Pride 2021 and the Big Gay Picture

Pride season is a lot sweeter this year than it was over the last four years, for obvious reasons. After enduring the Orange Menace’s fucknuttery-filled reign of terror, I so badly needed in my life those pics of Vice President Harris and her big, dazzling smile strutting out on stage in that bedazzled rainbow jacket. It renewed my faith in the belief that good triumphs over evil, and it reminded me that powerful people are still on my side.

This year I’m also reminded that Pride month isn’t just about prancing around looking all cute in our rainbow swag. Don’t get me wrong. I own plenty of it and love sporting it in June and throughout the year. It’s sort of like wearing a Purple Heart for surviving the time in my life when I was so uncomfortable in my own skin that I felt I needed to conceal all traces of the real me. In a small way, displaying the rainbow symbol also honors those who did not.

But this year’s Pride, aside from being gloriously supported by President Biden and VP Harris, should serve as a warning of what could and will happen if the Religious Right is again allowed to install another zealot (or charlatan as was the case in 2016) in the White House. We saw it unfold immediately as Trump, cheered on by his base, systematically tried and succeeded in snuffing out many of the gains the LGBTQ community made under the Obama administration, and before he and McConnell stacked the Supreme Court with ultraconservative justices. From the ban on trans people serving in the military to various cases where blatant instances of anti-LGBTQ sentiment and discrimination were won in courts, the Right made good use of Trump’s one, overall foul and pointless term.

This was not a test, friends. We and our allies have less than four years to try to remove the targets the GOP had long ago placed on the backs of LGBTQ Americans. We’ve been used as political pawns long enough. As Rachel Maddow once said, “The thing about rights is they’re not actually supposed to be voted on. That’s why they’re called rights.” And they should never be denied or legislated for any reason, especially for something as toxic and self-serving as political leverage.

Change is possible but despite what republicans will tell you, it doesn’t happen through thoughts and prayers. (Insert big eye-roll here)

So what can we do to champion true LGBTQ equality besides looking fierce in our Pride shirts and rainbow flip flops? For one, keep being loud and proud everywhere you go. Remember, it’s the unruly hair that gets the product. Secondly, encourage our republican friends and allies to contact GOP politicians and tell them that our rights matter. Only GOP voters can convince these politicians that they will lose support and votes if they continue using us to gain favor from the bigots in their constituency. What else can we do? Vote. Vote as though your freedom depends on it…because it does. At least until the Equality Act is passed. And if it means being a single-issue voter, then be a single-issue voter. I shamelessly admit I was in 2020. And I’ll continue to be until we no longer have to fight for something that was supposed to be ours since the day we were born.

And buy more pride gear. ‘Cuz you look damn cute in it!

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How to contact GOP politicians?
Tweet: @GOP, @HouseGOP, @SenateGOP
Email: Search the web for the website of your GOP senators and representative.

Jean Copeland is an author, blogger, and educator from Connecticut.

The Joy of Women’s History Month and the Men Ruining it for Us

As a writer and high school English teacher, it comes as no surprise that I love irony. And this year’s Women’s History Month has not disappointed.

Imagine… after 245 years we finally elected a female Vice President of a country created under the auspices of all “men” being created equal by a man who owned other men and women. Well, if that isn’t a reason to celebrate extra this March…  But heaven forbid we try to enjoy the pride and pageantry of the one month out of an entire year where we acknowledge and bask in women’s amazing contributions to our world without men inserting themselves into it as seamlessly as they do a mansplanation at the office and stealing our thunder.

And by men, of course, I’m specifically referring to a sexually harassing cartoon skunk and another gross and ubiquitous character, the angry white male shooter who, this time around, decided to gun down six women in an Atlanta massage parlor because he couldn’t control his deviant sexual urges. How fucking biblical!

But first, let’s unpack the Pepe Le Pew scandal. Many years before the modern so-called “cancel culture” tried to hold accountable this horny, innocent little skunk for grabbing and kissing a cat that had zero interest in him, comedian Dave Chappelle, known for all kinds of offensive, pejorative jokes, observed when he watched the cartoon with his young nephew, that Pepe was actually a “fucking rapist.” The rest of Chappelle’s joke suggested that the cartoon was teaching his nephew that “sometimes you just gotta take the pussy.” By our standards today, Pepe goes at it at about the second-degree sexual assault level. And, as expected, every anti-progressive has crawled out from under their rocks to express their outrage that poor Mr. Le Pew is the latest misunderstood male under attack.

• 

  Warner Bros. Entertainment

Rather than decrying libs as getting too crazy going after cartoon characters, what we should be doing is using this as a teachable moment. It’s a perfect opportunity to reinforce the idea to young boys and girls that, despite what the cartoon character is doing….or the future Supreme Court justice at his frat house kegger for that matter, you can’t just take what you want from another person, whether it’s a kiss or her pussy, without their consent. And to compare this “innocent” cartoon to Cardi B’s recent hyper-sexual, anti-family performance at the Grammys is completely off target given that however raunchy her performance was, it was consensual. In fact, that response is so typically, predictably misogynistic in that it links a woman’s sexuality and self-expression to what’s usually considered the next obvious step: she gets raped for it.

Ah, the perfect segue into the next misogynistic sexual deviant to ruin this year’s Women’s History Month for us, the disturbed twenty-one-year-old with a freshly purchased gun. This chap decided to murder six Asian women in a massage parlor this week because of his alleged sex addiction, targeting that place and those women as a “temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate.” Even if these killings weren’t racially motivated, as the assailant claims, we should all be just as outraged if they were motivated by the victims’ genders.

Not surprising this occurred in the bible-thumping south. After all, doesn’t the “good book” suggest that women are wanton, lustful creatures who’ll drive a man to sin and sexual deviance as quick and easy as they can make him a sandwich afterward? Ugh. Nothing disgusts me more than that time-honored tradition of blaming women for men’s aggression, violence, and warped, unchecked privilege.  

 When is it going to change? Certainly not any time soon as long as we still have so many people who downplay, defend, and dismiss seemingly innocent images of non-consensual sex in our culture in the name of nostalgia and tradition. Ah, the good old “skunks will be skunks” shake-off of the victimization of females, whether they’re real-life women or cartoon cats. Using the phrase “cancel culture” every time we’re faced with another uncomfortable part of our collective cultural past is just a convenient way to avoid facing one of the many inconvenient truths in our history.

We should never erase or destroy or “cancel” anything in our history, and that is not what holding people and institutions accountable for their actions is all about. But we should be able to talk about things and change them when they no longer serve the ideals involved in making our world a better place.

As a great woman in American history, Maya Angelou, once said: “When we know better, we do better.” In 2021, we do know better. We should at least try to start doing better in honor of all the great women, mothers, daughters, sisters, and friends who had to carry those burdens silently before we all got woke.

Happy Women’s History Month!

A Riot’s Message: Yes, There is One

When you don’t water your houseplants, and they die, who is to blame? The plant for dying or you for failing to water it?

This latest American tragedy has pushed everyone to the edge. George Floyd is dead. His family will forever live with his loss, and we, as a society, will have to live with the damage wrought by it. Many are lamenting George Floyd’s death in the same breath they’re saying rioting is not the answer. While I enjoy posts from white people reminding us that MLK never participated in a violent riot during his civil rights protests, I’d like to remind those who slept during US history class that MLK was murdered by a bullet to the head. Great example of how peaceful protests solve problems.

I’m at a point now where my anger, sadness, and frustration for Floyd and the ongoing struggles of the AA community have morphed into pure frustration toward the people who are condemning and judging those involved in the riots. By their own words, it is evident that they’re still failing to recognize the pain and the fear that have ignited all this chaos.  

I’m not annoyed that they are expressing themselves. What annoys me is that these are the same people who literally say and do NOTHING in support of ending systemic racism, bigotry, and/or discrimination of all minority groups but are right there to spout off judgments about how protestors react to it. This discrimination is real, not a political tactic to derail Trump’s chance at re-election as he loves telling anyone who’ll listen. And the injustice comes in many forms, the worst of which is a police officer killing you when you’re unarmed and already face-down in handcuffs.

If these individuals even once posted something in support of ending these cycles of discrimination, I would definitely be willing to hear them out. But when you ignore the cause and then condemn the effect, you’ve already invalidated the righteous indignation you’re preaching on social media. At best you’re showing the internet that you only respect one side of a hot issue, and at worst you’re using a sad, horrible situation to vent the deep-seated racism that societal norms force you to keep bottled up.

Here’s the part most people are grappling with: Protests are not meant to be neat and tidy the way conservatives would like them to be. When they are peaceful and silent, it invites the oppressors and their enablers to ignore whatever injustice is being called out. By their very nature, protests are messy and scary and dangerous because the oppressed group is scared and endangered and have exhausted all other avenues. They’ve finally run out of patience waiting to receive what the US Constitution promised them as Americans hundreds of years ago. You can walk right by a peaceful protest, but you gotta admit it’s hard to ignore a riot.

Might I suggest that if you’re sick of the chaos and anarchy that occurs when people are denied their basic rights as Americans and human beings, you could try opening your fucking mouth for them instead of against them for a change. Stand up for your oppressed fellow citizens when things are calm, and you’ll never have to witness another riot again.

As I close, since we all love quoting MLK, let me leave you with my new favorite: “A riot is the language of the unheard.” Through this latest tragedy we have another opportunity to hear the message, to work on healing our society, and to create some shred of good through which we can honor the memory of George Floyd and all those before him. Are we ready to start listening yet?

Meme “borrowed” from the Boeskool: Jesus, Politics and Bathroom Humor

Jean Copeland is a blogger and award-winning author of lesbian fiction.

https://www.boldstrokesbooks.com/authors/jean-copeland-113

2020 Census for Dummies: Yes, Lots of Us Will Still Be Invisible

I recently posted an article on my FB page from NBCnews.com about the “erasure” of LGBTQ Americans on the 2020 US Census.

The article was from 2017 so, naturally, I got some comments about it being old and/or misleading information. Turns out, it’s really not. Yes, the 2020 Census has an option for same sex married or unmarried partner regarding the person or people you share your household with, but that’s the extent of it. Times have changed dramatically for LGBTQ Americans over the last ten years, and the US Census should reflect that. For those thinking or even itching to ask, “Hey, you got your same-sex partner option. Why aren’t you satisfied,” here’s why:

The 2020 US Census will only count gay men and lesbians who live with someone. That’s it. The census will not tally single gay and lesbian Americans or those who have same-sex relationships with people they don’t live with. And the only gender options are male or female. So right there, our community’s numbers are misrepresented to the low side. This is a major problem.

Now let’s review the rest of the letters. The Census does NOT count the millions, yes, millions of Americans who identify as bi-sexual, trans, or any of the others who identify in the Q (queer) realm. As it has been with all of previous censuses, those citizens will again be erased from existence as far as federal statistics are concerned.

According to the Williams Institute, as of 2011, approximately 4,000,000 Americans identify as bi-sexual, and on the 2020 US Census, they will not be counted.

The same survey also revealed that over a half million Americans identified as trans. Mind you, this survey was done almost ten years ago. Surely, those numbers are higher in 2020, but the federal government won’t find that out, and it’s obvious that the current presidential administration does not care to.

http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/Gates-How-Many-People-LGBT-Apr-

So why is accurate representation important? The answers are frighteningly simple: government funding and demographic information for elected members of Congress.

• LGBTQ people are disproportionately more likely to be victims of hate crimes, murder, suicide, anxiety and depression, and addiction. Accurate representation of LGBTQ Americans will help law enforcement and social service workers better serve our community by obtaining the financial resources from the feds they’ll need to do it.
• Elected officials need to know the diverse make-up of the citizens they represent. That’s why the census asks questions like do you rent or own your home, what is your race and ethnicity, and educational levels. If millions of Americans are made invisible by insufficient census information, politicians cannot fairly legislate, especially when it comes to the numerous anti-LGBTQ bills, ordinances, and out-right bans our community is still fighting against.   

It’s too late for 2020, but by 2030, there absolutely must be a question concerning how an individual identifies, e.g. gay, lesbian, bi, trans, queer. Without it elected officials will continue to under represent a substantial part of their constituency, over 5 million tax-paying Americans.

It’s time for the LGBTQ community to be fully and accurately included in the US Census, not only because we’re law-abiding, tax-paying Americans like everyone else, but also because as Americans we inherently deserve the same political, economic, and social opportunities straight-white America has enjoyed for centuries.

Jean Copeland is an author, activist, and feminist. View her author page:

https://www.boldstrokesbooks.com/authors/jean-copeland-113

The Spellbound Interview You Didn’t Know You Were Waiting For! ⚔️📖📚

https://www.boldstrokesbooks.com/blog/interview-jackie-djean-copeland-179

Available everywhere Tues January 14. Click to purchase…

Ellen and the New Age of Uncle Tomism

Be kind—Ellen’s simplistic, almost childlike solution to all the world’s problems. The problem with that is what it really accomplishes is minimizing serious issues that require serious attention. Take the current fight for LGBTQ equality. For some Americans this isn’t just a matter of agreeing to disagree on a difference of opinion. This is a matter of personal freedom, safety, and the ability to earn a living, and the ‘be kind’ mantra makes those fighting to correct this problem seem like crybabies.  

I get that all poor Ellen wanted to do that day was watch a pro-football game in luxury box seats surrounded by other elite, filthy rich people, but the fact is, whether she likes it or not, she’s an LGBTQ icon. She doesn’t get to enjoy the publicity of cozying up with her former-president friend, George W. Bush, without having to issue a statement justifying her refusal to call her friend out on his rampant anti-LGBT bullshit during his presidency. I mean didn’t sitting next to him with her wife make her think, This fucker actually tried to alter the fucking U.S. Constitution so Portia and I could never be married? Apparently, when you’re a multi-millionaire insulated by celebrity and privilege that doesn’t occur to you. (Click link for article)

https://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/02/24/elec04.prez.bush.marriage/

What her recent photo op has done for me is force me to confront my own perspective on the meaning of friendship and the mistake I’ve been making with some of my own friends over the last three years. As kids you assume—hell, you shout it from the highest mountain—that true friendship means your friends will walk through fire with you, no matter what.

However, I’ve come to realize that as an adult, I’d been holding on to a childlike, romantic fantasy about what I should be able to expect from friends. And I have to admit it’s been a jagged nacho to swallow.  

I’m reminded of a time in early 2016 when a friend had expressed to me how sad it made her to learn that I had to hide who I was in high school in the 80s and that she wished I told her I was a lesbian, so she could’ve stood by me. Moments later, she proceeded to debate me about why Donald Trump would make an excellent president. A rather mixed message I’d say, one that I’ve never quite figured out how to interpret beyond the expression, “put your money [vote] where your mouth is.”

I’ve been able to bargain away the apathy of my friends who indirectly support the prejudices and inequity touted by the Republican party by assuring myself that if those Alt-right/evangelical kooks ever do get their way and gays are suddenly likened to Jews during Hitler’s reign in Europe, those friends would be there for me, risking their own safety to hide me in their attic. I’d like to think that, but if they’re not willing to stand up for me when it would cost them than nothing more than a vote that technically doesn’t even count living in Connecticut… (now, Jean. That’s just crazy talk.)

Politics aside, I know that if I needed money or a place to stay or a table to have a holiday meal at, my friends would be there for me without question. I love when we drink, gossip, and laugh, and that we all share a long history, but sometimes that nostalgia comes at an emotional cost for me.

Maybe it’s true that the older people get, the more conservative they become. Not everyone has the courage to be like Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, the white civil rights student activists who died alongside their black friend, James Chaney, in Mississippi in 1964, murdered by white supremacists the same year President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law. (Click link for Freedom Summer Murders article)

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/freedomsummer-murder/

I try to imagine myself in a Handmaid’s Tale scenario and wonder if I’d be brave enough to fight to the death for my rights. I honestly don’t know, but there’s something romantic as hell in Patrick Henry’s quote, “Give me liberty or give me death.”

I can say without an iota of doubt that if a political party was targeting a specific group of Americans, especially one to whom my friends belonged, I would absolutely renounce that party and stand by them, walking the walk, until that party changed their destructive beliefs. That’s the only way it will be stopped and the social tide of ignorance, bigotry, and oppression be turned.

But that’s a perspective I’ve gained belonging to a targeted group, and one perhaps others not in my shoes can’t grasp deeply enough to be motivated into action.

I can’t help wondering if those who espouse Ellen’s ‘Be kind’ slogan would also expect people of color to remain friends with someone who suddenly, casually announced they’ve become a white nationalist. Is it okay then to say “fuck being kind and fuck you for not having my back?”

I get why they say friends shouldn’t discuss politics. It slaughters that big pink elephant of delusion in the room we humans so desperately need to function in life. But as mature adults in a complicated world, we can’t fully put politics aside. Like it or not, they are an indicator of our personal values, and values are vitally important when it comes to who you confide in and spend precious time with.

And yes, Ellen. I will absolutely be kind to anyone, until I learn that person is an active participant in the systematic oppression of LGBTQ Americans. Then I say, “Fuck you. You don’t deserve my kindness.”

Frankly, I think it’s irresponsible of Ellen, a role model to many young people, to suggest that they owe their oppressors, bullies, or even friends unconditional kindness. Sounds kind of Uncle Tomish to me. Instead, why not encourage young people to politely call out those people for the damage their actions or words bring upon others?  

The impassivity and indifference that arise from the “agree to disagree” cop-out enables a dangerous paradox. The level of it I’ve seen in the last few years from wise and compassionate people clearly elucidates why social justice movements usually take 75 to 100 years to realize change. When you’re not part of the targeted group, it’s so much easier to sip your cocktail and pretend the problem isn’t as urgent as the whiny liberals make it out to be.

Kindness, like respect, must be a two-way street. I refuse to stay quiet for the sake of anyone’s feelings while my own government tramples over me and those who claim to love me enable it. My days of martyrdom to make others comfortable are over. And if someone ever sits me next to an anti-LGBTQ policy or lawmaker, bet your ass, I’ll kindly ask them to explain their position. Like someone with Ellen’s level of power and influence should’ve done.

As for the folks who think opening your mouth against people who tolerate injustice and discrimination against LGBTQs is unkind and unreasonable, perhaps you might consider redirecting your frustration toward the groups who are the cause of it. Then we’ll be back on the same page again, agreeing to disagree about stupid, inconsequential shit, the way friendship was meant to be.

A Mammo & Ultrasound Once Every Spring ☢… These are a Few of My Favorite Things

Last month I went for my annual mammogram. It’s supposed to prevent women from dying horrible, prolonged, and expensive cancer deaths, so health insurance companies rigorously encourage us to be proactive in maintaining our good health. In addition to the mammo, my health care providers insist I get a companion ultrasound because my titties are as thick and fine as a Kardashian’s ass.

So imagine my surprise when I received a claim recap a few weeks later saying that I’m responsible for approximately $434 of that highly-encouraged preventative care. I didn’t elect to have this procedure, so how could I be charged for preventative care when my insurance plan covers preventative care? I suppose the answer lies ensconced deep within the massive ball of red tape inside any insurance conglomerate. The culprit who made this seemingly arbitrary determination must be a vindictive member of the Itty-Bitty Titty Committee. Or a man. I’ll wager my bloated co-pay on the latter.

This got me thinking how many other financial penalties do I pay just for being a woman?

First, I analyzed the expenditures men incur simply being men. As with women, whatever extra expenses men pay usually pertain to their nether regions. However, their cost is significantly lower and for less consistent lengths of time. As I discovered once browsing a local hardware store, (yes, some lesbians really do enjoy that), some men suffer a tragic condition known as “monkey butt,” a cutsie way of saying chafed ass crack. But that’s only some men, usually men who work strenuous jobs where they work up a good sweat on the daily. Okay. A tube of that magic balm costs them about $7.99 and probably lasts a good six months, depending on how much they sweat or how big their asses are.

Now if you’re a male athlete, you’ll incur the expense of protecting and preserving any and all things testicle-related. You’ll need the jockstrap costing between $8.99 and $25.00, depending on the brand. And you’ll probably also need that special ball powder to keep your mushy little corn hole bag dry during those intense “ball” games. (See what I did there?) And then possibly a can of jock itch spray—if that’s still a thing? It’s been a long time since I had teenage brothers. After thorough research, my findings conclude jock itch spray is indeed still a thing, and it’ll run you about 12 bucks. Again this is probably only a once annual expense, depending on how much you sweat or…  how big your balls are?

In either case of monkey butt or athlete’s crotch, men do not suffer these conditions consistently for forty years of their lives as women do with menstruation. I’ll bet there’s even an impressive percentage of men out there who’ve never been affected enough by either affliction to require forking over lots of their own money to treat it.

The Whole “Package” Probably Runs Ya About $40

That brings me back to the women. (Sounds like a country song I could write about my life, but I digress). Here’s a quick and dirty rundown of the expenses women must pay simply by virtue of being women. Foremost, nearly every woman will require pads and/or tampons monthly for a span of about forty years, give or take, with only a small percentage of women who may have medical issues that stop menstruation.

The Huffington Post broke down the average lifetime cost of a woman’s period in an eye-opening 2015 article:

18 grand for a plumbing system I’ve never used? Are you fucking kidding me? 🤦‍♀️

Special Footnotes for the Fellas:

*Panty liners = Think drip pans during your driveway oil changes

*Chocolate = If you think chocolate isn’t an essential for survival during a period, try taking that candy bar out of your lady’s hand and see what happens.

Currently, there’s a push in the US to get public schools to pay for sanitary products for students, replacing the pay dispensers in the girls’ bathrooms. This sounds like a no-brainer. It’s a health and sanitary necessity. To my knowledge nobody in the history of public schools has ever had to pay for their own toilet paper. Why should girls have to pay extra for what their bodies naturally expel once a month? New Hampshire is one state that’s, as usual, ahead of the curve. (Click link below for article)

https://www.vnews.com/N-H-passes-law-requiring-public-schools-to-provide-free-pads-tampons-in-bathrooms-27066373

Again, the cynic in me raises an imperfect eyebrow and posits that if boys started bleeding from their wieners once a month, Congress would call an immediate special session and vote on free wiener pad funding for all public schools nationwide in a hot minute.

Other than that, medications for erectile dysfunction, (a judgment by God… just kidding 🤣 ), are covered in full by most health insurance plans.

But wait. We’re not done with the women expenses. Here’s a list of sometime incidentals specifically associated with the female anatomy as comparable to the above man list:

• Menopause: If you’re like me and at the stage of perimenopause where the symptoms are irritating enough to entertain OTC remedies before you dive right into the prescription HRT that has long been suspected to cause certain cancers, your average cost for a 30-day supply of an OTC supplement is between $10-25. For you mathematics enthusiasts, you can multiply that cost times 12 and then that number by 5 because that’s how many years the average menopause takes. (Approx. $800)

50 is the New $21.99. Per Month. For Menopause Supplements. 😣

• Sanity Maintenance: I would be remiss if I did not include the additional cost of alcohol and/or sedatives necessary to survive some days living as a woman in a man’s world, (i.e. mansplaining, manspreading, man making more money for doing the same job). These supplies are especially crucial for women raising children. (Wine costs incalculable unless you’re Rain Man.)

• Cooch Care: Lest we forget the colorful array of conditions that can arise merely from having intercourse with men, delightful things like UTIs or vaginal bacterial imbalances or STDs that can result when men don’t wear condoms. All of these will require some type of treatment as they rarely go away by themselves. (Thank you, dear Sappho, for exempting me from at least one of these groups.)

Women’s rights advocates have spent the last fifty or so years unpacking and debating the importance of gender equality, how women can do anything men can do and should be compensated equally for it, and so on. But when will gender equity have its day? When will society realize that things like feminine sanitary products and ultrasounds for at-risk women and other expenses relating to proper health care are not luxuries women can live without? They are not incidentals that result from something that a woman chooses to do, like, for instance, participate in sports.

We have a long-standing tradition in this country among law and policy makers of ignoring these extra financial burdens on women, yet the moment a treatment for a penis-related crisis like ED arises, insurance is on top of it without question.

The battle still rages on.

So until women achieve full gender equity, each time I catch a male stealing a glimpse of my ample, expensive-to-keep-on-the-road titties, he’s getting a “sir” charge just for being a man. It’s not fair and it’s not right, but neither is making girls who aren’t even old to get jobs pay for sanitary products. Or insurance companies telling a woman she needs preventative care and then using evasive tactics like arbitrarily designating the costlier preventative procedures as non-preventative care to avoid paying claims.

As for the ladies who may sneak a peek at my dense, dazzling duo, this one’s on me. You pay for enough already. 😘

Follow Jean on Twitter @jeaniecopes and Insta @jeaniecopesauthor

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The October 8th Ruling: Ghoulishness Even Scarier than Halloween 🕸☠

As the leaves perform their leafy magic, and the October 1^st tax increases loom here in the Constitution State, I’m commiserating with those eager to flee Connecticut because of high taxes and seemingly endless budget deficits. Another of Connecticut’s nicknames, the “tax you to death,” is no doubt well-earned.

However, unlike most of my compatriots who dream of or are actually planning a move to a more financially stable state, I know I won’t be leaving any time soon, for one, because I’ve already adapted to the $.10 plastic bag tax, never having been a fan of seeing them flap in the wind from bare tree branches in winter. But the reality is I can’t leave, not if I want to continue having the audacity to live as an out lesbian and be a public school teacher.

Currently, in nearly thirty states in this “free” country of ours, I can be fired from my job for living openly as a lesbian. All it would take is a complaint or two from parents, and suddenly, my livelihood is in jeopardy because, in certain parts of the US, I’m viewed as unfit to educate children. My lifestyle is immoral, and according to some serious right-wing extremism, I may be secretly pushing my gay agenda on impressionable youngsters—as if we could win free timeshare points for every kid we recruit. I wish. 

On the Weekends We be Extra!

Now this may sound like the plot of an old black and white movie about rampant bigotry in the pre-Civil Rights South, but it isn’t. This is 2019. And while, it’s long been illegal to fire African-Americans from their jobs simply because they’re black, it is still legal to dismiss members of the LGBTQ community if an employer feels that our lifestyles conflict with their religious sensibilities. This is because the LGBTQ community is not specifically listed as a protected minority in the Civil Rights Act pertaining to job discrimination.

Atticus Finch, where are you?

But on October 8, 2019, our Supreme Court will issue a highly consequential ruling that will either change that or solidify it. And frankly, I’m terrified of the possibility of it being solidified, as it is a ruling that will likely stand for the rest of my life. (click link below for article)

https://www.businessinsider.com/lgbtq-employment-supreme-court-cases-explainer-2019-9

What that means is I’m stuck here in Connecticut, the tax-you-to-death-state because it’s one of only about twenty that have legislated equal rights for its LGBTQ citizens in all aspects of our lives. In essence, the ridiculously high taxes most residents here view as an unjust burden, I view as “protection money” so to speak, like one would pay to mobsters or prison gangs—money that I shouldn’t have to part with, but if I want the dignity to live and work safely and in true freedom, money I must pay.

So to anyone who still thinks presidents and politicians have no say in Americans’ civil rights, let me remind you once again that they do. Had Republican Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell not obstructed President Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, I wouldn’t be quite so riddled with anxiety right now awaiting my fate as it now rests in a majority of justices whose ideological beliefs mirror the conservative anti-LGBTQ values that continue to oppress us. 

I have to admit that it requires more mental energy than I care to expend to process living in a country where my access to equal protection under the law has to be voted on every few years. The angst is worse than trying to choose the quickest checkout lane in a grocery store during the busiest time of day. But at least if I pick the wrong lane, the worst thing that can happen is my rotisserie chicken won’t be as warm as I’m hoping when I get it home.

Get it while it’s hot!

If the Supreme Court chooses the wrong lane on this issue, I won’t ever bring home a warm rotisserie chicken again. As I count down to their decision on October 8^th, I can’t help contemplating how I will feel should they rule in favor of discrimination instead of equality. How shitty will it be if I’m condemned to live the rest of my life in a state I may not choose to because in over half of all the other states, I’ll still be regarded as a second-class citizen?

So from now until October 8^th, while you’re getting all curmudgeony that your trip to Shop-Rite now costs you $.30 more, be glad you’re not standing with me in the express lane to inequity. And if you decide that you’re fed up paying all these taxes and want to evacuate the state like a refugee of an economic disaster, be glad your main concern won’t be finding a state where something as insignificant as who you love can cost you your career.

Jean Copeland is a high school English teacher and award-winning lesfic novelist from Connecticut.

Shop her books: https://www.amazon.com/Jean-Copeland/e/B00P7YT9DS%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

The Anniversary of a Promise 🤞

Twenty-nine years ago today I started a job I didn’t want in a career I wanted even less. I remember the day as if it were yesterday for both the warm, sunny late summer weather outside and for the dark, depressing pall of doom that hovered over me inside the building. I didn’t want to be a receptionist.

At twenty-one, I wanted to be an actress or a screenwriter—my heart knew it, my soul knew it, and my Leo astrological sign knew it best of all. That was my destiny, to embark on a journey of creative exploration through which I could reach the masses, not as a mere computer keyboard-poking paper pusher.

The screenplay I had written a year earlier and a literary agent in Texas had agreed to represent, not surprisingly, was not picked up for production by a Hollywood studio, so after a year under contract, the agency had returned the manuscript to me with their warmest regards. Dejected, bordering on despondent but still living with my parents, I felt obliged to at least try to assimilate like a normally functioning adult in the working world.

And so it was, the Tuesday after Labor Day weekend 1990, I sat down at my new post at the Fuchs Lubricants Co. reception desk, a job handed me by a friend who was headed off to her senior year in college, and tried desperately not to bawl my eyes out. The thought of eight hours a day, five days at week staring at fake plants, 1970s interior décor, and the faces of a bunch of adults with that definitive look of having given up long ago, loomed over me like the Grim Reaper of hopes and dreams.

Seriously? A lesbian working for a company called Fuchs Lubricants?

I don’t remember anything of what was said to me that first day or what I’d said to others, but I remember each syllable of the promise I’d made to myself. “This isn’t forever.” I’d whispered it aloud as I willed my eyes not to pool and dug deep within my self-preservation reserve for something, anything to help me believe it.

But it wasn’t easy.

Life, low self-confidence, and the lowest of expectations anchored me in the job for the next thirteen years. As the years went by, I feared that this was indeed my manifest destiny. My heart never accepted it, but my brain, ever the realist, observed, as each year came and went, the light of the hope of future greatness dimming ever so gradually until it finally went black.

That was about when my life partner at the time rigorously encouraged me to quit my wretched employment and embark on a new journey toward a profession that would bring me at least enough fulfillment that I’d stop coming home each night and making her life miserable with a never-ending litany of job complaints.  

When I reached the stage where even I couldn’t stand myself anymore, I took the dive—quit the security of that full-time position, endured the culture shock of full-time college campus life, and somehow found the self-discipline to do at thirty-three years old what most people were doing at twenty. The end result? I became an English teacher. Huzzah!

Almost exactly fifteen years to the day I’d nearly surrendered all my dreams to a steady paycheck and impressive health benefits package, I’d finally made good on the promise I’d made myself that sad day in 1990.

I was now a high school English teacher…a nervous high school English teacher who needed to get a Master’s degree to keep her full-time position.

Enter the creative writing program at Southern CT State University. Again forced into something I probably never would’ve pursued through my own volition, I opted for the creative writing thesis to avoid having to take two extra classes. During that time, I gave birth to my first “child,” the thesis novella that would become the coming out, coming of age Goldie award-winning lesfic novel, The Revelation of Beatrice Darby.

Biggest, Bestest Surprise Ever!

Now as I observe the twenty-ninth anniversary of the most important promise I’ve ever made, I write this to commune with all those who’ve ever promised something to themselves and have made it happen, are still waiting to make it happen, or have simply never had the inspiration to make a promise to themselves at all. To all of you, I say make the promise, and for fuck’s sake, keep the promise! No matter how long it takes, remember what you wanted, remember what you felt you deserved from this life and scrounge up the fucking the courage, whether you beg, borrow, or steal it, to make it happen.

At age fifty, am I the rich, famous writer I’d fantasized about being as a kid? Fuck no. But I’m living my best life, and I make no apologies and harbor no regrets.

I teach, I write, and I live. What more can I ask of this crazy, messy cluster fuck of an existence than to be free enough to allow myself permission to feel satisfied with myself and my life at the end of each day?

Shop Jean’s novels at:

https://www.amazon.com/Jean-Copeland/e/B00P7YT9DS%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

50 Years of F*cknuttery: What it Took Me Half a Century to Learn

Now that AARP has seduced me into its cult of early-bird specials and discounted movie passes, I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on the past fifty years of life in this kooky world and share my musings with you all.

As we know, the ideal beginning for young people includes following a linear course in life, aspiring to make wise choices that will guide them down the path of least resistance. And then there was me. I was the one always veering off the road into ditches or getting stuck in the vortex of those vexing rotary circles at every opportunity.

At 16, little did I know that I was gathering up a cache of fucks that would haunt me for the next 25 years.

Robert Frost suggested that taking the road less traveled made all the difference. However, at times I’ve posited that the reason the road was less traveled in the first place was because most people were smart enough to avoid it. It’s overgrown and littered with the fuckery of such things like incompetent people rising to the top and the exasperating inanity of perpetually picking the slowest line in the store or the lane of traffic zipping along only to grind to a halt the moment I switch into it.

No matter what I did, it seemed I was destined to do it ass-backwards. Even my early educational path was obstructed with dubious choices. Later when I got my shit together, I’d think, dammit, if I knew then what I know now I would’ve installed myself in an all-girl college and joined the field hockey team. But nope. By the time I realized I wanted to finish my college degree, I was almost old enough to play the Rodney Dangerfield role in Back to School. Yes, I eventually earned my master’s degree, but what had I missed out on taking such a divergent path? A big lez-fest of sorority house pillow fights in our bras and panties? Or was that just lesbian pulp fiction wishful thinking?  

Missed opportunities in Sapphic experimentation aside, by the time I’d turned 40, my “happily ever after” long-term relationship had ended and my life had become a cliché in desperate need of a total reboot. Ironically, the evil empire that is Facebook would be my deliverance, and I would never again doubt the power of female friendships, both old and new, in enhancing the enchantment of life’s journey.  

Now as I turn 50 (insert Sally O’Malley impression here), I feel like I’ve finally learned the most practical and beneficial of life lessons. I’ve come to realize that every time I gave a fuck about the minutia in life that won’t matter a year, a month, or a week from now, I was giving away a piece of my joy. Recently inspired by the self-help idea Du jour of “decluttering,” this year I decided to declutter my vast collection of fucks to free up space for more joy. Yes, when I’d used up the last fuck on something like feeling the need to apologize simply for being me, I vowed that once my fuck reserve had been depleted, I would not restock. 

When I say I’ve defucked my life, I’m not talking about the simple daily fucks one needs to give as a member of a civilized society so we’re not banished to the colonies—things like caring about my career, my loved ones’ and my health, and recycling so that I’m not part of the army of douchebags who continue to leave their toxic footprint on the necks of our future generations. I’m talking about the big, festering, self-defeating fucks we store up and then expel in the form of crippling guilt and anxieties. Women worry much more than men that on any given day we’re failing everyone around us or that we’re not measuring up to some ridiculous, idealized expectation society uses to oppress us. Then we allow those fucks to sit there on our shoulders, weighing us down, stiffening our backs, and upsetting our stomachs. Those are the fucks from which I have resolved to divest myself.

For some reason Millennials have been able to figure this out with their “Imma do me” mantra that often irritates the shit out of elders around them. Maybe what we are so annoyed with is that these young’uns have reached this level of clarity a lot sooner than we have and thus, will enjoy many more years of living their best lives. 

But now I’m sounding like the fuck of bitterness has perched itself on my shoulder. So do you know what I’m going to do? Flick that fuck right off me and remind myself of my own mantra, “what is.” That’s the tricky part. When the fucks land on you, you can’t allow them to roost. You must be mindful to shoo them away like a horsefly at the beach the minute they alight on you, trusting in your new fuck-free existence.

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  Photo Credit: M. Ullrich

Now that I am further out than in, I approach all things with a hearty helping of perspective. While I’ve not yet entered that Zen zone of total enlightenment and still drink too much craft beer and laugh too hard when someone farts, I know that I’m doing the best that I can. Some days it will be enough and some days it won’t. But rest assured that even on my worst days, I’ll disperse no further fucks against myself.

I don’t give away my power to anyone or anything anymore. I’ve been through enough to know that no matter how bad it is, we all find our own ways to cope and press on with our lives. I’ve been luckier than some in this world and others have been luckier than me. But that’s how the fucks crumble. And if I can convince myself that I possess the power to make it rain on a beach day or ground the airplane that was supposed to carry my high school friends and me to Vegas, then I know that I also have the power to live in peace and find and accept joy in all its forms.

Going fuck-free is the best 50^th birthday present I could’ve given myself.

Jean Copeland is an award-winning author of several lesbian fiction novels. For more info, visit: https://www.amazon.com/Jean-Copeland/e/B00P7YT9DS%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share