Portland's Gay Mayor....

I'm up early, couldn't sleep. And what do I hear on NPR but the Portland is being asked to resign, by the gay community. Even if winning you can lose, so you have to be careful in your planning-and as in Clinton, et al cases, the main thing is just don't lie about it.

That is my point about Obama. There was no guarantee that he would win, but the effort was made, intelligently, with good advisers, it was not just a sudden decision a year or so ago. Our cause of educating people about sex has to be planned, coordinated, careful not to make false claims, or hide unpleasant people or ideas, but constantly pushing our information.

We need to reach people who are never going to come to a PFLAG meeting,or even see a glbt publication. That is why articles like the one on reliigion in Newseek hels us. And Playboy helps us. And I see a link on Daily Queer News where black civil rights pioneer John Lewis says, again, that all civil rights movements are the same. What a difference with people like him, and even Sharpton and Jesse who have walked the walk (and in Jesse's case talked a lot) and these well-dressed, nonentity black hetero male black preachers who don't even practice what they preach, and sure have failed at the issue of marriage-worrying, and as Al (and Obama) says, about our marriage desire, opposing it, and failing to get young black women, over 60% of them, to marry, or at least stop having kids they dont' want and can't take care of, with men who sing songs calling them whores, etc.

When our movement started in 1950 there were a dozen men and women at most, it slowly and secretly started learning and slowly started dealing with various aspects, such as publishing (ONE Magazine), religion (with the Church of ONE Broherhood), legal (starting with Dale Jenning's arrest and then the lawsuit against the post office than was won only at the U S Supreme Court level), and then social service and education (ONE Institute, classes, and counseling people coming in to the office, the first public one in the nation). They had no advertising people willng to help, no landlords willing to help, no gay publishers willing to help, so they relied on heterosexuals, who saved us and gave us time to get started and slowly get some homosexuals to actually help.

Now there is no excuse for homosexuals who are politically wise, in religion, in advertising, journalists, in medicine, etc not using their knowledge and ability to promote our cause. Those who don't should be exposed for their failure as good citizens. They should not be honored. They should be shamed.

Current issue (1-15-09) on Obama and the gay community and gay Tucson

To the Editor of WeHo News:

I think your article on Obama and his appointments and homosexuals and the military (DADT) issue is about right. It has balance, which many media places do not -expecting change overnight from one view and fearing the end of the world if homosexuals are "open" in another view-sounding much like that "segment" did when Truman integrated the military in 1948 (and just as that "segment" did when the U S Supreme Court killed laws against interracial marriage (Loving v Va?) not many years ago.

And the article on "gay" Tucson was good, but I do wonder why there was no mention of any gay center, or the gay newspaper-which is usually the first resource visitors should get when in a new town so that they will know of current events and businesses. And a visit to a glbt library/archive will give history of the area, which helps to appreciate how the area is today. And some homosexual tourists will want to know where a local gay-friendly church is. Some people may even plan a visit during Pride events if they know the dates in advance, which they can find if the newspaper is online. Or a when a gay film festival is, etc. These are the things that make a gay traveler different from a non-gay one, otherwise we only need the travel guides found in any book store for all tourists.

Trans laws in each state/RE: Daily Queer News Jan 7, 2009

Over the year I have seen a dozen or more Trans groups and I would like to know what efforts they are making, other than fussing at gay/lesbian publications and groups, to get laws changed and the public educated. I see no effort from the New Orleans group, which is too afraid to even be seen at the gay center. But the g/l communitythere was also slow in getting on our movement's work. They were satisfied with how they were "dealing" with the problems. Yet we see that New orleans, with the bet possible background has not solved its racial issues.

We have eased the path for other sexual communities. And we need to support them, but we have to focus on our issues that still need to be accomplished. I argue with a friend in CA who is handicapped,or he fusses if I use the wrong term, but I keep pointing out to him that it is not the g/l community's job to do their work-even though there is obviously an overlap, as there is with the black or women's movements. I would like to support a lot of causes, but I am realistic. I chose one. And will stay with it, even though most of what we actually wanted has been achieved.

As to the constant harping from some sections of our community about Obama, I wonder what they were doing when Bush 43 got elected. And I just happened to find a book by George Stephanopolus, or however you spell it and you will not be surprised to read the same issues with Clinton, which means that every issue we have today was faced with each previous administration. And the same people, for instance he describes the meeting with Jesse Jackson. But it is really very ignorant of all these new "gays" to keep fussing about the order of when some gay is involved with the Inauguration. Or Warren vs Robinson. Obama's one blessing is that he owes NO ONE anything, for no one group got him elected. And in fact Clinto made an error listenking to the "professional "gays." Obama can find very good homosexuals in Chicago who can give him good counsel. The ones who helped lose Prop 8 are sure not the ones he needs to guide him.

I'm hoping I can get to PFLAG tomorrow, to visit with oy et al and hear Rodney. But it would also be nice to "hear" from other people and groups in LA. The time is past when New Orleans can do whatever and ignore the rest of the state. And to have been involved with and then oppose a campaign of a Shreveport man (D.A.) for Representative, and not tell anhyone, is nonsense. This constant fear and contuining need for secrecy is what these "gays" thought was silly when Mattachine started, but it they who are wasting our energy by worryhing about what the rightwingers already know. How queer that our enemies-and this applies to our nation's work-that the terrorists know more about what we are doing than the American citizens. And several times we hear of some gay issue from the bigots' publications before we hear from our won media. Apparently some eliteist gays think we average queers need to be protected from the real world. So what we get in Prop 8. Will we ever learn?

White Knot Activism

To the founder of White Knot:

It is great to see the creativilty in our community/movement.

I am the type who hates "academics" but in a sense am in that I immediately wondered, as I implied,how you got started and where your work has been mentioned-how did you get publicity, and where the response has come from. It is the type information we need to know so that we don't make the same mistakes we did in dealing with Prop 8.

But I have been around a long time (see website: tangentgroup.org) so think it is sometimes true that there is a time for things, and what we tried a few years ago and got no acceptance or publicity, may work today. And the more the merrier, or gayer. The poor rightwing haters have to stay up nights trying to hit back at all the work coming from the homosexual community/movement,from all geographical areas, all views—political, religious, etc. And history seems to be on our side, either just "because" or because we have done the work and been patiently working since Harry Hay, et al in 1950. And,by the way, most of our success came without a lot of gays being paid high salaries or lots of money coming from rich queers. It seems lost to the media, gay and non-gay, but a major part of our success had started before Stonewall.

Obama may be a 21st Century Lincoln; Lincoln pushed equality for black Americans, so will Obama push equality for homosexual Americans?

 Obama’s handling of the Warren issue could be the same as Lincoln’s handling of the slavery issue. He tried to dodge it, and worked up to the emancipation. History judges hijm by what he did, not by the journey he took on the way.

It is possible, not just because of all the fussing from the gay community and allies, but because the issue of homosexuals in the military is on the table, the denial of the right to marry, etc., that Obama will have to make a choice on the legal and moral basic rights of homosexual citizens. If he is truly the person a slight majority of voters believe and hope he is, including a majority of homosexual voters, but, sadly, a minority of black voters, he will sooner or later beforced, as other presidents have been on other civil rights issues, to support equal civil rights for all Americans, including homosexuals.

After adequate time, if he has not done what our Constitution and Bill of Rights direct him to do, then will be the time to find someone else who will do the right thing. (The first major step and evidence will be his appointments to the U S Supreme Court and to the Justice Department. AND, it is also the responsibility of the House and Senate to do what they should do, with or without the president.)

A startling thought would be if Obama fails the test of history, as Lincoln did not, it could be that the next president will be a Republican who WILL follow Lincoln’s journey.

You are a danger to the rightwingers, more so than the big city papers

To the Editor of Liberty Press:

I think you should be aware of what you are doing there in Kansas. The “enemy” (rightwing religious nuts) know that there are queers working in big cities and “have an agenda” to change the world that they have controlled all these years. But it will really freak them out if they find out, despite your Phelps family there already, that in the heartland of America there are people and a publication that is spreading hope for homosexuals that the world may be changing and they may get equal rights.

Two good gay churches are really a threat: MCC in Topeka and Wichita. They are a growing threat to the “approved” version of the Bible and religious thought.

A good group of people that get together and sing, sort of like those Mormons, (Heart of America Men’s Chorus), young people may get confused by such normal things.

And a university in Kansas (KU no less) with a professor publishing books on how to help social workers deal with gay issues (Dr. Lori Messinger, Director of the Bachelor of Social Work Program): Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Social Work Practice, and Case Studies on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Social Work Practice.

And here is an attorney (Pedro Luis Irigonegary) there talking at a discussion on Trans issues at Washburn University (Transgender Issues in the Workplace, in the Diversity Matters Seminar Series). Again, this could be understood at a San Francisco college, but in Kansas!

And even worse, a professor at KU (Dr. Robert Minor) writing intelligent thoughts on how homosexuals should deal with the world and work to change it. Encouraging those queers!

And to get back to the MCC churches, they are even now having preachers who are trained to go from town to town to promote and support local gay churches.

And there is a long list of social service groups supporting a homosexual community, including one for older homosexuals (Prime Timers of Wichita).

And you list books that entertain and educate homosexuals. And give names of professionals that will support homosexuals in their legal, etc. needs.

OH, how horrible, even “red” America is now in the sight on those gay people. And you are letting this community news get out so that even the closet queens will know about it-they may even go see how the gay bars are.

“They” would ask, How can you sleep at night? I say, I hope you are sleeping well! You are doing a great service to your readers and our community/movement. And that you are doing as good a job as those in the big cities on the coasts is the best evidence that we will win in the long run.

Best wishes for another good year-I like that large “15” on the cover.

More East Coast, meet the West Coast: The Guide Magazine meet Gay L.A.

Perhaps some rich queer will someday give money for a national history of the movement, bringing in a timeline the work done all over, most of which people in other areas did not know about. NACHO was an attempt at communication and cooperation but it failed.

But it does seem aat a glance that Gay New York and the start of Gay L.A. show that the same things were happening at the same time, wiht I asusme no communication, just doing naturally, such as drag queen and balls. And I think the book from Chicago (Out and Proud in Chicago) shows the same timeline. I know of no coverage of New Orleans, but it is clear that it has similar history and did not join the movement till very late.

I think it is clear that even in the same area, some people and groups were working without knowledge or coordination with others. And the most uninteresting part of Gay L. A. is the mere listing of all the specialized groups that now have started since the ’90s. How strange that one group, such as Pacific Islands/Asians have broken into 3 or 4 different groups. Can specialization go too far???

I think history will seek to find out how Obama got where he is, who backed him, the tactics, etc. I believe it is equally important to know how our movement got where it is, and I believe that soon marriage will also be achieved, even though many of us have no interest in it as we likewise have no interest in religious groups or even gay bars, etc. But it must be explained how the first hope, Hawaii, turned out to be a false start, etc. There is much to learn. As many have said, it probably takes all of the above tactics (marching, education, working with others, etc.) to get us our civil rights. Just a new law, without society really liking it, will not get us a very good comfort level. And I still believe that Don Slater’s and other pioneers’ view is right, that the first item should be the right to privacy—no government should be allowed to ask us about our private life, sexual procilivity, religious beliefs, race even.

And I do continue to hope that homosexuals traveling to a new place are interested not only in the gay bar or hotel but would want to go to a church, if they are religious, or see the gay center, or know of a gay playhouse, and visit the archives showing the history of how, for instgnace, L. A., or New York got from the terrible places they were for us then to where they are today.

And if you are going to list non-gay places such as museums, why not good non-gay eating places, such as Philippes in L.A. and even though I find them less than good, the local papers in L.A., such as Frontiers and IN should be used as a resource for current events. And certainly a gay bookstore should get mentioned as they need our support.

And on the other hand why are we not fussing at such resources aimed at our community, as LOGO, which are doing nothing for our movement but exploit us as consumers.