The Daily Evan Nix

Submit to Denver’s Laugh Track Comedy Fest

thecomedybureau:

In it’s 3rd year, Denver’s comedy festival, Laugh Track, blends great stand-up and great short films as a part of Denver’s burgeoning comedy scene at the beginning of August.

You can submit as either a stand-up or filmmaker or both, if you so choose until the deadline on June 25th.

Obamo No Homo

I don’t usually write text posts and I always try to avoid getting political online, but it seems like this week the country was thrown into a conversation that I think is long overdue, and I want to sort out my own thoughts about the issue. Since we’re all talking about it, I suppose I’ll put in my two.

I’m ecstatic that Obama changed his stance on gay marriage. I understand why his opinion change has been met with cynicism. The timing is just too perfect after a sad defeat in NC, and right as election season is ramping up, it smacks of political strategy. I too am skeptical. However, I can’t help but be hopeful for what it says about the changing tide of public opinion in this country. Sure, Obama may have done it primarily to clinch the youth vote, but that would have never happened 10 years ago. The fact that it even be used as a political maneuver I find hopeful. 

Many people say that it’s not “important enough” of an issue during an election year when our economy is in the craptank and we’re at war. Bullshit. That mentality underscores the homophobia in this country. We’re talking about real bigotry and inequality. I think it’s the most important social issue we currently face as a country, and it might be the last great civil rights hurdle we have yet to clear. 

I’ve never understood why even the most liberal politicians in this country still held out that they were against gay marriage. How can you be pro-choice, yet against two adults living together a loving, monogamous relationship. The answer is that until now, they were scared of their constituency. But the world is changing fast. And peoples’ opinions have shifted. Most young people believe that marriage should be a civil right, not a religious matter.

Why religion is involved at all astounds me. It seems like that argument falls flat on itself. I’m an atheist engaged to be married to a woman in just a year. I never had to clear it with a church or pastor. I’m not getting married in a church, nor by a religious figure of any kind. There will be no prayer at my wedding. Not only that, but I’m sure the nervous hours leading up to the ceremony will be filled with blasphemous cursing. What can I say? I’m a shit mouth. Still, my marriage will be recognized by every state in the country. We’ll receive the tax and medical benefits that a marriage allows. When one of us dies, our assets will be bequeathed to the other. Why does Jesus have this double standard? Because he’s a fat cockface. I’m kidding of course. I told you, I’m a shit mouth.

What I’m really hopeful about is not that Obama’s announcement will change anything by itself. It certainly doesn’t change what happened in North Carolina on Tuesday (or the other 29 states that have passed similar amendments), and the religious right and Fox News are already using his announcement against him. But hopefully over time, it will help to make the idea more acceptable to people. Society has already come a long way in the last 20 years, and our laws follow public opinion, and public opinion will only change if we have this dialogue. Suddenly, we’re all talking about it and I think that’s the best thing to come from the president’s announcement. Let’s keep talking about it, because that’s the only way anything will really change.