On Blogging in the Open

I started blogging in May of '05, under the pseudonym "Mystery Mommy" (a mommy who liked mysteries). I blogged anonymously partly because I didn't want to be Dooced, but mostly because all the bloggers I was reading (almost exclusively personal bloggers) were blogging anonymously. I didn't care really if people outside of my bosses knew about my blog. I told Stevens about it. I told my friends about it. Heck, I told my mom about it.

Mostly, I didn't want to be googleable.

I came up with descriptive names for people when I wrote about them (my mom is "QuiltsALot", my dad is "MakesBooksForGrandkids"). I met several of my bloggy friends in real life.

So, along comes 2007, and I started having trouble blogging because the biggest thing going on in my life was just unbloggable if I wanted to stay ungoogleable.

But I found a way.

As time went on, staying ungoogleable became less and less important. I told more people. I told Stevens's campaign manager (Shaun Daniels, the World's Best Campaign Manager, Bar None). I told our '09 campaign staff. I twittered and facebooked. And I started this blog here.

And I was surprised at how long it took the Loudoun blogosphere to find me, because some of the folks in this arena are strong with the Google-fu (Hi Barbara!!).

The drawback to blogging in the open is that I am held personally accountable for the things I write.

The benefit to blogging in the open is that accountability breeds trust. Several of the people who responded to my questions for candidates told me that they were answering my questions because I blog under my own name, and they know that they have a remedy if I misrepresent what they say or break my promise to post their responses without editing or commentary.

Accountability, I has it. I get benefits from it. But I do pay a price. It's a price I am willing to pay, but I don't think you're wrong if you're not willing to pay it.

But here's the thing: If you're an anonymous blogger, don't whine that you're not getting the benefits of open blogging. That's the price YOU'RE paying for not having accountability.

Deal with it.

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime...

I've been hearing a lot lately about "Liberty and Justice for All, Born and Unborn."

It is not justice to force a pregnant person into involuntary servitude for 9 months, risking her life and health. With no trial. No judge. No jury.

It is not justice to declare that the life and health of a living person is worth less than the fetus she carries. With no trial. No judge. No jury.

It is not justice to withhold life-saving surgery from a living person due to concern for the fetus she carries. With no trial. No judge. No jury.

It is PARTICULARLY not justice to do so when you are also working to allow pharmacists to refuse to dispense birth control.

It is PARTICULARLY not justice to do so when you are also working to prevent accurate sex education.

It is PARTICULARLY not justice to do so when you are working to cut funds to social services, day care, foster care.

...If we truly valued children, we would do everything in our power not to traumatize, deprive, or neglect them...

Until I see this, I won’t believe that “pro-lifers” care about life at all. I won’t believe that “family values” proponents care about families. And I won’t believe that those who seek to “protect” children care about children.

Matt Kailey at Womanist Musings

Oh! And in case you thought Choice is only about Abortion, here's a post that will better inform you.

And if you're interested in empowering young people to make reproductive choices that work for them, why not donate to NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia Foundation (the second button, it's tax deductible!) and help with their mission in Petersburg, VA.
(crossposted at Loudoun Progress)

DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL HAS BEEN REPEALED!!!

This is the best news I've heard in a long time..

PROP 8 RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL!!!

WOOT!

Analysis at Prop 8 Trial Tracker

We have a majority, we need to act to keep it

In the last two years, while Congress has gotten an enormous amount done, they have not addressed:

• Immigration reform
• DADT and DOMA
• The racial disparities inherent in our nation's drug laws.

On the other hand, in the health care bill they:

• Attacked reproductive freedom
• Did NOT give us single payer
• Gave away huge concessions to the Republicans who ended up not voting for the bill

So, what we've ended up with is:

• Pissed-off women
• A disappointed LGBT community
• A disappointed hispanic/latin@ community
• A disappointed and disproportionately disenfranchised black community.

Which could lead to:

• Poor turn-out of democrats to the polls.
• Because we're NOT fired up.
• We're NOT ready to go.

Democrats on the Hill, if you want to keep your majority, if you want to keep your jobs, then DO THE JOB WE ELECTED YOU TO DO.

Act upon your promises. Stop pretending the republicans will work with you. They won't.

Pull up your socks. Repeal DADT. Repeal DOMA. The world won't end, and the LGBT community will come out to vote.

Show intestinal fortitude. Allow anyone who lives in the United States for five years without incident to apply for citizenship - even if they weren't here legally to begin with. You will be rewarded with votes.

Bring fairness to our justice system. Equalize the drug laws. Re-enfranchise people who've served their sentences. Because, hello? VOTES.

And you'd better start thinking about this: reproductive freedom's not just about abortion, it's about the right to not be shackled during birth, the right to decide NOT to go on bedrest, the right to choose NOT to have a c-section, the right to choose. While pro-choice women won't be voting for the republicans any time soon, the Stupak amendment has made us not just disappointed but ANGRY. Why would a pro-choice woman vote for a dem? Because the republicans are worse? That's not a good enough reason anymore.

Democrats on the Hill - give us a reason to vote for you. Do your jobs. And crow about it.

There, now, was that so difficult?

WaPo: "Gov. McDonnell prohibits bias against gay state workers"

Thank you, Governor McDonnell.

Where I come from

I come from a neighborhood in Brooklyn that probably has the highest concentration of gay and lesbian parents of any place in this country.

My best friends had gay parents, my 5th grade teacher was a gay parent...so coming here it was kind of a shock to find out that there are people who think that gay people shouldn't get married, shouldn't have kids, shouldn't teach school.

Now, the folks I grew up with are just plain folks. Living their lives. Going to the grocery store. Wiping their (grand)children's noses, and kissing their scraped knees, and making peanut butter & jelly sandwiches on 7 grain bread (just kidding about that, they make almond butter and jelly sandwiches on 7 grain bread).

In no way are the parents of my friends ever confrontational about their lives, they just live them. They are people...who happen to be gay and lesbian...living lives exactly like those of the straight folks next door.

And it seems, from comments on John Stevens's blog, that just having a conversation about it is disrespectful of the commenters' reading of the Bible.

Well, okay, not one person who didn't want to talk about it showed up. Which is fine. We had a great discussion anyway, and I'll post a link to the video when it gets posted. (To start, here's a podcast of Anna Holmes's sermon from Sunday morning's services.)

But I'm going to say this here, now. My friends' parents, my fifth grade teacher, my cousin...they have a right to live their lives. They should be allowed to get married. They should be allowed to adopt children, together with their spouses. They should never have to worry that if one of them gets sick, the other won't be allowed to visit her spouse in the hospital. They should not have to worry that if one of them dies, the other won't be able to stay in their house. This is not about religion, this is about basic justice. This is about human dignity.

Meanwhile, in Northern Virginia

Equality Loudoun has done a great job of covering the actions taken by the Board of Supervisors (and my spouse, Stevens Miller, in particular) these past few weeks, but I just wanted to reiterate how proud I am of him for adding "sexual orientation and gender identity" to the list of things the county can't discriminate against. I'm also very happy that this was something the county staff were already doing, so it was just making it formal.

The addition of the language was originally on the consent agenda, which means that if nobody objects, it gets passed automatically. Any time "wasted" on this item is because members of the board objected to the automatic passing of the item...in this case, the objections came from The Man in the Orange Hat (not giving him more press), and Supervisor Waters.


(video courtesy of Equality Loudoun)

As the video shows, The Man in the Orange Hat goes over the top in his objection to the language and puts on his usual homophobic, bigoted show.

Which he followed up with an objectionable email.

Which the majority of Supervisors, including my spouse, objected to:



And which got The Man in the Orange Hat (and my spouse) some press


(by the way, I disagree that TMitOH needs a mental fitness evaluation, being a bigot isn't a mental illness. What he needs is to be voted out. Sterling, please get on that.)

But the upshot of the whole thing is, that Stevens Miller, Andrea McGimsey, Kelly Burk, Jim Burton (yes, THAT Jim Burton), Sally Kurtz, and Susan Buckley all voted to make non-discrimination the formal policy of Loudoun County.

And Stevens Miller, Andrea McGimsey, Kelly Burk, Jim Burton, and Sally Kurtz formally denounced TMitOH from the dias.

So, while I'm glued to Prop8TrialTracker and watching what's happening with civil rights in California, I'm excited to report that social justice is being performed right here in Loudoun County.

Why oh why is the Prop 8 trial happening on my busiest week at work?

Follow it at Prop 8 Trial Tracker

News

SCOTUS bans cameras in prop 8 court room. Follow the trial at prop8trialtracker.com

Prop 8 Trial Tracker

Can be found here. Court ruled that video wasn't allowed, so go to the link to follow the procedings.