Red to Blue Quilt You Too Can Win

By Julian Domain

   In the very important Red to Blue race for the Kentucky Senate Seat it is Jack Conway vs. Rand Paul. Yes, that Rand Paul the one that feels fine in degenerating the impoverished, women, and racial and ethnic minorities. We can not fail, we must elect Jack Conway here, to fail would be a social disaster. To that end the progressive community is donating a genuine piece of Americanna The Red to Blue Quilt is being offered in a drawing to help support the Conway campaign. Follow me below the fold for more information.
   As usual these races need money, lots of it, we have to out fundraise that walking hate machine or we will lose a seat to someone that should be seeking mental health care not public office. Below there are links to how to donate and there are also instructions on how to win this quilt and no, you do not have to donate money to do so in the instructions it explains how you can write your way into winning this lovely historical work.
   Quilts are a perfect example of community spirit, there is a long history of families joining together in qilting bees to make several quilts, not only producing a valuable product but forming social bonds. In the 1980's in response to the AIDS crisis quilts were again thrust into American consciousness as a way of remembering those that have died from that tragic disease. Now we here in the progressive realm of the internet have started a new quilt tradition, one of making quilts for fellow Kossacks that have become ill. These same quilters are taking their worthy cause one step further by making this piece of history available for you to own.
   The following was assembled by Sara R all kudos are to be directed to her, you can blame me for any erratta:

Prejudice and Discrimination

by: AJ DeVito


Prejudice and Discrimination: The Adversity of the Individual

The world is a complex place in which people of all backgrounds must learn how to live and peacefully coexist with one another. In spite of the vast differences humanity can have, it is important to understand that the emphasis of what unites us is what will go a long way towards solving problems. According to an ABC News article (2004), Matthew Shepard who was a College student living in Laramie, Wyoming was fatally beaten by two individuals due to his sexual orientation. This was characterized as a hate crime due to the motivation of Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson to harm Matthew Shepard for being openly Gay. The question then becomes: How does a society get to a point in which a hate crime can happen? While our differences on ideas and life can be vast, it does not justify violence such as what happened to Matthew Shepard. The prejudice and discriminatory actions that derive from it are a part of the focus. Moreover, how does this prejudice and discrimination affect the emotional and physical health of the person who experiences hateful words or violence? While perplexing, these are all questions that can and should be answered. In this case, the focus will emerge with three aspects of humanity: sexual orientation, gender, and race as focal points of prejudice and discrimination.

To commence, what exactly is prejudice and discrimination? Robert Baron, Donn Byrne, and Nyla Branscombe (2007) in Mastering Social Psychology, write, “Prejudice is the feelings component of attitudes toward social groups. Prejudice reflects the feelings experienced that are based solely on a person’s membership in a particular group” (p.167). Therefore, prejudice is derived from an emotional place of the human condition which is exactly what makes the point of view so difficult to change. If prejudice was based on purely rational terms, it could be logically proven wrong through argument and attitudes would change more easily. As Matthew Shepard’s case above proved, the prejudice involved on the level of sexual orientation is part of the pre-conceived ideas which played a role in the actions of Aaron and Russell. This leads one to the definition of what discrimination is.

Discrimination can be cognitively conceived as the behavior that stems from the prejudice of a person. Baron, Byrne, and Branscombe (2007) write, “Laws, social pressure, fear of retaliation—all serve to deter people from putting their prejudiced views into open practice. For these reasons, blatant forms of discrimination—negative actions toward the objects of racial, sexual orientation, gender, ethnic, or religious prejudice—have decreased somewhat in recent years in the United States and other countries” (p.175). Thus, discrimination is the actual manifestation of the underlying prejudice people have on both a cognitive and affective level. Aaron and Russell’s violence against Matthew Shepard is probably the most dramatic and depressing example of prejudice becoming an action in the form of discrimination. The fact that Matthew Shepard was murdered on that fateful night is a testament to how deep the well of prejudice truly is and how it can change the life of someone forever. Now, one can begin an examination of how these forces affect the individual on the level of sexual orientation.

Sexual orientation is one component of identity to examine in so far as how Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender people must deal with a heterosexist society. Dr. Sean Cahill (2004) writes in his book, Same Sex Marriage in the United States: Focus on the Facts, that, “In reaction to these developments, in 1996 Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defended marriage as a “legal union between one man and one woman”, thereby restricting federal benefits, such as Social Security survivor benefits, to heterosexual couples” (p.5). Thus, relationship recognition and the host of rights which derive from civil marriage is essentially denied to Gay couples at the federal level on the basis of sexual orientation. This is one example of the legal exclusion and inequality that Gay and Lesbian peoples face in the United States. Moreover, how exactly does this exclusion affect Gay and Lesbian peoples? Researchers Sharon Rostosky, Ellen Riggle, Sharon Horne, and Angela Miller (2009) in their research article, Marriage Amendments and Psychological Distress in Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual (LGB) Adults, write, “Except in the case of internalized homophobia, each minority stress factor (negative media messages, negative conversations, LGBT activism) significantly increased among participants living in states that had just passed a marriage amendment but not among participants in other states” (p.60). Thus, the Gays and Lesbians living in states with anti-Gay rhetoric experienced a great deal more of publicity which was construed as hurtful and unproductive. On the social level, there was a clear depiction of these amendments that was very pronounced and very clear. However, what exactly did these marriage amendments affect on the personal level?

RIP Graham

Graham Berkeley: A Lover of Freedom

Graham Berkeley, a Briton, had lived in the United States for 10 years, and for 10 years he had been trying to get the green card that would grant him resident status. It came at last in June, and Mr. Berkeley had started making plans to move to New York City from Boston when, on Sept. 11, he boarded United Airlines Flight 175 for a business trip to Los Angeles.
"It's like fate playing tricks on you," said his friend Christian Winslow. "His fight for that green card had been so intense."
Mr. Berkeley, 37, was director of e-commerce solutions for the Compuware Corporation , but his friends remember him as a classical violinist, an opera buff and a world traveler. "He loved the freedom that America has," Mr. Winslow said. "He loved the openness of our society and the friends he had here. America, to Graham, was almost like the cliché — a land of endless opportunities.

'We watched our child die, unaware'

While Charles and Pauline Berkeley watched on television as the second plane hit the World Trade Centre, their grief for the loss of others was slowly overwhelmed by the fear that they had seen their son die. They knew their son Graham was travelling that day from his home in Boston. From their secluded bungalow in Shrewsbury they called his cell phone and emailed him repeatedly. He did not answer.

At 10.30pm their phone rang. It was United Airlines informing them that Graham had been on Flight 175, the second plane to hit the World Trade Centre at 9.03am that day. 'At first we thought it was a hoax,' said Charles. 'But then United rang back. We had seen the fireball ourselves and knew to expect the worst,' said Charles, his voice suddenly frail. 'We watched our child die, unaware. He was a brilliant boy - a brilliant man.' Unlike other hijacked passengers Graham, 37, a British IT consultant living in Boston, did not manage to make a call on his phone before the crash. But Charles believes his son would not have gone quietly. He knows he would have put up a fight when the hijackers took control of the plane. 'He was an assertive lad,' he said.

'I wish our Graham had slept in that day'

   Charles and Pauline Berkeley watched the two hijacked jets crash into the World Trade Centre on television at their home in Shrewsbury feeling desperately sorry for the victims. Seven hours later they discovered that their son Graham was one of the dead. Yesterday Mr and Mrs Berkeley sat in New York weeping for the son they would never see again. They loved him very much, they said. "The sunshine has gone out of our lives," said his mother as her husband put an arm around her shoulders.

   Graham Berkeley was 37 and wanted to live the rest of his life in New York. He was in Los Angeles in the 1980s when the earthquake took place and joked that after that he could survive anything. Mr Berkeley had telephoned his parents to say that he was going to Amsterdam. They had no idea that there had been a change of plans and he had decided to travel to Los Angeles instead for a conference.

   "We watched the crash on television and at first we thought we were watching a movie," said Mrs Berkeley, a retired nurse. "We felt so sorry for the people on the aeroplane and all the others. It was not until 10 o'clock that night that United Airlines called us and said: 'We are very sorry, your son was on Flight 175.' He was on the flight that went into the second tower. I wish he had laid over that morning. "He was a fantastic lad. Everybody who knew him said he had charisma. He had a lovely smile. He used to put everybody's mind at ease and try to help. "He lived for travelling. He had been in Australia the previous year and all over. He always used to ring from the airport and say, 'Hi guys, I'm going to so-and-so.' But he never rang this time."

Noted in Passing

• Maggie Galagher:
  
  "Two hundred years ago, for example, homosexuality did not exist. There was sodomy, of course, and buggery, and fornication and adultery and other sexual sins, but not of these forbidden acts fundamentally altered the sexual landscape. A man who committed sodomy may have lost his soul, but he did not lose his gender. He did not become a homosexual, a third sex. That was the invention of the nineteenth-century imagination."
  



• Megan McCain on DADT:
  "I really think it's generational," said McCain. "I've been very disappointed with President Obama. He is 49, which is significantly younger than my father. I don't understand why the media doesn't put more pressure on him to do something as well."
  


• Yet Another DADT trial begins:
  On Monday, Sept. 13, the lesbian for whom the "Witt Standard" was named will be back in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, Washington court as the decorated U.S. Air Force flight nurse continues to challenge her discharge under DADT. Witt is seeking re-instatement. The trial is expected to last seven days.
  


• Drip, drip, drip:
  Members of the European Parliament have called for action to ensure gay couples in marriages and civil partnerships are recognised across the continent.
  


• Who knew?
  According to Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, Lowered intellectual capacity is another devastating consequence of Muslim marriage patterns.
  

And we're the abominations before God!

Priest sex abuse linked to 13 suicides in Belgium

BRUSSELS – Hundreds of sex abuse victims have come forward in Belgium with harrowing accounts of molestation by Catholic clergy that reportedly led to at least 13 suicides and affected children as young as two, a special commission said Friday.
Professor Peter Adriaenssens, chairman of the commission, said the abuse in Belgium may have been even more rampant than the 200-page report suggests.
"Reality is worse than what we present here today because not everyone shares such things automatically in a first contact with the commission," he told reporters.
Adriaenssens, a child psychiatrist who has worked with trauma victims for 23 years, said nothing had prepared him for the stories of abuse that blighted the lives of victims.
"We don't just talk about touching. We are talking about oral and anal abuse, forced masturbation and mutual masturbation. We talk about people who have gone through serious abuse," Adriaenssens said.
Most of the abuse happened during the 1960s and 1970s, he said.
The Roman Catholic Church in Belgium experienced the findings as "a body blow," Adriaenssens said.
Belgian Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard said he would react on Monday to the report. The Vatican had no immediate comment.
But Tournai Bishop Guy Harpigny, who deals with the issue for the church, praised Adriaenssens's work and told VRT television that "now, the time has come to listen to the victims."
The report's findings are the latest embarrassment for Belgium's Catholic Church, which is still reeling after the April resignation of Bruges Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, who admitted to having sexually abused a nephew for years when he was a priest and bishop.
Friday's report said 507 witnesses came forward with stories of molestation at the hands of clergy over the past decades. It says those abused included children who were two, four, five and six years old.
Family members or friends said 13 victims committed suicide that "was related to sexual abuse by clergy," the report said. Six other witnesses said they had attempted suicide.
"It is notable how often one issue comes back in the witness reports: the high number of suicides," the report said.
The number of those coming forward with their stories and testimonies, however, could be only a fraction of those actually abused, Adriaenssens said. He added several priests cooperated with the panel, which had the support of the Belgian church.
"We saw how priests, called up by the commission and asked to help seek the truth, were willing to set up the list of 10, 15, 20 victims they abused during boarding school while the commission knew only of one," he said.
Archbishop Leonard, who was appointed earlier this year, said he will come forward with a new initiative Monday on how to deal with cases of abuse, prevent further abuse and help victims seek closure.
His spokesman Jurgen Mettepenningen said the archbishop didn't comment Friday so as not to distract attention from the report's contents.
Leonard's predecessor, Cardinal Godfried Danneels, acknowledged Wednesday that damage control often took precedence in Belgium over concerns for victims in sexual abuse cases involving clergy.
The crisis in the Belgian church was exacerbated last month, when secret tapes were published of Danneels speaking with the man whom Vangheluwe abused and suggesting a cover-up until Vangheluwe was to retire in 2011. Danneels said Wednesday he should have asked Vangheluwe to resign immediately.

The Politics of Disappointment

Last week, you all recall there was a "moneybomb" for Jack Conway. Hey, I get calls for money from democrats three or four times a day. I usually write them back asking some questions. They are generally not answered.

I asked, in the moneybomb diary, why there was nothing at the Conway website describing the candidate's stance on GLBT issues. I was told by someone who was apparently a supporter...and someone who thought he was much smarter than I...that it was Kentucky, as if that meant those issues didn't matter there.

Excuse me? I thought Kentucky was one of the United States of America...and that as Americans, and especially as Democrats, we were generally opposed to second-class citizenship.

Mr. President, Tear Down This Policy!

On June 12, 1987 President Reagan (yes, that President Reagan) stood at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and challenged General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Michhail Gorbachev, to

...come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

And while it won't make history or be remembered in any way (although it might dredged up fifty years hence thanks to Google), I now, standing at my Internet gateway, challenge the President of United States, the Commander in Chief of the United States Military, Barack Obama, to

Tear Down This Policy!

and end Don't Ask, Don't Tell now, for good, and forever.

My Declaration of Independence: If you can’t share, then split it, a parenting style for a founding father?

By The 3B's

So here is the scene, there are a group of thirteen individuals who are all different, playing Monopoly for parts of the United States. Before the game began, there was an awful ruckus about peoples rights, state sovereignty, intrusive government, lack of god, too much god, different god’s. God’s that hate this one but not that one, there was a lot of bickering, just like in the back seat of my station wagon when there is only one Power Ranger. So, lets try to parent the Thirteen and see what parenting rules we can apply.

What? You can’t share? Then we will divide it up fairly, so there have to be 13 Colonies, to revert back. Why? Because I said so that’s why! When listening to the group it appears that the current government has failed and everyone is unhappy, so we look to the Declaration of Independence to be our guide. This forms the basis of our current government and how we left English Rule to become self-governed. It is as good a place to start as any.

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

So, about the ruckus before the game of Monopoly, everyone got a chance to state their grievance, here is a list:

1. We don’t like their coloring.
2. They are coloring outside the lines
3. We don’t like their face
4. We don’t like them
5. They don’t like us
6. We don’t like where they come from
7. They don’t like where we come from
8. They have more than we do
9. They got more
10. Boys are yucky
11. Girls are yucky
12. They are bossy
13. They are different

Now, we have to go about the mess of how we divide the country back into thirteen pieces, if you can not share, it will be divided for you. Monopoly seems to make everyone happy and is a game that everyone is familiar with, knows the rules and it appears that the mindset of each of the Thirteen is they hold a monopoly on answers. 

First, if you can not agree I will make the decision for you. HMMM, that does not seem to fly in my mind as it is where we all started, with a King trying to tell us all what to do. So, that theory is out the window, besides the fact that the original offenses that were cited, such as unlawful detention, search and seizure, not being able to assemble freely, write freely, speak freely....we have all that covered these days and more freedom than we know what do do with. I hardly see a comparison from what the original Founding Father was facing in comparison to what I have seen in the ruckus, so Monopoly it is.

Additionally, this is not like China, where 35,000 people were forced to resettle so the government could build one of the largest water projects in history. We have not been told to pack up our stuff and move for the greater good. We have not been told what our property is worth, had our ancestral homes valued and then destroyed, as we moved to a shanty town constructed by the government. Only to have the Government step in and speak for us on these issues. We here have many freedoms that we forget about in this great social experiment called the United States of America. However, with so many “Toys” the Thirteen are a spoiled lot. There is much more “drama than actual trauma”

What?, one of the Thirteen just heard me talking about China and stated “that’s not fair”, well fair is where you get cotton candy kid! Nobody said life was fair, especially when each of you has a subjective lens on and are completely unaware of anything but your “self”. A child’s sense of equity is centered on the self, but their sense of what is fair may be right when it pertains to others. They can spot hypocrisy in others but not in themselves.

In the case of the members of the community of Three Gorges Dam Project in China, they can be and are being forced to resettle. We no longer have that issue in this country of immense freedom. In my house this can be likened to the fact that the boys think it is a Right to have the TV rather than a Privilege. They fail to realize how privileged and lucky they are, just as the Thirteen do. As a father it is my job to ensure they understand what others are subject to and how lucky they are. However, it takes growth and maturation to get beyond their developmental self-centeredness.

I remember when the United States turned 200, I was in the Fourth Grade and how proud I was to be living in the country. Perhaps in a countries development, 200 years is the equivalent to the terrible two’s, as it appears that is the way this country is acting. With all of the partisan bickering it is like a fight between siblings over who gets to control the remote, while the house is on fire.

There are bigger things happening in the world, but we fail to see them. The interesting thing is that as a parent you exhaust and tire of the constant bickering until you finally just give up, with a certain sense of apathy or, you teach and parent through the tough parts until it is over. The hard facts are that we are in a down economy, we have a planet in peril, and other pressing things to address but we want control of the remote.

As a parent exhausts and tires of this, they loose precious resources they need, like sleep, alone time, fun time. As a country with all this bickering and failure to see the truths, which are supposed to be “self-evident”, we waste money and time in court, to fight against things that should not be at issue, we spend time tearing one another down rather than building up, and we do not recognize the facts that we are all “equal”, and that each one of us can have his or her own lot in life as it is endowed by “their creator”.

Now, a parent uses words that are very specific and I do not see the use of these words to be any different. The Founding Fathers, used the words “their creator” to instill in us the notion that each of us is entitled to a creator of our own mind. Thus, there is not a monopoly on who is right or wrong, as each of us can and may have our own creator. Having said that, isn’t it about time for the Thirteen to take a time out and stop all this bickering and look at what is important? As I write this we are coming upon the anniversary of 9/11 with one of the Thirteen calling for the burning of books. Not only does this send the Parent in me into orbit, it harkens back to another dark time in our not so distant past where, others were persecuted, locked away and killed because they were different, all by a man who thought he was right. Markedly, he called for book burning as well.

So, to the Thirteen I say, “Knock It Off”, and I will impose what I call Philadelphia timeout. When my boys cannot get along and there is a constant tirade of things that one or the other has allegedly, perpetrated upon the other, I send them to their room, for an hour or two until they can get along. Thus, the “Brotherly Love” treatment. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am tired of all the shenanigans, tired of wasted resources, bickering, false allegations and the like since the house is on fire and there is argument over the remote.

I hope on some level this drives home the point how ridiculous this all is, we can recognize a spoiled brat a mile away, but each of us is just as guilty of failing to call out the spoiled brat in ourselves. It is time we said, “No More”, and rose above the other brats. I declare myself independent of the others and shall choose a path of “Live and let Live” and work to promote tolerance for all as their “creator” intended, as long as I am stuck in this social experiment of the United States, I might as well act like an adult.

DADT declared unconsitutional!

LA Times

A federal judge in Riverside declared the U.S. military’s ban on openly gay service members unconstitutional Thursday, saying the “don't ask, don't tell” policy violates the 1st Amendment rights of lesbians and gay men.

U.S. District Court Judge Virginia A. Phillips said the policy banning gays did not preserve military readiness, contrary to what many supporters have argued, saying evidence shows that the policy in fact had a “direct and deleterious effect’’ on the military...

The ruling is expected to intensify political pressure in Washington to act on legislation to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell," which remains stalled in the Senate despite support from President Obama and the Democratic congressional leadership.

Not An Identity Crisis...

Hi all!

I recently came out to a friend and since then we have been having a series of conversations about what it is to be trans. I wrote this as a response to her questions. Hopefully, it isn't too rambling and makes sense in some way. I thought I'd share it with y'all.

.
We try to figure ourselves out. Not just transfolk, but all people. Well, okay. Some people never give their identity a second thought. They are who they are and being that person is easy. But...I have never really felt that being me was easy. I want to just be me, whoever that may be. It's sometimes hard for me to articulate the nature of this problem...the problem of being me. I'm not trying to be a woman because, as I perceive things, I am a woman of a kind. This is not to deny that I have a strong male aspect. So am I attempting to erase the person I have been to become someone else? No. Emphatically No. I am myself. But (and this is an important "but") I want to bring the stronger female aspect of myself to the foreground and allow the male aspect to become less...pronounced.

Noted in Passing

• Who'd of thunk?
  
  Although social conservatives in the 2010 election campaign depict gay marriage as a threat to married life as we know it, Iowa's 18-month experience with the newly legalized institution has revealed striking similarities to traditional marriage and no discernible harm to it, according to an IowaWatch study.
  


• "Do I trust the GOP on the debt? Is the Pope gay?" -- Andrew Sullivan
  


• You can't make this stuff up.
  
  The town's name is real. But when Josh Moore tried to tell Seattle-based Microsoft and the enforcement team at Xbox Live, they wouldn't take his word for it. Or Google it. Or check the U.S. Postal Service website for a ZIP code.
  
  Instead, they suspended his gaming privileges for a few days until Moore could convince them the location in his profile, "fort gay WV," wasn't a joke or a slur: It's an actual community of about 800 in Wayne County, along West Virginia's western border with Kentucky.
  


• You wish you were making stuff like this up.
  
  HRC has sworn to support candidate's who support full equality for LGBT citizens and have gone on record with various media outlets to discontinue financially supporting Rep. Mark Kirk but the LGBT non-profit continued to contribute to his campaign. (Below shows a $2,000 contribution in 2010)
  


• 'Why can't I own a Canadian' is Google Search's topline suggested completion when you type 'Why can't I '. Huh??
  


• 3% of Twitter's infrastructure is dedicated to Justin Bieber.
  
  "Every time Bieber tweets, his messages have to be delivered to more than five million people who then endlessly retweet it.
  

What Is A LGBT Democrat To Do In 2010?

By David Mixner-

Listen up. People start early voting in many states in about 25 days. That is right. In less than a month the future of our country once again goes to the polls. Every two years it seems we struggle with a complex world filled with "the lesser of two evils" choices. Sometimes life is not fair and sometimes our choices just stink.
Especially in this year of the Tea Party nominating in Republican primaries for Congress some really extreme candidates who have even put the fear of God into traditional Republican conservatives. The temptation is to go into panic mode and just support anything the Democrats want you to do in an effort to stop this craziness. The desire to keep the nut jobs out of the Congress is a legitimate one and we must do our part.
Now I know there are those who have had it with the Democratic Party and in many cases with good substantive policy reasons. Certainly the LGBT community can legitimately feel rejected, deceived and abused by the Party this year. With a vastly Democratic Congress and a Democratic President, the results for our community are pitiful. Some of that can be chalked up to a failure of leadership in our own national organizations. There is no question after the elections it is time to look at the results of the last year and hold our leadership accountable.
As a result, many of you are tempted to stay home or vote Green. There is a lot to be said to use a vote to increase the presence of the Green Party but I do not believe that is an effective strategy in a case it could either cause the defeat of a 'full equality Democrat' or elect a total destructive nut job like Sharron Angle to the United States Senate. As for you LGBT Republicans, I hope you will continue to get prominent Republicans on the full equality bandwagon. You have done an amazing job recently. Continue to put your resources to build those bridges to our community. Please stay away from those Palin crazies.
However, if you choose to vote Democrat, then this year you most certainly have choices and some good ones. This is a year we can be good citizens, participate in the battle for the best government we can achieve in these times and not blindly support any old Democrat. Here are some guidelines on those choices.

1. Vote. For any person of any ideology not to vote is just criminal in my mind.
2. Contribute to those candidates who support 'full equality including marriage equality' who are in tough races. I will do my best over the next weeks to point these tough races out to you. We have a number of US Senate races and Congressional races where the Democratic nominee supports us 100%. We should be there for them.
3. Contribute to openly LGBT candidates who have a real shot either directly or through the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund.
4. Do not contribute to Democratic Party entities. Do you want your money to go to Senator Ben Nelson or Congressman Ike Skelton who oppose us to the hilt? If you contribute to the Party establishment then you are contributing to them.
5. Do support organizations that only support candidates for full equality. If they are supporting candidates with less than full equality then don't give to them.
6. Also the battles in states like New York, California and Minnesota for marriage equality should be on the top of our lists. The Governor and Attorney General races are crucial to us. Organizations like FightBackNY and ESPA deserve our support in New York.

There is a lot we can do to help as LGBT Democrats in this year's elections without being blackmailed or guilted into supporting horrible conservative blue dog Democrats. So if you are Democrat, don't bitch, sit on the sidelines, relinquish your rights to participate and not vote.

visit Live From Hell's Kitchen for more from David.

WGLB presents - Fade to Grey

Ever met Tina?

Tina sure knows how to party! w00t!

Tina kicks ass! Let's hang with Tina again next weekend!
>

I love Tina!

Tina scares me a bit.

I love Tina, she's easy to score, and cheap! Tina RULES!! Who needs sleep? Let's go out and party!
>

Tina scares me.

I'm not sleepy, you go to bed and I'll be up in a while.
>

>

Where were you last night? You know I hate sleeping alone.

I cleaned the apartment.

You what???

I wasn't sleepy, so I stayed up, got some work done and cleaned up around here.

You haven't slept much in weeks. You sure you're okay?
>

>

I think we should talk to someone, get some help.

I don't have a problem with Tina!

I hate Tina!

Tina is a blast!

Tina sucks!

Tina is a blast!
>

Tina scares me a lot.
>

But I DO want to go out dancing again tonight. I promise, I won't be late. See you in the morning.
>

Tina scares me a lot!
>

Pookie, wake up! I want to fool around.

What time is it? It's 4 AM! I have to work in a couple hours. Are you nuts?

Sex with Tina is unbelievable! Take a bump. We'll rest this evening.

Are you nuts? I'm going back to sleep. You need help!

Fine, I'll see you later.
>

>
Where were you last night? I waited up for you.

I met up with some friends. These cool guys invited me back to their place to hang.

All night? You've got a problem. We've got a problem! We need to get you help.

What problem? You're so damn paranoid.
>

>
You've got a problem!

Yeah, I've got a problem alright, and I'm talking to him.

Please! We need to talk! We need to address this now!
...

---

---

-Tina sucks the life out of people. She sucks the life out of relationships. And ultimately she sucks them both dry, killing them both, dead.

-Tina seems like fun... seems harmless enough at first, exciting to be around, titillating even.

-Tina is a favorite with the circuit party boys. She is the life of the party when you're first getting to know her.

-When you're with Tina, she'll keep you up and dancing all night long. So why miss out? Circuit Parties, After Parties and even the Morning Party are all manageable when you're with Tina!

-When most people meet Tina, she's hanging around with her more innocuous friends. I've been introduced to Tina a few times, thankfully she never did much for me.

-But Tina is a slut. She'll steal your husband right out of your bed at night when she thinks you're sleeping.



After ten+ years together, building a future together, building a life together,... I was assured he had never cheated on me as he walked out the door for the last time, with Tina and his stuff. His eyes are dead now. Those eyes that so dazzled when we met are dead. They don't even broadcast the tweak now, or hide the lie, just dead.
>

Noted In Passing

Slovenia: Gay Marriage Possible By May 2011

"No one fears HRC because they know there is no consequence to failing or betraying HRC." -- Comment by bruhrabbit3 in Richard Lyon's PHB series about the HRC

The prime minister of the Faroe Islands, Kaj Leo Johannesen, invited all seven of the Faroe Island's party leaders to dine with Ms Sigurðardóttir and her wife, Jonina Leonsdottir. However, Jenis av Rana MP, leader of The Centre Party, a Christianity-based conservative party, declined the invitation, reportedly saying it was against his religion and that he wouldn't "dream of attending such a banquet". -- Pinknews

Millennials are divided in their response to the question, "How much would you agree or disagree with the statement: I see nothing wrong with two people of the same gender getting married." Forty percent agree strongly; 21 percent agree somewhat; 15 percent disagree somewhat; and 24 percent disagree strongly. -- survey results by a Christian group on 18-30 year olds attitudes towards gay marriage

Even before announcing their decisions to back Gillard, Mr. Katter, Mr. Windsor, and Mr. Oakeshott -- all of whom represent rural constituencies -- had extracted promises of better funding for regional hospitals and schools. Both Labor and the Coalition also agreed to implement parliamentary reforms that will curtail long-winded speeches, give more power to backbench MPs and increase the scrutiny of ministers. -- good luck with that, Down Under!

Senate Republicans clearly understood that legislative outcomes in 2009 were a very important issue and focused their energy pretty decisively on playing an objectively weak hand to influence them. Senate Democrats, dealt a strong hand, spent an amazing amount of time fretting about process and superficial matters and only really buckled down in 2010 by which time their hand was much weaker. -- How Norm Coleman Saved America From Socialism

Illinois: Land of Senator Kirk and Governor Brady?

by: AJ DeVito

The metropolitan area of Chicago, Illinois has been my home for the last twenty three years of my twenty three year old life. It is a place that is near to my heart because of the great culture, compelling politics, and rich history that goes along with northeastern Illinois. My Mom and Dad used to take me to Science and Industry, the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, and the Brookfield Zoo on a regular basis when I was growing up. It was during this time that I learned to appreciate the complexity of our world with the vast array of life that lives on our planet. History, environmental issues, science based disciplines, and cultural examination became a living example to me of how and why knowledge helps us to move a society forward. As an adult now I fully comprehend and am grateful to my parents for reminding me that life long learning is what will make you more wealthy then the top 1-2% of earners the Republicans (and some Democrats) wish to to extend the Bush tax cuts for.

Writing has been core to my being as a mode of introspection to provide insight into what I have learned over the years. Poetry, prose, speeches, essays, and political articles are all enthralling to me because they engage a reader on a variety of emotional and intellectual levels. Thus, writing continues to be the primary manner in which I express myself many museums later. Life experience is the best way to garner the insight and inspiration to allow thoughts to flow from mind to paper (or in this case HTML). In a way our lives are unwritten pieces of art waiting for new chapters to be written through the decisions that we make regarding the course of our life. Illinois is a state of the midwest, and it's beautiful to go outside of Chicago to see the large swaths of corn crops during the summer in the rural portions of the state. It gives you a sense of the diversity of our state that it goes from farms to Chicago in its scope. That said the races for Senator and Governor in Illinois concern me greatly.

Politics inevitably impacts our lives in both small and signifcant ways. As LGBT people and allies we know that who gets into office can have direct and indirect impacts on our civil rights in traditionally blue and red states alike. Many observers around the country place Illinois into the box as a moderate blue state in the midwest which seems like a relatively safe truth. However, the polls have been showing that Alexi Giannoulias (D) and current Governor Quinn (D) could be in trouble this fall which means trouble for LGBT people from Illinois. As many of you know I have been critical of inaction from national leaders of the Democratic party, and we must continue to pressure them to do the right thing on the collection of civil rights issues of our time. The ability to move people who already agree with you on principle is one thing, but Brady for Governor and Kirk for Senate do not agree with us on principle in many cases.

Poetry: From the Outside

by AJ DeVito

The Worthy

The patriotic flag waves boldly through the wind with immense pride,
exuding the exuberance of a nation exalting the beauty of the inside,
she and he walk methodically forward as one unit in common bravery,
defending the country they as a citizen call home in service for our military.

Wait, stop, and hold it right there before you may know the honor this bestows,
first we must investigate to make sure you are worthy by seeing if anyone knows,
if you are the marginal, odd, and abnormal abomination that is what we call gay,
still you will tell even if we say we do not ask as our law of the land is day by day.

Sacrifice of your life for the nation you love is a mere second thought,
no matter how dedicated and strong this woman or man might be in heart,
yet in a world of justice and integrity we know he or she is the truly worthy,
despite the hand of oppression the call to serve their country is still sturdy.

The gay woman or man soliders onward anyway because this is what they love,
even when the very country they fight for turns out not to be a peaceful dove.
Change is the movement of forward and never backward in a recognition of unity,
to find the inner strength to bring the liberty and justice lacking for the many.

The worthy lesbians and gay men of the United States military must always internalize
that they too deserve the dignity and civil rights they fight for abroad for us to externalize.

Husband and Husband

Frosting would line the circular outer edges of a massive strawberry wedding cake,
as the family continues to finish plans of the happy day for the dear couple's sake.
Flowers create the fragrance of freshness and connection to the earth we call home,
as the wedding planner frantically runs about the hall permanently on the cell phone.

Typical wedding karaoke music needed to be placed on hold afterall for the reception,
in the wake of another ballot which took it all away with our hope's dashed deception.
The bumper sticker slogan silenced the music, happiness, and our joyous celebration,
we would have to put the delicious stawberry cake in the fridge in California and Maine again.

Bells and whistles are the romantic things which add to the depth of our love we wish to share,
in common recognition of the relationship which is equally valid as a civil marriage is fair.
Dignity and equality are neither foolish or light things to attempt to attain when denied,
because we confer those two things upon ourselves when standing up and not being defied.

How can society continue to deny a fundamental happiness to so many people?
Why can they not open their eyes to see the love they so consciously try not to see?
The mixture of life components bring our social worlds into collision whether we like it or not,
which is why we must see and hear things as they are instead of as we want them to be.

Two grooms, two brides, or a groom and bride may be on top of the stawberry wedding cake,
but the equality of love, recognition, and good baking that went into the loving care is not fake.

Beaten, Not Broken

Tears stream down his face from the pain of the wound on his head,
the emergency room is bright with light and loud with the sound of dread.
Thoughts of the incident keep pacing through his mind as he waits for his turn,
attempting to piece it all together for the Doctor and authorities to learn.

Hatred is a malevolent presence that originates from the very specific teaching,
that this specific person is to be marginalized and denied what they are seeking.
Understanding cannot be gained from a mind that has been closed by prejudice,
in which the beginning of an expanded hatred rises to create powerful injustice.

Sweat pours from his forehead as flashes of the event replay in his sad mind,
recounting the hate crime for being gay that left his hurt in a state of rewind.
He felt like a part of his identity had already died which was floating upward,
in a far off and high place detatched from the intense pain on earth downward.

Why did he hit me over the head with that baseball bat?
How could he hate me enough to cause me physical harm just for being gay?
The answers to the questions posed are found within the social disease of hatred,
carried on as overt prejudice that manifests itself like an infection that is spread.

From the Outside

Humanity seeks a common thread of knowledge as a reference point for all to commence,
the movement forward of a united pupose to create a peace that is worth all our defense.
This view from the outside is not a self-determined choice that one can systemtically renounce,
without the loss of self-worth, identity, and the sense of self which we would all denounce.

Individualism permeates the discourse of the United States cultural dialogue,
even as it punishes the unique manifestation of the human condition as if we were a catalogue,
where a 'one size fits all' approach robs us of the very diversity our nation says it treasures,
we are told to watch these events from the outside as an outsider by their sayings and measures.

Clarity is derived from sitting on the outside because you are able to peer into the spin,
seeing all of the grandeur of the propoganda for what it is, does, and it's a game we don't win.
For the competition of ideas all too often lacks what the true impact of such issues will be,
in the honest context with which they are to be applied by leaders who themselves do not see.

Intelligence is found from being placed to the outside by a society who does not understand you,
for they ironically give you the ability to see the big picture without privelage as those who do.
It is the energy of questioning authority that gives credence to the hope for a better future,
in which those placed on the outside for shallow reasons will no longer have hardships to endure.

From the outside you learn to find and stand in your own truth with a quiet courage
that reminds you to never give up the struggle to make it better for all- on the outside and inside.

LGBT rights ranks 24th out of 29th...

Nate Silver surveys Congressperson and candidate web sites, noting which issues are addressed. He surveyed 29 Democratic and 29 Republican websites of candidates in districts rated 'tossups'.

7% of Democratic candidates mentioned 'gay rights', while 21% of Republican candidates did so (presumably not in a favorable way...)

Silver goes on to note:

And both Republicans and Democrats avoided the issue of gay rights, where public opinion is shifting. Even if gay marriage were too controversial to be a part of the Democratic agenda in most swing districts, the Democrats might theoretically gain ground by highlighting their support for allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the military, where large majorities of the public back their position. But perhaps hamstrung by Mr. Obama, who has taken a series of half-steps on the issue, few of these Democrats have chosen to do so.

The only issues that were noted less by Democrats were

• Israel (tied)
• Science/technology
• Nuclear Proliferation
• Size of Government
• Organized Labor

Noted in Passing

The conservative movement is nearing surrender on the issue ((of same-sex marriage)) -- Joseph Farah

“A gay relationship is like decaffeinated coffee, you do not wake up,” -- Father Gonzalo Mirando

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When Palin thanks prayer warriors for keeping her covered, she is thanking them for calling on angels to shield her from demonic attacks. Michael Joseph Gross

Surgery Update and the Week

By Allison Equality Woolbert-
Forty years ago, I watched the moon rise in my small bedroom at the front of my family trailer. It was late at night, the stars were shining brightly and the moon was full in the sky. I remember saying “God – Please change my body to the little girl that I am. I’ll do anything. I will listen to Mommy and Daddy all the time. I won’t be mean to my sisters and brothers. I’ll do anything you want and I know you have the power to change me.” I was met with utter silence. No voice from the sky. No miracle. No hope. Just an overwhelming sadness that I was not good enough to warrant love, nurturing and answered prayers from a god that was suppose to move mountains. I tried this for months, begging, pleading, bargaining, all to no avail. I was met with silence.

Fast forward some forty years later to this week. What does it feel like 4 days before a surgery that you have dreamed about and waited for your whole lifetime? Overly joyous! Happy as all get out! Frightening, stressful, amazing and stunning. The clock is ticking down to Friday September 10th at 7:30am, and each day brings me closer to my hopes and dreams of being whole and congruent within myself. At the same time, the hard work in the final days is also happening.

I have such an amazing team of eight wonderful women who are helping me through this amazing venture. I cannot tell you how much they mean to me. Not to mention the hundreds of individuals who have made my dream possible. Let me tell you about eight of them. Two are Reiki Masters, one is my therapist, one is my roommate, three are my closest friends, and one is a new and marvelous friend who is a gender affirming woman.

A few weeks back, we began to assemble a meeting and had a dinner to see who wanted to be involved in working through all the details necessary for surgery, and for working through any residual issues and aftercare that is required with Gender Affirmation Surgery. I cannot truly tell you all the details that go into planning a major surgery that is so very personal to me. What I can tell you is that the logistics, preparation and planning needed can be overwhelming without help. My eight friends have provided daily support for the past two weeks through walking with me, doing Reiki and hypnosis, role playing, dreaming of the future, helping get the newsletter out, getting all the supplies ready and marked, being there for the tears and the happiness, lifting things when I mis-articulated three ribs and so very much more. As I said, I can’t tell you all the details, there are just too many.

What I can tell you is this – if you are planning this surgery, find yourself a wonderful group of people who want you to transform to a butterfly, fall in love with them all, and rest in the knowledge and comfort of their gift of love that will support you and carry you through in recovery. It is overwhelmingly the best decision I ever made and I am greatly humbled by their gifts of time, talent and treasure to help me be everything I am today and in my future.

So, how have I felt over the past few days you might ask? Stressed out!!!!. Over the past two years, I’ve been doing public speaking and telling many of my life story. It’s one thing to tell your story of how family members acted on a specific occasion, and it’s an entirely different matter to see it in front of your very eyes during roll play.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse

And we're to believe the folks in the Tea Party are just interested in economic issues, right? While they had the decency to fire the guy right away for his disgusting comments, he was their president.

I won't be surprised when, in a few days, he comes out and says something about the violation of his first amendment rights. He and Dr. Laura can go on tour...

Two Views

"Open letter to Conservatives who support same-sex marriage" from David Kupelian.

I do not support gay marriage. Marriage has religious and social connotations, and I consider marriage to be between a man and a woman." – Barack Obama

"Marriage has got historic, religious and moral content that goes back to the beginning of time, and I think a marriage is as a marriage always has been, between a man and a woman." – Hillary Clinton

Ameriblog

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Ameriblog

In Mexico, Vatican Likens Gay Marriage To Decaffeinated Coffee

   While traveling in Mexico, two Vatican prelates have criticized Mexico City's new gay marriage law.

   The marriages of gay and lesbian couples are an imitation, the bishops said, Mexico's El Universal reported.

   “A gay relationship is like decaffeinated coffee, you do not wake up,” Father Gonzalo Miranda, a bioethics professor at Regina Apostolorum University, a pontifical university, said.

   Miranda, along with Monsignor Elio Sgreccia, president emeritus of the Pontification Academy for Life in the Vatican, are in Mexico participating in a series of academic conferences commemorating the 20th anniversary of the founding of the School of Bioethics at the Universidad Anahuac in Huixquilucan state. The bishops criticized Mexico City's new law at a press conference held on Wednesday.

   “What just happened in California is very significant,” Miranda said, referring to a recent federal judge's ruling that overturned the state's gay marriage law, Proposition 8. “On two occasions people spoke out against the legal recognition of gay marriage and twice a judge changed the popular vote with a ruling. In Mexico, I don't know well the mechanism used, but the people were not consulted, there's wasn't a referendum either.”

   In December, Mexico City became the first autonomous municipality in Latin America to approve a gay marriage law. The conservative federal government challenged the law, but the nation's Supreme Court declared the law, which, for the first time, also allows gay couples to adopt, constitutional, and ruled that all Mexican states must recognize the gay marriages of the nation's capital.

   Both prelates said such unions go against nature, and that gay couples adopting children cannot be considered parenthood “but a substitute that can harm the child, a grave injustice that cannot be described.”

LGBT Labor Day - Help Pass ENDA

by indiemcemopants

It's hard to write about Labor Day without discussing the work and struggles of our LGBT brothers and sisters. We've been fighting for the right to work for decades and we still have not achieved that status. The first ENDA-like bill didn't go so well:

A bill was introduced into the US congress in the mid 1970's which would do for gays and lesbians what various civil rights bills had done for African-Americans, women and others. It went nowhere.

So we fought harder for the freedom to keep our jobs. In 1994, another attempt at ENDA was made and it failed, under President Clinton. Then, during the passage of the Defense of Marriage Act, they tried to sneak it in again:

When the Defense of Marriage Act (the anti-gay marriage bill) was considered by the Senate, a bipartisan coalition attempted to attach the ENDA bill, as an amendment. Republican leaders eventually compromised by separating the two bills and allowing ENDA to be brought forward for a separate vote.

It was reintroduced in 1996-SEP with the backing of the House and Senate Democratic minority leaders. The bill was characterized by conservative Republicans as controversial, immoral, and un-American. This time, it actually made it to a Senate vote; it was narrowly defeated 49 to 50.

Unions strongly support this bill and have been pushing for its passage:

Subject: Vote YES on ENDA
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
The House of Representatives is expected to vote soon on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).
As a proud AFSCME union member, I believe in workplace equality. People should be hired and fired based on their merits -- not the color of their skin, religious beliefs or because they happen to be gay.
Sadly, in 2007, employees in 31 states can still be fired simply because of their sexual orientation. This is not only wrong--it's un-American.
Please stand up to workplace discrimination. I urge you to vote YES on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
Sincerely,

The ENDA bill has 89% support of the American people. It has 198 cosponsors in the House and 45 cosponsors in the Senate. At a time when unemployment is fluctuating between 9-11% LGBT people are suffering too. We need to be able to gain a job without fear of being fired for being LGBT or being perceived as LGBT. And that's what ENDA would do. It's really not that controversial.

Proponents of the law intend it to address cases where gay, lesbian and/or transgender employees have been discriminated against by their employer because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Currently, these employees are unable to find protection in the judicial system of most US states. Proponents argue that such a law is appropriate in light of the US Constitution's guarantees of equal protection and due process to all.

Hi-o, here's my bio

Hey folks—

Thanks for the opportunity to participate in this blog! My machine's been on the fritz the last few days and am just now getting around to saying hi/introducing myself.

My name is Chris. I'm 47, and have lived in San Francisco for over 22 years now, though I originally hail from Madison VA. Like all of us, my life has been impacted in various ways by both the social discomfort with which LGBT people are so often still greeted, and the policies of government which try so hard to deny the fact that our experiences and relationships are real, valid expressions of the human condition. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that our place in the natural order renders us very important to our species. Denial of Queers is just another expression of the divided nature of humanity at this point in our evolution. One of the deepest ways my life has personally been impacted is through our inability to sponsor our foreign-born partners.
So we have to lead the way where we can.

Speaking of which: one of the biggest issues that looms for me in 2010, as is the case for so many Americans and residents of this country, inclusive of all orientations/persuasions, is failure of leadership. Clearly the President's team has dropped the ball on so many fronts, and squandered the vast, populist support, that carried him into office. What strikes me so often, though, is that so many other leaders, INCLUDING those who profess to be our friends, far too often remain silent in the face of mistruths about or slanders of us. In their silence, they become complicit in maintaining a hateful status quo about us, when in reality we are their brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, neighbors, colleagues, and so on.

I know we have come a long way in a very short period of time. When I was a kid in the 70's, nobody would've dreamed that same-sex marriage would be an issue of national political import. But it does not justify allowing injustice to continue--and we all know how we are cautioned, election cycle to election cycle, that our issues must stay on hold just a little longer.
I try to be a do-gooder as well. I'm involved in my southeastern SF community around issues of neighborhood planning and redevelopment. I'm a small business owner and I try to put my money where my mouth is on the kind of community member any business should be, through involvement and treatment of employees to donation work. I'm certain me and my family is good for my community, as is the case for all here no doubt. I hope we can use our communications here to gain strength and help fuel purpose in movement to social justice for all.

Guess that’s more a bunch of beliefs and random thoughts about equality than a bio, but thanks again for letting me step on board here…