The Bilerico Project

The Objects of our Desire [Gay Geeks]

nate@bilerico.com (Nathan Strang) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:00:00 -0500

Hulla! Things, we really love our things. Gay or straight, at some point in time, you've let a gadget influence your decision. Whether buying a car that will sync with your iPod, dumping your boyfriend for being glued to his computer playing WoW all day, or simply finding the way to Daddy's house; the technology we use influences our lives. Inside this week's post is a bit on Jonathan Ive, the mind behind the design at Apple; an interesting results from a survey of iPhone users; and why my boyfriend switched from an iPhone to an Android...

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Down but Not Defeated

sara@bilerico.com (Sara Whitman) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:30:00 -0500

It's hard to think of what to say. My heart is broken. I am exhausted and sick (literally and figuratively). I kept checking the Bangor News site to see the last of the numbers trickle in, hoping it got closer.

It didn't.

I'm proud of being involved with the campaign in Maine. I still love Maine. As I sit here and type, I can hear the buoys clanging in Perkins Cove. The leaves are mostly gone, and the sun is out.

It is still beautiful to me.

As devastating as this loss is, I am beyond grateful we won marriage in Massachusetts. We narrowly evaded having marriage go to a popular vote- and I believe we would have lost that vote if it had taken place. Even today, I have to wonder if we'd win, so many years later.

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Roundtable on Kalamazoo, Washington, and Maine's ballot initiatives

alex@bilerico.com (Alex Blaze) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:00:00 -0500

Below is a roundtable I just recorded on the ballot initiatives in Maine, Washington, and Kalamazoo. In on the discussion were Joe Mirabella, the LGBT community blogger for Seattle Post-Intelligencer and worked as a social networking consultant for the approve R-71 campaign; Amy Hunter, who sits on the board of Michigan Equality and was the director of operations for the One Kalamazoo campaign; and Bilerico contributor Sara Whitman, who volunteered in Maine and is on the board of MassEquality.

We talked about the campaigns' messaging, the rightwing scaremongering, whether marriage is the right battle right now, and what happens now. It was good to get this recorded before the post-campaign narratives solidify. (And sorry to folks in Washington, I kept on saying "civil unions" instead of "domestic partnerships.")

If the player doesn't work for you, download this episode (right click and save).

Links and supporting documents after the jump.

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House health care bill includes "sexual orientation" and "gender identity"

bil@bilerico.com (Bil Browning) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:30:00 -0500

When the House of Representatives passed their version of health care reform last night, sexual orientation and gender identity were defined [pdf] as groups likely to "experience significant gaps in disease, health outcomes, or access to health care." Hat tip to Jill for pointing it out.

''Subtitle G--General Provisions
16 ''SEC. 3171. DEFINITIONS.
17 ''In this title:
18 ''(1) The term 'core public health infrastruc
19ture' includes workforce capacity and competency;
20 laboratory systems; health information, health infor
21 mation systems, and health information analysis;
22 communications; financing; other relevant compo
23 nents of organizational capacity; and other related
24 activities.

1 ''(2) The terms 'Department' and 'depart
2 mental' refer to the Department of Health and
3 Human Services.
4 ''(3) The term 'health disparities' includes
5 health and health care disparities and means popu
6 lation-specific differences in the presence of disease,
7 health outcomes, or access to health care. For pur
8 poses of the preceding sentence, a population may be
9 delineated by race, ethnicity, primary language, sex,
10 sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, socio
11 economic status, or rural, urban, or other geographic
12 setting, and any other population or subpopulation
13 determined by the Secretary to experience significant
14 gaps in disease, health outcomes, or access to health
15 care.

HRC has a list of areas where LGBT people will be helped by the reform bill.

Are you normal?

michele@bilerico.com (Michele O'Mara) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:00:00 -0500

Imagine that all humans were produced on a production line of various human production factories around the world. Would all of the non-heterosexuals just be plucked right off the conveyor belt and tossed in to a pile labeled defects?

Most of us, gay or not, are raised to believe that non-heterosexuals are some sort of alternate human design (the design without the standard human feature known as heterosexuality). And this design is considered a deviation from the "normal" human design, which suggests that non-heterosexuals are defective. Or worse yet, not normal.

As far as I can tell, normal is actually a self-appointed status. Not surprisingly, there are many self-appointed-"normal" people with whom my views differ. It doesn't matter that I think these folks are not my kind of normal because they get to define for themselves what normal is. Furthermore, these self-appointed representatives of normal are not looking for the approval of non-heterosexuals for their beliefs anyway! Imagine that - they don't care what I think. What a novel idea.

Imagine that one day something unexpected happens in this pile of defective humans. One brave defective human being stands up, brushing herself off, and she climbs back up on that conveyor belt. She doesn't ask. She doesn't sneak. And she doesn't force her way there either. She stands up confidently, moves toward the production belt, and steps back on with grace and dignity.

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Fellatio in fruit bats

gloria@bilerico.com (Gloria Brame Ph.D.) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 11:30:00 -0500

My buddy Mike finds the most interesting things. For example, this article about a study of the blowjob habits of the fruit bat.

It raises numerous sexological questions. Do they like it here or there? Do they like it anywhere? Do they like to make a sound? Do they like it upside down?

Read on, me batty ones.

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Sunday Funnies: Maine, Mormons, Guy Fawkers, & Glenn Beck

waymon@bilerico.com (Waymon Hudson) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0500

It was a week of big losses and big victories for the LGBT movement.

But one big winner? Biting satire calling out the ridiculousness of the anti-equality forces.

First up is the Daily Show's take on the Maine Marriage Vote:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Can't Get Queer From Here

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Crisis

Can't Get Queer From Here
Maine voters want to be tolerant of gays, but they ban same-sex marriage anyway.

Gay and Lesbian Elected Officials in Ohio

dana@bilerico.com (Dana Rudolph) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:30:00 -0500

"The Ohio Democratic Party is proud to have recruited and groomed candidates across Ohio who reflect the great diversity of our Party and our state. Democrats helped elect candidates young and old, male and female, gay and straight, from all geographical areas and of diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds. Ohio Democrats fielded an unprecedented number of openly-gay and lesbian candidates this year and achieved historic success by electing ten of these candidates to office. We celebrate that success.

"The Ohio Democratic Party's LGBT Caucus provided constant support to these candidates, hosting fundraising events, providing boots on the ground and helping their campaigns push back on anti-gay attacks."

-- Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern

Because no lesbian has ever been harassed on the job or kept her opinions to herself before

alex@bilerico.com (Alex Blaze) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:00:00 -0500

There's just so much wrong with what this guy is saying. He says he was being harassed just because someone told him she was a lesbian, he says that his employer "says" that same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts, as if that isn't true, and something tells me that he wouldn't care about anyone else getting harassed at the workplace, just himself.

"I'm not the type of guy to complain about this stuff... but I'll work with an extremist advocacy group like MassResistance to get as much attention as possible."

Weekly Reader: Gay Geeks, Election Night, & Equality March Controversy

bil@bilerico.com (Bil Browning) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:00:00 -0500

Thanks to this week's election night open thread and our liveblog of the Senate ENDA hearing, this was the highest traffic week ever on Bilerico Project. While those two posts were two of our highlights, out of the many posts published this week, here are some of the best:

Elizabeth Edwards helped my breaking heart

glorianieto@bilerico.com (Gloria Nieto) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:00:00 -0500

While living in New Mexico, I heard many folk stories. Tales of emergence, creation stories, even UFO sightings. One in particular has always had a profound impact on me, the story of Apache tears.

The story says that some Apaches were all lost in a battle with the colonizers. The men were all killed. When the women found out they had lost all the men, they cried such pure tears of grief, the gods were so moved they captured the tears and made them into the stones, the Apache tears. So now we are witness to the tears of the Apache women and their grief.

Today there are Apache tears from Maine all across the country.

Grief, such a small word for feelings that can swallow a life.

Continue reading "Elizabeth Edwards helped my breaking heart"...

Pure Kitsch: vintage sexual humor postcards

gloria@bilerico.com (Gloria Brame Ph.D.) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:00:00 -0500

I've been on a bit of a kitsch jag, and collected images of many a tragically ridiculous and astonishing postcard. These are all ca. 1940s-50s.

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The Secret Weapon in HIV Treatment

guest@bilerico.com (Guest Blogger) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0500

Editors' note: Greg Smith is a gay, HIV+ native Montanan, a Rome-educated former priest who is now a mental health therapist, health educator, activist, spiritual adventurer and overall wiseguy who loves to write. He blogs at From Eternity to Here.

"I'm not taking my meds."

That was out of the mouth of an HIV+ client more than halfway through our session.

I've heard this before and I wasn't ready to go into emergency mode... yet.

"How long has it been?"

"Almost six months."

OK, I'm in emergency mode.

Continue reading "The Secret Weapon in HIV Treatment"...

Architreks - My First 2009 Christmas Shopping Recommendation

fathertony@bilerico.com (Father Tony) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0500

Have you ever wondered why architectural photography books make such delicious gifts even in a Google Earthy world in which every building on the planet may be zoomed at your desk.

I'll try not to get overly Susan Sontagular in my review of Bob Gregson's new book Architreks - Quests of an Architecture Addict, but in a time of belt tightening and downsizing, book-purchasing becomes a careful practice.

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It's About All of Us

dana@bilerico.com (Dana Rudolph) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:30:00 -0500

"We didn't [win in Maine], and there's a simple reason. Our message to protect our civil rights is about us, not about all of America. We've failed to make our cause a universal battle for civil rights. A message about us also defines the battle as one being waged against them."

--Sue O'Connell, Bay Windows

Jeff Merkley's opening statement on ENDA

alex@bilerico.com (Alex Blaze) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:00:00 -0500

Jeff Merkley's opening statement on ENDA.

Queer music Friday - Aiden James

alex@bilerico.com (Alex Blaze) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:00:00 -0500

TBP reader Scott sent in this video for gay pop/rock singer Aiden James' video for "On the run." Scott says: "A good song, even after the election results." And the video's cute.

Take a tip from the Lions: or why I don't like the marriage fight

austen@bilerico.com (Austen Crowder) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:00:00 -0500

Thinking of gay marriage reminds me of Detroit. Here was a team that did everything wrong; up until the third game of this season they hadn't won a game since 2007. The stadium rarely filled up. The sportscasters used them as a joke. The players dealt with humiliation at every turn. The difference between them and us? The Lions tried new things until they found a way to win. They broke their losing streak at 19. We're 0 and 31.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars poured into Maine. We out-fundraised the opposition three to one. We even forced the opposition to change their rhetoric halfway through the campaign, making them recognize our importance as human beings. They beat us by six percentage points to deliver our thirty-first loss on gay marriage. I'll say it again, because it's quite important: 31 losses. Thirty. One. Millions of dollars invested, and the religious right remains undefeated.

Meanwhile, a smartly-deployed, grassroots campaign in Kalamazoo, focused on basic civil rights for all LGBT people, passed by an overwhelming majority. Hundreds of thousands of dollars weren't spent on the campaign, and the media didn't swarm over the city. But Kalamazoo was a stunning success, and dollar-for-dollar one of the best investments of LGBT resources in this election cycle. Why do I say this? Here's a news flash: some people in the LGBT community - myself included - are not homosexuals.

That's right: I'm a straight transgender woman, and I want my rights too. Take a second to think that over before hitting the jump.

Continue reading "Take a tip from the Lions: or why I don't like the marriage fight"...

Happy Birthday Sesame Street!

bil@bilerico.com (Bil Browning) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:00:00 -0500

Today is Sesame Street's 40th birthday! Google has a special front page image for the show and I automatically thought back to my dad's favorite story about me as a kid.

We'd gone to visit my sister who lived in Chicago. I was about 6 years old, but she was quite a bit older than me and had children of her own. They youngest was just old enough to start talking gibberish with a good dose of the occasional real word thrown in.

The kid and I played together around the house as only kids can and my dad came in the room as we were "talking" together - except it was all nonsense. He asked me what we were talking about since the toddler didn't make sense. I apparently told him, "She's speaking Spanish. I learned it on Sesame Street so I can understand."

Happy birthday, Sesame Street. While Cookie Monster was/is my favorite character, my favorite sketch was with Ernie. (I put the video after the jump.) What's your favorite memory of the show? And who was your favorite character?

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The Top 10 Best Ballot Questions Ever

alex@bilerico.com (Alex Blaze) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:00:00 -0500

If "Let the people vote!" is now the dominant, deeply-considered political philosophy, I don't see why we can't all dream about what we want to see on the ballot. There's no cow too sacred, so add in your ballot initiative ideas in the comments.

Here are a few federal policies I'd like to see on the ballot in 2012. There's no federal ballot initiative process (yet), but these are sure winners and there's no reason to think inside the box.

10. Cap bailed-out Wall Street execs' salaries to 150% the average American salary. The only thing the left, the right, and liberals and conservatives who aren't power brokers all agree on is that these folks aren't cool and don't deserve to make tens of millions of tax-payer money as a reward for destroying America's economy.

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