{look upon my works, ye mighty}

Today's the National Day of Silence, a day of silent protest against the harassment and discrimination that GLBTs face. This year, they're mourning the death of an 8th-grader, Lawrence King, who was killed on the 12th February by a classmate.

As usual, I picked up a t-shirt and armband to wear, along with a few print-outs to hand out to people to explain why I won't be talking today. The funny thing is, the atmosphere on campus is almost identical to that when National Coming Out Day is approaching. Both of them involve the sale of t-shirts, both are centered around GLBT events, both usually have concerts or lunches attached, and both are specific to America as far as I know.

Being gay is often compared to being black, or belonging to disadvantaged racial group, and yet, shockingly enough, there's no day during which people come out as black or Latina or Asian. But at the same time, I can't think of any day that's specifically designated to combat racial discrimination.

It is Latina month here on campus but at the same time, it's Sexual Assault Awareness Month. I know that Wellesley campus isn't unaware of the latter because we have all the Take Back The Night ribbons strung up everywhere, so we're apparently hosting both months at the same time.

While I am all in favor of promoting cultural events, and definitely in favor of working against sexual assault, I think it's just a bit much to have both of them at the same time, especially when one is about pride and the other is about survival.

Does anyone else think that America might have too many 'months'? I don't remember Austria having so many specific holidays. We have our version of Halloween, we had Mother's Day, random Christian holidays, but that's about it. Sri Lankans celebrate their own culturally specific events such as New Year's in April, but again, we don't have a Buddhist Month or a Soldiers Killed In The Civil War Day.

I'm supporting National Day of Silence, obviously. Same for Sexual Assault Awareness Month. And if I knew what to do for Latina Month, I'd support that as well.

However, I am having difficulty remembering all the months and holidays. Unless I see flyers for them or are reminded online, it's too easy to have these dates slip my mind. And I know that some people on my flist feel the same, since I'm the one reminding them of National Coming Out Day and other such events.

Which holidays (apart from the obvious ones like Christmas, Easter, Halloween, your birthday, etc) do you remember? Apart from the months I've named, can you think of any? And for those of you who live outside America -- do you get special months allocated to causes, or is it just an American thing?

Mississippi a few years ago, the courts took away a woman's 8-year-old child.

Why? In part because the child's mother was a lesbian.

Two of the judges in the majority went so far as to write and sign an additional opinion, unnecessary to the case's outcome, which stated that the mother must accept the fact that losing her biological child was a possible consequence of her sexual "choice."

One of those two judges was Leslie Southwick. And today, Southwick is dangerously close to being appointed to the Federal bench by President Bush.

Only the Senate stands in the way of his confirmation. Tell them that Southwick is NOT acceptable!

America's highest courts are meant to be protectors of justice, not prejudice. Yet Southwick's record as a Mississippi judge raises serious doubts about his ability to apply the law fairly to all Americans. In this case alone, Southwick:

• Went so far as to cite Mississippi's irrelevant and outdated sodomy laws, which have since been invalidated.
  
• Focused on "the practice of homosexuality" - refusing to even mention gay individuals as human beings.
  
• Cited Mississippi's law prohibiting same-sex couples from adopting children - even though this was not an adoption case!

The American Psychiatric Association has long held that sexual orientation is not a "choice," and that lesbian and gay parents are just as successful as their heterosexual counterparts.

Yet Judge Southwick disregarded widely accepted science in favor of his personal bias. This man MUST NOT be given the responsibility to protect the basic rights of gay and lesbian Americans.

Help protect GLBT civil rights by writing your Senators today.

If approved to the Court of Appeals, Southwick's appointment would be for life.

Stop him getting that kind of power.

So, as many of you know, I watched Velvet Goldmine for the first time a few days ago, then last night, I watched it on DVD with a friend whom I cooked dinner for so that we could watch the movie together. When the song '20th Century Boy' came on, she commented that suddenly, the music had gotten good, and I agreed with her. Today, while working on my Kincaid paper, I decided to YouTube the song so that it could play while I worked and guess what I found out?

It was Placebo who had been responsible for the song and acted in the movie! I hadn't even realized that. XD

The scene with them can be found here -- and if you're thinking the person at the start looks familiar, that's because it's Christian Bale, aka Bruce Wayne from Batman Begins. I'm not actually a Christian Bale fan of when he actually looks older, but he does make one hot teen. Curt Wild was totally my favorite char from Velvet Goldmine, though -- I know he was meant to be a tribute to Iggy Pop, but he makes me think way more of Kurt Cobain, thanks to a combination of the name, the hair and the attitude.

For anyone who hasn't seen Velvet Goldmine but likes pretty boys kissing, in glitter, in eyeliner and in fucked-up-love, I highly recommend that you go watch it now. Bittorrent it, borrow it, perform an animal sacrifice to the gods of glitter if you must, but get the damn movie and watch it. It's worth it for the eye candy alone and the fact that they reference and quote Wilde both. Mmm, Wilde.

The friend who came over said that I seemed like the type to like Wilde because I'm a sarcastic English major, totally leaving aside the issue of the books of his that I have stacked on my shelves, my action figure and the quotations of his I have up on my door. XD That amused me greatly. Wilde fans have a type.

Oh, and if pretty boys kissing and Wilde isn't incentive enough for you (how is that possible?), I'd also like to say that it has some gorgeous lines. And references 1984.

There. Now don't you go want to go see it? Watch! Watch!

*attempts to hypnotize all of you into watching it, then into helping with her evil plans to take over the world*

Edit: Why don't I have a boys kissing icon? Or even a music icon of any type at all? Clearly, once I get my Kincaid paper done, I will treat myself by making either a boys kissing icon or a Velvet Goldmine icon. Maybe even by letting myself read a little Velvet Goldmine slash. Oooooh.

Snagged from inuyatta.

California

Gov. Schwarzenegger's office is accepting calls from anywhere regarding their marriage equality bill. It passed both houses of their legislature, but needs the Governer's approval. It's all automated, so you don't have to talk to anyone.

Follow these directions:
1. Call the Governor: 916-445-2841 (This number is listed at www.governor.ca.gov)
2. Push: 2 (voice your opinion on legislation)
3. Push: 1 (gender-neutral marriage bill - Senate Bill 849)
4. And push: 1 to support marriage equality

PLEASE, IF YOU EVER REPOSTED ANYTHING IN YOUR JOURNAL, REPOST THIS.

PM, think it would be okay if I posted this to legal_dissent as well and set up a poll to ask if anyone wants to write a letter about it?