General: November 2003 Archives

Today is Thanksgiving Day.

Many of us wonder what we have to be thankful for. We are at war, despite what our President says. American lives are being lost everyday in Iraq. We are spending money and running up a deficit like there's no tomorrow without regard to how this will effect the next generation.

Instead of building bridges and coalitions to bring people together, our current government will take whatever side will win the most votes, no matter what the cost. We are an unpopular minority, and they are using that against us. But time is not on their side.

This has been an incredible year for gay, lesbian, and transgendered individuals. We have had more favorable media attention paid to our population than any other time in U.S. history. We have seen more gay programming being presented on pay cable channels for the first time. Last night, I noticed that channel 4 had Queer Eye for the Straight Guy on. This is a non-paid channel that anyone can get. There were no announcements of it and no fanfare. It was completely uncensored. Although I have my own feelings about the show, it is a statement of accomplishment that mainstream media is showing five openly gay people doing what they do. This is huge.

We have seen the appointment of the first openly gay Episcopal Bishop, who openly embraces the love he has for his partner. The church claims to be in a state of destruction. They too will go on and in time, will realize that so much more can be gained by embracing diversity rather than adversity.

With the rise of all of this attention, we have brought attention to ourselves. This is good and bad.

The good is that people will see that we are just like they are. We pay taxes, we have children, we fear the same things, we want to be safe in our neighborhoods, we want to have equality in our relationships, and we want the same legal protections that others enjoy. Eventually, this will happen.

The bad is being a target for those who would hurt us; politically, emotionally, and physically. We have seen violence against our community rise at an alarming rate. We have seen the escalation of violence against gay youth in our schools.

But we have also seen an increased effort to counter the hate and violence against our community with the arrests and prosecution of those who commit violence against us. More and more these crimes are being taken seriously by law enforcement and not being swept under the carpet. We are seeing more communities adopt hate crime legislation and using it whenever possible.

I am thankful for a lot of things. I am thankful that through everything that I've seen and experienced, I'm here, and I'm still alive to talk about life. Today marks the 25th anniversary of the assassination of San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone.

I remember crying when I heard the news. I remember marching with thousands of people from Castro Street in San Francisco to City Hall, in total silence. We were all holding candles. Dan White had been charged with the crime and had been arrested. Once we got to City Hall, there were speakers one after the other. I don't remember all that was said. I remember a lot of tears. It was surreal. I remember crying once again when I saw the San Francisco Chronicle the next day. In very large letters, were the words, "THE CITY WEEPS". Under it was a large picture of the march to City Hall. I'll never forget that. It's still etched in my mind.

I remember thinking, we've got to remember this and never forget it. It saddens me that so many young gay people don't even know who Harvey Milk was. They've probably heard of the Harvey Milk High School, through the media coverage, but they have no idea the part he played in the freedom they have today. So, I take this opportunity to remember Harvey Milk and George Moscone.

San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk

Mayor George Moscone (right) and Supervisor Harvey Milk (left) in the mayor's office during the signing of San Francisco's gay rights bill. Associated Press Photo, 1977

San Francisco remembers...
Gay community reflects on anniversary of official's murder

I was reflecting this morning on the current state of affairs. I think it's important to reflect back once in awhile. It gives you perspective on how life has changed over time. It's easy to miss that.

Today, we are trying to gain equal marriage rights for our relationships. We are in the heat of the battle. Yet, just a mere thirty years ago, if you were a gay teacher, you wouldn't keep your job long.

It was still fashionable for the police to raid gay bars just for the hell of it, I suppose to keep us in our place. Our place, at that time, was to keep our heads low and out of site. It's hard for us to imagine that today, even though many of us lived through it.

Everything evolves. I mean, EVERYTHING. There was a time that if you mentioned "gay marriage rights" to the gay movement, they would have dismissed it because marriage was of the "straight establishment". It took us a long time to realize that just because two people are together and want to share their lives together isn't a "straight" thing any more than it is a "gay" thing. It is the nature of people, perhaps most living things, to desire companionship.

It is with a great deal of irony that we are met with such great resistance from the straight world on gay marriage. During the years of police raids and gay bashings, so many said that we were different because we had no desire (or, "ability", as they put it), to form lasting relationships. Now, that we are proving them wrong, they have no idea what to do with that. That is the struggle we see today.

I was thinking how much I've changed over the last twenty or so years. When Harvey Milk was on the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco, Kent and I lived just south of San Francisco, in the city of San Mateo. I was scared to death that people would find out that I was gay. I was sure that if people at work found out, I would be fired. I was sure that if my family found out, I would be disowned. I was sure that if society knew, I would be beaten up or killed.

Just across the street from us was a little market. In those days, there was a gay newspaper that gave monthly news of what was happening in the gay movement. Then, The Advocate was not the sleek glossy publication that is sent to you in the mail today. It was only available in news stands here and there. You had to know where to go to get it. As it turns out, the market across the street from where we lived had it.

The news stand was frequently the target of vandalism. I wanted to read what was going on in the gay movement, but was so scared to go over and publicly get a paper. I would actually wake up in the middle of the night, put my clothes on, and at 3:00 in the morning, would quickly go across the street, make sure no one was around, put my quarters into the news stand, grab an Advocate, and run back home, being ever watchful to make sure there were no bashers about. Once back inside my apartment, I would read the paper cover to cover.

This is the kind of fear that I lived with in 1978 - not so long ago. A lot has changed since then. You ask yourself, "how have I changed?". It's not something you think about consciously, but at times, things will happen in one's life to remind you that you have come a long way. One such thing happened to me a couple of years ago.

A former president of the company I now work for was known to be very bigoted against gay people. There were rumors of an employee who was thought to be gay. At the time I had just started working for the company. I was very insecure myself. Eventually, the president did more inquiry about the young man in question and found out that he "didn't like girls". He was fired a week later. At that time, there was no law in Connecticut making that illegal. The young man's parents found out and he relocated out of state.

Once the man was gone, it was open season on the "fag jokes" at the company. I was trying to do my job while all around me, people were making gay jokes. It hurt. It hurt a lot. These were people I would have lunch with and who I thought were friends. It made me feel more worthless. I remember Harvey Milk saying that "you have to give people HOPE because without hope, there's no reason to get out of bed in the morning". Shortly after that, Harvey was assassinated. When I heard the news, I remember thinking what Harvey had said: "If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door."

That was the beginning of my coming out. Eventually, I locked horns with the same person at work who fired the other gay man. Only, I was armed with words and knowledge, and... determination. If I was to be fired, I was not going to make it that easy for him. I came out in a very public way. We had a huge fight in front of many people, and a lot of things came out, exposing his bigotry. Of course, at the time, no one really cared if he was bigoted or not. But I got my say in. And, to my astonishment, I didn't get fired.

Years later, after he was relocated to another office, I had the opportunity of hiring this man's son as a summer intern. I didn't want to do it, mostly out of old anger. But then, I decided to let the anger go. What had his son ever done to me?

Within a day of his son working for me, his son waited until we are alone and said to me, "My Dad gave me the low down on you. I know everything about you." I said, "ok, I'll bite. What do you know about me?" He said, "Dude, YOUR GAY! My dad told me all about it." I said, "And your point is????"

The kid was shocked and at a total loss for words. I did not waiver one bit. I wasn't shocked. I wasn't scared. And I realized that that scared young man who scurried across the parking lot at 3:00 in the morning so long ago, was gone. I was different. And it was good!

I thought this might happen. Cambridge, Massachusetts, home to Harvard University, has decided not to wait the 180 days for the state to work out what it will do about gay marriage.

You have to admire their determination. My only concern is that the marriage licenses they hand out be legal. (story)

Cambridge, Mass. -- Less than a week after the highest court in Massachusetts ruled that gay marriages are permissible under the state constitution, this city is poised to become the first in the nation to recognize same-sex marriages.

Members of the city council say they will ignore a warning from Republican Gov. Mitt Romney to table the issue while the state Legislature crafts a response to the court's ruling. And those council members say they have the votes to approve a resolution tonight condoning the unions.

"When you protect a small group of people's rights, you protect all people's right," said Councilor Denise Simmons. "We're doing the right thing."

This is an unbelievable story about a young man who was charged with breaking a law that didn't exist.

Keith E. Phillips lost four months of his life in jail for breaking the law. The law he supposedly broke didn't even exist. But that didn't stop a judge from sending Phillips to prison for it in April of 2003.

The supposed law made it illegal to make sexual advances against another person if it made that person uncomfortable. That law only applied to parties of the same sex, and was thrown out by the Ohio Supreme Court in May of 2002.

This story was brought to light by Eric Resnick on Gay People's Chronicle.

Youngstown--A judge that sent a gay man to jail for violating a nonexistent “importuning” law has been made a defendant in the man’s federal lawsuit against the city of Warren and the lawyers that represented him.

Keith E. Phillips, 21, of Youngstown served four months in jail after he pleaded no contest to a second charge under the nonexistent law in April.

Another argument for marriage... (story)

When a binational couple is heterosexual, the foreigner can emigrate to America as a fiance or spouse. Not so with gay and lesbian couples: Under policies adopted with bipartisan support, they have no status in the eyes of U.S. immigration officials, even if they had legal same-sex marriages in the Netherlands or Canada.

Good news from two Massachusetts polls released today. (story)

BOSTON - Two new polls released Sunday show Massachusetts lawmakers could be bucking public opinion if they try to thwart the Supreme Judicial Court's ruling last week that found the state's ban on gay marriage unconstitutional.

Fifty percent of Massachusetts residents surveyed for a Boston Globe/WBZ-TV poll said they agreed with the ruling, while 38 percent opposed it. A separate Boston Sunday Herald poll found 49 percent said they support legalizing gay marriage, while 38 percent oppose it.

Both polls, conducted after Tuesday's ruling, had margins of sampling error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

"If people want to be together, who cares? Let them," said Bill Luff, 32, a nightclub owner in Worcester.

Having grown up in a small town in Idaho, I can really appreciated this story. When I was a senior in high school, I was secretly dating another boy my age. We did everything together from studying, riding our bikes, hiking, and even having him over to my house for a "sleep-over". He did the same for me. At my home, I had a "full" bed that was big enough for two. My folks never questioned anything because they thought he was just my friend. At his house, he had a twin bed, but would always ask me to sleep with him. It was kind of sweet.

What sucked was that we loved each other, but couldn't show it to anyone. It would have been dangerous. In my senior year, somehow, word got out that I was gay and that someone else was gay that I was seeing. I think maybe his sister said something by mistake, I'm not sure. I went through bad times with teasing, being beaten up, shot (another story I told earlier on this blog), but... I never told anyone who he was, and I never would have.

We had the senior prom and I wanted so much to take him. But, we probably would have ended up dead somehow. He wouldn't have gone and because of the harassment that I was going through, he didn't want to be seen with me anymore. So, I didn't go to the prom. I missed so much in my senior year. It was more of a course in self preservation.

That's why this story of two girls wanting to go to the prom together struck home with me. Things have changed I suppose, even in Wyoming. Perhaps it's because that is the state that Matthew Shepard was killed. Perhaps awareness is a bit higher there than it was in Emmett, Idaho when I was a senior. At any rate, these girls have a lot of courage to stand up for their rights. I commend them. (story)

Student fights same-sex dance rule

Associated Press
BIG PINEY, Wyo. - A straight Big Piney High School student is challenging a school district policy barring lesbian and gay students from bringing same-sex dates to school dances.

At the request of school officials, sheriff's deputies met Amanda Blair at the school's homecoming dance in September to block her from attending the dance with her date, another young woman.

Blair, a senior, has enlisted help from the Wyoming chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project in seeking to overturn the policy in this remote town of about 400 people in western Wyoming.

"I couldn't believe that our school was so threatened by the idea of two girls going to homecoming together that they had police officers waiting for us," Blair said. "It's really sad that this is the kind of attitude that lesbian and gay students at my school will face when they want to bring a date to a school dance."

I found this on boston.com. It was an excellent article by Boston Globe columnist Adrian Walker that I would encourage you to read. Here's an excerpt (emphasis mine):

As I've maintained before, this to my mind is hardly the greatest challenge to the sanctity of marriage. No, that would be the succession of nutty television shows in which one humiliated contestant after another is discarded before one of them "wins" the path to the altar. What kinds of marriages will those be? If MFI (Massachusetts Family Institute) president Ron Crews is so concerned about the American family, why doesn't he take on "The Bachelor"?

Or as one liberal political consultant put it yesterday, "If marriage is so sacred, why don't they outlaw divorce?"

It's been a few days since the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court handed down a decision that said that gay and lesbian couples should have the same access to marriage as straight couples. And, I've calmed down a bit.

I think it is a process that all of us have to go through. And, if you are on the receiving end of discrimination, it's not a pleasant place to be. I just go through life the best I can. I worry what will happen should Kent or I die. What will happen to who is left? We aren't getting any younger. If one of us gets sick, will we have visitation rights? Married couples take everything for granted.

But, I guess there is not much I can do to affect that, other than try to have the necessary papers in place and just hope that they will be honored if contested. I get my hopes up because with marriage, there would be no issue. I would not have this on my mind. I have some predictions on the future.

I predict there will be a nasty backlash against gay couples in the political arena.

I predict that the next presidential election will largely center around "protecting the sanctity of marriage" from... us.

I predict that President Bush will eventually cave in to the radical right and openly endorse a constitutional amendment defining marriage as "one man, one woman".

I predict that while that constitutional amendment will be mauled around in the congress, as well as that news services, it will go nowhere. It will only serve to further alienate a segment of society and formally define them as second-class citizens.

I predict that all the Democratic candidates will shy away from endorsing gay marriage and will opt for "civil unions" instead. Nominee Dean has already proudly stated that he endorses such an idea, as though he came up with it in the first place.

I predict that Democrats and Republicans alike will view "civil unions" as being the perfect answer to this mess that the gays have put all of us in.

I predict that no one will address (or care) about the larger problem with "civil unions", that they will not be recognized from state to state. And, they will not be recognized by the Federal Government. With "civil unions", there will be states here and there (not many to be sure), who will give gay couples "most" of the rights of marriage. If you move to another state that does not honor "civil unions", you are out of luck.

I predict that the issue of being able to divorce if you are a gay couple will be a problem since a state that honors "civil unions" will probably not go to the trouble of passing legislation specifically to dissolve a "civil union". And, if you go to a state that does not honor "civil unions" and try to get it dissolved, there will be no legal means to do so.

Unless as a nation we go to extraordinary lengths to create a totally parallel set of laws that will cover all the states and the federal government to cover legal "civil unions" that are exactly the same as marriage, we will not have equality. And, if those opposed to gay marriage were totally honest about it, this is not about protecting marriage. This is all about preventing public recognition for what we have.

Finally, I predict that gay marriage will happen. This is inevitable. But, before it happens, much of what I outlined above may happen. A US Constitutional Amendment could possibly pass. If that should happen, it will eventually be taken out of the Constitution, but only years later. I think that somewhere in the next generation of gay people, we may actually achieve full marriage for our relationships.

Well, not really. Sorry folks, but we really don't have anything yet, other than Vermont. And, let's face it, Vermont is a pitiful excuse for marriage. Once you leave the state, it's null and void. It's not recognized at all by the federal government. It is simply an attempt to give us lip service to shut us up.

If you read the news articles or look on the internet, they make it sound as if Massachusetts is the first state in the nation to grant gay and lesbian citizens the right to marry. That is not true.

The high court said that it was "unconstitutional" to deny gays the right to marry, based on the Constitution of the State of Massachusetts. Then, instead of allowing the marriage licenses to be handed out, they turned the case back to the legislature to deal with. They gave the legislature 180 days to complete the task of allowing gay and lesbian citizens to get married.

A lot can happen in 180 days. A watered-down version of marriage can be handed down that is separate and less than equal to full marriage. Of course, this too would not be valid in any other state. There really is no equivalent to marriage.

Or, the legislature will try to amend the state constitution specifically defining "marriage" as being solely between "one man and one women". There have already been suggestions made to do this. Then, of course, the high court would no longer be able to say it was "unconstitutional".

The fact of the matter is this; we had better get used to the idea that there are people out there who hate our guts. They disguise and justify their contempt for us. They are priests, nuns, bishops, rabbis, pastors, ministers, associates, colleagues, and others. They will stop at nothing to put us in our place in society.

They have never and will never accept the fact that we deserve equal rights and opportunities in all areas of life in this nation. They will never accept that we have the right to pursue happiness and to make our lives everything that we can. They will never honor our relationships that we have to each other.

Now, the battle line has been drawn. We got their attention today, not only in Massachusetts, but in Washington, D.C. as well. You can be sure that a renewed effort will be made to amend the United States Constitution to define marriage at the federal level, thereby voiding all same-sex marriages in all states (should any state approve gay marriage in the future).

Traditionally, the federal government has given the states full authority over their marriage rights. But, of course, faggots and dykes will be the exception of this rule.

I'm mad as hell. I'm mad because it is so fucking insulting and repulsive to me that this is even an issue. We love each other. People, all people, need to fucking get used to it. Does anyone else feel the same way? Where is the outrage in our community?

We are the Rosa Parks of our time. All of this is happening because where our relationships are concerned, we have finally said loud and clear, "We will no longer ride in the back of the bus! We are just as good as anyone else!".

This is terrifying to many. Who do we think we are? To the people who are terrified at the thought of two gay people getting married, we were the "queers", the "faggots", of their time. In their youth, there were no "gay people". We were "degenerates" who were to be pitied, cured, beaten, and murdered, for amusement's sake. The crimes were rarely pursued by law enforcement because we "brought it upon ourselves" by being queer. This is the same generation who is trying their best to prevent the queers from perverting marriage. I would suggest they've done a great job of that themselves.

There's no easy way to say this. We will probably not have full marriage rights in this nation until most of that generation dies off. Thankfully, the younger generation seems to find it in their hearts that they may allow us to have marriage.

Should we even ask for it? I say no. We should DEMAND IT!

If you put much weight on public opinion polls, here's a new one for you. It seems that the public is evenly split on whether gays can change sexual orientation (story).

Let me see... I think tomorrow and the next day I will be straight. Friday is definitely my day to be gay though. I haven't yet decided what I will be this weekend. I guess I can just flip a coin.... heads, I’m gay, tails, I’m straight.

Sarcasm aside, it's very insulting that people think we can just change if desired. I can't believe how stupid people are. I would like to ask them this:

If sexual orientation is such a damn choice, I would like you to CHOOSE to be gay for the next six months. Of course, that will entail you being intimate with someone of the same sex and desiring it. But, that shouldn't be a problem right? You can choose to desire it if you want too. Simply change your sexual orientation.

Remember the judge who refused to follow a federal judge's order to move the Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the Alabama state courthouse?

Well, that judge was Roy Moore. By unanimous vote, the state's nine-member Court of Judicial Inquiry found that Moore violated judicial ethical standards for defiance of a federal judge's order to move his Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the state courthouse. Moore was halfway through his six-year elected term.

Moore is known for his conservative Christian views in rendering decisions. In February 2002 when the state supreme court ruled against a lesbian mother who was seeking custody of her three daughters, Moore used a litany of homophobic adjectives that had gay rights advocates calling for his removal from the bench.

Moore said that homosexuality is "an inherent evil" that should not be tolerated. His decision went on to say that the mother's relationship made her an unfit parent and that homosexuality is "abhorrent, immoral, detestable, a crime against nature, and a violation of the laws of nature."

When he became Chief Justice Moore, he had the massive Ten Commandments placed in the rotunda of the court.

What goes around comes around. It's an old saying that basically means that what you put out will come back to you in one way or another. Apparently, past deeds are coming back around to federal judicial nominee Claude Allen.

I first wrote about Claude Allen on May 6, 2003. Allen is being questioned for his use of the term "queers" in 1984 while working as an press secretary to former Senator Jesse Helms (story).

RALEIGH, N.C.—Democratic Illinois Senator Dick Durbin is saying 'no-go' to federal judicial nominee Claude Allen's explanation of his use of the term "queers" in 1984 while working as an press secretary to former-Sen. Jesse Helms.

Allen, a Republican, told the Judiciary Committee under oath two weeks ago that the remark had referred to "unusual" people and was not meant to put down gay men and lesbians, whom former Sen. Jesse Helms and Allen criticized throughout a contentious Senate campaign against Helms's Democratic opponent, Gov. Jim Hunt.

"I used the word queer, in my mind, I think at the time, in the dictionary, it was described as 'odd, out of the ordinary, unusual,"' Allen said during his confirmation hearing. "I did not use the word as a pejorative. I did not use the word to denigrate any individual or any group."

Allen told the Senate Judiciary Committee he immediately apologized "for anyone who misunderstood him."

"It's not unusual for nominees who come before us to downplay things they've said," Durbin, a member of the Judiciary Committee, told The News & Observer. "But I'm afraid that Mr. Allen's explanation of his use of the word 'queers' was not credible."

I would agree with that. I don't believe that Mr. Allen was misunderstood at all. I believe he was quite clear about his feelings, especially given the current company he was keeping (Jesse Helms).

I'd urge everyone to send letters to Senator Durbin thanking him for his support for our community. You can visit his website or send him email.

The following is the letter I sent him:

Dear Senator Durbin:

I would like to personally thank you for your support of the gay community. I read recently that you were against the nomination of federal judicial nominee Claude Allen's for his use of the term "queers" in 1984 while working as an press secretary to former Senator Jesse Helms.

I was exhausted last night. I went to bed at 9:30 and fell asleep when my head hit the pillow. I slept through the night. Then, this morning for some reason, was wide awake at 4:00am. The house is dead quiet, except for the occasional cat that strolls by demanding that I drop everything and pay attention to them. I have it figured out that the average cat nap is about 24 minutes. They seem to come by pretty much on time. I wonder if that has some cosmic significance. Cats are very perceptive. Perhaps they are connected to the real cosmic clock. Maybe we aren't on a 24 hour clock. Maybe something major is happening every 24 minutes that we are unaware of. It's as if they wake up every 24 minutes so they don't miss it... whatever "it" is.

I came across this in the news. It's the Patriot Act starting to effect our lives. We are going to see more and more of this as time goes on, thanks to John Ashcroft, et. al.

LAS VEGAS (AP)--Rebecca Foster couldn't believe it when a bank cited the USA Patriot Act and asked her and fellow homeowners association board members for their Social Security and driver's license numbers.

"They said they had to check us against a terrorist list,'' said Foster, a grandmother whose five-member board oversees a Las Vegas community. "That seemed kind of preposterous. None of us are terrorists.''

A week earlier, the FBI in Las Vegas acknowledged agents used Patriot Act authorization instead of the grand jury to investigate a striptease club owner and several elected officials. .....

"It protects the lives and liberties of Americans, rather than detracting from them,'' said spokeswoman Monica Goodling from Washington, D.C. "It is simply an update of the laws that was needed to help close gaping loopholes in our ability to fight modern-day terror.''

You just keep telling yourself that honey. But someday, your information will come back to haunt you when you least expect it. And so it goes.

General Clark Promotion Moves Toward Vote

I suppose if you wait long enough on any controversy, it will just go away. The U.S. Senate has just proven this. The promotion of General Robert Clark has been approved.

Gen. Clark's promotion was being held up and reconsidered because of the atmosphere of hate and homophobia that existed under his watch at Fort Campbell, KY. That atmosphere was the cause of the murder of Pfc. Barry Winchell, who was bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat by two other soldiers. General Clark knew about the harassment and did nothing to stop it.

Now, he's being promoted. Thank you U.S. Senate for showing us that hate and intolerance are alive and well in our government. Thank you President Bush for your nomination of General Clark and showing that you are so genuine in your value for human life.

Other mentions I've made of General Robert Clark:
April 6, 2003 | May 18, 2003 | June 18, 2003 | June 19, 2003

I saw this letter to the editor on Sonoma News.com and enjoyed reading it. I thought that I'd share it with you. It gave me a good feeling inside.

Editor, Index-Tribune: Regarding recent letters on the topic of the "sin" of homosexuality, I wish to express my concern for the potentially grave psychological harm done by a narrow misunderstanding of the phenomenon of homosexuality, especially harm done to young people who happen to be gay, or who may be questioning their sexual identity. They who suppress others are also harmed.

Modern science has established that differences exist innately - that is, from birth - in certain brain structures between people who experience hetero- versus homosexual preference. Here the term "preference" is not to be confused with some kind of arbitrary "choice." I know that my attraction to the opposite sex is inherently a part of me; I could not change it if I tried. (I can't imagine making a "choice" that would cut so completely against the grain of my deepest identity, even if it were a popular choice.)

I am fortunate to have many gay friends, male and female, whom I love and value because of their creativity and because of the richness their differing perspectives on life and culture add to mine. Some, I'm aware, are as "hard-wired" in their "preference" as I am in mine; others are more ambiguous. My observation is that there is a continuum between the two poles, that some people have multiple or less well-defined orientations. Logic suggests that homophobia arises, at least in part, from the uncertainty that some feel because of their own internal ambiguity.

As to the theology of the argument, the Jesus who inspires me was a visionary, not a lawgiver, whose message was indeed one of love, humility and inclusiveness. Christian churches in these days are challenged by evolving scientific and social consciousness to address, however slowly and conservatively, issues of equality for women in church leadership and a realistic understanding of natural variant sexual identities.

May we all grow in wisdom and compassion.

Ted Sexauer

I somehow thought that Greece was a bit more liberal concerning it's views on homosexuality. Apparently, some television station was punished and fined $116,000 for broadcasting a scene of two men kissing (story). Photo by Reuters.

Greece's Mega television was punished by the National Radio and Television Council for an Oct. 6 episode of the weekly drama "Close Your Eyes," stirring debate over an issue rarely discussed in public

"They want to tell us who we can kiss and what time kissing is appropriate," Grigoris Valianatos, a gay activist, said moments before embracing a fellow protester. "We believe a kiss is an act of love, tenderness and courage."

The television council described the kissing scene as "vulgar and unacceptable."

It's ironic that the photo above came from a Greek paper. I didn't find one US paper that had a picture. It kind of makes you wonder if maybe we in the US are a bit more uptight about seeing gays show affection in public.

If interested, here's an African paper who gave good coverage to the story. I can hear it now... you straight women reading this blog are going to want to see more pictures of guys getting it on. I know what you like! uh huh....

United Way Capital Area (Austin, Texas) has severed ties with the Capital Area Council of the Boy Scouts (story).

"The agreement we made enables each of our organizations to recognize the policy differences, but to carry forward respecting each other, our people, and our programs,” said Clarke Heidrick of the United Way Capital Area.

That agreement could cost the Capitol Area Council of Boy Scouts thousands of dollars in funding.

Starting in July of next year, the local council of the scouts will not apply for funding through United Way.

The decision stems from "inconsistencies" between "inclusive policies" of the two groups.

"The policy we're talking about from the Boy Scouts perspective is the one regarding membership and leadership qualifications and the one that doesn't allow avowed homosexuals to be a part of our program,” said Bruce Walcutt, of the Capitol Area Council of Boy Scouts.

They stand to loose about $160,000 a year because of this. It's hard for me to understand the message they are sending to youngsters about gay kids. And, how would your feel if you were a gay kid and wanted to be part of the group, but couldn't. It's just wrong.

I keep saying that I think that in time the Boy Scouts will come around, but now I'm beginning to believe that they really don't care about inclusiveness and they will drive the organization into the ground before they will see that happen. It's sad, because so many kids are going to loose out.

One of the organizations that I support is Scouting For All. It's a great program.

Who says that gay students are all angels? It's too bad that there is still such a controversy over the Harvey Milk School in relation to what these students did to others. They should be treated just like any juvenal delinquents get treated. What they did was a crime. Hopefully they will learn from it (story).

Police have arrested five teen boys they say dressed as female prostitutes, and impersonated police officers while robbing at least five men in Greenwich Village.

An alert detective knew something wasn't right when he spotted a 17-year-old with bright red hair at the corner of 13th and Eigth. He was right because the boy had been featured on a wanted poster. When it was all said and done, police arrested five teenagers and they confiscated a fake badge, hand cuffs and a scanner.

The five boys are students at the Harvey Milk School, an experimental new high school for gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgendered students.

Police say the five teenagers robbed at least five men since the beginning of October. Dressing up as women, they allegedly approached their victims in Greenwich Village offering sex for money.

Then, in an abrupt turnaround, the boys flashed fake cop badges told the johns they were undercover vice cops and that they were busted for solicitation.

On this day in 1999, Aaron McKinney, one of two men accused of beating gay Wyoming college student Matthew Shepard to death, was convicted of the crime. Aaron McKinney was given two life sentences for the killing.

A 12-person jury in Laramie, Wyoming, convicted McKinney of felony murder. The jurors were to begin hearing testimony in the sentencing phase, but instead Judge Barton Voight announced that, under an arrangement with prosecutors, McKinney will serve two consecutive life terms in prison.

McKinney had faced the possibility of being sentenced to death by lethal injection. The deal was reached after Shepard’s parents agreed to accept two life terms in prison for their son’s killer.

We are going to pock-mark this nation from sea to shining sea with this message on the monument: ... 'Matthew Shepard entered hell October the 12th, 1998, at age 21 in defiance of God's warning, 'Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is abomination' -- Leviticus 18:22

That is the message given by Fred Phelps in a telephone interview. He went on to say, "That is the message this nation needs, whether it knows it or not or whether it wants it or not. And that's the message we are determined the nation is going to receive." (story)

This announcement came after the town of Casper, Wyoming (Matthew Shepard's home town) rejected placement of one of Phelps' monuments on city-owned property. Casper is the first place Phelps has tried to place one of his anti-gay monoliths; Rupert, Idaho, is the second.

Which brings it all back to me! I'm from Idaho. I actually grew up in Emmett, and if you've read some of the things I've talked about in this blog in regards to Emmett, Idaho, you will know that it's not the most gay-friendly place on the planet. Actually, Emmett just didn't like anything different. Me, I grew up on a fruit farm (explains a lot doesn't it?). Yes, a REAL fruit farm! We grew apples, cherries, peaches, prunes, plums, apricots... you get the idea. Of course, being the gay guy that I am, I was always baking pies and cobblers right after some fruit would come into season. When the peaches were on, I would make peach cobbler. I suppose that's where my step-father got the idea that I was queer.

Back to Idaho... I guess I can see why some wouldn't want Fred Phelps to put his anti-gay monument on town/city property, but knowing Idaho the way I do, I very much doubt that it's because they are tolerant towards gays. They just don't want to look intolerant to the rest of the nation. Truth be known, most of the small towns in Idaho wouldn't care if Fred Phelps did put up his anti-gay statue. In fact, I would bet that Emmett wouldn't have much of a problem with it. Maybe up on the "bench", across from the cemetery would be a nice location.

I don't miss Idaho one bit. Let's face it, if it weren't for the horrible act committed against Matthew, most of the states in the central part of this nation wouldn't care what Fred Phelps did, because most would agree with him. That's the way I feel about it. Can someone convince me that I'm wrong?