Last week we blogged about Obama’s opposition to the Boy Scouts ban on LGBT people. The Boy Scouts of America was supposed to vote on the ban last Wednesday, but announced that it would delay their decision until May. Ellen DeGeneres was none-too-pleased with the decision to punt the issue. In this moving and funny monologue, she sarcastically sympathizes with the Boy Scouts, saying “If the Boy Scouts start treating gays equally, they’re going to become the first group to do it — after the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marines, the Coast Guard, all of the United Kingdom and Cher.”
A GIF Guide to the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)
In 1993, U.S. Senator Joseph Biden and the majority staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee conclude a three‐year investigation into the causes and effects of violence against women. In his introduction to the report, Senator Biden states, “Through this process, I have become convinced that violence against women reflects as much a failure of our nation’s collective moral imagination as it does the failure of our nation’s laws and regulations. We are helpless to change the course of this violence unless, and until, we achieve a national consensus that it deserves our profound public outrage.”
President Clinton signs the Violence Against Women Act into law on September 13, 1994. The Act strengthens laws against sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking and provides much-needed funding for prevention, prosecution, and victim services efforts. The Act also established the Office on Violence Against Women within the Department of Justice.
Happy 100th birthday, Rosa Parks!
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Rosa Parks. On Dec. 1, 1955, Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama, leading to a a 13-month boycott of the Montgomery bus system that would help spark the civil rights movement. Today, the U.S. Postal Service issued a Rosa Parks stamp in her honor.
Obama opposes Boy Scouts gay ban, homophobes support it
In a pre-Superbowl interview President Obama came out against the Boy Scouts of America’s ban on “gays.” CBS’s Scott Pelley said, “next week the board of the Boy Scouts of America is going to vote on whether to end their national ban on gays in scouting. Should scouting be open to the gays?” And Obama’s response was unequivocal: “Yes.” When asked, “why so,” Obama explained,
“My attitude is that gays and lesbians should have access and opportunity the same way everybody else does, in every institution and walk of life. And The Scouts are a great institution that are promoting young people and exposing them to opportunities and leadership that will serve people for the rest of their lives. And I think nobody should be barred from that.”
But not everyone is as committed to, like, equality, fairness, opportunity and access. Guess who hearts the ban against gay membership! I’ll give you a hint. They’re both named Rick. […]
Teenager shot by Taliban is ready to serve after latest surgeries
Malala Yousufzai, the 15-year fearless blogger and advocate for girls’ education from Pakistan survived two more surgeries over the weekend. In October Taliban militants stormed her school van, yelled her name and shot her in the head. On Sunday, doctors attached a titanium plate to her skull and implanted a cochlear device to to her left ear so she can hear. Malala’s doctor has said she has no long-lasting brain injuries and won’t require any more operations. “I’m happy that both of the operations are successful…. I can walk a little bit and I’m feeling better,” Yousufzai said from her hospital bed in Birmingham, England.
Daily Feminist Cheat Sheet
John Kerry started work today as our latest Secretary of State and he asked a deep question: “Here’s the big question before the country and the world and the State Department after the last eight years: Can a man actually run the State Department? As the saying goes, I have big heels to fill.”
Beyoncé’s all-lady band.
It is finally legal for women to wear pants in Paris. Finally. […]
British politician and “Absolutely Fabulous” star advise women not to wear short skirts to avoid rape
A Tory (British for Conservative) Member of Parliament from Gloucester basically advised women not to wear short skirts and high heels if they didn’t want to get raped on Friday. MP Richard Graham’s exact wordswere: “If you are a young woman on her own trying to walk back home through Gloucester Park, early in the morning in a tight, short skirt and high shoes and there’s a predator and if you are blind drunk and wearing those clothes how able are you to get away?”
Graham’s unsolicited advise comes on the heels of absolutely disturbing comments from Joanna Lumley, of Absolutely Fabulous fame:
“Don’t look like trash, don’t get drunk, don’t be sick down your front, don’t break your heels and stagger about in the wrong clothes at midnight. This is bad. It’s not me being a snob about it. It’s not me being an old woman talking to young women, its just standard practice for how our species should behave. Don’t behave badly.
I promise you it is better to look after yourself properly, which means behave properly, be polite, be on time, dress properly – I don’t mean dully – but don’t be sick in the gutter at midnight in a silly dress with no money to get a taxi home, because somebody will take advantage of you, either they’ll rape you, or they’ll knock you on the head or they’ll rob you.”
Obama to include same-sex couples in his immigration proposal
BuzzFeed is reporting that President Obama will include same-sex couples in the immigration reform proposal he will present today in Las Vegas. He is scheduled to deliver his speech, which you can watch live here, at 2:55.
According to BuzzFeed,
A Democratic source said: “Same-sex couples will be part of his proposal.” A second source confirmed that, unlike the Senate framework released Monday, same-sex bi-national couples — those with one American and one foreign partner — will be included in the White House principles.
Tina Turner Plans to Give Up Her U.S. Citizenship and I’ll Use The Power of Her Songs to Try and Stop her
Dear Tina Turner,
You’re making a huge mistake. I was horrified to read today that you are renouncing your U.S. citizenship and becoming a Swiss citizen. I know you’ve been living in the Zurich suburb of Kuesnacht since the mid-1990s. I know you said, “I am very happy in Switzerland and I feel at home here. I could not imagine a better place to live.” And I’m sure Chateau Algonquin, the lake house you live in with your longtime partner, German music manager Erwin Bach is lovely.[…]
The Most Batshit Reactions to Women in Combat
The Pentagon officially lifted the ban on women in combat on Wednesday. And the entire world applauded this historic move towards equality. Wait, no. That’s not what happened at all. Rather, wingnuts and supposedly “moderate” conservatives came out of the woodwork in droves to slam the decision, which was merely a formality, since women have already been giving life and limb fighting in the military. The critics’ hysteria would have been a totally appropriate response to, say, a decision to ban all men from the military. Here are some of the most batshit crazy reactions to women in combat.
Marine infantryman Ryan Smith warned in a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed that a Marine will “defecate inches from his seated comrade’s face.” He continued:
“Societal norms are a reality, and their maintenance is important to most members of a society. It is humiliating enough to relieve yourself in front of your male comrades; one can only imagine the humiliation of being forced to relieve yourself in front of the opposite sex…. Despite the professionalism of Marines, it would be distracting and potentially traumatizing to be forced to be naked in front of the opposite sex, particularly when your body has been ravaged by lack of hygiene.”
katiehalper.com 