Gryphmon's Grumbles

Funniest Picture From Iraq I've Seen All Year....

Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

(pssst. They are straight. No, really!)

Storm the Beach! As much as I hate to do it.....

I'm going to whore my blog for money.

This weekend in Long Beach, there will be a fundraiser party/dance for the Service Members Legal Defense Network (SLDN)

Storm the Beach! (Buy Tickets here)

Don't let this beefcake picture fool you, this is serious stuff.

SLDN is an organization in DC that is leading most of the efforts to overturn "Don't Ask, Don't Tell".  That old "Chestnut" as a certain VP used to say.

They are different from other not-for-profit lobby groups such as HRC in that besides lobbying our Congressmen and filing lawsuits, they also provide legal representation and information to those members of the military who run afoul of DADT.  They have a network of attorneys that specialize in military law that take cases pro bono.  Remember that we don't pay our military people a whole lot so they often can't afford expensive attorney fees.  SLDN provides a lifeline to people who often have no one else they can turn to and safely trust.

So SLDN actually does real, honest to goodness work to directly help people, rather than just promoting the production of greenhouse gasses by blowing a lot of hot air around. I dropped my membership in HRC many years ago for this org and I haven't looked back since.

Marriage is the gift of the one-flesh made whole: II A dailogue with Catholic.org

Catholic Online this morning published an editorial by Matt Abbott titled: Homosexuality, "Ex-Gay" Ministries, Chastity.

On a whim, I sent my essay from yesterday on Same-Sex Marriage and the One Flesh made whole that I did yesterday for GayPatriot's post.  To my surprise I got a response back. Below is both that reply and my answer to it. And I might as well link to North Dallas Thirty, since we seem to all be on more or less the same subject with different discussions going. Besides, I'm a link-whore and proud of it!

The Blood of Eden: Marriage is the gift of the one-flesh made whole

GayPatriotWest is calling for discussion on what a marriage means.  I thought I would contribute by republishing an entry that I made awhile back on a Christian site I often visit/troll around at called The Evangelical Outpost. The Coyote/Trickster in me like go there and push holes into their egos and sanctity. Of course, sometimes the reverse happens.

The fundamental topic at hand was the spiritual/theological reasons why there could be no such thing as gay marriage.  Of course, I thought, if only I write and explain to them how it all works they will understand  and be more accepting.  Oops. Not Quite.

But still I think my argument is valid.  There really is a spiritual/theological justification for gay marriage that is not just based on civil liberties, but rather Natural Law.  And I will note, that while the Evangelicals ridiculed my post, they never actually addressed or bothered to disprove any of the arguments in it.

So we will start off with a little pop music.... ;-)

Supervisor Beven Dufty replies:

I've recieved a response from one of the Supervisor's I e-mailed, Supervisor Beven Dufty, who is one of the members of the Board that did vote against the Iowa.

In my original e-mail, I basically sent him a copy of one of my earlier posts, that you can find here.  Both his letter and my current reply are below.

First off however, Thanks, and kudos to Mr. Dufty for responding so quickly, and for being willing to wade into the murky waters where the pajamahudeen dwell.  ;-)

Boycott SF: Why it's not about Don't Ask, Don't Tell

The SF Board of supervisors is claiming that the military policy of Don't Ask, Don't Tell is the reason why they rejected the Iowa.

"Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who is gay, said the military's policy on gays and lesbians influenced his vote and that of Supervisor Tom Ammiano, who also is gay, against a battleship Iowa museum for San Francisco."

"For Tom and I it's very difficult to advocate for some military honor thing when people are being harassed and even killed and are unable to serve in the military because they are gay and lesbian,'' Dufty said.

And of course, the obligatory "we support the troops" line.

"People didn't cast votes based on their unwillingness to support the troops in Iraq,'' he added.

Nonsense. As Paul at Right Rainbow points out, they would have voted against the Iowa anyway.  They hate the military.

Those of us that are working to overturn DADT are not just trying to correct an injustice. We are fighting so that we can be a part of the military. We truly want the best for the military, and right now, DADT doesn't harm just gays and lesbians, it harms troop morale, discipline, and force readiness.  It does all the bad things it was claimed to avoid, and then some, when it was justified by its proponents at the time of its enactment.

We want gays and lesbians to be able to join the military.  The SF Board of Sups. doesn't want anyone to join the military.  It's just not an institution they value, unless as a convenient scapegoat for their own problems.  Therefore, the Board of Supervisors cannot both say that they don't want the Iowa, and that it's because they don't like DADT.  The two positions are mutually exclusive.

So the next time the SF Board of Supervisors wants to make a statement about Don't As, Don't Tell, tell them please don't.  That kind of help we don't need.

Boycott SF III Contact your Rep

Thanks to North Dallas Thirty for some additional info:

Apparently there has been a bit of a "preemptive strike" to move the Iowa to Stockton by Congressional fiat.

In other words, a sneaky underhanded Rep from Stockton snuck in a provision into the current defense spending bill that states the Iowa WILL be moved to Stockton, no discussion.

Now, I like Stockton, but like every other Californian who has been there, I've driven through it without stopping. And that's what the Iowa should do too.

Lets do what we can to mitigate the sabotage yesterday by the SF supervisors and keep the Iowa on course to  SF. (Actually it's already there, but I thought it a good line).

First off, check out the Historic Ships Memorial At Pacific Square organization. They are the group actually organizing for the Iowa in SF.

They have a sample letter to send to your rep, that includes references to the appropriate legislation here. You can find out who your rep is and where to contact them here.

And to those fellow visitors like myself who are what they used to call "bent"....Woo Hoo! Doesn't it feel great to work on something other than gay rights for a change?  Isn't it just as important to be a part of a greater community of Americans? Maybe if we act more LIKE family and neighbors, others will be more inclined to accept us AS family and neighbors. Except maybe in Stockton. But hey! It's Stockton.

Boycott SF II: E-mail the Sups.

Please let the San Francisco Board of Supervisors know what you think of them regarding the insult to the Iowa and the military.

The only ones that wanted the Iowa were:  Sean Elsbernd, Fiona Ma and Michela Alioto-Pier. So you might want to send them a thank you.

You can e-mail everybody below.

Jake McGoldrick District 1	Michela Alioto-Pier District 2	Aaron Peskin* District 3 * Board President	Fiona Ma District 4
Ross Mirkarimi District 5	Chris Daly District 6	Sean Elsbernd District 7	Bevan Dufty District 8

Tom Ammiano District 9

Sophie Maxwell District 10

Gerardo Sandoval District 11

Much thanks to Gay Patriot for mentioning this on his blog. And to the Mudville Gazette and its tradition of open posts.

Boycott San Francisco! The Iowa:

Today the SF Board of Supervisors engaged in an offensive display of prejudice, stupidity and a lack of respect for history, both of the military and of the gay community.

"The San Francisco Board of Supervisors today voted 3-8 against a resolution urging the San Francisco Congressional Delegation to support the permanent berthing of the USS Iowa as a museum at the Port of San Francisco."

I'm sorry, but I will not ever visit a place where the US military is not welcome. 

San Francisco has gotten so insular and cut off from reality that it has gotten loonier than Colorado Springs did after its takeover by the theocrats.

Look, the military and I have obvious deep disagreements. But the fact is that it's not the pacifists, or even the gay activists, who have provided freedom for Americans, and yes, even Gay Americans. It was those that were willing to die to protect it.  That means they get my respect. (Of course, I still reserve the right to bitch). Hell, I might even have had relatives serve on the Iowa, like my great Uncle Cliffy, a Marine in WWII.

This is Street Activism?

SMASH has pointed out an Indymedia article about some "protesters" beating up a cop at recent anti-G8 demonstrations.

There is a time and place for street-activism, even angry "civilly disobedient" street-activism. The early days of the AIDS epidemic and ACT-UP come to mind. That's a movement that actually accomplished something. But then ACT-UP had specific goals, and everything it did was designed to bring the country's attention to the problem of AIDS.

But this kind of random, purposeless violence is really just that, purposeless violence. It gives street-activism a bad name. It's just anger and hatred expressed without any meaning or real purpose.

I remember one of ACT UP's demonstrations outside the White House. Some of the guys threw over the fence and onto the White House lawn the ashes of their dead lovers and friends. That was a real protest. It was shocking, it got the message across, and no one intentionally sought to harm anyone else.

That was when they took a real risk for their cause and were willing to sacrifice something important to themselves. They were willing to come to physical harm for their cause, but they didn't need to harm anyone else. What these guys are doing today isn't street activism. It's just mindless soccer-fan hooliganism.

Nowadays, they run away as cowardly thugs, wearing masks and breaking in windows. Really they are nothing but a bunch of stupid punks. And still they are trying to portray this as a moral victory for their cause, when all it really proves is that they are just a bunch of wannabe schoolyard bullies who have picked a "cause" at random so as to have an excuse to act like the idiots they are.

If they really wanted to make a statement, they could have stood there and let the cops beat the crap out of them. And they could have done it without wearing masks, ready to accept the consequences of their actions. That's what real activists do, people with courage to match their convictions. But courage is a quality they apparently lack.

A hospital full of injured protesters and no injured police might have actually made someone take notice. But instead they slunk away into the sewer like the gutless rats they are. They disgust me.