Back in '09 a kid in Arkansas refused to pledge allegiance to the flag because we are not free. Read more. Why can't we all sit down? The Pledge of Allegiance is a serious thing. I've seen people giggle and fool around during it before.
Think about what you're saying. What's a pledge? A serious promise that you don't break. And 'allegiance'? Allegiance means you stand together.
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America".
I promise, and will never break this promise, that I will stand with the symbol of the United States of America.
"And to the republic for which it stands".
Self-explanatory.
And skipping to the end?
"With liberty and justice for all".
This is not true. We are not free. We are not treated justly.
What a day when the Pledge of Allegiance is announced and the silence brings down the house.
What a day when liberty and justice for all are once again granted and the people stand up to say it again.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Monday, May 31, 2010
We are not free.
It's Memorial Day today in dear old America. And yesterday, at church, I heard something during the Intentions that kind of threw me, something about all the brave soldiers that died to protect our freedom.
But we aren't free.
Don't get me wrong. Those men and women who died were very brave and deserve recognition, and they died for many freedoms we should all be grateful for. We have freedom of religion, of the press, equal rights for all races and both genders, and even the right to elect our own leaders. These freedoms are precious and should not be taken lightly.
But we won't be completely free until gender identity and sexual orientation matter as little as biological gender or skin color.
We will not be free until laws allowing same-sex marriage, allowing gay people to serve in the military openly, preventing employers from firing people because they are gay or transgender, are made federal.
We must fight for our freedom. We might not be soldiers on the battlefield, but we can still fight.
If you want to tell the Democrats all this, you might read and sign the Courage Campaign's letter.
But we aren't free.
Don't get me wrong. Those men and women who died were very brave and deserve recognition, and they died for many freedoms we should all be grateful for. We have freedom of religion, of the press, equal rights for all races and both genders, and even the right to elect our own leaders. These freedoms are precious and should not be taken lightly.
But we won't be completely free until gender identity and sexual orientation matter as little as biological gender or skin color.
We will not be free until laws allowing same-sex marriage, allowing gay people to serve in the military openly, preventing employers from firing people because they are gay or transgender, are made federal.
We must fight for our freedom. We might not be soldiers on the battlefield, but we can still fight.
If you want to tell the Democrats all this, you might read and sign the Courage Campaign's letter.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Please help end DADT!
When you sign a petition from the Courage Campaign, they ask you to send an automatic email to your friends. Here's one.
I just signed on to a letter from Gov. Howard Dean to President Obama asking him to end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" this year.
With DADT repeal legislation being delayed indefinitely, it is now more important than ever that President Obama use the power of his office to repeal DADT as a part of the Defense Authorization bill currently under consideration in Congress.
Will you join me in signing Gov. Dean's letter to President Obama? Just click on the link below to add your name:
http://www.couragecampaign.org/DontWaitDontDelay
Thanks!
I just signed on to a letter from Gov. Howard Dean to President Obama asking him to end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" this year.
With DADT repeal legislation being delayed indefinitely, it is now more important than ever that President Obama use the power of his office to repeal DADT as a part of the Defense Authorization bill currently under consideration in Congress.
Will you join me in signing Gov. Dean's letter to President Obama? Just click on the link below to add your name:
http://www.couragecampaign.org/DontWaitDontDelay
Thanks!
Friday, April 16, 2010
This is ridiculous.
Why can't same-sex couples be married?
Seriously. Give me one good answer.
Is your proposed answer that the Bible condemns gay people? Or that marriage is between a man and a woman? Go and read the facts.
As far as I can see, the only problem Christians ought to have with gay people being together is sex before marriage. And isn't the logical step to offer us marriage? Legal and spiritual?
Updated Jan. 13 (which may be slightly out of date, but can't be too far out of whack) the Human Rights Campaign shows us the big picture.
Computer won't read it?
It says:
29 states have "constitutional amendments restricting marriage to one man and one woman" 18 of which are "states where the law or amendment that does, or may, affect other legal relationships, such as civil unions or domestic partnerships".
12 states have "law restricting marriage to one man and one woman".
Wikipedia tells us that "same-sex marriages are currently granted by five of the 50 states, one federal district, and one Indian tribe:
Five. As opposed to 41 states that strictly forbid it.
Wikipedia also says that, "In New York, Rhode Island, and Maryland, same-sex marriages are recognized, but not performed",
"As of June 1, 2009, New Jersey has created legal unions that, while not called marriages, are explicitly defined as offering all the rights and responsibilities of marriage under state (though not federal) law to same-sex couples. California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Washington have created legal unions for same-sex couples that offer varying subsets of the rights and responsibilities of marriage under the laws of those jurisdictions".
Go ahead and check out this article. It has a lot to say on the subject.
Makes me wonder what all these people have to say about New Mexico. The map shows it as not having law or constitutional amendments against same-sex marriage, yet the Wikipedia article doesn't talk about it, despite having been updated today.
Seriously. Give me one good answer.
Is your proposed answer that the Bible condemns gay people? Or that marriage is between a man and a woman? Go and read the facts.
As far as I can see, the only problem Christians ought to have with gay people being together is sex before marriage. And isn't the logical step to offer us marriage? Legal and spiritual?
Updated Jan. 13 (which may be slightly out of date, but can't be too far out of whack) the Human Rights Campaign shows us the big picture.
Computer won't read it?
It says:
29 states have "constitutional amendments restricting marriage to one man and one woman" 18 of which are "states where the law or amendment that does, or may, affect other legal relationships, such as civil unions or domestic partnerships".
12 states have "law restricting marriage to one man and one woman".
Wikipedia tells us that "same-sex marriages are currently granted by five of the 50 states, one federal district, and one Indian tribe:
- In Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Washington, D.C., marriages for same-sex couples are legal and currently performed.
- The Coquille Indian Tribe in Oregon also grants same-sex marriage."
Five. As opposed to 41 states that strictly forbid it.
Wikipedia also says that, "In New York, Rhode Island, and Maryland, same-sex marriages are recognized, but not performed",
"As of June 1, 2009, New Jersey has created legal unions that, while not called marriages, are explicitly defined as offering all the rights and responsibilities of marriage under state (though not federal) law to same-sex couples. California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Washington have created legal unions for same-sex couples that offer varying subsets of the rights and responsibilities of marriage under the laws of those jurisdictions".
Go ahead and check out this article. It has a lot to say on the subject.
Makes me wonder what all these people have to say about New Mexico. The map shows it as not having law or constitutional amendments against same-sex marriage, yet the Wikipedia article doesn't talk about it, despite having been updated today.
And meanwhile, on the Supreme Court...
I received an email from Rick Jacobs and the Courage Campaign just now. It was about GLBT people being potentially banned from serving on the Supreme Court. This is ridiculous. Here are some quotes included in the email.
"[A] gay judge's sexual preference will, without any question whatsoever, 'interfere with their job.' It's not possible for it to be otherwise... We simply should not elevate to the highest court in the land people who are known for engaging in sexually abnormal behavior which would technically make them felons in a quarter of the states over which they will have jurisdiction." -- Bryan Fischer, American Family Association
"We can assure you that we recognize that homosexual behavior is a sin and does not reflect God's created intent and desire for humanity. Further, we at Focus do affirm that character and moral rectitude should be key considerations in appointing members of the judiciary, especially in the case of the highest court in the land." --Focus on the Family
(The email's punctuation and emphasis, my inserted credit to the second quote)
I signed the Courage Campaign's petition to keep sexual orientation from being a consideration in appointees to the Supreme Court. They offered me the chance to send an email urging my family and friends to do the same. And I copied and pasted that email here.
Have you heard that right-wing groups like Focus on the Family and the American Family Association are insisting that gays and lesbians should be disqualified from serving on the Supreme Court?
It's outrageous. With a Supreme Court vacancy opening up after the retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens, I just signed a letter to President Obama insisting that sexual orientation should NOT be a factor in selecting his Supreme Court nominee.
Will you join me? It only takes a minute to sign:
http://www.couragecampaign.org/NotAFactor
The religious right is firing up their massive lobbying machine and we need as many people to combat their outrageous attacks on LGBT people.
Thanks!
"[A] gay judge's sexual preference will, without any question whatsoever, 'interfere with their job.' It's not possible for it to be otherwise... We simply should not elevate to the highest court in the land people who are known for engaging in sexually abnormal behavior which would technically make them felons in a quarter of the states over which they will have jurisdiction." -- Bryan Fischer, American Family Association
"We can assure you that we recognize that homosexual behavior is a sin and does not reflect God's created intent and desire for humanity. Further, we at Focus do affirm that character and moral rectitude should be key considerations in appointing members of the judiciary, especially in the case of the highest court in the land." --Focus on the Family
(The email's punctuation and emphasis, my inserted credit to the second quote)
I signed the Courage Campaign's petition to keep sexual orientation from being a consideration in appointees to the Supreme Court. They offered me the chance to send an email urging my family and friends to do the same. And I copied and pasted that email here.
Have you heard that right-wing groups like Focus on the Family and the American Family Association are insisting that gays and lesbians should be disqualified from serving on the Supreme Court?
It's outrageous. With a Supreme Court vacancy opening up after the retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens, I just signed a letter to President Obama insisting that sexual orientation should NOT be a factor in selecting his Supreme Court nominee.
Will you join me? It only takes a minute to sign:
http://www.couragecampaign.org/NotAFactor
The religious right is firing up their massive lobbying machine and we need as many people to combat their outrageous attacks on LGBT people.
Thanks!
Seriously. Not evil.
A Christian pop star coming out as lesbian...
A man who "earned [his] master's and doctoral degrees at a conservative biblical seminary" telling us that the Bible does not condemn homosexuality...
There is hope for Christian gay people.
A man who "earned [his] master's and doctoral degrees at a conservative biblical seminary" telling us that the Bible does not condemn homosexuality...
There is hope for Christian gay people.
Hospital Rights
I couldn't believe it was true that hospitals would ban gay and lesbian couples from visiting their partners in the hospital. It turns out this wasn't exact, but applied to serious illness and incapacitation. But no more.
I remember watching an interview with the Obama party pre-election where they stated that they think we should have the right to visit each other in hospitals. And now it's happened. At every hospital that accepts Medicare and Medicaid, patients have the right to choose who visits them and who "may make their critical health-care decisions". Read the story here.
And read the Human Rights Campaign's take on it here.
I remember watching an interview with the Obama party pre-election where they stated that they think we should have the right to visit each other in hospitals. And now it's happened. At every hospital that accepts Medicare and Medicaid, patients have the right to choose who visits them and who "may make their critical health-care decisions". Read the story here.
And read the Human Rights Campaign's take on it here.
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