Bobservations

In our house we have four pets … MaxGoldberg, Tuxedo, Consuelo Roca-Jones, and the dog, Ozzo.

As happens with pets, they tend to bond with one of us slightly more than the other. Ozzo is clearly more attached to Carlos, though he loves to sit with me in the office while I play on the computer. MaxGoldberg, though, likes us equally, and will run back and forth between our laps, never quite sure who he wants to sit with for long.

Now, Tuxedo is mine; he bonded with me first and he’s always been ‘my boy.’ And Carlos sometimes gets jealous of how Tuxedo comes when I call him, and how Tuxedo follows me around the house, and how Tuxedo will sleep on top of me.

Cut to the other night when I walked in the living room and found Tuxedo curled up in Carlos’ lap, fast asleep. Carlos bragged:

“I think he likes me better now.”

I took a seat …

“Don’t bet on it.”

The second my ass hit the chair, Tuxedo was up and walking across  the side table to curl up in my lap and fall asleep. Carlos muttered …

“Stupid cat.”

“Honey, you were just a place card until his real daddy came into the room.”

“Stupid cat.”

It’s gonna get ugly when Carlos finds out that Consuelo, who hates to be held, has been sitting with me at night, sleeping in my lap.

Garry Smith a South Carolina Republican … because, of course … lawmaker wants libraries to ensure the events they host are age appropriate after an Upstate library hosted a children’s story hour featuring drag queens.

Cuz drag queens are dangerous, y’all. So, Smith proposes that all state-funded libraries must ensure outside groups using library facilities comply with the same regulations for public school curriculums, and if they don’t , they must return their state funding.

For having drag queens read to children. Sadly, Smith doesn’t seem to realize that libraries aren’t schools, and they have meeting spaces available for public use because he’s stupid and a homophobe.

That’s all … oh, but then … the committee voted to table Smith’s proposal, killing it, and then telling smith to Sashay away.

Just an example of how stupid racists are …. There is video of Jill, a white woman, swearing at the general manager of a Mexican restaurant in West Virginia because he was  speaking Spanish:

“English is our first language, so you need to speak English. Get the f--- out of my country.”

As Jill continues to scream at Budar, saying that she has “no problem with the way he looks,” one of the chefs that works at the restaurant intervenes:

“If you’re going to be racist you’re going to leave."

Jill says:

“I’m not racist.”

Like I said, racists are dumb. Jill is dumb. And hate-filled. As she left, she said to the manager:

“I got raped by illegal aliens. F---ing rapist."

Fuck Jill.

Earlier this month Kansas GOP state Representatives Randy Garber, Owen Donohoe, David French, Cheryl Helmer, Ron Highland, Steve Huebert and Bill Rhiley introduced a set hate-filled bills that would ban same-sex marriage, legally deny the existence of transgender people, allow gay conversion therapy, and much more.

However, this week Ron Highland withdrew his support from the bill after his daughter, Christel, publicly shamed him in an open letter on Facebook:

“This has been a strange and difficult week indeed. My name is Christel Highland, and my Father, Representative Ron Highland … was a co-sponsor of the legislation, bill HB2320, that will likely never make it to Governor Laura Kelly’s desk for veto. As a proud member of Kansas City’s LGBTQ+ community, a Mother, a Partner to the love of my life, an Artist active in my creative community, and a hard-working Businessperson, I am personally offended by the egregious nature of Kansas Representatives’ proposed legislation, most notably, my father’s. This is the letter I sent to him:

“Your God did not elect you, living, breathing humans did. Further isolating the marginalized among the population you serve is far from your duty. Hate has no place in public policy. I respectfully request an apology on behalf of my family and beloved friends that this cruel attempt at legislation impacts…”

After his daughter’s public Facebook post, Ron Highland said he’d made a mistake:

“The bill that I should not have signed on to co-sponsor contained some hateful language, which I do not condone. I have asked for my name to be removed from the bill. The process for doing so is in motion.”

Brava to Christel for calling out her father.

And here it is, in full; click to emBIGGERate.

I’m not saying I’d do that to a driver who brazenly parked like an asshat, and I’m not saying I wouldn’t do.

I am saying I bought a box of zip ties this week and keep them in my glove box.

On the heels of yet another pope declaring that the Catholic Church would do something about priests raping children, Cardinal George Pell, until recently the head of the Catholic Church in Australia, and a “top adviser to Pope Francis”  was accused and found guilty of five charges of child sexual abuse.

Pell was found guilty in December, but a gag order was placed on the case because he was scheduled to be tried in a second sexual assault case that was later dropped; the gag order was officially lifted Tuesday.

With this verdict, Pell is the senior most Catholic official convicted of sexual offenses.

The pope has said nothing about Pell. Go figure.

Breana Harmon, a Texas teenager who falsely claimed she was kidnapped and raped by three black men last March, will likely serve no prison time.

While she pleaded guilty to four felony charges of tampering with physical evidence and government documents in relation to false reports of kidnapping and rape, her plea deal will kore than likely include no prison time. 

So, those of you screaming for Jussie Smollett to go to jail because he lied about being attacked by two black men, need to keep this story in mind. Or maybe you don’t have a problem with Harmon lying because she’s a white girl? 

Asking for a country.

This is LA’s ABC7 entertainment correspondent, Karl Schmid.

He’s hot, he’s Australian, he’s gay …and he’s been living with HIV for 10 years. I only say that last part because there is still a stigma in this country, and even in our own community, about HIV, and what it ‘looks’ like and what it means.

What it looks like is a hot, gay Australian TV personality; what it means is that you can live with HIV these days; it’s not a death sentence, it’s a condition; it’s not curable but it is manageable.

Karl came out as HIV+ last year in a Facebook post:

“Hi. I’m a 37-year-old HIV+ man who has been poz for almost ten years. I work in television. And on the side of the camera where, for better or worse it’s considered “taboo” for people “like me” to be “like me”. For 10 years I’ve struggled with “do I or don’t I”? For ten years the stigma and industry professionals have said, “don’t! It’ll ruin you”.

But here’s the thing. I’m me. I’m just like you. I have a big heart and I want to be loved and accepted. I may be on TV from time to time, but at the end of the day I’m just an average guy who wants [what] we all want. To be accepted and loved by our friends and family and to be encouraged by our peers.

So here’s what I say, stand tall, and stand proud. You can’t make everybody happy but you can make you happy. And so long as you tell the truth, you will never have to remember anything. Labels are things that come and go but your dignity and who you are is what defines you. I know who I am, I know what I stand for and while in the past I may not have always had clarity, I do now. Love me or hate me, that’s up to you.

But, for anyone who has ever doubted themselves because of those scary three letters and one symbol, let me tell you this, you are somebody who matters. Your feelings, your thoughts, your emotions count. And don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.

I’m Karl Schmid, and I’m an HIV-positive man!”

Hot, gay, open, brave …did I mention hot?

Just sayin’.

Silence still = Death