Now the homophobic idiocy of this is bad enough, but why the hell did this assistant principal think she had the right to do this? (Kentucky Equality Federation):Kentucky Equality Federation received reports that a Franklin County High official allegedly sent an email to teachers instructing them not to allow homosexuals to leave class to use the restroom.Wait, an entire group of people can't use the john in response to being offended by a kiss by two students. WTF?The email was allegedly sent after two female classmates were caught kissing in the public restroom.
"I'd like to know what level this mentality, that gay and lesbian students should not be treated equally is coming from. An incident in one county could be called an isolated incident, but we now have similar reports in three other Kentucky Counties," stated Kentucky Equality Federation Managing Director Laura Reed.Isn't this a health issue? Are gay students supposed to sh*t their pants if they are having gastrointestinal bad day? This is so insane that the students held a protest.
And protect your keyboards for this irony alert -- the word for the month of April at Franklin County High School is tolerance, and look at this:
"Franklin County High School establishes a secure community that fosters a spirit of cooperation and respect for academic excellence, personal values, and diverse cultures both in and out of the classroom."H/t Inside, Looking Out.
UPDATE : Due to bloggers and SLDN questioning the WH on why they removed the LGBT rights stuff in the first place, and now the wording surrounding DADT, they have changed the word from "changing" to "repealing." Good news? Maybe. It is yet to be seen or understood why the wording was changed originally or why the White House has yet to clarify what exactly is going on, other than a standard email they've been sending to everyone about "revamping" the site. According to the SLDN Blog, there should be more on this next week week.
Aubrey Sarvis communicated with the White House last night, like others did, to understand what was going on. He also received the standard e-mailed response about the site being revamped, etc. We should have a more complete understanding of what is going on early next week. Stay tuned.
Within moments of the official transfer of power from George Bush to Barack Obama on January 20, 2009 the White House website featured a very promising list of LGBT civil rights.
Well 102 days in it appears things have changed. While the over-all list is still in tact and just summarized into one short paragraph, there's interesting wording on Don't Ask Don't Tell which indicates there's no longer full support for repeal from the President which sort of has my blood boiling, just a little.
Strengthen Anti-Discrimination Laws On January 29, 2009, President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act to ensure that all Americans receive equal pay for equal work. The President is committed to expanding funding for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to ensure that voting rights are protected and Americans do not suffer from increased discrimination during a time of economic distress. President Obama also continues to support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and believes that our anti-discrimination employment laws should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity. He supports full civil unions and federal rights for LGBT couples and opposes a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. He supports changing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in a sensible way that strengthens our armed forces and our national security, and also believes that we must ensure adoption rights for all couples and individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation.What exactly is he saying by changing Don't Ask Don't Tell? And why on earth would he remove the strong language about developing a comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategy? Very troubling indeed. The Original text of the website below the fold.
Support for the LGBT Community "While we have come a long way since the Stonewall riots in 1969, we still have a lot of work to do. Too often, the issue of LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans. It's about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect." -- Barack Obama, June 1, 2007* Expand Hate Crimes Statutes: In 2004, crimes against LGBT America ns constituted the third-highest category of hate crime reported and made up more than 15 percent of such crimes. President Obama cosponsored legislation that would expand federal jurisdiction to include violent hate crimes perpetrated because of race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or physical disability. As a state senator, President Obama passed tough legislation that made hate crimes and conspiracy to commit them against the law. * Fight Workplace Discrimination: President Obama supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and believes that our anti-discrimination employment laws should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity. While an increasing number of employers have extended benefits to their employees' domestic partners, discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace occurs with no federal legal remedy. The President also sponsored legislation in the Illinois Stis State Senate that would ban employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. * Support Full Civil Unions and Federal Rights for LGBT Couples: President Obama supports full civil unions that give same-sex couples legal rights and privileges equal to those of married couples. Obama also believes we need to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and enact legislation that would ensure that the 1,100+ federal legal rights and benefits currently provided on the basis of marital status are extended to same-sex couples in civil unions and other legally-recognized unions. These rights and benefits include the right to assist a loved one in times of emergency, the right to equal health insurance and other employment benefits, and property rights. * Oppose a Constitutional Ban on Same-Sex Marriage: President Obama voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2006 which would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman and prevented judicial extension of marriage-like rights to same-sex or other unmarried couples. * Repeal Don't Ask-Don't Tell: President Obama agrees with former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili and other military experts that we need to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The key test for military service should be patriotism, a sense of duty, and a willingness to serve. Discrimination should be prohibited. The U.S. government has spent millions of dollars replacing troops kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation. Additionally, more than 300 language experts have been fired under this policy, including more than 50 who are fluent in Arabic. The President will work with military leaders to repeal the current policy and ensure it helps accomplish our national defense goals. * Expand Adoption Rights: President Obama believes that we must ensure adoption rights for all couples and individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation. He thinks that a child will benefit from a healthy and loving home, whether the parents are gay or not. * Promote AIDS Prevention: In the first year of his presidency, President Obama will develop and begin to implement a comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategy that includes all federal agencies. The strategy will be designed to reduce HIV infections, increase access to care and reduce HIV-related health disparities. The President will support common sense approaches including age-appropriate sex education that includes information about contraception, combating infection within our prison population through education and contraception, and distributing contraceptives through our public health system. The President also supports lifting the federal ban on needle exchange, which could dramatically reduce rates of infection among drug users. President Obama has also been willing to confront the stigma -- too often tied to homophobia -- that continues to surround HIV/AIDS. * Empower Women to Prevent HIV/AIDS: In the United States, the percentage of women diagnosed with AIDS has quadrupled over the last 20 years. Today, women account for more than one quarter of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses. President Obama introduced the Microbicide Development Act, which will accelerate the development of products that empower women in the battle against AIDS. Microbicides are a class of products currently under development that women apply topically to prevent transmission of HIV and other infections.
Numerous male partners that are icons of popular fiction have been the subject of homoerotic speculation. Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. The Lone Ranger and Tonto. Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. Even, absurdly, Batman and Robin. What triggers this kind of speculation? Quiet as it's kept, some people (women in particular) are aroused by the idea of two handsome guys in love with one another. Another reason, in my humble opinion, is that people know these kinds of relationships exist, and they want their knowledge validated. Those are the explanations when there's absolutely no evidence of sexual interest to be found in the fiction. But what about when there is evidence?
Consider the classic European comic strip, The Adventures of Tintin. Its male companions are a teenage detective known for his distinctive quiff of red hair, and a crusty, alcoholic ex-seaman. About a year ago, a fan website called www.tintinologist.org opened a forum to discuss Gay themes in the series. Only that really wasn't the purpose of the forum! Its purpose was to give fans hostile to Gay themes a place to vent their hostility. Serious consideration of those themes was neither expected nor desired. I didn't realize this when I decided to start posting to the forum, so I was unprepared for the onslaught of bile that came my way.
I was somewhat familiar with the Tintin series at that time. My childhood dentist kept some of the graphic novels in his office, and I recall reading them there. I knew that Tintin's creator and author, Belgian cartoonist Hergé; had made his strip an almost exclusively male domain; his male leads had no female love interests during the entire 54-year run of the strip. Over the years, I'd also become aware of provocative dream sequences in certain Tintin books that lent themselves to homoerotic interpretations. So, naively, I put my two cents' worth into the forum. I wrote that Gay interpretations might be valid when reading The Adventures of Tintin. If I'd called the Virgin Mary a slut, I don't think the reaction could have been any more hostile.
Hell hath no fury like comic fans bent on protecting the manhood of their pen-and-ink icon! Where's your proof? raged one contributor over and over. Excuse me? I wasn't trying to prove anything. You're destroying a legend! another shrilled. Actually, I was expressing an opinion. Don't call Tintin Gay, yet another fumed, just because he doesn't sleep with every woman that comes along!
I mean, really . . . we were talking about a damn comic book series! The topic was hardly one of world-changing significance. Yet the level of acrimony got really intense. The more diplomatic I tried to be, the more enraged the forum contributors became. I was infuriated by insinuations that Gay people are degenerates, and that I myself might be a pedophile. When the forum host turned on me with veiled threats to ban my comments, I realized I was wasting my valuable free time on knuckleheads. I wrote a final post in which I denounced the forum for its bigotry, told them all to shove it, and logged out permanently.
The experience left a bad odor that hung around for a long time. Hot, steaming mounds of raw heterosexism tend to have that kind of odor! It was never a priority, but in the back of my mind I resolved to familiarize myself with the entire Tintin series. Just as I had done with the Bible, I wanted to get down to the real nitty gritty of homosexual content I knew was there. Days ago, I completed my review of all 23 completed adventures, spanning the years 1929 to 1976.
So, what did I find? I found a European comic strip that grew ever more sophisticated as time passed. I must say, there were times when it felt like I wasn't reading a comic strip. There was no comparing it to American strips of the period. Violence was depicted more realistically. Human vices like drug abuse and alcoholism were depicted in a matter-of-fact way. Nuance was the order of the day: Weakness, vanity, stupidity, and pettiness were displayed in heroes and villains alike. And yes, homosexual attachment was definitely a subtext running through the series.
As for that nitty gritty I spoke of earlier: Do I think any of the Tintin characters were Gay? If you're talking about the so-called Thom(p)son Twins, my answer is a most emphatic "yes"! In the early 1980s, their name was immortalized when a hit British Rock trio took it for their own, but it should have been honored long before then. The Thom(p)sons are very likely the first Gay male couple to ever appear in comics . . . and there still aren't that many!
Though they were based on brothers (Hergé's uncle and father), they were not related. They were Charlie Chaplin clones, an inseparable pair who worked together, lived together and dressed alike, often in the campiest costumes imaginable (dig their Mandarin look in The Blue Lotus, or my favorites, their Dutch sailor outfits in Red Rackham's Treasure). Hergé made huge fun of their outrageous fashion sense; he obviously loved designing their get-ups. He portrayed the Thom(p)sons as buffoons par excellence, dumber than dodo birds and even clumsier than Captain Haddock, but their comedy relief value had nothing to do with their subtly implied sexual orientation.
The time did come when Hergé decided to take a chance and not be so coy about their couple status; it happened in the 1954 book Explorers On The Moon. Looking furtively around to see if anyone is watching them, they touch palms and dance a tender ballet together in zero gravity. As if that weren't plain enough, Hergé laid it on the line even more explicitly two decades later in Tintin and The Picaros. During a climactic sequence where they face impending death, one asks the other for a goodbye kiss! By then, there could be no doubt about the nature of their sometimes testys testy relationship, but almost everybody was too busy laughing at their antics to notice.
Very few people noticed the dynamics of Tintin's relationship with Captain Haddock, either. Those dynamics were apparent from the very beginning, when the boozy Captain made his first appearance in a story called The Crab With The Golden Claws. In a rather shocking sequence from this 1940 adventure, Haddock hallucinates that Tintin is a giant bottle of rare champagne while both wander in the desert. Twice, he attacks the boy detective and tries to "uncork" him! It's hard to imagine a more powerful homoerotic metaphor than this, yet most readers missed it. They missed it even though Hergé guarded against that possibility by having Tintin relive the incident. He does so in a dream of his own which clearly symbolizes fear of homosexual desire.
Other than bouts of inebriation that sometimes lead to dangerous predicaments, Tintin had nothing to fear from his new traveling companion, though. The good Captain followed him around the world like a besotted puppy, stumbling into mishap after mishap, falling afoul of exotic animals, complaining constantly about everything, but clearly devoted to his adolescent rehabilitator. Their relationship was the opposite of what you'd expect, given their ages: Tintin often acted as Haddock's nursemaid and caretaker. A scene from Tintin In Tibet where the Captain gets his beard caught in a sleeping bag zipper and the Quiffed One has to free him is all too typical. Tintin was an emancipated minor, often more mature than the people he associated with. As for Haddock, he was more mature than the Thom(p)son Twins, but that ain't saying much!
"Tintin Uncloseted" continues with Part Two.
The bill now goes to the House of Representatives, which has adjourned until Tuesday, and so will make no vote until at least next week. [Bangor Daily News]
If approved, the bill will move on to Governor John Baldacci. Governor Baldacci hasn’t publicly stated whether he intends to sign or veto the bill, but has hinted that he may support it.
Best of luck to Equality Maine as they work with the House and the Governor!
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