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Thursday, October 24, 2002
Sometimes we forget... While its true that Ithaca, in general, is an extraordinarily liberal place (in comparison with say, many other cities in Upstate NY)... I find it hard to believe that people that live here... especially in the gay and lesbian community... are so apathetic to politics and activism. And maybe that's erroneous... most may be sure of their party affiliation and don't need to attend something like, say, a Meet The Candidate Forum hosted by the Ithaca Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgender Task Force. Last night's attendance at the forum was so poor I was actually embarrassed for a moment, for our community. (And I wasn't the only person to say this... just in case someone wanted to accuse me of climbing up on a soapbox.) Besides Lori and I, there were maybe four or five folks who attended. There were almost as many candidates there to answer questions. Was a forum like this important? Absolutely. Not only did it show that some candidates don't think the gay and lesbian community is important (Mike Sigler not only didn't show up but didn't respond to numerous requests for an appearance)... but there are many issues right now on the plate that desperately need to be addressed at a local and statewide level. Hate crimes and restorative justice/victim's rights for those the subject of hate crimes, Non-Discrimination in housing and the workplace, and potentially an uphill battle for any recognition of gay/lesbian couples as in Vermont. But I think one only needs to read the Ithaca Journal for a bolt of reality. One of the biggest issues in the Ithaca City School district these days is the presentation of a play... about tolerance and bias towards a boy coming out at school. The play is called 'Josh Keenan Comes Out' and most of the noise is being made not necessarily about the fact that a boy comes out as gay, but that a character in the play says, 'My Dad says, 'God hates gays.' Ministers and Pastors have spoken at the School Board meetings asking that the play not be shown because it makes inflammatory statements about religion and characterizes religion in a poor light. The fact of the matter is that there *are* folks out there, some of them fathers, who say 'God hates gays.' (Do I need to point people to a web site, godhatesfags.com?) Not only does that statement not condemn an entire religion it actually prompts individuals seeing the play to give some thought to their own discomfort at hearing those words and figure out *why* people make comments like that. So of course I'm all about that play being shown. And kudos to the School Board and Administration who knows that this is an important message. I wanted to share a quote... from an opinion piece in today's Journal as proof that there is much work to be done... Mark Broderick, who is the Pastor at the West Groton/East Lansing Church had this to say, 'Josh needs friends accepting him as homosexual as much as alcoholics need people to buy them drinks. What Josh really needs are loving Christians who will share with him the compassion of God depicted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Please come out Josh -- come out of the lifestyle and into a personal relationship with the living God.' Ok, so maybe Mark Broderick doesnt *hate* fags. He just doesn't *accept* them... but I bet he votes.  | private feedback | |
Hey! I'm Shane... a proud gay progressive Democrat who has recently relocated to New York City from Ithaca, NY. As I am no longer in Ithaca, I haven't quite decided the fate of this blog. Drop me a line!
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