Why Pride Month?

This was my "coming out music" - reminds me of happy times, hot summer nights, and one very hot guy in particular.  Much fun.

Today's Google doodle celebrates the beginning of "Pride Month" with a spinning disco ball:

I got to wondering, just when did this Pride Month business start, so I looked it up on Wikipedia.  To my surprise, I find that Bill Clinton first recognized Pride Month in 1999.  I must have missed the memo.

I've never changed my belief that gays and lesbians make up about 3 percent of the population; that's 3 out of 100.  You can look at the whole field of statistics on this subject and debate it all you want to, but I'm not going there.  So by very simple arithmetic, that tells me there are about 10 million gays and lesbians in the United States, the population of which is 342,543,550 as I type this sentence.  

(See the  U. S. Census Bureau's Population Clock for up-to-the-second figures on the U. S. and world population.  See Statistics Canada for Canadian figures.  And here's a cheat sheet for you:  roughly speaking, the U.S. population is about 8 times bigger than Canada's, and about 3 times bigger than Mexico's or Russia's.  However, both India and China have about 4 times more people than the United States.)

Well, anyway, is Pride Month really necessary?  It matters not to me, because I'm an old man who doesn't get out of the house much anymore.  Neither M.P. nor I have ever been to a Pride parade.  We did go to a Pride celebration at the county fairgrounds on a June night in 2019 - we got there in the cool of the evening about 9 p.m., when it was all winding down.  

We nibbled things from the food trucks, listened to a few speakers and singers, and bought some trinkets to take home:  a friendly, pleasant, down-home crowd of all ages, very like what you'd find at a real county fair - plus a lot of rainbow flags.  There were even some straight couples there, pushing babies in strollers - why, I have no idea.  The next year, it was cancelled on account of the pandemic, and we've never heard any more about it in this vicinity.

But I guess there has to be a Pride Month, because you just know that 10 million screaming queens could never agree on a single week, let alone a single day!

P. S. -- M.P. is offended by the disco ball.  He says it only represents the little twinkly barflies, and leaves out the butch gays and the lesbians.  I guess he's right.  We are thinking of suing Google now, and we will certainly file a discrimination complaint with the Grand Gay Cabal.  Stay tuned for further updates.

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Sunday Drive: Chopin, Nocturne, Op. 9, No. 2

Gleaming Waters by Henry Scott Tuke, 1911

As performed by Vadim Chaimovich, 2010:

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Waitin' for the Weekend

"The Love We Are" by Clint Collide:

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I Think We're Gay

Apparently this is from some TV show in 2003.  I never saw this before, but it's a laugh riot!

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Footprints in the Sand

I came across this little story about forty years ago, when I was returning to the Christian faith after a long period of agosticism.  It meant a lot to me then.  It means even more now, looking back across the years.  

There are things you can't really understand until you have lived a long life, travelled a long way, loved much and lost much.  And then you see the footprints.  Thanks be to God.

Click to enlarge.

And in the wilderness (as thou hast seen) the Lord thy God hath carried thee, as a man is wont to carry his little son, all the way that you have come, until you came to this place.

--Deuteronomy 1:31 (Douay)

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Sunday Drive: Over the Rainbow

It was Judy's song until Eva gave it a whole new interpretation - poignant and beautiful beyond words.

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Waitin' for the Weekend

Something for everyone -- "Simply Irresistibles #1" by Clint Collide:

 

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In Memoriam: Barney Frank, 1940-2026

Official photograph of Representative Barney Frank, 2008.

Former Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank, one of the first openly gay congressmen and a champion of gay rights, died yesterday at his home in Ogunquit, Maine.  He was 86 and had been receiving hospice care.  A mainstay of the Democratic Party for many years, he brought his considerable intelligence, shrewd pragmatism, and outspoken personality to bear on many important issues during his thirty years in the House, and was the co-sponsor of the landmark Dodd-Frank reform bill in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

Frank is survived by his husband, Jim Ready, two sisters, and a brother.  He was a hero of our community who will be much missed and long remembered. Here are some videos recounting his life and accomplishments:

The Associated Press:

The Washington Post:

NBC10 Boston:

CBS 60 Minutes interview, 2008:

Frank was the author of a number of books on political subjects; his final work, The Hard Path to Unity:  Why We Must Reform the Left to Rescue Democracy, will be published by Yale University Press this fall.

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Tired Old Queen at the Movies: Blithe Spirit (1945)

Click to enlarge.

Steve Hayes reviews the classic celestial fantasy, filmed in glorious Technicolor in England at the end of World War II, based on the play by the great Noel Coward.  Never mind what the critics said at the time, or later - this is a beautifully filmed, delightfully upper-crust comedy of the kind that isn't made anymore.  And darling Margaret Rutherford, the old dear, is a complete hoot!  If you've never seen it, your're in for a treat - enjoy!

Bonus:  The English country house that was used for exterior shots is still standing just outside London, and just as lovely as it looks in the film.  Check out the real estate listing from 2019 to see some stunning photos of the inside and outside.

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Pete Speaks at Montana Town Hall

On Sunday, Pete Buttigieg spoke at a town hall in Butte, Montana, once the copper capital of the world, where a citizens' initiative, the Montana Plan, is a lively topic just now.  He's been going around the country in recent months making speeches and taking questions at events like this.  I haven't watched any of them because I know I would agree with just about everything he says; and also because I'm sick to death of political speechmaking, which seems so futile in the face of the calamity that has engulfed our country.  

But I said to myself, you ought to listen to him and post his video for others who just might want to hear what he has to say.  So here you go, fellas.  I will just add that I admire Pete tremendously, and he will certainly get my vote for president, if I live long enough to see another free and fair election.  

In my estimation, Pete is a damn good man, a fine man, honest, honorable, intelligent, compassionate, and courageous.  A man at once humble and inspiring.  I wept listening to his simple speech, which seemed to me the prologue to a noble story:  David versus Goliath, perhaps.  He is marked out for some high destiny, I do believe.  

But what do I know.  Listen and judge for yourself.

P. S. -- I will note here that I don't quite agree with Pete's thesis that "the system is broken."  When a man's body is overwhelmed by a filthy contagion, it's not his system that is broken.  Our body politic has been overwhelmed by disease and corruption that may prove fatal unless a remedy is found, and soon.  That's how I would put it.

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Sunday Drive: Welcome to the Future

In 2009 and again in 2011, President and Mrs. Obama hosted a series of concerts in the East Room of the White House, each one showcasing a different genre of contemporary American music.  In the July 2009 concert, country star Brad Paisley debuted his new single "Welcome to the Future," which your Head Trucker thinks ought to be counted one of the all-time great country songs:  full of hope, optimism, love of country and of our fellow human beings.  

The song and video together constitute a brilliant work of homegrown American art - celebrated in the White House by a decent and dignified President, and not for his own glory.  At that time, we still had hope, the country was still holding together, and the misty future seemed a green and pleasant land.

But here in this gray, grim, and ghastly future, this performance makes me weep for our country and the world - for several reasons.  Do I really have to explain why?

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