Category Archives: gay marriage

LOVE Will Conquer ALL

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I’ve spoken about being pro-equal rights. I’m a huge advocate for same-sex marriage. I’m a huge advocate for equal rights for all people…and animals. I’ve been very upset and angered by the hate I hear being preached during this very important time. On the 26th and 27th of this month the Supreme Court is hearing arguments for same-sex marriage. There is only one argument that I feel is worthy, and that is: people have an inalienable right to marry the person they love no matter of the gender.

It’s been hard for me to have a positive attitude during this time because I am so angered by the blatent ignorance and hate. But then I read this article by the NY Daily News:

“Jenna Wolfe and Stephanie Gosk of NBC come out as couple; reveal engagement and baby on the way”

NBC newscaster Jenna Wolfe is The Today show’s Sunday anchor. Wolfe said she and partner Gosk, a foreign correspondent at NBC, have been together three years, plan to wed and will have a baby by December. Here are some choice quotes from Wolfe’s blog and her appearance with Gosk on the Today show Wednesday morning:

“My girlfriend, Stephanie Gosk, and I are expecting a baby girl the end of August,” Wolfe, 39, wrote in the debut post for her new pregnancy blog.

“We felt like we wanted to share our adventures with a wide-eyed, little person,” she blogged. “The more we talked about it, the better the idea seemed.”

“We were constantly on the road, juggling a thousand balls at once,” she told the mag. “It’s a miracle we got it all together.”

“This is the most exciting thing that has ever happened to us,”

“But I don’t want to bring my daughter into a world where I’m not comfortable telling everyone who I am and who her mother is.”

“The beauty is that we live in a time where there’s no need for secrecy.

“For a long time I had feared I would never have a child”.

“This baby doesn’t care that I was in phenomenal shape before getting pregnant. She doesn’t care that I had a near perfect diet. She made the first four months brutal for me … B-R-U-T-A-L.”

“There were days when all I could eat were Saltine crackers, Apple Jacks dry cereal and plain pasta,”

“As a kid, I would have chosen raising my adrenaline over raising children any day of the week. But then a funny thing happened on my way to adulthood … I grew up. I ran smack into the old nursery rhyme: “First comes love. Then comes marriage. Then comes Jenna pushing a baby carriage”

I didn’t attribute names to the quotes because they could be the words of any couple. These two are in love, they want to make a lifetime commitment to each other and share that with the world, and they want to raise their child together. It’s beautiful.

As I said before I’ve been down and angry about what I’ve heard as a result of the same-sex marriage hearing. But then I heard this…and I was reminded the love is beautiful, family is what matters, and people can scream hate at the top of their lungs, they can twist the word of God to work for them, they can try as hard as they possibly can to stop it…but LOVE will win. LOVE always finds a way.

In the darkness it’s hard to see the light…but light will come. Hate is dark…love is light. I have faith that LOVE will win, maybe not today…maybe not even in my lifetime…but LOVE will continue to grow, you can try and stop it but you will never stop people from finding each other—from loving each other—from supporting each other…LOVE will win.



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Superman: Not Having Orson Scott Card’s Anti-Gay Nonsense

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This story, about Orson Scott Card signing on with DC Comics to be a recurring guest writer for a Superman comics series, was one of those posts that I kept putting off writing because I was sure that the story was going to develop. When it first struck my interest, it was just that many comic book stores were planning to boycott that specific title. Later, I read that the series lost its artist over the controversy. More recently, DC announced that it had put the project on hold.

This is good news.

I should explain, in case you’re wondering: “Who is Orson Scott Card?” or, better yet: “Wasn’t he that nice man who wrote Ender’s Game?”

Orson Scott Card is a writer. I really enjoyed reading Ender’s Game—as a ten-year-old, it was nice to read a book about a young, intelligent protagonist. The writer had clearly put a lot of thought into how young, highly intelligent children thought.

OSC is also a Mormon, and well-known for his strong anti-gay political views. Now, I once read an article suggesting that no one should avoid OSC’s work for his political commentary and activism, because he is a Mormon, and that opposition to gay rights (including marriage equality) has long been a part of LDS policy. Basically, the writer (of an article which I read years ago and was unable to relocate) said: “His religion is anti-gay, so if you’re going to avoid him for sharing that view, you should avoid everyone of his religion, which would be impractical.”

Guys, that’s nonsense. For one thing, I’ve had Mormon friends who are totally fine with gay rights, and who support marriage equality. Similarly, I’ve had Catholic friends whose views on gays and gay marriage are totally at odds with the Vatican’s (and they’re not isolated exceptions—more than half of US Catholics support the legalization of same-sex marriage).

There is a difference between being a part of an organized religion and holding all of the same beliefs—particularly social and political beliefs. There is also a difference between holding a belief and being a vocal commentator on the subject. Now, if you do hold a belief (such as a stance regarding marriage equality) and use whatever status or spotlight that you acquire to speak on it, do not be surprised if your views impact your financial ventures.

Personally, I’d rather watch five of my dollars burn than give a business like Chick-fil-A one red cent. That’s my right and my choice. I no longer purchase anything from Papa John’s or Domino’s because of their oppositions to Obamacare (narrowing all of my non-grocery store pizza purchases to Pizza Hut). I do not give money to the Boy Scouts and I will not make any purchase that might lead to Orson Scott Card making a profit.

While OSC has always been wrong, morally, on the issue of gay rights, the tide of public opinion in the US is now turning against him. A DC Comics project shelved because his involvement was too controversial. Enders Game is getting a theatrical release, but some of the film’s producers do not want OSC involved in the film’s promotion, concerned that his involvement would be the touch of death to ticket sales.

I know that, no matter how much I loved the novel a decade and a half ago, I will certainly not be seeing the film—until it becomes available for me to view, for free.

Thank you, DC Comics, for putting your OSC project on hold. Let’s keep it that way. I have no doubt that Superman would approve.



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Get Thee To A Nunnery

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I’m sure that most of you have heard by now about the Vatican’s “crackdown” on American nuns. Essentially, most American nuns and American nun organizations are spending “too much” time and energy on helping to combat poverty and too little time opposing same-sex marriage and abortion rights.

Nuns are not the female equivalents of Catholic priests. Nuns are the female equivalents of monks. They are in positions of service to the Church and their communities, where priests are in positions of service to the Church but also in positions of authority (along with service) when it comes to their parishioners. Nuns do not lead mass or take confession; they are recognized for the work that they do.

I can see where the Vatican is coming from on this, and I’ll get to that in a moment, but when your complaint is that someone is spending too much time caring for the poor, the sick, and addicts, you should at least realize that your criticism is going to sound a little weird and may not be taken well.

To my mind, nuns are the most popular Catholics. Probably not the severe, ruler-wielding nuns of a couple of generations ago (I do not care if it is on the hand; hitting children is detestable), but contemporary nuns are fairly popular, likable figures. Do you guys remember Sister Peg from Law & Order: SVU? She was a recurring character, a nun who gives out clean needles to addicts and tries to help prostitutes without interfering in their lives. Horrible things would happen to her sometimes because she put herself into dangerous situations in order to help others, but she kept doing her work because she believed in helping people. When watching SVU, you felt bad whenever bad things happened to her, no matter what your feelings towards the Catholic Church might be.

While that’s a fictional and somewhat dramatic portrayal of contemporary American nuns, I do not think that it is inaccurate as far as values and attitudes are concerned.

Now, I disagree with the Vatican. I believe that same-sex marriage should be legally recognized everywhere, and I believe that every woman should have the right to choose. But I do understand where they are coming from with these criticisms.

From their perspective, it’s like the Vatican is the parent and American nuns are the child who is doing lots of work and extra credit and making straight As in most of their classes but neglecting a few classes. I can see how they would want for nuns to work in this area (I guess that saying “the Church wants for nuns to focus more upon pushing social injustice” is a bit melodramatic).

But I think that trying to force this issue right now is a mistake on the part of the Vatican. I am sure that these organizations of nuns have many motivations for choosing their priorities as they have, but one motivation has to be that opposition to marriage equality continues to diminish, and I honestly don’t think that female reproductive rights are going away on a national level any time soon (despite a number of attempts in the past few years). And while nuns enjoy some popularity and familiar recognition now—which the Church, in many places, does not—part of that might be due to the fact that they are focusing upon doing good works that just about everyone can support. If nuns start taking hard stances on social issues, as the Vatican is insisting that they do, then they may lose some of that popularity and good public image, which could, in turn, make it harder for them to do the work that they really want to be doing.



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Eat Less Chicken

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Has everyone heard about what’s going on with Chick-fil-A lately? I mean, most of you probably have, but I’ll fill you in in the off-chance you haven’t.

A lot of people have known for years that the fast food chain, Chick-fil-A, is very publicly a Christian franchise. And by this I mean that this is a part of their identity up to the very top (as opposed to a manager at a single store posting the Ten Commandments on a wall of the restaurant, which I once saw at a different chain). They are not open on Sundays. And they’ve given money to organizations that campaign against marriage equality.

(On a side note, have you guys seen the music video, by drag queens and to the tune of Wilson Phillips’ Hold On (For One More Day)? It’s Chow Down At Chick-fil-A, and while it can be a little crass at times, and probably not safe for work, it’s worth a watch. Suffice it to say that, despite the lyrics, it is not an actual endorsement.)

On June 16th, Chick-fil-A’s COO, Dan Cathy, said in an interview that he and Chick-fil-A are “guilty as charged” when it comes to opposing same-sex marriage and giving money to organizations that share that view. This is based upon their Christian beliefs.

I get that. A lot of liberal Christians do not agree that Christians should oppose the legal recognition of same-sex marriage. Some conservative Christians feel the same way. Many others, like me, are not Christians and support marriage equality. This was, however, news to a lot of people. Some (I have learned that Chick-fil-A is a Southern restaurant chain, so I apologize to those of you elsewhere who are unfamiliar with the franchise) had viewed Chick-fil-A as a healthier alternative to some other fast food options (despite the fact that it’s still fried chicken). I think that many people were unpleasantly surprised that some of the profits from their…

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