Gay Friday

I've always been a fan of Howard Stern, despite his crude behavior and antics. I love him even more after this fairly serious discussion on his Sirius radio show yesterday. Okay, a few tasteless asides, but Howard has been a supporter of the gay community for years. He's got a legion of straight male followers, so I bet their mouths were hanging open. Listen to it above. The language is salty so might not be safe for work, school or church.

Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx called Matthew Shepard's murder a "hoax" on the floor of the US House during debate on expanding the hate crime bill to include sexual orientation. She later apologized, but didn't mean it. This is another conservative, right-wing Christian crazy hellbent on demonizing and taking the rights of the GLBT community. My hope is that North Carolina voters send this witch packing during the next election cycle. The right wing loonies are up in arms over the bill, which should have been passed years ago, but failed because Bush threatened to veto it. The new law would define hate crimes as those motivated by prejudice and based on someone's race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. It's about fucking time. Let's get it passed in the Senate and to Obama's desk. He's already said he'll sign it into law.

New Hampshire and Maine are in the early stages of approving gay marriage, if the governors don't wussy out. Step by step, one state at a time, human and civil rights for all. California...your day is coming.  

I'm sure many of you have heard about the suicide of 11-year-old Jaheem Herrera, who committed suicide on April 16 after months of bullying and anti-gay taunts. Although Jaheem never identified as gay, the issue has become a lightening-rod in the GLBTQ community. Of course, bullying of all sorts has gone on since time began, but there has been an increase in the use of the word "gay" and "faggot" to taunt and diminish other children whether they are gay or not. "Gay" has also become slang for "lame" or "stupid," and so taken out of context that I believe many young children really don't understand the origin. Parents and teachers should step in, but most of the time they don't. A soft spoken or shy boy and girls who are tomboys really doesn't have a chance in schools these days because the bullies, who often have trouble at home or are suppressing desires they can't yet explain, know exactly which buttons to push. After the brutal murder of gay kids like Lawrence King and other suicides, what is it going to take for school districts and parents to wake the fuck up and realize there is a serious issue and stop looking the other way?