The Rainbow Agenda

Remember yesterday when I mentioned that I’m moving the site? Well, I’m done and the new diggs are awesome. The changes to the blog have been made at the new site, so head on over and check it out.

Major Changes Afoot

Yup, I’m making some major changes here. First is that no longer will I be blogging completely anonymously. I won’t be giving my full info, but for now, my name is Ryan. Second is that I’m moving this blog to my own website. I’m still getting setup over there, just think of it as getting things unpacked in my new diggs (and they’re sweet ones too!). So it’s not available just yet, but don’t worry, it will be soon, and I’ll post to update here once it is. Also with the move I’m going to change the focus of the blog slightly. It’s still gonna include my trademark gay rights activism thoughts, but it will also voice my opinions for other things that I feel are important (such as poverty, aids, etc..).

Oh, and I guess I’ll slip some secret stuff. I’m lining up some really cool things to be published in the coming weeks on the new blog. I won’t detail this all just yet, but don’t worry, it’s coming.

Happy Holidays

I guess I’m a little late in wishing all you readers good tidings, but no matter, it’s never too late for anything. Anyway as a blanket statement I would like to wish you all a Happy Holidays. For those of you celebrating the Christian holiday Christmas, I would like to wish you and yours a Happy Christmas. Also a Happy Hanukkah and Kwanzaa to their respective audiences.

This time of year is one of peace and joy, and I hope that those feelings pervade any others as we move closer to the New Year and that we may start the new year fresh and it will be a good opportunity to move towards real equality and make the world a better place for future generations.

God Doesn’t Hate Gays …

… according to Godmarks. Godmarks is a group in New Zealand that is putting up signs and billboard with ‘messages’ from God. These messages are meant to get people thinking about God and providing a positive face to Christianity, something that they desperately need now a days because of how so many Christians are ruining the public image of the religion. The full message regarding gays is: “Contrary to popular belief I don’t hate anyone who’s gay”. Now if only those that God created in his image followed the mold than the world would be a much better place.

P.S. Anyone know how we can get something like this started up in the United States?

Arkansas Governor Flames Gay Marriage

In a report from Pine Bluff Commercial Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, among other things, attacks Gay Marriage, saying that it “[wreaks] havoc on the institution of marriage itself”. He goes on to define marriage as “a permanent relationship between a man and a woman for life”. If that is the way that he feels than he shouldn’t be just attacking Gay Marriage, but as Matt Hill suggests he should be directing his comments towards the “Hollywood” and similar “one-night” marriages.

Gay Homeless Youth

It is a sad world we live in when there are so many homeless youth, no matter if they are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or even straight. This is even worse when about 42% of them were kicked out of their homes by parents or guardians on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. I realize that not very many LGBT youth have the advantage of having a supportive and open minded family as I and many of my friends do, but it is still very sad.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Coalition for the Homeless published a report documenting the number of LGBT youth that are homeless. According to the report there are between 570,000 and 1.6 million homeless youth, meaning that there are up to 672,000 LGBT youth without a home. The report calls this an epidemic, and it surely is because it has only grown drastically over the past few years because of the ever increasing attacks on LGBTs from politically conservative and religious groups, causing more and more parents to turn on their children as they come out and force them out of their homes.

One gay youth from Colorado admits to going on gay websites to look for a place to spend the night, offering himself as a means of payment for the room.

You can read the official press release, an interesting take on it from Matt Hill, and a news report from Newsday

Christmas in Gayville

I’m sure that many of you have heard of The Grinch and his classic story of stealing Christmas from the people of Whoville. Well, someone has decided to rewrite the story to reflect the current opposition to Gay Marriage.

Every Gay down in Gayville liked Gay Marriage a lot……
But the Grinch, who lived just east of Gayville, did NOT!!

The Grinch hated happy Gays! The whole Marriage season!
Now, please don’t ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
It could be his head wasn’t screwed on just right.
It could be, perhaps, his Florsheims were too tight.
But I think the most likely reason of all was
His heart and brain were two sizes too small.

“And they’re buying their tuxes!” he snarled with a sneer,
“Tomorrow’s the first Gay Wedding! It’s practically here!”
Then he growled, with his Grinch fingers nervously drumming,
“I MUST find some way to stop Gay Marriage from coming!”

For, tomorrow, he knew… All the Gay girls and boys
would wake bright and early. They’d rush for their vows!
And then! Oh, the Joys! Oh, the Joys!

And THEN they’d do something he liked least of all!
Every Gay down in Gayville the tall and the small,
would stand close together, all happy and blissing.
They’d stand hand-in-hand. And the Gays would start kissing!

“I MUST stop Gay Marriage from coming! …But HOW?”

Then he got an idea! An awful idea!
THE GRINCH GOT A WONDERFUL, AWFUL IDEA!

“I know what to do!” The Grinch laughed in his throat.
And he went to his closet, grabbed his sheet and his hood.
And he chuckled, and clucked, with a great Grinchy word!
“With this beard and this cross, I look just like our Lord!”

“All I need is a Scripture…” The Grinch looked around.
But, true Scripture is scarce, there was none to be found.
Did that stop the old Grinch…? No! The Grinch simply said,
“With no Scripture on Marriage, I’ll fake one instead!”
“It’s one man and one woman,” the Grinch falsely said.

Then he broke in the courthouse. A rather tight pinch.
But, if Georgie could do it, then so could the Grinch.
The little Gay benefits hung in a row.
“These bennies,” he grinned, “are the first things to go!”

Then he slithered and slunk, with a smile most uncanny,
around the whole room, and he took every benny!
Health care for partners! Doctors for kiddies!
Tax rights! Adoptions! Pensions and Wills!
And he stuffed them in bags. Then the Grinch, with a chill,
Stuffed all the bags, one by one, in his bill.

Then he slunk to the kitchen, and stole Wedding Cake.
He cleaned out that icebox and made it look straight.
He took the Gay-bar keys! He took the Gay Flag.
Why, that Grinch even took their last Gay birdseed bag!

“And NOW!” grinned the Grinch, “I will pocket their Rings.”
And the Grinch grabbed the Rings, and he started to shove
when he heard a small sound like the coo of a dove.
He turned around fast, and off flew his hood.
Little Lisa-Bi Gay behind him sadly stood.
The Grinch had been caught by small Lisa-Bi.
She stared at the Grinch and said, “My, oh, my, why?”
“Why are you taking our Wedding Rings? WHY?”

But, you know, that old Grinch was so smart and so slick
He thought up a lie, and he thought it up quick!
“Why, my sweet little tot,” the fake Shepherd sneered,
“The judges are evil, the other states weird.”
“I’ll fix the rings there and I’ll bring them back here.”

It was quarter past dawn… All the Gays, still a-bed,
all the Gays still a-snooze when he packed up and fled.
“Pooh-Pooh to the Gays!” he was grinch-ish-ly humming.
“They’re finding out now no Gay Marriage is coming!”
“Their mouths will hang open a minute or two
then the Gays down in Gayville will all cry Boo-Hoo!”

He stared down at Gayville! The Grinch popped his eyes!
Then he shook! What he saw was a shocking surprise!
Every Gay down in Gayville, the tall and the small,
was kissing! Without any bennies at all!
He HADN’T stopped Marriage from coming! IT CAME!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!

And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,
stood puzzling and puzzling: “How could it be so?”
“It came without lawyers, no papers to sort!”
“It came without licenses, came without courts!”
And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before!

“Maybe Marriage,” he thought, “doesn’t come from the court.
Maybe Marriage…perhaps… comes right from the heart.
Maybe Marriage comes from all the words the Gays say.
Words like Husband, like Wedding, and Spouse who is Gay.”
And what happened then…? Well…in Gayville they say
that the Grinch’s small brain grew three sizes that day!

And the Gays had their Weddings. They promised for life.
They swore to be faithful, to Wife and her Wife.
The Husbands were happy, to each other they vowed
To be Out and be Honest, be Gay and be Proud.
They told all their neighbors and friends of their Spouse,
They told of their Marriage and sharing their house.
They said “We got Married.” They shouted it loud.
Their marital status was “Married and Proud.”

And the minute his heart didn’t feel quite so tight,
He whizzed with his load through the bright morning light.
And he brought back the rings, cake and Gay birdseed bags!
And he… …HE HIMSELF… hung the Gay Rainbow Flag!
…
The Lord looked down, at the proud and the tall,
and said “These are my children, and I love them all.”

Gay Families

The concept of a traditional family (a mother, father, son and daughter) is something that has eluded gay and lesbian couples and will continue to do so because it’s not something that is truly possible. John Bowe wrote a very interesting, and detailed account of these Gay and Lesbian families and the troubles they can encoutner titled Gay Donor or Ga

Science of Sexual Orientation

Earlier this morning I came across this article from CBS’s 60 Minutes titled The Science of Sexual Orientation. It’s a pretty interesting article and provides alot of evidence supporting the idea that people are born gay and do not choose. Taking some of it into consideration for my own life I realized that almost none of the ‘rules’ of the chances of being gay apply to me. For example, I do not have any older siblings. This is a subject that will be the focus of many a debate in the future and if you have any interest in the topic I recommend reading the article.

Election 2006

Well, now the election is over we can sit back and see how the country will change as the new senators and congressmen and women take their seats and new laws are written into state constitutions. Of course I’m going to focus on the gay-related results.

Victories:
Well, we’ve now got a strong force in both the Senate and House as well as state governors. According to the Human Rights Campaign we have won 18 pro-gay Senate seats, 179 House seats and 11 Governorships. Also Arizona voters made history with the only defeat of a gay marriage ban in the election.

Loses:
Despite the gains there were a few negative results from the election. Seven of the eight states that had a ban on gay marriage passed the initiative. Also 16 pro-gay candidates lost their races.

Undecided:
Lastly there are obviously going to be some races that are too close to call at this point, namely a Senate seat for Virginia and a House seat for New Mexico as well as a few state legislatures.

All in all I think that the voters did a good job with things. Although there were marriage bans passed, with the force we now have in the Senate and House we should be able to work for something better.