With another year comes another failure. On November 3rd, Maine voters successfully used the “people’s veto” process and voted to block a law allowing same-sex marriage from coming into effect. Instead of weddings beginning in fall as was planned, the law now stands as it once did,… Read full post »

     On the eve of the National Equality March, I want to discuss my observations of the current gay rights movement here in the U.S. I think we are moving at a good clip toward at least some of our goals, but I think we are falling short in a key… Read full post »

Julie felt a vibration from her purse and wanted to ignore it. Of course, she never could, and applied enough pressure around her phone to turn it on call mode. "Ms. Swanson, this is Jamal from the Eastview Medical Center, calling about your Mother." Julie's mother had been in the hospital… Read full post »

   The Louisiana Senate is about to consider House Bill 60, authored by Jonathan W. Perry, R-Abbeville. The state House has already passed the bill, which would forbid out-of-state, same-sex parents from getting an accurate birth certificate for their adopted child born in Louisiana. It giv… Read full post »

That bill. I forgot to pay it yesterday! Goddamnit, my finances are falling apart. My life is falling apart, I think. Sure, Mom thinks I'm doing well, but I'm not. She of all people should know. Wait, fuck! It's Mother's Day, and I have nothing for her. Crazy fucking holidays, always a… Read full post »

My life is on the upswing. Despite the economic downtown, I feel optimistic about my future. I'm exceedingly blessed by a warm circle of family and friends that love me, and with relative comfort and security. I live in what is arguably the most powerful country on earth. The problem begins ther… Read full post »

What happens when people in south central Louisiana get together for their tax day tea party? You get something that feels like a laid back protest. Even for a protest, it seems hard for anyone around here to get all that terribly wound up.

It's a little late in the game here… Read full post »

At my university, The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, two parties generally compete for Student Government seats. They usually run full slates of candidates for each college, which our academic subsections of our school. (i.e. Liberal Arts, Nursing) Incidentally, one party is usually more greek… Read full post »

These mashed potatoes are too firm and cold. I don't know if I'm going to finish these or not, but they suck. At least the roast beef is decent, it's better than usual. It's almost as if they knew who they were cooking for. If only he'd stop staring at me.… Read full post »

I got it, sort of.

Raised in something resembling fundamentalist Christianity, the idea of converting to another religion seemed unthinkable. Apparently, former believers got it worse in hell than those who had never believed. Time passed and things changed, and I lost the faith of my youth.

Easter ha… Read full post »

I'm sitting in a local coffee shop, taking in whatever sensory input I can aside from hearing, as I'm waring headphones. Garrison Keillor, one of my idols, has written in coffee shops, so I figured I'd give it a try. It has been quite a while since I have post here,… Read full post »

When I was much younger, romantic visions would occasionally fill my head. Thomas Kinkade would have liked them, as they were out of a storybook and had no sexual association. Sadly, the damned things never stopped. My quandary is that romanticism resembles a greased pig. Grabbing and grasping romant… Read full post »

It goes now that in an exceedingly dark time, there is a bright light shining. For those of us in the United States and across the earth who have been clamoring for an American executive branch grounded in reason, logic and empiricism, our day has come. Barack Hussein Obama will be… Read full post »

Before I begin, I realize that I may be stepping into a hornets' nest by writing about this, but I'd like to visit the issue.

How do you repair the dissonance between racism and prejudice? Growing up in southern Louisiana, it has been painfully frustrating to be colorblind. When faced with&… Read full post »

I was raised with the supposition that I had to be "saved" in the name of Jesus Christ to go to heaven and escape hell after I died. Even as I read what was in that preceeding sentence, it makes me somewhat nervous. When a person is told such a thing… Read full post »

I hate sand.  It's nice enough to look when sitting near the beach, but I hate the feeling of it on my skin.  I always have, and probably always will.  Growing up in southern Louisiana, though, my family never vacationed around this inconveinent dislike of mine.  Never was this mo… Read full post »

We have learned that the Justice Department has accused Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich of trying to sell the Senate seat which President-Elect Obama recently vacated.  While the charges may not have provided a shock to those familiar with the nature of Illinois state government, it does beg a… Read full post »

Who are we? Yes, we are the citizens of a constitutional republic with a Presidential system. Ours is arguably the most powerful nation on Earth, and its geopolitical, cultural and military power throughout the world are unmistakable potent. We are a nation based off of ideals, and not ethnicity. Whi… Read full post »

I recently came out as being bisexual under severe duress and under questioning. I do not recommend it, as such a taxing decision is made even harder when brought before people whom you never imagined could be so irrational. People that I have known and trusted for my entire life simply… Read full post »