Marriage — meh, again? — is the topic du jour for Zack and Peterson. Peterson discusses concerns about his own upcoming wedding and Zack pontificates on the latest political happenings on the issue, including endorsement by Vice President Joe Biden. Oh, and Peterson made a video about his butt. Enjoy!
The Queer and Queerer Podcast!
Listen to this week's episode:
(Please click here to listen on iPad/iPhone or download.)
Here’s some more information about what we talked about this week:
» Vice President Joe Biden’s remarks on same-sex marriage.
» This Is What Love In Action Looks Like on DVD.
» Peterson’s butt video.
This week, Peterson and Zack take on the recent controversy over Dan Savage’s remarks at the JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention. Marvin Bloom returns to the podcast to defend the Christian students who were offended that Savage called some of their Biblical beliefs “bullshit.” Are conservatives right to condemn Savage’s comments, or are they just trying to obfuscate the fact that he was right about the Bible endorsing slavery? Will our listeners pacify Peterson’s ego sufficiently to convince him to record more podcasts? What flavor ice cream will Marvin Bloom eat with his partner? You’ll only find out if you listen!
The Queer and Queerer Podcast!
Listen to this week's episode:
(Please click here to listen on iPad/iPhone or download.)
Here’s some more information about what we talked about this week:
» See video and the full text of Dan Savage’s remarks.
» Marvin Bloom: It Gets Better (Kinda)
» This Is What Love In Action Looks Like on DVD.
» Check out Glen Retief’s NYC reading as a Lambda Literary Award Finalist.
» Get the latest updates on North Carolina’s Amendment One here.
Miracles do happen! After a seven-month hiatus, Zack and Peterson are back! And following up on a conversation from Episode 43 with Anthony, who identified as ex-straight, this week we talk with Hector Moorehouse, who actually leads the ex-straight ministry Gushing Fountains. Hector answers all our questions about how ex-straight therapy works and what the outcomes are for its participants. But is this new episode a fluke, or will Peterson be convinced to come back next week?
The Queer and Queerer Podcast!
Listen to this week's episode:
(Please click here to listen on iPad/iPhone or download.)
I’m sure there was a lot to be learned from 9/11… lessons about emergency response, lessons about airplane security, lessons about national morale, and heck—the very invention of the term “homeland security.” The attacks on our soil surely shook us all, but there was one really important concept that seems to have been lost on everybody: how to prevent it from happening again.
It’s not a complicated answer. Al Qaida’s attack on the U.S. was motivated by religious fundamentalism. So the lesson learned should be to oppose and quell religious fundamentalism. But we did the opposite. We turned to our own churches and gave them even more power over society than they already had. We propagated Islamophobia, drawing sharper divides between faiths than those that had inspired the attacks to begin with. We launched two holy wars, fighting fire with fire as we’ve attempted to assert our “Judeo-Christianity” world-power authority over those who don’t fit the mold. And we did it all because we’re insecure, because we’re a nation who relies on faith—God shed his grace on thee—to find meaning and value in the potential we have to be great.
It’s ten years later, and look where we are. Islamophobia is a multi-billion dollar industry. War persists without end, though the Arab Spring brings hope that change will come not at the hands of an outside force but from within those nations who will no longer suffer tyrants. And on our home soil, we have creeping Dominionism, the effort to impose Christian dominion over the “seven mountains” of society: government, education, media, arts & entertainment, religion, family, and most importantly, business. As Christian leaders motivate fear of Islam through so-called “creeping Sharia”—the absurd idea that Muslims have already started taking over our communities and instituting strict Sharia Law—they are using this fear to impose their own control over society. And while some like Pat Robertson and Matt Barber now play coy as if they’ve never heard of Dominionism, let alone the fact they contribute to it on a daily basis, Dominionism is more visible and present in mainstream America than ever before and well connected to the entire religious right. Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s prayer rally this Summer (which featured a wide array of religious right leaders making cameos), was predominated by some of the top names in Dominionism. Both he and Rep. Michele Bachmann have close ties to the movement and our frontrunner Republican presidential candidates.
The answer to Muslim fundamentalism is not Christian fundamentalism. Both are warring factions, fighting for power and control over society. The creeds that inform them do little to distinguish them. Both need to be opposed.
The attacks on 9/11/2001 taught us how destructive religious fundamentalism can be to mind and heart. Until we learn to resist fundamentalism’s lust for hegemony, we will continue to fall victim to the very primitive notions that caused 9/11. The time is over for sadness, confusion, insecurity, and fear. It’s time for courage of conviction, organized inclusion, trust in one another, and confidence in the power of diversity. We must avail ourselves of a society in which all people can live freely without imposition of one faith group or another. The goal should be harmony, not “safety.”
It’s been a while since I’ve taken time out to critique the privilege religion has over society, but I hope that today, whoever’s out there reading this thinks of nothing else. Where would we be today if ten years ago, we realized that the scariest threat to our world is shallow, insecure thinking and that the answer is to reach out to one another rather than cloistering ourselves off and forcing everybody else out?
Where would we be if we treated people the way we want people to be treated rather than just the way we think our particular version of God wants us to be treated?
Until we learn that lesson, we are no safer than we were ten years ago today.
Me at age 14 with friend, Esther. (2000)
I’ve always been anal. I’ve always liked there to be a time and place for everything, and I can get frustrated when things don’t fit together, like a song that has no chorus. There was a time in my life when a drastic shift in theme, character, or setting between seasons was enough for me to stop watching a beloved television show. And there used to be a time when I assumed the theme, characters, and setting of my life would be exactly as I had planned them out. I don’t really buy these preferences anymore, and I feel like I’m all the wiser for it.
Today I mark the big 26. What is that, late-mid 20′s? I insist it’s still mid-20′s. It’s not that I have any problem with getting old—it’s just that life feels so new this year that I prefer the “younger” framing. Twenty-six isn’t really “big” or “the”-worthy either, but this birthday feels significant, because it’s my first in a new era of my existence.
Last year at 25 should have been significant. A perfect square, a quarter of a century. But who cares about numbers?I was unemployed and living in complete uncertainty for what my future held. Boy was I surprised at just what 25 would bring with it.
Now I have a job! I’m living on my own! And I’m part of a big city for the first time in my life. And that job? Totally not what I thought it would be. I wrote back in March that this new life course made little sense to me when compared to my previous life plan, and I’m still not sure it does. But it’s the path I’m on now… and it’s just peachy.
So here’s a little thought on the passage of time. Whatever comes next doesn’t necessarily have to have anything to do with what came before. As individuals, we are the sum total of our experiences. The world presents us with a whole lot of dots and our lives are what connect them. When we die—or at any point along the way—we can look back and measure our lives not just by the quantity of our accomplishments, but by the tapestry we wove, the picture we unknowingly drew.
It’s pretty cheesy and platitudinous, I know. But that’s just where I am with things. When you let go of all those certainties and expectations society provides, life is a whole lot more exciting and surprising.
So cheers to living life as a rhapsody and dropping glitter on all those strophic codgers.
