Condi!?

So...I recently read in "Curve" magazine that Condoleeza Rice might be Family. To quote, she has a "girl friend" (the significance of that space!) "with whom Rice shares home ownership and a bank account."

Interesting.

I'm not going to jump to conclusions here, but it makes me wonder. "Curve" magazine speculates that Palin was chosen over Condi as the Republican VP candidate because of these lesbian rumors floating around. So...apparently it's better to be an idiot bigot who has never left the country and has minimal government experience than to be a potentially closeted lesbian with plenty of political experience who happens to be the former Secretary of State. Right.

A Brand New Bright Obama Day

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a new president. Hamdulilah/Halelujah/Praise Be.

He's an inspiring speaker. He's young enough not to have been completely corrupted by the political system. And as the first black/biracial president, he represents such a departure from the last eight years that everyone who's been unhappy is looking at him with hope. He has a lot to live up to. I hope he handles it well.

In Morocco, when Barak was first elected, random people in the street would congratulate me. Taxi drivers cheered when I entered their cabs. It was incredible to feel such support, to know that the world was happy in this, to for once have elected a president who might play well with others and be popular at school. I don't know how long the worldwide euphoria will last. But I hope he can ride it for as long as possible. His work will go more smoothly as long as it lasts.

Closer to home, we have promises of change.



Obama specifically includes rights for GLBT people in his civil rights agenda, including civil unions, workplace antidiscrimination, and hate crimes protection. Even if he only accomplishes a few of the thins he's listed, it constitutes a big step forward to see this agenda listed, not at an activist website, but at whitehouse.gov.

Straight Privilege

My girlfriend and I are about to embark on a road trip up to Massachusetts this weekend. The last time we embarked on such an event, she was a new Teach for America recruit, and we passed the time driving by reading aloud all the required materials. A lot of the TFA materials talked about "unpacking privilege," generally with regards to race and class. Things like racial privilege being able to see movies featuring stars of your own race and find barbie dolls of your ethnic background and other things like that.

Someone then created a list of things that constituted "straight privilege," which was largely identical, only with a few words changed. The ability to see gay movie stars, etc. We thought that their straight privilege list was incomplete and rather silly, so we filled it in with a few instances from our own experience.

Straight privilege is being able to hold hands and otherwise show affection in public without worrying about what other people think.

Straight privilege is being able to kiss your partner at home in front of the windows without first pulling closed the blinds.

It is being able to kiss goodbye at the airport when you know you won't see each other for months.

It is going to a hotel and not having to clarify that you want a double bed.

It is having no question whatsoever about your rights to marry, adopt, or share benefits.

And here I was intending this to be a lighthearted entry...

...because at the time we were creating this list we were actually laughing about it all. Because there's something slightly ridiculous about "unpacking your straight privilege" when driving with your girlfriend from Northampton to Provincetown, the two gayest cities in the US. The two places where, for once, the privilege actually turns the other way.

A Place Like Home, and a New View of Abroad

I'm back in the glorious US of A, sharing a two-bedroom sublet with my girlfriend for two months. It's lovely and domestic, and I'm enjoying the luxury of staying in one place for a little while. I'm cooking good food, taking yoga classes, and trying to find people to pay me to freelance for them. It's a good life.

My new expanses of free time have launched new discoveries, as I attempt to figure out what sort of niche I want to make for myself in the developing world. I found this article very interesting.

http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/22-care-rejects-us-food-aid/

Basically, a major international aid organization rejected US aid this year. Why? Turns out that US aid in its current form is actually counterproductive. Instead of providing food based on the needs of people who are starving, it's providing food based on its own agricultural surpluses. A lot of the money that the US is theoretically "giving" in aid goes right back into its own pockets in the form of farm subsidies and internal transport costs. This self-interest in itself wouldn't be so bad if it were still providing good services to those in need. But the presence of foreign food being sold at low rates undermines local farmers in developing countries, which makes the countries less able to support themselves overall and makes them even more dependent on foreign "assistance."

Vicious cycle, yes?

I wonder what other charming pieces of news I'll learn while I'm here.

It Sucks to be Me :-)

I just saw Avenue Q in London. It was awesome. Exactly the right mix of snarky social comment and actual plot, and most of it was personally relevant (or at least personally referent). What do you do with a BA in English? (well, French and Medieval Studies, but it amounts to the same thing). I'm currently downloading most of the songs, my favorites being "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist", "If you were Gay", and "It Sucks to be Me." Oh snarky humour, how I have missed thee.
Life with theatre is good :)

Gay's the Word

In London, there is only one single Gay bookstore. I expected more, in a city this size, but one is better than nothing. I found the shop this evening and was initially put off by the rather, well...male focus of most of the merchandise. The lesbian section is small and in the back. But it's there. I bought a couple volumes of secondhand fiction (can't afford new books as the pound is too strong vis-a-vis the dollar, can't afford anything too obvious since I'm going back to Morocco). I would have liked to talk to the proprietor, but he was busy for most of the time that I was there. Still, it was nice. A place with a nice, obvious title emblazoned outside. The simple idea of being out in the open and having it not be a big deal. I'm inclined to think that it's really not a big deal, it's simply outsiders who make it one.

I figured out my sexuality in an environment where people are people, women or womyn or boys or bois are pretty much exactly the same, and who you date doesn't make much difference to anyone else. As a result, I tend to look at it all in a matter-of-fact sort of way. You're transsexual and dating a drag queen? No problem. I'm female and dating someone completely androgynous? Who cares? Problem is, very few other people see it that way. The fact that four states have just banned gay marriage, including my home state of Florida, illustrates that fact. I've never been one to be terribly political, and I'm not inclined to be publicly Out and Proud when, as I've said, the notion of who's dating whom is really no big deal to me. But when it comes to people's rights being taken away...I get mad. I was born in the States. I don't live there now, but it's a country I want to be able to come back to. And when I come back, I want to have the same rights as everybody else. I don't care about getting married. I don't care about a ceremony or a pretty white dress. But I want to know that if anything happened to me my girlfriend could come visit in the hospital. I want to know that if we were victims of a hate crime we wouldn't also face discrimination from the police. I want to know that no one else would be able to put their politics or their religion into our relationship, because our relationship is between us and only us.

This is the reason why, even though I'm not political, I think it's important to have a visible presence. Everyone on Marchmost street knows that there's a gay bookstore there. No one really seems to care. I'm sure that they've had tough times, but they've been there for years and gained acceptance. And that's just the point. People fear what they don't understand. People fear the unknown. And the only way to get over the fear of the unknown is to make it known. When people stop thinking of the Big Scary Homosexual Agenda and realize that gays are people too, it won't be such a big deal anymore. And that's the way it should be.

A New Experience

It's been quite a while since I've posted on this site. Partly it's that I've been so incredibly busy that it's been a struggle to find time to breathe, much less angst. Partly it's because the list of potential things to angst about is far too long to write down. I've fended off random propositions from guys on the street, had a coworker express his deep and unrequited love for me, been unsure of the limits of acceptable friendly behavior in several instances, and generally had a number of things to deal with.

And then there was something completely new.

I'd been in the office all day, doing paperwork and using the internet, and when I went back to the hotel one of the guys walked with me, since it was on his way. He invited me for a cup of tea, and I thought what the hell, might as well, get the sorry-let's-just-be-friends conversation over with and move on.

But it didn't happen.

We got tea, and we chatted. About Morocco, about travel, about any number of subjects...and none of them had anything to do with his wanting to get together with me. It was like hanging out with a friend at home, enjoying each others' company with no expectation of anything other than friendship going on. I was stunned. It's the first time that that's happened here. Eleven months in Morocco, and it's the first time I've been somewhere unchaperoned with a guy my own age that hasn't resulted in awkward conversations or awkward acts.

Sometimes the world can still surprise me.

I'm glad.