Marriage News Watch, 2/10/14

Matt Baume of the American Foundation for Equal Rights reports:

Sunday Drive: Bach, Sarabande

The Purpose of Sex

Dr. John Corvino is chair of the Philosophy Department at Wayne State University in Detroit.

Waitin' for the Weekend

Two Fat Ladies

Last month while browsing through YouTube, your Head Trucker happened to come across the Two Fat Ladies, Jennifer Paterson and Clarisssa Dickson Wright - and what a happy discovery that was.  Although they were a big hit in Britain in the 1990's, I never heard of them till now, but these old gals are a hoot.   In this episode, just in time for the Mardi Gras season, Jennifer shows how to make a gallette des rois, the original version of what we call a King Cake.  Enjoy.

The French Riviera: A History of Pictures

Monet, Antibes: Afternoon Effect, 1888

A fascinating examination of how the lumineux Riviera landscape affected the course of Impressionist painting, and how the painters in turn popularized the idea of the enchanting Cote d'Azur.  The host of the program is a camera hog and a bit creepy, but if you can ignore his scene-stealing you'll learn some interesting things.



Part II of the program, continuing on through the world wars and into the career of Picasso, is here.

Scottish Parliament Passes Marriage Equality Bill

By a free vote of 105 to 18, the Scottish Parliament today passed the Marriage and Civil Partership (Scotland) Bill, against opposition led by the Church of Scotland, the Roman Catholic Church, and other churches. The bill does, however, provide that no church can be forced to perform same-sex weddings. In advance of the bill, the Scottish government sought public comments on the change to the marriage laws and received more than 77,000 responses.

No date has yet been announced for the first same-sex weddings in Scotland, but they may begin in the autumn, extending marriage equality to most of the United Kingdom.  The UK Parliament last July passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in England and Wales, and the first weddings will take place on March 29. Northern Ireland, with a long history of conflict between militant Protestants and Roman Catholics, remains without marriage equality, although civil partnerships are celebrated there. The Republic of Ireland is set to hold a national referendum on same-sex marriage in 2015.

Marriage News Watch, 2/3/14

Matt Baume of the American Foundation for Equal Rights reports:




Just to refresh your memory:

Freedom to Marry has updates on legislative and judicial proceedings in all the states, if you're interested.

America Is Beautiful

Yesterday, Coca-Cola aired this ad for the Super Bowl (what is that, anyway - some kind of game show?). Pretty cool ad, it features a gay couple and their kids, among many other representatives of our great American salad bowl.



Coke also made a short behind-the-scenes film about the ad:



I say, three cheers for Coke! I never thought I would live to see a soft-drink company, especially this one headquartered in Atlanta, come out for gay rights. Wow.

Sunday Drive: Vivaldi, Winter

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

--Thomas Merton, via Wounded Bird

Controlling Your Body, Killing Your Soul

Title page of an anti-masturbation book originally printed in London in 1716, reprinted in Boston in 1724.

I suffered through years of agony in a fundamentalist kind of church, agonizing over my terrible but unstoppable sin of masturbation, to the point of suicidal despair.  I suspect some of you fellas can relate.

It's hard to believe that kind of ignorant, assoholic propaganda is still going on in the 21st century, but apparently it is.  Below, a foul-mouthed but brilliant dissection of the underlying motive for all that - which is to control you and sell you more toxic snake-oil.

There is religious faith which is wholesome, fortifying, and sane - and it's important not to throw the baby out with the bathwater, or to take someone's hope away.

But condemning young men to hell for beating off is neither good, nor sane, nor holy.  It is a monstrous con job, an evil mind-control scam.  But listen to what Dusty says:



Original anti-masturbation video here.