We're being victimized

Over much of June my readership in Russia has jumped. For the last month the number of page views from Russia is more than double the count from America. On some individual days the count from Russia has been 3 and up to 4 times the count here in the US. Alas, my readers don't leave comments. Friends, I'd be delighted to hear from you and what you find in my blog.



I am delighted at the speed at which many governments in the South are realizing the Confederate flag no longer belongs on gov't buildings. William Danaher, an Episcopal priest and professor of theology and ethics, wrote a commentary about the Confederate flag in last Sunday's Detroit Free Press. He wrote about the background of the flag, how it started out before the Civil War as an emblem of the belief that the South was about to be overrun by the North. The South believed this was to be done both "materially and culturally, primarily through industrialization and urbanization." After the war honoring the soldiers of the South included a "sacred narrative of victimization."

Perhaps I'll paraphrase: We're being victimized because we're being prevented from enslaving and oppressing black people. Sound familiar? Let me change just a few words: We're being victimized because we're being prevented from oppressing gay people. What is it in the culture of the South that makes so many people so insecure they need to oppress someone else to feel good?



In the same issue Nancy Kaffer of the Freep's editorial board has an important question. Her topic is the recently enacted law that lets adoption agencies refuse service to same-sex couples. Her question: What about the sexual minority kids in the foster care system? An example is a kid who had been adopted as an infant, but was rejected by the mother when he came out as transgender. Refuse to welcome same-sex couples to your agency and what happens to this kid? A hard life is now even harder.