True Dedication and Commitment

I have always like watching competitive swimming and never really been one for group team sports. Instead I have always preferred individual event sports or sports where team members compete individually for time/speed with the team result based on the collective wins. Plus, growing up, I spent summers at a lake in the Adirondacks where little league and similar sports were replaced by swimming, water skiing, canoeing and sailing. In the fall I ran cross country and my winter sports were ice skating and snow skiing, with emphasis on the latter. During the majority of my married years I lived in a neighborhood with a neighborhood pool and a summer league swim team where all three of my children swam on the team and my oldest eventually ended up coaching. Thus, I have seen a number of dedicated swimmers who stay cool and calm under pressure. But U. S. swimmer, Ricky Berens, (at left) takes the prize for remaining cool and calm under trying conditions - a swimsuit malfunction that left him partly buck naked as he did his leg of the relay. Here are some highlights from Reachforthe wall.com:

ROME, July 26 — Everyone expected the latest, most controversial high-tech swimsuits to have a major impact on these world championships, so the seven championship records set in Sunday morning’s opening preliminary heats was hardly a surprise. And most assumed Michael Phelps and the U.S. men’s 400-meter freestyle relay team would struggle to topple the powerhouse French squad in Sunday night’s final

But the suit malfunction that almost derailed Phelps and Co. before the men’s relay squad even got in the pool for the morning’s qualifying round was entirely unexpected. As Ricky Berens, scheduled to swim third for the U.S. morning swim squad, bent over on the pool deck for a drink of water moments before the race, his suit — a Jaked01 — split significantly in the back, exposing his rear end.

Berens dived in and contested his third leg as scheduled, helping the U.S. team to a fourth-place finish in its heat in 3 minutes, 11.64 seconds — and securing a critical slot in the night’s final for Phelps and his teammates. Phelps did not swim in the qualifying heat, but will lead off the relay in tonight’s final.

“He still swam his heart out,” Jones said. “To see that kind of professionalism in college; I know I didn’t have it.”Berens, the 2009 Big 12 Swimmer of the Year from Texas, was not available to comment on the suit problem. Jones, though, said tears were becoming increasingly common as swimmers sought the tightest-fitting suits possible for the greatest performance-enhancement.

Besides trying to make sure Phelps would have a chance at six gold medals at this meet, Berens, Jones, Matt Grevers and Garrett-Weber Gale also were essentially auditioning for a spot on the squad.

Check out the story for a photo of the swimsuit malfunction. :)

Monday Male Beauty

The Secret GOP Sex Diary

I realize that I write about the hypocrisy of the GOP often - some might say too often, but sometimes the stuff that comes out of the misadventures of the "family values" crowd is just too outrageous to pass up. A case in point is the diary that former Rep. Chip Pickering of Mississippi (pictured at left) kept as he allegedly carried on an extramarital affair with Elizabeth Creekmore Byrd. As The Daily Beast is reporting, Pickering recorded details of his exploits in a secret diary, including the dates and locations of his adulterous encounters. To make the matter even more fun, Pickering's diary is getting sucked into what will likely be a wildly vicious divorce case. Not only is Pickering - a former resident of the C Street house I referenced yesterday - a major league hypocrite but also amazingly stupid to keep such a diary. That Pickering once was President of the Mississippi Baptist Convention just makes his hypocrisy all the more over the top. P.S. Local Congressman J. Randy Forbes belongs to the C Street "ministry." Here are some highlights from The Daily Beast:

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Pickering, a Republican, described several assignations he had with Creekmore Byrd inside the C Street House, a Capitol Hill townhouse inhabited by an all-male group of right-wing Republican congressmen belonging to The Fellowship, an evangelical group, according to a person familiar with the diary's contents.

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And according to a divorce filing by Pickering’s estranged wife, Leisha, the former congressman’s diary reveals the identities of several men who enabled his adulterous trysts and helped him cover his tracks.

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Thanks to heavily politicized local courts and an aggressive damage-control campaign waged by Pickering and his powerful Republican allies, the diary, which is said to contain the answers to these questions, is locked away in a courtroom in Mississippi. And if Pickering has his way, it will stay there indefinitely.

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Pickering was once considered one of the GOP’s brightest stars. An ardent social conservative and defender of “traditional marriage,” he was seen as a shoo-in for former Majority Leader Trent Lott’s Senate seat when Lott retired in 2007. Indeed, according to Leisha Pickering’s divorce filing, Mississippi Governor and former Washington super-lobbyist and Republican National Committee Chairman Haley Barbour personally offered Pickering the seat. But according to the divorce filing, Creekmore Byrd “insisted that if Pickering accepted the position in the Senate that their relationship would not be able to continue.” In the end, Pickering chose his mistress over his congressional career and his wife.

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Chip Pickering is the scion of one of the most influential Republican families in Mississippi, son of retired federal appeals court Judge Charles Pickering, one of the founders of Mississippi’s post-civil rights GOP and past president of the Mississippi Baptist Convention.

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Though Pickering is now out of Congress, the suppression of the diary is a high priority for Republican Party leaders from Washington to Mississippi. The GOP is reeling from sex scandals involving two men associated with the C Street House, Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Senator John Ensign of Nevada. The revelation of private emails between Sanford and his Argentine mistress and the exposure of payments from Ensign’s casino-mogul parents to his mistress prolonged the back-to-back public-relations disasters for weeks beyond the first reports of the affairs.

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The release of Pickering’s diary would likely have an electrifying effect, reigniting media interest in his dalliance and drawing renewed attention to the C Street evangelical men’s group to which he and other Republican lawmakers have belonged.

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A source close the case told me the judge presiding over the lawsuit could rule to make the Pickering diary public, thereby voiding Brewer’s decision in the divorce court. So long as the judge’s decision is pending, the diary represents a ticking time bomb—with the potential to rock corridors of conservative power from Jackson, Mississippi, to C Street in Washington.

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Personally, I hope that time bomb explodes and exposes just what hypocrites so many of today's GOP "family values" politicians are in fact.

British Army Puts Gay Soldier on Magazine Cover

What a concept - a military where religious based discrimination is not enshrined in military policy. For a glimpse of how gay and lesbian service members might serve in the U.S. military if only Christianist backed religious discrimination was eliminated one only need look at the British military. U.S. troops have served along side British troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan - including openly gay British troops - without incident. This ought to demonstrate to all who are not Neanderthals and bigots that gays in the military should be a non-issue. I'd go so far as to state that if members of the military cannot cope with serving with gay troops, then it is they, not the gays who should be discharged. Here are some highlights from The Independent:

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In the genteel atmosphere of the Coldstream Guards' officers' mess, Lieutenant Mark Wakeling was known as "thug". Amongst his fellow guardsmen, he prided himself on being the toughest, the fittest and the most aggressive. He not only laughed at homophobic jokes – he was the "straightest of the straight" amongst the young officers. When one of his platoon admitted to being gay, he immediately started the discharge process.

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Nobody realised that behind the excessively macho behaviour was a young man who lived in fear that his own homosexuality would be discovered. Eventually, the pressure became too much and he cut short his military career and resigned his commission.

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This month, for the first time in its history, the cover of the British Army's official publication Soldier magazine shows Trooper James Wharton – openly gay – clad in his dress uniform, complete with Iraq medal, next to the headline "Pride". It is the most obvious sign that almost a decade after the military lifted the ban on homosexuality it is finally comfortable with its new clothes.

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Perhaps most tellingly, senior officers from the US have been quietly holding talks with their British counterparts on how America can change its "don't ask, don't tell" police which has seen more than 12,500 members discharged since its inception 16 years ago.

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For Mr Wakeling, the news that Trooper Wharton can genuinely live openly as a gay man with a boyfriend in another ancient and prestigious regiment, the Household Cavalry, generates such obvious turmoil that he has to pause to compose himself. "I can't express how fantastic it is to know they are able to be themselves. I regret that I lost out. I felt I didn't really fulfil my ambition in the army. It was tragic. I was a good soldier. I could have been useful to the army," explained Mr Wakeling.

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The legal change allowing the gay to openly serve took place in January 2000 after a two year legal battle involving three gay men and a lesbian, who had been discharged from the Royal Navy and RAF after being found to be gay.

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[T]he predictions proved wrong and the military entered its brave new world with surprising ease. A confidential review two years later across all three services found that most officers and junior ranks, particularly among the younger ones, had accepted the lifting of the ban without much comment. It was only amongst the older Senior Non-Commissioned and Warrant Officers that it had met significant resistance.

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"I would be lying if I say there was no bullying that happened but it is certainly less than other offences such as racial or sexual harassment," explained Lieutenant Colonel Colin Bulleid of the British Army Equality and Diversity Policy Branch. "There has been no overt homophobic hate wave. We occasionally get the odd prat who behaves inappropriately. But he gets stamped on when he gets found out. We have a reasonably good complaints system."

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Apart from simply accepting the change, the last few years has seen a military hierarchy choosing to be vocal and visible on the subject, advertising in the gay press for recruits and seeking to openly connect with a community that still treats it with some suspicion. In 2005, the Royal Navy joined the Stonewall diversity champions programme for employers, followed 12 months later by the RAF and finally last year, by the army. In similar sequence, each service has allowed its soldiers to march (to great applause) at the Gay Pride event. Several personnel are now listed in the Independent's Pink List of the most influential gay and lesbian people in Britain.

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The story also cites several British military legends who were suspected of being gay - thus showing the stupidity of discharging qualified members of the military solely to satisfy the hate and religious based bigotry of people like Elaine Donnelly, Pat Robertson, James Dobson and similar professional Christian snake oil merchants.

More Sunday Male Beauty

Catholic Church Would Rather Spend Money to End Marriage Equality than Save Churches

A reader sent me the link to this story about the misplaced priorities of the Roman Catholic Church and some of its water carriers like the increasing Pharisee like Knights of Columbus. With parishes closing in many dioceses and money in short supply due to huge pay outs to victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests, one would think that the Church would be focused on other things than denying equality under the CIVIL laws to other Americans. But no - instead significant amounts that would be better spent keeping parishes open or feeding the hungry and clothing the poor is being injected into efforts to deny LGBT citizens marriage equality under the CIVIL laws. When I was growing up, the Church basically deemed civil marriage ceremonies conducted before justices of the peace as invalid, why does the Church care so much about civil marriages for gays? Some conjecture that it's a way to distract the sheeple from the still ongoing sex abuse scandal and monetary hemorrhaging of the Church. Whatever the case, it speaks volumes about how screwed up the Catholic Church and other anti-gay denominations have become - here are some highlights:

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In the wake of Maine's same-sex marriage laws, a handful of anti-LGBT activists have launched a campaign to kill marriage equality, and the state's Catholic Church has taken the lead in these efforts. The Catholic Diocese of Maine, in fact, gave $100,000 toward efforts to defeat marriage equality, and the Diocese's main communications guy, Marc Mutty, is a leading spokesperson for the anti-LGBT movement in Maine.

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Here's an interesting fact, though: While the Roman Catholic Diocese of Maine gave $100,000 to bash the rights of gays and lesbians, they also had to close two parishes in Lewiston, Maine, as well as fire employees at Trinity Catholic School. The reason for the parish closings and the firing of Catholic school employees? Declining revenue.

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Maybe, just maybe, the Catholic Diocese of Portland should stop spending money on anti-LGBT campaigns, and instead spend a little money taking care of their own. Instead, they're hemmorhaging money toward an effort to beat back civil rights, while churches are forced to close and Catholic school employees get fired. Talk about misplaced priorities.

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The Catholic Church isn't the only one guilty of this, either. Focus on the Family, which has already had to lay off more than 20 percent of its staff, has found a way to funnel more than $30,000 into Maine to blast marriage equality.

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Despite the fact that the Catholic Church, Focus on the Family, and other national organizations have raised more than $300,000 for their discriminatory campaign, only $400 has been raised from actual Maine citizens to defeat marriage equality. So it sure seems that while national groups throw money into Maine, the state's actual citizens aren't backing them up with resources from their own pocketbook. Might that be a sign that these national organizations and the Catholic Church are out of step with Maine's population on the issue of marriage equality?

Republican Sex Scandals and the C Street "Ministries"

At first blush one of the strangest stories to come from the recent wave of Republican sex scandals is that all of the adulterers are allegedly "family values" conservatives and many lived at a $1.8 million townhouse in Washington, D.C., owned by purported Christian non-profit entities. On a closer look, none of this should be surprising: (1) it's the sexually repressed Christian Right ass kissing politicians who most want illicit sex - the forbidden fruit if you will and (2) many of the Christianist non-profits organizations give all kinds of in kind gifts to their GOP water carriers in ways that ought to cause them to lose their non-profit status. Hypocrites and liars flocking together so to speak. As for The Fellowship" that owns the C Street townhouse, it represents, in my view, just a small part of the Christian Right political mafia that afflicts politics in this country. Politico has a story that ought to be read by those who have not seen up front how the Christianists funnel money and gifts to GOP elected officials and thereby buy influence. Here are some highlights:

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Lawmakers flock to 133 C St. SE for cheap rent, weekly dinners, Bible studies and spirituality sessions that serve as a sort of group therapy for some of the country’s most powerful men. But now the stately brick house is becoming known for something else: It’s ground zero for Republican sex scandals. In February, Nevada Sen. John Ensign — who lives at the house — was confronted at C Street by colleagues who wanted him to end his affair with a staffer.

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Earlier this month, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford — who lived at C Street when he served in the House — said C Street was where he’d been asked the “hard questions” that were “very, very important” in his decision to admit an affair with an Argentine woman. And last week, the estranged wife of former Rep. Chip Pickering said he carried on a long-term extramarital affair while living at the “well-known C Street Complex.” The trifecta of trysts has made C Street an easy target for charges of “family values” hypocrisy . . . .

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Although titles may not be important, there are plenty of them at C Street. In addition to DeMint and Ensign, C Street residents include Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Reps. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.). Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) lived in the house before moving to his own condo, and he still attends events there. Former Reps. Steve Largent (R-Okla.), Jim Ryun (R-Kan.), and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have also studied at C Street.

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The large townhouse, valued at more than $1.8 million, is run by Christian network of nonprofits and ministries known as “The Fellowship.” Headquartered in Arlington, Va., . . . By ministering to the most powerful, The Fellowship believes, it can bring Christian beliefs to the larger culture. Jeff Sharlet, who wrote a book about his time in The Fellowship's Virginia headquarters, said the group believes that lawmakers have been "chosen" to lead by Jesus Christ.

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“When you operate in secret in Washington you raise an immediate red flag and then it gets redder when it gets mixed with any ideological agenda,” said Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

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Because of the secrecy, it’s hard to know exactly how frank the various prayer sessions are — although it’s clear that Ensign’s affair was a topic of conversation at C Street. Coburn and others confronted Ensign about the affair there last year, and Wamp said that Ensign recently apologized to fellow C Streeters for his indiscretion.

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I'm sorry, but I have a problem with elected officials receiving living accommodations and meals subsidized by far right Christian organizations. To expect there not to be a "pay back" somewhere in return for what amounts to non-monetary gifts is naive. Not to mention the hypocrisy of the adulterer set enjoying the subsidized fruits offered by The Fellowship. Last weekend Maureen Dowd had a great column in the New York Times that looked at the C Street hypocrisy. Here are a few highlights:

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Like cats that have lost their whiskers, the Republicans seem off balance now that they have lost their talent for hypocrisy. . . . Who can forget the glory years, when the Gipper invoked God but never went to church? When Arlen Specter accused Anita Hill of perjury to distract from Clarence Thomas’s false witness? When Newt Gingrich and other conservatives indulged in affairs with young Washington peaches as they pushed to impeach Bill Clinton?

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The religious boardinghouse in Washington where Sanford sought succor from fellow conservatives, where he agonized to pals about his tango with the enticing María, is also back in the news. Affiliated with a secretive Capitol Hill group known as the Fellowship — which also sponsored Bible study and prayer circles attended by Hillary Clinton when she was a senator — the pious dwelling is becoming a tourist attraction, a monument to Republican hypocrisy.

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The C Street house, as the flag-flying brick rowhouse near the Capitol is known, serves as a residence and Bible study retreat for many Christian conservative lawmakers. But it looks as if what these guys were praying for was a chance to get lucky. John Ensign, the Promise Keeper who broke all his promises, resides there.

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Why anyone who is mentally stable and has more than a minimal education believes a word that "family values" Republicans have to say is baffling to me. How do you know when these GOP fat cats are lying? When their lips move.

Sunday Male Beauty

Homophobia in Rural America

Change.org has an interesting story on a documentary being made about homophobia in rural America. What one encounters in terms of homophobia in larger cities in much of the South is bad enough, but in rural areas - e.g., Southwest Virginia and small cities such as Martinsville - it is stifling. The are no clubs and it seems no LGBT organizations and one must drive to the nearest larger city to find any kind of an organized LGBT social scene. Two visits to Martinsville and I think overdosing would be very attractive if I had to live in such a locale. Once the documentary entitled "Out in Silence" is completed, I definitely hoe to see it. Here are some highlights on the documentary effort (a trailer is set out below):

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Remember Barack Obama's famous line from the 2004 Democratic National Convention, when he first burst onto the public stage? It went a little something like this: We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the red states. We coach little league in the blue states and, yes, we've got some gay friends in the red states.

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And some of those gay friends in the red states (or at least the red parts of some blue states) have been busy putting together a documentary meant to shed light on the issue of LGBT rights and homophobia in rural America. That's the goal of a new film by two rural Western Pennsylvania residents, Joe Wilson and Dean Hamer, called "Out in the Silence."

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What's the story of Wilson and Hamer? Well, the couple traveled to Canada a few years ago to tie the knot. Upon returning to the U.S., the couple placed their wedding announcement in two Western Pennsylvania newspaper, the Oil City Derrick and the News-Herald. (Turns out Western Pennsylvania was where one of the grooms grew up.)

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Seeing two men list a wedding announcement in rural Pennsylvania papers was enough to send some rabid anti-LGBT folks over the edge. Hate mail ensued, including one local resident who used the wedding announcement as a call to arms for a federal marraige amendment.

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After seeing the direction that even our community might be going, I know how imperative it is for the Federal Marriage Amendment to be passed. All Christians need to stand up for what they know is right in God’s eyes, and stop this atrocity. The Bible was written as a set of rules for us to follow, not a set of general ideas for us to interpret however we want to fit our own lifestyles.

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Homophobic diatribes like this one continued to pour in. But so did supportive letters, as well as letters asking Wilson and Hamer for help. One of those letters came from the parent of a gay teenager, who had been forced to drop out of school because of anti-LGBT bullying. It's this story which makes up the premise of "Out in the Silence."

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[S]ometimes living in the bluest of blue states causes me to forget the struggles that queer people face in areas of the country where George W. Bush is a revered figure and where schools still close on the first day of hunting season. . . . . That's why it's really special to see Hamer and Wilson take the homophobic sentiments that their wedding announcement stirred, and turn them into a film that has the power to change minds and hearts on the issue of LGBT rights. Bravo.

Unifying the LGBT Community

While Virginia remains one of the most anti-LGBT states in the nation in terms of legislation aimed at making LGBT Virginians third class citizens, nonetheless in the Hampton Roads area the LGBT community seems to be flourishing - notwithstanding some fragmentation and personal egos that undermine the various LGBT organizations from working as a fully coordinated unit. Last night's pier party at the Ocean View Pier demonstrated how effective we can be when people cooperate and support other organizations' events. There were over 700 people who attended and it was a great party. Moreover, $1500 was raised for the local SPCA from voluntary contributions at the door.

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My hope is that as time goes by local LGBT organizations will make more of an effort to coordinated event dates so that they do not conflict and will increase opportunities for individuals to attend all events without being forced to pick and choose which event they can attend out of several scheduled for the same date. I likewise hope that some of the personalities involved will get the message that we are all on the same team and there is no need for a competition among the LGBT organizations each of which has a role to play in the larger battle for LGBT equality. HRBOR has its niche as Virginia's only LGBT and LGBT friendly chamber of commerce, HROC has its mission for social and educational opportunities, HR Pride provides yet other social and charitable opportunities, while TACT and ACCESS AIDS CARE provide need support for preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS and supporting those in need. The success of one organization does not in any way detract for the merits of or need for the others.

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Admittedly, I am involved in HRBOR as one of its founders and I also serve on the HR Pride board of directors. In addition, the boyfriend and I have supported several ACCESS fundraisers and will be supporting an event next weekend at the home of friends. That in no way indicates that I do not 100% support what other organizations and individuals are doing. We just need to do a better job of working together and not allowing petty jealousies to undermine the larger effort which benefits ALL of us.