Why Am I Here? Because You Are Here.

Thank you

Your words made me think of the great Mahalia Jackson.

When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

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by: Fritz @ Sat Jul 11, 2009 at 23:01:12 PM CDT

thanks, and welcome BethCA66

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Sat Jul 11, 2009 at 23:08:03 PM CDT

Welcome, Beth

Glad you're here, and thank you for introducing yourself!

Lurleen on Twitter

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by: Lurleen @ Sat Jul 11, 2009 at 23:10:12 PM CDT

Better watch out for Lurleen

Lurleen talks a good game, but if she doesn't like what you have to say, she will attack you and threaten to send thugs to your town. At least, that's what she's done to me.

Otherwise, it is pretty friendly around here -- even for those of us who are not lgb or t.

I'm here for one reason: Equal human and civil rights for all people in the U. S. and throughout the world are the only hope for peace on this Earth, and I believe the USA cannot be a force for good in the world unless our own house is in order.

Liz

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality. -- John F. Kennedy (inspired by Dante's Inferno)

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by: oldbrit @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 17:40:44 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Wait. I thought that ghey mafia thing was a fiction. ;-)

If Lurleen sends thugs my way, I'll probably feed 'em and pack them a bowl.

Educate me.

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by: BethCA66 @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 18:01:39 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Good for you!

Glad you're here. Sometimes we need a good laugh.

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality. -- John F. Kennedy (inspired by Dante's Inferno)

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by: oldbrit @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 18:54:07 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Thank you all and Yay!

Educate me.

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by: BethCA66 @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 01:11:23 AM CDT

Support is the cool water at the end of a hard journey

It comes from the most surprising of places and it is always welcome!

Always thinking about it...

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by: kudo451 @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 05:17:03 AM CDT

Hope we get that cool drink soon! :-*

Educate me.

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by: BethCA66 @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 10:02:13 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Thank you!

Thank you for your support, Beth!

May you spread your words to the friends in your community, faith, and associations!

Far too many people of African decent are blind and deaf to our oppression because we don't have a 100% shared history. Neither did the Jews back in the 1950s and 60s, yet they fully supported MLK and his movement.

Listen to "TransTalk" every Thursday at 4-5pm ET on http://www.falconradio.org

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by: Marlene @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 08:31:12 AM CDT

Can we please not speak in absolutes?

Yes, many African-Americans are on the sidelines on GLBT rights. Some are actively hostile. Some are not.

THE SAME WITH JEWISH PEOPLE during the AA-centered civil rights movement. It wasn't everyone, any more than any social movement includes every single person in that target group.

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by: lyonside @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 08:45:26 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Share it wherever you like

Know that I'm an atheist, so my opinion might receive short shrift from some. I'm the one who made "The Gay Civil Rights Movement is Our Civil Rights Movement" video. It was my fourth video, so it's kind of shaky. (I know iMovie much better now!) It was a video response to a YouTube Mormon apologist who was trying to divert attention from the Mormons' involvement in Prop 8 by saying, "Hey! The Blacks hate you, too! They're the only ones with civil liberties issues!" And it was a message to the AA community who don't see the parallels.

I was like: Um. No. The histories of discrimination against distinct minority groups may be different, but the effects are the same.

These are the two videos about GLBTQ rights and "Teh Gay Sex Causes Cataclysms" (not real title). Pam embedded the first one (thanks, Pam!), and here' the second:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

The first one is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

WARNING: Graphic. Very.

Have fun reading the comments. I don't censor or block.

Educate me.

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by: BethCA66 @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 09:58:01 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I'm grateful you shared these videos

I had created a sculpture piece which included Alan Schindler and Barry Winchell.
I used the lyric "We are gentle angry people"
the second time I repeated the lyric "WE ARE ANGRY PEOPLE"

Boots and baseball bats with blood on them and camoflage clothing were parts of this piece.

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 13:27:13 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Thank you. Is there a way I can view your art?

Educate me.

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by: BethCA66 @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 15:01:39 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I might have an old photo of the piece

I submitted in an art show of PWAs (people with AIDS)shortly after Barry Winchell's murder, it won it's class.

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 15:43:35 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Here's the sculpture

Not a great photo of it

   http://img.villagephotos.com/p...

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 19:32:05 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Moving.

Thank you for creating and sharing that piece.

Educate me.

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by: BethCA66 @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 20:42:06 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Atheist?

Paisan!! ;)

Me too- it shocks my family to no end...  

"It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after they said no, it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more."

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by: Louise @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 16:24:47 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Oh, yeah -- my mother tries to pray on the phone with me.

I hit her with her Calivinsim and I'm like, "Mom. Before the universe was formed, I lost the eternal life lottery."

Or...

"Once Saved, Always Saved. I'll see you in heaven!"

My dad's an atheist, my brothers don't care, my great aunt doesn't give a damn either. The rest? Pfft.

Educate me.

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by: BethCA66 @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 16:37:19 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

My mom is so desperate

That whenever I say "Oh, Gawd!", she takes it as a sign of some marginal measure of faith.

She doesn't belong to a church, btw. That would require her to leave her self-assigned position as my father's house-elf...

"It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after they said no, it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more."

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by: Louise @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 16:57:31 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Yikes! The funny thing is she used to be a feminist AND my parents sent me to a black power summer camp in the 70s

Now she's going to a very white homophobic, xenophobic, phobic phobic fundie church. Ugh. I've been there several times (don't ask), and every single time I sit there annoyed. I mean absofuckinglutely trying to keep it together. When the pastor said the Jews built the pyramids, later I was like, "Mom, you know that's not true, right?"

Mom: They were making bricks without straw.

Me: The pyramids are stone.

Mom: ...

Me: He's talking about "The Ten Commandments." He's getting his information from movies.

Mom: ...

And she's soooo smart, but she avoids anything that contradicts her beliefs. She's not thrilled with me volunteering for the devil ACLU and when about 15 years ago I said I thought the gay civil rights movement was like ours, she flipped. Yay, Mom!

Educate me.

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by: BethCA66 @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 18:36:33 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I just get little Bible books in the mail

I never have the heart to throw them away.

When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

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by: Fritz @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 17:01:02 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I have recycled

quite a few second hand children's bible books that she leaves here for the kids... straight to the dump.

"It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after they said no, it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more."

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by: Louise @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 18:12:04 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I finally chucked them and didn't burst into flame

I wasn't allowed to even place anything on a Bible, so tossing them was scary. And it was a shame that I didn't them to work on the Stinque Zombie Bible. My kid's is soooo tiny, I can't read it.

Educate me.

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by: BethCA66 @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 18:41:15 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Thank you for turning me on

to the Stinque Zombie Bible!

Wow!

Even though I'm Episcopalian, I appreciate greatly any sacrilege that ridicules the fundies.

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality. -- John F. Kennedy (inspired by Dante's Inferno)

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by: oldbrit @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 19:01:16 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

A Calvinist! Horrors.

I can see why you are an 'atheist' but there are different definitions of that...you can discuss with some.

That is a very powerful video you made. Thanks. 

It's the Hammer of JUSTICE,
It's the Bell of FREEDOM,
It's the Song about LOVE between,
my Brothers and my Sisters
...All over this Land.

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by: Orion45 @ Mon Jul 13, 2009 at 00:58:38 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Calvinism works against her and her efforts to convert me. That was my point.

Educate me.

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by: BethCA66 @ Mon Jul 13, 2009 at 09:29:25 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Fellow atheist here

Also a performance artist editing out hate from  "holy books".
 Welcome to Pamshouseblend.  The best blog on the web.  You are a great addition.  I have said some dumb things but people don't hold grudges here.
www.merrillcharles.com

Same-Sex Marriage is good for the economy.

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by: CharlesMerrill @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 19:53:19 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Thank you, Charles! I just got all excited on the kiss thread and *poof* went straight to the basement

I am a lousy typist and a crappy speller, and I'm queen of the run-on sentence. And I'm still learning.

One of my kid's friends is going through transition (she went to her prom!), and I'm still learning about stuff like if it's safe to give trans teens hormones, etc., and I don't have any particular agenda in the sense of how the struggle should be fought.

But I'm open to ideas, and I'm willing to learn. And I love that you're not a homogeneous group in the sense that you all agree on how to proceed.

Yay to no grudges! (Unless you're Arlen Specter.)

Educate me.

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by: BethCA66 @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 20:48:54 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Hi, Beth

If you haven't already seen it and you are interested in this, I recommend the book The Transgender Child by Stephanie Brill and Rachel Pepper, 2008 Cleis Press, San Francisco.

Sure wish this had been around when I was a little ... er, kid.

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by: Jake @ Mon Jul 13, 2009 at 12:30:16 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I will read it! Thank you!

I love this kid so much. She is so courageous, so smart, so kind.

Educate me.

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by: BethCA66 @ Mon Jul 13, 2009 at 12:56:20 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Well, I don't ID as AA, mostly because I can't. But, as the

official Chinese-American, Jewish, bisexual sadistic-dominant ex-porn star of the Stephanie Miller Show, I welcome you.

Remember what FDR said, "I agree with you, I want to do it, now make me do it." Have you written/called a congress-critter today? 8.25, 6.21

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by: Jacques @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 08:31:51 AM CDT

EXCELLENT! Identity is a tricky thing. A very personal thing.

Educate me.

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by: BethCA66 @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 09:59:16 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Welcome and thank you!

Your post is wonderful. As an Anglo lesbian who is "femme" and is often assumed to be straight until I mention my female partner, I really appreciate your words. I strive to understand the ongoing racism against African Americans and people of color. Help me understand and support you.  

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by: night owl @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 09:12:29 AM CDT

OMG! How cool are you!

Check this out and consider having your picture posted (face covered by paper, if you like as in "I am Dr. Tiller."

http://wecantgotothevalleyswim...

Educate me.

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by: BethCA66 @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 10:01:00 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Thank you, but I'm not cool! Just a middle aged ordinary person.

A very minor difference between me and the apparent majority is that I'm a woman who is attracted more to women than men, but this tiny difference makes me a pariah to some small-minded people.

I was thinking about somebody I used to know. I dropped our friendship because she confided in me once that she "couldn't invite them to the club!" - referencing a lesbian couple with adopted African American children. She was all friendly to this woman until she realized that "she's one of those people! And her kids....!"

Happily, they got to go to "the club" anyway - it's a faculty club that doesn't exclude anybody. Even narrow-minded racist homophobic over-privileged trophy wives get to go.

I'm not cool. Just been around the block enough times to see that we're all in this together. Anyone who doesn't fit the privileged majority's sense of "normal" and "our kind of people" is under the bus. Thing is, all the "best" people are under the bus now!

Welcome to Pam's!

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by: night owl @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 14:45:45 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Hi and welcome! :)

"It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after they said no, it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more."

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by: Louise @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 09:48:29 AM CDT

Hi, Louise! Thank you for the welcome. :-D

Educate me.

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by: BethCA66 @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 15:04:27 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Allies

I think that Allies are an important part of any struggle for civil rights.  As a queer white guy, I believe it is my responsibility to further my understanding of racism, and do what I can to support their struggle for justice and equal ground.  

Thank you for being an ally, and thank you for writing about the ally experience.  It's a valuable thing for us to know.

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by: Daigan @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 10:35:42 AM CDT

Thank you and yes "It's a valuable thing for us to know."

That's what I'm screaming about the kids who were kicked out of the pool. They need to know that people will advocate for them. Adults need to be advocates for kids, and the many need to be advocates for the few.

Educate me.

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by: BethCA66 @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 15:03:46 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I'm here for many of the same reasons.

Except that I'm Swiss-German with a dash of Scot.

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by: PSzymeczek @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 20:51:20 PM CDT

"Except that I'm Swiss-German with a dash of Scot."

Heh. Here's my non-AA run down (that we know of):

German (Jewish and Lutheran)
French (Huguenot)
Eastern Band of Cherokee
Blackfeet (sent to PA's Carlisle School. Boo!)
Irish
Welsh

Beth, a product of mixing it up for hundreds of years.

Educate me.

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by: BethCA66 @ Sun Jul 12, 2009 at 21:33:11 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Sorry, dropping a late note...

But I wrote this before and it didn't get posted. I know, my dum dum somehow.

Anyway, more to say now. Welcome Beth..

That is an astounding video. And you are brave to accept comments.

Also a straight, ally  ... white, retired MD. Ally since I admitted the first HIV patients in our city as a medical student, since I had a wonderful trans FTM who could not get another SF Bay Area doctor, even his surgeons, to prescribe his hormones! ... and will continue to be until All have Equal Rights in this country.

FIGHTING OUT LOUDer, every since I saw Waymon Hudsons logo for his blog, and read his story of being harassed over the loudspeakers in their airport at 3AM! and Now his husband is the a City Councilman for their town!...

We can be a scrappy crew, in the coffee house.

But I do want to remind all of you, that GLBTQA's do have allies in all relgious communities, including Christian, jewish, and Muslim... yep. Can show you a pic of Muslim pride groups too.  Hindu and Buddhist I do not know about. And many native Americans accepted their 'berdache' into their cultures. So do not deride those of faith simply becuase you have had a bad experience with it. If you are an adult, you can choose your own, or none. 

So many of you equate bad religious experiences with bad parental experiences, you should be able to separate those out once you are an adult.

I had neither, but am an agnostic/universalist because I am a science geek.. and if you can't prove it to me I have no faith in it. Whatever. 

  

 

It's the Hammer of JUSTICE,
It's the Bell of FREEDOM,
It's the Song about LOVE between,
my Brothers and my Sisters
...All over this Land.

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by: Orion45 @ Mon Jul 13, 2009 at 01:22:48 AM CDT

(I thought I replied to you, Orion45, but I think it went *poof*)

I think I said (getting old and memory fails :-) ) that while I'm considered a strong atheist, I have no problem with belief as long as religion isn't used as a weapon. That said, I don't think theists are stupid or use religion as a crutch.

Educate me.

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by: BethCA66 @ Mon Jul 13, 2009 at 10:45:09 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Beautifully written...

by someone who is no doubt a beautiful person :)

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by: SciFi Geek @ Mon Jul 13, 2009 at 10:06:14 AM CDT

Okay. Now I love you! This is becoming my favorite site.

Thank you for the kind words and the welcome. :-D

Educate me.

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by: BethCA66 @ Mon Jul 13, 2009 at 10:46:28 AM CDT

[ Parent ]