Gay Parenting at a United Church of Chapel Hill

Giving a talk on gay parenting today at United Church of Chapel Hill, in which the church is celebrating being an Open and Affirming congregation for 20 years. Come this morning, 9-12.

And on Thursday I'm giving a talk on LGBTQI people and couples and hospitals in San Antonio.

Pax,

Brett

Attack of the County Clerk Offices in NC

A same-sex couple went to Greensboro, NC today.  They went to the Guilford County Clerk's office to ask for a marriage license.  They were turned away.

This is what is happening in NC: some group of LGBTQI couples are going to county clerk offices in the state of NC to find a county clerk who will be willing to "break the law" and give them a marriage license, just like they've done in NM.  If enough clerks do this, then a lawsuit will come about, pushing fast forward a legal case about equality of marriage license.

There are 100 counties in NC.  They've tried this in only a handful of county clerk offices.

Shall we all go?

100...

Pax,

B

In UT, a story of love, and in NM, a story of hate, all in one week.

I found this fun and frustrating.  First, the LGBTQ sites of towleroad, queerty, and advocate.com got excited over the marriage proposal in the UT Home Depot. It was a beautiful story: (sorry, this was unfinished).  The young couple in the youtube.com clip were in the process of being engaged with one another.  Here's the clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4HpWQmEXrM. They had a crew of people dancing, seemingly "spontaneously," and it was all wonderful and beautiful.

On that same day, in NM, a photographer of weddings and the like, was being taken to court because he would not take photographs of LGBTQI couples. A court was the next step in addressing this wrong. The photographer was "guilty" of dscrimination: http://www.towleroad.com/2013/08/new-mexico-supreme-court-says-wedding-photographer-cant-discriminate-against-same-sex-couples.html.

Here's where my head gets all achy: on the one hand, we are zooming toward marriage equality in many states and county clerk offices.  On the other hand, there are businesses that are acting in a "pre-civil rights" way, discriminating against LGBTQI couples, saying that they are not going to bake our cakes, take our photographs, give us flowers, or open their space for our weddings or receptions.  The cognitive dissonance is, like I said, mind numbing.

But that's what justice looks like right now.

Pax!

B 

OH, NM, and HI: Round Up for the Day

OH: Looks like the same sex couple have been recognized as "married" (even though they were married in MD), and with the widower (male) actually named "widower". That means that OH officially recognized a marriage of a same sex couple from another state!

More here: http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/09/03/2566311/federal-judge-ohio-recognize-widowers-sex-spouse-death-certificate/

BTW, no ones heterosexual marriage fell apart because the gay couple were recognized as being married.

NM: a seventh county now reports giving out marriage license to a same sex couple, while Republican lawmakers fulminate and breathe out noxious odors.

HI: Gov. Abercrombie is making a move to bring HI to the class of states known as "civilized."

Pax!

B

"I'm gay, dad" bullet and the porcelain heart dad

I was offended by the ad.

Unilever (in South Africa) put an ad together, showing a bullet marked "Uhh, Dad, I'm gay" or something like that, coming for a porcelain heart of a dad.  Weird ad. Unilever brings us some of the soaps and lotions we use daily. The idea is that the bullet is going to, of course, break the heart of the dad.

What?

Violence comes with telling the dad "I'm gay"?! Really?!

Here's the article: http://www.towleroad.com/2013/09/unilever-pulls-ad-suggesting-a-child-coming-out-as-gay-is-like-a-bullet-through-a-fathers-heart.html

Bizarre...and so unhelpful.

Homophobia: alive and well.

Pax, B