What a surprise:
 An Austrian pastor who has been quoted as calling Hurricane Katrina God's punishment for sin in New Orleans is being promoted to the rank of bishop.
In 2005, Wagner was quoted in a parish newsletter as saying that he was convinced that the death and destruction of Hurricane Katrina earlier that year was “divine retribution” for New Orleans' tolerance of homosexuals and laid-back sexual attitudes.

Soon-to-be Bishop Wagner obviously has no idea what he is talking about.  I would not say “devine retribution”, perhaps it was some sort of “devine intervention” considering that the gay neighborhoods, the French Quarter and Marigny, were largely spared.  But we all know that the truth only gets in the way of a good gay bashing story.
It said the newsletter quoted Wagner as saying that Katrina destroyed not only nightclubs and brothels in New Orleans, but also abortion clinics.
“The conditions of immorality in this city are indescribable,” Wagner was quoted as saying.

 WTF?  Brothels in New Orleans?  I thought Storyville closed in 1917.

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(crossposted at Amplify)
Creating Change 2009…this has been a wonderful week. There are so many powerful spirits here in Denver. On Friday I was scheduled to present a session on the Advocates for Youth Anti-Homophobia/Transphobia Project. The intended purpose of the session was to inform session participants of the project work we have been doing at Advocates in concert with project partners around the country. Also, we wanted to give participants tangible tools to utilize when working to redress homophobia and transphobia in communities of color. 
As usual I asked participants to introduce themselves by telling us their name, preferred gender pronoun, and they motivation for attending the session. As you might imagine, the last request assist me in gauging participants’ expectations and needs during the session. As we went around the room I quickly realized that the needs of my participants were not going to be fulfilled by my “professional” presentation on the work that was being done around the country to build capacity of providers to re-dress homophobia/transphobia. No. Instead, I had a room full of individuals that were eager to discuss the real life challenges to dialogue about homophobia/transphobia and racism. I was ready.
I threw the entire session agenda out of the window and we went to work. We discussed common challenges of being a part of a community of color and the reality that queer issues are not always a priority. In reality, many individuals of communities of color are more concerned with the everyday struggles of battling oppression, sometimes dealing with the constant fear of deportation and possibly trying to figure out how to keep a roof over their families’ heads. We talked about the ever-present divide between the queer groups (majority white) and the Black student groups on some college campuses. People expressed their personal challenges with bringing the two groups together on common ground. And, of course we had a conversation about the infamous Prop 8 debacle.
What I realized was that we, The GLBTQ community, have so many conversations to have. Together we processed through sentiments of frustration about the seemingly unwillingness of those in our people of color communities to consider how homophobia and transphobia effect use all. I challenged people to consider how we attempt to work in people of color communities, to consider that our feelings of urgency are our own and not those of many of our communities at-large. People were open about how they made special effort to consider the intersections of oppression that POC communities are often faced with. Folks were clear about the importance of history and culture in EVERY community, and so on.
We spent a lot of time discussing challenges and experience, but I didn’t want use to leave the space without some concrete tools that could be used when having these difficult conversations in our respective communities and I thought I’d list some suggestions here:
1. Know the community, be clear on cultural norms, beliefs and values
2. Establish trust within the community
3. Consort the gatekeepers an popular opinion leaders
4. Meet people where they are
5. Don’t make any assumptions
6. Do your homework
7. Work at the intersections of social issues (queer issues are not the only issues of importance)
8. Honor the collective experience of the community
9. Be respectful; and
10. Ask questions
By no means is this is not an exhaustive list but it is a start.   We all have many parts that make up a whole. The GLBTQ community is not homogeneous, and therefore we must be willing to have difficult conversations about race, class, gender, etc. And if we want to make changes in other communities we must be willing to step outside of our comfortable queer activist/advocate boxes and get down, dirty and honest about how to tackle the huge problems that plague us. It was both an honor and pleasure to share space, knowledge and power with my session participants yesterday. I look forward to the work ahead …collectively and with honesty and love we will get the job(s) done.

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ciao ciao
Carolyn

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

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Wow, Fred Phelps and his Religious whacko parishioners (aka his family) from the Westboro Baptist Church paid a visit to our neighborhood’s local high school, Desert Mountain, yesterday. The high school’s big sin? Apparently they have a large Gay-Straight Alliance club at the school and plenty of students willing to give up an afternoon to show support for their gay and lesbian fellow students, which is a big enough offense to draw these horrible homophobic hate-mongers to our sleepy little community.
Hmmm, could it be that even full-time homophobes like Fred Phelps enjoy a sunny working vacation once in a while too? After all, it’s got to be more pleasant to hate monger in balmy 75 degree weather than in 10 degree weather with snow and sleet. A little sunshine, a few margaritas, and some spicy mexican food - I’d say that’s the perfect prescription for re-energizing a family who has dedicated their lives to spreading hatred and vitriol anywhere and everywhere that doesn’t meet their holiness standards.
This has made my day. It was very gratifying to see so many kids and adults from my neighborhood and also from the neighboring high school (the one I graduated from) take time off from their busy schedules to be there, with signs in hand, to let these people know that their homophobia and hatred will not be tolerated in our community. And it didn’t take the Phelps clan long to get the message either, they sure didn’t hang around very long.
It was a lovely sight to behold:

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Reading the news this morning, I stumbled over two pieces - unrelated at first sight - which then interestingly connected somehow:
Pam is writing about Michael Steele's election as GOP chairman. There is one sentence that caught my eye:
Steele defended former Gov. Bob Ehrlich’s decision to hold a $100,000 fundraiser at a country club that did not allow non-white members, saying that the club’s membership’s policies were “not an issue” because “I don’t play golf.”
 
This painfully reminds me of the quote by Martin Niemoeller about persecution by the Nazi system:
“In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist; And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist; And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew; And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up.” 
 ”I didn't speak up, because I don't play golf …”
I am not comparing the GOP with Nazi Germany, but the train of thought is just painfully similar. At the same time it is exactly this thinking, that allows [fill in your favorite sin here - divorce, abortionists, ...]  sinners people to vote for anti-same sex marriage measures - and be surprised when at some point a measure is on the ballot, that infringes on their freedom, based to religious laws.
But I am digressing - what was the second - and connected news piece again?

Yes - the pope.  Or rather the reaction to his move of lifting Williamson's excommunication.  Did I say reaction? Right, there was none.  At least not here.  At the same time, in one of Germany's biggest online magazines I read today, that

Israel is considering to freeze diplomatic relationship with the Vatican
The German Jewish community is outraged
Members of the house for the German party CDU (well, kind of Germany's GOP) criticized the pope
The former head of CDU critized the pope for his ignorance of women, divorcees, gays, and lesbian
Even the head of the German catholic bishops criticized the pope for his decision

Where is the uproar in the Christian community in the US?
Coverage in the news? Not really! Anything critical in Faux Fiction news? Silence!
All the churches with their signs “Support Israel” - no word?  Do those signs actually mean “We hate Arabs”?  Just bigotry?
Well, I think we all should be looking at this closely - because I think the reaction to this incident is telling us so much about religion, society, bigotry and true morality. 

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Guest post sent in from Lauren, Age 22
It is the place you live, right? So why are you getting glared at for cuddling on the couch? Out with the family and there are two couples. My girlfriend and I and my girl’s sister and her boyfriend/fiance. Whose pda do you think is accepted by the mother? Go on take a guess. So, I not only have to deal with the already uncomfortable task of living two states away from my family, but I also get to feel bad for wanting to hold my girlfriend’s hand in the vicinity of her mother. Now, you’ll say, I should be considerate of her mother’s feelings, blah blah. My girlfriend has been out of the closet for oh… six years now… it’s time to move on, lady. Desensitize yourself for deity’s sake. I did mention her sister is getting married, right? She’s a year younger than me. Making her oh… twenty. I have the curiosity of any normal girl. I want to think about maybe having some sort of ceremony and really it’s just about the dress, come on now. This is my right! No, you know what the mother says when she finds out I thought about it? “It’s not legal in this state.” Well no shit, Sherlock. Thanks for playing. Considering if said ceremony is at some unforeseen date in the future, I and my girl will be picking up the tab… so input… not necessary. What do I know though?Similar Posts:

An Unlikely Midwest Lesbian
Why I Don’t Want To Be Your First Girlfriend
Like Shadows, I guess
Ranting on …Being “out” with a homophobic roommate

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Guest Post Submitted by Chelsea from Textphish
As of today (January 30th, 2009) I was employed by a small construction company as its receptionist and the personal assistant to the operations manager, who, if you’ve been paying attention, you know is just slightly friendlier than the bitch CEO described in the book, “The Devil Wears Prada”. Today is the day I hand in my resignation letter, which you can have the pleasure of reading in my previous journal entry if you’re interested.
I’d like to dedicate a blog post to offering some advice to those managers that have the audacity to treat their secretaries like shit on the bottom of their shoes. I hope that in the future my words will help those with the luxury of a personal assistant/receptionist/secretary. Please take a moment to read them, as I am certain it will save you a lot of pain and suffering in the future.
The first helpful information I have to provide is this: love your secretary. If for instance you have the stupidity to let your secretary into your office, please treat him/her with respect. He/she is not an idiot. They’re trying to do their job in the best way they know how. I’d like to entreat you to speak courteously to your employee, even joke around with them, and let them know that despite the tedious job that they perform for your betterment, they are still human beings. THIS IS IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO REALIZE, especially when you look at porn on the internet daily, using up the company’s time and computer space to speak to thumbnail pictures of ass on your instant messenger program.
The second piece of information I have for you is, keep your promises! When you hire your secretary, if you promise a raise within a certain allotted time, it would be in your best interest to keep that promise, especially when you trust your secretary with certain important information, like your social security number, birthdate, the numbers of your company credit card, and your doctor’s information.
The third tip is this: remain professional. Your secretary wants nothing more than to do his or her job properly, without having to worry about what kind of mood you’re going to be in. If you have a habit of swinging from being friendly and joking one minute to having an outright bitchfest the next, please refrain from taking it out on your employees, especially your secretary. Your secretary, if they’re good at their job, knows where every single sheet of important papers, professional AND personal, and files are located. If they’re good at their job, you won’t know where anything is. You must treat your secretary with the appropriate respect if you want to find anything.
On that note, if you’re the substance-abusing kind of person, it would be best if you kept that kind of information to yourself. While your secretary may not work for you anymore, if you want to keep your job after your secretary has resigned, it would be intelligent not to share with him/her that you frequently purchase illegal substances.
My fourth tip is thus: maintaining a professional relationship with your secretary means that it would probably be best if you did not treat him/her like a janitorial service. Especially when you leave uncounted amounts of personal items in your office, such as insurance cards, medication, records, receipts, socks, shoes, and all manner of things that would be best suited locked in your house, where they belong.
My final piece of information is the following: trust your secretary. Have a professional relationship with them, maintain a healthy, happy atmosphere, and try not to accuse your secretary of lying when he/she says they are either a). too sick to drive or b). snowed in after a devastating ice storm that left over 500,000 people without power until mid-February. Your secretary is a dedicated individual, and wants to keep their job, especially during a time of economic trouble. They honestly would not take time off of work when they have a family to support, neither would they resign unless they had no other choice.
A personal assistant is a valuable asset to any company. They are remarkable people with a penchant for listening when you think they are too stupid to pay attention to your phone calls. If you maintain a healthy relationship with your secretary, there should be absolutely no reason for them to hold any of the incredible lengths of information they’ve gathered against you in any way. However, should you break these cardinal rules I’ve outlined above, there should be no sympathy given to you when you discover that your valuable information has been shared with someone who turned out not to be the drooling idiot you thought them for but a person that loves vengeance as much as they love sex. That person can be anyone, including a sweet-tempered, bespectacled girl that wants only to do her job properly so she can afford to pay her monthly rent. Appearances can be deceiving! Please remember that wolves can indeed come in sheep’s clothing.
I do hope that this information can come as great help to those that are comfortable treating their secretaries like shit. Remember that though you wear the pants in the company, the true power behind the throne is your personal assistant. Love your secretary!Similar Posts:

#It must be love…love…love…
Someone I admire
Lesbian Role Models
Why It Sucks Not To Be Married

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An editorial from the Portland Press Herald had this to say regarding compromising the proposed same sex marriage issue with domestic partnerships:

From the Portland Press Herald, 1/25/09:
The Legislature should welcome this public policy debate, not squelch it with compromise.
There are issues on which both sides can split the difference and come away with a deal that everyone can live with.
At this point, same-sex marriage is not one of them.
State Rep. Les Fossel, R-Alna, has admirably tried to bridge the gap between people who want to extend full marriage rights to same-sex couples and those who do not.
His solution, a package of rights that married couples now enjoy assembled under another name for same-sex couples, is one that will satisfy neither side. The measure is well-intentioned but would provide an unnecessary distraction in the midst of an already intense public-policy debate.
A domestic partnership law is the wrong place to start the discussion. Those who object to the state applying family law norms to same-sex relationships see it as a way to sneak gay marriage into the law books.
Those who support same-sex marriage view it as a less-than-equal legal status that does not carry one of the most important benefits of marriage - its universal recognition.
In a school, hospital or courthouse, everyone understands the family relationship of marriage and the rights that go with it. A new institution with an unfamiliar name would not have the same weight.
We support full marriage rights for same-sex couples because we believe they are entitled to equal protection under the law. Marriage is the best building block for stable, supportive families, and families led by same-sex couples should have same legal rights and obligations as those led by heterosexual couples.
Obviously, others disagree.
But a discussion of marriage equality is the public-policy debate that we should be having. It is not something that should be sidestepped with a pre-emptive compromise.

This is a link to the MORE THAN 140 PAGES OF LEGISLATION Maine’s 124th legislature is working on this session, including the same sex marriage bill sponsored by Dennis Damon and the compromise sponsored by Les Fossel.
Related:
Why Maine Shouldn’t Have Equal Marriage: $$$
Dirogo and Marriage Equality
GLAD: Legal Gay Marriage By 2012 For All of New England
Massachusetts, Connecticut… maybe Maine in 2009?

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I’m tired of being your “gay friend.” While I know you are an ‘ally’ who is motivated toward progressive feminist patterns in a transcendental society who uses anti-patriarchal postmodern practices of a humanistic ideology (i.e. BULL**T), I no longer want to be your representative for being “cool with the gays.” Now before you raise your hand in protest, just listen to my words. (For all the lesbians, this post will serve as a reminder of what role you may serve to the breeders in your life).
I have heard you time and time again. I get it. You love people of all types, sizes, shapes, colors, and beliefs. You rise above it all on a daily basis. As an enlightened person, I hear you. You love diversity. Maybe you even live in a “diverse neighborhood.” You hate Prop 8. You hate that rights do not extend to all people and the oppressive government and its majority infringes on your heart and soul, blah blah blah blah….For that, I thank you. Just stop using me as your reasoning behind believing all that, rather just buy me the beer because I told you a spread offense is better in college football and cannot hold in the NFL. Stand up on your own two feet and shout from the rooftops “I LOVE THE GAYS…and I will not use my gay friends as my reasoning.” While you are on your metaphorical rooftop, why don’t you jump and let the beauty of the human soul catch you. I know it will. My “straight friends” told me it would.
I know I might sound jaded, but I have, as of late, been too many straight people’s “gay friend.” This has happened so much that their friends are starting to use me as their “gay friend” and I don’t even know them. I can’t be the ancillary “gay friend.” While shopping or talking to other people these friends of yours are using my outstandingly strong lesbian/dyke reputation in order to point out that they know good beer, the right cars to buy, how gay the movie was, and how certain towns or activities are “so gay” (among other things).
Guy 1: Long Beach is so gay.
Guy 2: Dude, you can’t say that.
Guy 1: Yes, I can. My “gay friend” said the same thing. I can totally say that. I
have straight “gay cred.”
I fear this is happening so much that my reputation is going to get crushed in my community. People are going to start recognizing me as the “gay friend” of the douchebag they met at the bar the other night. I am going to be responsible for you using the word dyke, lesbo, diesel, lipstick, and chapstick in the wrong way because I did not explain how socially unacceptable those words were in certain contexts and out of your mouth. For instance, if you are trying to relate to a lesbian by asking her if she is the “man in the relationship because she is a dyke” people are going to start blaming me. It’s just inevitable. I just didn’t sign up for teaching LESBO 405 to your “straight friends.”
So I am making a call to all the wonderful people who read Grace the Spot. I know you have “straight friends” who call you their “gay friend.” Remind them of their duty. Remind them to not use you in the wrong context. Remind them to stop using words that might get their ass kicked in the Castro or in Long Beach. My heart can’t take it anymore. If I hear one more person tell me they got choked up at MILK because they were thinking of me the whole time, I am going to lose it. I am going to have a lesbian meltdown. The next time you see me I will be in a pink tutu
dancing the Hora singing Hava Negila while hitting on all the available ladies outside Canter’s Deli. Oh yeah, I can say this. My “Jewish friend” told me I could.

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