After way too long I finally upgraded the back end for this blog. With that comes a new look as all of my previous customization became wasted work with this upgrade. You will probably slowly see changes over time as I get around to it.
I have had water balloons, water bottles, rocks, and insults hurled at me on my bike. I know people who have had guns pulled on them while they were on a bike. But this is just an entirely new concept.
Over the weekend a man who organized a charity bike ride in Colorado had a cannon fired at him. Society has definitely stooped to a new low. I guess it is time to go out and buy Knight’s armor for my bike rides now.
http://www.durangoherald.com/sections/News/2010/07/30/Teens_suspects_for_fired_cannon/
After 3 weeks of watching 3-5 hours of cycling a day, the Tour de France ended on Sunday. Now I am suffering withdrawal. Somebody help! Get another cycling race on TV soon!
Racist – What society calls someone who discriminates against another person based on the person’s race.
Sexist – What society calls someone who discriminates against another person based on the person’s sex.
Both of these words carry a very negative connotation and people hate being called them. The LGBT movement uses far less powerful terms of bigot and homophobe. Both of which may be accurate terms, but do not carry anywhere near the same punch of racist or sexist. So what term should be used to define someone who discriminates against another person based on the person’s sexual orientation? I welcome your suggestions.
There has been a lot of discussion lately around ENDA and with major public support in the polls why won’t congress act on it. Those reasons are pretty simple:
1) Balls – the politicians are too afraid of losing a couple votes by passing ENDA.
2) Blame – the Democrats think they can blame the Republicans and thus increase their slim chances of maintaining majorities.
3) Money – the Democrats have no fear of losing valuable donation values by not passing ENDA.
4) It does not impact them.
So my completely politically incorrect solution to this. Fire all of your straight employees for being straight in a well publicized manner. I expect if this happened, ENDA would become a top priority across the board that everyone could agree on.
So this past weekend was pride weekend in Colorado Springs. I do have to say it was a blast despite the afternoon thunderstorm that hits every year. The religious types may interpret this as a sign, but I interpret it as being monsoon season and we get afternoon thunderstorms almost every day. It was amazing how many welcoming churches marched in the parade. I think the churches outnumbered the other groups. But that is not what I really wanted to talk about.
I wanted to talk about the protesters. Colorado Springs has a reputation of being a very gay unfriendly place. We are the home of Focus on the Family and the New Life Center and a lot of other religious organizations. Despite having these mega-churches and other religious organization there were a grand total of 4 protesters at Pride. Four protesters who everyone ignored and laughed at. In my mind this shows just how far we have come; however, we still have a long way to go.
I have not lived in Colorado Springs long enough to know the attitudes of years past, but I can say it is now a fairly welcoming place and has come a long way. Twenty years ago Colorado Springs was the home of a very discriminatory state law that was later overturned by the courts. Today, Colorado Springs can only muster 4 protesters at Pride.
This does not mean that we have changed the hearts of everyone. To me it means that it is no longer fashionable to argue against gay rights. Many people may still disagree, but because it is not fashionable they will not argue and protest in public. They keep their thoughts on gay rights behind their own doors. This is why their have been multiple lawsuits recently trying to keep the names of partition signers against gay rights private. This is why polling shows overwhelming support for ENDA but we cannot get it passed. Voting is a private institution and not a public institution.
We are never going to change the attitudes of the people who are still outspoken against gay rights. But how do we change the attitudes of the people who disagree with gay rights but will not admit it?