Box Turtle Bulletin

Horses

Box turtles, ducks, house plants, robots — and horses:

And of course, (Seattle-area pastor Ken) Hutcherson goes there: “If this law is passed, what is going to happen? Now ask your guests in the studio. Do they believe that if they change the definition of marriage being between one man and one woman, what is going to stop two men one woman, two women one man, one man against a horse, one man with a boy, one man with anything?“

Horses, huh? The problem with Hutcherson (aside from the the obvious batshittery-craziness) is that he’s not very original.

Newark Mayer Blasts Gov. Christie for Suggesting Marriage Referendum

Newark Mayor Cory Booker denounced New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie over the governor’s vow to veto marriage equality legislation and his call for a statewide referendum on marriage equality. Booker, who has refused to perform marriages in city hall since 2009 in protest over the state’s inequality in marriage law, blasted the governor for suggesting that a minority’s rights should be put up for a vote.

“I shudder to think what would have happened if the civil rights gains, heroically established by courageous lawmakers in the 1960s, were instead conveniently left up to popular votes in our 50 states. … Equal protection under the law – for race, religion, gender or sexual orientation – should not be subject to the most popular sentiments of the day. Marriage equality is not a choice. It is a legal right. I hope our leaders in Trenton will affirm and defend it.”

Blogging Will Be Light Today While I go Out and Make Myself “More Normal”

And when I get back, believe me I feel be way more passionate about my country than ever before. God bless America!

“Nope.”

Same-sex marriage is legal in New Hamshire, but state Rep. Frank Sapareto is sponsoring HR 1264, a bill to protect religious freedom. It allows businesses and employees to refuse service to anyone if it involves “solemnization, celebration, or promotion of a marriage” in “violation of the person’s conscience or religious faith.”

The bill is extraordinary in scope. I’ve written a little skit showing what could happen if the bill passes. Imagine you’re the owner of a charming New Hampshire bed and breakfast…

Owner [walking into kitchen]: Margaret, you’ll need to fix a honeymoon dinner for Room 202.

Cook: Nope.

Owner: What?

Cook: Same-sex couple. I don’t have to help them celebrate their “marriage.”

Owner: You can’t just refuse.

Cook: HB 1264.

Owner: I’ll fire you.

Cook: HB 1264.

Owner: Dock your pay.

Cook: HB 1264.

[Bellhop enters]

Bellhop: Room 203 wants a cheese platter.

Cook: Nope. Interracial couple. Nasty.

Owner: That’s not even a religious belief!

Cook: Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.

Owner [to Bellhop]: Did you take up Room 201’s luggage?

Bellhop: Nope. Saw birth control pills in her bag. Not a real marriage.

Owner: What the –

Bellhop: HB 1264.

Owner: Room 205’s stuff?

Bellhop: Catholic and a Baptist, married by a judge. HB 1264.

[Maid enters]

Owner: Valorie, thank god! Everyone’s gone nuts. I’ll need you to –

Maid: Nope.

Owner: You don’t even know what it is!

Maid: I’m a Shaker. We don’t believe in marriage.

Owner: We specialize in honeymoons and anniversaries — that’s all we do!

Maid [kicking off shoes and picking up magazine]: Guess I’ll have lots of down time.

Owner [red-faced]: I’ll –

Maid: HB 1264.

Owner: This is crazy!

Bellhop: HB 1264.

Owner: You’re all –

Cook: HB 1264.

Owner: I’m paying you people!!

Cook, maid, and bellhop: HB 1264!

The Daily Agenda for Wednesday, January 25

TODAY’S AGENDA:
Creating Change Conference: Baltimore, MD. Today is the kickoff for the annual five day Creating Change: The National Conference on LGBT Equality put on by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. LGBT advocates are gathering from all over North America and other parts of the world, including business people, elected officials, students, faith leaders, non-profit groups, and grass roots volunteers. Featured speakers this year are Benjamin Todd Jealous, President and CEO of the NAACP; Ugandan LGBT advocate Val Kalende; Cary Johnson, Executive Director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commissionl and of course NLGTF Executive Director Rea Carey.

TODAY IN HISTORY:
Alice Mitchell Kills Freda Ward: 1892. Freda Ward was the socialite daughter of a wealthy planter and merchant. Alice Mitchell was the daughter of a retired furniture dealer. Both were well known about town, daughters of two of the best families of Memphis, Tennessee. Alice would later say that as far as she could remember, she had am “extraordinary love” for Freda. According to one newspaper account, “Twice Alice went to visit Freda’s family, during which time the two girls, as witnesses attested, showed “disgusting tenderness” for each other. They were seen to swing together in a hammock by the hour, hugging and kissing each other — “they hugged and kissed ad nauseum”. Alice was ashamed of doing this in public, but Freda upbraided her for this.” Their relationship grew. Alice proposed marriage, but it appears that Freda either refused the offer or was prevented from accepting it by her family.  As Freda was about to leave Memphis to board a steamboat to her family’s home town in Arkansas, Alice waylaid her and killed her on the streets of Memphis.

Newspapers around the country followed every detail of the case and trial. And since this occurred at about the time psychologists and medical professionals were beginning to understand homosexuality and lesbianism as something other than simply criminal acts, the Mitchell-Ward case was dissected in the nation’s medical journals as well. The Memphis Medical Monthly carried an extensive report of the trial in which Mitchell was judged insane. Other medical journals weighed in on the exact nature of her insanity. It was a common nineteenth century belief that insanity was the result of “degeneracy,” which was a body of beliefs that held that human beings, through the natural course of evolution, would naturally produce children who “de-generated” some of their parent’s characteristics in an imperfect form — think of a xerox copy of a xerox copy. Degeneracy didn’t always yield blemished children — according to degeneracy theory, geniuses, also were examples of a kind of positive “de-generation” because they deviated from the norm (and they often also had other quirks as part of their personality). Yet it was an extraordinarily short trip from “de-generation” to degeneracy, and the Mitchell-Ward case literally become one of many textbook examples. Even two decades later, like in the following passage from 1914 by Douglas C. McMurtrie from the American Journal of Urology. He cited other psychologists and sexologists who observed that “congenital sexual inversion is widespread in America, homosexual women being frequently found in societies and clubs.” He then turned his attention to the still talked-about Mitchell-Ward case from two decades earlier:

One of the most widely known cases of violent crimes due to sexual inversion in the female occurred in Memphis, Tenn., approximately in 1891, though the exact date is unknown to me. The facts were typical of sexually inverted affection and are of considerable interest. They have been reported by Comstock. [Here, he quotes a brief account of the crime by T. Griswold Comstock for the New York Medical Times in 1893] … In accounting for the deed, Comstock, while diagnosing Alice Mitchell as a sexual “pervert,” considers her insane. It appears that her mother in her first confinement had child-bed fever and puerperal insanity, and was confined in an asylum, and that before the birth of Alice she was deranged, and this aberration continued until some time after labor. Although no actual determination was made of Alice’s mental state it was decided she was insane.

This may have been the case. In the light of present knowledge regarding this sexual anomaly, however, it may be said that no more insanity might have been involved in this crime of homosexual jealousy than is involved in analogous crimes of heterosexual jealousy which come constantly before the courts.

A full account of the case of Alice Mitchell giving the facts as proved in court and the various testimony of the medical witnesses is given in the Memphis Medical Monthly. The article also contains a report of the direct examination of the defendant. It is noteworthy that in none of the medical evidence was there any mention of there having been a sexual condition chiefly accountable for the crime.

In fact, if there is anything noteworthy about this affair, it is the fact that it wasn’t the nature of the love interest which proved to be the mark of Mitchell’s insanity during her trial even though the lesbian aspects of their relationship were very widely reported. (Indeed, it was the main reason the case was such a sensation in the popular press.) Instead, she was judged insane because her mother was judged insane. She was the unfortunate degenerated offspring of a degenerated mother, and Mitchell’s degeneracy was seen as a more generalized sort which had little to do with her sexuality. The homosexuality of gay men, on the other hand, was often regarded as degeneracy sui generis, with one Texas physician in 1893 advocating castration for those judged to be afflicted with this “trait” so that it could not be passed on to future generations — to “nip it in the bud,” so to speak.

Degeneracy theory, which provided a theoretical basis for eugenics, would eventually die with the worst excesses of the eugenics movement. People with physical, mental, emotional or other anomalies — whether those anomalies were in the direction of weakness or strength — would soon lose the tag of “degenerate.” Everyone except for gay people. For them, the last remnant of this discarded theory would live on as the name commonly used against them — degenerates — until well into the late twentieth century. And in some circles, still today.

NJ Gov Vows To Veto Marriage Equality Bill

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie today said that he would veto any marriage quality bill reaching his desk. The bill, which passed the Senate Judiciary Committee today in an 8-4 vote, was identified as a top priority for state Democratic lawmakers. Christie instead urged lawmakers to pass a bill calling for a state referendum on marriage, saying “The institution of marriage if too serious to be treated like a political football.” Given that there are whispers that Christie is on the short list for the GOP vice presidential nomination, this is one issue he clearly wants to keep as far away from his desk as possible.

Christie also called for a strengthening legal protections under the state’s separate and unequal civil union law, specifically on questions of hospital visitation. Federal medicare regulations have already trumped state laws when it comes to visitation rights.

The Daily Agenda for Tuesday, January 24

TODAY’S AGENDA (Ours):
Maryland Gov. Highlights Support for Marriage Equality: Annapolis, MD. Gov. Martin O’Malley is scheduled to host a breakfast this morning at Government House with same-sex couples as invited guests. That will be followed by a news conference afterward, in which he will discuss his introduction of a marriage equality bill for this year’s legislative session which begins this month. A marriage bill passed the Senate last year but failed in the House of Delegates. Aides have told reporters that this year’s bill will have more protections for religious organizations in a bid to attract more support. House Majority Leader Kumar P. Barve says that the bill is still three votes short of a majority in the House.

New Jersey Senate Holds Committee Hearing on Marriage Equality: Trenton, NJ. The New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on S. 1, the Marriage Equality and Religious Exemption Act. The committee is expected to vote on the bill at the end of the hearing. Garden State Equality has lined up witnesses to testify for equality.  Anti-marriage forces are also expected to make their presence known. The hearings begin this morning at 11:00 a.m. EST in Committee Room 4 at the State House.

TODAY’S AGENDA: (Theirs):
Exodus International Equiping Event: Atlanta, GA. Whenever Exodus puts on a Love Won Out conference, they always host what they call an “equiping event” about a month ahead of time to introduce Exodus to area pastors and to share their “35 years of experience in providing ministry support for people dealing with unwanted same sex attractions.” This morning, Exodus President Alan Chambers and team are in the Atlanta suburb of Villa Rica to provide a condensed version of Love Won Out in preparation for the real deal scheduled for February 18. Both events take place at Midway Church, an Exodus Church Association member which hosts an Exodus International Support Group (PDF) twice a month (including this evening at 7:00 p.m. after the equiping event). Midway Church is located at 3915 Carrollton-Villa Rica Hwy, about 40 miles west of downtown Atlanta.

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).

And feel free to consider this your open thread for the day. What’s happening in your world?

Parents fight back

We have backed away from bringing you stories about gay teens committing suicide. There is some risk that coverage of the stories can psychologically encourage a troubled teen to do the same.

However, the story of Phillip Parker in Gordonsville, TN, really pissed me off and really made me happy.

First pissed off: (NewsChannel5)

“After he did what he did, we found out a lot that we didn’t know and there is a lot of bullying that goes on at the school,” said [Paul Harris, Phillip’s grandfather].

While these parents and grandparents had no idea, the students at Gordonsville High school bombarded them both with information after Phillip’s death. More than hundred teens told them the bullying was obvious, and some said they went to teachers about it.

Now the Parkers want to know why no one from Gordonsville alerted them to the apparent bullying happening in the hallways.

“Whether it’s verbal or physical a counselor at the school should be on top of it and notify the parents. We weren’t notified, and Phillip didn’t tell us about it,” said Harris.

I don’t need to tell you what kind of complete scum the school adminstrators are. Rather than do their job, they let Phillip suffer. Clearly, Dante erred when he didn’t include a special ring of hell for these people.

Now to the happy.

These grieving parents want to know what was said to their son and more importantly, who said it.

“We are going to find out who done it, we are going to get justice for Phillip and you will pay for what you did to my son,” said Parker.

I believe him. I know that this isn’t something to go by, but the Parkers look like they’d feel right at home on one of the talkshows where the guests pick up chairs and throw them. And they look entirely like the kind of people who would not hesitate in the slightest to rough up someone who messes with their kid.

And sometimes those kind of people turn grief into righteous anger. They don’t accept settlements. They don’t “see the schools position”. They don’t listen to excuses. They fight. And it sounds like the Parkers intend to fight.

I am so damned tired of the bullies being protected. Some kid is bullied to death and all we hear about is the policies or the administration. We don’t hear that the parents demanded names. We never even know if anyone even scolded the social menaces who caused the death.

So I can hardly wait to hear about the Parkers suing the parents of the bullies. Or trying to get the principle arrested as an accessory. Or maybe using RICO rules to go after everyone who works at the school. I hope they get an attorney that is creative and just as angry as they are.

Because until this actually costs some adult something, it is not going to stop. Until a principle goes to jail or some parents lose their house or some city pays out millions, we are going to have an ongoing unrelenting epidemic of bullying.

Glitter-Bombing Has Jumped the Shark

From the very beginning, I felt that glitter-bombing has failed both as protest and as street theater. Someone threw glitter at Bachmann.  Someone threw glitter at Gingrich. Big deal. It seems the only people paying attention are glitterbombers. Everyone else is pretty much yawning. And now this:

In an interview with Xtra after the confrontation, activist Fister Limp Wrist accused (glitter-bombed Dan) Savage of “ableist, racist, transphobic, fat-phobic, sero-phobic and rape-apologist attitudes and views.”

I’m surprised “Fister” forgot to include mysoginist, classist, and specist to his list of sins.

We have the votes in Washington

Seattle Intelligencer

Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, announced Monday that she supports gay-marriage legislation in the Senate, giving proponents the 25 votes needed for passage.

The state House already has enough lawmakers in support of the measure to approve it. Gov. Chris Gregoire backs the bill as well.

And with the pressure of “25th Vote” now gone, I wouldn’t be surprised if one or more of the remaining ‘undecided’ Senators votes for marriage as well.

Of course it isn’t over until it’s over. But absent any bizarre and unexpected shifts of fate (or politics) equality in the State of Washington is just a matter of days away.

Congratulations, Bruce Harris

In November we reported that Chatham Borough, New Jersey has just elected Bruce Harris, making him the nation’s first African American gay Republican mayor. But the Star Ledger is reporting that Harris will soon be mayor no more. Governor Chris Christie is forcing him out of office… by appointing him to the state Supreme Court. Which will make him, I believe, the nation’s first African American gay Republican Supreme Court Justice.

This is kind of a big deal. I seem to recall a little issue that will soon be brought to that august body… something about civil unions not really providing the same level of equality as marriage. I don’t know Harris’ beliefs about marriage (and it would be inappropriate for us to know) but we can be certain that he does not go to the bench with a position of hostility towards our community.

And I appreciate the unique perspective and voice that Harris, as a racially minority gay man, may be able bring to the judicial process. Our opponents delight in pitting our communities against each other, and such tactics are likely to be less effective when there is someone on the bench who is part of both communities.

Thabo Mbeki Likens Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill to Apartheid Policies

Former South African president Thabo Mbeki was in Uganda to speak at a forum at Makerere Univesity about post-cold war Africa when law professor Sylvia Tamale, an opponent of the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill, asked him what he would say to Ugandan M.P. David Bahati, the bill’s sponsor. “I would say to the MP; sexual preferences are a private matter,” said Mr Mbeki. “I don’t think it is a matter of the state to intervene.” He then drew a line between the kind fo state oppression the bill represents and governmental policies of South Africa’s Apartheid government:

Mr Mbeki said apartheid South Africa prohibited sexual relations “across the colour line” aided by The Immorality Act which handed the police legal ground to raid “people’s bedrooms” before dragging them to court for prosecution.

“I mean what would you want? It doesn’t make sense at all. That is what I would say to the MP. What two consenting adults do is really not the matter of law,” he said.

Simile of the Day

Courtesy of anti-gay Seattle pastor Ken Hutcherson:

(Washington Governor Christine Gregoire) might as well change her name to John Wilkes Booth because what she’s doing now is trying to put a bullet in the head of one of the greatest traditions that has ever existed and has built our society, and that is marriage between one man and one woman.

Right. Extending civil rights is just like killing someone who extended civil rights.

Sen. Mark Kirk Suffers Stroke

He’s only 52. He checked himself in at Chicago’s Lake Forest Hospital on Saturday before transferring to Northwest Memorial. Doctors say he underwent “successful” surgery to reduce the swelling in his brain as a result of the stroke. Doctors say they expect a full recovery.

UPDATE: Sen. Kirk’s condition appears to be more serious than first reports indicated. The Chicago Tribune reports that while chances for a full mental recovery are good, prospects for a physical recovery are “not great.” He may not recover full use of his left arm. Rehabilitation will takes weeks or months.

The Daily Agenda for Monday, January 23

Happy New Year! The Chinese New Year marks the end of the winter season and the start of spring according to the traditional calendar. Today’s holiday also marks the start of a fifteen-day festival which ends with the Lantern Festival. For today’s festivitites, fireworks are the order of the day, although there is concern this year that the pyrotechnics may cause Beijing’s notorious air pollution levels to skyrocket.

Depending on how the years are numbered where you are, today marks the start of the year 4710, 4709 or 4649. That’s not important though, as the Chinese calendar is traditionally cyclical rather than continuously numbered. And this year marks the year of the Dragon, in particular, the Yang Water Dragon, which only occurs once every sixty years. In Chinese Astrology, the year’s Earthly Branch (represented by one of twelve animals) is combined with one of ten cycling Heavenly Stems (represented by Yin and Yang in combination with five elements) to complete the picture. The Dragon, being a mythical creature, represents the spectacular and bigger-than-life. While that can mean successes, it can also mean spectacular failures. But because this year is the year of the Water Dragon, it is believed to be a year of especially good luck, because water nourishes the dragon’s fixed element of wood. Whatever. Dragon or no, it promises to be a very interesting year, and, no offense, but I don’t think you needed Chinese astrology to tell you that.

Today is also New Year’s Day for Korea (Seollal) and in Viet Nam (Tết).

TODAY’S AGENDA:
Washington State Lawmakers to Consider Marriage Bill: Olympia, WA. House and Senate Committees today will hold hearings on a bill to provide marriage equality in the state of Washington. The Senate Committee on Government Operations will hold hearings this morning at 10:00 a.m., with the House Committee on Judiciary expected to take up that chamber’s bill at 2:30 p.m. Anti-gay forces, including members of the local Tea Party will hold a noontime rally in opposition to the bills, and predict that their rally will draw as many as 10,000 people. Joseph Backholm of Washington Family Policy Institute said that the goal of the rally was to “convince them to be more afraid of us than of the other side.” NOM’s Brian Brown has promised, “If the legislature forces through same-sex marriage, they need to know that marriage will be on the ballot in November and the people of Washington will hold them accountable.” NOM has threatened to spend $250,000 on primary challenges against pro-equality GOP legislators.

The marriage bills are expected to clear the respective committees in both Houses, with a vote coming possibly next week. Marriage equality, which enjoys bipartisan support in the state legislature, is expected to pass in the House. But supporters say that it is still a vote shy in the Democratic-controlled Senate, with six Senators still uncommitted.

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).

And feel free to consider this your open thread for the day. What’s happening in your world?