And Politics has gone to the Toilets

I have never felt that it is necessary to look up the location of public bathroom online. I never personally have had a need. I know that every store or business in America has adequate facilities. 

I am fortunate.There are people who worry about finding adequate bathrooms, where they will not be judged based on their sex. (There actually is website and an app that can help find a proper bathroom.)

This what trans activists would call privilege. I'm going way out on limb here (sarcasm) and say that everybody should be able to comfortably take a piss in public without the threat of ridicule or even violence.

I couldn't find who created this image to ask for permission and credit it. If anyone figures it out, please let me know, so that I can fix the situation.

I was really dismayed when I read about this story last week. According to this article in the Washington Post by Peter Holley, a Kentucky State Senator has proposed a bill restricting bathroom access to certain children:

If a school administrator allowed a transgender student to use a facility designated for the opposite sex or if a school “failed to take reasonable steps to prohibit the person encountered from using from facilities designated for use by the opposite biological sex,” students would be allowed to sue the school, according to the bill. Aggrieved students could seek up to $2,500 in damages from the offending school for each time they encountered a person of the opposite sex in school facilities, as well as “for all psychological, emotional and physical harm suffered,” according to the bill’s language. 

Hate the queers, and you'll get $2,500.  Thanks asshole.That's not incentivizing bigotry or anything. Fuck! I struggle to imagine what trans people go through, even though I am someone who does not conform to traditional gender-roles. It was difficult enough realizing that I am gay, but I've always had an ownership of my body, as if my body belongs to me.

Even without a scientific explanation of transsexualism, I find the bigotry against transgender people repulsive. Something is driving a group of people to not feel comfortable with either their gender or their bodies.And those people deserve support rather than ridicule.  However, when there is a scientific explanation that can predict with near certainty of who is and isn't trans based on a sexual dimorphic feature, bigotry becomes inexplicable.

Below is a video by Dr. Robert Sapolsky from Stanford University explaining the sexual dimorphism of the bed nucleus of stria terminalis.


Moving forward, let's take a look at what's being proposed. According to S.B. 76, 2015 Sen., Reg. Sess. (Ky. 2015) § 1(1)(a):

"Biological sex" means the physical condition of being male or female, which is determined by a person's chromosomes, and is identified at birth by a person's anatomy;

The first clause of the first section is fatally flawed when it proposes sex is "determined by a person's chromosomes, and is identified at birth." 

One thing that immediately jumps out is the conjunction "and." Your chromosomes might not match what was identified at birth. 


Another problem that I notice with that clause is that there are a whole host of conditions related intersex. Just off of Wikipedia there dozens of conditions that either cause ambiguous genitals or affect the chromosomal definition given above:

• 5-alpha reductase deficiency

• androgen insensitivity syndrome

• aphallia

• clitoromegaly

• congenital adrenal hyperplasia

• gonadal dysgenesis (partial & complete)

• hypospadias

• Klinefelter syndrome

• micropenis

• mosaicism involving sex chromosomes

• ovo-testes (formerly called "true hermaphroditism")

• partial androgen insensitivity syndrome

• progestin-induced virilisation

• Swyer syndrome

• Turner syndrome

• Non-Klinefelter XXY

XXY, XYY, XXX are possible Trisomies that occur on the 47th chromosome. They are also not covered by the in the definition of the bill.

To be fair the bill proposes a solution for transgender students at  § 3(3)(a)-(b):

 A student who asserts to school officials that his or her gender is different from his or her biological sex and whose parent or legal guardian provides written consent to school officials shall be provided with the best available accommodation, but that accommodation shall not include the use of student restrooms, locker rooms, or shower rooms designated for use by students of the opposite biological sex while students of the opposite biological sex are present or could be present. 

Acceptable accommodations may include but not be limited to access to single-stall restrooms, access to unisex bathrooms, or controlled use of faculty bathrooms, locker rooms, or shower rooms.

An unisex bathroom is a good idea; however it should not be a forced issue. If a person is comfortable in a gender specific bathroom, fantastic. People just want to change cloths, urinate, or defecate. It's just silly to think otherwise.

However the modicum of civility is undercut in § 5, where the bill state:

Because situations currently exist in which the privacy rights of students are violated, an emergency is declared to exist, and this Act takes effect upon its passage and approval by the Governor or upon its otherwise becoming a law.

That's right; this is an emergency. There could be a queer in the shower. Women and children first... unless they happen to be queers. All hands on dick deck; c'mon people this a fucking emergency! A queer might be taking a piss. or worse...?! And they definitely will be violating your privacy in a public place!

Ughh. Kentucky.



Liam '15

Ils n'ont jamais vu Charlie Hebdo

It's been about a week since I wrote about the Charlie Hebdo massacre. And of course I am disappointed by the response of the world.

Over the past week there has been massive growth in Anti-Islamic organizations such as the French Neo-Nazi party, Front National and the German proto-fascist PEGIDA.

Anti-Muslim attacks have also skyrocketed. According to this article written by the AP and published by the NY Daily News:

Abdallah Zekri, head of the National Observatory Against Islamophobia, said that in a 48-hour period after the Wednesday massacre at Charlie Hebdo, 16 places of worship around France were attacked by firebombs, gunshots or pig heads — a major insult to Muslims who don’t eat pork.

All of this in spite of large denouncement of terrorism from the French-Muslim community, as well as groups across the Western World. The Anti-Muslim rhetoric alienates allies within the Islamic community, is poor international policy, and is as deplorable as the original attacks, as it silences people. It should come as no surprise that the Front National, a far-right movement, would capitalize on the killing of left-wing cartoonist. It is filled with deplorable douchebags, who wish for the eradication of non-white, non-Catholics from France.

I drew another cartoon, this time to speak out against violence in the name of Jesus.

Fuck 'em all. I know this probably won't piss off the right people, but it makes me feel better:

Terrorism once again fucks over the religion of peace

Liam '15

Not Quite Charlie

It was a trying week.

Very trying. When it comes to the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, I have been in the past of two minds:

One, people should be respectful of others. Drawing purposefully offensive cartoons will offend people, and you therefore should not be surprised when people are offended.

Two, when people are trying to offend you, you shouldn't get offended (well, violently offended.) You become the monster they portray you to be when you overreact. This is not to say that you shouldn't speak out against offensive bigotry or to repress an opinion. But rioting, burning shit, or killing people is not only amoral but also ineffective.

After this week, all I have to say is that I will not stand for silencing by violence.

The following cartoon is offensive. If you are a moderate Muslim, you by all rights should be offended. Both by me and by the people who are fucking over your peaceful religion. I understand that movements suck. If a there are one thousand people in a group and only one is an asshole, it makes it seem like the entire group is made of assholes. The trick is to be the bigger person, and continue to show your devotion to peace, even when being deeply offended.

Muhammad believed that god set forth trials and tribulations, fitna. Well so do I:

Terrorism yet again fucks over the religion of peace

And to the Atheist and the Christianist. Don't hate. Hatred is a self-replicating virus. Hating leads to more hate.

There are a billion muslims. Don't let two assholes speak for a billion.



Liam '15

Feel free to comment but, please, hold the racist, prejudicial bullshit for your own site. And don't comment if you haven't read the article. I fucking hate that... shit I just said something about hate.

That's Fucked Up

Dear Leelah,

Like many queer teens, I was suicidal too when I was 17 years old. Anytime I was driving alone I would fantasize about pulling the wheel hard to the right and burying my car deep into the river. And when I would correct the steering wheel, I would become depressed, because I was a coward.

In college, I dated a guy who was practically disowned by his family. He would have mental emergencies and go into a state of deep anxiety over virtually nothing. Once he went so far as to propose a suicide pact. It was not the type of proposal I hoped for.

Shortly afterwards, I was going through a rough patch in my life. I was unemployed, and I felt unemployable. I laid out a full 30 day prescription of pain medication on my desk. If my roommate hadn't come home early and surprised me...

Needless to say, I get emotional when I read about teen suicide. It hurts. One of the things that led me to the edge was that I felt like I didn't have an advocate. No one was one my side. No one was willing to help.

Every time I read about another teen suicide, all I can think is I wish I could have helped. I wish I could been there for them. They needed an advocate. It's silly, and it's stupid, but I cannot help but feel that way. And then I do nothing, and nothing changes.

Maybe this time it is different.

When it comes to suicide and platitudes, I will not lie and say that I know it will get better for you. It may not. You might die homeless and unloved. I do not know what the future holds for an individual.

What I do know is that the world cannot get better without you. It will not get better for you ,and it will not get better for the next woman. We have lost far too many beautiful people due to depression and the lack of love and compassion. And you are beautiful.

This may be a bit disjointed but whenever I feel depressed I like to draw crappy cartoons to express my frustrations. It helps me survive to do something creative rather than to nothing at all.

Remove the adjective, and you get the sentence "Stop being."

If you are suicidal and you need an advocate, please call a friend. Or call the Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7386. Join an online group. I read Joe.My.God daily. Leave a comment. Just please do something.

Liam '15

Florida

It looks like marriage is coming to all Floridians after all.  Despite a ruling from an US District Court, a denial of stay request from both a Circuit Court and the US Supreme Court, most of Florida's County Clerks didn't seem to understand basic civics.

So Judge Robert L. Hinkle, issued a Federal Order:

In this consolidated case, the plaintiffs challenge provisions of the Florida Constitution and Florida Statutes banning same-sex marriage. Two plaintiffs are unmarried; they seek issuance of a Florida marriage license. The other plaintiffs are individuals (and an association representing individuals) who were married in other jurisdictions and seek recognition of their marriages in Florida. The defendants, all in their official capacities, are the Secretary of the Florida Department of Management Services, the Florida Surgeon General, and the Clerk of Court of Washington County, where the two unmarried plaintiffs reside. 

A preliminary injunction is in place and has been for more than four months. It holds unconstitutional the Florida ban on same-sex marriage. Now the Clerk has filed an emergency motion to clarify the preliminary injunction. She asks whether the injunction requires her to issue marriage licenses to all qualified same-sex applicants or only to the two unmarried plaintiffs. The founders of this republic adopted a Constitution and a system for its enforcement. When there are disagreements about what the Constitution requires, those who are affected may seek a definitive ruling in court. These plaintiffs did that in this case.

The Secretary and Surgeon General—as duly empowered officials of the State of Florida, represented by the Attorney General—joined issue. So did the Clerk. The result was an explicit ruling that Florida’s same-sex-marriage ban is unconstitutional. The United States Supreme Court and federal courts of appeals had stayed similar rulings in other cases. I stayed the ruling in this case while those stays were in effect and for 91 more days—long enough to allow the defendants to seek a further stay in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and, if unsuccessful there, in the United States Supreme Court. The defendants did that. They lost.

The United States Supreme Court allowed the ruling in this case to take effect. History records no shortage of instances when state officials defied federal court orders on issues of federal constitutional law. Happily, there are many more instances when responsible officials followed the law, like it or not. Reasonable people can debate whether the ruling in this case was correct and who it binds. There should be no debate, however, on the question whether a clerk of court may follow the ruling, even for marriage-license applicants who are not parties to this case.

And a clerk who chooses not to follow the ruling should take note: the governing statutes and rules of procedure allow individuals to intervene as plaintiffs in pending actions, allow certification of plaintiff and defendant classes, allow issuance of successive preliminary injunctions, and allow successful plaintiffs to recover costs and attorney’s fees. The Clerk has acknowledged that the preliminary injunction requires her to issue a marriage license to the two unmarried plaintiffs.

The Clerk has said she will do so. In the absence of any request by any other plaintiff for a license, and in the absence of a certified class, no plaintiff now in this case has standing to seek a preliminary injunction requiring the Clerk to issue other licenses.

The preliminary injunction now in effect thus does not require the Clerk to issue licenses to other applicants. But as set out in the order that announced issuance of the preliminary injunction, the Constitution requires the Clerk to issue such licenses. As in any other instance involving parties not now before the court, the Clerk’s obligation to follow the law arises from sources other than the preliminary injunction.

For these reasons, IT IS ORDERED: The motion to clarify, ECF No. 99, is granted. The preliminary injunction is clarified as set out in this order. SO ORDERED on January 1, 2015.

Excoriated! Now to the Clerks, do your fucking jobs and issue marriage licenses to consenting adults who just want to manage their families and affairs.

On a related note, according to this article by Tia Mitchell of the Savannah Morning News:

Couples who wanted to skip the pomp and circumstance of a wedding and get married at the Duval, Clay or Baker county courthouses will no longer have that option in the new year.

These counties’ decision to end the long-standing tradition of courthouse weddings is due, at least in part, to the continued debate over same-sex marriage in Florida against the backdrop of conservative Christianity. U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle could rule any day and make gay marriage legal across the state. [I covered this in the above.]

 Furthermore:

There were 1,911 wedding ceremonies performed at the Duval County Courthouse in 2013, compared to 6,342 marriage licenses issued. About 330 Clay County couples are married at its courthouse each year, and Baker averages about 30.

Please read the rest of the article as it illuminates the douchiness of the situation.

People should be ashamed of themselves. Nearly a third of the Duval County weddings took place at the courthouse and now that is over because a gay couple might want to get married.

So if you're a gaythiest couple looking to get hitched, find a notary in Jacksonville and make it legit. Just review what you need and get it done.


Liam '15

Weird Map

I recently had a conversation with a friend over something odd.  If the largest stadium were full, what size city would it be, and would it be the largest city in the state.

As it turns out when full, Mountaineer Field in West Virginia is the largest City in West Virginia. Probably most surprising is FedEx Field is the second largest city in Maryland (well in years where the 'Skins aren't completely terrible.)

I put together a map illustrating the relation between stadiums and states.

Stadium Capacity City Rank State Home team Mountaineer Field 60540 1 West Virginia West Virginia Mountaineers Aloha Stadium 50000 2 Hawaiʻi Hawaiʻi Warriors FedExField 79000 2 Maryland Washington 'Skins Commonwealth Stadium 67606 3 Kentucky Kentucky Wildcats Vaught-Hemingway Stadium 60580 3 Mississippi Ole Miss Rebels Memorial Stadium 91000 3 Nebraska Nebraska Cornhuskers War Memorial Stadium 32580 3 Wyoming Wyoming Cowboys Bryant-Denny Stadium 101821 4 Alabama Alabama Crimson Tide Sullivan Arena 8935 4 Alaska Razorback Stadium 76000 4 Arkansas Arkansas Razorbacks Delaware Stadium 22000 4 Delaware Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens Beaver Stadium 106572 4 Pennsylvania Penn State Nittany Lions Memorial Stadium 82000 4 South Carolina Clemson Tigers Notre Dame Stadium 80795 5 Indiana Notre Dame Fighting Irish Kinnick Stadium 70585 6 Iowa Iowa Hawkeyes Tiger Stadium 102321 6 Louisiana LSU Tigers Fargodome 25000 6 North Dakota Oklahoma Memorial Stadium 82112 6 Oklahoma Oklahoma Sooners Lambeau Field 80978 6 Wisconsin Green Bay Packers Washington–Grizzly Stadium 25200 7 Montana Montana Grizzlies Sam Boyd Stadium 36800 7 Nevada UNLV Rebels Ohio Stadium 104944 7 Ohio Ohio State Buckeyes Coughlin-Alumni Stadium 15000 7 South Dakota Neyland Stadium 102455 7 Tennessee Tennessee Volunteers Yale Bowl 64269 8 Connecticut Yale Bulldogs Sanford Stadium 92746 8 Georgia Georgia Bulldogs Michigan Stadium 109901 8 Michigan Michigan Wolverines University Stadium 40094 8 New Mexico New Mexico Lobos Ralph Wilson Stadium 73967 8 New York Buffalo Bills Bronco Stadium 37000 9 Idaho Boise State Broncos KSU Stadium 52200 9 Kansas Kansas State Wildcats Metrodome 64111 9 Minnesota Minnesota Vikings Arrowhead Stadium 76416 9 Missouri Kansas City Chiefs Centennial Field 4400 9 Vermont LaVell Edwards Stadium 64045 10 Utah BYU Cougars Harold Alfond Sports Stadium 10000 11 Maine Autzen Stadium 53800 11 Oregon Oregon Ducks Sun Devil Stadium 73378 12 Arizona Arizona State Sun Devils MetLife Stadium 82500 12 New Jersey New York Giants Lane Stadium 66233 12 Virginia Virginia Tech Hokies Bank of America Stadium 73778 13 North Carolina Carolina Panthers Mile High Stadium 76125 14 Colorado Denver Broncos Gillette Stadium 68756 14 Massachusetts New England Patriots Husky Stadium 72500 16 Washington Washington Huskies Brown Stadium 20000 18 Rhode Island Brown Bears Memorial Stadium 62872 20 Illinois Illinois Fighting Illini Ben Hill Griffin Stadium 88548 23 Florida Florida Gators Memorial Field 13000 24 New Hampshire Kyle Field 102512 33 Texas Texas A&M Aggies Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 93607 105 California USC Trojans

Liam '14

History of Marriage Equality

UPDATE:

***Due to the inexplicable intervention of the Supreme Court late last night, marriage equality has been delayed in Kansas. I have updated .gif to reflect the accuracy of the history.***

I put together this .gif file based on the date when marriage equality reached some sort of res judicata, and people were able to actually get married in those states.

A brief history of marriage 2004-2014

Miles to go and all that Jizz Jazz. Texas and Arkansas are due soon, and Montana and South Carolina have no excuse to deny marriage equality a single day longer.

All that is left of interest is what the Supreme Court will do with the 6th Circuit, since they clearly did done fuck up. Remand it to the 6th en banc, reverse without comment? I dont know.

I probably won't go through the decision because of the possibility of an anger seizure from the stupidity.


Liam '14