Category Archives: Society

Boy with partially covered face

George Rekers and Some Roots of Homophobia

One of the cofounders of the antigay Family Research Council, George Rekers may well, himself, be a gay man: Antigay activist George Rekers is indeed gay, according to the male escort he hired for a 10-day trip across Europe. The escort spoke to the Miami

Funny USA America Flag Retro Sunglasses

Our America on Our Mind

When I saw the oily executives from BP and its drilling partners, Transocean and Halliburton, testify before the Senate May 11, I was reminded of another confrontation of business with government. Last December, President Obama summoned the heads of the nation’s banks to the White

Black man playing with a magnifying glass

Fire and Fraud: Touchdown Jesus Meets the Cult of Palin

I recalled C. G. Jung’s definition of “synchronicity” last week when two email messages, each containing a link to a religion news story, arrived to my inbox almost simultaneously. Synchronicity refers to “temporally coincident occurrences of acausal events.” In other words, synchronicity is about meaningful

People Wearing Multicolored Socks

The Counterproductive Nature of Pride Parades

Editor’s note: Joe Jervis made his first post of “Watching the Defectives” in 2005 and began reposting it every June since; here’s an index of them.  In his Saturday, June 19th posting of a piece titled “Watching the Defectives” on his blog Joe.My.God, Joe Jervis published

Chaotic People on Charles Bridge in Prague

Is He Gay or European?

Gay or European? People used to ask that about a man who didn’t fit the American image of manhood: “Is he gay, or is he European?” In an episode of Seinfeld, Jerry acquired a small bag to carry around everything that stuffed his pockets. When

Stack of newspapers

Ellen, the Pill, and Fake Christians – Tuesday News

– The birth control pill is celebrating 50 years of giving women control over their own bodies – but that doesn’t mean everyone wants the pill to stick around. A conglomeration of anti-abortion groups will protest the pill on June 5. Not because they oppose

The Capitol, Washington, D.C.

Lessons from an Assassination

On January 30, 1948, Mahatma Gandhi during his nightly walk in New Delhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse. Godse was a right-wing, gun-toting religious believer with connections to a political party whose goals included making India a Hindu nation, rejecting the secularism that separated religion

Boy with partially covered face

Publicly Examining Homophobes

Sexuality is such a primal urge, that it manifests its energy in a variety of ways; not only in sexual activity. That energy that is part and parcel of one’s sexuality, especially when feared for all sorts of ostensibly “moral” reasons, or the fear that

Young Couple Enjoying Romantic Moments in Nature

The Space Between Us Is In-Between Space

“I don’t even know why she is here, she isn’t even really gay.” As I heard a gay male staff member speak these words about a bisexual volunteer at a prominent LGBTQ youth community center, I began to recognize the truly in-between space in which