Bigotry: it's not just for adults anymore

New! "God Hates Fags" T-shirts, now in toddler sizes.

You know what they say: if you want 'em to grow up without a shred of care or compassion for fellow human beings - start 'em early. If you want 'em to become hate-filled, rage-filled, closed-minded, we suggest you work on 'em while they're still malleable. Start with these tees, so the message burns itself into their soft, innocent hearts. Ah, the next generation of little Pat Buchanans:

These kids are going to need some serious deprogramming later in life.

Statistically speaking, some of the kids whose parents dress them in these shirts are going to be gay themselves.

Reminds me of the fact that many (some even say most) victims of homophobic violence (bullying, gay-bashing, etc) are not even gay - but are usually those who others mistakenly think are gay. This is just one reason (you know, aside from the morality aspect) that even straight folk should be concerned about homophobia. Gay bashing is about more than just punishing homosexuality; it is also a method of enforcing social conformity. Boys are punished by their peers for stretching the strictures of masculinist behaviour. Of course, those who do the enforcing don't come up with the idea on their own, but pick it up from heterosexist society, communities, churches, and parents - especially those parents who buy their kids "God Hates Fags" t-shirts.

In case you weren't aware, godhatesfags.com is a website run by Fred Phelps, leader of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. They're the ones who have anti-gay protests around the U.S., including at some points showing up at the funerals of gay men, and have moved on to a general "God hates America" theme, due to all our depravity. He makes Jeremiah Wright (Obama's pastor) look like a teddy bear–at least he was just saying God ought to damn America.

From the fantastic site: Sociological Images

I Now Pronounce you David and David

Watch before it's removed from Youtube

And here's Gavin

Does anyone know where I can find a clip of "Step Class"?

Men, Women, Gay, Straight, Trans, Bi, Unisex - Everyone looks better in white lace see-through pants

The late 1960s were a time of throwing off the shackles of traditional societal gender norms, including the rules surrounding who could wear lace pants. Unisex clothing popped up on runways mid-decade, reaching suburban malls by the time today's ad appeared.

Wicked hot.
Via Torontoist
Happy Pride!

Gays are Subversive

At least that's what Toronto Police thought in the 1980s:
Toronto police spied on gay community in 1980s: report

A surveillance report leaked to CBC News details how Det. Garry Carter went undercover in the community, spying on bathhouse operators, attending conventions in Alberta and tracking gay candidates running for city council.

The detective even reported on how gay activists questioned the police budgets.

Coun. Kyle Rae, a vocal gay rights advocate, said the report confirms what many in the community had long suspected.

"We were seen as a subversive minority that was worthy of ridicule and violence against us by the police," said Rae. "It's part of the paranoia of the '70s and '80s. It's not appropriate, but I'm not surprised."

See also The Toronto Bathhouse Raids of 1981

It wasn't the first anti-gay police action in Canada's history, but it was the biggest and most brutal. At 11 o'clock the evening of February 5, 1981, 150 plainclothes and uniformed police officers staged violent raids on four of Toronto's five gay bathhouses and arrested almost 300 men.

Pseudo-Scientific Hate Propaganda and "Women Drivers"

Warning: Contains Rant

Today a coworker sent me an email with funny pictures of bad drivers (like this one), entitled "Women Driver Olympics". I was quite astounded at this sort of mysogynistic "humour". Maybe I've been insulated by my enlightened urban surroundings. I had no idea that this was a common perspective.

I did a Google search for "women drivers" and found a few simply disgusting sites. There was a BBC article, about how women are worse drivers than men because they had less testosterone in the womb (which could be measured by the length of the ring finger.) What Century are we in that there is actual scientific funding going into this kind of pseudo-science?

I kept reading... I came across a site too vile to even link to (I don't want to give them any more power in Google). Copy and paste this into your browser: christianparty.net/womendrivers.htm

This is sickening. Someone who came across this page might be fooled by all the stats, and pretty graphs, and think that indeed drunk men are better drivers than sober women, as they claim.

To be clear, I absolutely agree that driving is dangerous. I am an environmentalist that believes cars do far more harm than good. But it is crazy to attribute driving danger to women and not to high-speed 3000-lb machines.

Against my better judgement, (I'm too curious sometimes), I read on... Scary neo-Nazi stuff masquerading as a "father's rights" group. The mission of The Christian Party includes trying to rescind the right of women to vote (so as to stop women from promoting things like divorce rights or protecting themselves against rape), and exiling blacks and Jewish people. Wow. It is so sad and disturbing to me. And some of the platform of social conservatives and fundamentalists is simply a more toned-down version this sort of thing. That is scariest of all - it's not the fringes of society espousing many of these views (like the inferiority of different religions or cultures, of women, and of people of colour). And they are using pseudo-scientific "expert" opinions and statistics to make their points.

Paul Cameron is another one of these whackjobs, oft-cited by mainstream media, right wing preachers, and anti-gay activists. He has learned:

The more sensational a falsehood is about homosexuals, the more it will be repeated, and the more it's repeated, the less it matters whether or not it's true.

Among the "facts" (which are not - they are another example of truthiness) he likes to claim:

• "The average life expectancy for a homosexual in the United States of America is 43 years of age."
  
• "Children raised by homosexuals disproportionately experience emotional disturbance and sexual victimization"
  
• Homosexuals are "10 to 20 times more likely than heterosexuals to molest children"
  
• "17 percent [of gay people] eat human feces"
  

None of these "facts" are even close to being true, yet they are quoted and believed.
I feel sick.

At least This Article made me smile today. Read it - it is like a clean glass of fresh water after the putrid taste of hate.

More: Women's Rights, Car-free Movement, Racism, Religion, Gay Rights

Burn, Canada And Spain, Burn!

Burn, Canada And Spain, Burn!
Look to the skies, see the wrath of God rain down on married gays! Will hockey and tapas survive?

It will be fun to watch their societies crumble, their moral fiber rend and shred, their sense of justice and humanity wither and die in the white-hot sun of sin and impudence and blasphemy, Canada's no-longer-manly hockey teams spontaneously combust into a billion meaty bloody God-splattered bits, Spanish children drop their jambón sandwiches in terror and scream and shriek and turn into instant puddles of fiery confused goo.

Why all the vicious carnage? Why the reign of terror? Simple, silly: Canada and Spain have done the unthinkable, the unconscionable. They have legalized gay marriage, everywhere, in their respective countries. Oh my God, they are so going to burn.

Read the Rest