The Gays Are Coming! The Gays Are Coming!

Rachel Smith-Mosel is a Lesbian. She married her partner in California, where she was born, and she married her partner in Canada, where her partner was born. But now, she wants to marry her partner in Washington state, where they live. Is that so wrong?

Washington state does have domestic partnership laws, but Smith-Mosel believes they are insufficient, and fail to provide the couple the proper benefits and protections that come with marriage. And she wants Washington state to follow the lead of states like New York and recognize gay couples equally in marriage.

She may have a good shot at it, too.


The push for marriage equality is growing in Washington, which has seen in increase in same-sex households by more than 50% since 2000. And this increase isn't just in urban centers, but felt all over the state.

In fact, more than 24,000 households in Washington are led by same-sex partners, and, in Jefferson County on the Olympic Peninsula and in San Juan County, more than one out of every 50 couples is same-sex. In Seattle, 3% of all couples are gay male couples, while more than 2% are lesbian partnerships.

it isn't just that gay couples are moving to Washington, it's that gay couples are coming out in Washington, and working toward equality.


And Rachel Smith-Mosel hopes the change will come, as more and more gay men and women come out and stand up for equality. She hopes that, one day, she can stop carrying around the folder that details family's relationships, and can stop worrying that, during a medical crisis, that she and her family will face questions and lack the same protections as officially recognized spouses: "Our kids need to feel that our family isn't just second-class. We're a married couple, and we want to be treated as such. We deserve to be treated as such."
Activists, lawmakers, and citizens are working on the best time, and the best way, to push the issue. Democratic state Senator Ed Murray, who has consistently filed bills to approve gay marriages since 1997, believes the state Senate does not have the votes right now to get it approved in 2012, but he has hopes that there will be a change, perhaps in the coming session of the Legislature.

But it isn't just Washington state seeing an increase in the numbers of gay households. Down in Nevada, the number of same-sex households has nearly doubled since 2000.

There are now some 4,600 homes in Nevada headed by lesbian, and another 4,700 homes headed by two male partners. And roughly one-quarter of those couples are raising children.

Now, in all fairness, this increase in same-sex households is still minuscule when you factor in the more than one-million-plus households in the state, but it does show an increase.

And an increase leads to openness and understanding and awareness that gay couples, and gay families,, are no different than their heterosexual counterparts. And, this increase of 87% in gay households comes just ten years after 67% of voters in Nevada defined marriage as "between a male and female person."

And these numbers of gay households are really only gay couples in partnership. Since the Census made no provision for single gay people to be counted, the actual numbers of gay men and women could be higher still.

This increase in the numbers of openly gay households is also seen in the recent shift in LGBT-friendly legislation. Nevada has passed many local and state laws recognizing the rights of domestic partners, and the state Legislature passed a law recognizing domestic partners, even after then Republican Governor Jim Gibbons vetoed it.

And state leaders went further this year, passing a series of laws that extended discrimination protections to transgender people and prohibited housing or employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Still, overturning that gay marriage ban passed by Nevada voters in 2002 could take years because of the state's complicated constitutional amendment process. And many activists say the only way same-sex marriage could be legalized in Nevada is for the federal government to recognize gay marriage.

But it's progress in both states. And it's proof that coming out is the road to equality. If gay men and women cannot be themselves openly and honestly in every aspect of their lives, how can we expect people to see us, and understand us, and accept as equals. In the closet there is shame, and if some of us are ashamed of who we are, how can we expect anyone else to feel differently.

We must all come out.
That's the first step.

Washington Gays
Nevada Gays

The Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation

Hottie, athlete, and friend of the LGBT community, Ben Cohen, has started his own anti-bullying foundation, with these simple words:

I lost my own father to violence when he stood up for an employee who was being attacked. I’ve heard from my wonderful friends in the LGBT community about the hard roads too many have traveled. And many parents have shared painful stories with me about how their children, who might be perceived to be different, are ruthlessly attacked and scared of their own schools. I am passionate about standing up against bullying and homophobia in sports, and feel compelled to take action. It is time we stand up for what is right and support people who are being harmed. Every person on this planet has a right to be true to themselves, to love and be loved, and to be happy. I encourage others to stand up with me and make a difference. Simply shop or donate, and your efforts will help fund extremely important work.

from the website:
The Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation, Inc. supports organizations, programs and people that advance equality for the LGBT community and help for at-risk youth by standing up against bullying.
We are fortunate to be joined by a wide variety or caring, informed and influential sports, entertainment and government leaders who are standing up with us to show their support.
With funds raised, the Foundation will support our own original work and that of the StandUp Network, including:

Human Rights Campaign Foundation
GLSEN
The Trevor Project
Campus Pride
The Matthew Shepard Foundation
Stonewall (UK)
Bully-Free Zone (UK)

Check it out HERE

South Carolina Pulls A WTF....But A Rather Pleasant WTF

It's just another wedding announcement, right?

Okay, so maybe it's just another same-sex wedding announcement. But this particular wedding announcement appeared in The State, the largest paper in........South Carolina.

It gives me hope, you know. Seeing the faces of these two men, announcing their marriage, in my local paper. And it gives me hope that The State acknowledged their two sons in the announcement as well.

The times they are a'changing, even here in South Carolina.

William Hasty III & Gregory Smith

Gregory Maurice Smith and William Leonard Hasty III were married July 26, 2011, at Town Hall in Mamaroneck, N.Y. The 9 a.m. ceremony was performed by Christina Battalia, Town Clerk.

Greg, 52, is the Executive Vice President, Human Resources for Denihan Hospitality group in New York City. He graduated from Tulane University and received a B.A. in English literature. He also received a J.D. from Tulane University Law School.

Greg is the son of the late Percy Smith and Daisy Smith Green. Percy Smith was a pitcher with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Old Negro Baseball League. He also worked for the Mobile County Public School System and retired after 20 years of service. Daisy Smith Green is a native and lifelong resident of Mobile, Ala.

William, 45, is the son of William Leonard Hasty, Jr., a retired State Farm agent, of Bishopville, S.C., and Marie Baker Hasty, an Office Manager, of West Columbia, S.C. William is the grandson of the late William Leonard Hasty, Sr. and Mamie Louise Hasty of Bishopville, S.C. William graduated Cum Laude from the University of South Carolina with a B.A. in English in 1987. He is currently a Homemaker.

The couple met in Columbia, S.C., in February 1984. Gregory and William were both commissioned officers in the U.S. Army. Best men for the wedding were the couple's two sons, Dudley Smith Hasty and Baker Smith Hasty.

The couple will honeymoon in Niagara Falls and reside with their two sons in Larchmont, N.Y.

The State

Defying The Church In The Name Of Equality

So, it was only yesterday that everyone in New York Sate became equal; all New Yorkers, even the gay ones, are allowed to marry the person they love, legally, and rightfully. That's a good day, dontcha think?

Of course, part of the equality bill is that churches will not be forced to perform same-sex marriages, nor can they be sued for refusing to do so. And, I like that idea, too. If we don't want the Church affecting the State, we should not allow the State to affect the Church. It's that whole Separation thing.

But at one church, the First Presbyterian Church of Glen Cove, Reverend Elizabeth Simpson sees several same-sex couples in her congregation, and she sees how much they love one another, and she's going to do something about it, even if it gets her defrocked.

Next March, Reverend Simpson will perform the marriage ceremony for one of those gay couples, and she'll do it in the church, saying, “I will make myself vulnerable to accusations or indictments, so to speak, from within the Presbytery, [but my] feeling is since just recently the church changed its mind about ordaining gays and lesbian people that I think eventually that [they will] change their sense about what marriage is.”

And while she may not yet have the backing of the church hierarchy, she has the complete backing of her own church. In fact, she says it isn't even an issue among her congregation. The feeling is Of course they can get married. Why not?

Why not indeed.  It isn't a big deal, really, except to the two people involved, who've made a commitment to spend their lives together, become a family, and maybe raise a family, and to have the whole world, or maybe just the stat of New York, or maybe just their congregation, share in that feeling.

source

New York.....New York! Welcome To Equality!

Another Politician Steps Up For Equality

On the heels of marriage equality being approved in New York, comes news from Maryland. That states governor, Martin O'Malley, announced last week that he will push for legalizing same-sex marriage in the upcoming legislative session.


"I certainly plan to be very active in support of it, and we'll have other announcements in upcoming months," he told the National Governors Association meeting in Salt Lake City.

He has long supported civil unions, but now realizes that marriage equality is the only way to go, and said if lawmakers passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, he would sign it.

O'Malley, a Democrat, favors a measure in Maryland that mirrors the same-sex marriage law recently enacted in New York, which protects religious organizations from being required to ordain same-sex marriages: "I think we can learn from what they did. One of the things we're looking at in the drafting is how their clauses with regard to religious freedom were different from ours. That might improve our efforts."

It's another domino ready to fall in the struggle for full equality, and yet another politician who is stepping up.

Am I sensing a trend?

source

DANGER!! Aaron Pace Looks Gay

Aaron Pace understands that he looks and acts effeminately, and realizes that some people think this means he's gay. He says he isn't, but it was his looks, character and behavior--just his looks, character and behavior--that prompted an Indiana blood donation center to reject him when he tried to donate blood recently because they assumed he was homosexual.

And Aaron isn't happy about this. He had gone to Bio-Blood Components Inc. in Gary, which pays for blood and plasma donations, but during the interview process he was told he could not be a blood donor there because he “appears to be a homosexual.”


Donation centers like Bio-Blood Components, and even the American Red Cross, still cite a nearly 30-year-old federal policy to turn away gay men from donating. The Food and Drug Administration policy, which was implemented in 1983, states that men who have had sex--even one time--with another man since 1977, cannot donate blood.

Because we all have The AIDS, you know.

The policy was sparked by concerns that HIV would taint the blood supply, and, back in those days, screening tests to identify HIV-positive blood had not yet been developed.  But today, all donated blood is tested for HIV, as well as for hepatitis B and C, syphilis and other infectious diseases, before it can be released to hospitals. And gay activists, blood centers including the American Red Cross, and even some lawmakers are now demanding that the lifetime ban is “medically and scientifically unwarranted.”

Curt Ellis, former director of The Aliveness Project of Northwest Indiana, an agency that’s been educating the public about HIV-related issues: “It is unfair, outrageous and just plain stupid. The policy is based on the stigma associated with HIV that existed early on, [and it] seems like some stigmas will just never die.”

But, while the Indiana State Department of Health doesn’t have a policy regarding the collection of blood and its criteria, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last year voted again not to recommend a change to the FDA’s policy of a lifetime deferral for men who have sex with other men.

“I was humiliated and embarrassed,” Aaron Pace says. “It’s not right that homeless people can give blood but homosexuals can’t. And I’m not even a homosexual.”

He just looks like "one".

source

The Silence Is Ending

For the first time ever in the United States, the first time ever, some 200 or more active-duty troops and veterans, wearing T-shirts emblazoned with their branch of service, marched in a Gay pride parade.

The times are indeed changing.

Last Saturday, in San Diego's Pride parade, carrying American flags and rainbow banners, many of these active-duty troops said they were moved to come out because it is time to end the military's ban on openly gay troops.

National Guard member Nichole Herrera,\didn't think twice about marching, even though the policy is back on the books. She said she was "choked up" several times as she walked down a main thoroughfare in San Diego, a major Navy port: "This is one of the proudest days in my life. It's time for it (the policy) to be gone. I'm a soldier no matter what, regardless of my sexual orientation."

The crowds roared as the military groups walked by.

Every branch of service was represented Saturday, Air Force, Army, Marines, Navy, National Guard, even the Coast Guard, all carrying their branch's flags over their heads. People stood on the sidelines, but as the troops passed, many stepped into the streets to salute them. One man in a rainbow colored shirt waved his feather boa and yelled "Hooah!" the military battle cry.

The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network--representing gay and lesbian active-duty military personnel--informed organizer Sean Sala that they are warning members that it is still a risk to come out as long as "don't ask, don't tell" is on the books. But Sala, a former Navy operations specialist, said it's time for the gay and lesbian community to stop hiding in fear: "This is not in any way a violation of military policy and it's time for the country to move on - plain and simple."

Rolling slowly behind the 200 service members was a green half-ton military truck with the banner "Taking pride in our LGBT service men and women."

Walking with the group was Miranda LeClair, a former military police officer for the Navy, who carried a sign that read: "Proudly served in silence for nine years." She attended with her girlfriend, also a former member of the military police: "It's been a long time coming. This is really an emotional day for me."

LeClair was investigated under DADT in 2008 but her commanders decided not to pursue discharging her. She was one of the lucky ones.

Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Derek Collins, who has served for 11 years: "I'm so happy I'm here and I'm able to come out and support not only myself but those who can't be here today".

Marine Corporal Will Rodriguez-Kennedy is on active duty and said he looks forward to next year's parade, when he believes it will be possible to march in "dress blues": "One of my friends here has been back from Afghanistan for three days, and when he heard about the parade he said he served in uniform and he should be able to march in uniform."

Hopefully this is a trend that continues, and one day, LGBT servicemembers will march in their uniforms, like everyone else and it won't be such a big deal.
 
Just another day in America.

source 

Akil Patterson Is Out, And Proud

Akil Patterson is gay, and black, and a football player.

Talk about a struggle.

It took him years to tell anyone, even himself, that he was a black, gay man playing Division I college football for the University of Maryland, and his choice to remain silent weighed heavily on him.

In secret, he would go online and search the web, using keywords like "gay" and "athlete" hoping to find someone like him, who was out there, and knew his struggle. He wondered how many other Division I athletes are gay--and black--and feeling as isolated as he was?

Now a highly ranked Greco-Roman wrestler, unpaid Maryland wrestling coach, and out gay, black man, Patterson says, "It's not like it's a terrible, deep, dark secret, but you think about the ramifications. They're talking behind your back, and everywhere you turn there's this culture that says you're not supposed to be like this."

And those whispers took their toil on Akil Patterson. in college, he began binge drinking to just feel like he fit in, and perhaps to forget that part of him that he thought no one would understand, but finally, he sees himself as a man "emerging from a dream" and came out publicly back in January, on Outsports.com.

He was so closeted, and so self-loathing, and so afraid anyone would discover his secret, that he began drinking all the time. He has memory lapses about some nights of binge drinking during his football years, but remembers all sorts of odd behavior, lying and denials.

Drunk one night, he hit on a male cheerleader, but denied to teammates that he was gay as rumors spread about his sexual orientation and erratic behavior. His heavy drinking included the night before a big game at Florida State in September 2003. He was suspended indefinitely by Maryland later that season and left school amid charges related to an off-campus fight.

These days he's out, and sober, and proud to be himself. his days of hiding, lying, self-loathing, and drinking to forget are over. These days Akil Patterson aspires to make the Olympics in Greco-Roman wrestling. An out gay man, wrestling for Gold, free from his demons and finally able to live his life as he knows it should be.

It really does get better.


via The Baltimore Sun

Forty-Two Years Ago Today

Originally posted June 27, 2009:

It was forty-one years ago, a lifetime to some of us, a minute to others, but it marked a turning point for the LGBT community. It marked one of the first, and definitely the loudest, times that gay men and women stood up en masse and said, No. We will not be treated like this any longer!

The weekend of June 27-29,1969 began what is the modern day gay movement. To be sure, there were gay and lesbian activists before that weekend, but the confrontation between police and demonstrators at the Stonewall Inn in New York lit a fire in the hearts of the LGBT community like it had never been done before.

And like any good story, there is controversy surrounding the Stonewall Riots; there are arguments and differences over what happened, how it started and how it ended. But the fact we all need to remember is that it did happen, and it should continue to be a rallying cry for the LGBT community to be, finally, considered equal in the eyes of America.

It was Friday, June 27, 1969, and the world was mourning the death of Judy Garland. Could it be that the death of one of the most famous gay icons was what sparked the fire of the modern day Gay Rights Movement? Many people have speculated that Garland's death did indeed push the gay community into the streets of New York that night. But it was also hot, that night, and many say it was the heat that fueled the crowd into action, into reaction. Maybe it was both Garland's death and the hot summer night; or maybe it was just that the gay community had finally had enough of being told what to do, what not to do, and how we should live our lives. Whatever the reason, it was enough. Finally, enough.

In the early morning hours of June 28, police officers raided the Stonewall Inn, a small bar located on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. Although mafia-run, the Stonewall, like other predominantly gay bars in the city, got raided by the police periodically.

Typically, the more "deviant" patrons--drag queens and butch lesbians, especially if they were black--were arrested and taken away, while white, male customers looked on or quietly disappeared. The bar owners would be levied an insubstantial fine--a sign of corruption and collusion between bar owners and police--allowing them to open for business the following day.

On this night, the charge at the Stonewall was the illegal sale of alcohol. The raid began as they always did: plainclothes and uniformed police officers entered the bar, arrested the employees, and began ejecting the customers one by one onto the street. For some reason, however, the crowd that had gathered outside the Stonewall, a somewhat campy and festive crowd, began to cheer as the patrons were pushed out of the Stonewall Inn. But soon the mood changed; it was Judy Garland's death, or the summer heat, or the fact that the summer of 1969 was a particularly busy one for police raids on gay bars. Or maybe it was watching drag queens and lesbians being pushed and shoved and kicked into paddy wagons.

Whatever it was, the on-lookers lost their patience. No one really knows who threw the first punch; some say it was a drag queen, some say it was a rather butch-looking lesbian. But someone defied the police that night; someone had finally had enough.

The crowd, now numbering several hundred, exploded. People began hurling coins at police officers, then they moved on to rocks and bottles, whatever they could grab. The police, at first stunned that the normally docile and shamed homosexuals would react in such a fashion, soon began beating the crowds with nightsticks. This group, however,was too angry, and could not be pushed down; the police officers were forced to take refuge inside the Stonewall.

As news spread throughout Greenwich Village the crowd grew ever larger; many residents, some gay, some not, ran down to the Stonewall Inn to join the fight. Lighter fluid was squirted inside the bar and someone tried to light it; others grabbed a downed parking meter and used it as a battering ram against the front of the Stonewall. Someone began chanting "Gay Power!"

The riot-control police unit arrived to rescue the trapped officers and break up the demonstration, though it took over an hour before the crowd dispersed. To taunt their attackers a group of drag queens began to sing at the top of their lungs:

We are the Stonewall girls
We wear our hair in curls
We wear no underwear
We show our pubic hair
We wear our dungarees
Above our nelly knees!

That first Stonewall Riot ended the morning of Saturday, June 28, but the fight was far from over. That night a second riot broke out and the crowd now numbered in the thousands, filling the streets in the name of Gay Pride. They marched to the Stonewall Inn and waited for the police to arrive; and they did, in the early morning hours of Sunday, June 29.

For over a week, though in smaller numbers, protests and demonstrations continued in Greenwich Village. There was finally a sense of what could be accomplished by banding together, by being out, by being seen, by being heard. By being angry. It was a new day.

A month after the riots, the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was formed. Radical and leftist, the GLF was one of many politically focused lesbian and gay organizations formed in the days and weeks following the riots. The number of lesbian and gay publications skyrocketed as well, which led to an even greater sense of community. The LGBT community was no longer strictly marginalized in United States society. Now, out and proud lesbians and gay men were developing their own communities in cities across the country.

Since 1970, marches have taken place in New York City--and all over the world--every year on the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. In June 1994, hundreds of thousands of people converged on New York to celebrate Stonewall's 25th anniversary. In 1999 the United States government proclaimed the Stonewall Inn a national historic site. The following year, the status of the Stonewall was improved to "historic landmark," a designation held by only a small percentage of historical sites.

It is our Plymouth Rock. It's where the gay community landed and came together and began the march toward equality. Stonewall was our first glimpse of a new world where we weren't alone, we weren't all that different, where we belonged.

It makes no difference how it started. The death of an icon; the summer heat; a sense of frustration. It makes no difference who started it; drag queens or lesbians; coin tossers or rock throwers. The difference is that it happened.

Forty-two years ago today.

Way To Go NEW YORK!!!!!!!!

Father Unni Stands Up To Catholic Bigotry

It seems that the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, responding to criticism that it was actually sanctioning a Gay Pride celebration, has announced that it had ordered a South End church to cancel a Mass scheduled for next weekend that was themed, “All are Welcome."

And perhaps subtitle it, *"Unless You're Queer."

Well, the LGBT community is not amused. 

It seems that St. Cecilia Parish in Boston had planned a “liturgy to commemorate Boston Pride 2011" and, in a church bulletin, announced: “The Rainbow Ministry of St. Cecilia Parish invites all friends and supporters of the LGBT community to a Mass in celebration of Boston’s Pride Month. The theme of the liturgy, ‘All Are Welcome,’ honors Christ’s message of hope and salvation to all people. We will also celebrate the diverse community that finds its home at St. Cecilia."

What a lovely message, and one that was obviously culled form the Book of God Is Love. But then the conservative members of the Church, got their collars and shrouds and granny pants in a twist, and demanded that the archdiocese intervene.

And they trotted out their spokesbigot, Terrence Donilon, who is rereading the Book Of God Hates Fags, to say: “The wording and placement of a bulletin notice announcing that the St. Cecilia Rainbow Ministry will be joining the parish at a Mass on June 19 may have given the unintended impression that the Mass is in support of Gay Pride Week; it is not."

Father Unni, the pastor of St. Cecilia's has not commented, but Donilon said that he spoke for the parish and that the decision was made by senior officials at the archdiocese.

Foot stomp. Head snap.

Donilon, of course, took no questions about the apparent contradiction of the church’s bulletin and his statement, but did say that there would be a Mass sometime in the future to welcome the community, though not specifically the LGBT community.

It is written in The Book Of God Hates Fags, you know.

But then, just as the conservative Catholics railed about homosexuality and sin and pride, and how they loved the sinner but hate the sin, except if the sin is hate, Father Unni had something to say, and, upon finishing his sermon, received an actual standing ovation from his parishioners.

Father Unni:. “You are welcome here, gay or straight, rich or poor, young or old, black or white. Here, you all can say, ‘I can worship the God who made me as I am. [G]ood love always requires sacrifice. We are being called to do not what is easy, but what is holy.’’

“We are not this renegade, crazy, liberal church. We’re just Christians trying to live the gospel."

And preach the word of The Book Of God Is Love.

Canceled Mass Outrages Gays
Priest Says All Are Welcome In His Church

Some Thoughts On Tracy

I've never been a Tracy Morgan fan. I don't know why, I just don't care for him. I never thought him homophobic, and I've never thought him funny. Turns out I was wrong on that first one, and right on the second.

Now, to be fair, I loves me some shock comics. Lisa Lampanelli? Not many more shocking than her, but she's funny because you know it's all about the joke. Some might find her offensive, I find her offensively funny.

But, back to Tracy Morgan. It seems that he recently gave a stand-up performance in Tennessee that was basically a homophobic rant, without any of the humor. I mean, I tell fag jokes at work. If I do something idiotic--and, yes, it's been known to happen--I'll usually utter something like, "Fags are dumb."

But, um, one thing you won't ever hear me say is that I would stab someone if they were gay. Tracy Morgan said that about his own son. He said if his son was gay, he better come home and talk to him like a man or he would pull out a knife and stab that little N_____. 
"Fags are dumb" coming from a raging homosexual is kinda funny. Stabbing your gay son, somehow misses that mark.

He called anti-bullying campaigns a bunch of bull shiz, and said gay people need to stop being pussies and whining about insignificant stuff like being taunted, teased and bullied to the point of suicide. Yeah, I know; not so funny.

Now, back to me, and some funny. After my bout with the shingles, I returned to work with one last pussy-scabby thing on my forehead that I'd covered with a BandAid. When someone asked what happened to my head, I said I was gay bashed by a Girl Scout because I only bought one box of thin mints. That's kinds funny, right. Maybe I should send that one to Tracy.

But his jokes about gay bashing, and bullying, coming on the heels of so many recent suicides of young LGBTQ youth, wasn't just untimely, it was sickening.

Tracy called being gay a choice, because "God" don't make mistakes. Well, he's half-right. God doesn't make mistakes, but I was born this way. And when you start sputtering about god and gay and choosing that "lifestyle" in a state like Tennessee, which is rapidly becoming the seat of homophobia in this country, you've crossed a line.

And the Tracy Morgan apparently ended his little comedy routine with a line about how, if gays can take a dick up their asses, then they can take a fucking joke.

Oh, Tracy, honey, we can take a joke, but you are not funny.
Mean-spirited isn't funny.
Hate isn't funny.
Bullying isn't funny.
Murder isn't funny.
That you should have learned in Comedy 101.

And, now, of course, all sorts of folks are coming out on Tracy's side, and against Tracy.

Openly gay NBC Chairman Bob Greenblatt had this to say:
"I speak for NBC and myself personally when I say we do not condone hate or violence of any kind and I am pleased to see Tracy Morgan apologizing for recent homophobic remarks in his standup appearance. We will always recognize an artist's freedom to express him or herself, but not when reckless things are said no matter what the context. Unfortunately, Tracy's comments reflect negatively on both "30 Rock" and NBC - two very all-inclusive and diverse organizations - and we have made it clear to him that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated."

Kind of a weak slap on the wrist to one of the co-stars of a hot show. I kind of think that if Tracy Morgan were on a show that was not doing so well, Greenblatt's reprimand would have been more harsh.

And Chris Rock, initially, defended Tracy Morgan, tweeting:
“I dont know about you, but I dont want to live in world where Tracy Morgan cant say foul inappropriate s—.”

Apparently Chris Rock's supportive Tweet came before he actually knew what Morgan had said because he then changed his stance a little:
"Tracy morgan is a tad off we all know that so when tracy says something i usually don’t take it anymore serious than i would a statement from gary busey or flavor flav. when i first heard the statement i thought it was offensive but it also reminded me of my father saying ill kill you if you ever bring home a white girl but after reading everything tracy said. wow i get it that s— wasn’t called for and i don’t support it at all. now can i please go to the tony awards without getting my ass kicked.”

You can go, Chris, but now maybe you've learned to find out what, and whom, you're supporting, before you open your mouth.

The Human Rights Campaign believes Morgan should do more than just apologize:
"Tracy Morgan exercised extremely poor judgment and he did the right thing by apologizing. But that’s just not enough. He’s a role model and Morgan now has a responsibility to make amends for his horribly hurtful and dangerous ‘comedy’ routine. He also needs to go further than his apology and correct the record: no one should feel ashamed because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender and they should definitely not become a victim of violence. Words have consequences and Morgan should be held to a higher standard. Until he does something meaningful, his brand will remain tarnished.”

I'm kind of ambivalent here. I think sometimes an apology is enough. Doesn't mean I forget what he said, and won't be watching to make sure he doesn't go there again, but we need to learn to forgive a little. Not forget, forgive.

CNN's Roland Martin defended Morgan, claiming the comedy routine was just that - a routine:
"Say I’m wrong. Fine. Say I’m insensitive to gays and lesbians. Fine. I’ll wait for the usual bigots to say that I’m defending Tracy Morgan because he’s black. Fine. But think for a moment at all the times you’ve laughed at comedians based on the things they had to say. Then ask yourself: Did I laugh, and why? Sorry, if I’m being honest here and not focusing on political correctness. I just believe that many of you would be shocked and amazed that you laughed hysterically at some of the most sexist, homophobic, racist stuff imaginable by comedians of all shapes, sizes, ethnic backgrounds, genders and sexual orientations."

Oh, Roland, refer back to my comments on Lisa Lampanelli. I can, have, and will continue to, laugh at insensitive, rude, comics, but talking about killing someone, anyone, much less your own son, for being gay isn't funny.

Wanda Sykes, like me, wasn't amused:
"I fault the TN lawmakers. They've created an anti-gay environment. Don't believe Tracy would be so ignorant in LA. I do believe in free speech, but for a youth in TN or any other numerous place, Tracy just yelled, ‘Fire,’ in a crowded theater."

Then Wanda talked to Roland Martin:
"Ro, I love and respect you, so I feel that I can tell you that your column is some bullshit. We can do better. Tracy has the right to say whatever he wants to say, just like we have the right to say, not acceptable. and WE as a country. We used to picnic to watch public hangings, but WE figured out, that was some sick shit."

I think i fall on Team Wanda, and I'll explain in a bit.

GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios had this to say:
"While it is certainly a good thing that Morgan has started to take responsibility for the offensive content of his routine by apologizing publicly to his fans and the gay community, he must do more to balance the harm that his words have inflicted. He could take one profound step to show his sincerity by meeting with parents and young people who have been personally effected by anti-gay violence or family rejection. GLAAD has reached out to Tracy Morgan's publicist and offered to facilitate such a meeting. We implore him to take us up on this."

Again, let the man apologize. Let him take responsibility and let's see how he handles himself in the future before we decide to make him do an Apology Tour. I mean, why don't we just send him around the country, knocking on the door of every single LGBT person in this country and apologize in person?

Openly gay actor, Cheyenne Jackson, who periodically appears on '30 Rock' with Tracy Morgan:
"I am disgusted and appalled by Tracy Morgan's homophobic rant. The devastating repercussions of hate-filled language manifest in very real ways for today's LGBTQ youth. I've known Tracy for two years, spent many long hours with him on set, and I want to believe that this behavior is not at the core of who he is. I'm incredibly disappointed by his actions, and hope that his apology is sincere."

Now, here's an actual gay man with an actual responsible response to Tracy Morgan. No boycott. No firing. Just accept the apology and keep watching Morgan to make sure he meant it.


Tina Fey, Morgan's co-star and boss, didn't think it was funny either:
"The violent imagery of Tracy's rant was disturbing to me at a time when homophobic hate crimes continue to be a life-threatening issue for the GLBT Community. It also doesn't line up with the Tracy Morgan I know, who is not a hateful man and is generally much too sleepy and self-centered to ever hurt another person. I hope for his sake that Tracy's apology will be accepted as sincere by his gay and lesbian co-workers at '30 Rock', without whom Tracy would not have lines to say, clothes to wear, sets to stand on, scene partners to act with, or a printed-out paycheck from accounting to put in his pocket."

I think we ought to listen to the people who know Tracy Morgan before we decide to demand that he be physically removed from our TV screens.

And we should listen to Tracy Morgan himself:
"I want to apologize to my fans and the gay & lesbian community for my choice of words at my recent stand-up act in Nashville. I’m not a hateful person and don’t condone any kind of violence against others. While I am an equal opportunity jokester, and my friends know what is in my heart, even in a comedy club this clearly went too far and was not funny in any context.”

Okay, so here's my take.

What do we do now? Do we get out our pink monogrammed stationary out and flood NBC with letters demanding Tracy be fired? Do we stop watching '30 Rock' altogether? Do we boycott and march and shout? Or do we take the high road, take his apology, accept it, move on, and hope  it never happens again?

See, what Tracy Morgan said was Free Speech. Hateful, oh, indeed, But free. Don't forget we live in a country where a church can protest at funerals with signs that say 'God Hates Fags' and 'Fags Must Die'.

It's Free Speech. It's wrong, what he said, but let's hope he learned his lesson, and let's hope that other folks who feel, or at least felt, as Tracy Morgan did, have also learned their lesson.

I've heard people say that this is like the Isaiah Washington incident, where he called one of his fellow actors a 'fag' during an argument. Washington was subsequently let go from his show. But Morgan's rant was different. His was intended....intended....to be funny. Washington's comment was a slur shouted in anger about a co-worker, and made the work environment, with him still there, intolerable. There is a subtle difference.

So, I hope there won't be this big call to fire Tracy Morgan or stop watching '30 Rock'--although I've never seen the show--or boycott NBC. I said before, referring to myself, and maybe some of you, that 'fags are dumb'. I just hope we aren't stupid. And unable to forgive.

They're Not Having A Gay Old Time

Florida Family Association, a Christian group--and they call themselves 'christians' while they discriminate--is going after Disney World because of the theme park's annual Gay Days celebration by flying a banner plane over Disney World that reads: "Warning Gay Day at Disney".

Danger, Will Robinson, danger!

I have a message for oxymoronic group, FFA: Better people than you have tried to stop Disney from having, promoting, and profiting quite nicely--since it's a huge success--off a Gay Day Celebration. And, in the near-twenty years there have been Gay Days at the park, no one has ever succeeded.

And why is that?

Well, for starters, it's that whole Christian thing where you spout love out of one side of your mouths and hate out of the other.

For another, most of the people who attend Gay Days aren't even gay. With parks as large as Disney's the majority of park goers are straight, and have no problem with Gay Days.

The FFA claims hundreds of thousands of people arrive at the park this time of year, only to turn around because of the weeklong celebration, Yes, I can imagine Joe Podunk and the wife and kids loaded up the camper and drove all the way across the country to spend a week at Disney, and then just went home because fags were on the Matterhorn.

Don't.Think.So.

Personal story: Carlos and I went to Disney World while we lived in Florida, only we went in January, We had a lovely vacation at Epcot and Disney World, and on our last day, after watching the fireworks, we headed for the exit.

As we walked along, we began holding hands, as we are apt to do sometimes, and I noticed a lesbian couple come up alongside of us; they, too, were holding hands.

Suddenly, a voice behind us shouted: "What is this? it isn't Gay Days!"

One of the lesbians turned back, and said, "Honey, every day is gay day for us."

And it is. And will be at Disney World for a long time to come, no matter how many Christians boycott or fly banners or simply wallow in their intolerance.

We're here. We're queer. And we're on Mister Toad's Wild Ride, right alongside of you.

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Queens Can Be Kings And Queens, And Transgendered Students Can Be Queens, Too

Two lovely stories of hope, from both ends of the Eastern Seaboard.

Up there in Maine, at Sanford High School, senior Christian Nelsen was crowned prom Queen while his boyfriend Caleb Jett was named King.

It was a first for the school in southern Maine, but it passed without a hitch.
It seems that the couple won on the basis of a strong write-in vote after they'd decided to run to break down the stereotypes of Prom King and Queen and being a gay student in high school today.

Christian Nelsen said, “When I went for it, I was like this could change who wins for the rest of the year. It doesn't matter if it's a guy or a girl who wins prom queen. Anyone can win, and on that same notion any type of person could win.”

As it should be. Anyone.Can.Win.

The local news reported that some Sanford residents were not at all pleased with the idea that two boys were the prom King and Queen, but none of those asshats chose to  comment on camera. Proves what my Mama used to say, If you haven't got anything nice to say, then don't say anything.

Congratulations Christian and Caleb. Brava!

And a Brava also goes to Andrew Viveros, a transgendered high school student in South Florida, who was elected prom Queen at her prom.

After years of being taunted and bullied, with people calling her names and scrawling nasty things on her locker, Andrew--who was born male, but has publicly presented herself as female for the last two years--took the crown: “They called my name and I was in total shock."

Andrew, also known as Andii, plans to someday change her name to Andrea, and wanted to run for prom queen in order to show other transgender teens “it gets better”, and it does, as Andii beat out fourteen other hopefuls.

From bullied to tiara. It does get better.

Brava Andii!

Christian and Caleb's story

Andii's story

Wisconsin Doesn't Like the Gays

Up there in Wisconsin, which is slowly turning into Wisconsizona, wingnut Governor Scott Walker believes a new law that gives gay couples hospital visitation rights violates the state constitution. He has asked a judge to allow the state to stop defending it.

A law that allows people to visit their loved ones in the hospital is unconstitutional? Oh, not 'people,' but gay people.


Back in 2009, when Democrats controlled the Legislature, they changed the law so that same-sex couples could sign up for domestic partnership registries with county clerks to secure some--not all--of the rights afforded married couples.

Like being able to visit your partner in the hospital, like you'd visit any family member. But Scott Walker doesn't think gay couples are a family. he thinks, along with the homophobic, bigoted, Wisconsin Family Action, that the registries violate a 2006 amendment to the state constitution that bans gay marriage and any arrangement that is substantially similar.

See, gay folks and gay families and gay couples don't deserve to be treated equally in Wisconsizona. At least while Scott Walker is governor, which, hopefully, won't be more than one term.

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God Is Love, Two: Central United Methodist Church

The good folks at Central United Methodist Church, in Toledo, Ohio, are starting a new campaign. It's a simple one, really, with a simple message they've displayed on an electronic billboard. It is intended to be a gift to those who have experienced hurt and discrimination because of their real or perceived sexual orientation. The Church seeks nothing less than the healing of the world, and Central UMC wants to offer words and acts of healing to those hurt and marginalized.

Their message:

Declaring that being gay is a gift from God is a prophetic call to the Church to get out of the business of marginalizing gay and lesbian persons from the Church, and to welcome them as full members. The purpose of this campaign is 1) to offer welcome to all persons who are gay; 2) to challenge the larger Church to fully accept persons who are gay into the life of the Church; and 3) to call on all people to bring all the gifts of who they are to God.
God is happy about this, because she's tired of all the bull shiz.

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Yes, We Have No Hate Crimes Laws In South Carolina

In the days following the brutal beating of Joshua Esskew [see post HERE], a gay man, that was caught on a Rock Hill, South Carolina convenience store's surveillance camera, the sponsor of a hate crimes bill that got nowhere in the state legislature last year, John King, a Democrat from Rock Hill, plans to re-introduce the bill this week and ask that it be discussed immediately by legislators.

Of course, two Republican legislators , who admit that the attack on Joshua Esskew, was "horrific," say that existing laws are enough to prosecute people who violently attack others. And spokesmorons for our asshat-wingnut governor, The Transparent Nikki Haley, say she doesn't support state hate crime laws either. Naturally.

Rep. John King

John King, however, will still ask that his bill be taken directly to the House floor when the Legislature reconvenes after a week off, because he feels that hate crimes should not be tolerated and deserve harsher punishments: "We need an all-inclusive hate crime law in this state that protects all people regardless of race, religion, or sexual orientation."

Now, for those of you who think that hate crimes laws are unnecessary because we punish people who attack and mug and kill other people anyway, let me offer up a little scenario:

I'm walking down the streets of Smallville, and someone decides I must have a pocketful of money, and they hold me up at gunpoint and steal from me. Then, perhaps they don't think I'm handing over the cash fast enough, so they beat me to a pulp.

Hateful, yes. Hate, no.

But, say I'm walking down the street and some guy decides that, oh, from the way I walk, or my clothes or whatever, that I'm a big old queen, and he beats me to a pulp just for being gay.

Hateful, yes. Hate, yes.

We need hate crimes legislation, in the states and at the federal level, to protect anyone from being attacked simply because of who they are, or are assumed to be, This goes for your gender, your orientation, your skin color, your religion, your age. 

If you are attacked, beaten and killed because of who you are, then it is an attack motivated by hatred.
If you are attacked, beaten, and killed because someone wants your money or your watch or your car, then that attack is motivated by greed.

Hate. Greed,

If you hate someone enough to beat them to unconsiousness, and leave them to die, say on a fence in Wyoming, or on  street in Brooklyn, then you deserve the fullest punishment of the law.

Hate is hate and should not be diminished.

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