No work today!
Apr. 29th, 2003 01:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
angledgeHaha! I got a good deal today. I woke up at 7:30 & showered in anticipation of having to go to work. But at about 10 of 8, John called & said he wouldn't need me to come in today. How is this a good deal? Well, I had already gotten out of bed & awakened fully (more or less), but I didn't have to go to work. Result: I've had a pretty productive day off. If I had *known* I wasn't going to work today, I probably would've slept in 'til noon.
From the News Department: my stint with Jubilee Chocolates may be coming to a close soon. One, it's getting boring. Two, Joyce may have found me something better - temping with a tech/systems company called Thomson/ISI. It isn't a position that would require any thinking, but it's $14.00/hour, 40 hours a week. No troublesome tax issues - it's all above the board. All I'd have to do is admin-style stuff - filing, data entry, etc. Still nice & mindless, but for more money. Also, working in West Philly would be cool - close to Drexel & Penn, easy to catch events, shows, lectures, etc.
And now some thoughts on one of the politicians who is supposedly my representative is the U.S. Senate. Senator Rick Santorum, who has never ever gotten my vote, had an interview with the Associated Press on April 7th in which he made some stunning comments on the right to privacy, homosexuality, abortion, & the U.S. Supreme court case regarding Texas' sodomy laws. Here's a link to the unedited interview.
What is a concerned citizen supposed to do? I sent an email to Santorum, with cc's to Senator Arlen Specter & my Congressman. I've participated in online polls to express displeasure with Santorum. I will admit that I missed participating in a protest in front of his office. But I've discussed the issue with many people, arguing that Santorum's views are inaccurate to say the least.
But the fact remains, the majority of people in this state probably AGREE with Santorum's view that homosexuality undermines families. How? Can someone explain that to me? How does a man loving a man or a woman loving a woman undermine families? How does love hurt families? I think that, when anti-gay people talk like this, they must have in their minds the image of some dimly-lit San Francisco bathhouse, & a married men sneaking off to cheat on his wife & get infected with HIV. Like THAT'S a representative slice of gay life. That's like condemning all heterosexual relationships because there are swingers who help spread syphillis.
And what can the queer community do to overcome this prejudice? I really believe that coming out is an important part of the solution. Every gay man, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered person, queer of any stripe, should come out. Come out to your family, your friends, your coworkers, your church, your bowling league, your bridge club, your neighbors, & everyone else, too. Torie Osborn does a wonderful job of explaining the political implications of such a personal experience in her book Coming Home to America: A Roadmap to Gay & Lesbian Empowerment. Here's a quote:
"When you come out to your married sister in Oklahoma, to your co-worker at the auto plant or the office typing pool, or to your old high school buddies at your tenth class reunion back in Missoula, you are changing the world ... Each and every time we communicate our identity, whether softly or loudly, we help break down stereotypes and educate people. We help them overcome their prejudice by putting a real-life picture over the distorted or sketchy image of gay peple that this society fosters. We help paint in living color a brighter vision of true diversity. We play our part in battling the ignorance that still predominates, and therefore we also fight back against the vicious disinformation campiagn of right-wing political religious extremists. Those campaigns portray us as sick and sinful, and, worse, as desperate, sexually obsessed child molesters. These lies survive because people don't know who we truly are."
So here's my statement on who I truly am: I am a woman who loves women. I am looking to someday find my dream grrl, settle down with her in a long-term, monogamous relationship, & grow old together. My sexual orientation does not undermine anyone's family in any way. My queerness is not preventing me from getting married & raising a family, because I have never wanted to have children (ask my mom; I've been consistent on that opinion since the first time anyone asked me). I'm not preventing any other woman from having a family, because I generally don't date women who have any interest in children. I haven't had any sort of negative impact on my birth family; indeed, I would say my relationship with my parents has improved since I came out to them.
OK, that's enough. I'm getting really upset now. I've got to stop brooding over this & get some work done on that scholarship essay. So, fuck you, Santorum. I hope all your children turn out to be queers.
From the Not-News Department: Hot Pockets totally rule.
From the News Department: my stint with Jubilee Chocolates may be coming to a close soon. One, it's getting boring. Two, Joyce may have found me something better - temping with a tech/systems company called Thomson/ISI. It isn't a position that would require any thinking, but it's $14.00/hour, 40 hours a week. No troublesome tax issues - it's all above the board. All I'd have to do is admin-style stuff - filing, data entry, etc. Still nice & mindless, but for more money. Also, working in West Philly would be cool - close to Drexel & Penn, easy to catch events, shows, lectures, etc.
And now some thoughts on one of the politicians who is supposedly my representative is the U.S. Senate. Senator Rick Santorum, who has never ever gotten my vote, had an interview with the Associated Press on April 7th in which he made some stunning comments on the right to privacy, homosexuality, abortion, & the U.S. Supreme court case regarding Texas' sodomy laws. Here's a link to the unedited interview.
What is a concerned citizen supposed to do? I sent an email to Santorum, with cc's to Senator Arlen Specter & my Congressman. I've participated in online polls to express displeasure with Santorum. I will admit that I missed participating in a protest in front of his office. But I've discussed the issue with many people, arguing that Santorum's views are inaccurate to say the least.
But the fact remains, the majority of people in this state probably AGREE with Santorum's view that homosexuality undermines families. How? Can someone explain that to me? How does a man loving a man or a woman loving a woman undermine families? How does love hurt families? I think that, when anti-gay people talk like this, they must have in their minds the image of some dimly-lit San Francisco bathhouse, & a married men sneaking off to cheat on his wife & get infected with HIV. Like THAT'S a representative slice of gay life. That's like condemning all heterosexual relationships because there are swingers who help spread syphillis.
And what can the queer community do to overcome this prejudice? I really believe that coming out is an important part of the solution. Every gay man, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered person, queer of any stripe, should come out. Come out to your family, your friends, your coworkers, your church, your bowling league, your bridge club, your neighbors, & everyone else, too. Torie Osborn does a wonderful job of explaining the political implications of such a personal experience in her book Coming Home to America: A Roadmap to Gay & Lesbian Empowerment. Here's a quote:
"When you come out to your married sister in Oklahoma, to your co-worker at the auto plant or the office typing pool, or to your old high school buddies at your tenth class reunion back in Missoula, you are changing the world ... Each and every time we communicate our identity, whether softly or loudly, we help break down stereotypes and educate people. We help them overcome their prejudice by putting a real-life picture over the distorted or sketchy image of gay peple that this society fosters. We help paint in living color a brighter vision of true diversity. We play our part in battling the ignorance that still predominates, and therefore we also fight back against the vicious disinformation campiagn of right-wing political religious extremists. Those campaigns portray us as sick and sinful, and, worse, as desperate, sexually obsessed child molesters. These lies survive because people don't know who we truly are."
So here's my statement on who I truly am: I am a woman who loves women. I am looking to someday find my dream grrl, settle down with her in a long-term, monogamous relationship, & grow old together. My sexual orientation does not undermine anyone's family in any way. My queerness is not preventing me from getting married & raising a family, because I have never wanted to have children (ask my mom; I've been consistent on that opinion since the first time anyone asked me). I'm not preventing any other woman from having a family, because I generally don't date women who have any interest in children. I haven't had any sort of negative impact on my birth family; indeed, I would say my relationship with my parents has improved since I came out to them.
OK, that's enough. I'm getting really upset now. I've got to stop brooding over this & get some work done on that scholarship essay. So, fuck you, Santorum. I hope all your children turn out to be queers.
From the Not-News Department: Hot Pockets totally rule.
