Yesterday while on my afternoon commute, I was considering the passage of California’s Proposition 8 and the recent media frenzy over the election of Barack Obama to the Presidency.  I couldn’t figure out how Proposition 8 could have passed and how, for the first time in the history of the United States, voters voted to remove a civil right already provided.  Then, it hit me.

The Dorothy Effect -  The Dorothy Effect shall heretofore be the gay equivalent of the Bradley effect.  Voter’s took to the booth and, in its sanctuary, voted Yes for Proposition 8 while publicly proclaiming that the land of the free and the home of the brave treats all men equally in the eyes of the law.  This is the only explanation for the election outcome.

That’s at least the excuse I’m making in order to continue to be proud of my countrymen for the overwhelming support of Barack Obama.  That’s the rationale I’m using in an effort to regain my sense of humor… and in the spirit of united-ness, I would like to offer you my interpretation of why November 5, 2008 was likely one of the greatest moments in American history:

That evening, I was channel flipping.  From Fox to CNN to MSNBC - anything to avoid a commercial.  Cameras kept panning the crowd at Grant Park, a crowd overwhelmed with emotion and hope.

That crowd consisted of both black and white and the most remarkable thing about the entire evening… not one white man checked to make sure he still had his wallet.

Remember to laugh hard, even when its hard to laugh.

Now let’s hope that the news stations get over Wardrobe Gate quickly and Sarah Palin is never heard from again on the National scale.

Jay - Let Freedom Ring

I woke up the morning of November 5th, 2008 feeling like I was part of the world again and went to bed feeling defeated and empty.  That morning, I felt like an American and I was ready to take on the responsibility that comes with such an elusive title.  But I was shown again that in spite of what we learn, we are not born American but must be accepted as Americans.

What did I learn?  To be an American means you are a part of a group of people who think they are better than you when they are not.  To be an American means to claim your belief in Jesus even if you don’t.  To be an American one must fit the mold and wear the flag on their lapel and stand up against the immoral and stand up for the moral.  To be an American, one must forget the brothers and sisters that stood next to you when you were not an American.

California’s Proposition 8 passed.  Gay marriage is now constitutionally banned in the only state where there was hope that Gay marriage would be recognized with no residency requirement.

For me, I blame my faithful imaginary friend, Jesus and I blame a community who has often had backs turned to them, and now turns its back on others.

69% to 31%.  That’s the statistic of Black voters.  69% of them voted in favor of Proposition 8. My sorrow runs deep.  Those minorities I’ve stood up for and stood up with now stand against me.

In Texas, before and again shortly after the dragging death of James Byrd, we marched.  I, hand and hand with others, drudged through the cold wet streets of Austin and we said, “NO MORE!”  We demanded hate crimes legislation.  We the homosexual stood next to you as members of the United States of America.  We shouted for you and we chanted for you and we chanted for ourselves and you chanted for us and we were one people - all 500 of us that were willing to fight the cold rain so that we could say to the State of Texas - “NO MORE!” and together we forced the James Byrd Hate Crimes Act into law in Texas.

Now, those brothers that stood with me stand against me.  Those that called out for my help now ignore my pleas.  Because now they are Americans - part of the in crowd… and I am still the disinfranchised.  So the next time you march down Martin Luther King Drive, will you still allow me to be there with you as we once were or do I no longer fit the qualifications for membership?

Now, after writing all that, I feel much better.  And after taking a look at the below links, I feel even better… keep up the good work America - may we all someday be considered Americans.

Eating Out Loud blogger, Allen, has started the Let Freedom Ring Campaign.  jaysays.com is proud to participate and encourages you to do the same.  As soon as I get home with Christopher, we will be sharing our photo!

Prop 8: Let Freedom Ring! | Eating Out Loud.

To participate, take your photo, post it to your blog and visit:

Diary of a Modern Matriarch: Let Freedom Ring.

You are also encouraged to read Mathew Weaver’s commentary for Deadline USA:

Gay rage at Proposition 8 | World news | guardian.co.uk.

In Obama’s historic and most memorable acceptance speech as the President Elect of the United States of America, he proclaimed:

It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.We are, and always will be, the United States of America.

And I wept.  I cried for the country I had forgotten was with me, not against me.  I cried for the country I thought was dead but had suddenly risen from the grave.  I cried for all the martyrs of the American Dream, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Harvey Milk, Addie Mae Collins, James Chaney, Brandon Tina, Jonathan Daniels, James Byrd and the multiples of others who died because of the color of their skin or their denial of denying themselves and they stood up and said, “Yes we can.”  I cried because I had given up on the USA and no longer felt the pride I had felt so many years ago to stand up and salute the red, white and blue.  I was both proud and humbled.  And then, he spoke to me:

This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.

For being reminded not to abandon my hope, to not be the cynic, to never forget that I too am an American, I stretch out my hand to you and say, “Thank you Senator from Illinois, the next President of the United States of America.”

For a full transcript of Barack Obama’s 2008 acceptance speech for the Presidency of the United States of America, please follow the below provided link.

TEXT of President-Elect Barack Obama Speech | Views | TheRoot.com.

I suppose some would complain that since the election has heated up, I’ve covered too serious of topics, forgetting my ordinarily laugh at the world self and instead substituting for more serious topics (hence the “seriously”).  Well, this post is no exception… seriously.

Some will remember President Elect Obama’s (no I don’t think I’m being too premature) open letter to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community from February 2008.  Reading that letter now, as Obama’s campaign comes to a close and American’s cast their votes, I find myself wondering, “Does he mean it?”  We all remember the promises of Bill Clinton - taking our money and passing laws such as “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” and “the Defense of Marriage Act.”  We don’t ALL particularly fault Bill Clinton for these measures, but it was certainly a slap in the face to those of us that put  our hearts and money where our mouths were.  Granted, I did not vote for Bill Clinton in his 1992-1996 bid, I was too young to vote - but I was listening, and I was aware.

In the wishy washy game of politics, there’s just no way to knowwhether or not we will experience the same slap from Barack Obama.  Considering his more recent commentary that he is against “gay marriage,” it looks as though we are set for failure; however, I have a dream, but more than that, I have hope.

To read the full text of Obama’s Open Letter to the LGBT Community, please see Alex Okrent’s Blog at:

Barack Obama and Joe Biden: The Change We Need | Alex Okrent’s Blog: Equality is a Moral Imperative.

We all know President George W. Bush has been noted for his antics while intoxicated, be it on alcohol or other substances, but did you know about Obama’s history with narcotics?  Obama, in his book, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance wrote:

Junkie.  Pothead.  That’s where I’d been headed: the final, fatal role of the young would-be black man, Except the highs hadn’t been about that, me trying to prove what a down brother I was.  Not by then, anyway.  I got high for just the opposite effect, something that could push questions of who I was out of my mind, something that could flatten out the landscape of my heart, blur the edges of my memory.  I had discovered that it didn’t make any difference whether you smoked reefer in the white classmate’s sparkling new van, or in the dorm room of some brother you’d met down at the gym, or on the beach with a couple of Hawaiian kids who had dropped out of school and now spent most of their time looking for an excuse to brawl.  …  You might just be bored, or alone.  Everybody was welcome into the club of disaffection.

Oddly, in all that, I didn’t even pause at the drug use, instead, I was struck by the “club of disaffection.”  That line caught me and held on to my breath for a moment.  I, too, have been welcomed into the club of disaffection - back then I was “hip” rather than worried about breaking a hip.  I bonded deeply at that line with Barack Obama.  The difference was that I wasn’t trying to be black enough or white enough, but trying to forget that the world, generally, loathed the homosexual - or at least felt the homosexual was less of a person than our heterosexual counterparts.

We are the disaffectioned, the blacks, Asians, Hispanics, gays, atheists, Arab and any number of other minority groups in America, now joined together in the club of disaffection.

But that isn’t the case.  Each of the disaffectioned ones claim our own club with our own colors and, like the affectioned ones, ignore those that aren’t in our club.

That’s where Barack Obama has gone wrong for me.  He has forgotten, in spite of a career based upon civil rights, that civil rights are equal rights for one and all.  That’s not to say I won’t proudly cast my vote tomorrow for Barack Obama - former pothead and future president (nothing new there).  I only hope that in his quest for civil rights, he remembers me as I will always remember him.

First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I said nothing. Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social Democrat, so I did nothing. Then came the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist. And then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did little. Then when they came for me, there was no one left to stand up for me.’ First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I said nothing. Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social Democrat, so I did nothing. Then came the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist. And then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did little. Then when they came for me, there was no one left to stand up for me. — Martin Niemöller (Niemoller)

I make a lot of predictions about politics, some published, some unpublished.  I’m not always right with the famed “margin of error”, but I generally  get pretty close.  For example, in 1999, I predicted that if George W. Bush were to become the next President of the United States it would result in World War III.  I missed the mark on that one as we are all alone in our wars… wars on the economy, wars in Iraq, war in Afghanistan, the continuation of the war on drugs (there’s a certain irony there me thinks), and, of course, the war on social indecency, such as abortion and homosexuality.  But, I was wrong.  This is not a world war, it’s merely the most difficult time of my life to be proud to be an American.  I do hope that pride will be restored in the future; however, with that in mind, I make the following prediction:

If John McCain is elected president and $200 billion dollars in tax cuts go to corporations and $4 million dollars go to the oil companies, this country’s economic recession will continue into another Depression.  Why do I say this?  It’s obvious that corporate America cannot be trusted, nor can the oil companies.  Take the incident in Sudan wherein the United States, under the Reagan administration, by way of an authoritative Sudanese government, removed and/or killed the residents of Southeatern Sudan and moved Chevron Oil Company into the area after George H.W. Bush surveyed the area and found OIL (not inhumanity).  Take the fact the at $700 billion dollars given to the banking industry has not stimulated bank lending in spite of an additional .5% cut in the interest rate.  In fact, the banks are cash hoarding or spending the money on elaborate executive meetings.  Why?  Lack of pre-requisite.  John McCain feels that pre-requisites must be met before meeting and discussing peace with Palestine, Iran, Cuba and other countries, but seems to believe there is no pre-requisite requirement to hand $750 billion dollars to the banking industry (it should be noted that Barack Obama supported the bail out as well).

To put that $750 billion into perspective, think of it this way.  If that $750 billion were to be split equally among every American (including children and infants), each American would receive somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,300.  Not a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, but no eliminate all children and non-tax payers and how much money would each tax-paying American receive?  Somewhere in the neighborhood of $5,400.00.  That’s a lot of dough.  So, better to give the money to the banks without pre-requisite or to the American Tax Payer.

Now, if you don’t believe the allegations that McCain intends to provide that tax credit to corporations and oil companies, check the facts:

CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive - Fact check: McCain tax cuts give $200 billion to corporations, $4 billion to oil companies? « - Blogs from CNN.com.

I had to update this post as I inadvertently misstated a fact - it was not Shell Oil, but Chevron Oil company that began drilling in Sudan after the government removed residents from the area.

Real Clear Politics is providing a wonderful breakdown of the 2008 Presidential Election Polls and Congressional Polls.  It includes information on current approval ratings of George W. Bush and Congress (with party information).  It’s easy to read and gathers information from primary sources including: Fox News polls, NBC polls, The Associated Press polls, CNN polls, and many other election polls comparing Obama and McCain.  If you wish to find out more information about the polling, I highly recommend visiting this site for information.

RealClearPolitics - RealClearPolitics Poll Averages.

Here, we take an EKG of focus group attendees while watching John McCain at the 2008 U.S. Presidential Debate. His words, so inspiring, it left our focus attendees breathless.

Enjoy the video.

Forgive me if I missed something in last nights Vice Presidential debate.  Did Joe Biden and Madame Palin really say that they were for equal rights for homosexuals but not for redefining marriage?  I fail to see how you can truly have “equal” rights without such “redefining.”  The nuances of the words marriage and redefining can be argued, but truly, making statements effectually stating that it’s ok for gay people to enter into contracts to give them the same rights as heterosexual couples entering into marriage is… well… not equal!

I use terminology here applicable to Texas, some states may call documents by other variations, but they are essentially the same. Lets say I wanted to enter into a “contract” in order to make health care decisions on the part of my partner - assuming he were too ill to make those decisions himself.  This would be a “Medical Power of Attorney.”   In addition to that, I’m going to need access to his bank accounts and other financial records, now I need a “Statutory Durable Power of Attorney.”  You also need a will to pass the property on to your partner should you pass away or vice versa.  Depending on the amount of your assets you can expect to pay between $1,000 - $15,000.00 for an attorney to draft these documents.  Unless you have a large estate, all of these documents can be done away with by getting married.  Texas, being a community property state, allows for the assets of one spouse to pass to the other without a will or in testate (although its a good idea to have one).  Further, no Powers of Attorneys are needed for married couples.  Cost of a marriage license in Bexar County, Texas is $66.00.

Further, should a married couple wish to buy a house or car jointly, there is no need for a formalized contract between the two parties, as such contract already exists as a contract for marriage via the issuance of a marriage certificate.  Should a homosexual couple wish to do the same, it would require a contractual agreement between the parties (one way to do this is to form a business partnership to maintain the assets).  As you can imagine, doing so would be costly.  There are alternative ways, all of which would likely require an attorney and fees for document filing and registration far in excess of $66.00.

We homos have to consider tax issues that married couples don’t.  For example, let’s adopt a baby.  Assuming you live in a state that allows adoption by a gay couple, what does this mean for federal taxation?  Who gets the tax benefit of a dependent as Federal Tax law does not recognize same sex couples?  Assuming you live in a State that allows single people to adopt, who should be the adoptive parent?  Likely, you would answer this question by asking, who would get the largest Federal Tax benefit.  Thus, you would likely need to consult your CPA or other qualified tax professional and again incur additional expenses married couples would not.

Some companies offer domestic partner benefits to their employees.  A wonderful perk, but did you know that your partners health benefits are taxed against you if you utilize those benefits?  Not so for married couples.

There are hundreds of these issues for we the homos that make us separate and distinctly unequal from our heterosexual counterparts under the laws of our states and even under Federal Law.  Each issue builds on the next and each question leads to more questions.  So, how do you fill the gap of equal treatment without redefining marriage?  Some state the answer is through Domestic Partnerships.  Although this is a wonderful compromise and a step in the right direction, it is not an equal right under the law, it is a special right, as marriage is a special right assigned to heterosexuals.

You simply cannot apply equal rights to homosexual couples without redefining marriage to some degree and by redefining marriage, you will then need to redefine divorce.  After all, 100% of divorces in the U.S. directly result from marriage.  For me, no recognization of same sex marriage IS the ultimate Bridge to Nowhere…