Tel Aviv stands proud with the gay community 8/8/09

heads up and images courtesy of JMG

To the members of The Bilerico Project

Bil Browning sent a message to the members of The Bilerico Project.

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Subject: Bilerico Weekly Reader 8/2-8/7

Without a doubt, Projectors - instead of contributors - gave us the best content of the week. If you haven't had a chance to read the moving and beautiful comment thread on my post, "Do you know someone who died of AIDS?", you're missing heartbreaking and yet uplifting threads in Bilerico history. (Link in the Bonus section.)

Bilerico Nation
If You Work for a Private Employer in DC, You Want to Know This
Filed by: Nancy Polikoff (Bilerico-DC)
http://www.facebook.com/l/;dc.bilerico.com/2009/08/if_you_work_for_a_private_employer_in_dc.php

Transgender Comics: Interview with Erin Lindsey
Filed by: Austen Crowder (Bilerico-Indiana)
http://www.facebook.com/l/;indiana.bilerico.com/2009/08/transgender_comics_interview_with_erin_l.php

Jesse's Journal: Do We Need "Role Models"?
Filed by: Jesse Monteagudo (Bilerico-Florida)
http://www.facebook.com/l/;florida.bilerico.com/2009/08/jesses_journal_do_we_need_role_models.php

Sunday
A Road Trip, Told as a Series of Pit Stops
Filed by: Paige Schilt
http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.bilerico.com/2009/08/a_road_trip_told_as_a_series_of_pit_stops.php

Michelle's Garden: The Big Oops
Filed by: Patricia Nell Warren
http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.bilerico.com/2009/08/michelles_garden_a_big_oops.php

Monday
What Were You Doing 25 Years Ago?
Filed by: Nadine Smith
http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.bilerico.com/2009/08/what_were_you_doing_25_years_ago.php

Gay Self Hate
Filed by: Michael Buckley
http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.bilerico.com/2009/08/gay_self_hate.php

Tuesday
LGBT Challenges: True Leadership
Filed by: Phil Reese
http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.bilerico.com/2009/08/lgbt_challenges_true_leadership.php

A Supremely Ridiculous Argument
Filed by: Dana Rudolph
http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.bilerico.com/2009/08/a_supremely_ridiculous_argument.php

Wednesday
Barbed Walls
Filed by: Sara Whitman
http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.bilerico.com/2009/08/barbed_walls.php

Why "Sex Change" Surgery is Medically Necessary
Filed by: Mercedes Allen
http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.bilerico.com/2009/08/why_sex_change_surgery_is_medically_necessary.php

Thursday
How A Feminist Found Her Sexism
Filed by: Guest Blogger Helen Boyd
http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.bilerico.com/2009/08/how_a_feminist_found_her_sexism.php

He's in love with a GRAMP! (Gay, Rich, Alone, Middle-aged, Positive)
Filed by: Father Tony
http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.bilerico.com/2009/08/hes_in_love_with_a_gramp_gay_rich_alone_middle-age.php

Friday
La orientación sexual no se puede cambiar
Filed by: Pedro Julio Serrano
http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.bilerico.com/2009/08/la_orientacion_sexual_no_se_puede_cambiar.php

Queer music Friday - Matt Alber
Filed by: Alex Blaze
http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.bilerico.com/2009/08/queer_music_friday_-_matt_alber.php

BONUS!
Do you know someone who died of AIDS?
Filed by: Bil Browning
http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.bilerico.com/2009/08/do_you_know_someone_who_died_of_aids.php

Don't forget:

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Elizabeth Bishop - One Art

Elizabeth Bishop - One Art

The art of losing isn't hard to master; so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster. Lose something every day. Accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hour badly spent. The art of losing isn't hard to master. Then practice losing farther, losing faster: places, and names, and where it was you meant to travel. None of these will bring disaster. I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or next-to-last, of three loved houses went. The art of losing isn't hard to master. I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster, some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent. I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster. --Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident the art of losing's not too hard to master though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

Thanks folks!

Current Country Totals
From 1 Jun 2009 to 7 Aug 2009

United States (US)	555
Brazil (BR)	44
Canada (CA)	32
Australia (AU)	19
New Zealand (NZ)	18
United Kingdom (GB)	18
Netherlands (NL)	17
France (FR)	10
Germany (DE)	7
Israel (IL)	6
Belgium (BE)	3
Taiwan (TW)	3
Portugal (PT)	3
Austria (AT)	3
Morocco (MA)	3
Singapore (SG)	3
India (IN)	2
Indonesia (ID)	2
Russian Federation (RU)	2
Japan (JP)	2
Italy (IT)	2
Hong Kong (HK)	2
Afghanistan (AF)	2
Puerto Rico (PR)	1
Argentina (AR)	1
Denmark (DK)	1
Sweden (SE)	1
Ukraine (UA)	1
Malaysia (MY)	1
Spain (ES)	1
Jamaica (JM)	1
Barbados (BB)	1
Saudi Arabia (SA)	1
Venezuela (VE)	1
Cyprus (CY)	1
Korea, Republic of (KR)	1

New Bedfellows

Old Politics, New Bedfellows: The Olson/Boies Challenge to Prop 8 Jesse Lava When two attorneys from opposing sides of the political spectrum argue that some issues transcend the differences between liberals and conservatives we must remember that, as nice as it sounds, none of us can afford the luxury of imagining ourselves above the political fray. Full article

Marriage Equality USA Wants You to Weigh In Today...

David Janis-Kitzmiller sent a message to the members of Marriage Equality USA.

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Subject: Marriage Equality USA Wants You to Weigh In Today...

The Courage Campaign has issued a call for organizations to partner in an effort to finalize the wording for a 2010 ballot initiative to restore marriage equality using the most effective messaging for moving conflicted voters in support of marriage equality. Marriage Equality USA would like to be a part of any collaboration moving ahead and today, we want to see what our collective organizational interest is in participating in this venture.

In May, Marriage Equality USA polled our members and 64% expressed a desire to go back to the ballot box in 2010, 23% said 2012 and the remainder were undecided. Marriage Equality USA has also just finished organizing over 40 Get Engaged Tour events across California and feedback indicated passion on both sides of the timing debate, but no clear consensus on when to move ahead. What did come across loud and clear is that our community wants our movement to come together and collectively plan how we can WIN a marr! iage equality campaign in the future.

As demonstrated advocates for the grassroots community, Marriage Equality USA would like to ensure your voices are heard as we move ahead in the next campaign. Whatever you donate today through August 13th will be targeted and offered in support of this collaborative effort.

No matter when we collectively decide to go back to the ballot box, Marriage Equality USA is committed to empowering our local communities to be active partners in the next campaign. We invite you to continue to engage and reach out to fair-minded Californians by getting involved with your local chapter's ongoing efforts to change hearts and minds by organizing canvassing, tabling, public speaking, and other public education efforts. Together we CAN. Weigh in today in support of the 2010 effort by making a targeted donation today.

For more information, contact getengaged@marriageequality.org.

To make a donation http://www.facebook.com/l/;visithttps://npo.networkforgood.org/Donate/Donate.aspx?npoSubscriptionId=1001435&code=MEUSA%20Default
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I can tell when the summer break is about to end... these things seem more real to me...

another gem from JMG

Wise Latina Confirmed

Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed as the next Supreme Court Justice today in a partisan vote of 68-31. All Democrats approved, as well as nine Republicans. Sen. Ted Kennedy was too ill to be in the chamber. The GOP's ugly smear campaign against Sotomayor may have repercussions in the next election.

From the moment Mr. Obama chose her in May, many political strategists warned Republicans that opposing the first Latina nominated to the Supreme Court would jeopardize the party in future elections. In the waning days of the debate, some Democrats sought to portray Republican opposition as a grave insult to Latinos. “Republicans will pay a price for saying ‘no’ to this judge,” Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, said in Spanish at a news conference Wednesday.

Party in the Bronx tonight!

Lifted from JMG

Census plans to count same-sex marriages

August 3, 2009

Census plans to count same-sex marriages

The Washington Post is reporting that the U.S. Census Bureau plans to count same-sex marriages in the 2010 decennial census. Up to now a same-sex partner that identified him/herself as a husband/wife was counted as an "unmarried partner". The policy change follows a recent legal opinion by Commerce Department lawyers that the Defense of Marriage Act does not prohibit the Bureau from publicly releasing such data.

from the Sacramento Bee

DNC Calls Out GOP Wingnuts

thanks to JMG for the heads up