It's been a nice weekend.

It's been a nice weekend. I'm getting a bit anxious and ready to get back to work. It was a nice weekend and a time to think about all the freedom we have in this country. I actually do try to think about why we are celebrating on any given holiday. I know things aren't a good as they could be for many citizens in this country, but they are looking up. Certainly one could easily think of other countries without much of a problem that are far worse in human freedoms. With all our problems in this country, we are towards that top of the list (after Canada, of course) in granting freedom to its' citizens.

Is U.S. Congress being led by grand old gay bashers? Scalia's justifications for discriminatory conduct sound terribly familiar. Change "homosexual" to "Negro" and Scalia is at one with the authors of Plessy v. Ferguson's mandate for "separate but equal" schools, and the judges who upheld anti-miscegenation statutes.

Antonin Scalia is raging against the coming of the light. Scalia's dissent from the epochal Supreme Court decision striking down Texas' anti-sodomy statute confirms Ayatollah Antonin's standing as the intellectual leader of the forces arrayed against equality and modernity in the United States.

In establishing the deep historical roots of anti-gay sentiment in America, for instance, Scalia took pains to note the 20 prosecutions and four executions for consensual gay sex conducted in colonial times. He noted, approvingly, that even today, "many Americans do not want persons who openly engage in homosexual conduct as partners in their business, as scoutmasters for their children, as teachers in their children's schools or as boarders in their home." ......
The only thing good about the opinions from the like of Antonin Scalia is that he is so far off the wall when compared to the America we live in today that he comes off as some rabid wacko. That's not to say that people like him should be underestimated. There are more of them out there than we would like to think. We all need to stick together and realize that America is changing, and for the good. We are all the same people and we are all equal. The law of the land should allow us all to be equal under the law. That frightens many people who would like us to think that we are not equal - that there are some of us in the American populace who are less than equal. They are entitled to their opinion, but the law should be blind to race, religion, or sexual orientation.

Gay Rights Gain in California - 3 bills close to passage in legislature. So far this year, three landmark measures have won approval from the state Assembly and appear headed for certain state Senate passage. Planned new laws would ban discrimination against transgender individuals and allow registered domestic partners virtually all the same rights as married couples. Another bill would forbid the state from contracting with firms that provide benefits to heterosexual spouses, but not to registered domestic partners. The tax measure would prevent property reassessments when one domestic partner dies, keeping taxes down and providing the same protection enjoyed by surviving heterosexual spouses.

All three proposals passed the Assembly without a single Republican vote. "I don't think any California Republican has ever voted for any bill expanding gay rights," said Democratic Assemb. Mark Leno of San Francisco, sponsor of the bill to ban discrimination against transgender individuals. Leno is one of the first openly gay men elected to state office in California.....

Gay families flourish as acceptance grows. Keith Lee Grant and Daniel Tamulonis had been partners for 15 years when Keith decided their self-focused life was too empty -- that they had much more to give. So eight years ago, this interracial New York couple adopted a 2-day-old infant from Arkansas whom they named Isaac. Both dads quickly became adept at diaper changing, middle-of-the-night feeding and all the other challenges of child care.

Five years later, when life with Isaac settled into a manageable rhythm and the men were approaching 50, the cut-off age for adoptive parents, they adopted 3-day-old Trish. Keith knew all along that he wanted children and had initially thought that he and Daniel would become foster parents. But Daniel says that the experience has been delightful and rewarding. "We never looked back," he says. "I have Keith to thank for this. Having grown up gay, I never thought I would have a child in my life."