As many of you know, there’s an election coming up in not too long where many of us all across the nation will be voting for governors, senators, congresspersons, state attorney generals, etc. I know that all of you do not share the same political bent as I do, but I do want you to consider this:

Not so very long ago (in fact, so recently that a number of them are still living) it was not uncommon for women who looked and dressed like I do to be arrested, beat up, and raped in prison. Not only that, but there are gay teens committing suicide left and right because of bullying at school due to morally and religiously fueled hate and oppression. According to the FBI Department of Justice Hate Crimes Statistics, hate crimes against all sorts of minorities are on the rise again.

Let me be quite blunt with you. I’m terrified. I’m terrified of the world we’re creating where hate is preached. I’m terrified for my safety in this country. I’m terrified for my wife and family. I’m terrified that those who call for discrimination and inequality – the Tea Party, religious conservatives/fundamentalists, and many Republicans (while some may think my generalizations unfair, feel free to follow the money trail for the Prop Hate campaign in CA and/or the voting records against repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in the Senate) – will win and that my rights and safety will be compromised.

So this is my plea: PLEASE VOTE. Please help make the United States a safe place. Please help make a positive difference for me and those like me. Please help stop the hate and the oppression and the murders and the suicides. If you’re not registered to vote, please do so – the deadline is October 4th. If you’re too young to vote and feel comfortable doing so, please talk to your parents, teachers, older siblings, etc. No matter who you are, please spread the word and encourage your friends and family to become educated about the candidates and to cast their vote=voice. Please help spread the peace, love, tolerance, and equality.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

The Salvation Army is a conservative Christian organization that is opposed to homosexuality, equal marriage rights, abortion, and assisted suicide. By putting your change in those little red kettles, you’re also supporting political and social biases.

While they have the right to believe whatever they want, we also have the right not to support their ideals with our loose change. Ideals that so many people are suffering under and fighting against.

While I’m certainly not trying to undermine the good that the Salvation Army does in terms of needy families, there are so many other ways we, as fortunate charitable citizens, can support others without supporting bigoted ideologies. Please choose to give your money direcly to programs like Coats for Kids, foodbanks, and various Festivals of Light, which all help needy families but do not support a political agenda that includes homophobic beliefs or invasive/controlling health care practices.

More information on the views of the Salvation Army can be found at:

http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/www_usn_2.nsf/vw-dynamic-index/B6F3F4DF3150F5B585257434004C177D?Opendocument

Here’s what I’ll be putting in those little red kettles this year, a note that says: “I’m choosing to no longer to give my charitable donations via the Salvation Army because I am opposed to the bigoted and personally invasive ideologies that the Salvation Army supports. Do unto others as you would have done unto you – support equal rights and everyone’s right to choose what’s best for themselves.”

As many of you are probably aware of and eagerly anticipating. Stephanie Meyer’s new Twilight movie comes out tomorrow. I will not be going to see it, nor have I read the books, though I’ve heard they’re amazing. If you choose to buy the Twilight books new and watch the Twilight movies in the theater, let me give you a little run down on where your money will be going and to what purposes it will be used.

As is common knowledge, the author of the Twilight series, Stephanie Meyer, is a tithe paying member of the LDS church. For those of you uninitiated in the inner workings of the Mormons, tithing is a requirement of the LDS church and it usually is about 10% of one’s earnings.

According to the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com), between when the first Twilight movie opened on November 21st and the time the page was updated on December 3rd, it was estimated that the movie brought in about 120 million dollars U.S. Using that figure alone (to say nothing of her book sales or money earned from subsequent movies), that would mean that Stephanie Meyer tithed approximately 12 million dollars to the LDS church.

This money is payed to the church to help pay for administrative costs, maintenance, AND church politics, such as financing Proposition 8 in California – a law that denies same-sex couples the right to marry – and other homophobic legislation. While the LDS church itself only contributed $4943.18 to the Proposition 8 campaign, LDS identified individuals paid $15,305,050.17 (http://mormonsfor8.com/?p=242) a monetary figure that does not represent all of the volunteer and manpower hours that was donated.

The bottom line is this: if you are financially contributing to Twilight you are contributing to MY oppression by supporting homophobic legislation.

And, finally, to steal some words from Kristina: I know that what I’ve posted is controversial. There are straight people who believe gay marriage is a sin. There are gay people who think there are other much more important issues to be working on. I hope the straight folks who oppose this come to see the this is a civil rights issue. I hope the gay ones who oppose this understand that I’m not saying this is the most important civil rights issue in front of us. It’s one of many, and mentioning it now is timely in light of the Twilight movie opening this weekend, given that so much of the proceeds of that movie will help to fund anti-gay legislation. Much love to everyone, no matter which side of the fence you’re on.

Also, I put a new page on my recipe blog about Marinades that I’ve been using often. Yum! I’ve actually got some steaks chillin’ in the fridge right now that I think I’ll grill for dinner this evening.

Other than that, it’s studying for the LSAT and packing up the basement tonight! Possibly watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which neither K nor I have seen yet but that we have from Netflix currently.

Things continue to go well. I’ve put in just over a year with the Refugee Resettlement Office as their ESL Testing & Volunteer Coordinator. My position is essentially funding the ESL program and recruiting/maintaining volunteers to help out our teachers. I like the people I work with and the schedule is flexible enough that I can continue attending school.

Speaking of school, I’m in between quarters right now. At the end of August I finished a month-long intensive course on Christianity in Africa which was essentially the study of Chinua Achebe‘s novel Arrow of God and the application of three different philosophical texts to it. It was the hardest class I’ve ever taken, not only because it was a month intensive but also because it required a lot of thinking and brain work. I loved it! I’ve taken my final paper from that course and submitted it to the Pittsburgh Undergraduate Review. I should be hearing back from them in the next month or so. Keep your fingers crossed!

I only have three more quarters of school and then I’ll have my Bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences from the University of Washington: Bothell. It’s so strange to have been going to school on and off for nine years and now be this close to done!

Well, not totally done, hopefully! I’m applying to law school this October. I’ll be taking the LSAT on September 26th. Wish me luck! I’m applying to the University of Washington School of Law, Seattle University, and the University of Buffalo in NY. It’s exciting and frightening at the same time! To that end, I’ve been volunteering with a local lawyer, Helene Ellenbogen who specializes in child custody dissolution cases. It’s fantastic to get my feet wet and I’m hoping that it may turn into something I can do throughout law school.

The other big news is that K and I are moving out of the house we’ve been in for the past two years. It’s a four-bedroom and lovely but we can’t afford it on our own, so we’re moving to a two bedroom apartment. It’s a really good move and we’re terribly excited about it. We’ll be able to live by ourselves and we’ll be saving about $600 a month from what we’re currently spending on rent and utilities. We can’t wait!

I think that’s all of the updates for now. I’ve updated the “Book(s) I’m Reading” link and I’ll make sure all of the other links are working in short order.

~ FR