In the post I wrote yesterday, I discussed recent comments Gordon had made regarding the Tiverton High School GSA and also mentioned how other officials and the school’s superintendent had publicly voiced their disapproval of his remarks and support for the group. The growing chorus of responses to his comments is a very good thing and several people had called out how inappropriate and misguided his attitude was.
I wanted to point out one response in particular that was excellent. Today, in a Letter to the Editor on the Patch website ,where Gordon’s initial inflammatory comment appeared, an alumni of Tiverton High, Sarah Jey Whitehead went a step further. In her letter she completely spells out why his statements and disapproval aren’t just out of line, but actual homophobic harassment and bullying in that they single out students who identify as LBTQ and their supporters in an attempt to silence their visible identities in school. She explains to him the difference between sex and sexuality, and the identity politics that go along with that. My favorite part is where she very clearly and eloquently breaks down the heteronormative culture of the average high school:
High school itself could essentially be conceived of as one big Straight Club that everyone is, by default, expected to join. From what I have heard, the Tiverton GSA is responding constructively and respectfully to that dynamic, by initiating a dialogue that acknowledges sexualities that are often overlooked or condemned.
We are talking about protecting and supporting young people’s senses of self here- and in equating this agenda with delinquency, lewdness, and cruelty, I hope you understand that you are bullying too.
And, on that note, an Anti-Bullying Alliance sounds like a great idea for another new organization- but changing the current title of the GSA would not only deny their right to name the social issue immediately at hand for them, but it in effect would imply that there is something wrong with discussing that issue. Seeing that the Straight Club that is High School culture can persist as it has without debate around the issue of sexuality, it would appear that sexuality is not the issue here, but gay people, and those who choose to ally with them.
Word, Sarah Jey Whitehead. Perfectly put.
It is important that this appeared on the local Patch website, not only as a direct rebuttal to Gordon’s latest hi-jinks, but as a primer for the entire town and community. Although I was happy to see how many comments support the GSA, the town also has several vocal comment-trolls that don’t see any problem privileging their opinions and religious beliefs about gay people over the safety of students and their right to not be bullied or told to lie and stay silent. And her letter is the first that doesn’t just say “Shame on you” to Gordon, but distinctly spells out the reasons why his attitude is fucked up and calls him out for the true plain homophobia at the root of his supposed concern to taxpayer dollars. Please go read the entire letter because it’s excellent.
And Ms. Whitehead if you read this, thank you for bringing the verbal smackdown to a debate that really needed your voice. Well done.
Tomorrow is the Day of Silence. It is an annual day of action started by GLSEN in which students and teachers at schools across the country plan protests, events and take a day-long vow of silence to represent the bullying and silencing of LGBTQ youth.
Obviously the necessity of a day like this personally resonates with me, as someone who stayed closeted and afraid all through highschool. With the recent suicides of several gay youth, all stemming from situations of bullying and harassment, it would seem like any reasonable human being could understand this issue. Right?
I mean, it would take quite a bigoted, ignorant asshat to go out of their way to condemn or pick on a group of people working towards acceptance and safer schools for all students, wouldn’t it?
Well here he is, meet Rhode Island State Rep. Dan Gordon.
Here’s the short version of what happened. A senior at Tiverton High School started the school’s very first Gay-Straight Alliance. The local Patch website ran a great little story about her and the new group. I read it and was really proud and excited for the students. I thought about how grateful I would have been to have that when I was in high school. I thought about what a difference this would probably make in the lives of youth in this community.
Well. Representative Gordon had some other thoughts. This one he posted in the comments on the blog:
“And this is why if I have anything to say about it, Tiverton will lose school funding to local charter schools. It doesn’t matter if gay or straight, if sexual meet-up groups are being promoted in our schools rather than improving test scores, that school is failing. Is it really more important for our children to get ‘sexed-up’, than learning advanced math?”
I wonder if the words “ignorant gaybashing fuck” happened to get spraypainted onto Rep. Dan Gordon’s home, the perpetrator could use the excuse “Well.. if he wasn’t flaunting his homophobia, perhaps he wouldn’t have gotten singled out.” (not likely. and I don’t plan to find out!)
But continue to flaunt, he does. This dude is proud of picking on a group of students!!!
He has refused to apologize more than once, even though the local superintendent and other officials have stood by the group and condemned the comments.
And today, I visited the Patch site to see that he had sent in this gem:
I mean… I don’t know what I’m more shocked about, that he’s still trying to talk his way out of this after everything he’s said or that anyone can still type with their head that far up their own ass.
So Mr. Gordon, if you can read this, here is your homework assignment for the Day of Silence and I will borrow a phrase that my darling partner likes to say -
Shut up and stop missing the point!
If you want to tell this elected official your thoughts on his behavior, here is all his contact info:
email: rep-Gordon@rilin.state.ri.us
Providence Office:
State House
Room 323
Providence, RI 02903 Fax: (401) 222-6142
Portsmouth Office:
35 Alan Ave
Portsmouth, Rhode Island 02871 Phone: (401) 222-2259
If you are a student, teacher or youth-organizer taking part in an action tomorrow, I salute you and hope you have a very successful and empowering day tomorrow!
If you are not taking part in the Day of Silence, but you want to show your support for those who are, please speak out and spread the word that it’s happening. I will be tweeting tomorrow about it with the hashtag #dayofsilence and tumblring stories about it all day.
Very happy to see the news that Congressman Jim Langevin has officially changed his position on Marriage Equality. Having supported Civil Unions in the past, he now recognizes that so-called “separate but equal” laws just don’t cut it. He is calling on Rhode Island’s General Assembly to pass the legislation that has recently been introduced. (I wrote about it here)
An excerpt from his op-ed piece:
… That difference struck me as fundamentally unjust, and I began to challenge the wisdom of creating separate categories of rights for certain groups of citizens. I began to see that civil unions fell short of the equality I believed that same-sex couples deserved.
As the debate about same-sex marriage continues in Rhode Island and in Washington, I have taken time to reflect carefully on my own position. Based on my own experiences and my firm belief that all Americans should be treated equally under the law, I am now convinced that affording full marriage equality rights to same-sex couples is the only fair and responsible approach for both Rhode Island and the nation. If our nation expects to provide equal protection to all, then our civic institutions must reflect that noble goal.
While this is great to read and I am excited and hopeful about the possibility of our little state making some progress in this arena, I am hoping that Congressman Langevin will take his new position seriously on a federal level as well and recognize how important it is that equal rights in marriage become recognized for all American citizens. State level would be wonderful, but still not equal. I look forward to seeing what Mr. Langevin says and does in Washington on this issue in the future.
The drive to legalize gay marriage in Rhode Island will begin anew on Thursday, with the re-introduction in the House of a bill to allow for same-sex nuptials.
In a brief interview on Wednesday, Rep. Arthur Handy, D-Cranston, said he had already lined up 27 co-sponsors and was hoping for more, but would introduce the bill no matter what the number on Thursday in hopes of spurring an early-session hearing and vote on the measure.
!!!
With our new governor, Lincoln Chafee, talking about marriage equality Rhode Island during his Inaugural Address, my hopes were fairly high that we would see some legislation brought up this year. I seriously didn’t expect it to only take a few days. I have had no reason to be quite that optimistic before.
And the Projo’s article goes on to say this:
Handy said the bill he will introduce is identical to one he introduced last year, declaring marriage to be a “legal institution recognized by the state in order to promote stable relationships and to protect individuals who are in those relationships.”
It says: “Any person who otherwise meets the eligibility requirements [in law] may marry any other eligible person regardless of gender.”
I just wanted to highlight that wording, because I really like it. In public debate, the rhetoric has been dominated by people referring to “gay marriage” and “same-sex marriage”, which is not necessarily incorrect, but I like what this does legally. It is far more appropriate and inclusive to say “regardless of gender” as that can be taken to mean regardless of gender identity as well and won’t form any additional barriers for transgender or genderqueer people.
So this makes me happy. And now I’m holding my breath for news of a vote. Hopefully, my next post will be about the passage and implementation.
Now, I just need to stay away from the comments under the article on Projo – two important rules I struggle to follow: Don’t read the comments. And, if you must – Don’t feed the trolls. I’m staying in my happy place this time and refusing to devote precious time to needless internet arguments.
This is happening. It’s just a question of when now.
Today is a good day. Our elected officials have finally pushed hard enough to kill this awful, discriminatory and life-ruining policy! And this is a clear victory in the ongoing battle for a cultural shift that favors equality for queer people in our country. I know that you can read about this in a million different places, or watch it on TV. Here’s just a little round-up of talking points that I liked:
The Basics
- NPR has a nice, concise rundown of the bill’s debate and passage.
- Amy Davidson at the New Yorker has an essay that touches on the mixed feelings of the day, acknowledging how many people have lost their military careers and still more who have lived in fear of being outed:
We have no way of counting how many more people left the military or denied their own vocation for service, or how many personal relationships were ended or soured. How many soldiers gave up on the prospect of having a family? One thing we do know, as the Pentagon freely acknowledged in its review, is that there are plenty of gay and lesbian troops in the military now. (And the study’s survey found that having worked with a gay or lesbian colleague made straight service members more likely to support repeal.) D.A.D.T. just forced them to lie about who they were, and live in fear about being found out, when their jobs were hard enough already. Why should, say, a nineteen-year-old already in a combat zone have to wake up scared about that?
- Towleroad has a great Q & A from Ari Ezra Waldman on some of the legal questions involved and why people in the service may need to wait a bit to be completely safe coming out! This is important to discuss, because it is likely to take a while to be completely safe and fair.
- Just for perspective, check out this list on Wikipedia of the 38 countries who already allow openly homosexual people to serve in their militaries. It’s about time we’ve joined them. Despite what many Republicans would have you believe, it’s not like we’re doing something revolutionary or radical here in the US, we are just finally catching up to the obvious truth of equality that several other countries already understand and practice when it comes to this issue.
People of the Day – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
- Good: The eight republicans who did what is right in the face of a party and base that won’t exactly thank them for it. I can’t think of the last time I thought that there was anyone “on that side” who was outwardly willing to vote principle over party. It certainly wasn’t recently. The surprising eight areRichard Burr (North Carolina), Mark Kirk (Illinois), John Ensign (Nevada), Scott Brown (Massachusetts), George Voinovich (Ohio), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Olympia Snowe (Maine) and Susan Collins (Maine). Also, I have to give some credit to Joe Lieberman, who I dislike greatly and who is not generally fighting on the side of progress in our country. He fought for this and was a fair part of the victory here.
Good: President Obama. Well… good-ish. I wish he had fought harder, sooner. I think a moratorium on the discharges from day one of his presidency would have been the right thing to do. I am not pleased that he has not used his executive role to push for the bold change and the different way of doing things that he promised us all. HOWEVER… he pulled together a lot of military leaders, evidence and put in a lot of time to push hard on this and make it happen. It will be a lot more difficult for DADT to be brought back or a facsimile enacted now that this has been passed as a bill. I believe he deserves some of the credit for getting these votes. I do not agree with his methods that we have seen, but I do think his intent and these results are worth mentioning. I just hope he moves swiftly to get this “signed, sealed and delivered”… that was his rallying song, right?
- Good: Ron Wydon (Oregon) who initially did not think he would be present for this vote because he was scheduled to be receiving final tests for a surgery on Monday, he has prostate cancer. He showed up to vote anyway, and he had this to say:
“I don’t care who you love. If you love this country enough to risk your life for it, you shouldn’t have to hide who you are.”
-Bad: Aside from everyone who voted against the bill, who all should be ashamed of their bigotry and pandering, but aren’t at all a surprise, there are some folks who just didn’t show up. Joe Manchin, a newly elected Democrat from West Virginia had family holiday plans he couldn’t break. Um, seriously? Family is very important… it’s just as important to all the service people who don’t have relationships and families because they are terrified of being outed and those who already lost their careers and no longer have enough money, benefits, pensions to adequately take care of themselves and their families after serving our country. A little perspective, Senator. Jeez. West Virginia is not that far from Washington, how difficult would it have been to adjust your plans a bit?
- Ugly: In one word, McCain. He stole the show with his ugly ugly words today. Why ugly? Because his opposition and comments and lies recently have been bad enough. But then today, knowing they were going to lose the vote, instead of accepting that with some kind of solemn statement, he fucking RAILED nonsensically about liberal elites and deflecting from the actual issues at hand, while insistently repeating the same incorrect statements about how this was going to hurt combat operations. (We know that there is no evidence that suggests this in the slightest). Observe:
I mean, he’s not even making sense at this point, right? I feel like he’s about to go get a shotgun and start chasing “the liberals” off his lawn. It’s ugly because he used to have this really polished, somewhat-dignified act of someone who could debate issues and be reasonable. Now I feel like everyone just wants him to shut the fuck up, already.
I have fond feelings for Obama again when I remember that this man could be our president right now.
So anyway, I’m happy today but I am cautiously happy. There is a lot more work to do with this, and other equality-seeking, actual progressive change building movements and I’m hoping that those get bolstered by this very important step. This vote today righted a terrible, terrible wrong, but it’s not really a “net gain” yet. This will prevent a lot of damage from being done to people in the future, but I also want to see it work to repair the damage the policy has already done and I think we will have to wait to see how that goes.
Also, I just want to mention that we still live in a country where your employer can fire you for being openly gay or transgender and there is no federal law that says this is discrimination, very few states have such laws and even the ones that do, they are far from comprehensive enough to protect people properly. So, while I’m really, truly grateful and thankful that this passed today, I would like to see something like it to cover all citizens and not just the ones serving in the military!
