Faith Trumps Reason (Ask Me How!)

I ran into a piece over on Joe.My.God about a couple of Xtian wingnut groups coming up with a counter to GLSEN's "Day of Silence," scheduled for next Friday in many of our nation's schools. They're asking Christian parents to keep their kids home that day to protest the protest.

According to Joe, the Illinois Family Institute and Mission America have distributed a message to parents, to wit:

Explain to your children why you’re taking a stand:

a. Homosexual behavior is not an innate identity.

b. No matter what factors may influence homosexual feelings, freely chosen homosexual behavior is immoral and should be resisted.

c. Homosexuality is not equivalent to race.

d. Disapproval of homosexuality is not equivalent to racism; nor is it hatred; nor is it bullying; nor does it constitute an incitement to violence. It is permissible and ethical to express disapproval of homosexuality. Just because someone may feel bad when hearing that someone disapproves of homosexuality does not mean that disapproval is cruel or wrong.

e. No school should support a view of homosexuality that is unproven and controversial, and that is physically, emotionally, and spiritually destructive to individuals and society.

f. No school should allow instructional time to be politicized.

However, by doing a simple "search and replace" on it, I came up with the following:

Explain to your children why you’re taking a stand:

a. Religious behavior is not an innate identity.

b. No matter what factors may influence religious feelings, freely chosen religious behavior is immoral and should be resisted.

c. Religiosity is not equivalent to race.

d. Disapproval of religiosity is not equivalent to racism; nor is it hatred; nor is it bullying; nor does it constitute an incitement to violence. It is permissible and ethical to express disapproval of religiosity. Just because someone may feel bad when hearing that someone disapproves of religiosity does not mean that disapproval is cruel or wrong.

e. No school should support a view of religiosity that is unproven and controversial, and that is physically, emotionally, and spiritually destructive to individuals and society.

f. No school should allow instructional time to be politicized.


Why do they always pretend that they are right?

The Throne of Peter

The Vatican has survived 2,000 years of turmoil and attacks through one tried and true method. Stonewalling and battering the victims. The Vatican is *very* good at both.

"If only those crazy-assed Jews had converted, the Holy Inquistion wouldn't have burned them at the stake."

or

"If only all those queers in cassocks had dropped dead, then those little male Lolitas would've been safe!"

or

"If only Galileo had admitted that the Earth IS the center of the universe, we wouldn't have had to ruin his life."

Notice anything about all this? Listen to the "defense" a guy who batters women offers. That he wouldn't have had to smack the bitch around if "she'd ONLY DONE WHAT SHE WAS TOLD." People stay in abusive relationships, with men, with women, with religions, with booze or drugs or any other crutch, because they're afraid. Afraid of the unknown. Afraid that the perp might be right, despite all logic and evidence to the contrary.

I do not believe in the divinity of Jesus. I do not believe that Mary was a virgin. I do not believe that Joseph was that stupid. I do not believe that the Pope is a God-chosen successor to the throne of Peter. I do not believe that he speaks infallably in matters of faith.

But I do believe that he's a lying sack of shit.

Happy Easter!

Health Care Reform and The AntiChrist

The Teabaggers (and Fox) are losing their shit over the passage of healthcare reform. These are people who are afraid of their own shadows and who think, if they try hard enough to forestall change, any change, that life will be just like they remember it being... in 1787.

You'd think, from the reactions, that we'd just nationalized healthcare and jacked up income taxes to 70% of gross across the board to finance it -- like we were Sweden or something.

But what really re-fries my beans about the reaction from the right is this:

For decades they accused the Democrats of being the party of Tax and Spend.

And their solution, under Ronald Reagan (does anybody remember "Voodoo Economics"?), was to Borrow and Spend instead.

So that rather than taking money out of your pockets today to finance all their shit, they decided to take the money out of our grandchildren's pockets instead.

THEY are the reason the national debt now runs into the many trillions. Not the Democrats.

Am I the only person who remembers this?

Apparently I am.

I am *for* healthcare reform in this country. We've just spent bajillions of dollars on two largely unfruitful and incredibly wasteful wars (we disbanded the Iraqi Army, only to turn around and spend 29 billion dollars training their police force ... composed primarily of former Iraqi Army men) and whine about extending healthcare to more of our neediest citizens.

And to the Right I would ask: WWJD?

I'd guess that he wouldn't lose his shit. That's for damned sure.

Hell in a Handbasket

BAM! The world has started falling apart.

1. Last August - diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Why didn't I cry with self-pity when told?
Started protracted on-line search for best surgical solution
Settled on Dr. David Samadi - Robotic Institute - Mt. Sinai Hospital New York

2. Robotic Prostectomy - October 14, 2009.
Two follow-up visits to date. Both blood tests indicate PSA < 0.01%
Why didn't I cry with joy at the result?

3. January 25, 2010 - My dearest English friend dies peacefully in his sleep. Age 80.
Why didn't I cry at the loss?

4. March 2, 2010 - Surgery to repair hernia. Out-patient (yaaayyyy!). Home that evening.

5. March 3, 2010 - Phone call from a friend in California. Another friend died of pulmonary
embolism as a direct result of having had Lap-Band surgery the previous week.

WHY DIDN'T I CRY!??

6. Excruciating pain from surgery. Gingerly take a prescribed painkiller. Immediately blocks me up. More pain until Thursday when I'm finally able to "move."

WHY DIDN'T I CRY?

7. A phone call on Friday, March 5th from yet another friend in NYC. After nearly 30 years of devoted service at a broadcast network, he was informed that, as of May 5, his services will no longer be required. He's contemplating moving back home to the midwest. He and I were college roommates, fer Chrissakes! I've never contemplated life without him in it, and him in New York.

AND WHY AM I NOT CRYING??!!!

8. Monday, March 8th - my 12th sobriety anniversary. I should be all cured by now.

AND STILL, I CAN'T CRY.

9. I called my old co-dependency therapist and made an appointment to see her this coming Sunday morning (there's something very calming about having a therapy session on Sunday morning).

I want to know why, after all these years of "recovery", I'm not able to cry over anything.

My 12-Step sponsor says that I'm a sexual anorexic. I say that I'm an emotional anorexic, still incapable of forming any meaningful attachments, even with myself.

We'll see what the therapist has to say.

Watch. I'll be in there for five minutes when I start blubbering like a baby.

I hope.

Army Chief Is Lap Dog of Religious Nutcases

The latest front-man for all the right-wing, queer-hating, religious nuts opposed to the repeal of DADT (and pro keeping the fags in their place) is the Army Chief of Staff, General George W. Casey, Jr. (who gets paid $19,326.60 a month to defend the Constitution).

He testified before the Senate that he "has serious concerns" about repeal and that he supports a year-long "study" before the ban is repealed. What he really wants, of course, is to drag his feet long enough for the forces against repeal to find enough "problems" with it to forestall repeal indefinitely. He ain't kidding anybody. Well, he ain't kidding me. None of them are kidding me anymore.

Every day that this onerous law remains on the books is yet another day when an innocuous minority (mine) is deprived of the fruits of full citizenship, SOLELY FOR THE PURPOSE OF PANDERING TO THE RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY OF A HANDFUL OF ZEALOTS.

Repeal DADT. Do it now.

Sexual Anorexia

There is such a thing. And I have it. Wiki defines it as avoidance of intimacy because of emotional brittleness. Okay. I'm risk averse. I know where that comes from. I had an alcoholic mom and an alcoholic grandmom whose major intramural sport was getting drunk, fighting with each other and waking me up in the middle of the night to answer the question "which one of us do you love more?"

I was 6 years old.

So I shut down and swore that no one would ever hurt me again. Not like that. I knew that I could be physically hurt -- there was nothing I could do about that (and I lived in fear of that, too) -- but I'd be damned if anyone was ever going to get close enough to me to emotionally scar me like that again.

And no one ever did. Not even when people moved away. Not even when they died.

The last time I actually cried over the death of someone I was 19. It was the same grandmother I mentioned above.

I drank because I was a drunk. Deep down, though, I also drank because it made it easy to have sex with people -- and why was that, you ask? Because when you're drunk you are not intimate. Not really. Physical, yes. Intimate, no.

Get it? I do. Now.

In a couple of weeks I'll have been sober for 12 years. And only now is this becoming clear to me.

Next up? How do I fix it?

Stay posted. More will probably be revealed and, as usual, it won't be good.

Growing up is hard work.

Navy Men

I was a Navy man. My dad was a Navy man. My granddad was a Navy man. And Admiral Mike Mullen, 17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces of the United States of America, is a Navy man.

To the best of my knowledge (and it's only anecdotal, based on personal experience), I'm the only one of them who is gay, therefore I was the only one who had to "hide it" during my time in the Navy.

Yesterday something happened that I never in a million years thought would happen. Admiral Mullen sat at a table before the Armed Services Committee of the Senate and told that august panel of Senators that it is now time to put an end to the onerous law known to the masses as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Many were delighted. Some were chagrined. Most notably Senator John McCain, another ex-Navy man. Of course the good Senator has his own problems at home right now regarding this whole mess ... his wife, Cindy McCain (God love her!), has come out clearly on our side -- so you KNOW Johnny Boy ain't gettin' any these days! No wonder he's so cranky.

You would think (maybe) that some people would see the handwriting on the wall -- that the good old days of making political hay (and fundraising cash) out of fag-bashing are rapidly coming to an end. It would only make sense, I think, to bow to the inevitable and to sign up on the right side of history.

Like Admiral Mullen. Whom I would gay marry in a heartbeat. If he'd have me.

Thank you, Admiral Mullen. Thank you for being a real American.

I would be proud to serve under you, Sir. All kidding aside.

And the Nominees Are....

It's nearly time for the Gay SuperBowl aka "Oscar Night" and today we had the preliminaries, the announcement of the nominees. Note that this year the rules have been modified to accomodate the plethora of fine motion pictures that came out this past year, and,7 therefore the number of nominees for Best Picture stands now at 10.

[drumroll please]

And the nominees are:

Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart *big surprise
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo'nique, Precious

Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Best Actress
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Best Director
James Cameron, Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels, Precious
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air

Original Screenplay
Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman, The Messenger
Joel & Ethan Coen, A Serious Man
Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, & Thomas McCarthy, Up

Adapted Screenplay
Neil Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell, District 9
Nick Hornby, An Education
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Ianucci, & Tony Roche, In the Loop *big surprise
Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air

Foreign Language Film
Ajami (Israel)
El secreto de sus ojos (Argentina)
The Milk of Sorrow (Peru)
Un Prophete (France)
The White Ribbon (Germany)

Animated Film
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up

Best Picture
Avatar
The Blind Side *big surprise
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

Best Art Direction
Avatar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

Best Cinematography
Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon

Best Costume Design
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

Best Documentary
Burma VJ
The Cove
Food, Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Which Way Home

Best Editing
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious

Best Makeup
Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria

Best Score
Avatar
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hurt Locker
Sherlock Holmes
Up

Best Song
"Almost There," The Princess and the Frog, Randy Newman
"Down in New Orleans," The Princess and the Frog, Randy Newman
"Loin de Paname," Paris 36, Reinhardt Wagner & Frank Thomas
"Take It All," Nine, Maury Weston
"The Weary Kind," Crazy Heart, T-Bone Burnett & Ryan Bingham

Best Sound Editing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up

Best Sound Mixing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Best Visual Effects
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

Best Documentary Short
China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
Music by Prudence
Rabbit à la Berlin

Best Animated Short
French Roast
Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty
The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)
Logorama
A Matter of Loaf and Death

Best Live-Action Short
The Door
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants

SOTU - STFU

Fortunately for all of us, your devoted, if somewhat sporadic, blogger has to turn in around 9:00 p.m. on weeknights because he's an indentured servant of a bunch of lawyers in Manhattan, so he missed a live-view of last night's State of the Union address by the guy who was going to fix everything in 20 minutes, only he didn't.

Thank God for the internets! The high-point of the evening (well, amongst several) came, apparently, when Associate Supreme Court Justice Alito exhibited the "Joe Wilson Memorial Moment" when the President criticized the high court for it's finding this week that Corporations may now purchase Congressmen and Senators directly from MP3 sites for a nominal fee.

Here he is, an august member of the highest court in the land ... a land predicated on the rule of law, not of men ... clearly shaking his head and mouthing the words "not true. not true."

We have the finest government money can buy. You may count on it.

Meet Mr. Corporation

Yesterday, January 21, 2010, the Supreme Court of the United States of America (SCOTUS) effectively declared that corporations (already considered, via a legal fiction, to be a "person" under the law) could donate money to political campaigns.

Let me back up for a moment. They've been able to donate money to political parties for a long time, but now they can donate money to specific candidates. Lots and lots of money. Millions, even.

Even Michael Bloomberg, billionaire mayor of New York City, wouldn't have enough money to counteract a Halliburton sponsored political opponent.

Do you want a Citigroup lap-dog running YOUR town? (not that you don't have one already, but I'm jes' sayin', is all.)

Corporations can now (and will) pack Congress with congresscritters to their liking. Congresscritters who will give even more blowjobs to big business, big oil, big pharma.

If you thought the United States was already fucked, you don't know jackshit.

So bend over and smile. 'Cause you ain't even gonna get kissed while you're getting fucked.

Oh, and it's only a matter of time before corporate America goes back to the Supreme Court to ask for a finding that they may VOTE, too.

But you will never see Goldman Sachs lining up for jury duty... or Citigroup rushing off to join the Navy.

No. That you will never see.

Corporations take, but they never give. Except to politicians who deliver.

News from the Prop 8 Trial in SF

Mystery Shrinkage - The Pro Prop 8 Witness List: It turns out the Pro Prop 8 Professional Witnesses are a bunch of weenies, afraid they’re going to get punched out by ta queers:

Click HERE

Don’t Faint: Somebody on Fox News is in FAVOR of marrying ta gayz:

Click HERE

Pro Prop 8 Weenies want the evidence destroyed: Ask Judge to destroy videotapes of the trial so nobody can see their lies and bigotry in living color:

Click HERE

Watch This, You ******Guzzlers!!!!

My new favorite TV show that no one is watching and will probably get cancelled faster than Conan can move to Fox is "Better Off Ted". The most recent episode concerned a memo with a typo which launched the most foul-mouthed television show ever filmed - and not broadcast. These outtakes are NSFW.

Ted Olsen - GWB's Solicitor General on Gay Marriage

Ted Olsen is leading the courtroom charge to overturn California's Prop 8. According to the website JoeMyGod, Ted has an article in this week's Newsweek Magazine which purports that these words are Ted's:

So there are now three classes of Californians: heterosexual couples who can get married, divorced, and remarried, if they wish; same-sex couples who cannot get married but can live together in domestic partnerships; and same-sex couples who are now married but who, if they divorce, cannot remarry. This is an irrational system, it is discriminatory, and it cannot stand.Americans who believe in the words of the Declaration of Independence, in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, in the 14th Amendment, and in the Constitution's guarantees of equal protection and equal dignity before the law cannot sit by while this wrong continues. This is not a conservative or liberal issue; it is an American one, and it is time that we, as Americans, embraced it.

Keep in mind that Ted was George W. Bush's Solicitor General. Keep in mind, also, that Ted knows a little about the subject of losing a loved one. His wife died on 9/11 in one of the planes that crashed.

Ted is also the news director and online managing editor of Christianity Today.

Not all Christians are raving, small-minded, bigots. Some Christians, it appears, espouse and try to live the teachings of Christ.

I'm hoping he's one of the latter.

Christmas Meme

Blame Bev.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Depends. Single gifts get wrapped. Multiple gifts get wrapped AND bagged.

2. Real tree or artificial?
Okay, now starts the rant on indoor safety. GET THAT FIREHAZARD OUT OF HERE. Artificial.

3. When do you put up the tree?
Put it up? Didn’t I do my part by merely buying it? Now you want me to put it up? The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

4. When do you take the tree down?
If it’s in the box the day before, it’ll still be in the box the day after – n’est pas?

5. Do you like eggnog?
Darn tootin’! Unfortunately, booze is out, and so is cholesterol. Bye, bye egg-nog.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
Erector sets. I loved ‘em.

7. Hardest person to buy for?
My ex was the hardest person to shop for. Actually, anyone who is passive-aggressive and won’t come right out and tell you what they want. I HATE people like that. I theorize that the only reason people really have for not telling you what they want is so they can blame you later for the crappy gifts you give 'em.

8. Easiest person to buy for?
Me. Ask me what I want and I’ll fax or e-mail you a list to choose from. Better still, just check my name on Amazon.com. I have a wish list there at all times.

9. Do you have a nativity scene?
Nah. While I love the message Jesus delivered, I believe it’s a crime that we deified him.

10. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards?
Christmas cards. Nothing says lovin like a card. I try to pick cards with a message that conveys how I’m feeling that year. This year’s card was a sort of Zen message about “being that which the world is missing.” It made sense when I bought them.

12. Favorite Christmas movie?
A Christmas Carol – the 1951 English version with Alistair Sim.

13. When do you start shopping?
Right after Thanksgiving.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Yes. Booze. Booze gifts get re-gifted.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie.

16. Lights on the tree?
The tree is pre-lighted. Thankyewverymuch.

17. Favorite Christmas song?
“Santa Baby," the Eartha Kitt version.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
Every year I drive to my sister and brother-in-law’s place in Delaware. That’s where my father’s clan gathers for the holiday. I love it. It's not that big a schlep -- about an hour and a quarter each way, turnpike driving all the way.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
You’re kidding, right?

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
A fancy-schmancy ornament I picked up about five years ago at the Museum of Modern Art store on East 54th Street.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Morning. It’s more “Christmasy.”

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
Crowds and holiday commuters on the trains. They all walk around the east side of Manhattan, especially around Rockefeller Center and it’s ubiquitous tree, with both feet planted firmly in mid-air and totally unaware of how they’re blocking traffic.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
I got a collection of great ornaments at the MOMA store that are pretty gay. Glass red ruby slippers, a Kodak camera, etc. Tchotchkes like that.

24. What do you want for Christmas this year?
Got it. I stayed sober for another year and got drenched in love every day.

25. Describe how you would celebrate the holidays if it was totally up to you and money was not a factor.
Fly my family and friends overseas and celebrate ‘CHRISTMAS IN TAHITI’! Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about.

12 Years A-Sober

I just leapt (like the Lords in the song) through my 12th Sober Christmas. This week, God willing, I'll squeak through my 12th Sober New Years.

Not bad, considering I thought my life was over except for the dying part, 12 years ago.

That first sober Christmas was a scarey time. My friend Bev sent me an Advent package of little toys and goodies -- which meant the world to me. Every little thing in that package said "somebody cares" to me. This, at a time, when I didn't even care for myself. Bev and I have known each other since 1994 -- when we met on-line in CompuServe's Issues forum. She was a Section Leader and, later, a SysOp. I thought she was a nice lady.

She was. She is.

By the time my second sober Christmas came along, I was able to spend the day (mostly) with my family.

And now, I look forward to spending the day with them. They don't push any buttons. That's mostly because this family, which is not my family of origin, has no ideas where my buttons are -- they didn't install them.

This Christmas was the best yet. The former kids have all grown up, gotten married, and had kids. The grand-nieces and grand-nephews are at the perfect age (4-10) and still enthralled by the magic of Santa Claus.

Come to think of it, so am I. Santa brought me sobriety. Santa brought me Bev. Santa brought me hope. Santa brought me 11 years and 9 months of continuous sobriety. Santa brought me love.

It's good to be alive and to still believe in magic.

Belief

It's a really big deal at this time of year for people to believe in something. Ask anyone.

For example: certain hard-core, anti-gay, types believe that I am going to hell. Furthermore, they believe that *I* should believe I'm going to hell, too. You see, it's not enough for them to believe it. It's absolutely essential that everyone else believe it, too. Especially me. And people like me. People who don't believe what they believe. People like me who believe that there is a God, but it's not their God. People like me who believe that God doesn't make garbage, and doesn't make mistakes, and doesn't dream up various "gifts" for human beings to spend a lifetime "trying to overcome."

I believe that people are free to believe pretty much whatever they want to believe. From a guy who floats around on a cloud all day, surrounded by Seraphim and Cherubim, to the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus.

I also believe that I am under no obligation whatsoever to share in anyone elses sun-drenched, half-baked, crackpot beliefs. And nobody is under any obligation to believe in mine.

But I am entitled, despite anyone's beliefs, no matter how "core" those beliefs might seem to them, to share, on a fully equitable basis, in the contractural life of America -- and that includes the ability to contract with another individual for our mutual love and protection, i.e. "marriage."

There is no wiggle-room in there for anything else. Especially belief.

Merry Whatever It Is That You Believe!

Straight to Hell - Part I

Apparently the following billboard is causing quite a stir in New Zealand. Let's see if anyone notices it here!

Christmastide - 2009

I used to blog regularly -- well, fairly regularly. Owell. I've posted this before, but it never hurts to see it again.

Merry Christmas to all.

New York State Senate - Cowardice In Action

Here's how it went down in the New York State Senate yesterday (my apologies and thanks to my friend Rob Byrnes, from whose website this is directly lifted):

Friends of the LGBT Community:

Eric Adams (D)Neil Breslin (D)Martin Malave Dilan (DTom Duane (D)Pedro Espada (D)Brian Foley (D)Ruth Hassell-Thompson (D)Craig Johnson (D)Jeffrey Klein (D)Liz Krueger (D)Velmanette Montgomery (D)Suzi Oppenheimer (D)Kevin Parker (D)Bill Perkins (D)John Sampson (D)Diane Savino (D)Eric Schneiderman (D)Jose Serrano (D)Malcolm Smith (D)Daniel Squadron (D)Toby Ann Stavisky (D)Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D)Antoine Thompson (D)David Valesky (D)

Enemies of the LGBT Community:

Joseph Addabbo (D) — NO James Alesi (R) — NO Darrel Aubertine (D) — NO John Bonacic (R) — NO John DeFrancisco (R) — NO Ruben Diaz (D) — NOHugh Farley (R) — NO John Flanagan (R) — NO Charles Fuschillo, Jr. (R) — NO Martin Golden (R) — NO Joseph Griffo (R) — NO Kemp Hannon (R) — NO Shirley Huntley (D) — NO Owen Johnson (R) — NO Carl Kruger (D) — NO Andrew Lanza (R) — NO Bill Larkin (R) — NO Kenneth LaValle (R) — NO Vincent Leibell (R) — NO Tom Libous (R) — NO Elizabeth Little (R) — NO Carl Marcellino (R) — NO George Maziarz (R) — NO Roy McDonald (R) — NO Hiram Monserrate (D) — NO Thomas Morahan (R) — NO Michael Nozzolio (R) — NO George Onorato (D) — NO Frank Padavan (R) — NO Michael Ranzenhofer (R) — NO Joseph Robach (R) — NO Stephen Saland (R) — NO James Seward (R) — NO Dean Skelos (R) — NO William Stachowski (D) — NO Dale Volker (R) — NO George Winner (R) — NO Catherine Young (R) — NO

Note the number of (D)'s who voted against us: Addabbo, Aubertine, Diaz, Huntley, Kruger, Monserrate, Onorato and Stachowski.

If you live in New York State, keep all these folks in mind the next time somebody wants your handshake, your cash and your vote.

Gay Marriage and New York State

I posted this under my real name on my Facebook page, but I think it's worth repeating in the blogosphere:

"[I] think[s] that New York State legislators continue to exhibit all the spine and rectitude they have exhibited ever since they sat out the vote on Independence in 1776."

In other words, they were wimps then, and they're wimps now.