Timbre of a TimeFree Mind
Kevin and Darren live in Portland Oregon and are a gay, committed couple. We believe in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all...regardless of sexual orientation, gender, race, nationality, financial status, and being. Erase man-made borders and "they" become "we". New Site: HERE.Monday, April 18
Thursday, April 7
a day in June
Thank you, God
It came out of the dark spot in the small room. I sat up and forward, turning my head towards his direction in disbelief at what I had just heard. Who was he talking to? Why did his voice seem so powerful this time?
These were his final days and this particular evening was one of many that I slept on the floor near the hospital bed that we had put up in the dining room, where he was to spend his final hours. No one else was around and the only movement was in a mirror that was on a short wall near the entrance to the kitchen. This evening was the last that I got to be with him, alone.
He did move a little after his statement. I saw the reflection in the mirror.
I laid there frozen. I wanted to make sure that he knew he could speak without interruption. I waited for ten, perhaps fifteen minutes. After his declaration I heard him return to his labored breathing. He spoke no more that night or ever.
He didn't believe in God. We knew each other for ten years and we had many discussions about his youth and his studies in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wisconsin, where he was to be a pastor. He lost all of that when they asked him to leave when he told them the truth about his sexuality and his innermost being. They asked him to leave. I think the God he knew at that time, left that day.
I wanted to share the spiritual side of a relationship. I wanted him to help me, help him. I wanted us to both see the loving, forgiving power that comes with mystical love and companionship. But the day they told him after ten years of study he could not be who he was...that day God left him. And he left God.
Now here, there were three of us in this darkened room. He said,
Thank you, God.
I think this was the moment God came back. Two days later I put a blanket over the mirror when he died.
No more reflections- while I wait for God to return to me.
Friday, March 25
NEW site
Wednesday, March 23
ready for a move
The new place will give me more freedom to learn more about how all of this works and hopefully I will be able to use some of the design features I learned while studying Dreamweaver at PCC.
Any tips or suggestions are greatly appreciated!
13 things that do not make sense
10 The Kuiper cliff
If you travel out to the far edge of the solar system, into the frigid wastes beyond Pluto, you'll see something strange. Suddenly, after passing through the Kuiper belt, a region of space teeming with icy rocks, there's nothing.
Astronomers call this boundary the Kuiper cliff, because the density of space rocks drops off so steeply. What caused it? The only answer seems to be a 10th planet. We're not talking about Quaoar or Sedna: this is a massive object, as big as Earth or Mars, that has swept the area clean of debris.
The evidence for the existence of "Planet X" is compelling, says Alan Stern, an astronomer at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. But although calculations show that such a body could account for the Kuiper cliff (Icarus, vol 160, p 32), no one has ever seen this fabled 10th planet.
There's a good reason for that. The Kuiper belt is just too far away for us to get a decent view. We need to get out there and have a look before we can say anything about the region. And that won't be possible for another decade, at least. NASA's New Horizons probe, which will head out to Pluto and the Kuiper belt, is scheduled for launch in January 2006. It won't reach Pluto until 2015, so if you are looking for an explanation of the vast, empty gulf of the Kuiper cliff, watch this space.
Check out the other 12 here.
Tuesday, March 22
"Would you like to be educated right now?"
Jennifer Lopez defended her use of animal fur in her clothing line on Australian radio last weekend - insisting she knows nothing about how fur is produced.
The Get Right singer has been the target of a massive campaign by animal rights group People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) after they discovered she features fur in her fashion line Sweetface.
It came to a head earlier this month when members confronted J.Lo at a record signing at Virgin Records in New York City where they yelled abuse at the singer and screened footage of animals being skinned for their fur to passers-by.
But Lopez insisted she was ignorant about the issue when she guested on antipodean DJ Jackie O's show. When asked about her use of fur, J.Lo replied: "If someone would like to educate me and bring something to light that I don't know, that'd be great."
Jackie O replied: "Would you like to be educated right now?" and then described in detail how foxes are skinned alive and chinchillas are electrocuted - which was met with silence by Lopez, reports the New York Daily News. According to reports, another PETA protest is planned for the premiere of J.Lo's latest move Monster-In-Law next month.
Bishop apologizes for barring Catholic funeral of gay nightclub owner
The head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego apologized Monday to the family of gay nightclub owner John McCusker, less than a week after decreeing that McCusker couldn't have a Catholic burial because of his "business activities," according to a statement released by McCusker's family.
In a stunning twist to a controversy that has created an uproar in the San Diego gay and Catholic communities, Bishop Robert Brom also promised to preside at a mass in memory of McCusker at The Immaculata Catholic church on the campus of the University of San Diego.
It was only last week that the bishop forced The Immaculata to cancel McCusker's funeral, declaring that no parish within the diocese, which includes San Diego and Imperial Counties, could hold a Catholic funeral for him.
At the time, the diocese released a statement saying Bishop Brom took the action because McCusker's "business activities...were contrary to Sacred Scripture and the moral teaching of the Church."
McCusker owned a gay bar and Club Montage, a hugely popular nightclub with a large gay clientele. In a statement released by McCusker's family Monday night, the bishop was quoted as saying: "I deeply regret that denying a Catholic funeral for John McCusker at the Immaculata has resulted in his unjust condemnation, and I apologize to the family for the anguish this has caused them."
Monday, March 21
On the reservation, US indians debate gay unions
On American Indian reservations, some tribes are debating whether they should embrace gay marriage or shun such unions as an affront to family values.
The controversy in these often-ignored sovereign territories within the United States comes as Americans in general are divided, often bitterly, over same-sex weddings. The controversy made headlines again this week as a judge ruled that California's ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional.
"What goes on in Indian nations now is a microcosm of what is going on across the country," said David Cornsilk, a Cherokee representing two lesbians in the most prominent case before an American Indian court.
The latest California ruling also came weeks after a legislator in Navajo Nation, the largest and most populous Indian reservation, called for a ban on gay marriage. Scholars of homosexuality in Indian culture say Native Americans traditionally tolerated gay behavior, an attitude that shifted after the Europeans arrived in North America.
"American Indians firmly believe from forever that procreation was essential for survival, but you could play with anybody," said Lester Brown, author of "Two Spirit People: American Indian Lesbian Women and Gay Men."
"Christianity ruined a lot of it," said Brown, a Cherokee. "The religious groups that were trying to proselytize with the Indians could not accept those different people."
Why we need a national celebration
The National Celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the GLBT Civil Rights Movement will be held on Sunday, May 1 at Independence Hall, the site in 1965 of the first annual and organized gay and lesbian civil rights demonstrations. These “Annual Reminders” in Philadelphia, New York, and DC from 1965 to 1969 laid the foundation for Stonewall in 1969 and the first New York Pride Parade in 1970.
On July 4, 1965, when 40 courageous Gay Pioneers voluntarily outed themselves to demand equality for homosexuals, they made a defiant and stunning statement. At the time, gays and lesbians had plenty of reasons to live deep in the closet. The American Psychiatric Association classified homosexuality as a mental illness. Employers would not hire the mentally ill. Because of the tenacity of Gay Pioneers Barbara Gittings and Frank Kameny among others, the American Psychiatric Association reversed this classification on December 15, 1973. The Philadelphia Bulletin ran a banner headline: “Homosexuals Gain Instant Cure”.
Read the rest here
Sunday, March 20
Sauvie's Island and catch the stick. Maestro was
one of the best friends I ever had. I miss him very much.
[picture courtesy of John Turpeinen]
Friday, March 18
Thursday, March 17
school daze
Going back to school has been quite a trip. Some things have changed dramatically and others haven't at all. I guess you could call me "old school" but i did had an initial problem with a certain person plopping down on the first day of class with a full taco-bell meal, then proceeding to eat. Once this person started, she looked up and around and said, "At least i was here on time!" The teacher then told us all that eating wasn't a problem. I thought "Thank God for civility all around...(and that I kept my mouth shut.....a first). The instructor politely let her off the hook because this woman was trying to eat and run to class between her 40/hr a week job, and 3 kids. Most folks at class are running from there to here and back. I have only met one student living with his parents, without a job and he feels weird about it.
I have managed to maintain a 4.0 and that has surprised me.... Someone at work exclaimed "Oh, I thought you were going back to college..." when I told her that I had enrolled at PCC (Portland Community College). Well, as far as I can tell this is college because I have had to work my fanny off. So far I've completed Basic Design in black and white (Art), beginning Dreamweaver (Web page design wizard thingee), Oregon Geography (more intense than it sounds) and Art History (Etruscan through the Gothic period...ya better be ready to read, A LOT). At the end of this month, I begin another Art History (Renaissance to Baroque) and Microsoft Access 2003.
I am determined to complete this re-introductory phase of school and to move on to Portland State, Marylhurst, or the University of Portland but good ole PCC will always be a fond re-entry school for me. I've enjoyed the other students and the instructors very much.
No gay studies for primary schools
The city has no plan to introduce a study of homosexuality in its primary school curriculum, officials say.
The issue sparked hot debate after Natee Thirarojanapong, a member of the BMA's participatory committee on social and public health, told the Thueng Luk Thueng Khon television programme that a study on homosexuality would promote a better understanding of young people with sexual deviation problems, who often faced discrimination and harassment from their schoolmates.
Deputy Bangkok governor Pensri Pichaisanit said Mr Natee had raised the issue with the BMA executives, but the administration had no plan to put it into practice.
"Actually, promoting public acceptance and understanding of these groups is a good idea, and raising teachers' awareness of the issue can help those children, but we don't think it should be put in the curriculum,'' said Mr Pensri.
She said the issue, like sex education, was sensitive, adding it took about 30-40 years before sex education was included in the curriculum.
BMA spokesman Putthipong Punnakan said the city also had nothing to do with the opening of a gay hot-line that Mr Natee mentioned on television, as the BMA had no expertise to run that kind of service.
Mr Natee, meanwhile, said he had discussed the issue with Mr Pensri, and was preparing to present a course outline to the administration for consideration.
The course would be designed for students from the fourth to sixth grades.
Also head of the Bangkok Rainbow Group, Mr Natee said he wanted children with sexual deviation problems to understand themselves, and wanted their friends to treat them properly.
He said many children start forming hatred of gays in late elementary school, forcing some gay boys "into the closet'' and forcing them to marry women when they grow up out of social pressure. Such practices, he added, had victimised the women.
Mr Natee said his course would help children to realise the existence of a "third sex'', to understand what they are and how they feel.
Critics cautioned the course might lead young students into homosexuality, and that it would be more suitable for high school or university students.
Mr Natee, however, argued that children would start to form a sense of sexual identity and feelings from the age of 10, so it was not too early to introduce such a course at late elementary school.
"The lessons would also teach students about social discrimination, what they are going to face, and what kind of life they will live if they choose to be homosexuals. I think it would even help children make the right decision,'' said Mr Natee.
I wish that I had been a dog
When I was a boy I heard them tell of an old farmer in Vermont. He was dying. The minister was at his bed-side -- asked him if he was a Christian -- if he was prepared to die. The old man answered that he had made no preparation, that he was not a Christian -- that he had never done anything but work. The preacher said that he could give him no hope unless he had faith in Christ, and that if he had no faith his soul would certainly be lost.
The old man was not frightened. He was perfectly calm. In a weak and broken voice he said: "Mr. Preacher, I suppose you noticed my farm. My wife and I came here more than fifty years ago. We were just married. It was a forest then and the land was covered with stones. I cut down the trees, burned the logs, picked up the stones and laid the walls. My wife spun and wove and worked every moment. We raised and educated our children -- denied ourselves.
During all these years my wife never had a good dress, or a decent bonnet. I never had a good suit of clothes. We lived on the plainest food. Our hands, our bodies are deformed by toil. We never had a vacation. We loved each other and the children.
That is the only luxury we ever had. Now I am about to die and you ask me if I am prepared. Mr. Preacher, I have no fear of the future, no terror of any other world. There may be such a place as hell -- but if there is, you never can make me believe that it's any worse than old Vermont."
So, they told of a man who compared himself with his dog. "My dog," he said, "just barks and plays -- has all he wants to eat. He never works -- has no trouble about business. In a little while he dies, and that is all. I work with all my strength. I have no time to play. I have trouble every day. In a little while I will die, and then I go to hell. I wish that I had been a dog."
Wednesday, March 16
Irish gay group will protest the parade
The Irish gay group Irish Queers will "protest the exclusion of lesbian, gay and transgender Irish people" from the New York St. Patrick's Day Parade, the group said in a statement. The protest will include a demonstration at St. Patrick's Cathedral on the eve of the March 17 parade and a "black flag" protest at a point along the parade route.
Saudi Puts Gay Wedding Party on Trial
Jeddah -The Saudi government arrested 110 Saudi men Monday on charges of attending a gay wedding, AlWifag electronic newspaper reported Today.
AlWifaq said 30 of the wedding participants were brought to Superior Court in Jeddah Today to face the charges. The men were arrested in a wedding hall north of Jeddah on Monday while dancing at the wedding ceremony for two gay men, the paper said.
Homosexuality is illegal in Saudi Arabia and punished by death or jail. On Sunday two Saudi gay lovers were executed on the charge that they killed a Pakistani man, the government claimed.
The government bans most criminal defendants from hiring lawyers to defend them, and most trials are held in secret. Last year the Saudi Institute exclusively reported the arrest of dozens of Saudi men attending a gay wedding in Madina. There were no information available on the fate of the men since.
San Diego pastor fights gay festival planned for Israel
A coalition of evangelical Christians from the United States, U.S. rabbis and local ultra-Orthodox Jews vowed Wednesday to try and prevent an international gay pride parade from being held in Jerusalem this summer, but the mayor of the holy city said he has no way of stopping it.
California pastor Leo Giovinetti, said hosting the 10-day WorldPride 2005 event could bring divine retribution upon Jerusalem, citing the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorra as a precedent. Ultra-Orthodox lawmaker Nissim Zeev hinted at more earthly troubles in store.
"If they think they can party here in this city and carry out this provocation without hindrance, I think the police will be kept busy dealing with demonstrations," he told a news conference. "With demonstrations we never know how they end up, we know how they begin. Residents here are enraged. Everything should be done to stop this (event) and not cause people to break the law."
Israeli gays have held small marches in Jerusalem in the past that have passed relatively peacefully, with a few shouted insults from onlookers and minor acts of vandalism.
This time the plan is for a major international happening, comprising parties, a gay film festival and workshops and culminating in the WorldPride parade, street fair and rally. The event, held every five years, attracted tens of thousands of participants when it was held in Rome in 2000.
Giovinetti, from San Diego, has a nationwide radio ministry in the United States which he says reaches millions of listeners — and he is seeking a million signatures for a petition against the August festival, which he said is offensive to the values of religious people and debases the sanctity of Jerusalem.
"We did not come here because we hate homosexuals," he said. "But when they said, 'I'm coming to your house and I'm going to spit on your mother, what are you going to do about it?' In order to be a good son I'm going to say, 'Mom, that's not right and I'm going to fight it.'"
The petition, drafted by Giovinetti, quotes the biblical book of Isaiah, (3:8-9) as a warning against profaning the holy city: "Judah and Jerusalem will lie in ruins because they speak out against the Lord and refuse to obey him. They have offended his glorious presence among them ...They sin openly like the people of Sodom."
Organizers of the festival, under the theme "Love Without Borders," say they want to promote coexistence.
"The holiness of Jerusalem does not come from manipulating religion to keep people away," said Hagai El-Ad, the director of Open House, the Jerusalem group that has organized local gay parades in the city. "Jerusalem's holiness comes from it being a city that can bring together all kinds of people," he said.
The decision to host the WorldPride Parade in Jerusalem was made by InterPride, the association that organizes gay parades around the world.
Giovinetti, the head of an evangelical congregation in San Diego, accused organizers of deliberately targeting holy places. "We are convinced that it is no accident that the last parade was held in Rome and that today Jerusalem is being targeted. Clearly the group's agenda is to create a provocation and thus offend religious sensibilities," he said.
A majority of Jerusalem's more than 600,000 residents are either Orthodox Jews, Palestinian Muslims or Christians, traditional communities that oppose homosexuality.The city's ultra-Orthodox Jewish mayor, Uri Lupolianski, said in a statement that while he opposes the parade, he has no legal way of stopping it, as authorization for public events is given by the police.
New York Rabbi Yehuda Levin, representing a group of U.S. Orthodox rabbis, the Rabbinical Alliance of America, said that with the help of the powerful conservative Christian lobby, the coalition plans to put pressure on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and key Cabinet ministers.
"Whatever the police say about the festival, if those men don't want it to happen it won't happen," he said.
Tuesday, March 15
Inner Light
Closely related to this conception of salvation is the Quaker ideal of perfection, affirming that by "minding the Light," waiting for ever fuller revelation of divine direction, the illuminated soul may eventually find it natural to live above the power of ordinary temptation. Such a life is never static, but always in a growing frame of wisdom, "shining more and more unto the perfect day."
While some religious groups have emphasized the Bible as the final and finished charter of a spiritual governance, the Quakers believe in a "continuing revelation." As the Light has shone, in the past, it has stirred the prophets, the saints and the apostles to record their deepest experiences of life and truth. So in the future, as the Light continues to shine, it should lead to further and fuller insights, to the understanding of divine new purposes, and to new powers of fulfillment.
Though the Inner Light of the divine spirit has always been available, the Quakers believe that in Jesus Christ the fullness of God's divine revelation is made manifest - "made flesh and dwells among us, full of grace and truth."
Since a sincere Friend aspires at all times and in all places to be conscious of the presence of God within, ceremonies and sacraments have but minor value.
Baptism means an inward or spiritual experience, not a ritual act. Communion is also of the spirit, and entails no outward act, being but a conscious openness to all divine intimations. The sabbath may differ in observance from other days but is not more holy.
Because Friends believe so ardently in the possibility of "immediate" or direct communication, they have felt no need of elaborate ecclesiastical establishments, organizations or authority. They were and are individualists, as well as group seekers, and in their individual lives they assume the obligation of searching out and following the will of God as it applies to them.
Through their acceptance of direct accountability, they have endeavored to make of religion a way of life. Through their individual concerns they have resisted oppressions and started great movements for the righting of human wrongs.
[Excerpted from a writing of Mary K. Blackmar]
Monday, March 14
Gay woman fired for 'masculine' appearance
The Gender Public Advocacy Coalition has expressed its support for Dawn Dawson, whose employment discrimination lawsuit against Bumble and Bumble, a New York City hair salon, was dismissed on Feb. 17 by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
Dawson brought her suit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and under New York State Human Rights Law, claiming discrimination on the basis of sex, sex stereotyping, and/or sexual orientation.
Dawson, who is openly gay, stated in her suit that she was harassed for her masculine appearance, called "Donald," and told that she looked so unfeminine that she would scare away wealthy customers. In part, the Court held that Dawson's claims of sex stereotyping derived not from gender stereotypes, but from stereotypes about her sexual orientation.
Sexual orientation is not protected under Title VII.
"Employees should be judged on their merits of their work, and not whether they meet someone's standard for a real woman or real man," said GenderPAC's executive director, Riki Wilchins. "We hope Congress will move forward with national legislation that will ensure workplaces where every employee can contribute regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity and expression."
Saudi gay men executed for killing man who witnessed sex act
Two Saudi men were executed Sunday for killing a Pakistani man who saw them in a "shameful situation," the Saudi interior ministry said in a statement issued by the official Saudi Press Agency.
The phrase "shameful situation" is used to refer to homosexual acts, viewed as a sin against Islam and prohibited in Saudi Arabia and other Muslim nations. In Saudi Arabia, homosexual acts can be punished by flogging or prison terms.
Ahmed bin Shenayen bin Dhiya al-Inizi and Shaher bin Waqaaf bin Qayidh al-Ruwaily were convicted for killing Pakistani national Malek Zade Khan in the northern town of Arar, the ministry said. They feared the scene he'd witnessed could create a scandal for them, so they first ran him over in a car, then crushed his skull with a rock and set him on fire, the statement read.
Sunday's beheadings brought the number of people beheaded in Saudi Arabia this year to 24. Saudi authorities executed 35 people in 2004, down from 52 people the year before. Most were convicted of drug smuggling.
Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam under which people convicted of drug trafficking, murder, rape, and armed robbery can be executed. Beheadings are carried out with a sword in public.
Judge says California can't ban gay marriage
"It appears that no rational purpose exists for limiting marriage in this state to opposite-sex partners," Kramer wrote.
The judge wrote that the state's historical definition of marriage, by itself, cannot justify the denial of equal protection for gays and lesbians.
"The state's protracted denial of equal protection cannot be justified simply because such constitutional violation has become traditional," Kramer wrote.
Kramer ruled in lawsuits brought by the city of San Francisco and a dozen same-sex couples last March. The suits were brought after the California Supreme Court halted a four-week marriage spree that Mayor Gavin Newsom had initiated in February 2004 when he directed city officials to issue marriage licenses to gays and lesbians in defiance of state law. The plaintiffs said withholding marriage licenses from gays and lesbians trespasses on the civil rights all citizens are guaranteed under the California Constitution.
Two legal groups representing religious conservatives joined with California Attorney General Bill Lockyer in defending the existing laws and had vowed to appeal if Kramer did not rule in their favor. Lockyer's office has said it expects the matter eventually will have to be settled by the California Supreme Court.
A pair of bills pending before the California Legislature would put a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage on the November ballot. If California voters approve such an amendment, as those in 13 other states did last year, that would put the issue out of the control of lawmakers and the courts.
Seaside Resort to Pioneer 'Gay Marriages'
A popular British seaside resort plans to make history by being the first city in the country to perform “gay marriages”, officials said today.
Brighton & Hove Register Office has selected three couples to be wed in a joint ceremony one second after midnight on December 21.
The Act does not use the term “gay marriage” but the civil partnerships have clearly been designed to be as close to a marriage contract as possible.
Same-sex couples will be able to notify register offices of their intention to form a civil partnership from December 5. The first partnerships can then take place on December 21 after a 15-day waiting period.
Brighton & Hove Register Office, which claims to have held more same-sex commitment ceremonies than any other city in the country, also wants to be the first to register a gay couple on December 5 and is already fully-booked with 13 couples that day.
The six people set to marry on December 21 – two of whom are a male gay couple while the others’ identity is being kept secret – said they wanted to be the first to wed.
During the ceremony each person will be asked: “Are you X free to commit to a partnership with X?” Reply: “I am”.
A spokeswoman for Brighton & Hove City Council said they can change this to “I do” if they prefer and write their own vows.
Gino Meriano, 41, is one of the people preparing to make legal history with his long-term partner, Mike Ullett, 44. The couple live in Weybridge, Surrey, and run gay and lesbian event planning agency Pink Weddings.
Mr Meriano said: “We never had the time to have a commitment ceremony. I really want to get married and I want it as soon as possible.
“We are very very excited and honoured to be asked. It will be a very special moment for us.
“Mike and I have been together for six years and we are really thrilled to now be able to have a public and legal acknowledgement of our relationship.
“We are both particularly excited that we will be helping to make British history by being one of three same-sex couples to be the first to get married.
“We are very lucky that Brighton & Hove is so supportive of its gay community and this is just another example of the council’s forward-thinking attitude.”
He added: “We will write some vows that we will say to each other. We want things like a ring exchange. A girl always wants a wedding ring so why can’t I ?”
He said they will wear modern, fashionable suits to the Register Office event and they won’t be white. He also said they are discussing possible surname changes.
Simon Burgess, deputy chairman of Brighton & Hove City Council’s policy and resources committee, said: “The council has fully supported the Civil Partnership Bill since the Bill for the new legislation was first suggested.
“The Bill means we will be able to offer same-sex couples a ceremony that will help provide them with a secure future in a loving relationship.
“We pioneered the launch of the ‘Pink Wedding Waiting List’ in July last year when over 260 gay and lesbian couples signed up their intention to be wed when the law changes, and now we want to be the first city in the UK to marry a same-sex couple.”
The council spokeswoman added that they hope Brighton and Hove, which has a thriving gay and lesbian community, will become the flagship city for “gay weddings” in the UK.
The partnerships will allow gays to benefit from a dead partner’s pension, grant next-of-kin rights in hospitals and exempt them from inheritance tax on a partner’s home.
Registration will be available only to homosexuals and not as an alternative to heterosexual marriage. Partners will be able to dissolve the agreement in a form of divorce.
Saturday, March 12
A recent photo of St. Helens sent to me by a friend who lives near the mountain
Friday, March 11
Portland skyline from my office...Mt St Helens seems quiet so far today
University of Portland's next great Freshman and Arthur Schulte
scholarship recipient beginning next September. Yay!
Thursday, March 10
Wednesday, March 9
Woman to Come Out As Hungary's First Openly Gay MP
A Hungarian woman will become the country's first openly gay parliamentarian when she comes out on a television chat show on Thursday night.
"It is simpler for me to say that I am homosexual rather than having others saying this to me," Klara Ungar of the liberal Free Democrats was quoted by local media as telling the "Strucc" TV chat show.
In 15 years since the end of communism, few prominent people in east Europe have been willing to admit they are gay and in Hungary, as in other countries in the region, the issue is still taboo.
There are no openly gay parliamentarians in Poland, the Czech Republic or Slovakia, which along with Hungary are the biggest of the 10 mostly ex-communist states which joined the European Union in May last year.
Ungar has declined to comment ahead of the TV show, but her party confirmed she was due to appear. And her confession was splashed across the front pages of Hungary's tabloids on Wednesday, with the popular Reggel newspaper asking whether anyone could vote for an openly gay member of parliament.
Mother-of-one Ungar, 46, who was a dissident under communist rule, may also find some of her fellow parliamentarians less than welcoming after her announcement. Zsolt Semjen, chairman of parliament's human rights committee and leader of the Christian Democratic People's Party, recently attacked the morals of the Free Democrats (SZDSZ), a junior coalition partner in government.
"If someone wants their teenage son to get his first sexual experience with a bearded man, they should vote for SZDSZ," Semjen said last week.
The Christian Democrats are allied with the main right-wing opposition Fidesz party of which Ungar used to be a member before it morphed into a conservative political party from a radical liberal organization.
PLAGAL Supports Bill to Prohibit Abortions of Gay Unborn Children
“Abortion tries to get rid of real human beings who are threatening or undesirable. All the unborn should be respected just because they are human” states Cecilia Brown, President of PLAGAL. She adds “Children are routinely aborted now because of gender or disability, it is not inconceivable to see people aborting because of a possible gay gene.”
State Rep. Brian Duprey has an excellent record of supporting legislation that protects the unborn. PLAGAL is glad to see that he will continue the fight for the unborn even in the case of sexual orientation. PLAGAL would like to point out that “gay rights” has nothing to do with so–called “abortion rights”. PLAGAL doesn’t base the value of human beings on the results of a genetic test. Such tests do not define or undermine each individual’s humanity. Gay, straight, male, female, or physically challenged — all are human beings that deserve every chance for life.
(The Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians (PLAGAL) was organized in 1990 to advance the pro-life message within the lesbian and gay community).
Anglican church declares stand
The Anglican Church is ready to break up with the provinces of the United States and Canada if they failed to adhere to the church's decision to withdraw the consecration of Bishop Dean Robertson and also stop blessing marriages of same sexes.
The Reverend Dr Justice O. Akrofi, Archbishop of Accra and Primate of Church of the Province of West Africa, said this at a press conference organised by the Church to highlight its stand after the last Primates meeting in Northern Ireland.
Gay-marriage fight in state high court
The campaign for gay rights trained its hopes for marriage equality on nine men and women inside the Temple of Justice here yesterday.
Attorneys for 19 lesbian and gay couples, their expectations high, made their case for state-sanctioned civil marriage before the Washington Supreme Court as the state, King County and a group of intervenors argued that the traditional look of marriage should not change.
The celebrated occasion became a spectacle on the Capitol campus as thousands of demonstrators, the majority of them religious opponents of same-sex marriage, filled the air with chants and gospel music. Gay-marriage advocates also turned out, forming a human chain to give some of the plaintiff couples access to the courtroom and later applauding as they left.
David Shull, a pastor at University Congregational United Church of Christ in Seattle, and his partner, Peter Ilgenfritz, are plaintiffs in the lawsuit. He called the event "totally awesome and humbling at the same time. The possibility of gays and lesbians finally being able to marry is so right."
The few couples who were able to squeeze into the courtroom listened with rapt attention as the justices pelted questions at the attorneys — questions that offered a glimpse at the scope and complexity of the issues they are grappling with.
The legal and social impact of the high court's ruling, which could come by fall, will reach far beyond this state.
A victory by the couples would make Washington the second state, after Massachusetts, to legalize marriage for gays and lesbians and the first to give out-of-state same-sex couples that right.
Gay Israeli couples seek marriage licenses in Canada
Tel Aviv city council member Etai Pinkas and his boyfriend, along with three other gay couples from Israel, have arrived in Canada to obtain marriage licenses in Ontario, where same-sex marriages are legal. Pinkas, 31, his boyfriend Yoav Arad and the other couples intend to wed at Toronto City Hall on Friday.
Pinkas, Tel Aviv's first openly gay man on the city council, said he's determined to make Israel aware of how gays are discriminated against. He intends to take the matter to the Supreme Court in Israel if authorities there don't recognize his marriage upon return.
"We want [Israelis] to be exposed to the facts," he said. "Same-sex marriage is not something that is only for distant countries - it's something that Israelis want."
The Netherlands and Belgium currently are the only countries that permit couples of the same sex to wed. Others allow some form of civil unions, and Canada's parliament is currently debating legislation that would legalize gay marriage nationwide.
Ontario is one of seven provinces that already allow marriage among homosexuals.
Pinkas, 31, intends to marry his boyfriend of five years, Yoav Arad.
Last September, the first openly gay man elected to the Knesset also wed in Toronto. Uzi Even, now a university professor in Tel Aviv after serving one term in 2002, also anticipated that his wedding would spark debate in Israel and the eventual recognition of gay marriage.
In Israel, the Orthodox rabbinate has exclusive control of Jewish marriages under Israeli law. That means non-Orthodox rabbis are not allowed to perform marriage ceremonies, an increasingly unpopular law among Israelis which has led to many young couples going overseas to marry in civil ceremonies.
Some Orthodox rabbis consider homosexuality an abomination and refuse to condone same-sex marriages.
Friday, March 4
Taking a look at gay Hispanics
When Stephanie Woolley-Larrea gave birth to triplets 2 ½ years ago, she had more than just the normal new-mom worries to cope with. She wanted her partner of nine years, Maria Woolley-Larrea, to adopt the children and become their other mom -- legally.
The couple couldn't do that in Florida, which doesn't allow gays to adopt. So they went to Massachusetts for six months, maintained their home in Miami-Dade, and eventually, Maria Woolley-Larrea was able to adopt the children.
''I gave birth to these children and they were automatically mine,'' Stephanie Woolley-Larrea said Thursday during a National Gay and Lesbian Task Force news conference on same-sex Hispanic couples in Florida.
''They weren't by law Maria's children even though they are our children,'' said Stephanie, 32, a teacher. ``Half of their birth certificate is blank. It's always going to be blank even though she adopted them.''
Basic Rights Oregon
Check it out here.
Thursday, March 3
Tuy Hua (about 15 clics outta Da Nang) Vietnam 1968.
My Dad to the left.
Mary F. Puckett, Senior-East High School
Wichita, Kansas 1956 (my Mom)
Bill introduced to allow gay soldiers to serve openly
A group of more than 50 House members filed a bill Wednesday that would overturn the 12-year-old ``don't ask, don't tell'' policy and allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in uniform, arguing that the ban against them undermines national security at a time when the military is struggling to recruit soldiers.
The bill represents an attempt by Democrats and gay-rights advocates to reframe the debate over the rights of gays and lesbians, in an era when Republicans have used the same-sex marriage issue against Democrats.
The measure's sponsors argue that national security demands that gay and lesbian soldiers be allowed to serve. A Government Accountability Office study released Friday found that more than 750 service members in jobs considered crucial in combating terrorism were among the nearly 10,000 who have been dismissed from the armed forces for being gay, lesbian or bisexual under the policy.
``The policy is a proven failure,'' said Rep. Martin Meehan, a Massachusetts Democrat who is the bill's lead sponsor. ``In a time of war, it's outrageous that the military continues to discharge thousands of experienced, courageous, dedicated service members, with many of the critical skills that are needed in the war on terror, for reasons that have nothing to do with their conduct in uniform.''
The bill is a long shot to pass in the GOP-controlled Congress; of its 53 sponsors, only one - Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut - is a Republican. The House Armed Services Committee will take up the measure. Its chairman, Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., favors a complete ban on gays in the military, and believes that the ``don't ask, don't tell'' policy is too lenient.
``Chairman Hunter doesn't believe that gays should be in the military,'' said Carrie Sloan, a Hunter spokesman.
Patrick Guerriero, president of the gay-rights group Log Cabin Republicans, acknowledged that ``a lot of work'' has to be done to convince his fellow Republicans in Congress.
But he said the political climate has changed greatly in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, because of the increased strain on the U.S. military. Some coalition forces serving in the war on terrorism are now being led by openly gay British officers, with no ill effects on morale or job performance, Guerriero said.
``We need soldiers in Fallujah who shoot straight, not necessarily who are straight,'' said Guerriero, a former mayor and state legislator. ``It's interesting that people think throwing people out of the military makes sense in a time of war.''
The bill's backers say the measure could pick up support in the wake of last week's GAO report, which found that the policy has forced out more than 300 foreign-language specialists, as well as code-breakers, interrogators and counter-intelligence special- ists.
Recruiting and training replacements has cost taxpayers about $200 million, according to the report.
2,968 gay couples wed in Oregon in 2004
Every morning before she headed out into the world, Evelyn Hall took off her gold ring and placed it on the kitchen counter. When she returned at night, she slipped it back on.
Last year, she put it on for good when she married the woman whom relatives had assumed was her roommate, cracking open the secret life the two had hidden for 46 years.
A total of 2,968 couples wed in Oregon when the state's most populous county began issuing same-sex marriage licenses a year ago Thursday. Every one of those marriages is now in legal limbo - but gay couples say their legally hazy unions are nonetheless a giant leap forward.
"It was like an out-of-slavery experience. I know it sounds crazy, but we were so closeted," said Mary Beth Brindley, 65, who ran away from home to be with Hall, now 66, when she was 19. "It's a total relief not to have to lie anymore."
Gay weddings swept the country from coast to coast starting in San Francisco on Feb. 12, 2004, when Mayor Gavin Newsom flung open the city's wedding registry to gay couples.
The movement jumped to Oregon in March, then New Mexico and New Paltz, N.Y. By May, thousands of gay couples were on their way to tying the knot in Massachusetts following a ruling by the state's highest court.
Then the backlash set in.
Last November, voters in Oregon and 10 other states passed ballot measures banning gay marriage. Voters in two other states, Missouri and Louisiana, banned gay marriages earlier in 2004.
In Oregon and in California, lawsuits are wending their way through the state's legal machinery to determine the legal status of some 7,000 certificates issued to gay couples in the two states.
And while an effort to pass a federal ban on gay marriage failed in the Senate last year, supporters say they will try again in the new Congress.
Opponents of gay marriage point to these and other successes to say they are winning the battle over the definition of marriage. They say gay couples are living in a fantasy world, pretending to be married when neither state nor federal law has sanctioned their unions.
"They're basically lying to themselves," said Tim Nashif, political director of the Oregon-based Defense of Marriage Coalition, which backed the ballot measure here banning gay measure.
Gay advocates contend time is on their side.
"It's a case of two steps forward for every one step back, which means we're still one step ahead," said Rebekah Kassell, spokeswoman for Basic Rights Oregon, the state's leading gay rights group.
While the marriages are obscured by legal and legislative challenges, gay couples who married say they discovered a feeling of validation, a sense of equality that made it all worthwhile.
"You don't have to keep proving that you're a family," said Kelly Burke, 35, who married Dolores Doyle, 39, her college sweetheart last March 3.
Soon after, Burke - a stay-at-home mom who has been caring for the couple's 3 1/2-year-old son - stopped paying out-of-pocket health insurance after Doyle's employer agreed to add her to Doyle's health plan as a "spouse."
And her relationship with relatives subtly shifted. One day last summer, Doyle's 19-year-old niece called Burke to ask for help with a project for her women's studies class. She had been instructed to interview a woman who was "not a family member" - and Burke had to tell her that she no longer fit the bill.
"How do you describe your aunt's life partner?" asked Burke. "Because we had become married she suddenly had the language to identify this person who had been in her life for so long. And it changed for me as well. I began to introduce her as 'my niece,'" said Burke.
Like other gay married couples, Brindley and Hall cherish their marriage certificate.
They ended a half-century of being in the closet by publicly marrying, and later appearing in a TV ad urging voters to vote "no" on last November's ballot measure.
They met in 1959 in Memphis, Tenn., Elvis Presley's hometown, where Hall had attended high school with the entertainment icon. When family became suspicious, they ran off to Texas where they lived for 37 years as "roommates," hiding their rings.
"I don't care what 'pending' box they put our marriage in," Brindley said. The marriage certificate, she said, "means our relationship has a validation that it didn't have before."
Sunday, February 27
My Mother at her engagement dinner (she declined) circa 1957. Grandparents Pierce and Kay.
John F. Turpeinen, Freshman- Astoria High School
Astoria, Oregon 1953 (my Dad)
Kaarina E Turpeinen (Nayho). She passed one year before I came onboard this planet
so I never had the opportunity to meet her.
Minun isä heimo kotona Hämmästyttää Oregon USA. Minun
isoisä ja isoäiti ulos Suomi ikä aiemmin. Turpeinen.
My Dad's Family circa 1948. My Grandfather and Grandmother
arrived from Finland several decades before. Turpeinen.
Friday, February 25
Animals were also victims of tsunami
The Humane Society International estimates that 100,000 dogs in Sri Lanka alone were left homeless by the storm. Frightened, disoriented and desperately hungry, some displaced dogs have become aggressive. This has led to the mass killing of strays in some remote areas.
Maya Marcel-Keyes made her debut as a gay activist at a rally by supporters for LGBT rights in Annapolis, Maryland on Valentine's Day. Defining herself as a "liberal queer," the 19 year-old urged support for young gays and lesbians deserted by their families.
Maya's father is Alan Keyes, the reactionary African American commentator and most recently the itinerant candidate for the US Senate in Illinois.
Lesbian's picture in tux banned from Clay County school yearbook
The picture of a lesbian student dressed in a tuxedo will not be permitted in her school's yearbook, the Clay County school officials decided.
Principal Sam Ward of Fleming Island High School made the initial decision to pull Kelli Davis's picture from the yearbook, saying he did so because Davis, who is openly gay, was dressed in boy's clothes.
The county school board and its superintendent backed the decision, which was debated at a Thursday night School Board meeting attended by about 200 people.
Fifteen of the 24 people who spoke at the meeting were in favor of Davis and nine supported the principal's decision.
Kelli's mother, Cindi Davis, asked the board to reverse Ward's decision.
"This is not to be treated as a gay right's issue," her mother said. "Rather it's a human rights issue."
Some applauded Ward's decision, including Karen Gordon, who said, "When uniformity is compromised, then authority no longer holds."
School officials have maintained that sexual preference is not the issue, it is gender. They said since Davis did not follow the rules on dress, she will not be in the yearbook.
Bruce Bickner, an attorney representing the School Board, said there is no written dress code for senior pictures, but also said the district gives principals the authority to set standards.
The board took no action to reverse Ward's decision and Superintendent David Owens said the decision will stand
Thursday, February 24
My friend Liz brings in her buddy Rocky, to work from time-to-time and we always have a great visit!
TOBI (picture courtesy of Tom Ferris)
My friend Tom Ferris has a new site that has a lot of good information on diabetes and pets. It contains information regarding Tobi's treatment and successful response. Check it out!
click HERE
Wednesday, February 23
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