The Time is Now!

With the overturning of Prop 8 in California and the Democrats facing a potentially difficult mid-term election, the time to strike is now.  The judge who overturned the ruling did so on a basis of FACT, not belief.  This is an opportunity for the Democrats to seize on the issue and make a difference for The Family.  Most Americans understand what is at stake here and understand that it is a legal disparity between hets and homs in regards to how the government handles the issue of marriage.

If President Obama came out and said, my personal feelings aside, there is no logical reason to support a current system which rates one type of people over another...which is what DOMA and Prop 8 did, and its time to change this so that we are truly the home of the free.  This is what we are fighting for, a nation where everyone stands in equality and dignity regardless of their beliefs.  The choice is clear for any who value the spirit of what it means to be American.

Unfortunately, I'm afraid that like most good politicians, they're gonna blow it.  So much for leadership.

Don't Cry For Me Argentina......

What balls!  I mean, seriously, Argentina has got some major chutzpah!  Today, against the moral outrage of the Roman Catholic church and other evangelicals who marched on the Argentine Congress earlier this week, the Senate of that austere Latin country voted to allow Gays the right to marry.  What a major coup!

If you haven't read the story you should.  It's absolutely fantastic.  I love the response from the President of the country who is currently in China.   President Cristina Fernandez commented:

"It's very worrisome to hear words like 'God's war' or 'the devil's project,' things that recall the times of the Inquisition," she said.


Thank you, Madam President.  Thank you for having the courage to stand up and fight so clearly and decisively for GLBT folks.  I look forward to the day when we hear the leadership of my nation speak as distinctively and eloquently.

Gender, Gender Identity and Intersexuality

Caster Semenya.  Her name may not mean anything to you, but she has been, for last several months, the poster child for all the issues we face when we spend time busily arranging boxes for boys and girls.  She has been derided in the press and she has been barred from her sport (Ms. Semenya is an athlete, specifically a runner) because people questioned her physical prowress.  She could not be a girl.  She must be a boy.  She runs too well.

What?

Sports clearly defines the differences between men and women and keeps those two categories pretty well on lockdown.  Besides the fact that individuals who are, in fact, intersexed would have difficulty passing international athletic commissions, the ability to determine one's specific gender, and the need to have an individual undergo primitive and often sexist tests to determine what the sex of the person actually is hangs like a pall over the athletic/sports community.  Sports, often seen as a male dominated world, must reinforce the norms which we have come to expect.

I suggest, that perhaps we should be looking at comparing ability with ability and not genitalia to genitalia.  Does it matter whether they are all boys or all girls, if they have similar strengths, agilities, etc.  Does having a penis or a vagina make you a better athlete?  Though hormones certainly play a role in our development and musculature, is that not all the more reason why the individuality of the human condition should demand using ability as a better gauge of competitive measure...certainly more than penises and vaginas?

Just a thought.