Positive Liberty

I Am Your Neighbor: A real-life friend of mine has started I Am Your Neighbor, a site aimed at changing straight people’s perceptions of gay and lesbian Americans. He writes,

Many of those who are opposed to broadening human rights have tried to make the argument that “outsiders” and “radical homosexual activists” are trying to take something that’s not theirs. Acting as if they are the sole beneficiaries of Freedom’s promise, they point fingers and declare war against seemingly faceless, nameless “others.”

We think they’re wrong. We know that gay and lesbian Americans are our neighbors, too. They do not live somewhere else—they live right here: next door, down the street, up on the sixth floor, and in the retirement home. They are our friends and relatives. They go to school with us, work beside us, are behind us at the grocery store line, and sit next to us at the movie theater. They serve and protect us, teach us, heal us, and comfort us in times of need. Every day, gay and lesbian Americans contribute to our community, our economy, and our way of life.

Way to go, Dan.

Fighting “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”: This is one story I’ve meant to mention for quite some time: Soulforce is a religiously inspired group that protests in favor of equality for sexual minorities. It’s lately begun a nationwide campaign calling attention to the military’s ban on openly gay soldiers. The tactic? Eligible young men and women attempt to enlist. And they refuse to leave when asked.

The Soulforce campaign has all the hallmarks of a successful civil disobedience action: It offers a compelling message and a clear, achievable demand. It’s focused directly upon that demand. It spotlights ordinary people trying to do something that is unquestionably above reproach, making it easy to empathize with the demonstrators. This is the way that activism should work. And the numbers, too, are compelling:

An estimated 65,000 GLB soldiers currently serve in silence. An estimated 41,000 citizens would serve in the armed forces if they did not have to lie in order to do so. Over 10,000 soldiers have been discharged under DADT. Training replacements for those discharged, including more than 80 critical linguists, has cost the American taxpayers at least $364 million.

Also, our own Ed Brayton comments on the outrage from the religious right. The spluttering alone makes the whole thing worthwhile.

Real Life, Meet The Onion, Part I: Here, and here.

Google’s Philanthropy: What will Google think of next? Try 100-mpg cars, a rapid-response system to track contagious diseases, and a new for-profit philanthropic model that breaks down a barrier that probably never should have existed in the first place — the one between saving the world and making money. I stand in awe.

Wikimapia: Yes, that’s right: a cross between Wikipedia and Google Maps. The potential seems enormous, but the execution is still kind of spotty. But I do look forward to the days of wearable computers, when all this stuff will be projected onto my retinas by a set of hyperintelligent contact lenses.

Evil Wal-Mart Watch: Corporate villain Wal-Mart is at it again. This time they’re out to reduce excess packaging by 5% over the next five years. They expect to save billions of dollars and keep millions of pounds of trash out of our landfills. Up next: Someone who’ll complain that it should have been 10%.

The Moment the Drug War Ended: Can we just say it’s over now? I mean, really?

Real Life, Meet The Onion, Part II: Here, and here.

Trackback URI |