Gay Rights

Crossposted here because:
a) Michael and Nance *said* they wanted more,
and
b) Favorite Daughter hangs on moiv's posts and wanted to do her part, contribute to the conversation here. JJ

"A SUGGESTION FROM THE LIBERAL LION"

I don't try to be brilliant, it just comes to me.

So I wasn't surprised when, without even trying, I came up with the most innovative sarcastic social experiment since Swift's A Modest Proposal.

I've been thinking a lot about abortion and gay rights recently, as the Liberal Lion within me wakes up, indulges in a long, huge yawn, and takes stock of the current political climate. Though up and roaring through the Terri Schiavo debacle of 2005, he was soon lulled into a deceptively peaceful sleep by the conservative talk radio I've listened to of late.

But as I said, the Lion is now awake, and pontificating about politics in that annoying way Liberal Lions will.

"McCain is compromised by his base, not to be trusted." He growls. "And you can't trust a damn thing you see on television. Liberal media my tail -- I'd like to see one of them not in the administration's pocket. Obama is the Manchurian Candidate, can't be trusted either. Johnny Damon is the True Antichrist." (The Lion is decisive in his thoughts, and liberal to an almost paranoid degree. Also a rabid Red Sox fan.)

At around six years old, I rode a hospital elevator with George Wallace. His legs had been destroyed by a failed assassination attempt and hunkered down in his wheelchair, he seemed like a nice old man. But when we got off the elevator, Mama said he was a bad man who didn't like black people. I really couldn't reconcile that smiling face with badness. If I remember correctly, he touched my hand. But Mama didn't believe he had changed for the better. History says he did, but history says a lot of things. One thing is for sure: someone shot him. Can't dispute that.

Now I sit here and I think about another historical figure: Martin Luther King, first and foremost a preacher before he was a political activist. King and Wallace are forever tied together, perhaps not just in their struggle against each other, but also in their love of God. Both quoted the bible frequently and lived what they considered a rightous life. And this makes me uncomfortable about what side Martin Luther King would favor today regarding gay rights, women's rights, and abortion. I know some of you are gonna wanna whip my ass, but I wonder if he would support any of the other issues besides racial equality that we on this site favor.

I believe in God and an afterlife but I think I am allergic to organized religion, except for the study of it. My brother and I are 2 out of 5.5 southerners never to be baptized. In the much of the south and a great deal of the black community, life centers around the church or a jail cell. I saw a lot of people come and go from both places, baptized or not. I don't know if this heavily influenced my politics; I guess so. I certainly don't come from the usual progressive family setting. My parents are not artist elites. They are very intelligent and creative but they always worked hard. Growing up, my dad lived in a southern ghetto in one room with 11 kids; my mother lived a rural life, so the empathy for poverty and the underdog ran strong in our house. Rules were made to be broken and mean people slapped (only when the occasion arose, of course). But I grew up believing that all people deserved a fair shot and backgrounds were not used to judge. This is how my parents said it.

We've gone to town with the news of Mary Cheney's pregnancy. We are so full of cheer we went ahead and created a whole cornucopia of baby shower gifts for the happy mom, her out-of-law wife and their baby to be.

A teddy bear will bring many hours of gender neutral role joy. Playing with the truth is better than not playing at all.

Have the baby wear his or her mommies love but also their dissent with this most political of onesies. It's never too early to learn how to slap one on republicans and gay marriage haters.

There's more stuff at our Mary Cheney Baby store, but it's just a start. Would you like to add to the fun? Then go to town with your photoshop!

What are the rules for playing?

We've been so busy all morning we have not been able to even write a quick note about these fantastic news :

Dick Cheney's next grandchild will have two mommies, to the horror of his conservative fans.
The White House says Cheney's openly gay daughter and top political adviser, Mary, is expecting a baby this spring with her lover of 15 years, Heather Poe.

"The vice president and Mrs. Cheney are looking forward with eager anticipation to the arrival," the veep's office said in a statement.

The father's identity was not revealed.

The veep's daughter will have to remain an unwed mom: Cheney, 37, an AOL executive, and Poe, a 45-year-old former park ranger, live in Virginia, which just passed the kind of constitutional ban on same-sex marriages that the Bush administration has been pushing nationally.

"The irony is that the grandfather of this child is part of a party and an administration that has relentlessly attacked gay and lesbian families," said Jennifer Chrisler, head of Family Pride, an advocacy group for gay parents.

"So his own grandchild will not have the same legal protections other children enjoy. And Heather will have no legal relationship with the child. She can't make a hospital visit or even sign a school field trip form," Chrisler said.

So the Vice-President's daughter's partner, Heather Poe, can't legally take care of their child. She can't even adopt her daughter because, as long as there is one mom alive, that's what the Bible Beltway political muckrakers were able to pass as law in the state of Virginia.