The Buck and Mike Blog

Today is the first day that same-sex couples in Washington, DC, begin picking up marriage licenses. Undoubtedly, some of the first in line will be couples who have been together for 20, 30, or 40 years or more. Some have raised children and have grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Many have worked openly as civil servants for years, getting your social security checks out on time, inspecting your food, manufacturing coins and currency, and testing drugs to make sure they are safe and effective. Some work in the Environmental Protection Agency, helping safeguard our environment. Others work for the Smithsonian Institution, helping safeguard the treasures of our national heritage. Some install cable TV, put out fires, police the streets, manage stores, preach on Sundays, build houses, and fix cars. There will be college students, plumbers, doctors, bus drivers, teachers, artists, cabinet makers, computer programmers, architects, flight attendants, attorneys, and writers. There will be employees of the Red Cross, the World Bank, Amnesty International, the Pentagon, and international embassies.

We know Washington people in all these categories, and some will be waiting in line today. This is a great demonstration of joy, optimism, and love in a city that is often the scene of cynicism. I’m very happy for all of you. If we were not already married, we would be lining up with you.

Read the CNN.com article.

Earlier this week I was reminded of one reason why I like being far from Washington, DC. During a conference call preparatory to a week of conducting training in Washington next week, we were reviewing the training materials we would need. Some of the items included markers and flip charts. Reasonable, right?

“NO!” we were told. “You can’t use that term!” It seems that “flip chart” has been banned from use in the federal workplace because it can be interpreted as a derogatory term for Filipinos. Huh?

I spent an hour online researching ways to insult Filipinos without finding anything about flip charts. Even the Wikipedia list of ethnic slurs doesn’t have it, and they are always excruciatingly up-to-date. Twenty years of writing for federal agencies have taught me the importance of being attuned to the sensitivities of others. I understand and appreciate the reasons for exercising care in our verbal and written communications. Language is a powerful tool both for lifting souls and keeping them down. But please. This particular example of political correctness is just plain stupid and borders on being paranoid.

Leave a comment to share your best examples of political correctness paranoia.

ethnic slur, political correctness

Portugal’s parliament voted Friday to allow same-sex marriage in the country, making it the sixth country in Europe to grant marriage equality. (Spain, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Sweden are the others.) Canada, South Africa and several U.S. states also permit same-sex marriages as do a number of large cities (most recently Mexico City).

Read the New York Times article.

Today we celebrate Human Rights Day, the anniversary of the 1948 signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This is possibly the most important individual document ever created by the UN and ratified by member countries. It recognizes the humanity of us all and grants basic rights and protections to all people around the world. The first few words of this powerful document—“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”—seem basic, but the concept is still not accepted around much of the world.

There is no better example of the importance of the struggle for basic human rights today than Uganda. A bill before the country’s legislature would make homosexual sex a death-penalty offense. Just being gay could get you a life sentence. If you know someone who is gay and don’t report them within 24 hours, you can get three years in prison. Yes, including family members. As a side effect, we can anticipate an exponential rise in AIDS in a country that until now has had the best prevention program in Africa. “Moral” extremism will kill the country, as it has in so many others.

Read about the Uganda situation in this CNN article.

Amnesty International, the human rights organization I worked with for years, is sponsoring a special Global Write-a-Thon today. Please give a moment of your time to help.

Human Rights Day, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, AIDS, Uganda, Amnesty International

When President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard/James Bryd Jr Hate Crimes Prevention Act on Wednesday, he promised that from now on Americans will be protected from violence based on “what they look like, who they love, how they pray, or why they are.”

Just to clarify, the bill expands already-existing hate crime legislation from 1969 (yes, 40 years ago!) to include crimes motivated by actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. It doesn’t mean that Americans who are gay or in wheelchairs have special rights that other Americans don’t have, as irresponsible right-wing talk show hosts would have us believe. Basically, it:

• removes the current prerequisite that the victim be engaging in a federally-protected activity, like voting or going to school, when the crime is committed, as in both the Shepard and Bryd cases;
• gives federal authorities greater ability to engage in hate crimes investigations that local authorities choose not to pursue (so if the local Hooterville, Mississippi, sheriff doesn’t investigate a lynching, the feds can);
• provides funding to help state and local agencies pay for investigating and prosecuting hate crimes (so it isn’t a financial burden on the local police who otherwise might turn their heads);
• requires the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to track statistics on hate crimes against transgender people (statistics for the other groups are already tracked).

(This list is from a Wikipedia article about the Act. Italicized comments are mine.)

The families of Matthew Shepard and James Bryd Jr. were present for the signing. There is no real comfort for those who have lost a loved one to such hatred and violence, but an act named in their honor is a lasting legacy to their lives and the efforts of their families to get this legislation through Congress. Finally!

How ironic it is that the Act was attached to a defense spending bill, while the military is the one federal agency that does not allow gay, lesbian, and transgender Americans to serve in its ranks.

Does this mean the federal government has done enough for gays and lesbians? Absolutely not! It’s only a start, but it’s something.

I recommend Andres Kessinger’s piece in today’s Washington Post: Help Gays Who Aren’t Hurt.

Obama, Matthew Shepard/James Bryd Jr Hate Crimes Prevention Act

The National Equality March , which takes place Sunday afternoon, is the largest march for gay and lesbian rights in decades. More importantly, it is the culmination of days of equal rights-based activities in our nation’s capital.

Many people, including some activists in the gay community, questioned the effectiveness of marching at this particular time. Congress is on break for the Columbus Day federal holiday, which severely limits the lobbying possibilities. But in truth, lobbying was never part of the plans. Politicians don’t have to be in town to see the strength and passion of the movement. The long weekend event is packed with meetings, workshops, and trainings for local activists. The march is the culmination of the activities. » Read the rest of this entry »

In an article published last week in the New York Times, financial experts Tara Siegel Bernard and Ron Lieber compare the costs of being a gay couple in a life-long relationship and a married heterosexual couple. They look at best case and worst case scenarios and everything in between. In both cases the couples had kids, grew old together, and at least one of them died.

Guess what. It’s expensive being gay. Some of the costs are obvious, like the inability to collect Social Security benefits when a partner dies. Some costs are more subtle, like health insurance premiums. Premiums for heterosexual couples with health insurance provided by a spouse’s employer are tax deductable, but they are not for gay couples (even those rare cases where employers offer full domestic partner benefits).

» Read the rest of this entry »

I remember when Edward Kennedy first came to the Senate he was called “Teddy” because he was the youngest member of the three-son Kennedy dynasty in Washington. He was a Teddy bear who became the Lion of the Senate. His political career was much longer than that of his brothers, President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, both of whom were assassinated at the height of their careers. Though he came from a background of privilege, he fought his entire life for working class people.

In this video—during which Sen. Kennedy speaks of the need for universal health care—you get a glimpse of why he was the Lion. How ironic that the man who called universal health care “the cause of my life,” who introduced comprehensive legislation over a dozen times during his career, and who believed that everyone should have the same quality of medical insurance as Members of Congress, should die of cancer while that same Congress continues to debate who deserves coverage and who does not.

Edward Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, universal health care

I’ve been wanting to blog about health care reform in the U. S. for some time now. I’m all for reform, because the health care system the United States has now is horribly broken. I’m not sure what the initial health care reform bill should look like, but I don’t think we can wait until we agree on every point before we begin to institute reforms. Our country has never worked that way anyway. The U. S. may celebrate July 4, 1776 as Independence Day, but the U.S. Constitution wasn’t adopted until September 17, 1787, and ratified by the states months later. In between those dates were other attempts to get it right. Our history of beginning major change but then later hammering out the details goes back to the founding of this nation.

I read a piece by Roger Ebert today, and he answers a lot of questions people have. Yes, Roger Ebert, the movie guy. He’s also a genuine American, which makes him as qualified as anyone to discuss health care reform, and he does it quite clearly. Following is an excerpt from his blog entry on the Chicago Sun Times website, and I recommend you click through to that site to read the entire piece.

Excerpt from Roger Ebert’s “I’m safe on board. Pull up the life rope.”

Having read through some 600 comments about universal health care, I now realize I took the wrong approach in my previous blog entry. I discussed the Obama health plan in political, literal, logical terms. Most of my readers replied in the same vein. The comments, as always, have been helpful, informative and for the most part civil. My mistake was writing from the pragmatic side. I should have followed my heart and gone with a more emotional approach. I believe universal health care is, quite simply, right.

It is a moral imperative. I cannot enjoy health coverage and turn to my neighbor and tell him he doesn’t deserve it. A nation is a mutual undertaking. In a democracy, we set out together to do what we believe is good for the commonwealth. That means voluntarily subjecting ourselves to the rule of law, taxation, military service, the guaranteeing of rights to minorities, and so on. That is a cheap price to pay. » Read the rest of this entry »

health care reform, Constitution, Ebert

Polititians regularly change their positions and flip-flop around on issues like fish pulled from a lake. Often it’s hard to tell what a person actually believes and stands for. (Mitt Romney, are you listening?) When a politition changes his position, I usually ignore it because it’s a matter of expediency. Okay, so I’m cynical.

So changing your position is easy and temporary. Changing your heart and mind, however, is different. It is personal, sincere, and believable. When a person changes his or her heart, I believe we are obligated to listen. Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd has done just that on the subject of marriage equality. I think his statement merits reprinting and we are obligated to listen.

Rights, responsibilities and love

Op-ed By U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd

Meriden-Record Journal
http://forums.ctrecord.com/showthread.php?t=3739
June 21, 2009

Public officials aren’t supposed to change their minds. But I firmly believe that it’s important to keep learning. Last week, while I was in Connecticut meeting with members of the gay and lesbian community from across the state, I had the opportunity to tell them what I’ve learned about marriage, and about equality.

While I’ve long been for extending every benefit of marriage to same-sex couples, I have in the past drawn a distinction between a marriage-like status (”civil unions”) and full marriage rights.

The reason was simple: I was raised to believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. And as many other Americans have realized as they’ve struggled to reconcile the principle of fairness with the lessons they learned early in life, that’s not an easy thing to overcome.

But the fact that I was raised a certain way just isn’t a good enough reason to stand in the way of fairness anymore.
» Read the rest of this entry »

Christopher Dodd, Meriden-Record Journal

We have all read in our history books about the grand buildings, public landscaping, scenic road engineering and construction, the public campgrounds that were built by Civilian Conservation Corps workers, eager for for any steady work. I have relatives who worked for the CCC. The government hired filmmakers to shoot training and booster films, some managing to create art out of chaos. Painters were called into service to decorate civic buildings, giving us some of the most amazing buildings of the century. (More on that another day.)

Canada understands that a country’s culture must move forward. The National Film Board of Canada has supported filmmaking for many years. During that time companies have stepped forward with some minor sponsorship support. The films are cutting edge and engaging on the most basic human level.

I’d like to share a quite distinct film by one of the finalists. In it, we are introduced to Sebastian, a new selfless hero. I’ll link to a new film each day this week until the last one.

Civilian Conservation Corps, CCC

I thought this was a particularly eloquent analysis of this week’s cowardly decision by California Supreme Court. The original May 27th opinion piece is here.
—Buck
————-

California court’s contradictory Prop. 8 decision

The decision Tuesday that upheld a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage was social and moral nonsense.

Tim Rutten

One of the most misunderstood stories in the Western moral tradition involves the “judgment of Solomon,” which usually is taken as a metaphor for splitting the difference.

But that’s wrong. The story, for those who have forgotten, involves two harlots who came to King Solomon to resolve a dispute. Both recently had given birth, but one women’s baby lived and the other’s died. The woman who went to sleep with a living child and awoke to find a dead baby in her arms claimed that the other had switched their infants. Solomon listened to both and then announced that he would “cut the living child in two, and give half to one woman and half to the other.”

When one of the women renounced her claim “in anguish” and the other accepted the verdict, the king gave the anguished harlot the living child, for she had reacted as only the true mother would. The point, in other words, is that Solomon didn’t split the baby. Justice divided is no justice at all.

That’s essentially the problem with the California Supreme Court’s ruling Tuesday, upholding Proposition 8’s ban on same-sex marriage while leaving legally intact the 18,000 or more unions the state already has sanctioned.
» Read the rest of this entry »