Category Archives: Civil Rights

A Skeptic Comes Out

RandiPeople may or may not be aware of the magician and professional skeptic, The Amazing Randi, but he has recently decided to come out and we think it's a fascinating conversation…listen here. He comes out as a gay man and has a rather nice conversation about it with the interviewer. He has always been a personal favorite of mine, a debunker of scams shams and magical thinking, including the $1,000,000 Paranormal Challenge...which has yet to be awarded.

I can't help but wonder if the caricature portrait of Arthur C. Clarke (another gay man and long-time White Crane subscriber) in the background on the right might be an old boyfriend?

The conversation in the interview takes some interesting turns when they posit that rationalism (i.e. non-deism) might be as powerful a tool in the gay rights struggle as assimilationist gay religiosity and gay "spirituality"; Both have an interest in debunking pseudo-science (i.e. Right Wing creationism). Here's the quote:

"I think there is something that skepticism can do with homosexuality. A
lot of cultural conservatives use a kind of pseudo
science to argue against gay wrights. And people who rail against pseudo science
should want to argue against it even if it has to do with culture war
questions like gay rights. Cultural conservatives use junk science to
argue that gay parenting leads to mentally ill children.

They use fake
science to argue that being gay is not natural; t
hat homosexuality
is an aberration when in fact you find it widely among many different
species. So, in a real way I think gay issues are skeptic's issues."

D.J. Grothe, President of the James Randi Educational Foundation, the
international educational non-profit founded by celebrated social critic
and activist James Randi.

Jesse’s Journal

Dolphin
The
Dolphin Democrats are South Florida’s oldest, largest and most
successful LGBT political organization. Founded in 1982 by Karl Clark,
Tom
Bradshaw, Jamie Bloodworth and other activists, the Dolphins have made
Broward
County the most gay-friendly county in a still-homophobic state. Thanks
to
Dolphin leadership, Broward has both an LGBT-inclusive human rights
ordinance
and a domestic partners law.  Friendly politicians on both the state and

local levels owe their success to the votes, money and volunteer labor
of the
Dolphin members. Gay activist-politicians like Dean Trantalis, Ken
Keechl
and Justin Flippen have used the Dolphins as a launching pad for their
political
careers; and our community has been the better for it.  I have been a
member of the Dolphin Democrats since the early days and have nothing
but
affection and respect for the women and men who lead that organization.

 
Democratic-donkey Unquestionably, the Dolphin Democrats are a big success. In fact,
the
Dolphins areRepublican_elephant too successful; so successful in fact that it’s almost a
given that
any up-and-coming LGBT activist in Broward County would join the
Dolphins as a
matter of course.  Thanks to their success, the Dolphins have sucked the

air out of Broward’s queer political life. There was a time when our
community was led by independent, non-partisan political advocacy
groups like the Broward County Coalition for Human Rights, the Tuesday Night
Group,
GUARD (Gays United to Attack Repression and Discrimination) and the
“PAC-PAC.” Today the only alternative we have to the Dolphins are the
equally partisan (but less successful) Log Cabin Republicans and
Sunshine
Republicans.

 

As a Democrat, I was proud to be part of a community and a state
that
helped elect Barack Obama President of the United States, along with a
Democratic Congress. Just over a year later, Obama remains popular
but he and his Congress have failed to deliver most of what they
promised
us. Though the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes
Prevention
Act is now the law of the land, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act
(ENDA) is
going nowhere and both “don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT) and the so-called
Defense
Of Marriage Act (DOMA) promise to be around for a long time. (The
recent
“revelation” that the White Houses doesn’t really want DADT repealed
this year
was the last straw for too many activists.) Our community expects more
from this President and this Congress than a few empty gestures or
symbolic
appointments.

 

In all fairness, we are not alone. Each and every group that
worked
hard to elect Obama and a Democratic Congress in 2008 — anti-war
activists,
civil libertarians, environmentalists, feminists, labor unions, racial
and
ethnic minorities – has had its collective heart broken by the reality
of an
ineffective and incompetent Administration and Congress. Our president
seems to do a better job hosting parties in the White House than pushing
other
Democrats to pass his agenda. For their part, the “Dems” have missed
their
opportunity to enact useful reforms because of their distressing
inability to
unite and their disgusting lack of will power. The long-awaited health
care reform bill is a disaster; going from a concept that everyone
favored to a
bill that everyone hates. Unemployment is still high, our men and women

are still dying in Iraq and Afghanistan, and cap and trade is still a
long way
off.  Obama and the Democratic Party have disillusioned their friends,
energized their enemies, and alienated independents. he question
right now is not if the Dems will lose seats in Congress come November
but
whether or not the Republicans will gain enough seats to retake the
House and/or
the Senate. The Republicans are evil but the Democrats are incompetent;

and frankly I’d rather deal with evil than with incompetence.

 
Like too many other progressives, LGBT activists are sick and tired
of
being taken for granted by a Democratic Party that takes our votes, our
money
and our volunteer work and gives us little in return.  Admittedly, the
Republicans (except for Miami Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen) have done
nothing to win
our support, being married as they are to homophobic, religious
extremists. However, the fact that GOP is controlled by our enemies is
besides the point; as is the fact that Democratic clubs like the
Dolphins have
done great things for our community. As LGBT activists, our priority is
to
win equal rights for lesbian women, gay men, bisexuals and transgender
people
and not to elect politicians of one particular party. If the Obama
Administration and the Democrats in Congress want our support, they are
going to
have to earn it.

 

Gay Freedom Like too many other progressives, LGBT activists are sick and tired
of
being taken for granted by a Democratic Party that takes our votes, our
money
and our volunteer work and gives us little in return.  Admittedly, the
Republicans (except for Miami Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen) have done
nothing to win
our support, being married as they are to homophobic, religious
extremists.  However, the fact that GOP is controlled by our enemies is
besides the point; as is the fact that Democratic clubs like the
Dolphins have
done great things for our community. As LGBT activists, our priority is
to
win equal rights for lesbian women, gay men, bisexuals and transgender
people
and not to elect politicians of one particular party. If the Obama
Administration and the Democrats in Congress want our support, they are
going to
have to earn it.

Jesse Monteagudo is a regular contributor to White Crane and the GayWisdom blog.

Rock For Equality

Rock for Equality is a national event to demand equal Social Security benefits for LGBT Americans. This year there will be a rally on April 11th in Los Angeles to demand equal benefits for LGBT seniors.

Please join us in raising awareness about one of the most under recognized and harshly consequential issues in the LGBT movement! Join us at www.rockforequality.org

Queer The Census

Census  Okay. We know it's a little clichéd – but here's what we want to tell the Census: We're here. We're queer. And we want you to ask us about it. 

It's crazy – the Census wants an accurate count of everyone in the country, and yet, there's NO question in the Census survey that asks if you are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender! 

You read that right: LGBT people are basically invisible in THE survey that is designed to accurately reflect the diverse reality of America's population – and beyond being downright ridiculous, it's also a big problem. 

The census isn't just a numbers game. The data collected every ten years has a direct impact on issues that are critical to every American – issues like health care, economic stability and safety. Census data tells us where we live and how we create family. And when LGBT people are not counted, then we also don't count when it comes to services, resources … you name it. 

The good news is that you and I can do something about it. It's time to Queer the Census! Join me and sign the petition from The Task Force urging the Census Bureau to make sure everyone is counted. 

Visit Queer the Census to take action now. 

Thanks for your help,

NOH8 Cindy

Noh8  Cindy McCain has posed for an ad released by the NOH8 campaign, a pro-gay-marriage effort that pictures celebrities with their mouths taped shut. McCain appears in the usual format: dressed in white, with "NOH8" painted on her cheek and silver duct tape across her mouth. 

John McCain opposed gay marriage during his 2008 presidential run, and his wife rarely speaks out on particular issues. McCain's office issued a statement saying that the senator respects differences of opinion between his family members, but still "believes the sanctity of marriage is only defined as between one man and one woman."

Or perhaps "between one man and one woman who thinks her husband is an idiot."?