Strollerderby : prop 8

Gay Boy Crowned Prom Queen

JeanneSager — Sat, 30 May 2009 15:08:00 GMT

He's a boy, and he's gay, but Sergio Garcia isn't ashamed to tell people he's a queen. Prom queen that is.

Describing himself as "flamboyant," openly gay Garcia was crowned the queen of his Los Angeles high school's prom this week after deciding he could better identify with being a queen than a king, and campaigning hard for the part.

After reading about the racially segregated proms still allowed in some parts of the south this week, I needed this story. Because Garcia's principal says this is a great example of how successful the school is at driving home the message of diversity. At a school that's offered LGBT programming since for the past twenty-five years, it's apparently working.

The vote wasn't unanimous, but speaking in front of his classmates to campaign for the part, Garcia told them, "I'm not your typical prom queen candidate. There's more to me than meets the eye." Kids who spoke to a local TV station said they were swayed by his words, and they cast their vote for him.

Now we can only hope the same kids start voting in California elections soon - and find a way to send proposition 8 back to pasture.

Image: Twirlit

Morning News - California Supreme Court Upholds Prop 8

Brett Singer — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:00:00 GMT

In a move that surprised many, the California State Supreme Court upheld Proposition on Tuesday. BUT they let existing marriages stand. Which seems odd to me. How can you have it both ways? I think it's beacuse the ruling doesn't mean the court believes that Prop. 8 is correct, at least as far as I can tell. "The 6-1 decision upholding Prop. 8 was issued by the same court that declared a year ago that a state law defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman violated the right to choose one's spouse and discriminated on the basis of sexual orientation," says the San Francisco Chronicle. So the voters voted for it, and while it may be wrong, that's the law of the land. If I've got that wrong, I'm sure someone will let me know. (Be kind. I'm a New Yorker and we're very fragile.)

Now, the story that I know everyone was waiting for. An Alaskan man won the 2009 World Beard and Moustache Championships. This happened on Saturday, but the news only just made it to CNN. That's because it is VERY VERY IMPORTANT news. Alaska Governor Sarah Palin had no comment.

In the tech sector, Palm continues to botch the launch of the Palm Pre. Wired reports on a leaked document that actually includes the phrase "We Can’t Afford to Sell the Pre to the Wrong Customers." Even if there's a logic behind that statement, it's terrible PR. Add that to the fact that it appears that there won't be many Pres to be had when the phone is available for sale on June 6th, and Palm may have done Blackberry a huge favor.

President Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court yesterday. She would be the first Hispanic woman to serve as a Supreme. Here's a sentence from Yahoo! News: "The White House tableau itself was history: A black president and his white vice president, Joe Biden, striding onto a stage in the ornate East Room with the nominee who grew up in a New York housing project where her parents had moved from Puerto Rico." Which is great, but I guess we should also know what her views on various issues are. Republicans will likely be fighting her appointment, but some say that Sotomayor isn't a great target for attack.

In entertainment news (and I use the words "entertainment" and "news" loosely here) a lot of TV critics served up some hate for the season premiere of "Jon & Kate Plus 8". Somewhat amusingly, said critics seem to have suddenly noticed that it's hypocritical to compain about paparazzi when you put your offspring on television for money. Guess what people? Putting her kids on TV wasn't any more wrong before all of the hoo-ha about her marriage to Jon became massive tabloid fodder. Also hatin' on Kate is her sister-in-law Julie, who urged "viewers not to watch" the premiere. And so it goes.

Finally, loudmouthed Brit Lily Allen says that Susan Boyle isn't all that. Allen tweeted: "I thought her timing was off on Britains Got Talent on Sunday - no control, and I don't think she has an amazing voice. She can sing, but it's not about talent with her, is it?" Zzzzzz... Oh! Sorry. Just nodded off there for a moment. I'm back. (You can see Susan Boyle's performance for yourself here, if you are so inclined. You can see Lily Allen on her MySpace page. If you really want to.)

Image: CNN

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Protect Children: Prohibit Divorce

JeanneSager — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 17:54:00 GMT

Since Californians who voted for Prop 8 late last year to strike down the rights of gays to marry said they were doing it for the children, there's a new movement afoot to keep kids safe:

Prohibit divorces. All of them. Keep heterosexual couples from breaking the bonds of holy matrimony.

After all - the sanctity of marriage and the children were at the heart of Prop 8, right?

A petition over at the Petition Site already has seven thousand some signatures, folks who signed their names to a letter proposing that divorce be stricken from the books to "keep the interests of children and families intact."

The marriage of a man and a woman has been at the heart of society since the beginning of time and it promotes the ideal opportunity for children to be raised by a mother and a father in a family held together by the legal, communal, and spiritual bonds of marriage. As a society we should put the best interests of children first, and those interests lie in traditional marriage. Permitting divorce destroys marriage as we know it and causes a profound harm to society. We should be restoring marriage, not undermining it.

Starting to sound familiar? Take out the word "divorce" and slip in "gay marriage."

Yup, they stole the whole thing from the Prop 8 folks over at ProtectMarriage.com; you know, the folks who warned Californians that "schools will now be required to teach students that gay marriage is the same as traditional marriage, starting with kindergarteners." (sic)

I'd love to say they won't be able to weasel out of their own words, but as the masters of twisting things to send people running scared of "the gay," I'm betting the evangelicals will have a field day with this one too. Only this time, the joke truly is on them.

Image: ThePetitionSite

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Ethnic Unity 101: Coming to China's Schools

JeanneSager — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:28:00 GMT

The country that's spent years playing its xenophbic reputation to the fullest is about to cut ethnic intolerance off at the knees. Yes, China, a place not exactly celebrated for its views on human rights, is introducing "ethnic unity" classes in its primary schools.

It will depend on its execution, but promoting the melting pot theory to the youngest members of a society is really the best way to guarantee future generations will have a more tolerant viewpoint than their elders (my generation included).

A Reuters report, quoting a translation of the Chinese government's announcement, says school kids will get up to fourteen hours of school-based education to promote the "basic awareness of the vital nature of 'encouraging ethnic unity, protecting national unity and opposing ethnic separatism'."

Technically, China's constitution guarantees religious freedom and equal treatment for all minorities, including the country's 56 different recognized minority groups. Where have we heard that before? Oh yeah, the United States Constitution - you know, the one that people conveniently forget when they put into place regulations like the atrocity that is Prop 8.

Would something like this fly in U.S. schools?

Image: TWR

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BREAKING NEWS: Judge Overrules Ban on Gays Adopting in Florida

JeanneSager — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:01:00 GMT

In the wake of Prop 8 putting the kibosh on gay marriages in California and Arkansas voters saying no to gays adopting or even fostering children, the gay community needed some good news. Thanks to Florida Judge Cindy Lederman, they finally got some. And it's just in time for Thanksgiving! Her honor ruled the thirty-year-old ban that's kept gay men and women from adopting children in Florida is unconstitutional today. Right at the tail end of National Adoption Month, Lederman signed the papers that make Frank Gill an official dad.

Gill and his partner of eight years have been raising a set of half-brothers for the past four years, ever since a child abuse investigator put the boys in the couple's "temporary" care just before Christmas. They have been the only parents the younger of the two boys, who is just four years old, has ever really known. Now they're the only dads he'll ever have to know.

Lederman is the second Florida judge to challenge the decades-old ban this year. A judge in August dubbed it an "unveiled" expression of bigotry. Lederman agreed, stating that children should be granted the fundamental right to be raised in a loving home by two parents, even if their birth parents can't be called upon to do the job. Denying foster children of gays and lesbians that right means children's best interests are being denied.

Lederman's comments in the Miami Herald are just the sort of words we need to hear two days before Thanksgiving:

''This is the forum where we try to heal children, find permanent families for them so they can get another chance at what every child should know and feel from birth, and go on to lead productive lives. We pray for them to thrive, but that is a word we rarely hear in dependency court.''

"It is clear that sexual orientation is not a predictor of a person's ability to parent. Sexual orientation no more leads to psychiatric disorders, alcohol and substance abuse, relationship instability, a lower life expectancy or sexual disorders than race, gender, socioeconomic class or any other demographic characteristic."

Duh! There are plenty of bad straight parents out there. And lots of good gay ones. Too bad I'm not a family court judge - I think I'd be good at this. Putting a damper on all this happy weeping, of course, is the state's attorney general's office - they've already guaranteed an appeal is headed to the third circuit court. But Frank Gill says he is happy today, and so are his sons. Yes, his sons. Because the adoption ban doesn't make more straight parents come pouring out of the woodwork.

``It results in more children being left without any parents at all. They don't have a mom or a dad," he told the Herald.

Here's to every child one day having a mom and dad or a mom and mom or a dad and dad . . . just as long as they have someone to love and care for them.

Image: Miami Herald (Frank Gill and one of his sons)

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Breaking News: CA Supreme Court Will Hear Prop. 8 Challenges

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:40:00 GMT

In case your post-election elation is starting to wear off, here's some good news in the fight for constitutional protections. The California Supreme Court agreed today to hear the case against Proposition 8 brought by the ACLU, the City of San Francisco, and gay rights organizations. This is the same court that unwittingly brought about the Prop. 8 firestorm after they ruled that banning gay marriage violates both the fundamental right to marry and the equal protection clause of the California Constitution.

The lawsuits against Prop. 8 hinge on two main arguments, namely (according to the San Francisco Chronicle) that "the measure exceeds the legal scope of a ballot initiative by allowing a majority to restrict a minority group's rights, and that it violates the constitutional separation of powers by limiting judicial authority."

The court's decision to review challenges to Prop. 8 is great news, but the fight is far from over. The court also ruled that same-sex marriages will remain illegal until it has considered the constitutionality of Prop. 8. And if it does find the measure to be constitutionally sound, the court will have to decide whether to apply Prop. 8 retroactively, nullifying the 18,000 marriages that took place between the court's legalization of same-sex marriage and the passage of Prop. 8. We'll keep you posted.

Photo: Los Angeles Times

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Update: Wife of Mom Kicked Out of PTA for Prop 8 Stance Speaks Out

JeanneSager — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:28:00 GMT

When I wrote shared the story of a lesbian mom kicked out of the PTA for campaigning against Prop 8 this week, the last people I wanted to offend were Robin McGehee and her family. They are, after all, the victims here - not only of discrimination from the school and the Roman Catholic church as a whole but the entire State of California.

When Robin McGehee's wife, Kathy Adams, responded to the story here on Strollerderby, her words struck at the core of intolerance - what it does to the family, or, in this case, a little boy whose mom says "only wants to see his friends."

Adams shared more of the story behind the church's decision to make her wife their sacrificial lamb. Their little boy, Sebastian, had been enrolled there since pre-K because the public school program in that part of California does not offer pre-K. That Sebastian's birth father is Catholic and the family had a number of connections to staff and other parents at the school all played a role in their choice (as it would in any parents' decision regarding their child's education). They were depending, she said, on a belief that the people at St. Helen's "tried to enact general principles of faith that honors the dignity of all human beings."

Unfortunately, these people didn't try hard enough. McGehee was informed she was a face for St. Helen's as PTA president and her public face as a gay rights advocate put her in a conflict with the church's teachings. The family removed Sebastian from the school that very day, Adams said. Now their little boy mourns for the life he enjoyed with his friends at a school where his teachers were loving, caring individuals, where his recent participation in a walk-a-thon garnered the school more than $1,000 in donations.

Already saddened and disgusted by the church's actions, the details Adams layed out make it that much more difficult to fathom the possibility of one day sending my daughter to Catholic school. It was a question I asked this week - how does one send their child to a school where the teachings are in direct opposition to the family's basic values?

In Adams' and McGehee's case, it was what they saw as their best option. As Adams says, "Parents are often faced with choices that are far from perfect."

She's too right. Public schools in some areas are atrocious. In my rural area, the public school system has been on a rollercoaster ride quite literally since a few days after I graduated when my school was dissolved and merged with two other districts. Private school pickins' in a rural area are slim. A Montessori school with steep tuition is at least 45 minutes from my home on a clear day; the ride lengthens significantly in inclement weather. Living in the northeast, inclement weather is a factor during a large chunk of the school year. Homeschooling is not an option; in part because I don't feel confident in my own abilities to teach but even more so because of the work responsibilities of both myself and my husband. So what's left? A fundamentalist Christian school that churns out kids who head off to colleges headed by Falwell and Robertson. No. No. No.

So we're back to the Catholic school. I was raised Catholic. When I walk into a church, the scent of incense and flickering candles beckon like Grandma's kitchen on a cold winter afternoon. There is comfort in the church, comfort in the familiar. Yet I attend Mass only as an Easter and Christmas Catholic. I refuse to attend in January, when I know they'll be shaking the collection box for the trip to Washington, D.C. for the March for Life. I refuse to put my daughter into a Sunday School where she will be directed - as I was - to copy a form letter in my own child's penmanship to be sent off to my Congressman, begging for the reversal of Roe v. Wade. I refuse to allow my daughter to be instructed that her gay uncles are sinners, that their love for each other is any less powerful than the bond between myself and my husband.Yet, I appreciate the values of "thou shalt not kill," "thou shalt not steal," "the merciful shall obtain mercy." They're values I share with the church, values I want to share with my daughter.

The local Catholic school is akin to many across the country, willing to look the other way when families who skip Mass sign the tuition checks. The school has allowed actors from shows like the Sopranos to act as very public fundraisers - the very non-Catholic values of a HBO show full of killing, cursing mobsters be darned. It is a school first, a religious organization second. And it's schooling I want for my daughter, after all, an education.

So I feel for McGehee and Adams. They only want what's best for their little boy. Can they find it in our world?

Click here to read Adams' entire story and the original post

Image: St Helens School

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eHarmony Forced to Set Up Gay Dating Site

Madeline Holler — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:26:00 GMT

The option for gays to stay at home to find a date have just broadened. A New York judge ruled that eHarmony, on the of the big players in online dating, must also facilitate hook-ups for gays and lesbians.

Love it.

The company eHarmony said it will launch the new same-sex dating site, named "Compatible Partners," by March 31.

From Yahoo!:

The settlement was the result of a discrimination complaint filed by Eric McKinley against eHarmony in 2005, which will be dismissed under the settlement agreement.

Recall, eHarmony was founded by evangelical Christian Dr. Neil Clark Warren and it also had ties to James Dobson's Focus on the Family (which is having a bunch of financial problems right now ... just putting that out there).

So now that we can't legally discriminate against gays for dating services, surely -- SURELY! --discrimination against gays who want to get legally wed can't be far behind.

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Morning News: Anti-Gay Church Lays Off Workers (After Spending Gobs on Prop 8)

Madeline Holler — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:00:00 GMT

It's the embarrassing twist of fate that makes this story so tragically comic.

Focus on the Family, the Colorado Springs-based evangelical Christian ministry and media empire, announced yesterday it would lay off more than 20 percent of its workforce due to financial difficulties. The conservative group, led by its founder and president James Dobson, is coming off a spending spree that pumped more than a half a million dollars in the California Proposition 8 campaign, a gay marriage ban.

Focus on the [very narrow definition of] Family also donated $83,000 worth of non-monetary support to get the ban passed. It was the seventh largest donor group in the nation. And now there are financial problems? Sweet Jesus, you have a sense of humor!

Speaking of Christians with a sense of humor, Mike Huckabee (remember him?) is still going after Mitt Romney in his recently released memoir/political manifesto "Do the Right Thing." Romney's spokesperson replies that Huckabee's digs are petty and beneath the former Arkansas governor.

Newt Gingrich told Bill O'Reilly he thinks all the protests against Prop 8 show "there is a gay and secular facism that wants to impose its will on the rest of us." Or have equal rights, but whatever.

Swedish health officials will no longer classify transvestitism, fetishism, fetishistic transvestism, sadomasochism, gender identity disorder in youth and multiple disorders of sexual preferences as diseases. Sweden, why always Sweden?

Is this a good time to transition to Bill Clinton? Anyway, he might pose a problem to Hillary getting a cabinet position. His non-profit and business dealings might pose a conflict of interest for the possible future secretary of state. It has been so hard to keep loving Bill.

More familial ties: Joe Biden might be gaming the system a bit in order to get his son appointed to his soon (but not too soon)-to-be-vacated Senate seat. Biden's apparently holding out until right before inauguration day, so that Delware's governor-elect can do what he's told and keep a Biden in Congress.

Or Biden's just being a family cave man. Researchers have found evidence of the importance of the nuclear family even way back in prehistoric times.

Are the Obama's getting close to making a school choice for the girls? Reports are they were at Georgetown Day School tossing the ball with their Secret Service agent.

A 16-year-old Japanese school girl might be the first female to play for the major leagues in that country. Apparently she's got a crazy good knuckleball. Ganbatte, Yoshida-san!

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Mom Kicked Out of the PTA for Position on Prop 8

JeanneSager — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:25:00 GMT

The Roman Catholic school where Robin McGehee's been president of the PTA was OK with her being a lesbian. But supporting her own rights? Apparently that was taking things just too far. McGehee's been kicked off the PTA after attending a vigil thrown by the No on Prop 8 campaign.

McGehee and wife Kathy Adams' son, Sebastian, attends St. Helen's Catholic School in Fresno,Calif. Trying to be an involved mom, McGehee joined the PTA and was elected president. It's exactly what the school promotes on its Website, stating parents are expected to be involved in their children's education. But the day after the vigil, she says a priest from the Diocese of Fresno told her she was being relieved of her post in the parent-teacher association.

Raised as a Roman Catholic, what surprises me about this story isn't that McGehee was kicked out. I'm surprised she was on the board at all considering the church's stance on homosexuality. By its own admission, the school is built on the "traditional values" of Catholocism. The school philosophy lays out a code for kids to follow, including attendance at Mass and adherence to the church's teachings.

Those teachings are exactly why I'm a casual Catholic these days. I can't adhere to those teachings that specifically deny my gay friends the rights to love, honor and obey each other. I can't raise my daughter to look down her nose at her uncles who hold hands and kiss the way Mommy and Daddy do.

So why are McGehee and Adams subjecting their child to a place that teaches against their family?

Image: St Helens School

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Morning News: Is Hillary Back?

Madeline Holler — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:30:00 GMT

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton? Maybe. Last week it was a rumor that died down quickly. Since yesterday, though, there appears to be some traction. Obama camp insiders are trotting her name out among a few others (John Kerry, Republican Chuck Hagel, Bill Richardson), and some of his advisers say she's the best pick.

Why?

It's better to have a Clinton on the inside, rather than outside making trouble (true, that). The drawback of Hillary? One word:

Bill.

On foreign matters, this update: Osama bin Laden is apparently hanging on by a thread these days. He's mainly focused on his own survival and basically cut off from al Qaeda operations. Good news, sure, but on the lam for seven years? Damn.

Those leaky Dems have also disclosed that Lawrence Summers may no longer be under consideration for the Secretary of Treasury position, thanks in part to women's groups who can't stand the guy and his girl brain/boy brain "theories."

More than 1 million people are expected to attend Barack Obama's inauguration Jan. 20 in Washington, D.C. That's a ton of people. (Will you be one of them?) Everybody's scrambling to get tickets, places to stay, enough law enforcement, and enough public viewing space.

Think some generous Northern Virginia families would be willing to put up a few of these 8,000 bedouin tribesmen for the big swearing in? These guys claim to be the lost tribe of Barack Obama. They even have evidence that they are linked by blood to the president-elect. Come on, guys, we get him first!

If your priest is a real jerk, you might want to avoid being seen at the inauguration, on TV or otherwise. South Carolina's Rev. Jay Scott Newman is refusing communion to anyone who supports Barack Obama, unless they've done penance for their vote. Who knew the Holy Trinity was so dang bi-partisan!

And you thought Joe Biden was going to be an embarrassment. Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel had to apologize on behalf of his father yesterday. Dad, who was once a member of a militant Zionist group thought to have committed terrorist acts against Palestinians, had this to say about how influential his son will be: "Obviously he will influence the president to be pro-Israel," he was quoted as saying. "Why wouldn't he be? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to clean the floors of the White House." Oh, cringe.

Speaking of terrorists? Embarrassments? People who won't go away? Bill Ayers is on Good Morning America this morning in his first interview since the election. Will ABC let Elisabeth Hasselbeck take a few minutes off The View stage to watch?

Felon/Senate incumbent from Alaska Ted Stevens is almost certain to have lost his re-election bid. But did he get to keep the grill?

A complaint has been filed against the Mormon Church for not fully disclosing allllll the contributions made to the campaign to ban gay marriage in California. Seems stuff like state phone bank use, commericals and other promos weren't reported in the disclosures. We hope this complaint turns in to a huge pain in their asses.

Disaffected youth keep pouring into Nebraska hospitals as parents watch the deadline to abondon their teens under a very unrestrictive safe haven law grow nearer. State lawmakers will way lower the age limit (to, like, three days) in a special session in January. We've said it before, but Nebraska might want to consider beefing up its family services outreach. Because, wow. Just wow.

About Gay Marriage ... Our Kids Will Fix It

Madeline Holler — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 19:31:00 GMT

I sort of can't tell you how little my marriage means to me. My husband? Oh, he means the world to me. Our little committed family? Truly, the greatest thing I have. But the marriage? Enh. I'm just not one to count on paperwork and words and ceremonies and stuff like that to shape my personal life. But that's just me and not everyone is like me and I like that.

I've written here about how I felt when laws and policies intruded on my personal life and forced me into the exclusive and exclusionary club whose membership is made up of a selected group of committed couples in America -- the legally wed. I hated being forced down the aisle. It pissed me off. It made me feel like a child. It took away my control of my life and didn't value me, an individual with choices. It was unfair and wrong.

The same judgment and oppression wrapped in the silky bow of "tradition" that forced my husband and I to get legal has a darker, more painful and actually harmful side that people in Florida, Arizona, California and Arkansas are going to have to answer for someday. Voters in these states have banned same sex marriage (or in the case of Arkansas, banned foster parenting and adoptions to unmarried -- read: gay -- families).

Here in California (where I was extorted or blackmailed or whatever into tying the knot), the ban's campaign focused on "protecting" children. They claimed school kids would read prince-on-prince love stories during circle time, to the exclusion of "Knuffle Bunny" and the Eric Carle ouevre. What else? Maybe watch a little gay porn during health class. Who knows. Those commercials appear to have scared enough people shitless that the vote, while close, eventually passed the ban.

But really, here's what parents who fell for that rhetoric should know: you can ban gay marriage all you want, metaphorically duct tape teachers' mouths and take away their copies of "And Tango Makes Three," outlaw any mention of two dads or mama and mommy or refuse to attend Uncle Ted's commitment ceremony, but your kid is going to learn about -- and learn to love -- legal partnerships and weddings between all sorts of couples. How?

My daughter will teach them.

See, my daughter -- and many, many other kids (who can't vote -- yet!) -- says "who cares who you love?!" when I take too long to explain political signs around town. My daughter isn't an off-putting sledgehammer like her angry mother, rather a sweet, sensible kid who hates wasting time on all this talking and just expects people to be fair and nice and hug a lot.

And ohhhhhhh your kid likes my kid. Your kid likes what she has to say. She makes so much sense! She's talking about love! And happy families! Who doesn't love happy families?! And pretty soon, if not already, your kid will shut you up with "who cares who you love," too. You, supporter of the ban, can prattle off a bunch of "our family's values" and "our traditions" but your kid ain't buying it. Oh, she may nod her head. He may say, "that's right mom." But kids these days! Kids! They get it. It's the parents (and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) who don't.

So while it kills me that we have to wait even a day longer to see the laws of this country aligned with its mission of equality and justice for all -- especially if waiting means more gay teens thinking they're weird and/or committing suicide -- we're going to see it. My kid will fix it. Our kids will fix it. For everyone. No, really -- everyone!

Photo: AdamGoldbaumGoldGallery.com