/Prop 8 decisions.
2. Montgomery County and the Montgomery County Clerk have filed appeals to keep issuing same-sex marriage licenses.  These may be the same appeal, or they may be separate, I’m not sure, I’ve seen them reported on both ways.
3. Twenty one couples who were issued marriage licenses in Montgomery County are now suing the state for recognition.
4. Marriage equality bill introduced in the House.

I don’t remember any other state moving forward on so many fronts, but I also don’t follow other states as closely as Pa.

Also, a bill has also been introduced to stop the torture of “ex-gay therapy” on minors:

Almost four decades of science and medicine that says if you are LGBTQ, just like me, that there is nothing wrong with you, that you are not broken, you don’t need to be fixed and you don’t need to have a diagnosis, and that being LGBT, like so many other characteristics in your life, some days will be a blessing and some days will be a burden, but is not something that needs to be fixed or can be fixed and that you are just fine the way you are.

So we’re moving forward, in any way (and many ways) possible, it’s a lot of fighting, but when you have to fight for your rights, you do what you must, I suppose.  And who knows how long this will take and how messy it will get, but I’ll keep you updated.

All my best,

Mike