extra! extra!

“Extra! extra! Extra! Hey look at the headline historical news is being made. Extra! extra they’re drawing a red line around the biggest scoop of the decade. A barrel of charm a fabulous thrill the biggest little headline in Vaudeville.” (“Dainty June and Her Farmboys”, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim)

I read the news, listen to the news google the news and it seems every time I think that the bad guys could not be any badder, a new news story erupts and badder just got worse. Perhaps I perseverate in my need to understand the current events of my life, but the worry about my life and the life of those I love deems it necessary to do so. I also find it too difficult to permit the bully to proceed at the expense of his/her self appointed victims.

The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) has sworn that same-sex marriage is Un-God like, Un-American, and Un-Family positive. They are a powerful group of bigots who just dislike, hate and despise the LGBT community. Like so many bigots they rely on their mis-interpretation of the Bible, their annotated version of the Constitution, and fears and phobias based on tall tales regurgitated from generation to generation by an ill educated and ignorant family.

The strategic goal of this project is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks -- two key Democratic constituencies. Find, equip, energize and connect African American spokespeople for marriage; develop a media campaign around their objections to gay marriage as a civil right; provoke the gay marriage base into responding by denouncing these spokesmen and women as bigots.

NOM's strategists said they needed "to accomplish a sophisticated cultural objective: interrupt the attempt to equate gay with black, and sexual orientation with race. We need to make traditional sexual morality intellectually respectable again in elite culture. And we need to give liberals an alternative way of thinking about gay rights issues, one that does not lead to the misuse of the power of government to crush dissent in the name of fighting discrimination." (The BLOG)

So every day as I read the news I hear from people like this insidious group of ignoramuses denying me equality as a Gay man. Because these liars and self serving bigots think my love for my same sex partner can and will trump their marriages, their families, their God and their country they undermine my freedoms and pursuit of happiness.

In the news recently we have been told that either religion is being attacked or the rights of women are being dismissed and denied. The news seems to forget in the telling of the tale that civil rights, respect and freedoms of choice and safety are being ignored. Suddenly women are the enemy, they are the new Black or the new Gay and all the animosity delivered to the Blacks or the Gays is now being bombarded toward anyone female. The Violence Against Women Act, a simple approach to fight crime and provide a safety net for women, like our mothers, grandmothers, sisters, nieces, aunts daughters and best friends is struggling to be re-in acted. How does protection for members of this nation have a down side?

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) creates and supports comprehensive, effective, and cost saving responses to the crimes of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking. VAWA programs, administered by the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services, have dramatically changed federal, tribal, state, and local responses to these crimes.

Initially passed in 1994, VAWA created the first U.S. federal legislation acknowledging domestic violence and sexual assault as crimes, and provided federal resources to encourage community-coordinated responses to combating violence. Its reauthorization in 2000 improved the foundation established by VAWA 1994 by creating a much-needed legal assistance program for victims and by expanding the definition of crime to include dating violence and stalking. Its subsequent reauthorization in 2005 created new programs to meet the emerging needs of communities working to prevent violence. VAWA expired in 2011 and must be swiftly reauthorized to ensure the continuation of these vital, lifesaving programs and laws. (National Network to end domestic violence)

So every day as I read the news I hear more and more that women must behave accordingly. I hear that women are the culprit for anything from their own rape to unplanned pregnancies, destroying marriage to being to assertive. I hear that God has a more secondary rule for women, that as subservient to her man or any man. I hear once again separate but not equal.

Extra! extra I do read all about it and all I read is divide, conquer, we, they, deny, divide. All I seem to read is how something so simple so fair is never a sure thing to win but always a long shot or no shot at all.