The historically-minded side of me wonders how well we could document the shift if we were so inclined, if for no other reason than to improve our understanding of how rapid social changes can happen in general. I find myself thinking of something one of my professors said, about how the Roman Empire Christianized so quickly that we should probably think that at some point there was one generation that was primarily pagan, and then their kids weren’t. Of course, separating out the influence of mass media and so on from the data for our period would be tricky, but that’s what makes productive, creative anachronism fun. Hmm. That’s a rather strange example to come up with, but I suppose that’s what you get when you ask a classicist who’s also interested in queer theory and has had interdisciplinarity drummed into her. :)
It isn't just a question of the new idea, but of the old. In the case of christianity in Rome, it was a very old system of polytheistic gods. The greeks who described them had been seeking an alternative for centuries, as I understand it. The system of multiple gods came with a basic problem, namely that every person had to maintain relationships with each and every god/temple, with massive penalties that could happen to you if you didn't. ONE god was a very important selling point. All in all, it was a system which was very much past its prime, and society was ready.
With a 30% opinion for same-sex marriage, it is just a question of time. Everyone knows it. Unless something serious is shown ("Research shows 90% of same-sex marriages suffer from domestic violence" or the like).
How about this, one of their rationale is that none of these marriages produce children (at least any that was concieved in the "traditional" sense).
With the planet bursting at the seam at 5 billion people, I would think heterosexuality is alive and well.
Do I sound gay?
Thanks for the link!
And anecdotally, after meeting you in person, I was actually kind of surprised to realize, quite a few pages back in this very thread, that you're gay. Not that I have the fabled 'gaydar' or anything, but I didn't notice anything fabulous about you in person. ;)
(Now there's another interesting topic! Gaydar: urban legend, or real sensitivity to subtle vocal and body language cues?)
There was a video in this week's Slate column, "Ask A Homo:"
I don't know what movie the clip at 3:05 came from, but I literally loled.
In & Out.
I don't know what movie the clip at 3:05 came from, but I literally loled.
That movie was so funny and that scene had me in tears the first time I watched it.
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I've largely gone into lurk mode, guys, but I wanted to come out to do an utterly shameless plug for anyone in the MD/DC area:
The New Wave Singers of Baltimore will be performing a benefit concert for Moveable Feast on June 7 at 7 pm at St. Mark's Lutheran Church on St. Paul Street (cross streets of St. Paul and North).
The concert will feature an INAUGURAL performance of "I am in Love with the World" by Nathan Hall, a tribute to author Maurice Sendak, inspired by the interview he gave with Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air (only a few months before he passed away, IIRC).
The New Wave Singers are a LGBTS chorus and a nonprofit devoted to community building and diversity. Concert tickets are $20, and 50% of the proceeds go to Moveable Feast.
For more information on the chorus and for concert and ticket information: www.newwavesingers.org
Thanks!
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Medicare lifts the ban on gender transition-related surgeries.
Wow, you're on the ball, KSF. ^_^ I was just going to report that. Super awesome news. Insurance companies will still deny these claims but we're closer than ever and one giant stumbling block has been removed from the course.
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Medicare lifts the ban on gender transition-related surgeries.
THAT is some good news to end a week on!
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Medicare lifts the ban on gender transition-related surgeries.
Spectacular news!
And South Africa's new parliament includes the first (openly) gay and black MP in Africa.
Note to editor: would the sentence sound better if "Africa" was replaced with "the continent"?
South Continent? That doesn't make any sense. What about antartica?
Just the second Africa.
There used to be two. Then the wumpuses attacked. The resulting slaughter was so terrible that the powers that be decided not to show it on any maps. Let's just say the Pacific ocean is not quite that size, hmmm?
Pretty certain this thread now has the worldbuilding game beat on how fast a new continent can be created.
=)
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Feels like forever since I've been in this thread.
So, I'm moving down to Ft. Lauderdale to live with my girlfriend in August. Looking at going to Le Cordon Bleu and becoming a chef. It's a bit bittersweet, since I'm leaving a large network of friends and my gaming group of 3 years. But, it's time I get on with my life. Don't want to be a security dispatcher for the rest of my life.
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Feels like forever since I've been in this thread.
So, I'm moving down to Ft. Lauderdale to live with my girlfriend in August. Looking at going to Le Cordon Bleu and becoming a chef. It's a bit bittersweet, since I'm leaving a large network of friends and my gaming group of 3 years. But, it's time I get on with my life. Don't want to be a security dispatcher for the rest of my life.
Do they let you keep the nightstick?
I never got one :(
What did you Security with? Muscles and Crows?
A security dispatcher probably only needs phones and radios, I would guess.
You can secure a lot of locations with puppies and false hope.
*subvocalized* "Puppies are in. Deploy toaster oven!"
I never got one :(
No wonder you have no reasons to stay... :P
Of course we can ask my "Just graduated from High School" daughter how many continents there are, which recently came up in discussion. She piped up with utmost sincerity that there were 12 continents but only 52 countries. <--She has discovered the conspiracy.
Oy, I get that one might forgot one or two continents... But what she added to the more commonly know seven continents?!
So it's like in ET then?What did you Security with? Muscles and Crows?A security dispatcher probably only needs phones and radios, I would guess.
Problem with text only communication, I am trying to decide if you are attempting at being clever or you are truly just ignorant of what a dispatcher is. (hint: they don't go out into the field, so no, not like the revision of E.T.)
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Problem with text only communication, I am trying to decide if you are attempting at being clever or you are truly just ignorant of what a dispatcher is. (hint: they don't go out into the field, so no, not like the revision of E.T.)So it's like in ET then?What did you Security with? Muscles and Crows?A security dispatcher probably only needs phones and radios, I would guess.
Whichever is more amusing.
A mixed news... Anna Grodzka - the Poland's only transgendered parliment member got herself a court verdict forbidding Tomasz Terlikowski, a conservative (in the bad meaning of the world) catholic journalist from referring to her as a male. This of course raised a cries from conservative circles of return of censorship. Terlikowski is said to state that until the appeal he will refrain to refer to Grodzka directly but will continue to speak about transgendered people using their birth apparent gender.
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A mixed news... Anna Grodzka - the Poland's only transgendered parliment member got herself a court verdict forbidding Tomasz Terlikowski, a conservative (in the bad meaning of the world) catholic journalist from referring to her as a male. This of course raised a cries from conservative circles of return of censorship. Terlikowski is said to state that until the appeal he will refrain to refer to Grodzka directly but will continue to speak about transgendered people using their birth apparent gender.
Never underestimate the lengths people will go through to insult and emotionally abuse minorities.
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A mixed news... Anna Grodzka - the Poland's only transgendered parliment member got herself a court verdict forbidding Tomasz Terlikowski, a conservative (in the bad meaning of the world) catholic journalist from referring to her as a male. This of course raised a cries from conservative circles of return of censorship. Terlikowski is said to state that until the appeal he will refrain to refer to Grodzka directly but will continue to speak about transgendered people using their birth apparent gender.Never underestimate the lengths people will go through to insult and emotionally abuse minorities.
True. What's also true is that if you keep poking a dog with a stick eventually it's gonna bite your face off.
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True. What's also true is that if you keep poking a dog with a stick eventually it's gonna bite your face off.A mixed news... Anna Grodzka - the Poland's only transgendered parliment member got herself a court verdict forbidding Tomasz Terlikowski, a conservative (in the bad meaning of the world) catholic journalist from referring to her as a male. This of course raised a cries from conservative circles of return of censorship. Terlikowski is said to state that until the appeal he will refrain to refer to Grodzka directly but will continue to speak about transgendered people using their birth apparent gender.Never underestimate the lengths people will go through to insult and emotionally abuse minorities.
This isn't a case of poking a dog with a stick; The dog was already biting people, and has been biting people for a long time. This is a case of the dog screaming that it's right to bite people without consequence is being abridged.
This isn't a case of poking a dog with a stick; The dog was already biting people, and has been biting people for a long time. This is a case of the dog screaming that it's right to bite people without consequence is being abridged.True. What's also true is that if you keep poking a dog with a stick eventually it's gonna bite your face off.A mixed news... Anna Grodzka - the Poland's only transgendered parliment member got herself a court verdict forbidding Tomasz Terlikowski, a conservative (in the bad meaning of the world) catholic journalist from referring to her as a male. This of course raised a cries from conservative circles of return of censorship. Terlikowski is said to state that until the appeal he will refrain to refer to Grodzka directly but will continue to speak about transgendered people using their birth apparent gender.Never underestimate the lengths people will go through to insult and emotionally abuse minorities.
Maybe they meant it the other way. Keep calling someone names, then you shouldn't cry when your (abused) rights get limited.
I think that Rysky meant the Anna Grodzka to be the dog in this case, poking with the stick to be calling her man and the face being bitten off was reference to the verdict.
Core part of Terlikowski's and his circle claims is their stance that court does not have the power to change one's legal gender and their blatant attacks that no court verdict can force them to "call white what is black, and call black what is white" (Polish expression about discerning between things - I need to find corresponding English idiom). They also hold to 5th grade school view of biology and genetics claiming that having chromosome Y makes one irrevocably male.
It would be amusing how those conservative Christian folk selectively hold to parts of (obsolete) science when it supports their views and promptly ignore anything that does not fit their narrow worldview if it weren't so annoying and backward.
* I don't remember if I said about that before or not: Polish law does not have regulations about legally changing one's gender. What is done instead (if I got that right) is going to court and requesting correcting legal documents about one's gender under a basis that your parents/guardians/doctors made an error in estimating the newly born transperson gender because of superficial traits.
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Lots of good news for the trans community over the past few weeks.
Washington state is moving to include transgender healthcare in insurance plans
Lots of good news for the trans community over the past few weeks.
Washington state is moving to include transgender healthcare in insurance plans
Awesome.
I'm debating whether or not I should go to Pridefest this year. I get bored watching parades and I don't really enjoy crowds so I don't know what I would do other than stand around being bored. Is there anything else to do there?
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I'm debating whether or not I should go to Pridefest this year. I get bored watching parades and I don't really enjoy crowds so I don't know what I would do other than stand around being bored. Is there anything else to do there?
Drink and eat?
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Get crunk and make poor life choices?
That's my default.
Someone suggested going to one of the bars but I don't drink much anymore. It triggers panic attacks. I'm already going to be nervous (even though I shouldn't be since it should be an acceptable place for me). I need to find out what events are going on and if anyone wants to go with me. Even if I don't get dressed up, it would be a boring day if I was down there alone.
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I tried to get crunk once.
It was the whitest thing I've done since that time I tried to jump.
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I tried to get crunk once.
It was the whitest thing I've done since that time I tried to jump.
And I'm so old that I have no idea what "crunk" means.
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This thread makes me smile sometimes.
And I'm so old that I have no idea what "crunk" means.I tried to get crunk once.
It was the whitest thing I've done since that time I tried to jump.
Cru-what?
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I'm debating whether or not I should go to Pridefest this year. I get bored watching parades and I don't really enjoy crowds so I don't know what I would do other than stand around being bored. Is there anything else to do there?
I haven't been in years. It's all dance music and corporate beer sponsorships; nothing I'm especially proud of. That's not what my forebears fought and died about.