quite insane and hilarious and distressing all at once:

ashcroft and the bush administration are actually saying that they were HELPING someone they called a 'person of interest', which ruined his reputation and career, in the anthrax investigation of 2001 because, as they motion here, "Ashcroft's identification of Hatfill actually was an effort to "downplay" his status by making it clear he was not considered a suspect."
so calling him a 'person of interest' thereby downplays his possible role in the activity by saying he's not a suspect?!? what?!? givemeabreak! this is just ludicrous. how do they swallow this stuff?

is this my cousin???? scroll down.
(my father's side is from arkansas originally. hmm....)

whether this is a real attempt or just gossip about going after clarke, would anything surprise you from the bush administration anymore?
We have it on semi-reliable authority that the Bush administration's next attempt to discount Richard Clarke's credibility will consist of alleging that he's a big gay...
what else do you think might be meant by the following:
....unnamed officials were saying that Mr. Clarke "wants to make a few bucks, and that [in] his own personal life, they're also suggesting that there are some weird aspects in his life as well."

Jessie, always great with a camera, has some cute pictures of my niece below. This was from her trip here last November.





and check out how fast i read the newspaper everyday:

my page was down off and on over the last few days. sorry about that, guess the server was having trouble or whatever. i'm back now. here i am, ready to rock you like a hurricane.

ok, so let me get this straight.....
only a few months after almost becoming mayor of the City and upending local politics and damaging the local Democratic party and promoting green, green, green party crap
Gonzalez has decided to completely abandon city hall

ok, whatever, very strange indeed, especially since he only recently fought to win the presidency of the board of supervisors, and again, almost became mayor

but the real big news story to me is how the Chronicle got scooped on this major news story by the little-paper-that's-really-turning-itself-around, the Examiner. I mean, the Chronicle doesn't even has this story in today's paper or on it's website (and it's almost noon on Monday), and yet it's front page in the Examiner today. I know the Chronicle has prioritized local news lowly of late, but this is pretty bad reporting on their part. This is major news, and the Examiner got it. I've been thinking and saying this for a while now, the Examiner is really getting its act together and turning in great news, especially on the local front. The Chronicle better not get too complacent.

and again, Gonzalez is leaving City Hall after all the last year and everything? whatever.....

An ode to the library:

I can't imagine a school without a library. It was the refuge for many of us during our school days. In the library, you didn't have to be anything or say anything, which greatly diminished the odds of humiliating yourself in front of the straight-haired girls who were already wearing eye shadow. It was the one place where it was acceptable to sit alone....
The library was like the friend who embraced all your different incarnations, happily following your interest in Buddhism or muscle cars, but was always the same old friend.

I remember the library in my high school as being rather small and uninteresting, but I still always felt like it was one of the few places, outside of class, I could go in high school where I felt like I was taken seriously. I was the nerdy student that no one liked to hang out with or play with or socialize with, but when I was in there I felt a part of the school. It's not that I read a lot of books, I didn't, but I did enjoy looking things up, finding interesting magazines, or rummaging through an encyclopedia for hours on end just to find interesting facts or history or whatnot. And I would tutor in the library, where other students would come to me and we'd go over their homework together. Wow, a place where people and the culture valued my input in life, rather than picking on me anywhere else. I love the school library.

After high school, I still would go to the community library often for my continued interest in 'research' on my own. At that time I was addicted to Billboard Magazine's Top 40, and since the magazine was a trade magazine and incredibly expensive to subscribe to, the library was my saving grace in reading it each week. Every weekday night I would come into the library and the magazine area librarian would know exactly why I was there, and she would immediately let me know if the new week's edition had come in yet. If it hadn't, she'd know I'd be back the next night. If it had, I'd sit for hours and read.

I also researched Gay life at the library too. It was the fall of 1989 at that time and I had just turned 19. I knew I was Gay, and previously really hated it, but slowly around this time started accepting it little by little. But I was scared and really didn't know what it meant to be Gay. The library gave me a research outlet of my own. I scoured the 'homosexuality' and other related index cards in the card catalogue and read through every book I could find. I never checked them out (for fear), but I would find a quiet, secret corner table in the library and sit down and read, usually with several other books around to hide what I was reading. There were several fiction books by Gay authors there (pretty impressive when one considers that this was Independence, Missouri in 1989) and I could read stories about guys realizing they were Gay and finding love and so forth. There was also the nonfiction psychology books too. And then there were the Gay magazine articles I would research over the 80's, mostly in newsmagazines, talking about the politics of homosexuality or the politics of AIDS. I remember one magazine in particular (it might have been Newsweek) where they had a profile of a homosexual male couple on the cover and pictures of them in the article and showing the rings they exchanged for their relationship. That article really impacted me back then because I could see this couple together, in love, and they seemed ok. Of course all this research also felt a bit clinical, but still, it was information and I was learning what Gay was, in preparation for my own acceptance.

The library helped me grow. It helped me find acceptance. It helped me have a place where I felt welcome and not judged. I love the library.

Do you have library stories?

I'm still thanking Richard Clarke.

Thank you Richard Clarke. Thank you.

Picture it: June 1996, Washington DC, me a skinny young 25 year-old romantic, desperate for love and attention, not yet to have my met my boyfriend-soon-to-be-ex-who-broke-my-heart-and-for-
which-I-lost-all-interest-in-romance-and-love-thereafter:
And the country has begun debating the "Defense of Marriage Act" in Congress, because the conservatives are scared that same-sex couples will start marrying in Hawaii any minute.

At that time I feel so personally touched by the marriage debate, and become increasingly angered by the politics and the climate and the debates, and write many a letter to many a legislator in DC and in Missouri to state my concerns and anger. And at that time, I write an editorial on the issue for publication in local Gay papers, which inevitably doesn't get published by any of them.

But, as the country goes through the debate in a new and exciting way nowadays, I keep thinking about that article I wrote and what I said back when and how the country is moving slowly in better directions, but definitely needs help in moving in the right direction, and there's much to work on. And I continue to think about what I felt and thought and wrote back when. And I go through my old files from DC from the mid-90's, and find my article, and it's below:


The Struggle for Marriage is Unique

I want to get married. Yes, I truly do want to get married. I want to have all the glitter and trappings of a ceremony. My parents, his parents, my friends, his friends, my relatives, his relatives, our acquaintances, they will all come and participate in the joyous celebration of the love that we have found. We will plan out a life together and commit to that goal. We will be a married couple.

I used to scoff at the very notion of marriage. “I don’t want to get married,” I used to say. “That’s such a straight thing to do.” As a young college student, I believed in a more “free” existence where I would float through life from love to love, finding joy with several people. But I’ve grown past those thoughts and, after many years of self-reflection and soul-searching, I now realize that scenario will not work for me.

I have decided to search for that special someone with whom I will feel comfortable and enjoy sharing the rest of my life. Maybe that makes me sound pathetic, overly romantic, or even conservative, but that is how I feel for my own life. Others can do what they want, but for me, this is it. And in a way, it’s rather a liberating thing to conclude.

Now if I could only find the man. With gay men and women pushed into isolated communities by the larger society, I have to contend with meeting others through the bars, the dance clubs, specially formed networks, or happenstance; these do not always provide substantive situations. With the difficulties imposed by this scenario and gay life in general, lifelong gay or lesbian relationships are especially remarkable to me. I’m hoping to be one of the lucky ones who can attain it.

I would say I haven’t yet known mutual love. I’ve looked, longed, watched, cried, debated, ignored, tried to ignore, joked, whines, grown bitter, appeared nonchalant, and wondered when and why not now. I’ve been a romantic fool wishing for love and flowers and someone to fall for. I’ve been jealous and lovelorn. I’ve even been depressed. Yet, I’ve survived and am surviving all of that. I’ve learned to enjoy my life on my own terms. I’ve discovered my own self. I’ve determined what I want for me. This is who I am as a person.

Now the country is discussing the issue of same-sex marriage and is delving into my personal life and determining for me whether or not I have the right to get married. Everyone is debating my ability to love, my ability to commit, my desire for its recognition and legality, and my hopes for a union. Furthermore, everyone is questioning even my capacity to contemplate the issue and determine what is best for my own life. Well, I can make my own decisions. I can determine if I’m in love or not. I can see if it’s a relationship that will last or not. I have the ability to commit to another human being. Trust me to live my own life.

I have spent years determining what I want as an individual and what I hope for myself. I have gone through a long process of self-examination and determination. I have given this issue fervent thought. Yet, I am given less credit, and legal standing, than an 18-year old heterosexual who gets married on a whim. They will get access to their partner’s health insurance. They will get hospital admittance, inheritance rights, and tax breaks. But, most importantly, they will receive the societal acknowledgement and trust of their decision. I will not receive any of this.

The debate over same-sex marriage is the most personal for me of all the gay and lesbian rights efforts of the day and the past because it reaches into the depths of my individuality and it rejects my self. It denies the fact that I have thoroughly considered what kind of relationship I want. It overlooks the fact that I have been searching for a partner, and ignored all the difficulties that I’ve encountered in that quest. It invalidates my ability to think and love. It denies my personhood.

Previously, the struggles for gay and lesbian equality did not really take our individuality into account. They always involved attaining equal status as an official citizen who should have the right to work, a home, private sexual relations, and political accessibility. This gave society the ability to ignore my private life while possibly accepting me tangentially.

However, this time the issue is not about separating my personal life from the larger society. This time, the issue is not about society treating me simply as a distant relative with whom it only professionally associates. This time, it’s not about my being just the “gay guy” with whom they have to work or life. This time, my personal relationship life is not being left at the door as I enter the room.

This time, it is about my being a full-fledged person with a mind and hopes and a desire for love and fulfillment. This time, it is about the recognition that I have a life beyond the formal and official ones, and that I should have equal legal and social status in this arena as well. This time, it is about my being a three-dimensional human being. This time, the discussion is extremely personal.

And that is how unique, and difficult, this debate is.

---Reese Aaron Isbell, June 12, 1996


And I read this and post this and think through what I wrote and I feel just as strongly about it all as I did then, and realize that even though I'm bitter and jaded and not as romantic as once was, I am still determined that the fight is personal and very important to me. And, yeah, I think I would still like to get married one day, with all the trimmings, because, dammit, I'm just as good as any straight person who can make that decision. And I've probably thought about it a lot more than they have. So deal with it middle-America. And watch me and my relationship be as boring and mundane as you and yours. And give me my rights, my full equal rights, because I'm just as equal a human being as you are. So there.

Nothing America could have done would have provided al-Qaida and its new generation of cloned groups a better recruitment device than our unprovoked invasion of an oil-rich Arab country... One shudders to think what additional errors (Bush) will make in the next four years to strengthen the al-Qaida follow-ons: attacking Syria or Iran, undermining the Saudi regime without a plan for a successor state?-- Richard Clarke, the White House former counterterrorism coordinator (serving Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II-- so he knows and has been around)

very nicely done video, which really only uses the footage of rumsfeld getting caught on face the nation, but they created terrific highlights for effect. i love the way they fade out on rumsfeld (he didn't have anything to say anyway, but if you want to know exactly how he tried to respond, click here.)

straight people helping in the fight for equal rights.
and let's not forget the wonderful people at PFLAG who've been straight-but-not-narrow for years, and with chapters all over the country including ones in my hometown of Kansas City and even in little places like Santa Clarita California....

DOES IT really matter that the Bush administration has tried to manipulate science in the service of its conservative political agenda? Yes, and here's why....

We pay with our health. The Bush administration is waging a campaign to alter, eliminate, distort or suppress any scientific evidence that doesn't support its policies or ideology. Here are but a few examples:

-- Abortion: To strengthen its anti-abortion agenda, the administration portrayed abortion as a risk factor in breast cancer, which it is not.

-- Environmental health: The Bush administration has suppressed evidence about safe levels of mercury emissions and lead. Mercury and lead contamination are linked to neurological and development impairment in children.

-- The environment: ... Bush has dismissed the dangers posed by global warming and has, by executive order, reversed or relaxed environmental regulations that have protected the American public from air, water and soil pollution.

-- Sexual abstinence: To support its abstinence-only sex education campaign, the government deleted important information from a Web site about how using condoms can help prevent HIV infection.

-- Stem cell research: The Bush administration recently replaced two eminent scientists on the Council on Bio-Ethics who disagreed with the administration's political opposition to embryonic stem-cell research.

I find it outrageous that [bush] is running for re-election on the grounds that he's done such great things about terrorism. He ignored it. He ignored terrorism for months, when maybe we could have done something to stop 9/11-- Richard Clarke, the White House former counterterrorism coordinator

my head still hurts, but that's not the reason for this post....

so i went to my fancy dinner tonight. fancy, as in i needed to dress up, in a suit. so i got out my nicest one and started to put together a usual shirt to go with, and then i thought, this is so boring and done, i feel like something different. but do i be daring? do i try something else rather than my tried-and-true blue-goes-with-blue attire? well, that's always a risk because i never trust my taste and i always end up looking bad. if i were to be at the oscars i would most definitely have to have others dress me because i know i would end up on one of those worst-dressed pages if i went with what i thought would work. but again, i digress

anyway, so, there i was, in my closet, thinking, and i decided to go with a green shirt with my blue pin-striped shirt. now, i know, green and blue together? no way. but then suddenly i didn't care and with a nice blue tie it seemed to scream yes!, but frankly it could have been screaming no! and i wasn't sure which scream was real. and to top it off, my fancy dinner was going to be with a whole bunch of gay men-- so you know that if i got it wrong i would never be looked at again in this town. but i decided to be bold and wear what i felt like and just be hopefully fashionable.

end of story: many, many people at the event stopped me and said what a great outfit i had worn and that i looked fabulous! well, once in my life i wore something that worked. and maybe, just maybe, i have a little 'queer eye' in me afterall.

i have now had the same headache for two days. it's really more of a shoulder/neck ache on my right side. which is pretty odd, since ususally i have more of that type of pain on my left side. either way, i must have pulled something or hurt something this week at the gym. maybe it was the racquetball game i played (after many years without) or maybe it's just a thing that happened. regardless, i slept and/or laid around most of yesterday and today until jessie and chris got me out of bed. but the pain is still there. i hope it gets better soon. i gotta go to a fancy dinner tonight.

all day headaches..... i really despise them :-(

It is ironic that the very things that lesbian and gay couples are seeking through legal marriage -- a public commitment to love each other for life, a desire to deepen their love for each other and a strengthening of family -- are the exact same values held by those who espouse traditional family values.... If, as Christians believe, God is love, then God has been powerfully present in our lives in the last four weeks. Do we have the courage to follow in faith with this new thing God is doing in our very midst?-- Thoughts from The Rev. Karen P. Oliveto, Ph.D., pastor of Bethany United Methodist Church in San Francisco.

so, as i mentioned, my 10-year-old niece Mariah, was here for the last few days. and what a wild, crazy, fun weekend we had. she's been here twice before on her own, bravely flying up from Burbank all alone, just to see me. and we always have the best times. for some reason, i just now got her pictures developed from a year ago upon her first visit, and so they're mixed in here with pictures and stories from her trip this time.

this one is of my niece first getting off the plane a year ago ready to visit her Uncle Reese for the very first time on her own:

and here's a pic of her taking San Francisco by storm:

her love of the cheap ramen noodle packages you can buy at the store for 30cents or so took us to Japantown last year for some real ramen noodles, which of course she said weren't anything like her real ramen noodles and she didn't like them:

she loves to ride the bus in san francisco because 'it's like a rollercoaster' with all the steep hills and such:



anyway, here's the real reasons you're here, for pictures of this weekend's trip: we had a major weekend too. first, we went to the Hello Kitty store for some necessities, then off to suburbs to catch
on saturday, we went to Build-A-Bear to build her own stuffed bunny
then off to the park and the Exploratorium (which totally rocks! just try to get a young child to leave once inside, just try), then off to the Sing-A-Long Wizard of Oz:

and here she is with my friends Beverly, Phil and Susan after the show:
and we all went out for pizza. sunday was the big St. Patrick's Day parade which we got to ride in with Assemblyman Mark Leno where we blew bubbles, threw Hershey's Kisses out the window, and yelled 'Happy St. Patrick's Day' through a long green bullhorn:

look in the rear view mirror here
and here's an extra picture of me in costume that she took after it was all over:
so now she's back in Southern California and we're both very tired from so much fun and frolic in San Francisco. the only one who didn't enjoy the weekend was Amaya, my cat, because she is such a grouch and doesn't like my niece, so she got to be cooped up in the kitchen the whole time:
too bad she's so grouchy
anyway, Mariah and I are quite tired now:
but we're getting ready for the next big trip in May. what should we do then?

p.s. upon leaving my home to head out for the trip back to Burbank, she repeated the 'Drama Queen' movie lines with her own words: "Goodbye Uncle Reese's home, Goodbye San Francisco, Goodbye Amaya, Goodbye Broadway, Goodbye New York, Goodbye any chance of becoming a movie star...." Oh, the drama

my niece and i have had a wonderful trip. we've done so much! so much fun, so much drama, so little time:

more snapshots:

NEARLY WEDS: Couples who just missed out vent sadness, anger

I'm a full human being who pays full taxes, and I'm entitled to the rights every other adult has

I have the right to be legally married to the person I choose... I have waited for this

I'm not a second-class citizen. I pay taxes, I raised my kids, I have a good job, and the country doesn't support me, because I'm gay.

I have two moms -- deal with it

How can love be a bad thing?

my niece is here! my niece is here!

Mariah: "What do you have at home for dinner?"
Me: "We just had dinner... 'member the hotdog and fries?"
Mariah: "Alright, what do you have at home for a second dinner?"

well said, seems awfully like me that one does

snapshots:

Two days before Valentine's Day, a lesbian couple who had been together for 50 years quietly entered San Francisco City Hall and exchanged marriage vows. And so it began.

Just this morning I said to people this is the happiest place on earth. You don't have to go Disneyland to see happiness

This is an unstoppable movement that the mayor started, and I have confidence we will eventually reach our goal... I knew there would be some setbacks, but there always are with civil rights movements

This is the cusp of a cultural revolution... We are strong and our convictions are righteous. We expect resistance and we will prevail

I'm thankful that so many thousands of couples have come from all over the country and around the world to San Francisco to be given the same rights and privileges and obligations that my wife and me have been afforded over the two years that we have had the privileges of marriage

Every civil rights movement has its good days and its bad days.... This is new for the citizens of the country, for the legislatures and for the courts, and it's going to be some time before we recognize full equality.... It will have to be a part of many processes, many ballot booths and many court hearings before this issue gets resolved. It's only been several months since California passed comprehensive domestic partnership legislation, only several months since the sodomy ruling in the U.S. Supreme Court... Today's ruling was a small setback, but also leaves the process, which I think is determined already that history is going to see great movement in the next couple years.

We are married. This is my wife. No one can take that away from us... It wouldn't occur to me to be devastated. This is just a step in the path. This is what civil rights looks like. This has been one of the most amazing, incredible experiences of my life.

We've both been wondering at what point are they going to stop this so we have to get in the streets... This is the point. But we're going to keep doing this until we break through all the doors to get to our freedom

We've been together for 25 years, and I'm tired of waiting for equal rights

Count me as a love soldier

there are times when you and the music just connect so vividly and profoundly and spiritually and emotionally. it often happens to me when, on a quiet night, i have my 'quiet storm' or 'between the sheets' r&b station's calm mixes going on in the background. i'll have my lights down low, breathing in the clear air from outdoors, sipping a little Juicy Juice, kicking back, thinking strong and quiet thoughts, feeling a connection with the tone and the notes and the soulful and often sad and distressed voice analyzing a concern over love. and at those times, and when it just feels oh-so-right, i feel so at peace with the world....

Last night was the ideal night to go to an outdoor cafe, sit with someone special and drink something cool.

And I did. Jessie and I found a sidewalk cafe and read, and then made our way to the ice cream shop off the sidewalk there too, and read. And we talked and hung out and just relaxed. It was a beautiful night with lovely weather, wonderful people, warm comfort, and sweet friendships in which to bask and breathe and love.

I ask you very simply: if the federal Constitution did not support same- sex marriage, then why does [bush] want to amend it?

contrasts:

Larry Shoemaker quoted an Old Testament verse and brought a flashlight to council chambers because, he said, an earthquake and power outage would strike if the city recognized same-sex marriage. Shoemaker said he'd been fearing retribution since 1976, when he moved closer to "the fruits and nuts and freaks of San Jose."

"All I want to do is take care of my family," Tina Salas said. "When I leave this earth, I don't want a hospital to tell my spouse and kids to leave my side because they don't have the rights and benefits to be there."

if gay men start getting married and 'settling down,' will city nightlife end?

"As long as the United States is continuing to be oppressive in their lack of sanctity of unions for gays and lesbians, then they're going to continue to lose really good citizens," said Mary Joseph, a Toronto immigration lawyer. "Your loss, [Canada's] gain."

I just want the American dream, too. To have this happy little home, my kids and try to raise them as best I can like anybody else.... My kids' understanding of getting married is that we're a family and we're going to be together forever

I loved, loved, loved this article detailing one woman's new marriage to her wife and her parents struggles against the anti-miscegenation laws 40-50 years ago. Perfect symmetry and perfect parallels. And listen to the language of that day used..... exactly similar to today's. Read the whole thing.

picture it: independence, missouri, fall 1988.

"mom/dad: can i go to nicaragua next summer?"
"no way! what are you thinking? that's a war-torn country. no, foot is down, no."
"can i go to mexico then?"
"well, ok, i guess."

the above was obviously paraphrased, but relates an experience of mine that taught me well: always ask for more than you think you can get.

similarly, ever since we in the gay community have been demanding marriage rights, suddenly every democratic, and many republicans even, politician is for civil unions. just a few years ago, every politician, except for the most liberal democrat, was against even that. howard dean was seen as doomed politically for the rest of his career because he signed the civil unions bill. now, as full, complete equality, not a second-class version, is there for same-sex couples, suddenly civil unions are the 'obvious' way to go. even the christian coalition, the christian coalition!, has said that they can't fight civil unions anymore and they've lost that battle, but marriage, marriage!, is not gonna happen on their watch. well, here we are going down the aisle. and who thought that civil unions would even be de rigueur.

so try the principle yourself. tonight, at dinner, do this:
"can i have your whole dinner?"
"no! what are you talking about?!"
"can i have a french fry?"

my dear friends Esther and Lisa were married on February 14th, as I wrote about before on here. but now their story's been told in this week's AsianWeek and with many a great quote from them and our wonderful County Assessor Mabel Teng. Here's some excerpts of the article:

When people are lining up to get married, they’re crying. They’re crying because we’re finally being recognized...
Sitting cozily next to her wife, Lee, 31, says, “Yes, we got married. It’s rolling off my tongue a lot easier ... Marriage! I never imagined we would be able to get married.”
Chun says on Feb. 12, the first day San Francisco began issuing same-sex marriage licenses, she was skeptical. But later that day she happened to ask her insurance agent why she and Lee had to have separate auto policies. He told Chun he could only give out a joint policy if they were married. Lee remembers, “After that conversation, Lisa said, ‘OK. Let’s get in line.’”... The funny ending to the story is that we got the joint auto insurance...
When I got there, the power and energy and shear joy was so exciting. … People were in line crying because finally, we were being recognized.

Teng tells the women, “I’m proud to offer you equality in San Francisco.”

We're seeing an incredibly fast-paced civil rights movement and what I think is the last-gasp backlash of the radical right that has been in the gay- bashing industry for decades.... This is an unstoppable train.

one of the problems i had, as well as many democrats throughout california, in supporting propositions 57 and 58 during the election was the fact that the media played them up as arnold's propositions and they would make him or break him. no democrat throughout the state, or other arnold haters, wanted to support them, and just a few months ago that was why they were losing badly. then, we democrats, got together and one-by-one joined in supporting the propositions because (The measures were placed on the ballot by Democrats, who dominate the Legislature; the state Democratic Party, environmentalists and unions endorsed them) and our Democratic leaders, like Feinstein and Burton and Leno started telling us that they were in actuality Democratic language and that it was the right thing to do for California and we listened and we put aside our anger over the recall and having a governor named arnold and we said ok, fine, and voted for them.

but then the media does exactly what we democrats knew they would do and had headlines the next day saying 'big win for arnold' and 'arnold wins again' and other crap that made it look like we were supporting him. wrong, wrong, wrong. we were trying to work together and put aside differences on this one issue. here's a quote from Democratic Senate Leader John Burton that didn't make the headlines: It was a collaborative effort, and it wasn't the governor alone," Burton said. "If the Democrats opposed this thing, it would have gone in the (toilet).

and we find ourselves again angered by the media in this country..... what else is new?

The Kennedy School of Government chronicles bloggers vs. Trent Lott of a few years ago....

The Rev. Cecil Williams of San Francisco's Glide Memorial Methodist Church walked past the demonstrators as he left City Hall, where he had just married a gay male couple. He shook his head at those rallying against same- sex marriage and said, "It's just one of those things. The momentum for same- sex marriage is swift, strong and righteous, and they can't stop it.''

it's time to rally around our democratic nominee, because we gotta get rid of bush:

So remember when I said that I've sstarted as the new Editor for the Newsletter of the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club? Well, I finished my first newsletter, but it's not up on the site yet. Mostly we're doing it by email, but there's still many who get a hard printed copy in the mail, so this weekend I was busy copying, printing, labeling, stamping, and mailing said newsletter. FYI, below is my introduction piece:

"Welcome to the new Dawn"
by Acting Newsletter Editor Reese Aaron Isbell, M.P.P.

'Dawn’ sounds a bit strong for the beginning of my role as Alice Newsletter Editor, and I certainly do not mean to create a self-importance to myself as such, but I do mean ‘dawn’ in the sense that so much of life is historic and monumental right now. And as I take new steps in my own life, and a new role with Alice, I recognize the overall changes also occurring throughout the City and the nation.

When I was first approached to take over editing of the newsletter, I immediately said ‘No.’ But I promised I’d think about it. And I thought. I realized that this is an amazing year to be doing so. 2004 is what I often refer to as the Fantastic ’04. And so far it has not disappointed. With same-sex couples being officially married at City Hall, what better way to start off a new year, and to begin the new Dawn in our struggle for equality and respect.

2004 also brings us incredibly important elections—a right-wing Republican to oust from the White House, a liberal Democrat to re-elect to the U.S. Senate, among many others. What better year to write about politics?

So with these thoughts, I begin my new role with you, the Alice reader. I’m going to create new pieces for the newsletter and look forward to hearing from you on how you feel about them. I’m beginning a Letters to the Editor section for an open forum from fellow Alice members on issues of the day. I’m also working to create a space for our elected officials to offer their thoughts directly to Alice via this newsletter. Finally, I’ll be including the latest headlines from around the nation in each newsletter for you to find articles of interest to us each month. I hope you like the changes and look forward to reading the newsletter each month.

Now, quickly, and very briefly, a little about me. I come to you from Kansas City, Missouri originally where I knew John Ashcroft as my own Governor and Senator before the rest of the world was paying attention to him. I’ve seen evil and his name is Ashcroft. I got my start in political activism by coming out and then getting my first job at my local Planned Parenthood. After getting a Masters in Public Policy in New Jersey, I lived in Washington, DC for four years handling state legislation for the national group Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Then, in 1999, I made my pilgrimage to San Francisco where I could L-I-V-E. I had no friends, no job, no money, no structure. But San Francisco was my new home, and I loved it. I found Alice through my new boss and friend Robert Barnes, and the rest is history. There ya go, enough about me.

Here we are, at the Dawn of a new year, the Dawn of a new place for our GLBT movement, the Dawn of a new Mayor for our City (and Alice should be oh-so-proud of its role in his election!), and the Dawn of a new national electoral season. Are you ready for the light and heat and wonder of this new sun? Get yourself ready for a rockin’ good time and an awesome year, and I’ll see you next month. Welcome to the new Dawn.

racism is alive and well....

had a great time this week with my friend george. he i knew (and briefly dated) back in 1992 in kansas city. hadn't really seen him since then. he's now in houston with a dental practice. anyhoo.... he and i had a few interesting experiences this week while hanging in the city. (regarding the following, i must note that george is african-american.)

while around town, he got aggressively and continually solicited for drugs, sometimes even while i was standing there right next to him. while at the wharf, he was expressly singled out, again while i was standing right next to him, by a guy trying to sell copied cd's and dvd's. these guys didn't even try to sell me. it was all for/about him, sometimes not even an acknowledgement that i was standing there too.

now, not that i want to buy knock-off technologies or drugs or befriend the homeless (who oftentimes saw him as their friend), but it was quite apparent to both him and i that he was seen as a 'target' of some sort for these business endeavors. and so what does that say about who the underground market, especially the drug market, is catering to? and what does that say about how blind we white people can be to what's right in front of us everyday?

...BUSH has been talking about activist judges a lot these days -- those scoundrels who forced him to launch an assault on the U.S. Constitution to appease the most extreme elements of the Republican Party. But lost amid the flurry of victory signs being waved by his most strident GOP backers is the fact that [he] actually loves activist jurists, as long as they embrace his views on marriage, gay sex, civil liberty, reproductive rights and religion.

A internet dating service for liberal activists? Well, apparently yes: actforlove.org.
"because activists need love too..." how funny.