Hearing People Wants To Be Deaf

When I was 10, my sister, Hedy, had a best friend who is hearing. I'll never forget her name. Her name is Sharon. Sharon learned ASL in matter of weeks, I'm not kidding. Sharon was totally into it. True biz, in 3 months, she could pass as Deaf person. Her facial expression was on the same par with Deaf children's rapid use of facial expression.

Sharon was upset that Hedy had to go to deaf school and stay in the dormitory for weeks, just like me. Sharon asked her parents if she could transfer to VSDB from the public school. Her parents said, "Only if you are deaf."

Hedy panicked and told me that Sharon had been trying to make herself deaf by trying to do stuff to her ears for days. Hedy just found out about it.

At that time, I was bewildered and thought it was crazy. An isolated incident, perhaps. But Sharon told me in ASL that she really wanted to be Deaf, she does not want to be hearing. She wants to be Deaf, honest! Mom thought she was nuts. I found it amusing. So does my Drandma.

Years later, the Internet came. We are able to exchange lots of information about practically everything, really. I stumbled upon a yahoogroup called "Deaf Wannabe" -- I was intrigued and joined the list. I became a lurker, I did not attack. It is not my position to do so -- but there are some Deaf persons that comes in and attack, they got banned so fast.

On that group, there are lots of information exchanging with each other on how to get hearing aids, on how to act like Deaf, on how to destroy your sounds ... but what really made me set back is that the majority of correspondents are from the United Kingdom!

I wonder why. I'm so glad that the BBC's See Hear is tackling this topic this week. I wish we have See Hear here in the United States.

Since the United Kingdom is not capitalistic society, it has a huge advantage -- it requires the equal broadcast for everyone else -- including Deaf people in the United Kingdom. So they set up the newsmagazine program every week called "See Hear", it is an equivalent to NBC's Dateline.

See Hear was not the original program by the BBC, in fact, it evolved from the first one that was broadcasted in 1950s. This, there and that -- See Hear became the permanent weekly newsmagazine on BBC since 1981. That is 24 years in the making. The majority of BBC's See Hear production team consists of Deaf persons. I know because I was there. Will ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX follow that pattern? Never in a million years.

For more information on See Hear, you may go to this website. You might learn how to fingerspell in British Sign Language for "SEE HEAR". Enjoy.

R-

Eric Berndt II

Thanks to Dolphin's website for broadcasting Eric Berndt's letter to NYU students.

Eric was the one who asked Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia if he sodomized his wife?

What Eric wrote made me a lifelong fan of his daring to challenge the impotent homophobe's antics.

Read the letter:

Fellow Classmates,

As the student who asked Justice Scalia about his sexual conduct, I am responding to your posts to explain why I believe I had a right to confront Justice Scalia in the manner I did Tuesday, why any gay or sympathetic person has that same right. It should be clear that I intended to be offensive, obnoxious, and inflammatory. There is a time to discuss and there are times when acts and opposition are necessary. Debate is useless when one participant denies the full dignity of the other. How am I to docilely engage a man who sarcastically rants about the "beauty of homosexual relationships" (at the Q&A) and believes that gay school teachers will try to convert children to a homosexual lifestyle (at oral argument for Lawrence)?

Although I my question was legally relevant, as I explain below, an independent motivation for my speech-act was to simply subject a homophobic government official to the same indignity to which he would subject millions of gay Americans. It was partially a naked act of resistance and a refusal to be silenced. I wanted to make him and everyone in the room aware of the dehumanizing effect of trivializing such an important relationship. Justice Scalia has no pity for the millions of gay Americans on whom sodomy laws and official homophobia have such an effect, so it is difficult to sympathize with his brief moment of "humiliation," as some have called it. The fact that I am a law student and Scalia is a Supreme Court Justice does not require me to circumscribe my justified opposition and outrage within the bounds of jurisprudential discourse.

Law school and the law profession do not negate my identity as a member of an oppressed minority confronting injustice. Even so, I did have a legal point: Justice Kennedy's majority opinion in Lawrence asked whether criminalizing homosexual conduct advanced a state interest "which could justify the intrusion into the personal and private life of the individual." Scalia did not answer this question in his dissent because he believed the state need only assert a legitimate interest to defeat non-fundamental liberties. I basically asked him this question again - it is now the law of the land. He said he did not know whether the interest was significant enough. I then asked him if he sodomizes his wife to subject his intimate relations to the scrutiny he cavalierly would allow others - by force, if necessary. Everyone knew at that moment how significant the interest is. Beyond exerting official power against homosexuals, Scalia is an outspoken and high-profile homophobe. After the aforementioned sarcastic remarks about gay people's relationships, can anyone doubt how little respect he has for LGBT Americans? Even if no case touching gay rights ever came before him, his comments from the bench (that employment non-discrimination is some kind of "homosexual agenda," etc.) and within our very walls are unacceptable to any self-respecting gay person or principled opponent of discrimination. The idea that I should have treated a man with such repugnant views with deference because he is a high government official evinces either a dangerously un-American acceptance of authority or insensitivity to the gay community's grievances. Friends have forwarded me emails complaining of the "liberal" student who asked "the question." That some of my classmates are shallow and insensitive enough to conceptualize my complaint as mere partisan politics is disheartening. Though I should not have to, I will share with everyone that I am neither a Democrat nor Republican and do not consider myself a "liberal" except in the classical sense. I hope that we can separate a simple demand for equality under the law and outrage over being denied it from so much dogmatic ideological baggage. LGBT Americans are still a persecuted minority and our struggle for equal rights is still vital. 4 out of 5 LGBT kids are harassed in school - tell them to debate their harassers. Suicide rates for them are much higher than for others. We still cannot serve in the military, have little protection from employment and other forms of discrimination, and are denied the 1000+ benefits that accrue from official recognition of marriage. I know some who support gay rights oppose my question and our protest. Do not presume to tell me when and with how much urgency to stand up for our rights.

I am 17 months out of a lifelong closet and have lost too much time to heterosexist hegemony to tolerate those who say, as Dr. King put it, "just wait." If you cannot stomach a breach of decorum when justified outrage erupts then your support is nearly worthless anyway. At least do not allow yourselves to become complicit in discrimination by demanding obedience from its victims. Many of our classmates chose NYU over higher-ranked schools because of our reputation as a "private university in the public service" and our commitment to certain values. We were the first law school to require that employers pledge not to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. Of Scalia's law schools that have "signed on to the homosexual agenda," our signature stands out like John Hancock's. We won a federal injunction in the FAIR litigation as an "expressive association" that counts acceptance of sexual orientation as a core value. Those who worry about our school's prestige should remember how we got here and consider whether flattering those who mock what we believe and are otherwise willing to fight for appears prestigious or pathetic. We protestors did not embarrass NYU, Scalia embarrassed NYU. We stood up to a bigot for the values that make NYU more than a great place to learn the law. I repeat my willingess to discuss this issue calmly with anyone who respects my identity as a gay man. I have had many productive talks with classmates since Tuesday and I hope that will continue.

Respectfully,
Eric Berndt

For Who Is Wondering About The State of Mind I Am In

My state of mind is akin to the lady in this picture.

I am free. I am me, take it or leave it.

Amethyst In Its Final Glory

Of course, I'm not going to die. Just that I'm free.

Tonight, I'm on a date with kaybee to that party hosted by Ridloff on 24 Street and 5 Avenue. Should be interesting to VEE-VEE at folks including the potential first-timer in meeting a blogger, Key Lime Pie Lover, and to practice on my BSL skills with these great folks from the United Kingdom.

God Save The Queen!

R-

For Trekkies ... !

A certain blogger that I enjoyed reading from time to time, John Aravosis of AMERICAblog met an actor of Star Trek: Enterprise -- he said that the cancelleation of Start Trek: Enterprise was not because of its "popularity", it is politics. After all, it was 2nd rated show on UPN.

Check the picture of John fawning over Dominic.

R-

Mission Accomplished -- American Dollar Plummets

With the wars going on in different parts of the world, Bush's incessant promotion of global war on terrorism and in the process, alienated many countries as well.

The economy has gone pretty steady downhill. Even in New York, we try to keep the economy going and going. But sometimes, it is silly. The inflation is low, but it could jerk itself -- I'm not good with economics, though.

With the news reports coming out about Wall Street, it is certainly not surprising.

Drilling in Alaska will not solve the oil prices. The oil prices will continue to rise as predicted. Not even you or me can stop it. GW Bush and his administration does not care about it at all. Because the common people does not matter to him.

I will not preach more about the woes of American economy, but I will provide a good example of what Melly told me yesterday at the bar, she squealed with excitement and said, "I love America! Its Dollar keeps going down against the Pound! I can bring 500 Pounds into New York and convert into roughly $950 and shop these clothes down in Soho -- America can be so dumb!"

I smiled and nodded, "I agreed -- but New Yorkers did not do this -- the idiots in Midwest and in the South did."

Melly laughed and nodded -- Melly's boyfriend, Ahmed asked her to translate what we talked about. Ahmed shoved on my left arm and said, "Yes! Easy to buy here! Me rich here!"

So much for our American Dollar. It plainly sucked, my American idiots. If you travel to Europe or the United Kingdom, you'll be broke in a short time.

Go figure.

R-

Married Men Do Cheat

After the DIRC Meeting, I thought of getting a drink at PIECES Bar which is neighborhood bar in Greenwich Village. The bartender and I occasionally chatted, mainly because he is cool. He can sign a little. Anyway, he told me that he cannot understand why some younger men are into older men. I did not understand why he mentioned it, he pointed to the couple behind me -- I turned to see a younger hispanic guy making out with a guy in his 60s.

I smiled sheepishly and said, "Amazing, is it?"

The bartender nodded and said in ASL, "Old man married, look at his ring."

I turned to see his gold ring. And grinned ... and asked him how did he know if he's married or not?

The bartender laughed and said, "They are regular here. I know 'em. They told me."

Oh.

Prior to the visit at the PIECES Bar, I was at DIRC with Sarah, kaybee and few familiar faces. It was interesting and fun. I did not realize that a certain person who had an interest in me for a long time was pretty upset or disappointed that I did not make an effort in reaching out to him in order to ... whatever it means.

The way he expressed his frustrations with me about my lack of efforts to do stuff with him indicated that he has/had a genuine thing for me. I'm not sure whether if I'm ready to do this. With him. Or with anyone else.

R-

Few Thoughts

Few things to say before I head off to the DIRC thing with Sarah.

Amityville Horror: When I was a kid, I was terrified of that white house. And now there is a remake of the film about it. I'd like to see it. I am sucker for these ghost stuff. In my opinion, when I was a child, I thought its Amityville Horror's poster advertisement was the best for horror films.

A-Rod Saves A Kid: This is cool. Multimillionaire baseball star in Alex Rodriguez, often the subject of Boston Red Sox's taunts, saved the boy's life in Boston when the truck sped by and Alex plucked the boy aside. Apparently, this particular boy was stunned that it was none other than his favorite player in the whole wide world. Very cute.

And I'm sick of hearing people like Eva Young for behaving like they are much better than the rest. Shame on him. I expected him to be better than that. Guess I was wrong this time around. Dan of FagPatriotWest is stupid prick. Know why? He muted about Arthur Finkelstein's antics, but cried about Clinton's remarks on Finkelstein's self-loathing Roehmosexual. Perhaps, Dan is Roehmosexual as well. Same with ND30 and Eva Young.

I'm off to the DIRC thing where I can enjoy VEE-VEE'ing at the folks who shared their CODAs experiences. Something that McCock and ThePC cannot relate to. Speaking of that nut, McCock, he still denied that he copied my topics for his blogsite. That boy knew how to lie -- but remember this, married men knew how to lie a lot.

R-