[Racing driver Lewis Hamilton] just wore a rainbow helmet to the Qatar Grand Prix (which he won) telling the press that as far as gay rights are concerned, the Persian Gulf nation “seems to be deemed as one of the worst in this part of the world… we are duty-bound to raise awareness for these issues.”
HERE’S THE FIX. IT’S EASY
For those of us experiencing the unsettled feeling of living on the edge of a bad horror movie, I have a temporary fix. By bad horror movie, I’m talking about kids allowed to bring long guns into city streets, shoot people dead, claim self defense and walk free. I’m talking about groups of dozens of masked looters storming department stores en masse. What the hell? I’m talking about members of Congress threatening the lives of their colleagues, and hundreds of people hanging out in Dallas waiting for John F Kennedy and his son to rise from the dead and help Donald Trump regain power. We are surrounded by frightening insanity.
So here’s the fix. It’s easy. Go to your google machine and type in “Norwegian postal service Christmas ad,” or similar search terms. This heartwarming ad has gone viral, and they have just put up a version with English subtitles, so find that one. It’s about four minutes long and its titled “When Harry met Santa.”
Oh? You’ve seen it? That’s the problem with describing a viral video in a monthly magazine. Well, perhaps my editors haven’t watched it yet, so this tip is for them and for those of you who somehow go through life without encountering viral videos.
THE REPERCUSSIONS OF A MEAN-SPIRITED DECISION
In Supreme Court news these days, we are all wondering why the Court has yet to rule on the challenges to Texas’s bizarre abortion law even as the justices were supposed to be expediting the decision on whether or not two lawsuits against the Lone Star State can proceed and if so, whether or not the law can stand while litigation continues. The decisions were expected last month, but nothing happened.
That’s assuming you categorize a unanimous ruling in favor of Memphis, Tennessee, in a water dispute against Mississippi as “nothing,” which we do in these pages.
Earlier in November, the Washington florist who has been trying and failing to get the Court to green light her antigay wedding sales policies finally threw in the towel after the justices repeatedly declined to take her appeal. Barronelle Stutzman refused to provide the flowers for two gay men back in 2013 (flouting a statewide civil rights law) and has been fighting the repercussions of her mean-spirited decision ever since. She lost before the Washington Supreme Court and appealed to the Supreme Court which sent the case back to square one. Back she went and lost again, appealing again to the High Court which refused the case last July. Interestingly, Justices Thomas, Gorsuch and Alito all said they would have accepted review, which means those conservatives needed just one more vote in order to reach the four required to take a case. By extension, that also means that Justices Kavanaugh and Barrett both turned their back on Ms. Stutzman, as did John Roberts.
Stutzman asked the justices to reconsider, but when that didn’t work she decided to withdraw her case and settled it by paying $5,000 to the two men. I wonder if they’re still married after all these years.
RACING STAR SPEAKS OUT ON OUR BEHALF
I may have mentioned that I live in Austin, a fast-growing metropolis with a Democratic majority surrounded by the state of Texas. Among our claims to fame is that we are host to the only Formula 1 Grand Prix race in the United States, an annual event that eclipses South by Southwest and Austin City Limits. Several hundred thousand people from all over the world descend on our city every fall, enough that Mel and I have considered renting out our house, were it not for the extreme amount of work it would take to organize such a process.
Earlier this year, Mel and I watched three seasons of the Netflix reality show “Formula 1: Drive to Survive,” in order to familiarize ourselves with what seemed like a boring sport. After all, you just drive really fast along a circuit for two hours. Why would people fly thousands of miles for that?
It turns out to be far more interesting and complex, so now we are wrapped up in the 2021 season, which is coming to close with two drivers neck and neck for the championship. One of them, Lewis Hamilton, has been champion for many years in a row, but is slightly behind the Dutch racer Max Verstappen as I write. So Hamilton just wore a rainbow helmet to the Qatar Grand Prix (which he won) telling the press that as far as gay rights are concerned, the Persian Gulf nation “seems to be deemed as one of the worst in this part of the world.”
“As sports go to these places,” the Britisher continued, “they are duty-bound to raise awareness for these issues. These places need scrutiny. Equal rights is a serious issue.”
Some years ago, Hamilton got in trouble with our community for making fun of his nephew for wearing a dress. According to the Advocate, he quickly apologized and has been a GLBT supporter ever since. “Everyone deserves to have the freedom to be themselves, no matter who they love or how they identify,” Hamilton told the press at the Hungarian Grand Prix earlier this season. Hungary has been atrocious on gay rights, as has Poland and several Eastern European countries.
The F1 racing season concludes with Saudi Arabia on December 5 and Abu Dhabi on December 12. Verstappen has 351.5 points, Hamilton has 343.5 points, and it then drops to 203 points for Valtteri Bottas in third place. Verstappen drives for the Red Bull/Honda team; Hamilton and Bottas both drive for Mercedes. Root for Hamilton and then binge watch Netflix if you want a new sport to follow. n
