21 posts tagged “gay”

The First Boy and Last Boy. The Universal Orrery. Tiger-Men. Good girls gone bad. Most Excellent Superbat. Old Gods and New Gods. A Rubik's Cube. The Zoo Crew. Wunda. Metron. Monitors. And a Black Superman who's also the President of the US of A.

Worlds lived. Worlds died. And so did my spirits once I finished DC Comics' latest mega-event, Grant Morrison's opus Final Crisis. It's over people!  Now, like it will with the Bush Administration, we just have to wait for history to be it's final judge.  Hurry up, history!  I have some unanswered questions.

Did I look forward to it?  Sure I did! Did I understand it?  A little, I guess.  Did I like it?

Can I get back to you on that?

In the meantime, you can read my latest offering for the Queer Eye on Comics column over at the celebrated and award-winning Prism Comics website. In it, I explain all about Final Crisis and why being in love means never having to say "WTF, Grant Morrison?"  Links to all my side-splittingly hilarious QE essays can be found on this very blog.

And hey... will someone please let Eddie Berganza out of that cell he's been locked in for the last nine months?  Thanks.

This emphasis on Christmas has given me an idea for a new adventure in writing for the Queer Eye on Comics column over at Prism Comics dot Org!  The editors there will rue the day they mentioned the words "How would you like to try to make people laugh with ham-handed jokes about comic books and penises and stuff!  With a holiday twist!"

At least... I think that's how it went down. Maybe I'm not remembering entirely correctly.

Boner. Boner. Boner. Boner. 

Yep... still funny.

Play spot the celebrity in this hilarious little bit of fun, with a heaping helping of truth!

So... first of all, I can't tell you the pride I felt hearing Barack Obama speak live from Chicago last night. Finally a reason to be proud of America the way we should be.  I'll admit I was a Hillary guy at first, but Obama really won me over in the end. I'm sure there are still voters out there who thought the difference between our two choices wasn't pronounced enough to really make a good choice: hell... some people ACtually voted for freaking Ralph Nader! 

But to me, the contrast couldn't have been more pronounced. I used to think that John McCain was the one of the few Republicans I would trust to be President, but instead of campaigning as himself, he listened to the (admittedly usually successful) advice of the Bush machine, and suddenly we weren't hearing about his fiscal conservatism, his efforts for campaign finance reform, and his opposition to torture even in times of war -- we were hearing about Obama being in the same room with William Ayers once and how that meant Obama was clearly a terrorist. Let's just say that when the boos and evil cat-calls started at McCain's concession speech last night, I thought of some old aphorism: "Lie down with dogs, and you'll wake up with fleas."  You can't whip up that kind of hateful fervor and not expect it to get out of hand.

In contrast, Obama really seemed the whole time to represent the hope for a better future for all Americans, even ones I don't agree with politically. I saw in him an end to the misguided war in Iraq and pursuit of Bin Laden and our actual enemies and the perpitrators of 9/11.  A president I felt I could trust and respect; someone to whom "American Values" isn't just a buzz phrase, but a nearly tangible set of rules to live by.  A world leader that can (and already has) fix tarnished reputation the United States has abroad. A real American President... capital P.

So, yes... I am proud that so many Americans so overwhelmingly elected a statesman of Barack Obama's ilk. Happy even!

Then why do I feel like such crap?  Because civil rights for gays and lesbians were dealt another body blow: Proposition 8 looks poised to pass, writing seperate-but-equal type discrimination right into our state constitution.

I guess I'm feeling especially selfish: I am having a hard time being as happy as I should be that Obama won knowing that so many of my fellow Californians who voted him into office are so afraid of... SOMEthing... that C'pher and I and our love for one another represents that they couldn't see Prop 8 for what it is: un-American discrimination the likes of which haven't been seen since mixed race couples were prohibited from marrying.

Let's be honest: I knew that this race would be close. I was even prepared for the possibility it might pass. What I wasn't prepared for... was for the feeling I've got today: lethargy, listlessness, and real, actual, sadness. Nothing between C'pher and I has changed. We can be in love as much today as we were yesterday when our marriage was recognized as legal. Though we're now in possible limbo were that is concerned, nothing about that feeling is altered an iota by Prop 8.

I know I'm sounding like a bit of a whiny bitch, and maybe I deserve that moniker at the moment, but I guess I'm just not used to experiencing that feeling I had sometimes as a kid growing up: that someone didn't like me, but for reasons I had no control over.

All this said, I'm sure things are far from over where marriage equality is concerned. Did any of us think even four years ago that we'd have come this far?  Maybe I need to take a page from Barack Obama's playbook... and hope.

There now... that feels better already.

I have some bad news for you: if you have been harboring a secret crush on either C'pher or me, you're too late. After a whirlwind romance of just 13.75 years, we threw caution to the wind and got married!  Truly, madly, legally married.  We were surrounded by wonderful friends who braved our first bad(ish) weather of the year in City Hall on Thursday, and then more at an impromptu drinkfest at a nearby bar afterward. Bless all of you who were able to come, who were with us in spirit, and who are reading today's Chronicle...

...because there we are on the front page!  That's right, we're stretching that 15 minutes of fame another 30 seconds or so. Mike Kepka, the awesome Chronicle photographer we met back in 2004 joined us again for the day's ceremonies and festivities, and a couple of his always excellent shots accompany an article about the impending legal status of all these same-sex marriages if the dreaded Prop 8 passes in California on Tuesday. You can read the article, but the gist is this: no one is quite sure.

We're in the homestretch, but we know the fight against this unfair and wrong piece of legislation is far from over. If you haven't done so yet, please think about someone you know in California, and urge them to vote NO on Prop 8 this Tuesday. And speaking of blessed, our families and friends have donated well over a staggering $2000 to our Wedding Resgistry at NoOn8.org... in just four day's time!  We're humbled by your generosity, support and love. We're the luckiest two newlyweds on Earth!

UPDATE:  See Rebecca's awesome pictures of the happy day here!
UPDATE 2:  See Cricket's pictures of the day here!

We made it!  Just a couple of days ago, C'pher and I went over to City Hall, signed our names on a form or two, raised our right hands and swore it was all true, and bingo... we had a Marriage License!  The big day is Thursday, October 30th here in San Francisco's City Hall.

First of all... let's address this elephant in the room: YES Christopher and I have been "married" before! Our poor families and friends have an impossible time keeping track of when our "anniversary" is since we've had so freaking many of them. For those of you with a scorecard at home, here's a timeline:

February 1997: On the second anniversary of our first date, C'pher got us rings (see the one he's wearing in the picture). Let's call that "The Secret Marriage" a la that Sting song.

March 1998: We register with the City of San Francisco as Domestic Partners; our friend Nancy Hunter is visiting and witnesses. Being members of the champagne and latte sipping elite, we go out to our favorite wine bar to celebrate with collected friends. Later that spring, we are invited (along with all the other couples registered in that year) to a ceremony at City Hall acknowledging our commitments as a way to call attention to the fight for marriage equality. We stand in a short line for Then-Supervisor Leslie Katz, who performs the brief vow-exchange as perhaps hundreds more are happening thruought the rotunda, presided over by other City officials.

April 1999: We register with the State of California as Domestic Partners. This was a decidedly less ceremonial affair: the most romantic part was our first-ever trip together to the Notary Public in North Beach.

February 2004: After marking our 9-year anniversary, we're thinking we're about as married as we're ever going to be.  But then, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom springs one on us: on Valentines Day, he starts marrying... actually MARRYING, mind you... same-sex couples at City Hall. The snag: Christopher's parents are visiting, and somehow waiting in line for 10+ hours in the rain for a shot at a marriage of tenuous legality seemed ill advised. Fortunately, things continued on for the next two weeks, and we were able to get ourselves hitched on Feburary 27th. By May, the courts had invalidated our marriage, as we assumed might happen. Durn.

The Present: In June of this year, the lawsuits that were born out of Mayor Newsom's act of "civil disobedience" back in 2004 finally came to fruition: the California Supreme Court ruled in May that barring same-sex couples from marrying was unconstitutional, and a month later... the weddings began!  Since then, over 1,100 same-gender couples from California and beyond have been legally wed.

So there we have it!  On Thursday, 10/30, we'll be well and truly married in the eyes of the law. What happens after is sort of an unknown.  As you may know, there is a proposition on the state ballot here in California that is up for a vote on November 4th: Proposition 8.  If it passes, it will define marriage in our state constitution as being between one man and one woman only, threreby writing the ugliest kind of discrimination into law.

If you are a California resident, please vote NO on Prop 8.  If you are not, consider donating to the cause via our Wedding Registry at NoOnProp8.com.  Hundreds of thousands of dollars have flowed in from out-of-state to see Prop 8 passed... mostly from fundamentalist Christian groups -- particularly the Mormon church.  Thanks in advance!

Even if Prop 8 passes, our marriage may remain legal; it is now the law of the land that same-gender couples can marry, and no one is certain that Prop 8 will suddenly become retroactive. If it's all the same to you, however, I'd rather not explore that possibility.

As a post-script, I'll add that we do plan on a gigantic over-the-top Church wedding at some point!  We've literally been planning it for years, and it is simply NOT a hurry up affair. So, you have our permission to just buy one outfit and wear it to any and all weddings we may or may not have in the next 5-10 years.  Just be sure not to outshine the bride.  Hey... that's right: there IS NO BRIDE!

 

I may be in the final days of my month-long organ-meats and potatoes binge in the UK, but I did manage to get my latest offering to the Queer Eye on Comics series out to my editors before I left, and it's out this week. In it I attempt to answer that burning question "Which is inherently gayer: Final Crisis or Secret Invasion?"  I also make a bunch of references to funny costumes and stuff, so it's pretty much my bog standard, award-winning stuff. Please do enjoy.

And for all my anonymous fans out there, don't forget you can find links to my previous QE offerings here, here and even here. Gotta go... I've just been served the largest calve's liver I've ever seen. Seriously. It's like the size of my forearm. Please tell me there is some arugala left in San Francisco for my return... I'm just hoping it hasn't all been sent off to Denver for the DNC.

Here we see an advertisement for the World Cup of Rugby, scheduled for this September in gay Paris.  I love a city that doesn't take itself too seriously. Especially if, in the course of the aforementioned action, they show me hot manly rugby players grabbing ass and making out.

I think we're all winners here today.

For more funny stuff from this same outfit, visit the tourism site mentioned in the ad: cestsoparis.com.

It's Pride Weekend, and I can't think of a single thing that makes me prouder than something like this audio, from the uber-wonderful StoryCorps project.  StoryCorps takes mobile audio recording booths around the country to collect the stories of everyday Americans to save for posterity.

I'm having trouble uploading my own treasured copy of this particular podcast into this post, so if it doesn't work for you, click over to either StoryCorps' own Vox post or direclty on their website.

Just listen.

When I see those rainbow flags all up and down Market Street, and feel that "pinch-me-I-can't-believe-I-live-here" feeling again, I know don't have to go to a parade or anything to feel my Gay Pride. All I have to do is think of guys like Don and Ted and how lucky we are to live in a time and place when two men can fall headfirst into the best of all possible kinds of love -- and that we can all share it.  No closets. No hiding. Just love. Just listen.

Happy Pride, Don and Ted.  There's one extra rainbow flag out here in San Francisco waving just for you.