Lovelight: The Magic of Love

You boys have a good one, and remember: if you can't be with the one you love . . . love the one you're with.

Nekkid Hairy Men Balling

I just had to share this other Richard Mosse video with ya, fellas (NSFW):

Jew on a Ball from Richard Mosse on Vimeo.

Okay, so I went and read the blurb, and I still don't understand it any better than you do.

But I got something a whole lot safer for them hairy men to ride - and a lot more fun, I guaran-damn-tee it.

Frank Rich: La Cage aux Democrats

On account of my trip last week, I missed posting this excerpt from a great NYT op-ed by Frank Rich - go read the whole thing, he really tells it like it is. After noting the growing acceptance across the nation of gay rights, gay marriage, and even, golly, Adam Lambert, Rich says:

This rapid change has been greeted not by a backlash, but by a national shrug — just as a seemingly gay “American Idol” victory most likely would have been.

And yet the changes aren’t coming as fast as many gay Americans would like, and as our Bill of Rights would demand. Especially in Washington. Despite Barack Obama’s pledges as a candidate and president, there is no discernible movement on repealing the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy or the Defense of Marriage Act. Both seem more cruelly discriminatory by the day. . . .

Worse, Obama’s opposition to same-sex marriage is now giving cover to every hard-core opponent of gay rights, from the Miss USA contestant Carrie Prejean to the former Washington mayor Marion Barry, each of whom can claim with nominal justification to share the president’s views.

In reality, they don’t. Obama has long been, as he says, a fierce advocate for gay equality. The Windy City Times has reported that he initially endorsed legalizing same-sex marriage when running for the Illinois State Senate in 1996. The most common rationale for his current passivity is that his plate is too full. But the president has so far shown an impressive inclination both to multitask and to argue passionately for bedrock American principles when he wants to. Relegating fundamental constitutional rights to the bottom of the pile until some to-be-determined future seems like a shell game.

As [Evan] Wolfson reminds us in his book “Why Marriage Matters,” Dr. King addressed such dawdling in 1963. “For years now I have heard the word ‘Wait,’ ” King wrote. “It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never.’ ”

The gay civil rights movement has fewer obstacles in its path than did Dr. King’s Herculean mission to overthrow the singular legacy of slavery. That makes it all the more shameful that it has fewer courageous allies in Washington than King did. If “American Idol” can sing out for change on Fox in prime time, it ill becomes Obama, of all presidents, to remain mute in the White House.

David Mixner posted a copy of the 1996 letter on his blog a while back - signed by, you know, that guy who made all those speeches about Change We Can Believe In - ? Read it for yourself:


Mr. Obama, you want to be Lincoln, but are you just another Buchanan? Adam captures my feelings on this:

Frat Boys Gone Wild

Speaking of testosterone overload, what fine gradation of difference is there between all that butched-up megalomania in the desert (see next post) and these Deke-ettes at Yale, captured by Richard Mosse in 2007?

Fraternity from Richard Mosse on Vimeo.

Artist's blurb:

Fraternity was shot at Yale University's infamous DKE frat house in under an hour. The men were happy to participate in the project in exchange for a keg of beer. They compete against each other to shout or scream the loudest and for the longest time. When they cannot scream any longer they must stop, and cannot begin again. DKE (pronounced Deke) stands for Delta Kappa Epsilon, and counts five US presidents in its alumni, including George Bush Jr, George Bush Sr, Gerald Ford and Theodore Roosevelt. Other famous Dekes include three Justices of the US Supreme Court, one Vice President, and countless State Governors, Senators and Speakers.

Guys like this are guys who end up running the country. Think about it.

Ozymandias

From Breach, a collection of photographs by artist Richard Mosse, displaying the ruins of Saddam Hussein's glory:


All that straight-boy megalomania-gone-wild, which the world has seen replayed a million times in every age and every land, reminds me of Shelley's famous poem:

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Sunday Drive: How Great Thou Art

It Don't Work That Way

see more Fail Blog

Date Night

A certain sexy couple slip away from the house and kids

for an intimate night on the town.

The President has made good on one campaign promise: to take the wife to dinner and a Broadway show if he got elected. And considering the sheer hell the lady must have gone through supporting him in a two-year campaign, I would say she earned it.

Naturally, the Republicans were bitching and moaning about it before the First Couple even got out of D.C. - but who the fuck cares, huh boys?

Today's Quote: Jonathan Rauch

I suspect a lot of bloggers may be introverts, because blogging is great if you like to sit in front of the internet all day. If not for my aversion to specialising in one subject, I probably would have been an academic historian, because I think it would have suited me to work in libraries back before there was an internet. (In a way, the internet is a library that talks back.)

Rauch is a scholar, journalist, and author; his latest book is Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America. Check out his website for some high-octane commentary on politics and current events.

(Honk to Andrew Sullivan)

Afternoon Drive: Stripped Down

Man, it's heating up out there, summer's already upon us here in Texas. Time to be shucking all them hot clothes and getting down to what's essential . . .

Y'all have a good one.

Marriage Setback in California

Map from Equality California

Hey fellas, I'm back, had a good trip. Well, as I expected, the California Supremes ruled that Prop 8 is valid law in that state, but they did uphold the legality of the 18,000 same-sex marriages made last year. The full 185-page ruling can be read here (PDF).

It's important to understand that the justices were not ruling on whether they agreed with the anti-gay forces: they were instead ruling on the legal validity of a ballot measure duly approved by the voters. California, like 23 other states, has an initiative process whereby citizens can propose and pass laws or constitutional amendments without having to go through the legislature. It's direct democracy; and though I'm not a legal scholar, I can see how it's hard to ignore the explicit will of the people, who are, after all, theoretically sovereign under our form of government: government of, by, and for the people, right?

Which is why it's all the more important now that our brothers and sisters in California work hard on winning the hearts, minds, and votes of their neighbors to overturn Prop 8 in a new counter-initiative at the ballot box come November of 2010. We've already seen that attitudes are changing across the country, as witness the recent marriage victories in Vermont, Maine, Iowa, and Connecticut - with maybe a few more to come soon.

Already, gay rights organizations are mobilizing a constructive response, like the march and rally planned for Fresno tomorrow, in the conservative heart of California. Remember, fellas, that other oppressed, marginalized groups had to march, work, and fight long and hard to win their civil rights; why should victory come effortlessly for us?

It won't; so do your part in this struggle, even if it's only a little tiny one - like, say, writing a blog. You may not have loads of money, time, and energy to contribute, but do what you can. Then one day we can all look back with pride at what we accomplished together.

And, to look on the bright side of this disappointing state of things in the Golden State, the setback to equal rights is inspiring some great creative works by our side, like these two powerful videos by author and filmmaker Keith Hartman:





Share 'em with somebody you know. Do your part.

(Honk to Joe.My.God. for the videos)

Memorial Day: Some Gave All

Regardless of politics, it is only right that we today remember with grateful respect the multitude of men and women who, from the founding of the Republic, have given their lives in the service of this country, as Billy Ray Cyrus reminds us:

President Obama to the graduates of the United States Military Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, Friday, May 22, 2009:

And today, this is the promise I make to you. It's a promise that as long as I am your Commander-in-Chief, I will only send you into harm's way when it is absolutely necessary, and with the strategy and the well-defined goals, the equipment and the support that you need to get the job done. This includes the job of bringing the Iraq war to a responsible end and pursuing a new comprehensive strategy to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda and its allies in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

And to get you the support you need, we're enlisting all elements of our national power - our diplomacy and development, our economic might and our moral suasion - so that you and the rest of our military do not bear the burden of our security alone.

And this, on this responsibilities he shares with the graduates:

Indeed, midshipmen and Presidents swear a similar oath, not only to protect and defend the American people, but [also] the Constitution of the United States.

Yesterday I visited the National Archives and the halls that holds our Constitution, our Declaration of Independence, and our Bill of Rights. I went there because, as our national debate on how to deal with the security challenge that we face proceeds, we must remember this enduring truth: The values and ideals in those documents are not simply words written into aging parchment, they are the bedrock of our liberty and our security. We uphold our fundamental principles and values not just because we choose to, but because we swear to; not because they feel good, but because they help keep us safe and keep us true to who we are.

Because when America strays from our values, it not only undermines the rule of law, it alienates us from our allies, it energizes our adversaries, and it endangers our national security and the lives of our troops. So as Americans, we reject the false choice between our security and our ideals. We can and we must and we will protect both.

You boys have a good one, I'm taking a little road trip to see some kinfolks. Catch up with you later in the week.

P.S. - keep an ear out for the big ruling from the CA Supreme Court tomorrow at noon Texas time. I suspect they will keep existing same-sex marriages legal, but otherwise uphold Prop 8. Either way, you can believe there will be lots of hooting and hollering, I'll blog about it when I get back to town.

Lovelight: When You Kiss Me

Shania Twain sings about that beautiful thing we all hope to find - or wish we had found.

I hope you find what you really want. Goodnight, fellas.

Sunday Drive: One of These Days

The great Emmylou Harris sings one of her mother's favorites:

I won't have to chop no wood
I can be bad or I can be good
I can be any way that I feel
One of these days

Might be a woman that's dressed in black
Be a hobo by the railroad track
I'll be gone like the wayward wind
One of these days

One of these days it will soon be all over cut and dry
And I won't have this urge to go all bottled up inside
One of these days I'll look back and I'll say I left in time
Cause somewhere for me I know there's peace of mind

I might someday walk across this land
Carrying the Lord's book in my hand
Goin' cross the country singin' loud as I can
One of these days

But I won't have trouble on my back
Cuttin' like the devil with a choppin' axe,
Got to shake it off my back,
One of these days

One of these days it will soon be all over cut and dry
And I won't have this urge to go all bottled up inside
One of these days I'll look back and I'll say I left in time
Cause somewhere for me I know there's peace of mind
There's gonna be peace of mind for me, one of these days

You Can't Be a Christian and a Democrat

. . . at least not at Liberty University, founded by the late Jerry Falwell. University officials have ordered the student Democratic Club to disband and cease all mention of the party on campus, including on students' Facebook and Twitter accounts. Why? Because

The Democratic Party Platform is contrary to the mission of LU and to Christian doctrine (supports abortion, federal funding of abortion, advocates repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, promotes the "LGBT" agenda, Hate Crimes, which include sexual orientation and gender identity, socialism, etc).

Rachel Maddow reports on this bullshit invasion of free speech rights:

What I Say: As this incident makes clear, Bible-belt religion is not about being sweet little Sunday-school Christians, full of mercy and goodness and brotherly love. Whatever it might have been in the past, it is now a fascist, mind-controlling, totalitarian political movement: reminds me very much of the Pharisees that Jesus so roundly condemned.

You can't be a Christian and a Democrat. That, my friends, is the unfortunate strong belief of not merely some wingnuts scattered here or there - but of many millions of people all over the Bible Belt, including your workmates, neighbors, and even kinfolk, as well as mine.

World Beard and Mustache Championships

Representing Alaska, Texas, Alaska,

Pennsylvania, and Florida, respectively

Gotta love it. These handsome guys give us great incentive, over and above patriotism, to root for Team USA at the World Beard and Mustache Championships, being held today in Anchorage, Alaska.

In your Head Trucker's opinion, a man's looks just aren't complete without some hair on his face. The more, the better, as a general rule. And if I ruled the world . . . oh well, never mind.

BTW, while we're on the subject of facial hair, here's an interesting gizmo for the goateed guy who has everything:

Marie Osmond: My Daughter's Gay, So What?

Some tabloids have suggested Marie was taking the hellfire-and-condemnation route with her lesbian daughter, but it just ain't so, I'm glad to hear:

I love my daughter, she's my baby girl. So what if she's gay. I think it's sad when we have to separate something from society. There are a lot of women out there who have gay children, who cares?

I want love. I'm a Christian, and Christ was that way - he loved everybody.

You go, Marie.

BTW - I remember watching her sing on TV as a little bitty girl. I'm thunderstruck to learn she has eight kids of her own now.

Where does the time go?

Patriotic in Pink

While on combat duty in Afghanistan this week, Army Specialist Zachary Boyd, 19, of Fort Worth, has made front page news, and he will never live it down. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

Boyd, a 2007 graduate of Keller Central High School, was in his sleeping quarters this week when the Taliban attacked in the rugged mountains of eastern Afghanistan. Boyd rushed to a defensive position clad in his helmet, vest and boxers -- the pink ones decorated with the "I Love NY" slogan.

As luck would have it, an Associated Press photographer was working at Firebase Restrepo in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan’s Kunar Province, where Boyd is stationed.

His boxers ended up in newspapers nationwide -- including Tuesday's Star-Telegram -- and on the front page of the [New York] Times.

His mother was surprised to see that her son was in the Times, but she was not surprised that he was wearing unusual skivvies.

"It was typical," she said. "He has always been an interesting little character."

Mom should have stopped right there, but she babbled on:

"But he has always been one to run around in his boxers. He even went and played golf one time in his boxers."

He no doubt selected pink boxers as a joke to share with his fellow soldiers, Sheree Boyd said.

"They like to have a good time," she explained about the soldiers, "to deal with the tension."

Oooookay. Your Head Trucker is not gonna touch that one with a ten-foot pole.

Texas Mayor Bolts with Illegal Lover

J.W. has discovered that love is a flame he can't put out

West Texas shocker: weighing what he calls "a choice between a promising political career and my humanity," San Angelo mayor J. W. Lown has come down - and come out - on the side of love.

The 32-year-old, three-term mayor was re-elected to a fourth term earlier this month by a landslide, with 89 percent of the vote; he was to have been sworn in at the city council meeting on Tuesday this week. Instead, via a phone call and a FedEx'd letter, he notified council members that he was resigning his office.

Lown has pulled up stakes and gone to live at an undisclosed location in Mexico with the man he fell in love with a couple of months ago, a student at Angelo State University who has been living in the United States illegally for the last five years.

The now former mayor's background, from his campaign website, reveals a solid small-town upbringing with a global attitude:

Born and raised in San Angelo, J.W. has deep roots in the city. As a child he spent a lot of time in his father's workshop on Upton Street. Born and raised in Mexico, his mother, Alicia instilled in her son the importance of faith, family, and community. J.W. attended Angelo State and graduated from Principia College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business. After completing a congressional internship with U.S. Representative Lamar Smith, he served two and a half years in the Peace Corps. As a volunteer assigned to Bolivia he showed the same entrepreneurial approach to problem-solving that he would later put to use as mayor by training impoverished women and young adults in small business development.

Lown, who has dual Mexican and U.S. citizenship, said he did not want to take the oath of office as mayor, knowing he was “aiding and assisting” someone who was not a citizen. He hopes to be able to get a visa for his partner while in Mexico, so that they can return to the United States.

According to the San Angelo Standard-Times, much of the local reaction there beyond the initial surprise has been supportive and appreciative of Lown's six years of service to the community.

Commentator Rick Casey, writing in the Houston Chronicle, compares Lown's resignation to the abdication of King Edward VIII (later the Duke of Windsor) "for the woman I love" in 1936, and then makes this observation:

For some this will be a story of sinful deviance.

Some will sigh at the power of love.

As someone who has closely observed politicians for many years, what I see is the rare integrity of a politician who couldn’t rationalize his way to swearing to uphold the laws of his state and nation while breaking them.

When it comes to sex, we’ve seen the president of the United States lie under oath, the governor of New Jersey provide a high-level job for his unqualified secret gay lover, the governor of New York frequent a high-priced prostitute.

The mayor of San Angelo chose not only love, but also honesty.

Who says nothing ever happens in West Texas? There's a reason they call this state the land of steers and queers. Sure sounds like a movie script in the making to me - what do you think, fellas?

Know Thyself

Some of the all-time worst American Idol auditions (how do they even get in the front door?):











Okay, now that the laughter has subsided, there's a lesson here for all of us. The ancient Greeks believed that the first rule of wisdom was "Know thyself," and that's still a very good starting point.

How many times have we all thought we were oh-so-good at something, and given ourselves airs about it - when in reality, we were just fooling ourselves, and nobody else?

Upset Victory on American Idol

It was a close race, but at the finish line, with near 100 million votes cast, dark horse Kris Allen beat out front-runner Adam Lambert by a nose to win this year's American Idol competition. Were you disappointed?

The roommate and I were rooting for teh gay, of course: not just because of that, but also because he's got an electrifying stage presence that reminds me of Mr. Showmanship himself, the great Liberace, whom I saw in concert once. He's going to go far, very far, in show biz.

But then there is the oh-so-cute - and very, um, truckable - Kris, who is in fact a fine performer and likewise has a great career ahead, I'm sure. Did I mention how cute he is? Mmm-mmm, when he smiles that little smile . . . it does things to me. Pity he's straight.

Though actually, your Head Trucker thinks Adam could be quite a woofer too, if he'd just butch it up some - lose the eyeliner and fingernail paint, and get a decent haircut. But that's okay, he's young and having the time of his life right now, so rock on out buddy, while you can. His facial structure reminds us both here of Elvis, right down to the curling lip when he snarls out a tune. I want to hear him sing more, and scream a little less (see the video below for beautiful song).

Well, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for these boys. This summer, they and the other finalists are embarking on a 50-city tour - geez, it's great to be young and full of pep. At my age, it makes me feel waaay tired just thinking about a hell-for-leather tour like that. That's what happens to ya when you get to be an old fart.

BTW - did you know Adam is actually a redhead? Here he is singing at his high school graduation in 2000:

In Today's News

Political shocker: Reuters reports that the revised marriage-equality bill was defeated by just two votes in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, although the Senate approved it. One of the voices raised against the amended bill was that of gay Republican Steve Vaillancourt. Figures. The bill now goes to a joint committee for further negotiation.

And the Christian Science Monitor has a miscellany of interesting articles, none of them gay-related, but all of them thought-provoking:

- A review of Fingerprints of God: The Search for the Science of Spirituality, by veteran NPR religion correspondent Barbara Bradley Hagerty. A quote:

‘God’ may not be, as the atheists have it, a delusion – but perhaps a conclusion driven by the math of the universe. [R]ather than dispel the spiritual, science is cracking it open for all to see. It seems to me that the instruments of brain science are picking up something beyond this material world.

- The Republican National Committee abandoned its attempt to pass a formal resolution asking the Democrats to call themselves the Democrat Socialist Party. The roommate laughed out loud and didn't believe me when I told him this, but I'm not making this up. Geez. Those RNC lamebrains have no clue what a real socialist party even looks like - and it's sure not the Dems, who I have to say are starting to work my nerves with their pussyfooting around.

- The RNC also got a pass today from the Federal Elections Commission, which ruled that Sarah Palin's dress-to-impress $150,000 Neiman-Marcus wardrobe was A-OK with them, because the money came from party funds, not contributions. BTW, she's hard at work on writing her memoirs right now - don't you know that will be a hoot to read?

- A professor of media economics writes an insightful opinion piece on "why journalists deserve low pay": in this age of bloggetry and twitteraciousness, journalists must adapt or die, giving consumers value-added expertise and information that they can't get for free just by surfing the 'Net.

- And the U.S. Senate voted 90-5 to impose limits on how bad the credit-card companies can jerk you around. About damn time, too; the last 20 years, the conniving, money-grubbing, effing Republicans have let the credit and banking industries screw consumers mercilessly. If you don't read any of the other stories, do check out the list of what the legislation will specifically do (and not do) to protect you, if passed by the House as expected.

Mixner Calls for March on Washington

Author and longtime activist David Mixner - and a friend of the Blue Truck - is calling for a show of LGBT solidarity in the face of the Administration's apparent lack of interest in gay rights:

Clearly it is time for us to gin up our efforts and stop waiting for them to hand us our God given entitlements. Enough. I really can't stomach any more being told 'not now'. As nice as it would be, no one is going to give us our freedom; we are going to have to continue to fight like hell for it. It is demeaning to us to be moved around on a political chess board like freedom is a move in some game.

We have to stop it.

Let's never forget that we are not talking about just another piece of legislation nor just an executive order. What is at stake is over 1,000 rights, benefits, privileges and protections granted to all other Americans and denied to the LGBT community. It is about the ability of those who choose to serve their country can do so in total honesty and freedom. . . . The stakes are way too high for them to tell us to wait until next year, or even until the next term. . . .

I adore President Obama but not enough to allow his team to delay my freedom for political convenience or comfort. It is unacceptable.

My plea is for our LGBT leaders to call a March on Washington for Marriage Equality this November and if they won't do it, I appeal to our young to come together and provide the leadership.

We need to come together in a display of powerful community unity to empower our young and to show the nation that anything less than full freedom is unacceptable. . . .

The promise of the Democrats being in control was great. They still can rise to greatness. It is not too late but they need our help in lifting them out of their own fears and into the light.

President Kennedy had to deal with a recession, the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis and so much more. However, when Dr. King and others filled the streets of cities around America and yes, Washington, DC, the president found the resources and time to stay by their sides. The time has come for us to remove the current administration's option of shrinking from leadership on this issue and to insist they rise to a new level of greatness alongside us as we all fight together for freedom. It is the only way.

And as David says in another post:

There seems to be this mistaken impression that down the road times will be better for the passage of difficult issues. Does anyone really believe that we will ever have a better combination of Democratic Congress and president than we do now? Trust me, if the time is not now, it might just be never.

Air Force Fires Veteran Combat Pilot, Hero

Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach, an 18-year veteran, with over 400 combat hours and 9 air medals, including one for heroism: all trashed on account of DADT. Twenty-five million dollars worth of training and equipping, all down the tubes, just like that.

And the President - our fierce advocate - is not doing one blessed thing about it.

Why ever not? What the hell goes on here?

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Ellen at Tulane

Funny, but poignant too:

At Seventeen

Wow, guys . . . this just blew me away big time. You gotta see this clip from the public hearings just before Vermont passed the equal marriage bill last month. James Neiley is just 17 - the kid has got BIG balls:

James is a bigger man than most guys twice his age. He reminds me so much of myself at that age - only back then, I couldn't have imagined speaking out publicly about the torments of high school hell. It wouldn't have been allowed, anyway: nobody cared, nobody wanted to hear it - teachers, counselors, preachers, parents. Nobody.

Just shut up and suffer, faggot, you're going to burn in hell anyway: That was the message all of society put out; and I took it in, all alone. Somehow I survived. Lots of kids don't.

I'm so glad all that is finally changing now, and about damn time. Kudos to James for the bravery and courage to speak the truth with the whole world watching.

Sign the Petition: Don't Fire Dan

Hey guys, take 10 seconds and go sign this petition to President Obama on behalf of Lt. Dan Choi and all the other thousands of gay and lesbian troops fighting for this country but in danger of being fired from the military under DADT.

Over 200 have been discharged just since Obama took office- and he's not lifting a finger to stop that.

If you care, sign the petition. You say you want Change? Do something about it.

The petition is being run by the Courage Campaign, in California. Here's one of the great equality videos they've produced recently; see more at their website.

WTF: Michael Steele on Gay Marriage

Michael Steele, Fuckhead-in-Chief of the Republican Party, had this to say about the effect of same-sex marriage on small businesses, at a state convention in Savannah, Georgia, over the weekend:

Now all of a sudden I've got someone who wasn't a spouse before, that I had no responsibility for, who is now getting claimed as a spouse that I now have financial responsibility for. So how do I pay for that? Who pays for that? You just cost me money.

What a dumb shit. You know, that sounds so much like the segregation talk I heard growing up in the Deep South: a willful refusal to see blacks as human beings, with rights and needs equal to those of white people. What's the difference in that, and Steele's homophobic remarks?

Steele needs to stop and remember the road his people have trod, just within living memory. As usual, Keith Olbermann skewers the assholistic thinking with blazing wit:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Washington State Expands DP's

Get your mind out of the gutter, man - it's the other kind of DP. From 365gay.com:

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire on Monday signed legislation granting domestic partners almost all of the state rights of married spouses.

“They will make for stronger families, and when we have stronger families, we have a stronger Washington state,” Gregoire said as she put her pen to the document.

The legislation makes domestic partnerships equal to marriage in areas of community property, guardianship and powers of attorney. It allows partners the right to refuse to testify against partners in court. And it provides the same remedies as married couples to end a relationship, including the division of property.

The legislation expands on previous domestic partnership laws by adding reference to partnerships alongside all remaining areas of state law where currently only married couples are mentioned.

The domestic partner law was enacted after the state Supreme Court in 2006 upheld Washington’s so-called Defense of Marriage Act that limits marriage to opposite-sex couples. . . .

Since July 2007 when the original domestic partner law went into effect, more than 5,000 couples have registered as domestic partners. . . .

But opponents of the law already have started a bid to overturn the measure. The Washington Values Alliance filed paperwork earlier this month to begin the referendum process. They need to get more than 120,500 voter signatures by July 25 to qualify for the November ballot.

Ultimate Butch Test

The Ultimate Butch Test at HelloQuizzy

Try it out and give me some feedback on how the scoring works, guys.

Tune Out the Buzz

GAY = SIN from Matthew Brown on Vimeo.

(Honk to Andrew Sullivan)

A Telling Jest

I must say in all seriousness that while I respect any serious religious decision, I have the greatest admiration for women and gays who remain in the church despite the grief they get from the official church.

I am a convert, at the age of 30, and as I like to say that as a straight white male the Catholic Church is a natural fit for me. I could even grow up to be pope!

This quote by Catholic author and journalist David Gibson in the Washington Post jumped out at me. If you go read it in context, you will see that he is making a little joke.

And yet - he's not joking. He's stating a very significant truth: the vast majority of churches are run by and for straight people, and historically that means straight men.

I've blogged a couple times before about how, when my husband died, the scales fell from my eyes about our good Christian friends and neighbors - about how coldly and cruelly I was treated - about how the most churchified people were the most callous.

I won't rehash that whole story here - you can go read it in the Blue Truck archives if you like - but it really did bring home to me the fact that we gays are simply not wanted in church.

Church is specifically designed for the straight people. If you aren't straight - you simply don't belong there. And you are wasting your time trying to fit in, as I tried for 30 years - because you will never fit in; you're gay.

Maybe there is an exception here or there. Maybe in some particular locales in the blue states, it's different.

But I stand by what I just wrote. If you are gay, you don't belong in church. They don't want you.

Starting as a young teenager, I searched and researched the Scriptures for years, trying in vain to find an out, a loophole, some indication that God put a word of love and care for gays in the Bible.

But that search will run you crazy - it did me, for a time. Because He didn't put that word, that note of mercy in there.

This hurt me a lot; until it dawned on me the reason why: the Bible was written by and for straight men.

Straight men who made God in their own image.

Much more I could say on this topic - and some of you may have differing views - but I'll stop right there for now. Except to say that in a quiet, interior way, faith remains important to me; but I've come to realize that God is much bigger than the church, and even bigger than the Bible.

And God is Love.

Lovelight: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

The first time ever I saw your face
I thought the sun rose in your eyes
And the moon and the stars were the gifts you gave
To the dark and the endless skies, my love

And the first time ever I kissed your mouth
I felt the earth move in my hand
Like the trembling heart of a captive bird
That was there at my command, my love

And the first time ever I lay with you
I felt your heart so close to mine
And I knew our joy would fill the earth
And last till the end of time

The first time ever I saw your face

This moving song brings back so many memories: my senior year in high school, so lonely, so sad, so hungry for love. Friends that I loved, more than I should. A dark and terrible secret. A hunger, a thirst I had to hide way deep inside. Hide and protect from the crushing weight, the burden of all the condemnation I heard in church, for a love I knew was good and true and holy - shining there in the bottom of my soul.

You youngsters just don't know what it was like, growing up in a world without other gays. Only you. No one else.

It would have made all the difference to know I was not alone - today's young gay generation is so blessed to have these images of male love to look at, to dream on, to hope for.

Goodnight, fellas.

Sunday Drive: Farther Along

Cowboy Test

Just for shits 'n' giggles, I wasted the evening making up this lil' old test. Rated G; maybe another time I'll think up something sexy. Give it a whirl, boys, and let me know how you score.

Cowboy Test at HelloQuizzy

Perversion for Profit

Hey you - yeah, you buddy with the hair on your palms - don't click that porn link! Stop looking at them nekkid pictures right now! Don't you know - once you get perverted by porn, you will always be a pervert?! And that's not all - you'll start raping, killing, drugging, and goatfucking too. . . . SEX = DEATH.

Sex destroyed Egypt, Greece, and Rome, you want to destroy America too? Don't you know porn is part of the Communist plot to drive this nation to its knees? For the love of all that's holy, please stop before it's too late - get your hand out of your pants!

Go play some baseball, take a cold shower, and pray real hard, instead. In fact, you should probably lock the doors, turn off the computer, and spend the rest of the day on your knees, praying you won't become a lifelong perv. Go do it right now! Save yourself - and your country!

This film from 1965 was narrated by George Putnam, conservative LA news anchor, and financed by anti-porn crusader Charles Keating - who, in the 1980's, pulled a Madoff in the savings & loan industry that wiped out thousands of people's life savings and cost the government three billion fucking dollars. He was later convicted of fraud and sent to prison.

Such a good, moral, upright man. A real example of how to live a clean, decent, godfearing life - such a great role model for young people to look up to. A real pillar of society here in this Christian nation so wisely founded on God's laws.

Right. And now, listen closely to this warning on the horrible dangers of pornography engulfing this great nation - especially all you straight boys, don't be enticed into homosexuality: today's conquest is tomorrow's competition!

(NSFW)



Hilarious edited version:

What About Gay Marriage?

Afternoon Drive: Rodeo Studs

Have a boot-scootin' weekend, y'all. Catch up with you down the road . . . .

Lone Wolf

Your result for The What type of wolf are you test...

The Loner

25% Social-ness, 51% Leadership, 18% Morbidity, 53% Loneliness, 33% Inferiority and 11% Beta-ness!

You are the Loner (aka, the Lone Wolf). You don't seem to get along with others, so you prefer to keep to yourself and watch from afar.

Take The What type of wolf are you test at HelloQuizzy

(Honk to Ultra Dave for the idea)

P.S. - If anyone's keeping track, I'm also Dionysus, a Classic Lover, and a resident of Sexual Hell #2. Boy, they sure have got me pegged.

Please Do Not Fire Me

So just how fucking long is this stupid shit going to continue? Lt. Dan Choi has written an open letter to the President, as Rachel Maddow reports:

Compare the current President's silence on DADT with Truman's executive order ending segregation in the U.S. military.

How strange that we now have a black man as President, whose parents' marriage at the time he was born was strictly illegal in Texas and all the other Southern states; and who, had he been around during World War II, could never have served alongside white soldiers in our military; and yet he sure seems to be dragging his feet on equality for gay soldiers. WTF?

When Southerners in Congress questioned his civil-rights stand, Truman told them:

Whatever my inclination as a native of Missouri might have been, as President, I know this is bad. I shall fight to end evil like this.

Another time, Truman said:

You know that being an American is more than a matter of where your parents came from. It is a belief that all men are created free and equal and that everyone deserves an even break.

Mr. Obama, are you listening?

More cool stuff from Russ

Check it out.


create & buy custom products at Zazzle

Jesse Ventura Slams Bush, Cheney

Macho man Jesse Ventura - Vietnam vet, Navy SEAL, and former Governor of Minnesota - tells it like it is on torture and the Bush regime:

Give me Dick Cheney, a waterboard, and one hour, and I'll make him confess to the Sharon Tate murders.

It's the Economy, Faggot

Obama walking away from his commitment to equal rights?

Um, remember that tall black guy last year who promised - on nationwide TV, no less - to be a fierce advocate for your equal rights? Lots of people are starting to think he's just dicking around like all the other pols have done for years. Andrew Sullivan holds Obama's feet to the fire in a slam-dunk post today, go read it. Here's an excerpt:

And obviously patience is necessary; and legislative work takes time; and there are real challenges on so many fronts, especially the economy and the legacy of war crimes and the permanently restive Iraqi and Afghan regions we are constantly in the process of liberating from themselves. No one expects a president to be grappling with all this early on, or, God help us, actually leading on civil rights. That's our job, not his.

I have a sickeningly familiar feeling in my stomach, and the feeling deepens with every interaction with the Obama team on these issues. They want them to go away. They want us to go away.

Here we are, in the summer of 2009, with gay servicemembers still being fired for the fact of their orientation. Here we are, with marriage rights spreading through the country and world and a president who cannot bring himself even to acknowledge these breakthroughs in civil rights, and having no plan in any distant future to do anything about it at a federal level. Here I am, facing a looming deadline to be forced to leave my American husband for good, and relocate abroad because the HIV travel and immigration ban remains in force and I have slowly run out of options (unlike most non-Americans with HIV who have no options at all).

And what is Obama doing about any of these things? What is he even intending at some point to do about these things? So far as I can read the administration, the answer is: nada. We're firing Arab linguists? So sorry. We won't recognize in any way a tiny minority of legally married couples in several states because they're, ugh, gay? We had no idea. There's a ban on HIV-positive tourists and immigrants? Really? Thanks for letting us know. Would you like to join Joe Solmonese and John Berry for cocktails? The inside of the White House is fabulous these days.

Yesterday, Robert Gibbs gave non-answer after non-answer on civil unions and Obama's clear campaign pledge to grant equal federal rights for gay couples; non-answer after non-answer on the military's remaining ban on honest servicemembers. What was once a categorical pledge is now - well let's call it the toilet paper that it is. I spent yesterday trying to get a better idea of what's intended on all fronts, and the overwhelming sense - apart from a terror of saying anything about gay people on the record - is that we are in the same spot as in every Democratic administration: the well-paid leaders of the established groups get jobs and invites, and that's about it. Worse: we will get a purely symbolic, practically useless hate crimes bill that they will then wave in our faces to prove they need do nothing more.

Straights Destroying the American Family

Unmarried breeders shamelessly flaunt their

immoral lifestyle on a public beach

Oh my. What would Ward and June Cleaver have said?

According to a report today in the New York Times, millions of straight guys are catching a free ride, and the straight girls are, apparently, loving it. (You see how those people are? No respect for traditional values, religion, or morality.)

Unmarried mothers gave birth to 4 out of every 10 babies born in the United States in 2007, a share that is increasing rapidly both here and abroad, according to government figures released Wednesday.

Before 1970, most unmarried mothers were teenagers. But in recent years the birthrate among unmarried women in their 20s and 30s has soared — rising 34 percent since 2002, for example, in women ages 30 to 34. In 2007, women in their 20s had 60 percent of all babies born out of wedlock, teenagers had 23 percent and women 30 and older had 17 percent.

Much of the increase in unmarried births has occurred among parents who are living together but are not married, cohabitation arrangements that tend to be less stable than marriages, studies show.

The pattern has been particularly pronounced among Hispanic women, climbing 20 percent from 2002 to 2006, the most recent year for which racial breakdowns are available. Eleven percent of unmarried Hispanic women had a baby in 2006, compared with 7 percent of unmarried black women and 3 percent of unmarried white women, according to government data drawn from birth certificates.

Titled “Changing Patterns of Nonmarital Childbearing in the United States,” the report was released by the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Out-of-wedlock births are also rising in much of the industrialized world: in Iceland, 66 percent of children are born to unmarried mothers; in Sweden, the share is 55 percent. (In other societies, though, the phenomenon remains rare — just 2 percent in Japan, for example.)

But experts say the increases in the United States are of greater concern because couples in many other countries tend to be more stable and government support for children is often higher.

“In Sweden, you see very little variation in the outcome of children based on marital status. Everybody does fairly well,” said Wendy Manning, a professor of sociology at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. “In the U.S., there’s much more disparity.” . . .

The District of Columbia and Mississippi had the highest rates of out-of-wedlock births in 2007: 59 percent and 54 percent, respectively. The lowest rate, 20 percent, was in Utah. In New York, the rate was 41 percent; in New Jersey, 34 percent; and in Connecticut, 35 percent. Sarah S. Brown, chief executive of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, a nonprofit advocacy group, said sex and pregnancy were handled far too cavalierly in the United States, where rates of unplanned pregnancies, births and abortions are far higher than those of other industrialized nations.

“These trends may meet the needs of young adults,” she said, “but it’s far from clear that it’s helpful for children.”

Conservatives, please note: none of the above has anything whatsoever to do with gay people or same-sex marriage.

It's all your doing, straight people. So leave us gays out of the conversation, please - you want a scapegoat, he's right there in the mirror, looking at you. Just zip it up buddy - your mouth and your pants.

In fact, a statistic often overlooked by conservatives is that gay sex actually promotes family values by reducing the chance of unplanned preganancy to zero.

And aren't you glad, fellas?

The Art Racket

If you were rich enough to pay $6 million for a painting, would you spend it on this monstrosity? Sorry, but it's just too sick and ugly to post on my blog.

And that was the price somebody paid twenty years ago; who knows what it would bring now. Barnum was like, soooo right: there's a sucker born every minute.

And there's lots of them in the art world. What a racket.

Especially when there are so many lovely things that nobody has ever heard of, and unknown artists who bloom and vanish without much attention from the world.

If I was rich as Brad Pitt, with wheelbarrows full of dough sitting all over the house, I might - but only just might, mind you - be tempted to spend that kind of cash on something enduringly lovely and mystical and thought-provoking like this:

Star Gazer by
Agnes Pelton

The Problem with Wikipedia

You do know it's riddled with mistakes and deliberate lies, don't you? Use only with extreme caution, and check for reliable sources.

Guest Suite

We had a visitor yesterday, who kindly sat still long enough for me to grab a camera and take this photo. Always nice to have company drop by the house.

Ed Koch: Daydream Believer?

Ed Koch sees a happy day fast approaching for same-sex couples across the nation, according to his opinion piece today in the Yonkers Tribune. But is the former New York City mayor a prophet, or just doing some wishful thinking?

I believe that same-sex marriage will be approved by a majority of the fifty states in the Union within the next five years. When that occurs, the federal resistance will end and the Congress will vote in favor of federal recognition of same-sex marriages with equal benefits to both homosexual and heterosexual couples.

Those who are opposed to same-sex marriage on religious grounds should know that no religious institution is now being coerced or will in the future be forced to perform same-sex weddings. The decision of whether to sanctify same-sex marriages is totally up to the religious leaders. It is a near certainty that the Catholic Church and Orthodox synagogues will continue to refuse to officiate at same-sex weddings, while some Protestant churches and reform and conservative synagogues will continue to be open to the practice.

It is the right of all religions to determine their own responses. But the issue here is not religious, but civil marriage. As a matter of fundamental fairness, civil marriage must be made available for all consenting adults, irrespective of sexual orientation. And it will happen, more quickly than the public thinks. In the United States today, five states have approved the right of same-sex marriage, either through legislative action or court decree. They are: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Maine and Vermont.

The next state in all probability to legislatively approve same-sex marriage is New York. Currently, as a result of Governor David Paterson’s executive order, New York state recognizes same-sex marriages performed in other states, and accords same-sex couples who were legally married in other states the benefits provided to married heterosexual couples that state agencies can do administratively. The New York Times reported on May 29, 2008, “Legal experts said Mr. Paterson’s decision would make New York the only state that did not itself allow gay marriage but fully recognized same-sex unions entered into elsewhere.”

Mayor Koch has long been rumored to be gay himself, as the new documentary Outrage claims.

Well, mark your calendars, boys - tune in again in 2014, same time, same channel, and we'll see if his prediction comes true.

Wouldn't it be lovely if it did?

Bullshit Alert: General Jones on DADT

Damn, I can smell it all the way out here in Texas:



Jones is Obama's National Security Advisor. The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network has this to say:

There have been almost a dozen studies on the topic. Going back to 1993, RAND did a study on the impact of openly gay and lesbian soldiers on unit cohesion. Their conclusion: no negative impact. Every scientific, credible study since then has come to the same conclusion. SLDN had hoped this president would offer leadership, not give in to some throwaway study or commission. The right approach would be a presidential working group that focuses solely on implementation and reports back to the president with recommendations within 90 days.

Yeah, but don't hold your breath, guys. This topic is going nowhere fast, and that's a real pisser.