Showing posts with label Scott Fujita. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Scott Fujita. Show all posts

Friday, March 29, 2013

I Didn't Say It ....

Evan Wolfson, of Freedom To Marry, to Tony Perkins on Face The Nation:
"Marriage is not defined by who is denied it. When gay people share in the freedom to marry, it doesn't change your marriage, it doesn't change Tony Perkins' marriage. My marriage is my marriage. And it means that I'm able to share in the same aspirations of commitment and love and support and dedication and connectedness, and that my parents are able to dance at our wedding. And our family and friends are able to support and celebrate and hold us accountable for the commitment we've made to one another. That takes nothing away from anyone else... The gay people are not going to use up all the marriage licenses when we enter marriage. And this is not just somebody saying it. We now have nine states including the District of Columbia, fourteen countries on four continents in which gay people share in the freedom to marry and the result is families are helped and no one is hurt."

Like Wolfson, I’m still waiting for some heterosexual couple to make their appearance, state, and prove, their case that same-sex marriage ruined their marriage.
Yeah, won’t happen.

Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, AKA Joe The dumber, er, Plumber, having a sadz because he can’t call queers queer:
"30 years ago we use to play a game called “smear the queer;” a game where whoever had the football got gang tackled. It was a normal. If you had the ball, you were the queer, because no one else had the ball, and having the ball made you odd or “queer” in that respect. Of course, you could throw the ball to another player and the pack would quickly turn to smear that queer, without regard to his or her sexuality, I might add. Queer, gay, homo, fag meant nothing having to do with what you were attracted to and no one committed suicide, got beat up or even called names in that regard. That was my experience. Then, about ten years later, the media and the ever-tolerant Hollywood (not), began portraying homosexual (men) on television and film as the “Funny” one or the one you felt sorry for – just to get us used to the idea. C’mon – who didn’t laugh at Paul Lynde or Charles Nelson Reilly? And not until Ellen demanded her character come out of the closet (which she was summarily fired for) did gay characters litter the big and small screen alike, whether it was important or not. (Just to go a little further with this point, Hollywood will put “gay” characters in TV show/movies that are not relevant to the plot. They try to portray this as “Normal” America. I can tell you right now, when I’m tossing the football with my son in front of the house, I have never seen 2 men hand in hand prancing down the street. You?"

Out of the mouths of morons ...
Joe, you’re an idiot, Gay people, fags, homos and queers, have been name-called, beaten, and murdered for years, even as far back as your tiny mind can fathom … 30 years ago. Times change. The use of words change.
And I imagine two men wouldn’t be caught dead holding hands in front of your house because you might try to smear the queer.
Grow up, Joe, your fifteen minutes is up. You were irrelevant in 2008 and you’re irrelevant today. Get a job.

Matthew Lannon, a sixth-grader, testifying at Rhode island's marriage equality hearing:
"If there's one thing you don't mess with in life, it's love. My parents and all the other gay and lesbian people here want to be happy, just like you. All they want is to be treated fairly. But unlike most of you, they have to come again here year after year and explain over and over why their love is equal to yours. This year, you have the opportunity to change that. I say, choose love.”

Out of the mouths of babes …..

Salvatore Cordileone, San Francisco's 'drunk driving' Archbishop, on marriage equality:
"To legalize marriage between two people of the same sex would enshrine in the law the principle that mothers and fathers are interchangeable or irrelevant, and that marriage is essentially an institution about adults, not children; marriage would mean nothing more than giving adults recognition and benefits in their most significant relationship. How can we do this to our children? No matter what the Supreme Court rules, this debate is not over. Marriage is too important and the issues raised by treating same-gender unions as marriages are too fundamental to just go away. Just as Roe v. Wade did not end the conversation about abortion, so a ruling that tries to import same-sex marriage into our Constitution is not going to end the marriage debate, but intensify it. We will have a bitterly polarized country divided on the marriage issue for years if not generations to come." 

Howsabout, rather than thinking of a child having a mother and a father, Howsabout wishing children had a loving parents, or parents, of either gender. Howsabout, Archbishop, shutting your pie-hole about what’s best for children when you belong to a group that has been raping children for decades.

Ronnie Musgrave, former Mississippi governor, now regretting signing a law to ban adoptions for gay couples:
"After thinking about this for some time, I realized that if you're fortunate, age and knowledge breed compassion. The more I read the (U.S.) Constitution, the clearer it became that you just can't deny rights to a specific class of people just because some are uncomfortable with what they do not understand. Too many elected officials take positions without thinking about the real impact on people and families. I am glad Sen. Portman had the same evolution I did, but I wish all of us had the compassion for other people to think about the impact of political positions before making them policy."

Nicely put; people can change their minds, but many times, if they just thought first, they might have made the equal choice in the first place.

Mike Huckabee, on whether the GOP will pivot to support marriage equality:
“They might. And if they do, they’re going to lose a large part of their base because evangelicals will take a walk. And it’s not because there’s an anti-homosexual mood, and nobody’s homophobic that I know of, but many of us, and I consider myself included, base our standards not on the latest Washington Post poll, but on an objective standard, not a subjective standard. I have great sympathy and extraordinary admiration for Sen. Portman. I consider him a friend and I value his work in the Senate and think he’s a great person. The mistake is that we sometimes base our public policy decisions on how we feel, how we think, maybe even some personal experiences, and we don’t regard a lot of these issues from the standpoint of an objective standard."

I love how he says denying equality to one class of people, based on his own religious indoctrination does not make him a homophobe.
Yes, it does Mike. Equal is equal, plain and simple, and until the GOP gets that, they’ll forever be on the outside wondering how to get back in.

Scott Fujita, NFL linebacker Scott Fujita, in a piece he wrote for the NYT about marriage equality:
"I support marriage equality for so many reasons: my father’s experience in an internment camp and the racial intolerance his family experienced during and after the war, the gay friends I have who are really not all that different from me, and also because of a story I read a few years back about a woman who was denied the right to visit her partner of 15 years when she was stuck in a hospital bed ... My belief is rooted in a childhood nurtured by a Christian message of love, compassion and acceptance. It’s grounded in the fact that I was adopted and know there are thousands of children institutionalized in various foster programs, in desperate need of permanent, safe and loving homes, but living in states that refuse to allow unmarried couples, including gays and lesbians, to adopt because they consider them not fit to be parents ... In articulating all my feelings about marriage equality, I almost don’t know where to begin. And perhaps that’s part of the problem. Why do we have to explain ourselves when it comes to issues of fairness and equality? Why is common sense not enough?"

Word.

"Bishop" Harry Jackson, on how much better straight marriages are for everyone involved:
"When a man and a woman are in the house, poverty is lessened. When a man and a woman are in the house, kids don’t go to prison. When a man and a woman are in the house, there’s less domestic violence. When a man and a woman are in the house, sexual abuse does not happen."

No poor straight couples?
No kids from straight marriages in prisons?
No domestic violence among straight married couples?
No such thing as spousal rape?
Apparently Bishop Jackson doesn't read a newspaper, for if her did he could find out in one sitting how unbelievably stupid a man he truly is.

Friday, March 08, 2013

I Didn't Say It ....


Ellen DeGeneres, blogging about her amicus brief to the Supreme Court:
"I’ve never filed a brief to the Supreme Court, so I thought I would post mine here. I’m sure someone will tweet it to them. Portia and I have been married for 4 years and they have been the happiest of my life. And in those 4 years, I don’t think we hurt anyone else’s marriage. I asked all of my neighbors and they say they’re fine.   But even though Portia and I got married in the short period of time when it was legal in California, there are 1,138 federal rights for married couples that we don’t have, including some that protect married people from losing their homes, or their savings or custody of their children .... The truth is, Portia and I aren’t as different from you as you might think. We’re just trying to find happiness in the bodies and minds we were given, like everyone else. In the words of Benjamin Franklin, 'We’re here, we’re queer, get over it.'  And there’s another famous quote that says 'A society is judged by how it treats its weakest members.' I couldn’t agree with that more. No one’s really sure who said it first, so if anyone asks, tell them I said it."

Well said, and with a bit of humor too.

Ann Romney, Queen Ann, on being married to a loser:
"In our church, we're used to serving and you know, you can be in a very high position, but you recognize you're serving. And then all of a sudden, you're released and you're nobody. And we're used to that. It was really quite a lot of energy and a lot of passion and a lot of -- a lot of people around us and all of a sudden, it was nothing."

Nothing, except mansions and millions.
My.Heart.Bleeds.

Mitt Romney, Average Joe, on being a loser:
"It's different. But it's like riding on a roller coaster. We were on a roller coaster. Exciting and thrilling, ups and downs, but the ride ends. And then you get off. And it's not like, 'oh, can't we be on a roller coaster the rest of our life?' It's like, 'no, that ride's over'."

Like we all knew it would be.
When at first you lie, about taxes and offshore bank accounts, and then pander to the left while pandering to the middle, you aren’t presidential material.
You’re a pandering liar.

Rachel Maddow, on her visit to the Supreme Court as the Court was considering the Voting Rights Act:
"I don't have a number line that is long enough, that goes high enough to understand how on the same day we are unveiling the statue of Rosa Parks at the US Capitol and one block away we are considering getting rid of the pillar of American civil rights law, and that happens at the same time in the same place and nobody's head explodes."

It’s because we have bigoted, homophobic, hateful justices like Scalia on the court.

Brendon Ayanbadejo, Baltimore Ravens linebacker, and Chris Kluwe, Minnesota Vikings punter, in their amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to strike down Proposition 8:
“When we advance the idea that some people should be treated differently because of who they are, demeaned in public as lesser beings, not worthy of the same rights and benefits as others despite their actions as good citizens and neighbors, then we deny them equal protection under the laws. America has walked this path before, and courageous people and the Court brought us to the right result. We urge the Court to repeat those actions here.”

I am still amazed that these two straight professional football players are stepping up as the most fierce LGBT allies, and don’t back down, and don’t keep silent.
If only the entire LGBT community and all its allies were so vocal.

Andrew Sullivan, on his feeling that Pope Quitter, er, Benny, is gay:
"The damage Benedict XVI has done to the Catholic Church and the papacy may be far from over. All I can say about yesterday’s developments is that they seem potentially disastrous and also indicative to me of something truly weird going on underneath all of this. Benedict’s handsome male companion will continue to live with him, while working for the other Pope during the day. Are we supposed to think that’s, well, a normal arrangement?  This man—clearly in some kind of love with Ratzinger (and vice-versa) will now be working for the new Pope as secretary in the day and spending the nights with the Pope Emeritus. This is not the Vatican. It’s Melrose Place."

The ex-Pope has got a boy-toy sharing his palace?
Maybe the Vatican isn’t so homophobic when it comes to Popes.

Scott Fujita, Cleveland Browns linebacker, believing most NFL players will have no problem with a gay teammate:
"I would argue that the overwhelming majority would be fine with having a teammate who was gay... Once a guy comes out, yeah, it'll be very newsworthy. It'll be a huge, huge breakthrough and then it'll be another one and another one and another one. Then it'll be just another guy in the locker room."

And as long as he plays well and the team keeps winning, does it really matter who he loves?


Lech Walesa, Nobel peace prize winner, who believes The Gays have no right to sit in Poland’s Parliament, unless they sit behind a wall:

"They have to know that they are a minority and must adjust to smaller things. And not rise to the greatest heights, the greatest hours, the greatest provocations, spoiling things for the others and taking (what they want) from the majority. I don't agree to this and I will never agree to it. A minority should not impose itself on the majority."

The minority imposes itself on the majority?
And yet the majority gets to vote on what rights, if any, the minority may have?
You’re an ass, and to quote Andy Towle, you’re more Blech Walesa.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Beefcake For Equality


What the hell happened to football? It used to be the sport of the roughest and the toughest. Grrrr. Men being men. Grrrrr. Smash. Tackle. Clip. Throw. Grrrr. Now, football is, well, it's coming out for marriage equality. No, really. There are two football players are speaking out against discrimination.

First we had Baltimore Ravens Brendon Ayanbadejo who wrote an article for the Huffington Post supporting marriage equality, saying: "I think we will look back in 10, 20, 30 years and be amazed that gays and lesbians did not have the same rights as every one else. How did this ever happen in the land of the free and the home of the brave?"

Land of the free, indeed. And Brendan is quite brave, considering his chosen profession, to come out for equality.

And now we have defensive captain of the New Orleans Saints, Scott Fujita, who says: "People could look at this issue without blinders on...the blinders imposed by their church, their parents, their friends or, in our case, their coaches and locker rooms. I wish they would realize that it's not a religion issue. It's not a government issue. It's not even a gay/straight issue or a question of your manhood. It's a human issue. And until more people see that, we're stuck arguing with people who don't have an argument."

So, again I ask, what the hell happened to football? Used to be a sport of brawn over brains; used to be a sport of tackling and hitting and, well, this one sounds a bit gay, sacking. Now, it's a sport where two successful players, still playing the game, are speaking out on a subject that was previously thought to be taboo in the world of sports.

Thanks, from me, to Brendan and Scott. I may just have to start watching the games. Tight uniform's, bulging arms, beefy thighs. And compassion.