A trans-inclusive ENDA has been introduced in the house. So far it has 118 co-sponsors, including 6 Republicans. (None of the Republicans attended the press conference announcing the bill though.)
Hopefully it'll pass this time, although I'm not holding my breath. It's well past due. It's a good sign that Barney Frank thinks the bill is likely to pass (in the House anyway). If the fiasco of last time around can be avoided, even better.
This weekend my partner and I went to the local pride parade. It was the first time we'd watched this parade; last year we marched in it with her church. We'd been to other larger parades, but this was a different experience (although still quite fun).
As my partner put it, the parade wasn't as queer. There weren't very many 'queer' groups; there was 1 leather group and 2 motorcycle clubs. Most of the parade was church groups, school/youth groups, PFLAG and similar. The only topless/nearly-naked people were 2 people on one bar's float (the other people on the bar floats were all clothed!).
It was a nice parade, and it's good to see more mainstream LGBT groups, but I can't wait to go to the much larger nearby parade in a couple weeks and enjoy its queer wonderfulness.
First of all, I don't know whether or not Letterman knew which daughter of Palin's was at the baseball game. It seems quite likely he didn't, especially since the joke works better about the older daughter, Bristol (the one who did get knocked up). But even if he did intend it to be about Willow (who's 14), it isn't that bad. It's not a rape joke. It's a joke about hypothetical sex between Willow and Alex Rodriguez. Yes, if the sex were to occur, it might be statutory rape, depending on where it happened. But illegal does not mean immoral or unethical. It is a joke; statutory rape doesn't exist in jokes.
Statutory rape exists to prevent coercion in relationships with vast age disparities. That's why, in Maryland for example, a 14 year old can legally have sex with an 18 year old, but not with a 30 year old (or anyone more than 4 years older). But, the fundamental presumption is that a 14 year old is capable of consenting to sex. Furthermore, this is a reasonable assumption. And if a 14 year old can consent, there's no problem having jokes involving them consenting.
To take the oppositions logic one step further, consider a 14 year old. Suppose the fantasize about sex, possibly with an adult (a teacher, favorite singer, actor, etc). Suppose in their fantasies the sex is consensual. While such sex would be statutory rape were it to occur, these are not rape fantasies. They are not fantasies about rape. They are fantasies about consensual sex; sex which may reasonably be criminalized to protect teenagers from coercion by adults. But, in the fantasies, it is not rape. Similarly, in Letterman's joke, it is not rape. It does not make light of rape, or encourage rape culture, or any similar thing.
