SuperAwesomeBlog

I was doing a search for “HRC” on Google… and surprisingly got a little rainbow flag under the search box.  A little research and I found out that the gay-friendly people at Google apparently put a little pride bar under certain search terms, like Drag Queen, Stonewall, Gay, Gay Marriage, and HRC!    Thanks Google!!

The short answer is yes. For a longer answer, read Lisa Neff’s article at 365GAY.com – it’s enlightening. Not only does the Salvation Army passively discriminate against gays but they also actively lobby Congress to fight equality for gays.

When you see that red kettle just keep on walking… why don’t you give money to a charity, local or national, that doesn’t discriminate? Here are some good options:

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

Goodwill Industries

Lambda Legal

One Iowa

Check your local area and see if there are any causes worthy of your support. A little change can do a lot of good – just make sure you like where that change is going!

The Girl Scouts were in selling their delicious little cookies today.  I was a good citizen and bought a few boxes, and noticed that some of the iconic Girl Scout Cookie names had changed!  Samoas no more, now they’re Caramel De-Lites!  The Girl Scouts informed me that there was some kind of hand over of the lucrative Girl Scout Cookie Contract – however it appears the cookies still contain 0% Girl Scouts.

Now I have to wait until the Boy Scouts come to the store, so I can inform them that I don’t buy their cookies.  I never press the point, but if they ask why I’m always happy to answer: The Boy Scouts discriminate against women, non-Christians, and homosexuals. All with government support, no less.

It might sound cruel to say words like that to an innocent Boy Scout who’s just trying to get enough money to go camping… but can you imagine the look of a young scout being told he can’t continue in the program anymore because he wants to love someone (who happens to be another man?)  Honesty’s the best policy… at least that’s what my Scout Master said.

In general I enjoy it when religious holidays get usurped by commercial interests.  As an atheist I find the glossed up, gaudy, Santa heavy Christmas to be a delightful time to get together with loved ones and exchange awful gifts as a token of our friendship.

Valentines Day is an exception.  Christmas can be enjoyed by everybody, while many people see Valentines as a “Single Persons Awareness Day.”  It’s also a “Heterosexuals Only” day.  My boyfriend and I have eschewed it for the last 3 years with no harm done (and some extra cash in our pockets.)

At times I feel sorry for my heterosexual male brethren, forced to get their wives/girlfriends/whatevers red and pink fuzzy crap, jewelry, and chocolate.  What’s worse, if they don’t provide these bribes their significant whatevers are pretty much expected to deny them conversation and generally sex.

I can’t think of a less egalitarian celebration of two people’s love.  I can only imagine the stress and anxiety many a straight guy feel.  The heteronormative happy couples advertised everywhere make me feel marginalized and probably makes single people everywhere feel like shit.  The holiday also introduces an unfair expectation on straight men to shower their loved ones in stupid gifts that say “I Love You” better than they can themselves.

I find Valentines Day offensive, and I feel liberated and happier every year when I skip this ugly, ugly “holiday”.  Maybe you should give it a try?

In roleplaying games character interactions often require “”reaction rolls.”" In GURPS, the system we use, the higher your roll of 3 six sided dice, the better your reaction from the non-playing-character ( NPC). If you have an advantage such as “”attractive”" or anything similar the reaction is modified by what gender the NPC is attracted to. I’m sure the majority of roleplayers assume that most people are straight, and ignore the possibility of gay NPCs… we’ve come up with a novel solution to this: The Gay Dice.

We have a D10 that has the 0 colored in, and we use it as a quasi Kinsey Scale for the character, where 0 means exclusively homosexual, and anything higher is heterosexual. (we’ve generally agreed that 1 means bisexual, or “open to experimentation” at the least.) While this is not exactly a “Kinsey Dice” it does guarantee a 1 in 10 chance of interacting with a gay NPC, which is what some studies have estimated the gay population to be (other studies have estimated 1 in 20 or higher, the lower the probability the study predicts the more likely it is that a conservative had their fingers in the funding.)

As a final note, I know we should be calling it the “Gay Die.” I’ve always hated the singular form of Dice, and I don’t think many people use it anyway (even though they should.) Gay Die also sounds like some kind of hate group, so the “Gay Dice” it is!

The New York Times reported today that evidence increasingly shows gay couples are more egalitarian, functional, and generally happier. This is contrary to the popular opinion that gay marriage emits some kind of anti-marriage particle that unravels society.

A growing body of evidence shows that same-sex couples have a great deal to teach everyone else about marriage and relationships. Most studies show surprisingly few differences between committed gay couples and committed straight couples, but the differences that do emerge have shed light on the kinds of conflicts that can endanger heterosexual relationships. -New York Times

One of the general assumptions about gay relationships, and by extension marriages, is that they are prone to frequent self destruct, yet many studies seem to indicate the opposite. I wonder if this is at least in part due to the ease with which straight people to get married and how much work it is for gay people to do the same – if straight people
really had to fight for their right to get married, maybe the same crucible would result in stronger marriages for them too.