8

Check out this great stage production of "8", the story about the 2010 court case that sought to strike down Proposition 8, California's constitutional amendment that banned gay and lesbian couples from marrying. I strongly encourage you to check out this theatrical reenactment of the court transcripts from this trial:

Santorum: I Will Nullify All Exisiting Gay and Lesbian Marriages!

An old Rick Santorum storyline seems to be making the rounds again this weekend. The San Francisco Chronicle reported yesterday about Santorum's December 2011 interview with MSNBC's Chuck Todd about his presidential plans for all of America's existing legally married gay and lesbian couples. Big shocker. He plans to forcibly annul our marriages!

Here is how the interview went late last year:

SANTORUM: I think marriage has to be one thing for everybody. We can’t have 50 different marriage laws in this country, you have to have one marriage law…

TODD: What would you do with same-sex couples who got married? Would you make them get divorced?

SANTORUM: Well, their marriage would be invalid. I think if the constitution says “marriage is this,” then people whose marriage is not consistent with the constitution… I’d love to think there’s another way of doing it.

I vented a couple days ago about the hypocrisy of those the political and religious right who complain that GLBT people are scheming to "destroy the family" while simultaneously plotting to wipe out GLBT families! Keep in mind, even Santorum doesn't deny that gay and lesbian couples constitute a family. He's just not opposed to harming those families by nullifying our marriages!

Gay and Lesbian Families Under Assault

GLBT people are often accused of attacking "the family" when we seek equal marriage rights, responsibilities, and protections. And yet, we're not trying to disenfranchise heterosexual marriage when we apply for our own marriage licenses. We're not ridiculing straight weddings when he plan our own weddings. We are not attempting to mock heterosexual parenthood when we nurture our own children.

I have become increasingly agitated this week with example after example of social and religious conservatives who have actually done what they falsely accuse us of doing. They have continued a trend of assaulting GLBT people, our families, and our friends. Let's review this week's offerings. I'm assuming you've heard of a couple, but not all:

*Last Saturday, Father Marcel Guarnizo of Saint John Neumann Catholic Church in Maryland was the officiating priest at Barbara Johnson's mother's funeral. He first denied Johnson the sacrament of communion because she is a lesbian who lives with her girlfriend. He walked off the altar while she gave a eulogy about her mother. He then left after the funeral -- citing illness -- and refused to go to the cemetery to assist with the burying of Johnson's mother. Fortunately, a retired priest raced to the scene and assisted the the rest of the service. In my mind, the refusal of communion was less concerning to me than the refusal to complete the funeral and the burial. Walking off the altar in the middle of the eulogy was awful tacky, too. But that's just me.

*On Wednesday, people began hearing the story of Al Fischer. He was a music teacher at a Saint Ann's Catholic School in St. Louis who was scheduled to get fired on March 9th -- the day he was to marry his partner of nearly 20 years. His fiance complained about it on Facebook and Fischer's firing got fast-tracked. Fischer then got fired from his other job as music director for a local parish. He was accused of creating "negative publicity" for the Catholic school. The school was fine with the two men living together and attending school functions together as a couple, but their legal marriage was enough to give him the boot.

*Then today, I read about Christian Brothers University withdrawing an invitation to host a conference that featured -- among other speakers -- Dr. Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz. Isasi-Diaz is known for her support of women's ordination. However, it appears that she upset the university's administration because she spoke at her nephew's gay wedding back in 2009! That's right. She celebrated the wedding of a family member and because of her commitment to her nephew, she is now unfit to speak at a Catholic institution.

*Lastly, I read also this evening about GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's commitment to not only spearhead a federal amendment to the US Constitution banning gay and lesbian couples from legally marrying, but he is also advocating for federal laws that will prevent any state from recognizing any legally married gay couples. It's not enough that states like Massachusetts and Iowa and Maryland and New York allow for marriage equality in our states, while others don't. He is advocating for the wholesale disenfranchisement and destruction of each and every gay and lesbian family in this country.

I am completely sick of people claiming that GLBT people and our advocates are attacking "the family". Have you heard of heterosexuals getting fired for getting married? Have you heard about students being expelled from private schools because their parents are heterosexual? Have you heard ongoing repeated lies and campaigns of defamation against heterosexual families? Have you heard of anyone fired for attending or celebrating the wedding of any heterosexual family member? The answer is a clear and resounding "NO!".

There is indeed an assault on the family occurring daily in this country and the victims of this mass assault? GLBT people and our families. I understand that it is perfectly legal for these institutions to fire gay employees and treat lesbian parishioners like dirt. But it's not right. We need to stand up and promote the inherent dignity of all people in this country.

Gay and lesbian families are as good and stable and noble and fun and fascinating and grounded and healthy as any other family in this country. Some are better than others, but the same can be said about any family out there. We do not deserve to be fired when we create new families through marriage. We do not deserve to have our parenting skills mocked when we have children together. Our parents and our siblings and our aunts and uncles and other extended family members should not be placed in a position of ostracizing us or being ostracized by their church communities. We should not have to defend our marriages at the ballot box every single fricking election cycle.

It's time to stop the assault on GLBT families once and for all. It's not right. It's not just. It's not good for us. It's not good for you. And it's not good for the overall political or social culture.

Archie Comics Sells Out -- In a Good Way!

Earlier this week, I wrote about the American Family Association spin-off group, One Millions Moms, and their belated e-mail blast instructing its members to complain to Toys 'R' Us for selling the Life With Archie #16 comic book, which featured the gay wedding of Lt. Kevin Keller and Dr. Clay Walker. They wanted people to demand that the toy retailer remove the magazine from its stores -- a little over a week after the next issue in the series, Life With Archie #17, came out.

Despite all of the drama over children, comic books, and gay grooms, Life With Archie #16 managed to sell out of stock! Archie Comics issued the following press release about that comic book's commercial success:

New York, NY (March 1) — Archie Comics, the home to some of the world’s most recognizable characters — including Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica, Josie and the Pussycats and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch — is proud to announce that the company has sold out of LIFE WITH ARCHIE #16.

The issue, which has received widespread media attention around the world, including coverage from ABC NEWS, REUTERS, THE HUFFINGTON POST, GAWKER, THE DRUDGE REPORT, THE NEW YORK TIMES, PEREZHILTON.com, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, THE ADVOCATE, OUT MAGAZINE, FOX NEWS and more, features a historic moment for Kevin Keller, the first gay character in Riverdale: He gets married.

“Kevin will always be a major part of Riverdale, and we’re overjoyed, honored and humbled by the response to this issue,” said Jon Goldwater, Co-CEO of Archie Comics. “Our fans have come out full force to support Kevin. He is, without a doubt, the most important new character in Archie history. He’s here to stay.”

I'm proud to admit that I have been reading Life With Archie throughout the past year -- long before they'd ever hinted at Kevin's inclusion in the book, much less his wedding. It's a great comic book, full of unexpected and heart-wrenching twists and turns. I strongly encourage you to check it out next time you see it at the store. It's well worth the money!

Nero at Daycare -- 03/01/12

Nero had another fun after at doggy daycare today. Lots of running and jumping. Check it out:

Andrew Marin Discusses Christian/GLBT Bridge-Building on "Different Drummers"

I've written before about my friend Andrew Marin. He's a professional Christian/GLBT bridge-builder and writer of Love Is An Orientation. He and another of my Chicago buds, Darren Calhoun, appeared on a recent episode of Different Drummers. They talked about The Marin Foundation and the struggles that exist between the Christian and the GLBT communities. Check it out:

"One Million Moms" Protest Gay Wedding Story in "Life With Archie" // UPDATE!!!: Archie Comics Responds

Surely you remember Life With Archie #16, which came out last month and featured the wedding of Archie Comics character Kevin Keller to Clay Walker. Life With Archie is a magazine format comic book that tells of the not-too-distant future where an adult Archie Andrews married Veronica, as well as a parallel storyline where Archie married Betty. Archie Comics' resident gay teen, Kevin Keller, is an adult war hero in Life With Archie and married Dr. Clay Walker in both story lines in that issue. It was a sweet storyline that did its best to distract readers from the train wreck that once was Archie and Veronica's marriage, as well as all of the other bits of chaos that Riverdale's other former teens have made of their young adult lives.

Fast forward to today. One Million Moms (an off-shoot of the American Family Association that enjoys issuing boycotts of businesses that hire gay people or provide material with any gay material) launched an attack on Toys 'R' Us for selling Life With Archie #16. They don't like comic books with two married men and they want you to do something about it:

Select Toys 'R' Us stores are now selling 'Archie' comic books with a same-sex wedding displayed on the front cover. The front cover reads "Just Married" with two men marrying and one is wearing a service uniform. This comic book is being sold in select stores across the country. One example is the Queensbury, NY location in the upstate New York area.

Toys 'R' Us employees do not actually set up the displays; they leave this up to the vendor, but they should be aware of the merchandise being sold in their stores nonetheless. These comic books are sold at the front checkout counters so they are highly visible to employees, managers, customers and children. Unfortunately, children are now being exposed to same-sex marriage in a toy store. This is the last place a parent would expect to be confronted with questions from their children on topics that are too complicated for them to understand. Issues of this nature are being introduced too early and too soon, which is becoming extremely common and unnecessary.

A trip to the toy store turns into a premature discussion on sexual orientation and is completely uncalled for. Toys 'R' Us should be more responsible in the products they carry.

TAKE ACTION: Please send Toys 'R' Us an email letter requesting they remove all same-sex "Just Married - Archie" comic books immediately from their shelves.

My experience is that kids actually "get it" when it comes to gay couples and marriage equality. They don't always get the details, but I would guess that most kids don't get all of the intimate details of married heterosexual adults. But they get that some men love men and some women love women just like most women love most men. I have seen this played out for years as me, my husband, and our kids have interacted with other families and their kids. The parents fret about it and the kids get it. But let's set that fact aside.

One Million Moms have set themselves up to succeed with this e-mail request for parents to write to Toys 'R' Us and demand that they remove each and every issue of Life With Archie #16. Why do I say this? Because Life With Archie #17 just came out last week. That means that retailers are either in the process of removing the left-over gay wedding issue from their stores or they are in the process of doing this. Life With Archie #17 does not feature any gay weddings, though Kevin and Clay are given free food for their honeymoon trip by Jughead.

So One Million Moms won! They got you to retroactively demand that an issue of a comic book featuring a gay wedding get replaced by the next post-wedding issue one week after the new comic book came out. Congratulations on your stunning victory, OMM!

Updated on 02/29/12: Archie Comics CEO, Jon Goldwater, issued the following response to the One Million Moms' complaint about Life With Archie #16:

"We stand by Life with Archie #16," Goldwater writes. "As I’ve said before, Riverdale is a safe, welcoming place that does not judge anyone. It’s an idealized version of America that will hopefully become reality someday. We’re sorry the American Family Association/One Million Moms feels so negatively about our product, but they have every right to their opinion, just like we have the right to stand by ours. Kevin Keller will forever be a part of Riverdale, and he will live a happy, long life free of prejudice, hate and narrow-minded people."

Nero at Daycare -- 02/28/12

Looks like Nero's having a wild and crazy afternoon at doggy daycare today. Check it out:

Majority of Iowans Oppose Constitutional Ban on Gay Marriage

The Des Moines Register did a poll to see how many Iowans support a constitutional amendment banning gay and lesbian couples like my own family from legally marrying and found that most Iowans oppose the Iowa Supreme Court decision that paved the way for marriage equality. But they also found that a pretty strong majority oppose amending the state's constitution to involuntarily annul our marriages.

When asked whether or not those polled favored or opposed an initiative to ban same-sex marriage, 56% opposed that initiative while only 38% favored it. 6% were not sure after nearly three years of marriage equality in this state.

When asked whether or not those polled favored or opposed the "recent" (i.e., three year old) ruling by the Iowa Supreme Court that allowed gay and lesbian couples to legally marry in Iowa, 22% strongly favored and 8% favored the decision while 29% strongly opposed it and 7% opposed it. Meanwhile, 33% don't give a toss and 1% aren't sure about the whole thing.

Other stats from the article indicate at 34% of those under 35 support a constitutional ban while 43% of those who are 55+ support a constitutional ban on gay and lesbian families. Additionally 64% of Republicans favor a constitutional ban while 35% of independents and 15% of Democrats favor a constitutional ban on gay and lesbian families.

Mutiny on the Set of "Biggest Loser"

A month or so ago, I got directed to Matthew McNutt's blog. He's a Baptist youth pastor and he's also a former contestant from NBC's The Biggest Loser. I pop over to his blog about once weekly to see if anything's up. What's up is a developing story from last week involving the current The Biggest Loser cast. Keep in mind that I used to watch this show quite a lot, but I've fallen away in recent seasons. I've seen one episode from the current season earlier this month. I know that people find the show inspirational, but I've found the contestants increasingly petty with who gets voted out of the show. Since I don't find that inspirational and since I'm usually handling Tae Kwon Do practice with the boy, I've pretty much dropped the show from my usual viewing habits.

Back to the developing story. Last week, TMZ reported that most of the active contestants essentially went on strike after learning that eliminated contestants were being offered the opportunity to return to the show. As McNutt observes, this has been happening for several years. The eliminated contestants continue working out and dieting and home and a small number of the more successful contestants come back in one way or another. The contestants walked off with the goal of getting The Biggest Loser's producers to prevent the eliminated contestants from returning.

The Biggest Loser contestants gambled. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like their gamble paid off. Production resumed last week on the show and at least two of the current contestants got booted off the show! McNutt said that there really was no other way for the show's producers to respond to the walk off. He said that they needed to send a message to other reality TV contestants that they cannot team up and hijack a show for disagreeing with some aspect of production.