Why not Polygamy?

By now the news has spread everywhere about the United States Supreme Court's ruling on same sex marriage. The dust is starting to settle, but I want to kick it up again. What now? Not only for gay rights, but what now for marriage? Is marriage now a beacon of equality or is it still an exclusive club only for some, only now same-sex couples have entrance? Specifically, what about polygamy?

It's interesting that many liberals have been ecstatic about same-sex marriage being passed; but if I were to ask them about polygamy, they would instantly turn around and condemn opening up marriage to such relationships. This is not to say that gay marriage and polygamy are the same. They are different and there are different considerations required for each. Yet, even liberals use the same arguments used to oppose gay marriage against polygamy as if they would somehow be successful for one and not the other.

Why not polygamy? The arguments against it are pretty standard, but let's go through them one at a time.

Unpacking Your Own Bias

In Social Justice circles, we talk a lot about examining your own privilege and understanding your own biases, but we don't talk about HOW people are supposed to go about these things. We only tell them to do it. We don't even offer any kind of support system because unpacking your own internalized bias is the sort of process you're never really done with. There are all sorts of biases that are thrust upon us as children and take a long time to exorcise from our brains and even then, nothing really ever goes away. Essentially, society is a cult and we are all child inductees. In order to fully illustrate the messy process of understanding your own hangups, I've detailed my own attempt at self-actualization here. This is going to get personal, so, consider yourselves warned.

Grindr Series: Are profiles on Grindr discriminatory?

As a quick refresher, Grindr is one of the most popular gay social apps out there. It is often portrayed as an app for getting quick, anonymous sex, and is typically used as an example of everything that is wrong with the gay community. That being said, there are many different kinds of people who fill the virtual halls of Grindr and all of them seem to have different goals for the use of said app.

Mathew Rodriguez's blog post on the Huffington Post follows the trend by demonizing the idea of anonymous sex and singling out Grindr as the epitome of everything wrong within the gay community. Describing the original intent of the app - the original use was apparently for gay men to consult Grinder to muster up the courage to talk to someone across the bar - Rodriguez describes the app as 'running afoul' because of us 'mere horny mortals', and calls it a place where there is limited space for self-expression, and complains about the rampant 'flattening' of personalities.

MichFest, Safe Spaces, Transphobia?

For some of you who haven't heard, there is a yearly event in Michigan for women. It's called the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival (MichFest). This festival attracts women from all around the country to celebrate their womanhood. It started in 1976 and has been running every August since. The festival not only is a gathering for music though. It is a gathering of feminism and learning and bonding. There are many group activities and everything is done by women; set up, break down, organizing, planning, everything.

That everything is done by women is an important thing to note. It's part of what makes this event such a powerful statement. Women can, and do, do everything that men can. Women are powerful. The exclusion of men in this is done purposefully to empower women. I have been told that is a great experience.

Prop 8 Today - US Supreme Court

Today is a historic day for the US as the Proposition 8 case will be heard by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS).

This issue, although more popularized than in the past, is still quite controversial. The Proposition 8 case is about whether or not states, specifically California, have the authority to deny marriage to same-sex couples.

Israel introducing buses for only Palestinians?

Starting on Monday buses running from the West Bank into central Israel will start having different lines/buses for Palestinians and Israeli's. According to reports, the Afkim company will start running Palestinian only lines to prevent Palestinians boarding with Jewish passengers.

These lines, which again begin on Monday, are not being called segregated buses by Transportation Ministry officials (for obvious reasons). Instead the lines are said to be there to 'relieve the distress of Palestinian workers'. Specifically the ministry said, "The two new lines that will be run as of tomorrow (Monday) are intended to improve the services to Palestinian workers that enter Israel via the Eyal Crossing."

Trans Expulsion in California Raises Many Questions

It has come into the public eye recently that a California school, California Baptist University (CBU), expelled a student because she is transgender. As is usually the case, it may not be a simple as that but that certainly seems to be the case.

Domaine Javier

In early 2011 Domaine Javier, was accepted to CBU's nursing program and was receiving two scholarships. In April 2011 Domaine appeared on an episode of MTV's "True Life" titled, "I'm Passing as Someone I'm Not" (the name of the episodes is an issues in and of itself) and revealed that she is transgender.