Hate goes back to school.

You can tell it’s time for the kids to head back to school.  You can tell by the amount of stupid the parents are sending out there…

“Devil” shirts send kids home
GAINESVILLE, Fl (Gainesville.com) 26 August – More children from the Dove World Outreach Center arrived Tuesday at area public schools with shirts bearing the message [...]

“Quakers make the right decision.”

by Rosemary Hartill
(The Guardian/UK) August 3 – Following the decision by the Religious Society of Friends on Friday to become the first historic church to say “yes” to same-sex marriages, Saturday’s Guardian ran an editorial entitled In Praise of .. the Quakers. It highlighted the long history of Quaker trail-blazing – in the reform of [...]

“Mr. to Miss, now teacher is resigning.”

Sad.
Mr. to Miss, now teacher is resigning
LITTLE EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J. (Philadelphia Inquirer July 23 – When word got out that Mr. McBeth, a popular substitute teacher at two South Jersey school districts was about to come back to class as Miss McBeth, it caused an uproar.
William McBeth had undergone sex reassignment surgery [...]

What a “radical” idea!

That Tyler Perry  What a “radical” he must be!
Tyler Perry Gives the Gift of Disney World to Philadelphia Campers
(Philadelphia Inquirer) July 21 – Six-year-old Creative Steps camper Dajuan Tucker doesn’t remember much about his last trip to Walt Disney World. He was only 4 years old and has vague memories of water slides and meeting [...]

Dear Pat Buchanan:

The other night on The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC, you went off on yet another long-winded rant about affirmative action and  Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court and the death of white male privilege in America.
As part of that rant, you mentioned the idea that “white people [mainly white MEN] built this [...]

What we’re (still) up against.

Prepare to be angry.
Montco swim club accused of racial discrimination
PHILADELPHIA, Pa (Philadelphia Inquirer) July 9 - Days before a Northeast Philadelphia day camp’s membership at a private suburban swim club was rescinded, several of the campers said they had heard racial remarks about themselves at the pool.
Parents and staff members of Creative Steps Inc. day camp [...]

Well done, New Hampshire.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) June 3 – New Hampshire legislators approved a measure Wednesday that would make the state the sixth to allow gay marriage, and Gov. John Lynch said he would sign it later in the afternoon.
He had promised a veto if the law didn’t clearly spell out that churches and religious groups would not [...]

What he said.

Seen in San Francisco on Tuesday.
(via Common Dreams)

Way to go, Maine.

Actually, it’s the rest of the country that has a way to go.
Maine becomes 5th state to allow same-sex marriage
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) May 6 – Maine’s governor signed a freshly passed bill Wednesday approving gay marriage, making it the fifth state to approve the practice and moving New England closer to allowing it throughout the [...]

Freedom to preach hate?

The headline says it all, doesn’t it?  It’s just so… so… Fox:
Social Conservatives Blast Hate-Crime Bill, Saying It Will Limit Free Speech
(Fox News) April 30 - A Senate hate crimes bill that would extend federal protection to gay and transgender victims is rousing the ire of social conservatives who say their right to free speech will [...]

An open letter to the local chapter of the John Birch Society:

This letter is addressed to whoever left a leaflet stuck in my front door on Sunday,  April 26, the one advertising the showing of the racist, anti-immigrant propaganda film “Immigration Invasion” at (a location I will not discuss, on a date I will not disclose).  Ironically, I found it there after returning home from an [...]

Blogging against disablism: May 1.

From Diary of a Goldfish:
Friday May 1 will be Blogging Against Disablism Day.
Blogging Against Disablism day will be on Friday, 1st May. This is the day where all around the world, disabled and non-disabled people will blog about their experiences, observations and thoughts about disability discrimination. In this way, we hope to raise awareness of [...]

Hate kills.

It will take seven minutes to watch this.  Watch it anyway.

Bullying kills.  Homophobia kills.  School districts need to wake up and some need to be sued.  They need to get the message that just having a “policy” in place isn’t enough.  The policy has to be the right policy, and it has to [...]

Happy (human rights hero) birthday.

Dolores Huerta turns 79 today.
“Si se puete!”

What they said.

(Tony Auth, from Thursday’s Philadelphia Inquirer.)
Laura Flanders has more here (with video).

Today is World Roma Day.

Go visit Devious Diva and find out what it’s all about.
Get educated there like I did.

Thank you, Vermont.

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) April 7 – Vermont on Tuesday became the fourth state to legalize gay marriage — and the first to do so with a legislature’s vote.
[And all of Western civilization collapsed around your ears.  Did you hear it?]
The House recorded a dramatic 100-49 vote, the minimum needed, to override Gov. Jim Douglas’ veto. [...]

Today’s news from Planet Autism.

How One Autistic Young Man Runs A Business
(US News) April 3 - Joe Steffy is off to Overland Park, Kansas this week to do a PowerPoint presentation on his business, Poppin’ Joe’s Kettle Korn. He’s a 23-year-old small-business man with a goal of $100,000 in sales by 2012. Joe also has autism and Down syndrome and is [...]

IOWA!

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) April 3 – Iowa’s Supreme Court legalized gay marriage Friday in a unanimous and emphatic decision that makes Iowa the third state — and first in the nation’s heartland — to allow same-sex couples to wed.
Iowa joins only Massachusetts and Connecticut in permitting same-sex marriage. For six months last year, California’s [...]

RAISE your voice for the women of Congo!

Watch.  Learn.
Go here.