Del Martin, 1921-2008

Del Martin, a trailblazing lesbian rights activist, died yesterday at 87. She and Phyllis Lyon, her partner of fifty-five years, were the first same-sex couple to be married in California not once but twice - first in 2004, when San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom briefly legalized gay marriage, and then in 2008, after a California Supreme Court ruling affirmed the right to same-sex marriage. Del and Phyllis were and are a source of hope for those of us who have despaired, at one point or another, that things would never get better for LGBT people, and their commitment to each other serves as a powerful rebuke to those who would have us believe that same-sex love is in any way inferior. Some of her first published words offer a motto to live by: "Nothing was ever accomplished by hiding in a dark corner." So cheers to you, Del Martin, and may your memory continue to inspire us all to come out of our corners and carry on the fight you started.

McCain opposes gay adoption

Sickening.

Q: President Bush believes that gay couples should not be permitted to adopt children. Do you agree with that?

Mr. McCain: I think that we’ve proven that both parents are important in the success of a family so, no I don’t believe in gay adoption.

Q: Even if the alternative is the kid staying in an orphanage, or not having parents.

Mr. McCain: I encourage adoption and I encourage the opportunities for people to adopt children I encourage the process being less complicated so they can adopt as quickly as possible. And Cindy and I are proud of being adoptive parents.

Q: But your concern would be that the couple should a traditional couple [sic]

Mr. McCain: Yes.

So-called "social issues" aren't normally my purview, but this pisses me off. There are innumerable children out there who desperately need a stable home, and innumerable gay couples out there who could provide them one with love and care. And -- surprise -- there are no psychological issues associated with growing up in a gay household, none. No reasonable person in the 21st century should hold this position; the fact that McCain and other conservative politicians can say this stuff publicly without immediate rebuke and ostracism is a sign that our national discourse is still, in fundamental ways, retarded.

I hate Mondays. Somebody get me a drink.

(Both links via the Washington Independent.)

UPDATE (Thursday): "Actually Senator McCain only kind of opposes gay adoption, and also he doesn't, and it's a state issue anyway, and PLEASE GO AWAY SCARY GAY PEOPLE."

Score one for the gays!

California legalized same-sex marriage today, in the most significant escalation to date of its war with Massachusetts about who will destroy the nation's families first. Hooray! All this fighting is great for me!

I'll make a quick diversion from the primaries

to point out something irritating, to say the least: Health Canada, the Canadian government's... well... health department (right? Markus?), has banned gay men from donating organs. More precisely, any man who has had sex with another man in the last five years can't donate an organ. Hat tip to Jason Cable on this one, since I certainly didn't know, but the US has the same policy; see section IV.E.1. Nor can men donate blood in the US under FDA regulations if they've had sex with a man anytime since 1977.

For reasons you will probably understand, this is distressing; it reveals a tremendous lack of understanding on the FDA's part. Much like the exclusion of gays from serving openly in the armed forces, the exclusions rest on mediocre excuses that veil prejudice. We're not supposed to serve in the military because we scare off all the straight people and undermine camaraderie, even though that's never been proven; we're not supposed to give blood or organs since we'll dirty up the supply, even though donated tissues are always tested for HIV. On behalf of all the gays out there, let me say to the FDA and anyone else who somehow missed the memo that we don't all have AIDS. In fact, I'm pretty sure that most of us don't have AIDS. Additionally, while we're on the topic of earth-shaking revelations, straight people can also have AIDS. The solution to the AIDS crisis isn't stigmatizing people who have AIDS or who belong to groups that are at higher risk of acquiring HIV, and it certainly isn't prejudice - we need a levelheaded approach, and categorically excluding gay men sure as hell isn't it.

A step forward in San Diego

Presented without comment.

(h/t TAPPED, via Feministing. Harvard's Quench has also covered this.)

Roundup -- I Hear There's Some Kind Of Weather Thing Going On?

There's a palpable sense of terror vibrating through Cambridge, as though some kind of meteorological Armageddon might be happening. I wouldn't know; I've been here at work, minding the conveniently underground Fung Library since noon, and when I left Mather it was just a pleasant dusting of snow, no worse than my Canadian hometown gets in July. (I'm exaggerating, but not by as much as you think.) Possibly it's gotten worse this afternoon -- whatever, damned if I'm going outside. I think I'll just assume that you're all a bunch of shrinking violets who can't handle a little bit of weather. Typical Americans.

Anyway, maybe that explains our sudden blogcoma these past couple days. Or midterm season, or March Madness. I don't know. Fact is, if John McCain's ghostly bifurcated face occupies the front page much longer it's going to start haunting me at night, and nobody wants that. So here's a few links that will hopefully push him down the screen. Get thee behind me, Senator!

--If you haven't already, bookmark Planet 02138, an excellent new Harvard blog aggregator put together by Renat Lumpau. It does subject us to the opinions of Greg Mankiw, but I suppose that's a price we'll just have to pay.

--You may have heard about Hillary's weird response to a question about homosexuality -- apparently, whether or not being gay is immoral is "for others to conclude." Which is a fair answer, but also a shitty one, for obvious reasons. Barack had a similar non-response after Newsday asked him three times -- first he discussed the Joint Chiefs, second he commended military sacrifice, and third:

Signed autograph, posed for snapshot, jumped athletically into town car.

Ouch. After a day, both issued statements to the effect that no, they don't think homosexuality is immoral, please go away. Terrible showing by all concerned; this really ought to be something we fundamentally believe and are willing to say openly.

--So I was going to write about how Governor Patrick's first couple months have been a colossal fuckup, marked by amateur mistakes / borderline-tonedeaf imaging, and he really needs to get his act together. Unfortunately, the Crimson editorialized about this on Wednesday, and as we all know the Crimson is wrong about everything. Thus I'm forced to defend the Governor -- so BRAVO, Deval, for shaking up your staff and eliminating that stupid $72,000 job for your wife's assistant! This definitely indicates that you're back on the right track, and not likely to keep bumbling around and wasting money like a drunk guy at a hotel minibar! Woohoo!

--Zogby reports that 97% of conservatives think the media has a liberal bias. This is incredible. You can't get 97% of conservatives to agree that the earth is round, for crying out loud, yet they all seem to think that CNN has it in for them. Even 17% of Democrats perceive a liberal bias. Can somebody show me this bias? I honestly don't see it. Kos has a liberal bias, not the goddamn mainstream media. (Caveat: this is one of those Zogby Interactive polls, which historically have the same accuracy rate as your horoscope.)

--"Egad! The game is afoot!"

--"Political Insider" (a spinoff of the normally respectable Political Wire) has a helpful guide on becoming a "Political Junkie", which details the reading habits of your average respectable Washington observer. Apparently this involves sucking in massive amounts of Drudge, Novak, and even -- dear God -- ABC News' "The Note". Do read the whole thing if you want to fully appreciate the magnitude of the head-up-assedness. And then we wonder why our Washington journalists all seem so dopey... no wonder they call them "junkies," this is the political equivalent of sniffing glue.

--It's been brought to my attention, somewhat belatedly, that Gilbert Arenas has a blog.

And let’s talk about "Mister 50." Can you believe that crap? Mister 50 ain’t had more than 30 points in one game yet, but he’s Mister 50. I’m not paying attention to a proclaimed Mister 50. If he was Mister 50, why did he lose to a one-armed man? Tell that to Mister 50. If he ain’t scoring 29 points a game, he can’t talk to me. I’m Mister 29... Forget that, I don’t need to be Mister 29. I’m Agent Zero, son.

You need to see this. It's like something out of McSweeney's, only real.

--More and more buzz is building, thanks in part to Josh Downer on GOP-Open, about the potential Republican candidacy of fmr. Sen. Fred Thompson. I agree with Paul of Alien & Sedition (which, again, everyone should be reading): if we're going to have a "Law & Order" President, seriously, it'd have to be Sam Waterston.

--You know what? I can't top that. Have a good weekend, everybody, up to and including St. Patrick's Day. This is an open thread.

Update (7:32 PM): OK, I admit it, the weather sucks. Objectively. It's the fucking Day After Tomorrow out there. Anyhow, I can't believe I missed this -- here's John "Tears Of Blood" McCain delivering his traditional direct, honest, unvarnished "straight talk":

Q: “What about grants for sex education in the United States? Should they include instructions about using contraceptives? Or should it be Bush’s policy, which is just abstinence?”

Mr. McCain: (Long pause) “Ahhh. I think I support the president’s policy.”

Q: “So no contraception, no counseling on contraception. Just abstinence. Do you think contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV?”

Mr. McCain: (Long pause) “You’ve stumped me.”

Q: “I mean, I think you’d probably agree it probably does help stop it?”

Mr. McCain: (Laughs) “Are we on the Straight Talk express? I’m not informed enough on it. Let me find out. You know, I’m sure I’ve taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what my position was. Brian, would you find out what my position is on contraception – I’m sure I’m opposed to government spending on it, I’m sure I support the president’s policies on it.”

He's a maverick, all right!

Fantastic News From UCLA

Liberalization of Society

In today's NY Times there is a piece of op-art with a bunch of charts showing the progression of certain thoughts and feelings over the past 30 years. It is interesting to note which ones have changed the most. See them all here.

1) This bodes well for Hillary, although 23% is still sizable and it seems to have stagnated/increased since the early 90s...

2) Maybe Old Media is, indeed, dead. Interestingly enough, this also corresponds with public confidence in the press, which is below Congress!

3) Less fundamental aversion to the "homosexual agenda"