Thursday, January 20, 2011

Lesbian Wisdom: Fact is, blatant heterosexuals are all over the place.

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GAY WISDOM for Daily Living...

from White Crane a magazine exploring
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THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY



JANUARY 20



1944 - The great Black Lesbian poet PAT PARKER was born (d. 1989). Author of many books, including "Movement In Black," "Child of Myself" and "Jonestown and Other Madness." She is remembered for such incisive writing in poems like "For the white person who wants to know how to be my friend" and "For The Straight Folks Who Don't Mind Gays But Wish They Weren't So BLATANT" (One of the funniest and most right-on poems written on this subject -- see today's "Gay Wisdom"). Her poems were a herald of strength and resistance in the early movement of Gay Liberation. After a long history of writing and teaching, Parker died of cancer in 1989.



1993 - Screen legend Audrey Hepburn died in Switzerland at age 63. She wasn't gay but had such style and class it just felt right to note her passing today. Editorial prerogative.



2001 - On this date some 25,000 protesters gathered in Washington, DC for the inauguration of President George W. Bush along with some 7,000 police. George Bush, the so called "1st President with an MBA," was inaugurated as the nation's 43rd President in Washington DC. The "compassionate conservative" vowed to lead "through civility, courage, compassion and character."



Four years later on this date in 2005 the inauguration ceremony for Bush was held in Washington DC. Anti-Bush demonstrators jeered the president's motorcade during the inaugural parade. The event was expected to cost $40 million the administration asked DC to use $11.9 million of its own federal homeland security funds to help pay costs. Pres. Bush pledged to spread democracy and support democratic movements worldwide. After 8 years involving two wars, three attacks in the country, near economic collapse, massive hurricane damage, and more than can be listed on this email (like his being the first president to call for the codification of anti-Gay legislation into the constitution), Bush left office with the lowest approval rating of any U.S. President in history (22%, beating the former record holder -- Truman who had 32%).



2003 - On this date in South Africa an execution-style attack at a Cape Town Gay bath house killed eight men and badly wounded two.



2009 - President Barack Obama was inaugurated in Washington, DC with great expectation to make sweeping change. It was a great day with great fanfare (Aretha's hat!) and record crowds for an inaugural in bitterly cold weather. Though his administration has taken on one of the most dire economies since the Great Depression he continues to be blamed by many Americans for the current economic predicament (forgetting the prior right years of disastrous economic and politics.) And while he has, in many ways, been a disappointment to most progressives, he did manage to fulfill the promise of repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell last month. Now all someone needs to do is sit down and explain to this man the finer points of real equality and the parallels with "separate but equal"…it wasn't good then…it isn't good now.



For Catholics today is the feast day of ST. SEBASTIAN. Popular among many Gay men why exactly? Could it have something to do with his commonly being depicted in art and literature tied to a post naked and shot with arrows? Others claim he was the beloved of the emperor Diocletian, who turned against him for embracing Christianity. Given Christianity's common position on homosexuality, Dio could be forgiven for his disappointment, couldn't he? On a more trivial note Sebastian is the patron saint of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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TODAY'S GAY WISDOM

For The Straight Folks Who Don't Mind Gays But Wish They Weren't So Blatant

by Pat Parker

You know, some people got a lot of nerve.
Sometimes I don't believe the things I see and hear.

Have you met the woman who's shocked by two women kissing
and in the same breath, tells you she is pregnant?
BUT gays, shouldn't be so blatant.

Or this straight couple sits next to you in a movie and
you can't hear the dialogue because of the sound effects.
BUT gays shouldn't be so blatant.

And the woman in your office spends an entire lunch hour
talking about her new bikini drawers and how much
her husband likes them.
BUT gays shouldn't be so blatant.

Or the "hip" chick in your class rattling like a mile a minute
while you're trying to get stoned in the john, about the
camping trip she took with her musician boyfriend.
BUT gays shouldn't be so blatant.

You go in a public bathroom and all over the walls there's John loves
Mary, Janice digs Richard, Pepe loves Delores, etc., etc.
BUT gays shouldn't be so blatant.

Or you go to an amusement park and there's a tunnel of love
and pictures of straights painted on the front and grinning
couples are coming in and out.
BUT gays shouldn't be so blatant.

Fact is, blatant heterosexuals are all over the place.
Supermarkets, movies, on your job, in church, in books, on television every day
day and night, every place-even- in gay bars and they want gay
men and woman to go and hide in the closet.

So to you straight folks I say, "Sure, I'll go if you go too"
BUT I'm polite so, after you.

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Community Notices



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White Crane Books

is proud to announce the March 2011 publication of



The Fire In Moonlight
Stories from the Radical Faeries 1975 - 2010



The Fire In Moonlight is a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the first Faerie Gathering in an Arizona desert ashram. A collection of essays and commentaries edited by Mark Thompson, Richard (Osiris) Neely and Bo Young, the anthology is an international colloquy on the birth and lasting importance of Radical Faerie culture.



With contributions by new writers, as well as authors Mark Thompson (Gay Body/Gay Soul/Gay Spirit: Myth & Meaning), Will Roscoe (The Zuni Man-Woman/Jesus and the Shamanic Traditions of Same-Sex Love/Queer Spirits), Stuart Timmons (Gay L.A. and The Trouble With Harry), The Fire in the Moonlight is a long-awaited Talking Circle of reflection on the progress we have made as Faeries moving forward, and a critical and loving appraisal of its importance for GLBT people and the larger community.



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GAY WISDOM for Daily Living...



from White Crane Institute



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1 comment:

libhom said...

That poem nails it.