Written: 10/04/2011

A couple items of note.  First up, the Presbyterian Church is set to ordain it’s first gay minister, which is wonderful news.

Bishop Righter, a pioneer in the Episcopal Church, and a member and celebrant at my church, died recently.  His work (after a change of heart) led to the ordination of gay deacons, priests and bishops in the Episcopal Church.

And lastly, the Supreme Court refused to hear a case, letting the previous verdict stay: Humanitarian Organizations (even those who take public funding) may discriminate in their hiring based on religious views.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 09/25/2011

Don’t Ask Don’t Tell ended on Tuesday.  I’ll have a lot more to write about this, I have some amazing videos and articles to share about it.  This post is going to be all over the place as I try to grapple with what’s going on in the military, in the Boy Scouts and in my head.

I’ve been trying to figure my own emotions about this, and I’ve found that I’m conflicted, and I shouldn’t be.

Of course this is fantastic news.  The world hasn’t ended, soldiers can serve their country openly, and the world actually is a better place.

I find myself wishing for more, and selfishly, wishing that I could have the same freedoms.

And then of course, I beat myself up because I’m feeling that way.  I’m a human being and deserve the same dignity and respect that others are given.  So part of me gets mad at myself for feeling what I’m feeling.  But they are my emotions, and I need to own them.

Like I said, it’s a whole lot of craziness going on inside my mind right now.  It’s kind of turmoil in there.

I’ve been waiting for some sort of horrible reaction to reach me, either on Facebook, or at work, but so far nothing has.  Granted, the GOP debate filled that hole, and I’ll be writing about that later, but personally, I’m thinking either the people around me are actually thinking rationally, or I’ve done a good job hiding all my bigoted acquaintances from my Facebook feed.

I wasn’t supposed to be at work on Tuesday, the first day without DADT, but due to a board meeting, and the apparent necessity of a presentation, even though I was dead tired (as was the whole team), so the day passed by unnoticed by me, as I think it did most people: The sky didn’t fall, the seas didn’t boil.  As the British are keen to say (now at least, since it’s trendy), everyone kept calm and carried on.

Do I wish better for me, yes.  Do I wish we didn’t have to fight for basic rights, yes.  But by the same token, I can appreciate the fact that we have fought and won for what we have.  That nothing has been handed to us and that we have picked ourselves up and demanded equality.  So we keep fighting, we have to.  I think the struggle wears me down.  Probably more often than I want to admit.  But the fight also keeps me going.

For now, my mind will keep reeling, as I try to understand now only the world around me, but how I fit into it, and how I see it.  I’ll be back with more, I  have a lot more to talk about this subject.  But for now:

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 07/22/2011

To celebrate the beginning of Marriage Equality in New York, two of the characters from Avenue Q are getting “married.”  They’re puppets, so they can’t.  But it’s still awesome!

AHAHAHAHA.  I’m a child sometimes.

Rob Tish, is of course, brilliant.

That’s delicious. Let me rephrase it. Here’s the cake:  You can’t get married because it’ll mess with my decor!

And here’s the frosting:  You’re selfish and self-centered for not living your life around my decor!

And again, Rob Tish is brilliant:

In New York, you’ve got state employees demanding you pass their personal religious test before they’ll help you. That’s not religious freedom. In fact, it’s the opposite.

All my best,

The King of Spades

Written: 06/25/2011

The Fox Den is a favorite blog of mine.  He’s a kinky gay man from the Midwest, and I love how he is always working to break down the barriers that stand in the LGBT community:

We still have walls to break down in our communities though.  Particularly, the leather/rubber/kink/fetish communities still have a reason to have a Pride parade.  We live in a world where it’s still not okay to be “out” and kinky.  Most people don’t feel comfortable with their friends, family, and co-workers knowing that someone likes to squeeze into some rubber or leather and get tied up or have casual sex on the weekends.  It’s just too much of a taboo subject and most “family” oriented people can’t handle it.  Even within our OWN gay community, people who are into kinks are often looked down on.

Make sure to read the whole article, about the smallest pride parade I’ve heard of, and his adventures dancing on a bar stage in skin-tight leather jeans (although, do they still count as jeans if they aren’t denim?).

Tolerance is wonderful, isn’t it?

All my best,

The King of Spades