A High School It Get's Better Message to Gaga's "Hair"

Andy Towle picked this "It Gets Better" video up first at Towleroad and others such as fellow LGBT blogger summit attendee Joe Jervis of Joe.My.God are rightfully spreading the exposure. It's a wonderful message and I love the way Lady Gaga is indeed getting her message out to the younger generation. Would that more in the older generations and the Republican Party would get the message. Joe makes the following comments:

Lady Gaga's song, Hair. Hair is about being yourself, being true to who you are; as the song exemplifies, "you are the spirit of your hair, it's all the glory you bare", YOU are your #hair."As most of us know, growing up isn't easy. Countless young people are faced with daily tormenting and bullying, causing them to feel isolated and alone. This is an especially harsh reality for LGBT kids and teens, who often hide their sexuality for fear of bullying. In many instances, gay and lesbian adolescents are taunted, sometimes even tortured, simply for being themselves.

For a better understanding of Lady Gaga's advocacy for LGBT youth, watch the "Very Gaga Thanksgiving" version of "Hair" set out below. Yes, I will concede that I am a Gaga fan and I am moved to see the way she uses her celebrity to truly try to make things better for others. In my opinion, she gets the Gospel message of love and compassion that is so lost on the Christianists and leadership of the Catholic Church. I am happy that the Boyfriend and I were able to see her close up at the National Equality March in 2009.

December 10th 2008: Day Without a Gay.

Here is some updated information on the "Day Without Gay" scheduled for December 10, 2008. Note, that the effort now has its own web site: http://daywithoutagay.org/ Given the huge organizing success of Join the Impact and the nationwide protests this past Saturday, one has to wonder what the Hell HRC and other alleged gay rights organizations are doing when a few talented individuals can organized a larger turn out and protest that the well funded organizations. Or are those organizations too afraid to be confrontational? I know that HRC did absolutely nothing to help one of my clients who was fired by a state museum for being gay. HRC did not want to "upset" the politicians it had gotten all chumy with. Here's the updated information:

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There was some confusion about the date, but two organizations proposed this great initiative and we combined into one. On December 10th, we ask that the LGBTQ community Call in Gay! Don’t go to work, don’t consume, don’t contribute to this economy at all… instead, contribute to your community through volunteer work, community outreach, and social outreach. We are taking a new spin on boycott. During the busy shopping season where analysts have year over year numbers, we want to watch the graph dip as we take our tax dollars and keep them. Instead, we will give to the organizations that need our time and help. We are taxpaying citizens who contribute to this economy. We deserve legal protections from our government and marriage provides 10,000+ legal protections that are not awarded to our families!

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Oh and for the closet cases afraid of identifying themselves as gay and who typically sit back and let others fight their battles, there's this:

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If you live in one of the 30 states where individuals can still be fired simply for being gay or lesbian, there are still plenty of ways that you can lend a hand and a voice in our fight for gay equality--without missing work. CLICK HERE for actions you can take RIGHT NOW!

Living Apart - Reply to Comments

Some have acted as if I blame society for what has occurred between Raymond and me. Yes, I speculated on what might have been for us - and all in the LGBT community for that matter - if society was different. But I was not playing "The Blame Game, "Playing Victim," or intending to be narcissistic in my post.

Yes, I made decisions that perhaps were wrong or might have been made differently. Hindsight is always 20/20. For the record, I have no regrets over having three amazing children, each of whom will bring gifts to the world and who strongly support gay equality. Also, due to my life in the straight world if you will, my coming out has made some individuals have to rethink their bias and bigotry in a way that would not have happened otherwise.

In my defense, I would state that, although I was a bit late in starting my efforts to make things better for the LGBT community, I have since pushed activism, publicly debated against Virginia's marriage amendment, helped form HRBOR, helped expose a fraud like "ex-gay" Michael Johnston (http://www.washingtonblade.com/2003/8-8/news/national/exgay.cfm) and other hypocrites. In fact, if more long time openly gay (that being a relative term since most still try to live "under the radar" around here) members of the gay community were as out spoken as I have been in my brief "out" career, this area would be much different than it is at present. The fact that I am probably the only attorney in a metropolitan area of 1.6 million who will publicly say the words, "yes, I am gay" tells me that I am not off playing "victim." Others are busy doing that - not me.

If I have pity or sadness for either one of us, it is Raymond, who by the standard of commentators did the right thing by never being in the closet, has always been out and proud, and paid a very heavy price for it in his younger years.

Hate Crimes and False Christians

Blogernista has an article on why the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes law is so badly needed (http://bloggernista.com/) The article describes the brutal gay-bashing of Chris Rico. Chris had to drive himself to the emergency room where he was met with distain from police and emergency technicans. All of this and we have 180 members of Congress including fourteen Democrats who voted against extending the current hate crime law to include LGBT people. Here’s Chris Rico’s description of what happened to him (Chris’ photo is posted above):

I was choking on blood face down on the ground before I even realized what was happening to me. As I struggled to crawl to my feet, I was greeted by thunderous kicks to my ribs and my temple and the venomous and inconceivable cry, “die fucking faggot.” Here in Palm Springs, alone and without warning I was being gay bashed. Two strangers filled with hatred, and clear intent, were trying to end my life simply because of who I am. As I began to realize that my life could end here in this rocky, abandoned lot where they had dragged me from my car, my survival instinct surged from the very core of my being. I began to fight back, take swings, kick, scream. I threw rocks. I grabbed a pipe on the ground and brandished it as a weapon. I’m quite certain that my animalistic rage and the sheer volume of my screams surprised them. Eventually, they slunk back into the night from which they came.

Things like this happen ever day, yet Chimperor Bush wants to veto a law that could help boost public awareness to the problem and perhaps prevent this type of hate based crime. That the Christo-fascists oppose this legislation seaks volumes about the falsity and perversion of their version of Christianity.