Fairness - The Commentary

We’ve come to the place where the radical right-wing intelligencia know that the old arguments against LGBT people won’t work. And so they’re at the end of their rope. The psychological debate had been settled a half of a century ago. True professionals in the psychological and counseling communities, as a result, embrace the professionally ethical requirement to affirm LGBT people as equal to anyone else. And finally that is catching on popularly to debunk the whole lucrative brain-wash-the-gay-away industry. Meanwhile, many people are tired of the constant drumbeat of picking on LGBT people, and the polls are swinging against discrimination on all the issues. It’s a shrinking but loud minority that continues to push anti-gay propaganda. And the old religious arguments using the Bible, tradition, and whatever other religious excuses have been recited to support discrimination, have been thoroughly answered for decades by scholars and clergy of numerous denominations. Even with...

On June 3rd, voters in California’s 33 rd  Congressional District will have the chance to vote in their state primary for an independent candidate known internationally for her writing and speaking on spirituality, not her politics. Her work is so influential that six of her ten books were  New York Times  bestsellers and  Time  magazine included her with yoga and cabala as three things that “have been taken up by those seeking a relationship with God that is not strictly tethered to Christianity." Marianne Williamson, a life-long progressive Democrat running as an independent, will hear the usual complaints from true believer Democrats, saying it will ruin their chances to do whatever Democrats swear they will do while giving their usual excuses for not doing it. Running makes spiritual sense to her: “While many seekers have turned away from politics, viewing spiritual and political pursuits as mutually exclusive, I agree with Mahatma Gandhi that ‘An...

This past month an All-American defensive lineman named by the Associated Press as the Southeast Athletic Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year   told an interviewer from ESPN  that he’s gay. Michael Sam from the University of Missouri announced to the world what teammates and coaches already knew: “I am an openly, proud gay man.” Media speculation began as to how this would affect his chances in the upcoming National Football League draft. But his University of Missouri coach expressed unambiguous pride. "We're really happy for Michael that he's made the decision to announce this, and we're proud of him and how he represents Mizzou," Gary Pinkel said. "Michael is a great example of just how important it is to be respectful of others, he's taught a lot of people here first-hand that it doesn't matter what your background is, or your personal orientation, we're all on the same team and we all support each other." The NFL also release...

As of this writing, 17 states have legal marriage equality. Six got there by a court’s decision, eight by legislative action, and three by popular vote. It’s fun to say “as of this writing” because the political landscape is changing more quickly than most of us who’ve been working for human rights would ever have expected. It’s exciting. The excitement also includes pleasant surprises along the way. Just this past month a federal judge in Utah, Robert Shelby - a registered Republican endorsed by Utah’s Tea Party Senator, Mike Lee, as an “outstanding judge” - ruled that Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. This so shocked a state beholden to one dominant militantly anti-gay religious empire that its acting attorney general was unprepared to request a stay of same-sex marriages – and that judge didn’t order one! Last December Utah’s actual, duly elected Mormon attorney general had resigned over numerous charges of misconduct and unethical behavior. The Utah p...

The New Year can safely be forecasted to bring more of the same. Actually, it’s likely to be an exaggeration of the political craziness of 2013. There are those who dream of sanity and bipartisan cooperation. I hope they had the pristine white Christmas they fantasized, too. 2014 actually is an election year, though it seems as if we’re always in one anymore. There are 33 US Senate seats being contested in addition to all 435 House seats. So, the pressure to do whatever it takes to raise money and buy votes is now in full swing. The media circus will continue to predict whatever about the outcome, finding polls to keep cable channels’ viewers on edge. Political advertising money will flow more freely as corporatists target local and national races. 2013 ended with outsiders loving the schisms among Republicans. “Falling in line” was collapsing, but it’s easy to make too much of this as wishful thinking. Certainly, the ideologues representing remnants of Tea Partyism will co...

The good news is that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act finally passed the US Senate on November 7, 2013. By a 64 to 32 vote, the upper house of Congress endorsed adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the reasons one cannot legally deny human beings employment. Specifically, ENDA prohibits private employers with over 15 employees from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Religious organizations are exempt, as they were in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as are non-profit membership-only clubs. It’s unlikely the House will even discuss ENDA, given that Republican Speaker John Boehner won’t bring it up, saying there’s “no basis or need” for legalizing protection of LGBT people and that it would lead to “frivolous lawsuits.” As usual, Republican leadership is out of touch with the majority of Americans - over 70% support ending LGBT workplace discrimination. Actually, the greatest threat to ENDA might not be religious. The challenge wi...

Watching the marriages of lesbians and gay men take place this past year ought to be warming the heart of anyone who values equality and fairness. Government recognition - with responsibilities and benefits tied to the official status of a relationship - so long denied them, is becoming a reality federally and state by state. There are those radical right-wingers who wish none of it were happening and see same-sex marriages as disgustingly evil. Their reactions are, if nothing else, sad commentaries on their inability to be moved by what marriage -- so hard fought for and so often assumed to be a hopeless dream -- means to real human beings beyond just winning equal rights. It’s as if the right-wing lacks some natural feelings for celebrating love wherever it’s found. And hiding in their trumped-up religious arguments only saves them from being moved out of some common humanity that knows real empathy for the feelings of fellow human beings. While right-wing religious people go...

That’s the response I get in my workshops and lectures on gender and homophobia from college-age adults today. In some ways that’s surprising, and in others it’s not. Maybe it’s because most of my work isn’t in the big cities on the coasts. But then, again, much of what passes as entertainment out of those cities exploits a love-hate relationship with gender roles and their accompanying homophobia. And in every part of the country one still finds loud religious personalities who use the fear of homosexuality to stir up their crowd, increase what’s deposited in their offering plates, and attract undue attention. Even with progressive churches coming out of the closet, the backward ones act as if they hold a monopoly on truth. Historically a lot has changed, and that’s an important reason why knowing history provides hope. Much of the change has been in the legal arena with the end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and a part of the Defense of Marriage Act as well as the number of state...

Boycotting sponsors is as Capitalist an act as any. It’s about consumers voting with their feet and pocketbooks. It’s not about free speech even if the plan is to boycott sponsors of some offensive radio talker. It’s about not paying to have them spew their vitriol because corporations are buying their ability to do it in the media. Crying interference with freedom of speech is a laugh. Sponsored speech isn’t free; it’s bought and paid for, it’s about providing their speech with a microphone. But boycotts have to be carefully thought out if they’re going to do any good, even symbolically. They have to target what really matters to their target: its income stream. It’s hardly possible today to boycott a nation by refusing to buy an internationally distributed product identified with it. International corporations have little loyalty to any country they’re in beyond making money off of them. Coors and Miller are owned by a South African company, Budweiser by a Belgian/Brazili...