That's So Gay: Harvey Milk

I hate it when people use the phrase "That's so gay" in a negative way. It's usually used to describe something tacky or tasteless. I've decided to take the phrase back and make it positive. This is the sixth in a series of posts I am doing about all things gay.

Harvey Milk

Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978) was an American politician who became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Politics and gay activism were not his early interests; he was not open about his homosexuality and did not participate in civic matters until around age 40, after his experiences in the counterculture of the 1960s.


Milk moved from New York City to settle in San Francisco in 1972 amid a migration of gay men to the Castro District. He took advantage of the growing political and economic power of the neighborhood to promote his interests, and ran unsuccessfully for political office three times. His theatrical campaigns earned him increasing popularity, and Milk won a seat as a city supervisor in 1977, part of the broader social changes the city was experiencing.

Milk served 11 months in office and was responsible for passing a stringent gay rights ordinance for the city. On November 27, 1978, Milk and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by Dan White, another city supervisor who had recently resigned but wanted his job back. Milk's election was made possible by and was a key component of a shift in San Francisco politics. The assassinations and the ensuing events were the result of continuing ideological conflicts in the city.

Despite his short career in politics, Milk became an icon in San Francisco and "a martyr for gay rights", according to University of San Francisco professor Peter Novak. In 2002, Milk was called "the most famous and most significantly open LGBT official ever elected in the United States". Anne Kronenberg, his final campaign manager, wrote of him: "What set Harvey apart from you or me was that he was a visionary. He imagined a righteous world inside his head and then he set about to create it for real, for all of us. Milk was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.(Information contained in this blog was taken directly from wikipedia. Read more about Harvey Milk by clicking here).

Bob Out

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to stop in and wish all of you guys a VERY Happy Thanksgiving! Today I am thankful for all of you. You make blogging fun. Have a great Turkey Day!

Bob Out

Hump Day Hunk: Colin Farrell(NSFW)

Who doesn't love this hunk. My panties drop just looking at him but when he speaks, I melt. At this time of the year it's time to give thanks. I can truly say I am thankful for...

Colin Farrell

I had to include this next set of pics which are stills from the movie, "Alexander"...YUMMY!~

And he even spoke out against gay bullying...

LOVE HIM!

Bob Out

Natalee Holloway

As most of you have heard, on Nov. 12th a jawbone with one intact molar was found on a beach outside a hotel in Aruba. The jawbone was later confirmed to be that of a young woman. A few days later , dental records for Natalee Holloway were sent to Aruba authorities. Today those authorities have confirmed that the jawbone did NOT belong to Natalee. For her family, the not knowing must be excruciating. In any death, the pain never goes away but I can't imagine not knowing what happened to my child. There is no semblance of closure and the opportunity to grieve properly and move on.

Natalee Holloway disappeared on May 30, 2005, during a high school graduation trip to Aruba. She was scheduled to fly home later on May 30, but did not show up for her flight home. She was last seen by her classmates outside a nightclub in a car with Joran van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe. When questioned, the three men said they dropped her off at her hotel and denied knowing what happened to her after that.

There have been several arrest through the years and subsequent releases due to lack of evidence. Most notably, Joran van der Sloot. He is such a DOUCHE BAG! I mean he is such a major case for me believing in capital punishment. On November 24, 2008, On the Record aired an interview with Van der Sloot in which he alleged that he sold Holloway into sexual slavery. He said he received money when Holloway was taken, and later on to keep quiet. Van der Sloot also alleged he paid the Kalpoe brothers for their assistance, and that his father paid off two police officers who had learned that Holloway was taken to Venezuela. He later retracted the statements made in the interview.

This year he tried to extort money from Natalee's mom, Beth. She informed the FBI and they set up a sting. Joran was paid $10,000 cash and wired $15,000 to an account in the Netherlands, where he lived. They were to pay the remainder of the $ 250,000 after he gave told them where they could find Natalee's remains. He gave false information and was later charged with extortion and wire fraud. He later admitted the extortion saying "I wanted to get back at Natalee's family — her parents have been making my life tough for five years".

On May 30, 2010, Stephany Ramirez was reported missing in Lima, Peru. That is five years to the day that Natalee Holloway was reported missing. Her body was found three days later in a hotel room registered to Joran van der Sloot. He was since charged with her murder and currently sits in a prison in Peru. He originally confessed to this murder but has since retracted the confession. I hope he rots there in that prison. I actually hope he is severely tortured during his time there. He deserves it!

                                                                        

Bob Out

Sarah Palin: I Will Not Waste My Time With Katie Couric

OMG, Y'all! This is just too good not to pass along. Sarah Palin says she won't waste her time doing an interview with Katie Couric. LOL. She says it's because of the "bias" and "spin" Katie puts on the interview. It couldn't possibly be because Katie made her look stupid last time. Nah, of course not! Actually, I take that back. Katie just asked good questions, it was Sarah's answers and lack of knowledge that made her look stupid.

Bob Out

That's So Gay: The Labrys

I hate it when people use the phrase "That's so gay" in a negative way. It's usually used to describe something tacky or tasteless. I've decided to take the phrase back and make it positive. This is the fifth in a series of posts I am doing about all things gay. This one is for all my Lesbian peeps out there. Leave it to the Lesbians to have such a butch symbol. They are not to be messed with. I keep one around for protection at all times. Hehe j/k

The Labrys

The labrys is less popular now that it once was, even though its connection to lesbianism and women began thousands of years ago. The labrys is basically a double bladed axe or hatchet which can be used for both harvesting and as a weapon. The first labrys is believed to have been created over 8,000 years ago. It was favored by tribes of female Amazons that roamed the area around what is now Kazakstan in central Asia. It has also been linked to the early town of Catal Huyuk in what is now Turkey around 6,000 BCE as a tool for clearing ground. Catal Huyuk was a peaceful town which worshipped the Earth goddess and prospered without conflict for 1,500 years.

An ancient civilization on the island Crete in the Mediterranean Sea also held the labrys in high standing. Little was known about the Minoan civilization (it lasted from around 3,000 to 1,100 BCE) except myths until archaeologists began excavating relics from Crete's pre-Minoan era around the beginning of the 20th century. The most amazing discovery on the island was the palace of Knossos, believed to be the royal palace, along with a 35,000 square foot maze of rooms and hallways. This maze was prolifically decorated with a double-axe motif, especially the principal reception room. The term labyrinth is derived from labrys. This site is believed to be linked to the myth of the minotaur.

The Minoan society, although possessing both a king and queen near its end, was predominantly matriarchal. Their religion centered around a bare-breasted Great Goddess who is believed to have been a protector of women. This goddess is often shown holding snakes in her hands, a symbol of fertility and agriculture, and surrounded by female worshippers with double axes which were used for tilling soil. Preserved frescos from the time period also tend to show more girls than boys, usually in such dangerous sports as bull jumping (bulls were also a reoccurring theme in Minoan art).

The double axe quickly spread across Europe, becoming popular with the Etruscans, the Gauls, the Druids, and the Scandinavians. The labrys kept its religious connotation even when it was adopted by other cultures, having been scratched into a good many surfaces during pagan times. When the Roman Empire came along, the plow replaced the labrys as far as farming went, but it remained a formidable weapon. The labrys began to be seen less and less religiously, and soon took on the name "battleaxe" instead. From there it was passed through successive generations of war-torn Europe until it was replaced in popularity by the sword.

The labrys was resurrected as a female symbol in the 1970s by a number of lesbian and feminist organizations. It's popularity grew when articles about its origins were published in feminist literature of the time. Today, the labrys has been superseded by other symbols, but can still be seen adorning jewelry and women's specialty stores.(information contained in this blog was taken directly from www.lambda.org)

Bob Out

Hump Day Hunk: The Sexiest Man Alive(Ryan Reynolds)

Happy Hump Day! According to People Magazine he is the sexiest man alive. I couldn't agree more...

RYAN REYNOLDS

 Ryan can currently be seen in the film, "Buried". And next year he turns superhero in "Green Latern". Damn he looks good in that suit.

I can descibe him in one word...DELICIOUS!

Bob Out

I Got You Cher

Dreams really do come true! Here's how it happened...

So I am sitting at my desk talking to my co-worker and GREAT friend, Linda. We are talking about all of our upcoming plans. Somehow I brought up Cher. Well, I bring up Cher a lot. Yep, I'm a good gay!
I said one of my dreams is to see Cher perform live. Linda then said, we should go see her in Vegas.
Sure, I said. How are we gonna pull that off? I laughed thinking it wasn't a real suggestion. Linda then says, "I have a contact that has been trying to get me to come out". "He said if I would visit Las Vegas for potential groups he would get me tickets to any show I wanted".  "I'll go call him now." She comes back 10 minutes later and he has come through. TWO FREE TICKETS TO SEE CHER AT CESAR'S PALACE! Not just any tickets....10 rows back ..center stage! WHAT? OMG!

I work for a travel agency and Linda is our group coordinator. She has a lot of contacts in Vegas and has been often. Vegas is a mega convention and meeting destination. We had three groups there this year. I have the tickets to see Cher. Now, how am I gonna get to Vegas?

I must say working for a travel agency has had it's perks in the past but those perks have dried up a lot. In the "old days" I would travel all the time for free. I've been fortunate to have traveled a lot. However, in the past five years I've barely gone anywhere. Delta had gotten so strict that it became almost impossible to get free tickets anymore.  Last year I won two Delta first class international tickets but was unable to use them because the class of service they had to be booked in was so restrictive.  I decided to call and ask for free tickets to Vegas. I received the certificate and BAM, I was approved for two free tickets AND the space was available. OMG, Are the gay fairy gods smiling on me right now?

Today, Linda comes to me and tells me Cesar's screwed up getting one of her groups this year. They were bummed that they had lost the group and have been courting her to get the group for 2012. She called and said she wanted to come out and do a site inspection. They gave her a suite for the two days we will be there...TOTALLY FREE!

Free airline tickets, free hotel & free tickets to see Cher!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OMG! I AM GOING TO SEE CHER....LIVE!  January 24, 2011!
I am getting all verklempt. Talk amongst yourselves while I go cry.

Bob Out!

The Friday Flashback

I'm not going too far back on this one but I love this song & Ms. Janet! Come on girls, let's dance.
"All my girls at the party, look at that body, shakin' that thang like you never did see, got a nice package alright, guess I'm gonna have to ride it tonight"....

Janet Jackson

"All For You"

Hope you guys have a WONDERFUL weekend!

Bob Out

Hump Day Hunk(Jared Leto)

Today's hunk is a double threat. He is not only a good actor but he successfully made the leap from the movie screen to fronting a great band...

Jared Leto

If you aren't familiar with his band, 30 Seconds to Mars, check them out. Jared is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and sole songwriter for the band. This is one of my favorite songs by them and it's a great video too..."Kings + Queens"

Happy Hump Day

Bob Out

That's So Gay: The Lambda

I hate it when people use the phrase "That's so gay" in a negative way. It's usually used to describe something tacky or tasteless. I've decided to take the phrase back and make it positive. This is the fourth in a series of posts I am doing about all things gay.

The Lambda

One symbol which continues to remain popular is the lower case Greek letter lambda. The symbol was originally chosen by the Gay Activists Alliance of New York in 1970. The GAA was a group which broke away from the larger Gay Liberation Front at the end of 1969, only six months after it's foundation in response to the Stonewall Riots. While the GLF wanted to work side by side with the black and women's liberation movements to gain unity and acceptance, the GAA wanted to focus their efforts more concisely on only Gay and Lesbian issues.

Because of its official adoption by the GAA, which sponsored public events for the gay community, the lambda soon became a quick way for the members of the gay community to identify each other. The reasoning was that the lambda would easily be mistaken for a college fraternity symbol and ignored by the majority of the population. Eventually though, the GAA headquarters was torched by an arsonist, destroying not only the building but all of the organization's records, and the movement never recovered from the loss. The symbol, however, lived on.

Now what the symbol means or meant when it was introduced are a prime topic for speculation and a morass of public rumoring. Some of the more popular rumors are:

*Simply, the Greek letter "L" stands for "liberation."

*The Greek Spartans believed that the lambda represented unity.

*The Romans took it as meaning "the light of knowledge shining into the darkness of ignorance."

*The charged energy of the gay movement. This stems from the lambda's use in chemistry and physics to denote energy in equations.

*The synergy which results when gays and lesbians work together towards a common goal (a gestalt theory which also stems from the physics-energy theory).

*The notion that straights and gays, or gays and lesbians, or any pairing of these three, are on different wavelengths when it comes to sex, sexuality, or even brain patterns. This again comes from the lambda's presence in chemistry and physics, where it is sometimes used to represent the wavelength of certain types of energy.

*An iconic rendering of the scales of justice and the constant force that keeps opposing sides from overcoming each other. The hook at the bottom of the right leg would then signify the action and initiative needed to reach and maintain balance.

*The lambda is also though by some to have appeared on the shields of Spartan and/or Theben warriors. The Thebes version is more popular because, as legend has it, the city- state organized the Theban Band from groups of idealized lovers, which made them extremely fierce and dedicated warriors. Eventually however, the army was completely decimated by Kind Philip II, but was later honored by his son Alexander the Great.

There is no actual evidence though that the lambda was ever associated with this group. However, there was Hollywood movie in the 1962s called "The 300 Spartans" starring Diane Baker, Richard Egan, and Ralph Richardson that showed Spartan warriors who appeared to have lambdas on their shields.

Whatever the lambda meant or means today, it's everywhere. Even though at one time it acquired a strictly male connotation, it is used by both gays and lesbians today. Back in December of 1974, the lambda was officially declared the international symbol for gay and lesbian rights by the International Gay Rights Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland.(information contained in this blog taken directly from www.lambda.org)

Bob Out

Conversations with My Teenage Self

I am stealing this idea from my fellow blog buddy, Little Miss Sunshine State. This was hard to write and got really emotional. Here are the five things I would tell my teenage self....


1- Your father let drugs & alcohol keep him from being a real father. That is not your fault. It was his decision or his addiction that kept him from being the father you wanted. Don't dwell on the fact that you didn't have a good father like your friends did. Be thankful for the amazing people you have in your life. Don't hate your father either. Just feel sorry for him. It really was his loss.

2- Forgive your mother. She makes a lot of mistakes but she is human and you know she loves you. She doesn't do a lot of things like you would like her to but that's just who she is. You will learn that as an adult you will make a lot of mistakes yourself. Accept her for the love and support she has given you through the years and not her mistakes. You've let her down a lot too! REMEMBER, we're all human...even your mother! She was there for everything and that matters A LOT.

3- You are not too busy to spend time with those you love. You've had some great role models in your life. Aunt Eliza, Aunt Gertrude, Uncle Albert & Maw Maw/Paw Paw. They are amazing people. You loved spending time with them when you were younger. Now that you are driving and want to hang with your friends, don't use that as an excuse not to still spend time with them. One day....way too soon they will be gone and you will wish you had that time to do all over again.

4- You are gay! Praying and dating women will not change that. Accept yourself. Be Bold! Being gay is not an abomination to God. He loves you just the way you are. Live your life, BE FREE.

5- September 16, 1985 will change your world forever. On Sunday, September 15th, your sister will come to visit you at work. She is the polar opposite of you. She wears leather and drives a motorcycle and you are "Mr. Preppy". When she pulls up and your friends and co-workers see her, you are scared they will find out she is your sister. You go outside hoping they won't see you talking to her. She asks if you want to go see a movie. You decline because you are embarrassed by her appearance. The next day she dies in a motorcycle accident. You will regret not going to that movie with her for the rest of your life. You have cried and cried and still cry about it. It will be the biggest regret of your life. That was your sister and you loved her with all your heart. You  will learn that the diversity in people is what makes the world a really cool place. You should have learned it sooner! If you get that day back...run outside when you see her...hug her for as long as you can and when she asks if you want to go see that movie , say YES! YES! YES!

Bob Out

Hump Day Hunk(Joe Manganiello)

I must confess, I don't watch True Blood. After seeing this hunk, I think I may need to tune in...

Joe Manganiello

Happy HUMP Day!

Bob Out

That's So Gay: The Stonewall Riots

I hate it when people use the phrase "That's so gay" in a negative way. It's usually used to describe something tacky or tasteless. I've decided to take the phrase back and make it positive. This is the third in a series of posts I am doing about all things gay.

The Stonewall Riots

The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. They are frequently cited as the first instance in American history when people in the homosexual community fought back against a government-sponsored system that persecuted sexual minorities, and they have become the defining event that marked the start of the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.

American gays and lesbians in the 1950s and 1960s faced a legal system more anti-homosexual than those of some Warsaw Pact countries. Early homophile groups in the U.S. sought to prove that gay people could be assimilated into society, and they favored non-confrontational education for homosexuals and heterosexuals alike. The last years of the 1960s, however, were very contentious, as many social movements were active, including the African American Civil Rights Movement ,the Counterculture of the 1960s, and antiwar demonstrations. These influences, along with the liberal environment of Greenwich Village, served as catalysts for the Stonewall riots.

Very few establishments welcomed openly gay people in the 1950s and 1960s. Those that did were often bars, although bar owners and managers were rarely gay. The Stonewall Inn, at the time, was owned by the Mafia. It catered to an assortment of patrons, but it was known to be popular with the poorest and most marginalized people in the gay community: drag queens, and representatives of a newly self-aware transgender community, effeminate young men, hustlers, and homeless youth. Police raids on gay bars were routine in the 1960s, but officers quickly lost control of the situation at the Stonewall Inn, and attracted a crowd that was incited to riot. Tensions between New York City police and gay residents of Greenwich Village erupted into more protests the next evening, and again several nights later. Within weeks, Village residents quickly organized into activist groups to concentrate efforts on establishing places for gays and lesbians to be open about their sexual orientation without fear of being arrested.

After the Stonewall riots, gays and lesbians in New York City faced gender, class, and generational obstacles to becoming a cohesive community. Within six months, two gay activist organizations were formed in New York, concentrating on confrontational tactics, and three newspapers were established to promote rights for gays and lesbians. Within a few years, gay rights organizations were founded across the U.S. and the world. On June 28, 1970, the first Gay Pride marches took place in Los Angeles and New York commemorating the anniversary of the riots. Similar marches were organized in other cities. Today, Gay Pride events are held annually throughout the world toward the end of June to mark the Stonewall riots.

All of the information in this blog was taken directly from Wikipedia. There's a lot more information about the riots on their site. If you have time check it out by clicking here. It's very interesting.

Bob Out