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This is a little essay that had been brewing in my mind since hurricane Katrina, and which I actually put together last month in honor of Martin Luther King, jr.'s birthday, though it applies to all of us, not just blacks. Liza keeps reminding me I should publish more on Culture Kitchen and I am finally heeding her call.

While taking off to baby sit my toddler on Martin Luther King, jr.'s birthday, I happened to watch some old All in the Family episodes. For those who are too young to remember, this was the Sit Com that broke all the rules so that all modern Sit Coms could do what they do. In fact it broke so many rules it probably would be unacceptable today now that reactionaries have taken away so much. It directly faced such previously forbidden topics as racism, sexism, rape, addiction, etc. All in the Family was one of the most pivotal TV shows in the history of the medium.

One episode I watched on Martin Luther King, jr.'s birthday struck me. Archie Bunker's niece went out on a date with Lionel. Again, for those who don't remember, Archie was a racist (though a well-meaning one!) and Lionel was one of the first serious black characters in TV history. Young, proud and intelligent, Lionel was the opposite of the racial stereotypes that dominated television. The very concept of a mixed race couple was practically unacceptable on TV at the time and it took a show like All in the Family to confront America with it's racism. The episode focused on both Archie Bunker and Lionel's uncle taking the young couple to task for betraying their race. The old generation, black and white, could not take the idea of a mixed race couple. The younger generation in essence told the older generation to mind their own business.

When I read on AmericaBlog that there's a new controversy surrounding the right-wing hate group Exodus International, my initial response was simply "You repressed, self-hating queens should really just go out and finally get laid". I think that's a normal reaction to the activities of an "ex-gay" group. Their basic premise is that if you love Jesus more than you love Brad Pitt, you can indeed turn hetero; this despite a centuries-long experiment to the contrary known colloquially as 'the catholic clergy'.

Well, Exodus is now renting billboards to spread their message.

Hilariously, this billboard was parodied by a blogger. Whereupon Exodus, I shit you not, sent the guy a cease and desist. Here's the parody billboard:

It's one thing to be, privately, a self-loathing and unhappy human being. It's another to invite others into the miseries inherent in your debased and sick 'lifestyle'. I think this calls for an intervention; we must talk to the folks at Exodus and get them to repent. Here's my idea for a billboard:

All over the country, people are trapped in a perverted way of life that leads to sexual abuse of children, filth flowing from our televisions into our homes, polygamy, the traumatizing of the young with torture scenes, anti-semitism, and many other evils besides. Is it not time to step up to the plate, root out this perversion, and help groups that seek to rescue people from such lifestyle choices?

Talk about the dance of planned parenthood -- I've known two families through their adoption of baby daughters from China.

Adopted in China, Seeking Identity in America
Most of the children are younger than 10, and an organized subculture has developed around them, complete with play groups, tours of China and online support groups.
Molly and Qiu Meng represent the leading edge of this coming-of-age population, adopted just after the laws changed and long before such placements became popular, even fashionable. . .

The first was an older couple, financially and professionally well-off in their second marriage and wanting to be a family with children. They went through a Catholic adoption process and asked us to write a formal recommendation for their application, assessing the qualities we believed would make them good parents.

Although my family left the immediate neighborhood while the daughter they'd named Amber was still a toddler, we see them out and about, at the grocery store, park or credit union. Today she is a gawky, grinning 'tween, strikingly similar in age, culture, cadence and affinities -- for Harry Potter and chess -- to our Florida-born son. The two obvious differences between them, race and sex, seem irrelevant.