We worked on the front

We worked on the front rock wall this morning and finished that. It took longer than I thought it would - about 2 hours, but it looks great, even though I do say so myself.

I went shopping this weekend for different things for my trip to the Virgin Islands. I'm taking some day trips so I wanted to be prepared for anything. I got a small backpack which will carry my camera, water, a small first aid pack... stuff like that. I did some more research and now I know how to get different places. It should be a good time.

Despite Gains Most Gay Workers Unprotected. (Washington, D.C.) Despite significant gains in the number of companies which have non discrimination provisions and which offer same-sex partner benefits, most gay workers in the US are without any protections. A report issued Friday by the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay civil rights group, shows that county and city governments played a leading role in 2002 in extending equal protection in the workplace to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans. More cities and counties enacted laws in 2002 prohibiting workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity than in any previous year, with 15 local jurisdictions outlawing job discrimination based on sexual orientation and 16 passing measures covering gender identity and/or expression. This compares to eight and five, respectively, in 2001, according to the report, entitled "The State of the Workplace for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Americans."

Gay rights a hot topic in Lutheran churches. Minnesota Lutherans are not known as a racy bunch. But the hot topic now in many congregations is sex. Specifically, gay sex. And whether sexually active gay individuals should be ordained as pastors, receive blessings for commitment ceremonies, or just be welcome in church. Many faiths are wrestling with such issues, but the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) -- Minnesota's second-largest denomination, behind Catholicism -- is in the thick of things as never before.
I think it's great how the religions are FINALLY acknowledging that lightning isn't going to strike all the queers dead and they are finally deciding to accept us. The only emotion I can show them now after years of trying to keep my faith in THEM can be summed up in a quote from Gone with the Wind: "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." Faith and church have nothing to do with one another. It's taken me a long time to figure that out. Now, it's the churchs' turn to find faith. I don't have time to wait for them anymore.

Gay/straight festival attracts more than 5,000. An arch of balloons, with the colors of the rainbow, welcomed people of all ages to the Gay/Straight Youth Pride Festival and College Fair at the Hatch Shell along the Esplanade yesterday. In its second year, the event organized by the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth doubled its attendance, with a crowd of more than 5,000 congregating to share a message of diversity and acceptance.

Slain Gay Soldier's Case Slows a General's Rise. ASHINGTON, May 17 — The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee has delayed for the second time a vote on the promotion of an Army general who commanded a base where a gay soldier was beaten to death by a fellow soldier. The delay gives the committee more time to consider the general's responsibility for what happened. Maj. Gen. Robert T. Clark was commander of Fort Campbell, Ky., in 1999, when Pfc. Barry Winchell, 21, was bludgeoned to death in his barracks at the end of a beer-soaked evening. The committee had been expected to vote on General Clark's promotion to lieutenant general as early as next week, Senate aides said. Senator John W. Warner, the Virginia Republican who is chairman of the committee, postponed the vote after meeting with Private Winchell's parents. Private Winchell's mother, Patricia Kutteles, who also met with General Clark on Wednesday, said that he should not be promoted. "He doesn't have the command authority or responsibility," Mrs. Kutteles said. "The promotion would be another obstacle in the way of everything we have tried to do to honor our son."
Clark Nomination Stalls