Box Turtle Bulletin

Friday Fun: what number are you?

The New Yorker’s Paul Rudnick has decided that Kinsey’s sexuality scale is just too limited and so he’s come up with his own. And, it being Friday, I won’t rant about stereotypes or make much of his presumption that there is no life (worth noticing) outside Manhattan.

Though I couldn’t pick Mandy Patinkin out of a lineup, I’m a 20 (but only because I’ve never seen Follies).

Bobblehead Bigot

Sometimes we toss around the b-word too easily. But after seeing this desperate anti-gay ad from Rick Perry…

…I’ll say the man’s one big, bobbleheaded bigot.

[Feel free to right-click on the bobbler, save the image, and share it if you like.]

Malawi To Review “Bad” Laws

President Bingu wa Mutharika

Malawi’s Nyassa Times has this as the lede:

President Bingu wa Mutharika has bowed down to pressure by ordering that Malawi Law Commission to review some of the repressive laws including a ban on homosexual acts, Justice Minister Ephraim Chiume has said.

Chiume said provisions of the penal code concerning “indecent practices and unnatural acts” would be reviewed.

“In view of the sentiments from the general public and in response to public opinion regarding certain laws, the government wishes to announce to the Malawi nation that it is submitting the relevant laws and provisions of laws to the Law Commission for review,” he said.

It’s hard to imagine that “sentiments from the general public” are responsible for the government’s announcement. Malawi society, like much of Africa, is both very religious and deeply conservative when it comes to sexual matters, and it is also deeply homophobic as a result. This may explain why it’s the anti-gay law which is the focus of Nyassa Times’s coverage which includes a provocative (for Africa) photo of two men kissing. Buried deeper in the article is this:

The President has ordered the law commission to review some of the laws that were enacted recently including Section 46 of the penal code and Local Courts Act in view of concerns from the general public…” reads the statement in part the release.

However, the press release did not indicate time frame for the review and when it will commence.

Other laws that have ignited a public outcry are the Local Courts Act, which empowered traditional leaders to administer justice beyond their jurisdiction; the Injunctions Bill which restrains Malawians from getting temporary reprieve from courts against government; and the Local Government Act, which empowers the President to call for Local Government Elections “in consultation with the Malawi Electoral Commission”.

That doesn’t tell the whole story either. What Nyassa Times doesn’t fully describe is another law, which was reported this way by Kenya’s Daily Nation (which is owned by the same media company that publishes Uganda’s independent Daily Monitor):

The country’s Justice minister Ephraim Mganda Chiume said that some of the laws set for review include Section 46 of the penal code that empowers the Information minister to ban newspapers.

Malawi police used live ammunition to chase anti-government protesters in Lilongwe on July 20, 2011.

So here’s the broader context. Up to now, Mutharika had begun to emulate the tactics of Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe through strict police crackdowns on demonstrations and opposition groups as well as measures to muzzle the press. Mutharika has even parroted Mugabe’s rhetoric describing gay people as “worse than dogs.” Earlier this year, a Wikileaks cable revealed that the British ambassador warned his London superiors that Malawi’s President was becoming increasingly autocratic and intolerant of criticism. Mutharika responded by proving the ambassador’s point and expelled him. Britain then began cutting aid to Malawi as a result in July 2011.

Which puts Malawi in a particularly precarious position now that the U.S. has announced that the protection of human rights for LGBT people would now become a foreign policy priority. It’s unclear whether Mutharika’s latest move was a direct response to the U.S. announcement or whether it has been coming anyway in an effort to restore British aid. Discussions over the suspension of British foreign aid have been building for several  months. And with British Prime Minister David Cameron’s announcement that treatment of LGBT people would affect how Britain directs its foreign aid, the discussions over Malawi’s statutes criminalizing homosexuality were likely already on the table. Now that Malawi is scrambling to get back into the good graces of one major foreign donor, the impoverished nation can ill afford to alienate another.

The Daily Agenda for Friday, December 9

TODAY IN HISTORY:
Gall Bladder Problems Are For Sissies: 1927. Dr. William A. Evans’s column, “How to Keep Well” was the first syndicated health column in the U.S. In 1927, he reviewed (or, more accurately, mocked) the theories of a “Dr. Draper,” who theorized that we were born with whatever fatal diseases that would eventually do us in in the end. “His opinion,” wrote Evans, “is that if you are born to die of gall stones you’ll die of gall stones whether it comes to pass or not.” Dr. Draper also believed that certain shapes and contours of the body and head could be used to identify certain diseases. Draper soon discarded that theory and in favor of one in which it was “the mental makeup, the character, personality, that he would have us believe is the background for certain diseases.” Evans continued:

Up to now he is working principally with gall stones and gall bladder infections, on the one hand, and ulcer of the stomach on the other. He finds that people who are prone to have stomach ulcers have a mental makeup in which there is great fearfulness. They have but little stability of mood. They make quick adjustments to change in environment. They are ideal opportunities. They are mental sprinters with little endurance. However, after exhaustion they are quickly rehabilitated by food, by short periods of rest and by relief from anxiety. They have heterosexual urges.

On the other hand, the people who are prone to gall bladder disease have great stability of mood, they are phlegmatic, and they have slow reactivity. They have but little fearfulness. They are placid, calm and not given to worries, fears or anxieties. They have more tendency to homosexual urges.

Science!

Minnesota State Senator Comes Out: 1974. Democrats sailed into state offices in 1974 in the wake of President Nixon’s resignation due to the Watergate scandal. But State Senator Allan Spear, who had entered the state legislature in 1972 and therefore wasn’t up for re-election that year, was more interested in another election that was taking place half a country away. That year, Elaine Noble would become the first openly gay person to be elected to a state legislature when she won her seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives (see November 5). “I had not yet met Elaine,” Spear later wrote, “but her example inspired me. If I did come out, I would have company, even though she would be a thousand miles away.”

Shortly after, Spear went to New York to speak at a gay conference. There, he met with Dr. Howard Brown, who had founded the National Gay Task Force in 1973 (see October 15). “In fact,” he wrote, “the most rewarding part of the weekend was seeing Howard again and having long discussions with him and some of his friends. In the struggle that was going on in my own mind about coming out, nothing was more encouraging than seeing stable, successful professional gay men who were open about their sexuality.”

Minnesota State Sen. Allan Spear at a gay rights rally in 1981.

Spear had already decided that it was best to come out under his own terms rather than have his sexuality brought out in circumstances which were not under his control. He had been in the state Senate long enough to establish a reputation fro being a multi-issue legislator, and his re-election was far-enough off in the future that he felt that it wouldn’t dominate the campaign when the time came. But most importantly, he was ready. “I had crossed the barrier with my parents a year before. Now my friendship with Howard Brown and the example of Elaine Noble had convinced me that I would not be marginalized by coming out. … I picked up the phone and called Deborah Howell at the Minneapolis Star. We made an appointment for lunch at a downtown Minneapolis restaurant called the Normandy Village on December 5.”

Four days later, the Star ran with a front page headline just under the fold reading “State Sen. Allan Spear Declares He’s Homosexual.” Spear was pleased to see that the story was a positive one. “The telephone rang all afternoon and evening. I received only one hostile call, from an elderly constituent who had voted for me and now felt hurt and betrayed. Otherwise the calls were wholly supportive — many from friends, of course, but others from people I didn’t know, both gay and straight, who congratulated me for my courage and wished me the best. The next day, I started receiving letters and telegrams from all over the country.”

Spear would go on to serve 28 years in the state Senate before retiring in 2000 as Senate President. In 1993 he was instrumental in passing the Minnesota Human Rights Act, which provided anti-discrimination protections in education, employment, and housing for LGBT Minnesotans. That project took twenty years to accomplish, but he finally did it with bipartisan support. Sen. Spear died in 2008, and his autobiography, Crossing the Barriers, was published posthumously in 2010.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAY:
Ronnie Paris, Jr.: 2001. He was only three years old when he died on January 28, 2005 at the hands of his father. The abuse had been going on for a very long time. In 2002, the Florida Department of Children and Family Services removed Ronnie from his home and placed him in protective custody after he had been admitted to the hospital for malnourishment and a broken arm. On December 14, five days after this third birthday, he was returned to his parents. Just a month later on January 22, he slipped into a coma while sleeping on the couch of a family friend as his parents attended a Bible study. He died six days later from brain injuries. His mother later told detectives that her husband, Ronnie Paris, Sr., had repeatedly beaten his son, slammed him into walls, and forced him to participate in father-son boxing matches until he would shake, cry, and wet himself. Ronnie’s father did all this because he though his son was gay, so he beat him to keep Ronnie from growing up “soft.” Ronnie Paris, Sr. was convicted of second degree manslaughter and aggravated child abuse and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. If Ronnie, Jr., were alive today, he would be ten years old.

If you know of something that belongs on the Agenda, please send it here. Don’t forget to include the basics: who, what, when, where, and URL (if available).

As always, please consider this your open thread for the day.

Liberal activist (Republican) judges

In today’s political environment, judicial decisions are praised or derided based on outcome not on the quality of argument or the consistency with the constitution. Conservatives of the dittohead variety not only measure a decision by its outcome but then deride the judges who disagree with them as being liberal activist judges legislating from the bench. Republican politicians regularly appeal for votes claiming that they must be elected so more of these liberal activist judges are not appointed.

Well, the Proponents of Proposition 8 were back in court today over the issue of whether Judge Vaughn Walker was not qualified to rule on Proposition 8 because he is gay. Well, actually, they say that because he was in a gay relationship and may have wanted to marry and therefore should have recused himself. This made him a biased liberal activist judge seeking to legislate from the bench. Or, more specifically, a gay Republican liberal activist judge seeking to legislate from the bench.

(One must assume then – to be consistent – that they think that only atheists should judge on freedom of religion cases. But somehow I doubt it.)

Today’s argument is not really about Judge Walker’s decision. That was a different day in front of a different court.

No, today was dedicated to arguing that Judge Ware was a biased liberal activist judge seeking to legislate from the bench. Or, at least, he was when he found that Judge Walker was perfectly capable of judging in Perry v. Schwarzenegger. More specifically, a black Republican liberal activist judge seeking to legislate from the bench.

We submit to you that Judge Ware abused his discretion.

Because, after all, abusing discretion is what those liberal activist judges are all about. Well that didn’t seem to catch much traction with the panel of three judges, including Justice Smith.

But should the Ninth Circuit determine that Judge Ware did not abuse his discretion, you can expect the usual rhetoric. Oh yes, the Ninth is the most liberal of appellate courts and the most often overturned. Because they are liberal activist judges. And should that decision include Justice Randy Smith, then he will be the Mormon Republican liberal activist judge legislating from the bench.

Gosh, maybe those good conservative folk should stop voting for Republicans.

A continuing public interest

Today the Ninth Circuit heard the case of whether the tapes that were made during the Perry v. Schwarzenegger (Proposition 8) trial could be made public. This was lawyers and judges discussing whether procedural decisions made during a case that took place nearly two years ago allow or disallow the viewing of testimony made during that trial.

This is not exactly juicy stuff. But KQED radio, which was providing a live-stream broadcast on their website, maxed out viewers. There were more people interested in the arguments over tapes than could be accommodated.

Not many trials – and none about procedural methods – have had this draw. Primarily gay Americans, but truly people of all walks, orientations, and throughout the world know about – and care deeply about – Proposition 8.

There are not that many cultural milestones that divide eras of time. The assassination of President Kennedy, the fall of the Berlin Wall, these divided time into “before then” and “after then”. There are others, but when you think back over your life there are not that many events that separate.

For our community, there have been, so far, two. June 28, 1969 – the first night of the Stonewall riots – changed forever how gay people perceived the role that their sexuality played in their lives. And though it is still too recent to know for certain, I think that November 4, 2008 – the day that Californians voted to bar gay people from equal protection under the law – may have changed forever how gay people perceived their place in society.

Heterosexual Menace: BBIAB

BBIAB (“Being buried in a box”) is a societal menace and it is time we take a stand. Mollifying the proponents for immorality has only made the problem worse and pretending that it isn’t happening won’t make it go away. It’s time we look at the cause of this problem and who is behind it.

I propose we take steps – now – to correct this cultural malaise and return our society to the good wholesome 70’s.

TEACH KIDS REAL RISKS IN THE CLASSROOM: Stop pretending that all lifestyles are at equal risk for being buried in a box – because BBIAB is NOT behaviorally- or lifestyle-neutral. Instead, teach students in school health classes the DOCUMENTED REALITY that certain behaviors, especially heterosexual sex, are particularly high-risk for BBIAB.

RE-STIGMATIZE DANGEROUS BEHAVIORS: In the wider culture and especially among youth, re-stigmatize heterosexual sex and other (predominantly) heterosexual acts (e.g., “golddigging,” heterosexual slang for granpa-bimbo perversion). If other behaviors were as dangerous as heterosexual sex, there would be well-funded PR campaigns and government mobilizations to curtail them. Political Correctness is no excuse for failing to educate against bad and harmful behaviors.

(Satire inspired by The Peter)

Really? Ya think?

This video is pretty controversial, even in the gay community.  I don’t like it.  I expected to like it — I’ve been mocking Michele Bachmann for a long time — but I don’t.

First, I’m not a big fan of using kids as political props. I’ve ridiculed our opponents for doing it. Was this video his idea? I don’t know but I doubt it. Is he just being pushed into camera to parrot what his mother told him? That feels more likely. I have no confidence this kid understands what he’s saying.

Gives me the creeps.

It’s bad for another reason, though:

I like Michele Bachmann in this video!

I didn’t even think that was possible. But for these few seconds, I see a side of her I’ve never witnessed. She’s charming with the boy, kind and gentle. She’s helpful when he’s shy. And when the shock hits, she directs her reaction to the mother, not to him. She casts a frozen glance at Mom, then smiles at the boy and quietly tells him, “Ba bye.”

The videographer’s intent may have been to cut through Bachann’s political facade and expose a monster within, but this video does just the opposite.  I still can’t stand the woman, but this snippet humanizes her. In fact, if you framed it just right and gave it a good spin, the video could be an ad for our opponents.

What do you all think?

Everything I’ve said so far is subjective. I don’t know the boy, don’t know the Mom, don’t know how this whole thing came to be. Did anyone have the same reaction? The opposite?  Did anybody see their reaction shift with multiple viewings?

I’d like to know.

Another Teen Takes His Life

The bullying got so bad, friends say, that Jacob Rogers dropped out at Cheatham County Central  High School in Ashland City, Tennessee, just a few miles northwest of Nashville. He took his own life Wednesday:

“He started coming home his senior year saying ‘I don’t want to go back. Everyone is so mean. They call me a f****, they call me gay, a queer,'” friend Kaelynn Mooningham said.

Kaelynn said her friend Jacob felt ignored.

“Jacob told me no one was helping him. He constantly was going to guidance,” she said.

The school says they were only aware of one bullying incident, and said they intervened. But the fact that Jacob quit going to school around Thanksgiving should have been a red flag. Jacob’s grandmother, who was his primary guardian, found some notes Jacob let behind which included passwords to his email and phone to allow investigators to determine why he killed himself.

For more information on suicide prevention, research and help-seeking resources, see the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). If you or someone you know needs help, see The Trevor Project’s web site or call the Trevor Lifeline: 866-4-U-TREVOR (866-488-7386).

Is Cameroon Next?

From the African news blog Behind the Mask:

Alternatives Cameroon, an LGBTI organisation, reports that government policy makers last week convened to endorse a preliminary draft of a law that imposes harsher penalties for homosexual acts.

…Existing laws criminalise homosexual practice with prison sentences lasting up to five years in prison and a fine of 20,000 CFA to 200,000 CFA francs (US$41 to US$410). The proposed new law will impose harsher penalties with up to 15 years in prison for homosexual acts.

This action comes after several arrests of alleged homosexual men in Douala and Yaoundé, the country’s biggest cities, over the past three months and the sentencing of two others to five years in prison for homosexual acts in November.

The Daily Agenda for Thursday, December 8

TODAY’S AGENDA:
Ninth Circuit Court Hears Argument on Prop 8 Tapes: San Francisco, CA. Plaintiff in Perry v. Brown (formerly Perry v Schwarzenegger) will argue before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninths Circuit today that the Prop 8 trial tapes should be publicly accessible. The testimony of several of Prop 8’s supporters, it turns out, is deeply embarrassing to anti-gay groups, and they have been fighting tooth and nail to keep the public record out of the public’s reach. Last September, Federal District Judge James Ware ruled that “Transparency is pivotal to public perception of the judiciary’s legitimacy and independence” and ordered the tapes release. That order was stayed while Prop 8 supporters appealed. Oral arguments take place today at 2:30 PST.

Ninth Circuit Court Hears Argument on Whether A Gay Judge Can Rule On Marriage: San Francisco, CA. Yes, it’s a busy day in San Francisco. Immediately following oral arguments on whether the Prop 8 tapes should be made public, the same court will hear oral arguments on Prop 8 supporter’s request that Federal District Judge Vaughn Walker’s decision declaring Prop 8 unconstitutional should be vacated because Judge Walker was gay. Because, you know, women judges shouldn’t be allowed to judge cases involving women’s issues and black judges shouldn’t be allowed to judge cases involving African-American issues. Or something. Prop 8 supporters tried that argument with Federal District Judge James Ware and lost, so they’re appealing to the Ninth Circuit Court. Oral arguments begin at 3:30 PST.

If you know of something that belongs on the Agenda, please send it here. Don’t forget to include the basics: who, what, when, where, and URL (if available).

As always, please consider this your open thread for the day.

A Millerial conspiracy

Isabella Miller-Jenkins and Lisa Miller. Both are reported missing.

When Lisa Miller fled the country with her daughter Isabella Jenkins-Miller, I wondered how long it would be before we saw either of them. But in April of this year progress was made on the case. The FBI reported that it had determined that Miller had fled to Nicaragua and had been assisted there by Mennonite missionaries.

When Timothy (“Timo”) Miller, the Mennonite missionary, was arrested for for his role in providing plane tickets and shelter for Lisa Miller, it was noted that he was not related. The last name similarity was just coincidental. And I was willing to buy it.

But today we read of a new arrest (Fox)

A Virginia man who federal prosecutors say helped a woman leave the country with her daughter so she wouldn’t have to turn custody of the girl over to her former lesbian partner surrendered Tuesday to face charges he aided in international parental kidnapping.

A complaint unsealed Tuesday said Kenneth L. Miller, 46, of Stuarts Draft, Va., arranged passage for Lisa Miller to travel to Canada before flying with her daughter in September 2009 to Nicaragua, where she was sheltered for a time by a group of Mennonite missionaries.

Okay. I’m sorry. That’s just too many Millers to be coincidental.

So what’s going on here? I have a hypothesis. And if I’m right, it was rather clever of Lisa’s supporters.

If you want to sneak someone out of the country, you want to be inconspicuous. You want to raise as little attention as possible. But if you buy tickets for someone of the same name, it raises no attention. And if you are a Mennonite missionary, it seems natural that someone with your last name comes visiting. By being assisted by other people named Miller, Lisa could disappear.

Now I can’t claim that there’s a Millerial conspiracy (sorry, Millerite was already taken). But if so, then you have to wonder just how Lisa Miller came in contact with these other non-related Millers. One would almost have to have access to a large data base from which to solicit people named Miller for their support.

Pat Roberston: God Will Punish the US for “Enforcing” Homosexuality On Other Nations

Isn’t it appalling that the United States of America would try to enforce the acceptance of homosexuality on other nations, but at the same time we would not force them to take care of their religious minorities and they would permit discrimination and persecution of Christians? What kind of a country have we got? You know there is a God in heaven, and he is just. Thomas Jefferson: “I tremble when I remember that God is just.” He is just. He is not going to allow this thing to go on forever. This country cannot continue to violate God’s principles and to make a mockery of his laws and think we’re going to get away with it. And when the blow comes, it’s going to be horrible.

Cuz, you know, jailing and killing gay people is God’s will after all.

Marriage Criminalization Bill Introduced In Nigerian House

It took barely twenty-four hours for Nigeria’s House of Representatives to register its answer to the Obama Administration’s pledge to become more vigorous in protecting the human rights of LGBT people abroad. The Associated Press reports that the bill which imposes prison terms for gay unions of all stripes which passed the Nigerian Senate last week has was introduced into the nation’s lower house today:

A spokesman for the House of Representatives and a cabinet minister in Africa’s most populous nation and largest oil producer were defiant in the face of Western criticism over the measure. “We have a culture. We have religious beliefs and we have a tradition. We are black people. We are not white,” said Zakari Mohammed, who is also a lawmaker.

He said same-sex marriage “is alien to our culture and we can never give it a chance. So if (Western nations) will hold their aid to us, to hell with them.”

Information Minister Labaran Maku said “we reserve the right to make our laws without apologies to other countries.”

President Barack Obama’s actions and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s speech seems to have touched off a particular anger, with one lawmaker vowing to up the ante:

Mohammed vowed lawmakers would proscribe even tougher penalties than those proposed so far. He said “to hell with the super powers if they are for gay marriages.”

When the anti-gay bill was first introduced in the Senate, it contained a three-year prison term for couples who enter into a same-sex marriage or any other arrangement  “for other purposes of same sexual relationship.” It also included fines for “witnesses, abet and aids the solemnization of a same gender marriage contract.”

 But by the time the measure finally passed last week, the penalties were substantially increased. The defined unions being outlawed were broadened considerably and the penalty was increased to fourteen years in a Nigerian prison, and the fines for supporting such a union were replaced with ten years imprisonment.

And that’s not all. New crimes were also added. “Any person who registers, operates or participates in gay clubs, societies and organisation, or directly or indirectly make public show of same sex amorous relationship” is now subject to ten years imprisonment. The same penalty applies to anyone who “supports the registration, operation and sustenance of gay clubs, societies, organisations, processions or meetings in Nigeria.” What tougher penalties could be added to the bill is anybody’s guess.

Ugandan Television Reports on US Foreign Policy Initiative for LGBT Human Rights

NTV is owned by the same company that publishes Daily Monitor, Uganda’s largest independent newspaper. This news report was posted to their YouTube channel just moments ago:

The report itself is very calm and measured. But it does reflect prevailing opinion not only in Uganda but through much of Africa when the reporter asks at the end, “Will Uganda blink and bow to the pressure?” The image of bowing, as you can imagine given Africa’s history, has a very specific humiliative resonance that goes much deeper than much of the rest of the world. The three lawmakers in the report — Anti-Homosexuality Bill author M.P. David Bahati, M.P. Steven Ochola of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDP), and Ethics and Integrity Minister Simon Lokodo (Lokodo is identified as “Rev. Fr.,” despite having been defrocked by the Vatican) — all spoke against Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s remarks in Geneva. Human rights lawyer Ladislaus Rwakafuzi suggests that a sort of “don’t ask, don’t tell” compromise might be the best way to go for Uganda’s LGBT community.

Update: Paul Canning pointed me to this question which NTV has put on its Facebook page. The responses are pretty fascinating. Yes, there are some pretty odious comments. But at least on Facebook, those East Africans who are defending gay rights as human rights are not exactly shrinking violets. I would ordinarily suggest that you chime in, but as it is, we have plenty of people in Uganda making the case to  fellow Ugandans for fellow Ugandans. That’s always good to see.