SwimFinsSF

Why Marriage Matters

Tags: aclu, gay, gltb, prop8, video

Third Grade Gay

Tags: gay, gltb, prop8

So excited and Proud

This just went up to Apple’s Website today… I couldn’t be more thrilled and proud right now

No on Prop 8

October 24, 2008

Apple is publicly opposing Proposition 8 and making a donation of $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign. Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8.

Tags: apple, equality, gltb, prop8

Charming

So it seems the yes on 8 folks have taken to blanketing neighborhoods with their signs.. My mother woke up this morning to find every yard in her Sacramento suburb neighborhood with a Yes on 8… *sigh*. Needless to say she was disgusted. I guess the next interesting test in her neighborhood will be how many people pull down the signs (and burn them).

It really amazes me the ends people will go to see to it that I’m denied basic rights. I just hope that the No on 8 folks are acting with respect even when dealing with the other side cuz in my book the ends don’t justify the means. We gotta treat everyone with respect even when we disagree - after all, isn’t this what its all about?

happy friday!

Tags: gay, gltb, Politics, prop8, sacramento

Time to Step up

It was bound to happen… As we get closer and closer to the election the ads and tactics get worse and worse. I kind of expect that but every year it takes a new ugly turn. The thing I don’t expect (though why I don’t escapes me) is the direct correlation between the amount of money spent and the success of a particular candidate or initiative. I guess I was raised with this twisted idealized view of America that is based around an assumption that the system protects the rights and freedom of every individual, people educate themselves to vote for what is right and fair for all Americans, and that the whole process will happen with integrity. Like many things in life, as we mature we discover the world isn’t as perfect as we’d like but even still I’ve managed to keep a pretty positive attitude about our system of government. Poor choices are made during the process but i hoped they were made with the best of intentions. (Amazing that I could do that given the last 8 years huh? but i won’t digress).

All that said, this current race is really testing my faith in the system and the people of this country… Proposition 8 on the California ballot in particular is very close to me as a Gay man in San Francisco. To me its fairly black and white. Kevin and I have been together for more than 9 years (more than many other couples i’ve known, gay or straight). Part of this relationship is being able to formalize with our friends, family, and others how much we love and mean to each other and be able to expect that the laws of the land will help us protect and help each other throughout our lives. This has nothing to do with any other couple.. This has to do with being there for each other through sickness and health.

Simple - right? Not so much… There are people around who don’t believe that two men or two women should marry based on personal or religious beliefs. Thats fine. If you don’t believe in same sex marriage then don’t marry someone of the same sex.

Again - simple right? Nope. These people also don’t believe that Kevin and I should have the right to marry with the same rights that they do. But even that I can deal with (begrudgingly). What I can’t deal with, and what is making me begin to loose faith in the political system that I hold dear, is that they’re willing to spend ridiculous amounts of money spreading DOWN RIGHT LIES to support their case. Right now there are literally MILLIONS of dollars pouring in from around the country (a very large percentage from outside of California) to spend money on TV Ads that are just outright lies expecting people that will believe these out of hand without thinking or checking… And, the sad thing is, history has shown that people will.. The more money the have the more eyes they can put these deceitful ads in front of…

Current polls are showing over $25 million coming in from around the country to support this proposition and the polls are beginning to show that it is gaining steam. This absolutely breaks my heart. It kills me on so many levels. That people could be so dishonest. That others will believe these lies without thinking .. And, most importantly, that people believe that Kevin and I deserve any less happiness and security than any other couple in the world..

So this leads me to my request. I know elections shouldn’t come down to cash… But they do… and the No on 8 folks ( http://www.NoOnProp8.com/) need our help… So if you can spare even the smallest amount I would really appreciate it… Even if you’ve given already… Kevin and I gave at the HRC dinner this summer and I thought that was enough.. but its not.. so we just dipped into our pockets again yesterday to help out….

Sorry for the rant… And, more importantly, thanks to EVERYONE that can help… Seriously… no really… :):)

http://www.NoOnProp8.com/

Tags: california, gay, gltb, prop8

Call for help

I’m sharing this in hopes that someone out there might have some information that will help solve this.

Upon leaving our Bay of Pigs event at 535 York Street, San Francisco
at approximately 2:00am Sunday morning July 27th, one of our patrons
was brutally attacked and stabbed repeatedly. He was walking west on
Mariposa, when he was jumped by a group of three Asian men
walking east on Mariposa. The men were apparently speaking Chinese, and
they were accompanied by three Asian women. We believe the attack was a
hate crime. Luckily, he returned to the venue where our medical and
security teams were able to rush him to the hospital. He is in stable
condition.

We are writing to see if you or anyone you know has any information that
may lead us to the attackers. If so, please contact Inspector Brian
Danker - SFPD at 415.553.9256. Folsom Street Events cares deeply about
the health and well-being of our community members. Please help us to
look out for one another and help us bring closure to this dreadful incident.

Folsom Street Events

There is a special place in hell reserved for these kind of people

Tags: crime, events, Giggles, gltb, help

Ellen DeGeneres Discusses The Recent Tragic Death

Couldn’t say it better myself…

Tags: ellen, gltb

Acceptance or Phobes

Ok.. So maybe I’m being too sensitive.. but i’ve seen a couple of things in the media lately that have really bugged me.. The first is this video floating around by Jimmy Kimmel as a response to the I f-ed Matt Damon video that his lady did (I’m not gonna link to it but just search YouTube and you’ll find it). So I know its intended to be funny and they’ll say they didn’t mean anything by it.. But to me it came across an awful lot like white actors doing black face back in the day.

The other case was on Make me a Supermodel (I’ve gotten sucked into it by Kevin - kind of like watching a train wreck..). Last night there was a scene where one of the guys decided to start calling two of the other guys on the show gay and women. There is a lot of back story that makes it not entirely surprising that it happened - this guy seemed to be having his masculinity threatened by some of the modeling stuff and having his gay roommate hitting on him. But regardless the producers and editors found it an interesting thing to show but kind of presented it in a ‘well thats not cool but its no big deal’ kind of way which I thought was shitty. It really rung awful similar to people calling us ‘fag’ in high school and then brushing it off…

It just feels some times like because we’ve gotten some more acceptance in the media we’ve also made it OK to parody but they haven’t quite figured out when parody is actually funny and when its just obnoxious…

Anyway - I’m probably just being silly but it bugged me…

Tags: gay, gltb, media