Bradley's Buzz

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

Prop 8 Struck Down

Finally after all these years, the Appeals court has deemed Prop 8 unconstituional! I couldnt be happier. It's going to the Supreme Court and we can only for the best. After all, they're going to have to pull my wedding ring off my cold dead hand. Now I can go back to the kitchen and no I'm still a legit housewife :0)

Read about it here

Labels: Gay Marriage, Prop 8, The Leivasons

Tuesday, August 09, 2011

Wedded Bliss

So Sunday my hubby and I skipped the big gang brunch and decided to spend the day together. We got up and headed to Hollywood for lunch at Shelly's Cafe on Hollywood Boulevard. I love hanging out there and even feel a little touristy though I've lived here for 11 years. After breakfast we walked around the boulevard until 12:30 when we headed to the Chinese Theatre to see the new (and final) Harry Potter movie. Alf got us tickets for the 3D version with a special DMX thing - which is the seat moves, shakes and vibrates during the movie so it feels like you're in on the action. So essentially the new Harry Potter movie moved me... literally.

After the movie we went to Best Buy and used my birthday gift certificate to buy Wipeout for the Kinect. We haven't played it yet but I Can not wait.

Then we headed home and decided to go down to Gym Sportsbar for a few drinks. A few turned into a lot more than expected. I spent the rest of the night smoking and drinking more while Leivas passed out on the sofa. I hopped on the horn and talked to pal Melsie for awhile and even spent some time hanging out with my neighbors in their apartment before I too decided it was time for bed.

Because of the few extra drinks the Leivas called into work on Monday so my housewife day was kind of put on hold - thank goodness. I woke up and had my coffee and listened to a really interesting documentary on Franklin Roosevalt that Alf had queded up on Netflix. When he woke up we watched the second part of the documentary. The way FDR was and what he went through is so reminiscent of what Obama is going through it was very strange. Not to mention FDR is the one who came up with social security and workers benefits. Needless to say the rich hated him even though he himself was rich. Sound familiar.

After that we spent the rest of the day on the sofa together watching movies and TV Shows. We went through "Stakeland" (pretty good), the latest "True Blood" (good), "Seeing Heaven" (god awful), then we headed to KFC for dinner. We brought it back and watched three episodes of "Nurse Jackie" - almost caught up to the finale.

Yes we are single handedly bringing down the sanctity of marriage - oh and boring my readers to tears I'm sure.

Labels: Gay Marriage, The Leivas

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

No rights not so right

I don't like to get political on this blog but since it is Bradley's Buzz and I'm Bradley I'm gonna buzz.... It's been about one year since I woke up in the morning to find out one of my rights was taken away by a majority of people who don't even know who the hell I am. Today, I woke up with the same feeling since Maine has now lost their gay marriage rights.

Maine made a Legislative law that gay marriage was legal and of course anti-gay bigots decided to turn it to the people because you know the majority rules is always, always the right course of action. I don't care what anybody says if there were to be a new proposition to take away marriage between black and white people there are certainly places the majority would rule for it. That's because there are twisted, sick, overly religious, over judgemental, overpowered people everywhere. People are selfish and want what they think is best for them. The court is supposed to step in some cases where those selfish people are not capable of making the right decision.

The courts in Maine knew that, the courts in California knew that, the courts in 4 other states know that and yet people can come in and vote away rights. That's exactly what it is. If the law says that you can do something but I can't, then that my pals is a civil right violation.

In Washington, the government decided that since all these religious zealots keep saying you can have your civil unions and domestic partnerships just as long as you don't call it marriage (an idea that also permeates in the head of our elected Obama), they would come up with the "Everything But Marriage" Act. It sounds perfect - everyone is happy despite the whole separate but equal imposition - but again those opposed to anything gay decided to throw it on the ballot. I guess "you can call it anything but marriage" was still too big of a crumb to throw to your fellow citizens.

I can't tell anyone enough how this whole thing boils down to religion and people who think being gay is a choice. After all what a choice one could make - in other countries gay people are punished by death and somehow it seems to me had someone asked them if they would now choose to be straight, some may, just may, turn around and say, "Fine I'm straight. Can I live now? After all this was all just the wrong decision." Bullshit.

Wanda Sykes mentions in one of her comedy specials that if gay people are choosing to be gay doesn't that mean that straight people are choosing not to be gay. "Why do you choose to live your life as a gay?" well "Why did you choose to be straight?" Some in other minorities believe they fought for something more important, they were born black, Asian, Indian etc. Well I can whole heartily say I was born gay.

The people who feel this gay fight is not akin to the civil rights fights before also seem to think gay people can pass where a black man walks into a room and everyone knows he's black, well I can also atone to the fact that when I walk into a room, people know I'm gay - they have always known that. Now sure I could probably take some asinine class to show me how to walk, talk more masculine and perhaps "pass"... but doesn't all that seem a little like the thing that light skinned black people also went through?

It's all a bunch of bullshit, because gay marriage, gay civil rights, anti-discrimination laws and the like have nothing to do with religion. Our country may have religious backdrops but the fact was the people who came over and stomped over the civil rights of those crazy natives that lived here, came here so they could have freedom.

Well I want freedom - I want my rights and I want the rights for everyone. Our government is supposed to separate church and state so that the Catholics can't make everything under Catholic theology, so the Mormons can't make everything under Mormon mythology, so the Atheists can't make everyone see the world as they do. The laws are about people and not about what particular religions or ideas rule. We are all people.

The other arguments of the horrible slippery slope of moral decay has nothing to do with me and it has nothing to do with others religious beliefs. I think a world where everyone is equal sounds pretty nice and peaceful to me. The implications of what happens in my bedroom as a gay person is just as much their business as what happens in their house. I don't care, why the hell do they care so much about me?

Gay marriage is a marriage between two people of the same sex, if you do not want to get married to a person of the same sex, no one is forcing you do it. So how can I be forced to not do it. Or even worse being able to do it in one place and not in another.

The thing is the opposition states this is about marriage but it's not, it's about hating gay people. They don't want us to get married because they don't want us around. These people want us to repent, to change who we are or to die. Harsh, sure, but no matter how they 'tolerate' us or how many 'gay friends' they have, it's all rubbish. If Maggie Gallagher really has a gay friend I want to meet him so I can slap his face for hanging out with such a retched character.

I don't know where our next stop on this horrible twisted ride into gay Apartheid will take us but I do know that until that damn DOMA is knocked down, this is going to go on forever with more and more states giving rights, people taking them away until something is going to snap.

I was never been so fired up and proud as I was when the GLBT groups rose up and protested against the passage of Prop 8. This is a fight and we need to rise up and keep fighting. I don't know how exactly to do that, since every time there is a loss it feels like a part of your soul has been ripped out, but I do know that this can't end. We need to regroup and do it again and again but I have to say we really need the government to step in - until then we are just going to go through heartache after heartache.

Obama was voted in for change, I guess the gay community was left out of that change. I am happy and pleased that we got a few rights and the Matthew Shepard Act was finally brought onto the books, but come on - this is America.

After all of this, I have to say because California gave the LGBT people marriage rights before they were taken away, the Leivas and I are one of the 18,000 who are still legally married in California.. but that just means I'm separate in my state from the rest of the country (DOMA) and we're separate from those couples who want to get married post-Prop 8. I want rights for all of us and I don't want people I don't know telling me what they think is right is right and what I think is right is wrong. It's not their call.

Labels: Gay Marriage, Maine Question 1, Politics, Prop H8

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Day Of Decision - Prop H8

This morning, The California Supreme Court will announce its decision on Proposition 8 Tuesday, May 26th. If it follows past practice, the court will make its announcement at about 10 AM Pacific Time (1 PM, Eastern / 12 noon Central). Hopefully, things will go the way I would like them to go - or at the very least keep me married... but either way all across the nation and beyond the powers that love are holding a day of decision rally. You can check out what's happening around you at www.DayofDecision.org and here's a little more info:

Depending on what the court decides, we will either PROTEST or CELEBRATE
We will PROTEST if:

-- The court upholds Prop 8, and invalidates the 18,000 same-sex marriage licenses that California already issued;
or,
-- The court upholds Prop 8, but upholds the 18,000 same-sex marriages already performed, which would be a cruel, but pyrrhic victory for equality.
We will CELEBRATE if:

-- The court rejects Proposition 8 and says that same-sex couples are entitled to the marriage rights that heterosexual couples already have.
So call, email, Facebook, Twitter your friends – DAY OF DECISION actions are TUESDAY NIGHT!
Robin TylerAndy Thayer
Co-founders, www.DayOfDecision.org

Labels: Day Of Decision, Gay Marriage, Prop H8, The Leivas and I

Thursday, April 09, 2009

My Favorite Things

This week I have so many things that have become my favorite things and now it's time to share...

First, equality is a favorite thing of mine - namely the wise courts of Iowa and Vermont who in one week decided that not allowing gay people to marry is discrimination. Also, Washington DC has decided to honor gay marriages (though I guess it would now be all marriages) from other states and of course Sweden (my ancestor peeps) who have also instated gay people the right to marry.

And what to do after you get married, well take your pals and head to my new favorite bar, the Normandie Room, just down on the corner from my home. I have had a good time every time I've been there. Though I think I left my umbrella ella ella hey hey there on Tuesday. Oh well I'll just have to stop in for one of there $2 happy hour drinks to get my ella ella on.

Then when I get home I can jam to the tuneful tunes that Wounded Bird Records keeps putting out. In the past they've been responsible for releasing all of Ellen Foley's albums on CD, re-releasing Deborah Harry's Debravation and Def Dumb & Blonde, releasing all of Melissa Manchester's albums on CD, recently releasing not one but four Juice Newton albums on CD and of course they were so wise when earlier this year they released Lisa Hartman's Til My Heart Stops on CD - I'm sure it's just a matter of time til the rest of Mrs. Black's albums hit the street thanks to the those peeps at Wounded Bird. Maybe they're hiring!!!

Labels: Gay Marriage, Juice Newton, Life In La La Land, Lisa Hartman, My Favorite Things, Normandie Room, Wounded Bird Records

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

The Rules For A Gay Wedding

With my upcoming nuptials, my pal the Ciss, the Cissell, the Amster, the legend known as Amy Cissell, sent me a forwarded mail about the new rules for a gay wedding. Though the Leivas and I are hardly club kids or disco daddies or even gym bunnies - some of these are pretty hilarious particularly the last one though I don't know how my father would feel about that - oops, did I just give away information??

Anyway here you go:

With the advent of same sex marriage, a new set of rules was, of course, needed. As, of course, the internets filled the void.As with all voids the internets fills, the product might be a tad bit offensive to some.

If you find it offensive, have a cocktail. Everything is funnier after vodka. And you probably should drink a lot of it if you're looking through this blog.

1. On the day of a gay wedding, it's bad luck for the two grooms to see each other at the gym.

2. Superstition suggests that for good luck the couple should have: Something bold, something flirty, something trashy, something dirty.

3. It's customary at gay and lesbian nuptials for the parents to have an open bar during the entire ceremony.

4.Gay wedding tradition dictates that both grooms refrain from eating any of the wedding cake because it's all carbs and sugar.

5. It's considered bad luck for either of the grooms to have dated the priest.

6. During the first dance, it's considered unlucky to use glow sticks, flags, whistles or hand held lasers.

7. For good luck at the union of a drag queen, the bouquet is always thrown in the face of a hated rival.

8. The reception hall must have a disco ball and at least 1 go-go dancer.

9. The wedding singer is not allowed to play/sing Let's Hear It For the Boy, It's Raining Men or I Will Survive.

10. The father of the Bottom pays for everything!

Labels: Cissell, Gay Marriage, Life In La La Land, The Leivas

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Never The Bridesmaid

So there's more wedding news to be had - it seems that those bastages in the night that think I'm a second class citizen are tyring to get a vote to make California's state constitution define marriage as between a man and woman only thus the new Supreme Court status that just declared discriminating against gay marriage as unconstitutional so where does that leave homos that get married starting June 17th?

Well I'm gonna find out - that's right now the Government is screwing with my big wedding plans. My idea was to have a big old shindig including ceremony, flowers, Dolly Parton tunes, and the Leivas and all of our pals and family on the beach August 20 2010 to see us officially tie the knot or anything else we may be able to do then. But since we have a little window where we can be married legitimately the Leivas thinks we should take it.

He thinks we should get married on October 31st as that's the last Friday before the Tuesday (get it) where the vote gets put to the people about whether or not California is full of hicks or actual people who care about each other.

I'm still not sure how we are planning this or if that is the official date but getting married on Halloween does sound kind of Brad-ish (in fact my pal Cissell married a Brad on the exact day) and the fact that my good pal Katie is an ordained something or other that can marry us and she happens to own her very own Bjork swan dress (in which she can officiate) we may just have to do it then...

No matter when we do it (I'm still aiming at August 20th only a few years earlier I guess) you can bet your sweet bippy Katie is wearing that dress. Now if I can find Alf a hot dog costume and myself a bun costume we will be all set.

Today's walk to work is sponsored by:

Cyndi Lauper - Brink Ya To The Brink

Labels: Bjork, bub99 Cyndi Lauper, Gay Marriage, My Life In La La Land, The Leivas

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Wedding Bells Will Ring

Well it's about friggin' time! It looks like here in the land of la la and ooh la la - we finally have a victory! I (for the moment) have the right to be married to the man I love - according to the California supreme court! West Hollywood is so excited they are serving wedding cake tonight from 7-9! I may have to get me some... of course there's a bunch of out of state and in state money being harbored by the bastards known as the right wing - who think I'm not as valuable a person as they are - so we'll see where we go from here but for now - here's the link (and a pic from my 'domestic partnership' two words that grate on my nerves the same way when I hear Brittney or Madonna are coming out with new albums...)

"In a monumental victory for the gay rights movement, the California Supreme Court overturned a voter-approved ban on gay marriage Thursday in a ruling that would allow same-sex couples in the nation's biggest state to tie the knot.

Domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage, the justices ruled 4-3 in an opinion written by Chief Justice Ron George.

Outside the courthouse, gay marriage supporters cried and cheered as news spread of the decision.

"Our state now recognizes that an individual's capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual's sexual orientation," the court wrote.

The city of San Francisco, two dozen gay and lesbian couples and gay rights groups sued in March 2004 after the court halted San Francisco's monthlong same-sex wedding march.

"Today the California Supreme Court took a giant leap to ensure that everybody — not just in the state of California, but throughout the country — will have equal treatment under the law," said City Attorney Dennis Herrera, who argued the case for San Francisco.

Labels: California Boy, Gay Marriage, Polidicks, The Leivas