Queer Issue: The Results of the Uterus That Never Fell Out.

Sometimes parents can be really embarrassing. Come on, I'm sure we've all been down that road, haven't we? Your mom asks you to go to some function to honor her track coach from high-school and you agree, because she asked all the while thinking "how bad can it be?"

Then you get there, there's your mom's classmates and fellow track runners and naturally your mom just has to introduce you to everyone as "proof that cross country running does not cause a women's uterus to fall out". I wanted to put a bag over my head while she went on to talk about another myth from that time. This one apparently was used to prevent women from running more then half a mile by claiming that they were guaranteed to collapse after more than two laps around the track.

Actually, I should admit that my embarrassment at the "proof the uterus won't fall out" comment was momentary. I also found out at the event that my mom was also the first female cross country runner at Unatego Jr. Sr. High after the passing of Title 9, which forced schools to allow equal access to sports for both genders. Which probably shouldn't come as much of a surprise to me. After all, my family has something of a history of women breaking down the gender barrier. For instance, my grandmother was the first women on my mothers side to attend and graduate college and faced, as I recall from the stories I was told, huge resistance from her parents in order to do so.

In any event, this all got me thinking about the lies being spread about the LGBTQIA community by newly inducted groups onto the Southern Poverty Law Centers List of Anti-Gay Hate Groups, such as the American Family Association and Americans For Truth About Homosexuality.

Lies such as Homosexuals molest kids at higher rates or have shorter lifespans than heterosexuals. Every group that attempts to challenge the status quo, to shake things up, is going to get push back. Or blow back, if we go with CIA terminology. Society never appreciates the rebel.

Misinformation about the physical inferiority of women was made up to prevent them from directly competing against men in sports. "Your Uterus will fall out" is no more legitimate then claiming that being raised by a same sex couple will cause psychological harm to a child.

The above lies about the LGBTQIA community are still being propagated to prevent the repeal of DADT, marriage equality, or same sex couples from adopting kids. Using scare tactics to promote oppression will probably never go out of style. In short it seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same.