Not your typical school mail

High schoolers in Maryland are required to take home this flyer that reads in part, "As a gay man I never thought I could change WHO I was.  Until I realized there was a choice...and I chose to change from gay to straight."

In Maryland, schools are required to send home information from any nonprofit that isn't promoting hate speech.  Perhaps this flyer isn't overt hate speech, but I have to ask: What if instead of being gay, any religious group was inserted in this flyer?

As a Mormon I never thought I could change WHO I was.  Until I realized there was a choice...and I chose to change from Mormon to Catholic.

As a Christian I never thought I could change WHO I was.  Until I realized there was a choice...and I chose to change from Christian to atheist. 


As a Jew I never thought I could change WHO I was.  Until I realized there was a choice...and I chose to change from Jewish to Christian.

I bet that flyer would sound a whole lot more like hate speech under these circumstances.  Why should we expect less from people who are telling kids that it is not okay to be who you are if you are gay?

Maybe it's time for Maryland to take another look at his ridiculous law.

Jon Stewart on the Democrats

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A Baltimore weather announcer freaks out

Thanks to Towleroad for this clip of a public nervous breakdown.

Don't kill us, jail us

According to Americablog, Peter Spriggs (left) from the Family Research Council of Super Bowl ad fame has called for the criminalization of homosexuality.  Bryan Fischer (right) of the American Family Association agreed, because homosexuality "represents an enormous threat to public health."  Said Fischer: "It's a simple matter of common sense, sound public policy, and a concern for public health. … Whatever we think we should do to curtail injection drug use are the same sorts of things we should pursue to curtail homosexual conduct."

He further justifies his jailing gay folks by claiming that 1 Timothy1:8-11 says that "those 'who practice homosexuality' should come under the purview of the law just as much as those who take people captive in order to sell them into slavery." 

As Americablog points out, "Family Research Council (FRC) and the American Family Association (AFA) are important players in Republican politics. So, we have to start asking Republicans if they agree with this proposal to jail the gays."

So, I guess these folks think that killing gay people is a little too much.  Jailing us will do just fine.

Double standard in Prop 8 case

The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that the federal judge, Chief US District Judge Vaughn Walker, who will decide the challenge to Proposition 8. is gay.

According to the newspaper,  the judge, who was appointed by George H.W. Bush in 1989, has never hidden nor called attention to his orientation.

Will this influence Judge Walker's decision? One only has to study Walker's decision years ago when he ruled against organizers of the Gay Games to call the event  The Gay Olympics.  (God forbid the word gay should tarnish the Olympic brand.)

Some folks are calling for him to step down from the case, citing a conflict of interest.  If that's the case, the five Catholic judges should step down from the US Supreme Court on any ruling regarding same-sex marriage or abortion, since their religious leader, The Pope, insists that both are contrary to Roman Catholic doctrine.

Gee, that would leave four judges to decide these cases.  The point is, heterosexual, wealthy, white males have decided the lion's share (and then some) of the Supreme Court cases throughout history.  Why wasn't attention paid when the biases they brought to the court might have influenced their decisions?

What if the Obamas behaved like the Palins?

Imagine the following:

Barack Obama stands before a predominately African-American audience. “America is ready for another revolution!” he shouts to the crowd.  The entire auditorium stands, applauds, and shouts.

Now imagine that Michelle Obama has been part of a movement to get her home state of Illinois to secede from the union.  She is a mover and a shaker in this movement, convincing her husband to speak at  a convention designed to further this cause for succession.  When asked about his attendance, Barack Obama lies about it, saying he never attended.

Now consider this:

Sarah Palin stands before a predominately white audience. “America is ready for another revolution!” she shouts to the crowd.  The entire auditorium stands, applauds, and shouts.

Husband Todd Palin has been part of a movement to get his home state of Alaska to secede from the union.  He is a mover and a shaker in this movement, convincing his wife to speak at  a convention designed to further this succession movement.  When asked about her attendance, Sarah Palin lies about it, saying she never attended. (http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/the-alaska-divi.html)


Of course, if the first two scenarios had occurred, there would endless fear mongering among right wing pundits.  Can you imagine what Glenn Beck -- who has accused President Obama of being racist -- would say about this?  Can you imagine Barack Obama ever in a million years becoming Senator, let alone President, if Michelle were a member of a succession movement? And if Barack Obama had addressed the group supporting Illinois leaving the United States?

The Sarah and Todd Palin scenarios have actually happened.  Todd Palin's membership in a party whose purpose is to get his state to leave the union was barely an issue in the campaign.  And while Sarah Palin's speech at the recent Tea Party Convention was been widely covered, I haven't read much about her use of the word revolution in her speech.  Does anyone actually believe this would be the case if Barack Obama used this language in front of an African-American audience?  Remember when he was "palling around with terrorists" because he attended a grassroots meeting with William Ayers?

I know the myth is that the media is liberal.  I think we should question this assumption whenever we can.

Last post of the week...

Nothing like ending the week with a video clip of a lab doing salsa.  See you Monday!