Queers In the News

Generally I leave this to those better qualified, but I felt like a bit of a round-up post as several GLBT-related things came up in my nets today.

German Court Against Gay Marriage My reaction here is “Damn. Sorry, dude.” Seventeen years with his partner, went to freakin’ Canada to marry the man, but in Germany all he can have is a civil union, which is separate in more than name. Betcha het couples can have a marriage like Britney’s, just as easy and just as honored by the courts and the rest of the planet. But his seventeen years of love and faithfulness count for nothing. This must change. I hope he has a path to keep fighting. I hope others join him.

Congressman Ike Skelton (D-MO), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, doesn’t want DADT repealed because then parents would have to talk to their kids about homosexuality. To reporters at a news media breakfast: “What do mommies and daddies say to their 7-year-old child?” Well, Congressman Skelton, that’s really not a tough one. They say “some people like different things. Most women like chocolate, but not all of them. Most kids like ice cream, but not all of them. Most men like women, but not all of them. And yes, women don’t all like men. But we can all get along.” They might even address the issue at hand with something like “All this means is that people who want to stand up for America in a special and important way can do it, without having to hide who they are.”

The hard part will come in when a particularly bright 7yo wants to know why they had to hide before. I’d like to see you answer that question yourself, Congressman Skelton, as you seem to think hiding is a good idea. I know I’d have a lot of trouble with answering it without swear words, and without scaring that poor 7yo with the rampant idiocy that often controls the adult world.

But there is hope! Pride marches on, this time in Greenland. No, that is so not sarcasm. Check this out!

The May 15 Pride event in Nuuk, the capital, drew over a thousand participants — which may not seem like much, until you know that only 57,000 people actually live in Greenland. (Put another way, that’s like five and a half million Americans showing up for the first New York City Pride.) Reps from the country’s gay-friendly Democratic Party marched at the front of the parade, and Greenlanders of all ages and persuasions joined in, turning it into the second largest demonstration in the nation’s history.

One of every fifty-seven people in the country was there. Now that’s hope.