Bon Voyage Maddux, Pitcher I Loved to Hate

I loved to hate Greg Maddux. He was too damned good. And he was on the Braves, the team that I learned to hate while following the 1993 Phillies. But he’s so friggin’ cute. So I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with the pitcher.

But he’s announced his retirement today, so let me take this moment to say goodbye to a great pitcher that I loved to root against. Thanks for some great years in baseball, and for your adorable face on the mound.

Complete Game: Greg Maddux Walks Away From Baseball With 355 Wins, 4 Cy Youngs – CBS News

(AP) Greg Maddux grew up with the same weekend ritual as so many other American kids.

Tagging along with his big brother, he would run down to the park to play ball against the older guys from the neighborhood in regular Sunday scrimmages.

He met a pitching coach who preached movement over velocity, and pretty soon Maddux was striking out those stronger teenagers. Nearly three decades later, he walked away from baseball Monday as one of the greatest pitchers to put on a uniform.

A New Drug: HIV Drugs Getting Teens High

BBC NEWS | Africa | Getting high on HIV drugs in S Africa

Anti-retroviral drugs used to treat HIV/Aids are being bought and smoked by teenagers in South Africa to get high.

Reports suggest that the drugs are being sold by patients and even healthcare staff for money.

Schoolchildren have been spotted smoking the drugs, which are ground into powder and sometimes mixed with painkillers or marijuana.

Aids patients themselves have been found smoking the drugs instead of taking them as prescribed.

How long before this becomes an issue in the gay community?

Sen. Craig Losing Fight for Bathroom Cruising Rights

Court denies Sen. Craig’s effort to withdraw sex-sting plea – CNN.com

In an effort to persuade the panel to throw out (Larry) Craig’s guilty plea, his attorney argued that Craig’s foot tapping was protected by his First Amendment right to freedom of speech.

But the judges were unpersuaded.

‘A government may constitutionally prohibit such speech if there is ‘a showing that substantial privacy interests are being invaded in an essentially intolerable manner.’ ‘ they said, citing a previous case.

‘Offensive speech may be prohibited as intrusive when the ‘captive’ audience cannot avoid the speech. … A person using a restroom stall is such a ‘captive’ audience with substantial privacy interests that would be intolerably invaded even by communications less potentially offensive than sexual solicitations.

‘Thus, even if appellant’s foot-tapping and the movement of his foot towards the undercover officer’s stall are considered ’speech,’ they would be intrusive speech directed at a captive audience, and the government may prohibit them.’

Calling in Gay?

Are you calling in Gay on December 10?

Gay boycott idealistic, unrealistic – Opinion

The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and its supporters are asked by daywithoutagay.org to call in gay, not attend school or work and volunteer their time to various causes instead. They are also asked to avoid purchasing anything on that day.

There is even a note to those from the LGBT community who live in any of the 30 states where you can still get fired simply for being gay or lesbian. Quite honestly I didn’t know there were still 30 states where you could be fired for being gay or lesbian.

Although this is a great idea to show people just how large the LGBT community is, especially with its hetero supporters, there are some elements of ridiculousness to the whole idea.

First of all, the Web site is classic. It boldly states, “A day without gays would be tragic because it would be a day without love.” Indeed, because heterosexual couples are incapable of loving. They get married for the sole purpose of creating kids who they may not be able to feed and clothe.

And calling in gay is totally lame. That’s not even clever. The concept of calling in sick is that your present state of sickness inhibits your ability to work. Your present state of “gayness” does not inhibit you from working.

Not to mention the awkwardness of replacing the word “sick” with “gay,” since they’re obviously equivalent.

A Christmas Story: Where Are They Now?

Where are they now: ‘A Christmas Story’

It wouldn’t be Christmas without ‘A Christmas Story,’ the 1983 movie that became an instant holiday classic thanks to its winning cast and quotable scenes. Here’s a then-and-now look at the gang from fictional Hohman, Indiana, who brought the ‘original, traditional, one-hundred-percent, red-blooded, two-fisted, all-American Christmas’ tale to life.

Stock Up for the Inauguration “Nightmare”

Washington Times – D.C. ‘nightmare’ looms for inauguration

Area business and government leaders warned Monday that the District is not prepared to handle the record crowds expected to converge on the capital for Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration.

At a briefing organized by the Greater Washington Board of Trade, the leaders expressed concern that the District will be overwhelmed by the influx and that visitors will find shortfalls in everything from milk and bread to parking for an estimated 10,000 buses. Even cell phone reception could be hampered by a lack of transmission towers.

Coming Out Is Essential

The following is the text of a post written by me prior to the reboot of this blog. I am reposting it here because it was one of my most read articles. Please be sure to visit the links, recopied just below. These are some very interesting articles on Milk. There was a lot more to Milk than what you saw in the movie.

Harvey Milk, Second Sight – Harvey Milk in personal photographs from his life

glbtq – social sciences >> Milk, Harvey – A comprehensive biography

Originally published Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Coming Out Is Essential

To me, National Coming Out Day is celebrated on the wrong day. National Coming Out Day should be celebrated on May 22, Harvey Milk’s birthday.

Harvey Milk, Second Sight

Harvey Milk was a U.S. Navy veteran, a photographer, a Broadway producer, a hippie, a businessman, a politician, an activist by simply being himself, and a martyr. Harvey Milk is one of my greatest heroes.

Harvey Milk knew the power of being yourself. Coming out, to him, was essential to our survival. By staying closeted, we marginalize ourselves in the eyes of society. Being out makes us a simple matter of fact to our neighbors. When they vote and decide our place in society, our neighbors need to know us for who we are, not for who homophobes make us out to be.

…Gay brothers and sisters,…You must come out. Come out…to your parents…I know that it is hard and will hurt them but think about how they will hurt you in the voting booth! Come out to your relatives. ..come out to your friends…if indeed they are your friends. Come out to your neighbors…to your fellow workers…to the people who work where you eat and shop…come out only to the people you know, and who know you. Not to anyone else. But once and for all, break down the myths, destroy the lies and distortions. For your sake. For their sake. For the sake of the youngsters who are becoming scared by the votes from Dade to Eugene.

Coming out has its dangers, and Harvey Milk knew that. He knew that people exist who lash out at what they cannot comprehend, or what they fear. Harvey Milk was murdered in an act of political revenge. A riot broke out when the murderer received only a “manslaughter” verdict. The actions of the killer were viewed by many as a clear case of premeditated murder, not manslaughter.

White Night Riot:

Dan White loaded his pistol, put some extra rounds in his pocket and drove over to City Hall to exact revenge. He felt he had been bitterly betrayed by Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk when they agreed to appoint a political ally to political enemy White’s resigned seat. He entered through the unmonitored side door and proceeded to Moscone’s office, shot him in cold blood, and then, reloading his gun, he walked down the hall to Milk’s office and blew him away, too.

Even after his death, Harvey begged us all to come out. In a statement he wrote to be made in the event he was killed, Milk said,

If a bullet should go through my head let that bullet go through every closet door.

Even Christian fundamentalist politicians like Monte Watkins have something to say about Harvey Milk in this fascinating article from The Texas Observer

I disagree with a lot of stuff. I did not agree when Harvey Milk, the homosexual Town Supervisor in San Francisco, was shot by someone who was supposedly a conservative. I totally disagreed with that. That is NOT the way to disagree. You have to be involved in a Godly manner – disagree, but disagree gently. You don’t hurt people.

On this National Coming Out Day, remember Harvey. Coming out is essential to our lives. I came out to a new person at work today when I simply said, “my boyfriend and I …” It was painless. Come out!

HRC : Coming Out Resources

Gay Life at About.com: Coming Out Resources

Coming out: A domino game – Joe Solmonese, president Human Rights Campaign

…Coming out can go all the way from the chat between airplane passengers to the inside of the voting booth on Election Day. On this National Coming Out Day, make a commitment to yourself to talk about it, every day. And before the year is out, talk about it to one friend, one family member, one coworker, and one neighbor on the plane before National Coming Out Day 2006.