![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Mum's The Word
I always say the wrong thing the day after. I fudged 9/11 and I think the 2nd Bush term too. It's like I have some sort of Internet enabled disability. So I pour out the passion hoping old friends will notice what I have to say. And of course it comes out all white hot and people get totally angry. Which actually makes me sick to my stomach to think I did that. It feels like a bad performance because that's what this is to me. That's the attraction. Get up there and play.
People who call "comment whore" I guess sorta get it. I'm more of a discussion whore really. I've been saying this for like 8-years now and if this site were searchable I'd back that statement up.
But I'm starting to figure out that I don't really factor into this conversation. All I got is the Internet and cable news. I need to just shut up and cheer or be angry too. I want to participate but sometimes I got nothing. I need to realize that and know when to be mum.
What I respect most is our friendships and I feel horrible when what I say strains those. It hurts the most when I don't hear from people I really like for months until it's a square kick in the teeth when I say something dumb. That kinda negative attention is not what I'm looking for.
I never felt better about our neighbours to the mostly-south than I did last night. It was an inspiring and profound moment in my life and all of ours. When you read between my poorly written lines I swear you can see that intention.
Posted via LiveJournal.app.
no subject
no subject
no subject
But yeah I shoulda waited on this one. All our blood is still running hot and it was just a total train wreck.
no subject
Your observations were largely correct.
Your tact was in need of a spanking.
---
Your point really seemed to be that The Gays haven't recently had things anywhere near as bad as the blacks did during the days of full out segregation. That's somewhat true based mostly on the fact that many of us can be an invisible minority. For most of the straight population, unless you're blatantly a flaming queen, they have no idea you're gay or not.
This changes when you move out of things that remove you from the invisible category: You're either gay enough that even the blindest straights can tell or you're getting involved in something legal where your status is at issue. Then minute you're out of the closet, you're subject to bigotry - both social and legal. But your observation that this form of bigotry is different than the one faced by the blacks is correct:
- We're not forbidden to ride at the front of the bus
- We're not required to use separate bathroom facilities
- We're not put in different schools
As for the other common shared signs of the bigotry, even those are less prevalent:
- We're lynched significantly less but it still happens.
- We're discriminated in our housing but less.
- We're discriminated in our employment but less.
If we're willing to be invisble, less can be "almost none".
Unlike the blacks, we don't have the option to get married and have shared property. The closest they had was inability to marry outside of race. If we're lucky, we live in a state where we can exercise some property right via contract but those are very tenuous rights at the moment and they don't follow you if you're traveling.
So if your point was "we still have it better", I could probably agree with you.
Even so, as Chris likes to say "Worse don't make bad better". Being reminded of that in those circumstances is a bit of salt in the wound.
So... points for perspective and understanding of history. Minus points for tact.
I still like you anyway.
no subject
Unfortunately, some folks don't know how to separate simple discussion from the people who are doing the discussing.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
yer still a stud.
no subject
I for one, am still giddy at the notion that Obama has been elected.
no subject
People act like I'm just some Canadian kid given equal marriage rights. But really I come from a place that has had serious national unity issues in the past with Quebec separatism. We went through this as a nation and it made us the place we are now. Interestingly enough the solution was a heavy dose of federal socialism and a huge campaign to convince us that we were one diverse nation. I hold those values dearly to this day and am greatly hopeful that America seems so ready to come together more tightly now too.
no subject
part of what's very frustrating in this case is that many of the people who voted in that guy, also voted to strip gay marriage rights in CA. according to exit polls, 75% of black women -- who presumably voted overwhelmingly for obama -- also voted for prop 8. obama himself has said that, because of his religious beliefs, he thinks gays and lesbians shouldn't have the right to marry.
so yeah, it's great that he won, but right off the bat it sounds like he doesn't consider us equal citizens in this democracy. we obey the laws, we pay our taxes... why shouldn't we have every right that everyone else has?
i'm glad i read this post first, because when i went back and read the post that inspired it, i thought it was really breathtakingly callous. obama's victory was amazing, but gay rights also got beaten down in CA, AZ, FL, and AR, and that makes it a little hard to fully participate in the jubilation going on all around us.
no subject
no subject
no subject
So while Obama maybe have some personal distaste regarding some things, he is public in his statements that a Prop 8 is divisive (his words) and wrong, that such views should not be written into a constitution. He has also stated his problems with DOMA and Don't Ask, Don't Tell. He also included gays in his speech Tue night. That's a pretty big deal. That's more than a shout out, that's inclusion into the fabric of America by a president elect. Is it the end all be all? Does it mean he won't pull a Bill Clinton and pull back from his supports? No. He might. But I gotta go with what I'm hearing and seeing, not with what I fear might happen.
no subject
no subject
part of what's very frustrating in this case is that many of the people who voted in that guy, also voted to strip gay marriage rights in CA. according to exit polls, 75% of black women -- who presumably voted overwhelmingly for obama -- also voted for prop 8. obama himself has said that, because of his religious beliefs, he thinks gays and lesbians shouldn't have the right to marry.
so yeah, it's great that he won, but right off the bat it sounds like he doesn't consider us equal citizens in this democracy. we obey the laws, we pay our taxes... why shouldn't we have every right that everyone else has?
i'm glad i read this post first, because when i went back and read the post that inspired it, i thought it was really breathtakingly callous. obama's victory was amazing, but gay rights also got beaten down in CA, AZ, FL, and AR, and that makes it a little hard to fully participate in the jubilation going on all around us.
no subject
no subject
*hugs*
no subject
no subject
You've said stuff in the past that really pissed me off. Almost defriended you a couple times. Then I thought "eh, no...he's still cute with good things to say." And so, you're still here on my list.
Beside, I like getting pissed off once in a while.