Miscellaneous

Ideologies, Terrorism, and Stuff People Do

Posted on June 02, 2009
Terrorism (n): the calculated use of violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear.Sunday May 31, abortion doctor George Tiller was shot and killed while attending church in Wichita, Kansas...

"Deep" Thoughts: Black Men Won't Get Married If Gays Can Because They Will View Marriage As Something Fags Do

Posted on June 01, 2009
You know, I always have to give people props who invent non-religious reasons for opposing marriage equality. Yet, sometimes I think they give arguments that stray from the general Because God Says So ilk too much credit.After discussing the general Plight of the Modern Day African-American, Heather Macdonald at the Secular Right blog, recently wrote that an "overpowering cause of black social failure is the breakdown of marriage in the black community...

Odds 'N Ends

Posted on May 29, 2009
1) The River MidnightI don't usually review fiction in Fannie's Room. For one, I tend to read more non-fiction than fiction in my leisure time. Two, I don't feel as though I'm any sort of "expert" in literary criticism. I know when a story touches me and I know what I like, and that's good enough for me when it comes to whether I'd recommend a book to a friend...

Proposition 8 and Judicial Legitimacy

Posted on May 28, 2009
A couple of days ago, in reference to the California Supreme Court's recent Proposition 8 decision, I alluded to how that particular case is not all that interesting or relevant with respect to the substantive merits of marriage equality. That is not to say that the case is not interesting...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Desperately Seeking Campaign Follow-Through

Posted on May 27, 2009
So, 100+ days into his presidency President Obama's follow-through on some of his campaign rhetoric has been less than stellar. I have applauded some of his early moves such as issuing an executive order to close Guantanamo Bay, ending the Global Gag Rule, signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law, and expressing his commitment to LGBT civil rights on the White House website...

Odds 'N Ends

Posted on May 26, 2009
1) The Film Industry's Romance with the Bromance, Take TwoThis cartoon pretty much sums it up.2) Remember How Gay People Totally Aren't At All Oppressed?Via The Gatheist Agenda, a woman was beaten in an anti-gay hate crime a man was arrested and charged with a hate crime (under state law) for allegedly beating a woman in Provincetown:"'Patten was screaming biased, anti-gay language,' Lopes said...

Breaking News: White Conservative Anti-Gay Dude Worried About Gay Movement's Misappropriation of Civil Rights!

Posted on May 25, 2009
You know, there's nothing more resonating than a white, conservative, anti-gay dude bemoaning the LGBT movement's "trivialization of civil rights." Using bizarre, simplistic, and profoundly illogical argumentation, anti-equality "Digital Network Army" blogger James Tanner calls comparisons between the LGBT movement and movements that other historically-oppressed groups have faced "pathetic" and a "smear" on what these other groups have experienced...

Fred Phelps Is Protected Under the Current Federal Hate Crimes Law

Posted on May 22, 2009
And gay people aren't.In August of 2008, a fire broke out at Fred Phelps' home. Although no one has been implicated in the incident, after it happened Fred Phelps claimed that it was a hate crime and requested the Attorney General to treat is as much, saying "[t]here is evidence that hatred of our religion was the motivation, in part at least...

Rightwing Roundup: Correcting the Anti-Gay Industry

Posted on May 21, 2009
1) Correcting the Anti-Gay IndustryLast week, I wrote about the anti-gay industry's lies about pending Hate Crimes legislation that would include sexual orientation, gender identity, gender, and disability to the current Hate Crimes law. Specifically, Focus on the Family, American Family Association, Concerned Women for America, Exodus International, WorldNetDaily, Digital Network Army (via email blast), Illinois Family Institute, Traditional Values Coalition, and Liberty Counsel have claimed that "paraphilias" like bestiality and necrophilia (sex with dead people) are "sexual orientations" that will be protected under the Hate Crimes law...

Odds 'N Ends

Posted on May 20, 2009
1) On the Elusiveness of GenderIn a recent opinion piece in The New York Times, Jennifer Finney Boylan explores the absurdities of how different states would treat the marriage between herself and her spouse. Specifically, Boylan is a transgender woman who was a man when she initially married her wife, but she transitioned to a woman after the marriage...

Anger and Free Speech

Posted on May 19, 2009
A couple of weeks ago, I was visiting the "I Support the Iowa Supreme Court's Unanimous Marriage Decision" Facebook group and, using what is perhaps a real name and profile, I came across this:Assuming this kid's profile is legitimate, I find it sad that someone somewhere taught him that gay people are "sick mother fuckers" and that we "deserve to die...

What Do "Marriage Defenders" Want From LGBT People?

Posted on May 18, 2009
Ah, that eternal question. What is it that anti-gays want from we LGBT-Americans? Perusing anti-gay blogs, I do sincerely try to get to the bottom of this. "Marriage defenders" are not a monolithic group, but I do tend to notice certain themes within their argumentation...

Odds 'N Ends

Posted on May 15, 2009
1. WoMeN BeHaViNg BaDlY!In news of the obvious, The New York Times has recently reported that women, in fact, can be workplace bullies just like men. In less ExCiTiNg news, the study also found that men are, actually, more likely to be be bullies.I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that bullying isn't about X type of people being inherently bad types of people...

Thoughts About Matthew Shepard

Posted on May 14, 2009
I have been struggling to write about US Representative Virigina Foxx's statements regarding Matthew Shepard for more than a week now. I have fluctuated between feeling outraged, saddened, and curious as to whether it's something people even want to hear about...

"Joe the Plumber" and the Arrogance of this "Average American"

Posted on May 13, 2009
I'm not really sure why Joe "The Plumber" Wurzelbacher is still making the national news, but it greatly annoys me that some people consider him to be "a metaphor for the average American." Calling this straight white conservative dude "a metaphor for the average American" not only perpetuates the fiction that such a thing as "average American" exists, it of course places white guys at the center as the default American person, once again...

Professional Anti-Gays Insult Our Collective Intelligence

Posted on May 12, 2009
It's been circling around the internets for more than week now that professional anti-gay organizations have been lying about the pending federal Hate Crimes bill ("The Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention" Act). As but one egregious example, in a sensational headline, the American Family Association recently declared the Senate to be "poised to give special protection status to pedophiles...

"She Has An Inflated Opinion of Herself" Does Not Constitute a Good "Case"

Posted on May 11, 2009
Jeffrey Rosen, writing in The New Republic, recently attempted to make a case against possible Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. I say "attempted" here only because it wasn't actually much of a case.He first acknowledges that Sotomayor, who was raised by a single mother in the Bronx, attended Princeton and then Yale Law School and that her "former clerks sing her praises as a demanding but thoughtful boss whose personal experiences have given her a commitment to legal fairness...

Today's Deep Thoughts

Posted on May 08, 2009
I was going to write about Matthew Shepard and Virginia Foxx today, but I think a little nourishment is in order instead.It's a few weeks old, but this makes me happy. The April issue of French Elle featured 8 female celebrities with no makeup and no photographic retouching of any kind...

Worst Supreme Court Cases for Women You've Never Heard About #2: Minor v. Happersett (1874)

Posted on May 07, 2009
With all of the recent hubub regarding Justice Souter's retirement and President Obama's impending nomination of a new Supreme Court Justice, I think that now is as good a time as any to sit back and enjoy another not-so-great Supreme Court case for women...

Immigration Equality, Again

Posted on May 06, 2009
Previously, I have written about how, for immigration purposes, US citizens may not claim their same-sex partners as a "spouse" for purposes of obtaining a green card. Because of the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages for any purpose, this exclusion applies even if the same-sex couple holds a legal marriage license issued by a state...

Odds 'N Ends

Posted on May 05, 2009
1. Something About Miss California and Breast ImplantsI'm sorry, are people still talking about Carrie Prejean?Moving on then.2. Britain's New Poet LaureateVia AfterEllen, Britain has appointed Carol Ann Duffy its first female, first openly-gay, first Scot, and first mother poet laureate...

Masculinity and Anti-Gay Bullying

Posted on May 04, 2009
In The New York Times, Judith Warner wrote of the unfortunate recent suicides of boys who were targets of anti-gay harassment. She argues that homophobia, homobigotry, and anti-gay bullying are actually grounded less in "being gay" and more in people stepping outside of their "proper" gender roles...

Odds 'N Ends

Posted on May 01, 2009
1. A New Spokeswoman?Previously, a group of "marriage defenders" treated us to some entertaining graphics opposing marriage equality which fell into one of four amusing categories. After that, the National Organization for [Heterosexual] Marriage (NOM) released a widely parodied and campy "Storm is Gathering" advertisement...

Book Review: Who Cooked the Last Supper? The Women's History of the World

Posted on April 30, 2009
Previously, I wrote about a men's rights activist who boasted that "almost everything good" in our lives "has been invented, discovered, created, or built by men." Appropriately, I happened to have been reading Rosalind Miles' Who Cooked the Last Supper? The Women's History of the World at the time that I read his statement...

SuPeR ScArY AnD UnHeLpFuL HeAlTh NeWs: Swine Flu Edition

Posted on April 29, 2009
I'm sure by now you've heard via multiple sources about the Oh Dear God It's the Swine Flu SWINE FLU SWINE FLU! I found out about this new ScArY ThInG when I turned on the news a couple of days ago and heard the newscaster pretty much say that "a public health emergency has been declared," Obama had said that "the outbreak was reason for concern," and paradoxically that we should all relax because there is no "cause for alarm...

Odds 'N Ends

Posted on April 28, 2009
1. Anti-Gays Undermining Our Form of Government (Again)From the Chicago Tribune, the Iowa Family Policy Center has been circulating a petition to urge Iowa county recorders to defy the Iowa Supreme Court's ruling which struck down the ban on same-sex marriage...

Orson Scott Card on Board of National Organization for Marriage?

Posted on April 27, 2009
Thanks to Chino Blanco for the heads-up on this. A while back, I became aware of some vehemently anti-gay writings by science-fiction writer Orson Scott Card. To jog your memory, Card:"Writes op-ed pieces in The Mormon Times, using his 'expertise' as a science fiction writer, to say that that oh no he's not a 'homophobe' it's just that gays and lesbians suffer from 'sex role dysfunction' and they don't have real relationships but 'homosexual liaisons and friendships...

Perez Hilton Does Not Speak For the LGBT Community

Posted on April 24, 2009
Previously, we saw how "radicals" sometimes discount the concerns of women and use sexist language to make their points. Unfortunately, such disappointing behavior is sometimes used by others who are supposedly the natural allies of feminists and women...

Odds 'N Ends

Posted on April 23, 2009
1. An Inspirational ProtestPreviously, I wrote about a proposed law in Afghanistan that would give men the right to rape their wives, restrict women to the home, and marry children (57% of brides in Afghanistan are under the age of 16). The UK's Times Online has reported that a group of about 200 women took to the streets to protest this law:"The rally, staged by mostly young women with their faces exposed, was a highly inflammatory act of defiance in a country as conservative as Afghanistan...

Breaking: Justice in Zapata Case

Posted on April 23, 2009
From The New York Times:"A jury took just two hours Wednesday to find a Colorado man guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of an 18-year-old transgender woman, and determined that the act was a hate crime."The murderer conceded that he killed the woman, Angie Zapata, but he attempted to use the "trans panic" defense to lessen the charge from first-degree to second-degree murder...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.