Monday Male Beauty

Why California Proposition 8 Is a Losing Proposition

Most of the efforts of the Christianists to bar gays from equality under the civil laws stem from, in my view, two related agendas: (1) to convince the larger public that gays are inferior by virtue of the facts that they do not get equal legal rights, be it the right to marry or serve openly in the military, and (2) to convince gays that they ARE inferior because they are not afforded equality under the civil laws. Imagine how damaging gay marriage is to the latter agenda if young gays can dream of falling in love and marrying like everyone else. Thus, all gays should support gay marriage, the elimination of DADT, employment non-discrimination laws, etc., whether they want such rights for themselves because the achievement of such rights will do much to defeat the larger Christianists' agenda. Personally, I want gay marriage and, assuming I met the right guy, would like to get married in the future.

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For these reasons, it is interesting that a Republican political strategist has a column in Saturday's Los Angeles Times that basically takes the Alliance Defense Fund and its allies to task for their stupidity and mishandling of the issue of gay marriage in California. One can only hope that his prediction that Proposition 8 will go down to defeat is accurate because by mishandling the battle in California, the Christianists may end up losing the culture war against gays in the long term. Here are some highlights from what I hope will be a prophetic column:

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Proposition 8 is most likely going down to defeat in November. All because the folks who brought you Proposition 22 miscalculated in 2000, and now, with Proposition 8, they've compounded their error. Proposition 22, once passed, had the force of law, but, as with all statutes, it was subject to judicial interpretation. That's what happened when the state Supreme Court overturned it May 15, ruling that it conflicted with the California Constitution. Writing for the 4-3 majority, Chief Justice Ronald George said, "An individual's sexual orientation -- like a person's race or gender -- does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights" -- in this case, the right to marry. . . . Ironically, despite their passionate resistance to same-sex marriage, the politically inept backers of traditional marriage made such a ruling nearly inevitable.

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Now, fast-forward eight years: Today, the momentum favors same-sex marriage. Polls show that the electorate has become more used to the idea of same-sex marriage; women in particular see it as stabilizing for society, not destabilizing. And, in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, homosexuals are marrying at a fast pace. That means it is gay-marriage advocates who are defending the status quo, while traditional-marriage advocates must upset it. At the least, for many voters, the idea of voting against what is already legal could create confusion, and confusion often yields a "no" vote.

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And then there's the matter of timing. Proposition 8's supporters should have put their remedial measure on a primary ballot years ago. Failing that, they should have started early enough to gather sufficient signatures to qualify the measure for last month's primary ballot, not the Nov. 4 general election ballot. That's because with no statewide offices contested, and coming after the high-turnout presidential primary, the June 3 primary was guaranteed to be a low-turnout affair (i.e., older, more socially conservative voters).

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Putting Proposition 8 on a high-turnout November presidential election ballot is dumb. Trying to pass it once same-sex marriages have become a legal, daily occurrence throughout the state is dumber. And now, if Californians vote it down, conservatives can't blame judicial tyranny for imposing same-sex marriage on the unhappy masses.

Paulson Seeks Authority to Shore Up Fannie, Freddie

UPDATE: Here's what is being reported on the Fed's plan to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which underscores why McSenile needs to wake the hell up:

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July 14 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Treasury Department's plan to shore up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is an ``unmitigated disaster'' and the largest U.S. mortgage lenders are ``basically insolvent,'' according to investor Jim Rogers. Taxpayers will be saddled with debt if Congress approves U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's request for the authority to buy unlimited stakes in and lend to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Rogers said in a Bloomberg Television interview. Rogers is betting that Fannie Mae shares will keep tumbling.

One has to cringe at the thought of John McCain as president when his campaign - or at least up until such time as Phil Graham was shown the door - seems to think the nation's current economic problems are imaginary or the result of a depressed public mood. How anyone could make the remarks that Graham did is mind boggling in light of the emergency efforts to shore up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in order to avoid a collapse of the U.S. mortgage market. I continue to believe that until the housing market stabilizes and transactions resume on a normalized level, the economy will continue to head in a downward spiral. Let's hope that McCain has figured out now that the crisis is real. Here are highlights from Bloomberg.com that make it VERY clear that the economic mess is not imaginary:

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July 13 (Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson swung the weight of the federal government behind Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the beleaguered companies that buy or finance almost half of the $12 trillion of U.S. mortgages. Paulson, speaking on the steps of the Treasury facing the White House, asked Congress for authority to buy unlimited stakes in and lend to the companies, aiming to stem a collapse in confidence. The Federal Reserve separately authorized the firms to borrow directly from the central bank.

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The announcement followed crisis talks between the firms, government officials, lawmakers and regulators, after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lost about half their value last week. Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke are trying to prevent a collapse in the companies that would exacerbate the worst housing recession in 25 years and deepen the economic slowdown.

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Paulson proposed that Congress enact legislation giving the Treasury temporary authority to buy equity ``if needed'' in the firms, and to increase their lines of credit with the department from $2.25 billion each. The temporary authority may be for 18 months, a Treasury official told reporters on a conference call on condition of anonymity. As lenders retreated from the housing market, Washington- based Fannie Mae and McLean, Virginia-based Freddie Mac have grown to account for more than 80 percent of the home loans packaged into securities.

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Debt sold by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ``is held by financial institutions around the world,'' Paulson said today. ``Its continued strength is important to maintaining confidence and stability in our financial system and our financial markets.''

More Sunday Male Beauty

Contrasts

Driving back from Charlottesville, I spent part of the time on the phone with Justin, my West Coast blogger friend, who chides me at times for intellectualizing too much and not telling readers what I feel in my heart. Perhaps he's right in some ways, but I guess after 30+ years as an attorney the logic/intellectual approach to things is just very ingrained. So, now I am going to tell you some thoughts and feelings from last night and this morning when I made the sacrifice and went to mass with my mother.

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A couple of things struck me as I sat in the church. The contrast between the club the night before and the atmosphere and demeanor of those in the church could not be more striking. At the club there was an over all mood of fun and happiness and people seemed to really be enjoying themselves and enjoying just being alive. It was vibrant and energizing. A celebration of life, if you will. A case in point was one of the frat boy couples who were clearly having fun dancing with each other, smiling a lot, and seemed to be really in love with each other. In terms of my feelings, I felt comfortable in my own skin and surroundings and obviously could just be me - a gay guy who loves to dance. It felt good. Ok, perhaps I felt a little lust too since there were some gorgeous guys on the dance floor.

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This morning at mass, the atmosphere was sullen -which was not helped by the truly horrific music selections, causing me to wonder why with so many nice hymns Catholic services usually have terrible music. No one seemed to be enjoying themselves, including the young Dominican priests - I seriously wonder what possessed them to join the priesthood. An effort to atone for being gay perhaps or some similar imagined transgression?? The basic message was that we humans are vile, dirty, nasty, fallen, pieces of garbage all of whom are destined for Hell if we fail to follow the minutia of rules and regulations promulgated by the Church hierarchy. In terms of feelings, I felt anger, perhaps even rage, that the Church continues to do its utmost to make people feel bad about themselves. I could not help but look at the young high school/college age guys in the congregation and wonder how many of them were having their minds f*cked up as mine had been growing up in the Church. I had to use some extreme self-control at one point during the part of the mass where members of the congregation can offer up prayers. One woman seat fairly close by offered up a prayer for persecuted Christians around the world, after which all the people in church responded "Lord hear our prayer." My immediate thought was to offer up a prayer: let us pray for all those being persecuted by Christians around the world. As I said, I used self-control and held my tongue rather than cause an incident.

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I felt anger and rage at one other point - when I saw a stack of booklets put out by the Knights of Columbus - the religious fraternal order that kept sex abuse victim intimidator and bully, Bishop Timothy Daily, as Supreme Chaplain for several years even AFTER Daily's roll in the Boston scandal became known. Nothing like "supporting" families by threatening them to remain silent after their children have been sexual molested by priests. Suffice it to say as one severely plagued by "same sex attraction," I figured I needed ALL of those booklets. Be assured that I have distributed them to a proper receptacle. :) You can say one thing for the Roman Catholic Church: it has made hypocrisy a high art form.

Fraternity Years

I mentioned in an earlier post about the hot frat boys at Club216 my fraternity days at UVA. Below is a photo of the Zeta Psi - Beta Chapter, University of Virginia fraternity house on Rugby Road in Charlottesville. I have always thought the Zeta Psi house is one of the most beautiful of the fraternity houses at UVA. As can easily be seen the design of the house uses style elements from Monticello. As it turned out, it was not the best fit for me,: a liberal New Yorker compared to the many guys from wealthy Deep South families (Edward Ball, the cousin of two of my Zeta Psi frat brothers, in fact, wrote a book Slaves in the Family, about their family). We came from very differnt worlds. Ultimately, I went inactive and became an unofficial brother at the rival Kappa Sigma house (the first American chapter of Kappa Sigma was wounded at UVA in 1869) literally next door which had a number of guys in it from Virginia Beach, including my friend Henry Oldfield who would end up being my best man when I married. Obviously, being gay and struggling so hard to suppress it made fraternity life a struggle as well.

Lately Gay - A New Resource Blog

I received an e-mail today from a reader who has started a new blog called "Lately Gay" which aims to be a resource for older gays. Here's a part of Stephen's message to me:

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My name's Stephen and I'm starting a new blog space in the UK aimed as help-point and magazine space for the 'lately gay' generation. One of the sections for the site is 'My Story' and I wonder if you would mind my quoting some extracts from your blog.

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The following is from the opening introduction to Stephen's blog, and I have to admit that there have been times in the past that I felt that I had come out too late and that perhaps suicide would have been the better course (in fact, I actually tried that approach in one particularly dark moment). That phase has passed, but coming out in a social group that places extreme focus on youth and beauty makes it very hard for older guys to make the transition. Here are those introduction highlights:

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This is a community website dedicated to older gay men, and in particular, those who have come out in their middle or later years. "LG" is a forum for members to meet, share their experiences, offer advice to each other and gain support in the complicated world of the UK's gay scene. The gay community is a completely diverse mixture of ages, social backgrounds and family make-ups, but too often the focus of media coverage is concentrated on the 18-30 set. What about the guys who are only coming to terms with their true sexuality in their 40s, 50s or 60s upwards? Too often they can arrive feeling like they're late for the party and with hardly any formal or even informal support aimed at them. And all this, no doubt, in the turbulent wake of a marital break-up.

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If this description strikes a chord with you and sums up where you find yourself at moment then, please, do come in and make yourself at home. This is a fledgling venture and may well be a little shaky as it takes shape but stick around and most importantly tell your friends about us. Within these pages you'll find the opportunity to tell your story, get a few things off your chest and discover that your are not alone.

Sunday Male Beauty

Charlottesville - Club 216

I ended up going out last night to Charlottesville's only gay club, Club216, which is owned and operated by the PIEDMONT TRIANGLE SOCIETY, a non-profit organization established to promote the interests of the Gay community in Virginia, and which works to create a supportive social environment for its' members and guests. The club is a private club - you can pay a one night admission or join on an annual basis - which means it stays open until 5:00 AM and when I left at 2:30 AM, a long line was at the door waiting to get in. The dance music was great (if one likes club dance music) and the crowd was very diverse: straights, gays, blacks, whites, Asians, Indians (as in from India), and Hispanics. The club has, in addition to a large dance floor that takes up roughly 1/3 of the club, two rooms with pool tables, two bars, a stage for shows and an area with tables for those who want to sit and talk over the music.

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Having first come to Charlottesville for college at the beginnings of the 1970's when there were basically only one or two bars in the entire town, little would I have dreamed that Charlottesville would ever be like it is now or that it would have a gay club like Club216. How the world has changed! In addition to some beautiful lipstick lesbians who stood out in the crowd, there were several young gay couples dancing together - very intimately, I might add - that looked like Abercrombie model quality fraternity boys who would easily have blended in with my former Southern aristocracy fraternity brothers at Zeta Psi so many years ago. These boys were HOT. As the area's only after hours club, there were many straights too, all of whom seemed just fine about dancing side by side with the gay couples.

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In any event, if you are in town on a Friday or Saturday night (the only nights that it is open other than for special events), it's worth checking out Club216 - just be advised that things don't really get going full steam until after 1:00AM.

Nazi Pope Arrives in Australia

Benedict XVI has arrived in Australia where it appears yet again that he will not make any serious apology much less - God forbid - take steps to punish members of the hierarchy who enabled and/or covered up the sexual abuse of minors. Later this morning I will be driving my mom to church and the question will be whether I can bring myself to go into the local den of hypocrisy known as St. Thomas Catholic Church. I will admit that I find it very difficult to hide my contempt for the Church and I sincerely wish that parishioners would wake up to the fact that they too are enablers when they allow themselves to be lead like mindless sheep by insincere, corrupt bishops, cardinals and, yes, a hypocritical and dishonest Pope. I may well opt for reading a book outside waiting for the service to end since I doubt it will put me in any sort of good spiritual mind set to sit through the mass. Here are some highlights on the Nazi Pope's visit to Australia from the Virginian Pilot:

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SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Australia on Sunday, saying he wants to use his visit to raise awareness about global warming and address the crisis of clergy sexual abuse. Benedict suggested to reporters on the flight from the Vatican that he would express regret about abuse by priests, though victims' groups are demanding he go further and make a direct formal apology. The clergy abuse scandal is a serious note in the pope's 10-day visit to Australia - his first - during which he will join the World Youth Day festival that has attracted more than 200,000 people.

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He was driven to a retreat in Sydney where he will stay out of the public eye until the youth festival begins Thursday. During the flight, Benedict told reporters he would work for "healing and reconciliation with the victims" of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy in Australia "just as I did in the United States." At the start of a U.S. visit earlier this year, Benedict said he was "deeply ashamed" of the abuse scandal and pledged to work to make sure pedophiles do not become priests. . . . . The exact number of victims of clergy abuse in Australia is not known, though activists say it is in the thousands.

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In the southern city of Melbourne, more than 100 people, some wearing shirts with slogans such as "Pope is wrong, put a condom on," protested Sunday against World Youth Day and the Catholic church's attitude toward homosexuals, contraception and other issues. Jason Ball, one of the organizers, said the protesters also object to governments giving millions of dollars to help pay for the event. Officials say the event will generate millions of dollars in tourist income. A similar demonstration is planned for Sydney next weekend.