The Gay News

Things are always bigger in Texas, or so people like to say. But the tizzy being thrown by the Right Wingnuts and Religious zealots over Anise Parker's chances at becoming mayor of Houston is ginormous. And why, you ask, are the folks in Texas are riled up?

Why, Anise Parker is a Lesbian, of course. And the feeling from some of those more righteous corners is, Oh, dear Jeebus! An openly gay mayor of one of the largest cities in this country? They'd better get their handbaskets ready, because surely they are all going to hell if that happens!

And they're working overtime to see that doesn't happen, even going so far as to call the possible election of Parker as the onset of a "gay takeover of the city of Houston."

Honey, we don't takeover as much as we do makeover. And it looks like Hoston may get one.

But you see, the wingnuts and asshats have no other fight against Parker other than that she is a lesbian, so, rather than focus on any issue, they'll use her orientation against her. They're using fear rather than the issues.

Where have we seen that before? Oh, yeah, everywhere.

Even her opponent, Gene Locke, is now playing the gay card, although he shied away from doing so in the initial campaign. Locke is now courting the endorsement of one of Houston's biggest homophobes, Steven Hotze, who, in the past, recruited eight Houston city council candidates to run on a solely anti-gay platforms. Hotze also works his bone to the nub, I mean, his finger to the bone, raising money for social conservative candidates [AKA homophobic asshats] like Mike Huckabee.

But the real issue is that Parker doesn't hide who she is; she's been open about her life, her partner of twenty years, and their two children. She's actually acting as if her orientation doesn't mean anything at all! Huh? What? Huh? And that's what scares those homophobic asshats. If she can get elected by being who she is, then, by God, them damned homosexuals might actually start being treated like reg'lar folk.

And they can't have that.

A bill that would allow marriage equality in the District of Columbia cleared a major hurdle last week when a City Council committee voted 4-1 to approve it. The committee also defeated an amendment that would have allowed people, including private business owners, to refuse to provide goods and services related to a same-sex marriage.

Take that, haters.

The vote came one day after Council member Phil Mendelson, who chairs the committee, released a revised version of the bill that received full support from nearly all other Council members, including gay Council member David Catania, the bill’s author.

And, like most laws that seek to allow marriage equality, the DC bill allows churches and religious organizations the freedom to refuse to rent facilities or provide services for same-sex marriage ceremonies, even though such facilities and services are available to the general public.

See, you religious folks, we don't want your churches and your synagogues to bless our unions, and we don't want your halls for our receptions. We just want equality.

Is that so wrong?

And finally, I'll leave you with he words of one Ian McKellen. Brilliant actor, openly gay, smart man.

On religion: "I increasingly see organized religion as actually my enemy. They treat me as their enemy...Not all Christians, of course. Not all Jews, not all Muslims. But the leaders. . . . Why should I take the judgment of a declared celibate about my sexual needs? He's basing his judgment on laws that would fit life in the Bronze Age. So if I'm lost to God, organized religion is to blame."

On being gay in Hollywood: "The conventional wisdom is that if you are gay, you cannot play the romantic straight lead in a movie...They'd rather have 'don't ask, don't tell.' The proposition from Mephistopheles as you sign the agreement that you will become a Hollywood star is that you will lie about yourself. That's selling your soul. This business may involve disguise, but it's about telling the truth. And I don't think a closeted actor in this day and age can act as well as an actor who is out."

On his achievements and what might be written on his gravestone: "I've said: 'Here lies Gandalf. He came out.' Two big achievements."

Indeed.