sundries

[rm]

Folks, sometimes I'm right, sometimes I'm wrong, sometimes I don't have all the data, sometimes the answers aren't clear cut. I often assemble these sundries as I'm going through my day, which particularly means the "sometimes I don't have all the data" thing comes into play a lot. There are also lots of cases where I feel information should be out there, even if it's not information I feel qualified to make a thorough judgment on.

Anyway, last night (when I had no Internet! it's broken at home again) rosefox alerted me to this thread regarding an ICFA-related scholarship opportunity for PoC. Talk about: 1. me not having all the data at first (yikes!), 2. the situation not being clear cut (more opportunity for more people; GOH is Nalo Hopkinson vs. ugly RaceFail history) and 3. Me being entirely not qualified to say how anyone should proceed as a I am not an ICFA member/participant, a person offering a scholarship, or a PoC.

So! There's a scholarship opportunity. And there's some important concerns about it. And now you have links to both. As always, I appreciate when you guys have got more than I've got on things and can help me fail better.

Meanwhile! Patty and I are seeing Quartett at BAM tonight. It's based on Dangerous Liasons.

Link from keori: Alan Grayson truly gets how and why politics should be theater.

Bath & Bodyworks employee fired for being Wiccan. Thanks to hughcasey for the thorough write-up.

Large Hadron Collider now felled by birds and baguettes! No, really. Via firefly_124.

"Kiss me where I can't" -- Gilded Age Monuments and Secrets.

WHUT?

Apparently only men tell important stories. Wait, haven't I heard this before? From unpublished exes of mine that wanted my career to be as non-existent as their own?

via lipsum: What the whole God, guns and gays thing is really about -- one particular construction of masculinity as an excuse for irrational, fear-based behavior.

Instead of The Innocence Project's results being taken seriously, the involved students grades have now been subpoenaed to find out the "real motivation" for their justice-related work. Northwestern is refusing to comply.

LGBTQ issues that should be on everyone's radar right now? ENDA. Sadly, I imagine it will be a tougher sell in a bad economy -- the evil gays may take your job. Also, a moment of rage: President Obama, where are you? If you are such a strong advocate for my rights why not even one mention on the Maine situation? Why no emails to Dems in Maine before the vote?

I'm totally worried about how this whole Ft. Hood shooting thing is going to play out. We should probably be discussing the mental health of our soldiers, but instead, I (and many others) worried that it will just be one more excuse for anti-Islam rhetoric. On another note, the civilian police officer who stopped the shooter happens to be a woman.

I'm glad Precious is getting good reviews.

I am up to 7,247 words on ConSweet. The quality of some of my writing is going downhill, because I haven't figure out how to do everything I need to do, but the quality of my first draft writing is actually usually much higher than first draft quality, so me actually writing a first draft and Getting Shit Done is probably fine. Oddest thing current in book: a shopping cart full of pineapples.

via feyandstrange: Doctor Who cufflinks. The rubber Dalek ones are supercute I think. Ianto cosplayers, note Cybermen cufflinks; yes, I fucking dare you!

Comments

[rm.livejournal.com]

I don't care about him talking about it after the fact. I just wish some effort had been made by the DNC to address the Maine thing before it happened.

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

And where was MoveOn.org? It seems to me that its way past time for some non-gay oriented political action groups to step up to the plate and start fighting for everyone's civil rights. Yes, I know health care is important, but I think people can be galvanized on more than one issue at the same time.

[weirdquark]

Since he's said he supports civil unions but not marriage for gay couples, I'm not really surprised he gave it a pass.

[ckd]

He didn't say anything about Washington's R-71, either, and that one gives SSM opponents the Magic Word Protection that some of them claim is the only issue. (That's why it passed 80%-20%, after all. Oh, it was actually close because their real aim is not giving same-sex couples rights at all? Quelle surprise.)

[alan-yee.livejournal.com]

Just FYI, the most recent R-71 count I heard was 52% vs. 48%, so the pro-equality folks were actually not that far ahead of the anti-equality folks.

As a gay Washingtonian 18-year-old, I'm not thrilled that I won't be able to be legally married as the current law stands, but I am relieved the domestic partnership law does at least provide the rights that same-sex couples currently lack (except the word "marriage").

[ckd]

Sarcasm does badly in text; I should have indicated it better, since I wasn't commenting in my own LJ where people would have more reason to expect it. My point was that if it really was all about the Magic Word (which far too many people are gullible enough to believe) then it shouldn't have even been close; since it was far closer than that, it's clear that animus (not Protecting the Magical Word of Magicalness) is a major component of the opposition.

Which we knew, of course, but now we have something to point to when talking to people who try the "well, why aren't civil unions good enough?" tack; I'll just say "apparently they're still too good for 48% of Washington to let same-sex couples have them, so maybe you should recheck your assumptions".

The new DP law is better than not having it, but...well, I've read the WA Supreme Court ruling in Andersen v. King County, and in my layman's opinion it's a steaming pile of crap. (Gays are too politically powerful to be a suspect class for discrimination? I think not.) The best one I've read was Iowa's, though I have a soft spot for the Massachusetts Goodridge ruling. (Five years later: Sky still not fallen. Divorce rate still lower than the US average.)

[alan-yee.livejournal.com]

Oops. I have a deficient sarcasm detector. Oh well, no worries.