Getting Back To Life: When Every "Goodbye" Is "Hello"

Yeah, I'm back. 


Hopefully. 


The last three months have been comprised of a series of battles, some won, some lost, some still being fought. The  horrendous housing situation has quieted, leaving me free to write again, but forcing me to schedule my life accordingly. Time schedules and body schedules are tough to maintain when you're an older blogger like me. 


My last endeavor was putting a video together as a tribute to my ex-partner Mike Ward. I was his caregiver for a number of years and although he passed away from liver cancer last July, we hadn't been able to create a memorial until last Wednesday. 


And it was awesome!


Mostly Mike's friends from the SF cabaret scene. People who knew him for a relatively brief period of his life. So the video was a revelation in many ways. The main theme was Mike's legacy: that - like a song from The Little Princess - Every Goodbye Is Hello.

Hope you all enjoy it.

The REAL Sissy Boys And What They're Doing To America

So will the SBC apologize? Gimme a break!

Four days ago, Anderson Cooper360 and CNN ran a series which focused on the tip of a proverbial iceberg: "The Sissy Boy Experiment" brought out the frustration and the compassion of America's psyche. It also brought out the hypocrisy of "reparative therapists" and their supporters in the Christian Right.


So why isn't anyone saying "we're sorry"?


Because the REAL "sissy boys" the ones so cowardly, so unmanly, if you will,  never apologize. Where some people see apology as a sign of strength/courage in admitting an error or sin, others look upon it as a weakness: e.g. why did it take the Southern Baptist Convention over 150 years to apologize for slavery? Why did it take the Catholic church 1700 years for a pope to cry at Jerusalem's Wailing Wall?


Over the last several days, we've viewed the ultimate in cowardice in George "rentboy" Rekers on CNN (The Sissy Boy Experiment): his reaction to news of the suicide of former patient Kirk Murphy was, at best, disingenuous, and his sloughing off of any responsibility was weak and unprofessional. And on the 15th, we'll witness the disdain of the Southern Baptist Convention in being asked to apologize for the persecution and suffering heaped upon the LGBTQ community.


I've already written on the Christian Right's refusal to admit its past errors (Christian Crime Line), but its more current misdeeds need further exploration: the establishment of ex-gay organizations and ministries, the support of Dominionist historians, pseudo-scientists and fear-mongering against any collective not within its small but powerful sphere threaten to undo the diversity for which our country is so celebrated.


It is as if the Christian Right has taken up shock talk host Michael Savage's call to battle: "Diversity Equals Perversity!" One can certainly see in Bryan Fischer's bombastic rants a lethal kind of homogenization (not assimilation) that will not only kill compassion for one another, but will surely lead to actual bloodshed. The last part of The Sissy Boy Experiment focused on Joseph Nicolosi and his group NARTH (National Association for Reparative Therapy of Homosexuals). CNN missed a particular salient point in its interview with Nicolosi: he is no longer a member of the American Psychological Association, since his ethics and theories were discredited by fellow members. In fact, Nicolosi and professional anti-gay Paul Cameron look as if they are in a contest to see how many professional organizations they can be expelled from!


Real Life Persecution


Besides sponsoring reparative therapy and ex-gay organizations, the Southern Baptist roots to LGBT oppression go back to the first decades of the AIDS crisis: many people were summarily kicked out of their homes while they were sick and dying. The situation, after all, called for righteousness and Southern Baptists wanted the world to know that they were the most righteous group of all. This show of righteousness came after President Bailey Smith's infamous statement "God Almighty does not hear the prayers of a Jew" and the dictum that women must still be subservient to their husbands.*


Among the most common of sins within (as well as without) the Christian Right is the blatant sin of demonizing, but who among the CR will acknowledge it? Will Lou Engle apologize for the death of Ugandan homosexual activist David Kato? Will Scott Lively do the same? Will Tony Perkins apologize for the rash of gay teen suicides last year? Will Bryan Fischer? Will Rev. Keenan Roberts apologize for psychological damage caused by Hell Houses? Will Terry Jones apologize for the death of U.N. volunteers after he burned the Q'uran?


One might posit the idea that they will never apologize, so why should we be concerned? The problem, as some see it, is that our recent religious-political system has been getting away with saying and doing anything it pleases. It never monitors itself: if, for example, Jones had not gotten the attention of the whole world, we would not have witnessed such an outcry from the Right - especially from the Christian Right. Proper chastisement is for the enemy. In any case, Jones was not really chastised since most of the churches with a Fundamentalist bent merely whispered "he's not one of us!"


Media's "sissy boys" have also written/broadcast half-truths and misinformation with impunity: even though FOX News' credibility has slipped, it continues to advertise itself as "fair and balanced."** Watch the piece Think Progress put together about Bill O'Reilly and his demonization of immigrants. It's almost musical in its rhythm, picking its own "fair and balanced" way through O'Reilly's righteous indignation.


In politics, some of the biggest "sissy boys" are bullies:

Gov. Scott Walker abruptly reversed course today and demoted the son of a large campaign contributor [Jerry Deschane] to his former job with the state Department of Regulation and Licensing. The move comes one day after the Journal Sentinel reported that Brian Deschane, 27, had landed an $81,500-a-year job in Walker's administration overseeing environmental and regulatory matters and dozens of employees at the Department of Commerce. The promotion amounted to a raise of 26%. The younger Deschane has no college degree, little management experience and two drunken driving convictions.

No cure, but a push back!


So the country's REAL "sissy boys" are practically everywhere, getting away with bullying and demonizing minorities, women, gays, the poor, and anyone else not fitting into their narrow spectrum. But like all "sissy boys" they are extremely afraid of some things: the facts, experts, and activists armed with knowledge (and creativity). 


Once confronted with their sins, they will try to shirk accountability, but like kids fighting in a schoolyard, the bullies will quickly become sissies when pinned down by determined, constant, intelligent presentation of reality to the public. 


You have to make the "sissy boy" scream "Uncle!"


*Reiterated by Pat Robertson more than several times.
** Joe.My.God: "According to a former managing editor at Fox News, chairman Roger Ailes installed bullet-proof glass on his midtown Manhattan office windows because he feared assassination by gay activists." 

Obama's Courage Comes At The Last Minute: A Tale of TWO Speeches

When you're constantly under fire and you have an ounce of courage in you, that courage is bound to sneak out once in a while ... and in the most unlikely of places.

Google a transcript of President Obama's National Day of Prayer Speech and you might be confused: the transcript given out to USA Today is very different than the transcript given out AFTER the Breakfast. Read the PDF given over to USA Today and you'll find these very important words: "As Prepared for Delivery." The one actually given was different in many ways.

It was longer
It didn't mention Jesus
It mentioned God more often
It's key words were "God" "Faith" "Without" and "Civility"
It mentioned Uganda It mentioned other religions
It referenced gay marriage

One critic: [on the pronunciation of the word "corpsman"] Obama doesn't say one unscripted word. There is obviously no one on his staff who knows this word or its correct pronunciation.

To the contrary: depending on the time when they were written, these transcripts show us that more often than not, President Obama does NOT depend upon "teleprompters" (as Fox News would have us believe) and that he might make drastic changes and additions at the last minute, while knowing that those changes may rile some of the audience.

And some of the audience took umbrage with his inclusion of other faiths.

It's ironic, isn't it, that USA Today got the wrong transcript while Pam's House Blend got an accurate one. And who besides USA Today got the "As Prepared For Delivery" outline? Lest we think that someone was being dishonest, I think that it was a mistake. But a very, very lucky mistake: had the sacred cows attending the NDOPB read it, Obama might have had some very uncivil responses hurled at him accompanied by scrambled (if not rotten) eggs.

A "CHRISTIANS ONLY" AFFAIR!:

from Beyond Religion:

Anyone can attend the National Day of Prayer, but only Christians can lead said prayers. So the National Day of Prayer is really the National Day of Christian Led Prayers to the Christian God who, because he is Jewish, is excluded from leading prayers during His Own National Day of Prayer. This is what really pisses me off— if Jesus Himself came down from heaven and asked to lead a prayer at any of today’s National Day of Prayer events he would be denied.

So which words do you think riled the Christians Only crowd? There are some people seething about terms, words, and ideologies. An article for FOXNews.com (don't worry, I won't go there) was titled The President's Prayer Breakfast Catastrophe By S.E. Cupp (who, BTW, has a new book coming out in April with the title: “Losing Our Religion: The Liberal Media’s Attack on Christianity,” pass it on). In it, Ms. Cupp derides the President for many things, but what gets her most:

The worst misstep of today’s speech? When the president said that “God’s grace” is expressed “by Americans of every faith, and no faith, uniting around a common purpose, a higher purpose.” Uh, no it isn't -- unless my definition of atheism is different than his. Most atheists insist that God’s grace most certainly is not expressed through them, and that there are no “higher” purposes. While we may all come together for “a purpose” – like relief work in Haiti, poverty, AIDS, or world hunger – no atheist I know would consider this God's work.

Ms. Cupp runneth over with equally strident derisions throughout the rest of her piece, but always manages to communicate her main theme: This Is A Christians-Only Event and Don't You Forget It! There were other segments of the speech that riled the attendees:

...we all share a recognition -- one as old as time -- that a willingness to believe, an openness to grace, a commitment to prayer can bring sustenance to our lives.

"Willingness" and "openness" smack of lefty commie-pinko socialism!

God's grace, and the compassion and decency of the American people is expressed through ... evangelicals at World Relief. By the American Jewish World Service. By Hindu temples, and mainline Protestants, Catholic Relief Services, African American churches, the United Sikhs. By Americans of every faith, and no faith, uniting around a common purpose, a higher purpose.

How DARE he be so inclusive! How DARE he mention atheists and pagans and the like! THIS IS A CHRISTIAN EVENT!!

We see that in many conservative pastors who are helping lead the way to fix our broken immigration system. It's not what would be expected from them, and yet they recognize, in those immigrant families, the face of God.

Is he insinuating that our pastors have no compassion for illegals?

Yes, there are crimes of conscience that call us to action. Yes, there are causes that move our hearts and offenses that stir our souls. But progress doesn't come when we demonize opponents. It's not born in righteous spite. Progress comes when we open our hearts, when we extend our hands, when we recognize our common humanity.

Progress also comes when we open our wallets due to taxing us to death! "Demonize" our opponents? But they ARE demons!

we've turned the faith-based initiative around to find common ground among people of all beliefs, allowing them to make an impact in a way that's civil and respectful of difference and focused on what matters most.

There he goes again! Putting us on the par with every other religion! A subtle dig against us!

We may disagree about gay marriage, but surely we can agree that it is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are -- whether it's here in the United States or, as Hillary mentioned, more extremely in odious laws that are being proposed most recently in Uganda.

It's disgusting the way he throws bones to our religious community, then turns around and panders to the homosexual agenda!

Let's end with the kind words of Ms Cupp:

But rest assured, his friends in the liberal press – indeed, the ultimate Tower of Babel – will hail this speech as they do all the rest, and insist it proves he is indeed, as unnamed officials say, “a prayerful man.”