Wow… On the West Coast, there really are a few cities that you look towards for GLBT leadership.  Those cities are San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Portland (probably in that order – at least in my mind).  We have leadership in those cities that not only welcome the GLBT community, but help fight the ignorance and hate from those on the right.  But what’s going on in Seattle right now is scary as hell.

The City of Seattle has various groups that employees of the city can join.  One of those groups is the GLBTQF (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, Questioning, and Friends) Club.  The city gives each of the groups $1,000 per year and allows employees to work on behalf of their group for two hours per month.  That’s all fine and dandy.  And then along comes Seattle City employee Philip Irvin.  He wanted to join the GLBTQF Club, but he was not allowed.  Why?  Because Philip is a fundamentalist who does not think that gays should be allowed to exist, much less have a club.  Obviously the GLBTQF Club is within their rights to refuse him entry.  After all – would you want to bring someone into your home that’s just going to yell at you endlessly?  No – that’s why we all moved out of our families homes!

Well Philip would not let it sit.  To “get even” with the group, he is suing the city and is asking to force the names of everyone in the GLBTQF Club to be named publicly.  He wants the names of ALL GLBTQ Seattle employees to be published so that everyone knows who they are and the City of Seattle almost went along with it, until a temporary injunction could be put into place.  If the names are released what are you going to do, Mr. Irvin?  Will these employees end up like Dr. George Tiller?  Haunted constantly, and then some whackjob goes and tries to assassinate them, too?

Think I’m a little out there?  Think again.  The rate of hate crimes – specifically murder – against GLBTQ folks is rising at an alarming rate.  Yeah. This is 2009, and people are still being racist, homophobic, murdering bastards.  So excuse me for NOT wanting to give out the names of the GLBTQF Club employees!

My partner and I stopped shopping at Wal-Mart years ago.  Remember when Sam Walton was alive, and every single Wal-Mart commercial was about “Proudly American” and aimed to display products “Proudly Made in Ameria”?  Well of course all that died with Sam.  His heirs greatly expanded the company and said “Screw you, America!” when they started pushing for Chinese made products.  Our trade deficit?  A full 10% of it is one company trading with China.  Yeah, that would be Wal-Mart.  We see no reason to continue to give Wal-Mart money, while they send it overseas.

But the latest kicker is the CEO of Wal-Mart, and what he has done.  In Arkansas, where Wal-Mart is headquartered, and where they are petitioning to send gays and lesbians back a few decades by taking their children away, and preventing them from raising children, Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke has signed on as a petitioner.  Yes, that means that every dime you spend at Wal-Mart not only goes to China, but also pays the salary of a biggot.

Don’t get me wrong.  Mr. Duke certainly has every right to his freedom of expression, and can sign or petition anything.  I just don’t think the GLBTQ community needs to give the man, or his company, one more cent.

One of my favorite talk show hosts is Mike Malloy, now self-syndicating since NovaM Radio went the way of the DoDo bird.  I’m listening to his Friday podcast (which you can subscribe to by clicking here) and his explanation of the Friday Iowa Supreme Court ruling.  He made it so clear, without any fluff.

Basically, Mike said,  the Iowa Supreme Court upheld that the equal protection clause in their Constitution is there to protect everyone, including gays and lesbians.  Yes, they did not LEGALIZE gay marriage.  They just said that gays and lesbians have the same right to equal protection under the law that heterosexuals do.  If you think of it this way, which is truly how they ruled, then there are no “special rights” as the biggoted right-wing of this country says.

That’s the thing.  The right wing and homophobes who use religion to oppress people – just like they did interracial marriage.  The Virginia judge in “Loving v. Commonwealth of Virginia” wrote:

Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.

So is it not a surprise that these “Christians” use the bible to now discriminate against gays and lesbians, quoting bible versus.  Then again, I remember hearing Jim Wallis, the best selling theologin saying that hypocrasy was the ultimate sin.  Who’s to say these “Christians” spewing hate aren’t committing the ultimate sin?