Hawaii: Hopefully, a Civil Place for Civil People

I've enjoyed my two trips to the Islands of Hawaii, and hope to return soon. Real soon.

Now there is the good news that there is the possibility of civil unions for LGBTQ couples! The Senate and House in Hawaii have passed legislation, and now await the Republican governor's signature.

So this is where we are in terms of the places where there are civil partnerships and marriage for all:

f approved, Hawaii will become one of six states – along with California, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington – to grant essentially all the rights of marriage to same-sex couples without authorizing marriage itself.

Five other states and the District of Columbia permit same-sex marriage: Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Prayin' for you Hawaii...

Pace!

B

Push to Overturn DADT

Read this today on towleroad.com today: a big push for repealing DADT by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, with a letter from Air Force Major Mike Almy:

"I joined Air Force ROTC in 1988 and was awarded a scholarship. I earned my jump wings in 1991. In 1992, I graduated from ROTC in the top 10% of all graduates nationwide. In 1993, I went on active duty, just as DADT was becoming a law.

Stationed in Oklahoma, I was named officer of the year for my unit of nearly 1,000 people. Later, I was one of six officers selected from the entire Air force to attend Professional Military Education at Quantico, Virginia.

During my career, I deployed to the Middle East four times. In my last deployment, I led a team of nearly 200 men and women to operate and maintain the systems used to control the air space over Iraq. We came under daily mortar attacks, one of which struck one of my Airmen and also caused significant damage to our equipment. Towards the end of this deployment to Iraq, I was named one of the top officers in my career field for the entire Air Force.

In the stress of a war zone, the Air Force authorized us to use our work email accounts for “personal or morale purposes” because private email accounts were blocked for security.

Shortly after I left Iraq -- during a routine search of my computer files -- someone found that my “morale” was supported by the person I loved -- a man.

The email -- our modern day letter home -- was forwarded to my commander.

I was relieved of my duties, my security clearance was suspended and part of my pay was terminated."

What saddens me is how many clergy and religious leaders who are LGBTQI have been "pushed out" by our own ecclesial DADT. We have a shower of stoles, but nothing is well supported as the SLDN.

It is time to change.

Pace!

B

First Reading from BEYOND ACCESSIBILITY

A great reading today from BEYOND ACCESSIBILITY, my latest book. It helped to read from ON BEING A GAY PARENT, which taught me the trick of the trade of how to read from a book.

Cool!

B

Chest Fest

Sam Peterson is wanting to get surgery to make the move toward becoming a man.

He is wanting reconstructive surgery for the chest. To quote Sam:
Peterson, who describes himself as a transguy, realized years ago that his gender identity didn't match his body. What's unusual about his realization, though, is how open—public, even—Peterson has been about his gender transition. Peterson keeps a blog and makes videos detailing and documenting the process. He feels compelled to "meet people where they're at," he says, to educate them. Luckily, he knows that belly laughs make for the fastest converts.

"Lest we forget," he writes on his blog, Tha Man Sam, "the transgendered are the militarized dolphins, who, having acquired human technologies, can now swim off to do other forms of mischief."

So tonight, in Carrboro's NC ArtCenter there was Chest Fest! A silent auction, along with a fabulous array of bands--Amelia and the Mechanics, and Justin and the Marionettes--were excellent.

The surgery is $6,000. It is elective.

Hopefully, tonight's fundraiser will help.

Pace!

B

Earth Day

It is Earth Day, 2010!

40 years!

Attended a gathering of other clergy who met with folks from the Interfaith Power and Light community organizing group.

According to advocate.com, we who are LGBTQI are concerned with "green" issues:

According to the San Diego Gay and Lesbian News, “An Echelon Magazine 2009 online survey reports that ‘two-thirds (66%) of lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender adults say that it is important to support environmental causes, compared with 56% of non-LGBT adults. Three-quarters (75%) of LGBT adults (compared with 53% of heterosexuals) believe global warming is happening right now, and by more than two-to-one proportions, 39% of LGBT adults say they have seen or read Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ while only 20% of heterosexuals say they have seen or read it.’”

It is the only earth we have!

Taking care of it, day by day.

Buen camino!

B

BEYOND ACCESSIBILITY: In Your Bookstores Now

Book Nine is out: BEYOND ACCESSIBILITY: TOWARD FULL INCLUSION OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN FAITH COMMUNITIES (Church Publishing, 2010).

Yes!

Book Ten: PRACTICING PILGRIMAGE: A HOW TO MANUAL FOR BECOMING A PILGRIM PEOPLE.

Pace!

B

Call to Pilgrims

Crazy idea that has "stuck" in my mind of "things to do next in life": a documentary of LGBTQ people--six to twelve of us--on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compestela in Spain, discussing life, faith, challenges, coming out, the road, the journey we are on as individuals and a community.

This is the CALL: I need 6-12 people who are people with a residual of faith--doubters welcome since that is a sign of faith still kicking--of any persuasion/religion/spiritual community; need someone to film it; need money to help finance this project.

This was inspired by the Full Frame Film Festival recently held in Durham, NC, and seeing my latest movie, "Zero Degrees of Separation" about Israeli-Palestinian gay and lesbian couples.

Email me or comment below.

How about this fall? October? 12 days to walk the last 100 km or so?

What say you?

Pass this email around.

Pace, B

Princeton Seminary, like Duke Divinity School, has no out gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer expressing or questioning person--let alone people--on the faculty. David Wall is the one administrators who self-identifies as gay.

So when will we see faculty initiatives that promote the hiring of LGBTQ people at seminaries and universities and colleges, like there have been African American Faculty Initiatives, e.g., Duke, and for women?

Not holding my breath, but wondering...

Pace!

B

Princeton Seminary

I'm at Princeton Seminary--my alma mater--preaching for the BGLASS week. This is intriguingly weird: this is a place where I had a great educational experienced, married, no children, and ready to be made a Minister of the Word and Sacrament.

Now there is "me," and it is not the same "me" who was here from 1980 to 83. But it is the same me in a lot of ways, just older, truer, more honest.

I preach tomorrow at the concluding worship.

Buen Camino!

Brett

The After Effects of the Dance

In a column in/on salon.com, there is this last line about the young people who missed the chance to be at the prom with Constance McMillen, the young lesbian woman whose Mississippi high school literally ditched her and her date, moving the prom and its attendees to a different, undisclosed site:

I think there are quite a few teenagers in Mississippi who are going to be feeling much the same way some day, if they don't already. The losers in these two stories ultimately aren’t Troy or Constance McMillen, but those sad sacks among us who can’t muster the courage to resist the pull of the crowd. What the truly cool kids know is that it’s always better to dance alone than to sway in time with a roomful of bigots.

Click here for more.

Pace!

B

In Search of a Prom

As our history is being written as LGBTQ people, let us be mindful of the silliness and downright ugliness of ordinary citizens toward us.

The latest case was when Constance McMillen wanted to go to the prom with her partner. The high school (in Mississippi) abruptly canceled the prom. Then the national attention came upon the town and high school, so the administration of the school relented, and declared there would be a prom.

Sad thing? The prom was not where Constance and her girlfriend went. Only 7 people showed up to that prom. The school officials and parents held another prom at an alternative site without telling Constance.

From salon.com:
Indeed, Gawker reported yesterday that they had dug up a Facebook page for one of McMillen's classmates, and lo! There were pix galore of a well-attended, corsage riddled weekend dance event. (Even more have been neatly compiled on BruceKatz23's Flickr stream.) Unlike that legendary slumber party your best friend threw when she told you she was home alone with the mumps, however, the alternate dance wasn't a total top secret. McMillen says that she knew about the other event, but, "If I wasn't wanted there, I wasn't going to go."

Wow!

Really?

In America, huh?

Mississippi...huh?

God be with them...for they know not what they are doing in Itawamba Agricultural High School.

Pace!

B

Census 2010

What a weird experience. Fourth time I've filled it out.

This year I had to be creative in expressing the relationships within our household.

I kept on reflecting on the night before: Easter dinner, lovely ham, red potato salad, asparagus, pie, family: all of us, mothers, fathers, children, and partners.

The modern family is not reflected in the questions asked in the census.

May 2020 be different.

Pace!

B

Where Down is Up World

Having seen the latest Disney version of Alice in Wonderland--where down is up--I was reminded how close we are to such a world. In CA, same-sex couples were allowed to marry for a few months after years of not being allowed to be married, only for that right to be taken away in the passage of Proposition 8.

Same thing happened this week: earlier this week, Army Secretary McHugh made it seem like DADT was being loosened up and less restrictive. But then today there was this report in Huffingtonpost.com, in which Sec. McHugh walked backwards...as if that were progress, or not? Here's what happened:

WASHINGTON — Reversing course, Army Secretary John McHugh warned soldiers Thursday that they still can be discharged for acknowledging they are gay, saying he misspoke earlier this week when he suggested the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy had been temporarily suspended.

The public stumble by a senior service official is an indication of the issue's legal complexity. The Pentagon has said it wants to hear from gay troops as it conducts a broad study on how it could lift the ban, as President Barack Obama wants.

But to do that, gay service members would have to break the law, which prohibits them from discussing their sexual orientation.

Defense Department officials say they plan to hire an outside contractor to survey the troops, and that gay troops won't be punished for sharing their views with that third party.

"Until Congress repeals 'don't ask, don't tell,' it remains the law of the land and the Department of the Army and I will fulfill our obligation to uphold it," McHugh said in a statement Thursday.

Earlier this week, a step forward, now a step back.

Crazy-making.

Pace!

B