Homecoming!

 Don’t Tell, Show of the Day: After a photo of US Marine Brandon Morgan being welcomed home by his partner Dalan went viral in a big way on Facebook, Morgan issued the following response to the thousands of comments it generated:

To everyone who has responded in a positive way. My partner and I want to say thank you. Dalan, the giant in the photo, can’t believe how many shares and likes we have gotten on this. We didn’t do this to get famous,or something like that we did this cause after 3 deployments and four years knowing each other, we finally told each other how we felt. As for the haters, let em hate…to quote Kat Williams, everyone needs haters, so let them hate. We are the happiest we have ever been and as for the whole PDA and kissing slash hugging in uniform…it was a homecoming, if the Sergeants Major, Captains, Majors, and Colonels around us didn’t care…then why do you care what these random people have to say?

From HERE.

More later.
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Passing Cloud Reinvents Traveling

Passing Cloud is a project by Tiago Barros for the international ideas competition: “Life at the Speed of Rail”, organized by the Van Alen Institute  in New York City. It reveals a strong conceptual approach on new ways of traveling based on the old Zeppelins.
Nowadays, traveling is achieved with this idea of having a fixed destination and an estimated time of arrival. Passing Cloud completely inverts this system. A floating device is introduced that travels around the entire USA territory according to current predominant winds. It has no fixed time of arrival or place for arrival. The journey becomes the essence.
This project envisions a distinct approach towards moving around the United States being also a revival of the act of traveling. Why traveling at high speed? Why having the final destiny always defined? And why always departing and arriving on a tight schedule? Nowadays, everything is set and everyone is always running around. 
Passing Cloud is an innovative and environmentally friendly method of transportation that doesn’t require expensive steel tracks or concrete highways. It is made of a series of spherical balloons that form the shape of a cloud. Its inner stainless steel structure is covered with heavy weight tensile nylon fabric. During the journey, It moves according to prevailing winds speed and direction at the time of travel. Since it moves with the wind, no wind is ever felt during the trip, offering the passengers a full “floating sensation”. (via Evolo)

From brain-food:

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DADT & "The Closet"

Remembering another time and another place. Celebrating the end of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."  I wept for both, for different reasons.

And so it goes.
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Just a Thought: A Learning Experience, Yes, That Too.

Click to embiggen all images.  And Happy Pride weekend to all.

More later.

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Just a Thought: Gays in the Military?

Never happened until now, right?

Um, wrong! Think again.  Happy Pride Month.

Images from around the Internet, and HERE.

More later.
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A Day at the Beach: Lion edition.

A mid-winter weekend under a clear sky and bright sun finds the town buzzing with activity.  Families in town for the long holiday weekend, attending tributes and commemorations to Dr. King, and thanks to the warm temperatures, taking walks on the boardwalk and beach before dropping by to dine with us.

Lunch was busy and dinner promises to be even more so, as the masses arrive for football and stay around for karaoke and cheap margaritas.  There were reservations beginning at 1:30 pm and the walk-ins kept the 6 servers busy. Reservations for dinner were so strong that the banquet room will have to be opened to accommodate the larger parties.  After the snow, cold, freezing rain, and winds - it is amazing what a mood-changer higher temps and bright sun can do to cheer people up.

To my delight, it also brought back a customer (I've had a mini-crush on) who lives in DC and has a place here. He was all smiles as he rushed to greet me with a bear hug and, as he has done in the past, plant a kiss on my cheek as we embraced.  I was so happy to see him that I reciprocated, planting a kiss on his cheek.  This seemed to set him back a bit.

He smiled and asked for a table for 5, and not a word was said about our "encounter" but as his friends arrived, our eyes met  a few times.  I found this confusing and very puzzling. I imagine it was for him, too.  Thanks to some snappy patter with his friends during their visit, I received a hug from each and every one of them.  He was last in line and gave me a warm and relaxed hug, followed again by a kiss on the cheek. I responded in kind.  He smiled, as I did, and they were gone.

As I sipped my after-shift festive cocktail this afternoon, the Ravens & Steelers game was just getting under way. I was half way through the drink when the shouting, screaming, and cursing began.  ( I still can't understand why people yell at the TV during these games.  It's not like the players can hear them, or even give a damn.) I finished the drink in the kitchen and bolted for the door. 

The walk home was delightfully quiet as the sun set, projecting a pastel, sparsely clouded sky that took my breath away. 

Music of Mozart was emanating from one of the homes on my block and I hummed along as the music made my foot-falls a bit lighter.

The loco bosses are on holiday in Mexico for 2 weeks, so I've been pressed into service more than usual, but I don't mind.  It gives me more experience and insights into how things work around the business - and, it's fun!  That said, I am very tired and will likely be heading off to bed soon.

No music or movie tonight, the quiet is welcome instead.

And so it goes.
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World-wide Bird Deaths Explained: I Did It!

Well, actually, it was me with the help of a few million friends.  Teh GAYS!!! There you have it. 

Case closed, now run along to science class everyone...and have a nice day.

Make the stoopid people shut up. Pretty please.

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Frank Kameny: Pioneer Fighter for Gay Rights

I've had to honor of meeting Mr. Kameny on only 2 occasions and they were some 20 years apart. First when I was 22 and in DC for a rally/march, as I remember.  The second was again in DC, but this trip was as volunteer for the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt display weekend and I was an emotional basket case.  Mr. K had been a thorn is the side of the Pentagon for many years, with a voice that could be irritating if you weren't willing to hear him out. His persistence finally paid off about a half century later.  Nice that he was still around to see it happen. So, hats off to this grand old fighter. This is from CNN, of all places.

 (The week) President Barack Obama signed into law the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell," which banned gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the U.S. armed forces, a seat at the front of the audience was reserved for 85-year-old Frank Kameny, who attended wearing the Combat Infantryman Badge that he was awarded for his service in World War II. Kameny recalls his service fighting in the wake of the Battle of the Bulge by saying, "I dug my way across Europe slit trench by slit trench, practically."
But Kameny was not invited because of any heroism he demonstrated in World War II, but rather for a much greater act of courage than even that conflict had demanded of him. He was invited because it was Kameny who began the assault on the military policy of discharging homosexuals by leading a demonstration at the Pentagon in 1965.
Indeed, it was Kameny who called upon the minuscule pre-Stonewall gay rights movement -- known then as the homophile movement -- to model itself upon the civil rights movement.
This may not sound radical today, but in the mid-1960s homosexuality was seen as the ultimate taboo. As the homophile movement stated, homosexuals were triply condemned: The medical establishment deemed them mentally ill, the law made them criminals, and religions branded them sinners.
At a time when lesbians and gay men were so totally ostracized, the homophile movement had decided its best tactic was to embrace the label of sickness: at least that seemed a half-step up from being criminals. But Kameny felt that such an approach was counterproductive, and that rather than begging for crumbs, gay people should demand equality with heterosexuals. To gain equality, he argued, the movement should renounce the sickness theory and embrace militant tactics.
Kameny succeeded to an astonishing degree. He led the fight for tactics such as public demonstrations, went on the attack against the Civil Service Commission for its policy of firing homosexuals and spearheaded an effort to get the homophile movement to take the position that homosexuality was not only not a mental illness but was on a par with heterosexuality. In 1968, he got the only existing national association of gay rights organizations to adopt as its slogan a phrase that Kameny had coined, "Gay Is Good." Kameny himself had been discharged from the Army Map Service in 1957 for being gay.

 This is a 2 page story.  Read the rest HERE.

As a side note, following the Stonewall Riots a year later, my friend Craig Rodwell (with a little help from his friends!) - owner of the Oscar Wilde Book Store on Christopher Street - plastered the Village with Gay is Good banners, cards, pins, buttons, you name it.  That bit of history courtesy of, and an hommage to, Frank Kameny.

And so it goes.
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DADT is Done

Stick a fork in it!

Now on to full repeal and implementing the new changes. That may not be so easy since the hate-mongering Christianist groups like Family Research Council (FRC) already announced plans (with the help of John McCain and other Repugs) to sue to stop the repeal. Still, it's some history we see today. And good news for the country this time of year. Joy to the world, indeed.

From Yahoo News: WASHINGTON – Declaring that members of the military will no longer be asked to lie, President Barack Obama fulfilled a campaign promise Wednesday and signed a landmark law repealing the ban on gay men and women serving openly in the armed services.

"This is a good day," a beaming Obama said. "This is a very good day."
The new law ends the 17-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" policy that forced gays to hide their sexual orientation or face dismissal. Its repeal comes as the American public has become more tolerant on such issues as gay marriage and gay rights in general.

"I say to all Americans, gay or straight, who want nothing more than to defend this country in uniform, your country needs you, your country wants you, and we will be honored to welcome you into the ranks of the finest military the world has ever known," Obama said.

Pentagon officials must first complete implementation plans before lifting the old policy — and the president, defense secretary and chairman of the joint chiefs must certify to lawmakers that it won't damage combat readiness, as critics charge. But Obama said: "We are not going to be dragging our feet to get this done."

The signing ceremony was a breakthrough moment for the nation's gay community, the military and for Obama himself. The president vowed during his 2008 campaign to repeal the law and faced pressure from liberals who complained he was not acting swiftly enough.

Read more at the link above.

I feel better already.

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'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Repealed

Well, it's about time! Senator Reid can now return Lt. Dan Choi's Ring.

Me = Stunned.  Surprised. Somber.

Now, Mr. President, do what you promised to do and make this nightmare end forever. I hope this begins to heal those like Dan Choi and all the others who've been mistreated for almost 2 decades. Their lives will never be what they were once promised and that is the tragic part of all this. NYT this afternoon:

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Saturday struck down the ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military, bringing to a close a 17-year struggle over a policy that forced thousands of Americans from the ranks and caused others to keep secret their sexual orientation.
By a vote of 65 to 31, with eight Republicans joining Democrats, the Senate approved and sent to President Obama a repeal of the Clinton-era law, known as “don’t ask, don’t tell,” a policy critics said amounted to government-sanctioned discrimination that treated gay and lesbian troops as second-class citizens.
Mr. Obama hailed the action, which fulfills his pledge to reverse the ban. “As commander in chief, I am also absolutely convinced that making this change will only underscore the professionalism of our troops as the best led and best trained fighting force the world has ever known,” Mr. Obama said in a statement after the Senate, on a 63-33 vote, beat back Republican efforts to block a final vote on the repeal bill.
The vote marked a historic moment that some equated with the end of racial segregation in the military.
It followed a comprehensive review by the Pentagon that found a low risk to military effectiveness despite greater concerns among some combat units and the Marine Corps. The review also found that Pentagon officials supported Congressional repeal as a better alternative than an court-ordered end. 

A shot of Jameson's was administered by the GM this afternoon (to soothe a sore throat, of course) then I arrive home to this great news. G*d knows we need some positive news these days. I look forward to a restful sleep tonight and feeling better in the morning.

And so it goes.
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Get Well Wishes for Lt. Dan Choi

Lt. Dan Choi, who became one of the public faces of DADT, was hospitalized in a Veteran's Administration mental health facility yesterday. Choi chose to make his breakdown and hospitalization public via email:

I did not initially want to publicize this but I now realize it is critical for our community to know several things: veterans gay or straight carry human burdens, Activists share similar burdens, no activist should be portrayed as super human, and the failures of government and national lobbying carry consequences far beyond the careers and reputations of corporate leaders, elected officials, High powered lobbyists, or political elites. They ruin lives.

He got right to the point. Get Well, Lt. Choi.

More later.
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I'm Back...Almost

Busy here this week with much to write about. The hunting/shopping adventure, candidate debate, Internet Training, and much more. Plenty to do at work - with the new responsibilities - and with the addition of Webmanager things will get busier.  Great for the dark, cold winter months ahead.

More later, I promise.
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Training & Telemarketers: Reading Beads of the Stoopid

So, I am minding my own business, attending a training session to help manage the restaurant's website, and all of a sudden my cell phone rings. Thinking that it was the boss checking up on me, I answer saying, "yes, alright already, I am here, Jeez!"

But it's not the boss; it's a random call from the DNC asking for a donation to fight off the racist teabaggers and Republicans in November. As the caller began to read from her script I interrupted asking that they remove my cell number from the call list (it is already on a no-call list) and she asked for my home phone number, which was her big mistake.

me: Please remove this number from your list. It's in the National Do Not Call Registry.

dnc: Oh, well, give me your home number to add to our database.

me: No,

dnc: Well how are we supposed to reach you?

me: Somehow you got my unlisted cell number, so I am sure you're capable of finding those published, or are you people too lazy?  Look it up.

dnc: (ignoring what I just told her) Well in any case since I have you on the line we're asking for a donation to ----. 

I stopped her cold.

me: Whoa!  Stop there. Let me tell you something - and - listen - carefully - there will be NO donations to the Democratic Party until EQUALITY is addressed; until DADT is ended; DOMA is gone for good: the DINOs (Democrats In Name Only) are made accountable for voting with the GOP and Teabaggers. As promised during the last campaign.

dnc: What do you mean by "equality" exactly? (Again ignoring the elephant in the room)

me: If you have to ask that question, you don't know how to use a search engine, or pay the slightest attention to the events of the past two years. Listen, if you are a volunteer dragged in to make cold calls, you can be somewhat forgiven. If, however, you are employed by the DNC you are part of the problem and the reason that I will not contribute to the party.

dnc: Well, why don't you just tell me so I don't have to search for the answers? (touch of sarcasm, here)

me: So, you ARE lazy.  THAT is the real problem. None of you have a clue to what is going on, making you just as out of touch as the Republicans.

This made her bristle.

dnc: we're taking great steps to address the needs of the American people and.... (reading from her script again).

me: Are you calling from the Washington DC area?

dnc: No, I'm in Florida - and things are about to change. (that damned script again - got to admit the old girl has stamina).

me: Are you aware of the BP Disaster in the Gulf back in April and its continuing impact on the lives of the communities and people in that area? The devastating impact on the aquaculture of the entire gulf coast?

(silence)

me: that's what I thought. Tell you what; when you acquaint yourself with the issues I've mentioned and can discuss them intelligently, give me a call on my home phone, when you find it.  Oh, and what you find out may make you rethink your own contributions to the party, too.   I hope this call is being recorded, though I doubt it. For now, this conversation is over. 

(call ended)

My trainer, Nancy, was staring, mouth open. She didn't know what to say, if anything, so I just went to my notes and picked up the session where we left off because of the rude call. I was seething inside, but wouldn't let it show. I let it go away quietly and finished the training. It was a good session and the site will be relatively easy to update. A very productive 3 hours. And, no ftp protocol to deal with.  Praise G*d!

Nancy escorted me to the parking lot and mentioned the call and my responses because, she said, " your face was tight, eyes fixed on nothing,  and there was a calmness about you." Truth is I was forcing every fiber of my body to remain calm and fixed on the point. I am not very good at this sort of altercation, but getting better.

Maybe because of the interruption I became more focused, but what ever it was, I retained more knowledge than I thought I would.  Yes, I took notes, but only for navigational and editing purposes, and I was pleased that when I returned home I was able to log in and make some of the corrections that have bothered me for months (hey, being anal isn't easy!) and upload the corrected items.  Cool!

I'm ready for dinner and a few olives to celebrate.  Cheers.

And so it goes.
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Before DADT

E'nuf said...

More later.
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Memorial Day - Remember Them All.

Howard Dean at the DADT Rally Today.

He wasn't scheduled to speak and what he said was spontaneous and to the point. As far as I can tell, this has never happened before, but I am so happy it did - Former DNC Chairman, Dr. Dean.

I have to admit this blew me away - the former chair of the DNC making an impromptu speech at a rally for a repeal that is very unpopular in the White House, even after the promise to repeal.
I love you, Howard Dean.

And so it goes.
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Dan Choi, HRC, and the Direction of Our Movement

I've been thinking along the same lines lately.  Dan Choi:

Why now? Because you get tired of talking. [Over the past two years] I've done 50 live interviews, a hundred other interviews, how much more talk am I expected to produce? When I heard Kathy Griffin was going to be a spokeswoman for Don't Ask, Don't Tell, I wondered about that. I have great respect for her as an advocate. But if [the Human Rights Campaign] thinks that having a rally at Freedom Plaza with a comedienne is the right approach, I have to wonder. Don't Ask, Don't Tell is not a joking matter to me. To be at Freedom Plaza and not at the White House or Congress? Who are they trying to influence? I felt like they were just trying to speak to themselves. If that's the best the lobbying groups and HRC can do, then I don't know how these powerful groups are supposed to represent our community. Kathy Griffin and [HRC president] Jay Solmonese said they would march with me to the White House but didn’t. I feel so betrayed by them.

We all know the political reality now. The only way for the repeal to go through is for the president to take leadership and put it in the Defense Authorization Bill. There's a sunset on this, and it's happening quickly. Obama told us at the HRC dinner last year, you need to put pressure on me. I was there at that dinner, in uniform. So this is my mission; the president said to pressure him and I heard that as a warning order.

Now there is this to put any doubts I had about the direction of our movement into perspective. Pam nails it for the rest of us:

I really don't know how to react to this. To me it's a sign of what "activism" has come down to in the land of TEH GAY. Isn't it an interesting juxtaposition to see that HRC's Joe Solmonese has made Washington Life Magazine's 2010 Fashion Awards ("We salute 35 men and women who bring that je ne sais quoi to the ballrooms and boardrooms of Washington").

Well, plenty of us here in flyover country have very little je ne sais quoi about fashion and more working to do as much activism on a shoestring and the kindness of those who support the work on the Blend through PayPal or ads. Taking a look in my closet, I don't see a label of note on my togs, I gather many of you don't either. The closest I get to haute couture as an advocacy journalist/commentator is watching Project Runway in my jammies. I can clean up nicely for a gala, but honest to god, I have better use for my disposable income. Guess HRC must write off Joe's togs; who knows. 

Read the rest at Pam's House Blend.

I'm no fashionista; the only designer labels I have are Levi Strauss and Jockey.

I don't know about the rest of you, but HRC is off my list for future donations.
More later.
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DADT Days are Numbered

This just arrived in my inbox:

Elections have consequences.

And you only have to look to Senator Mark Udall to see why. Yesterday, Senator Udall proved again that he is a champion for equality and national security. You just have to watch this video to see what I mean.
Watch the video and add your voice. It's time to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell.
http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/RepealDADT
Lesbians and gay men know how to be warriors. Just ask 9-time decorated Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach, an 18-year F-15 fighter pilot who is now no longer flying missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, but fighting to keep his job. Nobody asked, and he didn't tell. He was outed by a third party, and his career hangs in the balance.
At the same time as it has kicked out thousands of highly qualified individuals because of their sexual orientation, the military has repeatedly lowered its entrance qualifications in order to recruit new people. You can now become a member of the service if you're a felon, but not if you're gay or lesbian. We need to end this madness.
http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/RepealDADT
Three quarters of Americans support gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military. Vast majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and unaffiliated people. Not to mention Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Why? Senator Udall said it best.
On his blog, he said it's time "to repeal this misguided law, which requires gay service members to lie about their identity in order to serve in our armed forces. Not only does it go against the principles and the standards our military relies on, it puts our national security at risk."
Quoting Republican former Senator Barry Goldwater, Udall said, "you don't have to be straight to shoot straight." How true. Join me now and show Senator Udall and the other defenders of equality in the House and Senate--as well as President Obama--that we stand beside them.
http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/RepealDADT

Best regards,
Mike Ditto
ProgressNow Colorado

More later.
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Why DADT Has Straight Folks So Obsessed?

Yes, that must be it.

More later.
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Don't Ask, Don't Give: A Boycott

John and Joe over at AMERICAblog launched this boycott earlier today. The cosponsors are some of the best around. It seems the effort is being picked up by (gasp!) traditional media outlets. Yeah, shocking, I know. Here's the deal.

Earlier today, we launched "Don't Ask, Don't Give," a donor boycott of the DNC:

Joe and I are launching today a donor boycott of the DNC. The boycott is cosponsored by Daily Kos, Jane Hamsher of FireDogLake, Dan Savage, Michelangelo Signorile, David Mixner, Andy Towle and Michael Goff of Towle Road, Paul Sousa (Founder of Equal Rep in Boston), Pam Spaulding, Robin Tyler (ED of the Equality Campaign, Inc.), Bil Browning for the Bilerico Project, and soon others.

Since the post went up, we've received coverage across the spectrum of media. Kerry Eleveld wrote a great piece at The Advocate. Ben Smith picked up it up, as did Atlantic Online.

Salon reported on the issue:

The tensions between the LGBT community and the administration have been constantly bubbling under the surface, and at times there have been open battles. Though the White House made some moves to at least quiet the most public of those fights, they've still been unable to bring the gay activists who'd normally be a solid base of support back into the fold.

Now, the fighting's back out in the open, as two prominent gay bloggers -- John Aravosis, who's previously written for Salon, and Joe Sudbay of Americablog -- have announced that they're organizing what they're calling a temporary donor boycott of the Democratic National Committee. Joined by another high-profile figure in the movement, Michelangelo Signorile, they're asking people not to donate "until the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is passed, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) is repealed, and the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is repealed."

It will be interesting to see how the White House responds, if at all. And it will also be interesting -- and instructive -- to see how members of the LGBT community, and voters of all kinds, respond. The gay organizations haven't been at the forefront of the opposition to Obama; instead, it's been people like Aravosis and Signorile leading the charge. Success now might help them further supplant the traditional power structure in the community.

The best response from the White House would be to work on passage of ENDA and the repeal of DADT and DOMA. It was, after all, what Obama promised.

We'll have more later...including the blog reaction.

I can get behind this one. I've not gotten any response from my senator, Tom Carper, regarding his recent voting record on many issues, so I am ready for some belt-tightening at the DNC. Are they? Follow the link and sign the petition.

Check out the blog for updates.

More later.
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