Mitch's Blog

Some of you will hate me for this, but oh well...

NEW MOON IS TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so BEYOND EXCITED about the new Twilight movie starting tonight! I'm for sure going to be there at midnight to usher in the new era of awesomeness that is the love between Edward and Bella. Who cares that I have a huge exam at 8 a.m. the next morning??? I DON'T!

Here's some eye candy for you: a look into the beauty that is this movie.


GO TEAM EDWARD!!!!!!!!

Who'd a thunk it?

I certainly didn't. Last Friday, Dolly Parton went onto the Joy Behar show, a television news show that quite frequently touches on many current LGBT issues in America. She made several statements that I'm sure made some of her fans very unhappy, but certainly surprised and elated the rest. I was shocked, but happy with her opinions in the end. Take a look.

A 10-year-old boy in Arkansas has refused to stand for the pledge of allegiance because gay people are not allowed to get married, according to Pink News. He claims that America isn't free if everyone doesn't have equal rights.

At first he simply refused to stand. After aggravating the teacher for several days, she finally confronted him and demanded he stand. The boy politely refused, then told his teacher "Respectfully...to go and jump off a bridge." The boy's mother supports him, claiming it's his right to not stand for the pledge. The boy hasn't stood since.

The boy's parents are straight, however they have taken him to several gay pride events over the years. He claims to have family friends who are homosexual.

I think this boy is totally going in the right direction. It's amazing how many youth I see with a political idea of the world and a progressive need for change. Even though the majority of people today don't want gay marriage, most of them are old people. In 20-30 years, the tables will have changed greatly. Full and equal rights for all might not happen in the next few years, but it'll come during our lives. I can guarantee it.

I don't have anything to say about this. Just read it. So inspirational.

Courtesy of Threds on the strip in Knoxville, the Lambda Student Union has a new t-shirt! We haven't had one in a while, so this is pretty exciting!

The shirt, with the design in the photo, comes in the colors seen here. If you'd like to order one, please e-mail the Lambda Student Union at lambda@utk.edu with your color choice and shirt size. The shirt sizes are regular small, medium, large, XL, and 2XL.

The shirts cost $10 each!!!

If you wish to buy a shirt but are unable to come to Knoxville, TN to get it, we can ship the shirt for you. However, you will have to pay an extra $3 for shipping charges.

(I am not getting paid to advertise this message; I love Lambda and support what the organization offers to campus students.)

I wrote an article recently saying that the LGBT community might want to consider fighting for better civil union rights instead of the right to marriage, per Washington's recent civil union laws upgrade, making them equal in rights to marriage, just without using the word "marriage." Now the Mormom Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is enforcing this idea. Yeah, I never would've expected it either.

According to the Advocate.com, LDS issued a statement at Salt Lake City's council meeting that they are in support of the proposed non-discrimination policy for gay people and civil unions. The past donators to the Prop 8 Campaign in California say that they're not anti-gay, they only support marriage between a man and a woman. Gay people have every right to hospitalization, housing, employee, and other rights, they said. Just not marriage.

I'm glad they made this statement. Maybe it will help some people decide to fight for full civil union rights instead of full marriage rights. Personally I don't need or want to be married in a church. I want to fall in love with someone and have the right to spend the rest of my life with that person and receive the same partnership benefits that every other partnership, gay or straight, receives.

Flora Theden wrote this editorial today in the daily beacon.

UT does not have enough resources about sexual health. And if they do, I wouldn't know the first place to go to get help. For example, I know there is supposedly a free health clinic on campus, but there are two problems with it: I don't know where it is; I heard it's by appointment only, and if I needed help for something that happened because of sex, I don't think I could wait 3+ weeks for help.

I know that the Lambda Student Union hosts World AIDS day in December, but I doubt the majority of campus knows about that, nor does Lambda have the resources to handle those vast numbers.

The college needs to certainly provide information about a great number of topics: STD's; clinical help and community resources; pregnancy; condoms and other contraception; the list goes on. Forget people who think college students don't need to be exposed to this; we're adults who are having sex. We need to know these things.