Open Lesbian Now a Partner in Chicago Cubs Ownership Team

Pete Ricketts, Todd Ricketts, Laura Ricketts, Tom Ricketts

Everyone wondered who the Chicago Cubs would be sold to. Now we know. Someone with a league of her own.

A milestone of professional sports has been reached with the new owners, though it's not one our homophobic sports world will play up too willingly. So let's do it for them.

Among the members of the Ricketts family who acquired the team is Laura Ricketts, an out lesbian -- making the Cubs the first professional sports team to have a gay owner, at least one that is known to the public. I would suspect Marge Schott, but I think her thing was dogs. How open is Laura? She even attended a White House GLBT luncheon in June for Gay Pride month, and has apparently been an active political contributor to Dems in Chi-town.

Ricketts says she came out of the closet to her family in her early 30's, shortly after she came to terms with her sexuality herself. She's quoted as saying her family was "immediately supportive."

Not only has there never been an openly gay sports team owner before, but there have been no openly gay players -- at least none who were willing to admit it before their retirement. A lot have come out after they finished playing, like Billy Beane and Glenn Burke. And we just blogged about a closeted gay professional athlete whose blog has purportedly described his life in the bigs. http://clubhousecloset.blogspot.com/

There has been an openly gay umpire, Dave Pallone. But that didn't work out well for him. After he came out to the National League president at the time, he was fired on rumors of an alleged sex ring. A subsequent investigationb proved the allegations were groundless. Pallone claimed he was fired for being gay. Then there was Paul Priore, a clubhouse assistant for the Yankees who said he was taunted and ultimately fired because he was HIV positive.

Let's put it this way. Gayness in MLB is infrequently discussed. No manager or player wants a distraction. I have always felt that outside of the locker room jokes, most people could care less what the guy does in bed if the guy can play the game. Some day we will find out. Baseball survived the wife swapping of Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich in the midst of a New York Yankees pennant run in the 1970's. It will survive a gay player if he has a good curve or can hit in the clutch.

While Laura Ricketts' ownership in the Cubs is unique, she is not the partner expected to run the team.Tom Ricketts, chief executive officer of Incapital LLC, a Chicago investment bank will handle that chore. Should be an interesting family. From Omaha, Nebraska, one of the brothers is very conservative, opposes gay marriage and involved with Republican politics as much as Laura is with the Dems. Great Thanksgiving dinners, don't you think?

One of the first teams to ever hold a 'Gay Days' at the ballpark was the Cubs at Wrigley Field, usually in the summer during the Market Days Festival on Halstead Street. Now they really have someone to throw out the first pitch.

Gay America Wins a Place at the Table

A Place at the Table:

7 Reasons 2009 Has Been a Good Year for Gay Americans

By Norm Kent

Gay Americans have much to be proud of these past few weeks. We helped elect the right man President of the United States. So yes, Mabel, there has been a difference.

First of all, at the Human Rights Campaign Dinner in Washington, D.C. last month, President Obama announced that he will ask Congress to overturn the ban on gays in the military, effectively disarming the misguided policies of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ era. Though not posturing a date, the President was very specific in stating that he would honor his campaign pledge; that “we should not be punishing patriotic Americans who have stepped forward to serve the country."

Yes, activists like myself and Cleve Jones I see too, are perturbed this has not happened more quickly. But I know I can find a little bad in the best of things. The bottom line is that the President has raised the issue and not run from it. The days of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ are coming to a halt.

Second, that same man, Barack Obama, influenced a Democratic congress to end its stalemate and stalling on the Hate Crimes Act. The bill, honoring the lives of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., both victims of hate, each murdered, was passed and signed into law this year. This bill expands the 1969 United States federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. It is thus the first federal law to extend legal protection to transgendered persons.

Like the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the law empowers federal authorities with a greater ability to engage in hate crimes investigations that local authorities choose not to pursue. It was a bill that Republicans and President Bush had killed for years.

Third, as prior Presidents before him have done, President Obama also signed into law that bill releasing funds for HIV prevention and treatment, including a reauthorization of the Ryan White Act. Every year, this legislation guarantees access to lifesaving medical services, primary care, and medications for more than 500,000 patients, nearly half of all those living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S.

Under Team Obama, the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act does at least authorize a 5 percent annual increase in federal support over the next four years. Not all is gravy, though. The Bush Administration had imposed some regressive administrative measures that hampered direct assistance to many communities, and those negative changes were not corrected in the recent reauthorization.

Fourth, ENDA is a renewed federal bill in the United States Congress that would prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and disability, for civilian nonreligious employers with over 15 employees. Religious organizations and non profit membership only clubs are provided exemptions, similar to the principles of the Civil Rights Act. This year, for the first time, with Democratic leadership in the House and Senate, this bill has a realistic chance of becoming law.

Fifth, President Obama has called upon Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which limits how state, local and federal bodies can recognize partnerships and determine benefits. He also called for a law to extend benefits to domestic partners. These were not causes supported by the prior administration. As a matter of fact, President Bush was a leader for DOMA from the outset of his administration. Here too, then, the White House has turned a corner.

Sixth, on Friday President Obama announced that he will lift a 22-year-old ban on entry into the United States for people infected with HIV/AIDS. The administration intends to publish a new federal rule next week eliminating the ban by the start of 2010, carrying through on a proposal President Bush had finally endorsed in 2008. It was long past due.

"We talk about reducing the stigma of this disease, yet we've treated a visitor living with it as a threat," President Obama said. "If we want to be the global leader in combating HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it."

The HIV Travel Ban made the United States a pariah in human rights circles. In fact, some of the most significant international conventions studying the AIDS pandemic were not held in the United States because we ostracized ourselves with a Neanderthal policy that so clearly violated both public health needs and human rights.

Seventh, the last and most fundamental change in the Obama Administration is its willingness to select openly gay men and women to positions of influence and trust in the government. The litmus test for a Presidential appointment has become your competence in the daytime, not who you sleep with at night. In Washington, a successful prosecutor who is an out lesbian has just been named a chief US Attorney. In Minnesota, another lesbian has been appointed a US Marshall. In fact, the Gay and Lesbian Leadership Institute lists over two dozen Presidential GLBT appointments, from Special Counsel to the President to the Deputy Director for Safe Schools.

The gay community has become an operative political force to be reckoned with locally and nationally. There are still heated emotional debates surrounding ‘same-sex marriage’. Politicians are still reticent to join that bandwagon. No matter. Regardless of popular opinion, eventually it is our courts which will decide the legal rights and protections of same-sex couples. As marriage is fundamentally a civil contract which can be voided at will, it is inevitable that same sex marriages will be upheld by the courts.

Some of us in the gay community were initially disturbed with President Obama's first forays into equal justice, but we were foolish. I just don't think that six months into their first term John McCain and Sarah Palin would have been hosting an LGBT Gay Pride Month luncheon in the White House.

In 1993, Bruce Bawer wrote a landmark book entitled “A Place at the Table: The Gay Individual in American Society.” Bruce’s vision has come true. We no longer have to window shop our lives from the outside. We are welcome in. We have earned it, and now if we want it, there is a place at the table for us too.

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'Just Beautiful Men' an Aesthetically Pleasing Site

Sometimes you get so caught up in politics that you forget a blog can be individually expressive as well as politically explosive. And occasionally you come across sites which are deserving of recognition because they make a statement on their own.

‘Just Beautiful Men’ is one such vehicle. A collage of aesthetic portraits of well built men, who have taken the time to take care of themselves, and nurture what they got, the website is compelling.

It contains nudity, warnings, and disclosures, as well as a cross section of blogmates who similarly trespass openly and brazenly on the male physique. Not bad at all. If we are going to be open about our sexuality, why not own up to our sensuality? It is not always about politics and law. Sometimes, as my partner reminds me, it is about our own needs, the kinds politicians cover up.

So ‘Just Beautiful Men’ is to be applauded, linking also to agency and modeling sites, photographic studios, forums and discussion groups. Jump into their links and you can spend hours cruising the net into homoerotic sexuality, nothing to be ashamed of for sure, and something to appreciate even more. Gratuitous shirtless hunks everywhere. Politics no where. So what?

In fact, I am going to create a link which opens to adult homoerotic sites, which like this one, or Hunk du Jour, show professional men in personal ways, accentuating their talents with and without their clothes on. You know we have spent so much time trying to assimilate into society it is good to remember we are different and not the same. We are all unique. And that is what we have in common.

Elton AIDS Event in NYC Features Prez Clinton

Former President Bill Clinton will be among the honorees at the annual Elton John [ tickets ] AIDS Foundation benefit event, entitled "An Enduring Vision," .

The Nov. 16 benefit--which will be held at New York City's Cipriani Wall Street--will feature special musical guest Donna Summer [ tickets ].

In a statement, John said, "Donna Summer's energy, voice and spirit are going to electrify our guests and I can't wait to share the stage with her. Donna has been a tremendous supporter of the Elton John AIDS Foundation for many years, and I am so excited that she has agreed to perform for our 'An Enduring Vision' event."

As part of the eighth annual EJAF event, the foundation will present Enduring Vision awards to four honorees that have supported its mission to fund innovative HIV prevention programs, its efforts to eliminate stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS, and the direct care and support services it provides to individuals living with HIV/AIDS.

Sometimes, in the midst of so many other things, AIDS is still real for so many. We should particularly not forget during the week the Ryan White Bill was extended by President Obama, and here are is remarks as reported in Steve Rothaus' preeminent Miami Herald blog:

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/2009/10/remarks-by-the-president-at-signing-of-the-ryan-white-hivaids-treatment-extension-act-of-2009.html

Open Gay US Attorney Takes Helm in Washington

Great AP story by Gene Johnson might not get as much coverage as one would like on the day President Obama signed the Hate Crimes Bill into law, but the new top federal prosecutor in Seattle is the nation's first openly gay U.S. attorney. Here you go-

'But as a daughter of privilege — her dad was a powerful Democratic state senator, and she had all the benefits of a comfortable upbringing and a good education — Jenny Durkan also recalls what someone once told her: "You're the most non-diverse diverse person I know." '

"I don't think I can fully appreciate how important it is to many people to have someone in a role like this who is gay," Durkan said this week in an interview with The Associated Press. "The more people are able to see people in situations where pretty soon that's an invisible characteristic, the better it is for the entire community."

Gay rights activists say her appointment reflects a growing acceptance in the U.S. as well as the attitude of President Barack Obama's administration. Earlier this month, Obama nominated an openly gay police sergeant to be the U.S. marshal in Minneaopolis; she would be the first openly gay U.S. marshal. We cannot underestimate the significance of Obama embracing diversity at every level. Fox News calls it radical. It is not. It is America.

Durkan, 51, has been named to the Attorney General's Advisory Committee, where she will head a subcommittee on cybercrimes and intellectual property. The FBI is building a new cybercrime center in the old federal courthouse in Seattle, and the U.S. attorney's office here has done novel work in prosecuting such cases.

Before being confirmed by the Senate a month ago, Durkan performed a wide variety of civil litigation and criminal defense work, and was active in bar associations. In 2002 she traveled to Morocco to train female candidates for parliament. She has been Gov. Chris Gregoire's personal attorney and confidante, and represented the Democratic Party when Gregoire's 133-vote re-election win was confirmed in court.

Durkan has said she did some of her most satisfying work using lawsuits to force institutional reform — such as changes in how the King County Jail handles mentally ill prisoners after one who had been recently released stabbed a firefighter to death.

To that end, she's spoken with local prosecutors, state and federal agencies and the governor's office about bringing those groups together to coordinate better responses to environmental crimes, for example.

Ultimately, she said, she hopes to be judged on how the U.S. attorney's office handles those threats — not on her sexual orientation.

"In this region I don't think it's very remarkable that you have someone who is gay in a position of authority, because it's woven throughout our culture and has been," Durkan said. "In other parts of the country it might be, but I think a generation from now it will be a footnote."

President Obama Will Sign Hate Crimes Bill into Law on Wednesday

Eleven years after Matthew Shepard’s death, President Obama will sign the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes bill into law during a White House signing ceremony Wednesday afternoon, White House officials confirm.

The long-sought hate crimes provision is part of the fiscal year 2010 defense authorization bill and will extend federal hate crimes law to include crimes motivated by a victim's gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

The passage of hate crimes legislation would allow the U.S. Justice Department to assist in the prosecution of hate crimes committed against LGBT people that result in death or serious injury. The federal government could lend its assistance to local authorities or take the lead if local officials are unwilling or unable to prosecute cases. Further, the legislation would make grants available to state and local communities to train law enforcement officials, combat hate crimes committed by juveniles and investigate bias-motivated violence.

Matthew Shepard, a gay twenty-one year old college student was brutally killed in 1998. Some of the Shepard family will be in attendance at the White House signing on Wednesday. Afterward there will be a reception with gay rights groups as well as civil rights leaders to commemorate the occasion. I guess they forgot to invite me.

The main thrust of the bill is defense policy, including authorizing $130 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The DOD Authorization bill also strips money from the Pentagon budget for the controversial F-22 Raptor. This is a classic example of how one issue gets thrown upon another upon another. It should have been a stand alone bill, honoring James Byrd, Jr. a slain African American killed by hate, and Matthew Shepard, murdered because he was gay.

But it is a law now, and just like you do not know if your doctor was first or last in his class when he graduated Med School, 20 years after we are all gone no one will know this bill to tame hate was an appendage to a military appropriations bill for the Pentagon. Ironic in a way, because gays still can't join the military, and African Americans too, were once excluded from fighting with Caucasians. Just relics of the past. Like hate may one day be.

Thank you Judy Shepard for never forgetting your son.

Thank you Mr. Obama for pushing this issue to passage.

Thank you Congress for doing something Progress-ive.

Has 'Gay Athlete's Blog' Taken its Last at Bat?

Remember that commercial about a sound system which went 'is it real or is it memorex?'

I want to direct you to a blogger's site:
http://www.clubhousecloset.blogspot.com

The guy has been posting infrequently for four years, and he has claimed to be a professional baseball player living life in the closet. He has developed a small cult of followers appreciating his occasional posts, relating his life on the road and in the dark. Some think it's a scam. Authenticity has a price. Verification. This blog yearns for it, but it just isn't there.

Is it authentic? Is it Memorex? There is no reason not to believe the candor expressed on these pages but we live in the world of 'The Balloon Boy.' We are exposed to hoaxes and frauds in every financial market. We can't believe anything we see because it may be compromised by digitalizing, morphing, spindling, and mutilating.

When I do television interviews, the makeup covers up the sun spots on my forehead, the wrinkles below my eyes. My body pleads for Botox, the reality is I am aging. No, check that. I have aged.

So these candid admissions from the anonymous athlete are open and revealing, but his identity remains secret. Larry King has had Billy Beane on and there are others who played 20 years ago still in the closet. One ex-pitcher, who plays in our local gay softball league, and has had his retired major league uniform framed in a local gay bar, still lives a quiet and secret gay life he would rather his teammates not know about. But an ex jock like me picked up on his World Series ring the very first day I saw him play.

Can't presuppose what to tell the 'gay athlete' on this blog site to do. Would love to meet him though. Would love to share with all the stories I have heard for the past ten years, first as the Publisher of the Express, then as an open radio host, then out as a lawyer, of life in the sunshine.

Maybe his time has come. Or maybe its time to just go back to the shadows. There is only one way he will ever know.

Harvey Milk Honored Posthumously in California

He was from Woodmere, New York, but made his case for gay civil rights in San Francisco, California. And now, some 30 years after his assassination, California will forever commemorate his passing, his life, his memory.

Harvey Milk will get a special day of recognition.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s signing of the bill establishing “Harvey Milk Day” each May 22, Milk’s birthday, was announced Monday. The Republican governor vetoed similar legislation a year ago.

In the interim, Milk was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in August and was the subject of a movie for which Sean Penn won the Academy Award for best actor. Penn spoke out in favor of the bill last spring, saying he didn’t want to insult Schwarzenegger’s intelligence by assuming the governor would again oppose creating Harvey Milk Day.

“He has become much more of a symbol of the gay community than he was a year ago because of those things,” Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said. “That made the difference from last year: he’s really come to symbolize the gay community in California”

"Harvey Milk Day” will not be a formal state holiday, so government employees will not be given the day off. The bill instead calls for the day to be observed by public schools as a day of special significance. Teachers will be encouraged to conduct exercises recalling Milk’s life and contributions to the state.

That message should be a simple one at that. Harvey Milk stood for the principle that gay people are decent Americans and should be recognized for such. We have never asked for special rights. We have always asked for the same rights others have had.

If we ask to marry, it is because others similarly situated have had that sacred right. If we ask to serve as soldiers, it is because our country is our country. We have never asked to be picked up, just requested not to be put down. We have never asked for anything other than a doctrinal truth articulated in the Declaration of Independence: "That all men are created equal..."

Hate Crimes Bill on its Way to White House

The US Senate has passed groundbreaking legislation making an assault on an individual because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity a federal crime.

The measure expanding federal hate crimes law was added to a $680 billion defence authorization bill. It now goes to the desk of President Barack Obama who has pledged to sign the measure. President George W. Bush had threatened to veto a similar measure. Glad he is gone.

The bill is named for Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming teenager who died after being kidnapped and severely beaten in October 1998, and James Byrd Jr., an African-American man dragged to death in Texas the same year.Several religious groups have expressed concern that a hate-crime law could be used to criminalise conservative speech relating to subjects such as abortion or homosexuality.

Attorney General Eric Holder has asserted that any federal hate-crimes law would be used only to prosecute violent acts based on bias, as opposed to the prosecution of speech based on controversial racial or religious beliefs. Holder called Thursday’s 68-29 Senate vote to approve the defence spending bill that included the hate crimes measure “a milestone in helping protect Americans from the most heinous bias-motivated violence.”

This month Obama told the Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest gay rights group, that the nation still needs to make significant changes to ensure equal rights for gays and lesbians.“Despite the progress we’ve made, there are still laws to change and hearts to open,” he said during his address at the dinner for the Human Rights Campaign. “This fight continues now, and I’m here with the simple message:“I’m here with you in that fight.”

Among other things, Obama has called for the repeal of the ban on gays serving openly in the military, the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. He also has urged Congress to pass laws to recognize same-sex marriages and extend family benefits now available to heterosexual federal employees to gay and lesbian federal workers. Gays and Lesbians are going to win significant legal rights and victories under this administration. We worked hard for a president who embraces diversity. He has.

Keep in mind though enacting a law does not change automatically or overnite a social attitude as invidious as hate. The battle will still need to be fought. Abraham Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation one hundred years before Lyndon Baines Johnson had to sign a federal Civil Rights Bill. Equality and Justice do not come easily.

More than 77,000 hate-crime incidents were reported by the FBI between 1998 and 2007, or “nearly one hate crime for every hour of every day over the span of a decade,” Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee in June.The FBI, Holder added, reported 7,624 hate-crime incidents in 2007, the most current year with complete data.

All crime is hateful, but some more hate-specific than others. The law is welcome and overdue.

Time for Obama to End 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

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Last week, Rachel Maddow started her show with the story of Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach, whose 18-year career as an Air Force fighter pilot is about to end due to the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

Maddow has been giving "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" a good amount of coverage recently. Instead of following this issue as a political story -- e.g. talking about which politicians made the most dramatic argument on the issue or discussing how the issue will affect the next election -- she's been focusing on people facing a discharge under DADT, people like Lt. Dan Choi, a West Point graduate and an Arabic-translator, or 2nd Lt. Sandy Tsao, who received a personal letter from President Obama after Tsao wrote to Obama about repealing DADT.

As President Obama addresses the Human Rights Campaign tonite, an event I wish I could have attended, one can only hope he denounces again the discriminatory policies of our armed forces; that he uses his bully pulpit to launch a campaign that will bring the practice to an end, soon.

Atlanta Gay Bar Raids Were Unconscionable

Atlanta Gay Bar Raids are a Gross Injustice

By Norm Kent

It was in 1991 that the Broward Sheriff’s Office, under the supervision of then Sheriff, Nick Navarro, raided the most popular gay bar in South Florida, the Copa, on a busy Friday night.

It was a remarkable incident. Scores of cops in swat teams enter a huge dance bar with hundreds of patrons targeting a half-dozen persons who they had previously done undercover drug deals with. There was no guarantee the named suspects were even going to be there.

Notorious for publicity, the Sheriff personally arrived along with a helicopter, his wife, and television crews. As SWAT type deputies swarmed through the bar, they ordered all the patrons, at gunpoint, up against the wall, lied them on the floor, and randomly searched them for drugs while publishing denigrating epithets.

The cops became thugs and the patrons became victims. Innocent men and women were unlawfully detained, unjustifiably restrained, and purposely humiliated. Twenty years ago, scores of those customers were still in the closet. They were also marched out of the bar with their hands held over their head to waiting TV cameras which filmed and aired their faces.

The cruel and unconstitutional conduct of law enforcement would not stand. The courageous operator of the bar, John Castelli, now a renowned realtor, directed me to file suit immediately. The entire gay community was justifiably outraged. The suit would not have been settled and the case would have gone on for years but for the public denying Sheriff Navarro re-election in the next year’s primary.

A new sheriff was elected, Democrat Ron Cochran. He was troubled by the conduct of his department that evening, and instructed his attorneys to settle the case with me. In public ceremonies which were covered by the media, we negotiated a fair and honorable agreement which served not the pecuniary needs of any one party but the interests of the community. BSO presented Center 1, then our county’s largest and oldest AIDS agency, with a check for $25,000.

The memory of days past in South Florida is a calling to today’s gay leadership in Atlanta. The legal issues raised by their gay bar raids are identical. The conduct of law enforcement at The Eagle was reprehensible; overkill. Instead of quietly coming into the bar at the end of the night and arresting targeted dancers who had committed second degree misdemeanor lewd act violations, they busted inside in the middle of the evening.

Police shoved innocent patrons into the ground, on the floor, restraining and detaining them illegally and unconscionably. They employed SWAT teams and undercover drug officers who of course are going to say their conduct was essential for their own safety. Bullshit. If their conduct had been sensible and coordinated, the arrests would have been timed and responsible. Atlanta cops chose to use a display of physical force, armed with guns and verbal epithets. But they should pay through the nose for their illegal methods and inappropriate messages.

Not only could have cops cited the bar under ABT laws, they could have more prudently gone into the dressing rooms and segregated out dancers who violated laws without humiliating patrons who did not. Think about it, if the only eight persons arrested were bar employees for permit violations, it also could have been done at the end of the evening after patrons left and the club was closing.,

Twenty years ago in South Florida, the sheriff said he had to raid the Copa because it was ‘awash with drugs.’ But the raid found less than five persons in the bar with narcotics. In Atlanta, NO patrons were found to have any contraband. So the cops were just plain wrong, and their police chief, Mr. Pennington, should be more than apologetic. They were so reckless as not to even utilize their designated police officer who operates as the liaison to the gay community. Simply shameful.

The time to sue the Atlanta police is now. The time to rally the community is immediately. Similar carelessness by the Texas Liquor Board in a gay bar raid a few months ago left a patron needlessly injured. The authorities just fired three of the agents involved in the fiasco. That is what could have happened in Atlanta. That it did not was more luck than planning. There was never an excuse to put innocent patrons at risk. It was the height of recklessness to do so. Atlanta cops must now pay the price for their misconduct.

Guest Blog by TV Anchor Charles Perez

As reported by Steve Rothaus in his daily blog on gay South Florida in the Miami Herald, here is an awesome op ed by former WPLG anchor Charles Perez, above with fiancé Keith Rinehard.

BY CHARLES PEREZ

I've decided to move out of the Sunshine State. It's a bit more chilly here than I had expected. Some may say good riddance, but I'm no longer willing to live in a place where I can't get married, can't adopt children and where there are no state laws to protect me from being fired because I'm gay.

And so my partner Keith and I have decided to sell the house, load up the dogs and head north, toward a decidedly warmer climate.

To those who visit here, Florida must seem somewhat schizophrenic. We sell ourselves as a great place to come and play, a multicultural paradise where you can be who you are, as long as you respect the rights and privileges or everyone else. Not so if you're gay and you decide to stay. You'll be greeted by a regressive system of laws more emblematic of a backwater state than one that now, because of its population, draws comparisons to California and New York.

Last year, as gay rights took front and center on the Florida ballot, through the Florida Marriage Amendment, or Proposition 2, religious groups, like the Orlando-based Liberty Counsel, were able to collect more than 600,000 signatures and raise millions of dollars to defeat not only gay marriage, but its equivalent. In essence they pulled the rug out from under civil unions as well, whether they be homosexual or heterosexual.

Many of these voters took to the polls hoping to save kids and marriage. Yet states such as Connecticut that have gay marriage, allow gay adoption and have laws protecting gay men and women, seem to be doing just fine. In fact, according to the most recent figures for the National Center for Health Statistics, Connecticut has a divorce rate approximately 36 percent lower than does Florida. Connecticut also was able to place more than double the percentage of kids available for adoption into permanent homes.

Maybe that gay-tolerant state is, actually, more pro-marriage and pro-family than we are. I grew up as a Catholic. I was an altar boy. I went to a Catholic high school in Fort Lauderdale. I still consider myself a Christian, at least in philosophy: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It is an ethic shared in Judeo-Christianity that has at its core a call for tolerance and love. However, I am also cognizant that for most of the history of Christianity, the church and its many offspring often sided against the forces of compassion and used fear, threats and ignorance as their most powerful tools.

Organized religion can be uplifting, community building, powerful and spiritual. But, as with government, if left unchecked by its adherents, can also become misguided.

As long as my homosexuality is confined to the ``immoral'' by some, questions about my right to marry, adopt kids and be protected in the workplace will persist. I also have green eyes, by the way. They are as much a part of me as is my sexual orientation. My green eyes have as much to do with my morality as does my sexual orientation. I can cover them with contacts, but I cannot change them. They are inseparable from who I am, as homosexuality is inseparable from human history.

Keith and I are tired of visiting attorneys who tell us, right off the bat, ``There is no privileged communication between the two of you.'' In other words, if we were married, we could not be forced to testify against each other in a court of law. What we'd say in the privacy of our relationship would stay in the privacy of our relationship. We don't have that right in the state of Florida. In Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont we would. We could also be raising the family we want, all respected by the laws of our state, giving our children nothing less than the dignity that comes with having a seat at the table.

We have a right to sit at that table, along with everyone else, and we should have that right in Florida. To fight for that right is certainly the good fight. However, as the clock ticks, and my partner and I push through our 40s, we're no longer willing to wait to have the family we want.

And so, though I hate the cold, to warmer pastures we will go, certain to receive a warmer welcome, convinced that too much love and too much commitment are never a bad thing.

Barney Frank wants Cabinet post

Barney Frank wants a Cabinet post, Bob Cusack of The Hill is reporting tonite.

Frank (D-Mass.) told author Stuart Weisberg that he would like to be Housing and Urban Development secretary. However, the 69-year-old lawmaker stresses that his departure from Congress is not imminent.

He first wants to pass more legislation on affordable housing, saying, “I want at least two years with President Obama and a solidly Democratic Senate so that we can get the federal government back in the housing business.”

No president has ever appointed an openly gay man or woman to the Cabinet. A couple of ambassadors here and there, and some people quietly in the closet, as far back as the Eisenhower administration, but never an openly gay man.

Weisberg, who used to work for Frank on Capitol Hill, spent five years on his authoritative book, titled "Barney Frank, The Story of America’s Only Left-handed, Gay, Jewish Congressman".

Frank talks about how he struggled as a gay man growing up in blue-collar Bayonne, N.J. He dated women throughout high school and college, but knew he was gay at 13. Still, he delayed revealing his sexuality until he had established a foothold in the House.

In the 501-page tome — to be released later this month — Frank is described by people who know him well as a masterful legislator, an impatient boss, and “socially handicapped.”

Frank has been the subject of many profiles, but Weisberg provides news that political junkies crave.

In his first race for the House, Frank almost went head to head with now-Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in the 1980 primary. After a meeting with Frank, Kerry opted not to run. Ten years later, Republicans tried to persuade Bill O’Reilly to run against Frank. O’Reilly also passed on the seat, but the Fox News commentator would clash with Frank 18 years later in a 2008 interview that has been viewed more than 2 million times on YouTube.

There are other rich details in Weisberg’s book, including Frank’s political battles with then-Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis (D) and Clarence Thomas, when the Supreme Court justice served as director of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Weisberg also states that Frank was friends with the late Rep. Sonny Bono (R-Calif.) and admires Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.).

One of the most riveting parts of the book is Frank’s recollection of his ethics scandal, when he paid a male prostitute for sex. Various media outlets called for Frank to resign, but he persevered by admitting his mistakes and asking the ethics committee to investigate him in 1989. Many Republicans, including then-Rep. Larry Craig (Idaho), called for serious sanctions against Frank, who was ultimately reprimanded by the House, 408-18.

The following year, a Republican challenger to Frank’s seat — described as “not the smartest person in the district” — called on Frank to take an AIDS test and reveal the results publicly. Frank replied that he would do so if his GOP challenger would take an IQ test and release it to the public.

Throughout his life, Frank has battled bouts with depression and his voracious appetite. When Frank was advised by a political operative to improve his appearance, Frank responded that “when you are 5 feet 10 inches and you have a 46 waist and your thighs rub together, your clothes have a way of not looking good.”

At other points in his life, he was able to lose weight — a lot of it. He once lost 100 pounds in eight months. Knowing that avoiding obesity would be a lifelong struggle, Frank said, “The day I die, I will either be fat or hungry.”

Sometimes to his detriment, Frank was not shy in criticizing Democrats publicly, most notably President Bill Clinton during the “don’t ask, don’t tell” debate. He also irritated Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) by suggesting Kennedy had no chance of becoming president after his 1980 bid fell short.

The personal details about Frank show a side of the Financial Services panel chairman that Washington insiders have not seen. He pumped gas as a teenager at his father’s truck stop in New Jersey, formally changed his name from “Barnett” to Barney and was an avid baseball and tennis player. Weisberg writes that only Frank’s mother Elsie, and his sister, Democratic strategist Ann Lewis, consistently won arguments against him. Elsie Frank died in 2005.

Amid the GOP-led Congress’s actions to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case, Frank challenged Republicans who offered their medical analysis during the debate: “The caption tonight ought to be: ‘We’re not doctors — we just play them on C-SPAN.’ ”

Weisberg writes that “the best of times is now” for Frank, noting the 15-term member is “at the top of his game as a lawmaker and as a deal-maker … He feels comfortable with who he is and he is no longer emotionally isolated.

“I am what I am," Frank said, adding, "sort of like Popeye.”

It would be a great finish to a marvelous career with ups and downs. The important thing to remember about Barney Frank is that he overcame adversity, dealt with embarrassments, and stayed the course to leave a legacy of achievement. None of us make it through life without the waves that drive us under. We just have to rise to the top again, deal with the pain, and push on. Barney Frank is very human. Barney Frank is a symbol for gay men and women though, to be known not for his lovers, but for his legislating. He reminds us all that our achievements are won in boardrooms,not bedrooms.

Matthew Shephard Remembered

Trivium-And Sadness Will Sear(With Lyrics)


Trivium-And Sadness Will Sear(With Lyrics)

Matt Heafy is the lead vocalist and guitarist for the band Trivium, a heavy metal band where you would ordinarily not expect to find a tribute to Matthew Shephard.

Matt's influences include bands such as Metallica, Pantera, Megadeth, Slayer, Testament, Iron Maiden, Queen, The Beatles, Muse, Coldplay and Radiohead.

In this vein, the 23 year old artist, born in Japan, and now living outside of Orlando, spun together this moving piece to honor a slain American teenager, killed solely for being gay. It was about eleven years ago next month. I just came upon it, and it is certainly worth sharing.

Especially now that Congress is trying to pass new laws insuring that hate crimes pay a serious price. Here is a link to what the Foundation, still given life by Matthew Shepard's courageous mom, Judy, is doing.

Matthew Shepard Foundation webpage

Ben and Jerry's Goes All the Way

Hubby Hubby Ice CreamMarks Gay Marriage

- Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is renaming their famous "Chubby Hubby" flavor to "Hubby Hubby" for the month of September to mark Vermont's legalization of same-sex marriages.

"At the core of Ben & Jerry's values, we believe that social justice can and should be something that every human being is entitled to," said CEO Walt Freese in a statement. The action was taken in partnership with Freedom to Marry, a marriage equality group. Partnering with corporations who demonstrate a social conscience is meaningful in its own right.

The Boston Herald reports that the move is mostly symbolic, though, as the Burlington, Vt.-based company is not changing labels on "Chubby Hubby" pints sold in stores across the country. Symbolism in society is still significant. Years after the Hula Hoop has stopped selling in toy stores, it still symbolizes the generation of the fifties.

The Herald also reported that gay-marriage opponents are not fond of the gimmick. "It's a bad idea, especially because I think they're just doing it to rub it in that Vermont has legalized gay marriage," said Brian Camenker of MassResistance.org.

"Chubby Hubby" ice cream contains pretzel nuggets, which are chocolate-covered and filled with peanut butter, in vanilla ice cream with fudge and peanut butter swirls.

Ben & Jerry’s has been part of food giant Unilever since 2000, but has maintained its activist thinking. Free Cone Day , held in April, is one of the company's biggest promotions and in January the company renamed its Butter Pecan flavor to "Yes, Pecan" to mark President Obama's inauguration.

Gay Man Settles False Arrest Case for Nearly $50,000

SOUTH FLORIDA BLADE

Gay man wins $45,000 after false arrest

Plaintiff claimed police targeted him for being gay

By DMITRY RASHNITSOV

AUG. 27, 2009

Claude Lessard, the plaintiff in a 2003 case of false arrest at John U. Lloyd State Park in Dania Beach, is taking home $45,000 from the state of Florida. Lessard, an openly gay local junior high school teacher, filed suit against the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and park officer David Pius in March 2005, after being arrested at the park for what he said was a case of anti-gay bias. His suit included charges of false arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution stemming from an incident that took place in the park in July 2003.

The state, without admitting fault, decided to pay Lessard the $45,000 for damages rather than continue to fight the case. Lessard’s attorney views this as not only a victory for gay men who are harassed at public beaches and parks, but also a legal step that gives gays another right in the fight for marriage equality.

"Our office is grateful we could help remind law enforcement authorities that gay men will no longer tolerate abuses of their civil rights, and when those rights are violated unjustly, the State will be held financially accountable,” said Norm Kent, Lessard’s attorney. "The settlement is ample proof that the government tried to whitewash and cover up the case from the start, but through the tenacity of our office, and courage of our client, we saw it to a just end. The amount they paid showed it was not just nuisance value. "

The arrest occurred during the afternoon of July 23, 2003. Lessard said he was walking along a trail in the park when he saw a man being arrested. At the time, Lessard said he was mindful of newspaper articles in which numerous gay men had alleged that they were harassed, cited for dubious trespassing violations and falsely arrested in the park.According to Lessard, when he encountered a man along the trail whom he thought was just a park visitor, he commented to him, “Watch out. They’re arresting someone over there.”

The man Lessard encountered turned out to be a police officer. He accused Lessard of obstructing an undercover operation in the park. Park officers had been conducting undercover patrols because of reports of sexual activity in the park. But Lessard said he was there only to enjoy the beach and park on a sunny day.

Lessard thinks he was targeted for arrest simply because he was a gay man in the park, according to the lawsuit.Lessard was charged with “obstruction of justice” and jailed for 15 hours. His car was towed, and he had to pay $136 to retrieve it. Later the state dropped the charge but Lessard was so outraged about how he was treated that he sued the state for false arrest, which was reported by the Blade in 2004 (then called Express Gay News).

An internal investigation by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in 2004 concluded that there was no evidence that park officers acted inappropriately, violated any statute or policy, or targeted anyone in the park based on sexual orientation.

Along with the monetary award, the case also establishes significant victory for gay couples seeking legal rights for their partnerships. Lessard’s domestic partner of 27 years, Jocelyn Goulet, is also named as a co-plaintiff in this case; as a result, the judge also set case-law for Broward County establishing gay couples, who are registered as domestic partners, the right to sue together under “loss of consortium” just as straight couples would. Loss of consortium laws state that if one spouse is injured and is suing for damages, their spouse can also sue because they cannot complete their marital duties.

Lessard is currently out of the country and is unavailable for comment.

Pro Marriage Video Pulled by You Tube After Legal Threats

These girls have some love for each other, but the National Organization for Marriage may not approve.

The National Organization for Marriage seems to be ratcheting up its efforts to suppress the audition videos that leaked from its anti-gay-rights "gathering storm" shoot.

According to YouTube, the group has gotten a clip from MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show pulled from the site.

In the segment, which aired Thursday, Maddow criticizes the group's ad, and shows 40 seconds of the audition tapes. "We do not know how Human Rights Campaign got access to the audition tapes, but because they did, we do know that pretending to be a straight person hurt by gay marriage is apparently very, very challenging," she says.

The clip was previous available on YouTube, but now the page says "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by National Organization for Marriage."

MSNBC, of course, would have been well within its rights to demand the clip be removed. But NOM asserting a copyright interest to have a critical newscast scrubbed from the net?

That sets an extraordinary precedent.

Pro Marriage Video Becomes National 'You Tube' Parody for Gays

This is off the blog site, My Auburn, and we lift it with full credit to their creativity:

Sunday NY Times Features Same Sex Marriage Debate

And now there are four.

In the space of a week, the number of states allowing same-sex marriage has doubled, with Iowa and then Vermont joining Massachusetts and Connecticut. In California, gay and lesbian couples were exchanging vows for five months before voters put a stop to the practice in November. Californians are still talking it over, though, and loudly. New York and New Jersey may be next to debate the question.

But the proof that this is a serious issue warranting national discussion and emotional debates is reflected in today's Sunday New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/weekinreview/12liptak.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

Once the tide of civil rights begins running, like water from a dam, it flows and flows. Our time has come. Courts are only bound to follow.

GOP 'Proud' Breaks Apart Gay Republicans

A dissident faction of gay conservatives has launched a rival group to challenge the traditional voice of gay Republicans: the Log Cabin Republicans.

GOPROUD, the new 527 group, will launch next week, according to a media advisory. The contact given for the group is Christopher Barron, a former Log Cabin political director who broke with the group.

"Essentially, there's no voice for gay Republicans or gay conservatives in particular in D.C. right now. Log Cabin has been completely and totally absent here in D.C. for months and months," Barron said.

"It has simply moved way too far to the left and is basically indistinguishable from any other gay left organization."

The ideological battle has been playing out in the gay media and on some blogs for a while, but who cares. Anyone that still calls themselves gay and wraps themselves up in a Republican umbrella is porous and ought to get rained on.

You can't just argue anymore that the 'philosophies' of the GOP mirror your own, not when the issues of the day are gay marriage, gay rights, gay partnerships.

Transgendered Stanton Lands New Job in South Florida

A small town just south of Palm Beach, Florida, has a new city manager today. She is Susan Stanton, the former Largo city manager who drew national media attention after being fired for announcing plans for a gender change.

Susan was selected as Lake Worth's city manager today by a 4-1 vote.

Commissioner Suzanne Mulvehill said she liked Stanton's approach to marketing the city and her ability to work for such a long time in Largo."The fact that she stayed 17 years with one city through several different commissions said something to me," Mulvehill said."I thought she had the right temperament for our city and, truthfully, I learned a lot from her," Vice Mayor Jo-Ann Golden said.

Commissioner Cara Jennings said she favored Stanton because of her team-building approach to managing city staff. "She's highly motivated," Jennings said. "Also, we need someone who wants to be here for a long time." During an interview at city hall Monday, Stanton said she would work to educate city staff, spend a lot of time communicating with commissioners and would focus on the "three Ps - pride, passion and professionalism."

Note each of the comments dealt with Ms. Stanton's work performance, not her gender; her talents, not her tops. Look, any job as a city manager is tenuous at best, and to have spent 17 years at one municipality already said measures about Stanton.

Sexuality became the diversion, the ick factor her other city could not deal with. Maybe in Lake Worth she will be able to focus on her talents and expand her efforts for transgender equality simply by doing what Pericles once said of Athens thousands of years ago:

"If Athens shall appear great to you, consider that her greatness was won and purchased simply by good men doing their duty every day."

Government Says 'Nyet!' to Gays in Moscow

The Kremlin is still coming down on gays in Russia. Maybe not hanging them like in Iran but still censuring them like witches in Salem. The latest and most foolish effort found a couple of activists and gay pride organizers guilty of "popularizing homosexuality among minors and the court ruled to fine them 1,500 rubles [about USD$50] each," reports Interfax. Here is a pix off the Qweerty site showing a quiet protest for a loud injustice.

Last month they organized a public demonstration with posters reading "Homosexuality is normal" and "I am proud of my homosexuality"; a judge ordered the posters destroyed, issuing his decision from a court in Ryazan, identified as the only region in Russia where a law that bans discussing homosexuality with minors is enforced. Right out of California, circa 1978. Even President Reagan opposed that proposition.

This is just the lead up to Moscow's gay pride march on May 16, which will not proceed if Moscow's latest mayor has his way. Year-after-year, their city hall has refused to grant a marching license to organizers, but at least activists are fighting it in the European Court of Human Rights. There do not appear to be too many rights in Moscow. There are still causes to be fought in America, because each door we open here sends a message of inspiration to gays everywhere else in the world.

Vermont Legislature Vetoes Governor and Protects Same Sex Marriage

Gay marriage advocate Beth Robinson, center, holds back tears following the passage of a gay marriage bill in Montpelier, Vt., Tuesday, April 7, 2009. At left is Sherry Corbin and at right is Susan Murray.

Vermont has now become the fourth state to legalize gay marriage.

The state legislature voted Tuesday to override Gov. Jim Douglas' veto of a bill allowing gays and lesbians to marry. Think about this folks. A state legislature not only passed a law protecting gays, it overrode its repressive governor's veto, which required a two thirds margin to do. The vote was 23-5 to override in the state Senate and 100-49 to override in the House.

Just think about this. How far we have come. What an achievement this is. Just take a deep breath. Not just to win the vote, but to win the veto, and then at 6:45 pm Eastern, have Brian Williams on NBC News announce it to the nation. You see, the fact that these decisions make mainstream news also sends a message to our nation that we have come a long, long way.

Openly Gay Zoo Director To Manage People Instead

The United States Senate today confirmed John Berry as the next Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Berry was nominated by President Barack Obama on March 4, 2009, to serve as the Administration's chief advisor on human resources issues for the nation's 1.9 million Federal employees.

Among his primary responsibilities will be improving Federal recruitment strategies and expediting the hiring process for men and women with a rich mix of talents who wish to serve America through the civil service. The Smithsonian Zoo director, Berry has lived his life as an openly gay man.

"I look forward to getting to work with the great men and women at OPM and to advancing the President's goal of ensuring that our country's best and brightest continue to be drawn into the service of our country," said Berry."

Anytime a gay man can openly serve our country because of his talents we are all enhanced and embraced. The measure of a man, Martin Luther King, pointed out, is not the color of his skin, but the content of his character. So too the measure of gay men is not recorded by who he sleeps with. It is measured by what he does for his community. John Berry's appointment sends that message to America. And the US Senate's willing confirmation is a reaffirmation that homosexuality is no longer an impediment to professional achievement.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/01/obama-to-appoin.html

Gay Men's Chorus of LA Does Cellblock Tango

Just some music for a Saturday afternoon.