Saxby Chambliss Continued…

Better late than never?  I guess so.  Saxby Chambliss just offered an apology for: “All Faggots Must Die,” which came from his office.  While the staff member’s name has not been announced yet, Chambliss did finally offer an apology.  While I hate saying anything to defend Chambliss, I do feel it is fair to post this apology given the outrage of my previous post concerning the senator.  I still don’t feel that any gay folk are safe near this man or anyone in his office.  See the apology here.

Bill Maher

Bill Maher does a fantastic job of articulating how in the past 20 years, and I would actually say longer than that, the “left” has gone now to the middle and the right has gone so far to the right, it has gone “into the mental institution.”  Enjoy this clip.

Tom Coburn and Jim DeMint: Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb

Yes, it becomes more and more obvious that Coburn and DeMint were hatched.  These two men are blocking the sale of land in D.C. to create the National Women’s History Museum.  I’m sure we are all familiar with Coburn funding the extremist homophobic government in Uganda and the ever popular DeMint who tried to outlaw homosexuality in the state of South Carolina.  My, my, my, these two “men” sure are obsessed with thinking about homosexuals.  They seem to be caving in to the right wing anti-choice contingency as part of the reason to prevent the museum.  Here is the entire story.

Banned Book of the Day: Rainbow Boys

Alex Sanchez (b. 1957) has written a number of solid young adult novels, many of which have LGBTQ themes. His first novel, Rainbow Boys, is an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and is also his most challenged book. The story focuses on three high school seniors as they come to terms with their sexuality and the other turmoil of their lives. It is a well-crafted, fast-paced book with likable, realistic characters. The story is simultaneously a bit idealized and compellingly real, making a nice blend for YA readers coming to terms with their own sexuality. The challenges against the book, of course, have focused on the gay themes, bringing the book into the top 50 most-challenged of the past decade.

There are two sequels, Rainbow High and Rainbow Road. Both are good, but by book three the story gets stretched a bit thin. For an enjoyable story and good example of top-shelf LGBTQYA, try Rainbow Boys from your library or your bookstore.

BONUS: I read a lot of LGBTQYA fiction and have compiled a list of what I consider the very best. Enjoy!

More visibility for the LGBTQ Community

There has been a steady decline since 2006 of characters from the LGBTQ community represented on television, guessing this is not a coincidence that this statistic coincides with the last administration.  However, the good news is that GLAAD’s most recent study shows an increase in visibility, specifically to ABC and True Blood.  I’ve not seen True Blood, but I admit, I am quite taken with ABC’s Modern Family.  With increased visibility, we continue to become the mainstream fabric of our culture.  We are everywhere and we are no different than our heterosexual brothers and sisters.  In my case, I’m no different than my two gay brothers.  See the full study here.

Fox: The Anti-News

I venture a guess that most Americans treasure the value of Freedom of the Press.  Journalistic integrity can often serve as a steward of our political system.  As such, more the shame on Fox.  Fox is not news rather it is its own political machine: “Fox acts like a political operation, not a news network. Fox’s “opinion” and “news” hosts routinely select whatever facts they need or advance falsehoods to sell the network’s conservative political agenda. In so doing, Fox pushes messages intended not to make people more informed, but to inspire fear and anger in its audience. What’s even more dangerous is that Fox provides a platform not just for a political party’s talking points, but for racially charged attacks and religious smears.”  For more on how to combat this machine, read MediaMatters for America.

Women’s History

Please sign this petition for the National Women’s History Museum Act, which would give the National Women’s History Museum a permanent home in Washington, D.C!!!.  Click here to see more.

America’s Best Christian

America’s Best Christian interviews Sarah Palin.  Enjoy this priceless video.

Banned Book of the Day: The Handmaid’s Tale

Margaret Atwood (b. 1939), was well-known for her poetry and her novels with strong feminist themes. Nothing prepared the reading public for her feminist dystopian masterpiece, The Handmaid’s Tale (1985). Set in a not-too-distant future nation where women were reduced to property and sex was strictly controlled by upper-class men, the novel creates a tightly crafted, all-too-plausible sociopolitical structure. Overlooked for the Man Booker prize (which she finally won in 2000), The Handmaid’s Tale did win the 1986 Arthur C. Clarke award. (Atwood initially resisted classifying her novel as science fiction, preferring the term speculative fiction. She has since accepted the label “social science fiction”.) Atwood’s writing is tight and clear. Despite the dark themes, she also maintains her wry humor. (Try the Scrabble sequence on for size.)

Appearing on the most-challenged lists for the 1990’s and the 2000’s, The Handmaid’s Tale is usually challenged for being anti-Christian, overly dark and (ironically) misogynistic, and too graphically sexual. A typical complaint is this one from 2008, calling the novel “rife with brutality towards and mistreatment of women (and men at times), sexual scenes, and bleak depression.”  Dark it may be, but Atwood nicely anticipated the logical extension of neoconservative ideals given birth in Reagan’s America.

Ask your patriarch for permission to head over to the library or the bookstore and pick up a copy for yourself.

Women’s History

On September 29, 1988, Stacy Allison became the first U.S. woman to reach the summit of Mt.Everest.  For more interesting facts on women’s history, visit NWHP.