We understand it has been a long time since we have posted a blog, We wanted to let you all know that Wife is getting better. She had many setbacks since her surgury, and has been a real trooper while healing. Because of all of the setbacks the tour has been postponed. We also did not get the financial backing we needed to get the tour off the ground. We have done a lot of work on this tour and still believe in it with all our heart, but we need the community to get behind it.
This month you can purchase Curve Magazine and read an article written about us prior to Wife falling ill.
We would like to thank you all for your prayers, energy, and support.
We had a great Thanksgiving with friends, and pray that all of you also had a great Thanksgiving.
Hi Everyone,
we wanted to share a quote
about family :
“So much of what is best in us is bound up in our love of family, that it
remains the measure of our stability because it measures our sense of
loyalty. All other pacts of love or fear derive from it and are modeled upon
it.”
~Haniel Long~
So while you all are celebrating the holidays with your given and chosen families
remember it is not what you have around you but who you have around you that
matters!
We are still answering email questions, and as soon as Wife is well again we will begin to make our Vlogs again.
Until then, please continue praying for Wife’s recovery.
Thank you all,
H&@
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Hi everyone,
I wanted to keep you updated on what is going on with me these days, so you all wont wonder and worry.
I went back to the dr just yesterday, and from all the testing they expect me to recover just fine but it will take some time. Right now the toxins that my liver built up are causing my muscles to have random pain and my kidneys are still not at 100% but with every day the symptoms get better.
My spirits are lifted not only by the symptoms getting better but also by the outpouring of support from everyone.
Hersband said to be sure and let you all know she appreciates it as well, she has been a trooper and been by my side every day caring for me, praying for me and crying when I wasn’t looking. You don’t know how hard it is being on the road to a goal and being derailed by severe illness. The worst part was not the illness the worst was that we had to think about if everything we have together would be preserved as Hersbands should anything happen to me. It is hard being straight and sick but it is even harder being GLBT and sick.
We have a very good friend who is battling cancer right now and his husband of over 20 years has been by his side all the way but only because they are dealing with understanding and compassionate drs. Here in the south we are not always that lucky. This is all the more reason to pass equal rights for everyone. Even if you dont like the idea of marriage it is not about marriage it is about equal rights, one of witch is the right to be with your partner at the end, when they need your comforting words, kisses and tears the most.
Anyway I digress, Thank you all for your well wishes. I will try to keep you updated as often as I can. Please continue the prayers and energy.
Wife
I write this blog with a heavy heart as I lay here in bed remembering how only a few weeks ago Hersband and myself (Wife) were setting out on a journey of change that we were hoping would help change hearts and minds of many people across our great nation regarding Equal Marriage.
Little did we know that today we would be thinking about the importance of this cause more than ever. You see this week I was diagnosed with stage 3 liver toxicity. This is not something that just pops up out of the blue it comes from prescription medications given for pain post op that are prescribed with a dosage of tylenol that shouldn’t be taken in a weeks time let along a few days.
To fill you all in on the back story, I had gone in for what is called a Vegus Nerve Stimulator it is a device that helps Epilepsy patience gain control over their disease and run a semi normal existence.
I had hoped that by taking this step with my health care would make it so Hersband and I could go on the road and work with local groups on every local level to work for marriage equality. We never set out to be who we are it just sort of fell into our laps and we felt that since we had been graced with a voice that many wanted to hear, we had a responsibility to stand up for those who could not.
So we launched the Marriage Equality Tour in hopes that we could change hearts and minds for equality.
We had no idea that we would end up living one of the very reasons we need marriage equality for the most. Partner hospital visitations and the right to be the voice for the partner when they have no voice of their own.
You see I had my surgery and all went ok, until a dr insisted on giving me a post op pain med with Tylenol in it (I did ask for no Tylenol) Because of the high dosage of Tylenol in the drug within the first 3 days post op I knoticed a marked increase in swelling of the feet and hands. by the 4 day I was feeling very ill and so on… We have been to see my primary dr a few times who finally did a liver function test and noticed that my level had gone from 21 to 124 Normal is not above 60 So my liver is officially toxic. Because of all the symptoms that I have had it is categorized stage 3 liver toxicity.
So now we are running to the dr it seems like every day and having expensive tests done along with trying to live. I have been unable to work for a short time now, imagine that to be in a position where you have a job but cant work because you are sick when everyone else is looking for work.
So we have been away from our normal social networking media outlets recently because we have been so focused on my health and getting better that we thought it time to explain to everyone where we have been and what is going on.
Please everyone keep us in your prayers and thoughts. I appreciate all the well wishes that have been extended my way so far and cannot say thank you enough to everyone for the prayers extended our way.
What is it they say when the going get tough the tough get going? well this tough cookie is getting going on getting better because we still have a tour to get going. We may be postponing it so that we can regroup but we fully plan on pointing out how important the rights we now lack are to couples like us across this country.
I know that this blog isn’t written very gracefully, but please know that Just keeping a thought in my head right now that makes sense is hard enough but also trying to write it out before it escapes me is even harder.
My love and thanks to you all,
Wife
Tags: illness, marriage equality
If you were doing something that could change the face of equal rights forever, but got told you were wrong that the time is not right, would you stop even though you know what you are doing is right? What if you stood your ground and forged forward, but people questioned your motives and told you that you were being reckless? How about when you are starting to be successful despite all opposition, the very people and groups that opposed you now want to take center stage and join your effort? Do you let them join, even though it will cause unnecessary delays? Or do you tell them, to take an unofficial role and help you with the ground support?
Recently there was a summit of the larger GLBT human rights groups. It is no surprise the big discussion that took up 7 hours of everyone time was 2010 vs 2012 time frame for equality. There were two schools of thought;
Standing on one side of the thought process was Gay inc. (HRC, Lambda Legal, Equality California and a few more BIG DOGS) stating that they wanted to sit back and give it a rest for a bit and take up the issue again in 2012.
On the other side arguing the 2010 deadline, were the grass roots groups who actually do the work rather than just speaking about what should and shouldn’t be done and when it should be done. Many of these people volunteer their time with no prospect of a paycheck from their efforts. Their motives are pure and their heart is in everything they do.
Have we forgotten that Gay Inc got HUGE off of grass roots support? Have we forgotten that the only reason that Gay Inc is the “authority” on everything to do with Equality is that they were the first to take up the equality mantra. Now that many of the little guys that have been doing the ground work for Gay Inc have taken the torch and run with it, many in Gay inc are getting worried.
What could they possibly have to worry about you ask? lets see if we can explain a bit.
Most of the donations that Gay Inc has gotten over the last 20 years have been from the every day Lizzy the Lezzy’s, Garry the Gay’s, Terrance the Trans’, Bev the Bi’s and Harry the Heteroflexable’s in the hopes that we would gain equality for all. With the passage of marriage equality as a law, the DOMA laws and DADT laws will fall by the wayside. Let’s be honest if Marriage is made legal between same sex partners just as it is for opposite sex partners then the military cannot have a DADT law on the books, because… well … if same sex people can marry it will mean benefits for same sex partners, therefore you have to tell to get the benefits. Ok, so that means one hammer smashes 2 stones in one blow. But this also means that donations will drop as we don’t have something that the ground swell of people want so badly, that they are willing to put their money where their mouth is.
Now being that I (Wife) am a multiracial person as well as a lesbian, I am well aware that hatred will not go away, as fast as the disparaging laws do with the swipe of a pen. It takes generations to get rid of hatred. But Gay inc doesn’t get paid for getting rid of hatred. Gay Inc gets donations on the hopes of the little person that we will one day have equal rights and protections under the law.
Theodore Olson and David Boies realize this fact and because they realize it they are working within the law to change the law rather than lobby for donations. These two gentlemen are not looking for us to support them or their family, they saw a wrong and set out to make it right. Imagine that two straight men who realize that inequality anywhere is not what this nation stands for. These two fellas were treated as pariah’s when Gay inc found out what they were up to. Gay inc said it was too soon, that if these very smart men did not succeed that they would set back the work of Gay inc 20 years.
Wow set back 20 years…. that was a harsh statement to make since Gay inc has been on the job 30 years and we are not much closer to equality than we were in the 70’s. Sure we have a few states (6 to be exact) that allow marriage, but lets be honest folks without federal rights those state rights do nothing for us. We are married in CT but live in TN so in essence we are not married at all because in our state of residence it is not legal.
Olson and Boies have very graciously asked that Gay inc be denied access to the federal lawsuit that they have undertaken. Their reasoning? Well it is simple, they have stated that admitting new plaintiffs at this point would “needlessly delay the cases resolution”. Now for those of you that think they are up to something fishy and may not be out for “our” best interests…. Don’t turn against them just yet, as they have also requested that the conservative Campaign for California Families be prevented from joining the case in opposition, saying “the group also doesn’t have standing in the case”.
We may yet see equality in all 50 states because of the work these men are doing on our behalf. (not gay inc but on behalf of the little people.)
Now you may think that we are completely against gay inc because of this post. We are not completely against them, but what we are against is the idea that once momentum has set itself in motion you have to take a break to let people get used to the idea. HA if Martin Luther King had thought that we would still have segregation! WAKE UP PEOPLE!! It is really now or never as we have the best momentum we have ever had for equality. People are tired of the powers at be talking about what should be done and getting “so close” and stalling out. Honestly when Massachusetts got marriage on the books that should have been the jumping off point to sweep the country for equality, but instead we had to wait many years later to get the second state for marriage and now that state has lost the equality and we gained a number of DOMA laws that will be harder to get rid of.
Are we not tired of just talking about what we want?
Don’t we want someone to PUT UP OR SHUT UP!
If our president had done us like Gay Inc has we would have already impeached him, but we are still funding the miss deeds of Gay inc.
We are with Boies and Olson and believe the time is now or never, and that any inequality is wrong.
Lets stand on the side of the late Coretta Scott King and her late husband Rev Martin Luther King JR. Momentum is on the side of equality.
The late Coretta Scott King has been quoted as saying; “For too long, our nation has tolerated the insidious form of discrimination against this group of Americans, who have worked as hard as any other group, paid their taxes like everyone else, and yet have been denied equal protection under the law…I believe that freedom and justice cannot be parceled out in pieces to suit political convenience. My husband, Martin Luther King, Jr. said,“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” On another occasion he said,“I have worked too long and hard against segregated public accommodations to end up segregating my moral concern. Justice is indivisible.” Like Martin, I don’t believe you can stand for freedom for one group of people and deny it to others. ”
The late great Martin Luther King has been quoted as saying;
“Gays and lesbians stood up for civil rights in Montgomery, Selma, in Albany, Ga. and St. Augustine, Fla., and many other campaigns of the Civil Rights Movement,” he said.“Many of these courageous men and women were fighting for my freedom at a time when they could find few voices for their own, and I salute their contributions.”
Now all we have to do is get together and demaind equality for ourselves just as we did with Martin Luther King back in the 60’s to end inequality for black folks.
Can I hear an AMEN??
Go to http://www.hersbandandwife.com help us stand up for equality!
A few naysayers have said we are in this only for the money. WRONG we have never made a dime from anything we have done with Hersband and Wife. We work on what we believe in COMPLETTLY on a volunteer basis.
Also if you think that we are trying to get famous from anything we are doing, think again as H&W were already known back in 2006 by millions, so fame is not what we seek. EQUALITY IS!
Again Stand with us for Equality go to http://www.hersbandandwife.com and find out how you can help, it is time the ground swell demanded what we deserve. FULL EQUALITY FOR ALL!!
Tags: Bisexual, california, civil union, DOMA, equality, gay, gay marriage, glbt, hersband and wife, lesbian, Prop 8, same sex marriage, Theodore B. Olson and David Boies, transsexual
Civil rights fights have been the battlefront, for a war that never ends in America. The last battlefront for this war is the civil rights of GLBT Americans. If we look back in history at the battles that have been fought and won between American citizens and their government, they have not always been peaceful, though the people seeking rights sought them in a peaceful manner.
Women March in NYC for the right to vote 1913
The woman’s suffrage movement was one of the first civil rights fights back in 1918. Women all over the nation were fighting for their civil right to vote, but in many cases faced the opposition in fear of physical harm. When looking back at that struggle we as Americans think how silly our country was to withhold something as simple as the right to vote on the notion that women were too simple to be able to understand what would be at stake with voting rights.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony would be proud of the progress that women have made not only on the voting front but also within the job market. Women not only have the right to vote now but also to hold any office in this great land. We are very close to having our first women president in office as seen in this past election with Hillery Rhodham Clinton’s race and lets not forget Geraldine Farraro who ran for the office of vice president.
The woman’s suffrage movement and the Abolitionism movement went hand in had as women saw themselves on the same level as Slaves in the context of civil rights. Stanton and Anthony both organized the countries women and made them understand the importance of their right to vote and the urgent nature of abolishing slavery. Neither Stanton nor Anthony got the chance to see the first woman use her right to vote on Nov 2, 1920, Nor did they live to see slavery abolished, but their work lives on in every civil rights battle since they began.
Abolitionist movement flyer for impending meeting.
As for the Abolitionism movement; the rights of slaves to be free would not be so easily won without major conflict. The battle for the slaves would end in bloody battles fought in the civil war (the war between the states) that would have the north and Lincoln being proclaimed the winner. Being the winner on the fight to abolish slavery would not mean however that the slaves would gain the right to vote, it only meant that they could live free without a “master” to serve. The slaves in the United States would see their freedom prior to the women gaining the right to vote, so the civil rights battle raged on.
Once the slaves were free, the woman gained the right to vote now the freed slaves had to contend with a segragated south and the lack of voting rights. Flash forward to the 1950’s when a young black preacher named Rev Martin Luther King entered the scene after hearing about Rosa Parks being arrested for sitting on a bus in the “white section”. Black folks still do not have the right to vote, nor do they have the right to live unsegregated from their Anglo counterparts.
Right about now is when you are saying to yourself ” enough with the history lesson what does all this have to do with the GLBT civil rights fight of today?” Well Im getting there but all this background is important to speak about because all the civil rights fights tie together.
Civil Rights march with MLK in front.
Now back to the Rev. Martin Luther King jr and Rosa Parks; Rosa was a good woman who was only on her way home from work after a long hard day, she was tired and sat on the bus when the bus driver moved the “colored” section back one row and asked her to give up her seat to a white man. The key here is finally someone was tired, not only physically but also mentally of the bully tactics that were bieng used to keep the south segregated.
We all know the story about how segregation was struck down and the right to vote was won due to the efforts of Rev. King and his followers, we also know about his assassination and the impact that it had on this great nation. But do you see the parallels yet in any of these struggles to those of GLBT Americans? There were GLBT people who gave their lives for the civil rights fight of the 1950’s. Bayard Rustin(March 17, 1912 – August 24, 1987) though he did not give his life in the fight, he was along side Rev. King during the civil rights fight. Bayard was not only a black man he was a GAY black man. Let us not forget the freedom riders who were a mixture of black, white, male, female, gay and straight students who set out from Washington DC in 1961 bound for Mississippi.
Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving the plaintifs in Loving V. Virginia
The next battle front in the civil rights fight was that of segregation in marriage laws. Many Americans today do not understand why until 1967 there were 40 states that had laws on the books prohibiting mixed race marriages. The federal government in the case of Loving v. Virginia stated that the laws were unconstitutional and love could not be legislated. Many states held their interracial marriage laws on the books for many years after the Loving case, as a matter of fact the last law was struck down in the year 2000 in Alabama.
This brings us to the civil rights battle of today, where GLBT people are fighting not only for the right to marry but the right to exist in a society with DOMA laws and DADT rules. If you have stayed with me this long you should by now see the parallels if you did not see them before. The civil rights battles have been going on from the founding of the colonies in America. The last hurdle to overcome is the battle of marriage for GLBT people. Many would say that we need to battle DADT first but I personally believe it is the marriage battle that should be won then all else will fall into place. Humor me for a moment longer and I will explain. DOMA (the defense of marriage act) that was placed by President Clinton in 1996 (not Bush) was enacted when it was feared that Hawaii would gain civil marriage for GLBT people. President Clinton also enacted the DADT rule for the U.S. Military. If the DOMA law were to be repealed and we as GLBT people gain the right to marry on a federal level then the military can no longer enforce DADT because marriage equality would be legal making it also legal to state who you are married to. Benefits would have to be extended, once again making it hard to enforce the DADT rule. So with the repeal of DOMA and the enforcement of marriage equality on the federal level then the last hurdle would be past.
But now what about the title of this piece you ask? The one thing that all the civil rights fights had in common was that the people involved in the fight worked together. The women united, the blacks united, everyone worked together. Then you get to the GLBT fight for equality and it seems that the longer we fight the longer the acronym becomes for our identity. We started out as simply Gay then we went to Gay and Lesbian, then we got to Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgenders, but now we have GLBTQ the q being for queer or questioning. Just as our letters are to define us as cells within the grand rainbow that we are, they also serve to splinter us and cause us to all work in different directions.
Equality Fighters 1969 post Stonewall
While we all see lambda legal as the place to turn for legal opinion on on the struggle and HRC as the champion of champion groups to go to for the inside story, the actual people who are on the ground working their hearts out sacrificing their own time and in many times family lives for our rights are ignored. Every state has an equality group, (some more than one) every state has a pride (some more than one) and in many cases the equality groups do not work with the prides and the Pride groups will not work with other equality groups.
We as H&W recently came up against this very problem when trying to get the Marriage Equality Tour on the road. The tour was envisioned to bring the equality groups together as one group going cross country to show people that we not only deserve equality we demand it. When writing to or speaking with most of the local equality groups we have gotten a great warm reception where they are more than eager to help us get all this going. Pride groups have been a different story, and it seems as they are more about the party than the political struggle we are all fighting for. Have we forgotten that we cannot party until we have something to celebrate? Have we all forgotten what the Prides were started for? The gay Prides were started after Stonewall because of the need to show UNITY! Do we all know how to throw a party? of course we do! But we need to remember that there is still a battle to be won. We may be all battle weary but now is the time to UNITE and fight the oppression together. If we stay divided while the right wing is united against us then we are divided to a fall.
So when will we stop being the G & L & B & T & Q communities and go back to being the cohesive GLBT community to stand up and fight together and gain our equality through our strength in numbers?
Heck if 10% of the people in the United States are gay and lesbian and 10% are Trans and aprox 20% are Bisexual then we have 40% nearly a majority. Lets get together and work on something that matters for all of us!
Equality is written into the constitution, we all just need to remind people of that fact.
Time to work together toward a common goal and stop the Rainbow infighting!
Support the Marriage Equality Tour with your donation today! Every Dollar Helps toward our goal of uniting the fight. Go to Http://www.hersbandandwife.com click the thermometer and make your voice heard with your donation! Pass the link on to friends and encourage them to donate.
We deserve equality, we demand equality and H&W are putting their life on hold to gain it for everyone! Unity is the only way to get equality, Unite today with H&W.
United we stand, devided we fall! Equality deserves no less than UNITY!
Tags: Bisexual, DADT, DOMA, gay, glbt, lesbian, lgbt, marriage equality, Prop 8, same sex marriage, Theodore B. Olson and David Boies
This was sent to us today by a friend and we wanted to share as we found this to be the best argument for equality ever written.
We hope you enjoy the points made just as much as we have.
H&W
The Marriage Equality Fight Lives on
Gay Marriage and the Constitution
Why Ted Olson and I are working to overturn California’s Proposition 8.
By DAVID BOIES
When I got married in California in 1959 there were almost 20 states where marriage was limited to two people of different sexes and the same race. Eight years later the Supreme Court unanimously declared state bans on interracial marriage unconstitutional.
Recently, Ted Olson and I brought a lawsuit asking the courts to now declare unconstitutional California’s Proposition 8 limitation of marriage to people of the opposite sex. We acted together because of our mutual commitment to the importance of this cause, and to emphasize that this is not a Republican or Democratic issue, not a liberal or conservative issue, but an issue of enforcing our Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection and due process to all citizens.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the right to marry the person you love is so fundamental that states cannot abridge it. In 1978 the Court (8 to 1, Zablocki v. Redhail) overturned as unconstitutional a Wisconsin law preventing child-support scofflaws from getting married. The Court emphasized, “decisions of this Court confirm that the right to marry is of fundamental importance for all individuals.” In 1987 the Supreme Court unanimously struck down as unconstitutional a Missouri law preventing imprisoned felons from marrying.
There were legitimate state policies that supported the Wisconsin and Missouri restrictions held unconstitutional. By contrast, there is no legitimate state policy underlying Proposition 8. The occasional suggestion that marriages between people of different sexes may somehow be threatened by marriages of people of the same sex does not withstand discussion. It is difficult to the point of impossibility to envision two love-struck heterosexuals contemplating marriage to decide against it because gays and lesbians also have the right to marry; it is equally hard to envision a couple whose marriage is troubled basing the decision of whether to divorce on whether their gay neighbors are married or living in a domestic partnership. And even if depriving lesbians of the right to marry each other could force them into marrying someone they do not love but who happens to be of the opposite sex, it is impossible to see how that could be thought to be as likely to lead to a stable, loving relationship as a marriage to the person they do love.
Moreover, there is no longer any credible contention that depriving gays and lesbians of basic rights will cause them to change their sexual orientation. Even if there was, the attempt would be constitutionally defective. But, in fact, the sexual orientation of gays and lesbians is as much a God-given characteristic as the color of their skin or the sexual orientation of their straight brothers and sisters. It is also a condition that, like race, has historically been subject to abusive and often violent discrimination. It is precisely where a minority’s basic human rights are abridged that our Constitution’s promise of due process and equal protection is most vital.
Countries as Catholic as Spain, as different as Sweden and South Africa, and as near as Canada have embraced gay and lesbian marriage without any noticeable effect — except the increase in human happiness and social stability that comes from permitting people to marry for love. Several states — including Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont — have individually repealed their bans on same-sex marriage as inconsistent with a decent respect for human rights and a rational view of the communal value of marriage for all individuals. But basic constitutional rights cannot depend on the willingness of the electorate in any given state to end discrimination. If we were prepared to consign minority rights to a majority vote, there would be no need for a constitution.
The ban on same-sex marriages written into the California Constitution by a 52% vote in favor of Proposition 8 is the residue of centuries of figurative and literal gay-bashing. California allows same-sex domestic partnerships that, as interpreted by the California Supreme Court, provide virtually all of the economic rights of marriage. So the ban on permitting gay and lesbian couples to actually marry is simply an attempt by the state to stigmatize a segment of its population that commits no offense other than falling in love with a disapproved partner, and asks no more of the state than to be treated equally with all other citizens. In 2003 the United States Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas held that states could not constitutionally outlaw consensual homosexual activity. As Justice Anthony Kennedy elegantly wrote rejecting the notion that a history of discrimination might trump constitutional rights, “Times can blind us to certain truths and later generations can see that laws once thought necessary and proper in fact serve only to oppress. As the Constitution endures, persons in every generation can invoke its principles in their own search for greater freedom.”
There are those who sincerely believe that homosexuality is inconsistent with their religion — and the First Amendment guarantees their freedom of belief. However, the same First Amendment, as well as the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses, preclude the enshrinement of their religious-based disapproval in state law.
Gays and lesbians are our brothers and sisters, our teachers and doctors, our friends and neighbors, our parents and children. It is time, indeed past time, that we accord them the basic human right to marry the person they love. It is time, indeed past time, that our Constitution fulfill its promise of equal protection and due process for all citizens by now eliminating the last remnant of centuries of misguided state discrimination against gays and lesbians.
The argument in favor of Proposition 8 ultimately comes down to no more than the tautological assertion that a marriage is between a man and a woman. But a slogan is not a substitute for constitutional analysis. Law is about justice, not bumper stickers.
Mr. Boies is the chairman of Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP.
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We are working to get the Marriage Equality tour on the road so that not only will California people understand what Mr Boies is saying but also the rest of the country will as well.
If you believe in having Equality nation wide please visit http://www.hersbandandwife.com read about the goals of the tour, check out the dates on the interactive map and donate to help this grass roots effort gain ground. Every dollar we gain is one more mile we can drive for equality!
Tags: constitution, DAVID BOIES, gay, gay marriage, glbt, lesbian, marriage equality, Prop 8, same sex marriage, Theodore B. Olson and David Boies
St Johns Episcapal Church Hartford, CT; Mormon Temple UT; Episcapal Church Sheild;
Enter Matt Aune, 28, and his partner Derek Jones, 25, who made the national scene just a few days ago after innocently walking home from a concert. The Couple were walking across the Main Street Plaza, an easement that connects the Mormon Temple to other church sites that belong to the church. The men say they were told to leave after they shared an innocent hug and kiss. Mormon Church officials state the the men were given a warning for their “behavior” and then detained for trespassing after refusing to leave.
The issue, missed here is if the men were on their way home, while cutting through on a short cut; were they not leaving already? Did they really need to be stopped? (thus keeping them on the property longer.) Was it neccisary to ask men who were already LEAVING to leave a property? Questions for another day I assume.
Now flash forward to this week, where on the very same easement hundreds of couples joined in a “Kiss Off” to show their disdain for the actions of the Mormon church’s. The couples who joined in the protest by kissing on the same property were not only GLBT but also Heteroflexable. (straight but not narrow minded.) Now I am unsure if the “Kiss Off” did any good with the Mormon church, but since this has all transpired, we as GLBT people have made great gains with the Episcopal church. Not that one incident had anything to do with the other, but what a great segway!
The Episcopal church in a loving move toward gay couples according to the associated press started drafting an official prayer to bless same sex couples.(AP) ;
“By The Associated Press (Anaheim, Calif.) Episcopal bishops authorized the church Wednesday to start drafting an official prayer for same-sex couples, another step toward acceptance of gay relationships that will deepen the rift between the denomination and its fellow Anglicans overseas.
The bishops voted 104-30 at the Episcopal General Convention to “collect and develop theological resources and liturgies” for blessing same-gender relationships, which would be considered at the next national meeting in 2012.The resolution notes the growing number of states that allow gay marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships, and gave bishops in those regions discretion to provide a “generous pastoral response” to couples in local parishes.
Many Episcopal dioceses already allow clergy to bless same-sex couples but there is no official liturgy for the ceremonies in the denomination’s Book of Prayer. The measure still needs the approval of the lay people and priest delegates at the assembly, which ends Friday.
“We certainly feel a deep need to be able to proclaim the love of God in the midst of a changing reality,” said Suffragan Bishop James Curry of the Diocese of Connecticut, one of six states that are legalizing same-gender marriage.”
So now one church shows what Christian love truly is and the other shows its judgmental dark side. While discussing this issue with someone recently, the analogy of a liquor store adjacent to a church came up. Then came the question of who would have to leave, the church or the liquor store? Our conversation ended with us agreeing that if a church is truly doing “Gods Work” and teaching love, respect and grace, then neither has to leave. Reasoning being; that the people of the church may not like seeing the liquor store business, this fact is quite alright. So the church folks don’t patronize the store, again quite alright!. What is not O.K., is running a potentially “family owned” business out that puts food on a child’s plate, by being hateful. It would be much more “Christian” of the church folks to let their “light” shine, show people how loving God is and eventually, maybe, that liquor store owner will start selling bibles… O.K. a stretch, but entertaining thought just the same.
Same could be said about GLBT people and these “right wing, church going zealots” who keep saying that because “they” do not believe in what we do behind closed doors, in our own homes, then we are unnatural and going to hell. Well last I checked, the bible also says those who have NO, ZERO, ZILCH sin cast the first stone, or that it is Gods place to judge that is not for man. HMMM Wonder if all the Christians were absent from Sunday school that day? Because the first thing they do is toss their bible in the air and call us sinners. Well isn’t that the Crown Vic calling the Mustang a Ford?
Ok off track but wanted to get my 2 cents in, and that is probably what it is worth.
The point of all that was to say that there are churches who “get” that we are not the evil spawn of Satan just because we are born GLBT. They also get that we are all born the same way (from our mothers womb) and when born a baby is not a gay baby or a straight baby they are just a BABY who is beautiful and a miracle that encompasses life. We as gay Americans should support the churches and organizations who “get it” and support our normal. There is so much that goes on within this world that is so much more important ever day than a kiss on an easement that happens to belong to a church. Have we all forgotten that we are still in the midst of a military conflict in Iraq? Have we forgotten that children are going hungry every night in America because so many mommies, daddies or guardians have lost work? Have we forgotten that thousands of families both gay and straight will loose their homes every day in this great nation because of the state of the economy?
Life is not easy these days! Many GLBT families with and without children are suffering because both partners pay taxes at a higher single status rather than the status of “married filing jointly”. Many cannot get health benefits for their spouse and children because their medical plan does not cover domestic partners, so both partners pay higher insurance rates as well. Then we have to take into account, lawyers are getting rich off of the papers we have to file just to be able to be intertwined financially. For those of you who say we choose to be GLBT; (Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgendered.) WHY WOULD WE? It is EXPENSIVE, We worry every day that we will be fired, beat up, harassed, homeless, persecuted or worse just for being born who we are.
So to all those naysayers out there, who say that we don’t need civil marriage equality, remember that love has no gender, God said do not judge, least ye be judged, and my civil union turned marriage has no bearing on your marriage because you do not know me! Civil marriage is not a threat to the institution of marriage! Straight divorce is to blame for the downfall of the institution of marriage.
Don’t forget the Marriage Equality Tour that is happening across this great nation!
Check out the details here with an interactive map and video!
Tags: Bisexual, church, episcopal, gay, gay marriage, glbt, hersband and wife, jugement, lesbian, Morman
Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church will stop at nothing when they “assume” someone is GLBT in any way. According to the churches website they will be picketing the late King of Pop’s funeral for the following reasons: (we are not putting the link here but if you want to read the full account Google the church and read their picketing schedule. we will not give them the satisfaction of a link.)
07/07/2009 08:00 AM – 10:00 AM Los Angeles, CA Staples Center – Michael Wacko Jacko Jackson is in hell! 1111 S. Figueroa St WBC will be there to remind you to stop worshiping the dead. We will be there to tell you to Thank God for the death of this filthy, adulterous, idolatrous, gender-confused, nationality-confused, unthankful brute beast. We will be there to remind you that God Killed Wacko Jacko. There is a God, and a Day of Judgment. For you to wallow and murmur against God for his righteous Judgments is sin and will cause YOU to join Michael in hell.
On last account Michael Jackson was not gender confused he was a performer and a kind gentle spirit who only wished to be surrounded by people of the same spirit. In his last years he was taken advantage of more than onece by people seeking a “payday” but not one press outlet ever reported that he was gender confused, transgenderd or any variation thereof.
But then this is a group who has outwardly threatened Jews in their own synagogue. Stating this on their website;
07/10/2009 1:00 PM – 1:30 PM Chicago, IL Chicago Loop Synagogue – Any good Jews, get outta there! 16 S. Clark St
We have one question when is this group going to be considered a terrorist group and be detained at Guantanamo Bay with all the other terrorists? What they are doing is terrorising the funerals of people who only deserve to rest in peace and causing grief to the families and friends/fans who love them. They are also threatening good people in their place of worrship.
As Susan Powder Used to say STOP THE INSANITY!!
Isn’t there something we can do about them?
You may not consider this news but to us it is sad and it needs to be known so maybe something can be done about what this group stands for.
Tags: Fred Phelps, Gender Confused, glbt, homophobia, Michael Jackson Funeral, Synagogue attacks
Sarah Palin 2009 Calendar Cover
I have read many blogs and news today that discuss Sarah Palin, the Moose Hunting Governor from Wasilla, AK, stepping down from her post. Her quote of the day according to CNN, was Something to the effect that we all need to trust her, that her stepping down would all make sense later.
Well Sarah; you were right it makes total sense when we find out that you may be in yet ANOTHER scandal. Lets see; your teen daughters pregnancy out of wedlock wasn’t enough for you, then you had “Trooper gate” and now you may be indited by the feds on embezzlement charges for helping get contracts for Spenard Builders Supply? Hmmmm Don’t you and your husband have close ties to that company?
*STANDING OVATION*
Way to bring down the Republican Party, but a colleague ( Representative Sally Kern (R) from Oklahoma ) of yours seems to think that we gays are responsible, for all that is wrong with America. HA HA HA ever heard of Glass houses and people living in them not throwing stones?
The downfall of “traditional marriage” is our fault? Ok what about all the straight folks, who cheat on their spouses, on sites like Ashley Madison? Last We checked gays were not allowed and what about all the government officials caught cheating on their spouses lately? Last we checked they weren’t going gay.
You republicans need to check your stats, GLBT marriages (in the states that are legal) have less of a divorce rate than those of their straight counterparts.
You all are the reasons H&W will be going on the Marriage Equality Tour, to spread the truth that our marriages are not a threat to “traditional families”, you straight people are enough threat for everyone with your “for now” attitude with prenups and marriage contracts.
We have a gay male couple friends who have been together 27 years, without legal marriage and now that one of them has cancer, don’t you think it is only fair to give them full marriage rights. If anyone has earned it they have.
Ok now that we have ranted, back to what other bloggers and news sources are saying about the Palin Story!!
Wayne Barret of the Villiage Voice had this to say:
“THE $12.5 MILLION sports complex and hockey rink that is the lasting monument to Palin’s two terms as Wasilla mayor is also a monument to the kind of insider politics that dismays Americans of both parties. Six months before Palin stepped down as mayor in October 2002, the city awarded nearly a half-million-dollar contract to design the biggest project in Wasilla history to Kumin Associates. Blase Burkhart was the Kumin architect on the job—the son of Roy Burkhart, who is frequently described as a “mentor” of Palin and was head of the local Republican Party (his wife, June, who also advised Palin, is the national committeewoman). Asked if the contract was a favor, Roy Burkhart, who contributed to her campaign in the same time frame that his son got the contract, said: “I really don’t know.” Palin then named Blase Burkhart to a seven-member builder-selection committee that picked Howdie Inc., a mostly residential contractor owned at the time by Howard Nugent. Formally awarded the contract a couple of weeks after Palin left office, Nugent has donated $4,000 to Palin campaigns.”
“A list of subcontractors on the job, obtained by the Voice, includes many with Palin ties. One was Spenard Builders Supply, the state’s leading supplier of wood, floor, roof, and other “pre-engineered components.” In addition to being a sponsor of Todd Palin’s snow-machine team that has earned tens of thousands for the Palin family, Spenard hired Sarah Palin to do a statewide television commercial in 2004. When the Palins began building a new family home off Lake Lucille in 2002—at the same time that Palin was running for lieutenant governor and in her final months as mayor—Spenard supplied the materials, according to Antoine Bricks, who works in its Wasilla office. Spenard actually filed a notice “of its right to assert a lien” on the deed for the Palin property after contracting for labor and materials for the site. Spenard’s name has popped up in the trial of Senator Stevens—it worked on the house that is at the center of the VECO scandal as well.”
Jim Brogan from the Post Cronnical had this to say:
“Sarah Palin Indictment – Alaska Governor Sarah Palin reportedly resigned because of a federal indictment pending in an embezzlement scandal that allegedly involves her receiving huge financial favors from Spenard”
This is what Brad from Brad’s Blog had to say:
“I’ve now been able to get independent information from multiple sources that all of this precedes what are said to be possible federal indictments against Palin, concerning an embezzlement scandal related to the building of Palin’s house and the Wasilla Sports Complex built during her tenure as Mayor. Both structures, it is said, feature the “same windows, same wood, same products.” Federal investigators have been looking into this for some time, and indictments could be imminent, according to the Alaska sources.”
The Daily Beast’s reported this by Max Blumenthal:
“Many political observers in Alaska are fixated on rumors that federal investigators have been seizing paperwork from SBS in recent months, searching for evidence that Palin and her husband Todd steered lucrative contracts to the well-connected company in exchange for gifts like the construction of their home on pristine Lake Lucille in 2002. The home was built just two months before Palin began campaigning for governor, a job which would have provided her enhanced power to grant building contracts in the wide open state.”
“SBS has close ties to the Palins. The company has not only sponsored Todd Palin’s snowmobile team, according to the Village Voice’s Wayne Barrett, it hired Sarah Palin to do a statewide television commercial in 2004.”
Tags: 2012 presidential bid, Bisexual, Embezzlement Charges, gay, glbt, lesbian, Marriage equality tour, Sarah Palin, trans
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