A Straight Pride Parade?

Seriously, I just had someone send me an invitation for a straight pride parade....

WTF?

I'm going to be honest and admit that I didn't even read the email, it was just so silly to me that I didn't even read it.  I'm not saying that straights shouldn't be proud of the fact that they're straight (Um, hello?  I'm straight...ish.  I mean, I'd be gay for Jennifer Aniston IN A HEARTBEAT and I think two guys together is unbelievably HOT-which is where the "ish" comes from), but I think that people are missing the point of the gay pride parade.  It's about more than couples and individuals showing that they're gay, it's showing support for people to love and live as they want without the religious convictions or ideals of others being forced upon them.  It's about expressing pride in yourself in an era that still wants gays, bisexuals and transgenders to stay in the closet hiding, unless of course they're performing on stage, well then...it's okay.

I liken the gay pride parade to the Civil Rights Movement that blacks and those that supported them, took decades ago during the 1950s and 1960s.  It's a shout, a proclamation of "We're here!  We will love who we want!  We're not going away!  You can't make us!  Give us our rights, our freedoms!  Stop your hatred, your intolerance, your bashing and your soul-killing rhetoric!"  I always smile warmly whenever I hear of a gay pride parade and I've marched in a few, or rather, like this year, rolled in a few with my wheelchair, because it reminds me that we all have the responsibility to fight for equality, regardless of if we agree with it or not.  I remember when I did a paper in college (Bethune Cookman) about the fact that there were some people who fought in the Civil War who didn't believe that blacks were equal with whites as others did, but they didn't believe in slavery (they believed in equality, but didn't agree with the the totality of the fight) and there were those who marched for Civil Rights who didn't believe that blacks had the capacity to learn like whites did, that we would never be as smart as them (Suck my 182 IQ score on that one!  Marilyn Savant scored a 228), but that we still had the right to learn and live as equally as they did.

That's the way I see the gay pride parade, it's a parade that celebrates love and equality for EVERYONE.

So a straight pride parade?  How is that out of the ordinary at all?  Why would that even be needed?  No one is trying to prevent straight couples from being able to marry (although some of them should be...I mean...really), no one is telling straight couples that they weren't born straight or that they're abominations and God doesn't love them because of who they choose to love (which is a bunch of malarky! Do people just not READ the Bible or something?), so why would they need a parade to march in?

It angered me a little when I saw it and I promptly wrote back this person (who is now deleted and blocked from my email address) and told them that they didn't have to approve of who I chose to call friend and who I chose to fight for, but they had to respect my wishes on not sending my anything that I found offensive (this wasn't their first time-I was called a f** hag by this person and told that I'd be chained with the rest of them and burned in hell-probably should have blocked her then).  So maybe someone else, who is a little more understanding can explain to me the whole straight pride parade thing, because I'm just not getting it.

Black History Month Day Three

Here it is: Day Three of your Black History/Our History education!!








On February 03, 1870 the Fifteenth Amendment to United States Constitution was ratified.



The Fifteenth Amendment (Amendment XV) to the United States Constitution prohibits each government in the United States from denying a citizen suffrage based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude" (i.e., slavery). It was ratified on February 3, 1870.



The Fifteenth Amendment is one of the Reconstruction Amendments.



Text



Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.







The Fifteenth Amendment is the third of the Reconstruction Amendments. This amendment prohibits the states and the federal government from using a citizen's race (this applies to all races), color or previous status as a slave as a voting qualification. The North Carolina Supreme Court upheld this right of free men of color to vote; in response, amendments to the North Carolina Constitution removed the right in 1835. Granting free men of color the right to vote could be seen as giving them the rights of citizens, an argument explicitly made by Justice Curtis's dissent in Dred Scott v. Sandford:



Of this there can be no doubt. At the time of the ratification of the Articles of Confederation, all free native-born inhabitants of the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and North Carolina, though descended from African slaves, were not only citizens of those States, but such of them as had the other necessary qualifications possessed the franchise of electors, on equal terms with other citizens.

The original House and Senate draft of the amendment said the right to vote and hold office would not be denied or abridged by the states based on race, color or creed. A House-Senate conference committee dropped the office holding guarantee to make ratification by 3/4 of the states easier. The amendment did not establish true universal male suffrage partly because Southern Republicans were reluctant to undermine loyalty tests, which the Reconstruction state governments used to limit the influence of ex-Confederates, and partly because some Northern and Western politicians wished to continue disenfranchisement of non-native Irish and Chinese.



Thomas Mundy Peterson was the first African American to vote after the amendment's adoption. Peterson cast his ballot in a school board election held in Perth Amboy, New Jersey on March 31, 1870. On a per capita and absolute basis, more blacks were elected to public office during the period from 1865 to 1880 than at any other time in American history including a number of state legislatures which were effectively under the control of a strong African American caucus. These legislatures brought in programs that are considered part of government's role now, but at the time were radical, such as universal public education. They also set all racially biased laws aside, including anti-miscegenation laws (laws prohibiting interracial marriage).







Voter registration card, Alamance County, North Carolina, 1902, with statement from registrant of birth before January 1, 1867, when the Fifteenth Amendment became law

Despite the efforts of groups like the Ku Klux Klan to intimidate black voters and white Republicans, assurance of federal support for democratically elected southern governments meant that most Republican voters could both vote and rule in confidence. For example, when an all-white mob attempted to take over the interracial government of New Orleans, President Ulysses S. Grant sent in federal troops to restore the elected mayor.



However, in order to appease the South after his close election, Rutherford B. Hayes agreed to withdraw federal troops. He also overlooked rampant fraud and electoral violence in the Deep South, despite several attempts by the Republicans to pass laws protecting the rights of black voters and to punish intimidation. Without the restrictions, voting place violence against blacks and Republicans increased, including instances of murder. Most of this was done without any intervention by law enforcement and often even with their cooperation.



By the 1890s, many Southern states had strict voter eligibility laws, including literacy tests and poll taxes. Some states even made it difficult to find a place to register to vote.



The Congress proposed the Fifteenth Amendment on February 26, 1869. The final vote in the Senate was 39 senators for, 13 against, and 14 absent. Several fierce advocates of equal rights, such as Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, abstained from voting because the amendment did not prohibit devices which states might use to restrict black suffrage, such as literacy tests and poll taxes. The vote in the House was 144 to 44 with 35 members not voting. The House vote was almost entirely along party lines, with no Democrats supporting the bill and only 3 Republicans voting against it.



On April 9, 1869, the Congress amended a pending reconstruction bill to require Virginia, Mississippi and Georgia to ratify the Fifteenth Amendment in order to regain representation in the Congress.



The following states ratified the amendment:



Nevada (March 1, 1869)

West Virginia (March 3, 1869)

Illinois (March 5, 1869)

Louisiana (March 5, 1869)

Michigan (March 5, 1869)

North Carolina (March 5, 1869)

Wisconsin (March 5, 1869)

Maine (March 11, 1869)

Massachusetts (March 12, 1869)

Arkansas (March 15, 1869)

South Carolina (March 15, 1869)

Pennsylvania (March 25, 1869)

New York (April 14, 1869, rescinded on January 5, 1870, rescinded the rescission on March 30, 1870)

Indiana (May 14, 1869)

Connecticut (May 19, 1869)

Florida (June 14, 1869)

New Hampshire (July 1, 1869)

Virginia (October 8, 1869) (required for representation in the Congress)

Vermont (October 20, 1869)

Alabama (November 16, 1869)

Missouri (January 7, 1870)

Minnesota (January 13, 1870)

Mississippi (January 17, 1870) (required for representation in the Congress)

Rhode Island (January 18, 1870)

Kansas (January 19, 1870)

Ohio (January 27, 1870, after having rejected it on April 30, 1869)

Georgia (February 2, 1870) (required for representation in the Congress)

Iowa (February 3, 1870)

Ratification was completed on February 3, 1870. The amendment was subsequently ratified by the following states:



Nebraska (February 17, 1870)

Texas (February 18, 1870) (required for representation in the Congress)

New Jersey (February 15, 1871, after having rejected it on February 7, 1870)

Delaware (February 12, 1901, after having rejected it on March 18, 1869)

Oregon (February 24, 1959)

California (April 3, 1962, after having rejected it on January 28, 1870)

Maryland (May 7, 1973, after having rejected it on February 26, 1870)

Kentucky (March 18, 1976, after having rejected it on March 12, 1869)

Tennessee (April 2, 1997, after having rejected it on November 16, 1869)





Why the Ratification of the 15th Amendment is Important to History:



Well, this does seem like a rather sill question doesn't it? Every person, male or female deserves the right to vote, the right to choose who will determine the laws that will govern, rule and restrict their lives.



Until the ratification of the 15th Amendment, blacks were unable to vote in the United States, so they had no say in who the president would be and no say in what laws were passed, oftentimes having to suffer the consequences of laws that only benefitted whites, especially white slave owners. These laws almost always negatively affected blacks. Especially blacks in the South.



If it had not been for the 15th Amendment there would be no President Barack Obama because while this amendment was about allowing former slaves, blacks, the right to vote, it also opened the door for blacks to start to think about running for governmental offices in order that they may have what they felt were more acceptable candidates for election.



Blacks marched for the right to vote, marched to be able to vote without oppression and violent tampering from the Ku Klux Klan and others who did not think that they should have that right. They were beaten, some were killed, they were threatened, some lost their jobs, they were incarcerated and it tore some families apart, but they kept pushing forward, pushing for freedom, pushing for equality and they would settle for nothing less. There are still those of us who will not settle for less than full equality in all areas of our lives, those of us who will continue the good fight of our ancestors, for us and for others who enjoy the freedom to vote, February 3, 1870 is truly a special and significant and yes, a blessed day in history.



Your thoughts? Any stories you've heard about people trying to vote?

Egypt: What Can I Do To Help?

So I want to get involved. I want to do something about what’s happening in Egypt, BEYOND tweeting and blogging and signing petitions. I want to move, to act, to DO something. And yes, I know that there’s really little that I as an American can do to actually bring about change there, but I’d atleast like to show some support.




I want to organize a march or a sit-in or something.



I was reading some of the responses from Egyptians about Mubarak’s statement and none of them really believe that at the end of his term he will step down, and they have all stated that they believe that he only made that statement to get the protesting to stop. There are many who plan to stage a sitting protest, peacefully, beginning Friday.



I would like to show support here in America by doing the same thing.



Only problem is getting the word out, who to contact, where to do it, etc.



I was involved in marching for Darfur and taping my mouth closed for the Invisible Children protest, I am active in fighting injustice even if all I do is take to my Twitter, Facebook, blogs or sign a few petitions, but every so often I have the urge to do more.



So I want to do something active. I want to DO something to show my support for the protestors over in Egypt. Any ideas? Anyone know of any other support protests for Egypt going on here in our country or support videos or anything? I really want to get involved