From the front lines of the global fight for equality...

Evening, all! I promise you I've not completely fallen off the face of the earth. As fate would have it, SEU Feminist's only male blogger is also its least prolific poster. *Cue the wailing, ashes, and sackcloth of repentence* Seriously, though, I'll be better about that in the future.

Anyhow, just wanted to share this beautiful ad from Ireland that's sure to render some conservatives speechless. Slainte!

"My time will come": Another milestone in the global struggle for political equality

Yesterday, former Icelandic Minister of Social Affairs and Social Security Johanna Sigurdardottir became her nation's first female prime minister and the world's first openly gay head of government. This comes after months of widespread malaise in the country, and many look to her as a sign of better times to come.

She entered politics in 1978. Since then, she has held several prominent positions in Iceland's government. Much has been made of her former occupation as a flight attendant, perhaps not without cause: her rise to power is all the more inspirational considering where she began. In 1995, she ran for her current position without success. "My time will come," she famously remarked.

Along with the inauguration of President Barack Obama, her election has made January one of the most groundbreaking months in the history of the fight for human equality.

For more information, there's a great article at TIME.com on the subject.

One Catholic's perspective on Prop 8

He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone...

I am a devout, practicing, traditional Catholic, and I am against Proposition 8.

This might seem like a paradox, and may not be conservative enough or liberal enough depending on your views, but bear with me. The Roman Catholic faith, to which I am a fervent adherent, maintains the following official position on the matter of same-sex relations:

"Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that 'homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.' They... close the sexual act to the gift of life...Under no circumstances can they be approved...This inclination [however]...constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided."

- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2357-2358

The Catechism goes on to state that LGBT people are "called to chastity". This is the case because the Catholic Church teaches that sexual activity must be both an expression of eternal love and an act open to procreation. Since same-sex relations cannot be procreative, practicing Catholics are bound not to engage in them. Some Catholic theorists go so far as to say that romantic love cannot exist between two people of the same sex.

I can't disagree with the Church on the point that practicing Catholics cannot engage in homosexual acts without committing a sin. And I believe that any form of sexual activity in which a child cannot be created is also sinful (including masturbatory, oral, anal, or "safe" sex between people of any gender). However, I strongly disagree with the latter point: I have seen many same-sex couples who are more loving than a substantial number of their heterosexual counterparts. While I believe that the Church cannot permit her members to be joined in same-sex marriages, American civil law is, or should be, a completely different ball game.

First of all, what ever happened to separation of Church and state? At the end of the day, I'm glad I live in a nation where not everyone agrees with me. Freedom is what makes this country great. Secondly, since when does a government have a right to declare who its citizens can and can't marry? If John Doe can marry Suzy Smith, why can't Jane Doe marry her? In a democracy, the citizens are supposed to have true sovereignty over their government. So how can we let our political leaders tell us who to love, to honor, and to cherish 'til death do us part? I've always felt that part of the American dream was being able to love whomever you love, without apology. No matter what anyone says, I will never be convinced that love is a choice.

I encourage people to be true to their beliefs, whatever they are, and I especially urge all Catholics to follow the Church's teachings. That said, the matter of your sexuality is very personal. Share it with your partner, your friends, your family, trusted members of the community, your confessor, anyone, everyone, or no one at all if you don't want to. Whomever. But who you love is none of Uncle Sam's gosh darn business.

Some relevant links...

Courage, a Church-approved ministry to LGBT and questioning Catholics

The Trevor Project, a non-religious, non-profit resource for LGBTQ youth

Sarah Palin on feminism (here we go...)

I'm sure everyone is sick of hearing about Sarah Palin, but I saw this post-election interview and thought y'all would like to know that (after some flip-flopping on the issue) she's finally decided that she is a feminist-- "whatever that means."



Oh yeah, and she insults bloggers, too! I love Rachel Maddow's retort to that:

Majority female state senate in New Hampshire!

Funny Feminist Friday: Ellen!

In light of all the same-sex marriage bans passing on Tuesday-- prop 8 in California, prop 2 in Florida, and prop 102 in Arizona-- I thought I'd share a few clips of one of my favorite queer comediennes, the fabulous Ellen DeGeneres. In this clip from her 2000 show, The Beginning, Ellen shares an interpretive dance about her coming out experience.



Maybe Ellen should start a campaign to protest prop 8 through interpretive dance?
This next clip is sad in light of recent events, but here you can watch her totally trump John McCain on the subject of gay marriage:



And to cheer you up, here's a clip of Ellen dancing with President-Elect (!!!) Barack Obama:

WomEMPOWERment meeting recap: 11/5 (and some thoughts on the election)

What a fantastic day this has been. I woke up an hour before my alarm went off (which never happens unless I'm excited or in love) and I felt like it was christmas morning. And actually, I am in love. I'm in love with an America that can move beyond centuries of prejudice and elect the best person for the job, regardless of race. I'm in love with a country that has seen past the slander and the lies about our future president and has recognized that he is an intelligent, passionate person who wants to help rebuild this country, unite us, and make us the best we can be. I'm in love with the feeling of optimism that surrounds us both from the knowledge that Bush's reign will soon end and from the hope that with the breaking down of this giant barrier to equality, that hundreds of smaller barriers will soon be broken-- for people of color, for women, for immigrants, for queers. To paraphrase Neil Armstrong: one small large step for Obama, one giant leap for equality in this country.

What was this post about again? Oh yeah, the meeting. We had our second meeting of WomEMPOWERment on this glorious night. We met outside the main building, where the weather was perfect and the view was gorgeous. Today we concentrated nearly all of our discussion on the AAUW grant proposal, which is due Friday. We also talked a little about future events for our group, most of which were carried over from last week's discussion. (Yoga? Movie and discussion night in Jones? Sex Ed carnival? "My vag is going green" info sessions to promote alternative menstrual products? Watching The Itty Bitty Titty Committee and drinking margaritas for an end-of-semester party? A big fat YES WE CAN to all!) I'll let y'all know more about the grant and about next week's meeting as soon as I know.

I freaking love America. See you all next week.

Sorry, this is a little off topic: Patriotism

When I was a kid, I loved the Fourth of July. I would get all dressed up in crazy costumes, entirely in red, white, and blue, march in my neighborhood parade, and despite the blistering heat melting my flag face paint, I would have a blast.

When I became a teenager, all that stopped. Not because of teenage rebellion, not because I was about to start high school and was therefore too cool to march in the neighborhood parade. I stopped enjoying the Fourth of July then because the year I turned thirteen was the year George W. Bush was elected president. I haven't felt patriotic since.

I gave up marching in parades and started marching in protests. When I went abroad, I felt ashamed to say I was American. My cynicism about our government grew so much that I didn't think we would ever have a trustworthy leader again.

Until now. Today, there is a glimmer of hope in me. It's gotten under my skin and now it's the night before the election and I'm so excited I can't sleep.

I'm anxious too, of course. The cynic that grew in me during those identity-forming teenage years, the skeptical side of me that has all but completely taken over during the Bush administration, is telling me not to get my hopes up, that polls can be wrong and elections can be rigged. But there's a little part of me, some last ounce of national pride crawling out of the wreckage of these last eight years, that is finally starting to believe that maybe, for the first time in my adult life, this country will have real leadership from a president I like, and more importantly, a president I trust. Maybe I won't need to be ashamed of my country anymore. Maybe I will finally have a reason to be patriotic again.

Real Women Respond to Sarah Palin Live Webathon Today!

Lucinda, the president of WomEMPOWERment, let me know about the Sarah Palin Webathon through Facebook- thanks lady!

Go vent.. it'll make you feel a little bit better. We definitely did some of that at the WomEMPOWERment meeting last night!

More Maddow

Just to follow up on my post from yesterday: As of today, you can download The Rachel Maddow Show in full as a podcast! This is great news if, like me (and, ironically enough, like Dr. Maddow herself) you don't own a teevee, or if you don't have cable. And apparently I'm not the only one who appreciates it-- it's the #1 podcast on iTunes!

Edit: I tried to put a link in here to where you can download it, but iTunes links are weird and it didn't work out. Just open up the iTunes store and click "Podcasts," and it'll be at the top of the "Top Podcasts" list.

Word.

Ms. Information

As we all know, this election season has been an important one for women in politics. It's been a particularly exciting election year for one woman who entered the American political sphere early this fall and has gone on to excel in a male-dominated job. Don't worry, I'm not a Palin supporter. I'm talking about Rachel Maddow, the host of MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show, which premiered September 8th.

Dr. Maddow's show offers political commentary with a liberal bias and a healthy dash of wit. Also a radio host, her television career began when she was a commentator on Countdown with Keith Olbermann. She is the first out lesbian to host her own cable news show and she identifies as a butch dyke. It is refreshing to see a show hosted by an intelligent and opinionated woman who not is not only a rare female face in the overwhelmingly male world of cable news, but who also challenges the Barbie-doll ideal that has been the standard for female newscasters and pundits. Even more impressive, MSNBC's ratings in her time slot are now twice what they were before her show's premiere.

As an avid watcher of The Daily Show (the best fake news show on TV), I'm overjoyed to have found a real news show with an equally smart, funny, feminist perspective.

We CAN do it!

It's backwards, but you get the idea (it was taken with Photobooth using my Mac.) I'm so incredibly proud to have voted yesterday --for the first time!!!-- for a candidate that not only cares about women, but will put the care back into the American healthcare system.

Remember kids: just say NO to McCain/Palin 2008. And get your vote on, 18-24 demographic!