The Republic of T.

He’s ba-aaaaaaaaaack. And this time he’s actually writing fiction.

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I wrote about this earlier, but another story about minority reaction to passage of prop 8 came to my attention via the LGBTPOC listserve.

California’s gay marriage ban could open the door to legal discrimination against unpopular groups if the state Supreme Court allows the voter-approved measure to stand, blacks, Latinos, Asians and other minorities said.

The November 4 vote, supporting an end to legal same-sex marriage in the most populous U.S. state, has caused a nationwide furor as opponents of the measure decry what they consider a civil rights violation.

…Legal scholars say the measure, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman, breaks new ground by limiting the courts’ ability to protect minorities.

“They could take away any right from any group,” said University of Southern California Law Professor David Cruz, who filed a brief in favor of gay marriage in an earlier case.

This is something I tried to convey, with varying degrees eloquence and success in my first ever appearance on bloggingheads.tv.

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Ed. Note: I plan on writing something about black voters, the passage of proposition 8 in California, and the discussion that has ensued about whether the former failed in part because of the latter. In the meantime, I thought I’d republish some old content that might be relevant to the discussion.

(Originally posted on October 23, 2006.)

I don’t remember when I first became aware of Horace Griffin’s book Their Own Receive Them Not: African American Lesbians And Gays in Black Churches. Most likely, it turned up in my recommendations on Amazon.Com. But as soon as I saw the title, I knew I had to read it because it would speak to significant part of my experience as a Black gay man. The truth is, it probably speaks to the experiences of many — if not most — Black LGBT folks, because most of us probably spent some part of our early lives involved in Black churches even if we left our churches and our religion behind in adulthood. And, as I’ve noted before, some of us remain in those churches and the communities built up around them, even as part of who we are is degraded and maligned in those spaces. Sometimes we even participate in our own degradation, because we don’t perceive any other choice.

Griffin’s book probably has the most to say to Black LBGTs who remain in Black churches where they still hear homophobia and heterosexism preached from the pulpit and approved from the pews. But even for someone like myself, there is a gift (perhaps even a blessing?) here simply in the validation that some of us has experience hurt at the hands of our communities and churches, in the name of faith. It also has something to say to the ministers in those same churches. For that reason, if I could, I’d buy multiple copies and deliver them to ministers like Wellington Boone, Willie WIlson, Alfred Owens, Eddie Long, TD Jakes, Gregory Daniels, and many others. But chances are they wouldn’t read it anyway. Still, if it finds its way into the hands of Black LGBT Christians, and to their families and friends, it might just make a difference.

But for my part, having long since left “the Black Church” and the Christian faith, I can only speak about this book as one who faced the same choices Griffin mentions in the book that Black churches offer LGBT members: stay silent and “pass” while absorbing the homophobia in the church, or leave. Both choices exact a significant cost from the LGBT individual.

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This article from Esquire —actually a slideshow —seemed like an opportunity to start or join a meme. So, I’m going to post the titles I’ve read from among those Esquire had named the Greatest Books Ever Written, declared them 75 Books Every Man Should Read. I decided to see how many of them I’ve actually read. How many have you read?

Here’s my list:

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Well, I know what I’m reading for Parker’s bedtime story tonight, if I can convince him: Where the Wild Things Are. Why? Because the author, Maurice Sendak, just came out.

Maurice Sendak’s 80th year — which ended with his birthday earlier this summer and is being celebrated on Monday night with a benefit at the 92nd Street Y — was a tough one. He has been gripped by grief since the death of his longtime partner; a recent triple-bypass has temporarily left him too weak to work or take long walks with his dog; and he is plagued by Norman Rockwell.

…Against all probability, some of the nightmares that have relentlessly pursued him since childhood — like the 1932 Lindbergh baby kidnapping — have been laid to rest. A couple of weeks ago a dealer found one of the tiny reproductions of the kidnapper’s ladder that were sold as souvenirs at the New Jersey trial.

“I was floored,” Mr. Sendak said. He traded one of his drawings for it. “That ends my obsession with the case,” he said.

His fascination with the kidnapping, like many of the other details of his life, has been repeated endlessly over the years in the hundreds of interviews he has given. Was there anything he had never been asked? He paused for a few moments and answered, “Well, that I’m gay.”

“I just didn’t think it was anybody’s business,” Mr. Sendak added. He lived with Eugene Glynn, a psychoanalyst, for 50 years before Dr. Glynn’s death in May 2007. He never told his parents: “All I wanted was to be straight so my parents could be happy. They never, never, never knew.”

…A gay artist in New York is not exactly uncommon, but Mr. Sendak said that the idea of a gay man writing children books would have hurt his career when he was in his 20s and 30s.

Sendak is matter-of-fact about having to stay in the closet for the sake of his career, but I found that kind of heartbreaking upon reading it. Fifty years together, and you have to keep it a secret?

A heterosexual children’s author would’ve had a fiftieth wedding anniversary bash, and probably wouldn’t even have made news. A heterosexual children’s author whose spouse was dying of cancer would have been able to reach out for support, and even to mourn publicly.

I can’t help thinking about Del Martin’s passing last month, after marrying her partner of 50+ years, and thinking how much things have changed and how much they still need to change.

[Via Mombian]

I can’t wait to hear how LCR explains this away. Via Queerty comes more specifics on the story about Sarah Palin inquiring about banning books from the public library while mayor of Wasillia.

In her first public statement since Palin was named the GOP vice-presidential candidate, Mary Ellen Baker said today, “I simply do not recall a conversation with specific titles,” Baker told ABCNews.com.

Palin has acknowledged she twice raised the issue in 1996 of how books could be removed from the shelves, but said it was only a “rhetorical question” and that she did not ask for any books to be banned.

Palin’s church at the time, the Assembly of God, had been pushing for the removal a book called “Pastor, I Am Gay” from local bookstores, according to the book’s author Pastor Howard Bess, of the Church of the Covenant in nearby Palmer, Alaska.

“And she was one of them,” said Bess, “this whole thing of controlling information, censorship, that’s part of the scene,” said Bess.

Here’s where I’m confused. How does This add up to being “inclusive”? OK, she has “gay friends” but doesn’t want “gay books” in the library? And did she have “gay friends” when she was mayor? Did they say anything to her about this? Do Republicans’ “gay friends” ever say anything to them about stuff like this?

If so, it apparently doesn’t do any good. (That the books weren’t banned says more about the character librarian and the integrity of the process than about how much of either quality Palin possesses.) And if not, why not?

That whole “being a writer” thing is yielding mixed results these days, so tonight I’m taking some time to go listen to an actual writer: someone whose job it is to write, or who’s managed to make writing her job. Maybe something will run off. If nothing else, I’ll come away with an autograph.

It was a chance encounter that led to my even knowing about the opportunity; one that reminded me a that being a reader — if not a writer — does yield benefits.

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As I write this, there there’s a stack of books on the floor, beside my desk. It’s my “to read” pile; books that I’ve bought because I know I want to read them at some point in the no-so-distant future, depending on my mood or what interests me next. (Sometimes it’s unpredictable. For example, after Blind Spot: Hitler’s Secretary popped up in my Netflix queue, I was so intrigued that I ended up watching Downfall next. I was so intrigued that I ended getting a copy of The Bunker via link Bookmooch, and may end up reading more.)

Aside from my “to read” pile, I also have “to read” list, kept in various places, of books I (a) want to read someday or (b) feel I really should have read by now. Yet, despite being an English lit. major, I have a rather extreme aversion to canonical lists of books one absolutely must read. Maybe it’s because I couldn’t help but notice what (and whom) most of those canonical lists left out. (In college, I avoided taking the required “pre-1800″ classes until my advisor sat me down and told me I had to.) Still, I was intrigued when I came across this list of the 110 “best books” at The Best Article Every Day.

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Dwight asked a question on a post two weeks ago, that I’m only just now getting around to answering.

I never really thought of ADD being something that lasted over a life, beyond childhood and yet I’ve had the experience of lacking direction, getting burried in life. Some of this time was marked by depression (I imagine poverty, not moving ahead, etc.) added to this

But I never thought of ADD as being very relevant until your posts. And as someone who spent many years in the foster care system, I admit I get almost Tom Cruise -ish when I think of things like medication, being part of the mental health system.

So my question was..how does ADD plug into your experience and what sort of actions did you take to change direction?

How does ADD plug into my experience? I think it’s colored my experience from day one, long before I knew anything about it.

How does it does it plug into my experience? Well, let me put it this way. For more than a week now, I’ve had four pieces of writing I wanted to do, including this one. So far, I’ve had time to write exactly none of them. That is, except for this one. And this one may yet take me more than a day or two before I’m done writing it.

Writing is an activity that I find immensely rewarding and enjoyable, but it isn’t my job and it doesn’t have to do with taking care of my family, so there is always something else that takes priority. That includes sleep, since I often find myself nodding off at the computer at night, when I finally do have the opportunity to write something

That’s partly because of ADD-related problems with time management, but it’s also partly because I’ve arrived at two entirely different places in my life all at once, and at a time in my life when there doesn’t seem to be room for both.

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It’s been a while since I’ve joined in on a book meme, or even blogged about what I’m reading. (Not that I haven’t been reading. I still have my commute to and from work to get in a bit of reading, and I manage to get in a few pages before passing out at night.) So, now that Philip Barron of Waveflux has tagged me with a familiar-sounding book meme, I guess this as good a time as any to hit the books again.

It goes a little something like this.

Instructions:

1. Grab the nearest book (that is at least 123 pages long).
2. Open to p. 123.
3. Go down to the 5th sentence.
4. Type in the following 3 sentences.
5. Tag five people.

So, here goes.

Would you believe right now I’m reading Kitty Kelley’s The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynast? I have to confess a kind of morbid fascination at just what kind of family spawned Dubya. (Basically, I’ve been reduced to asking over and over again “How does someone get that way?”) After Bush on the Couch, I decided I wanted to know more, so I picked up the Kelley book and David Corn’s The Lies of George W. Bush via Bookmooch.

I just picked up The Family yesterday.  On page 123, the next three sentences after the 5th sentence are:

Dotty spoke up from the front seat: “You’re in a jam with Abraham.” Ryan laughed, and the next day Prescott used the phrase, “Don’t believe that sign that says you’re better off with Ribicoff,” he said in a speech. “The fact is, you’ll be in a jam with Abraham.”

Not terribly juicy, I’m afraid.

Now I have to tag people. So, here goes: Katharine, Kip, JW,  Chris, and Rachel.

You gotta wonder how the folks at Lifeway Research—the research arm of the Southern Baptist Convention felt about these survey results. Especially that last question.

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So is my outer adult. And that, according to Desmond Morris, is because part of me never really grew up.

DESMOND MORRIS, who became a bestselling author by applying zoology to explain human behaviour, has now utilised the techniques to put forward an explanation for homosexuality.

In his latest book, The Naked Man, he concludes that men are “made gay” because they retain infantile or juvenile characteristics into adulthood – a phenomenon known as neoteny.

According to this theory, gay men also tend to be more inventive and creative than heterosexuals because they are more likely to retain the mental agility and playfulness of childhood.

“Gays have in general made a disproportionately greater contribution to life than nongays,” said Morris, who is also a noted artist. “The creative gay has very much advanced Planet Earth.”

“The playfulness of childhood is continued with certain people into adulthood. This is very much a positive. Adult playfulness means that certain people, often a fairly large proportion of them gay, are more inventive and curious than heterosexuals.”

Desmond, with all due respect, grow up.

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My prediction: an  $8 million advance for Ted Kennedy memoirs, means that he’s not going to run in 2008. Because a Kennedy memoir would probably be worth $8 million, but if he’s running again he can’t spill $8 million in dish. But if he’s not running, he can really make it good. So, between now and November 2008 my guess is that he’s going to announce that he’s not running.

When we take the kid to see Santa tomorrow, I probably won’t sit on his knee, but I might ask him for one of these. I know I wanted a Sony Reader last year, but my “to read” pile is reaching from the floor to the bottom of the window sill, and it’s now 2 stacks deep. I may need the Kindle just to keep the hubby from wanting to turn my “to read” pile into kindling.

I’ll admit up front that I’m no scientist. I got as far as physical science in high school, took botany and geology in college, and never looked back once I’d taken all the science I needed to graduate. So, I’m not a scientist, but I’m married to someone with a degree in chemistry and a medical school diploma. So when the hubby informed me, before running off to a meeting, that PBS was airing a program on the “Intelligent Design” fiasco that erupted in Dover, Pennsylvania, I knew I had to watch it.

So, even though it started while I was putting Parker to bed, when I came back downstairs I turned on Nova and watched “Judgement Day: Intelligent Design on Trial”.

All I have to say is this: watch it. When it airs again, watch it. When it’s available for viewing online on November 16, watch it. If they’re old enough, park your kids in front of the television and make them watch it. Watch it for a couple of reasons; one because the explanations of science are so well done that even a non-scientist like myself understands what the scientists are talking about, but also because you begin to understand something about the other side too.

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Not that“old time religion.” Think older. Mark Lefkowitz is thinking older, much older, in this Los Angeles Timescolumn suggesting that we bring back the Greek gods.

Prominent secular and atheist commentators have argued lately that religion “poisons” human life and causes endless violence and suffering. But the poison isn’t religion; it’s monotheism. The polytheistic Greeks didn’t advocate killing those who worshiped different gods, and they did not pretend that their religion provided the right answers. Their religion made the ancient Greeks aware of their ignorance and weakness, letting them recognize multiple points of view.

There is much we still can learn from these ancient notions of divinity, even if we can agree that the practices of animal sacrifice, deification of leaders and divining the future through animal entrails and bird flights are well lost.

…Zeus, the ruler of the gods, retained his power by using his intelligence along with superior force. Unlike his father (whom he deposed), he did not keep all the power for himself but granted rights and privileges to other gods. He was not an autocratic ruler but listened to, and was often persuaded by, the other gods.Openness to discussion and inquiry is a distinguishing feature of Greek theology. It suggests that collective decisions often lead to a better outcome. Respect for a diversity of viewpoints informs the cooperative system of government the Athenians called democracy.

He has a point. And, it turns out, someone’s already working on bringing back some “old time religion.”

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You’d think I’d be done with coming out by now, and that on National Coming Out Day, I’d have nothing left to tell anyone. At this point, I think the only person I haven’t told is Oprah. I will if I’m ever on her show for some reason. Somehow I don’t think she’ll be surprised. Somehow nobody’s ever surprised at that revelation. I think I tend to give it way by some of the things I do. Like talking. The “gay accent” is a dead giveaway.

Or, if Parker speaks (and if this kid is awake he’s usually talking) we’re pretty much instantly outed after a barrage of questions and statements directed at Daddy and Papa. It just doesn’t take long for people to do the math.

So, when National Coming Out Day rolls around, I’m left feeling like I have nothing to do. Not that I want to tell that story again. Let’s face it. After a while, coming out stories get old. When I was co-director of the LGBT student group at UGA, anytime someone new came to a meeting, we’d put our chairs in in a circle and tell our coming out stories. After about a year of this we decided en mass to cease that practice, because it had gotten to the point where we could each go around the circle and tell everyone else’s coming out story.

So, no, I’m not going to tell min again. Because I’ve told it before, and thanks to the magic of blog archives, I don’t have to. I can just repost it. You can read it after the jump if our so inclined.

Technorati Tags: coming out, current events, gay, gay rights, homophobia, life, sexuality

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Your LGBT heroes, that is. Dana, of Mombian, posed the question in honor of GLBT History month, and a lot of names came to mind for me. Some of them are people who, in some small way, gave a little bit of hope to a skinny, effeminate, non-athletic, black, gay boy growing up in Augusta, GA, during the Reagan era. Some of them are people who helped that same kid hold on to (as my mama would say) “a portion of my right mind” through college and into adulthood.

All of them are people whose lives or work gave me three clear messages: You’re not alone. Everything will be alright. Anything is possible.

These are a few of them.

Technorati Tags: books, culture, current events, gay rights, homophobia, politics, race

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What a sneaky Buddhist dad I am. I wrote earlier about figuring out how to raise our son with a set of values so that he will be less vulnerable to fundamentalism, dogmatism, etc. when he gets older. Well, when Parker was much younger, I looked up several children’s books on Buddhism or with a Buddhist flavor. A while back I got one of them, I Once Was a Monkey: Stories Buddha Told, via BookMooch. It’s a collection of Jataka Tales adapted for children. (By the way, check out this great site with animated jataka tales. I’d show it to Parker, but I’m afraid I’d never use my computer again!)

I put the book on the shelf and left it there at first, because the writing was a little advanced for Parker then. But a couple of weeks ago, when we were getting tired of reading the same books we always read to Parker, I pulled I Once Was a Monkey off the shelf. But I didn’t offer to read it to him, because that would have given him a chance to refuse. I just started reading it silently and waited for his natural curiosity to kick in.

It did. For the first week, I read one story each night. Then he started asking me to read from it when I put him to bed. Now it’s one of his favorite books. And he gets the stories. He stops me and asks questions, and we talk about what’s happening in the story and why. By George, it worked. I don’t want to push my luck, but I think next time I have a chance I’m going to thumb through a copy of Zen Shorts, and if it passes muster, I’ll bring it home too.

Technorati Tags: books, buddhism, parenting, religion

One funny thing about Nan Talese’s statement’s about Oprah’s roasting of James Frey a year ago (whom she’s evidently still mad at, by the way), over his partially-made-up memoir. Nan actually says, “When someone starts out and says, `I have been an alcoholic. I have
lied. I have cheated.’ … You do not think this is going to be the New
Testament.” But given what we know about the gospels, Frey’s memoir may have more truth in it. Considerably more.