Comments on: Miss USA Pageant. Okay. I’ll Bite.

By: Em

Em — Fri, 15 May 2009 18:15:08 +0000

No sweat Anita. Its all about open communication.. & I appreciate that you’ve always been available.. I think sometimes we get lost in our own opinions or lack of understanding- I know I do. Also, for you to be someone thats had such a key role in my life.. one that I still very much admire & look up to even if I may not agree on EVERYTHING w/ you. You are very much loved.

By: anita

anita — Fri, 15 May 2009 04:50:49 +0000

Deb–>Again, I’m nodding my head like a bobblehead. When dealing with folks online and just in my general blogging, I go back and forth at knowing just how much to say in terms of my offense and passionate objections of those words, actions and mis-truths that I know are causing harm to many in our community and where to let it go for the sake of bridge building. The line between respectful dialogue and fed-up confrontation is sometimes blurry for me. But like you, when it comes to those people in my immediate life we’ve found a way to navigate around the differences for the sake of the meaningful relationships we share otherwise. We’re all just figuring this out as we go….

By: anita

anita — Fri, 15 May 2009 04:41:41 +0000

jrc–> Boy, I hope everyone knows I was being totally tongue-in-cheek on all that. As to your underarms, if you don’t shave, at least braid.

By: anita

anita — Fri, 15 May 2009 04:38:40 +0000

Em–> You said several things in your comment I want to spend a little time with before I respond and when I do, hopefully tomorrow and if not, by the first of next week, I’d like to take it to a blog post rather than leave here because I think the issues you raised are important and I want to be sure the conversation wouldn’t be lost here. I really appreciate you jumping in Em. It’s a bit of the full circle for me and there’s a part of that I treasure deeply.

By: deb

deb — Fri, 15 May 2009 02:40:22 +0000

Thanks, Anita.

My wish is to treat all with respect, even as I sometimes strongly disagree. A repeating theme for me, something I strongly believe, is that we (humans) are all more alike than we are different. If we can find how we are alike, it makes it easier to accept how we are different.

There is one person I know here who is about as Bill O’ and Rush as I am Keith O and Rachel M. We’re just about opposite in what we believe and what we think we need in this country. But, we like each other and respect each other. So, we focus on what we enjoy about each other.

It is too easy to break relationships when we focus on how we are different. I have experienced that, too. I prefer not to have relationships end because of political differences. It’s a waste and brings no value to either of our lives or the world we share.

By: jrc

jrc — Fri, 15 May 2009 00:25:17 +0000

“on what constitutes a typical lesbian for some folks but just for the record, I do shave my underarms, I do have fond feelings for men, and I do not have nor have I ever had or will I ever have my hair cut in a mullet.”

Uh Oh – I am supposed to shave my underarms?! wooo.
Peace.

By: Em

Em — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:22:36 +0000

I was very interested in reading what you had to say on this issue- one, b/c I respect you & two- I know we don’t see eye to eye on the subject of same sex marriage. I would have been one of ‘those’ that would have asked your opinion b/c you are part of the GLBTQ, but I certainly wouldn’t hold you accountable for every single GLBTQ out there. I would have just wanted to know how you felt on it- if anything at all.

Anyways, I’m rambling, but thank you for posting about the issue. I’m sorry that people put you in a spot to defend GLBTQ.. just like I could never answer for every single straight person.

Only other thing I wanted to say was to Susan up above.. just b/c Ms. Prejean believes in one man & one woman.. doesn’t make her a homophobe. I believe the same as she does, but I’m certainly not afraid of any GLBTQ. Like you- Anita.. I wanna be someone that stands in the gap & loves everyone.. whether I agree w/ them or not- & not agreeing doesn’t make me or Ms. Prejean a homophobe. Lets stop the cheap shots.. on all sides.

By: anita

anita — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:23:15 +0000

Deb–> As I just commented over at your blog I only wish I’d seen yours first given that I saw the spoof over on another site and took it as the real thing! Had I seen your first it wouldn’t have been one that I took issue with because there’s NOTHING wrong from my perspective in speaking truth to this whole mess and while you spoke directly to some of the same points as others I’ve read it was more about truth-telling than about finding a way to be as demeaning as possible as some others have tended to do.

By: anita

anita — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:53:24 +0000

Deb–> Ah, it makes sense then that would might have thiught my post had been in reference to your own. As it were hadn’t seen your post prior to mine, but had started writing this one a couple days ago while waiting at the airport for a flight home and only just finished it yesterday which is when it was posted. The other commentaries that had motivated part of what I wrote were primarily from the queer sites I follow that offer their slant on current events that touch on GLBTQ issues. That said, that we both independently took offense to the whole emphasis on “the freedoms we all enjoy” goes a long way in saying how painfully offensive such comments are to any and all those who are for the time-being without them.

Now I have to end this comment so I can get over to your blog and read your thoughts on the whole matter!

By: deb

deb — Thu, 14 May 2009 12:26:32 +0000

Anita, I posted Carrie Prejean: Anita Bryant for the New Millennium a few hours before you posted this. I commented and posted links to the parody and the real press conference speeches. That's why I thought maybe I was one of the ones whose words you disagreed with. After I saw this post, and left my long comment, I put up a link to this post on my post. In my post, I described her Trump-approved-press-conference as self-serving and nauseating, partly because of things mentioned here (calling P.H. self-promoting while doing the very same thing, and talking about "freedoms we all enjoy" while totally missing the point that she is on a mission to keep same-sex couples from having the same freedoms she enjoys). That's why I liked the parody press conference speech better than the real one. It was closed caption or interpretive dance for the Prejean speech.