"Love, the strongest and deepest element in all life, the harbinger of hope, of joy, of ecstasy; love, the defier of all laws, of all conventions; love, the freest, the most powerful moulder of human destiny; how can such an all-compelling force be synonymous with that poor little State and Church-begotten weed, marriage? -Emma Goldman

There is huge focus on gay marriage these days, and I understand that sometimes we have to take what little privilege we can get in order to visit a loved one in hospital or immigrate in a fascist climate. But what so often gets left out of the argument is how jumping on the marriage train leaves out OTHER people -- different kinds of families, different kinds of love. How ensuring we are not discriminated against in this particular way only changes our own position, and abandons many others to illegality, poverty or a general lack of human rights.

The gay white mainstream focus on "equality" issues like gay marriage and gays in the military reinforces racism, state-sanctioned monogamy and the status quo. It also ignores important issues like poverty, immigrants' rights and lack of housing. Here's an interesting article about how the fight for gay marriage is fundamentally racist, by Kenyon Farrow. 

xo

There's something in the air lately... something kinda like hope. After helping kick the Nazis out of town the other day, I found out there's a new indie bookshop in Bruntsfield called The Edinburgh Bookshop. Then today I went by The Forest Cafe and discovered that their renovations are complete and Snip & Sip is up and running!

The new issue of Matrix is out! And there's an online component that features a short film by me and two recordings by Zorras from our CD, We Apologise For Any Inconvenience. Click here to visit Matrix New Feminisms Online.

In other news, there's a trans forum in Edinburgh this weekend sponsored by Scottish Transgender Alliance. Information here.

xo

I'm in this fabulous new anthology in protest against Stephen Harper's (that's Canada's Prime Minister in case you live elsewhere) ridiculous decision to prorogue parliament until after the Olympics, in order to avoid scandal over Canada's complicity in torture. It's called Rogue Stimulus: The Stephen Harper Holiday Anthology for a Prorogued Parliament. Edited by Stuart Ross and Stephen Brockwell, check it out!

In other news, over 2000 people gathered in Edinburgh yesterday to kick out the racist Scottish Defense League (which is really The English Defense League who travelled up here to cause shit). The fascists and neo-Nazis were not permitted to march, for the second time in Scotland in two months. Go Edinburgh!

xo

A wee trip to the Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art has revealed that they still have not replaced the light bulbs for my show (A Spot of b)other: LGBTI Deaf and Disabled Cutures), after promising to do so over two months ago. Almost half of the lights have been burned out for the duration of the exhibit, which is supposed to be accessible to people with disabilities. Never mind that a group of blind and partially sighted people are formally visiting the exhibition this week...

In other GoMA disasters, it has just come to my attention that they placed my audio tour of the show online months ago without seeking permission from me or my collaborators, thus globally outing participants in terms of sexual orientation, gender identity, disabilities and mental health status. After several complaints they have now removed the download, but it has been up for months without our knowledge and may have caused irreparable damage. Just the latest in a long line of ineptitude and disrespect from Culture and Sport Glasgow.

b)other placed a formal complaint regarding discrimination on 30 November that still has not been responded to. Amazing.