I PrEDict

By Ed (Predictor)-

Hence the screename "Predictor" used on all blogs to date except for one. Elections Statistics & Handicapping & Redistricting are three Political Interests I love and have specialized in. I have been blogging since circa 2003, starting on "Raising Kaine", where I blogged as "tidewater-roots". I eventually drifted to DK in Oct 2006 and then morphed into a photoblogger.

OK, lets see if I can reduce my 56+ yrs to a few Paragraphs.
Born in NY, raised in NJ,ME,PA,VA & have lived in MD,NC,FL & Italy & now in CA in Pelosi's District (weekends & registered to vote) and living in Anna Eshoo's District weekdays
I'm a Retired Government Manager (Legal Field)...forboth Feds & State levels. My B.S. degree is in Public Administration with Minors in Political Science and Mathematics. Proud Dual Citizen (Ireland) and legally married in CA to a Canadian Citizen (so UFA is an issue for us). I've been involved in Politics since I was a child (1960 Election-on). Have held Elected Government Office as an openly Gay Democrat,and have held more Dem Party Offices than I can count or remember.

I have been openly out of the closet since 1976 fighting for Civil Rights for all communities especially the GLBT Communities.
One of my proud accomplishments was to have been a Jesse Jackson-D Rainbow Coalition Delegate in North Carolina in 1992. My GLBT Rainbow is a wide and open minded spectrum. I echo Terry's disappointments with both our Pres & our Party over their "handling" of Issues so important to their GLBT base.

I'm over 10 years HIV Positive and 2006 Stroke Survivor. My health is always marginal as Severe Chronic Fatigue is a major on-going issue. My other "Hobbies" are Philately, Scale Model Cars & Maps.

Movies, Music & SciFi & Meteorology are among my interests. I speak Italian fluently and Francais un peu. The Italian has helped alot in learning and understanding some Spanish since my move to California 13+ years ago. I'd rather be living in Amsterdam, which I know very well from my ten years living in Europe.
I have never voted for DiFi in either a Primary or General Election.
I have shaken the hands of two men who became President, and one who did not, and also the current Speaker of the House.
I'm not big on making Politicians into heroes, quite the opposite.
Welcome to all & Cheers,Ed



I swear it's this Big

We Don't Work With 'Your Kind'

By jpm-

We Don't Work With 'Your Kind'

You might think it was the 1950's:

On Saturday, August 8, 2010 a gay couple entered Southern Style Granite (SSG) on Airline Highway (address listed below) in Baton Rouge shopping for a remodeling project.

One of the owners of SSG, Darren Cifreo, specifically asked the two gentlemen if they were in a relationship with each other. After confirming that they are, Mr. Cifreo told them that SSG does not work with "Your Kind" and told them to leave the showroom.

Or perhaps it was the 1970's, in a little bar far, far away:

(Note: videos will appear if you click on the 'Read More' link!)



Or maybe it's really the high-tech world of the future:



Whatever year it is, it's despicable.

The last time I looked, it's been 142 years since the 14th amendment was enacted, and yet

We have a Senatorial candidate who thinks that businesses should be able to refuse service to anyone of the basis of race, creed, color AND sexual orientation.

We have a US Congressperson who thinks "our children ... are the prize for this community, they are specifically targeting our children."

We have a sitting Governor who thinks there are large numbers of headless bodies out in the Arizona desert, caused by undocumented immigrants.

So perhaps it is no wonder that we have random citizens who refuse to serve 'Your Kind'. Whatever kind 'They' happen to be to satisfy the hate de jour. In America. In 2010.

You can let one such random citizen know what you think about that:

It's Labor Day Weekend After All

We got sunlight on the sand,
We got moonlight on the sea,
We got mangoes and bananas
Picked by foreign worker bees
We got cell phone apps and Ipads
And lots of online fobs
What ain't we got?
We ain't got jobs!

We get stuff from Amazon,
We get Netflix, we get po'n,
We get speeches from Obama
And advice from our dear mamas,
We get letters from Anthem Blue
That make us steam and scream and stew,
What don't we got?
We ain't got work!

We have nothin' to put on a clean white suit for
What we need is what there ain't no substitute for...

Adventures in Community Gardening in Boston's South End.

   What are community gardens?

   Community gardens are dedicated urban green areas set aside to provide residents access to fresh produce, plants and flowers as well as access to satisfying labor, neighborhood improvement, sense of community and connection to the environment. They are publicly functioning in terms of ownership, access, and management, as well as typically owned in trust by local governments or not for profit associations.

   A city’s community gardens can be as diverse as its communities of gardeners. Some choose to solely grow flowers, others are nurtured communally and their bounty shared, some have individual plots for personal use, while others are equipped with raised beds for disabled gardeners. Community gardens improve users’ health and well being through increased fresh fruit and vegetable consumption and providing an outlet for fresh air and exercise. The gardens also combat two forms of alienation that plague modern urban life, by bringing urban gardeners closer in touch with the source of their food, and by breaking down isolation by creating a social community.

Gay In a Red State

by indiemcemopants

(Originally featured on FireDogLake)

Being gay in a red state like Alabama isn’t easy. I’m a gay cripple here. So life’s hard. We’ve got a long list of improvements that need to be made – not just as a "pony" or a nice treat – but things we need for our survival. We are not asking for, nor do we need any type of special rights. Our rights are entwined with everyone else’s rights. Joblessness, poverty and other things that are hurting people are affecting gays at disproportionate rates and gay people of color at even higher rates.

So when I say that gay people (and straight people who are perceived to be gay) in red states are desperate for ENDA to be passed, it’s the kind of desperation most people don’t ever dream of.

Clutter - Three Poems

By Robyn

I recently had to empty one office and move all my shit into another one in a different building. As often has happened when I have done this sort of thing, I uncovered an old scrap of paper. On it were three poems. Searching my data banks has revealed that two of them were micro-planed into poems which I have published before, in slightly different form.

Because of the start of the new semester, that's about all I've got to share this evening.

Originally I was going to write a piece entitled In the good old days, they just called us perverts, but I didn't find the time to flesh it out. If anyone wants to discuss the topic, I'm game to do so in the comments.

You Can't Handle the Truth!: Gay Men and HIV Education

By FogCityJohn

In 1994, psychologist Walt Odets published a scathing critique of what was then called "AIDS education." Writing in the now-defunct AIDS & Public Policy Journal, Odets examined the approaches used to educate gay men about HIV, and to put it mildly, he found them wanting. While working on a post for my blog at TheBody.com, I reread his article, entitled AIDS Education and Harm Reduction for Gay Men: Psychological Approaches for the 21st Century, and I was stunned to discover that almost all of what Odets criticized sixteen years ago could still be said of much HIV prevention and safer sex education today. Sadly, ten years into the 21st century, Odets's jeremiad remains both accurate and relevant.

Odets pointed out how much homophobia had influenced the development of HIV education, and he offered a number of suggestions on how that education could be improved. I was especially struck by his argument that we should stop withholding information from, and lying to, gay men about sex and HIV. Odets dared to question "the almost universal assumption among educators that if we give men 'too much information' — which is to say something like the whole truth to the best of our knowledge — they will abuse it, exercise faulty judgment, or otherwise come up with unintended results."

HIV educators, it seemed, thought we gay men couldn't handle the truth. I wonder, though, whether it isn't the other way around. Maybe it's HIV educators who can't handle the whole truth, or who perhaps don't fully understand it. And maybe we'd all be better off if we brought more truth to the discussion of gay men, sex, and HIV.

My Bio---THE 3 B'S---HOW DARN PROFESSIONAL-

Brian J. Tessier Esq. is the President and CEO of We Hear the Children, a private foundation established to support the needs of children as identified by those who work with children.

Brian founded We Hear the Children in 2010 after a long career in the private sector. Most recently Brian served as the Senior Contract Manager at Fidelity Investments where he was responsible for multi-national negotiations and developing the contract architecture, compliance reporting and training across the enterprise. Brian’s experience also includes serving as the Expatriate Coordinator with Bank Boston where he managed worldwide immigration and international HR assignments as well as an attorney in private practice. As a litigator in private practice, Brian concentrated in domestic and family law and was active on behalf of victims of domestic violence and children.

Active in the community, Brian has served on the Board of Directors with the Women’s Crisis Center in Newburyport, Massachusetts and as Legal Advisor for the Gay Men’s Domestic Violence Project and as a member of the Fidelity investments and BankBoston GLBT Advisory Panels. Brian now sits on the National Advisory Council for the Human Rights Campaign, All Children-All Families Foundation.

A long time advocate of single parent and gay adoptions, Brian is a single adoptive parent of two boys. He actively works with pre-adoptive parents, schools, and foundations for the benefit of children. He twice opened court proceedings for National Adoption Day. In 2009, Brian was recognized by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as Adoptive Parent of the Year. He continues to write about his experiences as a single adoptive father. Brian is the author The Greatest Wish and The Intentional Father.

Brian received his bachelor's degree in psychology from St. Michael’s College and his law degree from the Massachusetts School of Law. Brian, and his sons live in Maine. Brian consults with Foundations and Corporations on how to Manage with Intention and how to leverage Human Capital.

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness: An American Questioner

By The 3B's

I often wonder what the founders of our country would think of the current state of affairs  here in the United States of America.  For a group of individuals who sought refuge to be free to think, believe and live freely, would they be aghast at what we are as a nation today?  Have we forsaken the meaning of words, life, truth, freedom, liberty and even love? Do we now use them to divide rather than unite?  As a lawyer, author and on some level a philosopher, which I attribute to being a parent, I wonder who hears the voices of the children and the perspective they have on these words.  I look to my own life, liberty and pursuit of happiness to answer some of these questions.

I can not say that I had anything other than a normal childhood growing up in the sixties and seventies.  Despite the fact I was raised in a liberal section of the country I can not and do not remember it shaping my views on the world.  My views and perspectives were shaped by living in a loving family.  I find there is a certain ethnic flair to my background being of Eastern European descent on my mother’s side and of Canadian and Irish descent on my father’s.  The commonality between both sides is the fresh immigrant perspective of people who either came here to be free or to find work and pursue their dreams, wishes and hopes. 

Additionally, there was the inclusion of everyone and the pervasive thought that “all were family”.  My father left a career in industry as an engineer to pursue teaching and our family always grew with the students his work, patience and passion brought to our home or table.  Mom, was there to welcome all, there were always others around and our home life was filled with people and extended family.  We were not wealthy by any mean, but we were not poor either, but we were rich with old ideals and fresh perspectives.  I never felt a restriction on my freedom as a child, to explore learn and pursue what made me happy.

It was not until I was older and more aware of myself, I noticed a distinction, I was different, it was in the fourth grade when I first realized I was gay.  I was not attracted to the girls who liked me I was attracted to my gym teacher, this was the first time I felt restrictions on my ability to pursue life and I knew I was not at liberty to pursue love.  Interestingly enough, these restrictions I jailed myself with as a result of the reaction I would face if I revealed the truth. 

So, at that point, did I construe the word “Truth” to be as the Founders of our country would have meant it to be?  If, I were to be able to speak to one of them on the philosophical meaning of truth would their reaction and restriction be the same as the one that I placed on myself?  Today, I am doubtful it would given how little real meaning these words have in our country as they are hurled as emotional boulders and used to build walls rather than pave ways.  Each person’s truth is unique as we are inherently given the right to pursue them, or not!

Roman Catholics Now Have Their Heads Wedged Further Up Their Asses Than Many of the Fundamentalists Do.

An athletic director at a high school in Springfield, Mass. says she was pressured to leave her position because she married her wife last month.

Christine Judd, dean of students and athletic director for Cathedral High School, stepped down after meeting with school administrators on Wednesday.

Judd worked for the school for 12 years, where she rose from science teacher to dean of students and, three years ago, athletic director. While the state has allowed gay people to marry since 2004, same-sex marriage is still not sanctioned by the Catholic Church.

"Cathedral had nothing to do with this," she said in the article. "This was a diocesan decision. In the end, the timing of this issue really affects the kids. That is where it has the most effect."

The diocese listed her departure as a resignation, but Judd said she is still exploring her legal options.

“I was given a choice of termination or resignation,” Judd said. “I’m hurt, but I wish nothing but the best for Cathedral, its students, the parents, the athletic teams, administration and faculty. I bleed purple (the school’s color).”

Judd, a Springfield resident, worked for the Catholic school for 12 years, beginning as a science teacher in 1998. She became dean of students six years ago and was given the added duties of athletic director three years ago.

“I married my partner this summer,” Judd said. “I was hoping that my loyalty, my professionalism the last 12 years would supersede the current hypocrisy that has already been shown with the Diocese of Springfield.”

Jumping In with an Intro

When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends.
- Japanese proverb

I hope the above quote is true, because I can think of no better way of being deemed worthy than by the quality of the friends I met through Daily Kos and who've started this grand experiment of a blog. I'm grateful for them every day.

By way of introductions, I'm Allison (ajewella) and I'm a 48-year-old Bisexual woman living in Dallas, TX. Although I have degrees in teaching and psychology, I'm currently a writer for an international telecommunications corporation. Writing is my first and enduring love but in various incarnations I've worked in computer software, public health, and publishing.

I'd hoped to be living in Hawaii by now, but a bad economy and a recent health crisis (breast cancer) have delayed that dream for the time being. I've recovered my health (I'll be 2 years cancer-free in December) and now I'm working on recovering financially.

I'm an unaffiliated Buddhist and celebrated my 10th wedding anniversary last May. The biggest accomplishment of my life - and the one that give me the most joy - is the perfectly glorious little son I managed to give birth to when I was 43. When I'm not busy being his Mom, I'll be around here posting on such varying topics as bisexual issues, GLBT history/culture, and any number other things that tickle my (and I hope your) fancy.
Until next time...Love to all.

Fiorina: "My position is consistent with... the President."

Instead of answering a question about providing all the benefits and rights of marriage to gay and lesbian couples via Federal law, Carly Fiorina deflected the inquiry but said that she "supported civil unions" in last night's debate with Barbara Boxer, and specifically noted that

My position is consistent with that of the President...

Think about that.

Doing that whole "bio" thing

*wave*

Hello there,

I'm Heather R, aka smellybeast on Daily Kos. I'm probably most well known in this group for my diaries regarding the Uniting American Families Act.

My partner of 3 years and I live in San Francisco. She's from the UK and here on a temporary work visa that expires next year. We will have to leave the country and my family (now hers) behind in order to stay together. So far Canada is looking like it may be an option, but barring that we will probably be moving to the UK.

My life really isn't very exciting beyond the tricky immigration situation. I have a BA in Anthropology from UC Berkeley, which I use constantly in my work as a legal secretary (hahaha). My hobbies include caring for my elderly cat and playing tower defense games. I also love traveling, hiking and reading science fiction. Blogging at Daily Kos was my start in online organizing and I look forward to seeing what we can do here.

Since we're introducing ourselves...

<- That's me. I'm Evan, kyril here and on Daily Kos. I'm a 27-year-old Canadian recent veteran of the U.S. Navy, where I worked as an aircraft mechanic for five years fixing structures and hydraulics first on F/A-18 Horrnets and later on EA-6B Prowlers. I'm an undergraduate student in geophysics at the University of Washington. I'm an avid science fiction reader and a particular fan of Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov; I write social science fiction myself, but don't yet have anything nearly ready for publication. I'm an online PC gamer. I'm also trans and gay.

I haven't done half as many interesting things as many of the people here. I only recently came out (coming out story is here) and am still in the process of transitioning. Most of my activism is online; most of the stuff I've done with my life in meatspace isn't overtly political. I've been a volunteer firefighter, an aircraft mechanic, an exotic dancer, a math and reading tutor, and several times a student. My career goals aren't overtly political either - I'm studying geophysics with the intent to do research on paleoclimate. But my life, being trans, is necessarily political. And that's why I'm here being opinionated.

Hi, from indiemcemopants

My real name is Scottie. I'm a 26 year old gay guy and I live in south Alabama. I'm in a wheelchair. Got paralyzed at fifteen years old from a surgery for scoliosis. I do a weekly column at FireDogLake Seminal's front page on LGBT issues and I write there and at DailyKos, my own blog and sometimes at Docudharma.

The Life And Times Of One R. Lyon

I am retired and live on the north coast of California. I grew up in Alabama during the last days of Jim Crow rule. I spent the first half of my working life as a social worker and the second half working in accounting and IT stuff. I've been active in several progressive do gooder causes over the years.

My writing interest include LGBT community and political issues. I am also interested in economic history and environmental causes.

A Brief Introduction

Hello everyone, my name is Alec, or "Alec82" to reflect the birth year, on Daily Kos. A little bit about me.

I'm an attorney who currently practices in an undisclosed location in Michigan. In past lives, I've lived in California and for briefer periods, France and Thailand. There are more than a few issues that interest me beyond LGBT rights. In fact, while those issues are important for personal reasons, most of my political work is not LGBT related.

When I decided to go to law school (and I come from a family of attorneys, so the issue of "choice" in that context is an interesting and problematic one), my original goal was to work in the area of international development, and law school and the degree was going to be a springboard to get there. To that end, I applied for a position as a research assistant in my second semester of law school and began working on a State Department project related to economic law reform in the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank. Before I began working on that project, you probably could have described me as a nominal Zionist. The work I did on that project really opened my eyes to the unseen reality of the Israeli Palestinian conflict, and so it is an issue that I have blogged about on Daily Kos and elsewhere, and it is an issue I spend quite a bit of time on offline as well as online.

But another thing happened while I was in law school: I took criminal procedure, and I loved it. And as a result of that experience, coupled with my personal and longstanding opposition to the abuses associated with the "drug war," I decided that criminal defense was an area that I wanted to work in, and it wasn't an area that merged easily with international development, so the latter went by the wayside. While I no longer work on criminal defense exclusively, it is part of my practice and it remains, in many ways, my true love.

And that is all about me.

Something like a bio

Hi everybody!

I'm Gin (short form of Virginia aka MercuryX23 at DK). I am currently doing time in Maricopa County, Arizona (I live in the reddest of red districts, AZ-02. Home of Trent Franks.) as a public high school Theatre Arts teacher. I have been lucky enough to have this amazing job for the past five years. Prior to this, I taught English and Theatre at an alternative high school in South Central Los Angeles. While I miss Southern California more than words can say, I am grateful for what I have here in Phoenix, namely in-laws who watch my two wonderful children on a daily basis. I am happily married to an amazing woman who has proven herself to be even more amazing than I initially thought she was because when I came out to her last year that I am a transsexual, she did not run for the hills. Instead, she has supported my need to transition and is learning that even though she is not a lesbian, she can be in a happy and healthy relationship with another woman.

So, yes, I am a transsexual. While I have been in transition for the last year or so (about ten months into my hrt regimen...it is becoming harder and harder to pass as male), I am still looking at the world from inside a closet that I would just like to go ahead and get out of already. However, I do live in Arizona and while I have heard tale of other teachers here transitioning and keeping their positions, I am fairly confident that due to the nature of my job in particular, there is little hope that my position will still be available to me once I live full time as a woman. So I am working on my second Master's (the first is an MA-T in Secondary Education) in creative writing so I can possibly get work as an adjunct instructor at a community college or online school once my career here as a high school teacher comes to an end.

Beyond all that, I am excited for my future. I have always been politically active from the sidelines. While I've worked for a few local campaigns and blogged on and off for years, I've never felt like I was part of the game in a meaningful way. It is my goal to become politically active in the Trans community. While we have some wonderful women and men out there speaking for us, we do not have enough. We need to have our voices heard and our stories told. I hope that I can be a part of that effort.

So thank you for inviting me to be a part of this new community. I am grateful for the opportunity.

LGBT Civil Rights: Here Come The Republicans!

By David Mixner-

   In the last few months, we have seen a flood of prominent Republicans come out for marriage equality. Many of them are not only supporting the issue but actually speaking out and raising funds to assist in the battle. Most of them are getting behind the American Foundation For Equal Rights Court Case. Some LGBT leaders and activists are having difficulty adjusting to the new allies who have opposed us in the past, come from a totally different ideological spectrum and still support candidates who don't support us.
   While it is understandable that people would have a difficult time adjusting to this shift in support for marriage equality, trust me, this is good news - very good news. Most importantly, nothing more symbolizes that we are edging very close to victory than the emergence of these new allies. In fact, our entire movement has been geared to organize where our opposition will be isolated as right wing nuts. With respected and thoughtful conservative and libertarian voices joining our struggle, that is exactly what is beginning to happen in this battle for full equality.
   In 1978, the LGBT community was fighting the tidal wave of victories by Anita Bryant and her allies. She won in Miami, St. Paul, Wichita and Eugene. Ms. Bryant seemed unstoppable as she brought her hate band wagon to California. With the public support of State Senator John Briggs, they put on the ballot Proposition Six that would have made it against the law for school teachers to be homosexual. Initially no one thought we could win but a group of us were determined to fight. In the last weeks of the campaign, we couldn't quite reach the magical 50% plus 1 that we needed for victory. Exasperated but determined, Peter Scott and I went to Governor Ronald Reagan to ask for his support. Many in the community were appalled that we would seek the support of a man who opposed everything we stood for in life. To make a long story short, we obtained his support and he put us over the top. We won with 54% of the vote.
   On that election night as thousand cheered and wept in celebrating our victory, not one person came up to me to question getting Reagan aboard. It was a huge victory.
   Winning full equality in 2010 is not going to happen until we build new allies out of our traditional base. That is the purpose of a movement - to educate and change minds, to extend hands and create winning coalitions. No one is served to punish our new allies for having contrary backgrounds or different ideologies. Believe it or not, this is not about any individual's personal beliefs; it is about the next generation being free from fear, hate and oppression.

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

boring little me

Hi this is Irish Patti.
I am a straight woman living in Denver CO with my sweetie and our 2 dogs. I am originally from NY, and I have the attitude to match :). I know a few of the members here in meatspace. I am an LPN. I will be going back to school this January for my RN and BSN. I hope to eventually become a Nurse Practitioner. I am very liberal. I am a political junkie. I got involved in politics young because I was taught about the British Occupation of Northern Ireland. I was brought up hating Margaret Thatcher. As an adult, I put together a protest rally against her. That was one of my proudest moments. I got 500 people to protest on a summer Wednesday afternoon. I hope to help with community diaries here, especially regarding food and sports. I love to cook and bake. If I didn't love my nursing, I would go to culinary arts school.

Anything else you want to know I am more than happy to answer.

Who the Hell I Am

I'm Robyn Serven. Here's me in this picture here (well, it was me in January of 1995...I tend to be a little photo shy, I guess, since there aren't too many of them available). I'm now 51 years old, which is older than I ever imagined myself being, but I suppose I'm not really complaining (well, except for the physical problems that seem to have arrived along with getting this old).

I teach mathematics at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, which is about 30 miles north northwest of Little Rock along I-40. I am an algebraist. My special skill lies in the teaching of the fundamentals of the syntax and vocabulary of the language of mathematics. I can apply this skill because of the Ph.D. I received at the University of Oregon in 1981 (I am originally from Lake Oswego, OR, and received my undergraduate degree from Portland State University, graduating after two and one-half years with a 4.0 GPA while majoring in mathematics). Students here seem to think I am a good teacher. They also think I am challenging. Who am I to disagree with this assessment?

My reality has changed drastically several times during my life.

[Still is. Transsexual lesbian mathematics professor at the University of Central Arkansas? The most recent change is that I'm now 59 and teach the syntax and vocabulary of programming languages at Bloomfield College near Newark, New Jersey.]

Tap...tap....Is this thing on?

By musing85

First off, thanks to Terry and the rest of the gang for putting this place together--and even more so for the tremendous work they've done in attracting such an array of talents in such a short time. I hope this will be the start of something really good that gives the GLBT community a place to congregate and find out what's going on in our parts of the world--without a lot of the hassles and the constant navel-gazing that goes on at other places (which shall go without mentioning).

For those of you who aren't already familiar with me from my participation at Daily Kos and other sites around the intertoobz (and from my own blog), my name is Michael and online I go by "musing85." By day, I'm a research administrator at a large state university that only wishes it was as successful at bringing in external funding as Harvard--but which does all right, all things considered. By night, when I'm not donning my cape and making the world safe for democracy (OK, not so much), I'm trying very hard to finish my Ph.D. in modern European history. I also have academic degrees in chemistry, classics, library and information science, and history. Over and above the sheepskins, some of the other things I've studied in the way too many years I've been involved in higher education are included philosophy, counseling, theology, biology, theater, and a handful of languages.

I'm a gay man, and that's an important part of who I am--but I want to emphasize that it's a part of my identity. It is not the be-all and end-all of my identity. There are lots of things that go into my identity, almost none of which have anything to do with whom I'd be sleeping next to at night if I were sleeping next to anyone. That said, anybody who knows me knows that I am passionate about ending the legal discrimination that is still the norm in far too many parts of this here land of the putatively free and the home of the too-infrequently brave. This is one of many things that frustrates me about the Democratic Party generally and the Obama administration in particular: for my entire adult life, Democrats have been asking me to give generously of my time, my talents, and my treasure to support them--and I have done so. But somehow, that generosity only ever flows from me toward the Democrats, never the other way around. That's got to change, and I've told the Democratic Party as much: they will get my money and my votes only when they start standing up for the issues I consider important--one of which is most definitely gay rights.

A big thanks to our organizers!

I would like to thank the organizers for making this site a reality. I'm very excited about the possibilities and think there are some incredible writers here.

Who is cooper888? You can call me cooper (not my real name but it works for the internet - smile) and I am 52, living in Sacramento and happily married to my husband for 2+ years. We've been together for 12+ but when marriage equality became legal in California we took advantage of being able to formalize our relationship. We didn't feel the need since we already considered ourselves married, but boy oh boy... when the justice of the peace said I now pronounce you spouses for life, did it really hit home just how powerful the institution of marriage is ingrained into the core of your being.

I look forward to writing on more lighthearted topics such as food, etc. But currently I have a passion for something a bit more political. I'm working to defeat Andrew Pugno, architect and counsel for the Prop8 campaign. He is running for the California State Assembly as a republican in my district against democratic challenger Dr. Richard Pan. I hope you will join me in working to defeat Pugno and send a clear message to NOM and their ilk that they are not welcome as my representative. (wow, my restraint there was remarkable! I think you can imagine what I really wanted to say and exactly what language I would prefer to use)

If you are interested in learning more about Pugno and what we can do to defeat him please see my earlier posting 'Prop8 Lawyer for CA Assembly? Not so fast...'

Nice to meet everyone....

Welcome to Your Blog!

Hello Everyone!

   Welcome to your new blog! Please make yourself at home. Maybe we should take a few minutes to introduce ourselves to each other, since we have quite a few new folks signed on here to participate in this endeavor.

   I'm Terry, (tnichlsn) at DailyKos and most other places online. I'm in Boston. and have been here over 20 years now, since finishing graduate school in Albany, NY. I am a Harvard Professor, scientist, very left-leaning progressive, gay, single, bearish type guy who has meandered through this very complicated life we were all born into. I come from a very large, poor/working class, Irish, catholic family. I am out of the closet to my family and at work. I am very pleased to live in the state of Massachusetts where we fired the opening salvo in this battle for full inclusion in life in the US. Embarrassingly, we don't have gender identity protection laws on the books yet. But we are inching towards that inevitability. Governor Patrick has stated his intention to sign the bill when it finally reaches his desk.

   I decided a new blog was in order when it became clear that some Obama supporters on Daily Kos were unwilling to tolerate any criticism of this administration, especially in regard to the President's tepid support of pro-gay measures. While I am grateful for the tentative first steps this Administration has made, I find Obama's ongoing fence-straddling on marriage equality and his foot-dragging on DADT repeal totally unacceptable.

   So please, take a few paragraphs and share with the rest of us a bit about yourselves.

   I'd like to take a few minutes to discuss what I hope to implement here as we gear up to full capacity. This is your blog! I functioned as gatekeeper in the weekly DailyKos series because we needed someone there to kick folks in the pants on a regular basis to keep our regular schedule  of once or twice weekly diaries flowing. That is not the case here. I encourage all of you to publish as often as you like. My job here is simply caretaker. and traffic cop. Like the diary series at DailyKos, any and all content that is GLBTQ relevant is welcome to be shared on our main page during the day. Please, write up anything newsworthy and submit diaries freely. Writing diaries here is actually easier than the same process at DailyKos. The main difference being we don't use a file-sharing service to embed photos. You upload them here directly. (very easy!) Any questions/problems with your diary writing, please contact me directly and I'll try to help you through the procedure. There is a 'New Post' link on the top right menu of the homepage. Select it, making sure beforehand that your browser preferences is set to 'accept 3rd party cookies'. From there you should be good-to-go! Again, don't hesitate to ask questions, no one here is more technologically challenged than I!!!

   Where we will go DailyKos one step better is our approach to community diaries. What we intend we do each evening, 9 PM eastern through the early morning hours here, is clear the deck of all but the evening's scheduled community diary. (a different topic/host each night of the week, on a recurring basis) We do have the ability to push and pull diaries into and out of archives, so we can open up the site exclusively to the featured evening community diary. What these diaries consist of is up to us, but I hope we can all let our hair down and have some fun in these events. Maybe chat glbt sports, or literature or cinema/theater, or culinary arts, etc. We will also have a 'live chat' feature present during these sessions, for real time chat, in addition to the usual bouncing of messages back and forth. So if you are interested in helping us pull a once-a-week, evening diary series together of some concept you're interested in, please contact me. I have no idea how or if this grand scheme for the evenings will work or even be practical, but let's give it a shot.

   I'm not sure what else I need to tell you about our plans for this place. Our place! If you would like to see us feature something here or change something. Please don't hesitate to ask. My main disappointment with the site infrastructure is the way it handles comments, without nesting them, replies following each individual comment, like is done at DailyKos. One way we might get around that is by tailoring your replies to specific comments with a @Terry, to designate a reply to one of my earlier comments. If anyone can come up with a way for us to tweak the system so that we do have the same system as DK, please speak up!

   Thanks again and again, Welcome. Now help us break the place in!

Terry

Children raised by gay couples show good progress through school

By lcr

By mining data from the 2000 Census, sociologist Michael Rosenfeld determined the rates at which kids raised by gay and straight couples repeated a grade during elementary or middle school. He found that children of same-sex parents have essentially the same educational achievement as their peers growing up in heterosexual households.

Stanford research finds that children of gay and straight couples do equally well in school. Associate professor Michael Rosenfeld, Sociology, drew his research from census data.

In nearly every discussion, debate or lawsuit about gay marriage, the talk at some point turns to family values.

Do gay couples make for good parents? Will their children – whether adopted, conceived with the help of a surrogate or brought in from a pre-existing relationship – adjust, adapt and succeed in a world dominated by traditional families?

The answers usually depend on who's giving them, and come dressed in anecdotes and colored by bias. But Rosenfeld brings something new to the conversation: facts and figures derived from the country's largest data bank – the U.S. Census.

In a study just published this month in the journal Demography, he concludes that children being raised by same-sex couples have nearly the same educational achievement as children raised by married heterosexual couples.

By mining data from the 2000 Census, he was able to extrapolate the rates at which children in all types of families repeated a grade during elementary or middle school. According to his findings, nearly 7 percent of children raised by heterosexual married couples were held back a year, while about 9.5 percent of children living with adults identifying themselves as same-sex partners repeated a grade.

The difference between the groups pretty much vanishes when taking into account that the heterosexual couples were slightly more educated and wealthier than most gay parents, Rosenfeld said.

"The census data show that having parents who are the same gender is not in itself any disadvantage to children," he said. "Parents' income and education are the biggest indicators of a child's success. Family structure is a minor determinant."