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Mary Griggs

~ The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.

Mary Griggs

Monthly Archives: August 2012

Isaac Update

31 Friday Aug 2012

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Family, Mary Griggs

Back side of house with lovely go cup collection in the window

I’ve come through the worst of the storm and was very lucky. I lost power about 10pm on Tuesday, but with a car charger for my phone I’ve been able to stay in touch. Damage is to the fence, the gutter and the windows in the bedroom on the East side of the house – the rotation of the storm had heavy winds that way and just pushed the water in. I ended up with my collection of go cups along the windows to catch the drips.  This was such a slow moving system- averaging just 6 miles an hour of forward movement and it ended up dumping about a foot of water on my neighborhood.

Power was only restored around 6pm on Friday, just shy of 72 hours without. With the lack of ice, I lost a lot of the freezer and refrigerator contents. That and debris collected from the yard has made quite a pile for the trash folks to pick up.

Thanks for all the good wishes and messages – it helps to know y’all are out there for me.

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Crash Stop Cover and Blurb

27 Monday Aug 2012

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Mary Griggs, Publishing

Here is the cover for my new book:

Expected to be out in October, it is not available for preorder yet. We’re working on the back cover blurb. What do you think – would this make you want to read it:

She didn’t want a workplace feud, but Gail Joiner isn’t going to let Lily Rush walk all over her. When pushed, she pushes back.

Their hostilities evaporate, however, when a shipping accident traps Gail’s daughter and Lily in a wrecked warehouse. Incredibly, Sierra escapes unscathed, but Lily’s injuries are severe.

Recuperation allows Gail and Lily to uncover common ground, but what-might-be is interrupted by a threat on Lily’s job as distribution director for the large tea importer. Gail, as human resources director, finds herself caught between Lily, their CEO and the new vice president who seems determined to oust Lily for reasons of his own.Two women struggle to make peace and find love amidst the challenges of the beautiful San Francisco Bay.
http://www.bellabooks.com/9781594933080-prod.html

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Women’s Equality Day 2012

26 Sunday Aug 2012

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Mary Griggs, Rant, Women's Rights

(c) by Mary Griggs

All year, religious extremists have been waging a relentless war against women. The right of women to sovereignty over their bodies has been undermined by personhood bills, attempts to criminalize miscarriages, bills legislating state sponsored rape through transvaginal ultrasounds and judicial decisions allowing doctors to lie to women about the health of the fetus and about an increased suicide risk from terminating her pregnancy.

Further, the Republican Party has repeatedly obstructed the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which funds services to protect adult and teen victims of domestic violence and sexually motivated crimes. Among the services offered under VAWA are the following: legal aid for victims of violence, programs and services for victims with disabilities, community violence prevention programs, and funding for rape crisis centers and hotlines.

Worse, the onerous Ryan Budget, which would have converted Medicare to a private voucher system, Medicaid to a block grant program, as well as cut Social Security benefits and slashed a range of social programs (including family planning, after-school programs, tuition assistance, etc), passed the House. All of the programs to be cut, disproportionately serve women and those programs disproportionately employ women, too, as teachers, nurses, health care workers, childcare providers, and social workers.

Here, at the 92nd anniversary of women’s suffrage in the United States, we need to mount an aggressive campaign of education and engagement to ensure that progressive women, whether they be registered as Democrat, Republican or Independent get out and vote.

There is a lot at stake for women in November. Until this past week, when Todd Akin made his infamous statement regarding ‘legitimate’ rape and miracle vagina secretions that attack rapist sperm, it looked very likely that the Republicans could gain control of the Senate.

Should the Senate go red, look for a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and attacks on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and family planning clinics. Even more disturbing would be passage of a federal law that recognizes personhood at the point of conception, turning abortion, most birth control, and most fertility treatments (including IVF), into murder.

A Romney/Ryan presidential ticket, with their extremist anti-abortion beliefs (Ryan cosponsored a bill to restrict all abortions except in instances of “an act of forcible rape or, if a minor, an act of incest” while Romney accepts exceptions for rape, incest and the health and life of the mother) will put them in the position to able to sign into law every crazy piece of anti-choice legislation Congress sends their way.

In stark contrast to their opposition to women’s equality would be the reelection of Obama/Biden and their entirely different vision of America. They have consistently advocated for equal rights for all Americans. As President Obama said in the proclamation issued for Women’s Equality Day 2012:

“That is why I have made supporting the needs and aspirations of women and girls a top priority for my Administration. From signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law and creating the White House Council on Women and Girls to combating sexual assault and promoting women’s economic and political empowerment at home and abroad, we have worked to ensure women have the opportunities they need and deserve at every stage of their lives. As women around the world continue to fight for their seat at the table, my Administration will keep their interests at the core of our policy decisions.”

The decision is in our hands. We must vote as if our lives depend on it. Because they do!

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Fic: Too Legit To Quit

23 Thursday Aug 2012

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FanFic, Femslash, Mary Griggs

I hesitated on blogging on the Todd Akin controversy because other folks, like Eve Ensler, have done such a brilliant job. Instead, friends like brithna encouraged me to pick up my literary equivalent of a sword and do battle with the rape denying extremists by writing out a rant disguised as Devil Wears Prada FanFic.

Summary: Andy and Miranda respond to the firestorm around Todd Akin and his apologists.

Author’s Notes: Lauren Weisberger and 20th Century Fox are the true owners; I’m just letting the ladies play in my sandbox for a while.

 Too Legit To Quit

Andy looked around the studio of the newest up and coming designer that Miranda had discovered. The open space of the loft was filled with drafting tables, rolls of fabric and more people than the occupancy permit allowed. At one end, an impromptu stage had been erected.

It was a scene of barely controlled chaos with several members of the Runway staff milling around the half dressed models, the designer trying not to panic at them arriving thirty minutes early and Miranda sitting on a folding chair amidst all the madness as cool as an iceberg floating toward an ocean liner.

Everyone was so completely focused on worshiping at the altar of fashion that they completely ignored everything else, including the drug paraphernalia they had to step over to get into the loft, the furor surrounding the upcoming Presidential election and the hurricane developing near Puerto Rico.

“How very insular,” she thought to herself, the ghost of a smirk drifting across her lips. She conveniently forgot that, had her own Facebook and Twitter feeds not exploded with reactions to the Missouri Senate candidate’s comments about ‘legitimate rape’ and the miracle vagina secretions keeping rapists sperm from becoming babies, she might have missed the controversy, too.

Since drinking the Kool-Aid and accepting Nigel’s fashion lessons, she found herself becoming less informed of current events. Her days and nights were so filled with her job that she no longer read the New York Times or any other paper for pleasure. Unless the story impacted fashion, publishing or Miranda, she tended to miss it. She still woke and showered to the local NPR station, so she wasn’t entirely ignorant of what was going on in the world but, compared to her past devouring of the news, while she wasn’t quite living under a rock, there were $1000 a yard Burmese silk curtains between her and reality.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by a slight head movement from her boss. Immediately, Andy focused on Miranda and her reaction to the beginning of the run through.

An hour later, Andy judged that things hadn’t gone too badly. Miranda hadn’t pursed her lips or eviscerated the designer for wasting her time. She might have rushed the goodbyes a little but it was nothing the fawning designer would notice over his rush from successfully completing a showing for one of the most demanding women in the world.

After they exited the loft, Andy obeyed Miranda’s unspoken gesture and slid into the waiting Town car with her. Typing a quick text to warn Emily of their imminent return, Andy felt the hair on the back of her neck rise.

Glancing up, she wasn’t surprised to see Miranda studying her. Lately, she had been developing a sixth sense about her boss. Afraid that she had missed an order, she asked, “Yes, Miranda?”

“What was that smirk for?”

Andy’s brain froze. “Um…smirk?”

“Don’t play dumb. It doesn’t suit you.”

Knowing that she was seconds from losing her most-favored-assistant-status no matter how she answered the question, Andy decided to be honest. “I was just struck by how out of touch everybody was. All that focus on fashion…uh…stuff when there are bigger issues.”

Miranda rolled her eyes at the use of stuff. “Such as?”

“The War on Women for one!”

“You believe I am ignorant of these attempts to roll back women’s equality and health access?”

“No, Miranda. I know you are well informed.” Andy smiled. “As I’m the one that lays out the newspapers and magazines on your desk every morning.”

“But?”

“But I guess I’m just disheartened that we are in such a women’s centered profession with little to no acknowledgement of the serious consequences that some of these conservative politicians will have on women’s rights.” Turning slightly in the seat, Andy earnestly continued, “Their utter ignorance of basic science is not just harmful to women but to society as a whole. I mean, who really thinks that women have secretions that stop pregnancy when we’re raped?”

“More than their ignorance, it is their inability to empathize that most disturbs me.” Miranda took a deep breath. “Todd Akin’s ignorant statements about legitimate rape and the past actions by the House of Representatives around adding forcible before the word rape indicate a singular lack of awareness of what it means to be sexually assaulted. For him to then think he can brush it off by claiming he misspoke is reprehensible.”

“I know!” Andy exclaimed.

“While I may not be the most emotionally available person on the planet, even I can extrapolate from my own experience to understand getting pregnant after being raped would be a continuation of the violation.” Pulling her wallet from her purse, Miranda took out a well worn picture. She rubbed her thumb over the image before holding it up for Andy.

Andy leaned over and saw two babies, with the bare wisps of red hair on the tops of their tiny heads, lying on a white mink coat. It was hard to believe that these little angels had grown to become the terrors she knew. “They’re beautiful, Miranda,” she whispered.

“My daughters were conceived in love but, by the time they were two years old, I couldn’t be in the same room as their father without being filled with an urge to stab him with a fork.” Miranda delicately shrugged. “It has taken many years for my ex and I to achieve a sort of equilibrium where we can be in each other’s presence and still be civil.”

Andy guessed their yelling at each other on the phone must not count as being in each other’s presence. She had the good sense to keep her thoughts off her face as she nodded for Miranda to go on.

“My daughters are precocious young ladies with their own personalities but sometimes, though, they can cock their heads a certain way or quirk their lips and all I can see is their father. The wave of negative emotion can be overwhelming.” Miranda paused. “Just think of how difficult it must be for the women who are forced to bear the product of their rape. For them to see in their child the face of the one who violated them.”

Swallowing hard against the threatening nausea, Andy croaked, “Inconceivable.”

“I think that means exactly what you think it means.”

Andy giggled at Miranda getting the reference to her favorite film. When she noticed that the car had stopped in front of the Elias-Clarke building, she stopped laughing.

“I’m disappointed that you lumped me in with the others, though. Frankly, it is a little insulting, Andrea.” Miranda put her sunglasses on and prepared to step out of the car.  “Perhaps you should take a look at the Op Ed page in tomorrow’s Times.”

Andy licked her suddenly dry lips. She wanted to apologize for making assumptions but worried that doing so would just make things worse. Watching Miranda walk away from her was devastating so she did the one thing she knew could be a peace offering. She raced across the street for a tall latte with two raw sugars, boiling hot, no foam and promised herself to get up early and pick up a paper before work tomorrow.

New York Times, August 23, 2012 –  Guest Column by Miranda Priestly

As a woman who has centered her life in fashion, I have spent many hours defending the avant-garde against charges that we are creating a sexualized culture that encourages rape. Despite the fact that no study has ever shown that women who wear short skirts or revealing blouses are statistically at greater risk of rape than their more modestly clad sisters, many people are convinced that women are raped because of their appearance and behavior.

There is ample evidence against either having anything to do with sexual assault. A United States Federal Commission on Crime of Violence Study found that only 4.4% of all reported rapes involved ‘provocative behavior’ (self-defined as a noticeable gesture towards the perpetrator, encouraging him or her to carry out the crime) on the part of the victim. This is in stark contrast to murder cases, in which 22% involved such behavior.

Many years ago, I was a junior editor of Runway London when Lindsay Armstrong committed suicide following the trial and conviction of her rapist. This is notable because the defense attorney used the form fitting pants and the motto stitched on the back pocket to demonstrate his contention that Lindsay was the sort of girl who asked to be raped. While the readers of this paper might not recognize this particular case, I will never forget it because I had been responsible for a spread featuring that new line of “Little Devil” jeans.

Her death brought home to me the unalterable truth that whatever one wears, whether it be out of season or just plain outrageous, one never deserves to be raped. Putting women in conservative clothing isn’t a cure for rape. It’s an ineffective, rather useless measure against an act of violence. Further, focusing on the clothing of the victim instead of the crime of the perpetrator perpetuates the lie that men are incapable of doing two things at once: being aroused by what they see while honoring the humanity of the woman who has attracted their eye.

This tactic is called slut shaming and is basically attacking woman and girls for being sexual, for having one or more sexual partners, and for acting on sexual feelings. Every time we condone it, it damages not only the girls and women targeted, but society as well.

An example of slut shaming is the Toronto police officer who made that unfortunate remark about women “dressing like sluts” being more likely to be raped. Another is Rush Limbaugh verbally attacking a young woman who was speaking in defense of access to reproductive health care. For speaking her mind in a thoughtful and civil way, she was called a slut on his national broadcast.

In this atmosphere, it is easy for our politicians to believe they will find a sympathetic audience when they speak about “forcible” or “legitimate” rape. Representatives Akin and Ryan would never have pursued that line, nor would the Republican National Committee leave out the rape exception on the abortion plank of their platform, were they not convinced that they had the political cover to do so.

Despite what the Republican nominee for President and his surrogates believe, our lives are not side issues. Women have the right to determine what happens to their body and to not be assaulted or molested whether that is by a rapist or an elected official.

I hope to see all of you at the polls in November.

Miranda Priestly

Editor in Chief

Runway Magazine

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Fic: Chick-Fail-A

06 Monday Aug 2012

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FanFic, Femslash, Mary Griggs

by Mary Griggs

Fandom: Devil Wears Prada

Summary: Andy and the folks at Runway react to the Chick-fil-a controversy

Author’s Notes: Lauren Weisberger and 20th Century Fox are the true owners; I’m just letting the ladies play in my sandbox for a while.

Tip of the pen to Brithna who inspired me to turn my political rant, Chick-filet-a gay, into fiction.

Chick-Fail-A

“Can you believe those idiots?”

Emily never even looked up from speed typing the notes she took during the last features meeting. “What are you blathering on about now?”

Andy started pulling items out of the Smith & Wollensky bags. “I passed by a Chick-fil-a on my way back from picking up Miranda’s lunch and the line was down the block.”

“And you were upset because you weren’t able to stuff your face with something deep fried in grease?”

“Um, no.” Andy pulled a set of silverware out of the drawer and carried everything into Miranda’s office and set it out on the glass surface. Returning to her desk, she asked, “Haven’t you heard about this so-called appreciation day?”

“Unlike you, I do not fill my RSS feed with stories about fast food restaurants.”

“You would have to be under a rock not to have heard about this. The COO of Chick-fil-a is a huge supporter of what he calls traditional biblical marriage and recently made several speeches about how gay marriage invites God’s judgment on our nation.”

“This is a surprise to you? Those religious wankers have been going off about marriage equality for years.”

“This isn’t about religion or making speeches. Chick-fil-a gives millions to anti-gay groups.”

Nigel dropped off a folder onto Emily’s desk. “My, my, An-dre-ah,” he said, drawing out her name like Miranda usually did. “Since when did you become a gay activist?”

“My family and I have always been fighters for equal rights and to put an end on political limits on love.”

“That’s pretty brave.”

“With all due respect, I’m not being brave. I’m being a decent human being.”

“Unfortunately, not all people think the same.” Nigel shook his head. “With sales booming from all the hungry, hungry homophobes, what can we do about it?”

“We can protest!”

“Why bother?” Emily rolled her eyes. “Let the haters eat bad food. They’ll clog their arteries and become extinct.”

Andy ignored her co-worker. “I heard that a local LGBT equality organization is trying to put together a kiss-in at the restaurants,” she said.

“A kiss in?” Nigel raised an eyebrow. “That could be interesting.” He narrowed his eyes when Andy blushed. “I think you’ve been holding out on us.”

“Huh?”

“While that color is gorgeous on you, playing dumb doesn’t suit you.” Nigel wagged his finger at her. “Fess up!”

“I believe that love is a human experience not a political statement.”

“Which means what, exactly?”

“Like a lot of people, I experimented in college,” Andy said as she tossed her hair back.

Emily looked up and asked, “You’re bi?”

“Labels are for clothes, not people!”

“Are you saying there won’t be any girl on girl kissing for you?”

Whatever Andy was going to say was forgotten when she looked up to see Miranda standing behind Nigel with her hands on her hips.

“This is the level of discourse when I’m not in the office? Obviously, you all need more work to do. Find some or I’ll find some for you.” Miranda threw her purse at Emily and stalked toward her desk. “Andrea, come.”

Nervously, Andy smoothed her skirt and made her way into Miranda’s office.

“Close the door.”

Andy obeyed and then turned to face her boss.

“Tell me more about this kiss in,” Miranda demanded. She laced her fingers together and rested her chin on them. “I will need to know the time and place if I’m to let my new public relations firm prepare.”

“Prepare for what?”

“For our attendance, of course.”

Andy opened and closed her mouth several times. “Our?” she finally croaked.

“Well, yes. All I’ve seen are some very ugly people with their sacks of sandwiches and waffle fries, saying ugly things about gays and lesbians. I think it behooves us to show some beautiful people being supportive.”

Miranda leaned back in her chair and gave Andy a slow once over. “You certainly qualify.”

Andy had to force herself to keep from visibly reacting to being the sole focus of Miranda’s famous scrutiny. She did shiver a little upon receiving a slight nod.

Smirking at the almost imperceptible tell, Miranda said, “I don’t want to have our first kiss on a dingy street, though. Why don’t you plan on staying for a while after delivering the book tonight? We can use the time to practice.”

“P…p…practice?”

“Clearly you are still feeling intimidated by me. I think it will look most natural if we can work out the kinks in private.”

Andy felt faint. “Kinks?”

“Well, I’m sure we will have to do plenty of experimenting to figure out what works best. Naturally, all that yoga and Pilates I do has strengthened my core and made me very flexible but I do have concerns about your stamina.”

Her brain nearly broke as she visualized just how flexible Miranda could be. Andy raised her hands in surrender. “Miranda, wait. Please, just stop talking for a moment.”

Closing her eyes, Andy forced her manic thoughts to calm. She tried to consider all the angles: She was aware of the press that Dan Cathy, Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee and others had garnered by advocating discrimination. She knew that Miranda Priestly was more than just a fashion icon and her presence in opposition could help change the conversation from free speech or freedom of religion and back to the restaurant chain financially supporting hate groups.

Moving from the political to the personal, she thought about her family: While her parents might have an issue with her getting involved with her boss, they always encouraged her to follow her heart and were supportive of her friends who were open about their sexuality. Thinking about her heart, she wondered if Miranda, with her drive for perfection, work-a-holism and history of extremely bad breakups, would make a good partner for her.

Opening her eyes, she looked at Miranda and admitted to herself that the possibility of getting kissy face with Miranda was making her sex clench.

“Okay, if we do this thing, what exactly does that mean?”

Miranda walked around her desk and leaned back against it. “My biggest disappointment has been that the men in my life could never keep up with me. I tend to get involved with the same sort – stylish, slender, worships what the magazine has made me. But you have always been different. I mean, you didn’t even know who I was when you started.”

Andy opened her mouth to defend herself but closed it when Miranda shook her head.

“You’ve seen me at my lowest, Andrea. You’ve seen me and you’ve stayed.” Miranda brushed the signature curl of hair from her forehead. “Let’s go ahead. Let’s take this chance. We might not change the minds of the bigots but we can build something together.”

“You believe there can be an us?”

“I have hope. My God, together we can live on it.”

END

Notes:

Some of the words spoken by Andy were actually said by Anne Hathaway upon receiving an award at the 2008 HRC Los Angeles Gala Dinner:

“There are people who have said that I’m being brave for being openly supportive of gay marriage, gay adoption, basically of gay rights but with all due respect I humbly dissent, I’m not being brave, I’m being a decent human being. And I don’t think I should receive an award for that or for merely stating what I believe to be true, that love is a human experience not a political statement. However, I acknowledge that sadly we live in a world where not everybody feels the same. My family and I will help the good fight continue until that long awaited moment arrives, when our rights are equal and when the political limits on love have been smashed.”

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Olympic Rainbow Rings and a Raspberry

05 Sunday Aug 2012

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Gender Identity, Olympics, Rant, Sports

(c) by Mary Griggs

Like people all over the globe, I’ve been watching many, many hours of Olympic coverage on my television and computer (stupid NBC Olympics app is not compatible with my phone!). I’ve watched in awe the pageantry from London and have gotten teary eyed at the pure joy in the faces of the medal winners.

We all have our favorite moments. Mine include the Queen parachuting, British people cheering, the outstanding medal haul of Michael Phelps, the young winners, the older performers, the first African-American woman to win individual all around in gymnastics and the incredible sportsmanship.

Part of my favorite things include watching the number of openly LGBT athletes. This year, there are 23 openly gay and lesbian Olympians at the London games, as well as two coaches (Pia Sundhage, U.S. women’s soccer head coach and Hope Powell, Great Britain’s women’s soccer coach). This compares with 11 out athletes in Athens and 10 in Beijing.

Outsports has prepared a list of the openly gay and lesbians Olympic athletes at this year’s games:

  • Marilyn Agliotti (Netherlands, field hockey)
  • Judith Arndt (Germany, cycling)
  • Seimone Augustus (U.S., basketball)
  • Natalie Cook (Australia, beach volleyball)
  • Lisa Dahlkvist (Sweden, soccer)
  • Carlien Dirkse van den Heuvel (Netherlands, field hockey)
  • Imke Duplitzer (Germany, fencing)
  • Edward Gal (Netherlands, equestrian)
  • Jessica Harrison (France, triathlon)*
  • Carl Hester (Britain, equestrian)
  • Karen Hultzer (South Africa, archery)
  • Alexandra Lacrabère (France, handball)
  • Kim Lammers (Netherlands, field hockey)
  • Jessica Landström (Sweden, soccer)
  • Hedvig Lindahl (Sweden, soccer)
  • Matthew Mitcham (Australia, diving)
  • Maartje Paumen (Netherlands, field hockey)
  • Carole Péon (France, triathlon)*
  • Mayssa Pessoa (Brazil, handball)
  • Megan Rapinoe (U.S. soccer)
  • Lisa Raymond (U.S., doubles tennis)
  • Rikke Skov (Denmark, handball)
  • Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Germany, cycling)

*Péon and Harrison are a couple.

Tony Scupham-Bilton produced a pretty comprehensive list of LGBT Olympians. As you can see (click here for it: lgbtolympians), there a quite of number of medal winners in the bunch!

But it isn’t all good for non-gender conforming athletes. The International Olympic Committee recently released a new sex-testing policy that could prevent women athletes with hyperandrogenism, determined by natural testosterone level, from competing in London on the basis that they have an unfair advantage over their competitors.

According to Rebecca Jordan-Young, who researches gender studies at Barnard College, “based on the data we have, you can’t make any kinds of predictions of athletic performance by knowing an athlete’s testosterone levels.” In any other scientific or medical forum, she added, such a test would never pass muster.

A little-mentioned part of the new rule is that athletes who fail the test may compete as men or they are required to get their hormone levels down below the male range — something newspaper reports have said Caster Semenya has been doing.

According to Hida Viloria, director of the Organisation Intersex International the new rules amount to “bullying against butch women.” She said, “It’s forcing women who are not stereotypical to feminize their bodies.”

You can read a critical report on the IOC rules here: Out of Bounds? A Critique of the New Policies on Hyperandrogenism in Elite Female Athletes

Banning women with naturally high testosterone levels from competing is the wrong decision. Cheaters, users of performance enhancing drugs and anyone who knowingly deceives the officials should definitely be kept from sullying the sport. Those with genetic conditions but whose gender identity is female should not be punished for hormone imbalances.

Olympic athletes are not like most humans – should Michael Phelps not be allowed to compete because his arm span is much longer than his competitors? If you answered of course not, then neither should an athlete like Caster Semenya be disqualified!

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Chick-filet-a-gay

04 Saturday Aug 2012

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LGBT Equality, Mary Griggs, Rant

(c) by Mary Griggs

Every single person who deliberately ate at Chick-fil-a on Wednesday and claimed they did so to protect Freedom of Speech or Freedom of Religion is operating under a misconception.

Mr. Cathy and the entire Chick-fil-a family is allowed, under the US Constitution, to have beliefs which differ from mine and I will defend their right to express them and I will fight any attempt to silence them.

But this isn’t about Christianity, the 1st Amendment or two crucial pickles. It is about money from patrons being spent to fight the equal treatment of other patrons.

http://i3.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/010/951/7a955c0954efbd6e6a488c4683baaecd.jpg

The 990′s filed with the IRS by WinShape are publicly available and show that money from Chick-fil-a is going to fund more than just summer camps to strengthen traditional marriage. It has given more than $5 million to groups like the Family Research Council and the American Family Association that spread lies and hate, that teach scientifically repudiated “ex-gay” therapy and that have worked to put into law death sentences for homosexuals. If there were any doubt about where your money is going, Herman Cain went on Fox News today to say that $30 million dollars from Wednesday’s Chick-fil-a Appreciation day is going to fund anti-LGBT groups.

The profit from that meal you just enjoyed is going to oppose my receiving equal treatment under the law. You and I both know there is not a single, credible, non-religious reason to deny equal rights to LGBT people. Instead of working to end injustice, however, you’ve just funded organizations that are working to deny other people rights that you possess.

LGBT activists aren’t trying to dissolve your marriage or criminalize your consensual sexual behavior. We’re not trying to make anyone a second class citizen or place undue taxes on anyone else’s relationships. Our rights aren’t special; they are the exact same ones you enjoy because you happen to have been born a heterosexual.

Please try to put yourself in our place. If someone you cared about came to you and told you that someone hurt them, would you respond by going out and buying lunch for the aggressor?

I’m not asking you to go on a hunger strike in solidarity of the LGBT community or even to support marriage equality.

All I want is for you to be mindful that the money you spent to buy that meal is being used to harm people you know and love.

Is it really worth that?

How about you donate the amount of that sandwich, waffle fries and drink to an LGBT equality organization like Forum For Equality? It is easy to donate, just click here!

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