Meme Dump, But First ...

Tis true, I have been at this blog thing for fifteen years now, though I never knew I have fifteen years worth of things to say, but it's true; I'm still here and people still read it and so, yeah, I'm Fifteen!

And here's that that first post:

Newbie

I'm new to this blog thing, but I do love to talk and I do have an opinion—hell, I have thousands of opinions—so I guess that's as good a place to start. 

Let's talk about.........Me!

I am a happily-partnered gay male, and I have been with the love of my life for the last eight years. We met online in an AOL chatroom—no, not THAT kind of chatroom—and became IM friends, and then email friends, and then phone friends and then friends across the country and then I went from California to Miami to meet him, and that was that.

A few months later I'd left California and settled in Miami—talk about culture shock! We stayed in Miami for about six years until Carlos—the aforementioned partner—accepted a job in Smallville, South Carolina, and we loaded up the truck and moved to....well, not Beverly Hills, but Smallville. A small town. A cute town. A town full of nice people who didn't seem at all peeved that the newest arrivals were a couple of mo's from Miami.

That's a start, I think. More to come.....I hope.

My how things have changed since then ... so let's take a moment and look at some facts about ISBL:

There are 390 followers, though thankfully not all of them comment because that would be insane to keep up with. I have written 10,952 posts and have read 76,476 comments—not counting the spam bots which get deleted right away and have been viewed 7,628,095.

But I thank all of them, all of you, for coming by to check on what I have to say, whether it's political, social, architectural, funny, rude, fashionable, or just takes about Carlos and me, and the our furry family.

Thanks for reading ... and now, a Meme Dump:

A Celebrity Couple Breakup & This One Hurts

I wasn’t so upset when Brad and Jen broke up; I was a wee bit upset when Brad and Angelina  split; I giggled at Kanye and Kim mostly because I saw breakup as soon as they said, ‘I do.’

And now Freddie Mercury and Lance Bass are done. During Pride month? Now, before you come for me, I must say that I know Freddie has passed on and I know Lance has a husband, but I’m talking Freddie Mercury and Lance Bass, the Denver Zoo’s iconic same-sex flamingo couple.

A Denver Zoo Facebook post about the socialization and pairing habits of Chilean and American flamingos casually broke the news this week:

“Flamingos are extremely social by nature and flocks consist of collections of partnerships. This includes not only male-female breeding pairs, but also strong bonds between same-sex pairs … while Chilean flamingo Lance Bass and American flamingo Freddie Mercury are no longer a pair, they were paired up for several years.”

Note, that unlike celebrities who take their breakups to the press, Freddie and Lance have not asked for privacy at this challenging time.

Which might be due to the fact that Freddie, that whore, has already moved with another … younger … female …flamingo. Clearly this is an attempt at making Lance, who I must say is single and ready to "flamingle," jealous.

My heart breaks.

The Bad and The Good ... Monday April 11, 2022

These really are the easiest posts to compile, because, literally, there are dumb people everywhere ... but that's what makes it so frightening. So this week, I decided to include some Good News as sort of a palette cleanser for the crazies …

ALABAMA

GOP Governor Kay Ivey has signed two anti-LGBTQ+ bills into law, a day after the state Legislature passed the legislation along party lines on the last day of the legislative session.

SB184 criminalizes gender-affirming surgeries for trans youth.

HB322, is Alabama’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, which also only allows people in schools to use the bathroom of the gender listed on their birth certificate.

Alabama and Kay Ivey and the GOP hate LGBTQ+ people.

Washington DC

Six GOP Congress members opposed a bill passed last week that encouraged efforts to document and preserve evidence of Russian war crimes during the war in Ukraine.

They don’t want to see evidence of war crimes because they don’t want to make Putin angry.

The six are, no surprise: Andy Biggs, Warren Davidson, Paul Gosar, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Tom Massie, and Scott Perry, and they are all  members of the House Freedom Caucus.

Vote. Them. Out.

Oklahoma

The GOP-controlled House gave final legislative approval last week to a bill that would make performing an abortion a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The bill will be sent to GOP Governor Kevin Stitt who says he will sign any anti-abortion bill that comes to his desk.

Governor Stitt, who contracted COVID in July 2020, announced a statewide day of fasting and prayer against COVID in December 2020.

On his inauguration day in January 2019, he declared that the primary mission of his administration would be to “bring people to Jesus.”

In April 2021, he signed into law a bill that legalizes running over protesters.

Cuz that’s what Jesus would do.

Tennessee

House and Senate Republicans are voting on legislation this week that would bypass the Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell ruling that finds same-sex couples have the same rights and responsibilities to marriage as their different-sex peers.

The bill creates all-age marriages classified as common-law “one man and one woman” unions while mandating the state defend in court any clerk who decides to not issue a marriage license for any reason.

Yes, The Gays can’t marry, but adults can marry children in Tennessee.

And now for some Good News …

KENTUCKY

Democratic Governor Andy Beshear vetoed a Republican-priority measure that would ban abortions in Kentucky after 15 weeks of pregnancy and regulate the dispensing of abortion pills because he questioned the constitutionality of the bill and criticized it for not including exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest.

As an example, he said that a girl impregnated by her father—raped by her father—would have to notify him of her intent to get an abortion.

State lawmakers will have a chance to override the veto when they reconvene next week for the final two days of this year’s 60-day legislative session.

COLORADO

The left-leaning state has just enacted a law that enshrines a woman’s right to have an abortion in the state.

The Reproductive Health Equity Act affirms that pregnant people in Colorado have the right to continue a pregnancy and give birth or have an abortion, and it blocks public entities from denying or restricting that right.

Colorado joins 15 other states and Washington, D.C., in codifying the right to have an abortion either prior to a fetus's viability or throughout a pregnancy in state law.

CALIFORNIA

The California Senate Judiciary Committee passed SB 1327—legislation authored by Democratic Senator Robert Hertzberg and sponsored by Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom—to limit the spread of assault weapons and ghost guns.

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last December allowing Texas’s ban on most abortion services to remain in place, Governor Newsom directed his Administration to work with the Legislature to propose a measure, modeled on the structure of Texas’s abortion law, to enable private citizens to hold the gun industry accountable through civil litigation for the proliferation of illegal firearms.

SB 1327 allows private citizens to bring civil actions against any person who manufactures, distributes, transports, imports into the state or sells assault weapons, .50 BMG rifles, ghost guns, or ghost gun kits.

WISCONSIN

Kelly Ruh, a Wisconsin official who two years ago posed as a presidential elector for Thing 45 in an to overturn the 2020 election, lost her re-election.

Ruh sought a second term as an alderperson in De Pere but lost to Pamela Gantz. She received a subpoena from Congress earlier this year over her involvement in Stop-the-Steal efforts.

Please note that the Good News, the sensible news, comes from Democrat-run states, and Democratic Governors. That speaks volumes.

Get educated and save yourselves from The Stupids.

And CAST A GODDAMNED VOTE!

Cartier Straight-Washes Ad Campaign

Cartier is being accused of straight-washing a Chinese ad.

In a new campaign for its classic Trinity ring you see several of people, like a man and woman dancing on a rooftop, two women holding hands, and two men bicycling and embracing one another. The advertisement ends with a question: "How far would you go for love?"

The ad clearly shows a straight couple, a lesbian couple and a gay couple, but shoppers at Tmall—China's premiere digital shopping marketplace—say that the same-sex couples in the video are also featured as still-image ads … with captions claiming their relationships are strictly platonic. 

Under the image of two women it says:

"Mutual understanding beyond words. Witness our everlasting friendship."

Under the two men it reads:

"Father and son are also friends—happily sharing life's journey."

When users pointed out that the two men seemed quite close in age, the text was altered:

"Father and son are like brothers."

Wait, so women who are “just friends” buy matching rings? And fathers and sons buy matching bands, too. C’mon Cartier. The Trinity band, designed in 1924, is actually three bands that symbolize different aspects of a relationship, but is often used as a wedding ring and almost always associated with lovers.

In a statement responding to the confusion, Cartier stood by the gifting of the ring, which can retail over $3,000, for friendship and "family love."

Nice try. We know that same-sex relationships in China are not illegal but remain culturally taboo, and censorship of LGBTQ-inclusive media, such as the queer kiss scenes in Bohemian Rhapsody, is common, but then maybe don’t air your clearly meant to be gay men and women ads in China. Shell out some extra coins for a new, straights only campaign.

Don’t erase gay people. It’s demeaning, degrading and just plain wrong.

The Advocate

Good News For Michael and Spider... And All Same-Sex Couples

Michael Ely met James Taylor—not the singer—at a Sunset Beach bar in 1971, where Taylor, known as “Spider” to his friends, played guitar in a band. After Ely got involved as a singer, the two men quickly became a couple, living in California until the AIDS epidemic became too great, and they relocated to Tucson, Arizona, where Taylor worked as a jet mechanic for Bombardier and Ely took care of their home.

In 2007, the two had a commitment ceremony but could not be legally married in Arizona until November 2014 when, shortly after the state legalized same-sex marriage, and 43 years after they first met, Michael and James married.

Six months later, Taylor succumbed to cancer.

Michael Ely applied for spousal benefits from the Social Security Administration and was denied because the couple had not been married for the requisite nine months. You know, because they couldn’t legally get married.

Long story short, this week the LGBTQ advocacy group Lambda Legal won a class-action lawsuit, Ely v. Saul, on behalf of same-sex couples denied Social Security Administration benefits because of gay marriage bans, and Michael was able to receive his husband’s social security benefits.

Good news, except that it appears that the government, under the Racist-Homophobe-Transphobe-in-Chief, may seek to overturn the ruling.

All the more reason to vote Blue to keep same-sex couples, who were denied benefits because they hadn’t been married long enough because they couldn’t get married, equal under the law.

NBC News

Bobservations

Our cats are indoor cats; with all the animals—rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, deer, feral cats and such—that wander onto our property, it’s best to keep them inside so they don’t get sick. But Tuxedo is allowed outside—Max has no interest and since Consuelo escaped last year she’s all out of outdoor time—with adult human supervision; he sits on the table and lounges in the sun while Carlos and I chat.

However, Tuxedo has become quite adamant about when he goes out—and has begun to meow ‘Ooouuutt! Oouuttt!!’ at us all the time. So, I wasn’t too surprised walking into the living room one day and hearing Carlos tell the cat:

“Tuxedo! Get real!”

Oh, he was real; real anxious to go outside.

Then again, like his favorite daddy … me … Tuxedo isn’t keen on people invading his personal space. I’m surprised he doesn’t have taped markers in the house …

Leave it to Fox News, in the midst of nationwide worldwide protests over racism in this country, to suggest via a graphic that charted stock market performance following the killings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Michael Brown, and George Floyd, as well as the Rodney King police brutality verdict, seemingly suggesting that the market goes up when police murder black Americans.

Oh. Yes, they did.

Queen Sugar star Nicholas Ashe and Jurassic World actor  Justice Smith  have publicly come out as gay, and a couple, saying Black queer lives must be part of any revolution. Smith posted on social media:

“[Nicholas Ashe] and I protested today in New Orleans. We chanted ‘Black Trans Lives Matter’ ‘Black Queer Lives Matter’ ‘All Black Lives Matter’. As a black queer man myself, I was disappointed to see certain people eager to say Black Lives Matter, but hold their tongue when Trans/Queer was added. … I want to reiterate this sentiment: if your revolution does not include Black Queer voices, it is anti-black. If your revolution is okay with letting black trans people like #TonyMcDade slip through the cracks in order to solely liberate black cishet men, it is anti-black,”

Tony McDade was a 38-year-old trans man who was shot and killed by Tallahassee, Florida police in May but has not become a nationwide symbol of abuse the way others like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor have.

Then Smith spoke of the “joy” in his life and relationship with Ashe:

“You’ve been my rock and guiding light through all of this and I love you so much. I know that on the other side of this Is change, though the fight is far from over.”

The march does go on, because none of us are really out unless all of us can come out and be accepted and free from violence, especially our trans brothers and sisters, and our trans brothers and sisters of color. And we need to remember that the Stonewall riots started because Marsha P. Johnson, a black trans woman, had enough.

Welcome out, gentlemen, and keep up the fight.

This week it’s both Florida and South Carolina who have reported spikes in new COVID-19 cases following our GOP governors ’demand that the states reopen.

In Florida, the number of cases reported on Friday marked a new single-day high number of cases since Florida implemented phase one of its reopening plan on May 18.

In South Carolina, health officials issued a warning that reopening South Carolina may have led to a spike in COVID-19 cases; those officials first blamed an increase in testing, but changed their tune to say it occurred because of people going to graduations and businesses reopening and people heading to the beaches.

And the numbers are up in several other states as well. Will we ever learn?

Earl Gray, the lawyer for Thomas Lane, one of the police officers who stood by while Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd, says his client is innocent because he didn’t “have a real good view” of what was going on, since he was busy holding down Floyd’s feet, and there was another officer positioned between himself and Chauvin.

But what’s worse is that Gray suggests that the public should have intervened and stopped this. Yes, a group of people taking on the police, armed with weapons? Good idea, ambulance chaser.

Now, fuck off. Your client helped hold a man down until he was dead.

Well, it happened again. I have been banned from Facebook for twenty-four hours because of my, ahem, ‘hate speech.’

It seems I posted a graphic—it’s that one up there—about the recent rise in COVID-19 cases and deaths around the country and a friend commented that it all stems from people rushing out of their homes for Memorial Day, and I said:

“Americans are dumb.”

BANNED! Best of all Facebook gives you the option to dispute the decision, but when you try to do that they tell you that because of COVID-19, they don’t have enough people to work in that area so the decision stands. I guess I should’a just said:

“Facebook is dumb.:”

How will I live for the next twenty-fou—ooh, look, something shiny.

The president is a racist planning to incite his hate base on Friday June 19, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Why, you may ask?

The rally is being held on Juneteenth, a holiday celebrating the end of slavery and the Emancipation Proclamation.

The rally is being held in Tulsa, Oklahoma where, in the early summer of 1921, the Tulsa race massacre took place when mobs of white residents attacked black residents and businesses of the Greenwood District of the city. It has been called "the single worst incident of racial violence in American history.

And that’s when and where the racist motherfucker will speak.

Either he and his campaign are that stupid, and they are, or they are that ignorant, and they are, or they are that racist, and they are.

Now for something much better …

And because it’s hot and sticky—and not in a good way—here in Smallville, I thought I’d add to the heat by featuring 30-year-old architect, model, smoldering Karlwiz Gutierrez.

Cuz I can.

Bobservations

Carlos and I have an ongoing joke-battle about the kinds of TV shows we each watch. He likes a lot of what I call The Nerd Shows—How It’s Made, Monster Ship, Contact, etc.—while I like dramas and scary shows and what he calls Stupid Tv—like most, but not all, Real Housewives shows. Not that they aren’t all stupid, it’s that I don’t watch all Housewives franchises. New Jersey? Atlanta? Fuhgeddaboudit.

One show we agree on is Jeopardy, and this week, watching an episode, a question in the category ‘Ferdinand’ was this one:

“With a pick axe blow in 1859 Ferdinand de Lesseps began construction of this.”

And I quickly answered:

“The Suez Canal.”

And I was correct. So, I paused the show and said to Carlos:

“You know how I knew that? Well, on one of the Stupid TV shows I watch, way back about ten years ago, was The Real Housewives of New York, and Luann, the Countess de Lesseps was one of the housewives and told the story of how one of her husband’s grandfather built the Suez Canal!

“Not so Stupid TV now is it?”

Sometimes, rarely, but sometimes, Stupid TV is a better educational tool than Nerd TV.

Just sayin’.

I’ve had a crush on actor Tuc Watkins since he was on One Life to Life a hundred years ago, and I find actor Andrew Rannells brilliantly funny and talented.

And I love the fact that these two are a new couple, who’ve announced their Coupledom via social media.

I find them adorable. I find Tuc’s pecs adorable, too.

Speaking of adorable, Jacksonville Jaguars rookie quarterback Gardner Minshew has received a $1 million offer from adult cam website Cam Soda because Minshew is ALLEGEDLY known for doing his pre-game stretching in a jock strap or nude and Cam Soda would like to film it.

And I’d like to sign up for it.

The day the transcript of _____’s call to the Ukrainian president was released, the White House emailed talking points to allies of the president; talking points meant to show that he isn’t the biggest lying cheating traitor ever.

But, since this is the _____ White House, and shit hits the fan at a record pace, the email was also sent to many, many House Democrats who are set to start an impeachment inquiry.

Seriously? This White House is the hottest mess ever!

I didn’t do an Emmys recap because half the shows that are nominated or win I have never seen because we don’t do Netflix and Hulu and Amazon and whatever other streaming channels exist. And, also, the show as boooooooring, except for this …

Kim Kardastrophe and her sister Kendall Jenner were to present an award and instead, well, this happened: the Category was Reality TV Host and Kim started by saying:

"Our family knows first-hand how truly compelling television comes from real people, just being themselves."

And before Kendall could recite her lines, the audience … laughed.

Kardastrophes. Real TV. Bwahahahahaha. And boy did Kim look confused, while Kendall looked pissed.

I kept backing up the DVR and listening, and laughing, again and again.

Don’t hold your breath that this will turn out the way it’s written, but NBC has acquired a comedy about a gay father and son from writers Nick Lehmann and Matt Hubbard.

This new show, called Like Son, Like Father will center on Nick, an out and proud gay man, who finds himself in the unenviable position of being his newly out father’s gay mentor and roommate.

I won’t hold my breath that the show will run as written because NBC has a history of “straightening” gay characters, as they did a few years ago with Rise, a story inspired by high-school teacher Lou Volpe, who was closeted and eventually came out later in life. In the NBC show they made the character straight because, well, some bullshit reason about stories because, you know, we gays don’t have stories.

Just sayin’ NBC.

Alaska now joins Nevada, South Carolina and Kansas in cancelling the GOP presidential primary in 2020 because they don’t want to annoy, bother, make fun, show the world that some Republicans hate,_____.

So, if you’re a Republican in those states and you want to cast a vote for anyone one else, the GOP is taking your vote away.

How wonderful for you, eh?

Bruno Endler. He’s a Brazilian model with a face to die for … I mean look at that profile!

And Bruno can wear a suit, even a birthday suit, better than anyone else.

And he can rock the briefs. Thanks Bruno, I needed that.

Just sayin'.

Stories of Pride: One More Reason To Be Out and Proud

Sal Stow and Meghan Stabler are a same-sex couple living in Texas. Yes. Texas. And this month, during Pride month, as they do, they hung a Pride flag outside their home. Again; Texas. And what happened next, well, here’s how Sal posted it:

“I just went out to collect 2 packages from the doorstep (at my partner Meghan’s house, that I call home) only to find this note under a rock on the mat. This is why visibility is SO important. You never know who needs the support and to know it’s ok. I hope this person is ok, their family is being supportive and they find a community to connect with that can help them through this brave process. Williamson County is extremely conservative and in fact the County Commissioners voted 4-0 to not allow the pride flag to be flown on the Round Rock county court buildings. I am proud of who I am and the person I love. I will continue to be visible in whatever way I can”

And this is the note:

“Hello, you don’t know me but my name is [redacted]. We’re moving away today but I wanted to thank you. Seeing a pride flag waving so proudly outside your home every day has given me the courage to come out to my family and be more comfortable with who I am.”

You know, I often say that closeted celebrities need to come out because, in doing so, they may inspire other people, the non-famous sort, the everyday gays, to come out as well.

But it’s not just the famous; it’s all of us that need to be out and open and visible because if we can help just one other person not feel different or alone or shames, then that’s the real meaning of Pride.

Towleroad

St. Ann's Catholic School Bans Gay Couple's Child; Thousands Protest

St. Ann Catholic School, a Roman Catholic grade school in Kansas, have denied enrollment to a kindergartner who is the child of a same-sex couple.

A few years ago, this would have been met with applause from other parents, and locals, but this time around some 1,000 people—half of whom are members at St. Ann—have signed a petition asking church leaders to reconsider their decision:

“Respectfully, we believe that the decision to deny a child of God access to such a wonderful community and education, based on the notion that his or her parent’s union is not in accordance with the Church’s teaching in Sacramental marriage, lacks the compassion and mercy of Christ’s message.”

You know, cuz Jesus never said a word about The Gays.

And yet, by way of a reply, school Superintendent Kathy O’Hara said:

“[The] Church’s teaching on marriage is clear and is not altered by the laws of civil society. The Church teaches that individuals with same sex attraction should be treated with dignity, however, the challenge regarding same sex couples and our Catholic schools is that same sex parents cannot model behaviors and attitudes regarding marriage and sexual morality consistent with essential components of the Church’s teachings.”

I love that she says the Church teaches that Gay Folks should be treated with dignity, while denying their children the right to an education at a Catholic school, and the claims that same-sex parents are somehow immoral or bad role models.

The height of dignity! Not lost on me is the fact that an institution with a history of rampant child sexual abuse paints themselves as the moral compass for the ways to raise children.

You know, cuz a priest raping a child is bad, but a child raised by a same-sex couple is somehow incapable of teaching morality.

And then we have St. Ann’s pastor, the Reverend Craig Maxim, who further explained Catholic Hypocrisy:

“[Allowing this child to attend school]  creates a conflict for those children and what is experienced at home. It also could become a source of confusion for other school children.”

Um, and here’s where I’d say to the not-so-good reverend, that children aren’t the ones with the issue, it’s the parents who teach the children that a child of a same-sex couple is different or less than.

The children are taught to hate by their parents and by the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Oh, and the hypocrisy grows because this Catholic school accepts students who are not Catholic, who do not follow the teachings of Catholicism, or perhaps any faith at all. But those kids are deemed worthy, while the child of a same-sex couple is ostracized.

And while other children are raped by the very hypocrites who push this ideology forward.

Kansas City Star