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John Shelby Spong lays the smack down

shadowspar: Picture of ouendan (ouendan - osu!)
Tuesday, October 26th, 2010 12:21
Bishop John Shelby Spong has had enough of the bullshit, and lays it out in a most excellent rant:


I have made a decision. I will no longer debate the issue of homosexuality in the church with anyone. I will no longer engage the biblical ignorance that emanates from so many right-wing Christians about how the Bible condemns homosexuality, as if that point of view still has any credibility. ... Those arguments are no longer worthy of my time or energy. ... Can any of us imagine having a public referendum on whether slavery should continue, whether segregation should be dismantled, whether voting privileges should be offered to women?


Hat-tip to [personal profile] damned_colonial.
( Full text )
  • Current Mood: stalwart
  • Current Music: The Blue Hearts - 終わらない歌 (Owaranai Uta, "Endless Song")
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Military blah

shadowspar: An angry anime swordswoman, looking as though about to smash something (Default)
Thursday, September 30th, 2010 00:28

I tried for hours to form my experiences around camaraderie and the good ol' boys club in the military into a comment that would fit with this Geekfeminism post, but I couldn't manage to pull it together.

The phrase "This Man's Army" is very much appropriate to the military of today (or, at least, the Canadian Army of 1997, when I got out). By and large, it's still very much a white, male, heterosexist institution, but there are a lot more subtleties than an overarching summary would have you think, including a lot of pockets of very inclusive, principled, and thoughtful people.

Indeed, after a fashion, the military is a cornucopia of extremes. I saw humanity at its best and at its worst many a time during my short, part-time stint there. Young soldiers -- kids, really -- punished by being humiliated in front of their peers. Rumours that our WO had been passed over for promotion because he was black. But too, the noble parts -- soldiers standing up for an excellent officer when others tried to slag him because he was gay. Grizzled old sergeants admonishing junior NCOs not to address their charges as 'guys' -- "Call them troops! 'Guys' is sexist." Soldiers on a course rallying around a colleague who'd been harassed by one of her instructors.

I learned a lot there -- about myself, about others; about what it means to be honourable. That's one thing that can certainly be said about it.

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The fly in the ointment

shadowspar: An angry anime swordswoman, looking as though about to smash something (Default)
Thursday, November 6th, 2008 00:29

There always has to be one, doesn't there?

As [livejournal.com profile] frickinmuck correctly points out, while American voters may have repudiated racism by putting a black man in the nation's highest office, many also endorsed homophobia in several ballot initiatives, including California Proposition 8.

I'm disgusted by the notion that human rights should be subject to a majority vote, let alone that any of these measures passed. Times like this remind me of how much I cherish the protections afforded me by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms:

15. (1) Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.

(As an aside, any time anybody mentions the phrase "Traditional Marriage", I can't help but think of this Rick Mercer clip. You know! Traditional marriage, like with arranged marriages, beatings and stuff!)

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Heinz pulls UK ad on account of guys' micro-smooch

shadowspar: An angry anime swordswoman, looking as though about to smash something (Default)
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 20:54

Awww, furrfu.

S'actually not a bad ad. Guess the folks at the agency overestimated how blasé Britons would be about a quick peck. It's pretty obvious to me that the whole point of the piece wasn't OMFG HOT BOYZ MAKIN OUT, but this sort of thing apparently gets lost on some folks.

Despite this last bit, I've been incredibly perky today. For some reason, I seemed to wake up feeling like the day was full of potential.

edit: Apparently the marketing folks who put the video on youtube pulled it down. Linked to a different copy instead.

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