Get Out to See It

Last night after class I stumbled back to my car, but to get there I had to walk through the Jewett Center on the campus of Westminster College. I was amazed at what I saw there.

In the lobby and areas surrounding the Emma Eccles Jones Conservatory, there are hundreds of t-shirts in a rainbow of colors, making up a display known across the country as The Clothesline Project.

This stunning display has t-shirts in colors that stand for different kinds of domestic violence: White represents women who died because of violence;
Yellow or beige represents battered or assaulted women;
Red, pink, and orange are for survivors of rape and sexual assault;
Blue and green t-shirts represent survivors of incest and sexual abuse;
Purple or lavender represents women attacked because of their sexual orientation;
Black is for women attacked for political reasons.

I walked around, tears streaming down my face, as I read what survivors had written on their t-shirts: stories of loss, despair, hopelessness....but also, stories of strength, of moving on, of overcoming. It is powerful.

This display is part of a larger event including Westminster's production of "The Vagina Monologues," which I'll be attending this Thursday or Friday proudly wearing my Vagina Warrior t-shirt. Get your information here and get out to see it!

The Gay Agenda Hoax

Troy Williams has penned a fantastic article in the Salt Lake Tribune about the "Gay Agenda", the radical likes of Gayle Ruzick and Chris Buttars, and a few humble kernels of truth that many people should understand.

That's right Gayle, the "Gay Agenda" includes such immoral pursuits as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Those of us that you would term "gay activists", such as myself and Mr. Williams, really just want to spend the rest of our lives with someone we love and have what every human being rightfully deserves. So we fight.

But we are not some huge force bent on overtaking the planet, "recruiting" heterosexuals to the "homosexual lifestyle". If anything, I take a look at my GLBT community and wonder why some of them just don't seem to care. Sometimes they seem nascent, too caught up in life to fight for their own rights. Then, I realized...it's because they're too busy living their lives, building partnerships, buying homes, raising children, coming out (often painfully) to friends, family, and strangers every single day to devote any time to seducing the youth of the nation.

I would venture to say we're much more normal than Gayle.

The War on Schools

It is obvious from the slate of bills before the Utah Legislature that there's an agenda here...and it's distinctly anti-school and conversely, anti-school children.

We begin with the voucher bill, or the spin title "School Choice". This elitist bill would take money from the worst-funded (even during a huge surplus) public schools in the nation and give it to parents to send their kids to private schools. Here's why it doesn't make any sense:

1 - The upper limit is $3,500 per year. At last count, the tuition for Waterford School in Sandy was $15,000 a year. The rich can pay that with or without tax credits, but why not throw another bone their way? They claim these credits will benefit people with all incomes, but what poor family can come up with $11,500 more to pay for private tuition?

2 - Private Schools would receive public money without having to answer to the public. Private schools can hire whomever they please, as long as they meet standards set by the board of the private school. They can teach whatever they want, or not teach whatever they want. There are not testing standards or attendance standards.
While I agree that parents should be able to have a say in what their child learns in school, if they want to send their kid to a place where there is more focus on religious tenets than math and science, public dollars should not subsidize that.

Learn more here.

Next comes the bill taking away in-state tuition for children of illegal immigrants. This hateful bill would take away the chance for children who are already here, many of them citizens, to become more productive members of society. But why do that when we can trample them down and create a secondary class of citizens?

Finally comes the partisan school board race. As if the majority party does not control enough of the state, they want to make school board elections less about kids and more about making sure they have the right people to support their anti-education agenda. In addition, they would make the superintendent an elected position, rather than one determined by the elected school board according to qualifications. Would this also be a partisan election? One would hope that a persons education, experience, and devotion to education would outweigh the letter that follows their name on the ballot.

What will?

"It won’t stop us."
VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY, on CNN, discussing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s approval of a resolution opposing President Bush’s plan to send more troops to Iraq.

Non-biased reporting at it's best

Just thought it was interesting to note a few headlines in today's major papers:

On School Vouchers:

Democrats signal concern over school voucher legislation Salt Lake Tribune, January 23, 2007

House Demos attack tuition voucher bill Deseret Morning News, January 23, 2007

ATTACK!!! Wow...that's pretty strong wording!


On Bennett's assertion that the new Democratic Congress could hurt funding for Utah:

Salt Lake Tribune is silent

Demo takeover could hurt Utah, Bennett says Deseret Morning News, January 23, 2007

But two headlines and counting where Demos attack, hurt, and takeover!

I was just noticing. :)

Also, hat tip to the demise of the UPD Blogwatch!

Waiting for the "Chris Dodd Watch"

We have another Utah connection to the 2008 presidential election, but don't expect the "Chris Dodd Watch" to show up in Utah Policy Daily anytime soon.

Despite the fact that neither Mitt nor Chris are from Utah, they both have their share of Utah connections. Mitt is Mormon (automatic in, unless you're Harry Reid) and went to school here, but Chris did a much more daring thing: he married a Mormon. Not just any Mormon, but a politically active Utah Valley Republican, Jackie Clegg.

Now, I consider that just as much of a connection to Utah as good ol' Mitt, but I don't expect radio and television stations to start calling Chris Dodd "Utah's own" anytime soon. Nor do I expect Utah Policy Daily to give Chris Dodd any equal time in the right-hand column.

Do you?

Flip-Flopping

It appears not even Governor Mitt Romney is above the political winds.

Just like any other politician, he says what he has to say to get elected. In 1994, he was telling Log Cabin Republicans he'd be a better champion of gay rights than Ted Kennedy.

Then, throughout his Governorship he's been a vocal foe of gay rights.

A flip-flop if I've ever seen one.