44 years ago today, the Stonewall riots happened. What a glorious day for those that fought and worked so hard to regain equality in California!
http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/28/justice/california-same-sex-marriage/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Friday, June 28, 2013
PROP 8 is DEAD on Stonewall Anniversary
California has legalized marriage equality now! 9th circuit lifted the stay and now Cali is lucky number 13!
44 years ago today, the Stonewall riots happened. What a glorious day for those that fought and worked so hard to regain equality in California!
http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/28/justice/california-same-sex-marriage/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
44 years ago today, the Stonewall riots happened. What a glorious day for those that fought and worked so hard to regain equality in California!
http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/28/justice/california-same-sex-marriage/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Summer time!
My event company just picked up Summertramp, a club event during the day with water slides and pools served alongside djs and booze. It's a blast, but we'll see how great it is now that it's under new management and at a new venue.
I'm grateful to be leaving for Berlin soon. Europe always ends up revitalizing me in a way I cannot explain. But the energy there and life in Europe just excites me. Now I feel like packing...
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
We Already Won
I am really proud to be an American.
I do bitch to high hell when stuff/politics are not going my way, but I really do love this country. Sometimes it takes a foreigner, in this case an Aussie, to remind you of why the place we grew up is still amazing.
When I was in Berlin, I met up with a new friend: Irene. She had moved to Berlin from Down Undah and had traveled a fair bit, so I trusted her opinion on world affairs and politics. I was complaining to her, over German beer, no doubt, about America and how long our government and society take to actually change.
In particular, I referenced marriage equality. I was pissed that it had taken so long for America to embrace the concept that gay people are just like them. That all Americans deserve to be treated equally. And that includes gay people. (Despite whatever they think their religion might tell them.)
She looked at me dead in the eyes and said, "I think you should be proud of America."
I looked at her surprisingly. When I lived in Australia in 2004, George Bush was at the reigns of this country and Australians were not happy with America 'dragging them into' the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
She continued: "In your country, in how many states can you get married? In my country, we can't get married in ANY state. At least your country has recognized that parts of your country are not happy with the way the system is, so they've changed it."
I had never thought of that. I was too busy seeing the glass as half empty.
In reality, it is kind of quite amazing that nearly 20% of ALL Americans now live in states where marriage equality is legal.
Last fall, Washington, Maine, and Maryland became the first governing bodies (countries or states/regions)in the world to have their population vote by majority FOR marriage equality/gay rights.
The Boy Scouts now allow openly gay members. America has new, openly gay ambassadors, including the ambassador to Australia.
The point is, we ARE advancing. We are progressing. Maybe not as fast as I and others would like. But we are evolving as people.
Tomorrow is a huge day. Millions of lives will be effected by the outcome of the Supreme Court's rulings on DOMA and Prop 8. Friends of mine are seeing the writing on the wall and thinking that we do not have a chance. That this current Court is too conservative to rule in our favor.
Either way, I bet California will win equality tomorrow. I bet Edie Windsor will get her money back. Even if those two things are all that we accomplish, we will have moved mountains.
I have faith in my country that we will progress tomorrow.
all my luv,
K
(Irene, I'm sorry if I misquoted you, but I had waaay too many Deutsche Biere that night! The point is, you were right. And I've never been prouder)
I do bitch to high hell when stuff/politics are not going my way, but I really do love this country. Sometimes it takes a foreigner, in this case an Aussie, to remind you of why the place we grew up is still amazing.
When I was in Berlin, I met up with a new friend: Irene. She had moved to Berlin from Down Undah and had traveled a fair bit, so I trusted her opinion on world affairs and politics. I was complaining to her, over German beer, no doubt, about America and how long our government and society take to actually change.
In particular, I referenced marriage equality. I was pissed that it had taken so long for America to embrace the concept that gay people are just like them. That all Americans deserve to be treated equally. And that includes gay people. (Despite whatever they think their religion might tell them.)
She looked at me dead in the eyes and said, "I think you should be proud of America."
I looked at her surprisingly. When I lived in Australia in 2004, George Bush was at the reigns of this country and Australians were not happy with America 'dragging them into' the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
She continued: "In your country, in how many states can you get married? In my country, we can't get married in ANY state. At least your country has recognized that parts of your country are not happy with the way the system is, so they've changed it."
I had never thought of that. I was too busy seeing the glass as half empty.
In reality, it is kind of quite amazing that nearly 20% of ALL Americans now live in states where marriage equality is legal.
Last fall, Washington, Maine, and Maryland became the first governing bodies (countries or states/regions)in the world to have their population vote by majority FOR marriage equality/gay rights.
The Boy Scouts now allow openly gay members. America has new, openly gay ambassadors, including the ambassador to Australia.
The point is, we ARE advancing. We are progressing. Maybe not as fast as I and others would like. But we are evolving as people.
Tomorrow is a huge day. Millions of lives will be effected by the outcome of the Supreme Court's rulings on DOMA and Prop 8. Friends of mine are seeing the writing on the wall and thinking that we do not have a chance. That this current Court is too conservative to rule in our favor.
Either way, I bet California will win equality tomorrow. I bet Edie Windsor will get her money back. Even if those two things are all that we accomplish, we will have moved mountains.
I have faith in my country that we will progress tomorrow.
all my luv,
K
(Irene, I'm sorry if I misquoted you, but I had waaay too many Deutsche Biere that night! The point is, you were right. And I've never been prouder)
Monday, June 24, 2013
SUPPORT
It is interesting to me to see how complacent people have become.
That and I question if people really understand what it means to "support" one another. In the digital age, what does support mean? How do we reach out to friends that we see on a daily basis on a social media site, that live 2000 miles away?
The Supreme Court hands down its decision on two landmark cases this week: The fate of Proposition 8 and the fate of the Defense of Marriage Act.
When oral arguments were presented for these cases in March, the Human Rights Council and millions of Facebookers changed their profile pictures to Red Equal signs in representation of Marriage Equality and equal civil rights.
Now that these cases will be ruled upon within the next few days, George Takei took to his Facebook page to ask his followers to once again go RED (change profile pics to the red equal sign).
I took this and ran with it. I immediately changed mine then reached out to probably 20 friends to change their profile pictures. I reached out to my 3 best friends to change theirs as well. Within minutes, 5 friends and two of my best friends changed their profile pics immediately. They know that gay rights are a big issue with me and they wanted to support me.
However, my main best friend- a gay man- did not. He waited several hours then text me that he didn't want to change his picture because he doesn't like fads. I told him that this is a movement, not a fad, and a chance for him to involve himself in something amazing. But I reiterated how important it was to me.
He said he would "check it out" but with conditions: that if he did change it, that it would only be up for a week and that he wasn't going to check his FB until later that day. He wasn't going to "spend his summer online".
So he goes online, within an hour, and teases me about all my posts about equality. Then he questions whether I've spent all day online...
So today, he texts me that he posted a link to my blog (which is my personal blog and isn't all about marriage equality) and writes or says nothing about his posting. In fact, my blog, this blog, has lots more than just equality postings. There are videos and pictures that aren't always so appropriate. So basically posting a link to my blog on his wall was useless and ineffective.
He said he doesn't like pushing things in people's faces. He said people do what they want to do and that he's learning that he isn't so passionate about gay marriage. (He lives in Washington now, a state that I personally fought to obtain marriage equality for.)
I said to him: "That is exactly how and why prop 8 passed in the first place. I appreciate the blog post but with no other comment or anything attached, it will get buried. Hence why we change our pictures.
You're right you cannot make people do what they don't want to do. You can only hope people will support you when you need and want it but at the end of the day it's you (me) who is at the reigns."
His answer? "Yeah with nearly 400 Facebook friends and only 20 of them have changed their pics, I don't know how effective your posts are."
Like him not supporting me wasn't already douchey enough.
He then goes on to say that it's "sad. a picture shouldn't represent support."
I'm sorry but when you love someone, you support them. Your friends do and say lots of crazy things. I don't think, however, that asking someone to change their Facebook profile picture is crazy or foolish.
I look at my BFF and wonder where the reciprocated support is from him. He's currently in a relationship that I knew/know nothing about other than what he has told me. He told me this guy, when they dated years ago, used to be a drug addict and got my BFF into drugs. This guy verbally and physically got into altercations with my best friend. All my best friend's friends in Washington do not like this guy and have told my friend over and over that they don't approve of the two of them dating. So much that my best friend hid it from many of his friends there when they started to date again last year.
Years later, my best friend is in a serious relationship with this same guy I mentioned above. He tells me the guy is changed. The guy is a born again Christian. That he is a new man that loves and respects him. He says he is 80% sure this guy is the ONE...
Since I'm his best friend, knowing all of this guy's history (or at least what my best friend has told me) how do I react? How do I handle this situation of the two of them in a serious relationship again?
I support them. I support my best friend. Not because its what I necessarily want to do. But because I love my best friend. I want him to be happy. Am I unsettled with memories of their past? Yes. Don't I always say that you should never re-date someone you broke up with since there was obviously a reason you broke up in the first place? You betcha! But this is my best friend. I support his decisions and I don't ask questions. I know he has to live and learn and grow. As do I.
No, a photograph is in no way a comparison to people and relationships. But I guess I'm just hurt that I blindly support my best friend with what he is passionate about and he couldn't do the same for me when all it was, was a photograph.
We all need support. Whether it's a hand, a hug, a handshake, a smile. The simplest things are those that matter most. There are certainly times to abstain from helping and supporting your loved ones. But this was not one of them.
His displaying the pic I asked him to would have been him supporting something I'm passionate about in the most minuscule, easy way he could do it.
Is it really that hard to change a picture for 3 days?
That and I question if people really understand what it means to "support" one another. In the digital age, what does support mean? How do we reach out to friends that we see on a daily basis on a social media site, that live 2000 miles away?
The Supreme Court hands down its decision on two landmark cases this week: The fate of Proposition 8 and the fate of the Defense of Marriage Act.
When oral arguments were presented for these cases in March, the Human Rights Council and millions of Facebookers changed their profile pictures to Red Equal signs in representation of Marriage Equality and equal civil rights.
Now that these cases will be ruled upon within the next few days, George Takei took to his Facebook page to ask his followers to once again go RED (change profile pics to the red equal sign).
I took this and ran with it. I immediately changed mine then reached out to probably 20 friends to change their profile pictures. I reached out to my 3 best friends to change theirs as well. Within minutes, 5 friends and two of my best friends changed their profile pics immediately. They know that gay rights are a big issue with me and they wanted to support me.
However, my main best friend- a gay man- did not. He waited several hours then text me that he didn't want to change his picture because he doesn't like fads. I told him that this is a movement, not a fad, and a chance for him to involve himself in something amazing. But I reiterated how important it was to me.
He said he would "check it out" but with conditions: that if he did change it, that it would only be up for a week and that he wasn't going to check his FB until later that day. He wasn't going to "spend his summer online".
So he goes online, within an hour, and teases me about all my posts about equality. Then he questions whether I've spent all day online...
So today, he texts me that he posted a link to my blog (which is my personal blog and isn't all about marriage equality) and writes or says nothing about his posting. In fact, my blog, this blog, has lots more than just equality postings. There are videos and pictures that aren't always so appropriate. So basically posting a link to my blog on his wall was useless and ineffective.
He said he doesn't like pushing things in people's faces. He said people do what they want to do and that he's learning that he isn't so passionate about gay marriage. (He lives in Washington now, a state that I personally fought to obtain marriage equality for.)
I said to him: "That is exactly how and why prop 8 passed in the first place. I appreciate the blog post but with no other comment or anything attached, it will get buried. Hence why we change our pictures.
You're right you cannot make people do what they don't want to do. You can only hope people will support you when you need and want it but at the end of the day it's you (me) who is at the reigns."
His answer? "Yeah with nearly 400 Facebook friends and only 20 of them have changed their pics, I don't know how effective your posts are."
Like him not supporting me wasn't already douchey enough.
He then goes on to say that it's "sad. a picture shouldn't represent support."
I'm sorry but when you love someone, you support them. Your friends do and say lots of crazy things. I don't think, however, that asking someone to change their Facebook profile picture is crazy or foolish.
I look at my BFF and wonder where the reciprocated support is from him. He's currently in a relationship that I knew/know nothing about other than what he has told me. He told me this guy, when they dated years ago, used to be a drug addict and got my BFF into drugs. This guy verbally and physically got into altercations with my best friend. All my best friend's friends in Washington do not like this guy and have told my friend over and over that they don't approve of the two of them dating. So much that my best friend hid it from many of his friends there when they started to date again last year.
Years later, my best friend is in a serious relationship with this same guy I mentioned above. He tells me the guy is changed. The guy is a born again Christian. That he is a new man that loves and respects him. He says he is 80% sure this guy is the ONE...
Since I'm his best friend, knowing all of this guy's history (or at least what my best friend has told me) how do I react? How do I handle this situation of the two of them in a serious relationship again?
I support them. I support my best friend. Not because its what I necessarily want to do. But because I love my best friend. I want him to be happy. Am I unsettled with memories of their past? Yes. Don't I always say that you should never re-date someone you broke up with since there was obviously a reason you broke up in the first place? You betcha! But this is my best friend. I support his decisions and I don't ask questions. I know he has to live and learn and grow. As do I.
No, a photograph is in no way a comparison to people and relationships. But I guess I'm just hurt that I blindly support my best friend with what he is passionate about and he couldn't do the same for me when all it was, was a photograph.
We all need support. Whether it's a hand, a hug, a handshake, a smile. The simplest things are those that matter most. There are certainly times to abstain from helping and supporting your loved ones. But this was not one of them.
His displaying the pic I asked him to would have been him supporting something I'm passionate about in the most minuscule, easy way he could do it.
Is it really that hard to change a picture for 3 days?
Sunday, June 23, 2013
GET RED EQUAL!!!!
Today, the king of facebook, aka GEORGE TAKEI, has asked us all to stand up for full equality and replace our FB profile pics with red equal signs.
It sounds like a simple taste that wont turn out any results, but the last time we all changed our profile pics in support, we started a movement of social media support. No where in the history of social media has there been such a vast movement in unison.
It was such a beautiful sight to see my facebook friends fill the newsfeed with my favourite color...
So please stand by me as your friend and change your pics! If you believe that love is for everyone and if you stand by equal rights for all, then this shouldn't be that big of a request.
Take a stand. Be part of the movement.
GO RED EQUAL!!!!
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Colombia confusion
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/no-weddings-day-gay-marriage-comes-colombia220613
Come on people now, smile on your brother
The gay community does not support each other.
If we put half us much energy as we do into classifying, compartmentalizing, labeling, and bashing each other as we did love and support one another, we probably would have equal rights across the board.
We have become so divisive and so separated that we have grown complacent.
The gay community needs to remember the message we have tried to reiterate to the rest of the world for decades:
Gay people come in all shapes and sizes from all walks of life. We should love and embrace our diversity.
When we learn to quit judging each other and start loving, we will have made ourselves as a community open to receiving the love we deserve.
It's about tolerance. It's about LOVE.
All my luv,
K
If we put half us much energy as we do into classifying, compartmentalizing, labeling, and bashing each other as we did love and support one another, we probably would have equal rights across the board.
We have become so divisive and so separated that we have grown complacent.
The gay community needs to remember the message we have tried to reiterate to the rest of the world for decades:
Gay people come in all shapes and sizes from all walks of life. We should love and embrace our diversity.
When we learn to quit judging each other and start loving, we will have made ourselves as a community open to receiving the love we deserve.
It's about tolerance. It's about LOVE.
All my luv,
K
Friday, June 21, 2013
Why do I care about gay rights?
I don't have the desire to marry another man. Probably ever. (Unless some Gyllenhaul-ian hottie got down on one knee....)
I don't have the desire to serve in the military as a gay man.
I won't enjoy any of the same tax or federal benefits as I am a single, gay man.
SO WHY GIVE A F#$& ABOUT MARRIAGE EQUALITY?
Because I grew up in a small town in Missouri where being gay was something to look down upon. Gay people were outcasts and fodder for ridicule. I knew I was gay deep inside me probably when I was around 10. (Or at least I knew I was different) I never saw a future for myself in that little town because gay people didn't have a future there. My future would have been one in hiding. One of misery. One of denying myself and denying that I was ok for being different than anyone else.
These were thoughts and feelings that I had engrained in me when I was a young child. The times have changed: you can't turn on a TV or look at the internet for even a day without another LGBT rights story on the news. Things have gotten better for people like me because of the gradual, societal shift in opinions and feelings towards gay people.
The reason why I rally, I protest, I have joined calling trees, called senators and representatives and have tweeted to thousands is quite simple:
If I can make one little gay child growing up in the midwest's life better then I have achieved something greater than myself. I helped that kid see that there is a world out there with people that will love them for exactly who they are.
Maybe society is changing because I have changed. I'm no longer complacent when it comes to my rights and in life. I push people to hear me and make them realize that there is still prejudice in the world. Maybe society has changed because we all have slightly evolved into being more accepting of one another's differences.
In less than a week, our highest court in our country will decide the fate of millions of Americans. Their ruling will cause a ripple effect across America. Will they give all lgbt people the right to marry throughout my home state of California and the nation? Will they block gays from getting married federally and stall the advancement of progressivism throughout the US?
Whatever they decide, I know the battle for full acceptance will never be over. But that's why I care about gay rights.
"Until we are all equal, none of us are free."
I don't have the desire to serve in the military as a gay man.
I won't enjoy any of the same tax or federal benefits as I am a single, gay man.
SO WHY GIVE A F#$& ABOUT MARRIAGE EQUALITY?
Because I grew up in a small town in Missouri where being gay was something to look down upon. Gay people were outcasts and fodder for ridicule. I knew I was gay deep inside me probably when I was around 10. (Or at least I knew I was different) I never saw a future for myself in that little town because gay people didn't have a future there. My future would have been one in hiding. One of misery. One of denying myself and denying that I was ok for being different than anyone else.
These were thoughts and feelings that I had engrained in me when I was a young child. The times have changed: you can't turn on a TV or look at the internet for even a day without another LGBT rights story on the news. Things have gotten better for people like me because of the gradual, societal shift in opinions and feelings towards gay people.
The reason why I rally, I protest, I have joined calling trees, called senators and representatives and have tweeted to thousands is quite simple:
If I can make one little gay child growing up in the midwest's life better then I have achieved something greater than myself. I helped that kid see that there is a world out there with people that will love them for exactly who they are.
Maybe society is changing because I have changed. I'm no longer complacent when it comes to my rights and in life. I push people to hear me and make them realize that there is still prejudice in the world. Maybe society has changed because we all have slightly evolved into being more accepting of one another's differences.
In less than a week, our highest court in our country will decide the fate of millions of Americans. Their ruling will cause a ripple effect across America. Will they give all lgbt people the right to marry throughout my home state of California and the nation? Will they block gays from getting married federally and stall the advancement of progressivism throughout the US?
Whatever they decide, I know the battle for full acceptance will never be over. But that's why I care about gay rights.
"Until we are all equal, none of us are free."
Thursday, June 20, 2013
So I was on Facebook today and came across this article.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2246312/Girl-7-beats-leukaemia-revolutionary-treatment-using-HIV-virus-wire-immune-system.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9738355/Emily-Whitehead-girl-whose-cancer-was-cured-by-HIV.html
I find it all so very fascinating. I brought up the subject tonight at work and our chef said something so crazy, it might be true: "Maybe that's why we have the AIDS virus...to cure Cancer..."
Maybe she is right...until then, the fights against Cancer and HIV/AIDS rages on.
Stay strong and healthy, Emily Whitehead!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2246312/Girl-7-beats-leukaemia-revolutionary-treatment-using-HIV-virus-wire-immune-system.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9738355/Emily-Whitehead-girl-whose-cancer-was-cured-by-HIV.html
I find it all so very fascinating. I brought up the subject tonight at work and our chef said something so crazy, it might be true: "Maybe that's why we have the AIDS virus...to cure Cancer..."
Maybe she is right...until then, the fights against Cancer and HIV/AIDS rages on.
Stay strong and healthy, Emily Whitehead!
Monday, June 17, 2013
Did you ever stop to think if you were on the right path with life? Just today a friend announced on Facebook that he has gotten engaged. I'm very happy for him and all, but I gotta ask:
What about me? I've been single for 6 years if you don't count the random guys I've dated for a month or two, here and there in that time. I've been on dates, been set up, and even been online: to no avail. I know exactly what and whom I want and I feel I'm ready for it. I've grown into the person I want to be, spiritually, and now want to share this life with someone.
A friend said she read somewhere that 65% of all soul mates are somebody you already know. Does this mean I have already met my "Mr. Right" and he is lurking somewhere amongst my friends lists? Or does this mean that I fall in the 35% of those wanderlusting?!
Until I figure it out, I think it's time to stop looking and start living more. Its time to delete the websites and dating apps. Time to engage in conversation more and put myself in situations that will allow me to challenge myself and evolve. Time to grow up and realize that the more I look doesn't necessarily mean I will find what I'm looking for. Sometimes, life finds you.
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