Lesbian = Overtly Sexual for Microsoft

[snarky] I knew "lesbian" was a bad word!!!! [/snarky]

Via The Consumerist:

Teresa says that she was harassed by other players and later suspended from XBOX Live because she identified herself as a lesbian in her profile. When she appealed to Microsoft, she says they told her that other gamers found her sexual orientation "offensive.

We've heard of gamers being suspended for identifying themselves as gay in their GamerTag, and even one case of a guy whose name was actually "Richard Gaywood" but his tag was suspended anyway because apparently the word "gay" is so offensive that it doesn't matter if its actually your name.

As far as we know, Microsoft is unwilling to reconsider this position

Weird, dude. I thought Microsoft, overall was really very supportive? [snarky] In all seriousness, though, I find lesbianism terribly offensive.[/snarky]

Really, though, I thought gamers (straight males, predominately, unless I miss my guess) would be just fine with a lesbitron roaming their halls occasionally. It's something more interesting to see than, well, pretty much anything on the screen.

I really love my GameCube, btw. I'm a mini-gamer. Closeted, too.

Kentucky Rally Pictures Posted!

Thanks to QueerLouisville for the heads up on their picture from the rally this week in Frankfort against the hideous adoption ban! Looks like a fabulous turnout!

Check 'em out, and join the GLBTQQA in Louisville Facebook Group!

Question for Friday: Hot Stuff, Baby

I'm a little late, but here are the fabulous responses to this week's Question of the Week:

Who is the sexiest man alive (besides me, duh)?

You know this was just a chance for me to post more half-naked pictures of men. :-)

Hugh Jackman (via @geekjames)



"Me" (from both my brother and Will Reed)

I seriously debated posting pictures of both of them, but I thought I wouldn't be that cruel :-)

Steve Buscemi (from Adam S., via Facebook -- don't blame him, he's straight :-))



David Bowie (via Tim Y.)



Montel Williams (via Lia F. on Facebook)



Edward James Olmos (via Jason Z, on Facebook: "The guy's just so dynamic, driven, and he's a damn fine stage and small-screen actor.")



Will Smith (via Heather S., on Facebook: "his confidence and demeanor make him sexy")



Fabio from Top Chef (via Maureen J., on Facebook: "just because the season just ended last night...fabio from bravo's top chef is one SMOKING HOT dude. guys with accents don't usually do anything for me, but fabio's sure does!")



Collin Farrel (from Darren M., via Facebook)



David Beckham (also from Darren)



Danny Devito (from Andrew W., on Facebook)



Daniel Craig (from Wolfie, via the blog)



Tim Roth (also from Wolfie via the blog)



John Barrowman (also from Wolfie via the blog)



James Marsden (from JereKeys via the blog)



Darryl Stephens (also from JereKeys)


Darryl's on the right

Gerard Butler (from Eddie M. via the blog)



Jason Varitek (from Eddie M. via the blog -- see, told you he was the sporty one)



Dominic Purcell (from @Jddalton, via the blog)



Ryan Reynolds (also via @Jddalton and Vivica LaCroix, via the blog)



Marcus Patrick (from Vivica LaCroix, via the blog)



Ryan Gosling (from @1cincymom)

That's a lot of really wide-ranging guys, but boy did I have a lot of fun looking up pictures.

For me? My all time favorite... don't laugh:







He's still gorgeous, I don't care.

Conscience Clause to End

Obama's administration taking the first steps for, well, common sense. Thank god we're done talking about the stimulus and we can talk about things that matter -- you know, abortion and religion. No pitfalls there.

From the Washington Post:

The Obama administration has begun the process of rescinding sweeping new federal protections that were granted in December to health care workers who refuse to provide care that violates their personal, moral or religious beliefs.

The Office of Management and Budget announced this morning that it was reviewing a proposal to lift the controversial "conscience" regulation, the first step toward reversing the policy. Once the OMB has reviewed the proposal it will published in Federal Register for a 30-day public comment period.

"We are proposing rescinding the Bush rule," said an official of the Health and Human Services Department, which drafted the rule change.

The administration took the step because the regulation was so broadly written that it could provide protections not only to health care workers who object to abortion but also to a wide range of health care services, said the HHS official, who asked not to be named because the process had just begun.

"We've been concerned that the way the Bush rule is written it could make it harder for women to get the care they need. It is so worded so vaguely written that some have argued it could limit family planning counseling and even potentially blood transfusions and end-of-life care," the official said.

We are taught, in nursing school, that our personal feelings don't matter, that it's the patient that matters... that we serve the sick regardless and provide compassionate care for all of our patients.

When it comes to abortion, to cite Cider House Rules, we should deliver the mother or deliver the child.

Apparently, the docs who have adviced our former President forgot about determinism and free will, or, rather, twisted it so much to forget that they don't matter when it comes to caring for other people.

Krikorian Announces for OH-2

Bizzarest story ever. Is he Dem? Is he Rep? Is he Independent.

Apparently David Krikorian, Independent candidate from 2008 for OH-2 against Mean Jean Schmidt and Vic Wulsin, has annouced that he will be running again as a Democrat.

From Cincinnati.com:

Krikorian said he had strong support running as an Independent in 2008 against Democrat Victoria Wulsin and Incumbent Republican Jean Schmidt. He earned about 18 percent of the vote. But without the backing of one of the parties, he said it will be nearly impossible to win in 2010, he said.

"It's like you're at a basketball game looking at the players and saying 'I’m as good as any player out there but I can’t even sit on the bench because I don’t have the uniform,'" said Krikorian.

Krikorian said he spent the past few months "talking to Democratic and Republican leaders across the spectrum and the response was very strong from both sides of the aisle." In the end he decided to seek the Democratic nomination. He likely didn't get very far with Republican Party Chairman Alex Triantafilou though. The GOP head has no kind words for Krikorian and actually had him kicked out of a Republican meeting.Meanwhile, Democratic Party Chairman Tim Burke said he was "shocked" when Krikorian called him this morning to give him a heads up on the announcement.
"David was in to see me a couple weeks ago. It was clear he was thinking in this direction. It's always good to see people come back into the Democratic Party, but he's going to have some fence mending to do," said Burke.

Check out his election page.

I wonder if Vic will run this time? I kinda hope not, but Krikorian creeps me out -- he tried some dirty tactics against Wulsin last time around. Maybe he'll do the same for Schmidt. But that doesn't make it right.

DC -- Closer to Congressional Represenation

The US Senate invoked cloture on the DC Voting Rights Act of 2009, adding two more Representatives to the US House -- one for DC and one for Utah (really?). 

From New America Media:

In a historic step today, the United States Senate invoked cloture and allowed its version of the District of Columbia Voting Rights Act of 2009 to proceed to the floor for a vote. The cloture vote, 62-34, means that opponents of the bill, primarily Republicans, cannot filibuster the measure from a vote before the full Senate, which they did two years ago.

The cloture vote also means that the District of Columbia is one step closer to having a voting representative in the U.S. Congress, specifically the U.S. House of Representatives. Under the bill, which was sponsored by Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the House will increase its number permanently from 435 to 437 by adding the D.C. representative and an additional one from Utah.

The key to the successful vote was Republican support. D.C. Republican Committee Chairman Robert Kabel was happy with some Senate members of his party.

“We thank the Republican senators who voted for cloture,” Kabel said. “Today marks a historic day for the District and I am proud that Republicans were a part of it. As party chairman, I am pleased our efforts to inform and lobby our fellow Republicans on the Hill have paid off.”

Republicans other than Hatch voting for the bill were Sens. Thad Cochran (Miss.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Richard Lugar (Ind.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Olympia Snowe (D-Maine), Arlen Specter (Pa.) and George Voinovich (Ohio).

Yea... Voinovich? :-) and how did Olympia Snowe get in there? Is she Dem or Rep? Blah. Who cares.

This is neat! :-)

1970s Masturbation Education Video

From local gay porn blogger, RandyXBoy (NSFW!), I just had to laugh when I saw this.

Thanks, Mom! :-) (not my mom)

I have a tag for "masturbation?"

Question of the Week!

Yea! Time for a brand new question of the week! As always, answers posted on Friday!

This week, we'll go with: 

Who is the sexiest man alive (besides me, duh)?

Very "mirror, mirror" this week. 

Kentucky Protest

Word on the street is that it went well. Congratulations, Kentucky Fairness -- today, you are filled with awesomeness. I'm sure QueerLouisville will give us the rundown soon enough :-). Please? Who went? I wanna hear!

For more information about the proposed anti-gay adoption law in the state house, here's a brief bit from WKYT.

Oh, and Hawaii's civil union bill is stalled in committee -- grrrrr....

Gay Sherlock Holmes?

Looks like the new Sherlock Holmes will be thoroughly Homo-fied.

From Digital Spy:

Guy Ritchie has reportedly cast Sherlock Holmes as gay in his new screenplay.

The director has depicted the famous detective and his sidekick Dr. Watson as enjoying a homoerotic relationship.

Robert Downey Jr., who plays Holmes in film adaptation of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle novel, described the relationship as "badass".

"We're two men who happen to be room-mates, wrestle a lot and share a bed. It's badass," MusicNews quotes him as saying.

Jude Law, who takes on the role of Dr. Watson, added that Ritchie intended to centre the movie's focus on the pair.

"Guy wanted to make this about the relationship between Watson and Holmes. They're both mean and complicated."

The film, which is expected to be released in November, follows the pair trying to foil a plot to destroy Britain.

I think the next Batman movie should focus on his relationship with Robin. Pederasty, what?

Gravel, Ani DiFranco

I first ran into Ani DiFranco late in high school and had the pleasure of seeing her in concert in 2000 (or 2001?) when she came to the Aronoff. I still have the t-shirt.

This remains one of my favorite Ani songs of all time :-)

Great angry song. I'm not angry this morning, but it's always good to have an angry song on back up for when you need it, know?

State Sovereignty

You might have caught this bit on Joe.My.God., and I have a feeling, considering the bloggers are starting to chat about it, that you'll hear about it soon on FOX (first) and CNN (second). 

It's called state sovereignty -- the "right," under the 9th and 10th Amendements of states to do what they want in areas not specifically delineated to the federal government in the Constitution. I think the best summary can be found on the Republic of Dave:

The emergence of this movement is a hopeful sign of the people asserting their rights and the rights of the states and finally crying “enough” to runaway government. With the threat of increasingly out of control federal spending, some of these sovereignty bills may stand a fair chance of passage in the coming year.

There’s a lot of excitement about these bills, but there are also a lot of misconceptions, with people claiming that some states have already declared sovereignty and that the movement is much farther along than it really is. Contrary to popular rumor, none of the states has actually enacted a sovereignty law yet. Some have come close. Oklahoma’s bill passed their lower house overwhelmingly but stalled in the Senate last fall and is being held over for consideration in the new year.

Contrary to the fantasies of some extremists, these sovereignty bills are not the first step towards secession or splitting up the union, nor are they an effort to block collection of the income tax, appealing though that might be. For the most part, they are not so much political statements of independence as they are expressions of fiscal authority directed specifically at the growing cost of unfunded mandates being placed upon the states by the federal government. Despite the movement picking up steam as he came to office, the target of these bills is not President Obama, but rather the Democrat-dominated Congress whose plans for massive bailouts and expanded social programs are likely to come at an enormous cost to the states.

It has become increasingly common for Congress to pass legislation which dictates policy to the states, but which comes without adequate federal funding and the expectation that the cost of these programs, which the states had no real say in approving, will come out of state budgets. This has been a long-term problem with Medicaid and Medicare, but the unfunded mandate which stirred up the most ire recently was the No Child Left Behind program. More concern has been raised with the recent reauthorization and expansion of the SCHIP program which has a history of requiring more expenditure than is provided for in the federal budget. 

I'm not going to bore you with a lot of details, but I'll let you make a lot of your own decisions about this sort of thing. And you can check the follow ups here and here.

I mean, I'm sorta confused seeing as how No Child Left Behind was six years ago in 2003, but whatever.

IMHO, these are just political moves in an attempt to rally the base of right wingers and Republicans in this country around something more substantial (and more popular) than gay marriage. Seeing as how the gay marriage battle is starting to tip in our direction (slowly, but it's still getting there), they've decided to back up and fight the Civil War again. They say it's not like the Nullification Crisis of 1832 (be careful citing anything from SC politics in the mid 1800s), but it's kinda feels that way, doesn't it?

Federal government bad, therefore we are going to assert our rights as states. Next thing you know, we'll be seceding if you don't listen to us.

How do I know it's political? Because chief proponent of the Oklahoma bill -- State Senator Randy Brogdon -- is not shy about telling us that they have a Democratic governor -- the commie, homo-loving son of a gun -- that will be forced to sign it or face the wrath of his constituents. Oh, and btw, did I mention that he may want to run for Governor in 2010? Twenty bucks the backers of these bills -- in all twenty-some-odd states that have them or will propose them -- are mentioned as "up and comers" in the Republican Party? (And some southern Democrats.)

Oh, and of course, it took the Democrats in the White House and in Congress to make people care about the encroaching power of the federal government. We can take away people's civil liberties and wage silly wars for 8 years, oh and discuss absurdities like the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act, but the minute we try to fix the economy (maybe foolhardily) by stimulating growth and infrastructure... well, that's just too much.

And the drum beat of the Confederacy beats on. 

Seriously, folks, we figured this problem out in the 1860s, and then again in the 1930s and 1940s. Federal government=good. States=deny rights and cause slavery and destroy the economy. I thought we'd been over this once before?

Addition to Wearing What Wednesday

Thanks to ColleenDetroit to the link here for a whole bunch of OZ screenshots, including this particularly delectable picture of Mr. Christopher Meloni that I couldn't pass up...


Yea. Personal time abounds.

More Jennifer Brunner

You know, I've seen a lot more active campaigning on the part of Jennifer Brunner (running for US Senate in Ohio for Voinovich's seat) than either Lee Fisher or Rob Portman -- or the host of other names that have been mentioned for the seat on either side. 

At least, from an internet standpoint. This is the second post of hers I've featured, from the Buckeye State Blog (now blogrolled, btw):

Leadership is not about saying "no"; it's about having the humility to listen, the creativity to see opportunities, and the persistence to enact solutions....

Now I find myself with a Democratic primary opponent. Lee Fisher and I don't agree on everything, but neither of us has any doubt that it would be a lousy idea to send Rob Portman back to Washington DC, where, as a Congressman, he voted for the Bush tax cuts and the Iraq war that are bankrupting our country and where, as George Bush's Budget Director, he watched billions of our taxpayer dollars disappear into the corruption on Wall Street.

It's pretty typical early-election news fodder, but I'm impressed with her being out there this early at all, despite a bit of a nasty scuffle she's having with ProgressOhio.*rolls eyes* She was also mentioned in a piece on Politico about the female candidates gearing up for 2010 runs -- including Secretary of State Robin Carnahan (yes, that Carnahan) in Missouri.

My newest goal in life: I want an interview with Jennifer Brunner. Can anyone make that happen? It's early enough in the news cycle that any major problems could be squashed ... like, say, if she came out for gay marriage.

Meanwhile, more anti-Bunning in Kentucky from the Republicans. Can you win the seat again without your party's support, I wonder? Oh, and State Senator Jon Husted has proposed a law that strips the Governor of the right to appoint people to US Senate vacancies... thank you, Rod Blagojevich and Roland Burris. Poor Sen. Burris, he was doomed from the beginning. I'm sure he's a nice man.

Discrimination against the haters

Don't be a hater, apparently you will get discriminated against, as well.

From Kentucky.com:

"We're disappointed because Christian students and other students who do not approve of homosexual behavior (are not) second-class citizens simply because of their viewpoint," Oster said.

This is in reaction to the Supreme Court refusing to hear a whiney lawsuit where a Christian boy in rural Kentucky (actually, not that far from here -- Boyd County) said that allowing a GSA and non-discrimination policies for gays and lesbians was discriminatory against him.

Uh-huh.

In other news, apparently fundies in Australia think that gays and lesbians want children as trophies and North Carolina prepares for another bout with a DOMA (review: NC is the only state without a DOMA in the South). Oh, and even in a bluer state, it's okay to call homosexuality an abomination on the state legislative floor.

I mean, really, folks... so much hate for the religious. Why can't we just be a Christian nation to accomodate them?

Power Little Spoon

I just created a new term (and JereKeys approves)!!!!!

Power Little Spoon-- euphemism for "power bottom"

Teehee. Sorry. It's getting late, and I'm getting tired.

Oh, and to all the power little spoons out there, don't forget to submit your stories to Trevor Hoppe's project, the Bottom Monologues, by clicking on the img below.

How the Gays Could Save Us

Via @NiteStar, via @gaysdotcom...

From the Huffington Post:

I've got a simple, cost-free proposal for stimulating the economy: legalize gay marriage.

Forget your politics. Shelve your bigotry. Just listen to the numbers....

The average American wedding costs $20,000. The number of gay couples living together without the benefit of marriage is estimated at 3 million. Using those numbers, same-sex marriages could pump an estimated additional $60 billion in revenue into our ailing economy. That doesn't even include money from the pre-wedding parties, honeymoons, or wedding registries. (Pottery Barn is going to love this post...) I suspect that gay marriage would be celebrated with the same outrageous excess as heterosexual unions. Not that everyone can afford a wedding like Ellen Degeneres and Portia DeRossi's elaborate celebration...but even some vows at city hall followed by a nice dinner with friends would help more than a $300 tax rebate. In fact, that $60 billion in revenue is all taxable!

I've always thought the economic argument was a bit of a fallacious one (a fellatio one?). I really don't believe that gay marriage will "save" the economy.

That said, I have several friends in the wedding industry who would really benefit from a huge boost to their own little economy. But, those who are going to have weddings, will probably already have them regardless of whether it's legal or not.

Sure, Massachusetts benefited (and Connecticut may be right now, too), but that's because of the novelty... not because gay marriage will save the economy.

Also on HuffPo: a debate between Harvey Fierstein and Ryan J. Davis on coopting the black civil rights movement for the purposes of gay marriage -- well, sort of -- it's more about slavery, which is a touchier subject, I understand.

WEARING WHAT WEDNESDAY: Christopher Meloni

I'll admit it, I'm a little behind the times on this one... seriously. But I was watching Law & Order this weekend, and then I had to go check out some OZ, and then... well.

I guess it's personal after that.












Thanks to @Dr_Jared for the last one!

You know, honestly, I'm disappointed there aren't better pictures out there. Not a lot of real great screen shots from OZ.

Let me hope I am never a pansy...

Let me introduce to you an amazing art project that just added me on Twitter. Meet The Pany Project, a group out of the UK that places pansies on the sites of homophobia all over the world. It's really quite a beautiful thing.

From their blog:

I am reluctant to say that the main stream media is guilty of homophobia though this discrepancy seems more than coincidental. This persistent omission could be read in a variety of ways; is homophobia so uninteresting to the heteronormative mass that attacks on gay people are not worthy of column inches? Is gayness still seen as a lifestyle ‘choice’ so homophobically motivated attacks are considered a consequence of these choices that lie outside of the ‘norm’? Whatever the reason the result is that as a culture we see that some level of homophobia is acceptable, tragically it is only when the worst cases shock us that our shackles are raised. I believe that all homophobia is deeply offensive; it is a terrible tragedy that Michael Causer has died as a result of the homophobically motivated attack though anecdotally it seems that many of us have had lucky escapes.

What has struck me throughout my work on The Pansy Project is the difference in which gay people respond to the experience of homophobia on the street, some wither, some fight, others run, though most accept it and move on. Determined not to let it ruin their lives, keen to brush it off as one of life’s inconveniences, this is admirable for those strong enough to fend off the bullying few. Though what of the people less able or willing to fend off two or three oppressors such as the Michael Causer case? What is clear to me is that homophobia is generally acceptable to one degree or another. From “That’s ‘gay’ that is!” in the classroom to a Chris Moyles jibe on the radio to vicious targeted attack on the street, every insult based in bias is utterly unacceptable.

Something to spend your time looking through. It looks relatively new, and the photography is stunning.

Overhead

9:30pm, UDF @ MLK and Auburn, semi-drunk frattish looking boy in a "Everyone loves a drunk Irish guy" t shirt and Bengals sleepy-pants, to his friends, upon being asked for change by the guy in the wheelchair who always sits out front of that store:

"What kind of ghetto are we in anyways?"

Um. My ghetto, bitch. Oh, and one that's like five blocks from your campus, bub.

Avenue Q For Your Morning

This is my new favorite thing I'm listening to on my iPod.



People think I have a self-esteem problem.

Out of Michigan (& Sean Penn)

An interesting story is developing in Michigan...

A Michigan Court of Appeals decision will allow a Berrien County lesbian couple to take their custody battle to court. Union Pier's Diane Giancaspro sued Union Pier's Lisa Congleton for custody of their three children in 2007, but Berrien County Circuit Judge Mabel Mayfield ruled for Congleton saying the state's 2004 gay marriage ban kept her from enforcing the women's parental rights. Friday the state Court of Appeals reversed that decision. Staff Attorney for the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project of the ACLU of Michigan Jay Kaplan says the decision should have been a no-brainer.

Interesting legal bits here and there, isn't it? The crux, of course, being hate. And stupidity. And DOMA's. 

I think Sean Penn had something to say about that the other night:

I think of anyone at that ceremony, I would have thought he would be wearing a WhiteKnot. But seriously. It's a pretty good speech. Or, at least, a good comment or two. I can't find Felicity Huffman's from her win for TransAmerica, but that one is equally fabulous and should be heralded.

And he sort of thanked me. Well, not really. But I still am holding out that the "Barry" was me :-).

Random Gay News Round-Up

...well, not really. Just a couple things this morning.

Because I'm a righteous and self-important queer blogger, imagine my enthusiasm when I read the piece in the Washington Post about the growing influence of gay bloggers on the political world. It focuses on the ever fabulous Pam's House Blend, but also mentions some other friends of this blog (including Bilerico):

In the past, someone like Spaulding would have been relegated to the sidelines. She doesn't work for national gay rights organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign or the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. She lives with her partner, Kate, an audiologist, in Durham, far from San Francisco, New York or Washington, where gay activism has been historically based. But now she's helping shape the agenda, one voice in a chorus of sometimes dissonant, sometimes harmonious, often in-your-face voices that is pushing established gay groups and redefining the meaning of grass-roots action in this new media age...

"For me, blogging has been about looking outside my own lens. If it wasn't for reading blogs, for example, I wouldn't know as much as I know now about transgender issues," Spaulding says. "At first I thought, 'I'm not transgender. This is not my issue.' But then you read about it, you make the connections and you realize that, yes, I'm a part of that, too."

It's an interesting article that has highlighted a lot of the stuff that has happened over the past few months amongst gay bloggers -- including the Rick Warren debacle and the JoinTheImpact movement. It's well done, over all.

And just a few things on marriage: the New York Times calls for an actual vote (preferably a vote in the affirmative) for equal marriage in Rhode Island. The same could be said for New York State. Illinois has an equal marriage bill introduced. And financial analysts predict that equal marriage in Maine could bring about $60million to the state's economy for same-sex nuptials. I feel like we're in a race for the first legislatively-passed equal marriage law.

Oh, and the Utah State Senator Buttars thing goes on... the ass. Someone is finally pointing out that the man is a distraction and taking away from real work. The same could be said for the entire legislature who, apparently, hates gays just so much.

JoinTheImpact's Wear White Day -- March 5

JoinTheImpact has announced their next action: Wear White Day on March 5th!

From their website:

As you may have heard, March 5 is the date the California Supreme Court will hear arguments on the validity of Proposition 8. This is a day that begins an historic process which directly affects the rights not just of those who seek a same-sex marriage, but all minority rights. Proposition 8 sets a precedent that allows the majority to vote on the rights of a minority any time there is a court decision. It can affect the rights of any minority that faces discrimination because it TAKES AWAY an existing right from a targeted minority. Prop 8 clearly affects the rights of the LGBTQ community, but it’s implications are far more reaching. Additionally, Prop 8 does not just affect the rights of Californians. All Americans are affected. The conservative right is bringing this fight to us in states throughout the Union. Yesterday in Hawaii 2,000 people stood AGAINST Civil Unions. Florida, Arkansas and Arizona also all lost ballot measures in their states on Nov. 4 to limit the rights of our families. We are under attack, and we MUST fight back.

We can all show our solidarity on March 5 by wearing white. This can be a wedding dress, sailor uniform, feather boa, all white leather, white tee, white knot, whatever you please.

A white feather boa, huh?

Oh, and don't forget the excellent work the guys/gals/etc. are doing over at WhiteKnot.org, who made an excellent showing at the Oscars last night.

Denver's Pride Theme

And I thought Cincinnati's was bad :-).

MileHighGayGuy announces Denver's: "Worldwide Pride -- Connecting the Dots"

You know, Squealing with Pride is starting to grow on me. At least it doesn't wreak of gray-ness.

They have an official pride blogger? Interesting. It's an idea.

Oh, and don't forget about the Pride Committee Meeting this evening at the MCC. I may actually be in attendance, though I'll be bringing homework.

Community Event: Like, Totally 80s, by the Men's Chorus

*Rolling eyes* What is it with gay men and 80s music? I don't get it.

From their Facebook event:

Saturday, March 21, 2009: 8:07pm
Sunday, March 22, 2009: 3:07pm

Sponsored by JANICE FLANAGAN, CFP; MERRILL LYNCH

The end of the Cold War, Reaganomics, Beemers - all products of the 1980s. But, really, could any of these compare with the likes of Pat Benetar, Duran Duran, or Bruce Springsteen? The music of the 1980s became soundtracks of our lives. We woke up to a "Manic Monday" and by Wednesday "Everybody Was Working for the Weekend." Cyndi Lauper was wrong - it's more than just girls who wanna have fun!

I have -- ahem -- dated in and amongst the Men's Chorus, but haven't been to a show in literally years. They always put on a good show at Pride, though, and, apparently, at the AIDS Walk (I'm usually drinking my third or fourth cup of coffee when they perform and wishing I wishing I wasn't hung over when they sing at the Walk):

Hey, they aren't half bad! :-) But seriously, 80s music? If they sing any Madonna... well, I'll probably just laugh.

(Scans crowd for cute boys...)

Community Event: SWOON, by PFLAG

Thanks to PFLAG-Cincinnati for the heads up on this one. You'll note it on the Community Events list on your right.

From their press release:

The Cincinnati Chapter of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) is presenting the local band SWOON as a fundraiser for their scholarship program. The program provides scholarships for gay and straight-ally students who strive to make the world a better place for gay and lesbian people through support, education, and advocacy.

SWOON will perform on Saturday March 28th from 7 to 10 pm at Below Zero Lounge, 1122 Walnut Street in Cincinnati, 45202. Tickets are $25 for a single and $45 for couples. Light refreshments will be served. Tickets also entitle everyone to a chance to win one of several prizes. A cash bar will be available, promising an enjoyable evening of great music, food and prizes for a great cause.

Swoon members Liz and David Archer love to share their original music and see their audiences having a blast. The band began in England in 1991 and now includes an American member, Gillian Oakenfull. Both Liz and Gill have sung with MUSE. Don’t miss them!

Tickets can be purchased by sending a check payable to PFLAG Cincinnati, P.O. Box 19634, Cincinnati OH 45219-0634. Queries should be directed to Suzanne at 513-240-1193 or emailed to info@pflagcinci.org.

I'm a recipient of this scholarship -- I would not be in school right now if it weren't for this scholarship (whether that's a good thing or bad thing, well, my circadian rhythms will, one day, reset themselves, right? right? please?). In years past, you can almost look at the winners as a Who's Who of Young Gay Cincinnati. Seriously.

I have no idea who the band is, though, so I can't speak to that, and I can't find them on YouTube, otherwise I'd give you a preview.

But, seriously, PFLAG is one of the few organizations in town that has stuck to their purpose with such wonderful and amazing abandon. I've been to their meetings, and I want to hug everyone who walks into those doors. I remember the first tiem I attended, there was a new set of parents there... I don't know why they stuck with me, except I remember them hanging around and generally looking uncomfortable, but not being left alone for all the other parents who took the opportunity to introduce themselves.

I may actually attend this event :-). I know I responded on Facebook in the positive.

Besides, you cannot be in this city and not know the amazing Lynne Lefebvre. I mean, spunky British lady... seriously. I would marry her son, whom I've never met, just to have her as my mother-in-law.

What, Bunning? Oh, and Progressives from Ohio

So, thanks to Electoral-vote.com today, we see that Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning is fully expecting Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg to be dead in nine months or less due to her pancreatic cancer.

Real compassionate.

The same website also points out that the Republicans are trying to get Bunning to retire, desperately, for fear of a successful challenge from Kentucky State Senate President, David Williams. Hrm. I've all ready forgotten whom we've talked about on the Dem side in this race -- was it Mongiardo?

On the flip side, we have ratings out from the ProgressivePunch detailing the relative progressiveness of all the Senators and Representatives in the country. Local boys in the Senate (it's a little skewed -- Burris and Gillibrand are numbers 1 and 2, and they just started):

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) -- 8th most progressive with 97.45%

Sen. Evan Bayd (D-IN) -- 49th most progressive with 78.59%

Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) -- 63rd with 16.91%

Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) -- 65th with 14.06%

Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) -- 90th with 3.19%

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) -- 92nd with 4.12%

And some local boys/girls in the House:

Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN) -- 60th most progressive

Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH) -- 65th

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) -- 71st

Rep. Timothy Ryan (D-OH) -- 90th

Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) -- 119th

Rep. Peter Visclosky (D-IN) -- 141st

Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) -- 149th

Rep. Ben Chandler (D-KY) -- 167th

Rep. Baron Hill (D-IN) -- 181st

Rep. Charles Wilson (D-OH) -- 195th

Rep. Zach Space (D-OH) -- 213th

Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-IN) -- 220th

Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-IN) - 222nd

Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-OH) -- 250th

Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) -- 269th

Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY) -- 278th

Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-OH) -- 291st

Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY) -- 302nd

Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN) -- 307th

Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN) -- 317th

Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH) -- 334th

Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) -- 336th

Rep. Geoff Davis (R-KY) -- 344th

Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) -- 347th

Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH) -- 348th

There's a long list of (assumedly) new hires that are not yet listed, including our own Steve Driehaus and Columbus newbie Mary Jo Kilroy. (If you can't find yours on the above list, they are probably unranked as of yet.) I think it's really interesting that the division is even among party lines. In fact, in the House, a very sharp division between R/D.

We'll see how that all plays out.

Requisite Oscar Post

It was wash for Slumdog Millionaire, which picked up eight of its nominations today, practically knocking everything else off the map. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button followed with just three wins (Art Direction, Make-Up, Visual Effects -- nothing major), and then followed with two each for Milk (Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor -- yea!) and The Dark Knight (Sound Editing, Best Supporting Actor -- posthumous).

And those are the only ones which got more than one Oscar this year, so, yea.

I guess I should go see this Slumdog Millionaire movie or something.

Thanks to the Twitterverse for keeping me up to date while the event was going on. Seriously, I was getting minute-by-minute updates. No fewer than 20 Tweets about each thing going on, what people were wearing, and speeches. Whoa, dude. Just, whoa.

Op-Ed Piece in the NYTimes

Offering a compromise of sorts:

Linking federal civil unions to guarantees of religious freedom seems a natural way to give the two sides something they would greatly value while heading off a long-term, take-no-prisoners conflict. That should appeal to cooler heads on both sides, and it also ought to appeal to President Obama, who opposes same-sex marriage but has endorsed federal civil unions. A successful template already exists: laws that protect religious conscience in matters pertaining to abortion. These statutes allow Catholic hospitals to refuse to provide abortions, for example. If religious exemptions can be made to work for as vexed a moral issue as abortion, same-sex marriage should be manageable, once reasonable people of good will put their heads together.

In all sharp moral disagreements, maximalism is the constant temptation. People dig in, positions harden and we tend to convince ourselves that our opponents are not only wrong-headed but also malicious and acting in bad faith. In such conflicts, it can seem not only difficult, but also wrong, to compromise on a core belief.

But clinging to extremes can also be quite dangerous. In the case of gay marriage, a scorched-earth debate, pitting what some regard as nonnegotiable religious freedom against what others regard as a nonnegotiable human right, would do great harm to our civil society. When a reasonable accommodation on a tough issue seems possible, both sides should have the courage to explore it.

I'll leave it up to you to decide.

But if you're lazy, like me, there's a commentary on the Liberty Papers, which I think is a conservative site but still makes some good points.

What it's like to care

Via Neatorama, via boston.com...



So much of the care in healthcare, especially with kids, has nothing to with health.

Um, Madame Secretary...?

Is anyone else totally disgusted with Secretary Clinton today?

I mean, really?

Idaho goes back to the 19th century

Idaho state Senators have killed a bill in committee that would protect people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, again. In a wave of states passing increasingly more inclusive bills and laws, we still have places left to fight, and fight hard.

From SeattlePI.com:

A state Senate committee on Friday rejected a proposal to forbid discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

About 50 supporters of the proposed change to the Idaho Human Rights Act filed quietly out of the room, some in tears, after the Senate State Affairs Committee voice vote. Similar bills have been rejected in the past.

Idaho's 1968 Human Rights Act currently forbids workplace and housing discrimination based on race, sex, religion, color, national origin or mental or physical disability. The measure defeated Friday would have prohibited discrimination in employment, education and housing on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Co-Sponsor Sen. Charles Coiner, R-Twin Falls, compared the gay, lesbian and transgender community's push to be included in the law to the push to forbid discrimination based on physical or mental disability.

"Their movement is a few years behind but it's moving forward," Coiner said. "We've got work to do."

Sen. Nicole LeFavour, D-Boise, the state's only openly gay lawmaker, said because there is no due process for those in the gay, lesbian and transgender community who feel they are victims of discrimination, they "endure in silence."

"By virtue of its omission (from the law) many employers and many people feel that it's OK" to discriminate, said LeFavour, another co-sponsor.

Wait, just to clarify: gay rights is equivalent to rights for people with mental illness? Please, Mary, don't start with me. I'm telling you, weird shit is happening out there in the Rocky Mountain states.

---

Stories I've not posted on because they are just, well, there:

1. Half of NJ voters support gay marriage -- NJ is one of the states on the "next" list for equal marriage.

2. Wisconsin may be getting a DP registry.

I mean, really, whoo-freaking-hoo. But, other bloggers are talking about, so I thought I might as well say something.