Here is a little slide show I made celebrating marriage for gays and lesbians!

Thank You! Thank you to all the lawmakers who did the right thing and not let my civil rights be put to a popular vote!

Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!

Today is a big day for gay marriage. Today.. people who I don’t know, will decide whether more people who I don’t know, will decide if people as myself deserve the same rights that they so richly enjoy. What a country!

Bay Windows is live blogging the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention. I want to watch live but have to study!

Yes, Mr. Authoritarian may have had more votes in my neck of the woods, but thankfully he was rightfully trounced in Dedham, Massachusetts to Paul McMurty, the winner of the Massachusetts 11th District State Representative seat. The virus of “Obey” signs can now retreat from the planet…restoring our oxygen!

I am so sick of politicians bombarding my phone line, mailbox, and life. I get so many calls telling me to vote for this one… vote for that one. Candidate for State Representative Doug Obey is hands down the worst! He is everywhere! Signs on lawns, phone calls, and way too many fliers. My biggest problem with him is his name….Obey! I’m not voting for anyone that has a name with that much authoritarianism! Yes he says it sounds like oh-bee, but Obey, is oh-bay… no matter what you tell yourself.
Today, Mr. Obey really kicked it up a notch by appearing at my front door! Now this man was actually invading my personal space! I decided I must confront him and find out what he is about, or at least to try and stop his virus-like campaign. I knew I must proceed cautiously, lest my house might somehow be plastered with Obey signs… shutting out all my oxygen. I opened the door.

Mr. Authoritarian shook my hand and introduced himself, little did he know what he was in for. Being the gay activist that I have become, my first question was, “What do you think about gay marriage?” Mr. O. looked at me and said, “I think the people should vote on it.” Bzzzzzzzz, wrong answer. I told him how I felt that there is no way a majority should be allowed to vote on a minority’s civil rights. I told him that there is no way the gay community can compete with the money that is being poured into writing discrimination in constitutions across the country from the religious right. He told me we had the most money and power. I told him he was wrong. He told me I should have equal rights, but that it shouldn’t be called marriage, because it offends a lot of religious people. I told him we have separation of church and state. He told me he was against civil unions too, but says there should be something else that grants the same rights as marriage to gays and lesbians. I told him about separate but equal laws, and he had no idea there were such a thing. He told me that if it were put to a vote to grant the same rights to gays and lesbians it would pass. I told him he was wrong and naive. He told me that I was not legally married because the courts decided whether I could be married. I told him I was legally married in Massachusetts. He told me that if I was legally married then the people who wrote the constitution meant for gays to be married. I told him that was ridiculous, and that the constitution has changed since it was written, and will continue to change. He told me that marriage has not changed for thousands of years and was always one man, one woman. I told him that in some cultures it is one man and many women, that women were property, and that marriage has changed many times over thousands of years. He asked me what if men in the United States wanted to have more than one wife? I told him that is not the issue, they still can marry at least one person whom they love, while gays and lesbians cannot except in Massachusetts. He told me that discrimination doesn’t go on here in Massachusetts, I told him it most surely does. I told him that if one straight man stands up against the discrimination against gays and lesbians, he has far more power for change than 10 gay activists. He told me he has to represent his constituents, I told him that should include his minority ones also.

There was so much that I wanted to say and yet I felt so unprepared for the debate. I only like to state facts when I debate and it was clear to me Doug Obey was sorely misinformed, yet felt free to state things he knew nothing about. He really needs to learn about discrimination, the power of mob rule, and he needs attend a good course on the constitution, the founding fathers, and constitutional law. He is extremely out of touch with the needs of minorities and doesn’t even know that if the constitutional amendment passes… those of us that are married will still remain so. I wish that I could have studied some things before our meeting. The facts don’t support most of his arguments, but I didn’t always have the answers at my fingertips while he felt free to make blatantly false statements. I was so furious when he left and wanted to chase him down with other points. But my greatest fear is that this man will probably win. Our town is pretty conservative and will probably vote for him because he is fiscally conservative. And then there are those phone calls, signs, and fliers.

I just read this great article about the bible and homosexuality. The Rev. Mel White has really done his homework.

Kudos: Soulforce

A recent press release from the NAACP states that: “The NACCP Image Awards honors projects and individuals that promote diversity in the arts in television, recording, literature and motion pictures.” Recent Image Award Winner, Isaiah Washington, was promoting diversity when he called a fellow Grey’s Anatomy castmate a “faggot” and then lied that he said it twice on television?

The NAACP is my Loser of the Week.

“I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate, John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word ‘faggot,’ so I — so kind of an impasse, can’t really talk about Edwards,” Ann Coulter

As long as conservatives continue to support morons like Ann Coulter they have ZERO credibility to intelligent people.

Ann Coulter is my Loser of the Week

Kudos: Danny B.

“You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don’t like gay people and I don’t like to be around gay people, I’m homophobic. I don’t like it. It shouldn’t be in the world or in the United States.’’ Tim Hardaway

Tim Hardaway is our Loser of the Week

 When I met my partner Mike 11 years ago, I also became friends with a wonderful bear named Hal Hillman. Sadly he passed away in early 2004 due to a heart attack. He had been sick for a while and was waiting for a new kidney. Mike and I miss him terribly. Here is a short slideshow I created of this wonderful, big lug!

 Well I can sleep tonight. Massachusetts lawmakers decided to recess the Massachusetts constitutional convention without voting on the proposed amendment to ban gay marriage in the state. It is horrible to think that my marriage and rights could be put up to a popular vote. I have been married for 2 years, how has that hurt anyone else? Why are people so worried about things that don’t affect them. People are so upset with this issue they wish to change state and federal constitutions. Constitutions should grant rights, not take them away. It is unfathomable to think that people would support an amendment that would reverse a freedom given to a certain segment of society. I wonder how the people who signed the initiative petition would feel if a possible amendment were proposed to eliminate freedom of religion! There are so many things we really need to be worried about as a society… gay marriage isn’t one of them.

Rick Santorum

It was just announced that Neil Patrick Harris, who played Doogie Howser, M.D.  and currently stars in How I Met Your Mother has come out! Bravo to Mr. Harris!

New Life Church’s acting pastor said Friday that the Rev. Ted Haggard, his predecessor now embroiled in a gay-escort scandal, has acknowledged some of the accusations are true.

In an e-mail to congregants, Ross Parsley wrote that the church’s four-member board of overseers had met with Haggard.

“It is important for you to know that he confessed to the overseers that some of the accusations against him are true. He has willingly and humbly submitted to the authority of the board of overseers, and will remain on administrative leave during the course of the investigation,” the e-mail stated.

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I am so sick of the insane evangelical movement! These holier than thou types continue to shove their beliefs and judgements in my face about my life. Why does religion get so protected by the government? They have more protections than I do as a gay American. What is even scarier is the people who follow this branch of religion. The followers throw out science and common sense and they send money to their hypocritical leaders, like Ted Haggard. America…wake up! These people are trying to take away our constitutional rights to freedom, while they hide behind their rights to freedom of religion.

Ted Haggard and the evengelical momement are my losers of the week.

Kudos: Planet Out

New Jersey’s Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision issued Wednesday, has failed to find that the state’s same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry.

But the justices found New Jersey’s 2-year-old domestic-partnership system inadequate, and gave the Legislature 180 days to “enact an appropriate statutory structure” giving same-sex couples rights equivalent to those of married couples. Read More.

Kudos: PlanetOut.com