The Reason For The Season

'Tis the season for re-posting my annual updated anti-Black Friday post.....

The malls here in Miami began decking the halls 2 months ago, and had Santa's train installed just as the last back to school sales were ending. I know it's cliche at this point to feel nostalgic for the days when the holy season of giving gently revealed itself shortly after Thanksgiving. Today, a 5am scuffle in the line outside of Best Buy on Black Friday merely marks the halfway point in the season of stress and artifice.

Again, this year, I'm committing to honoring the reason for the season - the winter solstice - and celebrating this beautiful time of year by spending quality time with the people that I love, and sharing meaningful socially-conscious gifts instead of spending time fighting the crowds, so I can check people off my list with cheap plastic crap from Walmart and iPod iPhone accessories.

Of course, this year, there will most likely be less in the way of shopping hordes, thanks to the collapse of the trickle-down economy, and that only means that every dollar you spend will have more power to bring about a better world. This season, each holiday gift that you purchase, will have an impact. Amidst all of the news of frozen credit and layoffs and golden parachutes, is the opportunity to help build our communities, bring about more peace, and protect the world around us, just by putting a little thought and a little heart into where we place our dollar power.

So, for the like minded, here are a few ideas...

ENVIRONMENT

World Wildlife Fund

Greenpeace

Abundant Earth

Care2: Shop and Help the Planet

Defenders of Wildlife

The Sierra Club

The Nature Conservancy

E-House Eco-Friendly Gifts

The Jane Goodall Institute Store

Zappos Eco-Friendly and Vegetarian Shoes

Equita Essentials for Ethical Living

GAY COMMUNITY AND CULTURE

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

The Human Rights Campaign Fund - Designer Tees

Soulforce

The United Church of Christ

Gay and Lesbian Community Center of South Florida

SAVE Dade

Persad Center

The Ali Forney Center

Immigration Equality

Outspoken Clothing

Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival

Margaret Cho Shop

Kathy Griffin

Ellen Shop

Ani DiFranco

Ari Gold

Outwrite Books

TLA Video

Logo Television Shop

ANTI-DRUG WAR

The November Coalition

The Center For Cognitive Liberty and Ethics

The Drug Policy Alliance

Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies

NORML Holiday Gifts

PROGRESSIVE AMERICAN VALUES

ACLU

The NAACP

Betty Bowers Gifts

UTNE Magazine

Syracuse Cultural Workers Gifts

American Humanist Association

Unity on the Bay

Darwin Fish Stocking Stuffers

National Public Radio Shop

The Quakers

Amnesty International Gift Shop

People for the American Way

Mother Jones

HIV/AIDS/Cancer

AMFAR

Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force

AIDS Memorial Quilt

Artists for a New South Africa

Pets are Loving Support Atlanta

Susan G. Komen Promise Shop

ANIMALS

The Humane Society

PETA Shopping Mall

Adopt a Manatee

National Audubon Society

The Orangutan Foundation

ART

Kenneth Treacy

Eric Chismar Photography

The Matress Factory

The Warhol Museum

Clyde Butcher Photography

Carnegie Museum of Art

Salvador Dali Museum

HOLIDAY CARDS AND ECO-DECORATING

Betty Bowers

Eco-Decorating

Tools for Change Holiday Cards

Recycled Cards That Grow

Have a Peaceful, Stress-Free and Meaningful Holiday!

We Will Keep Falling In Love

I know I've been a bit on the "militant homosexual" tip lately, but majorities of Americans - my neighbors and co-workers and family members - in state after state, continue to go out of their way to deny legal recognition of our marriages and to vote against treating me as an equal member of this society, all while taking my tax money to pay for services for their families....it's just maddening. Sister Unity Divine of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence speaks so well for so many of us that are just too damned angry to speak.

We will keep falling in love, and we will wear two-foot long eyelashes if we want to, and there's not a fucking thing that Focus on the Family or any other the other "Christian" hate groups can do about it.

* Video sampled from Emerald City Guy at My 2 Cents.

The Power Of Love

Miami Beach was all sunshine and love today, as we joined in the nationwide call to Join the Impact. It felt so good to get out, and let the country know that we will not go down quietly. I am so excited by the number of young people and straight people that showed up and the passion that is in their hearts. We really are going to win this thing in the long run. Oh, and one person showed up to protest the protest, and as you can see in the photo, he is totally insane.

Now, we have to keep the momentum going. If you live in the Miami area, SAVE DADE will host a "town hall" to discuss where we, as a community, go from here. For details, click here.

If you have photos, or a post about the event in your city, please leave a comment with a link. I'd love to see and hear about it!

No More

This is a new day for everyone. The dark, dark days of the Bush Regime are coming to an end. For the first time in a long time, truth and hope won out over ignorance and fear. I can't stop welling up with tears of joy, knowing that no matter how difficult this time is, there is now a future to look forward to.

And, then I heard the newly elected President of the United States include me, as a gay person, in his acceptance speech.

"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

"It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference .

"It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled.

We are, and always will be, the United States of America."

If you're not gay, you probably don't have any idea how deeply moving it was, just being acknowledged as a person and citizen of this country by our soon-to-be leader. I have never been so proud of my country, and I still can't express the hope that I have in my heart for where our country can go now.

Then, I watched as the results came in on the four big state votes on gay rights referendums. As expected, in Arizona, an amendment banning legal recognition of gay marriages passed. And in Arkansas, gay people are now banned from adopting children, or even caring for foster children. In California, more than half of the people voted to take away gay peoples' civil right to marry their life partners.

And in my state, Florida, Amendment 2 was passed by 62% of the people that I live next to, work with, and support with business. 62% of the people in Florida believe that I should continue to pay taxes to fund schools for their kids and programs for their families. But, they don't think that my family is worthy of the dignity of legal recognition of any kind.

To all of those people who voted to make me a second-class citizen - fuck you! Fuck you and your twisted "family values." Fuck you and your "sanctity of marriage." Fuck you and your "protecting tradition." Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you.

You should know that, thanks to your hateful campaigns, there is an electricity in the air in America's gay communities. We are hopeful, and we are fucking angry. It's hard to figure out where those two emotions together will take us, but something is happening. All across the country, we are coming together with our straight friends and allies to take our equal rights. You pushed us too far this time, and we are standing up and saying no more.

No more beating us and bashing us and raping us. No more making fun of us and causing our young people to commit suicide. No more excluding us and shaming us and ostracizing us. No more killing us and hanging us on fences in Wyoming fields. No more scapegoating us and no more blaming us. No more torturing us or trying to convert us. No more slurring us. No more arresting us. No more ex-communicating us. No more disowning us. No more. No more. No more.

If you want to join us in saying "no fucking more," we will be protesting nationwide this Saturday. Just click here, sign up and show up. And be a part of the beginning of a movement.

It Is A New Day!

I now live in a blue state! A blue state where 62% my neighbors believe that I should be treated as a second-class citizen, but a blue state nonetheless.

Acid House Flashback # 9

"Elevation (Move Your Body)" - Xpansions - 1990

The Okapi Miami-Dade Voting Guide

Like just about everyone, I am completely exhausted, but extremely hopeful, regarding the upcoming election. I can't imagine how many hours I've spent surfing political blogs, or how many evenings I've spent with Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews and the whole CNN Roundtable. And, today, early voting in Florida begins. So, for my peeps in Miami, who are less politically addicted than I, and who trust my leftist liberal elite opinion....here's how I'm voting. Now, get your ass to the polls!

PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT

Barack Obama / Joe Biden

REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS, DISTRICT 18

Annette Taddeo

REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS, DISTRICT 20

Debbie Wasserman Schultz

REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS, DISTRICT 21

Raul L. Martinez

REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS, DISTRICT 25

Joe Garcia

STATE SENATOR

Dan Gelber

STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 102

No One

STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 106

Richard L. Steinberg

STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 107

Luis Garcia

STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 110

Nancy L. Stander

STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 111

Frank Morra

STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 112

No One

STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 113

Javier Betancourt

STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 119

Michael Hanley Calderin

STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 120

Ron Saunders

CLERK OF THE CIRCUIT COURT

Harvey Rubin

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT NUMBER 1

Summary: Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution to delete provisions authorizing the Legislature to regulate or prohibit ownership, inheritance, disposition, and possession of real property by aliens ineligible for citizenship.

Vote YES!

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT NUMBER 2

Summary: This amendment protects marriage as the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife and provides that no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.

Vote NO!

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT NUMBER 3

Summary: Authorizes the Legislature, by general law, to prohibit consideration of changes or improvements to residential real property which increase resistance to wind damage and installation of renewable energy source devices as factors in assessing the property’s value for ad valorem taxation purposes. Effective upon adoption, repeals the existing renewable energy source device exemption no longer in effect.

Vote YES!

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT NUMBER 4

Requires the Legislature to provide a property tax exemption for real property encumbered by perpetual conservation easements or other perpetual conservation protections, defined by general law. Requires Legislature to provide for classification and assessment of land used for conservation purposes, and not perpetually encumbered, solely on the basis of character or use. Subjects assessment benefit to conditions, limitations, and reasonable definitions established by general law. Applies to property taxes beginning in 2010.

Vote YES!

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT NUMBER 6

Provides for assessment based upon use of land used predominantly for commercial fishing purposes; land used for vessel launches into waters that are navigable and accessible to the public; marinas and dry stacks that are open to the public; and water-dependent marine manufacturing facilities, commercial fishing facilities, and marine vessel construction and repair facilities and their support activities, subject to conditions, limitations, and reasonable definitions.

Vote YES!

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT NUMBER 8

Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution to require that the Legislature authorize counties to levy a local option sales tax to supplement community college funding; requiring voter approval to levy the tax; providing that approved taxes will sunset after 5 years and may be reauthorized by the voters.

Vote YES!

COUNTY QUESTIONS

Home Rule Charter Amendment Regarding the Offices of Manager and Mayor: Shall the Charter be amended to transfer the powers, duties, and responsibilities of the County Manager to the County Mayor and provide that the County Manager shall assist the Mayor in the administration of county government only to the extent directed by the Mayor?

Vote YES!

Home Rule Charter Amendment Relating to Salaries and Service of County Commissioners: Shall the Charter be amended to provide that County Commissioners shall:• Devote full-time service to the office of Commissioner and hold no other employment; and• No longer receive the $6,000 annual salary established in 1957, but receive instead the salary provided by state statutory formula, adjusted annually by the county’s population (currently approximately $91,995), used by other Florida counties, including Broward County?

Vote YES!

Charter Amendment Providing Alternative Process to Qualify for Office of County Commissioner or Mayor: Shall the Charter be amended to permit candidates for the office of County Commissioner or Mayor to qualify for office by either submitting a petition signed by specified number of registered voters or paying a qualifying fee?

Vote YES!

Home Rule Charter Amendment on Ordinance Initiative Petitions Requiring Clerk Form Approval and Public Hearings: Shall the Charter be amended to provide that the Clerk, not the Board, shall approve initiative petitions proposing passage or repeal of an ordinance as to form and require the County Commission to hold a public hearing on any such petition at the next County Commission meeting subsequent to the Clerk’s approval of the petition?

Vote YES!

Charter Amendment Relating to Approval as to Form of Initiative Petitions: Shall the Charter be amended to provide that the Clerk of the Circuit Court, rather than the Board of County Commissioners, approve citizen initiative petitions as to form?

Vote YES!

County Charter Amendment Creating Uniform Countywide Fire and Rescue Service and Preserving Existing City Service: Shall the Charter be amended to require that the Board of County Commissioners provide a uniform, countywide system of fire protection and rescue services for all incorporated and unincorporated areas of the County with the exception of the cities of Miami, Miami Beach, Hialeah, Coral Gables, and Key Biscayne which may provide for fire and rescue protection services in those cities?

Vote NO!

If you want to vote early...which I think is a great idea if you're not going to be happy about waiting in line for hours on November 4th, click here for a list of early voting sites, and click here for a list of what you'll need to bring with you.

One Crazy Golden Girl

All I ever needed to know in life, I learned from "The Golden Girls."

Thank you to Rodrigo and Jason for passing this gem on, and making me spray chocolate milk all over my monitor.

Happy Genocide Day.

Never Can Say Goodbye

So, the reunion was a blast, as predicted. A lot of people couldn't make it, thanks to tight budgets and the coming Depression II, but it was really great hanging out with a least part of "the gang" again. We visited most of our old haunts around the city, and discovered a lot of new places. Some highlights....

* We had a great breakfast at Pamela's Diner in the Strip District. I miss fun kitschy diners like Pamela's.

* We attended the Friday night meeting of the current gay youth group in Pittsburgh. A few of us shared our stories of coming out way back in the olden days of the 1980s. And, we heard from the new generation about coming out today. It was such a great experience...that is, until I realized that the new generation was born in the 1990s.

* The Mattress Factory. Possibly the coolest thing about Pittsburgh.

* Our reunion happened to coincide with Pittsburgh's 250th Anniversary Celebration. The fireworks display was like the opening to the Beijing Olympics. 17 launch sites around Downtown. Crazy cool. And, I'm not even a fireworks person.

So, until the next one in 2028...

A Big Gay Reunion!

Tomorrow, I'm going home. It's really home, in more ways than one. I'm going to Pittsburgh for my 20 year reunion. It's not my high school reunion, which I wouldn't even consider attending. It's a weekend reunion of my gay youth group. I'm going home to walk down memory lane with the people who saved my life, and helped me to define myself. I can't wait!

To celebrate our 20 year reunion, I've reposted a little story that appeared here at the Lair a couple of years ago....

In 1988, a small group of disenfranchised, but glamourously resourceful teenagers, myself included, formed a Gay youth group – Pittsburgh’s Growing Alternative Youth. Our mission was to welcome, educate and empower the next generation of Steel City queers, as well as to greatly expand our social circle and dating possibilities. We took up a campaign of guerilla marketing – infiltrating high school libraries and stuffing any medical or psychology book with an index reference to “homosexuality” with flyers for the group. We networked at Gay cruising spots and outside Gay bars. We posted flyers in the womyn’s bookstore and the universities’ student unions. We grew from meetings of 4 or 5 to a weekly attendance of over 60 in just a few months.

A local Gay minister and activist, Lou, helped us get organized and encouraged us to take on the world. We had weekly speakers, presenting a range of topics. Herman, a charming, elderly African-American gentleman came to tell us what Gay life was like for him in the 1940s. Kathy, a licensed counselor, came to speak to us about ways to improve self-esteem, and Don, in a 2-part workshop, “Eroticizing Safer Sex,” taught us how to protect ourselves in a newly dangerous world. We watched “Torch Song Trilogy” and “Desert Hearts” and planned monthly under 21 parties at local Gay bars.

In 1990, Chris, my roommate, and a member of the youth group with a long history of depression and self-esteem issues, ended his own life. I think many of us felt that we had failed him – failed to be a good enough family when his family wanted nothing to do with him. We failed to take him seriously when he joked about suicide and when he made theatrical attempts that we thought were “just for attention.” Jason and I were the leaders of the group, and after Chris’ death we lost interest, and the group fell apart (some time after it was reincarnated into a less educational, more social entity).

But, I look back now, and I don’t see failure anymore. I often meet Gay people in their 30s and 40s who are struggling with issues that we were able to address in our teens. Through Growing Alternative Youth and with Lou’s help, we learned more about Gay history and culture before we could legally enter a Gay bar, than many middle-aged Queers know. We had opportunities to grow at a time when, unfortunately, many Gay people are stifled by internalized homophobia.

I realize now that we didn’t fail Chris. We more likely succeeded in keeping a lot of other Gay kids from following in his footsteps.

The Bush Doctrine

The Bush Doctrine refers to the main principles and foundation of the Bush Administration's foreign policy, particularly regarding the "preemptive war" on Iraq. In a recent interview with Charlie Gibson, Sarah Palin, possibly the next Vice-President of the United States, clearly was unfamiliar with the Bush Doctrine - the current guiding foreign policy of her party.

And, now the McCain campaign folks have provided Palin, who by all accounts is a quick learner, a copy of the video that inspired George W. Bush in the creation of the current policy.

Back to the Grind

Tony and I had a fantastic time in Italy. We spent three beautiful days in Rome, then took a train to Bergamo to visit Tony friend Battista and his boyfriend Mario, who were kind enough to put us up for a couple of days, make us laugh a lot, and take us on a day trip to Lake Como, near the Swiss border. Then, we headed to Venice for two days - one of which was Tony's birthday. Finally, back to Rome - with a day stop in Florence. For pics, just click here.

It really was so nice to be completely disconnected from 24 hour news cycles, and it was nice to come home and discover that not much had really happened while we were gone. Well, except that the entire American economy collapsed, the fundamentals of the McCain / Palin campaign short-circuited, Hurricane Ike destoyed much of Texas and the Midwest, Clay Aiken admitted that he's a lesbian and a plague of locusts enveloped the entire East Coast.

Looks like I'm back to the grind.

Roman Holiday

Tony and I are off to Italy for 9 adventurous and romantical-type days of La Dolce Vita. Arrivederci!

The Elusive Okapi

Now, here's some wonderful news - that's of particular interest to this blog....

An African animal so secretive it was once believed to be a mythical unicorn has been caught on camera in the wild. Camera traps set by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) in the Democratic Republic of Congo have captured rare pictures of wild okapi.

* snip *

The sightings in Virunga National Park prove the species is surviving in the jungle despite years of civil conflict.

Dr Noelle Kumpel, ZSL's bush meat and forests conservation programme manager, said: "To have captured photographs of such a charismatic creature is amazing. "Okapi are very shy and rare animals - which is why conventional surveys only tend to record droppings and other signs of their presence."

Click here for the whole story.

Acid House Flashback # 8

"Garden of Eden" - Garden of Eden - 1988

The Real Fourth Estate

This, my friends, is important stuff. Apparently, Comedy Central has become the pillar of thorough and responsible journalism. Sampled from Boltgirl's sampling of Pam's House Blend.....

Way Up North In The Deep South

Tony, Olga and I roadtripped to Atlanta over the long weekend to visit the Stimpasaurus. The Deep South sure is far north of Miami....about 10 hours north. But it was well worth the grueling drive....

It's On!

Oh Yes We Fucking Can!

Post-Rationality and PUMA-ism

Once again, Rachel Maddow just fucking nails it. It's so clear that the few PUMA-ists* that are still clinging, so emotionally, to their post-rational choice, have no idea where any of the candidates stand on any of the issues. Hillary Clinton was a great candidate. Barack Obama IS a great candidate. And John McCain will finish off the job of destroying our economy, security and standing in the world.

* PUMA - noun, Originally an acronym for Party Unity My Ass, now changed to the slightly less toxic People United Means Action. Quickly becoming a derogatory adjective synonymous with post-rational.