Three Reasons to Smile

1) In online-activism news the disgustingly inconsiderate and downright dangerous hate site tranny-alter.com has been taken down as a result of an outpouring of bloggers mobilizing to make it happen. According to Courtney of Feministing:

Tranny-alert.com–an site aimed at alienating and attacking trans people–was taken down after a flurry of online activism this weekend. A highly effective Call to Action against Tranny Alert was started by a Livejournal user named gudbuytjane and circulated widely by GLAAD and a chorus of other blogs.

I love these types of situations where justice is both swift and easily measured – the site is gone, we’ve won. Now lets take these happy feelings and continue to fight transphobia in all of its forms – especially the ones that are harder to measure and do away with.

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2) This is more personal but I attended the most beautiful Civil Union last Sunday and, while my feet are still sore from all the dancing, the love and true happiness that I witnessed have lifted me so much – I wish I could somehow share that with all of you.

I think what struck me most about the whole night was what was said during the ceremony in reference to the question of  – why now? Why have a Union Ceremony NOW after sixteen years of being together? I can’t remember the answer verbatim but the core of it was the idea that their relationships just kept growing, kept getting better, as they grew as individuals and as a couple; and they wanted to honor that with all of the people who have been witness to it over the last sixteen years – can there be a better reason for a ceremony like this?

Basically, what I really want to say is congratulations Ruth Anne and Marie!

In honor of their Union, please, remember to be grateful for the relationships in your life that keep growing and getting better every day – the world would be a better place if we could just slow down more often and focus on the love that surrounds us all every day.

Also, please, remember that, when we’re fighting for Marriage Equality, that this is really what we’re fighting for – the right for people, people who we know and love, to be able to express and celebrate their love in the same capacity that heterosexual individuals are allowed. I’m not dismissing or downplaying the legal rights that go along with marriage/civil unions, I’m just saying that the legal situation isn’t the whole picture – its about love too… and really, who can stand against love?

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3) I’m getting personal again (sorry!) but its worth it because I have the cutest little story to share. So I’m an art teacher at a Christian summer camp this year for a few weeks and today was my first day. So to set the scene – my project – the kids were each decorating a letter that then went together to spell out the seven sacraments, after they finished their letters I would call out a word and begin to spell it out, one letter at a time.

Each time I called out a letter the kids with that letter would raise their hand and I’d choose one to run over and line their letter up, eventually spelling out a sacrament. Then they’d choose ribbon and the words would be strung together by the kids/counselors to make a big banner.  Amidst the chaos of trying to get the project together I messed up big time and, after all of the kids had been organized into words, ended up with a group of wordless kids with random extra letters and a completley blank mind - what the hell do I do now?

Thank God one of the mothers stepped up quickly with a suggestion – lets have the kids make a new word! So, as all of the others strung their banners together, I stood with this little group of eight kids and their random letters H- Y- L-  I- O- R- A- I- T- and N… It was a tense few minutes until one of the kids realized we have holy! I was relieved, but we still had kids with letters that had yet to be used… then suddenly they made tan which lead one kid to realise they had the makings of train… Holy Train? Then they took away the T… Holy Rain.

Everyone seemed happy with this, well, except the kids who were left holding a carefully colored I- and T- with nowhere to put them. That is, until one little girl ran over to the table, grabbed another sheet of paper, and quickly designed an S-

Its Holy Rain! They declared triumphantly – they were proud of their sentence, and the fact that they got to be the “special” group who invented their own banner… and I was just relieved that no one had been left out, my first day had ended smoothly with smiles on everyone’s faces regardless of how much I had initially messed up.

I’m not sure if this story will amuse anyone but me, but I decided to write it anyway because it reminded me of something really important – no matter how hard you try (and believe me, I tried to make these letters match up just right) things will not always turn out how you plan. Yes, sometimes it sucks and things so wrong but other times you end up with something much better than you originally planned for… like Holy Rain.

Let me know why you’re smiling in the comments (: