Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Christian Science Monitor:

Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

Repeal of the policy barring homosexuals from serving openly in the military is now up to the Obama administration and Congress.

Protest of Prop 8

Nationwide Protest of the passage of Prop H8 (California)

In Northampton, Massachusetts

Supergirl One and The Beloved

Marriage Equals Love

The Cunning Runt
with his impressive scope
(Check his post and photos of this event)

Brown vs. Board, 1954
I love the look on this young woman's face.

Post-rally dinner at "the Thai place"

The girls were featured in an article in a local paper. I'd rather not link to it here but if you're a regular Bloggie here and you're interested in reading it, let me know.

The Foes of Liberty & Justice For All

This, folks, is what the bigots have for propaganda to undo marriage equality in California. It's really hard not to be snarky. Thoughts please!

Prop 8 and The New Cohen Brothers Film

The Thorons’ story not only speaks to all of us, but it also reaches out to the 20 percent of voters who still haven’t made up their minds about Prop 8.

Right now, the other side is out-raising us by a wide margin. Soon, their ads – undoubtedly filled with lies and distortions about Prop 8, about us and about our families – will be on the air. Our ads will tell the real story — how real families will be affected if Prop 8 passes. Their ads won’t. We need to keep our messages on the air as much as we can.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N99kv6ojn48


My note: Incidentally, I read somewhere that Brad Pitt had donated $100,000 to the effort to keep marriage legal for everyone in California. I was impressed by this and also by Brad Pitt's role in the new Cohen brothers movie Burn After Reading. The excellent Francis McDormand gives another great performance in this film as well.

Headlines

Presidential Race Ignores Arms Race

Candidates Clash on Terrorism

Sense of Calm as Gay Couples Wed in California

Bush to Seek an End to Ban on Oil Drilling

I'd love to discuss any of these articles in comments.

Yours in peace
Pagan

Meanwhile In California...

WashingtonPost.com:

California Gay Marriage: The Ruling and One Couple's View


LA Times:

Cardinal Mahoney, other church leaders again reject same-sex marriage

Gay Marriage: Full Times Coverage

Mass. Governor Stands Behind Gay Daughter

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, wife Diane and daughter Katherine marched in Boston's Gay Pride parade on Saturday. Eighteen year old Katherine recently announced to her family that she's a lesbian. Luckily for Katherine, her family is standing proudly behind her!

Katherine's courage is commendable. As the child of a very public family, there will be a lot of attention placed upon her and much of it could be negative. That her family is supporting her so wholeheartedly makes me feel very proud to live in Massachusetts.

Katherine Patrick will be a freshman at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, a very progressive town in my beloved Happy Valley.

Loving Day

My friend The Cunning Runt at Little Bang Theory has written a beautiful post about marriage equality and the current fight in California to keep it legal. Please go there and check it out. He's an inspiring writer and I promise you will not regret it.

There is a ballot initiative that has been approved to appear on the state ballot in California which will seek to overthrow the recently gained right of GLBT people to marry. The $10 million campaign will attempt to poison the well, so money is needed.

If you support marriage equality but don't live in California, you may wonder what this has to with you. Every state that fights for and wins marriage equality gains momentum for other states to take action to do the same.

There are many great organizations working on behalf of GLBT rights but to have your contribution go directly to California where the big fight is right now, consider donating directly to Equality California.

What's goin' On

Supergirl One found a summer job. She starts work next week at what I call a Storybook Farm just over the river from my house. It's a strawberry farm, mostly but they also have cows and sell organic milk and cheese. When SG2 visited, her new boss was making cheese and already giving her pointers. She felt very comfortable with the gentleman farmer and when he told her that the whole family is into literature and writing, that was it. She'd found her niche for the summer!

Me, I'm lacking motivation. I thought that Spring and all her glory would help me lighten my step and begin all the household projects that need doing. Not a chance. I just want to play and blog and read and eat and sleep and hang out with W.P. and SG2.

Supergirl One is still at college. Today is the last day of her campus job and it's the day where I go down to Mount Holyoke and help her pack her stuff to move into the massive UMass campus for summer session. She's determined to graduate with her class of 2009, despite massive setbacks in her freshman and sophmore years due to bipolar illness and frequent hospitilizations. She'd also battled drug reactions, a severe skin rash from a virus and low blood pressure that caused her to pass out on several occasions. I'm continuously amazed, impressed and otherwise blown away by this girl's determination and intellect. Is this my kid? It's what you get when you cross a pagan sphinx with a cunning runt! hehehehe

As an aside, I know I'm boasting and that my English friends rather look down upon we Americans for it, but....SG1's semester GPA was a 3.9. No easy feat at that overly demanding elitist school. We're thrilled and proud and in the hopes of sounding humble, it has little to do with us at this point. Hell, I wanted her to go the easy route because I was concerned her illness would drain the life out of her and she wouldn't be able to do academics at that level. That girl has proven me wrong and that's what makes me so in awe of her.

I'm gearing myself up emotionally, if not in regard to cleaning and organizing my house, for my mother's visit at the end of June. My mother, for those of you who may not know, lives in Portugal. My family (including CR) who read this blog, know and understand fully how much I adore my mother; what a good relationship we now have and how much The Supergirls look forward to basking in her unconditional love - because she is good at that. There are complications, of course.

This is a case where Love can't be everything. Supergirl One, whom my regular readers know is gay and engaged to be married to a lovely young woman, is intent on telling her grandmother that she's a lesbian. SG1 wrote to me an eloquent email explaining her reasons for this. Below is an excerpt from that email:

The choice is between upsetting her [where, honestly, the onus is on her, because she is potentially the party to be behaving negatively] and acting against my own sense of dignity and pride by lying about one of the most fundamental and important aspects of my life. The latter choice also has repercussions for my relationship and the trust I share with my partner.

My own personal worry is not that my mother will be rude or angry but that she will consider this another form of Tragedy. I grew up with the various forms of Tragedy. Besides death, illness and suffering, and natural disasters, Tragedy as defined by my Portuguese family comes in the form of Alcoholism, Adultry and anything else that disgraces one's family. She will doubless be heartbroken by the news that her lovely grandaughter is a lesbian and plans on shacking up with a girl. My mother understands that gays get married. But "gays" are those other people over there somewhere in a world she doesn't understand.

My mother is 77 years old and has been through a tremendous lot. I don't want this news to put her over the top. Honestly, I have no clue as to how she will come to grips with this. Especially without my father, who died almost three years ago. Who will help her to understand? It will have to be me, of course. When SG1 gives her grandmother the news, she'll then go back to her dorm for summer session, while I sit with my mother and help her to contemplate this. I'm worried and sad and frustrated that I have to be burdened by this! My mother will doubtless blame this tragedy on either my divorce from The Supergirls' father or the bipolar disorder, or both.

To complicate things, my Portuguese is not what it used to be and certain things are just so hard to labor into translation. I have this upstanding, proud family where I am the only member of the immediate family who has divorced. It confuses me, really. We have so many nutcases in the family - depression and bipolar illness have touched the lives of several family members. But something like a same-sex relationship can put everyone over the top! WTF?

I'm projecting but with a very good scope consisting of 48 years of experience being a part of my family. We'll see what happens, but Happen it must.

Hilly Seaside Town Song

My Supergirl One

A bit late, this is going out to Supergirl One and her Beloved. A Massachusetts song about getting married. And high five to California!

All my love,

Mom

Post Links That Command Attention

Godless Liberal Homo has an important post up titled Ten Reasons to Boycott Beijing Olympics

Homeyra at Forever Under Construction posted about American author, Naomi Wolf who says ” that there is a blueprint that would-be dictators always do the same ten things, whether they’re on the left or the right […]“. This list eerily reflects the actions of our current government.

Feministing posts about a high school principal in the south who outs a student gay couple because she "doesn't like homosexuals". Hate crimes against GLBT people are up and must be stopped. Outing gays against their will isn't just a violation of their privacy, it can result in harm and death. The tragic death of 15 year-old Lawrence King in California recently, sadly illustrates this point.

I was heartened by this article about the activism of the mothers of gay children, of which I am one.

My Kid Is A Born Activist

I wasn't going to post today but I just opened an email from my daughter and I had to share this with you. My daughter, Supergirl I, who is a student at Mount Holyoke College, joined her sisters at nearby Smith College in organizing a protest of a anti-gay speaker invited there by the Young Republicans group. The protest is featured in today's Feministing post.

The method of protest is controversial because the speaker was booed and yelled at, which many people ojected to. I say YELL LOUDER. Please free free to disagree here or at feministing and I will engage in dialogue with you about why I feel they should protest in this manner.

She is of course, very excited that a protest she attended, is being covered by her favorite blog. She wrote a good response, too. Her handle on Feministing is lesbianllama.

Right on, Supergirl!