Sorrow Trumps Elation

It's weirdly alienating to be a queer progressive in California today. I want to be happy about Obama's victory, about the American electorate sending a clear mandate to separate ourselves from the last eight years of endless and causeless warfare and the stripping away of civil rights and human needs programs that has gone along with it. And while I voted not for Obama, but for Green candidate Cynthia McKinney from my safe 24% margin state of California, I was still thrilled that Obama trounced McCain, and that the Democrats, for whom I harbor quite a lot of criticism, swept into an easy majority in the House and Senate.

But my momentary (if ambivalent) euphoria quickly dissolved into grief as I watched the returns come in from my Golden State and began to grapple with the passage of Proposition 8.

Over 5 million of my fellow Californians just told me that my relationship isn't as valid as theirs. That I am a second-class citizen. Even for a person like me, an out queer woman who is loved and supported by her family, who is proud to be part of the vital, brilliant LGBT subculture, who feels secure with herself and her sexuality, even for me, I feel shame. What is perhaps most profound for me as I try to understand my own reaction to this vote is that, even as someone who is critical of marriage as an institution, who has no interest in getting married, the passage of Prop 8 feels incredibly personal: I am wrong, my love is wrong, I am less than. And if this is impacting me so strongly, how is this decision affecting LBGT folks out there who already live with the daily fears and shame of being in the closet, of feeling unsafe in their communities, who have been turned out by their families? To illustrate this indignity further, while Californians voted to take my civil rights away on Tuesday, they handily expanded the rights of chickens. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for the chickens, I really am.

But I'm feeling on the outside of things: outside as a queer mourning the loss of my civil rights. Robbed of my excitement about the changing of the guard in the White House and in Congress. I'm sorry I can't join everyone out there in your joy and celebration about Obama. The bitter is winning out over the sweet.

Vagina Dentata!

Had to re-post this from the dspot - thanks for keeping your finger on the pulse, Dax. Oh my god, Tina Fey is fucking spot-on!

Election '08 Rant #1

In last week's Presidential primary election, I got to vote for one of my all-time favorite elected officials. Suffice it to say, it wasn't Barack Obama, and it wasn't Hillary Clinton. It was, in fact, Cynthia McKinney, former U.S. Representative from Atlanta, Georgia, now a candidate for the Green Party's Presidential nomination. If you've been tuned into my blog since the old days, you may remember reading my long-winded entry about Cynthia McKinney's fight to win back her seat in Congress in 2004. After serving another term, she got defeated once more, and has since defected to the Greens.

On Super Tuesday, McKinney got 26% of the Green vote in California with 7,000 votes, but was eclipsed by continual candidate Ralph Nader, who took close to 17,000 votes for 61%. And although McKinney fared better in a couple other states, she may not emerge the Green's candidate in the November election.

Not that the Greens matter at that point anyway. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Nader got 2.8 million votes in the 2000 election, and after the devastation of Bush's coup of the "hanging chads," he only brought in 500,000 votes in 2004. Needless to say, this year, with the tide turned against Bush and his War on Everything, the Greens will get even fewer votes, on account of progressives' and liberals' sheer terror of tipping the cart to the Republicans. Since I live in a state that more than likely will go to the Democrat, I can probably get away with a Green vote in November. Of course, if I lived in Florida or Ohio or somewhere, it'd be a different matter altogether.

Point being, I like being excited about someone I voted for for a change. Holding my nose and voting for Kerry in 2004 made me almost hate myself. But why blame the victims of the system (people like you and me who'd like to vote for decent candidates) for what are essentially structural problems, like the Electoral College, the two-party system, campaign finance policies, mega-corporate lobby power, etc?

I'm babbling now, 'night.

xo

All About Bob

In an earlier entry, I made a cynical comment about Bob Casey, the conservative Democrat who replaced Rick Santorum in the Senate. While I'm tickled that Santorum is currently unemployed, I have long been disgruntled with the Democrats' failure to differentiate themselves from Republicans on many vital issues. Granted, a Bay Area Dem is a different breed than a Scranton, PA Dem, okay. And you've no doubt heard me rant about this issue before. Anyway, I don't wanna get too deep into this right now, but since my friend Sonia asked me to check out more about his precise stances on some key issues, I thought I'd do a cursory search and see what I could find about the guy. There's not much out there about him, partially because he's a freshman and doesn't have a voting record yet, and partially because he doesn't want to answer questions about his views, according to the good folks at Project Vote-Smart.

Here is an issue summary based on things Casey has said on record. If you click for the full quotes, there are expanded snippets from interviews. Based on his quotes, he wants Roe V. Wade overturned, he's pro-Patriot Act, pro-domestic wiretapping, and against any kind of gun control, including the renewal of an assault weapons ban. The guy is basically a Republican, except that he happens not to have it in for the gays for some reason (could this be because Rick Santorum was one of the worst homophobes in the Senate and the issue was a hot button in his race for the seat?)

I also found this interesting article focusing on his views about abortion.

His Catholic background is obviously what drives him on this issue and he doesn't seem too concerned about the separation of church and state. While I can't support his stance on abortion, I can appreciate the consistency with which he's applying his religious ethics—he seems to believe in the government's role in helping women out of poverty and addressing systemic issues that surround the care and education of children. Until we see his voting record, though, the jury is still out.

Peace and love, my dears.

Ted Haggard Rocks My Ass Hole!

Can I just say that I hate Democrats, but not as much as Republicans? There, I said it. You have to love the news lately, right?

Some highlights:

*The Dems gain at least 25 seats in the House! Check out up-to-the-minute election results at NYTimes.com

*One of the most powerful leaders of the right-wing evangelical movement in America has admitted that he likes to suck big dick! See him preach the gospel in "Jesus Camp"

* Rick Santorum is out! (of the Senate, I mean, not the Closet...)

**note that Bob Casey, the Dem who beat Santorum is anti-abortion and anti-gun control--how's that for the Dems ushering in a "sea change" of ideology?