Year: 2013

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Happy May Day: The Internationale

“The Paris Commune had fallen … but now he was fleeing for his life. He was in hiding, Eugene Portier . . . and that very month of May, 1871, he writes six long verses & a chorus calling on all the hard working people of the entire world to overthrow their masters, and he was quite confident that they would, soon.” – Pete Seeger, from the documentary

There are six parts, and it’s a pretty cool bit of history. Gives us in the US, in particular, a little better sense of how exactly one-sided our political conversation has been since the 1950s.

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Suffrage & Marriage Equality

In 1893, Colorado gave women the right to vote.

Nine years later, three states had done so.

President Wilson started supporting the right in 1918.

In 1920, the US recognized suffrage for women. At that time, 9 states & 1 territory (Utah!) had given women the right to vote.

 

In 2004, Massachusetts recognized the need for marriage equality.

Nine years later, 10 states have done so.

President Obama started openly supporting it in 2012.

 

So then — when?

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RIP Cemia Dove or “CiCi” Alcoff

As I said on my FB page yesterday: I’m sorry, Ms. Alcoff, that we have not yet made the world a place that is safe enough for your beauty.

Rest in Peace.

(And journalists, and police, get your shit together already.  For those who are wondering, she felt forced to admit she was a man, which, if she hadn’t had her ID changed legally, she might have done in order to prevent more complications and charges. Trans women do not “admit” to being men because they “know” they are, but because they know that people are stupid and hateful and shitty to trans people.)

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First Out in Major Sports

It shouldn’t be a big deal, but it is, because the machismo of professional sports keeps so many of these guys in the closet. Not anymore: Jason Collins of the Washington Wizards just came out, and I expect a lot more will follow.

Glad someone took the first leap.

Collins says he didn’t set out to be the first out gay athlete playing in a major team sport, “but since I am, I’m happy to start the conversation. I wish I wasn’t the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, ‘I’m different.’ If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I’m raising my hand.”

Interestingly, he was motivated to come out due to the Boston bombing: life is short.

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Bike.

boyd avIt’s finally spring up here and I’ve been out 2 out of 2 days and it is absolutely amazingly fantastic.

Here’s a road sign I found on my second trip out.

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Phosphorescent: Song for Zula

A few weeks ago I was up at dawn up in northern Wisconsin and you know, if you know me at all, that if I am up at dawn it’s only because I haven’t slept. Right before I’d gone up there I’d loaded a bunch of new music onto my MP3 player and while I was standing there shivering, this song, which I had never heard before, came on.

I highly recommend listening to it when you’re on the edge of something – a lake, a cliff, a decision.

My heart is wild / my bones are steam / and I could kill you with my bare hands / if I was free

It was a very cold, very bright sunrise that morning, and all the gray of this long Wisconsin winter only turned to silver, not to color, as the sun came up, but it was still astonishing.

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Equality Wins This Week

Also, I love this tidy summation from Fair Wisconsin‘s Katie Belanger:

Just this week alone,
(1) France became the 17th nation in the world to recognize marriage equality,
(2) the Delaware House voted in support of the freedom to marry, sending the bill to the Senate,
(3) Nevada kicked off the process to repeal its constitutional amendment banning marriage equality, and
(4) Rhode Island is poised on the brink of becoming the tenth state in the US to extend the freedom to marry to committed gay and lesbian couples – only one more procedural vote and on to the Governor!

And yesterday,
(5) a fully inclusive federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) was introduced in the House and the Senate. If passed into law, ENDA simply would make it illegal to discriminate in employment based on gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation.

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Philly’s “Transiest Bill Ever”

Just to reiterate: this is great goddamn news: it will end discriminatory exclusion of health benefits for transgender City employees by Jan. 1, 2014 and allow employers offering health care to transgender employees to qualify for the “Equality Tax Credit”.

But I just have to point out the very last bit of this article:

There’s a whole bunch more, but you get the gist of it . . . State Rep. Brian Sims called it “a remarkable day in our city’s rich history,” and you know what? It is.

So there you have it: The world is not totally made of shit. Have you got some good news? If so, send it to tips[at]philebrity[dot]com with “GOOD MOTHERFUCKING NEWS!” in the subject header — we’d love to hear about it.

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Philly Wins

Really, the Philadelphia City Council just passed an amazing equality bill. According to Liberty City LGBT Democratic Club the LGBT Equality Bill will:

• Make Philadelphia the largest city in the nation to end discrimination against transgender people in its employee health-care plan.
• Make Philadelphia the first city in the nation to offer a Transgender Health Tax Credit to companies that offer transgender-specific health coverage.
• Make Philadelphia the first city in the nation to offer a Life Partner Health Care Tax Credit to companies whose employee health plans treat life partners and their children equal to heterosexual families.
• Clarify that life partners of city employees have authority equal to heterosexual spouses for hospital visitation and medical decision making, and access equal to heterosexual spouses for pension, retirement and survivor benefits.
• Protect the rights of workers to dress and groom consistent with their gender identity.
• Require that individuals be permitted use of restrooms in accordance with their gender identity.
• Require city buildings to provide gender-neutral restrooms.
• Make it easier for transgender Philadelphians to update their name and gender on city documents.

This is very exciting stuff, a whole new plateau the rest of us have to catch up to.