Supreme Court: Marriage Equality Back On in Nevada
Because state officials will not appeal Tuesday’s ruling striking down Nevada’s ban on same-sex marriage, couples in that state can soon begin to marry, the Supreme Court announced.
Sunnivie Brydum
www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2014/10/08/supreme-court-marriage-equality-back-nevada
<em>Yentl, the Yeshiva Boy</em>: A Modern Transgender Hero
There is one Jewish short story (later made into a play and a film) to which I can very intimately relate. It’s Isaac Bashevis Singer’s Yentl, the Yeshiva Boy. I had the pleasure of attending an updated, klezmer/pop version of the play, directed by Shirley Serotsky, with music by Jill Sobule, last week at Theatre J in downtown Washington, D.C.
As a young trans girl growing up as a yeshiva boy in Queens, New York, I found that this play resonated deeply within me. The eponymous Yentl, who goes by the name Anshel as a yeshiva boy, challenges the gender norms of that extinct European world of the Jewish Pale and its predominantly Orthodox Jewish communities. Yentl, the daughter of a rabbi, studies with her father as if she were his son. Her father says, “Yentl — you have the soul of a man.” She asks, “So why was I born a woman?” He replies, “Even Heaven makes mistakes.”
Jewish men and boys, in their morning prayers, have said this “blessing” for generations: “Blessed art Thou, O Lord, our God, King of the Universe, for not having made me a woman.” I said that every morning until I was 14, feeling like I was swallowing crushed glass, believing there was no escape.
Singer rooted this story in Yentl’s recognition, and her father’s perception, of her soul as male. “Soul,” in this case, is just a more elegant term for the sexual attribute of the incorporeal essence we call “gender identity” today. “Transgender” didn’t exist in 19th-century Europe as a medical condition or concept, though Singer probably knew of the modern phenomenon when he wrote the play in the 1950s, as Christine Jorgensen was in all the New York tabloids when she returned home in late 1952. He certainly knew of the rabbis’ understanding of physical intersex conditions, and of the variable manifestation of those conditions in a spectrum of gender roles. He wrote, in the words of Avigdor, Yentl’s male study partner, “She [Yentl] had the soul of a man and the body of a woman.”
Singer had Yentl deal with her ongoing gender dysphoria by creating conditions where she can live as a man, not only by wearing men’s clothing but by taking the male role in its most respected form: as a scholar. Even though Yentl is in love with Avigdor, and he with her, the language of the story implies not only that is the couple perceived as a same-sex couple but that they feel that way as well. Interestingly, the contemporary production I recently saw uses the musical lyrics to make evident the deeply queer nature of the situation. Whereas Singer had the two study partners describe their bond as similar to that of the patriarch, Jacob, and his beloved son, Benjamin, the lyrics switch to the David-and-Jonathan story from the Book of Samuel, David and Jonathan being two men widely seen today as having been in love with one another.
Given the opportunity to escape the dilemma of being in unwanted marriages (and Yentl does indeed love her wife, Hadass, though she has deceived her as to her physical embodiment), with Anshel reverting to living as Yentl and marrying Avigdor, they both agree that that is simply not an authentic solution. Yentl leaves the community and lives out her life as Anshel, and Avigdor returns to town, presents Anshel’s writ of divorce to Hadass and eventually marries Hadass. The story ends with the birth of their child, a boy they name Anshel.
Singer concludes the story with a deeply subversive understanding that the three protagonists — Yentl/Anshel, Avigdor and Hadass — are fully aware of all the gender bending in their lives. The Theatre J production could have been truer to its queer musical spin (other songs played up gay male and lesbian love) by having all three end up living polyamorously in some cosmopolitan European city, but instead it took a safe, heteronormative way out, with, once again, the trans person miserably on the margins while the ostensibly straight couple have their baby. Yet they do name their son Anshel, undoubtedly shocking their tightly knit religious community. And they play their roles cognizant of the fact that their romantic desires are both homosexual and heterosexual, whether or not they intend that to be the case.
Singer, winner of the Nobel Prize and National Book Award, and considered by many to be the greatest writer in the Yiddish language, was a modernist with his heart deeply rooted in his Orthodox Jewish culture. I had the pleasure of meeting him in Miami when my wife interviewed him, and I remember her asking him why he always wrote about the Orthodox Jewish world and never the Conservative, Reform or secular ones. His answer: “When those worlds have survived as long as the traditional one, then I’ll write about them.” But he wrote about the humanity of his characters in an insightful way that has rarely been matched in stories about that community.
Singer’s Yentl, written in the 1950s, brought forth a trans character before its time. Leah Napolin, who wrote the play with Singer, converted her into a feminist icon. Streisand then put her own iconic stamp on it (and Singer was not happy about it at all). Serotsky’s play, which at times feels like a take on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, remakes this Yentl as authentically Anshel, strongly rooting it as a queer statement in the manner of Singer. Jill Sobule, the composer, shares my interpretation. We stand in contrast to Ms. Napolin and Ms. Serotsky, who see this version as another variation of the feminist interpretation. This is not surprising, given that in 1975 Napolin dismissed viewing Yentl as “suffering from some hormonal predisposition to masculinity.” Too often some feminists of that era still refuse to acknowledge trans persons’ humanity, contributing to their continuing invisibility. Recognizing the reality of the trans experience in no way minimizes the feminist critique of society. Trans women are generally more inclined toward feminism than cisgender women, and trans men know existentially what it means to be oppressed as women. I hope further productions emphasize Ms. Sobule’s reading and make this a story that Jewish trans children and adolescents can absorb to help them make the archaic, sexist morning blessings a thing of the past.
Here’s What A Right Wing Homophobe Being Epically Schooled Looks Like
It’s safe to say Australian MP Bob Katter has a less-than-ideal record when it comes to gay issues. On second thought, his record is abysmal. In 1989 he made a comment that continues to surface that there are almost no gay people in North Queensland, and that if they represented more than .001 of the population, he’d walk backwards from Bourke (which we can only assume is far away).
He’s voted against anti-discrimination legislature to protect LGBT people, and in 2011 he said the prospect of same-sex marriage, “deserves to be laughed at and ridiculed.”
Which makes this clip of Josh Thomas taking him to task all the more satisfying. Rarely do you get to see a right-wing politician have to react in real time to a logical breakdown of the terrible things they’ve said. But watching Katter squirm as Thomas makes point after point is like seeing a car crash in slow motion. Katter can’t even get himself to look directly at Thomas — his eyes dart nervously around the room instead.
Thomas, who is a gay comedian with a well-respected queer-themed television show called Please Like Me, chimes in after an unsatisfactory answer by Katter to an audience member’s question about how a “reluctance to address homosexuals as well as their civil rights is quite detrimental to their mental health.”
Josh tells Katter:
“You say a lot of really important, powerful things…When I hear you talking about dairy farmers, and you say people in the cities should spend more than two dollars on milk I agree with you. But then when you go out and you deny the existence of homosexuals in North Queensland — they exist, there’s an app called Grindr, I’ll put it on your phone — you disenfranchise the community.”
Here’s the clip:
Dan Tracer
SCOTUS Justice Anthony Kennedy Lifts Stay On Same-Sex Marriage In Nevada
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has issued a second order today ending his previously issued stay only as it applies to Nevada. The stay on the 9th Circuit’s ruling will remain in effect for Idaho. BuzzFeed reports, “Justice Anthony Kennedy ended the stay as to the Nevada marriage case, likely clearing the path for same-sex couples to be able to marry there soon.”
Developing…
Sean Mandell
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WATCH: How to Live Your Musical, Find Your Inner Diva
Morgan Reynolds takes Manhattan with a mashup of empowering Broadway anthems.
Brandon Voss
Mitch McConnell Gets 'Needlessly Angry' After Surprising Radio Host With Interview
WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) made a surprise appearance Wednesday on “Kentucky Sports Radio,” one of the state’s most popular radio shows. But in his efforts to paint himself as a fan of University of Kentucky basketball, McConnell came off sounding defensive. Listeners later described the appearance as “combative,” and host Matt Jones chided McConnell for getting “needlessly angry.”
McConnell — who appeared on the show three weeks after a similar appearance by Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, McConnell’s opponent in next month’s election — used the opportunity to immediately tout his support for the Kentucky Wildcats. In addition to discussing funding he had secured for the University of Kentucky, McConnell noted that he’d been the author of a resolution in the Senate that congratulated the men’s basketball team on its 2012 championship.
“I’m a big fan of UK,” McConnell told Jones. “I’m not a big fan of Obama, and I know you are.”
Jones said he was only given 10 minutes’ notice for the interview by the McConnell campaign, and thus was not as prepared as he would have liked. But he posed questions to McConnell on a number of national issues, such as the federal minimum wage, Obamacare, climate change and gay marriage.
McConnell largely stuck to Republican talking points. He said he opposed a minimum wage increase because it would cost jobs, and said he believed the health care law should be repealed. He criticized the Environmental Protection Agency over its plans to cut carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants.
But at several points during the interview, McConnell grew agitated by Jones’ aggressive questioning. When McConnell said he would like to pull Obamacare out “root and branch,” Jones began to point out that full repeal would take away coverage from 500,000 Kentuckians who had enrolled in health care through the state-run exchange Kynect.
“Can I finish my answer?” said McConnell, who then went on to discuss the health care law’s cuts to Medicare. He did not address the Kentuckians who have signed up for coverage under Obamacare, an issue that has dogged McConnell during his re-election campaign.
At another point, Jones asked if McConnell believed in global warming, and the Kentucky Republican once again turned defensive when Jones pressed him for a definitive answer.
“What I have said repeatedly is I’m not a scientist, but what I can tell you even if you thought that was important … the United States doing this by itself is going to have zero impact,” McConnell said. (He gave a similar answer to the editorial board of The Cincinnati Enquirer last week.)
Jones said it was a simple “yes or no” answer.
“No it isn’t — it is not a yes or no question,” McConnell shot back. “I am not a scientist. I know there are scientists who think it’s a problem, there are scientists who think it isn’t a problem … My job is to try to protect jobs in Kentucky now, not speculate about science in the future.”
Listen to excerpts from the interview above, and scroll down to hear the full interview.
The discussion then turned to gay marriage. McConnell told Jones, “I believe that marriage should be between one man and one woman.”
Jones pointed out that same-sex marriage is now legal in some form across 30 states, and asked McConnell if those states were incorrect and why.
“I can tell you my opinion is that marriage should be between one man and one woman,” McConnell said again. “The courts are dealing with this issue and you’re citing things that are a result of court decisions. I’m giving you my opinion. My opinion is that marriage is between one man and one woman.”
Jones once again asked McConnell to elaborate on the reasons for his position, asking if it was based in Biblical beliefs. McConnell would only repeat, for the fourth time, that he believed marriage is between a man and a woman.
Before he left, McConnell declined an invitation from Jones to formally debate Grimes on the program. Jones said Grimes had agreed to the debate when she appeared on the show last month, but McConnell only said he had enjoyed talking with Jones and encouraged listeners to tune into a separate televised debate with Grimes next week.
After the segment with McConnell, Jones and his team said they found the interview to be bizarre. “That struck me as needlessly angry,” Jones said.
A producer chimed in that McConnell “came across as a little bit of a jerk,” while co-host Ryan Lemond said, “I don’t think he helped himself.”
The Huffington Post has reached out to McConnell’s campaign for comment, and will update this post if we receive a response.
The Kentucky Senate race is one of the most closely watched contests in this year’s midterm elections. HuffPost’s Pollster average, which combines all publicly available polling, shows McConnell currently leading Grimes by 4 percentage points.
Listen to the full interview below.
Over 3 Years After Repeal of DADT, Transgender Service Members Are Still Barred From Serving Openly
Imagine if you were forced to lie about who you are in order to be able to keep your job. Then imagine if your husband or wife had to do the same for you.
HRC.org
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