Colbert Rocks!

The Colbert Report last night was exceptional. Here’s my favorite clip:

Gay Demon on the Loose

Gay Couples Raising Kids Naturally

From the Associated Press:

“A German zoo says a pair of gay male penguins are raising a chick from an egg abandoned by its parents.

Bremerhaven zoo veterinarian Joachim Schoene says the egg was placed in the male penguins’ nest after its parents rejected it in late April. The males incubated it for some 30 days before it hatched and have continued to care for it.

Schoene said the male birds are one of three same-sex pairs among the zoo’s 20 penguins. “

Of course, I don’t really think this is news, but a lot of people might thik it’s unusual. That’s why I posted it. Draw your own conclusions.

Driving Equality Hits the Road

A couple of weeks ago gay activist Chris Mason started out on his “Driving Equality” tour across America. If you haven’t heard of him, he’s the fellow who conducted Phelps-a-Thons and such to raise money for this cause. You can follow his progress on his website, Driving Equality, and even make a donation if so inclined.

At this moment, he is in Georgia. He’s already passed through West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee and more. There’s a handy little GPS page on his blog to show where he is at all times. He’s also posting videos of interviews and such. All in all, a very interesting and entertaining trip.

Here’s a video from the Great Smoky Mountains. It was a pleasant way to start my Saturday morning.

A Picture is Worth 1,000 400 Words

It must be a depression if the price of pictures in words has been slashed. Still, I thought I’d post my latest t-shirt designs here anyway, even if they aren’t worth much. Having been laid off from my job last week, I now have lots of time to design t-shirts and really, isn’t that more important than wiring electrical control systems? I think so.

This first one with the graphic of a man in a business suit holding a gun seems apropos for the times. I thought of two different slogans and couldn’t decide which one I liked better, so I did them both.


I liked the type treatment so much that I went back and reworked a design that I’d done the day before: Catholics for Condoms. I like this one because it reminds me of that group Jews for Jesus which I always thought was a little strange.

Here’s one I did awhile ago but only posted recently. The sign originally said “will trade stocks for food”, but I like this slogan better. This guy is not some fancy executive, but a typical Wall Street worker who is now disillusioned by the capitalist system. I might have to order one of these shirts for myself.

And finally, a design inspired by the movie “Milk”. This one seemed a natural for a vintage look t-shirt. I’ll have to get one of these, too, and go to Edmond, Oklahoma. Maybe I’ll run into Anita Bryant there.

Why I Won’t Be Vacationing in California

My partner and I had been planning on taking a trip to San Francisco this spring. We were thinking of it as a honeymoon, even though we can’t get married. We’ve been together for 9 years and have never taken a vacation without the kids.

But after watching the arguments to overturn Prop 8, I get the feeling that they aren’t going to do it. So why should I go to a state and spend a bunch of money when they obviously don’t value their own LGBT citizens? Gosh, if I want to see bigots all I have to do is stick my head out the door. I don’t need to travel to California to do it.

In fact, I no longer recognize the state of California. It is New Oklahoma as far as I’m concerned. I’m going to save that money and in four years, I will have been cancer-free for five years. Then maybe I can immigrate Canada.

And to all you LGBTs out there in New Oklahoma, I suggest you boycott that state and leave. Hell, you can come to Oklahomo where housing is cheap. And we’ll turn the red state pink.

Freedom to Marry Day in Tulsa

A few pictures from the courthouse:

A Message from Tiny Tim

Happy Valentine’s Day, and God bless us everyone!

The Power of One

While attending a local meeting the other day to discuss LGBT civil rights here in my hometown of Tulsa, OK, a participant related a story about a firefighter she knew in a small town nearby. This firefighter had been married for some ten years and had a couple of kids. He got along well with his co-workers and appeared to be part of the community. After years of fitting in, he decided he could no longer continue to live a lie. He was gay. His co-workers were shocked and threatened to beat him up. Needless to say, he no longer works in that town.

This story reminded me of another story that my 14-year-old daughter told me. Her eighth grade English class had been assigned to read “The Lord of the Flies”. In preparation, they divided into four groups and were each given a list of twenty fictitious people with various skills and characteristics. They had to decide as a group which of the twenty people would live and which would die. One of the people on the list was a gay man. Immediately, a jockish member of the group suggested killing him off and other members of the group were quick to agree, all but one. My daughter pointed out that the gay man was on the verge of graduating from medical school. None of the other people on the list had any medical training. The smart thing to do would be to save the almost-doctor who just happened to be gay.

As it turned out, her group was the only one that did not kill off the gay doctor. After completing the exercise, the teacher berated the class for killing off someone with such valuable skills. I’m sure it was a valuable lesson for some, if not all, of the students on how dangerous an unreasoning hatred of gay people can be.

As I told the people in the LGBT civil rights meeting, sometimes it only takes one person speaking out to get others to see the light. Had just one of those firefighters said “Hey, this guy is our friend,” then surely some others would have gone along with him. If no one is willing to speak, then a mob mentality ensues. Adults begin to act like middle-schoolers, afraid of being different, of not being part of the crowd.

So I ask you, both you gay people and you straight people who know us, are you adults or are you still stuck in your pre-teen years? Who among you is brave enough to speak out for LGBT people?

Join the Impact – The Best Day Ever!

Remember how I said in the last post that I didn’t own a video camera? Duh! I am so stupid. It finally occured to me that my Sony cybershot digital camera can take videos. I found this feature completely useless when I first bought it because the videos couldn’t be very long due to memory requirements. Also, I hate video. But then I realized I could buy a memory stick for 20 bucks and now I can make all kinds of videos.

Suffice it to say, I no longer hate video. Here’s my take on Tulsa’s Join the Impact rally which attracted some 300 people. The camera work is pretty lousy, the quality sucks, but I think there’s some good edits and mostly, I think it radiates a very positive energy. I am tired of hating. I have hated just about everyone and everything since the gay marriage ban was passed in Oklahoma in 2004, but I am not going to hate any longer. I believe that there is a great period of change just ahead, and I am going to do my part to make sure that it is change for the better.

Ten Million Kids

In a recent email from National Organization for Marriage, I was told a about a “lively, true and moving” video posted on YouTube in support of prop 8. But when I watched it, I found it was none of these things. In fact, I found it quite offensive. Imagine that. I left a text comment, but it wasn’t posted. There are now some 95 comments, all saying what a great video it is, but none of the many comments I have left has appeared. I wonder what snapshot6516 is afraid of. Dissent?

Well, I was so disturbed by this video that I spent all afternoon making my own video. I have never made a video before and don’t even own a video camera, so it was a bit of a challenge. But I have to say that I think my video is by far superior. And my video is a lot lighter on the propaganda, because the pictures speak for themselves.

Here are the two videos. First is “The Best Gift”, a shameless piece of crap designed to appeal to the herd instinct and making claims that are entirely unsubstantiated. Then there is my video, “Ten Million”, a shameless piece of crap in its own way, but at least an honest piece of crap that poses a question rather than demand that you accept what it is saying.

Feel free to go to YouTube and rate these videos as you see fit. But remember, even if gay marriage is banned in California, it is only a matter of time until it becomes the law of the land. I am reminded of the phrase by Thomas Kuhn: “Science advances one funeral at a time”. It is the same with the legislation of morality. The older generation dies off, and a new, more accepting generation appears. That generation is being raised right now, by gay parents all over the world. It is only a matter of time before these millions of kids and their friends and acquaintances grow up and vote for equality for all.