More on Archie's Death

A while back, I wrote a post about the upcoming end of the Archie comic series.  Rather than graduating or some other mundane ending, Archie will die from gun violence.

In short, he is shot.

While that sort of thing will annoy the gun loon crowd who want people to believe that walking around with weapons is somehow "normal" in a civilised nation (or is the message that the people in the US are savages or barbarians?), Archie will die saving the first openly gay character in the series, Kevin Keller.

"The way in which Archie dies is everything that you would expect of Archie," Archie Comics publisher and co-CEO Jon Goldwater said in a statement. "He dies heroically. He dies selflessly. He dies in the manner that epitomizes not only the best of Riverdale, but the best of all of us. It's what Archie has come to represent over the past almost 75 years."

"We wanted to do something that was impactful that would really resonate with the world and bring home just how important Archie is to everyone," Goldwater continues. "That's how we came up with the storyline of saving Kevin. He could have saved Betty. He could have saved Veronica. We get that, but metaphorically, by saving Kevin, a new Riverdale is born."

Well, I am sure this will definitely make an impact on the reality challenged right wing.  I'm sure we can expect the usual bullshit from them.

Two Lesbians Raised A Baby And This Is What They Got

Hitler's Precious Stormtroopers

Think Progress provided this video which seems better suited to The Onion.

American Family Association’s (AFA) homophobic Director of Issue Analysis for Government and Public Policy, Bryan Fischer, is constantly pushing an extreme anti-gay agenda, even going after people he just thinks might be gay. This week on AFA Radio, he claimed that not only was Adolf Hitler gay, but all his “Brownshirts” were too:

Dan Choi - Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Advocate.com posted a wonderful article and video about the issue of gays in the military.

As Lt. Dan Choi and about 100 LGBT activists staged a “don’t ask, don’t tell” protest Sunday afternoon across the street from the White House, six plain-clothed civilians chained themselves to the White House gates.

Choi, who has twice been arrested after handcuffing himself to the White House gates and has now been court ordered not to enter a certain perimeter around the White House, was joined by a handful of other speakers, including former Vermont governor and Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, Servicemembers United executive director Alex Nicholson, and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network executive director Aubrey Sarvis.

The protest came on the heels of a letter leaked late Friday afternoon in which Department of Defense secretary Robert Gates urged House Armed Services Committee chairman Ike Skelton “in the strongest possible terms” to delay legislative action on repeal until the Pentagon completes its assessment of how to implement repeal.

In the video, Choi explains that the current policy results in enforced closets for gay soldiers. What do you think about that? Is it a problem?

There's also a reference to the fact that Democrats generally favor repeal of this law while Republicans do not. Why is that? Why do the Republicans have to be such nay-sayers?

I couldn't help but remember some previous discussions we've had in which we talked about the conservative / liberal divide. Conservatives, generally speaking, are against gun control, for capital punishment, racist against blacks and now we can add against gays in the military. Liberals are the opposite. I know that's a sweeping generalization, but is it true?

Opinione had a post about this the other day, but I wasn't sure what he meant by this.

Some of these soldiers look like should be in Key West and San Francisco, instead of a forward operating base in Afghanistan.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Ex-Gay Therapy

I saw this on the wonderful blog of Southern Beale.



What's your opinion? It sounded to me like the guy who conducted the ex-gay therapy on Patrick had his own issues. Either he was suppressing his own sexual orientation in a sort-of denial, or he was lying to everybody and doing the whole thing for the thrill of dealing with young gay boys. But, whatever his story is, I believe there are any number of programs run by straight men who are conservative Fundamental Christians and sincerely believe they're saving souls from hell. What do you think about them?

My youngest child is a 5-year-old boy. I honestly believe if he started to show signs of being gay, I wouldn't say word one to try to discourage him. I think the worst thing for gay kids is parental and societal disapproval. My boy would have none of that from me. How do you feel about that?

Please leave a comment.

Gay Sex Scandal in Portland Oregon

The New York Times reports on an unusual sex scandal going on in Portland Oregon.

A confession by Portland's first openly gay mayor that he lied about having sex with a teenager is dividing this famously progressive city, as well as its gay community.

Just three weeks after Sam Adams was sworn in, many gays are questioning whether he is the man they want as their trailblazer.

I would imagine if many gays are questioning it, the straights are too. I guess Mr. Adams' days as the first openly gay mayor of a major American city are numbered.

It started earlier this week when the 45-year-old Adams admitted to an alternative newspaper, Willamette Week, that he lied during his election campaign when he denied having sex in 2005 with a teenage male who was a legislative intern.

So, when he was about 41, he'd had sex with a 17 year-old. That's against the law. But is it really that bad? I mean, there's a big difference between what he did and some of the child sex abuse we hear about.

For me, his being gay has nothing to do with it. The questions are simply how bad were his actions and how bad is it that he lied about them.

''Sam has been our guy forever, which makes this even harder,'' said Marty Davis, publisher of the newspaper Just Out, which has called for his resignation. ''It's completely dividing and tearing our community right down the middle.''

Davis of Just Out said she is not as concerned about Adams' relationship with the young man as she is about the lying. She said his actions have eroded the public's trust in her publication.

Sometimes it seems we're as hung up about lying as we are about sex. Is the idea supposed to be that politicians generally do not lie, so when we catch one at it, we're outraged? Or, is it a case of excessively punishing the ones who get caught lying because we know the rest of them are doing it too? Either way it doesn't seem right to me.

What's your opinion? Does the fact that he'd had sex with the intern and lied about it impact upon his ability to govern the city? Are we expecting too much from our politicians, complete chastity and total honesty? Do we demand that of ourselves?

Please leave a comment.