COURT-ORDERED SACRAMENT

From Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, marriage is defined as such:

A marriage is a relationship between or among individuals, usually recognized by civil authority and/or bound by the religious beliefs of the participants. The fact that marriage often has the dual nature of a binding legal contract plus a moral promise can make it difficult to define.


Gay rights advocates assert that marriage is a right since it is a legal agreement on the governmental level which should not be restricted to opposite-sex couples. Their opponents assert that marriage is not itself a right and should be allowed and/or disallowed on moral and/or religious grounds, as a change in the definition of marriage could lead to the breakdown of civil society. Most of the controversy centers around the government definition of marriage, rather than the blessing of same-sex unions by individual religious organizations, which may or may not be recognized as civil marriages.

The first important excerpt from our definition of marriage is as "...a relationship between or among individuals, usually recognized by civil authority...". Until mid 5 AD, marriage was considered a strictly civil insititution. It wasn't until the 12th century that the Catholic Church and other Orthodoxies formally made marriage a sacrament of the Church.

That brings us to the second excerpt from our definition concerning religion, which defines marriage as "...a relationship between or among individuals...bound by the religious beliefs of the participants. What struck me when I read this was the definite individualization of the statement...meaning that we are bound by our own intrinsic beliefs, not by any outside influence.

It becomes, yet again, my friends a QUESTION OF SEMANTICS.

At present, same-sex marriages are recognized in Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, and the U.S. state of Massachusetts (for same-sex marriages performed within that state under its own particular laws).
In November 2006, eight states will decide whether to add bans on same-sex marriage through specially placed wording inside their own state's Bill of Rights (constitutions). The state of Colorado will vote on Amendment 43, which will determine whether or not same-gender marriage bans should be included in the legislative codes of the constitution, on Nov. 7, 2006.
New Jersey's Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples are entitled to the same rights as heterosexual couples on Wednesday, October 25, 2006, but left it up to the legislature as to whether the state will recognize same-sex marriages or adopt a civil union approach to providing those rights. The legislature has six months to make a decision regarding same-sex marriages.

On December 1, 2005, South Africa's Constitutional Court extended marriage to include same-sex couples. The court mandated that changes go into effect by the end of 2006.

Civil unions, domestic partnerships or registered partnership offer varying amounts of the benefits of marriage, which are available in: Andorra, Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Israel, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom; Tasmania, and the U.S. states of California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, and Vermont; and the U.S. District of Columbia (Washington, DC).

Many people feel that civil unions, even those which grant equal rights, are inadequate as they create a separate status, and should be replaced by gender-neutral marriage. I changed my own personal opinion after researching information to write this blog.

I had always wondered why the gay community couldn't be happy with a law for civil union, since healthcare, survivor benefits & other legal issues seemed to be the main concern. Understanding the restrictions & limitations the State & Federal governments could place on us is the key. In addition, the degrees of separation would become even more distanced.

To be quite "black & white" about it...we would be allowing the government to determine our rights for us and to identify our unions as somehow different from the norm.

Make your choice on Nov. 7 & please don't allow silence to equal consent.

REGISTER TO VOTE

LET OUR VOICES BE HEARD!!!

"NO, Sir! This glamorous domicile in a park-like setting happens to be a public bus stop, however comfortable you seem to think the metal loveseat is. No, sir, you may not have a cigarette."

A picture I took with my cell phone while waiting for the bus at North Ave & Federal on the North Side.

Isn't it bizarre how Xmas is transient & seems to attract transients. Pondering...

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!!

Thanksgiving brings out the traditionalist in even die-hard iconoclasts and nonconformists...indeed, Thanksgiving dinner is the only meal in an entire year at which many people encounter a formal place setting. But no matter how fancy your table, it's important to remember that a Thanksgiving meal, like any social dining situation, is about much more than just food.
Thanksgiving dinner is about the people you share it with. One way you can show them how much they mean to you is to put on your best manners (and courtesy goes so well with grandma's lace tablecloth and the good china).
Kerry & I will be spending Thanksgiving with some close gay friends. It promises to be a really good time, I'm sure. We will, of course, look fabulous & show off our years of Vanderbilt etiquette training...with a bottle of good vodka in tow. And, let us not forget, the traditional, after-dinner trip to all your favorite "watering holes."
Whether you'll be spending this Thanksgiving at your in-laws' house or preparing turkey with all the fixings for your chosen family, I wish you all the very best of this Holiday(martinis included).

Holy Presidency, Batman!!!

During a little online research as to the origins of "separation of church and state", I came across this little tidbit and found it very interesting. OMG!!! I can't wait 'til 2008 elections. We have our work cut out for us in the next couple years, my friends.

Writer Garry Wills did us all a service recently in The New York Review of Books with an essay detailing exactly how the Religious Right has affected public policy. It is well worth a read.

Wills begins by pointing out that Religious Right claims that American government has always been Bible based are false. Wills sees the presidency of George W. Bush as unprecedented for the scope of its religiosity. He notes that some previous American presidents were evangelicals but goes on to say that none of the other 42 president prior to Bush “would have answered a campaign debate question as he did.

Asked who was his favorite philosopher, he said ‘Jesus Christ.’ And why? ‘Because he changed my heart.’ Over and over, when he said anything good about someone else – including Vladimir Putin – he said it was because ‘he has a good heart,’ which is evangelical-speak (as in ‘condoms cannot change your heart’).

Interjection: Do you think Bush thought that Sadam Hussein "had a good heart?"

Bush talks evangelical talk as no other president has, including Jimmy Carter, who also talked the language of the secular Enlightenment culture that evangelists despise.”

From there Wills goes on to delineate what the Religious Right has achieved under Bush. These include, according to Wills:

• Faith-based justice, represented by the administration’s constant attempts to curb legal abortion and ban same-sex marriage as well as the creation of a special unit within the Department of Justice to intervene in church-state cases on the side favored by right-wing evangelicals.
• Faith-based social services, represented by the Bush plan to politicize his “compassionate conservative” agenda to win new support for the GOP in African-American religious communities.
• Faith-based science, represented by the administration’s backing of “intelligent design” creationism (to the extent that it even permits the Park Service to sell a creationist book at the Grand Canyon) and its denial of global warming.
• Faith-based health, represented by Bush’s decision to lavish millions in federal money on often overtly religious and usually medically inaccurate “abstinence-only” sex education programs and its reluctance to allow the Food and Drug Administration to approve the use of the “Plan B” pill.
• Faith-based war, represented by Gen. William “Jerry” Boykin, who gave speeches to evangelical groups while in uniform and framed the country’s conflict in apocalyptic terms and the Religious Right’s tendency to back Bush’s global policies with Bible citations.
  

Wills must be some relentless secularist bent on purging religion from public life, right? Wrong. He is a devout Roman Catholic whose books include Why I am a Catholic, What Jesus Meant, What Paul Meant and The Rosary.


Since his perceptive 1990 book Under God: Religion and American Politics, Wills has been patiently explaining to the Religious Right exactly where they have gone wrong. Perhaps some day they will actually listen to him. Until then, more power to Wills’ pen.

Thank you to our wonderful Roman Catholic friend. Even though Catholics worship Mary and idols(according to the fundamental Christianity that I was taught), they still have some awfully good contributions. Wink, wink.

"The Lord is my Shepherd and he knows I'm gay." ~Rev. Troy Perry

I found this earlier today while I was checking to see if there were any updates on the Ted Haggard scandal. It made for a interesting read.

Haggard has condemned homosexuality. In the documentary Jesus Camp, one scene shows a sermon where he preaches, "we don't have to debate about what we should think about homosexual activity, it's written in the Bible."

Under Haggard's leadership, the NAE released "For the Health of the Nation: An Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility" in the fall of 2004, "a document urging engagement in traditional culture war issues such as abortion and gay marriage but also poverty, education, taxes, welfare and immigration." The NAE has stated that "homosexual activity, like adulterous relationships, is clearly con­demned in the Scriptures."

But, my dear queers, this was the part that intrigued me most:

Haggard focused ministry efforts on homosexuals early in his Colorado Springs ministry by frequenting gay bars and inviting men to his congregation.

Do you suppose this is where he might have met Mike Jones?

RUMSFELD DISPATCHED!!!

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld stepped down Wednesday, one day after congressional elections in which opposition to the war in Iraq contributed to heavy Republican Party losses.

Best Rumsfeld quote: "Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war."

Gonna be a Queer Party in the Burgh this weekend, fer sure!!!

Sanatorium Lost!!!

Yeah in Pgh! Thank the Goddess for an angry electorate! Now, if we can just change Casey's anti-abortion rights stand...Oi vay!

Oh, and FYI...I didn't misspell Santorum's name. :>

Welcome Home, Doogie...

In keeping with the seemingly universal characteristic of the gay man’s fascination with media & celebrities, I offer you this little tidbit of Hollywood gossip…though I’m sure it will surprise only those few rural gays:

This is the original posting on Canada.com that started the mini firestorm of blog entries, circa October 23, 2006:

Nepotism is alive and well in Hollywood. Former Doogie Howser star Neil Patrick Harris, 33, recently got his longtime sweetheart David Burtka, 31, a guest role on his series How I Met Your Mother (airing Wednesday nights on CH). Burtka is an experienced theatre actor (he played opposite Bernadette Peters in Gypsy on Broadway and starred in the touring company of Beauty and the Beast) but also had small parts on episodes of The West Wing and Crossing Jordan.

Harris's publicist, Craig Snyder, immediately released a statement claiming that the former Doogie Howser, M.D. was "not of that persuasion." His publicist, I’m sure, wasn’t referring to the “nepotism.”

After all of this, People magazine got an exclusive interview on Nov 3, 2006, which read:

Neil Patrick Harris is gay – and wants to quell recent reports that he had denied it. The actor tells PEOPLE exclusively:

"The public eye has always been kind to me, and until recently I have been able to live a pretty normal life. Now it seems there is speculation and interest in my private life and relationships.

"So, rather than ignore those who choose to publish their opinions without actually talking to me, I am happy to dispel any rumors or misconceptions and am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest and feel most fortunate to be working with wonderful people in the business I love."

Atta Gurl! Congrats, Honey! We’re proud to have you join the ranks of the brave that have come out.

The Best Halloween Costume, EVER!!!

It was Halloween at Pegasus Nightclub in, I believe, 1994. Everyone was dressed up...mostly in Drag, of course.

There were the few crazily overdone costumes of the Art Institute students, who obviously had resources at their disposal that no one else had.

I remember one such student had a great Pinhead from Hellraiser costume on. He was one of the Movie Magic/Makeup students.

Cher was there & Madonna, & one of the funniest was a African American Drag Queen dressed as the "Clinique Counter Bitch." At least, that's what she said her official name was.

Anyway...in walks a couple in military garb. If you all remember the mid-90's, the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy was on everyone's lips at that point.

They had purchased Army & Air Force uniforms at a surplus store, taken them home, bleached them of all their color & redyed them Baby Blue & Pepto Bismol Pink, respectively. To accessorize such a lovely palette, they had donned huge, ornate hats...you know, like the kind your grandma used to wear to church. The hats were lavishly decorated with dozens of flowers & ribbons. They both looked Fabulous!

Well...are you all ready for the punchline? They were:

GAYS IN THE MILLINERY

What a wonderfully creative little subculture, we are!

HAPPY, GAYEST HALLOWEEN, EVER!!!

Shortbus...the Film

So...as part of the International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival going on throughout October in Pittsburgh, a couple of friends and I went to see the premiere of "Shortbus" by John Cameron Mitchell, the creator and star of the drag hit "Hedwig and the Angry Inch".

I personally thought the movie was fucking brilliant. My take on the premise was one of a fear of intimacy and its varied manifestations, as personified by the characters.

The controversy underlying the film is that it may be miscontrued as pornography. Granted, there are many blatantly sexual scenes in the film, but never did this sheltered, smalltown queer think of it as such. The story is so poignant and familiar that the sex and real-life orgasms that are occurring before your eyes just blend in with the story.

The movie is captivating, moving and identifiable to pretty much anyone. If you haven't seen this film, you owe it to yourself to go.

One review I read recently talked of the film's potential to redefine audience expectations for films with a similar theme.

So, what are you waiting for ?! GO! Now! Quickly!

"Is This Love or Am I Dreamin"

How bout this, guys! In college in 1995, living with a friend in a hovel downtown, my roommate's workin the coat check at Pegasus, & I'm there visiting him, havin a happy hour cocktail, chattin up the bartender.

In walks this really cute guy...young, dark hair, great smile & an air of confidence about him. My roommate calls me over to the coat check & points him out, telling me how much he's attracted to him. He then instructs me to buy "cute boi" a drink, get the 411 & casually let him know that my roommate likes him.

Well, anyone who knows me, will tell you I'm momma's little helper...so of course I agree to do it.

I introduce myself, chat "cute boi" up a bit, buy him a drink & just resort to my cordial, charming self.

I then introduce to idea of going out with my roommate, when he smiles & says, "I'd rather be with you."

I was flatttered, but torn & proceeded to try to get him to go out with the roommate. He just kept insisting that he preferred me. So, I walked over to my roommate to explain the precarious situation I'd found myself in. As always, he was very understanding & gave his blessing. Not that he was looking for anything other than a possible "Trick"...but that's a completely different story.

Hot & heavy for about 4 months, until Christian guilt & repressed upbringing rear their ugly heads & put an end to my whirlwind romance with the first guy I ever fell in love with.

Broken hearted, I go on with my life, until...

Saturday, May 6th, I agreed to work a happy hour shift for one of the other bartenders at the Holiday. It was pretty slow, a customer here, there...one drink & gone.

When, "guess who" walks in! Yep! "Cute boi" from 10 years ago. What are the odds?

Well, my dear friends...this bartender thinks he may have finally found the man he's going to spend the rest of his life with.

Luv Yinz

Karma, Shmarma...

I was reading a blog today that introduced this open thread: Do you get what you give? Does it all come back? Do you believe in karma?
It's still very difficult for me to accept how people scoff at Metaphysics. The TV you watched "Project Runway" on last nite, the watch on your wrist & the laptop your blogging with are all run by the marvelous technology of Quartz crystals. Why then, is it so hard to believe that crystals & semi-precious gems have energy that you can use to make your life better.
And, as for the Karmic open thread...Physics teaches us the Universal Law of Cause & Effect. What goes up, must come down. What goes out, must return. If all of Life is made up of various forms of energy, why then wouldn't thoughts, emotions, etc. all go forth & return as well.
Any thoughts?

Witchly Musings...

There used to be a shop in the Southside of Pittsburgh called Into the Mystic. I managed the shop for 3 years. It was a metaphysical store filled with all kinds of fun stuff: crystals, books, candles, herbs, et al.

While I was there, I started teaching a Wicca 101 class, as well as workshops on Goddess energy, Dragon Magick, Herb Magick, Reiki, Candle Magick & lots of other subjects. I'd like to get back into it again...it was so rewarding.

I had a student that had her 2 front teeth missing. Let me tell ya, it was very distracting during classes & ritual. After she graduated from the class, she took a trip to Atlantic City as a gift to herself. While she was there, she sat on the beach 1 night under the full moon & talked with the Goddess about how she was feeling. She told Her that she felt very confident about herself in general, but now she wished to be as beautiful on the outside as she felt on the inside. You can probably already tell where this story is going?

That same night, she won a substantial amount of money. And upon her return to Pittsburgh, promptly scheduled a Dentist appointment. She is now as beautiful on the outside as well as inside & an accomplished Witch. Those are the stories I miss hearing.

If any of you out there are aware of a need for a Metaphysical Teacher in the Burgh, please let me know. I will be extremely grateful...in this life & the next

Blessed Be

Invitation to Rant...

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin

What significance does this quote have in current world events?

Smalltown? Why, yes! Yes, it is...

You should be able to guess from the title that I'm from a small town. They call it the "city" of Corry, but PUULLLEEEZE! Just because you have a Walmart that spans 2 counties(only because of its location)does not constitute a "city". Yes, you were mentioned on Johnny Carson, but that was 22 years ago & it was for having one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the United States. Yes! We have a Winner! Tell them what they'll be receiving, Chuck!

AnyWho...I decided to start this blog for all the other GAYS out there who dealt with, are going to have to deal with or are still dealing with the smalltown mentality. I hope you find my take on things...gay or otherwise...refreshing.

Lotsa Luvvin

Cian