Evidence procured by torture is now sufficient to detain “enemy combatants” at Gitmo. Prisoners “have no constitutional rights enforceable in this court.” Slowly, we are beginning to piece together what the Bush administration has set up – with little public debate. The government can detain prisoners without naming them, it can use methods that are “inhumane,” it can use evidence procured by torture, and anyone the government deems an “enemy combatant” is beyond the recourse of constitutional protection. Some of this might be defensible, although I doubt whether I’d agree. But the lack of candor, the absence of real debate (neither Gitmo nor Abu Ghraib came up in any of the presidential debates), and the vagueness of many of the rules are surely worrying in the extreme.
BACKLASH WATCH: In South Carolina, another Republican anti-gay witch-hunt.
A GAZA KILLING: This atrocity seems unspinnable to me.
AN APNEA STORY: A first-hand account of a severe diagnosis.
DEATH BY WANKING: Just one of the theories believed by one Judith Reisman. I saw the movie, “Kinsey.” I wasn’t too thrilled by it: like many biopics, it appeared labored and strained for a real story line. But it did remind me of the appalling ignorance about sex that so many millions lived with for so long – an ignorance that is now being actively promoted by the Bush administration.
GAYS IN THE SOUTH: Here’s an email from the front lines:
I am from Louisiana and I am quite aware of Louisiana’s and the South’s public disdain for gay relationships. However, it is not as bad as you think. Even in the rural parish where I come from homosexuals are acknowledged and respected for the human beings they are. My lesbian cousin lives with her partner and her child, in a small, small town in South Louisiana and gets by fine. My Catholic family, some of whom are “anti-gay” in the voting booth, accept her and her partner with open arms, and contradict themselves by not pushing them away from family functions.
We are not New York City or Boston or Washington D.C., an urban enviroment, where queer culture thrives. Change comes slow to the countryside where people do not live in anonymity, like in the big city. In the South’s larger cities, even mid-size cities like Baton Rouge, you have an open queer culture. Lots of rainbow flags on cars and such. Sure we have Jimmy Swaggert too, but the city’s collective reaction to that guy’s hateful language was basically “watch your mouth.”
I know it’s difficult for you to see this up in the Washington, D.C. area, but freaks like Roy Moore and others have already lost the battle. It’s not much different than the death rattle of segregationists in the 60’s. Just like the Southern Manifesto was NOT a sign of the future in the South, neither are these obscure remarks or governmental acts you’re harping on.
I understand this a big deal for you, being gay, but you’ve already won and you should realize this.
Alas, I do not believe we have won – yet. And I’m struck by how this kind of email could easily have been written about the Jim Crow South. Relations between many blacks and whites were often cordial; and the cordiality depended on the implicit acknowledgment of one group’s inferiority to the other. Essentially, the position of the Republican right is now identical on the matter of homosexuals. The Bush line, essentially is: “We are not homophobes; we are happy yo live alongside gay people, as long as they recognize that they can never have the same civil rights as we do. Accept your own inferiority, and we will accept you.” That’s why this is so hard to compromise on. Because it cuts to the core of a human being’s self-worth. On this, we cannot compromise. The simple truth is that there isn’t a single civil right I would deny to an evangelical Christian. I’ve defended their freedom of religion, of association, of disassociation, and believe they should be treated with respect. I wouldn’t dream of drumming them out of the military, firing them for their faith, tearing up their relationships, or taking their children away from them. The favor, alas, is not returned.
The Dish 