Written: 5/27/2012

I don’t think I shared this before, but my apologies if I have.  The Guardian has an awesome, and easy to read (hence: awesome) graph of LGBT rights by state.

Check it out here.

It’s a shame to see how little protections Pennsylvania affords ifs LGBT citizens, we really are second-class, make no mistake about that.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 5/25/2012

This Mother’s Day, GLAAD had an awesome campaign going:

I did not tweet or sign the petition.  It’s one part, don’t bite the hand that feeds you, and two, professionalism.  Plus throw in my fear of being fired, so I felt it prudent to not participate, but it is a worthwhile campaign, being spearheaded, in part, by Zach Wahls.

Update: This was a campaign to send petitions to the BSA about dismissing LGBT volunteers.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 5/25/2012

No, I wasn’t fired, at least not yet. But a law-maker in Oklahoma doesn’t think we should protect people like me from being fired for being gay, because we choose this life.

He’s wrong, on both accounts, of course.

He responds here, where once again he reaffirms that I deserve no protection and that I choose this life.

So just to be clear, I’ve chosen for myself, a life of strife, hatred, bigotry and unfairness where I live in fear every day of being fired and suppress my own life to keep getting a paycheck from a company who wouldn’t even have me as a member.

That sounds about right.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 5/25/2012

I find it sad that in the year 2012 I have to defend myself from concentration camps.

Being round up and put into electrified concentration camps.  Killed, strictly for being gay.

A preacher in North Carolina is calling for this, and his followers agree with him:

He had every right to say what he said about putting them in a pen and giving them food. The Bible says they are worthy of death. He is preaching God’s word.

These are the people who give Christianity a bad name, because that’s not God’s word.

And as a juxtaposition, the RNC chair does not think LGBT rights are civil rights.  His words:

I don’t think it’s a matter of civil rights

We keep fighting, not only for our dignity, our lives and our rights, but also hopefully for hope, to show that the human race is capable of much, much better.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 5/25/2012

President Obama made history when he announced that he supports marriage equality, the first sitting president to do so.  It’s pretty amazing, and I really like to think it’s a big turning point in acceptance.

I also like to think about the people across the country, struggling with their sexuality, knowing that the president supports them (I hate the term “ruler of the free world,” it seems ethnocentric to me, but I digress).  I like to think that it will make a difference in their lives, and help a weight lift from their shoulders.

Andrew Sullivan had the cover-story at Newsweek, which you can read here.  Here is my favorite quote:

The core gay experience throughout history has been displacement, a sense of belonging and yet not belonging. Gays are born mostly into heterosexual families and discover as they grow up that, for some reason, they will never be able to have a marriage like their parents’ or their siblings’. They know this before they can tell anyone else, even their parents. This sense of subtle alienation—of loving your own family while feeling excluded from it—is something all gay children learn. They sense something inchoate, a separateness from their peers, a subtle estrangement from their families, the first sharp pangs of shame. And then, at some point, they find out what it all means. In the past, they often would retreat and withdraw, holding a secret they couldn’t even share with their parents—living as an insider outsider.

And there is a special LGBT Obama site, which includes this pretty neat video:

Progress takes time, more time than it should, especially when we’re talking about (my) civil rights.  But it’s still amazing to see progress made in front of my eyes.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 5/23/2012

I’ve done it before, and I’m sure I’ll have to do it again, but here is the real damage in DOMA and the inequality in this country:

Would a change in the law have made people actually behave like human beings?  No, at least not right away, but it’s a step towards acceptance.  Studies show over and over again that when people realize they know someone from the LGBT community, they are more accepting.

It’s easy to discriminate against a faceless entity. But when it’s someone you know, someone you love, it becomes much harder, and people learn to accept.

Still, it’s not an instantaneous thing, and it’s heartbreaking to see videos like this

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 5/23/2012

So, this is another in the series of “why I should probably have my gay card revoked, but really what’s the fun of stereotypes unless they are being broken anyway.”

That may or may not be a thing.  Let’s just go with it.

I know I’ve talked before about my love of hockey (and LeTang), and I may have mentioned my love of craft beer.  Throw in camping and I kind of buck the trend, at least of what people sometimes think of as a gay man. Well, I’m also a huge nerd, but you probably already knew that about me.

I’ve been getting into certain comic books (mostly stuff from Dark Horse, and a few of the New 52 from DC), but I may have to pick up X-Men, as they’re having a gay wedding next month, pretty awesome!

When I was growing up I read Spider Man, and my brother read X-Men and Superman.  I remember the wedding of Jean Grey and Scott Summers (especially the scene where Professor X danced with Jean), so it’s neat to see that come full circle to marriage equality.

All my best,

The King of Spades