Beyond DOMA
Thank you so much for Tim Louis Macaluso’s piece, “After Marriage: the Future of Gay Rights” (News). While I agree that the repeal of Section 3 of DOMA marks significant progress for the United States, to say “after marriage” is really a misnomer. The Supreme Court decision mostly benefits those who are fortunate to live in the 13 states (and other jurisdictions) that have marriage equality. The other states can go on denying marriage equality and other civil rights to LGBTQ communities.
Employment discrimination is another significant issue, both for socially at-risk communities and other LGBT people. As a country, we have failed dismally at protecting the rights of all LGBT communities. Why is discrimination OK in Oklahoma but not in New York? This disparity is unacceptable and defies logic. We need a federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (or, better yet, modify existing federal employment laws to include sexual orientation, identity, and gender expression).
I applaud City for its fair and balanced coverage of the marriage equality decisions – but indeed, there is still a lot of work to do to make sure that everyone is treated with dignity and respect through our laws.
TREVOR G. GATES
Zombied
Whatever George Grella was paid to watch “World War Z,” it is not enough (Film). I am almost zombificationized from the ads on TV during the baseball games. I cannot wait to NOT see it. They would have to pay me CEO wages including special health insurance coverage to recover loss of brain matter. Mr. Grella is to be congratulated for his lenient review. It deserves a Nobel Prize for diplomacy.
http://www.rochestercitynewspaper.com/rochester/world-war-z/Content?oid=2241124
My three questions are: When a person is transformed into a zombie, is the proper adjective for the resulting creature “zombied,” “zombified,” or “zombificationized”? Is it true that watching this film will result in partial loss of brain matter? Which part? Surely not the sense of humor. Perhaps the sense of smell.
The thought of a sequel conjures up visions of a biography of the ex-decider, who is not conceived by copulation but geeksterized. Instead of being propped up for president, he is employed at a carnival, biting the heads off chickens. People used to pay to watch this just as they pay to watch WWZ, professional wrestling, or Jerry Falwell.
HELPPP!!!
BILL MCCOY
This article appears in Jul 17-23, 2013.
It must have been a slow week for Bill McCoy’s remarks to be deemed interesting enough to print, but far be it from me to criticize one who appears so cultured.
In the spirit of being a good sport, the answer to his questions are as follows:
1. Such a term depends on the particular franchise; infected, turned, and countless others have been used over the years. Since WWZ comes from Max Brooks, meaning that the condition is a result of the Solanum virus, “infected” would probably be the be one to use here (though the military refers to them as “Zac” in the novel, similar their use of “Tango”). There’s this great little thing called “Google” that would have answered this for him.
2/3. No more than the same amount of brain matter lost while watching television. If we grant that watching “Two and a Half Men” leads to a loss of the sense of humor (or at least lowers it to the most basic level) and watching “CSI” leads to the loss of imagination in general, then I suppose an argument can be made for this. However, I can’t imagine Mr. McCoy will want to walk this path since he appears to watch television a great deal. How else could he have seen the advertisement enough times to warrant this level of disdain toward something he’s never seen (or read if you include the book. Reading, what a novel thought!).
I understand that fostering discussion is the goal here, but comments like this don’t actually help do so. There are better things to talk about than listen to a grown man complain about a subjective entertainment outlet that has no bearing on reality.