Old video (2010?) of my coming out story, but I was just glancing at my Youtube account and noticed it has 7000 views! Say whaaaa!

I also noticed I have not been checking the horrrrrrrible homophobic comments some people make. All I can do is laugh and click “Mark as Spam”. 

Meeting with President Barker tomorrow!

Whaaaaaat! 

Yes, tomorrow is the day we, A Better Clemson, step into Clemson University’s president’s conference room to make our case for an official LGBTQ Task Force. 

I will be starting the introductions and setting the structure and tone for the meeting. My leg will also be bouncing up and down a million times a minute, or I will forget to take breaths in between sentences….or both. 

I’ve played some leadership roles before, but nothing as big or nearly as important as this will be. 

Suggestions on how not to be intensely nervous are very welcome! 

BEN & JERRY’S, CHICK-FIL-A & POLITICAL CORRECTNESS →

Here’s what’s wrong with this article. If you do anything, just read the last paragraph, please. Many traditional marriage Christians seem to think their Bible laid out the definition of marriage. Here’s what Cathy said that made me quickly stop eating Chick-Fil-A: 

“I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say ‘we know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage’ and I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about.”

I have consistently stated that by uttering these words, he is acting politically through his position of being the president of a very successful fast-food chain. When you send money to Exodus International (Be it 5 cents or 1000 dollars) you are funding an organization that helps people not act on their homosexual tendencies. Helps them realize it is not the proper path to Christ. 

You are funding the Family Research Council, which is a lobbying organization fighting against same-sex marriage or gay adoption, and promotes nothing but social conservative policies. 

You are funding the Marriage & Family Foundation. Whose website states they are actively opposing domestic partner benefits and the addition of sexuality to non-discrimination laws because it could violate religious liberty for a company to deny you a job for being gay. Or to fire you. 

What’s the big deal about FCA? Besides the article on their website from a basketball coach who found her way out of her sinful homosexual lifestyle and into God’s love? Or their membership application that has a young person agree to stay away from impure lifestyle choices such as sex outside of marriage or homosexuality. Checkmate on the homosexuals since you can’t get married and thus are the victims of FCA’s catch-22. 

Sending their money to the National Christian Foundation doesn’t sound too bad either except they just donate their proceeds to Focus on the Family and other Washington lobby groups advocating against legalization of same-sex marriage. 

I understand the love for their food and service and I don’t think they should be barred from opening their restaurant because of the owner’s beliefs and how he spends his money. I just don’t understand emphatic support for Cathy after his remarks and the publication of his proceeds that go DIRECTLY to lobby groups fighting against MY RIGHT TO MARRIAGE. I use the word MY to represent the self, or me, Joshua Morgan. I get to go through the pains of NOT being able to spend extra money on MY health insurance plan to get MY partner covered. WE get to go through the pains of having to set up legal rights through an attorney as our relationship perseveres that would be easier if we could just get married and have the STATE, NOT a CHURCH, recognize us. As I sit here selfishly complaining about my inequality, I’ll continue to read the heartbreaking news articles of teens committing suicide because they weren’t accepted by their peers. Or listen to stories of young adults kicked out of their parent’s house because they couldn’t deal with having a sinful child. Or hear about a lesbian having the word, dyke carved into her body. For some people, like Palin and Huckabee, the chicken is just too good compared to people’s lives. 

"

The purpose of this document is to issue an official statement of retraction of any and all words that suggest that child abuse is appropriate for any and all types of behaviors including (but not limited to) effeminacy and sexual immorality of all types. I should not have said what I said about “cracking,” “punching,” and particular bias toward outward attraction of girls. Nor should I have used the words “special dispensation.” I did not say that children should be squashed. I have never suggested children or those in the LGBT lifestyle should be beaten, punched, abused (physically or psychologically) in any form or fashion. The gospel is the only source of power sufficient to deliver anyone from the power, penalty, and presence of all forms of sin including, but not limited to, all forms of sexual immorality including homosexuality…

I do not apologize for the manner in which the Word of God articulates sexual immorality, including homosexuality and effeminacy, as a behavior that is an abomination to God. Nothing in this official statement of retraction should be perceived as an apology for the overarching intent and message of the sermon and the need to define marriage as one man and one woman and to maintain the gender distinctions that God created from the beginning when He made them male and female (Genesis 1). I recognize that there are those in the LGBT community who believe that their sexual behavior is not sin. I do not agree with them and this official retraction should not be misunderstood as an apology for the gospel of Jesus Christ or the Word of God.

I do not apologize for the manner in which I emphasized the importance of one man and one woman getting married and staying married for the benefit of their children and society.

"

Pastor Sean Harris, the man who who brought you: “Can I make it any clearer? Dads, the second you see that son dropping the limp wrist, you walk over there and crack that wrist. Man up. Give them a good punch. OK? You’re not going to act like that — you were made by God to be a male and you’re going to be a male.” 

Meeting with Clemson’s chief diversity officer today

He has “proposed to the [President’s Administrative] Council that the University should formally establish a task force appointed by the president to develop a set of recommendations in regard to creating a better, more inclusive Clemson University.”

So I will be meeting with him in regards to the volunteer task force I put together that is already exploring ways to make Clemson these things. 

What’s that noise? Oh, that’s just me bringin’ da change! 

"

Q: In the wider Jewish community, there are rabbis who will officiate at a same-sex Jewish wedding, but won’t bless an interfaith marriage between a man and woman. So which is harder: being in a same-sex Jewish relationship, or an interfaith relationship?

A: I really can’t answer this question. Ask Jewish mothers: some will say “Oy, better a shiksa” (gentile girl) and some will be say, “Oy, better a nice Jewish boy.”

"

An Interview With Rabbi Steven Greenberg: Orthodox And Gay

My campaign for A Better Clemson

My Letter to President Barker on A Better Clemson

Dear President Barker, 

It has been over a week since the off-campus altercation between four individuals, one of whom was severely beaten. Alcohol was involved, but that should not overshadow the fact that homophobia and misogyny also fueled the fight. 

A year ago I wrote to you about the dangers of bullying that occur not just in high school but among college students as well. This bullying often targets members of the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer) community both within the student body and the faculty and staff, and even people assumed to be gay because of common misguided stereotypes. I asked that you write to the student body and employees about the importance of accepting the diversity around us. We should see everyone as a valuable individual with much to offer Clemson University and society. 

I write to you again, now, in light of the “LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index” in which Clemson University recently participated. It was possible to score 5 out of 5 stars in relation to eight LGBT-Friendly factors such as LGBT Policy Inclusion, Support & Institutional Commitment, Academic Life, Student Life, Housing, Campus Safety, Counseling & Health, and Recruitment and Retention Efforts. 

Our top two scoring categories were Counseling & Health, in which we scored 90%, and Support & Institutional Commitment, in which we scored 56%. The rest of the categories were well below 50%, and the score for the entire index for Clemson University was a 2 out of 5 stars. 

Almost all of the Top 20 public schools in the country have taken this test and have scored well over 3 stars. Our neighbor to the south, University of South Carolina, is the only institution in the state to have an LGBTQ Resource Center.

In this email I am requesting, as a gay staff member of Clemson University and a graduate, that you give me permission to begin forming a Presidential Commission on the status of LGBTQ Students and Faculty/Staff in order to address these issues and more on campus. I still see Clemson University as a welcoming institution for all people, despite their differences of color, gender, religion, and sexual orientation, but unfortunately I constantly hear from new and existing LGBTQ students that they do not feel safe. They do not feel welcome by the body of Clemson University. They do not feel as if our leading institution has their interests in mind to any degree that was offered to another marginalized group not too long ago: our fellow African-American colleagues and students. 

Now is the time that we show our students and those who work with us that they are here to experience Clemson University as it should be, and we are dependent on their future. 

During the town hall, coming up on November 1st, there will be several members of the LGBTQ community and their allies posing questions to you about why Clemson University has failed to reach out in its recruitment and retention of not only students but faculty and staff as well. You will be asked why partnered or married gay faculty and staff, who work hard to make Clemson one of the top universities in the country, are not given the same health benefits as their straight counterparts. They will ask when Clemson University will take a stand in ending benefits discrimination in the state of South Carolina.

There will also be questions about gender-neutral bathrooms, living learning communities within housing to create a safe environment for incoming freshmen and others, LGBTQ-specific courses. the lack of a resource center. the information in acceptance packages for incoming students about services for LGBTQ people, and many other topics.

I write to you in the hopes that together we can show our current and future members of the Clemson Family that we can provide them with an equal, healthy, and safe learning environment of the 21st century: that we truly can be A Better Clemson.

Sincerely,
Joshua Morgan
Clemson University Libraries
Class of 2010

(Source: ruta-mia, via undeadbioe)