Is Queer, Millennial Privilege a Thing? Or is there just a need for more connected community overall?

Article about young people being not that appreciative of older activists who have blazed the trail to better times. My own thoughts below that I posted on Facebook with the article. I put this thinking in my blog also.

Seems like there is more separation of ages in the gay community than in other areas where activism happens; such as environmentalists, for instance. Maybe there isn't a gay community anyway. Just somewhat isolated gay people in each generation. People that don't have a lot in common for many reasons including political interests, wealth, age and so forth. There needs to be more connections and community among gay people. This would also include connection between generations. One of the problems may be how much energy people put into their romantic relationships versus other more varied friendships. It takes a network of friendships to create community. Also apathy is a problem. We all need to look past just our own self interest to the larger world beyond us.

My bike ride to Waples Mercantile Building in Lynden. Building restored after fire

They did a good job restoring the building and leaving much of the old walls, timbers and floorboards for art's sake. See more details on the building and my April 2016 ride as posted on Flickr.



A bit more history here.

No hope in logic sign near Bellingham waterfront

Reader board has been near Bellingham's waterfront for a while saying there's no hope in logic. I'm assuming theological thinking.

A friend of mine said, I wouldn't want to take my engine to a repair shop that doesn't believe in logic.

This different sound byte can be the start of many a philosophical discussion. Is there no hope in logic because logic and evidence tends to point away from any hope in life after death?

Then again, I got to thinking that many fundamentalist religious beliefs have a logic; a rigid logic. Like clockwork, fundamentalists tend to follow their systems of belief that follow logical progressions. This logic often based on false pretense.

As for hope, I have hope that we still have a lot more to learn. We, as humans, haven't figured everything out yet.


Other side of sign with moon in background.

Religious rights versus civil rights

The so called religious rights bills sweeping some states are a reaction against civil rights laws that include LGBT people. Many of these states don't have civil rights laws, at the state level at least, that include LGBT people. Here in Washington State, we do have civil rights laws that include LGBT, but these laws specifically exempt churches and religious institutions. From what I understand, churches can still discriminate if they wish to under Washington State's fair housing and employment laws for GLBT.

Marriage Equality is a different issue. That Supreme Court ruling allows gay people to be legally married, but it doesn't require anyone to preform that duty; except for state employees such as county clerks acting on behalf of the state. If a church doesn't wish to preform a gay marriage, it's still allowed to make that choice.

Forcing someone to serve a gay marriage, such as baking a cake, is not part of gay marriage. It's more a function of anti discrimination laws, which many states don't have. Here in Washington State, we do have anti discrimination laws, but there are already exemptions written into those laws. The anti discrimination law doesn't apply to a church, but does apply, I guess, to a business, such as a bakery, as covered by civil rights laws. I guess that's what civil rights laws do. They tend to force people to not discriminate against minorities.

At least that's my understanding.

Here it's useful to contemplate what a libertarian might say. Libertarians who don't like coercion by government might oppose any civil rights bill that forces a business to hire or do business with someone they don't choose to do business with. This could apply to the issue of race as well. I'm not a libertarian, but thinking about what a libertarian might say can be useful in this discussion.

Downtown digital

Night Market in downtown Bellingham. Another mingling of artists, conversations, music, retail and "happening." One artist invited people to dabble colors onto strips of wood. The image from the strips was fed into a camera and then projected on the wall of the ramp going into the Parkade Building.

Innovative.

What one can do in this age of digital projection.