October 10th, 2006
As the Mark Foley scandal continues to unfold, it’s important to keep things in perspective. What Mr. Foley did was wrong–not because he is Gay, but because he used his powerful position to wield inappropriate influence over minors. No matter how intelligent these pages were, it’s still inexcusable for any adult to abuse a child in any way. Period.
And it is disingenuous of the Republican leadership to say that, had they tried to deal with this problem before it became a scandal, they would have been accused of gay bashing. No, their unmitigating support of anti-gay bills pretty much took care of that.
Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson wrote an excellent editorial in today’s edition, titled “‘Values’ Choice for the GOP.” The next-to-last paragraph is particularly poignant–it’s an amazing, reasonable, proposal that will never see the light of day at the GOP headquarters.
That’s one more reason to throw our support behind candidates who represent our values. Today is the last day to register to vote in many jurisdictions. Are you registered?
Posted in Good Reads, Neighborly Thoughts | No Comments »
October 6th, 2006
David Link of the Independent Gay Forum published an insightful editorial in the Boston Globe yesterday. In it he spells out some of the real harm caused by staying in the closet, and the complicitness of Foley’s colleagues in upholding the myth that nothing bad was going on. Read this excellent piece here.
David’s colleague at the IGF, John Corvino, writes a similar article published in “Between the Lines.” In it he writes,
“But the “gay angle” on this contains an important lesson, one that is unfortunately likely to be either distorted or missed entirely amidst the partisan political drama. It is that gay people, like everyone else, need healthy outlets for sexual expression. When those are blocked–because of political ambition or a repressive church or a right wing bent on ignoring basic science–cases like Foley’s (or former Spokane mayor Jim West’s or former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey’s) become more likely, as do far greater tragedies like the Catholic Church’s sex-abuse scandal.”
Read the entire article here.
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September 21st, 2006
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has launched a new website to fight the anti-gay initiatives pending on the ballots of 6 targeted states. Please visit the site and take action in the form of a phone call, a letter, an email, or by spreading the word. We must not allow discrimination to be written into the lawbooks!
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September 18th, 2006
If you are going to doubt something, doubt your limits.—Don Ward
Coming out–whether as a gay person or as a supporter of the GLBT community–is often fraught with doubt and fear, because we may not know how the news will be received. Will the person argue with me, hate me, hurt me? Will I be welcome anymore? Will I be safe, supported, loved? Doubt, doubt, doubt. Fear, fear, fear. Unknowns pile up until we stop ourselves from doing what felt right before all of the negative stuff started popping into our heads.Do it anyway. Unless your worry is truly about your personal safety or survival, chances are you’ll be fine–and you’ll feel a whole lot better. You may even find that you have a new ally and friend.
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