Netroots notes: More than Marriage and don't abandon the south

Last week there was a convention called "Netroots Nation" held in Providence Rhode Island. It is mostly made up of Liberal and Progressive political bloggers and activists and just before the conference was "Netroots Connect" targeting the Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community and thanks to modern technology you could follow almost everything from these events online. And I did just that.

Of the Netroots connect conference of LGBT activists there were some great topics of interest to those of us who live in "red states" including mostly conservative rural and southern regions. One, the matter "Marriage Equality" or same-sex marriage dominating the so-called "gay agenda" politically.

While marriage equality is an important concern it was FINALLY mentioned in a public forum that for many of us, economic and other social issues take president to whether one can legally get married or not. To quote one of the attendees via twitter (not exact wording) "Getting married isn't all that when I can be fired from my job for talking about it". That was in reference to the possibility of someone who is LGBT losing their job simply because of who they are and having no legal recourse. And there are other primary issues of concern that effect singles as well as LGBT couples. Tax concerns. National security. JOB security! Crime and government corruption. These are issues that concern most anyone in any segment of our society and are often compounded for the LGBT community but take a backseat to marriage equality for most of the attention given by the LGBT community politically.

We need to start focusing on many other issues, especially local issues in our community that also effect our straight relatives and neighbors.

And another issue that was brought up is one that is close to home for me and my neighbors. The fact that the national LGBT community and our national organizations frequently discard its community that lives in what is considered a "red state", especially states in the Southern United States. So questions were asked as to what can the national LGBT community do to help its rural, southern and "red state" members of the family. Many in the LGBT and so-called "progressive" community have simply abandoned and written off places that are not urban or in the Northeast or Western areas of our country.  So the easy answer is to COME to our red states, our rural areas, our southern states and walk with us as we work to educate and make ALL of our homes a better place.

Many disparage our areas, especially the South for our negative education statistics and the higher domination of conservative politics and religion and if you are LGBT living in these areas it is often suggested to us that we move to other areas, to LEAVE our hometowns for places that appear to be more open minded, welcoming or "safe". But the reality is that those places are no more safer or open  minded than many small towns in the rural south.  There are many instances of gay bashings and police harassment in urban areas and "blue states". Places we are supposed to believe are safe.  While there are things that happen in all areas of our world that are often undocumented, the problems of being LGBT in American society have no boundaries.  Even if you can marry your same-sex partner in the few states that allow it, you still don't have all of your rights. You are just like us who live down here in the red states.

I had a good twitter conversation with blog mistress (and North Carolina resident) Pam Spaulding as was told by some that she should pack up and leave NC and consider it a lost cause. But because of the hard work of the citizens of NC the results of their recent constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage were actually more who voted IN FAVOR of marriage equality compared to other states. The amendment passed with only 60% of the vote. In other states where similar amendment votes were held, those who wanted to see marriage limited to one man-one woman won by as much as 75-85%. My point is, thanks to the hard work of the citizens of North Carolina, nearly 40% voted with the right intentions. That is so much more than what happened in the neighboring states.  So the amendment vote failed for our side. But progress was made because people didn't give up. And North Carolina proved that you can't just pack up and move away we need our LGBT community to stand with our family regardless of where we live and build progress one step at a time.

I have experienced other instances where it was suggested by the LGBT community to run away from our southern home towns and don't look back like Blacks did during the civil rights movement. But think about it!  The Blacks who stayed in the south marched and sacrificed AT HOME while those who moved away may have lived a happier life but in retrospect haven't done or achieved that much. Take a good look at our inner cities of the North and Midwest and their decades of decay. Many of my own relatives who left the south in the 1940's through the 1960's eventually retired back in their original home states to find places that were made better because of the people who worked hard to make it a better place.  They didn't have to work to make it a better place, somebody else did it for them. And that is the mindset of the LGBT community in too many cases. Those who live in "safe" urban areas and the North and West where life is happy and there are many things to do don't realize that all of that comes at a price. You have to work for it and can make it happen anywhere.

Martin Luther King didn't run away to New York or Detroit, he stayed close to his home and helped fight to make a difference. And if the LGBT community loves to latch onto the history of the civil rights movement as so many of us within the LGBT community do, then you should take heed from Dr. King.  He didn't abandon the small town, the "red states" of the time or the South. And the LGBT community shouldn't abandon US either.

WIMP of the Day: Caiden Cowger of West Virginia

The WIMP of the day for June 6, 2012 is 14 year old Caiden Cowger of West Virginia.

The host of "The Caiden Cowger Program" as a young Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck wannabe recently posted a rather insane homophobic video rant saying that the President was making children gay. Then when he started getting comments and taking heat for his video rant, he little boy CLOSED his YouTube account basically running and hiding from the results of his own making.

Hey Caiden, here is some advice from some old guy in his mid 40s.  GROW UP!   If you want to play in the grown up game of public commentary then you have to have the nerve to accept both the praise AND the scorn.   You'll never be taken seriously, not because of your youth and proven ignorance but because of your cowardly running away by removing the videos you wanted everyone to hear so you can impress the big boys you hoped to be when you grow up.

You are forever marked as a wimp.

Go away little boy!

President Barack Obama is making kids GAY!

President Barack Obama is making kids GAY!

So said a 14 year old with too much spare time on his hands!- AND AFTER HE POSTED THIS VIDEO, IT WENT VIRAL AND HE RECIEVED COMMENTS, THE LITTLE PUNK CLOSED HIS YOUTUBE ACCOUNT!! (update 7:30pm, a few hours after the video was posted)

If I find another link to this I will share it!  He basically went on a rant about how he felt that homosexuality was a "belief" and the traditional rant that it is a sin against god and that the president was making kids gay.

 Update 6/7/2012 @ 2:41am, here is a "mirrored" copy of the video saved and reposted after Caiden took down his original YouTube account!





You know, my elders used to believe in a philosophy that children should be seen and not heard. THIS KID HAS HIS OWN RADIO TALK SHOW, A Facebook "fan" page and a YouTube channel!  He is seen AND heard by at least a few!

And who is it they say is going to hell?  Well if there are any more Caiden Cowger's out there we're ALL going to hell in a hurry. Beware world!  This kid is eligible for a driver's license in a couple years and perhaps more dangerously, eligible to VOTE by 2016!

Cleaning house: Putting old records away

As I am trying to get back into the blogging habit I must take care of some issues within my blogging past.

One of my favorite interests is the music that I grew up with and most of the posts in the year 2011 included YouTube videos of the music I blogged about. Well so many of those video links are no longer valid as so many of them were pulled from YouTube. Also, posting them has caused a great problem with the blog posts and sometimes the entire blog from loading on many browsers and computers. So I may have to delete most of my blog posts from the year 2011. Or at least change or remove the video links.

I hate to remove entire blog posts but I guess I should have known that eventually it could be a problem and a waste of cyberspace.  The blog posts that remain will be edited and will have an asterisk (*) on the blog title and some will have an explanation of changes.

I will continue to enjoy and post/share music. But in the future you'll  have to be a subscriber of my Facebook and Twitter pages to enjoy them.