lgbtq rights

 

Here's what we've been reading on this lovely Wednesday morning.

• With only 38 days left to go and a little more than $20,000 left to raise, this Kickstarter campaign to fund a feature-length documentary called Gaming in Color about queer and LGBTQ presence in gaming needs your support! [Kickstarter]
• Unsure of how to raise your child in a feminst way?  Here's a 21-step how-to guide for starters.  [Natural Parents Network]
• Woo!  A popular slur was deemed homophobic and thus hate speech in a Mexican supreme court this week during a case of moral damage/defamation.  Read up on its implications at Racialicious. [Racialicious]
• I don't know about you, but I definitely rewatch Clueless at least once per year.  Here's a celebration of the Amy Heckerling film and all things way existential.  [Bitch Flicks]
• In light of the recent injustice against Henry Enuta, this is article is in defense of him and of intersex individuals around the world. [Crunk Feminist Collective]
• With all this talk about climate change, poor people of color are being left out of the conversation even though the affects of global warming disproportionately change their lives.  [Colorlines]
• This past Sunday was Easter.  It was also the birthday of César Chávez.  So when Google honored Chávez on his birthday instead of Easter, religious conservatives flipped out despite his own religiousness.  [Racialicious]
• Any progress is good, no matter how "small."  Here are just a few ways Saudi Arabia is on its way towards women's rights. [Ms. Magazine]

 

American Apparel and Target you have earned our Douchebag Decree for trying to coporatize LGBTQ Pride although you have been anti-inclusive and homophobic. While Pride might only happen every June, it takes more than a recognition one month out of the year to truly be a company that cares about queer issues. 

Yesterday, Republican Presidential hopeful Herman Cain clashed with Piers Morgan about whether or not people are born gay. Here's the video:

The important thing to know is that Cain sets out saying that "homosexuality is a sin" because of his "Biblical beliefs," but Morgan quickly steers the conversation into "born this way" territory, outraged that Cain won't concede his point. Cain's response: "What does science show? You show me evidence other than opinion, and you might cause me to reconsider that... Where's the evidence?"

In May, Tennessee's legislators came very close to passing a bill that make it a misdemeanor for teachers of K–8 students to talk about homosexuality. Dubbed the "Don't Say Gay Bill," queer activists were unsurprisingly upset about its progress through the General Assembly and state Senate, although it hasn't been made law yet. Across the country, in California, new Governor Jerry Brown just signed into law a curriculum requirement that textbooks in his state include the contributions LGBTQ people* have made to society. With these large gaps in philosophy regarding how we talk (or are prohibited from talking) and think about queer people, what are the consequences for future generations of Americans? And is there anything to interpret from these moments of contradistinction?

Today's Douchebag Decree goes to (drum-roll please)... Sepp Blatter! The FIFA President has earned this distinction thanks to his cavalier and massively insulting response to the serious question of gay football fans' safety at the 2022 World Cup

This week the douchetacular group Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, whose name invokes vague ideas about democracy and justice while its agenda promotes hate and intolerance, basically awarded the Douchebag Decree to itself. AFTAH encouraged the Transportation Security Administration to actively discriminate against LGBTQ workers and ban them from doing security screenings in light of the new pat-down policies in airports.