Celebrate Progress: Kansas City Chiefs Release Larry Johnson over Gay Slurs

Thank god!

Check out this story.

It's always nice to see people taking action against discriminatory speech.

Common Sense

Life's Little Joys: Cardozo Law School LGBT Recruitment Letter

Here is a pretty awesome example of a law school that is doing a great job recruiting a special population.  Cardozo Law School sent me a recruitment letter from the LGBT organziations, OUTLaw, on their campus that was specifically geared toward recruiting LGBT students.  Check it out:

Even though I don't plan on applying to Cardozo Law School, I am very appreciative of the effort, and maybe more schools should follow their lead.  It has definitely made an impact.

Common Sense

Celebrate Progress: Harvey Milk Day!!

The Governor of California signed the Harvey Milk Day bill into law. This designates May 22, as Harvey Milk Day in California. It does not close schools and businesses, but it does offer teachers an opportunity to talk to their students about issues relating to LGBT people and political activism.

**Now, since I'm not one to post without having something to critisize**

CNN's coverage was somewhat blah.  In the name of the "equal time doctrine" (i.e. the idiots vs intellectuals doctrine), CNN decided to include a quote from "Save California" president Randy Thomasson, a leading religious fanatic in California.

Thomasson, in the ignorant fashion we have come to expect, declared that "Harvey Milk [is] a terrible role model for children" and that this bill could be used to support "mock gay weddings" or "pride parades."

Come on CNN, way to rain on our parade!  and if you are going to do it at least use someone who isn't a nutcase.

Common Sense

Celebrate Progress: Obama's Nobel Peace Prize

So, here is why I think Obama deserves this prize, despite the fact that he was only in office 2 weeks before the nominations were submitted.

1) First Non-White President: As the first biracial president Barack Obama has changed and moved forward the racial dialogue for an entire country.  Just as Mandala changed the conversation in South Africa, Obama has completely changed the conversation here.  Have we achieved a post-racial America?  no, definitely not, but this is the first time in history that children of color will have a role model telling them you too can achieve whatever you set out to regardless of the racial injustices of past.  If that isn't a huge step toward peace and prosperity, I'm not sure what is.

2) Simply by virtue of his election, America has reaffirmed our commitment to "moral" leadership on the world stage.  One of the most embarrassing moment in recent memory was when Collin Powell got un before the UN and lied about weapons of mass destruction.  Whether or not he knew he was lying doesn't matter, he lied and it cost us big points with our closest friends and allies.  When Barack Obama was elected it made a statement that we were just as disappointed as the rest of the world, and our new president will change the way we interact with the world.

3) One of Obama's first acts as president was to extend a hand to the Islamic world and has completely changed our relationship with the islamic world.  It's not going to happen over night, but Obama has made the first step toward bringing this population into the world community.

4) Obama's response to the global economic crisis has helped to prevent a major depression across the entire world.  His action here has helped to stabilize governments across the world that could easily have suffered an overthrow by extremist factions had their countries fallen into depression.  The same thing happened during the last depression, and I think we'd all like to avoid that again.

Congrats Mr. President.  we're all behind you!

Common Sense