I use this icon because i love, love, love her eyebrow....

[tabaqui]

So disdainful! Heh.

Just updating with a couple little things. First, my sis-in-law had surgery today - a tubal, yay! I took her to the hospital and sat with her and we bitched about politics and life in general and whatnot, and had a good time, and i took her home sore but happy, so all good.

She also handed me a stack of mail from *last December* that had been at her house all this time, so guess what i got?

XMAS CARDS! Hehe. Sheesh. So that's why a couple/three of you never got a 'thank you' - i never got them! Ah well. :)

Also? Second Sweet Charity fic nearly done! Timestamp for Treadmill, yay!


The other thing is why the disdain. I am so angry on behalf of two people, gods. Makes my stomach hurt a little. You all know - or most of you know, i guess - Cat is a tattooist. Right now most of his clients are military, being as we live right outside a base.

So this past week he did a cover up on a woman. She had the two interlocked female symbols and had to have them hidden or no promotions for her! Which sucks. But! The suckier part. She's got a partner. They got tattoos together that symbolize *them*. Her partner is going to Iraq. After that, they'll both be reassigned. But since you 'can't ask' and 'can't tell' in the military, they can't ask for the same duty station. Because their love isn't recognized, and if they were legally married? Their branch of the military doesn't care.

They might be assigned to separate posts with a whole country between them. In fact, odds are, they *will be* separated. And stating that their together, in love, partners? Gets them both tossed.

This has got to end, people. It has *got to end*.

*no, i have no grand plan or anything. just...pain on their behalf, and fury, and disgust, and disdain for all those bigots who are making these women's lives a living hell*

Comments

[katbcoll.livejournal.com]

Well... fuck. I'm sorry they still have to hide. Pisses me right off. The only "silver lining" is that a move to repeal DADT has been made. Let's hope it goes through this time.

YAY for fic! and I'm glad your SIL is going to be okay. Hey, late or not: it's the thought that counts. *laughs*

[tabaqui]

Yes! I'm so, so glad they're working to repeal it, and that so many people are behind it. It just makes me ill to think of these women *fight for us*, laying their lives on the line and still not being treated equally or fairly.

Or fucking humanly.

Yes - Xmas in March! It's good. :)

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

I can't say anything about your sister-in-law; I've got Christmas presents to my cousins which have not been mailed yet- the last three months being one damned thing after another.

Sad about the tattoo cover-up and all it stands for- so many brands of wrong in that situation.

Julia, because people are stronger in loving relationships, always

[tabaqui]

They are! And the military has lost so many talented people to that stupid, stupid rule.

[sweptawaybayou.livejournal.com]

bah. i hate to say it, but they shouldn't have chosen the military as a way of life. not, at least, in America. knowing how and what it would be like. i'm sorry for them, hell, i'm sorry for us and the ideology that they are out there, protecting our rights and values and can't live the life they choose. but you can't tell me that they didn't know what they were getting into ... you know?

*sigh*

our country needs to get its collective head out of its collective ass and grow up.

*hugshugshugs*

[tabaqui]

Yeah, they did, but....it's no excuse. And they probably never thought they'd go into the military and find anyone they wanted to partner with, you know?

So sick of haters.

*smishes you*

[bendtothesun.livejournal.com]

*Fume* I was already a bit on edge because of a discussion in class (world lit. class discussing The Bridegroom a short about a gay man who marries a women and then gets caught(set in China anytime from the 50-80s so yeah,illegal)) and a choice debate and this just tips it over the edge. It's not right nor fair or anyone's business but the people involved. It'd be nice if our government caught up with wait a fair number of people know and understand.

I mean just imagine most of these people's shock and horror if we started regulating who they could and couldn't marry and or see because we didn't approve (hell sounds like a typical teenager's relationship to be honest). Fuck being tolerated, they're going to have to start accepting or- I honestly don't know but this can't continue. >(

[tabaqui]

EXACTLY!!
Oh my gods, the screams of rage and horror and whatnot. Assholes.
*fumes with you*

Our President is working toward change. Carefully - intelligently. Making it work and making it permanent. It can't happen soon enough.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_beetle_/]

Yeah, it's not like we're in a war, or three, and we need all the willing soldiers we can get. The military should alienate the potential enlistees, and force the current enlistees into silence for fear of getting discharged.

Sheesh. And having to cover up body art that means so much, and for a military that can't appreciate even that sacrifice.

I'm glad your SiL is okay, though. And that she stopped bogarting your Xmas cards :)

[tabaqui]

Exactly! And wtf difference does it make, anyway? I hate that tired, trite 'omg, what if i have to shower/eat/bunk down with a gay guy? What if he *looks at me*!!!!!'

I'm like - you assholes. You already *have*, you just didn't know. Idiots.

I'll have to give SIL a call later today, make sure everything's still good. She was a teeny bit loopy yesterday, but not much.

Xmas in March! Wheeee!
:)

[deirdre-c.livejournal.com]

DADT is a horrible and untenable policy and I can't WAIT until it is thrown under the bus and run over multiple times until crushed into tiny, unrecognizable pieces. :\

[tabaqui]

YES!!
Me too.
*stomps it hard*

[saifai.livejournal.com]

Good to hear your sis-in-law is doing well. LOL @ the xmas cards.

That's just awful about that woman. So many things happen for that sort of thing. A co-worker of mine got married to a friend while she was in the marines just so the suspicion would be off her for promotions and such. Wasn't too much of a hardship I guess for her, but I guess it just is awful they have to go through things like that.

[tabaqui]

Thank you! And xmas in March is kinda fun. :)

Wow, that sucks. I would hate to have to maintain that kind of lie just so bigoted assholes can feel 'safe'. Jayzus.

[dancetomato.livejournal.com]

As someone who is in the closet because of her profession, I say, YES, this has GOT TO END. *clings to you*

[tabaqui]

GAH!
That's just...fucked.
*hugs you hard*

random commenter

[rowanda380.livejournal.com]

I am glad your sisters surgery went well, what a nice sister you are to be there for her!

Re: random commenter

[tabaqui]

Thank you!
I enjoy sitting around and talking with her, so it wasn't a hardship.
:)

[des-pudels-kern.livejournal.com]

Gah! Just. *gesticulates* Bad.

Aren't here some states in which gay marriage is legal? How can the US military ignore/fire people because of something that is (or could be) a legally recognized relationship?

[tabaqui]

I know!! Grrrrrrr.

And yes, it's legal in a few places but the military doesn't have any regulations in place to *recognize* that, and so if you say 'me and my partner are legally married in Mass!' all they hear is 'same sex marriage = gay = kick 'em out'. Sucks.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

I can't wait for DADT to be repealed.

*anger*

[tabaqui]

Me too!
I'm so glad Obama is going about it carefully and with forethought so it will be a *permanent* change.

[trishabooms.livejournal.com]

How awful for them.

There was a time you know when I really admired the US attitude on gay rights, as did so many of my friends who were fighting for a less bigoted attitude in this country. For some reason you seem to have started going backwards (at a pretty fair pace, I have to say) on this.

It's tragic, it really is! When will people learn that love is love and something to be celebrated in all its forms?

[tabaqui]

I know! I can't stand all these bigoted, terrified, *small* people who are just out there making other people miserable. And for what? So they can feel superior, and so they can clutch the rags of their 'moral majority' to themselves, in the hopes that the 'good ole days' will magically come back.

Bah!
*spits*

[anelith.livejournal.com]

I am crossing my fingers about the recent move to get DADT repealed. Very hopeful this time it will sink, especially after all the news about the Arabic translators that were tossed for being gay. I mean, how *stupid* was that?

Best wishes to your SIL for a speedy recovery!

[tabaqui]

Me too! I know the president is working hard to *make* it work, and make it stick. So - more power to him!

And thank you - i'll pass that along to her!
:)

[moimoietmoi.livejournal.com]

These women must be pretty strong to stay in the military when it means doing all those sacrifices. I admire them!

[tabaqui]

They seem like remarkable people to me, too - just one more reason why they should have *equal treatment* under the law.

[missus-grace.livejournal.com]

That's so sad about Cat's client and her partner. But I did my bit...one of the friends I went to Vegas with was getting kind of fundamental about the issue. I held my ground, maintaining that gays deserved all the rights that heteros get re: marriage, insurance benefits, adoption, etc. I kept at it until she ran out of steam.

Probably had no impact on the long run, but I felt good about not giving in or giving up my position.

Because you're right. It does have to end.

[tabaqui]

Good on you!
Never back down on something as fundamental as equality before the law. People who object just do *not* get it.

[riani1.livejournal.com]

Apparently, recent discussions with the military brass have revealed a growing belief that DADT is an antiquated law, but there are still some who believe that it presents an unhealthy distraction for soldiers to be wondering if their comrades are like *that*. Which is insulting to the soldiers.

By the way, what is your current email? I have a question re: a potential Supernatural story.

[tabaqui]

Yes!
They're moving forward on it, but it's slow. Grrrrrrr!!

And you know what?

I got this comment *after* i got your email. How weird is that?

[riani1.livejournal.com]

Well, I put in the comment after I sent it, because I wasn't sure if that was the correct address and figured I'd ask. And anyway, Hi!

[tabaqui]

Hi!
And it was, and i just sent you a reply.
:)