Obama and DOMA

For those unfamiliar, The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was passed during the Clinton administration. It essentially defines marriage as being between a man and a woman, and states that the federal government of the United States will not recognize same-sex marriage, even when a couple is legally married in his/her home state. This precludes married gay couples from receiving rights generally given to married couples including family medical leave, social security benefits, next of kin rights, tax-free benefits, and joint tax filing.

Earlier this week, the Obama administration defended a challenge to DOMA, stating that DOMA is constitutional. Arguments ranged from "it's the law, and as long as it's the law we will defend it" to "repealing it would be discriminatory toward gays in states where marriage is not allowed." In any case, it was a huge afront to gay community. I always knew there was a reason I didn't like Obama. He may have been the lesser of two evils, but I don't see him as particularly gay-friendly. This just clinches it. What is wrong with our politicians?

Oh well, there is at least some good news. We have finally won our first victory against DOMA. As of May 27, the U.S. State Department has agreed to begin recognizing gay couples' marriage licenses as legal documents for a name change. For the past 5 years, the department has been unwilling to issue passports in gay citizens' married names. Now this changes. I'm pretty psyched about it, because I am changing my name later this summer, and it's quite a relief to now be able to change my name legally everywhere. This may be a small step, but it's an important one.

Reactions to Gay Marriage

Yesterday the state of Maine passed a bill that will amend the constitution to allow for marriage between any two adults, regardless of sex or gender. Being from Maine, and having a ton of facebook friends from Maine, it was really cool to see everyone's reactions. People were thrilled, overjoyed, supportive, and proud.

... for the most part.

I had a couple of high school 'friends' who expressed extreme disappointment in the senate and house for what they consider to be bad politics. I was kind of floored, actually. As tends to happen, when I learn that not all young New Englanders are liberals (huh??), I was made to realize how deceiving it is to have surrounded myself by progressive-thinking, tolerant, well-educated liberals. Most of these people are also atheists.

When people I know personally talk about depriving me of the right to marry legally, I feel hurt and upset. I wonder if they realize this. I wonder if, in all their religious thinking and preaching, they ever think about the fact that they are trying to deprive fellow citizens of happiness. I wonder if they realize that gay people wouldn't be happy in opposite-sex marriages. I wonder if they care that by taking away this particular freedom, they are telling us all that we're not as good as they are, and that we don't deserve to be happy.

I take it very personally that people I know think I deserve this.

I can't figure out why people think the government should be in charge of deciding who can and cannot be married. Even if (for some reason that passes all understanding) you think that homosexuality is a horrific abomination, why would you care that two men are allowed to get married? You can be repulsed and hateful and react to it however you want-- but what gives you the power to decide this for anybody else? What is so threatening to you about the love that I have for my girlfriend and future wife? If I'm going to hell, isn't that my problem? Isn't it enough for you to smugly take solace in the knowledge that you're in the right? Why must you also prevent me from being happy? How can you use your religious beliefs as justification for preventing me from receiving equal rights? Didn't your beloved Jesus Christ offer love and compassion to those who were otherwise shunned in his day and age? Couldn't you do the same for me? Who are you to judge? Jesus says we should love and respect everyone. Leave the judging to your God.

And furthermore, if gay marriage is horribly wrong, is that enough reason for the government to outlaw it? Aren't there a lot of things the bible condemns that are perfectly legal? Not only is the government not supposed to be a religious organization, but if it were, it's doing a really shitty job anyway. People can drink themselves silly, have all the premarital sex they want, lie to anyone they want, covet their neighbor's wife, house and car, use profanity in every sentence, not to mention the really obscure things the bible condemns, like touching the skin of a dead pig or wearing garments made of two different threads. So, why should we prevent them from committing sins of homosexuality?

If it's the marriage thing that's an issue... well... fine, but not every marriage is religious. I could go down to city hall and marry a man and that has nothing to do with God. So how do you propose we deal with that?

I could go on. But basically it comes down to something very simple. Have some compassion and humanity. Please. I beg you. Stop hurting me.

Paying double to fly

If there was ever any doubt that fat discrimination is the last socially acceptable form of bigotry, here's proof for you:

look at the results of the poll posted here : http://www.tressugar.com/3040123
(as of 4/16 at noon, 81% of respondents felt it was reasonable to charge fat people double to fly)

I cannot believe that so many people think it is acceptable to charge people more to fly because they are overweight. It's apalling. I'm not even sure what more to say. Why not make airplane seats that can actually accommodate those that are overweight?

Why must we always blame and punish people who are different or don't fit the ideal mold that this society has created?

It really makes me feel embarassed and incredibly dismal about the United States.

Note: While I may be fat, and therefore more sensitive to fat discrimination, I am not posting this because I don't want to pay double to fly on an airplane (for the record, I don't need two seats). Rather, this comes from a place of social justice outrage-- would you make a disabled person or a black person or even a gay person pay double for anything, just because the current set-up doesn't really accommodate their needs? Well, I guess the gay question is already answered when it comes to taxes... But people really approve of this bullshit?

MBTA cutbacks

I heard on 7 News this morning that the MBTA may cut half of all subway/bus service after 8 PM in order to make up for budget deficits. There are other changes they also plan to make, such as the elimination of commuter rail service on weekends, etc, but it's the evening service cuts that really give me a feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. As it is, I already avoid taking the T at night like the plague. I either drive or get rides home from my coro rehearsals, and this semester I have had the extreme good fortune of finding a classmate to give me rides home from my evening classes at the BU Medical Campus. I am unlikely to be so lucky during the Fall semester, when both of my classes will get out just before 9 P.M. If they cut service in half, that means that the trains will run every 30-40 minutes, right? And I thought having to wait 15-20 minutes for the bus, then the train, then the bus was bad. It could potentially take me 90 minutes to get home. It's a 15-minute drive. I may need to seriously consider something else. Perhaps I should go out and buy a vespa or something.

Disgusting commercial

I first saw this commercial on the Today show the other morning, and didn't feel anything in particular about it. But today, while reading one of my blogs, I saw this being advertised as an effective commercial. I was instantly outraged, and felt compelled to leave a comment about it on the blog. Here are my thoughts:

I think this is an absolutely awful commercial for a couple of reasons:

1) It's exploiting the poor kid (obviously *something* made the kid cry, right?)

2) It's unnecessarily cruel to smokers, and essentially is saying that they are "bad" people who are going to leave their kids all alone. Smokers aren't bad people.

3) It's unlikely to actually work. People, in general, can't be shamed into doing things. And it's pretty disgusting that this commercial is trying to do that. While I agree that the best way to get people to do things is by emotional means, rather than spewing facts and statistics at them, a better approach would be to make them feel empowered, and good about not smoking.

Am I alone here?

Genetic Testing

If you didn't already know, I had precocious puberty as a kid. Started puberty at around 18 months. Went on meds, puberty stopped. Grew up relatively normal (if you don't count daily injections and twice-yearly hospital visits to have my veins sucked dry as part of a research study).

About a year ago I had blood drawn for a new research study. The study is on genes that affect pubertal disorders such as early puberty, late puberty, lack of puberty etc. My blood was tested for 3 mutations. I tested negative for all three. The coordinator I talked to, however, told me that the genes they tested me for are genes thought to be associated with late puberty or no puberty. There is a little bit of reason to think there might be an association between precocious puberty and these genes, but not much. She did, however, tell me that one of the MDs at MGH wrote up a case study of an infant with early puberty who had a mutation for which I was not tested. So, I could have that one. Or another one. Who knows? And the thing is, I really want to know if I have a genetic mutation, but honestly, what good would it do me? Basically, none. If I find I have a mutation, I'll just forever paranoid that my children will go into puberty as toddlers, and that paranoia is probably pointless anyway. Alas, it haunts me-- this weird relationship with my body. Must know what's going on in there! Know thine enemy, right?

Everyone needs to watch this.