Written: 12/06/2012

Equality opponent in Maine writes that the LGBT community doesn’t deserve rights because we have too much sex.  If it was just that, I’d say he was jealous.

But sadly, it’s not.  Apparently we’re “inducted” into the LGBT “lifestyle” by rape and

The basis of homosexuality is centered around anonymous sexual encounters.

So wrong.  The countless couples who have been fighting and waiting for the right to be married, after being together for years is astonishing.  Yes, sex is a lot easier to find in the gay community, and some men need to make sure they keep that in check, lest they go off the rails.  But the basis of any relationship is love, friendship and caring.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 12/06/2012

GOProud is the ridiculous gay sub-group of the Republican party.  They have no standards and just blindly follow the Republican party, even endorsing their anti-gay hate in their party’s platform.  The Log Cabin Republicans, though much smaller, at least have some semblance of sanity and fight for equality.

After this last election, GOProud finally decided that equality is something they should work for.  Not marriage, oh no.  Just civil unions.

I mean, I guess it’s progress.

Laughable, but it’s progress.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 12/05/2012

Guinness was way ahead of its time.  And yes, I do occasionally enjoy a pint:

Guess I’ll have to increase it in the rotation.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 11/24/2012

I love that these kinds of videos are more and more common, and they’re fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFjDFbg8E70

And the lesbians chime in:

And finally, the straight women:

Edit: And I’m back, with another response, this time from the nerds:

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 11/11/2012

I don’t talk about my sex life on this blog (although at this point, how many times have I started a post this way? Update: I think at least three, maybe four times), but I found this funny and wanted to share.

I’m certainly open to the “less-vanilla” side of things, shall we say.  And today a new sub-group popped up from Pittsburgh’s yet-again try at a young persons BDSM group (18-35).  This time though, it’s all about math.

Women getting together.  To do math problems.  Kinky, I know!

Seriously, it’s a group for women, to get together and study.  And I can understand wanting a women’s only study group, and why not do it with people you’re already comfortable with.  But just let it be known that everyone, even the kinksters in the world, apparently need some help with their algebra.  

We’re all pretty much the same.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 11/11/2012

The public outcry at the Boy Scouts is justified.  Completely.

I’ve ranted about it before, there is no excuse for not reporting child molesters to the police.  No amount of internal investigation can match the justice system.

So it’s good to see the public outcry (if only we can have the same for the Catholic Church, and now, the ever-growing evidence against ex-gay counselors).

The Good Men Project has another great article:

It’s time the Boy Scouts of America is held responsible for how it has failed boys over and over and over again over the last four decades. Even more importantly, it’s time we change our culture of silence which protects abusers more than children. It’s time that we do away with the mindset that says the reputation of a serial offender like Kowalski is more important than supporting survivors and preventing future abuse of children.

And finally, it’s time we learn how important it is that we believe abuse survivors, support them, and do our damnedest to get the perpetrators off the street and prevent them from abusing again.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 11/11/2012

Two quick reactions I wanted to add from the Election.

It was a huge night for victories for equality.  And of course, the right-wing loonies are going nuts over it.  Joe My God has been keeping track of all the head-explosions.  It’s a lot of schadenfreude, but it’s good to enjoy the victory, if just for a moment.

And in case anyone has any doubt, a reporter from The Stranger called the largest donors to defeat marriage equality in Washington State.  No one could explain why they opposed it so much or for any decent reason.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 11/11/2012

For those unaware, the Stonewall Riots mark the beginning of the  modern LGBT equality movement.  At the Stonewall Inn in New York City in 1969, we fought back for the first time (not really the first time, but the first time that threw the fight into the public consciousness).

It would not be until 2003, with the Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas that laws specifically designed to incarcerate the LGBT community would be struck down.

And this election day, November 6, 2012, is being hailed as a second Stonewall.

Three states (Maine, Maryland and Washington) approved marriage equality by public vote.  Minnesota rejected an anti-gay constitutional amendment, the U.S. Senate will have it’s first out senator, Pennsylvania and Colorado elected their first openly gay representatives and a wide swatch of other LGBT candidates across the country won.

For the first time, after 32 losses, marriage equality has finally won.  Maine is a special case, the legislature approved it, it was defeated through a voter referendum and it was now approved by the same process.  In both Maryland and Washington, equality was brought by the legislature, and now approved by the voters.

Dan Savage talks about the work we have left to do:

we did this. LGBT people came out, fought back, and changed the world. There’s a fuck of a lot left to do—repealing DOMA, passing ENDA, completing the repeal of DADT (trans people are still barred from serving in the military), fighting for the rights of queers around the world—but LGBT people have come so far since Stonewall due to our own efforts and sacrifice. It has gotten better for us because we fought to make it better. We demanded better.

And he talks about thanking the general population.  You know, the straights (heterosexuals, breeders, whatever you term of endearment is), who worked so hard for us.  We’re a very small minority:

“Oh, gee, straight people, thank you so much for the civil rights.” Rights are rights. We shouldn’t have to beg for them. We shouldn’t have to say “thank you” when they’re recognized. We shouldn’t even have to ask for them. But the sad fact is that we have had to fight for our rights. And the happy fact? We didn’t have to fight this one alone. We had help. Thousands of straight people stood with us and fought for us. That’s what we should thank the straight people for. Not for the rights—rights are rights are rights—but the way they joined our fight.

We have a lot more work to do, but we need to all work together.  We’re in this together.

Update: Not only the gains mentioned above, but also throw in the election of the first openly gay Senator, the first openly bi Representative, the first state-level LGBT legislators in at least two states and it really was a historic election.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 11/11/2011

For the first time in my life, it seems as though Marriage Equality is a a real possibility.  And as I’ve said before, you don’t need a license to spend your life with someone, to care for someone and to face the world with them.  But the license helps immensely.  It gives you federal and state benefits, raises your relationship to a level that everyone can quickly comprehend and offers protections, rights and responsibilities.

And I’m not in a relationship at the moment, and of course, I’m not really looking for one anyway but this is touching.  A growing number of straight couples (and I think it’s a great reading for gay weddings too), are using quotes from the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling:

Marriage is a vital social institution.  The exclusive commitment of two individuals to each other nurtures love and mutual support. Civil marriage is at once a deeply personal commitment to another human being and a highly public celebration of the ideals of mutuality, companionship, intimacy, fidelity, and family. Because it fulfills yearnings for security, safe haven, and connection that express our common humanity, civil marriage is an esteemed institution and the decision whether and whom to marry is among life’s momentous acts of self-definition.”

“It is undoubtedly for these concrete reasons, as well as for its intimately personal significance, that civil marriage has long been termed a ‘civil right.’ Without the right to choose to marry, one is excluded from the full range of human experience.”

– 2003 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

I like it a lot, I hope more people use it.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 10/31/2012

A good friend, who, as of tomorrow, will be working full time for the BSA, posted this to his wall:

In the eyes of the mountain all people are equal.

I’ve known him for years, and enjoy working with him, and I’m very happy and proud of him for getting the position.  And he (for now) is one of the most positive and kind-hearted people I know, and especially of those working for the BSA.  He is a few years younger than me (maybe that’s a little generous, I think the age difference is seven years), so I think that helps as well.

And on the mountain, we are all equal.  But not the BSA.

The mountain rages and welcomes all with the same intensity, while the BSA blatantly discriminates against a certain minority.

The mountain provides inspiring beauty in its landscape, fauna and culture, the BSA only produces hatred, prejudice and resentment.

The mountain is a safe place, the BSA is a mine-field of dangers for those who are forced to hide themselves.

The BSA could learn a lot from the mountain.

All my best,

The King of Spades