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

Written: 8/13/2012

A quick update here, I just finished Jeremy Hooper’s book “If it’s a choice, my zygote chose balls,” and it’s amazing.

Hooper writes the site Good As You, and the book is a great journey through his life and great writing about the struggles LGBT people face.

The ending (and I don’t have my copy with me, or else I’d quote it), has a great part about rage.  The rage that Jeremy feels at how the world has treated the LGBT youth and the real pain they’ve inflicted.

He mentions that he holds the rage in, but if you look, you can see it in his eyes.  And I’m once again reminded of one of my best friends, the first one who could really see through me, and realize that there’s more to me than I present.

I prefer to hide my emotions, it’s easier that way.  People expect you to be happy, and anything deviating from that just causes drama and makes it harder to interact.

But he was able to see through me, and maybe other people can to, but he was the only one to actually say that he saw more than what I present and to be concerned.  And that meant so much.  We were sitting on his futon in his basement watching a movie, talking and drinking, as we do, and he turned to me and just told me that he knew there was pain behind my eyes and that he was here for me.

And that meant the world.

He never forced me to talk with him, but he’s always an open ear, and I’m the same for him.  His kindness and hospitality is one of the things that has kept me safe.  I’ve explained to him my apprehension about going out with members of the camp staff to the bar, not only because I don’t have the luxury of trusting them, but also because the mountain is not exactly the most welcoming place on earth.

I’m eternally grateful for his friendship, I wish I could somehow repay him.  But maybe the world will change and evolve and the rage will dissipate. I think that would be a great gift for him and the world.

All my best,

The King of Spades