The Republic of T.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Log Cabin Democrats. Who else could come up with a statement like this.

An open letter signed by 16 LGBT and black religious leaders says that Obama is reaching out to bring blacks and homosexuals together. But Obama makes clear that even if he disagrees with African-Americans who are anti-gay, he still wants their votes.

“We believe that Barack Obama is constructing a tent big enough for LGBT Americans who know that their sexual orientation is an innate and treasured part of their being, and for African American ministers and citizens who believe that their religion prevents them from fully embracing their gay brothers and sisters,” the letter states. “And if we are to confront our shared challenges we have to join together, build on common ground, and engage in a civil dialogue even when we disagree.”

About a politician who says stuff like this:

2008 election, current events, elections, gay marriage, gay rights, homophobia, marriage, obama, politics, race, religion

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What’s up? Well, now we know. First Dumbledor, now this.

Only a week after the announcement that the character Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series is gay, the fictional world is again shocked with the revelation by Steven Blanc, son of voice artist Mel Blanc, that the perennial prankster “Bugs” Bunny of Looney Tunes cartoons is also gay. This announcement, while unexpected, give new and clearer meaning to many of the on-screen exchanges between the smart-aleck “wacky wabbit” and his put-upon nemesis, Elmer Fudd.

Bugs Bunny was in love with his male rival, Steven Blanc says.

The author of “Bugs and Elmer: A Forbidden Love,” stunned fans at the Academy of Motion Pictures annual Warner Brothers Looney Tunes Night, when he answered one young reader’s question about Bugs by saying that he was gay and had been in love with Elmer Fudd for years.

I wonder if the Fundies have heard about this yet, and if they’ve called the Cartoon Network yet. If not, somebody tell ‘em, quick. It might keep them busy for a while

Technorati Tags: bugs bunny, humor, gay, gay rights, television, cartoons

Not blogging today. Taking a break.

Update: Per the comments below, I have edited this post and updated the entry on that LGBT Hate Crimes Project to correct the error concerning Owen’s race.

Have you ever heard of Sean Ethan Owen? You’ve heard of Matthew Shepard. You’ve heard of Brandon Teena. You’ve probably even heard of Sakiah Gunn, Scotty Joe Weaver, and Sean William Kennedy. But you probably haven’t heard of Sean Ethan Owen, even though he died just one state north of Sean William Kennedy, and about three years earlier. I won’t speculate as to why, though I find it interesting that I can find all kinds of images of Sean William Kennedy, but not a single one of Sean Ethan Owen (though images of Owen’s killers are available online). It’s almost as if he not only died, but disappeared.

One of the reasons I started the LGBT Hate Crimes Project, was to tell the stories of people like Sean Ethan Owen, who were targets and/or victims of violence because they were LGBT, but whose names never made headlines. And it’s the reason I moved this project from Wikipedia to its own domain, because it’s likely that Sean Ethan Owen’s death would not be notable enough for Wikipedia. It wasn’t covered much outside of North Carolina, except for some gay publications. Sean Ethan Owen’s murder did not make national headlines. It didn’t inspire widespread protests. It didn’t inspire new legislation, let alone legislation that bears his name, not did it result in landmark court rulings. Probably the only people who even wept for him were his family and those who knew him personally. In my research, I didn’t read about candlelight vigils or public outpourings of emotion from perfect strangers, as happened in response to previous cases.

But Sean Ethan Owen was black gay man who was targeted for robbery by a man he met on a chat line; a man who wasn’t gay himself, thought that gay men on the chat line were easy targets for crime (maybe because he thought they’d be less likely to resist, less likely to report the crime, or that police would be less likely to pursue it). He was lured into meeting, and when he arrived found two other men there with the man he came to meet. He gave all three of them a ride, and then returned with them to a park where the men intended to smoke marijuana. Owen was shot in the head, but did not fall.

anti-gay violence, courts, crime, current events, gay bashing, gay rights, hate crimes, homophobia, politics, wikipedia

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When I started The LGBT Hate Crimes Project the Murder of Satendar Singh was one cases I wanted most to write about, because at the time I started the project it had just happened. But I decided to wait until more information about the case became available, as I wanted to avoid writing about the case as a hate crime only to have different information come out later.

But earlier this month, one of Singh’s attackers went to court, and that was the catalyst for starting to research the story.

One of the men accused in the beating death of Satender Singh was in court yesterday.

The the hearing, Aleksandr Shevchenko was told appear back in court next month.

Shevchenko is accused of being part of a group that allegedly used racial and homophobic slurs toward Satender Singh in July at Lake Natoma. A brawl ensued and Singh was severely beaten. He later died from head injuries.

Investigators say Shevchenko didn’t throw the punch that killed Singh but contributed to the crime.

What I found out made it even more convincing as a hate crime.
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People are always asking me about where to find vegetarian food in the metro D.C. area, and back in March I posted a review of several vegetarian or veg-friendly eateries in the area. Well I have another to add after this weekend, thanks to my ever-so-thoughtful non-vegetarian husband who — even though he’s so not a vegetarian — always keeps an eye out for vegetarian restaurants we haven’t been to yet. That’s the kind of guy he is, even though I like to joke that he was on the Atkin’s Diet before there was an Atkin’s Diet.

So I wasn’t surprised when he told me about Sunflower Restaurant, which was totally vegetarian and has locations in Falls Church and Vienna, VA. Initially, I thought maybe Cafe Sunflower, where Katharine and I had dinner once, had branched out of Atlanta. That would have been fine by me, but when I checked out the menu online I was even more intrigued. We made plans to visit for dinner
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Sen. Obama, unable and/or unwilling to rid himself of anti-gay “ex-gay” Donnie McClurkin, is seeking to balance things out by belatedly adding a pinch of fairy dust to his gospel tour of South Carolina.

An openly gay minister will open Barack Obama’s gospel concerts this weekend in South Carolina, two of his advisers told gay supporters on a conference call this afternoon.

Obama aide Steve Hildebrand, and a prominent gay adviser, Tobias Wolff, conceded that the campaign had failed to “vet” gospel singer Donnie McClurkin for his view that homosexuality is a “curse”, one person on the call said. But they said he would still perform at Obama’s concerts, which are aimed at tightening his bond to that state’s African-American community.

“They recognized that there was a mistake here,” the source said.

They also stressed Obama’s “unequivocal” commitment to gay rights, and defended McClurkin’s presence at the performance, he said.
“The perspective is that he can bring in different elements of the Democratic Party and American society,” the Obama supporter said.

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Donnie McClurkin, the anti-gay “ex-gay” bigot that Barrack Obama is keeping on his South Carolina tour, still think “gays are trying hurting our children.” [Via Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters.]

McClurkin used his personal story to demonize the lgbt community as a whole. During an appearance on the 700 Club in 2003, he accused the lgbt community of wanting to harm children:

From GayWired:

McClurkin has accused gays of “trying to kill our children” and has called homosexuality “a curse”. The gospel singer who says he is a “reformed homosexual” in a 700 Club interview said he was ready to declare war on homosexuality.

Technorati Tags: child abuse, children, current events, family, gay rights, homophobia, parenting, politics

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It’s been a while since I added the “What I’m Reading” widget to the sidebar. (It’s actually my shared items from Google Reader, and it has its own RSS feed.) It’s intended to be a place to collect and display posts I’ve been reading from around the blogosphere. It’s also meant to be a source of material for “round-up” posts on days like today when I’m hunkered down over work-related stuff.

It’s also been a while since I’ve done a round-up post, and now seems like as good a time as any, with the Obama debacle so fresh that steam is still rising from it.

And why don’t we start with the whole religion thing, since that’s what got Obama inextricably bound up with McClurkin. Via Prometheus comes this video. But first a comment from Prometheus.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, blogs, current events, gay rights, homophobia, obama, politics, religion

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I’ll give Obama credit. It took him less than a day to issue a statement on his association with Donnie McClurkin.

In a statement, Obama said he believes gays and lesbians are “our brothers and sisters” and should be afforded the same respect, dignity and rights granted all other citizens.

“I have consistently spoken directly to African-American religious leaders about the need to overcome the homophobia that persists in some parts our community so that we can confront issues like HIV/AIDS and broaden the reach of equal rights in this country,” Obama said. “I strongly believe that African Americans and the LGBT community must stand together in the fight for equal rights. And so I strongly disagree with Reverend McClurkin’s views and will continue to fight for these rights as president of the United States to ensure that America is a country that spreads tolerance instead of division.”

The statement did not say whether McClurkin will still perform on the tour.

Well, there are a couple of things to be said about this.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, civil rights, current events, gay bashing, gay marriage, homophobia, obama, race, religion

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You know you’ve arrived as a blogging demographic when you have your own conference. A while back, somebody asked me if I’d coined the phrase “Blogging While Brown.” Though I’ve written three posts with that title, I’m not sure I can take credit. After all, there’s every possibility somebody used that phrase before me. I can’t take credit for the Blogging While Brown Conference set for July 25 - 27, in Atlanta, GA. But if I’m still blogging by then (and I can’t think of why I wouldn’t be), I may try to make it. After all, it’s an excuse to visit Atlanta. Right. Now, if there were just a Blogging While Queer conference, along with a Blogging While Buddhist conference, a Blogging While Vegetarian conference, and a Blogging While Parenting conference (with on-site child care, of course) My dance card would be full up.

How schizophrenic does a Democratic candidate have to be, or think he has to be, in order to win? How schizophrenic does a Democratic candidate have to be, or thinks he has to be, on gay issues if he wants to win? I don’t know but I’d have to ask Barrack Obama. He’d have to know. Why else is Obama touring with anti-gay “ex-gay” Donnie McClurkin?

As religious conservatives gather in Washington this weekend for the “Values Voters Summit,” Senator Barack Obama’s campaign announced its latest effort to attract people of faith to the campaign: a gospel concert tour.

All three of the dates of the “Embrace the Change” tour are in South Carolina, where Mr. Obama is locked in battle with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for black voters.

Gospel acts including Mary Mary, Donnie McClurkin and Hezekiah Walker, Byron Cage and the Mighty Clouds of Joy are scheduled to appear.

Who’s Donnie McClurkin, you ask?

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, anti-gay violence, current events, gay bashing, gay rights, homophobia, obama, politics, race, religion

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Chase in linking to my post about Popular Mechanics list of “25 Skills Every Man Should Know”, has come up with his own list of “must have” skills.

Here’s how I did.

1. Know basic nutritional needs & how to plan balanced meals
2. Hone your sense of direction & navigation so you don’t need step-by-step turns to find a location
3. Understand types of health insurance & terminology such as OOP max & co-insurance percentage
4. Maintenance of a personal computer
5. In-depth knowledge of your employment benefits
6. Change a flat tire
7. Wash & iron clothes
8. Balance a checkbook & manage your finances
9. Patch holes in walls
10. Fix a clogged toilet
11. Jump start a car
12. Use public transportation to get around
13. Write an effective resume cover letter
14. Professional oral & written communication
15. Basic math
16. Stay calm in emergencies
17. Know when to ask for help
18. Personal hygiene
19. Do your own taxes
20. Use internet search engines strategically (if you know how to do good searches, you can find any information you need on the web)

Not bad. Better than I did on the Popular Mechanics list.

Technorati Tags: blogs, masculinity, adhd

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