Tag Archives: anti-LGBT discrimination

Reflections

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, education, guns, History, Personal, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

As I take a quick glance through the news, here are just a few of the stories I see …

  • Bill would ban use of certain personal pronouns in ND. The bill has since been rejected, but it would have allowed fines of up to $1,500 for a trans person referring to themselves or others with gender pronouns different from the ones they were assigned at birth.
  • Indiana GOP Introduces Two “Don’t Say Gay” Bills. These bills would prohibit all Indiana schools and their third-party vendors from providing any instruction in kindergarten through third grades with the intent to “study, explore, or inform” students about six topics: gender fluidity, gender roles, gender stereotypes, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation.
  • Illinois Judge Blocks Ban On Sales Of Assault Weapons. An Illinois state judge temporarily blocked the state’s assault weapons ban, signed into law on January 10th, that would prohibit the sale and distribution of assault weapons, high-capacity magazines and parts that convert handguns into assault weapons.
  • FL Defends Ban On African-American History Course. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis attempts to justify his ban on the teaching of African-American history.
  • TX Youth Pastor Arrested In Mass Sex Trafficking Bust. Self-explanatory
  • AZ Senate Advances Anti-Trans Pronouns School Bill. More of the same.
  • WI Catholic School Teacher Gets 6 Years For Child Sex. Self-explanatory

And there’s more, but you get the picture.  More and more with each passing week, I wonder what kind of world we are living in.  How did we get to this point where guns are more highly valued than humans, where skin colour and gender identity matter more than intelligence or compassion, where sexual abuse by those in the most trusted positions is now the norm?

America, the land of opportunity, land of freedom, a nation that opens its arms to refugees in need of a new homeland.  The country where, as I was often told when I was a child, you can be anything you want if you work hard.  A land of justice and equality.  I have trouble equating that land to the one I see today.  Was that ever the reality, or was it always a myth?

As children, my generation were told so many lies … we were taught that the first European settlers made nice with the Indigenous People, when the fact is those settlers committed genocide against them.  And today?  There is a growing movement to hide the facts from the days of slavery, and later Jim Crow, where in one sense Black people were still enslaved.  We manufacture lethal weapons by the thousands, even ones made especially for children.  We teach our children to hate, and label it ‘Christianity.’ We hide the reality that not everyone is exactly the same. We build walls to keep people out, rather than bridges to welcome them.

Lee Greenwood famously sang a song, Proud to be an American.  Once upon a time, I would have agreed, but not today.

Tolerance, Love, Kindness Instead of Hate … PLEASE!

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, education, History, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

Mass shootings, racist teachers, pushing, shoving and name-calling … so may signs of increasing incivility in the U.S. today.  Where does it all come from and more importantly, how do we stop it?  Where do people get the idea that one race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, or religion is somehow superior?  Humanity sometimes seems to be almost a thing of the past.  Dan Rather and Elliott Kirschner have a few worthy thoughts on the topic …

Combating Hate

Silence is complicity

Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner

29 November 2022

Antisemitisim. Racism. Homophobia. Misogyny. Bigotry. The demonization of immigrants.

That these forces are ascendant is newsworthy. And it is vital they are considered thus. That these forces exist, however, is not news. Neither is the fact that they are being stoked, winked at, and normalized by the previous president. And neither is how most of the Republican Party leadership is silent, supportive, or insufficiently disapproving.

To say all this is not a political criticism. It is about confronting a grave threat to our nation and the world. Politics should be about a competition for ideas that fall within the realm of civilized discourse. What these people are peddling is not policy, but prejudice.

Repeating these sentiments should not diminish the importance of the message. The need for us all to confront this with the frequency that we are is evidence of the salience of the mission. And let’s be clear: It is of extra importance for those not directly targeted to speak the loudest. Silence is complicity. To speak softly is cowardice. 

The latest outrage swirls around an occasion at Mar-a-Lago in which the former president dined with avowed antisemites. But we do a disservice to history and the dangers we face by bundling recriminations under the banners of combatting “MAGA” or “Trumpism.” The former president may have built his political power by tapping into a well of hate, but the reservoir was already there. Others are eager to draw from its waters as well.

Discrimination, often enforced with violence, has been a hallmark of our country since its founding. White supremacy is embedded in our Constitution. And the biases and bigotries of the American electorate have shaped some of our national narrative ever since.

To be sure, there is a powerful counter-narrative. It begins with the noble words of our founding documents, which laid out a vision of equality and justice unimaginable at the time of their writing. Over the centuries, countless activists and dreamers have leaned on the courage of their convictions to wrest the nation toward a path of greater inclusion and enlightenment. Most who signed up for service in this army of conscience are not famous, but we are lucky to live in a world made better by their mettle. They have helped to make the nation better and now keep hopes alive that it can and will be getting better, a lot better, still.

We have undoubtedly made progress, but the undercurrents of hatred have never been fully expunged. It takes very little for them to resurge. Far more energy and commitment are required in combating them than in fomenting them.

We should find hope in the journey our nation has taken before. The bigotry we are now decrying was once largely accepted political discourse, in both parties. This is not ancient history. Many of us were of memory age when antisemitic, homophobic, and racist statements were spoken without a second thought. Our country was a weaker place because of it. Our struggle now is to be vigilant in making sure we do not return to that darkness.

We know we have shared these sentiments in this space before. And we know we will almost assuredly have ample reason to do so again. That is the reality. And that is all the more reason this needs to be said. By all of us. Often.

Let Them Eat Cake! (Unless They Are Gay)

Posted on by under Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

An artist cannot be forced to paint, a musician cannot be forced to play, and a poet cannot be forced to write – Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall, September 2017

The story went largely unnoticed, falling in the shadows of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, relegated to not only below the fold, but five scrolls down.

cake-1The year was 2012.  Charlie Craig and David Mullins were planning their wedding in the State of Colorado.  They went to order their wedding cake from Jack Phillips, a baker.  Bakers … bake … cakes, right?  Phillips said he doesn’t create wedding cakes for same-sex couples because it would violate his religious beliefs.

The government agreed with Phillips that his cakes are a form of expression, and he cannot be compelled to use his talents for something in which he does not believe.  It’s a bloomin’ cake … not the Mona Lisa!!!

jack-phillips.jpg

Jack Phillips

“Forcing Phillips to create expression for and participate in a ceremony that violates his sincerely held religious beliefs invades his First Amendment rights,” Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey B. Wall wrote in the brief. Let me briefly comment on the quote at the beginning of this post.  The true artists that Mr. Wall says cannot be forced to paint, play or write, are not doing so for profit, they are doing so for personal satisfaction first.  They are artists.  Mr. Phillips is a businessman.  The difference is that of night and day and Mr. Wall’s comparison fails the test of logic.

craig-mullins

Charlie Craig & David Mullins

 

Y’know … let me pause here for a moment of introspection and personal comment.  I am a halfway decent cook/baker, and every year around the holidays, my daughter’s various co-workers send special requests … one begs a pound or two of my world famous peanut butter fudge, another my rich caramel apple pie, and still others a hodge-podge of cookies, homemade yeast breads, etc. I go on record here as saying that I always, if I am feeling up to it and time permits, provide these goodies free of charge, AND … I have never once asked any of the requestor’s sexual preference, religion, or ethnicity.  I just felt a need to make that statement … I am an equal opportunity giver.

Those who would say providing services to same-sex weddings would violate their religious beliefs, have really crappy religious beliefs, beliefs that have nothing to do with God, Allah or any other deity, but merely about the greed and bigotry of man.  These are some of the same people who condemn Muslims, saying that theirs is an evil religion.  Well let me tell you something, folks.  The Muslims I know personally are less judgmental, more kind and caring, than Mssr. Jack Phillips and others who have refused to perform the very services they advertise, as they judge the would-be consumers of those services.

Last year, after the shooting at the Pulse night club in Orlando, Florida, candidate Donald Trump vowed to protect the LGBT community, tweeting, “I will fight for you.” Since taking the oath of office, however, he has done the exact opposite, revoking Obama-era guidance for schools on bathroom and locker room access for transgender students, arguing that current anti-discrimination laws do not protect people on the basis of their sexual orientation in the workplace, and finally banning transgender people from serving in the military.  Wow … what a guy … what a show of support, eh?

In the case of Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the Colorado Court of Appeals has already ruled in favor of the couple, Craig and Mullins. The Supreme Court is set to hear the case during the 2017 term.  Last year, I would have bet on the outcome, but with the addition of Neil Gorsuch who Trump nominated to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia, I am not so sure.

If I open a business making cute little origami swans and other animals, I have no right to ask my customers about their religion, ethnicity, gender identification, or how many times a day they brush their teeth.  If a customer walks through the door and wishes to purchase a product, he is not a Muslim, not a gay person, not an African-American … he is a customer.  Period.  I have no right to ask questions, nor do I care to.  My only concern is to serve that customer to the best of my ability and then charge him a fair price for the goods or services I provided.  If I am troubled by his religion or sexuality, then I have no right to be in the business of serving the public and should go to work in a factory.

Why is this so hard to understand?  Why is “all men are created equal” a difficult concept?  As one of my former bosses would say, “which word don’t you understand?”