Just plain out loved Jenny's writings, perspectives of Maine life, as well as the column title- a clever nod to an old Maine "Bert and I" joke...
Glad to read this interesting and timely piece in today's New York Times:
As many Americans know, last week Gov. John Baldacci of Maine signed a law that made this state the fifth in the nation to legalize gay marriage. It's worth pointing out, however, that there were some legal same-sex marriages in Maine already, just as there probably are in all 50 states. These are marriages in which at least one member of the couple has changed genders since the wedding.I'm in such a marriage myself and, quite frankly, my spouse and I forget most of the time that there is anything particularly unique about our family, even if we are - what is the phrase? - "differently married."
Deirdre Finney and I were wed in 1988 at the National Cathedral in Washington. In 2000, I started the long and complex process of changing from male to female. Deedie stood by me, deciding that her life was better with me than without me.
Deirdre is far from the only spouse to find herself in this situation; each week we hear from wives and husbands going through similar experiences together. Reliable statistics on transgendered people always prove elusive, but just judging from my e-mail, it seems as if there are a whole lot more transsexuals - and people who love them - in New England than say, Republicans. Or Yankees fans.
I've been legally female since 2002, although the definition of what makes someone "legally" male or female is part of what makes this issue so unwieldy. How do we define legal gender? By chromosomes? By genitalia? By spirit? By whether one asks directions when lost?
We accept as a basic truth the idea that everyone has the right to marry somebody. Just as fundamental is the belief that no couple should be divorced against their will.
h/t to Blend reader Rachel, and more below the fold...
For our part, Deirdre and I remain legally married, even though we're both legally female. If we had divorced last month, before Governor Baldacci's signature, I would have been allowed on the following day to marry a man only.
Gender involves a lot of gray area. And efforts to legislate a binary truth upon the wide spectrum of gender have proven only how elusive sexual identity can be.
Legal scholars can (and have) devoted themselves to the ultimately frustrating task of defining "male" and "female" as entities fixed and unmoving. A better use of their time, however, might be to focus on accepting the elusiveness of gender - and to celebrate it. Whether a marriage like mine is a same-sex marriage or some other kind is hardly the point. What matters is that my spouse and I love each other, her, and that our legal union has been a good thing - for us, for our children and for our community.
Brilliantly written and the legal cases within the original piece are very compelling.
This is what we need to help the average American understand- examples of real stories displaying the normalcy, the acceptance, the love that already exists within very healthy families- not just in Maine, but throughout our country.
Enabling homophobia is still the MSM editorial standard. A review by NPR's Nathan Lee of the new documentary "Outrage" was sliced and diced to remove the names of Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and former Senator Larry Craig from it, resulting in Lee removing his byline.
This is the real outrage -- the MSM's pervasive homophobic double standard of protecting closeted pols as a private matter while deeming the personal lives of straight pols fair game -- a theme woven throughout the film -- is proven yet again. Eugene Hernandez @ IndieWire:
Citing a policy of protecting the privacy of public figures, an NPR superior cut the names of current Florida governor Charlie Crist and former Senator Larry Craig from the review after writer Nathan Lee and his assigning editor at NPR had agreed on the text of the piece. However, a photo of Larry Craig accompanies the review and says that the former Senator is a subject of the documentary. It also hints strongly at the inclusion of Crist in the doc.There is a world of things wrong about NPR's excuse for shredding this review. First of all, Larry Craig's little airport bathroom stall toe-tapping isn't a private matter -- he was arrested and confessed to the act, which occurred in a public place. That's a matter of public record. FAIL, NPR.Lee was not told of the NPR policy about public figures when he was assigned to review the new film.
"NPR has a long-held policy of trying to respect the privacy of public figures and of not airing or publishing rumors, allegations and reports about their private lives unless there is a compelling reason to do so," Dick Meyer, NPR's executive director of Digital, told indieWIRE late Sunday night. "This may be considered old-fashioned by some, but it is a policy we value and respect. We neglected to inform the author of the 'Outrage' review about this policy when the piece was commissioned, a simple ov ersight we regret."
"Only an overriding public need to know can justify intrusion into anyone's privacy," the NPR policy, posted on its website.
Second of all, it's not as if coverage of Crist is invisible. It's been mentioned in other reviews of the film. Plus, Crist is about to run for a U.S. Senate seat, and if he wins, he will vote on LGBT-related legislation. He has an ample anti-gay record in his state. Is this not relevant to the news media?
The local media has reported on his closet, for god's sake. For crying out loud, when he announced his engagement, the ridicule was heaped upon the governor by readers in a Sun-Sentinel poll (I got a screen cap for posterity, right). FAIL, NPR.
Third, NPR has no business tossing out the "privacy" card when it couldn't resist deeming John Edwards's heterosexual tomcatting newsworthy, underscoring that there were legitimate political reasons for the reporting:
Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards has admitted to having an extramarital affair, but has denied fathering a child by the woman. The affair has been reported in recent weeks in the tabloid press.It even held a roundtable on the affair. FAIL, NPR.Alex Chadwick speaks with NPR Senior Washington Editor Ron Elving about the political implications of the revelation.
The editorial paranoia at NPR is out of control; when Lee left a comment to say that the pre-butchered review had been approved by his editor prior to some nervous homophobia enablers higher up the food chain it was removed by the administrators. In it, he said:
"I asked that my name be removed in protest of NPR's policy of not 'naming names' of closeted or rumored-about politicians - even those who actively suppress gay rights, and thus whose sexual identities are of significant importance to the press,"Mike Signorile:
This is the same idiotic behavior we've seen coming from many in the media for 20 years on this issue. It's encouraging that some news outlets have moved on it -- the LA Times, Philly Inquirer and others reported on those discussed in the film -- but it's pathetic that some just can't seem to break out of their rigid and ultimately biased thinking.Exactly. The film is about the political hypocrisy of closeted individuals who deal with their dual lives by working to deny LGBTs civil rights. There is nothing wrong with being gay, NPR (and the rest of you nervous nellie editors out there). The MSM is not shy about reporting the questionably newsworthy marriage travails of Britney S pears or the adoption of babies by Brad and Angelina -- those are private matters, no? Oh wait, they are heterosexual.By not discussing the names of those in the film, NPR is most certainly passing judgment on homosexuality, on the filmmaker and on the public figures involved -- deeming that, if they have secret gay lives, it is the most horrible thing imaginable. They are also deciding to suppress legitimate news because of that distaste and bias.
Neither of those stories has any impact on the rights of a group of people, yet NPR and other outlets feel they cannot do their jobs and report on legitimate stories that do have an actual political impact on the lives of taxpaying Americans who happen to be LGBT. And you know that none of the people who made the decision to slice away at Lee's review would consider themselves homophobic or bigoted in the least -- overt anti-gay behavior is not the only way to foment homophobia. Enabling it with this poor editorial judgment, NPR, works quite nicely as well.
More below the fold.
When a pol gets booted from the closet, many are not closeted in their social circles mind you; their friends, staffers and colleagues know of the person's orientation. The ones who are socially out choose to lie by omission because it suits their day jobs sucking up to the rehe religious right or their voter base. This closet is full of campaign managers, fundraisers and legislators in the corridors of power, ready to elect officials with homo-hating tactics and ready to pass anti-gay measures, even as they enjoy man-on-man sex. The MSM knows them all, and deems the hypocrisy a "private matter."
The subset of these hypocrites who are truly self-loathing turn up in Outrage -- they cruise for homo-sex in the shadows, hating themselves the next day and atone for their "sin" by casting votes against taxpaying citizens.
The closet cases all need to be exposed because some of them are head cases who are clearly unfit to lead. They hold positions of power that make it unethical to ignore this level of hypocrisy, but too many editors out there -- like those at NPR -- are spineless and show their bias when they continue to cling to this double standard.
Related:
* The Talk of the Green Iguana: Will American voters elect the first gay vice president in November?
* Charlie Crist's engagement mocked on MSNBC
* Tongues wag whether Crist's 'girlfriend' is 'the one'
* Poor Charlie Crist - he's really desperate for that VP slot
* Howie Klein: Charlie Crist Has A "Girlfriend"-- A First Step Towards Getting On The Mccain Ticket... To Nowhere?
* Oh my -- more GOP closet doors are flying open...
* It's official: Florida Gov. Charlie Crist endorses marriage amendment
Yesterday the comedy team of "Moakler and Lewis" appeared to give a & lt;a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/abraham/detail?entry_id=39959">lil presser about Prejean's future with their organization, as apparently with Carrie's super mega busy schedule as of late as NOM spokesperson, they are unable to reach Prejean directly:
Boy, they are NOT happy with her one damned bit! NOM took a solid scolding as well, especially Maggie Gallagher directly- Kevin Lewis held NOTHINOTHING back.
So it has come down to this: The Donald is the one to decide, "hired or fired".
Poll below the fold.
The Donald's gonna hold his own press conference this morning and at that point we will find out if "Miss Malibu" (I kid you NOT!) takes over as Miss California.
One wonders if Carrie has her newest bud "Miss Caribou" Sarah Palin on speed dial in case she has to "phone a friend"...
Off to make popcorn!