2009-06-02 
 

drinking pepsi

From the AFA Action Alert I received today:

Taking an "in your face" approach, PepsiCo sent a public message of support for the homosexual agenda. The company ran a full-page ad in the June/July issue of Out, a semi-pornographic homosexual magazine. The magazine is filled with page after page of nude and semi-nude photographs of men in suggestive positions.

First I raced home to see what the fuss was all about and found...no nudes. Bummer.

Being summer, there was a swimsuit fashion spread that featured men in swimsuits. Hmmmm...in a fashion mag. Really? Seriously though, using their criteria, any fashion magazine on the racks at your local drugstore qualifies as semi-pornographic. Oh, except it's usually women in those suggestive, semi-nude positions, so maybe that makes it okay?

Even if the AFA were to agree that all fashion mags are semi-pornographic, which they might, I've never been alerted by them about the various companies that promote themselves in Cosmo....or Elle, or Esquire for that matter. I keep an eye on AFA materials to see just what sort of lies they're spreading, and couldn't let this one go without a comment. Once again they are trying to punish a company for a willingness to believe that life should be about love and honesty and not about outdated social mores; and they're using outright lies to try and push their point.

I'm usually a Coca-Cola type of guy, but this is one time when the Cola war needs my support on the other side, so I'm shouting it here from my little corner of the internet soapbox: I am a very out and proud member of the Pepsi generation.

Labels: dose of mikey, politics, sharketing, the gay

* posted by me at 11:43 PM

(1) comments



2009-05-25 
 

mike vs. insomnia

So it's four in the morning and I can't seem to fall asleep. M and E are visiting, and that's exciting, but it also means an early morning tomorrow so sleeping right now would be a good thing. Not sure if it's the change in weather, the wedding yesterday messing with my schedule, or just an overactive brain keeping me awake.

I spent the past half hour running through the 90's in my head. Graduation, coming out, Overlook, NEMC, San Francisco, Chevron and so on. The people I met, the things I did. The trip down memory lane was intended to tire me out and allow me to drift off into dreamland, but it invigorated me instead. So here I am tapping away on the blog for the first time in well over a month.

Cambridge is wonderful so far. There's still a few boxes left to unpack, but most things have found new spaces to occupy in our new place. Loving the fact that we can walk places again. Loving having a big kitchen. Loving the feeling that we've pulled out of neutral and are on the path again. Walton was good for us in many ways, but we both felt the desire to move on to the next stage later last year and patience has never been my strong suit.

Funny story, unrelated to move. Last night at the wedding, I was joking with my cousin that she would be next to get married and she got me back by mentioning that she'd heard G and I were getting married in September. (This was a bit of a surprise to both of us since we've never said anything definitive.) We had thought, quite some time ago, that his parent's coming out for a visit in September might be the one time that we'd have both parents together, but they're going to be here during the weekdays.

The thing is, I really do feel like we've been married since October of 2002, when we first exchanged rings...just the two of us with only God watching. When times have been tough, I've always known that running away is not an option because over six years ago I made a commitment to G for life. We didn't need any legally sanctioned ceremony to make that true for us.

That said, the piece of paper does matter for any number of pretty important legal reasons, and we wouldn't mind making it official. It would be nice to call him my husband again without causing confusion. (Back in 02 we could use the term and be making a political statement. Now, being in MA, people assume it means we went through the whole shebang.)

Oy. The shebang bugs both of us. We're a little too pragmatic to want to spend a boatload of money on anything big, but can't quite see our way around doing something. Our joke, ever since it actually became recognized in MA, was that we would make it official when we first bought a house since That's when we'd actually need new stuff and the gifts would be a fair trade...but I suddenly don't want to wait anymore.

Don't be surprised if we run off and get the certificate on our own. Some form of celebration can come at a later date, but getting the piece of paper just makes a certain truth official that we've both known for years.

Labels: dose of mikey, g, the gay

* posted by me at 3:54 AM

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2008-11-29 
 

ten days

It's been ten days since I've popped in to post something. Thanksgiving rather sucked aways any extra time I had. That and doing a marathon read of The Book Thief. Devastating. Beautiful. It's aimed at the teen market, but then so is everything these days...don't let that dissuade you. Big recommend from me.

Looking forward to seeing Milk tomorrow. Vaguely annoyed as well. Somehow I've been made to feel by the media that it's my gay duty to go see it because it's an "important" film. Even though the reviews have all been stellar and I have a true desire to go, a small part of me is reacting like a teenager faced with a summer reading list. (I've always loved to read, but back when they would give me a REQUIRED reading list it got my dander up and was one of the few times I'd buy Cliff Notes. Odd way to rebel? Perhaps, but I never pretended to be normal.) Fortunately, the media got to me well after I'd seen the trailer.It's not often that a trailer gives me goosebumps; gay duty or not, I'm going.

Labels: dose of mikey, linkage, random review, the gay

* posted by me at 3:03 PM

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2008-11-15 
 

necessary post

I can't stop coughing and sneezing and my body has sprung a constant snot leak that finally turned into a minor migraine this morning. I didn't get to go in to Boston myself as I planned, but I have to say my piece to the tens of folks who read this. Not because I feel I need to change your mind, most of you are already on my side, but because it needs to be said in as many places and with as many voices as possible and I will not be a silent Who.

Today there were rallies. in Boston. As you can read in the article, some folks ridicule us for speaking up here in Massachusetts where our right to marry is still valid.

To those folks and also to those who are saying that the voters in California already decided and we should leave the protests to them, I have this to say. The incredibly large sum given to the proponents of prop 8 by the Mormon Church which is located in Utah nullify any of your out-of-state support arguments. As for the vote, it was a rather narrow margin that allowed that bill to pass. If it hadn't been for the hate-filled, negative advertising funded largely by out-of-state agencies that blitzed the airwaves the week before the election, the majority may have cemented the marriages of my friends in California vs. putting them into a state of uncertain limbo.

I am for equality. I'm not looking for the government to force churches to accept gay marriage...just that they be recognized by the government the same way that my brother's recent union to his wonderful wife is recognized. If that means taking away his right to marry and coining a new word for those rights, I'll be happy about it. Marriage, they argue is a religious thing...so coin a new word for it...say PARTNERING or some such, and let that be what we call it from now on...for everyone both gay and straight. I want to be very clear here, recognizing civil unions - while a step in the right direction - is too close to a certain "separate but equal" philosophy that still leaves me as a second class citizen. It's marriage (or partnering if that's what it takes)or nothing. We will keep marching, we will keep standing up for ourselves, and we will eventually win. As I pointed out in an earlier post, this seems to be a generational issue and I have no doubts that it's a matter of years, not decades before this becomes an issue to be studied in history books, not current events.

So to all my brothers, sisters and siblings in-between who went out in support of equality today, I say thank you. I couldn't make it in person, but I was there in spirit. We're here, we're queer and we're going to be equal!

Labels: dose of mikey, linkage, politics, rant, san francisco, the gay

* posted by me at 9:16 PM

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2008-11-05 
 

mixed emotions

I'm happy for the country. There'll be some growing pains for sure, but already I'm hearing from friends outside the US that they're impressed that we can indeed make a change for the better and maybe, just maybe, can move back into a good place on the world's playground instead of being seen as the class dunce/bully who everyone both hates and pities.

On the other hand, we lost on prop 8 in CA. A very close race, but it passed. The fact is that blacks and whites may finally be ready to play together, but gays are still not allowed in the same game. We're still dealing with separate but equal which isn't equal at all.

Good news is that those under 29 voted pretty strongly with us. Those 30 to 64 were pretty evenly split. It was the 64+ age bracket that voted strongly against us. In another decade we'll have a much better shot at getting equal treatment. Until then, I remain a second class citizen.

Labels: dose of mikey, politics, the gay

* posted by me at 9:00 PM

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2008-08-01 
 

another step forward

Yesterday, Governor Deval Patrick signed a bill repealing a 1913 law that prevented Massachusetts from marrying out-of-state couples if their marriages would not be legal in their home states.

I'm glad to be living in a state that's willing to recognize and repeal a discriminatory law.

Sure, there's going to be folk shouting even louder that marriage needs to be between a man and a woman, but I'll never understand this argument. It's based upon a religious principle. Why should someone else's religious definition take precedence over mine? What about the atheist who has the freedom in this country to choose no religion? Is their definition of marriage not allowable? We need to take the religious equation out of it and look at this as a civil union.

Just to be clear, I'm not arguing for civil unions vs. marriage. Marriage, as defined by law, should be a union between two people. Or, if use of that word really bugs everyone so much, then change ALL unions to civil unions. No marriage for some and civil unions for others. That in my mind falls too easily into the trap of "separate but equal" that this country got caught in during last century.

I know I'm not going to change a lot of minds with my little blog here, but I feel better having typed this out. It really bothers me that my decision to live an honest life and love G throughout it causes such an uproar across this land of the "free". We're not killing puppies here. Just living our lives together.

Labels: dose of mikey, linkage, the gay

* posted by me at 9:10 AM

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2008-06-24 
 

suddenly antiquated

Two years ago Barack Obama gave a speech in which he questioned the wisdom of using scriptural passages to govern public policy.

Which passages of scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is okay and that eating shellfish is an abomination. Or we could go with Deuteronomy which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith, or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount?

Now, two years later, the Not-Very-Christian Right decides to respond by accusing Obama of referencing antiquated dietary codes and passages from the Old Testament that are no longer relevant to the teachings of the New Testament.

Ummm...thanks Mr. Dobson? You mean we can ignore you and your supporters when you throw that one passage from Leviticus at us as justification for your hatred of homosexuality? Is this really what you're saying now? My, you changed your tune quite quickly!

A Happy Pride to everybody from Mr. Dobson himself!

via CNN

Labels: linkage, rant, the gay

* posted by me at 2:49 PM

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2008-04-09 
 

whither anastasia?

First, thanks to the snafu with Blogger, I lost my ability to blog. Now that it's all fixed, I've lost my...verve? Yes, I've been in a bit of a funk due to the interview thing and not much up for sharing the day to day, but also most of my writing time has gone into editing up this odd piece I've been obsessed with since last fall. It's undergone quite a few revisions since I dug it out of my past and it really did need some finessing. Overall I'm quite happy with the results, but...

I'm afeared it may be just a tad too twee right now. Probably ought to sit on it for a week before sending it off on its merry little way.

In other and only very slightly related news, since last fall I've been tagging my blog entries. A few every time I do a new entry, but given that I have over 900 to go back over, this is a long term project. That said, I have managed to hit about 500 or so already and was a bit surprised when I came across my original review of Queer Eye and there was no GAY tag to hook onto it. Thus, in honor of Margaret Cho, I just created "the gay" tag. (apologies to MC if the below is misquoted)

My mom used to give me messages like this: "Ummmmm... Scott called.... IS HE THE GAY??!!"
"Well, God, Mom, I don't know if he's THE gay... that's a lot of pressure on just one guy. He has to do the parade all by himself! 'I'm here! I'm queer! ...I guess I'm the only one.'"

I've heard that not being overly obsessive is a good thing, so I will not go back and find the other 100 or so previously tagged entries which "the gay" tag might also have applied to...at least not today.

Labels: dose of mikey, the gay, writing

* posted by me at 5:24 PM

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2004-01-19 
 

rinsing off

I do quite a bit of thinking in the shower. Today I thought about:

G dieing. (hey, he has the AIDS, it's not like it's a weird thought to have now and again)
Myself dieing. (after all, I could get hit by a turnip truck tomorrow)
Being cremated vs. buried. (I hate the thought of being underground forever after. Scatter me to the four winds please.)
The fact that I never visit gravesites. (other than my Gramps, but that's because his grave was a way for me to connect to my cousins who would also go and leave little bits behind.)
When I need someone who has passed on from this plane, I just talk to them.
(I'm glad this works for me or else I'd never get to say hi to Lotte, she's buried across the sea on another continent.)
When we die, I imagine that we get to relive all the perfect moments we've had in full, over and over. That's heaven.
G and I have had quite a few perfect moments. Times when you know, even as they're happening, that they'll stay with you forever.
We had a moment last night. Walking out to find some dinner...he put his arm in mine and that was all it took. For whatever reason, that moment will live with me forever. Not as dramatic as the stormy day up at Bodega Bay when we became one with the wind and scrambled over rocks in search of adventure, but a quieter, simpler moment that will always remind me of what we have together.
I think I'd like to get married for real. (damn republicans...and anyone who thinks love should be condemned vs. being celebrated.)
I thought of a lot of other things...old friends who I don't see much anymore. Getting beat up in 10th grade and never telling my parents. Getting a C- instead of an F thanks to some computer error back in 9th grade...and never telling my parents. Wondering how my parents are. Wondering how Dude and Dudette are doing. Does he love her as much as I love G? Yes, I think he does. Deep love doesn't come easily to my family, but when it does we hold on with all the power in our souls.

Then I finished shaving and it was time to turn of the water...and I thought about how I ought to think more.

Labels: dose of mikey, g, looking eastward, spirit, the gay

* posted by me at 6:04 PM

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2003-12-21 
 

the cloak holders

G's been reading to me about a recent NYT poll that shows that we, as gay men, are still very much second class citizens, and that most people wish we'd just go away.

"The latest New York Times/CBS News poll also found unease about homosexual relations in general, making the issue a potentially divisive one in the 2004 election."

We're talking civil unions here too. While opinions on that issue are more evenly split, slightly over half the respondents felt these unions were somehow threatening to their way of life. Why?

"I want my children to grow up and be normal people like me and my father and my grandfather was," said Ziad Nimri, 41, a salesman and a Democrat who lives in Spokane, Wash. "I don't want my children to start getting ideas. They see it's out in the open and you see men kissing men on television these days."

Mr. Nimri said he was also worried that if gays were allowed to marry, they would get other rights too, like tax benefits. "Because they're a minority, they're going to start actually giving them more privileges than normal people would have," he said. "Minorities always tend to get more than your average person does."

Let me be clear here. I don't want any special rights. I want the same rights that anyone else gets when choosing a life partner.

The fact that it was 1967 before the Supreme Court struck down the anti-miscegenation laws doesn't give me too much hope right now. Back then (all of 36 years ago), they decided that the freedom to marry whom one chooses is one of the "vital personal rights" protected under the 14th Amendment. That worked for interracial couples, but the truth is that many people don't think we gays belong with the persons mentioned in Section 1 of that amendment. In fact, if it weren't for the 15th Amendment, some people would still argue that any races other than Caucasion were inferior. That's my point. If it took nearly a century for the courts to make the logical leap from the amendment to actually supporting equal treatment, how long will it take before gays get the chance? We don't even have an amendment granting us any rights, let alone special ones.

Marriage can be seen as both a religious union and a civil one. If it's only the former, then there should be no civil liberties granted to any couple joined by the church. If it is truly also the latter, then there should be no discrimination based upon the gender one chooses to partner with. The only stricture should be that the parntership is between two consenting adults.

Period. End of story.

BTW, anyone who isn't outraged by the fact that gays are still considered morally inferior folk and yet thinks of me as a friend, I have only this to say. "Hey Saul, have fun holding those cloaks!"

Labels: dose of mikey, g, linkage, politics, the gay

* posted by me at 7:46 PM

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2003-11-28 
 

gay thanks


Spent yesterday lazing around until about 2 and then scrambled to help G prep the desert dishes for Hug's dinner. Arrived at 5 and proceeded to stuff ourselves for several hours on everything from California salad to mussels and crab. Spent most of the time watching movies on Hug's ginourmous new television.

Y Tu Mamá También and then Chicago. I've seen YTMT several times and find something new to appreciate every time. Chicago, while being one of the best stage to screen translations I've seen, is only wonderful if you love the music. I don't love the music. I don't hate it, but the movie didn't open up my eyes to something new the way several friends told me it would. As far as screen musicals go, I'm still firmly in the Moulin Rouge camp. I love po-pomo.

Things to be thankful for; gay marriage edition:
i have a family who truly wished my partner and i could be with them yesterday
i have many good local friends who invited us to spend the day with them yesterday
i have many good far away friends who would gladly have had us over yesterday
i have a partner who's happy being a bit nontraditional on thanksgiving (eg: crab and pear galette)
i may someday get to call my partner husband in the eyes of the law

Quote for the day:
"There ought to be two distinct kinds of marriage: one governed by the state with rules enforced on all citizens, the other governed by the church with rules enforced by her on her own members." C.S. Lewis - Mere Christianity

Labels: dose of mikey, g, linkage, random review, shout out, the gay

* posted by me at 2:49 PM

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2003-11-08 
 

surfing

A nifty site I stumbled across. Blog prose-poetry (or augery doggerel if you prefer.)
Eeksy-Peeksy

A fun way for any child of the 80's to while away a good half hour.
We hear the playback and it seems so long ago

And in honor of the eclipse this evening...
forever's gonna start tonight

NB: I was very dissapointed to discover that the video on the previous link wouldn't play. Truly one of the trippiest videos of the 80's...not to mention one of the first videos that rang a homo bell deep inside of me loud enough for me to truly have to admit it wasn't just a figment of my imagination. We're here, you're queer...come and join the party!

Labels: linkage, the gay

* posted by me at 10:17 PM

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2003-10-24 
 

foliage

So today we saw Armistead Maupin at the Randolph Country Club...at least it very much looked like him, but did I bother to find out for sure? No. That weird self censor that gives me a hard time speaking in public for fear of saying something inappropriate and stops me from talking too loudly in public places turned itself on with a vengeance. I could barely look over at him.

The man, whoever he was, kept looking over my way. I had a perfect opportunity to potentially meet someone I've admired for a long time...or at least have a funny cocktail story about how we THOUGHT we saw him but it was just some random guy cruising us. But I blew it. I'm still kicking myself, but trying to remember that every experience is a lesson and hoping that next time I won't let my superego rule my life.

In other news, we've had a historical couple of days. Spent yesterday doing the Adams tour and learning some interesting things about our early presidents. I'd taken the tour tour many years ago, but had forgotten what a wonderful place that their library is. If I had the money, I'd be building myself something similar.

Today, pre Maupin sighting, we toured through Lexington's National Heritage Museum. A bit of an extravagant name for a place with just a few exhibits, but it was still worth the trip. I loved the exhibit that juxtaposed original New England products with their contemporary counterparts. Weird to see colonial shoes made in Weymouth next to a pair of Reebok sneakers from Indonesia.

Labels: g, linkage, the gay, travel

* posted by me at 6:14 PM

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2003-08-23 
 

sniffles and coughs

G's feeling sickly, so I'll keep this pretty short. Been a long week with some late nights at work prepping for meetings that'll happen next week. Haven't had a chance to get in here as much as I'd like, but wanted to highlight some things.

Had LL over for dinner and a movie on Wednesday. Watched Sordid Lives. I'm not sure how we hadn't heard of it before, I predict a future in which it'll become one of the must-see-to-keep-your-gay-card type of movies.

Thursday saw the end of the AR with the gay married couple taking the grand prize. Sadly enough, they seem to already gone the way of so many of their hetero counterparts and are now seperated. (though working on the relationship) Ended the evening off by playing a newish game called The Abbey. It's a bit like clue for adults, so naturally I was hooked pretty easily. Loved that game!

The most important news of all is that Dude finally got a phone! Now I can bug him whenever I want. (hee hee!) Sadly, he caught me still at work last night worrying about the WENUS. Good news is I will not be going in today as orignally planned, so I can stay home and make sure G's drinking lots o' liquids and eating some yummy matzoh ball soup we made.

Labels: dose of mikey, g, linkage, random review, the gay

* posted by me at 3:56 PM

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2003-08-01 
 

not much news

Nope, not much news to report on a personal level. I continue to work long hours...which is my own call. My boss has asked several times this week whether he can help out and other than two small projects, I've kept it all to myself. Because the job is new and I'm dealing with taking over from someone with very different organizational skills, I figure it's better to put in the long hours now and just sort things out so that next season won't be quite so hectic. That being said, I did know that the hike in salary would mean a hike in responsibility and that the next few months would be busy so this could all be normal. Yuck.

In other news. I'm officially addicted to Queer Eye for the Straight Guy on Bravo. I thought I wouldn't like it, but it's actually quite funny and...even in my gayness I must admit this...I've picked up a few tips. Who knew toothpaste would clean a candlestick? OK G did, but I missed that day in Queer Cleaning 101.

Also should mention that I'm sitting through Boy meets Boy as part of my gay duties. It seems pretty equal to The Bachelor or Bachelorette or any of those other dating reality shows, so if you like them I'd give it a big thumbs up. The thing is that those sorts of shows, gay or straight, give me knots in my stomach because I suffer from a condition known as sympathetic embarassment. How can they do it? Put themselves out there for all the public humiliation? However, growing up in a world where my gay icon was Jack Tripper on Threes Company, I am amazed that we're finally getting more representation in the media. (And yes, I know Jack wasn't gay, but that's the whole point...there was nobody else) So I'll endure my stomach knots in silence and make frequent trips to the kitchen for cookies.

Labels: dose of mikey, linkage, random review, sharketing, the gay

* posted by me at 8:00 PM

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2002-06-07 
 

so that's how it's done

No wonder it took me so long to find other gay people in life. Nobody clued me in to this homo handshake. Imagine all the gays I could have met had I only known!

Labels: linkage, the gay

* posted by me at 8:59 PM

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2002-04-04 
 

i'm here, i'm queer

I've taken this test before, but every once in a while I like to go back and see if it's changed. Seems I just get gayer with every passing month.

Labels: dose of mikey, memes, the gay

* posted by me at 6:58 PM

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