February 2009
Hello Sweet Readers!
Julie and Hillary Goodridge, the first lesbian couple married under the new right to marry law on May 17th, 2004, have filed for divorce. The couple could not be reached for comments and no reason, as of yet, has been given for the divorce although the couple separated in 2006.
The battle for the right to marry was a long, sometimes difficult and sometimes demanding fight and greatly publicized. A lot of media attention surrounded the three main figures in this lawsuit. Julie Goodridge and her 8 year old daughter Annie who testified about how she couldn’t understand why her mommies weren’t being allowed to get married like other children¢s parents do, and Hillary Goodridge, Julie’s long time partner.
Life can’t be very easy when you have been thrust into the spotlight by your taking a stand to demand your rights and your day in front of God and your loved ones to unite yourself as one. Many couples have fought this battle, these were not the first but they were perhaps two in a short list of them that pushed as hard as they did and took on the very laws and creators of those laws to be given the chance to fulfill a dream.
But, it appears that the road was neither long nor happy for the couple after they were given that chance. Being married only 2 years before they filed for separation in June of 2006. Sometimes marriages fail,
happens to heterosexual marriages too, and sometimes a lot quicker as well. Some people marry on a whim and are divorced in a matter of hours instead of years. The Goodridge’s have been together and committed to one another in one form or another for well over 14 years. But when you are so outspoken for something, the world seems to watch you closer and be more interested when you fail than with those who quietly go about their business and box from the shadows rather than in the spotlight of the main ring.
With their almost celebrity status looming over them because of their outspoken stand on gay rights, the Goodridges had to expect that they could not just slip into the quiet suburban life of annonymity and just be another loving married couple. Not when your name was the one on the very lawsuit that gave so many others the right to share your dream. Like a lot of other extremely radical groups who oppose gay rights to marry, I’m sure Rev. Phelps and his crazy followers in Topeka, Kansas have had much celebrating and finger pointing and Bible thumping to do when the Goodridges first separated in 2006 and again today when they read about the upcoming divorce of such a prominent ground breaking couple as this.
Divorce is always a tragic end to a fairytale, we are supposed to live happily ever after when we meet our princess or our prince. But in reality, things don’t always work that way. Although it saddens me to see this monumental case come to such a sad ending and be witness to the fall of a Camelot of gay rights, I want to wish the Goodridge’s peace and long sought happiness and that they do find what they desire most and that is love. Whether with each other or a new partner, may they continue to be loving supportive parents to their daughter and guide her through this time in a way that she never feels to blame for them not being together. I hope and pray that their daughter does not now become the focus of cruel boys and girls who want to point their fingers and laugh and say mean hurtful things about her mothers. We all know her young life has had to have been nothing but a struggle so far to find happy moments when she is not the center of something much bigger than herself.
You know the kinds of things I’m meaning. Things like; all black people like watermelon and fried chicken, all Jews are cheap and shrewd, all italians are good cooks, all tall people are good at basketball, all gay men act like girls and all lesbians are manly. Racial slurs fly like kike, chink, spick, whitey, honky, n**ger, faggot, and so on.
The same goes for men or women who work in a profession that is typically the opposite gender specific. IE:A male nurse is considered gay because a nurse is usually a woman but men are just as capable of being compassionate and caregiving. In the same way female construction workers or police officers are presumed lesbian because of the strenuousnes of the job and the need to show force. Fashion designers or interior decorators are also typical female jobs that men who enter are considered gay. We don’t think of female tackle football players or rodeo stars and not that long ago men were not considered teachers or stay at home parents.
When we encounter another religion or lifestyle or tradition, and don’t make an attempt to understand it or learn about it, we become frightened of it or uncomfortable and we develop predjudice. All predjudice is, is ignorance and a refusal to change.
What makes us want to make a judgement about another person strictly on their outward appearance or what they’re wearing or how they act? When I was in school there was a girl in my class who if you wanted to judge her by what she wore and how she acted, you would think she was a lesbian. Some people seem to think that a lesbian is a woman who acts and dresses very manly. This girl threw the shot put and the discus in high school. She always was up for a fight and acted very tough. She wore her hair in a boy cut and always dressed in jeans and t-shirts and boots. She looked tough, talked tough, and acted tough. Lesbian right? Wrong. She is now happily married but still acts very manly.
I have a friend who is a retired fire fighter and who plays the bag pipes in a corps. When he is at an event he has people who make crude comments to him calling him gay because he’s wearing a “skirt”. It’s not a skirt it’s a kilt and I think it takes a real man to have the nerve to wear something like that and brave being made fun of.
Contrary to popular belief: our new president is not black, not every really tall person is interested in playing basketball, some football players are valedictorians of their class, some gay men like to hunt and every man who cries is not a sissy, lesbians are not women who have had a bad relationship with a man, some Jews fail at owning a business, not every mexican snuck across the border in the middle of the night, not all black people can dance and are good at sports, every arab is not a muslim, occasionally an oriental person can’t eat with chopsticks and hates rice, every overweight person you met will not eat everything in sight, not all italian women are good cooks, every blond is not dumb, some beautiful girls have the personality of a piranha fish, some elderly people are adventurous and fun loving, and believe it or not……some white men can jump.
Until Next Week, Dear Ones, Love & Many Hugz! Leeza
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In Texas, it’s against the law for anyone to have a pair of pliers in his or her possession.
In Philadelphia, you can’t put pretzels in bags based on Act of 1760.
An Alaska law says that you can’t look at a moose from an airplane.
In Corpus Christi, Texas, it is illegal to raise alligators in your home.
In Miami, Florida, it is forbidden to imitate an animal.
It is against the law to mispronounce the name of the State or Arkanas in that State.
California prohibits a woman from driving a car while wearing a housecoat.
In Memphis, Tennessee, a woman is not to drive a car unless a man warns approaching motorists or pedestrians by walking in front of the car that is being driven.
Also in Tennessee, it is against the law to drive a car while sleeping.
In Louisiana, a bill was introduced years ago in the State House of Representatives that fixed the ceiling on haircuts for bald men at 25 cents. (and you thought they didn’t do anything intelligent when constructing laws)
In Kentucky, it’s the law that a person must take a bath once a year.
In Ohio, you must have a license to keep a bear.
In Virginia, the Code of 1930 has a statute which prohibits corrupt practices or bribery by any person other than political candidates.
In Galveston, Texas, it is illegal to have a camel run loose in the street.
In North Carolina, it is illegal for dogs and cats to fight.
In Indiana, a man can be arrested for statutory rape if his female passenger in his vehicle is under the age of 17 and not wearing her socks and shoes.
In Cleveland, Ohio, it is unlawful to leave chewing gum in public.
In Virginia, chickens cannot lay eggs before 8:00 a.m., and must be done before 4:00 p.m.
In New York, it is against the law for children to pick up cigarette or cigar butts.
In Seattle, Washington, you can’t carry a concealed weapon that is longer than 6 feet in length.
In San Francisco, there is a ban on picking up and throwing used confetti.
In the state of Colorado, a pet cat, if loose outside, must have a tail-light.
In Cleveland, Ohio, it is illegal for a woman to wear patent leather shoes so men can’t look at her unmentionables.
In California, a law created in 1925 makes it illegal to wiggle while you dance.
In North Carolina, it is against the law for rabbits to race down the street.
In West Virginia, one cannot cook sauerkraut or cabbage due to the odor.
It is illegal to herd more than 3000 sheep down Hollywood Blvd.
In Indiana, it is illegal for a man to be sexually aroused in public.
In Indiana, it is also illegal for liquor stores to sell milk.
A Memphis, Tennessee, ordinance bans frogs from croaking after 11 p.m.
A dead juror may not serve jury duty in Oregon.
Newark, New Jersey, forbids the selling of ice after 6 p.m. without a prescription.
Minnesota forbids women from impersonating Santa Claus.
In Fort Madison, Iowa, the fire department is legally required to practice 15 minutes before responding to a fire.
In Beech Grove, Indiana, it is illegal to walk backwards, down main street, eating peanuts with ice cream in your pockets.
I could go on a lot longer with the crazy things I found and this isn’t even all of what I did find, but I figure by now your sides are probably hurting from laughing so I better stop.
See you in just a little over a month at the Terry’s. What?!! You’re not going to be there? WHY NOT!!!!!!!! You better come and see me!
Until Next Week, Dear Ones, Love & Many Hugz! Leeza
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Hello Sweet Readers!
What is a minority? According to dictionary.com a minority is as follows:
Minority -noun
- the smaller part or number; a number, part, or amount forming less than half of the whole.
- a smaller party or group opposed to a majority, as in voting or other action.
- a group differing, esp, in race, religion, or ethnic background, from the majority of a population” legislation aimed at providing equal rights for minorities.
- a member of such a group.
- the state or period of being under the legal age of full responsibility.
-adjective
- of or pertaining to a minority.
What are the stats of minorities in the US? According to America.gov, the American population is divided into the following ethnic groups: As of May 1, 2007 cencus.
“There are 45.5 million Hispanics living in the United States, accounting for 15 percent of the U.S. population. Blacks comprise the second-largest minority group, with 40.7 million (13.5 percent), followed by Asians, with 15.2 million (5 percent).
From July 1, 2006, to July 1, 2007, the Hispanic population grew by 3.3 percent, Asians by 2.9 percent, blacks by 1.3 percent, native Hawaiians and other Pacific islanders by 1.6 percent, and American Indians and Alaska natives by 1 percent. They all outstripped the white population growth of 0.3 percent.”
So, now that we have established who is dictionary defined and status defined as a minority let’s get to the reason for my article. It seems like everybody and his long lost brother have decided that for some reason or another they should qualify for minority status. They want benefits and rights supposedly given only to the majority.
Not that long ago we had affirmative action that came through and decided that people were being descriminated against on job interviews and hiring and that they needed to enact laws in this country forcing business owners to set quotas of how many minority workers they had in relation to how many majority (white) workers they hired. Therefore, for a while in America, you might not be hired for a job based on your merits for it or your qualifications but because of your ethnic background and even sometimes for you sexual status, meaning female over male. The best thing to be, at least for a while, was a black female. You covered two minority groups and they only had to hire one person.
Seems like every day more and more people are wanting to claim minority status, they want it based on their ethnic background, on their religious affiliation, on their disability, their health, and even on their sexual preference. If they are of a mixed race they want to for some reason forget that they are part white and focus primarily on whatever part of them is of another race in order to get scholarships and ethnic based benefits.
It bothered me a few years back when Tiger Woods won the Master’s Tournament for the first time and the first thing the reporter wanted to ask him was “How did it feel to be the first African-American to win the masters?” and when he replied that it had nothing to do with his ethnic status the very next question out of her stupid mouth was, “Then how does it feel to be the first Asian-American to win the Masters?” I was rather proud of him that he just walked away and didn’t answer. What freakin difference did it make what nationality he was? It shouldn’t make any. What was more amazing was that he was the youngest ever winner, that is what should have been focused on, not his race. His standing there that day wearing that green jacket was not because of him being part African-American or part Asian-American, it was because he had worked hard and had dedicated himself to his sport from a very young age. That at the age of 3 his father saw a potential in him and began to groom it and guide it and help him develop it. All the hard work and sacrifice had finally paid off.
If you want to look at who is actually the real true minority in America today, apart from what we are led to believe, it is the monogamous, heterosexual, protestant, white, male, between the ages of 40 and 70. He is devoted to his wife and his family, not of any specific religious belief but not something minority status worthy, he is straight, and too old for some employers to want to hire but not old enough to retire. He is willing to work hard and has the ability and the knowledge and the work ethic to benefit any employer willing to give him the chance. Yet, most of the time he is passed up for a job or a promotion because he has too much experience and would have to be paid more than an employer wants to pay. He might not have a fancy degree from some specialty school but he has on the job, learn as you go, life experience. If he finds himself out of work for some reason, he has a next to impossible time finding a new job and each year older he gets the harder it is for him to get one.
I think before we start crying we are one minority or another we shoud first concentrate on being the best human being we can be and on treating our fellow man with the respect and support and dignity that he deserves. If we focus on what makes us the same and forget what makes us different we will soon see that the differences between us very quickly don’t mean a thing. If we are equal to the task at hand, we should get the same benefits and the same job and the same salary. Let the best man, or woman, qualified for the job be the one who gets it and stop screaming it’s because I’m a something else that I didn’t get it. Own up to the fact that maybe you didn’t get the job or the promotion purely because you didn’t deserve it or work hard enough to get it.
Hmmmmm maybe I should begin whining that I want special minority treatment on this magazine because I am the only straight white female writer on staff……*wink*… NAH, I don’t really feel that way, the writers for this magazine are the best and we are all equal on here and I was only joking! Hope that made you smile Terry, it wasn’t meant to offend.
Until Next Week, Dear Ones, Love & Many Hugs! Leeza
