Todd Hughes First Openly Gay Federal Judge

By a vote of 98 - 0 the Senate confirmed the first openly gay person to a federal judgeship.  Todd Hughes will now sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for The Federal Circuit.


I am surprised that there was not only no opposition but no drama around this nomination.  No real protests, no histrionics, no filibustering, no Ted Cruz idiocy and no people praying and weeping in the gallery.

Congratulations to Judge Ted Hughes.

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A Marriage Proposal

This marriage proposal  may be a tad over the top but it still made me cry.

And, it happened in Salt Lake City.

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Pennsylvania Taking Center Stage in The Battle For Marriage Equality

It is nice to see the state that James Carville once described as Philadelphia on one side. Pittsburgh on the other and Alabama in between (or something similar) is active in the fight for marriage equality.

First the ACLU and others have filed lawsuits to overturn my states "Donald Flad is not allowed to be a full citizen law".

Then the Register of Wills of suburban Montgomery County, with the full support of county government began to issue marriage licenses to all couples.  The Commonwealth's Health Department has taken him to court to stop him because the Attorney General will not defend a law that discriminates against me. (I am so influential).  Please note; The Governor of Pennsylvania is forcing the Health Department to use funds to deny me my full citizenship.  The Health Department of Pennsylvania is spending money to discriminate against me.

The Health Department - the ones who are supposed to spend their time, effort and my tax dollars to ensure we are all a little healthier seems like an odd choice to defend discrimination but what do I know.

Now, we learn that John Fetterman, the Mayor of Braddock is about the business of marriage equality. Braddock is a borough 10 miles north of Pittsburgh. Through most of the 20th century it was a center for steel making.  Since steel's collapse it has fallen on pretty hard times and even though it was a union town it is/was politically pretty conservative.  Mayor Fetterman is a huge, burly, tattooed man with a Masters degree from Harvard and he has decided that he could not discriminate against the citizens of his Borough even though the Governor of The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania thinks that he should.

I have been pretty pessimistic about Pennsylvania ever granting me full citizenship - I once said that I would not live long enough to see marriage equality in Pennsylvania but, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling - I actually have some hope.  I don't think either the State Legislature nor the worst Governor in the nation..... You know, Tom Corbett, (the guy who refused to prosecute Jerry Sandusky because he was afraid it would cost him votes) are going to allow me full citizenship so I am hoping the courts will act.

Because I am now cautiously optimistic I've asked Bethlehem's Mayor John Callahan (my Mayor) if he would officiate at our wedding ceremony and much to my delight he said he would be honored to do so.  The only problem is come the first of January he will no longer be Mayor.

Does anyone know if County Executives can officiate at marriages?



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fetterman_(politician)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braddock,_Pennsylvania


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/06/pennsylvania-mayor-gay-marriage-_n_3713598.html

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It's up to the Governor to Defend Discrimination

About the ACLU's lawsuit challenging Pennsylvania's ban on marriage equality;

"I cannot ethically defend the constitutionality of Pennsylvania's version of DOMA as I believe it to be wholly unconstitutional,"

Pennsylvania's Attorney General Kathleen Kane - Thursday at a press conference today held at the National Constitutional Center, in Philadelphia.   

Attorney General Kane's decision now leaves it up to the Governor of the Commonwealth to decide how and why this discriminatory law will be defended and why it should be defended.  
Traditional the AG's job is to defend the laws of the Commonwealth, luckily for us a provision was written into the law that created the position of Attorney General that gives the office holder and out when she does not think the law should be upheld or if she thinks it is more appropriate for the Governor himself to defend the law.

There is no doubt in my mind that the disappointing, inept, ineffective and generally just awful Tom Corbett will make every attempt to defend discrimination, he can't afford a primary from the right next year.

AG Kathleen Kane Will Not Defend Discrimination

This is big news!

The Attorney General of Pennsylvania will not defend the Commonwealth in a court case about the Pennsylvania law that denies me of my full rights, responsibility and privileges.

Attorney General Kathleen Kane will not defend Pennsylvania against a lawsuit brought by the ACLU on behalf of marriage equality.

It is reported that she will make the announcement at the National Constitution Center.  The AG knows the importance of drama, backdrop and setting.  Is it too early to mention her for VP in 2016.

Kathleen Kane is the first woman and first Democrat to hold the office of elected PA Attorney General.


http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20130710_Kane_won_t_defend_Pa__in_gay-marriage_suit__sources_say.html

If you want to contact St. Rep Daryl Metcalfe

If you feel the need to contact State Representative Daryl Metcalfe to let him know what you think about his hatred of democracy and his lack of respect for his duly elected colleague here is his contact information.

http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/member_information/house_bio.cfm?id=13

From the NY Daily News
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/archconservative-lawmaker-prevents-openly-gay-colleague-speaking-comments-god-law-article-1.1384923?localLinksEnabled=false

Progress On Marriage

“After careful consideration, including a review of my recommendation, the President has concluded that given a number of factors, including a documented history of discrimination, classifications based on sexual orientation should be subject to a more heightened standard of scrutiny.

The President has also concluded that Section 3 of DOMA, as applied to legally married same-sex couples, fails to meet that standard and is therefore unconstitutional. Given that conclusion, the President has instructed the Department not to defend the statute in such cases. I fully concur with the President’s determination.”

With these words our nation’s Attorney General, Eric Holder announced that President Obama and his Justice Department had come to the conclusion that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act does not meet constitutional requirement and this government will not defend it in court.

Section 3 is the section that defines the terms “marriage” and “spouse” and which says that legal marriage is only possible between opposite sexes.

This is not insignificant reversal of course for the administration. Late last year the President admitted that he was struggling with the issue of Gay Marriage and he understood the argument in favor of it but he also understood that the nation may need more time. I find it hard to believe that someone as sophisticated in his thinking as Barack Obama is actually struggling with gay marriage. There is no doubt however that he is struggling with the politics and the political logistics for doing the right thing. I don’t have any insider information so that is just so minor pop psychology on my part.

Meanwhile a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner had this to say.

“While Americans want Washington to focus on creating jobs and cutting spending, the President will have to explain why he thinks now is the appropriate time to stir up a controversial issue that sharply divides the nation."

The Speaker’s mouthpiece did not say when he thought an appropriate time would be to grant full rights to all of this nation’s citizens. Please note that the GOP leadership has yet to introduce one piece of legislation that will create jobs so for him to throw that phony issue at the President is disingenuous at best and yet it is typical of the Republican Leadership for the last 26 months.

Should I be hopeful that one day soon my guy will be able to make and honest man of me? We have spent the last 28 years waiting together; I suppose we can wait a tad longer. But, not too much longer, my slow burn is beginning to gather some heat.

Remembering Rev. Martin Luther King

As I struggle to write original material -

Below is the complete text of the I Have A Dream Speech - delivered by the Rev. Martin Luther King. As we celebrate his life and good works today it is important to remember his message of hope.

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I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."¹

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."²

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!³

The Cloture Vote On Defense Spending

Here is today's roll call vote to allow the Senate to debate the Defense Funding bill that included repealing the Don't Ask Don't Tell law. Keep in mind that this was not a vote on the Defense Funding bill or the repeal of DADT but this was a vote just to allow debate and then a vote. In the U. S. Senate you have to vote yes or no as to whether you are going to be allowed to vote on the real issue. You need 60 Yea votes before a vote will be held.

This is the worlds greatest Democracy?


U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 111th Congress - 2nd Session
as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate
Vote Summary
Question: On Cloture on the Motion to Proceed (Upon Reconsideration, Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Motion to Proceed to S. 3454 )
Vote Number: 270 Vote Date: December 9, 2010, 03:33 PM
Required For Majority: 3/5 Vote Result: Cloture on the Motion to Proceed Rejected
Measure Number: S. 3454 (National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 )

Measure Title: An original bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2011 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes.
Vote Counts: YEAs 57
NAYs 40
Not Voting 3
Vote Summary
By Senator Name
By Vote Position
By Home State


Alphabetical by Senator Name
Akaka (D-HI), Yea
Alexander (R-TN), Nay
Barrasso (R-WY), Nay
Baucus (D-MT), Yea
Bayh (D-IN), Yea
Begich (D-AK), Yea
Bennet (D-CO), Yea
Bennett (R-UT), Nay
Bingaman (D-NM), Yea
Bond (R-MO), Nay
Boxer (D-CA), Yea
Brown (D-OH), Yea
Brown (R-MA), Nay
Brownback (R-KS), Not Voting
Bunning (R-KY), Nay
Burr (R-NC), Nay
Cantwell (D-WA), Yea
Cardin (D-MD), Yea
Carper (D-DE), Yea
Casey (D-PA), Yea
Chambliss (R-GA), Nay
Coburn (R-OK), Nay
Cochran (R-MS), Nay
Collins (R-ME), Yea
Conrad (D-ND), Yea
Coons (D-DE), Yea
Corker (R-TN), Nay
Cornyn (R-TX), Not Voting
Crapo (R-ID), Nay
DeMint (R-SC), Nay
Dodd (D-CT), Yea
Dorgan (D-ND), Yea
Durbin (D-IL), Yea
Ensign (R-NV), Nay Enzi (R-WY), Nay
Feingold (D-WI), Yea
Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Franken (D-MN), Yea
Gillibrand (D-NY), Yea
Graham (R-SC), Nay
Grassley (R-IA), Nay
Gregg (R-NH), Nay
Hagan (D-NC), Yea
Harkin (D-IA), Yea
Hatch (R-UT), Nay
Hutchison (R-TX), Nay
Inhofe (R-OK), Nay
Inouye (D-HI), Yea
Isakson (R-GA), Nay
Johanns (R-NE), Nay
Johnson (D-SD), Yea
Kerry (D-MA), Yea
Kirk (R-IL), Nay
Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea
Kohl (D-WI), Yea
Kyl (R-AZ), Nay
Landrieu (D-LA), Yea
Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea
Leahy (D-VT), Yea
LeMieux (R-FL), Nay
Levin (D-MI), Yea
Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea
Lincoln (D-AR), Not Voting
Lugar (R-IN), Nay
Manchin (D-WV), Nay
McCain (R-AZ), Nay
McCaskill (D-MO), Yea
McConnell (R-KY), Nay Menendez (D-NJ), Yea
Merkley (D-OR), Yea
Mikulski (D-MD), Yea
Murkowski (R-AK), Nay
Murray (D-WA), Yea
Nelson (D-FL), Yea
Nelson (D-NE), Yea
Pryor (D-AR), Yea
Reed (D-RI), Yea
Reid (D-NV), Yea
Risch (R-ID), Nay
Roberts (R-KS), Nay
Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea
Sanders (I-VT), Yea
Schumer (D-NY), Yea
Sessions (R-AL), Nay
Shaheen (D-NH), Yea
Shelby (R-AL), Nay
Snowe (R-ME), Nay
Specter (D-PA), Yea
Stabenow (D-MI), Yea
Tester (D-MT), Yea
Thune (R-SD), Nay
Udall (D-CO), Yea
Udall (D-NM), Yea
Vitter (R-LA), Nay
Voinovich (R-OH), Nay
Warner (D-VA), Yea
Webb (D-VA), Yea
Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea
Wicker (R-MS), Nay
Wyden (D-OR), Yea

Thank you Senator Casey and Senator Specter for voting Yea

Don't Ask Don't Tell

President Obama has been pretty clear in his support for changing DADT. Do I wish he was more passionate about the issue? Yes, but that is not really his style. Do I wish he would be working the phones and pressuring members of the Senate to vote for repeal? Yes. Do I wish he would be out there every day trying urging the American people to rise up and force the Senate to do the right thing? Yes.

But, the President can only do so much. It is up to the people who have been impacted by this issue to tell the story of why DADT must be repealed. It is up to the GLBT community to lead the fight to secure our full and equal place in society. We have to convince the Senator’s that asking someone to die for their country while living a lie is wrong. We have to tell the Senator’s that asking someone to defend the concepts of freedom and liberty around the world and yet not have them fully in their own country is hypocrisy at its worst and it is certainly not a very moral position. We must be willing to lead the fight for our own battles before we can ask our friends to assist us. I ask my GLBT brothers and sisters; how many phone calls to Senator’s have you made? How many letters to the editor have you written? How many petitions have you either signed or circulated? What have you done to affect the change you know is right? What have you done in the name of your own freedom, in the name of justice and liberty for you and for all?

I am an old liberal warhorse and I have been through many a political and social justice battle in my time and I am getting tired of fighting but I am also getting sick and tired of waiting for full citizenship. I am getting sick and tired of seeing kids go through the same type of bullying that I went through 40 years ago. I am sick and tired of seeing the best and the brightest this country has to offer being kicked out of the military while we are fighting two wars and sabers are rattling in other hot zones. I am sick and tired not having my relationship of 27 years seen as having the same value as Newt Gingrich’s three marriages.

I am sick and I am tired.

I know that we must continue the fight and we must call on our friends to fight with us. Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is un-American and it is a moral blight on the reputation of the great republic.

The Constitution Trumps

I am supporting the President’s position on DADT. Yes I am.

Why?

Because the Constitution of this nation trumps everything else and because we are a nation of laws we must follow the proper and legal process for making laws. If a law needs to be changed the Constitution is very clear as to how to change it.

The Congress of the United States makes/changes the laws.

The President of the United States does not make the laws he enforces them. The President has been pretty clear in his support for changing DADT but he is required by the constitution to defend this nation and its laws.

Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is the law of the land, it was passed overwhelmingly by both houses of Congress and signed into law by the President of the United States.

There are those who have called on the President to void the law via executive order and he can do just that. I hope he does not. All of us on the left who were critical of Bush for all the executive orders he signed to not enforce the laws written by Congress would prove ourselves to be hypocrites if we now support a President for doing the same thing. I try very hard to be consistent and I am going to remain consistent on this issue despite my urgent and passionate desire to see the law changed. It would be easy for me to turn on the President and not support him on this but then I would be no better than the Republicans who did not care about the reckless spending by Reagan, Bush and Bush and now criticize Obama for reckless spending with almost violent language.

I have made it very clear that the big four issues for me now are LGBT issues; void Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, void Defense Of Marriage and allow Gays and Lesbians to get married, adding LGBT to the Employment Non-discrimination laws and adding violence against LGBT people to the federal hate crime laws.

These laws/changes must happen but it must be done correctly and within the structures of what the constitution spells out. If I am allowed full citizenship via an executive order rather than through the law the next President can just void this President’s executive order and I am back where I started from; nowhere.

Why Marriage Matters

Let me tell you a little story

There is this guy living in Allentown, his name is Chris, I have known Chris his whole life. Chris works hard; pay’s his taxes, votes, loves his family and has a lot of great friends. Chris was building a life with a great guy named Mike. Mike died suddenly a year ago.

Chris was in bed and he heard a sound and a thud in the bathroom, he rushed in to find Mike on the floor dyeing. Chris called the 911 and as Mike was being taken to the hospital, Chris was put in a police car and taken to the police station so an investigation could take place to ensure there was no foul play. Mike died alone in the hospital his life partner Chris was alone at the police station. An officer came in to the room to tell Chris that Mike had died and that he was cleared so he could go home. I don’t recall now if the police brought him home or if Chris’s parents came to pick him up. Imagine what the neighbors thought when they saw these two men being taken out of the apartment.

Mike was just coming out of the shadows of the closet, despite that fact that he and Chris were building a life together Mike was not quite strong enough or comfortable enough to list Chris as a beneficiary on any of his insurance or retirement paper work and there was no will. The only proof that these two men had a life together was the matching rings they wore.

The county could not release Mike’s body to Chris. The county had to place an article in the newspaper looking for a next of kin and after 72 hours of waiting Chris was given access to Mike’s remains. A next of kin was found; a miserable old woman who Mike had not been in contact with since the mid 90’s, she was Mike’s Aunt. She released Mike’s body to Chris and his family under one condition; she would not be asked to contribute to the cost of the funeral otherwise “The County could dispose of him as they would any pauper”. Chris’s sister dealt with the county on his behalf and said Chris wanted nothing from her he just wanted Mike’s body so he could complete Mike’s wishes.

Mike worked with Chris’s brother and the people at work went into overdrive and took care of all the details for the reception after the memorial service, employees from other locations came to cover the workplace so anyone who wanted to attend the memorial service could. Close to 150 people attended the very casual service. Mike was not very religious but the service was held in the social hall of Chris’s family’s church.

The funeral home understood the situation and really went above and beyond the call of duty to ensure the Mike’s urn could be present for the service and they also understood that Chris would have to engage an attorney in order to gain access to Mike’s estate to cover the costs of the funeral and other debts they incurred together.

Under Pennsylvania laws Chris was not entitled to Mike’s estate because there was no will nor was he listed on the beneficiary paperwork. The only person entitled to that money is the Aunt that Mike despised because she was the next of kin. Chris was appointed executor and was able to pay expenses from the estate and he was allowed to collect a small fee for holding that post but that process took so long that Chris had front the money for the bill for the funeral home.

Yes, a lot of this mess could have been avoided had Mike had the courage to add Chris to his paperwork. It should not take courage to do that but in this country it takes courage to live an open and honest life. It was another step out of the closet and unless you have had to take those steps you will never know the courage it takes. If Chris and Mike had been allowed to get married, instead of having to settle for matching bands, the Aunt would not be listed as next of kin, Chris would have.

Chris, his family and friends miss Mike dearly everyday and are still scarred and somewhat embittered by what Chris has had to endure. Chris’s brother is particularly angry and frustrated by what he witnessed and his brother’s pain because he knows unless he crosses every “T” and dots every “I” he will go through the same thing. Chris’s brother has been in a stable and monogamous and affirming relationship with the same man for almost 27 years but his government does not recognize it as legitimate. As a result Chris’s brother and his partner have very clear wills and have listed each other as primary beneficiaries on all financial paper work.

I am Chris’s brother.

This is why marriage is important and this is why I will become a single issue voter if I have too. Living life in the shadows is not an option for me; living life without the full rights and privileges of the majority is not an option for me.

Yes, I Am Voting For John Callahan Because It Is About Me

In his comments to my last post Bernie O’Hare warned me against basing my decision to vote for John Callahan based solely on one issue. I have never been a single issue voter but the issues I addressed in my last post are about to become make or break issues for me.

Throughout my long political involvement I always allowed LBGT issues to get pushed aside, I was always willing to compromise and then support candidates who support for my civil rights and my right to be a full citizen in this country is at best tepid.

I supported the greater good for the rest of society while I accepted my rights to considered an afterthought or something that would be gotten around too when the timing is right. I have concluded that the timing will never be right.

I want the leaders that I vote for, the men and women I give my money, my time and my efforts to lead on my behalf.

I support a woman’s right to choose, I support strong public schools, I support the right of unions to organize. I support affirmative action; I believe the government needs to do more for the poor, the young and the elderly. I believe in climate change and support candidates who want to do something about it. I support investing in our cities and preserving our farmlands and green spaces. I believe in comprehensive immigration reform.

I support your right to burn the flag and I support your right to own and use a gun. I support your right to hate me because of who I love. I support your right to worship who, what, where and when you want. I support human rights, I support the peace movement and I support our troops. I give to the boy scouts; I give to food banks and animal shelters. I have tried to imagine what it like to have walked in the shoes of everyone out there, to understand where you are coming from so I can support your right to exist and your right to your opinion.

And yet, every election I am asked to support people who are not truly willing to support me. I want to get married; I want to not have to read about 13 year old boys killing themselves because some asshole called them gay. I want the word gay to no longer be a bad word, I want gay to no longer be a joke or punch line anymore.

I am tired of coming out of the closet over and over it again. You straight folks have no idea how demeaning it is to have to explain and or justify yourself to people who are not really worthy of it. How do you think I feel every time someone asks me about my wife because I wear a band on my ring finger? Really people; a tall, thin, well spoken, well read, well dressed 51 year old man is not married for a reason.

So, my friend Bernie when I find a candidate who has embraced me and this issue the way John Callahan has I am going to support him. Yes, Bernie for the first time in my very long involvement in politics this election is going to be about me and I am voting for John Callahan.

Do you really think by carrying the water for John Boehner, Charlie Dent really has your interest at heart?

You can visit Bernie's blog by clicking on the link for Lehigh Valley Ramblings

Let Rush Alone

I don’t really understand the fascination with and the national obsession that is Rush Limbaugh. Every media outlet was all over the story of the quest to be part of a group trying to buy the St. Louis Rams. Every newspaper, website, network news program, talk TV shows, radio talk shows, most water coolers and every lunch room in the country were obsessed over this story. Here is the boiled down version. A radio talk show host was going to be a minority partner investor in one of the worst football teams in the NFL. Rush was going to have no real authority with the team, he was not going to be involved in day to day management decisions and nothing he said or did was going to impact the players or the greater game itself. He was going to write a fairly large check and hope to someday get a return on his investment. That’s it, nothing more nothing less. This is not really a story and certainly not worthy of the 24 hour, day in and day out coverage it received.

Why was this nonsense such a big story? Rush Limbaugh is a huge star. He is someone people love to love and love to hate. He represents what is great about the American dream. If you work hard, if you are unique, if you have some talent you can be very successful. You don’t have to be a Harvard grad; you don’t have to be born into noble or wealthy conditions to make it to the top of your field. You just have to have that certain thing that attracts people to you. You also have to have the guts to stick with it. You have to have the fortitude to enjoy the highs and make it through the lows. He is one example of the success that can happen in this great country.

Make no mistake I am not even close to being a fan of Rush Limbaugh – in fact on my Twitter site I vowed never to use his name and refer to him with a reference to some self control problems he had a few years ago. I think most of his comments are shallow and only touch the surface of the issues; I don’t think he really digs down and does the hard work to find solutions to our many problems. He has been around so long that even the most casual listener can predict where he will fall on any given issue. This is why he said he hoped the President failed because he knew it would get the attention of the MSM and he would be back in the headlines. It will be interesting to watch to see how far he is willing to go now that Glenn Beck is sucking up so much of the right wing oxygen. It will be fun to watch if these two get into a wing nut cage match.

His being dumped by his fellow investors says more about the type of men they are than it does about the people who led the drum beats in opposition to Rush being part of the NFL. Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony & Gloria Estefan are all investors in the Miami Dolphins and nothing changed expect the men who really run the team have some fresh cash flow. Rush was going to be in the same situation and yet the entire nation convulsed over this issue. How was this important? Why did we care? What was really the point? If a man who has earned his money honestly and has worked hard for it wants to spend some of it on a sports team let him. It’s his bloody money and if this how he wants to spend it, so be it. I can think of far more harmful things someone like Rush Limbaugh can do with all that money.

I am calling on congress to set up a special committee to look at every investor of every professional sports franchise because the American people have the right to know that their sports teams are being funded by men and women who neither are without flaw nor have never made a controversial statement.

I Will Always Love Bill Clinton

Just watched my President Bill Clinton's speech before the netroots conference, this year being held in Pittsburgh. Netroots conference began as YearlyKos but has become so much bigger than those early meetings.

The speech was typical Big Bill, a bit rambling, a bit professorial and completely compelling and passionate. He was so supportive of the President you would have thought his wife won. He sounded like a 100% Obama supporter. I believe he was sincere and I think he is fully on board with our President and wants nothing but his complete success. President Clinton believes and I agree that if the President is successful we progressives will control the national agenda for 40 years. Providing we don't eat our young and beat ourselves up too much and that is a really big if, we are Democrats after all.

Part of the way through his address a really cute guy stood up and began to shout at the President. Because this broadcast was on Cspan viewers could not hear what he was saying, so I assumed he was a birther, teabagger, townhall shouter or a death panelist. But, something didn't seem right. He was white, OK, he was male, OK but he had a really nice body, a good hair cut and stylishly dressed.

Boing! He was shouting about DOMA and DADT. He is gay!

At first our Big Dog was pissed for the interruption, then he calmed down and promised the young man that he would address his questions. The young man said "Do you promise?. President Clinton responded with a whithering stare. The young man sat down looking very proud of himself.

President Clinton tried to continue but the more he thought about it he realized this was his opportunity to answer his critics on these two issues. His response was typical Bill Clinton. He blamed his times, his supporters, congress and said his hand was forced on both issues. He wanted to do the right thing but the nation was not ready to go there. And, you know what? He is right, the nation was not ready in the 1990's . He believes that we are now almost was ready. He regrets having to sign these two bills into law, he claims he did so because there was worse, much worse legislation pending and he wanted to avoid that.

My favorite line of his was when he asked the young man why he didn't do his part by pressuring his member of Congress to do the right thing and asking everyone in the room what they did to support these issues, the silence was deafening. And, that is why I continued to support Bill Clinton, we expected him to fight our battles for us. It is our battle, we cannot expect straight people to lead the fight. How many members of congress did we support who would actively work to overturn DOMA and DADT? Or, did we settle and just support our Democratic friends. I know I did and if you are honest you know you did the same.

President Clinton is as he usually is correct. Old friends may remember that I was about the only politically active gay guy at the time defending my President. Politics is about reality not about our dreams or about what a perfect world would be like. Politics is about dealing with the here and now. Campaigns are about hopes and dreams. Governing is about what can be done.

President Clinton supports the overturning of both DOMA and DADT. Once again, I believe him and believe that he will do all he can to ensure this happens.

He clearly did not intend for this to be the focus of his speech but he is so smart and so in tune with how to get his message across that he wrapped it all up by saying that this is our time and this is our opportunity to set the nation on it's right course and when this current President is successful, progressives will lead this country for one or two generations.

Not Post Racial Yet

Since the election of the president, many commentators (mostly white) have been discussing a post racial America. Some claim that the fact we have elected a black man our president, racism no longer exists at a high level in this country and we are now a more color blind society. Bunk.

In a color blind society no one would even notice that the president was black. Find me one person in this country that does not recognize the president is black. The election of one man does not a color blind society make.

There would be no birther movement if Barack Obama was named Barry O'Malley or Barry Osterhaus. The birther movement has legs because the president had an African father and was born in the exotic place called Hawaii, as a child spent some time in Indonesia with his mother. John McCain was born in Panama but no one doubts his citizenship because his father was military and not a cultural anthropologist.

I don't have a problem with the teabagger movement on the whole. The true movement leaders care about where this nation is heading and are genuine anti-tax and small government advocates. The movement has been around for years and embodied by the Libertarian party and Congressman Ron Paul. After the election of Barack Obama the movement grew many fold and got a racial edge. Look back at photos from the biggest marches in April and you will find hundreds of posters taking the low road with ethnic and racial slurs. Where were these new teabaggers when the Bush administration ran up a national debt larger than all the 43 Presidents before him?

Do I think we can become a post racial society? Yes. It is going to take a lot more intermarriage and it is going to take a few more generations. Have we gotten better? Maybe. I have had conversations with people in their early twenties. These kids were not as moved as I was by the election of an African American President, they didn't really get the sense of history at the same level I had. These kids also don't get the whole gays can't marry thing either.

So, yes there is hope for this society to become colorblind, I just don't think I will be alive to see it.

What happened this week the Dr. Henry Louis Gates should end any claims of a post racial society for quite some time.

I want to get married

OK - this is not a manifesto but a rant and a plea for justice that I fear may not come for at least another generation.

Last Saturday by brother's partner of many years died suddenly, my brother found him collapsed on the floor and called 911. My brother said everyone was very kind and polite but they treated it like a crime scene. He was not allowed to go to the hospital but instead was taken to the police station to wait things out. Once no foul play was discovered he was free to go. By this point Mike had died alone at the hospital.

Now, my brother because he was not a legal spouse had to wait 3 days to for some family member to come forward to claim the body. Mike was estranged from his family and really there was only an aunt and step father left, neither of which he had a real relationship with. We were Mike's family, my brother is the one who had claim to the body, but we had to wait.

Now, friends have tried to reassure me that this 3 day wait for next of kin would also happen to a straight unmarried couple. That may be true but for one difference. They would be unmarried and living together by choice my brother is not allowed to marry. We had to wait for some obscure relative to surface and then worry that she would claim the body and Mike would be lost to us forever. She did come forward at that last minute and gave us some grief but in the end my brother was allowed to follow Mike's wishes and we had a lovely memorial service.

I have been with Guy for over 25 years. We have been embraced by both our families (mine was easier than his but they came around). We have never strayed. I have joyfully put up with snoring, weight gain and the need to collect everything. Guy has put up with career highs and lows, horrible sleeping habits, bouts of depression, a mid life discovery that ADD is real and some odd OCD habits.

Yet, we are not in the eyes of the law a legal couple. Our relationship has no value under the laws of this state and this nation. Marriages, like all those family value types who cheat on their wives, have value. Their sham marriages count. Guy & I do not count. If I were to die tomorrow after more than 25 years Guy would not be able to claim custody of my still neurotic corpse. He would have to hope that my family would not come in and take me from him. He would have no say what so ever. A will would help but that could involve legal action.

At one point I thought marriage did not matter, but it clearly does. I thought OK call it civil unions, but that is not working out so well in NJ (UPS does not want to grant benefit rights). I want to get married! Not because I give a rat's ass if some church or state leader approves. I want to get married because I want the same rights as Elizabeth Taylor (8 times), Newt (3 times), junky radio host (4 times), the diaper wearing Senator Vitters, the soul mate searching Gov. Sanders, the staffing screwing Sen. Ensign and the cigar chomping Pres. Clinton.

I want Jefferson's words to be true, even if he really did not mean them. Oh please, you will never find a bigger fan of Jefferson than me, but the man owned and screwed slaves until the day he died.

I will hold all my elected officials accountable until I have full rights under the Constitution. This will be One America some day and I am now fully engaged in the fight. And, I am tired of this long engagement I want Guy to make a respectable man of me and finally marry me. The sin part of "living in sin" may be fun but I want full citizenship rights just like my sister has.

Not equal

I have been tweeting like a crazy person because I am still processing my manifesto and still grieving.

Did Jefferson really believe "All men are created equal"? Because it really did not pan out that way did it? At least, not in this country.

We have talked a good game for the last 233 years but the laws of this great Commonwealth and nation do not treat me as an equal.

Separate is not equal

I will post later this week about why "Gay Marriage" and or "Civil Unions" is important. The indignity that my brother is being put through is beyond the pale. I will tell this story once I have his permission. If I don't get it I will tell it another way. His story could very easily be my story or the story of any GLBT person in most of our states. This nation still has second class citizens and I am one of them.

Separate has never been equal and it never will be. It wasn't under Jim Crow and it is not now under DOMA and DADT.

On this day / in this month when we celebrate pride the focus needs to be on civil/equal rights.

I'll be back