Archive for Misc.
Happy Birthday, Bob Dylan
Posted by: | CommentsHe’s about to get the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and he’s 71 years old today. Videos galore after the jump.
Responding to Anti-LGBT Rhetoric in N.C.
Posted by: | CommentsNorth Carolina is in the news again, this time because of an anti-LGBT sermon preached by Pastor Charles Worley of Providence Road Baptist Church in Maiden, N.C. You can see footage of his sermon here.
Make no mistake: the violent theology animating Pastor Worley’s sermon is directly linked to the discriminatory animus at work in Amendment One or the North Carolina statutes that treat LGBT people as second-class citizens.
The violence of Pastor Worley’s message speaks to the evil at the heart of persecution, and it ensnares all of us, including him, including me. It is an evil that seeks to dehumanize people and that seeks to divide communities. It has long lurked in the shadows of religious and political discourse and, periodically, makes itself plainly visible and clearly heard.
What are we to do when such attacks occur? Each of us has an individual choice to make about how to respond.
I often need help cutting through the static of anger and sadness in moments like this. I need help getting to love and, in my own life, I turn to my faith for that help. My faith’s teachings on this point are clear and consistent: no matter how hard it is to do so, we are called to love those who oppose us. There are many reasons for this, not least of which is the fact that my existence is inextricably bound to my enemy’s, whether either one of us likes it or not.
The hard thing right now is to find a way to love Pastor Worley. To do so does not also imply condoning or supporting what he has said. But it does mean choosing to respond to spiritual violence with the only force that can overcome it: love. And it means seeing the violence of his words as an expression of how he too has been wounded by a persecuting system; his theology isn’t just plain wrong, it’s wounded.
But my faith also teaches me that the rhetoric of love is not enough. We must also act to directly resist unjust laws in public life and, as we take action, to express empathy and love towards all those we encounter. This is precisely why and how we take action with the WE DO Campaign and why this campaign will continue growing across the South until we achieve full equality under federal law.
Love has changed the world before and, we dare to believe, it can do so again.
Friday Open Thread
Posted by: | CommentsOne year ago today at ScruHoo, “Moffitt Bill Passes”:
You will get to vote for only three of the newly expanded seven member County Commission. Your voting rights have been successfully attacked and taken from you without your consent.
Here’s your thread. You can use it to rant, woolgather, opine, castigate, or any number of things. Your comments will create exactly as many jobs as Rep. Moffitt has with his bills to seize Asheville’s water, divide our county, and slash education funding.
All of that aside, it’s shaping up to be a beautiful weekend. I’m going to be a part of a panel on permaculture tomorrow at 11am at the Rev. Wesley Grant Center, and then I’m thinking of attending the ribbon cutting for the new 18-hole disc golf course at Enka High School. You?
The Queen of Disco is Gone
Posted by: | CommentsSadly, Donna Summer passed away today at age 63. She will be remembered by many of us fondly forever — or at least those of us old enough to remember polyester shirts and platform shoes, like Tom Sullivan.
Now, here’s Miss Donna Summer with one of the greatest songs of all time, Hot Stuff from 1979:
WE DO video: What happened across NC last week
Posted by: | CommentsCheck out this new video about stage 3 of the WE DO Campaign, which took place across North Carolina – including Asheville, Bakersville and Marshall – from May 9th to May 15th.
In 8 towns and cities across North Carolina, 38 LGBT couples and hundreds of supporters stood up calling for full equality under federal law. Together, we made it clear that Amendment One’s passage was not the end of the story. In fact, we’re just getting started with this movement calling for full equality under federal law.
Amendment 4
Posted by: | CommentsAll property shall be held in common; for as many as possess lands or houses shall sell them and bring the money to the the capitol; distribution shall be unto every person according as they have need.
I wonder how many Christian pastors would be out in front of the polls urging people to support passing that because it’s from the Bible. And not in an Old Testament book written half a millennium before Christ, but by people who knew the man and wrote the Gospels and the New Testament.
Act 4:32 ¶ And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any [of them] that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.
Act 4:33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.
Act 4:34 Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,
Act 4:35 And laid [them] down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.
We Do – Update and Appeal
Posted by: | CommentsThis morning, we’re in Asheboro, N.C. At 9:30 a.m., we’ll stand with Barb and Angela as they request – and are denied – a marriage license in their home town, surrounded by friends, family and clergy.
Friday Open Thread
Posted by: | CommentsA receptacle for your nuggets. Do what you will with it.
We Do Campaign Returns to Asheville
Posted by: | CommentsEight cities. Five days. The We Do Campaign, led by brave LGBT couples across the state and organized by the Campaign for Southern Equality, returns to Asheville today after stops in Bakersville and Marshall. Yesterday the effort was in Winston-Salem. CBS News reports:
Mary Jamis, 52, of Mocksville, and a heterosexual friend who joined the protest, Mary Lea Bradford of Winston-Salem, were arrested after they blocked the entrance to the marriage license office and refused to leave more than 30 minutes after closing time.
A county administrator tried to talk the women into leaving and avoiding arrest, but the two insisted they would stay unless Jamis was issued a marriage license for her and her partner, Starr Johnson, 48.
[...]
Christine Regan, 35, and Megan Silbert, 34, of Winston-Salem, were rejected for the marriage license while a heterosexual couple a few steps away were receiving theirs.
Today at 3pm, I’ll be supporting the Asheville couples who will seek justice and be arrested today. Some of my good friends will be handcuffed and processed for seeking recognition of their relationships. Cindy and Laura are married in California, but they can’t even guarantee parental rights here in North Carolina. If you’d like to be a supporter you can bear witness today at the Register of Deeds’ office or you can Donate Here. Follow on Facebook or Twitter.
The Best News Today
Posted by: | CommentsBesides the President coming out in support of Marriage equality, a move I personally consider a day late and a dollar short, the best news of today came in the form of twitter, doing what no one thought it would and standing up for the privacy and content ownership of Tweets. This could be really huge in the ongoing struggle for online freedom and the preservation of “terrestrial” rights in cyberspace.
To commemorate this wonderful event, I share with you this epic poem.
