Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Of Real Estate, Operetta, and Rejections

Yikes! A whole week without a post. I'm determined not to disappear again and there I almost did it!

I was at an intensive real estate seminar for a client last week -- 13 hours a day. I learned a lot. It was a less progressive crowd than I'm used to, so I heard some things I wish I hadn't. But my client seems to be one of the good guys, thank goodness.

This week, it's The Mikado -- the spring musical at my daughter's high school. I am the Prop Lady. My daughter is the Prop Manager. She's the boss. I shop. Then I ask the stage manager to give me money.

Finally, I got the nicest rejection I've ever gotten for a "flash" fiction story about the end of the world. Honest. They said they liked it but it's too short. It's the most encouraging thing I've gotten. Much better than just, "thanks but it didn't fit our needs."

I'm rambling now. Honest, today I'm blogging just for the sake of blogging to make myself do it. I'm not PO'd enough about anything to spend energy writing about it today. Guess that's a good thing.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Today's Morality Lesson

Now that both military leaders and Congress have finally begun to realize that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” makes no sense at all, there’s a chance we gay folk will actually be allowed to serve our country without hiding in the closet.

That’s a good thing for everybody, because the military needs people. Lots of people. In addition to Bush’s troop build-up, NPR recently reported that the Pentagon has stepped up its language training program because linguists – especially those who can speak Middle Eastern languages – are in such short supply.

Yet in 2005 an audit by the federal General Accounting Office showed that between 1994 and 2003, 9,488 of us, including 98 with critical language skills, were discharged under DADT. In 2004, 653 soldiers were discharged. And discharges are still taking place (according to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund, two per day), although my brief research did not reveal official statistics for 2005 and 2006.

If DADT ever made sense – which it didn’t – it sure doesn’t make sense now.

Still, not everyone has entered the new millennium. Specifically, General Peter Pace doesn’t want us on playing on his team, at least not so he knows we’re there. General Pace is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff which, according to Wikipedia (I know, I know), is responsible for ensuring the readiness of the country’s military resources. General Pace is on record as supporting DADT because he believes homosexuality is immoral.

Immoral? Really? Homosexuality is more immoral than invading a country on false pretenses, and then discharging people with essential skills? More immoral than undermining our military resources, which General Pace is supposed to be protecting? Gee. Guess I need to go back to church, ‘cause I got some larnin’ to do.

UPDATE: General Pace issued a statement saying he regrets injecting his personal views into the public discourse. Of course, that doesn’t mean he’s had a change of heart. Well, at least he doesn’t deny being a bigot like some people. I’ll give him that.

Friday, March 09, 2007

We’re Not Sorry!

It’s a simple concept: the NAACP would like the Georgia legislature to issue an apology for its role in slavery. The Virginia legislature did just that not too long ago. While one might argue that the NAACP is taking the wrong approach in trying to get a resolution through this late in the legislative session, it’s hard to argue with the basic idea – especially since it would cost the people of Georgia absolutely nothing.

Enter House Speaker Glenn Richardson, a Republican from Hiram. He’s against the concept altogether. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Richardson says hey, we weren’t alive back then, so why should we apologize? Uh, because it’s the right thing to do, maybe?

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Kudos to the Deerfield, Illinois school system…

…which is holding panel discussions this week for freshmen about what it’s like to be GLBT and in high school. Some parents have, not surprisingly, taken exception to the presentations, alleging that such discussions promote homosexuality. But the school district is standing firm.

Monday, March 05, 2007

Back from the Dead to Yell at ... Us?

It’s no secret that Ann Coulter is a despicable human being. And it’s also no secret that she’s just a little homophobic. Most recently, she called John Edwards a faggot at the Conservative Political Action Caucus. Lovely.

But what’s bringing this blog back from the dead isn’t Coulter’s comment or even the audience’s cheers. What’s bringing it back is my dismay at the despicable way so-called progressives are reacting. Phyllis Schlafly would truly be proud of the misogynistic, anti-gay, anti-transgender rhetoric coming out of the so-called left.

Consider the comments in the blog Think Progress, just one of many places you can see Coulter being witty. To date, there are 779 comments reacting to that post. Now it’s true that many of the comments are thoughtful. But in just the first 75 comments I found lots of gems like these:

Mann Coulter is single. And her Adam’s Apple is bulging in that photo. So who’s the faggot?

I “read” her as a tranny the very first time I saw a photo of her. It is
that obvious. And trannies ARE faggots, they’re gayer than gay.

Mann’s just pissed cause his love purse is an empty irritated crease.

The self loathing he/she must feel boggles the mind.

Now is Ann jealous because she doesn’t have a man?

Oh, where to begin? Just in case it needs explaining (and apparently it does, much to my dismay), here’s why such comments are inappropriate:

First of all, G-d gave me more than an “empty irritated crease” when She made the wise decision to make me female. And transgender folks, including those who are post-op, have a lot more than that to work with as well. Geez!

Second, transgender people as a group – post-op or otherwise – are not faggots, no matter how you define that charming term. Some are gay, some are straight.

Third, Coulter should be referred to as she, whether or not she is transgender. The use of “he/she” – or any other variation of “not really a woman” – is despicable. Ann Coulter is a horrid, horrid person, but if she identifies internally as female, then she is female and should be referred to in the feminine.

Fourth, it is possible for someone to be fully female, and feminine, and beautiful, even if she possesses traits outside the traditional European model of feminine beauty. Calling someone unfeminine or ugly because she has an Adam’s apple or large hands doesn’t become enlightened just because it’s Ann Coulter you’re attacking.

And finally, being single doesn’t make women bitter and nasty. I’m pretty sure we covered this one way back when we were trying to get the vote.

The bottom line is this. Using sexist, homophobic, or transphobic (is that a word?) rhetoric doesn’t make you right – or even clever – just because you’re using it to attack an asshole. It just makes you an asshole, too.

SHAME on these people for making me defend Ann Coulter!