The First Lesbian in Space?

It came as a surprise to me yesterday when I’d heard that Sally Ride, the first female American astronaut to go to space (though she shouldn’t have been the first), had died. I hadn’t even been aware she was ill. She kept that private. I also hadn’t been aware that she was a lesbian. She kept that private, too.

Does the fact that she was a lesbian matter? Well, it does somewhat, I suppose. Role models and all that. I wish it didn’t matter and could be mentioned without comment, but there you are. As far as other astronauts go, I’d love to have a time when we could have an openly gay astronaut actually up in space. To be fair, that may have already happen while my eye was on the sparrow or something.

Ultimately Ride’s sexuality should not matter. That it does matter says nothing good about us as a people. That it matters less than it would have twenty years ago shows progress.

Maryland, My Maryland!

And now, Maryland. Yes, another state has legalized same-sex marriage. It won’t go into effect until next year, and doubtless the evil-minded, small people who hate gay marriage will try to stop it, but for now we have yet another state where it’s legal.

Now we just need to get gay marriage recognized in every state and at the federal level. The struggle continues.

Prop 8: The Final Round?

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, a darling among those of us who enjoy the Constitution, has overturned California’s horrible Proposition 8. This means that, in theory, gay marriages are on again in the state. Realistically, they’ll probably be on hold while an appeal is filed with the Supreme Court. Jeffery Toobin, legal analyst for CNN, expects that, given the narrow wording of the ruling, the court probably won’t take the case. If they don’t, that’s fine. But I do look forward to the day they rule that states don’t have to allow gay marriage, but do have to recognize any marriages legally performed in other states.

Well, This Was a Welcome Surprise…

In retrospect, the hair was probably a major hint.

Zachary Quinto, who, among other things, played Spock in the recent Star Trek reboot, has come out of the closet. He did this apparently in response to a gay teen killing himself back in September.

It’s really quite rare when actors who have active careers come out, but we’re starting to see more and more, with people like Ellen Degeneress and Neil Patrick Harris. Usually it’s actors whose time on the stage has passed. Coming out these days and still having a career isn’t as rare as it used to be, but it’s still quite notable, and good for Quinto for doing so!

Next up on the lists of “People Who I Want to Come Out”… let’s have an active NFL player and a member of an active and popular boy band.

Goodbye to a Bad Law

So you know that useless, ineffective, Carter-like President of ours? The one who hasn’t done anything useful with his first term? Well, I mean, aside from health care reform, student loan reform, bailing out GM, passing consumer protection law, ratcheting back the unwinable war on drugs, reducing troops in Iraq, ending torture and, oh, yes, killing bin Laden. You know, other than that stuff.

Well, here’s another thing he’s done: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is finally, after eighteen years, officially dead. About fucking time. I understand why Clinton signed off on the law and why he thought it was a reasonable compromise, but, well, it wasn’t. Not even slightly.

What’s going to be most interesting is to see what this does to the gay marriage debate. Now you can have soldiers entering into same sex marriages in those places where it’s legal, then finding themselves transferred to somewhere where it isn’t. That’s not going to be tenable and it won’t last long before the courts have to step in and overturn DOMA (speaking of things Clinton might have thought were acceptable at the time…). This will certainly help the gay marriage debate in the long run, and that makes me quite pleased.

But what makes me more pleased is that we’ve finally joined the civilized world on the issue of gays in the military. We can finally take our stand next to countries like just about all of NATO and Israel, as well as most of the rest of civilization.

And all of this from a feckless, do-nothing President.

Colombia: Now Better on Gay Rights Than America!

Colombia’s high court has given their congress two years to pass laws that allow same-sex marriage. In case you’re keeping score, the United States Supreme Court hasn’t done anything in that direction.

This is a great thing for the people of Colombia, the people of South America and for anyone interested in equality. It also means that Colombia now ranks higher than the US when it comes to gay rights. So now in addition to large portions of Europe, we’re also being outdone by Colombia, Argentina, Mexico (sort of), and that historical bastion of equality, South Africa. Well done, America, well done.

Pansexuals; or, You’re Bi, Get Over Yourself

I happened across a chart the other day. I don’t know who owns it, so I don’t want to post it, but it was a pie-chat divided into thirds. One third was labeled “penis”, one third was labeled “vagina” and one third was labeled “other”. The title was “Why I’m a pansexual.”

Pansexuality, for those of you not up on such things, and why would you be?, is essentially bisexuality with an air of pretension. It’s a term tossed-around by the kind of people who will use the word “genderqueer” at you with malice aforethought. It’s the notion that there’s more than two genders and that the pansexual is someone who would be willing to have sexual relations with those other genders. It’s what Captain Jack Harkness from Torchwood is best described as.

This is a very silly concept. Look, there’s only two genders; male and female. There aren’t any others that we know of. Sure, there’s people who are transgendered, but someone who is, say, male-to-female is not a different gender. Hermaphrodites or people with uncertain genitals are also not a different gender, they’re just people with birth defects. This does not make them any less worthy of our respect and good treatment, but a mutation does not another gender make.

Captain Jack as a pansexual is something I can accept, because he’s from the far distant future and has probably met (ie: shagged), beings of several different genders. But he’s fictional and until we have actual evidence of more than two genders, so is pansexuality. If people really wanna call themselves pansexuals, well, more power to them, I suppose, but they’ll have to put up with a lot of eye-rolling from me.

And Now New York

It is done. New York has become the sixth state to allow gay marriage. DC also allows it, meaning that if you live there, you don’t have real Congressional representation, but you can at least get married to a gay. So, yeah.

Anyhow, it’s hard to overstate how important this is. With one swift move, the number of same sex couples who are free to marry in this country has doubled. And it did so with a Republican lead state legislative body, and a couple Republicans breaking ranks to vote yes. That alone is amazingly important. While the Republican Party as a whole is continuing to spiral downward into a “we hate gays!” situation, some brave members of the party are willing to stand up and do what’s right.

It’s also worth noting there were some very stupid religious concerns that were addressed here. These protections allow churches to refuse to marry same-sex couples, but big deal. The Catholic Church already refuses to marry formerly divorced people, so clearly there’s no problem on the chuchy level.

So it is done. 44 states and six territories remain. Let’s hope they fall soon, too.

Snicker-Snack

Voters in San Francisco are set to vote on a ballot measure that would make circumcision illegal in the city. This is not by way of being a good idea.

First of all, in theory all one has to do is go outside the city limits and find a doctor in some place like Oakland. If, however, you’re poor, it’s isn’t likely you can afford to do this. Of course it can be argued that not many people who are poor live in San Francisco, but so what? Those who do deserve access to medical services like anyone else, right?

Second, this is going to cause an instant mess with Jewish and Muslim people in the city. It’s an extremely popular procedure with both religions and a major part of their faith. Saying that people can’t do it, or have to go outside the city to do it, is going to cause much unhappiness with the courts.

Last, and on a personal level, I have yet to see a single good reason why people should be banned from having their boys circumcised. Yes, it’s a procedure the child cannot consent to, but parents make that kind of choice all the time. That’s part of being a parent. There’s also a good deal of medical evidence that points to it having a great health benefit, and decreasing the likelihood of penile cancer and the like.Plus on a personal level, I think it’s far more aesthetically pleasing. I have yet to look at a circumcised penis and think, “Man, that would look better uncut”. It’s one of the few things for me that’s an almost complete mood-killer when it comes to sex (tattoos and excessive piercings are the others).

Regardless of what happens here, I do have one request for those who are against the practice: please, please, please stop calling it “male genital mutilation”. Using the same language people use to describe some of the really horrific things done to women (things which definitely aren’t equivalent), is very insulting and obnoxious. You can be against the practice, sure, but find a different way to talk about it, because while there’s legitimate debate to be had, nothing will make me ignore your viewpoint on the issue faster than you calling it “male genital mutilation”.

Oh, and on a side note… you people have no idea how close you came to seeing a big old penis pic up here. It would have been Sammy Case’s, probably. You didn’t dodge a bullet, but you did block a… oh, never mind.

The Knight of Pansies

I can't wait for him to unseathe his sword!

(this post covers last night’s episode of Game of Thrones, and discusses one plot point/revelation in particular. You've been warned. SPOILERS, AHOY!)

So on last night's outing of Game of Thrones, we had an impressive display of swordsmanship with all the thrust and parry, with mighty warriors returning blow for blow and… oh, I can’t keep going with this. The Knight of Flowers is gay. Yep.

Now I knew this because I’d read the books and while it’s never really explicitly mentioned in the books, it is broadly hinted at and flat-out confirmed by the creator, George R R Martin. Ser Loras, the Knight of Flowers in question, had a very minor role through the books, but in this last episode his part was much larger (ok, I’m stopping now), and had expanded mightily (I’m weak, dammit! Forgive me!). There was a particularly wonderful scene with him and his boyfriend, Renly Baratheon, which was well-handled, very well-acted and nicely done all around. I hope this speaks of bigger things to come (… never mind…), for the two, Loras especially.

Finn Jones as Jo Grant's grandson. Oh, my...

On a bigger note, this speaks well of the acceptance of gays on TV. I mean, this scene was flat-out erotic, in addition to being character and plot building, and it was between two men who aren’t at all the stereotypes of gays. This is by way of being a very good thing. It’s not as ground breaking as it would have been 10 or 15 years ago, but it’s still notable, especially since this is a genre series, and the fantasy genre tends to be mostly centered on heaving breasts, chain-mail bikinis and men wearing loincloths. Gay characters in fantasy aren’t unheard of, and in fact 20 years ago it was reading a fantasy series with a gay main character that helped me to come to terms with my sexuality, but seldom are they as well-done and interesting as in this.

It’s worth noting as well that at least part of why this scene was so cool is due to the talent, charisma and beauty of Finn Jones, the actor who plays Loras and who described him as the Knight of Pansies on his Twitter feed. I’ve kind of had the hots for him ever since I saw him as Jo Grant’s grandson in an episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures, a part I’m sure Russell T Davies seriously enjoyed casting. I can easily see Jones becoming the next big gay icon and I’m quite pleased about that, though not quite so pleased as I’m sure his bank account will be.

One last note: I really like this series so far, and I’m quite looking forward to the next book, which is due in only a couple months. I’m so pleased that someone has finally made a good, intelligent, workable fantasy TV series! Good job, HBO!