"Didn't this make you smile...?"
Thursday, February 24, 2011
"The Truth About Love..."
"A kiss makes the heart young again and wipes out the years. "
- Rupert Brooke
"Same Gender Loving People - No. 580"
"Love Is Worth Every Battle..."
Positive images of people like me... The truth of the matter is that we all need to see people like ourselves. So everyday, I'll post a photo, drawing or some other artwork that depicts Same Gender Loving People as what we are... Only Human.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
"A Truth Shared..."
I called the Whitehouse this afternoon to the thank the President
for doing the right thing...
"DOMA is Unconstitutional"
"Separate is never equal!"
"Fear Eats the Soul"
"In The News Today..."
Sam Hall (right) and husband, William BurleyKessler, Tennant Tout 'Sexual Orientation' In Rights Speech
By Mannix Porterfield
Feb 21, 2011
CHARLESTON — Two Democratic rivals for governor lent support Monday to legislation outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation, illustrating their cause with an ex-coal miner claiming he was harassed over his homosexual lifestyle.
Sam Hall told chanting supporters outside the Senate chamber he was victimized by verbal abuse, physical threats, vandalism and harassing messages spray-painted on his belongings at two Massey Energy mines in Kanawha County.
“I have endured some of the most difficult circumstances at my former job,” Hall said at a news conference.
“The more hatred we let happen now is the more hatred we will have to endue in our future and that is just not acceptable.”
Afterward, he refused to identify the mines, saying his complaints are in litigation against Massey and his attorney wasn’t there with him.
Immediately, Kevin McCoy, president of the West Virginia Family Foundation, said some lawmakers were putting a seal of approval on an abomination contrary to God’s laws and that his Christian group would seek their defeat in the next election.
Acting Senate President Jeffrey Kessler, D-Marshall, blasted discrimination against homosexuals in an emotion-charged speech before chanting members of West Virginia Fairness.
“It is time to recognize clearly, once and for all in West Virginia, that all men and all women are created equal,” he said.
“These are individuals who are who they are. They have no more ability to change their orientation than they do the color of their skin. They have no more ability to change their orientation than they do to change the color of their eyes.”
Kessler held up a copy of the Constitution and said it applies to all.
“It is high time in this state that no one can be denied the right to work or where they live based upon their gender, their age, the color of their skin, the god they love or the person they love,” he said.
Kessler quoted Jesus’ much-quoted response to the Pharisees and scribes when asked about the greatest commandment.
The first, he said, is to love God with all one’s heart and mind, and the second is to love one’s neighbor as oneself, the senator said.
“That second commandment, that Golden Rule, means nothing more than reaching out and treating people with dignity, fairness and respect, and even when, and more importantly because, when they’re different,” he said.
“That’s the strength of that Golden Rule as well.”
Delegate Barbara Fleischauer, D-Monongalia, took a shot at Christian groups opposed to expanding the Human Rights Act to embrace homosexuality.
She said the Bible has been used to justify slavery, control over women by their husbands, even to the point of beating them, and discrimination.
Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, who is on the May 14 primary ballot with Kessler, didn’t attend as planned, but sent a statement read to Hall’s supporters.
“Discrimination is bad for our economy and bad for our community,” she said.
“We can no longer afford to have biases of the past dictate our future. It is time for a new approach. It’s time for West Virginia to move forward.”
McCoy was incensed over the support of SB226 and HB2045, given the opposition by Kessler and Fleischauer the past few years a Christian-led effort to let voters decide if the Constitution should be amended to define marriage as a union of “one man and one woman.”
Kessler and Fleischauer displayed “the audacity to stand before people today and basically use the word of God as a tool to promote an abomination,” McCoy said.
“These people have no sense of morality,” he continued. “They are morally bankrupt. The only way to deal with it is to get them voted out of office. And that’s what we plan on doing. We’re going after them.”
McCoy warned that passage of the bill would sound the death knell for the traditional family by letting homosexual activists “force their decadent and destructive lifestyle on all West Virginians.”
“The clear agenda behind these bills is to legitimize homosexual behavior and cross-dressing in West Virginia as normal, acceptable behavior and worthy of being singled out for special recognition as an inborn trait, despite the Bible’s clear condemnation of this chosen behavior as sinful and wrong,” he added.
By Mannix Porterfield
Feb 21, 2011
CHARLESTON — Two Democratic rivals for governor lent support Monday to legislation outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation, illustrating their cause with an ex-coal miner claiming he was harassed over his homosexual lifestyle.
Sam Hall told chanting supporters outside the Senate chamber he was victimized by verbal abuse, physical threats, vandalism and harassing messages spray-painted on his belongings at two Massey Energy mines in Kanawha County.
“I have endured some of the most difficult circumstances at my former job,” Hall said at a news conference.
“The more hatred we let happen now is the more hatred we will have to endue in our future and that is just not acceptable.”
Afterward, he refused to identify the mines, saying his complaints are in litigation against Massey and his attorney wasn’t there with him.
Immediately, Kevin McCoy, president of the West Virginia Family Foundation, said some lawmakers were putting a seal of approval on an abomination contrary to God’s laws and that his Christian group would seek their defeat in the next election.
Acting Senate President Jeffrey Kessler, D-Marshall, blasted discrimination against homosexuals in an emotion-charged speech before chanting members of West Virginia Fairness.
“It is time to recognize clearly, once and for all in West Virginia, that all men and all women are created equal,” he said.
“These are individuals who are who they are. They have no more ability to change their orientation than they do the color of their skin. They have no more ability to change their orientation than they do to change the color of their eyes.”
Kessler held up a copy of the Constitution and said it applies to all.
“It is high time in this state that no one can be denied the right to work or where they live based upon their gender, their age, the color of their skin, the god they love or the person they love,” he said.
Kessler quoted Jesus’ much-quoted response to the Pharisees and scribes when asked about the greatest commandment.
The first, he said, is to love God with all one’s heart and mind, and the second is to love one’s neighbor as oneself, the senator said.
“That second commandment, that Golden Rule, means nothing more than reaching out and treating people with dignity, fairness and respect, and even when, and more importantly because, when they’re different,” he said.
“That’s the strength of that Golden Rule as well.”
Delegate Barbara Fleischauer, D-Monongalia, took a shot at Christian groups opposed to expanding the Human Rights Act to embrace homosexuality.
She said the Bible has been used to justify slavery, control over women by their husbands, even to the point of beating them, and discrimination.
Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, who is on the May 14 primary ballot with Kessler, didn’t attend as planned, but sent a statement read to Hall’s supporters.
“Discrimination is bad for our economy and bad for our community,” she said.
“We can no longer afford to have biases of the past dictate our future. It is time for a new approach. It’s time for West Virginia to move forward.”
McCoy was incensed over the support of SB226 and HB2045, given the opposition by Kessler and Fleischauer the past few years a Christian-led effort to let voters decide if the Constitution should be amended to define marriage as a union of “one man and one woman.”
Kessler and Fleischauer displayed “the audacity to stand before people today and basically use the word of God as a tool to promote an abomination,” McCoy said.
“These people have no sense of morality,” he continued. “They are morally bankrupt. The only way to deal with it is to get them voted out of office. And that’s what we plan on doing. We’re going after them.”
McCoy warned that passage of the bill would sound the death knell for the traditional family by letting homosexual activists “force their decadent and destructive lifestyle on all West Virginians.”
“The clear agenda behind these bills is to legitimize homosexual behavior and cross-dressing in West Virginia as normal, acceptable behavior and worthy of being singled out for special recognition as an inborn trait, despite the Bible’s clear condemnation of this chosen behavior as sinful and wrong,” he added.
*******
"Fear Eats the Soul"
"Same Gender Loving People - No. 579"
"Love, Marriage and Happiness..."
Positive images of people like me... The truth of the matter is that we all need to see people like ourselves. So everyday, I'll post a photo, drawing or some other artwork that depicts Same Gender Loving People as what we are... Only Human.
Positive images of people like me... The truth of the matter is that we all need to see people like ourselves. So everyday, I'll post a photo, drawing or some other artwork that depicts Same Gender Loving People as what we are... Only Human.
"A Thought To Ponder..."
Verterano: Why I should have come out to my mother
By Jake Veterano, 365gay.com
02.21.2011
My mother passed away on October 28, 2010, at age 57. She had ovarian cancer. It’s something that has been very difficult for myself and the rest of my family to get over. She was the focal point of our family and a beautiful woman.
I feel guilty about my mom’s passing. Why? Because I never talked with her about being gay. She knew I was gay – sort of – but she didn’t hear it directly from me.
I had written an article for our college newspaper about gay rights. I remember sitting in class and my phone kept going off because she was calling me. I knew right away she had read the article. I had never been more nervous to talk.
When I answered the call, she read me an excerpt from the article where I said “As a gay man…”
I froze. I had no idea what to say to her.
I just said “I’m not sure, Mom. I might be gay.” She told me she wanted me to see a psychiatrist. I hung up and avoided her calls for a week. If any of you have an Italian mother, you know this is NOT easy to do.
We never talked about a psychiatrist again. But that’s because we never had a real conversation about me being gay.
Yet I think my mom always knew I was gay. When I was in first grade, I had asked for a My Sized Barbie for Christmas. I got the Barbie and Mom told everyone I wanted a “dancing partner.”
This was different, though. This was the first time my mom had actually said something about it. I didn’t know what to do. Her voice just sounded so…disappointed. After a week I called her back. She said “You’re not gay, are you?”
I lied. I told her “no” and we dropped it.
But she knew. A mother always knows.
Last year on the night of my 22nd birthday my mom and I got into a screaming match over cleaning out our fish tanks (yes, seriously). Frustrated and angry, she said to me: “GO RUN TO YOUR BOYFRIEND!”
I burst into tears and drove out of the house, ripping down Christmas decorations in the process. She had been keeping tabs on me. I had been dating someone for over a year and she knew. I called my best friend crying and she calmed me down and convinced me to return home.
I did and it wasn’t brought up again. But I regret not telling my mom about my boyfriend. I think she felt hurt I hadn’t shared my life with her. I was living my life in hiding. I was in this wonderful, happy relationship and she had no idea who this person was that I was with every night. He was a stranger to her.
I should have let her in my life. I should have been upfront the second my mom asked me if I was gay, but I ran away.
The night before my mother passed away, her best friend pulled me aside in the hospital hallway.
“Jake, she got you,” she said. “She understands you and she loves you. She wanted you to be happy with whoever you are with. We all love you and we all accept you.”
We stood there in the hallway for at least a half hour holding each other and crying.
I feel my mother’s presence every day – and every day, I regret not being upfront with her about who I am and how happy I am. I think she would have loved to see me holding hands with someone I care about, would have loved to see me celebrate my wedding and watch me raise a family with a man I love.
She deserved to be let into my happiness. That’s what we do when we love people. We let them in to our lives.
By Jake Veterano, 365gay.com
02.21.2011
My mother passed away on October 28, 2010, at age 57. She had ovarian cancer. It’s something that has been very difficult for myself and the rest of my family to get over. She was the focal point of our family and a beautiful woman.
I feel guilty about my mom’s passing. Why? Because I never talked with her about being gay. She knew I was gay – sort of – but she didn’t hear it directly from me.
I had written an article for our college newspaper about gay rights. I remember sitting in class and my phone kept going off because she was calling me. I knew right away she had read the article. I had never been more nervous to talk.
When I answered the call, she read me an excerpt from the article where I said “As a gay man…”
I froze. I had no idea what to say to her.
I just said “I’m not sure, Mom. I might be gay.” She told me she wanted me to see a psychiatrist. I hung up and avoided her calls for a week. If any of you have an Italian mother, you know this is NOT easy to do.
We never talked about a psychiatrist again. But that’s because we never had a real conversation about me being gay.
Yet I think my mom always knew I was gay. When I was in first grade, I had asked for a My Sized Barbie for Christmas. I got the Barbie and Mom told everyone I wanted a “dancing partner.”
This was different, though. This was the first time my mom had actually said something about it. I didn’t know what to do. Her voice just sounded so…disappointed. After a week I called her back. She said “You’re not gay, are you?”
I lied. I told her “no” and we dropped it.
But she knew. A mother always knows.
Last year on the night of my 22nd birthday my mom and I got into a screaming match over cleaning out our fish tanks (yes, seriously). Frustrated and angry, she said to me: “GO RUN TO YOUR BOYFRIEND!”
I burst into tears and drove out of the house, ripping down Christmas decorations in the process. She had been keeping tabs on me. I had been dating someone for over a year and she knew. I called my best friend crying and she calmed me down and convinced me to return home.
I did and it wasn’t brought up again. But I regret not telling my mom about my boyfriend. I think she felt hurt I hadn’t shared my life with her. I was living my life in hiding. I was in this wonderful, happy relationship and she had no idea who this person was that I was with every night. He was a stranger to her.
I should have let her in my life. I should have been upfront the second my mom asked me if I was gay, but I ran away.
The night before my mother passed away, her best friend pulled me aside in the hospital hallway.
“Jake, she got you,” she said. “She understands you and she loves you. She wanted you to be happy with whoever you are with. We all love you and we all accept you.”
We stood there in the hallway for at least a half hour holding each other and crying.
I feel my mother’s presence every day – and every day, I regret not being upfront with her about who I am and how happy I am. I think she would have loved to see me holding hands with someone I care about, would have loved to see me celebrate my wedding and watch me raise a family with a man I love.
She deserved to be let into my happiness. That’s what we do when we love people. We let them in to our lives.
*********
"Fear Eats the Soul"
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
"A Thought To Ponder..."
"To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead."
- Bertrand Russell
"Same Gender Loving People - No. 578"
"Love Is Always Enough..."
Positive images of people like me... The truth of the matter is that we all need to see people like ourselves. So everyday, I'll post a photo, drawing or some other artwork that depicts Same Gender Loving People as what we are... Only Human.
Positive images of people like me... The truth of the matter is that we all need to see people like ourselves. So everyday, I'll post a photo, drawing or some other artwork that depicts Same Gender Loving People as what we are... Only Human.
Monday, February 21, 2011
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