She has the tenacity of Hillary Clinton, but she dresses like Barack Obama

I didn't come up with that title myself...it is one of the blurbs on the Rachel Maddow Show (radio version) that they play at the beginning of the hour.

Here is what Rachel said about being out on AfterEllen.com.

“I think the responsibility that we have as gay Americans,” she says, “is to the extent that we can - and we ought to be really ambitious about the extent to which we can - we have to be out.”

“That’s the thing that we owe the people who came before us who are the pioneers, and that’s the thing we owe the next generation of gay people in terms of clearing the way and making life easier for them. I think that there is a moral imperative to be out, and I think that if you’re not out, you have to come to an ethical understanding with yourself why you are not. And it shouldn’t be something that is excused lightly. I don’t think that people should be forced out of the closet, but I think that every gay person, sort of, ought to push themselves in that regard. Because it’s not just you. It’s for the community and it’s for the country.”

Thank you, Rachel. I think you summed it up perfectly!

New Years Resolutions...

Okay, so I've decided to post my resolutions. My strategy for doing this is two-fold: a) If I put them on paper (digitally speaking) then I will own those resolutions for myself - I can't say that I didn't know what I wanted; b) I will have others keeping tabs on me... which just out of pride and stubbornness will hopefully spur me forward towards fulfilling said resolutions. SO - here they are!

Liz's Resolutions for 2008!!

Financial (hey, I didn't say they would all be exciting) -
1) Pay down credit card bills
2) Get my interest rates lowered on my credit cards
3) Look for other ways to build and strenghten my credit
4) Create a savings account and actually put money into it

Health-
1) Stick to a vegetarian diet, including eating VERY little dairy and VERY little sugar
2) Do the Couch-to-5K Running Plan
3) Do strength training 3 times a week
4) By the Fall of 2008 I want to be physically fit enough to join/participate in this group (in particular, I want to learn how to rock climb and I want to do a bike trip and a canoe trip (yeah, I know... that's not that "particular")

Personal-
1) Take more time for reading
2) Learn how to make patterns and sew my own clothes
3) Create a career website for Women in the for-profit and non-profit sectors
4) Blog more (hehe.... *gulp*)
5) Take the time from school and work to attend at least 2(!) Pride Festivals and at least 3 (but hopefully more) Indigo Girls concerts
6) Find some honest-to-goodness friends to be my urban family
7) Find a way to bring the LGBT community in Frederick and surrounding areas together

Professional -
1) Take the job that I have now and try to put some creative spins on it to make it more interesting
2) Figure out what it is that I REALLY want to do for a living and create myself a path to get there

Alright, I've laid it all out there. Any comments or words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated.

On my nightstand...

I just want everyone to understand why I am poor. Here is a list of the books on my nightstand (this list doesn't include the 6 or so magazines that I buy randomly each month).

• Head First HTML withh CSS & XHTML by Freeman and Freeman (Guide to programing in HTML)
• Sew U by Wendy Mullin (Guide to learning how to sew)
• Is it a Date or Just Coffee by Mo Brownsey
• Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women [15th Anniversary Edition] by Susan Faludi
• Punk Marketing by Richard Laermer and Mark Simmons
• Hip: The History by John Leland
• Bohemian Paris by Dan Franck
• Harvard Business Essentials: Finance for Managers
• The HR Scorecard by Becker, Huselhid and Ulrich
• Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center by bell hooks
• Basic Black by Cathie Black

OH! Plus Double Abduction by Chris Beakey, the new bookclub selection for the gay and lesbian BC that I'm joining in Hagerstown, MD (buy yours here)

Add in some lefty propoganda mags (always BITCH, always Curve) and an some fine art magazines and that's why I can't afford to buy a car, even though my clutch is shot. I'm book poor.

Look Both Ways

I've just finished (after much distraction, procrastination, and general silliness) Jennifer Baumgardner's most recent book: Look Both Ways - Bisexual Politics. Now - just a little back story on Baumgardner herself and my purchase of the book.

Baumgardner moved into the limelight with her first work Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism and the Future (with writing partner Amy Richards). I haven't read it. Her new work, LBW, is an interesting, if not slightly schizophrenic, leap into the bisexual WOMAN's role in the worlds of feminism and lesbianism. She discusses her own life and relationships at length, including a few stories about Amy Ray, one half of the Indigo Girls. Here's the hitch. Contrary to what other's might think, I did not pick up this book and decide to read it because it had anything to do with Amy Ray. In fact, I was driven to put it down for several weeks when Baumgardner began speaking intimately about AR. I just didn't want to know. I've put both Amy Ray and Emily Saliers on pedestals, I didn't want it ruined. I didn't want to know that AR was some sort of butch lesbian Lothario (even though I have heard rumors of it before this book). I didn't want to know that she was sleeping with and loving a droll, blond bisexual. But I eventually recovered and came to peace with trying to understand AR as a person, not just as the musical and political genius that I have pigeon-holed her to be.

But I digress. When I purchased the book, my girlfriend immediately questioned whether I considered myself a bisexual. At this I was highly offended. I've had relationships with men, I identified myself as straight for most of my life, and I was married to a man. But once I came to terms with the gaps in my life - the gay gaps - as I call them, I gratefully and willingly embraced the label of "lesbian." But the truth of the matter is, I still like men. While it is tempting to write off the entire male of the species as misogynistic pigs, lacking sensitivity or intellectual depth, I see examples everyday that prove this untrue. There are men in my life that I laugh with, flirt with, and are attracted to. But that has very little to do with my choice to be a lesbian. Being a lesbian is like being part of the club that I never knew I always wanted to be in. We are funny, we are brash, we are sensitive and honest and passionate and complex. Why wouldn't one want to join? And I have, and it is by choice. That is the sticking point, for myself and for Baumgardner. She seems driven to point out that some choose homosexual relationships, for the sex, for the closeness, for many reasons. But some have no choice. Ironically, some of those with a natural predisposition of homosexual attractions have exluded and belittled those that are predisposed to vacillate between sexualities. Sadly, while the gay community has pushed at length for acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle, it has also bred a reverse bigotry towards those that choose not to commit to a choice.

And while I saw little in the way of politics - and little in the way of a cohesive message (like I have room to talk) - I was moved by the book to give more consideration to bisexuality, lesbian sexuality, and the need for labels in a culture that has worked so dilligently to promote acceptance.

A bill banning discrimination against transgender people in Montgomery County is

All right, hold onto your asses, this one's a doozy! (sorry about the format, it's a little fucked up):

MontCo transgender bill challenged Originally published November 16,
2007 By Sonia
Boin News-Post Staff

A bill banning discrimination against transgender people in Montgomery County is facing a court challenge.
Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays executive director Regina Griggs said her group, along with the Derwood Alliance Church and Women's Christian Temperance Union of Maryland, has asked a public interest law firm to fight the legislation the Montgomery County Council approved unanimously Tuesday.
The bill covers housing, employment, public accommodations, cable television and taxicab service. It says operators of buildings with rest rooms and locker rooms may designate who can use them. And it gives employers the right to require their employees to adhere to reasonable workplace appearance, grooming and dress standards.
Griggs said the bill is flawed.
"Any time politicians write a law that violates the rights of others by forcibly invading their privacy and forcing faith-based organizations and small employers to hire cross-dressers, it's a bad law."
The bill's original sponsor, council member Duchy Trachtenberg, said she's received spiteful messages and threats over the bill.
"The bill is nothing more and nothing less than civil rights legislation. It's unfortunate that such a small group of very vocal citizens has been able to advance their ideologic preference to get national attention."
Trachtenberg said she's not surprised by the court challenge. Some opponents of the bill have suggested she is transgender, she said. "(They) left a message on my home phone asking my husband if he knows my sex."
The three groups filing the lawsuit went to Advocates of Faith and Freedom, a California-based public interest law firm, before the bill was adopted and the firm notified the council the day after the bill passed that it will be challenged in court.
"The bill doesn't make common or legal sense," Robert H. Tyler, the firm's general counsel, said.
"If someone comes into a store and wants to try on a dress, identifying themself as transgender, how does the owner know he's not a predator or a peeping Tom, or someone who will commit rape?" Tyler said. Speaking by phone from his office in California, he said, "People could be held liable because we are offering them privacy."
Tyler said female residents' right to privacy should prohibit males from using restrooms or locker rooms designated for women. "It is ridiculous to place the desires of persons suffering from gender identity disorder in front of the constitutional rights and safety of 99 percent of the residents in Montgomery County."
In an e-mail sent to the council Tuesday, Tyler said the bill's vague language renders it unconstitutional, infringes on the rights of religious organizations regarding whom they may employ, and puts the safety and privacy of citizens at risk by allowing people with a mental disorder to decide which restrooms, locker rooms and other facilities they use.
He told the council that the American Psychiatric Association classifies gender identity disorder as a treatable mental illness.

Wow! I'm very impressed by this hard hitting news article. It really covers all the bases, and gives us the point of view of all sides...NOT.

Seriously though, even though I come from an uber-conservative/neo-nazi area of the country, articles like this still shock the shit outta me. My particularly favorite statement follows:

"If someone comes into a store and wants to try on a dress, identifying
themself as transgender, how does the owner know he's not a predator or a
peeping Tom, or someone who will commit rape?" Tyler said. Speaking by phone
from his office in California, he said, "People could be held liable because we
are offering them privacy."

SO! If I go into a Red-Wing Store and buy the dykiest pair of boots that I can (steal toe, tan leather...) will they refuse to sell them to me because I might be a rapist or a peeping Jane? It goes both ways, people.

But that is beside the point. Even in a fairly enlightened, non-isolated area like Montgomery County - an area that is practically within walking distance of our nation's capital - prejudices like these still exist. And, in true mainstream press media -fashion...the squakers are getting the most ink. Ugh.

OH - here's the link, if you want to see it for yourself. And don't forget to check out the comments left by the enlightened and accepting Frederick News-Post readers.

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display_comments.htm?StoryID=67688#postComments

Have a nice day.