I watched the finale of

I watched the finale of Dawson's Creek tonight. It was an interesting take on the show. It took place five years later than previous episodes. It shows where the characters have gone in life and how they've matured. Now, I'm not a great fan of Dawson's Creek. The most important reason is that I'm a middle-aged man, and it's really more of a teen-oriented show. I could deal with that IF the acting was superb. Unfortunately, the shows' stars are "B" class actors. There are times that can actually see their eye balls reading the prompter. That's inexcusable! You either come to work prepared or you don't. The possible exception to all the actors is Kerr Smith (who plays the shows only gay character - with the exception of his boy friend). Kerr may be going places in his career. He seems to be a step above the rest and I could actually feel what he was going through and was touched by it. In other words, I became part of his world for a brief time and was pulled out of mine.

Another thing that happened was what I experienced in myself. I haven't been able to cry in a very long time. I think it's because I've been through a lot with loosing friends and family - more than most people. I thought that it was dead in me. I suppose that I've built a wall around myself and just don't let things in that effect me on that emotional level. However, at a few points, I felt emotion unexpectedly come through and I felt tears flowing down my cheeks. It was actually nice to know that I can still feel to that level.

There's a lot of news currently going on, so I'll get to that... Have a great day everyone!

Gay couples better educated, study says. Census: The data also reveal same-sex partners less likely to own homes. Gay and lesbian couples are slightly better educated than married people and earn similar paychecks but aren't as likely to own their homes, according to a study of Census Bureau data released Tuesday. More than 35 percent of people living with same-sex partners had a college degree in 2000 compared with 28 percent of married people and 19 percent of opposite-sex unmarried partners, said the analysis commissioned and released Tuesday by Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights advocacy group. Differences in homeownership may arise because same-sex couples tend to cluster more in cities, where home prices are more expensive and rental units are more plentiful, said Gary Gates, a demographer from the Urban Institute who did the analysis.

A new aisle for gay weddings. You know a movement is finally gaining acceptance when mainstream marketers start to cash in on it. And that's exactly what was happening at the crowded Same Sex Wedding Expo last week at the Roxy ballroom in Manhattan. With any luck, Albany will see the light, throw some rice and finally give gay marriage its blessing. In the meantime, 50 vendors from Bloomingdale's to twobrideweddings.com (makers of hers and hers customized champagne flutes) were only too happy to register same-sex couples. And for their part, the couples were only too happy to put themselves through the same crazed, teary, I'm-going-home-to-mother!-type conflicts - and joys - that have long been the lot of any straight couple planning a wedding.

Mother of gay-bashed soldier meets boss. In Washington the mother of Barry Winchell, the soldier was was beaten to death by fellow soldiers with a baseball bat who thought he was gay at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, met the man in charge of the base when it happened. Winchell was murdered in 1999 as he lay in his bunk. The commanding officer at the time General Robert T Clark has been re-nominated by Bush to command the Fifth U.S. Army. During the last session of Congress the original nomination was not confirmed after there were grave concerns over Clark's leadership before and after the murder. She said Clark had shown no remorse and had not done enough within his power to curb ant-gay harassment. "General Clark still did not take responsibility and still did not even say he was sorry he hadn't reached out to us," she said. She was also planning to meet with ranking members of the Armed Services Committee.

Democrats, Republicans seen going after 'gay' vote. The 2004 election mantra for politicos may well be 'It's homosexuality, stupid,' as Democratic candidates openly court the "gay" vote, and Republicans make quiet incursions into the traditionally Democratic territory – all to the distress of conservative, pro-family groups. "This is going to be a hot-button issue," predicts Peter LaBarbera with the Culture and Family Institute at Concerned Women of America, or CWA, the nation’s largest Christian women’s group. "Howard Dean is running on the gay issue. Now Gephardt is jumping on the band wagon. The whole Party's going that way. ... Their gamble is that people don't care, but the Reagan Democrats do care." While, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean promotes the law he signed allowing civil unions for homosexuals, Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., declared Saturday he backs homosexual adoptions.

LaBarbera maintains Republicans are just as anxious about courting the "gay" vote as the Democrats, but do so by not taking a stance on the issue. As an example, he points to the Republican leadership's failure to back Sen. Rick Santorum when he came under attack for defending the Texas sodomy law. As WorldNetDaily reported, homosexual activists and Democrats urged Republicans to remove Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., from his leadership position, calling his remarks about the Supreme Court case, Lawrence v. Texas, "disparaging an entire group of Americans."

Gay activists push for partner benefits. Members of the Mecklenburg Gay and Lesbian Political Action Committee continued their quest for health benefits for domestic partners of gay employees Wednesday, offering legal reasons why they believe the city has authority to give the benefits. In a memo to City Council members last week, City Attorney Mac McCarley said the city doesn't have clear approval from the legislature to make the change, and said the city will likely be sued by taxpayers if it offers the benefits. MeckPAC members argue that state statutes are broad, and while they don't give explicit authority to offer the benefits, they also don't forbid them. On Wednesday, they responded to McCarley's statements with a news conference and a memo to city officials, saying the city has authority to offer the benefits.

Stand on Anti-gay Remark Could Cost Specter Support.
"I have known Rick Santorum for the better part of two decades," Specter said in a statement, "and I can say with certainty he is not a bigot."

An erstwhile ally of Pennsylvania Republican Senator Arlen Specter says the moderate lawmaker has damaged his support among gay and progressive voters. Malcolm Lazin, a gay Republican and executive director of Philadelphia's Equality Forum, said this damage is the result of the senator's ringing defense of fellow Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum after Santorum made what many construed as anti-gay remarks last month. "The senator has undermined his credibility with [gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender] voters by stating that Senator Santorum is not a bigot," Lazin wrote in an e-mail message to the Forward. "This may be akin to his position on Anita Hill as a defining moment with [gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender] voters." Specter, the senior Jewish Republican in Congress, went to bat for his fellow Pennsylvanian after Santorum brought down a storm of opprobrium for remarks he made to a reporter in which he grouped homosexual acts with bigamy, polygamy, incest and adultery as acts that "undermine the fabric of our society." Regarding a Supreme Court case dealing with same-sex sodomy laws, Santorum told the Associated Press: "If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery."

Gay issues top Anglican meeting agenda. Anglican church leaders from around the world meet this weekend in Brazil for what some conservatives are calling a showdown over gays and the church. At issue will be a report that warns of "anarchy and division" if liberal bishops permit homosexual "marriages." The report, "True Union in the Body," was commissioned by the archbishop of the West Indies and calls for the expulsion of churches that accept gay priests and allow gay marriages.

Activists mobilize on legislative attempt to negate Miami-Dade gay-rights law. Miami · Eight months after Miami-Dade County voters rejected an effort to repeal a law that protects gays and lesbians from discrimination, the county's human rights advocates are again marshalling the troops. This time, they're worried about a movement to kill the county's law in the Legislature. Gay rights leaders say State Rep. Gaston Cantens, R-Miami, voted in support of a recent amendment to the Florida Civil Rights 2003 Bill that would have nullified the Miami-Dade provision -- and similar measures from Key West to Palm Beach County.

Philadelphia to dedicate mural in honor of gay community. The city on Saturday will dedicate a 7,500-square-foot mural that pays tribute to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people. Titled Pride and Progress, the mural -- the city's 2,353rd -- is one of Philadelphia's largest. It stretches almost a block long alongside a downtown community center that serves the gay community. At 150 feet wide and 50 feet tall, the mural depicts a composite of 1960s gay civil rights marches in Philadelphia and New York, a festival on cobblestone streets with a multicultural throng, and segments of Independence Mall, all under a moody sky with the hint of a rainbow. "I wanted to create something beautiful and atmospheric," said Ann Northrup, 54, an artist whose design was chosen for the mural.

What’s rationale for outlawing gay sex? Thursday, May 15, 2003 If we’re going to outlaw gay sex, we have to have a good, solid rationale for doing so. You have to demonstrate specifically who is victimized by the behavior and how. But people like Rick Santorum, John Leo and others offer only phony logic and shaky rationales meant to divert attention from the simple fact that they just plain don’t like the thought of men having sex with men and women having sex with women. But in a relatively free society, you don’t outlaw acts based solely on your personal preferences.

Research supports openly gay soldiers. According to top military analysts, there was no adverse impact on combat effectiveness when military forces with conflicting policies on openly gay troops fought together in Iraq. In interviews conducted by the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military, a think tank at the University of California, Santa Barbara, military experts suggested that when U.S. units, which bar openly gay soldiers for fear of undermining unit cohesion, fought with British units, which allow openly gay soldiers, there were no apparent problems.

Glenn Truitt, a former U.S. submarine officer, said it was no surprise to him that American soldiers could work effectively with the gay-friendly British military. He knew of gay soldiers on his command, and he said their professionalism rose to even higher levels than that of straight soldiers. "The homosexual men I knew in the military were much more professional about their sexuality than the heterosexuals," he said, "if only because they had to be" to gain full acceptance.

Recently U.S. representative Martin Meehan (D-Mass.) argued that the success of coalition fighting in Iraq is further proof that the American military's antigay policy is unnecessary. "The adherents to the ban have never been able to produce any evidence that allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly and honorably would harm the effectiveness of our military," said Meehan, a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee and a leading critic of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. "The Iraq war demonstrates that the morale and cohesion of our forces is simply not affected by the presence of openly gay soldiers."

Twenty four nations, including the United Kingdom, allow gays to serve openly.

Massachusetts Gay Marriage Ban Resurrected. BOSTON -- The Massachusetts House and Senate hold a special joint meeting on Wednesday to keep alive a proposed constitutional amendment intended to ban the recognition of same-sex marriage in the Commonwealth. Had legislative leaders had not moved forward with the constitutional convention motion, the marriage ban would have been tabled for the year.