Category: Politics

July Fourth Musings

On By SarahIn Opinion, Politics1 Comment

On this national holiday, I find myself wondering why there aren’t more people in the streets protesting what is going on within our current administration, fighting to preserve our civil rights. I’m not just talking about a minority that is being treated unfairly. I am talking about the erosion of the Constitutional rights of all citizens. We should all be f****ing pissed! If you’re not sure why, take a look at this video:

The latest antics should make all of us alarmed and angry. I could go on about the various scandals and horrific actions of Bush Cheney & Co., but there is no need. We all know the litany of offenses and crimes they have committed. But this crap has been going on for so long now. During the entire time Bush has been in office I have often thought to myself “Well, this must be it. They’ver really done it this time. There is no way things will get any worse. They are really going to be taken to task, called on the carpet, have to answer for their bad behavior this time!”

But it hasn’t happened! Why aren’t people hitting the streets the way they did back in the 1960s? Or even at the beginning of this immoral war? Do we need every protest to be an organized event that features entertainment and T-shirts? These types of events are important cultural moments, but I really wonder what it is going to take for people to get really angry, angry enough to really effect change.

Meanwhile, Bush’s approval rating is in the toilet, at an all-time low, according to that ever-reliable source Fox News. And still, Bush has the gall to pardon Libby (and yes, I do mean pardon — let’s call it what it is. Libby is getting off easy, and Bush & Co. are a bunch of hypocrites). What will it take to stop them?

They never will until more of us start paying attention and getting angry! I think that many of us feel so depressed, disaffected, and powerless that we think nothing that we do will matter. So, what am I doing? Will marching down my quiet neighborhood street with a picket sign really make a difference? Maybe not immediately. Maybe my neighbors will think I’m a little nutty, but I know may of them are aligned with me politically, and those who are not or who maybe don’t care will stop and think about the erosion of their Constitutional rights.

Well, I’m not marching down the street exactly. I, too, feel depressed and disaffected and powerless. I’m not sure what to do, and in some ways I feel that my very survival is a subversive act. I do what I can, I speak up, and I pay attention, and I am outraged.

Today I’m quietly being patriotic in my blogging, relaxing with my wife as we grill our steaks, as she makes her fabulous Ceasar Salad and as I make strawberry rhubarb pie. Perhaps I’ll post the recipes later.

Happy Fourth of July, everybody! Exercise and fight for your civil rights while you still can!

Christians and Integrity

On By SarahIn Opinion, Politics, SpiritualityLeave a comment

It really is gratifying to know that there are conservative Christians out there with integrity. It gives me hope that we can find common ground, that some of them are critical thinkers instead of brain-washed zombies (Oops! Did I say that out loud?).

This week, over 200 students and faculty at Brigham Young University protested Dick Cheney’s upcoming commencement speech at the school. Apparently, they are asserting that he is not a good role model for today’s youth because he lied about the WMDs in Iraq in order to support going to war.

I am increasingly heartened by the fact that more and more conservative Christians are starting to think. They are starting to realize that they have been used as a political football. There are many who are starting to realize that there are more important issues than the ones that divide the nation. There are many moral issues on which all of us can unite and agree.

David Kuo is the perfect example. In his book Tempting Faith, Kuo speaks out about the hypocrisy of the Bush Administration and its lack of commitment to end poverty in this country. He was a White House insider working with President Bush on “faith-based initiatives,” and reports in his book that Republicans were really only interested in working with Christians in order to out law abortion rights and civil rights for queers. Kuo’s priority is economic justice, and he articulated an experience of being ignored, lied to, and promises not being fulfilled.

I think that most intelligent and truly compassionate people at the end of the day can recognize that it is important that a family have food on the table, that a homeless man have a warm and safe bed and an opportunity to go to rehab, that an illiterate adult learn how to read, that senior citizens who live alone be visited, that large corporations be held accountable for the pollution they cause in the communities where they have factories, that we all take responsibility to leave a lighter foot print on the planet so that it will be here for our children tomorrow.

There are issues about which people will likely always disagree, those being about abortion and homosexuality. It is interesting that these very divisive issues are about very private and personal matters. I think that perhaps as Christians, whether progressive or conservative, if we focus on the issues that effect all of us in the same way, finding common moral ground will be easier and our priorities clearer.

This may be a total pipe dream. I run from conservative Christians. I don’t know how to talk to them. They scare me. Really. They freak me out. I admit, I’m rather intolerant, and maybe even prejudiced. But I am interested in finding common ground. I’m committed to learning about what informs conservative Christian politics and seeing where there may be intersections. It’s my faith, too, and perhaps part of my effort to reclaim it will involve an effort to understand more about Christians whose politics are so different from my own.

God and the "Gay Gene"

On By SarahIn Opinion, PoliticsLeave a comment

Many folks I know have argued with me over the years that they believe being gay is natural, genetic, people are born that way. The argument goes like this: If we could find a gay gene, all people would have to accept that there is nothing wrong with being gay. One could even argue that science can prove that God made us this way, and therefore we are exactly the way we are supposed to be.

I have always argued that if a gay gene could be identified, those in the anti-gay camp will eventually argue that being gay is a defect that should be fixed. Fetuses with the gay gene would be identified in utero and would be aborted. Parents would genetically engineer their offspring to be straight.


And indeed that is exactly what the Rev. R. Alber Mohler, Jr. is suggesting. He has actually argued that it is God’s will that we alter our offspring’s genetic material to ensure that they are born straight. He looks to the Bible to support his perspective. Here is an exerpt from his blog:

Conservatives opposed to both abortion and homosexuality will have to ask themselves whether the public shame of having a gay child outweighs the private sin of terminating a pregnancy (assuming the stigma on homosexuality survives the scientific refutation of the Right’s treasured belief that it is a “lifestyle choice.”) Pro-choice activists won’t be spared either. Will liberal moms who love their hairdressers be as tolerant when faced with the prospect of raising a little stylist of their own? And exactly how pro-choice will liberal abortion-rights activists be when thousands of potential parents are choosing to filter homosexuality right out of the gene pool?

Wow. “Little stylists?” Do we really want to take up a debate with this guy? I don’t think it’s worth our while.

Q: Why are we gay?
A: It doesn’t matter.

I know that it is human nature to ask questions about who we are and where we come from, and I’m not opposed to looking for scientific reasons about why people are gay or straight, per se. But why do we (and by we I mean LGBT people) want to find this scientific proof? To prove that we have the right to exist?

We don’t need science to prove that God made us exactly as s/he intended. We do not need to be defensive about who we are. We do not have to come up with scientific proof that we have the right to be fully engaged members of society.

People are gay or straight or somewhere along the Kinsey scale, and everyone has a different experience of their own sexuality. Our sexuality and our differences are a gift from God. We need to embrace who we are and love ourselves and each other the way that God intended.

The Conversion of Venus

On By SarahIn Community, Opinion, PoliticsLeave a comment

Michelle over at Metacentricities recently blogged about the conversion of Venus Magazine to an ex-gay publication. I really had to do a double-take when I read this. The website has the testimony of its publisher, who started the magazine thirteen years ago as a voice for the black lgbt community which is so often invisible in main-stream lgbt media.

I don’t subscribe to any lgbt magazines, but I pick them up occasionally when there is an article that interests me. In the past I have bought a copy of Venus, and I was always appreciative of the presence of that voice among all of the others in the lgbt community. Being a white lesbian with a black wife living in Oakland, I know how important this visible presence is.

I must say that this conversion saddens me for many reasons. First of all, I view converting to “ex-gay” as a self-hating act. So many lgbt folks have a hard time coming out in the first place because of all of the negative messages that we are bombarded with about what it means to be lgbt. We are taught to hate ourselves, to surpress who we are, to be something we are not. And it hurts.

Also, she is doing this from an Evangelical Christian platform. As a Christian, I feel this is sinful. Jesus preached about love, compassion, and community. He taught that the Kingdom of God is within each one of us, and God created us as S/He intended. The “ex-gay” movement is manipulating the words of Jesus to strike fear and self-hatred into the hearts of all lgbt people. As Woody Allen so insightfully stated, “If Jesus Christ came back today and saw what was being done in his name, he’d never stop throwing up.”

To hear about someone who had once embraced who she was, who had once even loved who she was, who fought for the rights of others like herself, who very publicly provided a voice and image for the black lgbt community, I can’t help but feel this is anything but tragic. Not to mention the fact that she is now using Venus as a vehicle for her Christian testimony and that of others who have converted to “ex-gay” in order to “convert” other lgbt folks.

Finally, there is already so much hatred of lgbt folks in the African American, and specifically African American Christian community, which is a tragedy in itself. I am pleased that there is a movement to work to change this, and that there are communities like my church, First Congregational Church of Oakland and our sister church in San Francisco, City of Refuge that are not only open and affirming but also addressing the needs of the black gay community. Thank God for this good news!

Towards Marriage Equality, Part 2

On By SarahIn Opinion, PoliticsLeave a comment

This is awesome:

In the SF Chronicle today, I saw a piece about a ballot measure that was introduced in Washington State today that would require opposite sex married couples to have a child within three years of being married lest their marriage be annulled. This has been proposed by the Washington Defence of Marriage Alliance.

Great name. They have beautifully turned the right-wing tactic on its head and crafted a name to make it sound a lot like “The Defence of Marriage Act,” which was totally anti-gay. But I digress.

I love this!

It is totally absurd. Just like the argument that “marriage is for procreation”, therefore same sex couples shouldn’t have marriage rights.

If we used this logic, my father wouldn’t have been able to marry his current wife last summer. They are in their early-to-mid 70s, and I don’t think they are planning to have children. They’ve both been there, done that, and they wouldn’t appreciate anyone telling them that their marriage is any less meaningful because they can’t procreate.

In fact, their have taught me a lot about love and family. Their relationship has been very creative (maybe even procreative) in growing their family, bringing a disparate group together in kinship and love. They are thriving in companionship, and continuing to grow independantly and together.

My mother and father were married for over 40 years by the time my Mom died in 2001. They were soulmates, and they are my role models for marriage. Now that my Dad was lucky enough to find Great Love a second time, I have another couple to look to for inspiration.

All of this is to say that love makes a family. What can possibly be wrong about that.