Separate but equal

Wanda and I went to The Henry Ford museum this weekend. Among many very excellent exhibits was one of the African-American civil rights struggle in the United States. We even got to step into the actual bus Rosa Parks took her historic stand in. There was a lot of history at the exhibit, and I enjoyed reading about the details.  I found myself comparing the struggle of black people to that of modern-day GLBTs. Please note that I am not suggesting that the injustices that African-Americans suffered are equal to those of GLBTs today. There is no establishment de jure of capital punishment for same sex couples, and the idea of public lynchings of GLBTs is absurd.

However, while exploring the history, I couldn’t help but apply modern mores in a similar light. For example, I believe that most individuals would find the Dred Scott verdict to be absurd today. How many of those same individuals are in favor of modifying the state constitution to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman?

While pondering, I pictured many of those conservatives who call into my talk radio programs and suggest things such as, “I don’t care what they do in private, but they shouldn’t be allowed to marry!”

I guess history does repeat itself sometimes.

October 29th, 2008  News & Current Events   Tags: bigotry, equality, glbt, marriage, museum, more...

Canadian Parliament Approves Gay Marriage Bill

Canadian Parliament approved a bill by an 8% margin that would allow same-sex marriages, making Canada the third country to do so after the Netherlands and Belgium. This is truly a victory for civil rights, and it’s comforting to see so close to home.

Although the passage through its final reading is very significant, it needs Senate approval and then the stamp from the Governor-General, which expected and may become law by July.

To paraphrase some comments posted on Fark: We welcome Canada to the 21st century. I just wish the U.S. would come out of the 19th century. Hopefully the religious right’s failure to enter the time period after the discovery the internal combustion engine will make this a reality in our life times.

• Canadian MPs back gay marriages

June 29th, 2005  Politics   Tags: canada, gay marriage, glbt, news, rights, more...

Brokeback Mountain

Curious about all the hype, we saw Brokeback Mountain today. The story was good, and I’m a fan of Jake Gyllenhaal, but the movie was very drawn-out. Both Gyllenhaal and Ledger did a phenomenal job. The movie also had some spectacular scenery. I can see why it was nominated for so many Acadamy Awards. I thought the movie was fairly decent, but I find it hard to imagine the average male would agree. But don’t worry fellas, X-Men 3 is coming, and that spells payback

On a side note, I see Crash won best picture at the Academy Awards. Pretty good movie. Brokeback seemed to have gotten a lot of nominations too. I was a little surprised Walk the Line didn’t get more nominations. On a side note, they really had some strange selections for the musical entertainment at the awards.

March 6th, 2005  movies   Tags: glbt, movies, more...

The people have spoken…

• Four more years of skyrocketting oil prices…
• Four more years of record deficits…
• Four more years of eroding the rights of GLBTs and pushing them further into second-class citizen status…
• Four more years of trading good jobs for crappy ones…
• And worst of all, religion will rule the bench for the forseeable future…

At least my taxes will be lower so I can pay for the heat bill… And I’ll sleep better knowing the evil homosexuals aren’t coming to get me.

November 3rd, 2004  Politics   Tags: election, employment, george bush, glbt, jesus, Jobs, Politics, religion, republicans, more...