"If you're gay, lesbian, or bisexual, would you sacrifice for your trans neighbors and siblings? If you're trans, would you sacrifice for your gay, lesbian, or bisexual neighbors and siblings? It's something worth knowing about yourself and those around you." --Autumn Sandeen, 4/19/2010, the night before GetEQUAL's DADT repeal protest at the White House
Public Calendar
Press/media, organizations, and individuals send your time-based event info to: calendar@phblend.net
The Christian Civic League of Maine's Mike Hein calls Pam's House Blend: "a leading source of radical homosexual propaganda, anti-Christian bigotry, and radical transgender advocacy."
He is "praying that Pam Spaulding will "turn away from her wicked and sinful promotion of homosexual behavior."
(CCLM's web site, 10/15/07)
Ex-gay "Christian" activist James Hartline on Pam:
"I have been mocked over and over again by ungodly and unprincipled anti-christian lesbians."
(from "Six Years In Sodom: From The Journal Of James Hartline," 9/4/2006, written from the "homosexual stronghold" of Hillcrest in San Diego).
"Pam is a 'twisted lesbian sister' and an 'embittered lesbian' of the 'self-imposed gutteral experiences of the gay ghetto.'" -- 9/5/2008
Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth Against Homosexuality heartily endorses the Blend, calling Pam:
A "vicious anti-Christian lesbian activist." (Concerned Women for America's radio show [9:15], 1/25/07)
"A nutty lesbian blogger." (MassResistance radio show [16:25], 2/3/07)
Pam's House Blend always seems to find these sick f*cks. The area of the country she is in? The home state of her wife? I know, they are everywhere. Pam just does such a great job of bringing them out into the light.
--Impeach Bush
who monitors yours Bevis ?? Just thought I would drop you a line,so the rest of your life is not wasted.
U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton received hundreds of threats at her court offices within hours of her ruling last week on Arizona's tough and controversial immigration law.
"She has been inundated," said U.S. Marshal David Gonzales, indicating his agents are taking some seriously. "About 99.9 percent of the inappropriate comments are people venting. They are exercising their First Amendment rights, and a lot of it is perverted. But it's that 0.1 percent that goes over the line that we are taking extra seriously."
...The increase in threats coincides with more online use and the proliferation of blogs, he said. A quick scan shows many sites and discussion forums where Bolton is called a traitor or other, unprintable names.
"She's tough as nails. She takes this as all part of her job," Gonzales said.
As a heterosexual living in Brazil, I'd like to note some of the differences I've observed in terms of how gays are treated in the US and in Brazil. Maybe some who now live in the US will decide to visit Brazil and perhaps even retire here.
1). On October 10, 2010, the city of Rio de Janeiro will host the largest annual gay pride parade.
The 2010 Rio Gay Pride Parade expects 2 million people for its 15th edition on October 10th. Spring temperature on the 80's, packed beaches and low prices for airfare and hotels, make it the right time to visit the Cidade Maravilhosa. Learn more about the Parade and its history.
The Gay Pride Parade has become a tourist attraction for visitors, gay and straight, from all over the world.
2). Here in the small northeastern Brazilian city where I live, cross-dressing is more common and more accepted, and this is true comparatively throughout Brazil. In the city where I live, the largest dance club uses marching bands in tourist areas to publicize events at the club. Their marching band is always headed by a gay drag queen who is also a major attraction at the dance club itself. Everyone in this city recognizes and accepts him, both when he is dressed as a fabulous woman and when he walks around as a less fabulous man.
3). Brazilians (such as my Afro-Brazilian wife) say that gays often have strong artistic and creative abilities, and gays are able to market their artistic services openly as gays. For example, the best known party decoration expert in the city where I live happens to be a gay man.
4). It is quite obvious that he is gay because of the clothes he wears and because he calls himself a "bicha" or "viado" which mean "queer."
5). The experience that prompts me to write about this is that yesterday a man (whom I did not know is gay) announced that he is when he told a heterosexual friend of mine that my friend is hot and he would like to get with my friend. In the United States, a gay coming on to a homosexual man could easily result in an angry confrontation and gay-bashing. Here it was just funny and everyone laughed.
6). When I was at an Internet cafe, a gay dance review promotor came in and asked the attendant to download photographs of him from one sight and upload them to another. In the photographs, he was seen sitting on the laps of other men and he told us proudly which of the men he had sexed. Once again, this is simply normal conversation in Brazil, received with the same equanimity as if he had said he had sex with a woman during his vacation.
He explained that he makes a nice living traveling around Brazil and producing gay events.
7). In Internet cafes, it is normal to see men looking with desire at photographs and descriptions of other men.
8). I have a good friend who is gay and who has told me that Brasilia is a great place for gays. He told me of a bar there that objected to gay people openly gathering there. As a result the capitol's gay community decided to go en masse to this restaurant, filling up the restaurant and the entire street in front of it, going in both directions. The owner capitulated and the restaurant continues to be a meeting place for gays.
9). A friend of mine's son recently told my wife that his son has come out to him as gay. The father told my wife that's it's not what he wanted, but it's something he has to accept. End of story.
10). One of the annual traditions here is for young high school graduates to dress up as women and walk around in public. I'm talking about heterosexuals now. The adolescent men dress up as women and the women dress up as men, and I have seen this annually for the last six years. It's a tradition.
11). The only organized group I am aware of that crusades against gay rights here is the Catholic Church.
12). Gay marriage can be the basis for immigration requests based on established gay coupleship, even though Brazil does not permit gay marriage. Brazil DOES permit gays to establish "stable unions" in the way that heterosexuals do.
No, not today. 17 Years ago yesterday, as commemorated by LGBT POV. Police wearing gloves -- to prevent them from catching AIDS -- arrested 27 protesters, including David Mixner, an anti-war and gav-rights activist and founder of ANGLE, and Miriam Ben Salom, the first openly gay or lesbian service member to be discharged and then reinstated (in 1988, before DADT).
In my occasional discussions of being Bipolar II ½ (cyclothymic disorder), I discuss the limitations that come with this mental health condition. This past week I got to experience one type of the limitations.
So let me back up a couple of weeks or so. In recent weeks I've had what I'll label as "productive hypomania":
Hypomania represents the lesser degree of mania. Hypomania is characterized by cheerfulness, increased confidence, increased goal directed activity, decreased need for sleep, over-grooming, disinhibition, etc.
Through NetRoots Nation, I experienced that productive hypomania. The day after I returned home, I experienced what I'd label as significant "energy depression." In this past week I've had many of the physical symptoms of depression, such as being extremely tired (with lots of sleeping), and a kind of in a "brain fog" -- very hard to think clearly. I feel physically like I'm like I do when emotionally depressed, without actually being -- or feeling -- emotionally depressed. It's an odd state to be in, for sure. Fortunately I know from past experience that this kind of non-depression depression passes with time.
That said, I'm medically retired specifically because...well, sometimes the unproductive kind of hypomania (extreme restlessness, mind racing through thoughts, easy distractibility, and even pressured speech), as well as the different forms of depression I experience, leave me with with little ability to be productive. So physical depression, but not mental depression, left me unproductive this past week.
I appear to be coming out of my physical depression. This could just as easily be a small spike upwards; however, in a slower climb out of physical depression -- I just won't know until I'm all the way through this phase.
Anywho, I'm talking about my Bipolar II ½ condition because just like being out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender can be societally stigmatizing, so can having a mental illness be societally stigmatizing. I'm being out as Bipolar II ½ for pretty much the same reason I'm out as transgender -- being out changes the world.
(Note: I'm being good on vacation and trying not to file anything about news/politics.)
Regular patrons of the coffeehouse know that a couple of weeks ago I was in NYC to attend my first game at the new Yankee Stadium with my brother Tim. We hadn't been to a game in years decades, and it was Old Timers Day to boot. The weather was abominably hot but we enjoyed ourselves. :)
One of the other things that I did during that trip was have some photos taken for general purposes (like the Blend masthead), and for head shots or pix for print and web use.
I'm asked fairly often to supply hi-res shots, which I didn't have, so when my cousin Julie Atwell (see more of her work at her Facebook page), offered to do a package for me (along with photos of me w/Kate), as a birthday present, I couldn't turn that down.
We are from a large extended family, and we were born only a couple of months apart, and spent many summers in Hollis, Queens, NY, playing together with other cousins (the photo at left was from the mid-60s) -- sorry, cuz, that dates you!
You Pick 'em
I'm obviously nutty for putting these out on the web for commentary (since the haters will surely bring it on), but I thought Blenders could provide feedback about their favorites and why. Not all of them are head shot material of course, just fun shots. And trust me there are the rejects that will never see the light of day on the Intertubes.
So the day before the Yankee game, we headed over to Socrates Sculpture Park, in Long Island City (Queens) for the first set. It was extremely hot, but as we were near the East River, there was a little breeze, but honestly when it's 95 degrees, the hot air wasn't very refreshing. Anyway, since your blogmistress does not have stylists and makeup artists at her disposal, I decided to go nearly makeup-free to avoid a heat meltdown, only using brow pencil, some powder to hold back the shine, and lip gloss.
The slideshows have numbered captions, so you can easily refer to them that way.
We then trekked over to Brooklyn for lunch at the famous Junior's Restaurant, and Julie decided to take a few photos there at the spur of the moment - no fancy lighting or set up, just point and click stuff while I had some tea (of course you all can imagine that it's coffee, lol).
There is a special fun and joy in shooting pictures of someone you've known your whole life. There is a comfort and familiarity that makes for expressions that I think are difficult to capture otherwise. One of my goals is to make every subject I photograph feel like they've known me their whole lives so they can express themselves fully.
By the way, I just have to say that Pam and Kate are THE most loving and dedicated couple I have ever known. Their passion and admiration for each other are amazing and inspiring!
Once religious right groups find an item which can be used to demonize the lgbt community, they repeat this item ad naseum, even if they have to omit some crucial facts which could change the flow of what they are trying to push.
For example this quote by AIDS researcher Ronald Stall:
One of the nation’s leading AIDS researchers, Ronald Stall, has declared, “It may be a fallacy to say that HIV is the dominant, most dangerous and most damaging epidemic among gay men in the United States today. There are at least four other epidemics occurring among gay men that are intertwining and making each other worse. This is called a syndemic.” The “four other epidemics” are “substance abuse, partner violence, depression and childhood sexual abuse.”
That is how the Family Research Council spun the quote while using it to make the case against a repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
FRC also manipulated it to use against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) (item 7 with Peter Sprigg).
But like so many other things they use, the Family Research Council distorts the meaning of Stall's words.
The "DREAM Now Series: Letters to Barack Obama" is a social media campaign that launched Monday, July 19, to underscore the urgent need to pass the DREAM Act. The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, S. 729, would help tens of thousands of young people, American in all but paperwork, to earn legal status, provided they graduate from U.S. high schools, have good moral character, and complete either two years of college or military service. With broader comprehensive immigration reform stuck in partisan gridlock, the time is now for the White House and Congress to step up and pass the DREAM Act!
Today marks the completion of the second week of the DREAM Now series. I am sorry I was not able to get a letter out on Wednesday. Too much travel and not enough sleep led me to come down with a soar throat and a fever on Tuesday. Thankfully, I'm starting to recover, today. If you're not getting enough of your DREAM Now fix I recommend reading Matias Ramos' post on why he stood up during Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) speech at Netroots Nation.
And wingnut Gov. Jan Brewer is hopping mad. (via AZProgress)
Today in a simple two page ruling of appointed Gov. Brewer's request for an expedited hearing on this week's lower court gutting of SB 1070, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled, "To the extent that appellants seek to expedite the appeal beyond the provisions of Ninth Circuit Rule 3-3(b), appellants' motion is denied." The Court further ordered, "The Clerk shall calendar this case during the week of November 1, 2010 in San Francisco, California."
In what can only be seen as yet another political maneuver appointed Gov. Jan Brewer today reacted to the Appellate Court's decision by threatening a special session to "fix" SB 1070.
This tactic is yet another political ploy. SB 1070 created a smoke screen for the accidental governor masking Brewer's complete void of any vision for creating jobs, improving tourism and housing markets and upgrading Arizona's education system.
Brewer is riding a slippery slope on one ski - SB 1070. She has failed to notice that the ground is softening under her and that her "single issue" agenda is not going to carry her through the General Election.
So the reason we chose to go to Maine for vacation is because it's Joe Sudbay's (of Americablog's) birthday, and why not celebrate and get precious time away from political blogging by spending time with political bloggers, lol. Joe and his amazingly generous partner Carlos took us sightseeing.
One of the highlights was a large dinner at Portland, ME hot spot Local 188, with Joe's family, along with a few blogworld-related colleagues. I also met PHB barista Louise offline for the first time along with frequent Blender Dawn, and talked to barista Keori on the phone! It was a ton of fun, and Louise gave Kate and I a big bag of Maine-related goodies, including a quite bizarre local beverage called Moxie. I haven't tried it yet.
But one funny item stood out -- I was given a bag of Cheetos to go with my blogger PJs, ostensibly to stain the garments in order to have an appropriate outfit in which to opine.
Netroots Nation was a blast! I got to have a great hour with Pam, eating chicken salads and catching up since our last F2F in Denver in 2008. I briefly got to see Autumn as well before she headed off to another activity in her busy weekend.
It reminded me that I need to post at PHB more often. However, as deep as I am in my work for marijuana law reform, it's rare that I find the time to post about much else. Heck, I didn't even know all the details of the Shirley Sherrod story until Pam filled me in.
But I promise to stop by more often, especially as my work intersects with sexuality, race, and politics. For this story, I get two out of three... --"R"R
Cocaine isn't our bailiwick here at Pam's House Blend or even where I work at NORML, and personally I have a no-white-powders rule. But one of the biggest glaring examples of the racism of the War on (Certain American Citizens Using Non-Pharmaceutical, Non-Alcoholic, Tobacco-Free) Drugs is the Crack-Powder Cocaine Sentencing Disparity.
It works like this: if you're caught with 5 grams of crack cocaine, you get the same mandatory minimum as someone caught with 500 grams of powder cocaine. Crack cocaine and powder cocaine, chemically speaking, are identical with respect to addictive potential and psychoactive effect.
The difference, of course, is that crack cocaine is used by urban poor black people and powder cocaine is used by suburban affluent white people. Generally speaking.
So Congress, controlled by huge Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate, is sending a bill to the Democratic president who campaigned on eliminating the crack/powder disparity. This bill will increased the trigger of a mandatory minimum for crack from 5 grams to 28 grams (an ounce).
Meaning that instead of a 500:5 disparity for white vs. black people's cocaine, the disparity will now only be 500:28. For the math-impaired, that means that our cocaine sentencing laws will go from being 100 times more racist to blacks to being 18 times more racist to blacks.
I suppose I should be thrilled with any adjustment to mandatory minimums, but I have suffered one too many "compromises" by a huge Democratic majority and president I voted for who promised a whole lot of things I really believe in*, only to start negotiations in the middle, compromise to the right, and call it a victory for the left. (Funny, I don't remember George W. Bush, with a barely-GOP majority, ever being stymied in pushing through Congress anything he wanted, except privatizing Social Security. And it was a Democratic Congress under Republican President Reagan who gave us this 500:5 mandatory minimum disparity in the first place!)
Chris Weigant at HuffPo nails how I and many others are feeling about this latest victory for bi-partisanship:
1. Peter has met FIFTY "former homosexuals" in his twenty-year anti-gay career!
2. Peter says that there is more than one way into homosexuality, and also more than one way out.
3. Peter complains several times that my producer should have told Peter that the show he was going on was pro-gay. This is because Peter does not have access to Google, and couldn't find out anything about the show for himself.
4. He says everybody censors Peter, and also so-called "ex-gays."
5. Peter denies several times that he covers/photographs leathersex conventions and street festivals, before admitting that yes, he covers/photographs leathersex conventions and street festivals.
6. And then there's Uganda. Peter says he does not support anything that "could be construed as violence or hatred toward gays." Pete's website is an SPLC-certified hate site! So, basically he issued a disclaimer against himself right there. But strangely enough, Peter suggests that in Uganda, the laws should be written so that the penalties for, say, raping a child, are the same whether or not the perpetrator is gay or straight. In other words, Peter is saying that gays and straights should be treated equally. I don't think he meant to say that, though.
7. According to Peter, Fred Phelps is a wingnut. It's funny when one wingnut calls another wingnut a "wingnut." That is my only thought on that.
BONUS Center Square: Find the mention of Maine's Mike Heath.
It is July 29 and anyone who is in tune with the happenings of Congress knows what this means. Soon, our legislatures will be going home for August recess. While most people see "going home" as a 'vacation,' this is not so for our Congressional members. No doubt with the mid-term elections coming around the corner, less than one-hundred days until the vote, you will undoubtedly see your Senators, and your Representatives campaigning in their respective districts if they are up for reelection.
Even if they are not up for reelection, they will use the opportunity to meet with local constituents and 'make face.' This is why Servicemember's Legal Defense Network (SLDN) has teamed up with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) to launch their "Countdown 2010, Meet My Senators" campaign. They are attempting to bring in constituents into the battleground states and generally everywhere to put the heat on.
Are you surprised? A lot of people are when I reveal this super intimate detail. "Oh, I didn't know," they say.
To answer your other questions: I've always known, and I have no interest in meeting my genetic parents. My parents are my parents and I love them very much. Oh, and yes, I do like to pretend I might be the second coming of Christ. (How do you know I'm not?)
But let's step back. What was with that reaction to the news that I'm an adoptee? Do folks have have certain expectations about adoptees that are disrupted by my coming out? Did they expect it would somehow be obvious, or that if they knew me well enough it would be something they could tell?
Most of the voices we have heard from related to the effects of serving under DADT have been men; the Blend has had an opportunity to interview (via email) one of the members of OutServe (formerly known as Citizens for Repeal), an organization of actively serving gay troops. Her background story is heartbreaking.
I have been the military for 12 years. I am a Warrant Officer and I am in Iraq right now. I love the military, and from my first day at basic training, I knew I would stay in for at least 20 years. I am divorced with two children, and I have partial custody. I was lucky to get partial custody. I told my ex-husband that I was gay and didn't think it was fair to him to stay married, when he could be with someone who actually was attracted to him.
Ever since that moment, he has used Don't Ask, Don't Tell against me, threatening to call my chain of command any time I acted in a way that he didn't like. At our custody hearing, he told my lawyer to let me know if I asked for full or even joint cusody, he was going to end my career. So since 2007 I have been torn apart, having to chose between my children and my career.
Without my job, I have no idea what I would do to make money, support myself, and pay child support. Without my children, I want to die. Don't Ask Don't Tell ruined the relationship I have had since my divorce. The first failed because I had to move from one duty station to another, and without the ability to have relocation bebenfits, like straight couples have in the military, my partner was unable to move with me.
We tried to have a long distance relationship, but the deployment to Iraq was too much stress for her. She realized that if I was hurt, she couldn't come to the hospital to see me. If I were killed, she wouldn't even be notified. We had to speak in code on the telephone as not to be overheard by my "friends", or discovered if the phone call was being monitored.
As I have said, I love the military, I love serving my country, but I have lost a lot in order to do it. I volunteered to defend the Constitution of the United States of America, the piece of paper that says All Men Are Created Equal, but that piece of paper does not defend me.
***
Q: What are your thoughts about President Obama's handling of DADT repeal to date? What do you hear
I understand that President Obama has many things to fix, from the environment and the economy, to heath care and immigration. However, I am disappointed in President Obama's slow reaction to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. If he truly believes that the law is discriminatory and unjust, then he must apply more pressure to get it repealed. Why can't he issue an executive order? Instead, there are two surveys, a study, and vote in Congress to get through, before the "integration" methods can be vetted by the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretary of Defense and the President. At least stop the discharges until the surveys and studies are completed.
I have asked Soldiers I work with what they think about DADT. Out of 11 Soldiers, 8 were for arepeal because, as they put it, "it is stupid"; 2 did not care; and one was against repeal solely because he is worried that gays who are open will be harassed. None of the Soldiers knows I am gay, we were just sitting around the table at work and I asked them. The oldest Soldier was 26, and only two were female. I think that says a lot about our military, and how out of touch many high ranking officials really are.
Q: Do you believe that the President should use an executive order to stop the discharges, or wait?
I do think that an executive order should be used. President Truman integrated the military and they weren't fighting two simultaneous wars. Waiting for a study or a survey or a vote only perpetuates the belief that civil rights can be granted or not granted at the will of the public, which makes even less sense in the military, where we better than anyone understand rules of order and how to follow them.
Q: Have you seen/taken the survey or know someone who has? What are their impressions?
No one I know was afforded an opportunity to take the survey. I wonder if it was even sent to service members serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Q: What would you say to members of Congress who are on the fence in terms of voting for repeal?
I would ask them to put themselves in my shoes for one week. Literally come with me, work with me and live with me and see what it feels like to live your life in secret. I am a divorced mother of two. I have a 4 year old and a 7 year old. I could not fight for custody because my ex-husband threatened to call my chain of command and out me. On the 1st day of our custody hearing he told my lawyer to let me know that he was ready to tell the entire court room that I was gay. In doing so, he tied my hands. I could not fight for my children, and to this day, if I upset him in anyway, he can get me fired from my job. How would I support myself or pay child support if he did that? I haven't seen my children since September of 2009, about a month before I came to Iraq.
Imagine being in a relationship with someone deployed in a war; if that person is injured, you cannot visit them because you have no rights; you won't even be notified of that injury or death, because you can't be the next of kin. Phone calls from a deployed Soldier on government phones are monitored, so you cannot even tell your significant other that you love them.
I love the military and my country, and it should be obvious that I do, because the Constitution of the United States of America says that all men are created equal, and I swore to protect that Constitution, but the Constitution doesn't protect me.
Q: Once repeal occurs, there are many legal issues that remain, such as partner benefits, because...
DOMA is a hurtful and discriminatory law that denies millions of Americans recognition of marriage and the protections that come with that marriage. The most obvious are Social Security survivors' benefits, equal treatment under U.S. immigration laws, the right to take leave to care for a spouse, Once again, Congress needs to live for a week in someone else's circumstance. Powers of Attorneys are disregarded all of the time. Marriage is not unique to Christianity or any other religion, because if that were the case, atheists would be prohibited to marry, just as gays are. Marriage is a legal agreement between two consenting adults, and those protections and the benefits it brings should be afforded to all adults. Plus, imagine the new revenue that would be gay marriage would bring...wedding licenses, caterers, wedding planners, tuxedos, dresses; talk about a boost in the economy!
I discuss the limitations that come with this mental health condition. This past week I got to experience one type of the limitations.
Regular patrons of the coffeehouse know that a couple of weeks ago I was in NYC to attend my first game at the new Yankee Stadium with my brother Tim. We hadn't been to a game in 
I'm asked fairly often to supply hi-res shots, which I didn't have, so when my cousin 
There is a special fun and joy in shooting pictures of someone you've known your whole life. There is a comfort and familiarity that makes for expressions that I think are difficult to capture otherwise. One of my goals is to make every subject I photograph feel like they've known me their whole lives so they can express themselves fully.
So the reason we chose to go to Maine for vacation is because it's Joe Sudbay's (of Americablog's) birthday, and why not celebrate and get precious time away from political blogging by spending time with political bloggers, lol. Joe and his amazingly generous partner Carlos took us sightseeing.
