Transgender Clergy Preaches at National Cathedral

In celebration of LGBT Pride Month, a first will happen at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. tomorrow. The Rev. Dr. Cameron Partridge, the Episcopal chaplain at Boston University, will be the first openly transgender priest to preach from Canterbury Pulpit at the cathedral.

Many Christian denominations are proclaiming that people who are not heterosexual should undergo psychological treatment to become heterosexual, according to the God they speak for, and place themselves at the top of their Christianity hierarchy as the "Only Way." We can, however, remember that other Christian denominations believe that the God they speak for accepts people for who they are.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/transgender-priest-preach-national-cathedral-24245955

Find Hate Groups Near You

The Southern Poverty Law Center has published a map according to state, showing the location of hate groups, those who use an innate human characteristic to build a hierarchy. If you go to the pull-down menu, you can see who is in your neighborhood.

The internet has become a great tool for exposing hierarchies, and here is another example. The more we expose the top, the more we know about who is clinging on to the past using hierarchical techniques to stay there.

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/hate-map

Size Matters According to Tennessee Republican Senator Bob Corker

Tennessee Republican Senator Bob Corker demonstrated yesterday a hierarchy that values tall people over people not as tall.

At a Senate Banking Committee vote on Thursday, Senator Corker made the comment "I'm sorry it just feels like a bunch of midgets up here worrying about some CBO issue."

His comment called "embarrassing and insulting" and a "slur" by the Little People of America, Senator Corker was obviously equating physical size with competency.

Maybe in his next life, Senator Corker will be born with a smaller body and will realize first hand that size and ability aren't related at all.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/06/bob-corker-midget-comment-107498.html

Another Man on the Rampage

When we published our op-ed in the Washington Post last year suggesting that the male culture, specifically the white male culture, should examine why a disproportionate number of them engage in mass shootings in our county and promote guns, we received thousands of comments and many hateful emails. To suggest that one group, specifically white males, has something in their culture that creates these mass shootings was called sexist and racist.

We know, however, that groups on top of the hierarchy, like white males, are used to not being held accountable for their actions and will lash out when anyone suggests that they should.

With the Santa Barbara shootings last week, we were glad to see Kevin Powell write an editorial commenting on the male culture that promotes violence with guns and violence against women.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/26/opinion/powell-manhood-rodgers-shooting/

Oregon – We Did It

Joining our neighbors California and Washington, we here in Oregon are very proud that we now allow same-sex couples to marry.

Sexual orientation is another hierarchy that is falling. Yes, there are people still opposed to civil rights for non-heterosexuals. Many people opposed feel they have a right to their opinions and should be able to force them on others claiming difference of opinion only. However, every hierarchy saw those claims when it was in the midst of falling, and hindsight proved the opposition to only be holding up one more hierarchy.

May many other states follow suit, as did Pennsylvania today. However, we in Oregon, since our state officials stated that opposing same-sex marriage is unconstitutional (see previous post), have the distinction that there is no one who is in the legal position to appeal.

http://www.oregonlive.com/mapes/index.ssf/2014/05/oregon_gay_marriage_ban_struck.html

Oregon - A Hierarchy is a Hierarchy

The Oregon Supreme Court and the Attorney General's office have refused to support a hierarchy that is trying to hide behind the noble cause of religious freedom.

Members of the Friends of Religious Liberty in Oregon have announced that they will try legal action in an attempt to allow individuals and businesses to exempt themselves from serving same sex couples in Oregon.

The group had initially prepared a ballot initiative to allow people to choose whom they serve stated as religious exemptions, but withdrew it after the Oregon Supreme Court without a comment Thursday withheld the ballot title drafted by Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum's office, which emphasized that the measure would, really, modify anti-discrimination laws:

"Religious belief" exceptions to anti-discrimination laws for refusing services, other, for same-sex ceremonies, "arrangements"

http://www.oregonlive.com/mapes/index.ssf/2014/05/gay_marriage_backers_of_exempt.html

http://www.oregonlive.com/mapes/index.ssf/2014/05/gay_marriage_court_settles_bal.html

Sterling is Sterling

The L.A. Times editorial "Forget Donald Sterling and Clivan Bundy; they aren't today's Americans" is an excellent example of what we will be seeing more of in the future in the U.S. media. As hierarchy conservatives like Donald Sterling and Cliven Bundy expose themselves more and more, they show they are struggling to keep their power. The article includes three significant points:

1.  Recognize and reward of the centuries of work to build equality and fairness by millions of current residents and their ancesors;

2.  Break down the barriers put up by the top by calling out their outdated views;

3.  Proclaim a bright future because the majority does not support the hierarchies of those on the top.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-donald-sterling-cliven-bundy-racism-america-20140428,0,2333434.story#axzz30U7EBtql