An LGBT Perspective on Target and Company Boycotts.

     I have a feeling this post is going to ruffle some feathers, but before I start getting the flame emails- hear me out. There seems to be this trend with the gay community about boycotting retailers and companies for not being LGBT-inclusive or for supporting organizations like National Organization for Marriage (NOM). The biggest pusher for this kind of action is usually the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the largest and most financially affluent organization for gay rights in the United States. The HRC has a serious hard on for digging out corporate inequality, and every year they release a "Where to Work/Where to Shop" pamphlet that rates middle to large scale companies according to the companies' stances on domestic partner benefits and hiring practices. I'm going to start off by saying that I support that to an extent. My big "gay issue" that I support full heartedly is workplace equality, and the "List" is a good jumping off point, even if it just makes people think about who they shop for.
     But on the other part of their spectrum are the boycotts. Even in the last few years, it feels like the community is always boycotting at least five places any given day. Right now the "big fish" seem to be Target, Chik Fil A, and Hershey. I believe that one of these places does deserve to lose gay dollars, but the other two feel like grey areas to me. I am aware that Chik Fil A is marketed as (and in a way) ran as a "Christian/Family operation". They are closed on Sundays for the Christian Sabbath, and they do use a lot of religious references and support a lot of conservative religious groups. They also have a history of financially backing extreme anti-gay groups like NOM. It bothers me because they use direct profits (meaning, coming directly from customer profits) to fuel the donations to these groups. I feel that if I'm going to pay money for a product, the owners and CEOs should not be using literally the dimes from MY pocket to fund hateful organizations. Plus it bothers me as an LGBT Catholic that a massive company would hide behind faith to fuel hatred. That, in my mind, is no better than the Westboro Baptist Idiots. Although the grilled chicken and waffle fries are delicious....I have joined that ship to not give LGBT/Ally money until the funding situation is changed.
     Hershey is apparently being boycotted now for funding a school that terminated a student's inclusion in the school because he is HIV-positive. Although I do think that it's ignorant, I don't think that a boycott of the mostly unaffiliated company is going to do much to solve that situation. I think claims such as the one on the back of this week's Philadelphia Gay News stating that "Hershey is UnAmerican" are not only misleading, but not correctly stated. I understand the concept of "putting pressure on the financial backer to make a statement/pull their funding", but I don't think that's the right way to deal with this issue. I will not back this boycott because I feel it's ineffective. This issue should really be a direct issue WITH the school, not using the backer as a way to call attention to the problem.
      Then comes the boycott of Target. Ohhh boy, what a grey area this one is. A few years ago, the CEO of Target donated money to an anti-gay group who supported a very bigoted politician , and the HRC had a field day. Keep in mind that as far as domestic partner benefits and hiring practices go, Target had a pretty clean slate for a very long time. Many of the companies and designers that Target works with as partners are LGBT run or Ally companies, too. Since that funding mistake, and I do believe that it was something that wasn't even considered (not that that's good...) the HRC has NEVER let it go. Target's hiring practices, benefits contracts, and corporate partner situations have hardly changed. This year, even after seeing the backlash at Old Navy for releasing similar merchandise, Target has gone full speed ahead and has been unapologetic about manufacturing and selling Pride clothing, where part of the proceeds go to a pro LGBT family organization. Now some people at the HRC and in the community are saying this is a gimmick to reel in some of the lost gay dollars. Maybe. But I will say that in my eyes, years of a solid record of support regarding workplace equality FAR OUTWEIGH one nasty misstep. Let the flaming begin...
      Funnily enough, last summer I had an interview at a gay owned-gay run retailer on South Street. (I chose not to disclose my orientation, which I never do in interviews, regardless of WHO I'm interviewing for. It shouldn't matter. Anyway...) The topic of Target came up, and I expressly said that I continued to do business there. Before I could go into my logic, as this was a very casual conversation/interview, I was greeted with a sort of nasty, "shut down" kind of response, and I knew before the chat was over that I'd been passed up for the position. (Side note, when I was at last year's OutFest, I made it a point to stop by the guy's booth, wearing my bracelet and with my tattoo clearly visible. He looked shocked. He had that "oh MAN I feel like an ass" thing going on. Funny how making ASSumptions causes that look, eh?)

DC Is Outing One of It's Characters!

Oh Mah Gawd! DC Comics just announced that one of it's existing major characters is getting a rainbow re-write! They have a couple of them already, my favorite being Batwoman, but now the gay geek universe is buzzing about who it's going to be. I'm going to hope it's one of the characters from my favorite comic in the whole wide world- Batman! My guesses are going to be Nightwing/Robin, Harley Quinn, Poision Ivy, or maybe even the Joker. I could sort of see Alfred too. Can't wait! But in the meantime....here's a tidbit from the wonderful world of youtube!

(And this is in Arkham City, a special voicemail left for Batsy! awww)

Okay...I think I'm done now...

Disco Queens are Weeping.

So I'm going to start this post with a little bit of a nod to a much-disputed gay icon who's recently passed away. Donna Summer was part of the disco culture, which was a safe haven for so many in the gay community back in the 1970s. She was also an inspiration for many drag queens, past and present, with her big hair and flamboyant outfits. She even made the switch hitters of the time with a certain line in one of her hits, haha. Donna alleged made some not so fabulous comments about the gays and AIDS that some people still hold her to. Others claim it never happened. But even if she did make one of those 'God is punishing you' comments, her impact on the drag community and disco queens is undeniable.


I have a personal story somewhat sort of connected here too, crazy enough. (Apart from my mom and uncle being into disco during that scene.)A little over a year ago I was working in the gayest produce department in a grocery store ever...and THIS jam constantly blared through the speakers in the meat room. It was a big, meaty, gay hell. Complete with homophobic pineapples.

Futch and the Swimsuit from Hell

I love certain things about summer. The sun being out, Pride events, funnel cakes, and especially beach trips. But there's one thing that I dread- swimsuit shopping.

I don't think the majority of women like swimsuit shopping. Things can look really great on a model or on the rack (no pun intended), and they when a chick tries something on it gives her the urge to slap on a mumu and dig into a huge bowl of brownie batter because it's so depressing. No matter how femme-y and hot a girl is she is guaranteed to go through this hell at least once a year. It sucks.

When you're a girl who's not so in your face feminine, the problem gets even more frustrating. Not everyone with a uterus wants to look like a Victoria's Secret model, believe it or not. This article delves into the conundrum of shopping for this hell piece when chicks are butch, but then there's the interesting type who's neither here nor there. What if ruffled bikinis make you want to barf, but the idea of a granny suit under swim trunks isn't any better?

Blah.
Where's that brownie batter?

Barack Obama is the First President to Back Gay Marriage

For some reason I'm not as happy about this as I was about Biden's support. I think it's because Biden's comments really did seem a lot more genuine than what the POTUS said. I don't think this was an "election year" statement, because by saying he supports same-sex marriage he runs the risk of losing as many votes as he'll gain. I think this was more "Well Joe said something, I've been skirting the issue, it's going to look bad if I don't say anything at all".

Either way, for the LGBT Americans who wish to be married, and the allies who take this up as a flagship issue, this is probably good news.

It's been a while, but I'm back with some surprising news!

     I know it's been a while, but life had me on my toes for the last couple of weeks. I finally got that ridiculously hard paper finished, and God only knows if I passed my other course. Work was a little wild last month too, so that didn't leave a lot of room in my day to check in here. Things have gotten a little bit more controllable now, so I'll probably be back for a while.
     There have been a lot of crazy events in the land of the switchhitters lately. The first thing I want on the agenda is really not something I'm happy to hear. The site that launched the "I Am Visible" campaign is shutting down.  "I Am Visible" was a great initiative to fight biphobia and erasure, it just never really took off as well as say, The Trevor Project did. The site was an incredible resource for the bisexual community and I truly am sad to see it go. You can still check it out at: Bi Social Network...signing off :(
     Speaking of campaigns with great messages that I'd love to see take off, You Can Play seems to be going somewhere! This awesome interview appeared in Philly Gay News not too long ago, and I actually got the chance to chat with Patrick Burke, You Can Play founder and scout for the Flyers, about a possible YCP appearance at June's PhillyPride or possibly Outfest! in October. Burke was at Equality Forum over the weekend, so hopefully the schedule will allow for some YCP at our pride events! The online shop that carries merch to raise awareness of the initiative should be open right in time for Pride month, around June first.
     And one more piece before I sign off for the day, Vice-President Joe Biden has come out in support of gay unions! I ran across this on CatholicsForEquality's Twitter feed, but now his comments have gone viral and can be found all over the place.
     "I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties,and quite frankly, I don't see much of a distinction beyond that. The good news is that as more and more Americans become to understand what this is all about is a simple proposition," he said. "Who do you love?  Who do you love?  And will you be loyal to the person you love?  And that's what people are finding out is what -- what all marriages, at their root, are about." -Joe Biden on Meet The Press, April 6th 2012
     This is actually pretty great news for the LGBT Catholic/Episcopalian community, because Biden is the highest ranking Catholic in the United States political system. This is a great merging of faith and morality that's so, so positive for progress on civil unions/gay marriage in this country. It may be words but they're strong words. Stronger even than President Barack Obama has ever offered on the issue. A huge step forward with just a few sentences.