Bring On 2009!

2008 will be remembered as a year of "challenges" - global climate change, the never-ending War on Iraq, the collapse of the American economy, genocide in Darfur, the exponentially increasing rate of species extinction, the exponentially increasing rate of population rocketing past 6.5 billion, Sarah Palin, Proposition 8 and Amendment 2, the rise of Nancy Grace, the War in Afghanistan, Bernie Madoff, "Drill Baby Drill", Bailout Bonuses, Joe the Plumber, massive foreclosures, the loss of Estelle Getty, Heath Ledger and Tim Russert, chaos in Pakistan, Fred Thompson, the floating island of toxic plastic trash in the Pacific, oil speculation, Britney's meltdown, melting ice caps, and rising sea levels.

In spite of the headlines, 2008 was, without a doubt, one of the best years of my life.

In January, Tony and I went to see Kathy Griffin - one of my true personal heroes. And we caught great performances of Sweeney Todd, Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps, and Altar Boyz.

In February, we had a really great time in Atlanta. So much so, that we've been very seriously considering moving up north, to the Deep South, ever since. We climbed Stone Mountain, hiked Sweetwater Creek State Park, took the CNN tour, visited the awesome Georgia Aquarium, and generally had fun with Stimpy.

In March we really enjoyed Monty Python's Spamalot at the Performing Arts Center. We both totally loved the movie "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day," and we saw a just-ok performance of Footloose at the Actor's Playhouse.

Stimpy came to visit it April, and we took a little road-trip to the "Happiest Place on Earth" for the weekend. Stimpy and I loved, loved, loved "Expedition Everest" at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Tony's more of an "It's a Small World" kinda guy.

In May, we finally got to see Avenue Q - and it was awesome! And, we spent the long Memorial Day weekend visiting my family in Pittsburgh, and had a fun time at Kennywood with Betty and Patrick.

June. Hmmm. June. What the heck did we do in June? Oh yeah. We went to Gay Disney, the defining moment of which was seeing the long line of bears waiting to get in to the Country Bear Jamboree.

July was the month of Fanny Pak. And the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. Possibly the best thing I've ever seen on television. And we saw "WALL-E." Possibly movie of the year.

August was fucking hot. Like really fucking hot.

September was action packed! We road-tripped to Atlanta, with Olga, for a long, fun Labor Day Weekend. I had the time of my life with Tony in Italy. And, the Rachel Maddow Show premiered and made me wonder if I actually am a lesbian.

In October Tony and I headed to Pittsburgh for the Growing Alternative Youth 20-year reunion, which coincided with the Pittsburgh 250th Anniversary / almost Beijing fireworks display. It was really nice to see some old friends, and to visit the old stomping grounds, after so many years.

In November, we watched with joyful hearts and tearful eyes, as Barack Obama gave his victory speech. Until the day I die, I will never forget the feeling of hope that I felt at that moment. The next weekend we took a trip to visit Tony's family in Syracuse - and I got to finally meet Lisa - one of Tony's long-time friends. Then I got sick, and that totally sucked. On November 15th, we attended the Join The Impact protest, and became a part of Stonewall 2.0. A few days later, Tony asked me to marry him. I said ok. Then Tony got sick, and that sucked too. I had a great birthday at my favorite Indian restaurant. And we saw "Milk." Did I mention that Tony asked me to marry him? Yep, he did.

We had lots of fun in December too. We saw Gutenberg! The Musical at the Actor's Playhouse, with Olga, and we laughed our asses off. Really, really good show. Tony, Jason and I organized Miami's Light Up the Night for Equality event, and met a bunch of good people in doing so. Stimpy came to visit for the holidays, and Tony's friend, Bill the Cat, came for a quick overnight. The four of us went to the Corteo production of Cirque Du Soleil - one of the best Cirques that I've seen.

And 2009 started off with this...

It's a good life.

Everybody Can Just Suck It!

I'm going to see Kathy Griffin tonight! And everybody can just suck it! Allegedly.

Traditional Family Values

I’ve been trying to keep my nose out of politics. I haven’t publicly expressed my seething hatred of this administration in quite some time. I’ve been watching Life on the D List and Top Chef instead of the pundit talk shows. I haven’t gotten into any heated discussions with co-workers over the Decider’s decisions regarding Scooter Libby, Alberto Gonzalez, or “The Surge” in Iraq. Sure, I’ve been wearing my new OBAMA t-shirt…but very quietly, and I haven’t made a peep about stupid Ann Coulter. It’s been good for me to take a breather.

But David Vitter. Good ole’ boy, David Vitter. Could there be a better poster boy for conservative America? David “family values” Vitter who has been adored by the Christian Coalition and the Family Research Council for spearheading the campaign to re-write the Constitution of the United States so as to forever ban states from recognizing the lifetime commitments made by gay Americans. David “traditional marriage” Vitter who stood in support of upholding and affirming traditional marriage by protecting it from those people of the same-sex who wish to love each other and live their lives together. David “sanctity of life” Vitter, who has fought so vehemently against a woman’s right to choose and against gay peoples’ right to adopt unwanted children.

And, on Monday, news broke that David Vitter, while serving his family values agenda, had been a cheating-on-his-wife customer of a brothel in Washington D.C. Apparently, it gets lonely in the capital while one is drafting mean-spirited legislation. Luckily, according to Senator Vitter himself…both his wife and God have forgiven him for his indiscretion.

Now, today, it’s come out that upstanding Senator Vitter was also a favorite customer of a brothel in his home state of Louisiana. * blush *

Honestly, I don’t really care that he visited these places. I hate that modern politics revolves around these sort of personal life ambushes. For all I know, his wife is totally ok with it, and encourages him to hook up with hookers. It’s the jaw-dropping hypocrisy that kills me. What kind of moral void does one have to possess to construct and relentlessly pursue a political agenda based on denying a group of people the basic dignity of marriage – because they’re not good enough – while banging a series of prostitutes all over this country?

I guess it’s the same moral void that drove our second Republican sex scandal this week.

"I don't believe there's any issue that's more important than this one. I think this debate is very healthy, and it's winning a lot of hearts and minds. I think we're going to show real progress." – David Vitter speaking, shortly after his state was devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, in support of banning gay Americans from marrying their life-long partners.

"Unfortunately, it's the crossroads where Katrina meets Rita. I always knew I was against same-sex unions.” - Comedian Senator David Vitter speaking at a Lafayette Parish Republican Executive Committee luncheon. Apparently, Senator Vitter’s joke was supposed to be at the expense of gay Americans…but was taken as offensive to a lot of non-gay Louisianans who lost their homes, family members, friends and livelihoods during the those hurricane disasters.