Same-Sex Marriage Wins

"The Supreme Court (of the United States, my addition) refused to get involved in the national debate over same-sex marriage Monday, leaving intact lower court rulings that will legalize the practice in 11 additional states. The unexpected decision by the justices, announced without further explanation, immediately affects five states in which federal appeals courts had struck down bans against gay marriage: Virginia, Indiana, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Utah.

It also will bring along six other states located in the judicial circuits overseen by those appellate courts: North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Colorado, Kansas and Wyoming. The action will bring to 30 the number of states where gays and lesbians can marry. Appeals courts in Cincinnati and San Francisco are considering cases that could expand that number further, presuming the Supreme Court remains outside the legal fray." (USA Today)

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By not taking up the cases offered the SCOTUS today decided to allow same-sex marriages in eleven more states where the ban on same-sex marriage had been found to be unconstitutional

"Rather than decide the issue of same-sex marriage, as virtually everyone involved in the debate expected, the justices simply let stand lower-court rulings striking down bans in five states. Within hours, marriages were set to take place.

And the justices knew their decision to stay out of the grand national debate would have further repercussions: Within days or weeks, gay marriage could be legal in 30 states representing 60% of the U.S. population. Nine more states in the Midwest and West could be added very soon if appeals courts there join the juggernaut.

Why did the Supreme Court take a pass? Most likely because it lacked the votes to stop what federal and state court judges have started.

"The far more conservative justices couldn't count to five," said Jon Davidson of the gay rights group Lambda Legal. "They were not assured of a fifth vote, and so they didn't want to grant review yet." (USA Today; First Take: Justices decide gay marriage by not deciding).

Bock Among Savages

Gay activist and sex advice columnist Dan Savage should need no introduction for most of you, but those of you who need to read up on him can do so here, Wikipedia: Dan Savage.

I have admired Dan for a many years and many reasons. He and his husband Terry Miller co-founded the It Gets Better Project to remind LGBT youth that they are not alone and that it indeed does get better.  Dan also set up the website Spreading santorum in 2003 as a countermeasure against an American gay-hating politician who compared homosexual sex to bestiality and incest. What I most of all admire Dan for is his way of dealing with the bigots and gay haters of the Christian right in America. He is in their faces and comes down on them like a ton of bricks with his intelligent, humorous and no-nonsense responses against their attacks.

 Onward!

Yesterday I encountered this tweet in my Twitter-feed.

Anyone else want to shut @fakedansavage up, here is the Etsy source: https://t.co/nxVcPfiQ2J
— Bill Savage (@RogersParkMan) June 14, 2014

As I perceived it as an attack on Dan Savage, I jumped right in and shared my two bit thoughts. In hindsight I wish I had reacted to the fact that the tweet was from someone with the same last name as Dan and had taken a moment to check it out, but alas in my usual rash and impetuous manner I did not...

I would like to shut @RogersParkMan up, is there a pin for that? @fakedansavage keep up the good work!
— Bock McMillan (@BockMcMillan) June 14, 2014

A kind soul in the Twitter world took pity upon me and informed me that the two Savages are brothers and the correct situation.

@BockMcMillan FYI - Bill Savage ---> @RogersParkMan is ---> @fakedansavage's brother. He's showing the dumb button, not advocating for it.
— libsechumanist (@libsechumanist) June 14, 2014

Which lead to me realize I had jumped to the wrong conclusions. Bill Savage, however, graciously accepted my heartfelt apology.

@libsechumanist @RogersParkMan @fakedansavage Opps, sorry for the misunderstanding Bill
— Bock McMillan (@BockMcMillan) June 15, 2014

@BockMcMillan @libsechumanist @fakedansavage No worries! The Internet is all about misunderstandings.
— Bill Savage (@RogersParkMan) June 15, 2014

At this point my hero made an appearance in the feed...

@BockMcMillan @RogersParkMan @libsechumanist But there should be a "shut up!" pin for Billy too - would come on handy at family reunions.
— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) June 15, 2014

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All is well that ends well, but hopefully I have - yet again - learned the lesson that I should not charge into things like an elephant into a china shop and that I sometimes need more information to make a better assessment of a situation.

In closing, I would like to thank Bill Savage for accepting my apology and @libsechumanist for seeing my predicament and taking the time to correct it.

Throwing My Pink Money Around

Pink money - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

"Pink money describes the purchasing power of the gay community, often especially with respect to political donations. With the rise of the gay rights movement, pink money has gone from being a fringe or marginalized market to a thriving industry in many parts of the Western world such as the United States and United Kingdom. Many businesses now specifically cater to gay customers, including nightclubs, shops, restaurants, and even taxicabs; the demand for these services stems from commonly perceived discrimination by traditional businesses. Worldwide in 1998, pink money was valued at £350 billion ($560 billion) across a variety of sectors — especially entertainment and consumer goods. Purchasing power in 2012 in the United States is expected to increase to $790 billion.

The economic power of pink money has been seen as a positive force for the gay community, creating a kind of "financial self-identification" which helps gay and lesbian individuals feel like part of a community which values them. Indeed, upwards of 90% of gay people support businesses which target pink money, while actively shunning "anti-gay" companies. However, criticism has been leveled at businesses which target pink money from gay groups, arguing that this segregates the gay and lesbian community from society, and holds back gay rights.

It's been considered more often than not a market exclusive for USA, UK and some places in Europe, but its extension covers a large amount of Latin America and part of Asia, making its actual earns larger by year and giving marketing options some impulse and variety."

BuzzFeed - 36 Photos From Russia That Everyone Needs To See
Dan Savage - Why I'm Boycotting Russian Vodka
J.M.G. - 1. Dan Savage: Boycott Russian Vodkas and 2. REPORT: Russian Skinheads Use Social Media To Lure And Torture LGBT Teens

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Well, whatever the pro's and con's may be, I am not going to use my gay money on products or services owned, operated or in any way associated with Russia or Russian citizens or companies until that country's government abandons it's present official homophobic stance and continues to allow and support attacks and assaults on my Russian LGBT brothers and sisters and continues to deny them their basic human rights.

It's my money and I use it as I like, I suggest you do the same.

Damn Right, Dan Savage!

Photo interviewmagazine.com

I adore Dan Savage, the American humorist and sex advice columnist with a blog named "Savage Love", who is also a gay activist!

This is part of what he had to say on his blog yesterday when he reminded the gay community that we owe thanks to a group of fabulous people. (You can read the whole post here: We Couldn´t Have Done It Without Them):

"Now here's what I want to say: I know so many straight people in Seattle who worked unbelievably hard to approve R-74. They gave money, they volunteered their time, they reached out to friends and relatives and coworkers, all in an effort to make it possible for same-sex couples to marry. Gays and lesbians are a tiny percentage of the population. We couldn't do this on our own. A majority of the legislators who voted for same-sex marriage? Straight. The governor who signed the law making same-sex marriage legal in Washington state? Straight. The majority of the folks manning the phone banks for R-74? Straight. The overwhelming majority of people who voted to approve R-74? Straight. The president who took a huge political risk and came out for marriage equality before his reelection campaign? Straight. It has gotten better for us—better, not perfect—but it hasn't gotten better for us in a vacuum. It's gotten better for us because straight people have gotten better about us."

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I love our straight allies too and can only agree with everything Dan has to say in his post.

Thank You, Straight Allies! I Love You All!

"It Gets Better" in SecondLife

 

The It Gets Better Project (url) was created in first life to show young LGBT people the levels of happiness, potential, and positivity their lives will reach – if they can just get through their teen years. The project was initiated by the gay activist, syndicated sex advice columnist and author Dan Savage together with his partner Terry Miller to inspire hope for young people facing harassment.

I was happy to note, during my wanderings at the Second Pride festival sims yesterday, that this worthwhile project has now also spread into SecondLife. Although in a different format, posters instead of videos, the message resounding from them is loud and clear and will hopefully help young people in SecondLife that they are not alone and that things actually will get better.

You will find the It Gets Better booth in the Buenos Aires shopping district.

Here are a few of the individual testimonials.

The Yifus

Ra Deemster

Mirco Dinzeo, fabulous underwear creator (among many other things)

The always delightful Kharissa Indigo (SP2012 board member)

DJ Cupric "The Coop" Router and Jagger Naughton

Last - but not least - my brother in-law Jeb Nicholls, making the family proud

Gay Porn Outlawed In Turkey

The High Supreme Court of the Republic of Turkey (Yargitay) has decided to assess oral and anal sex as "unnatural sexual acts". Through this decision the list of "unnatural content" in videos which are now forbidden in Turkey consist of  the following activities:

• oral sex
• anal sex
• group sex
• SM
• rape
• bestiality
• necrophilia

Possession, distribution and publication of videos with "unnatural content", as well as possession of downloaded material from the Internet, is punishable with four years imprisonment in Turkey.

Earlier the word "gay" (including its Turkish pronunciation "gey") and "anal" have been banned from Turkish Internet domain names. Any sites containing such words faces immediate closure. The Turkish Telecommunications Directorate in 2011 sent a list of 138 words to Turkish web-hosting firms, ruling the words are not allowed to feature in domain names and websites that do use them will be shut down.

This is a very devious way for the bigots and homophobes in Turkey to legislate, "Let´s forbid gay pornography by not actually forbidding it - which may effect our application for membership in The European Union adversely - instead we forbid the sexual acts that have to be an integral part of ever gay sex film if there is to be any sexual activity at all, except for kissing, caressing and masturbation.

Anatole France (1844–1924) French poet, novelist and journalist once said something like "La loi, dans un grand souci d'égalité, interdit aux riches comme aux pauvres de coucher sous les ponts, de mendier dans les rues et de voler du pain." (The law, in a large concern for equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets and to steal bread.)
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Somehow all this reminds me of the homophobic Rick "Frothy Mix" Santorum, formerly a United States Senator for Pennsylvania and previously a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination. Santorum equated homosexuality with pedophilia, incest, adultery, bigamy, and bestiality. 

This lead to a sublime revenge by gay activist Dan Savage, who is also an American humorist and sex advice columnist, who with the help of his readers redefined the word "santorum" to mean "the frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex".

I encourage you all to visit Google and search for the word "santorum", in the results please check out the site "Spreading santorum"

Dan Savage Takes On The Bigots

Dan Savage

The video that started it all, Dan Savage, speaking on how the Bible got some things wrong at a high school journalism convention


The challenge from bigot Brian Brown of the National Organisation for Marriage (NOM),

"Let me lay down a public challenge to Dan Savage right here and now: You want to savage the Bible? Christian morality? Traditional marriage? Pope Benedict? I'm here, you name the time and the place and let's see what a big man you are in a debate with someone who can talk back. It's easy to make high-school girls cry by picking on them. Let's pick on someone our own size! I'm here, any time, any place you name, Dan Savage. You will find out out how venal and ridiculous your views of these things are if you dare to accept a challenge."

Dan Savage accepts the challenge

And now we wait...

(Follow the story as it evolves on Joe.My.God.

Inner Dialogue

Me, myself, I and Bock (that me, me, me and me for those of you who don´t know me well) have had a conversation running the last few days.

I will only show you the conclusion here.

Bock: "So, to sum this up, we all agree that we believe this bloggers conclusions are wrong based on International law, the constitution of the country concerned (as far as we understand it) and by what we have witnessed ourselves in news reports after the ´incident´, but we are still not going to make a comment about it on that blog or write our own post about it?"
Me: "Yup!"
Myself: "You got it! If the bloggers own countrymen don´t care to comment why should we bother?"
I: "Yes, that´s it! And we are doing this because we like the blogger, even if we do not always agree with the bloggers political assessments, and because we are not going to stick our nose into another nations business which has no immediate impact on our lives. In addition to which we did make an agreement with Millimina, remember? Milli will keep on breathing deeply and calmly while we choose our battles with care."
Bock: "Gotcha, but can we still do the think about Dan Savage huh?"
Myself: "Hell yeah, we all love Danny boy!"
Me: "No shit, that ´Dan the man´, is hot and knows how to stomp out a Bible-preaching bigot who seems to have missed the message in the New Testament completely!"
I: "Yeah, Dan is great, I am so looking forward to see that debate between Dan and Brian Brown of NOM!"

TESTIMONY

(via J.M.G.)

"TESTIMONY - Music by Stephen Schwartz

Lyrics taken from and inspired by the It Gets Better Project

http://bit.ly/Testimonysong

In writing TESTIMONY, Stephen Schwartz collaborated with Dan Savage, creator of the groundbreaking "It Gets Better Project." Schwartz has set the heartfelt words from the "It Gets Better" videos to music, weaving them into a breathtaking, emotional new masterpiece that speaks to anyone who has ever felt out of place.

TESTIMONY was recorded and engineered by Leslie Ann Jones, the legendary multi Grammy award-winning Director of Music Recording at Skywalker Sound. Performed by the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus under the direction of Dr. Timothy Seelig."

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Blogger Joe Jervis (Joe.My.God.) is a crybaby - and I mean that in the best way possible. He recommends you have a box of tissues handy.

I was touched but not even close to crying, perhaps because I was lucky and had sensible. unprejudiced and open-minded parents who always showed me they loved me whatever I might be. Even-so I do remember a period in my early teens when I wished I had been born different, if nothing else than to fit-in with the surrounding norm.

Due to an email from my buddy Apmel Goosson, who graciously forwarded some news to me, I am at this time mostly thinking about how organized religion - of any creed - seem to be the longest lasting, most widespread, most powerful and most vicious hate groups in our world. More about this in a later post (hopefully during the weekend).