Not stabby or anything, not ready to rip someone's head off. I'm actually in a pretty good mood...it was a beautiful, sunny weekend, and my Irish and my Colts both won. A few hitches along the way, but all in all, it ended up being a good weekend. Got some stuff done, some things tidied up, and that always makes me feel good.
However, I read a few things tonight that have made me more than ready to rumble. New York Governor candidate Carl "Hair Trigger" Paladino made some remarks concerning homosexuals, saying that he didn't want children...
"...to be brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid or successful option," compared to heterosexuality. "It isn't."
"I just think my children and your children would be much better off and much more successful getting married and raising a family." Paladino also slammed his Democratic opponent, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, for marching in New York's gay pride parade in June. "That's not the example that we should be showing the children and certainly not in our schools," he said.
More in a moment, but one quick thing about that. I've never had children. Does that mean that I am somehow "lesser" of a person? Does that make me any less of a citizen?
Then I read something from a family member:
Gays expecting special treatment pisses me off. They say they want equality, but what they really want is preferential treatment. Kind of like feminists. They want the same pay, same benefits, and all else, but they want to be treated better. I say, to BOTH feminists and homosexuals, if you want the pay and benefits on an equal basis with heterosexual men, you had better be willing to be treated the same way we do.
Yeah. There's a very good reason I'm not friends with some people on Facebook.
Okay. Let's get this straight. So to speak. Ha! Gays and feminists don't want to be treated "better." We want to be treated EQUALLY. Do you comprehend that term? EQUAL to others. Same pay for the same job done; the right to love whoever we happen to love and the right to marry them; the same rights guaranteed to everyone under OUR Constitution.
That family member's comment is also interesting in that it implies that heterosexual men are somehow treated badly...that any gays or feminists expecting equal rights should be willing to be treated the same as straight men. Oh...you mean like...being treated well? Treated fairly? Treated as if gender or orientation doesn't matter?
I made a couple of disparaging remarks about Paladino on Facebook. I believe it involved something about how he can shove his homophobic views right up his ass. Someone called me out on it, said that was hateful, stooping to Paladino's level, and no better than the tactics that Paladino was using.
I don't want to play nice anymore. Paladino went on to say that he believes in "live and let live." I guess as long as those dirty homos don't have the same rights as the rest of us do! I read several comments tonight about how homosexuality is a choice. Right. Because everyone wants to be bullied and picked on and treated as less than equal to others in their own country, even those who served as soldiers in defense of it. I honestly see no reason why we shouldn't stand up and call these people the bigots and hatemongers they are, and I have no problem with using strong language to do so. They certainly don't respond to reasonable discourse, so a "shove it up your ass" here and there seems warranted.
By no means do I advocate violence. Quite the opposite. But I'm also not going to sit quietly while hearing people like Paladino make such remarks against a number of our citizens, people that I love dearly and value highly. If I am violent, it is with my words. Sometimes that is exactly what is needed. I make no apologies for that. If anyone...ANYONE...ever fucks with my loved ones and friends who happen to be gay, I'm here to tell you that I will fuck your shit up. Please make a note of it.
I got no friends 'cause they read the papers
They can't be seen with me
And I'm feelin' real shot down
And I'm gettin' mean
Thank you for writing that Beth - I wish I knew what to say, I've said/written things till I'm blue in the face & it doesn't lesson the fact that some peoples attitudes and thinking just plain old hurt. Being treated as you say Equally is a right that I & my partner have under the Constitution. Too bad the Religious whiners want to always put their foot in it.
ReplyDeleteBeing Gay is a choice? ohh puhleeze - like a gay person chooses to be ostracized, humiliated, forced to lie in order to keep their jobs, be denied visits in the hospital to see or make decisions for our partners based on being gay, being forced to hide who we are to keep the death threats away etc. etc. and yes, the death threats DO happen. Esp. if you live in the deep south as I & my partner do. I pay taxes the same as straight people, why don't I have the same rights? maybe I should just stop paying taxes...yeah, right. Like paying taxes for schools - why should I have to pay taxes for others peoples children to go to school? I think the one's that have children should be the one's to pay, not childless people. (that was a direction my mind went at the moment sorry LOL).
But seriously, who I love is who I love.
Sometimes I wish I could flip a switch and have everything just the opposite, where it's "wrong" to be straight and gay people have all the rights. Believe me I'd flip that switch in a minute if for no other reason than to make other straight people know what it feels like. Sometimes my Partner & I are out for a "romantic" dinner and all we can do is sit opposite each other and speak very quietly so the others around us can't hear what we say. We can sit next to each other, heaven forbid. We might even be denied service at a restaurant around here because that's just the way it is here. We can't walk down the road holding hands, or hug too much, or kiss each other, or call our other half "Baby" or "Sweetheart" because straight people don't like it...no, we have to walk completely separate from each other so no one thinks anything. From fear. Of having our home burned down, our vehicles sabotaged, health care denied, jobs lost. If we DO have children the fear of loosing those children. I could go on and on, but I can't because it pisses me off too much and it hurts just as much. We have a right to be happy & have the same rights as anyone else. And NO it's not preferential treatment. It's a right that I deserve because like the straights out there I'm a American Citizen & it's not something I should have to beg for.
I completely agree with your attitude.
ReplyDeleteWhere would the U.S. be right now if Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King just shut up and "knew their role"? How much further back would the gay community be if people didn't step up and say who they were or not have parades? The more out and vocal people are, the more the average person will come to understand and accept reality, in my opinion. This also can apply to atheists.
I think that's one of the Democrats' biggest problems and has been for a long time. They don't talk about their accomplishments enough nor do they talk about all the evil shit that the Republicans have done. I have no problem if they take some of the Republicans' tactics in that regard and turn it around on them. Just don't go into the "taking a clip out of context" part, like Breitbart or Hannity or any of the other ClusterFox masters, like Grayson did. There are more than enough legitimate things to be pissed off about.
Also, I have to say that I'm pretty proud to be in a country that has legitimized gay marriage for quite a few years now. Also government funded abortions.
I am so tired of the argument that because I want the same things as anybody else, I somehow want preferential treatment.
ReplyDeleteLike you said, Beth, and so much better than I, all I want is equality.
I want the same.
Did you hear? Alice Cooper is doing a follow-up to their 1975 concept album, "Welcome to my Nightmare." It's going to ne called, "Welcome 2 my Nightmare." Am I'm not joking, either.
ReplyDeleteWHat's sad is that people this ignorant are being given any kind of platform or media attention. This idiotic teabaggery has got to be stopped.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI love your blog! Paladino is a selfish rich dude that will do anything he can to get himself in a position of power to not pay taxes just like the rest of the tea baggers want. I do not have children yet 35 percent of my income goes to taxes why can the billionaires in this country do the same? Is it because too much government or because their wealth is secure by an army that we all benefit from but that they specially enjoy? The upper class can pay taxes just as the rest of us do yet they are so used to the goodies that the Bush regime gave them and now they can spend millions of dollars sponsoring Tea Baggers bull shit? The sad part about that is that Tea Baggers do not get the fact that they are being fucked royally if their politicians get a hold of Washington. Even their scooters are for grabs if the Angles’ make it to the Hills.
ReplyDeleteYou commenting on this is similar to me getting infuriated over the Get Equal campaign that is enforcing not standing behind the Dems because DOMA and DADT has not been in the president’s agenda lately. Do they fucking read the news? We have gone beyond a cultural war, we are now on the worst class struggle that humanity has to face. With the Supreme Court decision to let the rich infiltrate on the political process. Karl Rove is having a field day.
But back to Paladino, he accuses Cuomo to Parade on gay pride but did he ever mention to his friends there that he does drag? I feel sad for those that buy his bollogny? Have they asked him if there is a difference between dressing up in drag and parading with the gays? Oh I know, Paladino impersonates but Cuomo stands besides. What a great message to our children!
Beth. Thanks for this post. I am glad you are on our side! You are fierce, woman! FIERCE!
ReplyDeleteAnd I love it. :)
I am right with you on this one. I am tired of letting these people say what they want, raise all kids of hate and bigotry spread it around, and be allowed to say they are "protecting the American people" from undesirables...who also seem to be American people. But that doesn't matter. I guess if you belong to an "undesirable" group, you lose your citizenship and therefore the protection of our Constitution?
Well, I am with you Beth. We have to stand up and say, "I don't think so, fucktard!"
Love ya!
preach it!
ReplyDeletewhen i stand up and say the pledge of allegience i want to cry because the words wont be true until all americans share the same civil rights.
xxalainaxx
I just LOVE it when you're feeling fierce.
ReplyDeleteAnd, like you, my heart just breaks for those mistreated straight white men. Maybe we could have a parade or something for them...
XOXOXOXO
Way to go, girl! I've got a couple of people who have told me lately that I lost their readership because I've gotten too snarky, that my posts are "unbalanced" politically. HELLO! This ain't CNN, people! Could it be they have no idea how violent their rhetoric sounds? How seditious? How racist? How dangerous? And, then, on my own blog where I express my own opinions, I'm not being NICE enough?
ReplyDeleteI love this post and thanks for kickin' it up a notch! I wrote on Palladino, too. What a sleazy creep!
We will not prevail if we do not speak up.
ReplyDeleteI love fierce Beth! :)
ReplyDeleteBeth, we need to find you a few new family members. Sometimes you seem outnumbered. What a hole that one had. I think you were pretty nice all things considered.
They can believe what they want to, that is protected speech. They cannot spread hatred and incite discrimination and violence against others, that's not protected action.
I think they have become this way because they know their days are numbered. If it isn't today or tomorrow, next year or this decade, it will happen, and probably in their lifetime. They feel trapped and afraid, caged. At least that's my thinking on their insane behavior.