In The News

River

Active member
This thread is for posting and discussing news stories related to either polyamory, intimate relationships, sexuality (e.g., LGBT issues), or related themes.


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DADT (Don't Ask Don't Tell), the US military policy which disallowed openly gay/lesbian involvement in the US military, has finally been officially repealed today. It is over.

I'd never consider being in the US military, myself. But I'm happy to see this landmark event in equal treatment of gay and lesbian and bisexual people.

PS - Clicking on Tags > newspapers reveals pre-existing threads on news, however, these threads are on polyamory in the news. I thought we could benefit from a thread which explicitly allows postings on related matters. Example: LGBT matters in the news. LGBT matters are relevant here (a) because many regulars in this forum are themselves LGBT folks and (b) because LGBT folks and poly folks are often treated as outcasts and outsiders in society. Marginalized, if you will. Obviously, other topics will also be of interest for similar kinds of reasons.

Perhaps none of the many LGBT folks in here have responded to the above news item because the ending of DADT feels like a sort of pyrrhic victory, a step "forward" which seems to amount to nothing more than providing yet more cannon fodder for a misused military? I get that. If that's the reason. Still, I feel glad that yet another artifact of bigotry has fallen by the wayside. It feels like a necessary step toward us queer folk being ... well, just people. Regular folk.
 
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Hey River, just wondering... if you want this thread to be about news, maybe it belongs in the "Press and media coverage" forum.

Isn't that forum devoted mainly to polyamory, per se? Whereas this thread is broader and more general in emphasis.

Of course, this thread may not catch on in either location. It's a test run.

If people decide in a considered way to move the thread, that's fine. I like it here for now. But I'm open to reasoned responses to your question. It may be a better home over there--who knows?
 
Gay marriage declared legal across the US in historic supreme court ruling
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2...-supreme-court

This is a dramatic shift in legal and political history in the USA. It had to be mentioned here.

____________________________-

In a related story...

"One of the US supreme court justices who found themselves on the opposite side of Friday’s historic endorsement of same-sex marriage has warned that the ruling will be used to “vilify Americans who are unwilling to assent to the new orthodoxy”, a group he said now faced being “labeled as bigots”.

Justice Samuel Alito said the ruling could leave the country suffering from “bitter and lasting wounds” in a dissenting opinion that veered away from legal argument, and head-first into political and cultural commentary.

“I assume that those who cling to old beliefs will be able to whisper their thoughts in the recesses of their homes, but if they repeat those views in public, they will risk being labeled as bigots and treated as such by governments, employers and schools,” he wrote."

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...stices-dissent


Isn't that just terrible! Imagine, those poor people will be picked on, abused, badmouthed, ridiculed, marginalized.... So very sad, isn't it?
 
"No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization's oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right."
-- Justice Anthony Kennedy, Obergefell v. Hodges majority opinion
 
Only a very few years ago this Supreme Court decision, announced today, was considered a thing never to happen in the lifetimes of my friends who supported the right of all Americans to marry whom they loved. I had thought differently, but that it is now a fact of history is, for me, a rare piece of unusually good news about this country (the USA). I'm not exactly proud of America, generally. But I am proud about this. And happy.

Perhaps one day people will be able to legally marry all of their loved ones, if they so wish?
 
While the Onion piece is fiction, I bet that movie probably will be made. :)
 
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..... the ruling will be used to “vilify Americans who are unwilling to assent to the new orthodoxy”, a group he said now faced being “labeled as bigots”.

I think they already are labled as bigots, but as you say - boo hoo for them.
 
I think they already are labled as bigots, but as you say - boo hoo for them.

I grew up in a typical, average American neighborhood. I'm roughly half of a century in age. When I was a teenager, being "out" as a gay or bi man was tantamount to ... well, there's no comparison to today's world! I would have either been beaten to a pulp or severely ostracized by almost everyone around me. It wasn't' done. Nobody in my neighborhoods was "out" in those days. There were rumors of visibly gay people in some few of the big cities (I was a suburbanite).

My country (USA) has undergone an almost unbelievable shift of conscientiousness and perspective on LGBT issues in my short lifetime. It's almost dizzying!

Gay and bi (and queer) American men of my generation and prior have unnecessarily struggled with fear, guilt and shame as a consequence of our RELATIONAL orientations (It's not all about sex, so I call it "relational"). And to the astonishment of many or most of us, there has been a mindbogglingly rapid sea change in America's attitudes to LGBTQ people. We have become -- for most people in this country now -- just everyday, normal people.

Yes, the tables have turned on the "bigots" -- and they really are bigots -- but those of us who are middle aged or older have at least begun to notice that life is short..., and love is precious. It's the only thing that makes our short human lives endurable -- even joyful! So as I write these words I am working up an ever deepening love and compassion for those in our world who continue to believe LGBTQ people are worthy of shame and disgust. So long as they do not threaten me with harm, I will embrace every one of them with open arms and heart -- brothers and sisters all. :)
 
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