06 5 / 2009
Whirlwind of news
Wow, I feel like there is a SLEW of things that I should be writing about right now, and have little time to actually write about them. So, it’s going to be linkspam with very little meaningful commentary.
First and foremost - Maine has legalized gay marriage today. A big win, especially D.C. now recognizing gay marriages from elsewhere, and New Hampshire hot on the heels. I’m 50% excited for state #5 to legalize gay marriage, and 50% disappointed in my California.
In other news, the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) is undergoing a revision. Yes, this is the manual that declares transexualism and transgenderism as “Gender Identity Disorders” therefore causing most insurance companies and workplaces to not cover gender-reassignment surgery. But no, this revision doesn’t fix any of that. Instead, it classifies any sexual interest other than “genital stimulation or preparatory fondling” is now, by definition, a paraphilia. So basically, any kind of sexual interest or fetishism in something other than genitals is now a sexual disorder. Sweet. Also the revision declares that any heterosexual male who wears women’s clothing has a “transvestic disorder”. Keep in mind, only hetereosexual males. If gay men want to wear women’s clothing - NO PROB BOB go right ahead. And females can wear men’s clothes all they want. Never mind that these men might be expressing their inner gender identity. But then again, that’s a disorder too according to the DSM, so….
I found this article on Feminste to be awesome. It talks about “the right to discriminate” and how that differs from the “right to free speech” and various other liberties we’ve all been granted. I especially found this one insightful as I’m working on the Community Standards document for my company (which is a community of virtual worlds) and I think this is a very important line that should be differentiated. I think I could write an entire blog post on this all actually. I do think the laws that protect a class of people from discrimination are there for a reason, and your traditional religious beliefs do NOT negate those laws.
06 4 / 2009
sigh.
Warning, some incredibly dumb quotes ahead. Basically, the North Dakota House was voting on an anti-discrimination bill that would prevent people from discriminating against gay individuals. And it didn’t pass in the House. That blows my mind. Of course when you have people who think like this…
“If this bill passes, I can still preach about [opposition to] divorce and living together, but I would no longer be able to have an opinion in my own place of business on whether homosexuality was a proper or improper lifestyle,” Weisz said. “Their rights have now superseded my rights.”
This comes only days after New Hampshire struck down what they called the “bathroom bill” (offensive in title…) that would have extended hate crime legislation to include transgender men and women.
Two steps forward, one step back…
