Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Heinz: A for Effort, D for Courage

Check this out: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kAKYpUo18wU

Heinz pulled this commercial from the air after it received complaints.

I love this commercial. It's clever, charming and fun. What could better? At first I thought: boycott Heinz for not standing up. But I've softened my position. Shame on you, Heinz, for kowtowing to the ignorant masses!



Tuesday, June 24, 2008

When It Comes To Michelle Obama, Where Are The Feminists?

Reg sent this link to me and I thought it might be worthy of comment on dis-n-dat (fe). Here's the link: http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com/2008/06/when-it-comes-to-michelle-obama-where.html


To me, the Washington Post op-ed piece offers even more evidence of how the supposedly "gay rights" (e.g., HRC) or "women's rights" (e.g., NOW) organizations are all REALLY just about advocating for issues meaningful/pertinent to white gays and white women only. Their hypocrisy is so blatant and indefensible yet each offending organization refuses to recognize the truth and is quick to cry, "foul!" How can they possibly be called, "non-inclusive"? All you have to do is look at their marketing materials and you can see how committed they are to diversity, right? Well, someone needs to tell them that putting pictures of people of color in brochures and on web sites is nothing more than window dressing to create the illusion of inclusion. To use a phrase shouted at the recent Michigan-Florida delegate debate, this is akin to "putting lipstick on a pig!" In other words, the organization might look slightly more attractive [inclusive], but in the end it's still just a pig with lipstick on (kinda like Geraldine Ferraro, huh?).
If one scratches the surface of how gay rights and women's rights organizations have responded to relevant issues involving people of color (such as the recent events involving Michelle Obama), it becomes clear that mere "lip service" has been (and continues to be) paid to the notion of true inclusion/representation. Until organizations such as HRC and NOW acknowledge that mistakes have been made (to put it mildly) and avow to right these wrongs and begin to stand up for ALL their members, then it will be hard for me (and the rest of America) to take them seriously.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

"Obama Pride!" 2008










Pam and I had a fabulous time yesterday at Boston Gay Pride staffing the Obama Pride booth. Although there were a few bitter, hateful a-holes (aka former Hillary supporters) who went out of their way to be rude, by and large, the response from the LGBT crowd was positive.






Thursday, June 12, 2008

Today is Loving Day!


Fooled you with the picture?! It's not, as the name implies, the June version of Valentine's Day. According to the lovingday.org website "the name comes from Loving v. Virginia (1967), the landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized interracial marriage in the United States. Loving Day celebrations commemorate the anniversary of the Loving decision every year on or around June 12th."

Raise your glasses to legal recognition of interracial couples, ya'll. Today is the 41st anniversary of that decision.

It's hard to believe that >16 states embedded in their constitutions the illegalization of interracial marriage -- even as I look back and recall living a segregated life. Look how far we've come! Barack Obama, the native son of such a union, is likely to be our next president. We have made a lot of progress.

I'm hopeful that one day we'll see this same progress with regard to laws and attitudes towards same sex couples. Now that will be a truly loving day.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Let's all take a trip to "LezTown" and stay in "Lesbiatopia"!


Ok, these sites caught my eye when I was reading a gay news story this evening and I felt compelled to share them.
The first is called "LezTown," where you can learn about "Lez Events," "Lez Poets," or "Lez Mami's" among other things: http://www.leztown.com/

The second is "Lesbiatopia," where visitors are welcomed to "lesbian paradise": http://www.lesbiatopia.com/
Enjoy!