Do you believe that everyone should have a chance at the American Dream? So Does Deshon Porter, a may-be candidate for Boston City Council in 2011. Well, he believes he should have a chance at the American Dream, at least. In fact, Deshon Porter is running around the web looking to garnish support for his candidacy for Boston City Council in 2011.

Representative Ike Skelton from Missouri is against the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (“DADT”), which bans service in the military by openly gay people, because he doesn’t want to open a national dialogue about homosexuality. Specifically, he doesn’t want to have to force families to explain homosexuality to their children. Setting aside the absurdity that repealing DADT will come up at the dinner table with our children, let’s talk about the real issue here. Homo-ignorance.

In 2007, the International Woman’s Day March planned to hit the streets of San Antonio to support women around the globe. However, San Antonio parade ordinances require not only permitting, but a fee for the services by the police department for traffic control and other safety matters.

To begin with, let’s take a brief quiz. For each statement listed below, answer which person made the statement

“By increasing the number of married couples who might be interested in adoption and foster care, same-sex marriage might well lead to fewer children growing up in state institutions and more growing up in loving adoptive and foster families.”

Was it:

(A) George W. Bush;
(B) Barack Obama;
(C) David Blackenhorn, President of the Institute for American Values;
(D) Joe Solomenese, President of HRC;
(E) Lady Gaga;
(F) Rachel Maddow?

Yesterday, William Tam, who previously won a jaysays.com Stupid Things People Say About Gays nod, not only won the title again while be questioned by Attorney Boies, but set the bar to a new level. During testimony, Tam advised that he thinks legalizing gay marriage would result in legalizing prostitution.

Boies: You said that you thought Prop. 8 would lead to legalizing prostitution. Why?

Tam: *** I saw some homosexuals hanging around there. [Regarding “Measure K”, which if passed by voters, would have stopped the enforcement of laws against prostitution in California, among other things.]

Police in China shut down the Mr. Gay China Pageant in Beijing an hour before the event was to start. Organizers planned the event to select a contestant for the Worldwide Mr. Gay Pageant to be held in Norway next month. The pageant is said to be the first of its kind in China and was to feature a fashion show, a question and answer session and a host in drag.

Professor Zhang Beichuan of Qingdao University had said, before the show was canceled, that:

“…it reflects a more open and tolerant attitude of the country toward the gay community to host such an event.”

Perseverance will pay off in California next year. Restore Equality 2010 officially launched its petition drive along with a social networking site, today. The statewide group is a coalition of organizations committed to repealing the unconstitutional Proposition 8 which narrowly passed last November, damaging thousands of families in the state and destroying what could have been the election’s most prized lesson: prejudice and discrimination are a thing of America’s past.

No matter how you spin it, there is something for everyone in being an activist. Within the broad gay community, we have developed our own labels. Some of those labels cross the boundaries into the straight world, some are fairly queer specific. Queers United covers many of these gay phrases under “Word of the Gay,” which I link to several times in this post.

This listing was inspired by conversations with various people within the gay community about “assimilation” and the fear that the marriage movement is absorbing our “queer” identities. I disagree with that ideology, but that is not the point here. The point is, “I’m here to recruit you.”

I just spoke with Jeremy DaRos of RageAgainstTheRight.com who is attending the No On One Maine party in Portland at the Holiday Inn. Attendees are cautiously optimistic as numbers are slowly working their way in. Because Maine precincts are small, Jeremy tells us we can expect faster results than most states with large metropolitan city centers.

October 11th is Coming Out Day. I can’t help but wonder what it is that prompts a gay person to come out. Especially in a place like a workplace, where your very livelihood is at stake. As a straight person, I can only imagine and I would never have the audacity to say this is something I know or feel. In last week’s Closet Talk interview with Jen Dugan, of the 1st Annual Nationwide You Are Loved Chalk Messages Project, Jen told her own coming out story and how surprised she was at the support. Many individuals told her that had they known, they would have supported her. She used the words “It goes unsaid.”