Blog
Marriage
It is inevitably a political act, for men, for women, regardless of whether they are marrying someone of the same sex or the opposite sex. It is a political act for economic reasons, and, for gay people, it has been a political act since the first gay person asked for...
The validity of the lives we lead
“I don’t really think that it makes sense for a work of art to take on a social purpose. Just because there are so many constraints that you’re working under already — what material is available to you, what your capabilities are with the abilities you have, what will...
We don’t tell the truth about ourselves
What should be the subject of a gay writer? I ask this question seriously. I have read a recent article in Salon by Daniel D’Addario which seems to explain what is happening now in publishing. The headline over D’Addario’s article is, Where’s the...
What makes good people good
This week the news is out of Russia and has to do with the anti-gay laws there, their effects on Russian LGBT people and on the Winter Olympics 2014, and what the rest of the world is going to do about it. First response was from gay bars around the world dumping...
This is what is essential about us
There has always been the danger that the more assimilated we are, the more we will become like them and therefore lose what makes us unique. Assimilate us, and eventually we disappear. This has been a danger for Jews, for black people, for women, for Native...
Chris Matthews, Anthony Weiner, sex, and language
I had the TV on to MSNBC, listening to the progressive cable channel chew over Anthony Weiner. Chris Matthews was sputtering with (I suppose) astonishment and dismay, talking to two psychologists, trying to understand why Weiner did what he did. In a very brief...
People who were careless and malicious and ignorant
It’s satisfying, having access to a right that everybody else has access to, and to have that right unencumbered by any factor. These rights are inherent and do not come from the Constitution. Justice Kennedy recognized that. We can get married. Our marriages are...
A demonstration of happy people, the 54th Regiment Memorial, rain, Bromfield Camera
I went into town to find a demonstration of happy gay people, but the only demonstration I could find was in front of the State House around a man running as a Democrat for Congress. Everybody seemed happy, but they didn’t seem gay. I crossed the street. There were...
Gay men, gay women, the truth, and the Supreme Court (3)
What we are looking at here is a developing definition of gay man that is very porous. There isn’t really such a thing. Alfred Kinsey collected data on sexual histories that resulted in his creation of a seven point scale in which he said everyone could be placed....
Gay men, gay women, the truth, and the Supreme Court (2)
When I was growing up, everybody around me—my parents, my grandparents, my sister and brother, my cousins, my scoutmaster, my teachers, the priest, politicians—thought the same way about how I was feeling. I was definitely aroused by men and by particular aspects of...
Waldman on Towleroad on Supreme Court (6)
In this video (one of “Law Talks” that I have just discovered), Ari discusses the effect of the decisions already announced on the decisions not announced and on the drive of gay people for equality. Watch it here.
Waldman on Towleroad on Supreme Court (5)
Ari Ezra Waldman has a post up on Towleroad about the implications of the affirmative action decision for the marriage cases tomorrow. The post can be read here.
Waldman on Towleroad on Supreme Court (4)
Ari Ezra Waldman and Towleroad published the fourth post in the run-up to the Supreme Court decisions this week. He gives us eight things to keep in mind when we read the decisions. Here is the
Gay men, gay women, the truth, and the Supreme Court (1)
It’s at the end of the last, the third, night of the fighting, people are drifting away, some of them to go down to the piers for sex and some to the trucks, but our guys are still sitting on the high stoop next door to the Stonewall, watching and listening to things...
Waldman on Towleroad on Supreme Court (3)
Yesterday I posted two links to Ari Ezra Waldman’s posts on Towleroad under the heading “Gay Rights After SCOTUS.” Here is a third. It’s on “The Future of Civil Unions and Domestic Partnerships.” I’ll keep up with Ari’s posts and will pass on the links...
Waldman on Towleroad on Supreme Court (1) and (2)
Towleroad and Ari Ezra Waldman are aware that the Supreme Court will probably be releasing the decisions in the marriage cases Friday morning, June 28, 2013. Ari is running a series of explanatory blog posts in preparation for these decisions, which promise to...
It still ain’t necessarily so
This month, the Supreme Court will decide the Prop 8 case, known as Hollingsworth v. Perry, and the DOMA case, known as US v. Windsor. An analysis of what these cases are and what they mean for the gay community and the prospects for a gay success can be found on...
What do we fight against, or for
We have to fight to improve our situation in America, in order to become, as the character Joseph says in Adam in the Morning, “Americans,” merely coming out won’t do it. The post before last was the second of two on Tim DeChristopher and an elaboration of his...
Being rude and out-of-control
Tim DeChristopher said, in his sentencing statement, “Since [the] bedrock acts of civil disobedience by our founding fathers, the rule of law in this country has continued to grow closer to our shared higher moral code through the civil disobedience that drew...
Tim DeChristopher and civil disobedience
Tim DeChristopher has just gotten out of prison, having served two years for attempting to disrupt the sale of oil leases of land in Utah. His civil disobedience, which began under the Bush administration and continued under the Obama administration, is welcome news,...