Ah, yes, I realize that this blog has been rather silent lately anyway, but I’ll be extra-silent today, in observance of the Day of Silence and as per the following explanation, crossposted from easyvegan.info.

Today is the Day of Silence,

a student-led national event that brings attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools. Students from middle school to college take some form of a vow of silence in an effort to encourage schools and classmates to address the problem of anti-LGBT behavior. The event is designed to illustrate the silencing effect of this bullying and harassment on LGBT students and those perceived to be LGBT.

The DOS organizers explain:

As the Day of Silence approaches we’ve been getting lots of questions and comments along two similar but distinct threads on our various websites and in our email.

1) Do I need to be silent all day? Can I communicate at all? Can I blog/tweet/facebook?

2) Being silent doesn’t help and only perpetuates the problem. We should be speaking out.

The answer to both of these is similar: being silent has been and continues to be a very powerful way to create positive dialogue around the problem of anti-LGBT bullying for many students across the country. However, each person who participates in the Day of Silence has a different way of participating.

For some, the best way to participate is by being completely silent, including not participating in online communication. For others, the best way to participate is by spending the day speaking out about the issues of LGBT bullying. Some who participate get limited approval from their schools for their participation and so can only be silent during breaks between classes. There are many ways of participation ranging from complete silence to no silence.

The point is that the DOS is a day to bring attention to the problem of anti-LGBT bullying and each person who participates must determine how they can best use, or not use, their voice to do that. If you feel you will have the deepest positive impact by remaining completely silent and have the appropriate approvals to do so then go for it. If you feel that in your situation, you can have a deeper positive impact by speaking out then that should be your way of observing. No one can make that determination but you.

Your voice, whether silent or loud, WILL make a difference this Friday and the Day of Silence will speak volumes.

The DOS isn’t just for students, however. Adults can participate as well, by signing the pledge of solidarity; speaking out against anti-LGBTQ prejudice and bullying; observing a day of silence, whatever form that may take; Tweeting about the DOS; writing about the DOS on Facebook, your blog or similar; silencing your blog; and/or wearing red or rainbow-colored clothing.

In observance of the Day of Silence, easyVegan.info will remain silent for the rest of the day. Please take this opportunity to check out the Day of Silence blog and website, and educate yourself about LGBTQ issues.

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Update, 12/21/08: Nina M., guest posting at Reclusive Leftist, has an excellent dissection of Obama’s “talking points” on the Warren issue. Go read now!

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Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard that Obama’s chosen the homobigoted, woman-hating pastor Rick Warren to give the Inaugural invocation. Setting aside the issue of whether an invocation, delivered at a government event, is even appropriate, it’s really shitty of Obama to choose Warren, friendship and shared ideologies aside.

As PFAW President Kathryn Kolbert noted,

Pastor Warren, while enjoying a reputation as a moderate based on his affable personality and his church’s engagement on issues like AIDS in Africa, has said that the real difference between James Dobson and himself is one of tone rather than substance. He has recently compared marriage by loving and committed same-sex couples to incest and pedophilia. He has repeated the Religious Right’s big lie that supporters of equality for gay Americans are out to silence pastors. He has called Christians who advance a social gospel Marxists. He is adamantly opposed to women having a legal right to choose an abortion.

I’m sure that Warren’s supporters will portray his selection as an appeal to unity by a president who is committed to reaching across traditional divides. Others may explain it as a response to Warren inviting then-Senator Obama to speak on AIDS and candidate Obama to appear at a forum, both at his church. But the sad truth is that this decision further elevates someone who has in recent weeks actively promoted legalized discrimination and denigrated the lives and relationships of millions of Americans.

The Obama camp’s “leaked talking points,” as reported in HuffPo, are, well, laughable:

At his press conference on Thursday, Barack Obama for the first time addressed the flurry of protest that has erupted over the choice of Rick Warren to give the inaugural invocation.

Stressing his own advocacy of equal rights for gay and lesbian Americans, the president-elect raised a relevant anecdote from his biography as a defense.

“Advocacy of equal rights for gay and lesbian Americans”? What the fuck is he smoking? A supporter of “civil unions” – for reasons that basically amount to religion and “tradition” – Obama is a-ok with allowing individual states to decide whether GLBT couples should be granted the same civil rights that heterosexual folks enjoy. How’s that advocating “equal rights for gay and lesbian Americans,” again?

A reader at HuffPo said it best:

I was very enthusiastic to have Obama as my president for the most part but I always had reservations about his commitment to GBLT issues and this is more than disappointing. I wonder if people would be saying, “it’s not that big of a deal, give him some slack” if someone of the ilk of David Duke or a virulent Holocaust deny-er was invited to give the invocation, you know, in the spirit of unity and to be open and inclusive. Why is it ok for a spokesperson of the anti-gay movement to be included and not recognized as a step too far into so-called post partisanship ? Why is Warren’s AIDS work supposed to mollify angry GBLT voters? Is AIDS still only erroneously considered a gay thing in America, so if you are doing work for that you are, by default working for the gay community? Why can’t even progressives understand what a stinging slap in the face to the GBLT community it is to have a vocal, active, and powerful homophobe given a platform no matter how large or small that platform may be?

Somehow, I doubt it.

* Bah, it isn’t even “change.”

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Tagged: barack obama rick warren glbt homophobia homophobe misogyny misogynist abortion reproductive rights inauguration

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Being a narcissistic nerd, I check the stats on my Flickr photos on a near-daily basis; the referring URLs, of course, are of particular interest. I must know who is discussing me, dammit.

My Animals & Women and Misogyny sets have proven especially popular. Usually, people – by which I mean fellow feminists and/or veg*ns – agree with the ways in which I’ve tagged, filed and otherwise categorized the photos.

Few people seem to concur with my assessment of these ads from Harley Davidson, however. Browsers of the interwebs do not like that I filed these in the Misogyny set.

So I ask you, dear readers – Harley Davidson’s Bikes for Women ads: Sexist/homophobic or empowerful?

My initial reaction when spotting this series at Ads of the World was laughter. The thought of some biker dood, stuck at home doing the cooking, cleaning and childcare, while his “old lady” was out cruising the town on her “hog,” struck my fancy. “Damn skippy!,” I giggled with glee.

And then I considered what Harley Davidson’s core demographic – biker doodz – might think of the ads. I realized that they, too, would get a good guffaw at the thought of one of their own stuck at home doing womanly chores…but probably not for the same reasons I do.

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Because slapping a gaudy yellow ribbon on the back of your SUV simply won’t do.

1. Volunteer to foster a soldier’s companion animal(s) while he or she is stationed overseas.

There exist very few programs to help members of the military care for their companion animals while they are stationed overseas. Unless soldiers can recruit a family member to house and care for their “pets” while they are away, soldiers are forced to relinquish their animals – to a “pound,” a shelter, or an adoption group.

Between 6 and 8 millions dogs and cats enter U.S. shelters every year. Of these, half are euthanized murdered.

By fostering a soldier’s companion animal(s), you can save an animal’s life, and also ensure a happy reunion between a soldier and her furry friend(s) when she returns from serving her country – i.e., you.

How it works: many of the programs I’ve seen match potential foster homes with soldiers in need, based on a number of factors, including location, type of animal, and caregiver preferences. These groups are generally nonprofits, and finances are limited; consequently, veterinary and food costs, as well as terms and conditions, are usually negotiated between the soldier and caregiver.

To get started, check out Guardian Angels for Soldier’s Pet and Operation Noble Foster.

If you live near a U.S. military base, you may also want to check with local veterinarians to see if they can help match you up with soldiers in need locally. Alternately, you can coordinate with your local veterinarians to start a grassroots foster program in your area – even if you yourself are not in a position to foster an animal.

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Join the Impact is calling for nationwide protests against California’s passage of Proposition 8 this Saturday, November 15:

On the steps of your City Hall on November 15th at 10:30am PST / 1:30pm EST, our community WILL take to the streets and speak out against Proposition 8 and all of the other pro-equality losses that we have faced in our lifetimes, in our parents’ lifetimes, and for many generations before us. WE CAN’T DO THIS ALONE! WE NEED YOUR HELP! We need organizers in every major city to work with us and get out the protest! I know you’re all tired from all of the work you’ve done for this great election year, but I’m asking for one more push! Let the country hear our voices together. Let them see that we are a strong, adamant, and powerful community that deserves equal rights, and CAN’T BE DEFEATED!

Send this post to everyone! We have one week and must react to the pro-hate votes cast against us! Let’s help our LGBTQ friends, families, neighbors, and each other to IMPACT this country with a demand for our basic human rights! Join the cause, join the voice, and JOIN THE IMPACT!

You can look up your city and protest location here.

(Via Lindsay @ Female Impersonator.)

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I love these new “Think Before You Speak” PSAs from The Ad Council – and not just because the first stars Wanda Sykes:

Now if only they’d tackle the word “bitch” in similar fashion. Double points for a PSA criticizing our collective tendency to judge powerful females by their physical appearance as opposed to, you know, their actual qualifications (think the Hillary Clinton/Sarah Palin SNL skit).

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Tagged: glbt the ad council gay wanda sykes

This is part three in a nine-part series on Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. A full TOC, complete with links for easy navigation, is included at the bottom of each post.

Spoiler alert: Danger ahead, oh the horra! Plot spoilers abound! If you haven’t yet read the book, consider yourself warned. In fact, back away from this blog asap, go borrow The Handmaid’s Tale from your local library, and come back when you’re done. We’ll still be on the internets, promise.

Race, Ethnicity and Sexual Orientation: Gilead is a Society of Isms

In addition to being a misogynistic society, Gilead is also a racist and homophobic society. Unlike misogyny, however, The Handmaid’s Tale is notable for what it does not say about race and homosexuality.

In her narration, Kate very rarely mentions race. When describing people, skin color is almost never explicitly referenced. Through subtle clues, we can discern that many of the main characters in The Handmaid’s Tale are white: Kate describes her brown hair, the Commander’s silver hair, Serena Joy’s blond hair, Nick’s angular French facial features, Ofglen’s pink, plump face, Janine’s pink nose. Nameless Guardians have peach-colored mustaches and pale faces. Gilead is overwhelmingly white – except for its laborers. Rita and Cora, Commander Fred’s Marthas, are women of color. We know this of Rita because Kate describes her “brown arm”, but can only assume this of Cora.

Kate describes Marthas as women whose previous work in the domestic sphere has instilled in them a compliant, subservient nature. Wiki defines Marthas as “infertile women whose compliant nature and domestic skills recommend them to a life of domestic servitude.” (I’m paraphrasing Kate’s description, as I was unable to locate the exact quote.) While there’s some speculation as to whether Marthas are African Americans – thus conjuring America’s history of slavery – it’s unclear whether all the Marthas share the same race and ethnicity, or if any women of color who are appropriately subservient and compliant are given the option of working as Marthas as opposed to dying in The Colonies. It is my impression that Rita and Cora are Latinas, based on Rita’s “brown arms” and their first names. Additionally, while I was unable to locate the demographics of domestic workers in the U.S., Diana Vellos claims that “Latinas today constitute the largest category of women entering the domestic labor force in the United States. Many of these women are undocumented workers.”

Whatever their heritage, it seems as though Marthas are the only people of color living in Gilead. Most likely, any other non-white Americans were killed or sent to The Colonies as manual laborers.

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Via People for the American Way (PFAW):

“I do.”

After 55 years together, lifelong progressive activists Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon proclaimed their commitment at 5:01 pm last night and became a legally married couple in the eyes of the state of California.

Del and Phyllis, and more than 20 other couples, fought a long battle challenging the constitutionality of California’s marriage law. And on May 15, they won, on the basic principle that all Californians are equal under the State Constitution, and none of them should be discriminated against.

Today we’re celebrating this milestone with these remarkable women, and with other couples like them. In many wedding ceremonies, friends and family pledge to support the couple in their new life together. I’m asking you to join as a witness to history by adding your name and comments to a guestbook in celebration of Del and Phyllis and the thousands of other gay and lesbian couples tying the knot in California. We’ll be presenting Phyllis and Del with a hardbound version of the book as a wedding gift.

Please add your name and wishes to the guestbook.

If the photos coming out of California since Monday don’t melt your heart…well, you don’t have one.

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Tagged: Del Martin Phyllis Lyon gay marriage california people for the american way pfaw action alerts glbt

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom brought something old to the wedding ceremony he officiated Monday afternoon—traditional marriage vows that elicited laughter from the guests who came to see Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon get hitched.

“The contract of marriage is most solemn. It is not to be entered into lightly, but thoughtfully and seriously,” Newsom told Martin, 87, and Lyon, 83, who have been together for 55 years.

The audience of friends, relatives and elected officials burst into good-natured chuckles.

After the pair exchanged rings and promised to keep each other in sickness and in health as long as they both shall live, the mayor reminded them that “Love’s compassion is the glory of life. Never take each other for granted,” another comment that seemed to strike an odd note under the circumstances.

Newsom got his last laugh from the appreciative crowd when he said he was pronouncing Martin and Lyon “spouses for life” under authority “vested in me as a deputy marriage commissioner,” not mayor.

Under California marriage laws, only judges, state officials and members of Congress are automatically entitled to solemnize marriages.

Just, blub.

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Tagged: glbt gay marriage california video