But I'm not mainstream.

Just as hipsters vehemently deny being hipsters, but still end up in the skinny-jeans-wearing herd, many gay people love to express their disdain for mainstream gay male culture — and heaven knows it has its faults — while partaking of it anyway. In fact, claiming to have distanced oneself from mainstream gay male culture is increasingly part of mainstream gay culture. Moreover, I'm sure we all know people who claim not to be gay clichés while actually being some of the biggest gay clichés around. Yet the aspect of mainstream queer culture that most badly needs to be challenged — political correctness, with its anti-rationalism, groupthink, and shocking resemblance to the religious right — gets a free pass.

Government is always more progressive than the private sector.

Just what it says on the tin—government is always more progressive than the private sector. Every right-thinking person knows this, and when I say that every right-thinking person knows something, I completely absolve myself of any burden of proof.

Why, then, are Arizona and Indiana the latest states, but not the only states, in which businesses have lobbied the state legislatures to move policy toward a less socially conservative position? When one tries to make such a point to politically correct dogmatists, they carry on as though all of reality were just one big outlying data point.

Gays and African-Americans in Maryland

This article says some of the same things that I've been saying for a while. We shouldn't take African-American support for granted, and we should focus on the undecided rather than on true believers.

Nonetheless, the author also states the following:

There must also be more willingness among proponents of LGBT rights to engage in supporting issues that are important to blacks, Latinos, Asian Pacific Islanders and other social issues, (e.g. education reform, immigration, job creation and training, etc.). Several black elected officials, as well as communities of color in general, have grown tired of the narrow agenda that has been presented to them by some LGBT organizations.

Has Queen Carlotta declared backwards day again? This assertion, besides being weasel-worded, comes close to being the exact opposite of the truth. We're the ones who are obsessed with racial and ethnic inclusiveness, sometimes to the self-parodying extremes of excluding those who cannot provide the right tokens and of downplaying our own agenda to placate others (including those "Asian Pacific Islanders").

Crystal Cathedral bans homosexuality in choir

From this:

The Crystal Cathedral in Southern California has taken the surprising step of asking its choir members to model a biblical lifestyle, which would include abstaining from homosexual behavior.

* * *

In a statement Tuesday regarding the covenant, Crystal Cathedral Senior Pastor Sheila Schuller Coleman said dialogue over "reconciling love and adherence to God's Word" has led to a number of people being hurt.

So is Senior Pastor Sheila Schuller Coleman going to adhere to the word of her God on the role of women in church? After, all, we wouldn't want people to think that she's a cafeteria Christian. Oh, but ... all together now ... that's different!

Then again, I'd love to see more queer people stop trying to gain the acceptance of churches and similar institutions that make such a huge point of not accepting us and withdraw the sanction of the victim from such institutions. For one thing, it would be fun to watch homophobic churches lose so many gay choir members and organists.

Maryland (2)

It's a good thing that Prince George's County has solved all of its problems, so that pastors from that county have the luxury of passing moral judgment on queer people who want to get married. For those who are unfamiliar with this area, Prince George's County combines the good public schools, low crime, and clean politics of the inner city with the cosmopolitan sophistication of suburbia.

Isn't there something in the Bible about motes, beams, and eyes, or about knowing every tree by its fruit? Oh, but those verses don't directly address homosexuality, so they need to be "interpreted correctly," or they were "meant for the church back then." Or something.

Finally, it's odd whose support our activists take for granted. I have spoken to LGBT activists who expressed genuine surprise upon learning that some of the biggest opposition to our rights came from African-Americans.

Maryland

The news from Maryland isn't the greatest, but let's put this into perspective. Maryland has traditionally been a socially conservative state and recodified its sodomy law less than a decade ago. The real news is not that the marriage bill failed, but that it came as close as it did to passing. If the 'phobes let their reality-deflector shields down for very long, they should realize what this means for their long-term odds.

Today's vocabulary words: erotica and pornography

erotica, n. what makes me hard

pornography, n. what makes you hard