Mad Dogs and Girlie Men

We are living in a time of an endless “war on terror,” growing poverty, waning democracy, overpopulation and environmental catastrophe.

So, what’s the one issue burning in the minds of the Republican base?

You got it: Gay and Lesbian Equality.

A story in today’s Boston Globe declares “For GOP, gay rights issues play role that race once did:”

“Gay issues have widely been perceived as an advantage for the Republican Party, which in 2004 placed referendums opposing gay marriage on ballots in swing states to draw social conservatives to the polls, where many supported GOP candidates.”

Because Republicans candidates and pundits fight like one of Michael Vick’s pit bulls, Democrats are afraid to openly and loudly support full and equal rights for LGBT Americans.

And as the article’s title points out, it ain’t the first time this sort of thing happened.

Back in the 1960’s, when American laws permitted and enforced a “separate but equal” set of rules for “coloreds” and “whites,” many moderates and progressives (some of them Blacks) called for Civil Rights leaders to be patient with the legal system.

They advocated the “waiting game” and decried acts of civil disobedience which pushed the envelope and created moral and ethical conflicts for politicians – especially in an election year.

Keenly aware of the public and private condemnations he was receiving for his leadership role that encouraged peaceful protests, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote an elegant letter in response to his critics from his cell in the Birmingham jail:

“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered... For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" ...This "Wait" has almost always meant 'Never."

Of course, history has shown that King was right: the violent reaction to peaceful demonstrations illustrated to the world the shame and immorality of American “laws” and institutions which maintained a system of inequality.

So, to all of those closeted supporters of LGBT equality, we say, come out! Stop acting like frightened children – afraid of your own shadow.

When challenged by others for your stand, just speak the truth about inequality, social and economic injustice.

In addition to standing up for our rights, don’t be afraid to speak out loudly against the “war on terror.” Have the guts to begin impeachment proceedings. Support a National Health Care System. Advocate for clean alternative energy sources like solar, water and wind power.

If you can find the backbone to do what is right, you will have massive support from the American people!

And when the knee-jerks attack, don’t apologize. Take a page from the Bush/Rove/Cheney play-book and “stay the course.”

So what if your detractors call you names? You know they’ll make the same tried and true accusations over and over again: You’re a “girlie man” who is “weak on terror” with a “pre-9/11 mentality” who “flip-flops” on the issues and uses “nanny-politics,” right?

Since you already know their game plan, why not prepare your own set of short little sound-bite sized responses:

Call them “chicken-hawks” who avoided the draft themselves but now send young American’s to die for oil. Call them “liars” who will say or do whatever is necessary to make and maintain power and an illegal war that is making America less safe and their corporate crony’s rich. Call them “hypocrites” for making laws that regulate the sexual and private lives of others while they themselves are getting down and jiggy with Congressional Pages, DC Madams and in public restrooms.

In other words, tell the truth. Then repeat, repeat, repeat.

If you have the moral fortitude to do this, the house of cards built by your detractors from illogical rants about their moral superiority will come crashing down – exposing them for the frightened little tyrants they really are.

Speaking of courage, here is a challenge to the LGBT Community: why don’t we organize collective acts of civil disobedience? This coming February 14 (it’s on a Thursday), every same-sex couple in America should walk into our local county courthouse and demand a marriage license.

Even better, film a video of your efforts and we will share those videos with the world. If you are asked to leave, just sit down quietly and insist that it is your right to be there. Show the clerk the equal protection clause of your state’s constitution. If enough of us have the courage to simultaneously perform these acts of civil disobedience, perhaps we can force the hand of our oppressors and their silent supporters.

Do you agree that LGBTQ families deserve equal rights? Will you join us on February 14, 2008? If so, please let us know, spread the word and pass it on!

And remember, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. believed there are "two types of laws: just and unjust.” Thus, it is our duty to disobey unjust laws.

Anything less would simply be un-American.

Help! Pat Buchanan is Imposing His Marriage on Us!

When we watch the news and hear outlandish and false statements about LGBTQ people and our "agenda" go unchallenged, we worry that the misinformation will eventually be seen as "the truth."

Unfortunately, as occasional victims of these lies, we are left to scream helplessly at the television, demanding for a correction or an apology -- which never comes.

Today we want to address a particularly annoying lie that keeps recycling throughout debates over the Larry Craig debacle -- that gay and lesbian partners demands for equal marriage rights are unjustified and illegitimate.

As you are no doubt aware, Senator Larry Craig’s tearoom tap dance is all-the-buzz lately on every TV news/talk show.

Pundits and talking heads – most of them straight (at least publicly) males – are pontificating on the inescapable reality that the GOP is riddled with gay bashing hypocrites.

Last week, on one particular segment of MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews, he and Republican strategist, Pat Buchanan spent about 15 minutes agonizing over the potential negative impact Craig’s sordid tale would have on the Republican’s chances of winning the 2008 Presidential election.

During their exchange, Matthews stated (and has since repeated) that it irks him to see self-hating gay bigots like Craig pushing for laws like Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT), the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and the Constitutional Amendment to ban equal marriage rights.

Matthews is especially fired up over DADT, which he believes is a “legitimate” concern for “patriotic” LGBTQ Americans who want to serve their country (and implicit in his insistence that arguments against DADT are legitimate, is Matthews’ opinion that demands for marriage equality rights are not valid).

A few nights ago, Matthews went head-to-head with Pat Buchanan over the Larry Craig fiasco and the two pundits their views on the validity of DADT and the issue of marriage equality.

Matthews reiterated his views on DADT and Buchanan countered that the policy is a logical solution because it protects unsuspecting and vulnerable straight soldiers from being molested by gays as they sleep in their barracks. (What a bunch of hooey!)

When the dueling conservatives got around to discussing marriage, blow-hard Buchanan bellowed that advocates for equal marriage rights are trying to force him to accept our marriages as legitimate – and that would be unfair to him:

“You‘re—but see, the two homosexuals would be asking their—they‘re imposing something on me. They‘re saying, you must recognize my—our relationship as marriage. And I say, look, my values say no. I mean, if you‘re living in Dupont Circle, that‘s your business.”

As usual and until now, Buchanan’s absurd statement went unchallenged.

We will now offer the response we can only dream of hearing on the air some day:

• First, that kind of insulting and conceited statement just infuriates us!
  

• Second, just how would our marriage be in any way an imposition on Pat Buchanan -- or anyone else besides us for that matter?
  

• Third, assuming that Pat Buchanan is a married man, we are not in the slightest bit burdened by his marriage. Despite knowing that somewhere lurks the specter of Buchanan’s marriage, we go on about our daily lives as if it does not exist at all.
  

The only problem we have with Buchanan’s marriage is that although we are American citizens and we pay taxes that support programs that are available to Buchanan and his wife, we are not able to enjoy the same rights and privileges granted by those programs.

Want to know what is really unfair? That WE are the ones forced to accept Buchanan’s marriage while being denied the right to our own!

If you want to add your voice to the growing chorus of American’s who are sick and tired of anti-marriage legislation, please sign our petition and we will pass it on to the President and your representatives in Congress.

Here you will find many more examples of Republican ‘moral values’ hypocrisy.

Bald-Heads and Other Fetishes

Senator Larry Craig likes anonymous gay sex and as the photo collage on the right illustrates, George W. Bush likes the feel of bald heads.

It seems right wing-nuts are more obsessed with sex than Larry Flint.

While they noisily demand adherence to laws and policies that establish socially acceptable, sexual “norms” for the rest of us, many of the loudest of the pontificators of Puritanism have secretly carved out exceptions to those rules for themselves.

The more extreme the anti-sexual rhetoric -- the more bellicose the protestations -- the more likely we are to discover they have their own hidden and lurid fetishes. In the meantime, LGBTQ people are forced to live our lives without the legal rights and protections of marriage.

The scenario has become so silly and obvious: from now on, when we hear extreme conservatives preach aggressively in support of legal and social controls for private sexual behavior between consenting adults, we will see it as a symptom of that person’s own Paraphilia.

Now that we understand the situation, we can easily see why these wing-nuts continue to dwell on the subject of sex, even when the rest of us are concerned about the war, the economy, jobs, fair trade policy, election fraud, democracy, and other minor issues of the day.

We see nothing wrong with wing-nuts obsessing over sex – as long as they do so in private and with other consenting adults. In fact, we wish them well in their pursuit of group sex, threesomes, homosexual or heterosexual sex, pornography, S & M, whatever “stiffs their spiffs.”

But as long as our government is controlled by closeted sexual deviants, same-sex partners will continue to suffer the consequences of life without legal rights and protections. Such rights will only be granted to “normal, heterosexual married couples.”

While we wait for the rest of the country to wake up to the fact that perceptions about equal marriage rights are being warped by negative stereotypes sputtered by holier-than-thou hypocrites, our families bask in the purgatory of second-class citizenship.

Because marriage confers legal rights, protections and obligations we do not have, we are forced to make the time and take the extra effort to get legal documents to protect our families.

And we absolutely cannot and should not wait for our elected perverts to do it for us.

Detecting Lies

According to an article in RainbowZine, a group of gay veterans former are touring America to share their military experiences under the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy.

As you probably know, the DADT policy was enacted during Bill Clinton’s presidency – with his blessing – and AFTER his campaign promises to the LGBTQ community that he would end discrimination of gays in the military.

Adding insult to THAT injury – and spitting in the face of the thousands of LGBTQ people and our supporters who believed his promises – Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which effectively bans federal and state recognition of our LEGAL Canadian and Massachusetts marriages, our New Jersey and Vermont civil unions and our California domestic partnership registrations by every other state.

Of course, Clinton made those campaign promises to GET ELECTED in the first place -- before reneging on those promises – doing a 180 – in order to get RE-ELECTED in the second place.

Which brings us to the point of this blog:

On August 9th, Logo TV will broadcast a Democratic Presidential Debate where candidates will discuss issues like DADT, DOMA and marriage equality. We will be watching eagerly for promises to end governmentally sanctioned inequality for our families.

Thrilled as we are about that, we will NOT be holding our breath waiting for campaign promises to come true after a candidate is elected.

Candidates make promises they do not intend to keep – in other words, they LIE in order to get elected.

Our question to the candidates is – why should we believe you? What’s the difference between you and every other candidate who made empty promises to us?

That question is especially poignant for Hillary who may be hard pressed to question – let alone overturn – legislation and policy enacted and supported by her husband.

LOGO should hook all of the candidates up to lie detectors so that we can see whether the little needle goes crazy when they say they would appeal DADT or they support equal rights but not equal marriage!

But we digress…

The article about the gay vets reveals that since 1993 – when DADT was adopted:

“11,082 members of the Marines, Navy, Army, Coast Guard and Air Force have been discharged. Among them were highly-trained linguists. “

With the so-called Global War on Terror raging, one would hope that the US policy would see the need to end this obscene injustice. (Frankly, we don’t understand why anyone in their right mind would WANT to serve under this administration – especially given its inability to manage an effective military campaign.)

A truly progressive democracy should welcome any able-bodied person who is willing to serve.

Just as truly democratic societies should recognize the benefit of encouraging its citizens to create stable and legally recognized families.

LGBTQ equality on every level in society is a win-win situation for our democracy and our families.

Opponents of our equal right to participate fully as American citizens should be seen for what they are:

UNPATRIOTIC IGNORAMUSES!

Why, then, would candidates for office cater to THEM?

We hope Joe and Melissa will ask the candidates tough questions!

We will be watching the debate on LOGO and will keep you posted as to how you can watch it too!

Hey Wing-Nut! Get Your Mind Out of the GUTTER!

According to an article posted on today’s RainbowZine:

“The Bush administration and Christian fundamentalists have tried to set the clock back on gay rights, but for the most part acceptance seems to be moving forward.”

It seems the more the ‘religious’ right push against us, the more people see them for the intolerant nincompoops they really are.

Remember when Bull Connor sic’d his dogs and fire hoses on Black American’s marching for voting rights?

Those black and white, grainy TV images of women and old men being brutalized did more harm than good for his racists cause!

When homophobes murder us and deny us jobs and benefits – when they rant and rage at the pulpit, on TV, radio and in Congress – when they take to the streets with grotesque signage that reflect their own disgusting thoughts and ideas – when they protest to deny us basic and fundamental rights – just like Bull Connor -- they show their evil true selves. It is not surprising then that the average American is waking up to the truth – that these sex obsessed crazies are so worried about what everyone else is doing in their private lives because they have their own deranged sexual dysfunction.

They all need therapy.

...And they need to get a life.

In the meantime, get free legal documents to protect your relationship from the mean-spirited laws that pandering politicians passed to appease the never satisfied wing-nuts.

Memo to Bush: Leave Us the Hell Alone

Yesterday, Mary K signed our online, Marriage Equality Petition. She wrote the following comment (with a few minor edits by Rainbow Law) to her Elected Representatives and President Bush:

“We don't stop paying taxes because of our sexual preference; we don't stop voting; or working or spending money, we NEVER stop supporting our country and our troops.

Whether we are heterosexual or homosexual, we are first and foremost AMERICANS and we have a Constitutional RIGHT to LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS!!”

Implied by those rights is the right to marry (as in Loving v. Virginia).

Don’t you GET it? WE have the RIGHT TO CHOOSE whether or not to marry, and if we DO choose marriage, we have the FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT to marry another consenting adult.

It is pretty easy to understand really –

YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO DENY US OUR RIGHT!

So, get out of our way and leave us alone.

Sign the Marriage Equality Petition

Be Very Afraid: The Radical Lesbian Feminist Terrorists are Coming!

In the not-so-distant past, our government kept a list of “communist sympathizers” -- subversives who had infiltrated our government, the media and education system in order to destroy the American way of life. Of course, most of it was made up propaganda. The rantings of a crazed megalomaniac. Lives were ruined -- jobs were lost -- reputations damaged -- and for what?

Today we have a “Terrorist Watch List” an equally sinister catalog of 1960s-style radicals, feminists, gay activists, environmentalists, animal rights advocates, and generally speaking, most people of left-wing political persuasion! And we are intermingled with “illegal aliens” and radical and not-so-radical Arabs whose names are spelled in a variety of ways so as to implicate as many innocent people as possible.

Absent from the list are right wing militia groups and the KKK – groups who have committed terrible acts of violence against Americans – on American soil.

Isn't it odd that these groups – who were complaining loudly and committing violent acts during the Clinton Administration (remember Timothy McVeigh and Eric Rudolph?) – are now eerily silent? But I digress…

An article in today’s RainbowZine reveals that a “terrorist watch list compiled by the FBI has apparently swelled to include more than half a million names.”

Looks like George (Orwell that is) was right all along – Big Brother is watching us!

Orwell was inspired to write ‘1984’ after the McCarthy red-scare/witch hunts of the 1950’s. The attacks on September 11, 2001 inspired the Bush Administration -- with the help of Congress – to make Orwell’s nightmare a reality.

Orwell could see a future possibility that a government – even an American government -- might someday become so obtrusive that no act would go unseen - no conversation would go unheard - and no transaction would go unnoticed.

Who are the scapegoats now? Muslims? Hispanic people? Poor people? Gays, lesbians and transgendered people?

And -- nearly 60 years after he published ‘1984’ -- here we are!

As I write this, I am inundated with words and phrases coming to me in a stream of consciousness: Death Camps, FEMA Camps, barbed wire fences, border fences, the Berlin Wall, no fly lists, NSA, CIA, FBI, HS, Real ID, Red Scare, electronic voting machines, terrorist watch lists, The Patriot Act, wiretapping, surveillance cameras on every corner, spy satellites, Final Solution, border control Paragraph 175, pink and black triangles, yellow stars…

Realizing that many are offended when the names George W. Bush and Adolph Hitler are used in a comparative manner, we believe it would be foolish NOT to do so – if for no other reason than to learn from past mistakes.

Cheryl Seal writes:

"In Hitlers first radio speech after becoming Chancellor on January 30, 1933, he pledged [this is a direct quote from that address] "to revive in the nation the spirit of unity and cooperation" and invoked Gods blessing on the German government. (Hitler was a fervent Christian until his egomania superceded faith in a "higher power" - a fact too many have either forgotten or never knew, thanks to sanitized school history books). But, the Fuhrer soon proved he had no intention of being a uniter. The Nazis' battle cry throughout their campaign had been "down with the liberals!" Once in office, Hitler made "liberals" (a mass group into which he lumped social democrats, gays, Jews, and any threat to Hitler's model of Christian society) his sworn enemies."

After the 1950’s, those in our generation (we are in our mid-50’s) purposefully set out to reinvigorate the American tradition of critical and independent thinking by maintaining skepticism of the powers that be. When reading the Federalist Papers and the works of the philosophers (like Socrates) who inspired the founders to create a Democracy, you can see how far we have come down the path toward fascism.

And in our lifetimes, the speed at which we are hurling ourselves toward oblivion has been breathtaking.

In order to stay alive – to flourish and prosper as human beings, we need to wake up to the realization that the water in the pot we are sitting in is getting hotter and hotter. Will we jump out before it is too late?

On the 40th Anniversary of Loving v. Virginia: How Long Must We Wait?

Today we commemorate the 40th anniversary of Loving v. Virginia -- not as a victory for all American families, but as a reminder of the distance we have yet to travel.

Time and time again, despite a majority of support for inequality of the races, the Supreme Court has intervened on behalf of despised minorities to put an end to legal discrimination. They did so because they took an oath to uphold the Constitution which mandates that all Americans ought to be treated equally.

The Loving case began in 1958, when the Lovings, an interracial couple, were married in Washington DC and afterward moved to Virginia which had an anti-miscegenation statute banning marriage between people of different races. The Lovings were arrested and the case was appealed all the way to U.S. Supreme Court. When the decision was handed down in June 1967, the Court unanimously agreed that the 14th Amendment guarantees (among other things) that two adult Americans -- regardless of race -- have a fundamental right to marry each other.

From the Loving v. Virginia decision:

"Marriage is one of the “basic civil rights of man,” fundamental to our very existence and survival... [to] deny this fundamental freedom... is surely to deprive all the State’s citizens of liberty without due process of law."

And, 29 years later -- in 1996 -- just when it appeared as though marriage equality was about to be extended to gay and lesbian couples -- then President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). DOMA is a Federal law that defines marriage as an institution between one man and one woman and suspends the Full Faith and Credit clause of the U.S. Constitution (prohibiting a State from ignoring -- even voiding-- legal rights and benefits granted to a citizen in another State). Since the passage of the Federal DOMA, many states have amended their constitutions to ban equal marriage and many more have passed a state-level version of DOMA.

Then -- as now -- we've been OUTRAGED!

We took our anger and put it to good use. We launched Rainbow Law so that the LGBTQ Community have a safe place to get free and affordable legal documents to protect their rights and relationship.

We publish RainbowZine, an online progressive LGBTQ newsletter where readers can stay on top of the news.

And, last but not least, we rode our bicycles from San Francisco to New York City in order to call attention to the issue.

We received lots of encouragement and assistance from hundreds of lesbian and gay people across America, and from the many State and local LGBTQ organizations and businesses. We even discovered we had a few powerful straight allies along the way! And, of course there were those who opposed us.

However, there was one disturbing fact that still bugs us to this day -- the lack of support we got from National LGBT Rights groups. In fact, one organization -- HRC -- even discouraged marriage equality activists from pushing for "too much" too soon!

While several states have passed laws granting civil unions -- with Massachusetts being the only state with full and legal marriage rights -- DOMA continues to hurt our families by denying us access to rights and benefits that other citizens enjoy. Among the rights denied to us are Social Security Survivor benefits, inheritance rights, and the list goes on and on...

More than the denial of rights, state and federal laws that restrict our rights contribute to external and internalize homophobia. While hate speech based on race is becoming less acceptable, gay bashing and homophobic hate speech is common and acceptable.

Opponents of Marriage Equality often twist the motives of our struggle for equality by claiming if equal rights are given to us then their marriages will be threatened or their free speech rights restricted.

Time and time again, despite a majority of support for inequality of the races, the Supreme Court has intervened on behalf of despised minorities to put an end to legal discrimination. They did so because they took an oath to uphold the Constitution which directs that all Americans shall be treated equally.

Although racism continues to exist in America today, society is evolving toward a greater acceptance of racial diversity. No doubt this attitude was helped along by laws identifying racial minorities as having equal legal rights!

And we are tired of fighting the LGBTQ Community about our need for the rights and protections obtainable only by legal marriage!

If you do not wish to STAND UP with us in support of marriage equality (because YOU have no intention of getting married, or if YOU disagree with the timing of the struggle, or if YOU do not support the institution of marriage), then STAND ASIDE and stay OUT OF OUR WAY.

We still have a long way to go -- but it is imperative that we continue to press for marriage equality. There is no justice in America -- there is JUST US!

Pride: Too Much Party and Too Little Politics

Within the LGBTQ Community, June is Gay Pride Month. For almost 40 years cities and towns around the world have organized Pride Parades, Marches, Picnics, and Fairs in celebration of the event. (Read Pride: Wagging The Dog? on today's RainbowZine).

The annual Pride celebration was supposed to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall riots in NYC -- a momentous event that inspired the modern LGBTQ civil rights movement.

Unfortunately, we seem to have forgotten the reason for the season. Instead, Pride celebrations have become superficial and elaborate parties that emphasize the OUTRAGEOUS while ignoring our OUTRAGE at being treated like second-class citizens!

It's fine to celebrate our uniqueness but it is also vital that we spend just as much effort showing our similarities. Just like every other American family, our families need and deserve legal rights and benefits!

It will be a great Pride celebration indeed when we finally become first-class American citizens!

Army Sends Amputees but NOT Gay People into Battle?

Hmmm, now let's see if we can get this straight....

The 1994 "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy maintains that homosexuality is "incompatible" with military service... but sending wounded soldiers who have LOST a limb is NOT incompatible...???

According to Lt. Col. Kevin Arata, a spokesman for the Army’s Human Resources Command at the Pentagon:

“The mindset of our Army has changed, to the extent that we realize the importance of all our soldiers and what they can contribute to our Army. Someone who loses a limb is still a very valuable asset.”

The Military Brass at the Pentagon should hang their heads in shame.

As they send men and women without arms and/or legs to battle an unseen enemy in an illegal war justified by lies and a lust for oil, how can they maintain their position that is is the LGBTQ community who is behaving immorally?

Really, we have nothing more to say about this absurdity and leave the commenting to you!

Who's Your Daddy?

By now we've all heard the news that the VP's daughter, Mary Cheney and her partner, Heather Poe recently welcomed their first child, Samuel. Their decision to have a child has been widely criticized by right-wing-nuts like Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America and anti-gay crusader Robert Knight. Crouse called the couple's decision to have a child "unconscionable" while Knight accused the two lesbian partners of having a child "with the express purpose of denying it a father."

We are interested to know what Crouse and Knight would say about baby Helen -- a child with TWO Mommies AND a Daddy! It just so happens, Helen's Mommies are a lesbian couple (Julie Murray and Lauren Gillingham) and her Daddy is their friend, a single gay man (Alex Irwin).

Recently, the Globe & Mail ran an article about Helen's family. Apparently Irwin always wanted kids but never had the time or opportunity:

"...as a gay man with a jet-setting career, [Irwin] wondered if fatherhood was out of his reach.

That all changed one spring day three years ago, when the Toronto native, who works at a New York-based international development organization, received a surprise telephone call from an old university friend.

"Do you want to be a dad?" asked Julie Murray, an English professor at Ottawa's Carleton University. Along with her lesbian partner, Lauren Gillingham, she was looking for a man who would donate more than just sperm: He would also be a parent."

For now, little Helen (oblivious to the moronic hateful spewings of jerks like Crouse and Knight) is surrounded by love.

However, it is doubtful the wing-nuts would celebrate Helen having a dad after all -- since the family that was created especially for her is not one that fits the narrowly construed "one man, one woman" model.

Her family WANTED her so much they spent years talking about it before putting their agreement in a written contract -- called a Parenting Agreement.

According to the Globe & Mail article:

"The parties believe they have a commonality of values about life and parenting," reads the 17-page legal document, signed on Sept. 16, 2004, by Mr. Irwin, Ms. Murray and Ms. Gillingham almost two years before their daughter, Helen, was born. "They choose each other."

We've all seen the bumper sticker that reads "Love Makes a Family." Perhaps we should design one that also says "Legal Documents Make a Family."

Learn more about Free Advance Directives and more comprehensive Legal Document Packages!

Do YOU Have All YOUR Ducks in a Row?

A Memorial Day Tribute to Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered and Questioning Soldiers:

Although we generally reserve this space to promote peace and to decry war and violence, today we commemorate the Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, Transgendered and Transsexual people who have served their country.

Memorial Day recognizes the sacrifice of those who have died in the service of their country, yet the dedication, service and sacrifices of LGBTQ war veterans has been overlooked, ignored, or lost to history.

Many have made the ultimate sacrifice -- even as the U.S. government continues to insist that homosexuality is incompatible with military service.

And so today, we remember and honor them...

Get FREE Legal Documents

Read LGBTQ News

Are YOU a Terrorist?

According to the web site, 'Terrorism Awareness and Prevention'

"Law enforcement often feels the greatest terrorist threat is from “single issue” or “special interest” groups."

These groups include:

• Environmentalists
• Animal Rights
• Pro-Life
• Anti-Nuclear/Anti-War
• Gay Rights
• Anti-Geneticists (opposed to genetically altered crops)

I don't know about you, but under this criteria, almost everyone I know -- including myself -- is a potential terrorist!

This 'single issue group = terrorist' definition is not limited to this particular web site... yesterday, CBS News reported that the Alabama State Homeland Security Department's web site (until they removed it on Friday) also listed Gay Rights Activists as potential terrorists.

The page had said, "Single issue extremists often focus on issues that are important to all of us. However, they have no problem crossing the line between legal protest and change and illegal acts, to include even murder, to succeed in their goals. In many communities, law enforcement officials feel that these groups offer the greatest organized threat to the community."

The Terrorism Awareness and Prevention web site even offers an interactive quiz so you can test your terrorism knowledge base.

As we reported last week, this information should be considered along with other news about the National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive recently signed by Bush, as well as the building of FEMA camps not only as proof that our Constitutional rights are quickly deteriorating, but also that we are in very deep doo-doo.

It is now clear that the neo-cons, along with right-wing fundamentalist religious groups and the military industrial complex have teamed up to create a Government -- that in a post September 11 world -- has declared that anyone who exercises their Constitutional right to freedom of speech and assembly is a "Domestic Terrorist."

We've GOT to pay attention to what this crowd is up to and do something about it. The question is WHAT and WHEN? When is it too late to stop the madness? Are we like the proverbial frog in a stew pot with the temperature rising so subtly that we will not sense when it is too late to jump out and save ourselves?

Please note that these web sites are NOT the work of crazed and paranoid fringe groups! They are published and sanctioned by various states and federal governmental agencies and their message is clear:

If you belong to one or more of these groups, YOU, too, might be a Terrorist!

Terrorists Throughout the Ages: A Rogue's Gallery of Misfits and Malcontents from Across History and Today.

Bush To Be Dictator In A Catastrophic Emergency

Is George W. Bush setting up a scenario to justify the suspension of the 2008 elections by creating (or letting happen) a catastrophe on US soil that would give him Constitutional authority to remain President beyond his 8 year term??

If you think this sounds paranoid, read on!

According to an article in Global Research by Lee Rogers (read it here), Bush recently signed a National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive that will empower him, in such an "emergency" to suspend the balance of power granted by the Constitution. Rather than co-equal branches of government, Bush -- as President -- will have the authority to "coordinate" the Congressional and Judicial branches. As usual, this directive does not result from the legislature. It is an executive order. No oversight.

According to Rogers:

"The directive defines a “Catastrophic Emergency” as the following.

"Catastrophic Emergency" means any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions;

So what does this mean? This is entirely subjective and doesn’t provide any real concrete definition of what such an emergency would entail. Assuming that it means a disaster on the scale of the 9/11 attacks or Katrina, there is no question that the United States at some point in time will experience an emergency on par with either of those events. When one of those events takes place, the President will be a dictator in charge of ensuring a working constitutional government."

What's all this got to do with the LGBTQ Community? PLENTY! Today, environmentalists are prosecuted as "terrorists" -- FEMA is setting up camps in case of a homeland emergency... If right-wing fanatics like James Dobson continue to consult with the President/dictator-for-life, perhaps we will begin to see a rise in fundamentalist-inspired anti-gay violence in this country.

The time to start paying attention is NOW!

Visibility is Vital!

According to Ryan Lee , the practice of “passing” has long been a way for some members of an underprivileged or oppressed group to escape the consequences of belonging to that group, while benefiting from being perceived as belonging to the privileged group. (see A 'Passing' Phase)

The problem with passing is that it provides access to straight privilege while other LGBTQ people do not have such access. Comparing oppressions with and between other minority groups often results in indignant and angry exchanges about which group has (or had) it worse. To use a tired old cliché, it's like comparing apples and oranges. There is one truth that cannot be denied -- other oppressed minorities are able to feel safe, understood and validated by family members who suffer the same oppression. LGBTQ people are often alone -- even in their own homes.

Being visible not only helps the straight community to better understand who we are and what our lives are really like (rather than letting our opposition perpetuate stereotypes about us) , it also lets other LGBTQ people know they are NOT alone.