Did I read this right?

"You can’t resolve it with the distribution of condoms. On the contrary, it increases the problem."

- Pope Benedict XVI, asserting that condom use is not the answer to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa, Associated Press.

If only some of our elected officials had half of this young man's courage!

Arkansas 10-Year-Old Won’t Pledge Allegiance Until Gays Gain Equality
by Kilian Melloy of Edge
Wednesday Nov 11, 2009

A 10-year-old Arkansas boy name Will Phillips has decided that he cannot in good conscience pledge allegiance to the flag as long as the country for which it stands refuses legal equality to its GLBT citizens.

That stand has brought young Mr. Phillips anti-gay taunts in the lunch room, but admiration from around the country, reports a Nov. 5 Arkansas Times article. The West Fork School District fifth grader clashed with a substitute teacher for his refusal to stand for the pledge, prompting a call to Will’s mother, Laura Phillips. When the principal acknowledged that Will has the right to refuse to say the pledge, Ms. Phillips asked that her son receive an apology--a request that the principal declined to honor.

A 1943 Supreme Court decision found that schools may not punish students for refusing to recite the pledge. Objections to compulsory recitation of the pledge arose from the Jehovah’s Witnesses on the basis that their religion does not permit expressions of allegiance to anything other than their own religion and to God. The Jehovah’s Witnesses lost their first case before the Court in 1940, and reportedly suffered from bias-motivated violence in the aftermath of that case. The Court’s 1943 decision reversed the earlier finding, and students have had the right to decline saying the pledge since then, although socially such refusal is often met with disapproval.

Such has been the case with Will Phillips’ stand, but he hasn’t backed down. Laura Phillips told the Arkansas Times that her 10-year-old is "probably more aware of the meaning of the pledge than a lot of adults. He’s not just doing it rote recitation. We raised him to be aware of what’s right, what’s wrong, and what’s fair."

Fairness in this case is more than a mere abstraction, since the family has a number of openly gay friends and has participated in GLBT equality events such as Pride parades. Will, who told the newspaper that he would like to pursue a career in law when he’s older, could not square the tenets of the pledge with the political realities faced by his family’s GLBT friends, whose family and individual rights are under constant challenge. "I really don’t feel that there’s currently liberty and justice for all," said Will.

That led the young man to his decision not to pledge his allegiance due to the injustice he perceived to prevail against gays and lesbians. He discussed the matter with his family and then took his stand--or rather, refused to stand with the rest of the kids when the time for the pledge came around each morning. The first week of the young man’s protest happened to be a week when a substitute teacher, a friend of Will’s grandparents, was in charge of the class; as days went by, the teacher grew more aggravated, until finally she took Will to task.

"She got a lot more angry and raised her voice and brought my mom and my grandma up," Will told the Arkansas Times. "I was fuming and was too furious to really pay attention to what she was saying. After a few minutes, I said, ’With all due respect, ma’am, you can go jump off a bridge.’"

That was enough to get Will sent to the principal’s office, which was when his mother received a call. The principal "said we have to talk about Will, because he told a sub to jump off a bridge," recounted Will’s mother. "My first response was: Why? He’s not just going to say this because he doesn’t want to do his math work." Upon learning the specifics of the exchange, Laura Phillips requested an apology for her son. "She said, ’Well I don’t think that’s necessary at this point,’" Laura Phillips told the Arkansas Times.

Will’s mother tweeted about the incident, and family friends informed the media. Support has poured in from around the country, and some of Will’s classmates have also been supportive.

But not everyone, said Laura Phillips, has been supportive, and those who oppose Will’s stand "are much more crazy, and out of control and vocal about it than supporters are."

Moreover, Will’s stand for equal rights for gays has led those who disagree to attack him personally with anti-gay epithets: "In the lunchroom and in the hallway, they’ve been making comments and doing pranks, and calling me gay," Will said. "It’s always the same people, walking up and calling me a gaywad."

That hasn’t been easy for Will, who skipped fourth grade but seems older than his age, especially in contrast to some of his peers. Said Laura Phillips, "It’s really frustrating to him that people are being so immature."

The interviewer from The Arkansas Times asked Will what it means to be an American. The answer: "Freedom of speech. The freedom to disagree. That’s what I think pretty much being an American represents."

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates discuss Same Sex Marriage

 "I’m running on the gay marriage, no religion, legalization and taxation of marijuana platform. I don’t have a chance."

- Brad Pitt Today Show, responding to Ann Curry’s question if he would consider running for mayor of New Orleans.

The clerk and the taxi driver, part two

Yesterday I blogged about a clerk in Brookstone’s who was fired for harassment when he called a lesbian worker “deviant,” among other things.  Another incident involving homophobia in the workplace also made recently made news.  This time the workplace was a taxi in New York City.

Here’s what we know. A gay couple flagged down the cab of Medhat Mohamed.  Two blocks later, the driver ordered the men out of the car.  Both Mohamed and the men agree that the couple was hugging in the back seat.  Mohamed claims he would have done the same thing to a heterosexual couple and that the issue was his own distraction, not homophobia; it was all about safety.  He also expresses concern that he didn't know how far the couple would go.  The couple insists that it was the fact that they were two males that led to their eviction.

What’s been especially interesting about the incident is how the right wing is using it.  I must say that it surprises me that some of the same people who have been anti-immigrant are now the empathetic spokespeople for an Egyptian immigrant who they claim was persecuted by the “gay mafia.”  One blogger went so far as to say that this “mafia” wants to fire a hardworking taxi driver during the “Obama Depression.”  A New York Post headline read, "Hack halts cab nookie and now he’s screwed?!" Other postings claimed that the two men were having sex in the taxi, something even the taxi driver denies.

But here’s what may surprise some folks about both stories: many gay bloggers and readers are divided as to what should be done to the clerk and the taxi driver.  If there is a “Gay Mafia,” I certainly can’t find it.  Opinions have ranged from “ignore it” to “fire them.” Far from being a mass persecution, some of the LGBT blogs I have read express deep reservations about firing either the clerk or the taxi driver.

Certainly taxi drivers can’t pick and choose who they accept for rides.  And we’ll never know what was really going on in the mind of the driver. What I do know is that the incident needs to be addressed.  In the best of all worlds this would not involve the firing of a taxi driver, but growth, understanding, and a clear message that bias can’t be tolerated when on the job.  Of course, we don't live in the best of all worlds, and I don't know what the driver is willing to do to make amends with the men and the community of which they are a part.

Mohamed has stated that the incident had nothing to do with homophobia and that “it is about them, not me.”  In fact, it stopped being about all three of them when the story was hijacked to make political points with right wing.  Read one post on a conservative blog, "In Obama’s brave new world, this cabby will be brought up on a hate crime.”

Thanks to Kilian Melloy of EDGEBoston for some of the details in this blog.

An important public service announcement

Did I read this right?

"Not that long ago the American Medical Association (AMA) lightened its stance on marijuana laws, which is the only explanation I can think of for their recent decisions to oppose state marriage protection laws and come out in favor of repealing the long standing restrictions of homosexuals in the military."
--Family Research Council

Sorry.  I have no words.