{"id":5675,"date":"2008-11-08T07:00:46","date_gmt":"2008-11-08T12:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/?p=5675"},"modified":"2011-05-17T06:28:10","modified_gmt":"2011-05-17T11:28:10","slug":"bittersweet-yes-on-obama-yes-on-prop-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/campaign-08\/bittersweet-yes-on-obama-yes-on-prop-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Bittersweet: Yes on Obama, Yes on Prop 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor’s Note<\/strong>: The following article was written by Rahmana Finney in San Francisco, one of our new and vibrant additions to the Planet Waves staff. Below, she weighs in on Obama, race and Prop. 8. –RA<\/em><\/p>\n

Dear Friend and Reader,<\/p>\n

BETTY DAVIS IS ONE of my all-time favorite singers. She is a beautiful, statuesque, caramel Leo fireball who recorded a number of albums in the 1970s, and then just disappeared into relative obscurity. She dated Jimi Hendrix, was married to Miles Davis (who said she was just too young and wild) and had a kick-ass band backing her up which included members of Sly Stalone’s band and Sylvester doing back-ground vocals.<\/p>\n

\"Betty<\/a>
Betty Davis from the 1970s album cover "This is it." Photographer unknown.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sylvester was an openly gay man who could sing his ass off and did so for everyone from Chaka Khan to Luther Vandross, and unfortunately eventually died of AIDS. Betty’s music is just pure FUNK music at its nastiest and sweatiest. One of her most famous tunes is “If I’m in Luck I Might Get Picked Up”\u0432\u0402\u201da funk classic in the underground community of soul and funk music heads.<\/p>\n

She wore lingerie on stage, cursed at the audience, and her album covers are some of the most erotic, sexy things ever made. She was unabashedly wild and free\u0432\u0402\u201dlong before Madonna or Britney, but little is known about her. She wore a big kinky afro and most definitely did not fit the establishment’s acceptance of beauty. But I think looking at her picture, you will agree she is the bomb.<\/p>\n

I love Leos; especially Leo women. They are such rebels. They live by a creed that is very popular in the Black community. It is called “I don’t give a fuck.” It can be very handy in life. Very effective when dealing with cut-off utilities, racist bosses and the visual stimulation we are often assaulted by daily in our neighborhoods of crack addicts and gutted buildings. I am thinking of Miss Betty Davis as I celebrate this Leo man we just elected to be the first Black man for President of the United States of America, and simultaneously repealed the right to marriage for the gay community. Ah, bittersweet\u0432\u0402\u201done of my favorite words.<\/p>\n

It applies to the first and last breath you take and every one in between. Because I toasted last night, as a matter of fact, shed tears, with black people who voted for Obama and<\/em> Proposition 8, banning marriage for anyone who isn’t straight. Damn it why did it have to be bittersweet? I am amazed that these same black people who are overjoyed at a milestone in the history of this country being set, could be comfortable with such blatant prejudice. I don’t understand it. I don’t understand why people care who other people are fucking. I just don’t get it! And the thought occurs to me: HOMOPHOBIA IS ANOTHER FORM OF SEXISM.<\/p>\n

Does anyone feel me on this one? This Leo man we just voted for is tall, dark and handsome, straight and married, and a father. He is not the typical angry stereotype of Black men. He is measured, calm, sophisticated and very political. And he fits into our comfortable categories. He’s not threatening. Why is gay marriage threatening? Why are people so uncomfortable even just imagining two people of the same gender having sex?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Because it is outside of the roles that have been established for us. <\/em>And it challenges the roles we have accepted that have been defined for us. Mother, father, marriage, job. Men are the breadwinners, women are the caretakers. These roles have defined men and women of every culture for eons. This is what I think: when men and women take on the exact opposite of these roles, and choose to do what they feel in their hearts, even when it doesn’t fit in with the status quo, it makes the people who decided to go along with these limiting, dare I say, stifling<\/em> roles a little pissed.<\/p>\n

You mean, I didn’t have to stay in that bad marriage for 20 years? I didn’t have to cook dinner every single night? I didn’t have to stay in that awful 9-5 for 20 years so I would be respected as a man who took care of his family? Obama still fits that traditional role, and I think that it was pointed out here on PW<\/a> that we vote for who we want to be our Daddy. If Obama was gay, we would not have voted for him. Even if he had the exact same personality in every way, except that he wasn’t married to a woman.<\/p>\n

Leo women like Betty Davis, and so many that I know, easily and effortlessly step out of the traditional roles that women have been cast in. And gay men are thrilled to see them do it. Madonna has a huge gay male following. So does Grace Jones.<\/p>\n

Somehow, sadly, gender and race issues are still not on the table as equal contenders for equality in the minds and hearts of the majority. I guess we can only deal with one issue at a time. We have finally as a collective opened our mind and allowed a Black Man to be our “Daddy” and we have said, “We trust you to take care of us and make healthy decisions for everyone.”<\/p>\n

\"Jon<\/a>
Jon Davidson, legal director for Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, left and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa celebrate the California Supreme Court's decision to legalize gay marriage in May 2008.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I wonder how long it will take for us to not just love, worship and appreciate members of the gay community for all of the wonderful artistic, musical and diverse creative contributions they have made to our community, but also see them as parents, leaders, scholars, innovators and begin to actually trust them to be sensitive and intelligent enough to actually make decisions for and with us.<\/p>\n

Because Betty Davis probably voted for Barack. She knows what it’s like to grow up in a world where you are pushed down for everything you are; in her case, black, female and NASTY. He represents change for everyone. Let’s help make him see how important that is for the gay community as well.<\/p>\n

Let’s help him keep the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community in mind as he faces his own challenges as a black man trying to work within an established community of and created by people who enslaved and oppressed his ancestors from the 1600s until today.<\/p>\n

Yes, today.<\/p>\n

Just last summer, six black boys who were under sat in a Louisiana jail facing life in prison for getting into a fight with a white boy who, along with friends, had hung a noose around a tree in the middle of the school campus. This was done to mock them, because they had recently finally been given permission to sit under that tree, which in the past had been a hang-out only for white kids.<\/p>\n

I plan on confronting these people who live in my apartment complex about their Yes on Prop 8 sign very soon; after a few more shared glasses of wine and slices of cake, and they don’t perceive me as threatening. I will try to be as non-sexual and detached as my 5-placement in Scorpio ass can be.<\/p>\n

Yours & truly,<\/p>\n

Rahmana Finney<\/strong><\/p>\n

P.S. — I wrote this article prior to San Francisco’s city officials and civil rights groups filing cases to repeal Prop 8. Thank God\/Goddess for San Francisco! After reading a few articles about how shocked people are that a progressive state like California could do this, let me remind readers that THE BAY AREA is progressive; California is a very large state and there is a lot of land in-between San Fran and L.A. We should not continue to be na\u0413\u0407ve enough to be surprised by bigotry and prejudice. An un-prepared warrior is more likely to be caught off guard. It will take many, many more years to eradicate these attitudes and we must be vigilant and confident that each little gain is worth a thousand miles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor’s Note: The following article was written by Rahmana Finney in San Francisco, one of our new and vibrant additions to the Planet Waves staff. Below, she weighs in on Obama, race and Prop. 8. –RA Dear Friend and Reader, BETTY DAVIS IS ONE of my all-time favorite singers. She is a beautiful, statuesque, caramel … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[111,526],"tags":[36,297,535,52,254,527,117,520,348],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5675"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5675\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}