Don't Ask Don't Tell: That's a Wrap!

Don't Ask Don't Tell Repeal, originally uploaded by rbtenorio.

President Obama has repealed the 17-year-old Don't Ask Don't Tell law that kept gays from revealing their identity in the military. Who will ultimately benefit from the repeal -- the Left, or the Right? Satan and Frank Faust discuss in a holiday-themed episode of "The Devil Made Me Blog It"!

The Sins of Leviticus

Leviticus Cartoon, originally uploaded by rbtenorio.

What is the right way to respond to outdated and/or offensive ideas about religion? This question came up for me this past weekend, as the Torah portion discussed in synagogue services, Kedoshim, came from the Book of Leviticus and included the infamous anti-gay Chapter 18. Satan and Frank Faust have more to say in the latest episode of "The Devil Made Me Blog It"!

NY Times too quick to predict end of anti-gay speech

Frank Rich, New York Times columnist, is a little too premature in declaring the end of anti-gay speech in this country.
In a recent op-ed, Rich disses the anti-gay YouTube video "Gathering Storm" and the movement behind it, saying:

What gives the ad its symbolic significance is not just that it’s idiotic but that its release was the only loud protest anywhere in America to the news that same-sex marriage had been legalized in Iowa and Vermont. If it advances any message, it’s mainly that homophobic activism is ever more depopulated and isolated as well as brain-dead.

Not so fast, Frank. The past year reveals that the struggle for gay rights still faces plenty of setbacks, and these setbacks should be noticeable for a guy drawing paychecks from the New York Times. Some examples:

• In January 2008, country/pop star Taylor Swift released a song called "Picture to Burn" in which the singer envisions how she'll slam her ex. "So go and tell your friends/That I’m obsessive and crazy," Swift sings. "That’s fine/I’ll tell mine/You’re gay." Country music blog The 9513 reports that this last line has "been edited out of the radio version," but at least one station didn't get the message: I heard it on Country 102.5-FM yesterday afternoon.
  
• In November 2008, as Barack Obama received a national mandate for change, people in California voted against a particular change: Gay marriage. Fifty-two percent of Golden State voters backed Proposition 8, which would ban gay marriage. The Wall Street Journal said: "The passage of Prop 8 ... would be a major victory for religious conservatives seeking to ban gay marriage in other states, and a crippling setback for the gay rights movement nationwide." And Californians weren't the only ones to pass bans against gay marriage. So did people in two other states -- Arizona and Florida.

So while it's gutsy of Rich to predict the end of anti-gay talk in the US, the road ahead is still in some ways as hard as it was in the Harvey Milk days. It's still too easy for anti-gay lyrics to surface in songs, or for anti-gay marriage campaigns to win at the polls. May this change in the year ahead.