Post-Pride pronouncements, pronouns, pro forma vinci.

Steve Grand at SF Pride 2015

What a weekend, and what a way to celebrate so many anniversaries, with our own equal rights for marriage opening nationwide.

The southern grumblings and gatekeepers of backwater cities and villainous governors where resistance still yowls, may quiver, but like the obstinate Dixie flag, it goes down yet again.

SF Pride in Civic Center

 Goodbye, old century, again.

Sky's the limit for Cheer SF

Kids; Pride was all about the kids, at least in Civic Center. Many joined marching contingents away from the crowds. 

Happily backstage - thanks, SF Pride, and to the caterers! - I got to say hi to artists I've interviewed, celebrities whose parties I danced at, and made a few new acquaintances.

Pennsylvania Pride

As LGBT Pride events fill our national (and international) calendars, I want to focus on Pennsylvania, and the setting of my two most recent novels, where it seems the fictional dreams of my protagonists have come true.

Some background about the two novels Every Time I Think of You and Message of Love (with some minor spoilers).

Dancing in the streets of Pittsburgh

In 1979, Everett Forrester's sister and father live in Pittsburgh, and in the first novel, the two young men's first awkward romantic night is spent in Squirrel Hill, a scenic neighborhood similar to Shadyside.
 
This May, people were dancing in the streets in the neighborhood of Shadyside after Pennsylvania's same-sex marriage ban was declared unconstitutional. (Photo by Michael Henninger/Post-Gazette)

A Gay Old Time

What's it like to be in a longterm relationship? Well, don't ask me. I have no idea. So, why am I writing a novel that (hopefully) portrays the possibility of a life-long love affair? Because it's interesting. 

Take the story of John Banvard and his partner Gerard Nadeau. The two gay seniors in Chula Vista, California held a wedding ceremony at their retirement home. The UK's Daily Mail refurbished a San Diego TV station's coverage of these adorable older men who decided to finally get hitched after spending decades together.

But their belated union wasn't without its controversies. Some of the older residents were ticked off, and even tried to get the rabidly idiotic Phelps clan to show up and protest. That failed.

So, too, do the sniping antigay comments on the website. These two men served our country in different wars, and yet the same sort of people who bleat "Support Our Troops" are often those who denigrate equality for these men after their service.

Livin' in the Eighties

Brits celebrate the death of Margaret Thatcher

The death of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher serves as the final nail in the coffin of the 1980s. While politicians, including our own duplicitous president, chose to commemorate Thatcher's "strength" and power, others, including British citizens who survived her  establishment, know from their life experience, that the decade was one of hardship, capitalist corruption, and utter cruelty.

Coupledom

As the Supreme Court hearings on the unconstitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8 are debated online, on radio, and this evening, on one of KRON4's alternative channels, I've been alternating between Facebook and its sea of red equal sign profile images, with hundreds of creative variations.

I just finished a chapter where Reid listens to Everett use his amazing debate skills on another issue relevant to the setting of the sequel, the early 1980s.  I'm wondering if he would have have considered debating gay marriage rights, if they could even imagine this situation, where hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets in multiple cities, and the multiple aspects of these lawsuits are beguiling, if not confusing.

Romney; a Disaster for the Disabled

What's fascinating about having written a novel about disability is that everything, politics in particular, can be seen through a focused viewpoint.

Take Willard Romney. Please.

Even if you're not disabled, you probably know someone who is. One in four Americans have some form of disability. Among adults, that makes for a lot of potential voters. None of them should vote for Romney/Ryan, whose draconian platforms eviscerate funding for disabled veterans and others who need some aspect of medical assistance.

Evolved

“Over the course of several years, as I talked to friends and family and neighbors. When I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I about those soldiers or airmen or Marines, sailors, who are out their fighting on my behalf yet feel constrained, even now that don’t ask don’t tell is gone, because they’re not able to commit themselves in a marriage; At a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm I think same sex couples should be able to get married.”

- President Barack Obama

ABC News

source: Huffington Post