(no subject)

Talking about Jesse Jackson's accidentally taped remarks about Obama patronizing his core support and wanting to 'cut his nuts off', Andrew Sullivan says here 'Jackson still bristles with the politics of resentment; Obama, like many others, has moved on.'

Two points about that - the first of which is that a lack of the politics of resentment is precisely what worries me about Obama. There are people in the current US administration who seriously need to be loathed and detested, even if it proves impossible actually to send them to jail. African-Americans have taken several centuries of shit, and the politics of resentment is something that neither Obama nor Sullivan ought to want to deny them.

It seems to me, you see, that it is important to resent wrongs that have been done to you - even if that resentment is part of a process that leads to forgiveness and reconciliation. When it comes to homophobia, Andrew Sullivan is not especially forgiving - his post about the death and putative posthumous destiny of Jesse Helms was quite appropriately vengeful. I am not making a cheap shot about the fact that Sullivan seems to be gung-ho about LGBT resentment while thinking African-Americans need to get over it (- though why not? Consider that cheap shot made.) so much as saying that oppressed groups are entitled to own their oppression even when they get past it.
'Forgive your enemies,' said JFK, 'but keep a list of their names.'

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And a propos of which, don't consider Toiletgate quite done yet. Pride still have to get back to us about our proposed ways of ensuring it never happens again. There is also the question of how it came about that the stewards thought they were allowed to discriminate and who told them to.

Watch this space.

More toiletgate

Trans at Pride and the ad hoc group Stop Transphobia At Pride accept the official apology of London Pride to Roz Kaveney and the broader Trans Community subject to the following provisos:
1. that there be some real movement to accept the suggestions we have made for greater inclusivity and diversity awareness on the Pride board, and that real institutional change follow from this.
2. that there be proposals to deal with the weakness that the incident demonstrated not in Pride's transinclusivity alone, but also to its insitutional skills in crisis management.
3. that Pride's response to the failings of both FSM security and Capita's health and safety people in this matter be made transparent.
4. that FSM and Capita apologize for the incident and indicate preparedness to make institutional change to ensure this never happen again.
5. that Pride, FSM and Capita clarify the earlier incident from which the segregation of the toilets derived. If, as alleged, a transwoman was assaulted by a male in the women's toilets, what happened to her? Was she taken care of and encouraged to make complaints? Why did no one connected with that incident try to contact the Trans Community stall thirty yards away to help us take care of her?

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Meanwhile, Westminster Police have issued a press release - gay press story here. We dispute some of the facts in the statement and will make further representations in due course. We are being advised by GALOP on this. We encourage people in London to attend the public meeting on 29th.

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I hope I don't have to talk about Toiletgate any more this weekend. Tomorrow is the South Bank events and on Sunday I plan to go see movies.