Pride month wrap up

Holy cannoli!  What a wild ride this month as been.  It is astonishing to me that it's been an entire month of pride and that it is now over.  I have a bit to catch up on, so we'll start with Saturday and the second pride I attended and we'll end with a bit of a wrap up of the whole month, okay?  Okay!

Welcome to pride in our city!  It's not much.  We don't have a parade or anything exciting like that, but we do have a street we shut down for a few hours!  Woohoo!

I found this queen interesting.  The sign basically was against a local food chain and this queen was all about being friendly, chatting it up, and being all excited about being at pride.  The outfit made my day!

The best part of our pride, and really the reason everyone goes, is because of the Drag Show!  We know how to put on a show here.  This was my favorite queen of the entire night.  I know the picture is kinda awful, but she was seriously awesome.

This was my warm fuzzy drag king.  We don't have many kings around here, but we actually had 2 king performances this year.  This one was YMCA (did the outfits give it away?) and not only did it have 2 kings on the stage together, the military man is the father of the police officer.  It is awesome to see parents encouraging their children.  They were also a fun performance.

This was a personal love of this performance.  The only queen to bring an interpreter up on stage with her!  And he did a kick ass job.  I loved it!  Absolutely loved it.

And of course, the reason I know our little pride is becoming something, protesters!  This is the first year we've had people come out and protest...

LOOK people holding signs!

And our way of dealing with protestors here?

Pride flags and chanting for them to go home.

So that wraps up our pride.  Small but awesome!


So to wrap up this month, Pride is important.  From George Takei to drag queens, safe sex, and even remembering that when our children come out you just need to breathe, Pride is important. Pride reminds us that it is okay to exist and there are other people out there who are just like you.  What more can you ask for in life than to know that you are not alone? 

In case that needs to be repeated... you are not alone. 

Until Next Time.

Compromises and other fun things

So today is the last Finish the Sentence Friday (FTSF) of Pride month!  Today's topic is The one thing I'll never compromise on is...  and this is a good one for pride!

So I started going through the list in my head of things that I really won't compromise on and that happened to also be about pride.  I realized that the most important aspect is the one I won't compromise on.  So my FTSF answer:

The one thing I'll never compromise on is being who I am.

photo credit: Photochiel via photopin cc

I have found, in my life time, that there is no reason to compromise who you are.  It is never worth it and in the end you always lose.  Just you, no one else.

I am not beautiful, I am not handsome, I am not rich, I am not super smart, but I am me.  And I am the only me that will exist in today's world.  Isn't that awesome?

I tried to hide myself when I was younger, merely out of a need to survive.  I needed to stay in the good graces of my religious family in order to make sure I had food to eat and the ability to freely move around.  I learned early on in life that you sometimes have to play by other people's rules, if nothing else than for survival.  During this time of growing up, I was not being who I was truly.  I was compromising myself in order to survive.

Fast forward a few years and suddenly I am compromising on the other side in order to have and keep friends.  I didn't realize at that time that friendship wasn't all give and no take, it was supposed to be a bit of give and a bit of take and a whole lot of really enjoying each other.  Instead I found myself pretending to hate straight people, pretending to be ultra femme, pretending to like this music or that.  Pretending to enjoy staying up all night and then having to go to work the next day.   So I was, once again, compromising who I was.

Then I met my partner and things started changing.  He didn't care about my past, nor my "friends", nor the bad habits I had picked up.  He let me just be when we were together, and I noticed a marked change in my behavior and the way I acted in general.  No more did I find that I was having to change who I was to fit in, to be friends with someone, to be romantic.  And it was nice.

Then I saw how he was with his friends, and suddenly it clicked.  With his friends, he came out to them pretty effortlessly.  Yeah, there was a bit of a worry, but he still did it.  He doesn't have a lot of contact with them anymore (because a lot of them have turned in to assholes) but he didn't worry about losing friendships.  He told his parents about a year and half into our relationship that we were together.  His mom was like "And water's wet, what's your point" and that was that.  It was amazing!  To see someone just be themselves, it was amazing.  It was also the reason I decided I couldn't compromise on who I was any longer.

Today there is a bit of a glitch in my plan to just be who I am.  While in reality I can be whomever I choose to be, my partner has a bit of a problem.  Damn living in a conservative state!  He has to compromise in order to keep his job.  But me?  I don't have to compromise any longer, and it's nice.  I am living the good life and a lot of it is because I don't have to hide who I am or who I love.
(editing to add that my Partner doesn't have to worry about being fired to us being together, as it's pretty obvious we have insurance together and his company knows.  He has to hide it because it's the bosses who make decisions and can get people fired.  His boss is a conservative, independent fundamentalist Baptist who proselytizes to people at work pretty constantly.   We don't like the game, but we play by the rules... at least until we can move!)

What will you not compromise on in your life?

Until Next Time.

And we keep marching on

People all over the united states are fighting the good fight to continue the momentum we have in gaining rights to marry.  Just today I learned of two more fallen bans!

Source

Congratulations to the people of Indiana.  It was decreed that they were to immediately allow marriage and in Indianapolis the county clerk was issuing marriage licenses within a couple hours.  I am so excited for the people up there who get to celebrate this pride month with a marriage!

Source

The other marriage news is kinda big, especially because it comes from a higher court.  The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Utah cannot ban same sex marriage.  using the 14th amendment as their basis for the ruling, Utah's same sex marriage ban was struck down.  however, the justices immediately put the ruling on hold so that it could be appealed.  But this is the case that is thought to be going to the Supreme Court as the big marriage case.

And this is huge.  HUGE I tell you.  The fact that these cases are falling left and right makes you hope that the Supreme court will see the rulings and the reasoning used in the lower courts to see the truth of the matter.



According to the 14th amendment of the United States of America:

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Basically you cannot deny someone in America something based on the fact that you find it icky or gross.  You cannot say that 2 consenting adults cannot get married simply because your God says they shouldn't be allowed.

So two more cases, two more victories.

Happy day!!!

Until Next Time!

Interesting quote

Happy Tuesday!

My Partner and I are trying to start our family, and have been for quite a while.  We have had very little luck in this department for a few years now, but we haven't given up.  Kids are important to us and we want quite a few in the end.

A while ago I was watching an interview (old interview!) of David Burtka and Neil Patrick Harris on Oprah's next chapter.  One of the things that was said in the interview has really stuck with me through the years and very much comforted me, and it's rather odd.  The quote was along the lines of "if you think about it, gay parents WANT their children.  They want them so much they are willing to do what they have to.." and then the person speaking got interrupted. Oprah had her AHA! Moment on that reality and it stands true.

When someone works so hard to have a child, they want that child.  They want to parent that child.

Anyway, this was my pride ramblings for today. 

Until Next Time!

Happy Pride!!

So Saturday, we attended a pride parade up in Columbus, OH.  It was Takei's pride and it was pretty damn awesome!  It was the first time my partner and I had been to an actual pride parade.  Our city just has a festival, not so much a parade.  The 2.5 hour parade was so diverse and so awesome!  It's amazing to see so many people who are just out there to live and let live!

I took quite a few pictures, but below I'll show just a few highlights from everything!

 

What is pride without hot men and drag queens?  This float was all about safe sex and remembering that you can be safe and still have fun!

 This was probably my favorite demonstration.  A nun riding a motorcycle with Jesus on the back.  I think my partner and I laughed for way too long after this demonstration went through.  It just sets to remind everyone that Jesus said nothing about gay people.  His only two commandments were "Love the Lord your God" and "Love thy neighbor as thyself". 

 This was pretty cool.  Unfortunately, I'm unsure what exactly these people were supporting, but the float people were attached in such a way that as the puppeteer moved, so did every part of the puppet.  It was awesome to see them all dance down the street!

I included this picture because I thought it was a unique advertisement.  The drag queen is holding the product, showing off that not only are they gay friendly but that they are here and willing to sell to you.  It stuck me as such a great idea to drum up business!

Of course with pride comes protesters.  What is an exciting event in a gays life without someone there shouting about how they are going to hell?

These assholes hung out at the corner where we were standing.  There was a lady who kept trying to get involved in the parade or stand across the street near us that was constantly being told that she could not be in the crowd.  She was not happy, but she kept going back over there.

This was at the end of the parade.  I'm pretty sure the city had to let them march, and thus they put them at the end.  The last float that went past kinda signaled that the crowd should follow him.  We hung back a bit, because one person in our group has a history of annoying protesters so he jumped at the chance to live up to his image.  He lived up to said image.

All in all pride was awesome!  Good people, good times, and hilarious entertainment.  We went to pride village after the parade but of course my phone died so I got no pictures there. We did get swag, which is always nice. 

The last picture from our pride experience.  Pretty fitting if you ask me!  (and yes, that is a real street sign, it was not created for pride or anything!)

Until Next Time!

Gearing up

So this whole month is about pride, and tonight I start the gear up towards the prides I'm going to, and I'm pretty excited!

Tomorrow we head out bright and early to attend a Pride with a few friends.  Pride here in our home city is next weekend, and then it's over.

I am really posting today to say that I probably won't post much tomorrow, but will hopefully catch you all up on the fun pride times on Sunday!!  I didn't want to let two days go by without a post.  I long gave up on posting every day, simply because life is a bit unpredictable at the moment and we are dealing with a lot on the home front.  But I still love this blog and all the writing it's afforded me.

So that said, tomorrow there will probably not be a post, but Sunday hopefully there will be a post AND pictures from pride!

Until Next Time!

Today's edition of why pride is needed

In today's edition of Why we still need pride, we focus of children of gay parents.  What rights and protections do you realize you have everyday with your own children?  Now imagine not knowing what is going to happen at any given moment because you have none of those rights.  That is the reality of being gay and a parent.

The story I read today was of Jason Hanna and Joe Riggs.  These men biologically fathered twins (one boy for each man).  These men want the surrogate's name removed from their child's birth certificate (with her blessing of course) and their spouses named placed on the cert.  They are legally married in Washington D.C, but because Texas has ruled they don't have to legally recognize marriages outside of their state these men are not recognized in the state of their residence.  The problem with this scenario is that they are in a scary legal spot, especially if something were happen to them while they are appealing the courts decision.

I don't think people understand this reality of gay marriage not being legal or recognized.  These men, while the legal father of one of the twins each, are not the legal father of the other.  While they can take steps to make sure their wills are updated, signed, and ready to go if anything were to happen, why should they have to?  Why should they have to take extra steps to ensure that their children can stay together if something were to happen to them?  Not only that, wills can be challenged by the biologically father's family.  And in Texas?  Those grandparents, aunts, or uncles might actually win. 

This is one more reason why we need to remember that pride is important.  Coming out and making sure you fight for your rights is important.  These men should not be worried about their children's future if something were to happen to them.  Very rarely, if ever, do you hear a straight couple talking about the steps they need to take to make sure if the mother dies, the father is able to keep the children together.  Even if those children are adopted OR from a surrogate.  Married parents are the default for the children if one of the spouses died.

This is just one more reason we need to keep fighting the good fight.  This is one more reason we need to keep the conversation going.  Parents don't need to have this worry added to their first few days of their children's lives.  Parents shouldn't have to make sure that their wills are updated the minute their children are born.  Instead of loving on their child every minute when they bring them home, the new parents have to worry that nothing happens to them between the time the child is born and the time they can get to the lawyers to fill out their new wills.  It's shameful in America.


Please remember that marriage about so much more than love.  Marriage is about protecting families.  Support marriage equality for all.

Until Next Time.

Continue to break down barriers

So I was sitting here, wondering what I was going to write about, when I found a link on facebook.  It was from queerty, so I clicked through and was utterly astonished and amazed.  The story is that of a historic right granted to a 12 year old boy in Alberta, Canada.

Read the story here

A small excerpt:

Marking a significant shift in Canadian law, a 12-year-old transgender boy in Alberta has been granted a new birth certificate officiating his status as male.

Are you kidding me?  A 12 year old boy gets to live his life as he always wanted to?  He gets to have his paperwork match his brain and body?  Holy shit, can we all celebrate a little?!  Think about how amazing this is!  Instead of saying "oh he's too young" or "my kid wanted to be a fish at 12", this young man gets to realize that people are listening to him.  People are not only listening, but allowing him to make changes to his paperwork and allowing him to live how he sees fit.  This is amazing!

Photo of a firework celebration! (c) Hawk

Do you realize the strides this makes to helping our T brothers and sisters?  The amount of rights denied to someone simply because they are transgender/transsexual/trans* is downright shameful.  Everyone has something to say about why these rights are denied, but I've yet to actually hear one that can be supported by evidence.  People are people and to deny them a right because of whatever prejudice you have against them is just not okay.  So let us continue to celebrate this young man's victory!

(c) Hawk

And to me, this is just another reason to love pride month.  This month is magical and makes you realize how awesome everything in the world can be if we just stopped being jackasses and begin to accept our fellow humans.  Stop the hate and start to love.  And celebrate.

(c) Hawk

Until Next Time!

I am not ashamed

The title of this post is very important.  I am not ashamed.  I am not ashamed of my past, of my present, and I hope to all that believe that I'm not ashamed of my future.  Pride is important cause it reminds us that we do not have to ashamed any longer.

Not long ago there were the Stonewall Riots.  So many people have no clue what these riots were about, so let me shed a little light on it for you.

Stonewall Inn 1969  CC BY-SA 3.0

The Stonewall Inn was in NYC and it was a premier place for GLBT people to go, back in a time when "gay bars" didn't really exist.  The problem was, in the 1960s, many places had "morality police" whose job it was to break up and arrest anyone that might be doing "gay things".  The Stonewall Inn thwarted the morality police by having looking outs, and paying off people within the police unit to tip them off when a raid was supposed to happen.  June 28, 1969, however, the Inn was raided and resulted in several people being beaten and arrested.  The police finally broke up the spectators who had come to see what was happening.  However, the next day more people arrived at the Stonewall Inn, protesting and sympathizing with the patrons of the Inn.

That was, reportedly, the first pride march.  After the Stonewall Riots people began to organize.  Gay rights began to be a "thing".  And more and more people began to stop hiding who they were/are and stepping out in the name of equal rights.

Because of the Stonewall Riots, I am not ashamed of who I am.  Because fate allowed people to band together, instead of being torn apart, I stand in June and march in the parade and I am proud.

Remember to always be proud of who you are, it's very important.

Until Next Time.

Happy Father's Day

So there is already an open letter to fathers from Friday (in case you missed it, click HERE)  and so for today I decided to not write anything of substance.  Instead, I'm going to link out to an article from the Advocate, celebrating the out and about famous dads!

Who would have thought, 20 years ago, that so many successful celebrities would be out and open about their sexuality.  But not only that, they also are having children at greater rates, and not hiding who they are having these children with!  Thank the heavens for such an advancement in reproductive technology. 

Anyway, here is the article and I hope those of you who are parents enjoy today! 

33 famous gay dads from The Advocate

One more reason I love pride

First off, thank you all who visited yesterday!  I had a record number of unique visits tot he blog... which was nice.  So yay!

My Partner asked me today what I was going to write about, and I was really struggling to come up with something.  I have a lot of things floating in my head, several started in drafts, but in all honesty nothing was coming to me as being interesting today.  So I decided to write about why I love going to Pride parades.  Yeah, not as riveting a post as it could be, but we'll all survive. 

photo credit: Adam Foster | Codefor via photopin cc

The biggest reason I love going to pride is because I see people who aren't afraid to be themselves. I know my partner and I aren't as relaxed out in public as we could be, but at pride we just don't care what other people see (for the most part).  Very rarely, at least here, do you see two people of the same sex who love each other who will hold hands in public, or lean against their significant other.  It's just not done, and a lot of that is fear.  Fear of people's reactions.  Fear of people screaming that you are shoving your gay "down their throats" (a phrase I still snicker uncontrollably when I hear.).  Fear that they will have to deal with a confrontation and it's just not worth it.  But at pride, you see people of all shapes and sizes, genders and races, acting like it's the most natural thing in the world to just be with each other.  I like that a lot about pride.

photo credit: DoNotLick via photopin cc

A lesser, but still kinda awesome reason I love pride, is the people themselves.  There are so many different booths set up at pride, things a lot of people have never even heard of, and it's all there to show their support for the GLBT community. You can find out information on churches in your area that support GLBT rights.  You can find businesses who have non discrimination clauses in their hirings.  You can find restaurants to support.  It is just amazing how many different aspects there are to pride and how much information you can find out about your community.

photo credit: Mike Slichenmyer via photopin cc

And last, but not least, Pride is just fun!  Even here, in a city that is pretty gay friendly, but a state that is solidly red, we have a blast at pride.  There are certain events everyone feels they must go to, and I agree.  The biggest being the drag shows!  What is more fun than queens on the stage lip singing to entertain you?  They take so much pleasure in their art and I can't help but take so much pleasure in watching their show.  But there is so much more than just that.  Here we have bands and singers who come out live, we have comics who entertain you, and then there is just the random hanging out that happens.  Meeting new friends, making new goals, and just hanging out knowing that you won't be judged for just being who you are.

Pride is an amazing thing to witness.  Even if you aren't in the GLBT community, I encourage you to find a pride somewhere near you this June and just get out there and enjoy yourself.  You will not regret it, I promise. 


Until Next Time!

FTSF and Father's day in pride month

So I stayed away from the mother's day FTSF post... and I thought about seriously staying away from the father's day post, but I figured since we are doing a pride month here, I can structure it to be pride oriented, and not so much about my parents.

But I am going to take this on a little journey, and throw it out there pride style.

Today's Finish The Sentence Friday post is "Dear Dad..."

Dear Dad,

Take a deep breath, it will be okay.  I know, when you first hear the words "I'm gay" your immediate reaction may be to freak out.  That is not okay.  First, take that deep breath.  That boy in front of you saying those words?  He's still your son.  That girl who now hangs her head after telling you?  She is your daughter in need of some reassurance.  Reach your hand out, embrace your child.  They have just shared with you something that is going to forever change their life.  It's okay to have mixed feelings on the subject.  It's okay to need time.  But remember, that person in front of you talking, that is the child you have raised.  That is your child.  The one who has looked up to you, has needed your help, has been with you since they were young.  And right now, they need you again.  They need to know that you got their back on this one.

Take a deep breath, it will be okay.  The child in front of you is still the same child that he has always been.  She is no different than she was yesterday, it's just now she trusts you to open up to you about her life.  Please don't push him away.  Please don't make her feel like she is less than she was yesterday.  This is still your child.

Take a deep breath, it will still be okay.  The world hasn't stopped spinning just because your kid came out to you.  The sun is still setting tonight, it will still rise tomorrow.  There will be no cataclysmic event just because those words "I'm gay" were uttered.  If you need to take a moment to yourself, that is okay.  Just don't make a big deal about it, she doesn't need to see that her father thinks less of her.  Feel free to talk about it, all of it, but make sure it's with the right person.  Your teen who just came out?  He is not the right person to dump your fears and bigotry on.  There are people in the world who have gone through everything you are going through, seek them out.  But remember, your child just trusted you enough to let you in on their secret, treat that with respect.

Sun through the ice covered trees.  (c) Hawk

Take a deep breath, the world is still turning and everything is still okay.  No one is expecting you to be superman, and you don't have to expect that out of yourself.  Rome wasn't built in a day, and you probably find that your feelings aren't sorted out in one either.  Embrace your feelings, all the while remembering your child shared their soul with you.  Treat that appropriately.

In closing, I just want to say that as long as you remember to breathe, the world will be okay.

This post is a part of the Finish the Sentence Friday blog hop.  Find out more below!

Why Pride is important...

Note: I had this set to publish yesterday... not sure why it didn't.  But here is yesterday's post!!!

Want to know why pride is still important?  Why it is still important for people to remember that it's okay to be whomever you are?  Because of people like Scott Esk.  Who is he?  Well, he is a tea party candidate from Oklahoma who put his true feelings out in the public view.

Read this bit of a facebook conversation... then continue with the article.

source

Did you read it?  Did you take the time and read the words that Scott Esk said?  In case you don't feel like clicking on the picture to read the words, let me quote them for you.  When asked if he feels we should excecute homosexuals, Scott Esk wrote “I think we would be totally in the right to do it. That goes against some parts of libertarianism, I realize, and I’m largely libertarian, but ignoring as a nation things that are worthy of death is very remiss,”

Oh yes, you read that right.  The problem is, he's not the only one who thinks this way.  Esk is not the only one who has ever said this, or will ever say this.  The "kill gays" bill of uganda?  Yes, totally helped by people here in America.  This idea that killing an entire subset of our population is a very scary thought!  This is why we need pride.  This is why we fight so hard to make sure that everyone understands we are here, we are queer, get over it!

So next time you hear someone complaining about not having "straight pride" parades or marches.. ask them when the last time someone running for office said it would be totally cool to kill them for just being straight.

Until Next Time.

Want to read the entire conversation of Esk on his FB page about gays?  I found my information here

Working it out

Ahh, I missed another day during pride month!  Why oh why???  I am having issues completing posts and I don't know why.  I have about 5 Pride month specific posts sitting in my drafts folder and I just can't bring myself to write anything about them, and I don't know why.  This is such a weird writers block that makes no sense!  So here is me trying to push through and write something. 

I was hoping there would be some exciting news in the gay world for this month.  I had high hopes, and have just been unable to find anything overly exciting.  I have already written about marriage, and right now that is the most exciting thing going on.  Every state is now under a challenge to their marriage bans, and I can't wait to see them all fall. 

Other than that, things are just a little quiet.  Hopefully I'll write more tomorrow.

Until Next Time!

Under my skin

I try not to let a lot of things get under my skin, but today people have succeeded in getting as far under there as you can go.  And why?  Well during a performance on the Tony Awards last night, Neil Patrick Harris, dressed as Hedwig, kissed his fiance, David Burtka, during a performance of Sugar Daddy from the musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch.  It was performance art at it's finest, mixed with a little real life, and people are freaking the fuck out over it!

This is under my skin because I know so many people who refuse to even touch their partners in public for fear of backlash.  Many people I know have experienced this backlash!  And this has to stop. People should be allowed to hold hand, put their arm around each other, hell even kiss if they so feel like it!  Let's all grow up a little, okay?

This post is short, but it's brought to you by me, being seriously cranky, so it's probably best that it's short! 

Get out there a love a few more people, okay? 

Until Next Time.

Pride month always includes the Tony's!!!!

Pride month always includes the Tony's and this year is no different!  The Tony awards are tonight, and just as a reminder, here is a clip from last years Tony's of Neil Patrick Harris reminding you that Broadway isn't just for gays anymore!  Enjoy!



Until Next Time!

Pride month continues...

oops, I missed yesterday and I am so sorry!  I was hoping to make it a full month, but alas, it did not happen.  I may try to post twice today to make up for that!  So on to today's post.

Today is the first Saturday of pride month, and it's a very special Saturday that I hope to one day get to participate in!  It's Gay Days at Walt Disney World!  For some reason the idea of taking my children to WDW on Gay Days makes me even more excited to have children some day in the future. 

Source

I first heard about gay days in a story I was reading several years ago, and I honestly thought the author had made up such a day.  My understand of Mr. Disney himself was that he was a homophobic, racist dickwad.  I've sense learned a bit more, but good ole Walt would not have been marching in any parade, let's just say that.  But Disney does have an "unofficial" gay day, which is the first Saturday of the month of June. 

On this day, hundreds, if not thousands of GLBT converge on the magic kingdom, many wearing red shirts in a show of solidarity, and they have fun.  A lot of people bring their children/family and the homosexual agenda is pushed forth once more.  (Oh wait, you aren't supposed to know that last part, so uhm, just forget it, okay?)

Look how far no longer hiding has taken people.  Look at how many people are willing to stand out and scream "I am not hiding anything, I am who I am" and do so at the happiest place on earth.  This is pride month people!  This is Pride.

You would think, as someone whose partner hails from Florida, that we would have gone in the years we've been together.  I mean, we've been to every other park FL can offer us, including the Potter theme park, but nope, we have never been to Disney together.  How does that even happen?!  But we will, I promise this problem will be rectified in our lifetime. 

And it will happen during gay days.


Until Next Time!

Thou Shalt Not Commit Logical Fallacies

What is a logical fallacy you ask?  Well I am so glad there is a great website with an awesome poster to help you figure this out!  Just check out This website and look around.  Need a better visual representation?  They even offer a poster for you. 

Source

So what has brought this to my attention?  The sheer amount of logical fallacies I see equating gay marriage to pedophilia and bestiality.  Let us get a few things straight, shall we?

First, marriage is the union of two consenting adults.  A child, you know those 12 year olds that everyone loves to throw in this argument, is not a consenting adult.  End of discussion!  Asking for rights to marry your partner, as an adult, is nothing like asking a child to marry an adult. 

Second, marriage is the union of two consenting adults.  A dog, or cat or bird or lion, is not a consenting adult.  End of discussion!  Asking for rights to marry your partner, as an adult, is nothing like asking a dog to marry an adult.

Gay marriage is the union between two consenting adults who happen to be the same biological sex, or the same gender (which are different, but we'll get there at a later date and time).  There are no children or dogs involved in the process.

Until Next Time.

Stay out of marriage!

Today's pride post is brought to you by:

 Marriage... a federally recognized institution that gives benefits to those who are married.

Marriage, for everyone.

Open source image

Today we were reminded that the courts do not divide it's people.  The Supreme Court refused to take on the marriage case in Oregon.  And many people cheered.  The highest court in America decided today that it wasn't going to stop marriage in a state.  It wasn't going to discriminate against it's people.  And more people cheered.

But of course, when people cheer, other's boo.  And I'm sure many people booed as well... and that's not my concern.  The idea that people want to use a personal belief to not allow other people to make their own choices baffles me.  I do not understand how you can say marriage is Biblical or traditional or any other number of things that exclude two consenting adults.

So today, we celebrate all the states that have overturned their gay marriage bans!  Today we celebrate the people who are working tirelessly to bring change to the whole world.  Today we join in rejoicing as more people can finally marry, and receive the benefits of that union, their partners.  Someday may it be ALL states that allow people to get married. 

Uganda's pride

There is always something that makes me stop and go "wow!". This year, and pretty much every year for the last few years, it has been the pride parades in Uganda. A country that now has a death penalty for homosexuals. A country where the President headed a "kill the gays" parade. Yet, these brave people still march, displaying their pride for who they are and what they believe.

I am shocked and amazed by them every year. So while today's post is short, sweet, and to the point, I highly recommend you take a moment and read about the pride parades in Uganda. How these people know that they are risking their very lives, and yet they get out there and let everyone know they are not ashamed of who they are! Take a moment and google them, you will thank me. You will be a better person to read about them.

Remember that June is the month for you to scream your pride at who you are from the tops of the roofs. Are you scared to let other people know? Take that leap of faith. You will feel so much better.

photo credit: torbakhopper via photopin cc

Starting pride month off right!

So we are going to start pride month celebrations off right.  This video has gone viral and I think with good reason.  I am not one who enjoys seeing children being exploited, but I feel that this family is pioneering a great cause and sharing Ryland's story is going to hopefully help so many people, so many families.

This video shows the unconditional love between a family.  Parents who were faced with a deep and personal decision.  Parents who were watching their child struggle, who sought help for them, and then came to the conclusion that the only thing left to do was let that child be, let that child live, according to his wishes.

Their tagline speaks so much about them.  "We signed up to be parents, no strings attached".  I wish more children could have parents like this, parents who care.

So watch the video and tell me what you think!

Happy Pride Month!!!

photo credit: torbakhopper via photopin cc

Happy Pride Month!  Remember, it's okay to be who you are and be proud of that!  In the words of RuPaul "If you can't love yourself, how the hell you gonna love anybody else?  Can I get an AMEN??"  Amen.