And on the Other Hand

That thumping sound is the USCCB fainting and hitting the floor:

A survivor of clerical sexual abuse has said Pope Francis told him that God had made him gay and loved him, in arguably the most strikingly accepting comments about homosexuality to be uttered by the leader of the Roman Catholic church.

Juan Carlos Cruz, who spoke privately with the pope two weeks ago about the abuse he suffered at the hands of one of Chile’s most notorious paedophiles, said the issue of his sexuality had arisen because some of the Latin American country’s bishops had sought to depict him as a pervert as they accused him of lying about the abuse.

“He told me, ‘Juan Carlos, that you are gay does not matter. God made you like this and loves you like this and I don’t care. The pope loves you like this. You have to be happy with who you are,’” Cruz told Spanish newspaper El País.

This is not a random occurrence -- Francis has made similar comments in the past, though not as straightforward as this.

Via Joe.My.God.

And it seems to be part of a trend:

The Archbishop of Canterbury has admitted that gay people have been “appallingly” treated by the Church of England.

Archbishop Justin Welby has been at the centre of splits in both the Church of England and the global Anglican Communion over LGBT issues.

 Liberal clergy are pushing for a more accepting stance towards same-sex couples, while traditionalists want the Church to stick by teachings that homosexuality is “unnatural”.

For "traditionalists" read "reactionaries," who somehow remain convinced that the 4,000 year old tribal taboos of a group of Middle Eastern nomads form the basis of morality. And it seems that the heaviest resistance to change in the Anglican Communion is coming from the African bishops, who think that the worst aspects of the colonial period are somehow "African."

Well, I wish them both luck. They're going to need it.

 

Starting the Week Off Right

Via Digby, this story shows that it's not all con men and grifters in the world:

He is faster than a speeding stroller, more adorable than a kitten, and able to get a stranger's attention with a single courtesy. This is America's latest superhero -- and the only superhero with the power to feed the homeless.

By day, Austin Perine is a mild-mannered 4-year-old from Birmingham, Alabama. But once a week, he turns into this alter ego: a superhero set on feeding as many homeless people as possible. He likes to go by the name "President Austin."

"That's his idea of what the president is supposed to do," said TJ Perine, Austin's father. "I was like, buddy, you have no idea, but hey, I'm going along with it."

And of course, there's video.

There’s a tiny superhero with a special gift for capturing the hearts of the homeless in Alabama

Steve Hartman caught up with the caped crusader @OnTheRoadCBS https://t.co/Wjjs1fbN9B pic.twitter.com/s3Lsh51a0L

— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) May 4, 2018

Antidote: One Good Turn. . . .

One of those stories that shores up my faith in people:

Johnny Bobbitt Jr pictures with Kate McClure and her boyfriend Mark D'Amico https://t.co/odCGDwF63u pic.twitter.com/k1nDNQiGTt

— infowe (@infowe) November 23, 2017

Kate McClure, 27, who was helped by a homeless Marine named Johnny Bobbitt Jr. last month when her car ran out of gas while driving towards Philadelphia, raised more than $100,000 for the Marine through a GoFundMe donation page.

According to a report by the Philadelphia Inquirer, McClure was driving on the southbound I-95 road which goes towards Philadelphia to meet a friend when her car started to choke because it ran out of gas. She pulled on to a nearby exit ramp and just made it to the bottom. It was around 11 p.m. local time, it was dark and she was reportedly alone.

According to the report McClure, who works for the New Jersey Department of Transportation, said, "My heart was beating out of my chest. I didn’t know what the heck to do."

She then called up her boyfriend, Mark D’Amico, 38, who told her that he will come to get her. At that moment, Bobbitt Jr. came towards her and told her to sit inside the car and lock the doors and said that he will be spending his last $20 to buy gas for her, from a few blocks away.

Read the whole thing. And Happy Thanksgiving.

Today

Is Pride Day in Chicago -- the day of the Parade. That means that the North Side, from about Armitage to Wilson and east of Damen, is going to be a wee bit crowded. (Well, with a million visitors crammed into that space, what do you expect?)

And of course, as always, it's clear and bright because it never rains on our parade.

A few shots of Prides past:

It's all about color and motion and celebration -- it's a happy thing. And it's a family event -- people bring their kids to watch the dancers and the balloons and the streamers and the excitement.

I started attending the Parade, if not right at the beginning, very soon thereafter. The route was somewhat shorter, the Parade was much smaller, and the crowds were nowhere near what they are today. I've marched -- at first, it was spontaneous: the last float went by, I looked at my friends, they looked at me, and we just joined the Parade -- I've ridden floats, and I've watched from the sidelines.

These days, the idea of watching the Parade with a million of my closest friends is a bit more than I can deal with -- I'm not good with crowds. So I will most likely find a bus that will leave me somewhere in the park and watch the kids wearing rainbows when the Parade is over. That's something that makes me happy: the kids get very involved. That's a good thing.

Carol of the Bells

My favorite Christmas carol, in my favorite version:

Santa Tracker Update

Here's more on the story of how the Santa Tracker got started:

This all started in 1955, with a misprint in a Colorado Springs newspaper and a call to Col. Harry Shoup's secret hotline at the Continental Air Defense Command, now known as NORAD.

Shoup's children, Terri Van Keuren, 65, Rick Shoup, 59, and Pam Farrell, 70, recently visited StoryCorps to talk about how the tradition began.

The Santa Tracker tradition started with this Sears ad, which instructed children to call Santa on what turned out to be a secret military hotline. Kids today can call 1-877 HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) to talk to NORAD staff about Santa's exact location.

Terri remembers her dad had two phones on his desk, including a red one. "Only a four-star general at the Pentagon and my dad had the number," she says.

"This was the '50s, this was the Cold War, and he would have been the first one to know if there was an attack on the United States," Rick says.

The red phone rang one day in December 1955, and Shoup answered it, Pam says. "And then there was a small voice that just asked, 'Is this Santa Claus?' "

His children remember Shoup as straight-laced and disciplined, and he was annoyed and upset by the call and thought it was a joke — but then, Terri says, the little voice started crying.

"And Dad realized that it wasn't a joke," her sister says. "So he talked to him, ho-ho-ho'd and asked if he had been a good boy and, 'May I talk to your mother?' And the mother got on and said, 'You haven't seen the paper yet? There's a phone number to call Santa. It's in the Sears ad.' Dad looked it up, and there it was, his red phone number. And they had children calling one after another, so he put a couple of airmen on the phones to act like Santa Claus."

There's more. Click through a read the whole thing.

Via Digby.

Giggle du Jour

Because, y'know, it's the War on Christmas and all that:

Happy Thanksgiving

Unfortunately, the day started out overcast, which always makes it hard for me to get started. And then one of the first stories I ran into this morning was this:

Renowned indigenous historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz explained this week that the Thanksgiving holiday was “never about honoring Native Americans” as many children are taught in U.S. schools.

In an interview with Democracy Now’s Nermeen Shaikh on Wednesday, Dunbar-Ortiz addressed misconceptions about the holiday.

“Actually, it’s never been about honoring Native Americans,” she remarked. “It’s been about the origin story of the United States, the beginning of genocide, dispossession and constant warfare from that time—actually, from 1607 in Jamestown—until the present. It’s a colonial system that was set up.”

It should only be that simple.

OK, by now we all know that the story of the first Thanksgiving we were taught in school was pretty much bogus. At this point, it's guesses for grabs what really happened, but I doubt it's as villainous as Dunbar-Ortiz makes it out to be.

Yes, Europeans have an appalling history vis-a-vis native peoples, not only in the Americas but everywhere else they wound up. (One of the great ironies of the fight over the Ugandan "Kill the gays" bill was the insistence in some quarters that practices that their pre-Colonial ancestors found perfectly acceptable were "not truly African." This while holding desperately on to the worst aspects of the Colonial regimes.)

But, to dig a little deeper, every society that practices agriculture has a harvest festival. Thanksgiving, although it comes a little later than most, is ours. It's gotten tied into a creation myth about the founding of the country -- one of many, as it happens -- but it's still basically a harvest festival.

So why can't we just be grateful for that?

(And, for a completely irreverent and off-the-wall aside, do you suppose that's why the white working class is, we're told, so afraid of undocumented immigrants? In light of what the first wave of undocumented immigrants did to those who were already here?)

A Hero or Three

I don't know if you've been following the story of Arnold Abbott, the 90 year-old man who's been arrested three time for violating Ft. Lauderdale's ordinance against feeding the homeless, but he's finally gotten the recognition he deserves:

The Farver Foundation, which says it "focuses primarily on supporting charitable activities that are community oriented and which address health, education, nutrition and youth development" has named Arnold Abbott its Humanitarian of the Year. The award includes a $15,000 check for Abbott's "Love Thy Neighbor" group, which feeds the homeless in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

I'm pretty sure Ft. Lauderdale is not the only city to pass ordinances banning feeding the homeless, but you have to wonder what these people are thinking. I'm reminded of nothing so much as this story, about trick-or-treaters coming in from "those neighborhoods."

For the love of Christ -- and you do remember what most people in this country celebrate this time of year, don't you? -- get over yourselves and display some humanity.

Here's another story in the same vein -- but at least in Toronto, they don't arrest you for feeding the homeless.

Backbiting

I don't really know any other way to title this post. It's something I've noticed a lot lately in the comments threads on gay blogs, maybe more lately than before. I guess it's true of just about any group, but frankly, it gets on my nerves. Think back, those of you who follow particular gay blogs, to, for example, the reaction to Tom Daley's coming out video, and then the news that the relationship that was making him so happy was with Dustin Lance Black, a man twenty years his senior. Black caught most of the flak, but the pattern is there -- I don't understand what it is with some people who can't seem to refrain from criticizing people they don't know for things that have nothing to do with them. I'm afraid my reaction is fairly simple: Congratulations. Now you sound just like any other bigot. Of course, in their minds they're not bigots -- they're just criticizing people for doing something they don't approve of.

Now it's Jared Leto's turn. His big error? He won an Oscar for his portrayal of a trans woman in Dallas Buyers Club. The reaction from some quarters is just about what you'd expect:

Several trans people reacted to Leto winning the Oscar.

‘If you thought Jared Leto's performance was anything other than an exaggerated, stereotyped, cliché damaging to trans people, f off,’ one said on Twitter.

‘One small step for Jared Leto One giant blow for the trans movement,’ another added.

Another Twitter user said: ‘The fact that every trans person on my [timeline] found Jared Leto's portrayal of a trans person offensive makes me not really want to see that film.’

British trans activist Paris Lees, writing in The Independent, said it was not an Oscar-worthy performance as she did not recognize in Rayon any trans woman she knows.

‘For truly accurate portrayals of trans people, cast trans actors, I say,’ she said.

Paris Lees' reaction is probably the most brainless. Excuse me? They're actors. Do you know what that means? They make their living pretending to be other people.

It's not just the trans community, of course. (Although I will say that, having had my own run-ins with trans activists in comment threads, they can be just as rigid and judgmental as anyone else. That was the same site where someone insinuated that I'm a racist, which anyone who actually knows me would find more than ludicrous.) I've noticed it most in what we'll call the LGBT community (which is a term I hate and avoid whenever possible), but if you read the comments on news articles or opinion pieces in "mainstream" publications, you realize that it's a phenomenon you can find anywhere.

But whoever you are who's doing it, rest assured you've earned by contempt.

I haven't seen the film -- it's been on my "maybe"list, but I haven't been to the movies lately. I may this week if it's still playing anywhere local.

Here's Leto's acceptance, which I found quite affecting:

People Are Basically Decent

This is via AmericaBlog. It was a test to see people's reactions to a boy sitting alone at a bus stop in freezing weather without a coat.

Yes, I know it's all in Norwegian -- that's where it took place. John Aravosis asks if we would pass a similar test. I think we would -- Americans are just as decent as anyone else, in spite of what you see on the news and "Christian" networks. It's just that the assholes get all the publicity.

More background on this video.

Thanksgiving, 2013

I've been down and out, but never, thank the gods, actually homeless -- I've always had somewhere to go. Not everyone's that lucky. Joe Jervis saw fit to print this message from Carl Siciliano of the Ali Forney Center at Joe.My.God. as a post for today, and I think he's right: it's a day not only to be thankful for what you have, but to do something for someone who's not as fortunate.

Make your blessings mean something.

Fortunately, Most People Are Good Souls

As an antidote to the last post, get this:

Backstory here.

San Francisco values, indeed.

Today's Feel-Good Video

Via AmericaBlog:

Right Wing "Moderates"

Very interesting post by Fred Clark at Slacktivist on the role "moderate" evangelicals play in the culture wars:

It would be a positive thing if these moderate mainstream white evangelicals, these Very Nice People with their emphasis on civility, were able to provide a challenge to the vitriol, dishonesty and power games of the culture warriors.

But unfortunately, that’s not the role they play most of the time. Most of the time their smiling civility doesn’t provide a challenge to the culture warriors, it provides a cover for them.

He makes a good point.

And a thought: If a bigot is someone who demeans and discriminates against a group of people without any rational reason -- say because of religious belief -- how to these "civil" evangelicals rank? Is it possible to have a Very Nice Bigot?

And that just naturally leads to Maggie Gallagher, the queen of the self-styled "civil" participants in the culture wars. She's now slamming Gov. Chris Christie for signing a bill outlawing "ex-gay" counseling for minors, and she's either very sloppy about it, or deliberately lying. Her opening paragraph is . . . illuminating:

Due to staff error, a statement on Chris Christie’s signing a bill banning all professional counseling for minors unless it is gay-affirming was issued without my consent, or knowledge. I dislike using language that portrays gay people as “homosexuals” who are “tormented” by same-sex desires. For myself, and I speak only for myself, I consider this language condescending to both gay people and to men in general. Among other things, as far as I can see for most men, of whatever orientation or state in life, being tormented by sexual desire is pretty much the human condition for long stretches of life, rather than an unbearable cause for condescending pity.

First off, the "staff error," also known as "it's someone else's fault," which is a staple defense of so-called "conservatives," a/k/a, the party of personal responsibility.

And do I have to comment on her apparent attitude toward men?

This is where she goes totally off the cliff:

Governor Chris Christie has just put his name to a bill that uses the power of government to strip both parents and teenagers of the right to seek competent, professional help to live their life in accordance with their own values. The bill does not ban a specific kind of destructive therapy; it is a blanket ban on any licensed counseling professional helping any teenager who does not wish to act on gay (or transgender) desire. Not only efforts to change orientation but efforts to change behavior are forbidden, under penalty of law.

Governor Christie just endorsed a law that thus excludes many gay teens who wish to live in accordance with Bible-based values from the circle of care; he has outright banned chastity as a goal of counseling. His bill is not only anti-religious, anti-liberty, and anti-family, it is anti-science because it does not permit scientific knowledge to evolve in the hands of competent professionals.

None of that is true. None of it. The last part is hysterically funny: orientation-change therapy has been condemned by every major medical and psychological professional organization in the Western world because it is not scientific, its practitioners are not competent, and it has been shown to be damaging to those who undergo it. Besides, it doesn't work.

Gallagher either didn't read the bill, or she doesn't care what it really says.

Via Box Turtle Bulletin.

Antidote to Previous Post

That all left a bad taste in my mouth, so I thought I'd post these Christmas message to help rinse it out.

First, the President and First Lady:

And, from Her Majesty, the Queen.

There -- isn't that better?

Both via Blue Truck, Red State, which is a blog you should check out.

Merry, Happy, Blessed

You can fill in whichever holiday you observe.

Going over the news for the past few days, I'm sort of appalled at the amount of smallness, meanness, and nastiness coming out of figures both public and not so public. It's Christmas, for crying out loud. Even though I don't observe it as such (same holiday, though -- birth of the Sun/Son), you'd think people (especially the pope) would have a little more loving message.

I'm not going to do that today, but watch for another installment of Disgusting People real soon.

For today, relax, enjoy family and friends, observe as you wish.

Peace.