Getting organized in Silicon Valley

Well, we finally have a name and a website for our new activism group that has been meeting at the Billy DeFrank Center. We are called Marriage Equality Silicon Valley. There is not too much on our website yet (essentially, the same stuff that was in my last post), but the webmaster for the site I have been very busy learning new code, and it's a little overwhelming right now. But I'll get my act together soon, and we as a group will decide what content to put on there. In any case, it's exciting just to be at this point; having the website gives us more legitimacy.

Candlelight Vigil Dec. 20

Candlelight Vigil



Have you seen the "Milk" film yet?

Hopefuly you did not see it at CinéArts at Santana Row.

Why? Because CinéArts is owned by people who gave a LOT of money to the Yes on 8 campaign.

In response, we would like to invite you to a candlelight vigil at CinéArts on Saturday, Dec 20, starting at 5 PM. We encourage you to join us not only with a candle with a little dixie cup on the bottom to catch the wax, but bring some cash. We will provide very bright stickers to wear so we can be seen all over Santana Row. We can then go into the myriad of stores in that area and spend some money. A BUYCOTT! Doesn't have to be much, you can buy something for $1.50. The shoppers and store employees will see LGBT dollars. We will be shopping for a purpose!

Let us carry on Harvey Milk's legacy. We will be out, visible and speaking in terms people understand, money.

I look forward to seeing all of you there, candle in hand and committed to equality.

Meet our cats! Познакомтесь с нашими кошками!

Campbell on the left; Nabby on the right. Aren't they precious? They came to us earlier this year, and chose us as their daddies. I think a couple guys who used to live here in our condo complex were taking care of them, and then stopped. It's sad, but too many people treat cats as expendable. Anyway, they started hanging out at our front step, and we weren't even feeding them. When Nabby hurt his paw, Rick and I decided we had to take them in. So he took Nabby to the vet, who gave him some antibiotics; meanwhile, we bought a litter box, food, collars, the whole nine yards, and took these two sweet babies in. And they are such good indoor cats. At first, they wanted to go out a lot, especially Campbell, but that seemed to subside after we had them fixed. Now they are perfectly happy in our little home, and they give us so much joy. We are pretty sure that they are brothers. We named them after two players (Brian Campbell [Брайан Камбелл] and Evgeni "Nabby" Nabokov [Евгений Набоков]) on the San Jose Sharks, and although Brian Campbell has since signed with the Chicago Blackhawks, we're keeping our Campbell for good. (And Nabby too.)

Although Nabby was the first of the two to approach us, Campbell has settled into his role as the alpha kitty, although in reality he is not mean at all. He just likes to play rough, and he always has to be wherever we are. He'll plant himself on the table while Rick is trying to read the newspaper, and he'll refuse to let him read it. He is also very vocal, meowing as he wanders around the house, and especially when he follows us into the kitchen. He likes to tear up our hands and arms when we try to stroke his belly. And he loves to be petted, stroked and kissed, and purrs very loudly.

Nabby is much more the aloof little thing, although he seems to cherish time spent in the upstairs bedroom with either Rick or me, when Campbell is off on other adventures. He purrs softly and likes to be stroked on the rump. He is also famous for giving "Nabby nibbles," where he nibbles on the tips of our fingers. While Campbell interacts with us all the time downstairs in the living room or kitchen, Nabby likes to sit high up on one of the stairs, where he can observe all the goings on in relative peace. Oh, and he hates everyone (except Rick and me).

Campbell and Nabby get along perfectly together, and often sleep in each others paws, groom each other, and fight with each other. They pretty much only like dry cat food and treats (their favorite is the creamy dairy flavor), and they never seem to want any people food (except the milk from my cereal once in a while). But I think our favorite family moments are when Rick and I get home from work, and we all sit in the upstairs bedroom together and watch the 5:00 news, all sprawled out on the bed.

Saying Hey from the Capitol

Here's Rick and me with our homemade pizza box sign on the steps of the state Capitol in Sacramento. There were about 5000 protesters there, with inspired speeches from Gloria Allred and Darryl Steinberg, as well as a titillating performance by comedienne Margaret Cho.

Golfland Family Discrimination Centers

So it turns out the Kenney family, who runs the strategically-named Golfland Family Fun Centers, donated over $35,000 to the Yes-on-Treating-Gays-and-Lesbians-as-Second-Class-Citizens movement. Fun for (most) families, indeed.

Don't support Golfland. If these loving folks can muster up over 35 grand to wipe their ass with the Constitution, they certainly don't need your help.

Shark Attack

The Sharks are kicking ass. (Очень жаль, Александр Овечкин.)

John Ridley says, "Don't wait"

This short article from John Ridley is excellent. Ridley, an African-American journalist, is particularly inspiring when he says to gays and lesbians:

"[D]on't wait for [the] time to arrive. Just as my father and his generation did not 'wait' for their civil rights, nor should you. The toothpaste ain't going back in the tube. The tide has turned. Don't let anyone tell you to calm down, sit quiet and be patient."

Amen.

Open Letter to Citizens of San Jose

This is a letter that I wrote this evening to the Metro, and I thought it best to duplicate it here too.

If the mayor of a major American city in a state not affected directly by Prop. 8 can take a clear stand against discrimination, why can't our city council? Witness this statement from KOMO News: "Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels ... called Proposition 8 'a hateful measure which should never have been on the ballot.'"

Where is our elected officials' outrage? Is San Jose not the largest city in Northern California, and home to thousands of gays and lesbians, and their families? In particular, why has the San Jose City Council been completely silent about this unconscionable discrimination against gay and lesbian citizens? Does it not care about our rights, rights which our own county has acknowledged are so important that it joined the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco in a petition to overturn Prop. 8?

A few years back, our council would have vehemently decried the unconstitutional stripping of rights from citizens. But something in our city government has changed recently. A dark and sinister element seems to have infiltrated the city at the highest levels. The Metro recently featured Larry Pegram, an avowed foe of the GLBT community, in a seven-page article that hinted at his connections and influence with the mayor and the council. In addition, San Jose's new police chief, Rob Davis, is a member of the Mormon Church, which contributed tremendous resources to codifying discrimination into law in California. (It is noteworthy, too, that the Latino community is angry at the police department's allegedly overbearing activities in downtown San Jose on weekends.)

My attempts to contact the council directly about their stance on Prop. 8 have been met with rude indifference. Is that how they care about their constituents? Or are they simply afraid that Mr. Pegram will incite a recall campaign against them if they speak out in the name of justice? Are they afraid of the Mormon Church? Certainly, they have witnessed first-hand the power of the church to push through its agenda.

The council's silence has been deafening. Who will speak out for the residents of San Jose? Now, more than ever, is the time for each one of us to break the silence and demand answers from our council. As Elie Wiesel eloquently stated, "Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim; silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."

If you live in San Jose, and assuming you're outraged over the whole Prop. 8 debacle, you owe it to yourself and your community to question your city councilmember as to why there has been no public statement from the council. If you're not sure who you're councilmember is, here is a map in .pdf format to help you identify your district, and here is the council in all its glory.

Boycott Century and CinéArts

Turns out that Paul Stock, the CEO of Cinemark, which owns the popular Century Theatre chain, as well as CinéArts and Tinseltown, donated $9,999 to the Yes on 8 campaign. This is an example of more out-of-state money (in this case, Plano, Texas) being used to promote hate and discrimination against gays and lesbians in California. Please do not patronize these businesses. Although Century Theatres are especially widely known here in the Santa Clara Valley, and CinéArts is the movie theater complex at the popular Santana Row, there are many other choices for movie viewing. I urge you to consider these other options, especially Camera Cinema, which has always shown many gay-themed movies. Especially audacious is the fact that Cinemark Theaters plan on showing Milk, a movie documentary about San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, who was slain at San Francisco City Hall on November 27, 1978. The film commemorates the 30th year of the openly gay supervisor's death. Cinemark is willing to take your money and use it to force some of us into second-class citizenship.

Please spread the word to your friends and family that buying tickets at Century Theatres is putting their money into the hands of those who preach family values but do not practice them.

Keep up the fight!

Saturday, November 15, was a great day not only for the gay community, but for America as well. We are unequivocally doing the right thing by speaking out against the injustice of Proposition 8. Although supporters of Prop. 8 have claimed of late that we need to "stop whining" and "get over it," we know that America is, if nothing, a place for dissent. Our country allows the expression of all points of view. More importantly, the Founding Fathers were wise enough to establish our government in such a way as to protect the fundamental rights and liberties that each of us is entitled to, in the spirit of our Constitution.

In May of this year, the California Supreme Court properly affirmed that the right to marry extends to same-sex couples, as well as opposite-sex couples. Claiming that the decision was the result of renegade, activist judges, a small group of people who despise us because we're gay went and rounded up enough other haters in California and got them to sign on to the effort to put Prop. 8 on the November ballot. Then, with fearmongering, outright lies and loathsome deception, not to mention tremendous financial support from churches and other organizations that preach hate and intolerance (such as the Mormon Church and the Knights of Columbus), they convinced a slim majority of Californians that we're not good enough for first-class citizenship in this state, even though are tax dollars are.

Make no mistake, this is not "democracy." Although the will of the people is one of the foundations of our great country, the Fathers realized that certain human rights are so fundamental that they must always be protected. Such sentiments are much closer to the heart of documents like the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights than the will of a simple majority. Equal protection under the law is sacred, codified most succinctly in the Fourteenth Amendment and supported by a long and venerable history of judicial decisions.

On Saturday, thousands upon thousands outraged by this injustice came out to city halls across the nation to protest this unprecedented stripping of rights from gays and lesbians. It was extraordinarily heartening to see families of all stripes at the rally in San Jose: gay and straight, old and young, many with children. These individuals are taking a stand for fairness, for justice for all. They realize that my marriage to my husband in no way affects their own marriages, and are sickened to see that attempts to legally discriminate are supported by far too many people in this state that we like to think of as the most enlightened of all.

Although petitions have been filed with the state Supreme Court to overturn Prop. 8, and we hope that these are successful, it is critical that we continue the fight for equality on all fronts. We cannot let this energy dissipate until justice has been won (again). If you care about the protection of civil rights, if you think that writing discrimination against a minority into law is wrong, if you believe in the principle of the golden rule, if you truly love your neighbors and respect people as people, please do what you can to help in the fight for rights. It is not simply rights of gays and lesbians that we are fighting for, it is for the affirmation of America as the land that espouses freedom and justice for all.

There are many actions you can take, some as simple as writing letters or a check. You can also start up your own blog. Other methods involve demonstrating in person, or reaching out to communities to help people understand that we are not perverts or child molesters, but rather lawful, patriotic Americans who simply want the same things for ourselves that everyone else enjoys. The following websites are especially helpful in learning more about what you can do to help, and to find out about demonstrations in your area:

• stop8.org
• jointheimpact.com

Gays and lesbians need to be as open about who they are as heterosexuals are, on a daily basis. This includes holding hands in public, talking among your co-workers about what you and your significant other did over the weekend, setting up joint accounts and other financial arrangements that leave no doubt that you are a couple. The more we integrate ourselves into society and show the world that we are in no way different, the less willing people will be to say vulgar things about us, or try to harm us physically, emotionally or spiritually. When we are invisible, we are most vulnerable.