In which I agree to march in a gay pride parade
I ripped down my last post almost as quickly as I put it up. I liked it — it contained many themes that bug the hell out of me — but I had to draw the line at calling someone an “asshole” a baker’s dozen times in one blog post. The person IS still an asshole, though. *Not* calling them one doesn’t change that fact.
Enough about assholes in my business. Let’s talk about the ones on Capitol Hill. Because that’s fodder for seven thousand blog entries, at least!
In any case, I found a social cause to support locally. Which is great. I’m going to a rally on Saturday and I agreed to march with the group in a Pride Fest parade a week from now.
It’s Planned Parenthood, which shouldn’t shock anyone. Hey, I’m 36 and kid-free — I kiss the ground in gratitude for all forms of birth control. I also commend any place where you can go to get quality health care (and birth control!) for free or practically nothing. I’m pissed that federal funding is in danger of going away for PP, and I want to do my part to save a SAFE place that was there for me.
Everyone associates PP with the “a” word. I’m not writing it because I don’t need the search traffic for it. And while, yes, there is that, there’s just so much more to the mission.
The problem with this country is all the right-wingnuts is that their definition of pro-life is that your right to life ends before birth. God forbid you are gay, transgender, intersex, any color than white or, curses!, born female.
I mean, holy shit, PP does cancer screenings! But all the old white men who sit on legislatures state- and nationwide don’t care about our preventive care. It’s not like they’ll pay for our treatments when the disease spreads and robs us of the latter half of our lives.
Anyway, clearly I’ve found an issue I can get behind. 🙂
I am doing OK in my freelance business. I have two big projects (one of which I’m not sure I will last with) and a smattering of smaller ones that, combined, could make a nice living for me if I can just get back on the “work 80 hours a week” bandwagon. But I want to do something I LOVE, you know?
So maybe the whole volunteer thing will be a nice distraction. I don’t need fighting for causes to be my life’s work, but it’s a welcome change to be fighting for something that actually means something in the greater scheme of life.
Anyway, if you drive by and see me waving my sign, smile and honk. And if you throw beads, well, I’ll flash ya. Save the boobies, yo, by saving PP in your neighborhood!!!
March 20th, 2011 at 8:26 AM
I have no quarrel with federal funding for PP if they would agree to one thing- no federal funding for the “A” word. I am not opposed to “A”, but I am opposed to federal funding for it, for one simple reason.
People who are strongly opposed to “A” on religious or moral grounds should not be forced to pay their taxpayer dollars to support it.
So if PP would stop doing “A” for free, I think you would see the “right wing nuts” reduce their opposition to federal funds for PP. Let PP continue to do the cancer and STD screenings and preventive care for free, but charge money for the “A” to all persons. Even if it was only 167 last year, that’s still 167 that those who oppose “A” were forced to support.
By the way, it’s not just “old white men” who are opposed to federal funding of PP (although granted they are in the majority). There are women and minorities as well who oppose it for various reasons.
Part of being Liberal is to be tolerant of ALL persons’ views, even those who disagree with yours, without name calling or stereotyping.
Other than this one point, I do love your blog.
— A former Liberal, now Libertarian
March 27th, 2011 at 6:30 PM
@ Ethan: I wonder who ever said that liberals have “to be tolerant of ALL persons’ views?” I am a liberal who is an extremely accepting person, but I have absolutely no tolerance for intolerant people, and I refuse to apologize for that.
I understand that some religious people do not want federal funding to go to PP, but “A” is only a part of PP and there are other issues to take into consideration. Lots of lower SES individuals utilize PP’s myriad services. If funding is cut, that means services are cut, and lower SES individuals may not get the services they require. So, not only is this a potential public health issue, it’s also a social justice issue.
In addition, this argument about federal funding could be turned on religious organizations. Our federal government gives tax dollars to religious organizations…why? Should we? Further, should churches be tax-exempt when many repeatedly break the 501C-3 tax code by supporting, albeit not necessarily publicly, candidates for office? I think not.
Thank you.