Italy Sees Major Weekend Protests
Thousands of protestors in Milan and Rome stood up against the Catholic church's policies on abortion and same-sex unions over the weekend. In Italy, the pressure is on regarding the legalization of same-sex marriage, and in Rome, an upbeat protest drew attention to the matter with flags, drag queens posing with photos of the Pope, and kissing couples.
Right-wing Reforms Minister Roberto Calderoli of the Northern League party made his homophobic thoughts known: "These protests have absolutely sickened me. These filthy things have made absurd claims for privileges on the basis of unproductive sex .... These are out of place and revolting."
People fighting against intolerance usually do sicken the bigots.
Posted Jan. 16,2006 at 9:05 AM EST by Andy Towle in Current Affairs | Permalink
Ah, the dregs, I mean the drags: parasites on every gay event, no matter what kind, pretending to actually care about the core issues when all they really care about is attention at any cost -- in this case the cost of serious consideration by the average Italian of civil unions as something more than a gender joke, a masquerade. Such epicene exhibitionists have always been just as much an obstacle to legal reform as right-wing homophobes. But both, like cockroaches, will always be with us.
Posted by: James | Jan 16, 2006 11:51:10 AM
How many people must you murder before you are called a murderer?
How many lies does one have to say before one is called a liar?
How many cocks must you suck before you are called gay?
Using the logic of the first statement we are all liars and all are gay... so what's the problem?
Death to all of those who won't convert?
Time for the Crusades to begin anew?
Posted by: HisHolynessDPope | Jan 16, 2006 1:48:46 PM
Why do people invent religion?
Everything that we associate with religion is imaginary. God, the Bible, Jesus, the resurrection, prayer, the Ten Commandments, the creation story, your soul, everlasting life, heaven... every bit of it is the product of human imagination. The same goes for Allah, the Koran and so on. As a species we have believed all of this religious dogma for centuries, and most of us believe it today to some degree. And yet... it is all fiction. It is just as fictional as were the gods of the Egyptians, the Romans and the Aztecs.
If it is so obvious that God is imaginary, then why might a large majority of the American population profess belief in God? Why would we, as a species, create all of this mythology over and over again through the millennia? We must do it for a reason.
If we can understand the reasons and deal with them rationally rather than through religion, we actually can do ourselves a great deal of good.
There are two important reasons why humans fabricate all of our religions:
1. People invent God as a way to cope with death. Many humans are terrified by death for some reason. They invent religion as a way to deal with their terror.
2. People invent God as a proxy for goodness. People want a way to promote "goodness" and eliminate "evil" in their societies. In the past, inventing an imaginary God has been perceived to be one way to facilitate that process.
Death and goodness are important to people. They touch on fundamental human emotions. If we can separate death and goodness from the mythology of God so that we can understand them and work with them in a positive way, we can actually do something very helpful. We can create a rational world for ourselves that is focused on benefiting mankind.
http://whydoesgodhateamputees.com/
Posted by: VINCENT | Jan 16, 2006 2:30:43 PM
ick !
Posted by: Mike | Jan 16, 2006 11:50:56 PM
I'm sad to see Drag queen bashing as the first post. Must we turn our backs on the queens of stonewall so quickly? Drag queens are our culture, just as much as gym bunnies and log cabin republicans. The fight for freedome will not be won by towing a line a bowing to demands. That is what the matachine society tried to do in the 50's and Harry Hay (one of our first great gay civic leaders, saddly too few have heard of) led the towards in your face, accept us as we are not as you think we should be, activisim. Remeber your roots, cherish your culture.
Posted by: Graham | Jan 21, 2006 7:01:40 PM
I agree with Graham. In this fight we are all the same. I used to carry around judgement on all of those in our wider circle then realized I was behaving just like those crazy religious zealots. Yes, we are all fighting for the same thing but unfortunately with all of the divisiveness within our gay community we do not have one voice. When we ALL unite we will crush them. Where is ACT UP now??
Posted by: EGC | Jan 23, 2006 9:17:24 AM