The Queer movement has a large number of faces, races, identities, and sets of problems/controversies that we face. What is your #1 issue when it comes to Queer politics, and why? I will list a couple of big ones but please don't feel limited to those select few, obviously different sub-sets and communities within the broader LGBTQIA umbrella have their own set of issues and agendas.
Some popular issues: Marriage Equality, Adoption Rights, Immigration Equality, Employment Non-Discrimination, Trans-Inclusivity, (Queer Positive) Safe-Sex Ed, Repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell Policy, Intersex Genital Mutilation, Hate Crimes, HIV/AIDS, Domestic Violence.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Open Forum: Your Queer Swing Political Issue
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13 comments:
For some reason, i've always been sensitive to the fact that Lesbians do not get as much attention as the gay men do. It'd be a real shame if the gay culture, which is relatively new, were to experience the same gender inequality issues inherent in the rest of society...
I think the Queer movement would be a bigger force if presented as a solidified force...
other than that, i'd say
--Gay ordination
--the thing about the FDA not taking blood donations from men who have had intercourse with other men is also sickening and totally unfair.
I've always been very interested in gender identity and the gender binary system that's present today. I don't understand how hard it is for people to wrap around that it's the 21st century, that times change meaning that there are who women don't want to sit in the woman body, and men don't want to sit in the man body.
I'd say my big issue is Marriage Equality. The reason I feel marriage is so vital is because it isnt just about one right, it is about over 1,200 state/federal rights that the community is lacking. So I feel if we can get marriage we can eliminate many of the problems and difficulties we face. I care about all the issues but I think my top swing issue would be marriage equality.
My major one is hate crimes/bullying. Marriage equality is a close second.
But hate crimes/hate attacks directly harm my family, and have resulted in my oldest daughter spending a year in in-patient mental health care after being outed .
Her safety, my own, and that of the rest of the family is paramount.
I'm straight but for me it's gay marriage. I honestly do not understand what the big deal is and I just cannot get into the mindset that opposes it. Republicans seem to think it endangers their marriages.
Yet the news tells us that it's not gays that endanger their marriages as much as prostitutes and mistresses.
I would say Employment Discrimination. Job discrimination can have a very destructive effect on peoples' immediate lives and on their futures.
For me, it's violence. It depresses me that kids who were not born when I came out are still targets for violence.
Well, homosexuality is still illegal in 70 countries, and is punishable by death in 9 of those. So, that's something.
Otherwise, eliminating the gender binary as presetyourjet suggests would be nice. Even in these postmoderny times, the official list of approved behaviours can still strangle a person with red tape if they get too cocky.
Coincidentally, a program I heard on Radio National last week was talking about the ridiculousness of defining people based on their partners' sex, and proposed a few alternatives:
"Does one prefer orgasmic sex, or non? Auto-stimulation, or allo-stimulation? Younger or older sexual partners? Foreign implements and toys, or no? A single partner, or multiple partners?
This list of questions and categories could become very long, very fast. But for modern Western people, gender and sexual-object choice virtually define the sexual terrain and the rules of the game of sexual politics."
The link is here, and is an interesting discussion about the current court case in Lesbos.
Otherwise, queering sex ed would help gay teenagers and their peers a hell of a lot, as well as removing the stigma from "gay" sex acts. Many gay kids have to turn to the net or library books for info on disease and risky behaviours, while their straight peers get all the info they need in class. I for one, didn't know about dental dams until a few years after I should have started using them. Comprehensive sex ed for all would help all teenagers see sexuality as a small subset of behaviours in the context of a life, and not as the be-all and end-all of morality and life ambition.
My big issue is adoption. I feel very strongly about not only the right for GLBT people to adopt, but also the right for children in the system to have safe homes. I also feel that fixing the blood donation system is important. My mothers job is to facilitate blood donations at a hospital, so I know how difficult it is to get many different types of donation, and those donations are really needed.
Marriage equality and the treatment of LGBTQ students in schools, most definitely. The former is for very selfish reasons (but not as selfish as telling someone you don't even know they can't get married 'cause it's icky!) The latter because I've seen bullying, harassment, and institutional ignorance have ripple effects onto kids' lives, and not only LGBTQ kids.
For me, personally, definitely federal marriage equality -- which in one fell swoop takes care of the 1,100+ rights we don't have now, from hospital visitation to inheritance to immigration to... everything. But equally as important, for the greater good, is federal hate-crimes legislation. After that, it would be ENDA.
On the Second Amendment, Don’t Believe Obama!
The presidential primary season is finally over, and it is now time for gun owners to take a careful look at just where apparent nominee Barack Obama stands on issues related to the Second Amendment. During the primaries, Obama tried to hide behind vague statements of support for “sportsmen” or unfounded claims of general support for the right to keep and bear arms. But his real record, based on votes taken, political associations, and long standing positions, shows that Barack Obama is a serious threat to Second Amendment liberties. Don’t listen to his campaign rhetoric! Look instead to what he has said and done during his entire political career.
FACT: Barack Obama voted to allow reckless lawsuits designed to bankrupt the firearms industry. (1)
FACT: Barack Obama wants to re-impose the failed and discredited Clinton Gun Ban. (2)
FACT: Barack Obama voted to ban almost all rifle ammunition commonly used for hunting and sport shooting. (3)
FACT: Barack Obama has endorsed a complete ban on handgun ownership. (2)
FACT: Barack Obama supports local gun bans in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and other cities. (4)
FACT: Barack Obama voted to uphold local gun bans and the criminal prosecution of people who use firearms in self-defense. (5)
FACT: Barack Obama supports gun owner licensing and gun registration. (6)
FACT: Barack Obama refused to sign a friend-of-the-court Brief in support of individual Second Amendment rights in the Heller case.
FACT: Barack Obama opposes Right to Carry laws. (7)
FACT: Barack Obama was a member of the Board of Directors of the Joyce Foundation, the leading source of funds for anti-gun organizations and “research.” (8)
FACT: Barack Obama supported a proposal to ban gun stores within 5 miles of a school or park, which would eliminate almost every gun store in America. (9)
FACT: Barack Obama voted not to notify gun owners when the state of Illinois did records searches on them. (10)
FACT: Barack Obama voted against a measure to lower the Firearms Owners Identification card age minimum from 21 to 18, a measure designed to assist young people in the military. (11)
FACT: Barack Obama favors a ban on standard capacity magazines. (12)
FACT: Barack Obama supports mandatory micro-stamping. (13)
FACT: Barack Obama supports mandatory waiting periods. (2)
FACT: Barack Obama supports repeal of the Tiahrt Amendment, which prohibits information on gun traces collected by the BATFE from being used in reckless lawsuits against firearm dealers and manufacturers. (14)
FACT: Barack Obama supports one-gun-a-month sales restrictions. (9)
FACT: Barack Obama supports a ban on inexpensive handguns. (9)
FACT: Barack Obama supports a ban on the resale of police issued firearms, even if the money is going to police departments for replacement equipment. (9)
FACT: Barack Obama supports mandatory firearm training requirements for all gun owners and a ban on gun ownership for persons under the age of 21. (9)
Anonymous - Thank you for that, I am very pro gun control. I believe the 2nd amendment is outdated and should be revised and it also does not grant the right to bear arms. It only grants the right to bear arms as part of an organized militia. You don't need a gun to protect yourself, its called the police. As for hunting, that should be outlawed as well. That's my take, but I appreciate your point of view and understand pro-gun advocates.
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