Now more than ever, the Pope is Catholic
Yesterday, the Pope made history by announcing that it’s not his place to judge homosexuals. Four days prior to that, the Daily Caller published an opinion piece by Austin Ruse, President of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, who said that the United States could learn a thing or two from Russia’s anti-homosexual agenda. Two […]
Tags: Austin Ruse, C-FAM, Catholicism, Dan Savage, HIV/AIDS, LGBT rights, Pope Francis, Russia
Posted in Social Action |
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and who else?
If you’d like to keep global tabs on the sort of human rights violations and campaigns for equality we discussed in the last couple of posts, then I’d like to share a couple of sources with you. Amnesty International, for example, runs a number of invaluable RSS feeds. In addition to their news and updates […]
Tags: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, WorldNetDaily
Posted in Social Action |
If these are your notions of faith and freedom, you’re doing them both wrong
I’d like to pick up from yesterday’s post about equal rights, at home and around the world, by looking at two competing ideas of freedom. And it shouldn’t take long, because one of them isn’t about real freedom at all. Last week, GOP Senator Ted Cruz of Texas told the Christian Broadcast Network that acceptance of equal […]
Tags: Bill and Melinda Gates, Christian Broadcast Network, equal rights, faith, feminism, homophobia, LGBT rights, racism, sexism, Ted Cruz
Posted in Social Action |
Canada’s Jews, Russia’s gays, and the global fight for equality
Yesterday I linked to an article in Maclean’s called “Why Canada’s Jews should stand up for Russia’s gays.” Writer Adam Goldenberg lays out the case for speaking out against Russia’s persecution of homosexuals, and for boycotting the Sochi Winter Games in particular, by citing a Canadian Jewish tradition of fighting for the rights of others […]
Tags: Adam Goldenberg, Canadian Jewish Congress, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, homophobia, LGBT rights, Maclean's, Russia, Sochi
Posted in Social Action |
Meslin does the math and discovers he agrees with Ford
If you’ve ever wondered what sort of mayor Rob Ford would be if he didn’t have an allergy to common sense and basic math, the latest blog post from Dave Meslin might surprise you. Ford spent some time in Winnipeg this week, and one of the things he really liked about it was that “they only had […]
Tags: City Council, Dave Meslin, politics, representation, Rob Ford, Toronto, Winnipeg
Posted in Social Action |
The chicken, the egg and the slacktivist
Benjamin Boles, the Music Editor at NOW, said something on Twitter the other day that caught my attention. “The problem with treating Twitter as purely an activist tool,” he said, “is that you tend to start seeing everyone as either ally or enemy.” There’s a lot of truth to this. We’ve all known people who […]
Tags: Benjamin Boles, NOW, slacktivism, Twitter
Posted in Social Action |
Here’s a recap of last week’s meeting between the province and the library workers union
Hey, remember when I told you guys about the meeting that Maureen O’Reilly, President of the Toronto Public Library Workers Union, was about to have with office of Michael Chan to request an increase in funding? Well, O’Reilly sent an update to her mailing list this afternoon, and it sounds like the meeting was a step in the right […]
Tags: Maureen O'Reilly, Michael Chan, Mike Harris, Toronto Public Library, Toronto Public Library Workers Union
Posted in Social Action |
“We Are Not Trayvon Martin”
There are two ways you launch a “We Are Not Trayvon Martin” meme in the wake of this weekend’s events. You could adopt it as a misguided “blame the victim” slogan, along the lines of “We are not the 99%,” or you could use it as a platform to launch a discussion that we desperately […]
Tags: Feministing, Gawker, George Zimmerman, Mashable, race, social media, Trayvon Martin, Tumblr
Posted in Social Action |
Being a parent is easier if you’re white
My daughter woke up at about quarter to one last night. I stepped away from Twitter, where everyone was venting about the George Zimmerman verdict, and I brought her a drink of water. It was time for another one of our late night talks. My daughter only knows about a dozen words, so she’s not […]
Tags: Florida, George Zimmerman, inequality, my kid, parenting, privilege, race, Trayvon Martin
Posted in Social Action |
The law is the crime
I believe in the rule of law, and I believe in the presumption of innocence. I know the case against George Zimmerman wasn’t strong enough to meet the demands of Florida’s justice system, which favours racist gun-toting man-children. From the beginning, I knew this could go either way. Not because of the facts, you understand. The […]
Tags: Florida, George Zimmerman, gun control, stand your ground, Trayvon Martin
Posted in Social Action |