Since the Election

...I've mourned the passage of Prop 8.
...I've started to feel hopeful that we'll overturn the motherfucker.
...I've kissed two women other than my girlfriend. *Swoon!*
...I've broken a pint glass with my bare hand and lived to tell about it.
...I've connected with old friends on facebook and in person.
...I've enjoyed an evening at home with Astrid and roasted pumpkin soup.
...I've been writing down my dreams.
...I've been working on a blog entry about Patrick Nagel.
...I've been enjoying the minutiae.

Preach Beyond the Choir: NO on Prop 8

The following is an email I sent to a conservative person in my life who is very dear to me. Please consider writing your own message, or cutting and pasting this message into an email and sharing it with your conservative or religious friends, family, and colleagues--especially those you think might vote in favor of Prop 8. We need the message to reach beyond the converted.

Hi ____________,

The reason I'm emailing you is because I want us to have a conversation about marriage rights for same-gender couples. As you probably know, the California Supreme Court recently made same-gender marriage legal. But now, there is a State Constitutional amendment on the ballot called Proposition 8, which will write into the California Constitution that marriage can only be for a man and a woman. If it passes, it will permanently ban marriage rights for same-gender couples. Most people I know are already committed to voting NO on Prop 8 to protect marriage equality. But I suspect that many people you know will be voting for the proposition.

I'm asking you a favor: will you watch the video below and consider voting NO on Prop 8? And will you pass this message along to your friends and family so that they can hear a humane message from the "other side" as well? The video is a message on same-gender marriage from clergy and faith leaders. I just watched it this evening, and it was so powerful, it made me cry!



A link to the video is here:
http://noonprop8.com/multimedia/video?id=0001

You don't have to tell me how you're voting - I respect your privacy. But I can't in good conscience not make an effort to reach people beyond the little bubble of San Francisco I live in.

Okay, that's enough for now. I really appreciate you taking the time to read this message and watch the video. Please let me know what you think and if you have any questions. I like talking with you! And above all, please know that I love you and respect your decision to vote however you like.

Wishing you the best,

--Bree

Vagina Dentata!

Had to re-post this from the dspot - thanks for keeping your finger on the pulse, Dax. Oh my god, Tina Fey is fucking spot-on!

"Mawwage is what bwings us together today...."

Same-gender marriage is legal in California! (for the moment.)

I don't have a specific desire to get hitched; nevertheless, the news made me well up with tears this morning. Read the SF Chronicle article for more details. Essentially, the state Supreme Court overturned Prop 22, a limitation on marriage passed by voters in 2000. The majority opinion today ruled that denying same-gender partners the right to marry and form a family with the same rights and responsibilities as male-female partners is unconstitutional. It's about fucking time.

The bad news, however, is that there will be an initiative on the California ballot in November attempting to change the state constitution to ban same-gender marriage for good. Take a look at the CitizenLink page, a right-wing political organization's take on the signature drive to qualify for the ballot and "represent God's will" on marriage.

People need to turn out to vote this bullshit down. Hopefully, since the stakes are so high in the Presidential election, progressives and friends and family of LGBT folks will turn out in large numbers to put down this hateful initiative. But there will be more battles to come, no doubt.

Election '08 Rant #1

In last week's Presidential primary election, I got to vote for one of my all-time favorite elected officials. Suffice it to say, it wasn't Barack Obama, and it wasn't Hillary Clinton. It was, in fact, Cynthia McKinney, former U.S. Representative from Atlanta, Georgia, now a candidate for the Green Party's Presidential nomination. If you've been tuned into my blog since the old days, you may remember reading my long-winded entry about Cynthia McKinney's fight to win back her seat in Congress in 2004. After serving another term, she got defeated once more, and has since defected to the Greens.

On Super Tuesday, McKinney got 26% of the Green vote in California with 7,000 votes, but was eclipsed by continual candidate Ralph Nader, who took close to 17,000 votes for 61%. And although McKinney fared better in a couple other states, she may not emerge the Green's candidate in the November election.

Not that the Greens matter at that point anyway. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Nader got 2.8 million votes in the 2000 election, and after the devastation of Bush's coup of the "hanging chads," he only brought in 500,000 votes in 2004. Needless to say, this year, with the tide turned against Bush and his War on Everything, the Greens will get even fewer votes, on account of progressives' and liberals' sheer terror of tipping the cart to the Republicans. Since I live in a state that more than likely will go to the Democrat, I can probably get away with a Green vote in November. Of course, if I lived in Florida or Ohio or somewhere, it'd be a different matter altogether.

Point being, I like being excited about someone I voted for for a change. Holding my nose and voting for Kerry in 2004 made me almost hate myself. But why blame the victims of the system (people like you and me who'd like to vote for decent candidates) for what are essentially structural problems, like the Electoral College, the two-party system, campaign finance policies, mega-corporate lobby power, etc?

I'm babbling now, 'night.

xo

Ted Haggard Rocks My Ass Hole!

Can I just say that I hate Democrats, but not as much as Republicans? There, I said it. You have to love the news lately, right?

Some highlights:

*The Dems gain at least 25 seats in the House! Check out up-to-the-minute election results at NYTimes.com

*One of the most powerful leaders of the right-wing evangelical movement in America has admitted that he likes to suck big dick! See him preach the gospel in "Jesus Camp"

* Rick Santorum is out! (of the Senate, I mean, not the Closet...)

**note that Bob Casey, the Dem who beat Santorum is anti-abortion and anti-gun control--how's that for the Dems ushering in a "sea change" of ideology?