I am very proud to announce the first podcast episode of "Thoughts From A Lezzymom" is now available on iTunes. You can subscribe and listen to it here. Please use the tell your friends link in iTunes and spread the word about the show.
In the premier podcast, I cover recent developments in California’s Prop 8. We interviewed a special guest Annie Loyd from the Fusion Foundation, fusionfoundation.org. Annie discusses how to get involved and her story about being a community organizer. We wrapped things up with a final thought about Pepsi and their donations to LGBT causes.
The show will always feature a song from an unknown artist This episode the song comes from the Pod Safe Music Network and is by artist Carly Patterson called Temporary Life - Ordinary Girl.
More info about the show found on lezzymom.blogspot.com. Email your comments and show ideas to lezzymom@gmail.com .
Here is a little inforamation on our guest Annie Loyd.
Annie Loyd, she is simply, a "social architect." One that sees things that aren't quite right and tries to find solutions. She works to bring people together and empower them.
This year Annie has run for the U.S. Congress, started Get Out The Vote here in Arizona for the LGBT community, and was one of the founding members of the group H.E.R.O. (Human Equal Rights Organizers). By doing all of this Annie was given the title Woman of the Year by Echo Magazine, Arizona's largest LGBT publication.
Anni runs The Fusion Foundation and One Planet magazine. The Fusion offers a venue for people to unite for a common cause. One Planet magazine was created to offer solutions within the 12 segments of society without casting blame or criticizing others. It is an inclusive media product empowering all to be leaders.
Assuming leadership, on a grass roots basis, is what has defined Annie for 25 years. She has taken the lead in multiple organizations with diverse interests; she has lectured on leadership for years. As a social architect, Annie has been a tireless leader. Born in South Dakota, Annie witnessed a host of challenges regarding the Native American and mental health communities, business owners, farmers and ranchers. She was educated at St. Martins Academy and through her parents, learned about the importance of leadership and giving back to her community. She moved to LA in her 20s, where she managed an 82-bed residential youth facility. Following the Rodney King incident, she organized and led the facility to a peaceful resolution during ensuing riots. With family roots dating back 50 years in the Valley, Annie settled in Phoenix in her late 20s and began playing a support role to many politicians, community organizations and business owners-- while she owned and managed a construction business.
I came across this slide show put together by The Courage Campaign.
It's called Please Don't Divorce...
It's time to put a face to Ken Starr's shameful legal proceedings. To put a face to the 18,000 couples facing forcible divorce. To put a face to marriage equality. Because, gay or straight, YOU are the face of the Marriage Equality Movement.
I didn't know much about the organization so I went to their website to learn more. Here is a clip from their about page
The Courage Campaign is an online organizing network that empowers over 300,000 grassroots and netroots activists to push for progressive change in California.
Whether it's helping kill the GOP's electoral college initiative "dirty trick," count the infamous "double bubble" votes in Los Angeles after Super Tuesday, or push for the ultimate closure of the "yacht tax loophole," the Courage Campaign has waged many successful campaigns.
Our partners include MoveOn.org, CREDO Mobile, Democracy for America, PowerPAC.org, United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), the California Nurses Association, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles.
The Courage Campaign is also a member of Progress Now's national network of statewide advocacy organizations. Our online organizing tools are powered by Blue State Digital.
Just another example of how a grassroots group is make a powerful statement for equality. Thanks Courage Campaign!
Ever since Barack Obama announced that Pastor Rick Warren would be giving the invocation at the Inauguration I have been on edge about the decision. My first thought was
"Gee it's been about a month and a half - I guess it is time for us to get slapped in the face."
In case you're wondering what the big deal is and why the gay community would be offended by Rick Warren being asked to have such a high profile moment check out Warren's little video here
I love how he says,
"If you believe what the bible says about marriage you need to support Proposition 8."
Oh really. So then I should look at Deuteronomy 21:15
"A man might have two wives. And he might love one wife more than the other. Both wives might have children for him. And the first child might be the child of the wife he does not love."
Or how about Matthew 19:8-9
8 Jesus answered, "Moses allowed you to divorce your wives because you refused to accept God's teaching. But divorce was not allowed in the beginning. 9 I tell you that any person that divorces his wife and marries another woman is guilty of the sin of adultery. The only reason for a person to divorce and marry again is if his first wife had sexual relations with another man."
Interesting isn't it. Let's hear what Pastor Warren had to say in an interview with Beliefnet about divorce and if it is a big problem today.
I love how he basically says that the reason we make such a big deal about gay marriage is because of "ratings." This is ok to turn the gays into the BIG sinners and second class citizens because the other stuff is too close to home so no one will listen (come to church - or give money).
It's this attitude that keeps suicide amongst gay teens and young adults so high. All because it's easier to vilify such a small minority than deal with real problems, like divorce, that are really hurting families and kids all across this country. Warren and others like him don't want to "redefine marriage". Yet marriage has changed so much over the course of time. Wives used to considered more property than anything. Marriage was a business transaction done by the patriach of the family. Not so long ago bi-racial couples could not marry in this country. Warren says over and over that marriage has been the same for 5,000 years. I wonder if he meant this example from the The Sex Atlas written by Erwin J. Haeberle, Ph.D., Ed.D.,
"The English Puritans in the 17th century even passed an Act of Parliament asserting "marriage to be no sacrament" and soon thereafter made marriage purely secular. It was no longer to be performed by a minister, but by a justice of the peace. The Restoration abolished this law and reverted to the old system, but the Puritans brought their concept of marriage to America where it survived."
Marriage is not a sacrament but secular - well isn't that interesting.
Apparently I am supposed to be ok with Warren because he's not homophobic because he funds AIDS projects. Gee that's about the only good thing President Bush did too. Not the kind of company I'd want to be in.
But wait there's more
I am amazed he can laugh off being homophobic when he compares gay marriage to incest and pedophilia but it's ok because he will talk to gay people and give them water and donuts.
So again I'm back to why did Obama go there. I agree with the reporter in the video. This is political. But I'll let Obama speak first.
So is this a payback? The comment Obama says about Warren having him come speak to his church he considered a big opportunity. So is this his thank you for helping him with some of the religious groups that Obama needed to reach. I can't say for sure. I do believe that Obama is trying to e inclusive and bring people together. I also think that there are those that are not promoting hate and equating LGBT people to pedophiles that can have this kind of a spotlight.
So I know it seems us gays have been yelling a lot lately and this isn't going to help calm us down.
I heard a woman on the radio today and she has given me reason to pause and try to move from this in a different direction.
Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, an African-American pro-gay minister will be giving the benediction. The woman on the radio commented that these two choices were symbolic.
"Pastor Warren represents where we are now. That's why he is going first. Rev. Lowery represents where this country is going.
Like the inauguration will show the journey of change.
This caller saved the day for me. To me it sounds like Obama's thought process and diligent planning. I'm trying hard to buy into it.
This Saturday (December 20th) the thousands of amazing volunteers
at Join The Impact are
working hard to host another national event - shedding the light of
equality on our movement!
Please join us to Light Up the Night for Equal Rights!
Peaceful candlelight vigils will be held at commercial centers in
cities across the country in honor of the rights lost to Proposition
8 and the many rights that have remained non-existent for 1 in 10 US
citizens.
This event will help us build allies and bridge the gap of
understanding for those that oppose us. Far too many are not aware
of the rights and legal protections that members of the LGBTQ
community are not afforded and heterosexual citizens enjoy.
Awareness will give way to understanding and acceptance. Many who
oppose us do not hate us, they just do not understand what we are
fighting for. These are allies waiting to happen. We are encouraging
those involved to make this an opportunity for outreach and
education. As part of the outreach, we are providing everyone with
the "5 Rights Holiday Card" to pass out to shoppers. This cordial
holiday card states just 5 of the many rights not afforded to our
community. These include the right to fight for one's country, US
citizen sponsorship of one's partner, legal guardianship over one's
child, job protections based on sexual orientation (not available in
30 states), and federal as well as state-wide civil marriage.
Please join us in making an impact on our nation!
Help us spread the word by passing this on
to at least 10 friends.
To get involved, please visit your City Page and search for an event in your area. If
there is not an event yet planned, simply join the
impact and volunteer to organize in your city. Organizing is
extremely easy and we have already done a great deal of the leg work
for you. Don't hesitate to reach out with questions by emailing the
moderators of our
site.
Happy Holidays & Equality to All... and to All a BRIGHT
Night! Amy Balliett is co-founder of JoinTheImpact.com.
It looks like I need to start a weekly post called "Moron of the Week". There seem to be plenty of candidates. The Governor of Illinois I have decided to bestow the first award to singer Pat Boone. Now I know what you are thinking how can the person famous for songs like "Tutti Frutti" possibly make this list. Or maybe your thinking, "Tutti Frutti" really explains it all. Just watch and let Keith Olbermann explain it too you.
Here is the response from the Human Rights Campaign. Hope you will consider sending a message to Pat!
"...there is a real, unbroken line between the jihadist savagery in Mumbai and the hedonistic, irresponsible, blindly selfish goals and tactics of our homegrown sexual jihadists." - Pat Boone, December 6, 2008
Dear HRC members,
Country singer and right-wing pundit Pat Boone has written a column equating the movement against Prop. 8 to the terrorists who tortured and murdered hundreds in Mumbai.
I am not kidding. This is a new low in anti-gay rhetoric.
Boone and his buddies continue to stir up fear, even if they have to lie. It's exactly how they passed the California marriage ban.
We need your help to stop the radical right from painting a movement about love and dignity as violent and radical. We need your support to stay strong, smart, and nimble, to combat these growing attacks with the simple truth: all we want is equality.
We'll even send Mr. Boone a note with your first name and gift amount to let him know you've donated in his name.
It's time to say enough to the deception and false ads that defeated marriage equality in three states and banned gay couples from adopting in Arkansas; enough to the attempts to equate peaceful protest with "jihadist savagery"; enough to the lies used to block federal hate crimes laws and workplace protections.
In the face of lies like this, there's only one thing to do: Demand the Truth – and that's exactly what we will be doing in the coming year. HRC will:
Respond quickly and forcefully to the lies and intimidation with media outreach and grassroots mobilization, as part of an ongoing "Demand the Truth" campaign;
Organize hundreds of thousands of activists to pass the Matthew Shepard Act and combat the inevitable misleading campaign that will be waged against us;
Work with religious leaders to encourage LGBT people to come out in their faith communities and create venues for the voices of tolerance and love;
Continue the march for marriage equality and relationship recognition, especially in key states where new doors are opening right now, including New York, Vermont, New Mexico, New Jersey, and Iowa; and
Work with the Obama administration to undo years of White House anti-LGBT hostility.
If, every time they tell another lie, run another deceptive ad or use more fear-mongering to try and win votes and recruit new members, we respond by strengthening our movement for equality, eventually they'll realize they're hurting themselves more than they're hurting us.
What's perhaps most disturbing about Boone's rhetoric – painting LGBT people as a threat to society – is that it leads to the very real hate violence directed against LGBT people every day.
We can't stop the Pat Boones of our world from speaking their ugly lies, but together we can make sure that there's a political cost associated with this kind of hateful speech.
I had been meaning to put this amazing message from Keith Olbermann up for a while now. Thanks to one of my readers for making mention of it in my comments so that I would remember to get it done.
The following is the transcript from the MSNBC site.
Finally tonight as promised, a Special Comment on the passage, last week, of Proposition Eight in California, which rescinded the right of same-sex couples to marry, and tilted the balance on this issue, from coast to coast.
Some parameters, as preface. This isn't about yelling, and this isn't about politics, and this isn't really just about Prop-8. And I don't have a personal investment in this: I'm not gay, I had to strain to think of one member of even my very extended family who is, I have no personal stories of close friends or colleagues fighting the prejudice that still pervades their lives.
And yet to me this vote is horrible. Horrible. Because this isn't about yelling, and this isn't about politics. This is about the human heart, and if that sounds corny, so be it.
If you voted for this Proposition or support those who did or the sentiment they expressed, I have some questions, because, truly, I do not understand. Why does this matter to you? What is it to you? In a time of impermanence and fly-by-night relationships, these people over here want the same chance at permanence and happiness that is your option. They don't want to deny you yours. They don't want to take anything away from you. They want what you want—a chance to be a little less alone in the world.
Only now you are saying to them—no. You can't have it on these terms. Maybe something similar. If they behave. If they don't cause too much trouble. You'll even give them all the same legal rights—even as you're taking away the legal right, which they already had. A world around them, still anchored in love and marriage, and you are saying, no, you can't marry. What if somebody passed a law that said you couldn't marry?
I keep hearing this term ‘re-defining’ marriage. If this country hadn't re-defined marriage, black people still couldn't marry white people. Sixteen states had laws on the books which made that illegal in 1967. 1967.
The parents of the President-Elect of the United States couldn't have married in nearly one third of the states of the country their son grew up to lead. But it's worse than that. If this country had not "re-defined" marriage, some black people still couldn't marry black people. It is one of the most overlooked and cruelest parts of our sad story of slavery. Marriages were not legally recognized, if the people were slaves. Since slaves were property, they could not legally be husband and wife, or mother and child. Their marriage vows were different: not ‘Until Death, Do You Part,’ but ‘Until Death or Distance, Do You Part.’ Marriages among slaves were not legally recognized.
You know, just like marriages today in California are not legally recognized, if the people are gay.
And uncountable in our history are the number of men and women, forced by society into marrying the opposite sex, in sham marriages, or marriages of convenience, or just marriages of not knowing, centuries of men and women who have lived their lives in shame and unhappiness, and who have, through a lie to themselves or others, broken countless other lives, of spouses and children, all because we said a man couldn't marry another man, or a woman couldn't marry another woman. The sanctity of marriage.
How many marriages like that have there been and how on earth do they increase the "sanctity" of marriage rather than render the term, meaningless?
What is this, to you? Nobody is asking you to embrace their expression of love. But don't you, as human beings, have to embrace... that love? The world is barren enough.
It is stacked against love, and against hope, and against those very few and precious emotions that enable us to go forward. Your marriage only stands a 50-50 chance of lasting, no matter how much you feel and how hard you work.
And here are people overjoyed at the prospect of just that chance, and that work, just for the hope of having that feeling. With so much hate in the world, with so much meaningless division, and people pitted against people for no good reason, this is what your religion tells you to do? With your experience of life and this world and all its sadnesses, this is what your conscience tells you to do?
With your knowledge that life, with endless vigor, seems to tilt the playing field on which we all live, in favor of unhappiness and hate... this is what your heart tells you to do? You want to sanctify marriage? You want to honor your God and the universal love you believe he represents? Then Spread happiness—this tiny, symbolic, semantical grain of happiness—share it with all those who seek it. Quote me anything from your religious leader or book of choice telling you to stand against this. And then tell me how you can believe both that statement and another statement, another one which reads only ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’
You are asked now, by your country, and perhaps by your creator, to stand on one side or another. You are asked now to stand, not on a question of politics, not on a question of religion, not on a question of gay or straight. You are asked now to stand, on a question of love. All you need do is stand, and let the tiny ember of love meet its own fate.
You don't have to help it, you don't have it applaud it, you don't have to fight for it. Just don't put it out. Just don't extinguish it. Because while it may at first look like that love is between two people you don't know and you don't understand and maybe you don't even want to know. It is, in fact, the ember of your love, for your fellow person just because this is the only world we have. And the other guy counts, too.
This is the second time in ten days I find myself concluding by turning to, of all things, the closing plea for mercy by Clarence Darrow in a murder trial.
But what he said, fits what is really at the heart of this: ‘I was reading last night of the aspiration of the old Persian poet, Omar-Khayyam," he told the judge. It appealed to me as the highest that I can vision. I wish it was in my heart, and I wish it was in the hearts of all: So I be written in the Book of Love; I do not care about that Book above. Erase my name, or write it as you will, So I be written in the Book of Love.’"
And, because he did not say it that night. Thank you, and good night.
