Federal Hate Crime Legislation

Hate Crimes - Gay people are the victims of hate crimes in the US far out of proportion to our numbers in the population - one out of every 6 hate crimes is aimed at a gay or transgendered person.

The US Congress - the House of Representatives - has now passed tough Anti-Hate Crime legislation - but it has yet to pass the Senate and be signed into law.

Please view the You Tube Video in the link here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOqlrHgrSgc

And then ACT - the life you save may be you brother's, you sister's or your friend's or your neighbor's.

Thanks.

Gay Marriage in NY

Ok - Pride is upon us - so it wouldn't be a bad idea to talk a little about some serious issues that face us all as a family and a community. Right at the front of the list - NY State's recent (yesterday) attempt to pass Gay Marriage Rights into law.

So - it was and is remains a sham. Sorry - but the Democratic held Assembly knew full well that the Republican Senate wasn't going to let it happen - So the Dems in the Assembly pass the bill, Governor Spitzer announces he will sign it if it hits his desk, and the Republican Senate announces they will force adjournment without considering it before the summer.

Oh, for goodness sake! Wake up Gay NY, Wake Up World. We weren't born yesterday - we weren't found under a cabbage leaf this morning all glistening with the innocence of infancy.

It's time to start to really call all of this what it is - hate - discrimination - bias - stupidity - and fundamentalism.

THERE IS NO ARGUMENT POSSIBLE AGAINST GAY MARRIAGE!! NONE!!

Stupid argument 1 - Marriage is protected by nature and by God as a home for procreation.
Smart answer 1 - oh? then sterile couples should not be allowed to marry, nor women over child-bearing age. Sex among such hetero couples is not able to result in children - so it is wanton. No marriage licenses for any women after the age of 50, as an example.

Stupid argument 2 - Gay Sex is forbidden by God - see the Bible.
Smart Answer 2 - oh - did God make mistakes? I am a mistake - God is all powerful so can he make a mistake he despises? How stupid are the people who believe that? They are mistakes - rotfl.

Stupid Argument 3 - Let's not call it marriage and upset the straight fascists. Let's just call it Civil Union or Hump - arrangements. That way no one will bother us.
Smart Answer 3 - Go take a long walk off a short pier until your hat floats. Let's not upset the white segregationists - let's just all ride in the back of the bus and put more comfy seats back there - what do you say Rosa?

Only Answer - Unite - all New Yorkers for a start. What we don't need:
Democrats who are really Republicans at heart - vote them out.
Log Cabin Republicans - more or less the equivalent of White Aryan Black People.

What we do need - a complete rejection of this kind of thinking in the NY Senate for starters, a federal government which will pass anti-discrimination laws including Gays at the federal level, and an unbreakable united front behind which we all can work.

Time to send a message to Albany (NY's capitol for those of you who don't know) and to Washington - this is not 1950 and we aren't going to take it any more. How to send the message - Gay Voting as a Block - unbreakable - unstoppable.

If you aren't a part of the solution - well then, you are a part of the freaking problem.

If you know a Log Cabin Republican - ask him if he would like to ride in the back of the bus all his life and wear a pink ribbon so that everyone can see he is God's mistake. Then kiss him - then kick him hard in the seat of his pants.

Our votes are our power - and our buying - and spending - and all we do. Boycott any business which won't support our rights - if they don't come out in favor of gay marriage - buy somewhere else.

We helped to stop apartheid in South Africa because Mayor Dinkins in NYC among others boycotted all South African business and commerce. Come on Brothers and Sisters - for crying out loud - are you all asleep? Lock your wallets. March together. Show the bastards who we are.

MICAH IS BACK - FROM IDAHO YAY!!

first off - we were very happy to see each other - hmmm very happy

I will show you how happy - but I have to warn you - these pics are not G rated:

When we were ready, we went to Chichen Itza in Visit Mexico to the Mayan Ruins. They were beautiful and worth the visit for anyone who wants to explore in SL.

When we had finished that visit we went home and saw Mak - who was working on Little Nara - the last of our projects.

And - I had purchased an Avatar Cannon so we shot ourselves all over the place for a while - which was good fun. hehe

This morning Mak and Simon met for breakfast and shot themselves out of the cannon - they loved it. It is grand.

So - altogether a great 24 hours on Safe Harbor -

Thanks Puppy - My Micah - for making me so happy. I have to yell it to the world:

I LOVE THIS MAN!

micah's smile

Micah can stop me with a look. His glance is the sexiest thing in the universe.

I love you puppy - I love you.

Pictures of Safe Harbor -

Well - I am tired of ironing - so here are the pictures of Safe Harbor - our home.

This is Micah's Paradise - our house:

Here is our spa isand - The Island of Joyful Dreams

And our tree house -

And Mak's whimsical boat house - hehe

And Simon's house - Lufbery Hall -

Our central pond area with the town cener bandshell

Mak's gazebo behind his house

And Makara's Dream - Mak's Japanese farmhouse

All in all a very nice island on which to live.

Thanks Mak - you have done a great job.

Gay Pride 2007 - too much politics?

Well - it seems that there are fights at the moment over who can do what to celebrate Gay Pride with the "official celebration" in Second Life. I suppose it is the same everywhere - who has the parade permit - who has the rights to the name - who controls the content.

Oh??

We now have the Church of Gay Pride? The Elders of the Church will give their Imprimatur? We have Cardinals and the Pope? We have pronouncements Ex-cathedra? We have a loyalty oath and a loyalty council? We have a test of blood?

I didn't think we did - so let me say this -

You don't have to be in church to pray. If God hears, he hears everywhere and everything.

All who wish to celebrate Gay Pride should celebrate by being proud - proud of themselves for being gay - proud of a friend or a child or a brother or a sister or anyone for being themselves. Proud of another for supporting Gay brothers and sisters and supporting human freedom and human rights.

We were subject to so many litmus tests - to determine if we were really gay. We were ostracized, rejected, jailed, killed for showing up gay. Now we have our own litmus tests?

My goodness - does EVERYTHING become its own worst enemy?

March if you choose to march - shout if you choose to shout - but don't put up walls and don't put up gates.

Open the doors - and let all the people in.

Be Gay and Proud or Proud of your Gay Friends but join - and do - what it is in your heart to do.

Micah went to Idaho

No - he isn't investing in potato farms. - hehe

But he will be gone for the weekend - he leaves at 8:30 this morning and wont' be back until Sunday night.

He hasn't left yet and already I miss him so - my God - I love you puppy.

So I will have to amuse myself while he is away by pottering (see - London talk Mak and Simon - hehe) around the house and straightening up. I call it "ironing the underwear" - that's what I say I am going to do when I am just pottering around. (I really do iron micah and my t-shirts, by the way - but I draw the line at ironing briefs - hehe).

Mak is working aound our island finishing up things - he has created a beautiful floating Japanese Palace with a cloud theme - he wants it to be heaven and paradise. It is lovely.

When he is done he will take apart the Turkish Palace and the Turkish Gardens he built - he doesn't feel they go with the rest of the theme of our land.

Simon has been busy with Lufbery Hall - it is almost done and is magnificent - an English Arts and Crafts home with beautiful gardens. And Mak has finished the Tree House and the central pond and community gazebo- bandshell area - so we are really in the last stages of our construction projects.

I think I will take a bunch of photos of everything this weekend and post a nice set of pictures for you to see.

Meanwhile -

I MISS MY MICAH!!!!! - oh Puppy - I miss you so much already.

Of course - the top post MUST have pictures of Micah in it - that's my rule - so

on top is one and here is another.

I love you my darling sweetpea - have a great time in Idaho - and I will see you when you get back.

Micah and Me This Week

Micah and I spent a very relaxing couple of days. It was so wonderful to be with him. I love him so much.

As I said earlier - Micah is always on top. So here is the top level post - hehe

But sometimes - well - we switch places -

it is like I said before - for me - Micah is always on top.

Gay Pride 2007 - A Call To Action

My Flag for Pride - 2007

Gay Pride Week (or day or parade or month or lifetime- take your pick) is coming - officially in NYC it it is June 23rd - Saturday - to June 30th - Saturday. It is the same in Second Life. But this month Pride is celebrated at various times- as many local communities don't want to compete with huge Pride events in major locales.

This year in SL Pride will see the openning of an exhibit of art photography - a notecard about the exhibit will be posted to the blog the week of the opening. There will be parades and parties and all sorts of events - but - what does it all mean? What is it exactly that we are proud of - why Gay Pride - and not Gay Day or Gay Party or Gay Liberation - why Pride?

An interesting question. It demands that we look at what it is that has always defined the homosexual experience and what it means to be gay - here and everywhere really - in a society which is dominated by straight people - naturally - a large percentage of whom either hate gay people and homosexuality outright or "tolerate" homosexuality as an aberation. But to see homosexuality as an equal and valid sexuality - as a natural part of life and society - as a normal part of the spectrum of all animal existence - this is rare - and not the "norm".

Yes - that's right - there is still considerable hate. Pride exists to combat the effects of the hate, effects which gay people in most of the world experience - and suffer.

So let's list some truths -

There are 1 billion Muslims in the world and there are 1 billion Christians. At least - approximately. Both religions teach that homosexuality it is a sin. "Hate the Sin - Love the Sinner" is the Christian doctrine regarding homosexuality - a person who is homosexual is allowed to be loved and tolerated - the "sin" of practicing homosexuality is not. And that is among the more liberal Christians - some would purge the sin by fire.

Muslim teaching is essentially the same. The bottom line- Gay people are "sick", "sinners", "agents of the devil", "misguided", "criminals" or just plain bad.

Jewish law teaches also that homosexuality is a crime, a crime against God. And throughout the world homosexuality has been and in many places still is defined as a "crime against nature". An oxymoron if there ever was one - how can something which happens naturally be a "crime against nature?"

So when it is all put together - we have "Crimes against Nature" - despite the Supreme Court's ruling that specific laws which single out homosexuals are unconstitutionally unjust.

So - what do we know about Gay Pride? We know this - that it is needed to combat "Gay Self Loathing" - the common inheritance of all Gay Men and Women in the Western World and much of the rest of the world.

And how do we express this pride? All too often with excess - to be sure - but also with loving and caring and feeling for each other.

Gay men and women share a bond - and when we come together to experience that bond - we become part of a community of transition - from bondage placed upon us by the hatred of those around us - or just disdain - or just being "fish out of water" - from that bondage to a freedom that comes only by joining with brothers and sisters and saying - as Martin Luther King said so long ago

"Free at last - Free at last - Great God Almighty we are Free at Last."

Should it not be just as true for homosexuals who have been told they are less than human than it is for any other group despised and rejected and made less than those around them? No - it should not.

Listen - America - and Listen - Religion - and Listen - World. It is Time -

Let My People Go!

Go to Pride - march in a parade - join PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) - if you are gay - march with your brothers and sisters - and if you are not gay - march with fathers and mothers and sisters and brothers and friends.

If you are silent - you contribute to the suffering of my brothers and sisters. Make a Loud Noise - rant and rave to Heaven - Join the march and join the call -

Let My People Go!!

Micah is Back!!!

Well, Micah

is back!!!

I missed him so much-it is hard to describe. And he surprised me - he came home a day early.

He arrived from Atlanta on Tuesday night and logged right in. It was such a nice surprise -

I covered his face with kisses.

So this week - well - we have had a wonderful week. We have -

Had our picture taken by a wonderful professional photographer - Marisela Bouchard - and here they are. I will give more details about Marisela and her work on a later post.

I love especially the look she caught on Micah's face as he peeks over my shoulder in this next one. It is so sexy.

We went for a balloon ride in our balloon - it is the GAYEST hot air balloon in SL or anywhere - i modded it myself and am pretty happy about the way it looks. Micah loves it and we are now traveling all over SL and our SIM and everywhere in it.

It is such a gentle way to travel. And do you have any idea of how huge SL is? My goodness, until you travel it in a balloon you can't imagine.

And yes - the design is from the picture of Micah and me flying and kissing in the sky - hehe. I used it as a fabric texture for the ballooon.

So here are some pictures of our life this week. Sorry if most of them seem a little intimate and - well - private and M and R rated - but- that's the kind of week we had. For my part- well-

Yes - I am a little ecstatic in this shot - hehe. And Micah and I went back to the campground where we got married - and celebrated. Here are some shots of that afternoon.

I loved it.

Thanks SweetPea - it was a great week.

I love you Micah.

I miss Micah

Well, Micah has only been gone for a day and I already miss him so much. I can't wait until he comes home.

Here is a picture I don't think I posted yet - I love my Micah so much - every minute with him is a joy.



Micah - if you are reading this puppy - I miss you and I love you - Have a great time - eat lots of peach and pecan pie.



I love you sweetpea.