tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5853473956636581568.post7978372513692800732..comments2023-07-24T06:48:47.893-07:00Comments on Rights of Passage: We're back from Ovett, MississippiEd and Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05793425276713018534noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5853473956636581568.post-11736505798933971932008-05-10T09:58:00.000-07:002008-05-10T09:58:00.000-07:00Rights of Passage are personal, compelling stories...Rights of Passage are personal, compelling stories that need to be shared.<BR/>In 1997, I was assistant to the COO of a nationally known HMO. At a senior management retreat conducted by a “facilitator”, each member was asked to describe for the group a painful period in their life. I “came out” to my coworkers for the first time. I also shared about being in a relationship with a man for the twenty years. I described the pain and isolation of living through a betrayal and breakup of that relationship. <BR/>From that moment forward, the COO of the HMO would not work with me. I will never forget the shock and humiliation of that experience which resulted in my leaving the company. I did not look for work again in that region of CA and moved to the Bay Area.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5853473956636581568.post-7410848189301978492008-05-07T13:30:00.000-07:002008-05-07T13:30:00.000-07:00To Prince-Mab we'd like to say thanks for engaging...To Prince-Mab we'd like to say thanks for engaging with this issue. Your comments and viewpoint are very much appreciated. Without them, and others like them along the way, the theatre piece we are trying to create will not have an authentic voice nor will it be the wakeup call we want.<BR/><BR/>Your point that Mississippi is its own unique place and not beholden to San Francisco or anyplace else for its direction is well taken. It is not our intent to impose outside values but only to record our impressions. The comments about redneck and right wing religious stereotypes, we realize now, are insensitive but as you pointed out Camp Sister Spirit made us think. And it gave us the opportunity to change. So now when the standard stereotypes of what it's like in the south are brought out we can challenge them--that's not a bad outcome. Which is not to say that we're experts on LGBT life in the south after a three-day visit, but we know more now than we did before.<BR/><BR/>We hope that you will drop back into our blog again and continue to say what you think.Ed and Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05793425276713018534noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5853473956636581568.post-24705159579702093902008-05-06T14:19:00.000-07:002008-05-06T14:19:00.000-07:00Well, you see what the summit has done. Educated p...Well, you see what the summit has done. Educated people..which is the purpose of Ed and Bob's play to begin with. Let's face it folks...Mississippi is a unique place to work and live, especially if your different. People from all over the WORLD think we still have outhouses and we still lynch people (and we do right in Parchman Penetentiary...I got back up evidence to prove it)It is up to us to educate a world not just a few people here and there. Ed and Bob's venue will allow us to reach out to many people who believed the way they did before they came and met us. This is a success! Nothing negative about it. Look at the BEST side of this. Please. I am so sick of the complaining and moaning. Folks need to get out of the bars and into the streets! I personally attest that the MAJORITY of queers in Mississippi are in the "bar culture". This needs to change if we are to prove to people that we are not stereotypical. Don'tcha think?<BR/><BR/>Andie Gibbs-Henson, M. Ed.<BR/>Camp Sister Spirit Folk School<BR/>and a Proud Mississippi Lesbian and VOTING democrat!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5853473956636581568.post-42106825267213043132008-05-05T14:55:00.000-07:002008-05-05T14:55:00.000-07:00I'm a queer guy from MS, and have attended the sum...I'm a queer guy from MS, and have attended the summit in the past, but couldn't this year, unfortunately.<BR/>Thank you for covering this event.<BR/>However, I find your stereotyped view of MS very concerning. Phrases like "stepping into the past," for example. I assure you, it is 2008 in MS as well as in San Francisco. Being a rural, Southern state we do have our own challenges to overcome, but liberal/progressive/and radical Mississippians are challenging racism, homophobia, poverty and gender oppression daily.<BR/>Your class-based assumptions are really harmful, that all (poor) Mississippians are rednecks or repressive religious types.<BR/>I'm thankful that you said the summit made you think about such things, and I would encourage you to challenge others with stereotyped regional stereotypes. Truly, I can be a vegetarian, queer, socialist, and anti-racist Redneck Christian if I want. If you are interested in building a queer community, please check your clasism at the CA state line.<BR/>To address the notion of a "backward" place, I assure you that I, for one, do not want MS to "progress" toward being like San Francisco. Not that San Francisco is a bad place, but We are Mississippi, with our history of violence and struggle, race relations, music, food, hospitality and people. Yes, I fight for LGBT equality and visibility in the state, but when it is achieved it will not be that we are becoming more like you, but that we are calling on our unique traditions and culture to realize the call of equality for all our citizens.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com