Oh I just can’t wait until Uncle Teddy gets caught again…that will make my day. […]
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The topic of potentially offensive Superbowl commercials came to my attention as soon as the light faded from my neighbors 50 million inch TV I could watch through my window…but I really didn’t think much of it.
Wait, more important than that. These aren’t hairless tween boys in a locker room fidgeting because they don’t know how to act like an adult. These are huge corporations, franchises, institutions with very big boys (and girls) at the helm. I have been conditioned to accept that homophobia is acceptable in traditionally straight male spaces like sports television. I have come not to expect much from professional sports management because no one has forced them to be accountable. The article goes on to point out that companies that are rich enough to run ads during the Superbowl, as well as the NFL itself spend millions on marketing research and are generally very very careful with how they are portrayed in the media, who gets access and their public image as a whole. So why don’t they care as much about their gay demographic? A representative finally got back to AfterElton.com with the retort that “…humor is subjective.” I’m not hugely PC myself (among friends there have been exchanges rivaling Sarah Silverman) but there is no excuse not to know that the ad your company is producing is offensive, and that the Superbowl is not the place for humor as instigating as something that might appear on Comedy Central after 11 pm. […] There seems so much yo are not allowed to do in this country once you’d served a little stint in prison, like get any aid for college, or other things that might eventually benefit the society you’ve been returned to. But it seems Mabon, fresh from prison blues, can do plenty of damage. This info comes courtesty BRO: For all you who thought Lon Mabon had shuffled away with his tail between his legs and with what little was left of his dignity – we’re sad to report that you were mistaken. Fresh out of jail, Lon Mabon is back on the scene and in the beginning stages of yet another hateful anti-GLBT rampage. Here is the latest information. Mabon and his dwindling list of cohorts gathered last weekend for an "Oregon Citizens Alliance" Convention and are working on at least two initiatives for the 2008 ballot. Neither one of them has been approved for circulation (signature gathering) yet, but we expect this to happen in the not-so-distant future. The first of the two measures – currently numbered IP 22 – would have far-reaching consequences placing unprecedented limits on free speech in Oregon. The second – IP 23 – is déjà vu all over again: a reprise of 2000’s Measure 9. In 2000, Ballot Measure 9 would have amended state statutes relating to public school instruction regarding homosexuality and bisexuality. The failed measure would have prohibited public schools from providing instruction on behaviors relating to homosexuality and bisexuality in a manner that "encourages, promotes or sanctions such behaviors". For purposes of the measure, "public schools" include public elementary schools, public secondary schools, community colleges, state colleges and state universities, and all state and local institutions that provide education for patients or inmates. Now Mabon has a new "Measure 9," which is nearly the same as above but he has included the transgender community as a target as well. The draft ballot title of this new proposed initiative, the so-called "Student Protection Act 2008", reads: "Prohibits Instruction At Public Schools (Including Colleges, Universities) That ‘Approves,’ ‘Endorses’ Homosexual, Bisexual, Transgendered Behavior". The full measure text and all relevant information on the two proposed initiatives can be found here: Those nice folks over at the Bathroom Liberation Front have started a new site, called Safe 2 Pee, dedicated to letting us all know where we can find accessible, gender-neutral bathrooms that are safe for anyone within the queer community.
Anyhow, the site itself, which perhaps not a wildly exciting design, has the same appealing ease of use, and, coincidentally, accessibility as something like Craigslist. Utilizing mainly text means that users with any kind of connection, even *gasp* dial-up, can still reach the site without waiting forever as their bladders burst. It also appears easily accessed on mobile devices, although I can’t check it myself as I am still waiting to make that leap (I’m itching, but the introduction of the iPhone has me twiddling my thumbs until at least June so I can see what happens there). The site is available in 85 cities so far and Portland ranks second, behind only San Francisco, as the leader in the pee battle and any user can add a bathroom. There’s even a blog, changelog (so you can see what’s new and updated), and FAQ. It’s a somewhat techie site (although not in a difficult to use way) and so it warms my heart just a little bit more to see other queers fiddling around with computers. The best way to find out more about it is to visit the site, but I’ve also included a short press release below to give a quick overview:
[…] Just a quick note from Wonder Boy over at Livejournal’s QueerPortland group:
[…] It appears OHSU’s now infamous gay sheep are all over the news again. What makes this so special now, when we were talking about this almost two years ago? I’m not exactly sure. But I suppose it’s always a grabbing headline when you can out animals or attach electrodes to genitalia…It all just sounds like fairly crackpot science to me and I’d still rather direct you to Joan Roughgarden’s intriguing critique of Darwin in her book Evolution’s Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature.
[…] …especially when it’s a tech company that seems to have a lot of helpful software and basically dominates the internet. But there’s been a lot of uproar lately about Google pulling ads from gay sites. Something like this can be tricky. I haven’t ever heard anything before about Google being any kind of discriminator, or even particularly conservative, but I’m certainly inclined to agree that it appears they’re being at the very least hypocritical here. I was once warned severely from Paypal because a local product I was selling on my now defunct I heart PDX website said that it could be used in bondage. Some people have foot fetishes, doesn’t mean they ban shoes. But that’s beside the point. At least Paypal didn’t seem to be promoting, or allowing adult content elsewhere (well, I guess I never really looked). Google doesn’t censor in general, so why should its AdSense program? Other examples seemed disturbing to me as well. One comment pointed out that many many ex-gay videos appear on Google Video when you search for "gay" but drag show performances are routinely pulled from Google owned YouTube quite readily. I personally think it’s a bit ironic for Google not to allow any sort of mature content in the sites which feature AdSense (there’s a lot that’s mature in the news and other places that may or may not have to do with sex) but if that does need to be their policy I would expect them to treat everyone the same. Until I hear a response from them on this it sounds to me like Google is discriminating against gay blogs. […] It’s certainly not local but I’m intrigued by this New York Times article about a cross-dressing talk show host in Pakistan. In socially repressed areas bizarre things can sometimes take shape based on exactly how taboos are enforced. In this case it seems appears more ok for a man to dress as a woman on TV than for a biological woman to be on TV at all. While this is unfair on many levels it is also creating some space for queer people, gender variant people, and hopefully, in an odd and backhanded way, for women as well. The host seems also to be able to tackle some topics that are touchier, racier, and more politically savvy than those that a "more serious" journalist can, simply because he is garbed (pun intended) in the guise of an entertainment provider instead of a news provider. And while we may not have quite as severe rules or taboos here the same concept is evident when you look at personalities such as Jon Stewart, who can often be more poignant, and certainly more scathing, than more stoic and traditional news anchors. […] I don’t know much about The Eagle’s current owner or the situation of the club’s loss of its lease in downtown’s gay (male) triangle. That’s why I read WW’s Byron Beck. What I do know, however, is that Pat Lanagan, the one mentioned in the article as snapping up the "Eagle" name seems shady in so many ways. And, no, I don’t consider it wrong to judge him partially by his turning a mongrel queer club into a circuit party in the heart of my own hood. Shame on you Pat for antagonizing all kinds of members of your queer community. I can’t be too torn up over the vandalism at your establishment… […] We all know that the Northwest has a plethora of both gay people and tree-huggers. Occasionally they overlap. But apparently this might not just be a coincidence (or as I like to call it, a nice place or live…) but an effect of the homo-inducing soybean. I really can’t tell if this deadpan delivery is really a humor site, but either way I’m not altogether disappointed that soybeans and gayness may be linked. Just as the sailor with unnaturally bulbous forearms (he was probably gay too) tells you to eat your spinach, so Captain QPDX encourages you to swallow the soy… […] |
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But the chatter among news sources, gay bloggers etc continued. A friend brought 
It may sound silly to most folks, gay or straight, who are non-gender-variant, but finding a safe place to relieve oneself is a right many trans folks are denied. It’s stressful to exist in this world as a queer and/or trans person in general but when it comes down to basic bodily functions you don’t want to have to deal with discrimination or safety. In that strange neither pub nor private space that public bathrooms inhabit it is easy to see how a trans person’s safety can be in jeopardy. This was, perhaps, part of the reason bathrooms were first separated by gender, safety for women, but has, instead made it much harder for many individuals who are never safe in certain bathrooms no matter what their birth gender, or even perceived gender is/was.