INTERESTING TIMES

I must mark this moment when my LGBT friends are truly heartened by the change in US law. It brings a tear to my eye. My half-aunt in North Carolina is going to marry her longtime partner on Halloween day. Successful gay parents are gloating. My friends from all walks are sporting rainbows. The culture shift is generational as all large shifts must be.

Yes, yes you lawyers out there will have all manner of refinements to put on my headline. I have not really studied on this change, rather I've absorbed its impact while ignoring the news. It's just not OK anymore for states not to recognize gay marriages. Or something like that. I've heard that a state is still not obligated to PROVIDE gay marriages, but that is another step in a very long series. I've been busy with other things.... but I am noting this vibration through the land that something really has changed... and with it brings a little bit of hope that we might manage other changes.

I'm sure the social conservative media is damning. I need an antenna in that world somehow. (Thinking cult: which cults are most anti-gay?)

That cartoon of the rebel flag setting and rainbow flag rising is everywhere. Show me some fresh art, not so trite already.

I'm surprised I haven't heard this one before. It's short, and good.



( text of speech thanks to Fresh Brains )

Twenty eight percent (28%) of US households are now just one person living alone. This is the most ever. These singles are the biggest spenders, contributing 1.9 trillion to "the economy" each year. (According to The Week 2/10/12 which is in turn quoting Fortune magazine)

And another factoid from the same source: the number of US prisoners age 65 and over has increased 63% between 2007 and 2010. I guess we're keeping them put away so long that now they need more medical care, and it's becoming an issue. The total number of prisoners has been flat for that same period.

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/13/pastor-and-wife-preach-married-sex-with-24-hour-bed-in/

A pastor and his wife are urging their married couples to go have sex... I can't decide if I'm more impressed with how satisfied they look, or with the fact that they are talking about sex as Christians, here in the land of puritans.

The rate at which U.S. women are having babies continued to fall in 2009, pushing the teen birth rate to the lowest level in the nearly 70 years reliable data have been collected, federal authorities reported Tuesday.

(Graphic by Pamela Tobey / The Washington Post)
( notes from Washington Post article and other sources )

Texas GOP Official Platform Calls for Imprisonment of Homosexuals and Supportive Heterosexuals
http://jaysays.com/2010/06/texas-gop-official-platform-calls-for-imprisonment-of-homosexuals-and-supportive-heterosexuals/
( reaction )

Funny, I feel better after studying the details of my student loan repayment agreement. I will do what I am able, I will serve, I will work hard. I am already good at paying bills on time; if it is possible I will do it. If it is not, well, so be it.

Behind the cut is government text---some of what I'm signing off on for my student loan. I am happy to learn that the loan is forgiven if I die (my family is not on the hook), though if I were to get married my husband would influence the governmental decision about how much I should be able to pay. That's sort of a bummer but I wasn't anywhere near getting hitched anyway. Also learned that if I default the entire amount becomes immediately due (nice joke) and then all they do is garnish wages and keep my tax returns....makes the Patch Adams approach somewhat more appealing.

https://studentloans.gov/myDirectLoan/index.action
( cut )

I wouldn't have believed it, but some Republicans seem to be realizing that the party will not get out of the doghouse until it stops being so homophobic. Steve Schmidge, who was an advisor to John McCain during his campaign, said:

It cannot be argued that marriage between people of the same sex is un American or threatens the rights of others. On the contrary, it seems to me that denying two consenting adults of the same sex the right to form a lawful union that is protected and respected by the state denies them two of the most basic natural rights affirmed in the preamble of our Declaration of Independence — liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, I believe, gives the argument of same sex marriage proponents its moral force.

SOURCE
force.http://gayrights.change.org/blog/view/a_sound_conservative_argument_for_same-sex_marriage

( Behind the cut: One particular comment from the discussion that I decided to save. )

The Courage Campaign offers this video to put a face to all the couples who would be automatically divorced if the Supreme Court upholds California's anti-gay proposition 8. The Mormon (LDS) Church was far more involved than they'd like to admit in promoting this law, and they were successful; it passed.

At the Courage Campaign website you can sign a letter indicating your support of allowing gay couples to marry--and stay married. I've had my own issues with the word "marriage", even so, it seems foolish to deny this rite and recognition to loving couples based solely on gender. We need to be encouraging stable committed relationships, for the benefit of society. Because an enlightened society values love. A true Christian (like Jesus, for one) values love.