As valedictorian of his class at Bell County High School, Ben Bowling was invited to speak at the graduation ceremony. He looked for some inspirational quotes to share with his classmates and included this one, “Don’t just get involved. Fight for your seat at the table. Better yet, fight for a seat at the head of the table.’ – Donald J. Trump.” The audience applauded. Then Bowling added, “Just kidding, that was Barack Obama.” The crowd went silent except for a few adult boos. Bowling explained it this way, “I just thought it was a really good quote. Most people wouldn’t like it if I used it, so I thought I’d use Donald Trump’s name. It is Southeastern Kentucky after all.” Bowling was unsurprised by the crowd’s reaction. He will soon be moving to the University of Kentucky for pre-med and medical school. Continue reading WHO CENSORS OR BOOS VALEDICTORIANS?
Category Archives: lgbtq
A CHRISTMAS NEWSLETTER
Instead of a Christmas column from me, I tried to imagine a message from someone far wiser.
Dear American Friends:
I’ve noticed that many of you send newsy letters about your families as part of your celebration of my birthday. This year I decided to try it myself by writing to all of you. Christians often call me Father, Son, or Holy Ghost – three different ways to see me. Today I’m writing as Son.
It’s been a disappointing year for Dad and me. H.G., my spirit partner, is sad because so few of you welcome her into your thinking and conversations. Many of you don’t seem to hear her.
Your wars in the Middle East have killed about four million people in the last 25 years. Most of them are Dad’s Muslim children. He loves them as much as he loves you and he wants you to quit killing each other.
You’ve been writing “In God we trust” on your buildings. Dad’s not impressed. If you trusted him, you’d be taking his advice about which things are most important. I explained that to you once when I said that all of Dad’s laws are based on just two things. Love him; and love your neighbor as yourself. Everything that his prophets said, the laws they gave, and all that I taught comes from those two instructions. Love God. Love your neighbor as yourself. I know that’s sometimes difficult for you to do but it isn’t complicated.
Did you notice that when I lived on your planet, I tried to be a respectful friend of people regardless of their station in life or whether they agreed with me? I enjoyed time with Roman soldiers that invaded my country, tax collectors, prostitutes, and lepers. I ignored nationality and welcomed whoever came to me. When I saw injustice, I spoke up about it. Think about that when you’re deciding whether to deport people who came into your nation hungry, needy, and looking for work. You must love and respect people of all races and cultures, whether straight or LGBTQ. There are no exceptions to “love your neighbor”.
Back at the beginning of time, Dad put you in charge. In one of the books that your ancestors wrote about him, they called it “having dominion” over the whole earth. You sometimes call it “free will”. Dad lets you make your own decisions and then he lets you live with the consequences – good ones and bad ones.
You’ve learned a lot from your science. You can produce food, shelter, clothing and other things that you need. You know how to cure some of the illnesses that killed your ancestors. Those are great things and you should be proud of what you’ve achieved. You should apply my “love your neighbor” teaching to those things too. You have brothers and sisters who are starving. Here in your wealthy nation you often reserve your nearly miraculous health care for those who have money or insurance.
You’ve written your laws so that individuals and businesses get to own knowledge. Anyone who wants to use the knowledge to save a life has to pay whoever owns the knowledge. Such greed makes some of you angry at others. You need to do something about that.
You’re making a mess of the planet that Dad gave you. It’s getting warmer and you’re about to flood a lot of it. You already know that from your science but you’re not doing much about it. Is that because it would cost money? But won’t it cost more when the floods come? And wouldn’t the work to clean up the planet create jobs for people who don’t have a way to support themselves today?
Even though Dad and I are sad and disappointed we still want to help. When I tried really hard about 2000 years ago, people like you crucified me for my trouble. We’re not going to do that again, but Dad did send H.G. to help you find your way. Listen to her. Look inside yourself. She’s there and if you pay close attention to her you’ll discover how to love your neighbor; and then you will know what to do.
Thanks for reading this. Dad, H.G. and I will be thinking of you and wishing you a Happy 2017.
Your friend,
Jesus
What to do on the morning after?
The day after the election will be the first day of the rest of our lives. What should we expect of our elected officials? Will we help or undermine each other and elected leaders? If individuals, families and communities listen to each other’s ideas and agree on how to move forward together, we can invigorate the idea of “commonwealth”, a society that is organized to benefit all. Everybody wins. If, on the other hand, winners kick losers while they’re down in order to maintain dominance and if losers do all they can to stop winners from implementing their ideas then the republic will decline. Everybody loses.
It’s happened in great societies throughout history and it’s especially clear in the Bible’s Old Testament. When those in power dominate and abuse the powerless, everybody loses and the society fails. When the principle of commonwealth guides decisions, the society blossoms.
Poverty, income inequality and homelessness are at crisis levels in many places. Rural America has depended on agriculture and manufacturing to provide family incomes and property tax revenue for local governments. Both of those economic sectors now produce more goods with fewer people than ever before. At the same time that rural employment opportunities paying middle class wages have become scarce, the tax revenues of rural communities have stagnated. Budgets for public education, safety, and human services are under severe stress at a time when they are critical to redevelopment of communities. The plight of rural America has much in common with high poverty neighborhoods of urban America. Low incomes and insufficient resources have similar effects in both places.
Will legislatures reconsider how public services are funded and which tax revenues are available at local, state and federal levels? Will high poverty areas have funding for education, high-speed internet, water, sewer, quality of life, health and other priorities at a level that is proportionate to wealthy areas? If not, will their future be inter-generational poverty and emigration of successful residents to more desirable areas? Will legislators work at solving the underlying problems or will they pit urban vs rural and white vs black vs Hispanic for partisan gain?
What about the sanctity of human life? Will we expect our congress, legislatures and executives to behave as if “all lives matter”? Does someone who wants a gun have the right to own an assault rifle designed for mass killing? Does a woman have the right to remove a fetus from her body? In which decisions should government have a role?
Conflicts between personal and constitutional values will not be fully resolved but can we make progress for the common good? Could we agree to reduce the demand for abortion by providing free birth control, better access to pre-natal care, simple and inexpensive adoption procedures, and by solving our income inequality problems? Will we expect legislators to find ways to preserve gun ownership for self-defense and recreation while getting weapons designed for mass killing out of circulation and screening gun purchasers to rule out suspected terrorists and known criminals? Or will we reward leaders for continuing to insult each other?
The Republican controlled Senate has refused to consider President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court. They hope to win the Presidential election and get a conservative-leaning nominee. Senators Richard Burr and Ted Cruz have made the radical statement that if Hillary Clinton is elected, they will refuse to confirm nominees and let the court shrink. That abrogation of a senator’s constitutional responsibility would invite similar behavior from Democrats toward a Republican president. Will we insist that senators fulfill their constitutional duties?
Differences of race, wealth, religion and philosophy divide us on a long list of issues: immigration, transpacific partnership, climate change, war, taxes, LBGTQ rights, health care, and more.
We’re not all going to miraculously agree after the election. Continued success for our republic will require two things of us. First, we must look honestly at facts. Second, we must engage each other in ongoing conversation (listening more than arguing) about the principle of commonwealth – making decisions and laws that create opportunity and peace for all of us.
Our legislators are capable of that, but they will do it only if they know that we voters expect it, demand it, and that we’re doing it ourselves.
We can start on November 9.
We can do well while doing good
The ongoing debate about the economic impact of HB2, North Carolina’s “bathroom law” seems both sad and laughable because its effect is so small when compared to another foolish decision made by the state’s Republican legislature. The economic and human damage done by the decision to reject expansion of the Medicaid program is greater by far.
Republican friends, before you disagree, do your homework and discover the facts for yourselves. Bring truth to the debate and then see how your legislature’s decisions look under that bright light. Before considering human impact, let’s examine some raw financial facts.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute have collaborated on research to understand the economic impact on states that rejected Medicaid Expansion. They found that health care funding in North Carolina would be increased by $41 billion in the decade from 2017-2026 if the state accepts Medicaid expansion. That would require $4.9 billion of state funding and would bring $36.1 billion in federal funding. Do the math. $36.1 minus $4.9 equals $31.2 in net gain. Another way to look at it, suppose someone offered you $36.10 in exchange for $4.90. Would you accept it? That is one billionth of the deal that Republicans rejected. The legislature knew this information when it rejected the Medicaid expansion.
Some will argue that our state budget is too large and we shouldn’t increase it further by expanding Medicaid. That is a reasonable concern, so let’s look at Medicaid expansion in the context of other government spending.
Most federal highway grants require a 20 percent state match. State funding of $4.9 billion would produce a federal highway match of $19.6 billion. That is $16.5 billion less than we would get if we spent the money on Medicaid expansion. Therefore, if one accepts purely financial justification for not expanding Medicaid, the state would be better off by $16.5 billion to reject the highway match and use the money to fund Medicaid.
In addition to providing health care to uninsured North Carolinians, the Medicaid expansion would create thousands of new jobs in health care to replace those lost in other industries.
The argument that “we can’t afford it” doesn’t hold water when made by legislators who spend money on items that yield a far smaller return on investment. It’s a matter of priorities, and this legislature obviously sees other spending as more important than keeping poor people alive and creating jobs.
What about the human effect of the decision? The Medicaid expansion was designed to provide coverage for the working poor, many of whom have jobs (sometimes more than one job) but who are paid so little that they can’t afford insurance even with the help of the Affordable Care Act. Whatever became of that right wing mantra “take a bath and get a job”? As cynical as it sounds, the Medicaid expansion is designed to support exactly that behavior. It provides health care for people at the bottom of the economic ladder so that they can stay healthy enough to work and support themselves.
Instead of supporting a program that fits with their own traditional philosophies, Republicans rejected the expansion. That leaves us with a law that requires hospitals participating in Medicare and doctors with privileges to practice there to provide emergency and obstetrical care without regard to a patient’s ability or willingness to pay. The cost of that is invisibly built into the prices paid by everyone else. As a result, North Carolinians will pay for surgery to add a few months of life for an emergency patient diagnosed with advanced colon cancer. But we won’t expand Medicaid to pay for the colonoscopy that could have prevented the cancer from forming in the first place. The result of Republican policy is higher cost and a dead patient.
Yes, HB2 is a foolish law that should be repealed. Yes, the cancellation of concerts and sports events has an economic impact on hotels, restaurants and tourism. Yes, the law unfairly discriminates against a largely defenseless class of citizens. Yes, it should be repealed. But so far no one has died as a result of HB2 and the economic impact is microscopic compared to the rejection of Medicaid expansion.
It’s a fabulous opportunity when the right thing to do is also the profitable thing to do. We have two such opportunities at the moment. Accept the Medicaid expansion. Repeal HB2. Everybody will win.
Republican friends, the facts don’t support your policies. It’s time to change your minds.
THE TRANSGENDER CULTURE WAR
The United States Departments of Justice and Education have notified state governments and publicly funded schools across the nation that they will lose billions of dollars in federal funding if they discriminate against transgender students. Amidst the flurry of lawsuits, threats, corporate relocations, event cancellations, and propaganda arising from North Carolina’s infamous HB 2, this is the most meaningful of interventions because it is national in scope and it has big teeth. I’ll attempt to describe the federal intervention and the rationale behind it.
I was stunned by the brevity and clarity of the federal correspondence. It’s only 5 pages long. The law is equally understandable and only 9 pages long. The US Court of Appeals decision that documents federal authority to intervene is long and complex but understandable to non-attorneys. The sample practices raised as many questions as answers, and didn’t seem particularly helpful, but they were distributed only as information not as advice or rules. My suggestion is that people who are truly interested read the documents for themselves. Here, in my opinion, are the key points.
From the letter: “The Departments treat a student’s gender identity as the student’s sex for purposes of Title IX and its implementing regulations. This means that a school must not treat a transgender student differently from the way it treats other students of the same gender identity.” … “As is consistently recognized in civil rights cases, the desire to accommodate others’ discomfort cannot justify a policy that singles out and disadvantages a particular class of students.”
From the law (Title 20): Compliance … may be effected … by the termination of or refusal to grant or to continue assistance … to any recipient (for) a failure to comply …
The US Court of appeals supported the federal policy that “…a school generally must treat transgender students consistent with their gender identity.”
All of the interested parties would be better served by calm and open discussion of the issues. Public policies and laws that protect the rights of transgender people while being sensitive to the modesty, privacy and safety concerns of all parties can best be created when there is mutual respect and trust. Instead we have threats and misinformation. Our national behavior is disappointing but not surprising. It’s consistent with how human rights evolve and social change happens here. Similar events accompanied emancipation of slaves, reconstruction, women’s suffrage, organized labor, school integration, civil rights laws, and marriage equality.
In every case change began in a few local communities and states. Then a conservative backlash brought legislation to embed discriminatory traditions deeply into public policy. Reactionary leaders used fear and traditional prejudices to rally support then used raw power and secrecy to impose their will. In the case of HB 2, a few Republican legislators cooked up the scheme then called an emergency session of the legislature to pass it without public debate. The public, the press, and many of the legislators who voted for it were not even allowed to read the law until the day it was passed.
Similar ideas have emerged in several Republican dominated states. That is the environment into which the federal government has stepped – just as it ultimately stepped into the other human rights issues that I listed. That intervention can create a baseline of fair practices to protect transgender people, but it is far from ideal. Instead of allowing local creativity and cooperation, reactionary intransigence has forced federal intervention and poured gasoline on the always smoldering American culture war. Federal action will, at best, prevent discriminatory practices. It can’t produce ideal local results or tolerance.
The debate is over. Transgender people are entitled to the same protection of laws as people born to that gender. As we learn to collaborate on the best ways to move ahead it is good to remember that during war, safe and nurturing places often become battlefields where innocent bystanders are victims of the conflict. That is true of culture war as well as military warfare. Our best course is to plan and accommodate changes that are constructive and safe for everyone. We can achieve that if we learn together and collaborate toward that goal.
Exposing the Republican Bogeyman
A law passed by NC Republicans bans the two transgender Americans in the picture above from restrooms that match their physical appearance unless they can get revised birth certificates.
READ THE NEW NORTH CAROLINA LAW HERE HB 2
The bogeyman will get you if you don’t watch out! As a child, I heard that myth from adults who wanted me to be properly frightened of dark places, new ideas and people who looked or sounded “different”. I never met him, but somehow I inferred that the bogeyman was a lot like the Jews, Negroes, Catholics, and Gypsies that we were expected to fear. Children learned, without being explicitly taught, that some of “those people” were nice but many of them were dangerous and “we” should avoid them. When I was a little older, I began to hear about “queers” and the awful things that they did to boys, so if anyone acted “that way” I should stay away from him. Most people of my age learned some version of the myth. If not from parents, it seeped in from the world around us.
By now I’ve been fortunate to have personal and work relationships with individuals from those groups. I learned that there is nothing about their religions, race, culture, ancestry, sexual orientation or gender identity that makes them dangerous or threatening.
The City of Charlotte passed an ordinance which extended its non-discrimination policies beyond the traditionally protected groups to include discrimination based on “marital status, familial status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression”. The new rules apply to public accommodations, public transportation, and the practices of businesses that have contracts with the City. North Carolina’s Republican legislature and governor have called the bogeyman back into service to overturn that ordinance.
With only stories and fear-mongering, the Republicans created the myth of the transgender bogeyman who will “get” you or your children if you don’t watch out. Then they called an emergency legislative session and introduced him to justify passing a law that not only overruled Charlotte’s ordinance; it also banned local governments from setting minimum wages and took away existing rights of individuals to file discrimination suits in state courts. By eliminating the role of state courts in protecting many civil rights, they turned discrimination concerns over to the federal government. They did all that in only one day. When you’re running from the bogeyman there is no time for thoughtful deliberation.
In more than 250 American cities that have laws similar to Charlotte’s, there is no evidence of an increase in sexual assaults and no pattern of men pretending to be transgender so they can commit crimes in women’s restrooms. In reality, transgender people are generally the victims, not the assailants. About half of transgender people have been victims of sexual assaults.
Bank of America, Wells Fargo, IBM, Red Hat, and others among the crown jewels of the North Carolina economy want the law repealed. Because of the law, Pay Pal announced today that it has cancelled plans to locate their global operations center in North Carolina. The state lost 400 new jobs. Leaders of these companies are realists who know that discrimination, hate, and fear are bad for business. But the most serious damage is not to the economy. It is to the lesbian, gay, transgender, and bi-sexual people who have been clearly told that they are not welcome in North Carolina.
My niece and nephew are raising a bright, energetic transgender teenager. He looks like a slender teenage boy but because he’s anatomically female North Carolina Republicans insist that he use the women’s washroom. His mother shared these thoughts with me, “As a mom with a transgender child, I feel anything but protected or safe. Quite the opposite in fact. I am a mom and he is my child and I worry about something as simple as him walking into a bathroom. Unfortunately, some people think that a bathroom is related to sexual behavior and predators…Predators are criminals who won’t stop because there is a sign on the door that says men or women only. If criminals obeyed signs, we could use them to get rid of heroin! Seriously? Criminals don’t work like that. As you know, my son is looking at a university in NC. Now, we’ll have to consider whether it is safe for him to travel there and stop for a restroom. It’s sad. Very, very sad.”
Years ago, public acceptance of marriage equality left North Carolina’s Republican leadership behind. Their constitutional amendment to prevent it yielded only unnecessary expenses and animosity. This Deja-vu law is similar. It might be funny if it wasn’t so painful. Sadly, the new bogeyman sports an American flag and a Christian cross on his lapels while he demands laws to hurt people who are different from him. He’ll get you if you don’t watch out.