The Rainbow Toilet vs. HB2: Wiped from The Headlines in NC

Law & Order’s Special Victims Unit had nothing on Genevieve “Gigi” Burkhalter of Durham NC; but that wasn’t going to stop the North Carolina state troopers who do security around the governor’s mansion in Raleigh. The mansion is currently occupied by governor Pat McCrory, known worldwide as the face of HB2, Carolina’s trans-hostile Bathroom Law.

The troopers were sure they saw a crime being committed there under cover of darkness on April 15, 2016, and when they followed up what they saw on a security videocam, there it was, on the green lawn near the mansion.

A bomb? A corpse? A cache of erased State Department emails? No, wait — it was a toilet.

But not just any toilet. A rainbow toilet. Bearing a sign:

“Gov. McCrory, your hands are not clean. Cut the Crap! #We Came 2 Slay HB2.”

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North Carolina Yearly Meeting: Zombie Apocalypse Coming?

Already the impact on the YM of all this struggle is evident, particularly in the latest news release from the YM office. For instance, staff slots are opening up: the staff at Quaker Lake Camp now needs to be replaced.

Further, the YM interim Superintendent, Don Farlow, is stepping down, and the notice for his successor is for another interim, and on a part-time basis. Further, the job description indicates as a major duty, to “Assist in the implementation of NCYM Procedural Plan for Reorganization”; and that as a part-timer, the new hire will “Work no more than 3 days per week with no speaking engagements on Sunday mornings (except to address the reorganization of NCYM).” Might this language give a hint about the YM leadership’s attitude toward the zombie split plan?

And not least, there’s the budget. A proposed 2017 budget is also online now, and the total for next year is $431,624, down by $53000 from the 2016 total of $484,654, a cut of 12 per cent. And the 2017 total will also be subject to further shrinkage if Hopewell and any other meetings jump ship.

Staff turnover, budget cuts, potential membership decline: all the signs of what we call the Blockbuster Video Effect are in evidence at NCYM. Confronting a zombie split plan will only add to the pressure. Sad.

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Northwest Update: The Expulsion Plot Thickens

When it comes to West Hills Friends in Portland, Oregon, expelled from its association for becoming LGBT welcoming, , the main positions are pretty well laid out:

— If the expulsion is overturned (West Hills can stay), then some are clear NWYM is headed for hell in a handbasket, and they may head for the door.

— If West Hills is indeed forced out, then some others are sure the YM will be barreling toward Hades in a Prius, and they may look for an exit.

— If there’s no decision?

(This last is the only possibility that’s much interesting to me. That’s because there have been numerous times in Quaker history when yearly meetings have been in conflict, and decided to stay together and live/work them through. Taking such a path in NWYM might also provoke some attrition, but would be both novel and for many, uplifting — even Christian.)

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Oops! Standing Rock “Facebook Check-Ins” Are Another Internet Legend

Oops! Standing Rock “Facebook Check-Ins” Are Another Internet Legend Chuck Fager is at SNOPES.COM, standing in solidarity with the small and  scorned remnant who check such things before helping spread viral baloney. Snopes has debunked the viral rumor that faking “check-ins” on Facebook will somehow protect protesters at Standing Rock from police surveillance. Yes, another … Continue reading Oops! Standing Rock “Facebook Check-Ins” Are Another Internet Legend →

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