In the last Humor AI, I asked what it was about slapstick comedy, awkwardness, or other negative situations that made them funny. There was a really excellent comment on that post that made the point that people seem to use laughing at other people’s awkwardness or misfortune to distance themselves from it and/or to signify some understanding of the situation. That plays directly into one of the ... »
So this week on French class, we reached that special time on the learning of any language where we’re expected to learn how to talk about families. Our textbook brought up familles recomposées, that is, family outside the father-mother-children standards, which the teacher saw as an opportunity to debate same-sex marriage. There’s something about teachers that makes me always expect them to be re... »
There’s this website called “Americans for Truth About Homosexuality”, which I was led to via Friendly Atheist. They have this post up advertising a rally/lobbying session by the Illinois Family Institution (a known hate group) which lists at the bottom all the horrible ramifications of gay marriage in states like Massachusetts. Hemant screen-capped the bullet points and I was so... »
December and January are months when I usually spend a lot more time around my parents. Mostly, it’s a nice experience, I love them and miss living with them a lot. But while this extra time spent together brought me a wonderful surprise in my mother’s behavior, my dad’s hasn’t changed at all. »
One of the reoccurring talking points of opponents of marriage equality is that social science research demonstrates that children do better with a heterosexual couple than any other type of parenting situation. For an example, see this exchange between CNN’s Brooke Baldwin and hate-group leader Tony Perkins. Note how she fails to challenge Perkins on his oft-repeated assertion that the social sci... »
Yesterday, a colleague of mine found out I date girls and reacted in the best way I can think of: “cool. Hand me that beer over there.” This interaction got me thinking about the whole experience of being out (even though I am not completely out yet). College was the first place in my life where I felt no need to hide my queerness. First week of classes, someone bluntly asked what my orientation w... »
What the queer community has suspected for basically forever is true: One of the driving factors causing homophobic opinions and behaviors is one's OWN same-sex desires. A new paper from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology finds that homophobic college students are more likely than other heterosexual-identified students to have a strong attraction to the same sex. The paper also ... »
I almost thought this day would never come… ladies, gentlemen, and non-binary folk, His Frothiness has left the building: Facing mounting pressure and the prospect of an embarrassing loss in his home state of Pennsylvania next week, Rick Santorum suspended his campaign for the presidency today. “We made a decision over the weekend that this presidential race is over for me,&r... »
