Heritage, Not Hate

Oh, lord, I could not resist using that as a title. But I read this post the other day about whether being gay runs in families. And, of course, with all the talk about whether there’s a genetic component to being gay, that’s the question kind of being danced around. But David’s spin on it kind of blows my mind. He says “It’s part of your heritage.”

It’s weird how just switching from “genetic” to “heritage” has such a powerful effect, but it really does. Not only does it immediately get at the truth of the matter–that it’s not like people just started being gay in 1950, but that it is a part of our culture and families–but it also gets at the notion of what’s lost when we deny gay people the ability to publicly be themselves–it is (and always has been) an attack on them and their families, even if sometimes self-inflicted, because it denies them the right to their own heritage.

Anyway, I love it. I’m going to be thinking on that for a while.

What Goes on in those Southern Baptist Bathrooms?!

Maybe it’s because I share a bathroom with my brother and because I have shared bathrooms with men I’m not related to and because I’ve shared bathrooms with trans men and women and gay men and lesbian women, but I am starting to wonder if Southern Baptist leaders do something different in the bathroom than the rest of us (I’ve even use the same bathroom as Southern Baptist men and never had an issue). I go in, pull down my pants, do my business, wash my hands, and leave. If something is gross, I blog about it. If there are stalls, I’m in mine by myself.

And yet, the first reason the Southern Baptist leaders have for why we can’t have non-discrimination is

If passed, the ordinance would require those businesses that contract with Metro to accept the gender identification made by the employee regardless of actual physical evidence to the contrary. This requirement would allow a person who is anatomically male to claim to be female in gender identity and, therefore, demand access to space previously reserved for women.

Some female employees may well feel uncomfortable if forced to share restroom facilities with a person who is anatomically male.

Do Richard Land, Frank Page, and Thom Rainer all sit on the toilet together? Because, I have to tell you, I share a bathroom with a person who is anatomically male all the time and it has never, ever, not even once, made me feel uncomfortable, mainly because we don’t use the same toilet at the same time. And, if a person presents as female, I can assure you that I don’t have my eye up to the gap between the door and the stall wall checking to make sure she doesn’t have a penis, and, if someone caught me trying to catch a glimpse of her nether-regions while she was using the toilet, I would rightfully be in a heap of trouble.

I get that these men have the wiggums about gay people and transgender people. Fine. And I get that they think their cases of the wiggums should allow them to set public policy that limits their wiggums.

Well, I have the wiggums when confronted with religious leaders who want the right to tell me how I should live my life and I would prefer to never have to speculate about how Land, Page, and Rainer use the toilet, alone or together.

And yet, for some reason, they think their wiggums should have to be addressed by the whole community, while my wiggums about their assholishness is just something I’m supposed to suck up and privately get over.

I don’t think that’s right.

Ron Ramsey, YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF THE STATE!!!!!!!!

Good lord. Will someone go tell Ron Ramsey that he’s supposed to be fucking running things?!

Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey blames criticism of the legislature on the news media, which he says focuses on the weird and controversial.

“You all ask me about things I haven’t even heard of until you all walk into this room, and that’s what you all report on,” Ramsey told reporters during his weekly availability.

Ramsey defended lawmakers’ right to sponsor whatever bills they see fit and insisted Republican leaders are concentrating on improving the economy.

“Every senator has that right, and I’ll defend that to my dying day. … It’s only a distraction if the press focuses on it. And I mean that. It has not distracted me for one minute, not one minute. I’m focused like a laser beam on job creation and education. That has not distracted me for one second. Never thought about it until y’all walked in this room this morning. So how could it be a distraction if I haven’t even thought about it?”

Whew, I laughed at this “blame the media” bullshit. “You all ask me about things I haven’t even heard of until you all walk into this room, and that’s what you all report on.” Oh boy. Dude is one of the most powerful men in the state and he doesn’t know what legislation is being put forward. He doesn’t have answers for questions about said legislation that a third-grader could anticipate he’d be asked?

He’s in charge.

And he can’t be bothered to, oh, you know, skim the bills to have an idea of what the legislative agenda for the session is?

And the man does not have the courtesy to be embarrassed that he has no idea what’s going on in a body he presides over?

That is, indeed, some laser-like focus.

I wonder if someone should drop him an email and tell him about the awesome website the legislature has that lets you see which bills are being considered.

Hell, maybe we should start sending him daily emails about what’s going on in the General Assembly, just to keep him up to speed.

Here’s mine:

Dear Ron Ramsey,

Today we learned that the Lt. Governor and Speaker of the Senate doesn’t know what bills are being put forward and that he gets testy with the media when asked simple questions he should have been able to anticipate.

This is hilarious. But not in the good way.

Love,

B.

I’m laughing, but you know the worst part? I sit here and ask myself if I believe the Democrats could do any better and I honestly don’t know. So, fuck yeah, I’m laughing, but, whew, it’s bitter.

One Nice Thing About Being Sick During the Time Change

I went to bed when the clock said 9:15 and I gave no thought to how ridiculous it was to go to bed at what was, until last week, often when the Butcher gets off work.

I am feeling better, though, just in time to start the work week. There’s some unfairness there, I tell you.

The Butcher did take me to a park yesterday, though, so I didn’t have to miss a week reviewing them at Pith.