Silencing the GAY inaugural invocation prayer... Intentional Snub or a BIG mistake?

HBO cut Bishop Gene Robinson's invocation at the celebratory concert on the Sunday before the inauguration from their exclusive broadcast, but here it is, captured by Sarah Pulliam, a reporter for Christianity Today magazine:




Here's the text of what he prayed:

"O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will . . .
"Bless us with tears -- tears for a world in which over a billion people
exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women in many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria and AIDS.
"Bless this nation with anger -- anger at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
"Bless us with discomfort -- at the easy, simplistic answers we've preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and our world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.
"Bless us with patience -- and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be 'fixed' anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.
"Bless us with humility -- open to understanding that our own needs as a nation must always be balanced with those of the world.
"Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance -- replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences.
"And bless us with compassion and generosity -- remembering that every religion's God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable.
"And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of president of the United States.
"Give him wisdom beyond his years, inspire him with President Lincoln's reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy's ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King's dream of a nation for all people.
"Give him a quiet heart, for our ship of state needs a steady, calm captain.
"Give him stirring words -- we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.
"Make him colorblind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.
"Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.
"Give him strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters' childhoods.
"And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we're asking far too much of this one. We implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand -- that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace.
"Amen."

HBO (who had exclusive rights to air the "We Are One" Concert) said, basically:

Not our fault. The Presidential Inauguration Committee told us not to include it in the main show.

The Presidential Inauguration Committee said, basically:

Wow. We'd always intended for it to be included. We regret the error, but are happy the people there in person got to hear it.

Ummm. Really?

Was this an "innocent" mistake? Or was there a bigger reason this bone thrown to the GLBTQ community, after our uproar about the prominent role of the anti-gay Pastor Rick Warren in the inauguration, was buried?

Take the instant poll, top of the column to the right, and tell me what your take is!

Namaste,
Lee

Nothing Pink

By Mark Hardy

Vincent is gay. He's also a preacher's son (the kind that preaches that all gay people go to hell). And since an incident when he was little, his mother has made sure there's been "nothing pink" in his life. Now he's a teenager, and he's been hiding being gay for a long time.

But then Vincent meets Robert at Church. They become friends and start spending time together...

Suspicions form, and ultimately, Vincent's secret is discovered.

What is he going to do? How can his parents still love him, if they hate such a significant part of who he is? How is Vincent ever going to reconcile God, his family, and being Gay?


Add your review of "Nothing Pink" in comments!

From Alice To Zen and Everyone In Between

by Elizabeth Atkinson

Alice isn't very "girly." She likes soccer, and working on her go-kart. When her family moves to the suburbs, her first friend is a boy, Zen.

Zen isn't very "boy-y." He likes fashion magazine quizzes and singing like a diva...

So now, Alice is starting at her new middle school, and neither she nor Zen fit in. At all.

Why is it so hard to just be yourself?


Add your review of "From Alice To Zen and Everyone In Between" in comments!

The Inauguration of President Obama: A Place At The Grown-Ups Table for Gay Americans!

Remember Thanksgiving family get-togethers? Being stuck at the kids table? No fancy place-settings? Eating off paper plates?

Well today, with the inauguration of President Obama, we GLBTQ Americans get to sit at the BIG table.

First Course?

Hope. Served up warm and sunny.

Here's hoping the rest of the meal is as yummy!

Enjoy the inaugural appetizer,

Namaste,

Lee

GSA Mondays Topic: Black President? Check. Gay President?

Well, what do you think?

Will we see a Gay President of the United States in our lifetimes?

We've gotten to a point where President-Elect Barack Obama, tomorrow, upon his inauguration, will be the first multi-racial, Black President of our country.

So when will we get our first Gay President? 2041? Before? Much Later?

Hmmm....

Maybe it will be some Teenager reading this blog?


Just that thought is going to keep me smiling all week!

Namaste,

Lee

ps- Oh, and for those readers in the USA, happy Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! What a way to celebrate, with inaugurating President Obama!

This Gay Week on American Idol: So Just How Gay Is This Season Going To Get?

American Idol's back!

Okay, Season 8 started this week. And while it's tempting to comment on the girl who, so pissed off she wasn't selected, kept yelling at the camera (and the judges) that they made a mistake and "God is gonna get you" because of it... I've decided that if nothing much happens on the show that's interesting from a Gay perspective, I probably won't post on it.

After all, I've already explained why we're so obsessed with American Idol. And enough other people have talked about this season's fourth judge (Kara DioGuardi!)

So I'll just get on with it...

On Tuesday, in Pheonix, Arizona, we had Simon Cowell's remark about a contestant's coming out of the closet - and Paula Abdul jumping in to explain that it was literal, not metaphorical - he used to sing in a closet (so he wouldn't disturb anyone...) and there was mold in the closet and he got terribly sick. And now he's singing out of the closet - but it's not to say he's gay and coming out of the closet. Gosh, no. We wouldn't want to say that. (Though if we're being set up for an ugly-duckling turns into a handsome swan moment, they've set up the starting point quite well...)

And then there was Ryan Seacrest, awkwardly trying to avoid being smooched by "bikini girl" after she got her yellow ticket pool-side, to the lovely soundtrack "I kissed a girl!" by Kate Perry (you can watch the video here, but really, the song's way better than the video.) It has the great lyric,

"I kissed a girl and I liked it. Hope my boyfriend don't mind it."

Which, given the back and forth jibs and jabs over the seasons between Ryan and Simon regarding one or the other's being gay, was pretty funny. (Though, if someone on the show was gay, wouldn't it be refreshing if they came out?)


And on Wednesday in Kansas City, we had Jason Castro's younger brother, with a shock of pink hair, explain that the main difference between him and his brother was that his brother was "girly," and he was, well, "not girly." The brothers had some words about it, with Jason seeming comfortable with the explanation that being "girly" meant he was in touch with his emotions and able to express them (which is pretty funny as from what I recall Jason never seemed very passionate or emotional about his American Idol Season 7 journey...) This moment wasn't "Gay" so much as fascinating, that for two brothers who with their hair styling seem comfortable standing out, their ideas of what's gender-appropriate in terms of behavior are rather conservative. Girls are emotional. Boys don't care. And while Kara liked the "cocky" attitude of the new Mr. Castro, we'll have to see what happens... Because he got a golden ticket, too.

Outside a bit of eye candy from some of the other contestants in Kansas City, there wasn't much else GAY about American Idol this week...

But I'm glad it's back.

So just how GAY is this season going to be? Stay tuned - I promise I'll let you know.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Namaste,
Lee

Masks: Evolution

By Hayden Thorne

Being a teenager in a relationship is tough.

It's even tougher when you're gay.

But it's toughest when your boyfriend is a superhero... and you're not.

In this completely addictive sequel (to "Masks: Rise Of Heroes"), Hayden Thorne masterfully puts us back inside Eric's skin and we feel every sweet, sexy, and conflicted moment with him. Vintage city is exploding - with supervillain attacks and with new teenagers coming into their superhuman powers. With his boyfriend Peter (the superhero Calais) and his Best Friend Althea (the superhero Spirit Wire) too busy fighting crime to hang out, Eric's left on his own to deal with angst, a libido in overdrive, and the stabbing pain of mysterious headaches.

Funny, thought-provoking, and real in a way that only the best fantasies can be, "Masks: Evolution" makes you want to stay up all night reading, hiding under the covers with a flashlight because you just can't put it down!

How I wish I could have read this when I was a Teen!


Look carefully at the blurb on the bottom of the cover:





Hayden asked me to blurb the book - and there, on the cover, is an excerpt of my review above... and my name. And even the name of this blogsite! My first blurb! Thanks, Hayden!

Skim

By Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Jillian Tamaki

This is a graphic novel about Kimberly Keiko Cameron, a.k.a. "Skim."

Skim goes to a girls' academy in Toronto. She's a bit goth, a bit Wiccan, a bit more than slim, and all teenager.

After a suicide, the school's in mourning, but Skim falls in love - and then falls into confusion when the object of her affection (a female teacher!) suddenly leaves the school.

Now Skim has to deal with friends, cliques, crushes... and "real" life.


Interesting to note: The author and illustrator are cousins. Add your review of "Skim" in comments!

The Academy Awards' Oscar and The Premio Dardo Blogger Award, and Chain Letters... It's an Honor, just to be nominated. Really.

So on Monday I was awarded a "Premio Dardos" award by the wonderful Aerin, for which I'm really appreciative. (Thanks, Aerin!)

It's kind of a bloggers-acknowledging-other-bloggers award, just like the Oscar is film industry people cheering themselves on.

Except, kind of like a chain letter, each recipient of the "Premio Dardos" award is asked to accept the award, mention and link back to whoever bestowed it upon them, and then pass it on to 15 other blogs...

(Happily, unlike a chain letter, there's no threat of bad karmic outcomes if we don't!)

Now, I love being acknowledged as much as anyone, but I'm always curious about awards - especially if I'm the one winning it! So I took an HOUR of what should have been productive writing time (okay, it was more like two. And a half.) to back-track from Aerin to find out where this award originated.

You know, if it's an inverted Ponzi-scheme like pyramid, just by tracking back through everyone's "Premio" post (using the nifty search box on most blogger blogs - top left corner of the screen) I should be able to get back to the originator.

Aerin to Vasilly.

Vasilly to J. Kaye.

J. Kaye to FOUR different blogs...

and then the path backwards got more jungle-like. Dead ends. People who didn't mention their awarder, or whose awarders were private blogs I couldn't access. People whose awarders were blogs earlier in the list, creating tight, eddying circles of Blog A loves blog B loves blog C loves blog A... That I couldn't escape.

Then on to google searches.

I discovered three different spellings of the award:

Premio Dardos

Primo Darios

and, attached to the jpeg image that seemed the most consistent track-back element

premios-dardo

A consensus seemed to be that, whatever its spelling, it means "Prize Darts" in Italian (which, plural form aside, "Premio" does mean prize and "dardo" does mean dart in Italian.)


But still, no originator.

A few posts mentioned that

The aim of the Premio Dardos Award is to acknowledge

the values that every blogger shows in their effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values every day. These stamps were created with the intention of promoting fraternization between bloggers, a way of showing affection and gratitude for work that adds value to the Web.

or the similiar but not identical reason:

that it is given for recognition of cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values transmitted in the form of creative and original writing.

Now in my sleuthing, I stumbled upon other bloggers-love-fellow-bloggers meme awards, the "Butterfly Award" (whose logo slogan for "the coolest blog I ever know" seems both poetic and grammatically trail-blazing) and the Kreativ Blogger Award (also creative in their spelling!)

And yet I find myself reluctant to give over to the red carpet flashiness of it all...

Come on, Lee! Actors have TONS of self-congratulatory awards! There are the Tony Awards, the SAG (Screen Actors Guild) awards, and, of course, the OSCARS...

There are critics giving actors awards (Critics Choice), and journalists giving actors awards (Golden Globes) and honestly more people giving actors awards than I can remember right now...

So why should our blogging community be any different?

It also makes me think about high school yearbooks - like the voting on who's "Most likely to succeed" or "Most likely to be President" or "Most likely to win a date with a movie star and then puke on their shoes in the first five minutes because they're so nervous" Awards.


While I'm totally flattered (and I hope Aerin doesn't take any offense), I think I'm going to take the karmic heat on this one and, instead of passing on any more Prize Darts, remind everyone to check out the blogrolls on the blogs you read - That, in my opinion, is the real Prize Cache!

So the next time you see a blogroll, think of them as the Awards they are: The "Blogs So Great I awarded them with a direct Link so you can go there and check them out yourself" Award!

And Aerin, if you take a look on my blogroll to the right, you have a new award, yourself!

Congratulations!

And yes, I know.

It's an honor, just to be nominated. Really.

Namaste,

Lee

GSA Monday Topic: "No Homo"

"No Homo" is a way to make sure what you say doesn't have people thinking you're gay.

Like in this song by Lil Wayne - about 15 seconds in, he sings "Feed Me, Feed Me, Feed Me... No Homo!" And then laughs...



Ellen Friedrichs, who has a cool blog for GLBT Teens, talks in a post about how she thinks it's a continutation of the "That's so gay" put-down - another example of language being used in a homophobic way.

She says:

It is just so amazing to me that a guy would be so afraid of associating himself with anything that could cast a shadow of doubt on his sexuality, that he would qualify the most innocuous phases with a disclaimer.

Aside from the obvious homophobia implicit in a no homo, the main thing that phrase says to me is that the person using it is so ill at ease with himself and his place in the world, that he needs to constantly prove his heterosexuality.

Well said.

I wonder, are the guys saying this actually closeted and gay, or are they so insecure in how other people see them that they have to pepper everything with "eh, no homo."

On some level, "no homo" is a sign of how our culture has become so sexualized that almost any comment could be mis-interpreted, straight or gay.

Imagine a straight guy saying to a girl that he knows isn't available "You're beautiful..." Is it a come-on? If he followed it by saying, "Don't get me wrong - I'm not coming on to you." It would be a polite clarification, right?

So here's what I've decided:

Maybe there needs to be another expression, that I can use the next time I see one of my straight women friends... I'll say, "Hey, you look great... No Hetero." Just so she knows that I'm not coming onto her. 'Cause I wouldn't want anyone thinking that I'm one of those promiscuous heteroSEXuals.

What do you think?

Why Are There Gay People? What Darwinian Purpose is there to, throughout time, having 10% of humanity be Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual or Transgender?

This is a really good question.

From a Darwinian perspective, there needs to be some purpose to gay children being born to straight parents, or it wouldn't keep happening, generation after generation, throughout time.

So what's going on?

I'm reading a really old book, "Intermediate Types Among Primitive Folk: A Study In Social Evolution" by Edward Carpenter (published in 1921) and in it (pgs 57-58) he addresses this exact question. I thought his answer was pretty fascinating, so here it is:

In the primitive societies the men (the quite normal men) are the warriors and hunters. These are their exclusive occupations. The women (the normal women) attend to domestic work and agriculture, and their days are consumed in those labors. But in the evolution of society there are many more functions to be represented than those simple ones just mentioned. And we may almost think that if it had not been for the emergence of intermediate types - the more or less feminine man and similarly the more or less masculine woman - social life might never have advanced beyond these primitive phases. But when the man came along who did not want to fight - who perhaps was more inclined to run away - and who did not particularly care about hunting, he necessarily discovered some other interest and occupation - composing songs or observing the qualities of herbs or the procession of the stars. Similarly with the woman who did not care about house-work and child-rearing. The non-warlike men and the non-domestic women, in short, sought new outlets for their energies. They sought different occupations from those of the quite ordinary man and woman - as in fact they do to-day; and so they became the initiators of new activities. They became students of life and nature, inventors and teachers of arts and crafts, or wizards (as they would be considered) and sorcerers; they became diviners and seers, or revealers of the gods and religion; they became medicine-men and healers, prophets and prophetesses; and so ultimately laid the foundation of the priesthood, and of science, literature and art. Thus - on this view, and as might not unreasonably be expected - it was primarily a variation in the intimate sex-nature of the human being which led to these important differentiations in his social life and external activities.

Wow. Heady stuff, isn't it? Gay people are the reason humanity isn't still in the stone age!

Enjoy thinking about that one.... I know I will!

Namaste,

Lee


ps- The image above is my attempt at the Darwinian evolution fish with a gay rainbow flag inside. If you can't find it, make it yourself, right?

Calico

By Dorien Grey

Calico's a cowboy in the Old Wild West.

A murder of his adopted uncle leaves Calico charged with taking Josh and Sara, newly orphaned big city-bred 17 year old twins, across the country to their aunt in Bow Ridge, Colorado.

Complications pile up.

There's a fire in the hotel they're staying in that first night.

A band of bad guys are out to get them, dogging them every leg of the journey.

Oh, and Calico and one of the twins he's trying to protect are falling in love with each other... and it's not the girl, it's the GUY!

Gunfights. Saloons. And a Gay Romance!


Add your review of "Calico" in comments!

Gravity

By Leanne Lieberman

Ellie is an orthodox Jewish teenage girl living in Toronto in the 1980s.

When she falls in love with another girl, it's a huge crisis: She can't see how she can be a lesbian AND still be a member of her Jewish community.

Her mother is convinced Ellie has a "messianic" role to play - but Ellie feels forced to figure out which part of her identity to keep: The Queer part, or the Jewish part.


Cool info about this book: Leanne submitted this manuscript to Orca Book Publishers' "So You Think You Can Write?" 2008 contest - and she won! The prize was getting "Gravity" published!

It was also announced today (1/7/09) that "Gravity" is a Sydney Taylor Book Award Notable Book for Teens.

Add your review of "Gravity" in comments!

Heart Song

by K L Richardsson

Book Two in the gay fantasy trilogy, "Heart Song" picks up with empathically bonded Katjin and Mikael's exile from the Clan Lands, and their journey to the mythic domain of the demonic Shahi, on the other side of mountains that few dare to cross.

Along with Katjin's cousin, Soren, they discover that in the Shahi Lands the magic and the people are nothing like they expected. Katjin and Mikael struggle to manage their combined powers, but before they can master the psychic bond, they learn that Katjin and Soren's clan has been kidnapped.

The three young men rush to the rescue...


Heart Sense is the first book in this series.

Add your review of "Heart Song" in comments!

GSA Mondays: "FAG" - My New Year's Day Dilemma, and the Power of Words

Okay, so I've called this blog "I'm Here. I'm Queer. What the Hell do I Read?" and I feel like I've done a pretty good job on an emotional level to de-fang some of the words that were most often used as slurs to target me (and anyone else percieved as "different") when I was a teen.

Queer.

Homo.

Fag.

And yet, when I woke up on January 1st, 2009, all chipper and excited about the new year, I walked out of my hotel room door to see this display in front of the hotel room door on the other side of the corridor:



Artfully arranged with stirring sticks and sugar packets, the letters "F" "A" "G" were spelled out for the room's occupants, for when they opened their door, expecting to find only two cups ready for their morning coffee. Here's a close-up:



And I was stumped.

Clearly, this was a joke, right? This was someone playing a "prank" on their friends.

This was as innocent as the pattern of stirring straws that were laid to match the patterned carpet for the next ten feet of hotel corridor.

Wasn't it?

Well... I wasn't so sure.

Here's what I was sure about:

I knew for sure that I didn't want my child walking out of our hotel room door to read it.

I knew for sure that if the straws and sugar packets had spelled out "N" "I" "G" "G" "E" "R," I wouldn't have thought twice about swooping the straws up to destroy the word.

There is nothing innocent about words used in hate.

And yet, context adds meaning: Black people can use the "N" word with each other, I guess in a similar way that Gay people can and do use "Queer" within the community.

This might have been some gay-friendly people teasing some other gay-friendly people. But given the history of hate, leaving a word that could be either teasing or mean out on someone's doorstep didn't feel jocular...

So, there was my New Year's Day Dilemma, a 5:25 am puzzle.

Should I have left the straws intact, making sure I didn't mess up someone's joke, or should I have swept them aside, erasing a gesture of possible intolerance?

What would YOU have done?

As for me, after I thought about it, worked out, thought about it some more, and then wrote this blog post, at 6:55am, I swooped. Here's my best cell-phone camera action shot:




Why?

I figure I'm an adult, and I'm willing to take the karmic 'hit' (if there is one) from ruining someone's joke, to make sure the world is a little bit safer and kinder for me, other gay people, and my kid.

I realized that yes, words have power, but with a swing of my sneakered foot, I had the power to erase that word.

And I did. Here's the hotel corridor, put back to rights:



So here's to a year, and a world, where we all claim our power - and the power of words - to make things better!

Namaste,

Lee