Overwhelming

I just... I'm overwhelmed. How can you be anything else but overwhelmed? I have been living without television, so I can't see anything on live TV, but just reading about the devastation from Katrina is enough to be overwhelming.

Think about the size and scope of the disaster. This is bigger than 9/11.

You've probably gotten at least one e-mail from a friend asking you to donate to the Red Cross. I wanted to post something to that effect on here, but I wanted it to be more than just "give to the Red Cross."

I want to say: rush to the south and leap through the air and lift everyone from their roofs and dive underwater and find every hidden survivor and feed the hungry and find shelter for refugees and tend to the sick and save the animals and fly around the world backwards really fast to reverse time so we can keep the Iraq war from happening allowing us to have all of our national guard people and equipment and money to reinforce the levee and enough time to ask people to please stop listening to the weather reporters who cry wolf and believe that this time it's real and not just a story to get you to watch and please, get out of New Orleans!

And I want to go back in time and visit the Big Easy when I had the chance, because I never did.

But I can't do any of those things. I can merely say, please help and please give.

Reasonable Voices on Gay Marriage

Photo: Gay and lesbian couples take vows at a mass wedding held at the Lincoln Memorial during the 2000 "Millennium March on Washington."

Here is an excellent plain opinion piece written in the heart of Virginia, one of the worst states for gay rights:

Other Voices: Gay unions pose no threat to traditional marriage

My wife and I know same-sex couples in longstanding relationships doing fine jobs of raising children. I see no reason why these couples and their children cannot be afforded the same rights as other married citizens.

We Need More Gay Billboards

PageOneQ linked to my article about Georgia Equality's advertisements and how they were turned down by Lamar Advertising because of the standards Lamar attributes to certain communities - basically decreeing that certain areas mustn't see a harmless message that roughly says "Hey, We are gay. We're you're neighbors!"

That article really was expressing my disgust with Lamar's damaging policy, but PageOneQ actually hit the nail on the head with the headline "Joe Tresh: Support Gay Billboards." One of the reasons I was drawn to this story is I have been developing a belief that gays need to advertise.

I'm not talking about the tacky and insulting ad with shirtless white hairless muscle boys wrapped in an American flag that Gay.com was running on billboards. Those ads should never have been placed. I am a gay American. I love my country. I was disgusted by the image of the American flag mixed with sexual images and pornographic innuendo to sell a chat website. Gay or straight, something like that is in terrible taste, especially at a time when we have Americans wearing blood-soaked flags coming home in pieces.

No, I'm talking about affirming ads like the "We are your neighbors" ad.

Why not a photo of a couple with "Marriage Works for Gays, Too" and the tagline "Committed relationships improve health, happiness, and potential for success. Why deny your neighbor's pursuit of happiness? Gay Marriage is part of a better society."

Or a photo of a teen boy teen boy with "Your Son Could be Gay" and the tagline "Don't alienate him. Make sure he knows you love him no matter what. Teach him to love himself the same way." This would be simultaneously posted with a billboard saying "Your Daughter Could be a Lesbian" and the respective photo and message.

Or how about billboards with gay history?

Over a photo, the text: "This is Alan Turing. He cracked the German code that helped us win World War II. He also designed the modern computer. He was gay."

"This is Mark Bingham. He died struggling with the hijackers of flight 93 on September 11, 2001. He was gay."

"This is Baron Frederich von Steuben. He was the military genius who instructed Washington's troops at Valley Forge and reformed the American revolutionary army. He was gay."

For the extremely narrow-minded: "It's not just about sex. Gays fall in love just like you."

Or how about: "What if someone told you that you were not allowed to love?"

OK, maybe that's a little too conceptual. How about this...

"Gay isn't a lifestyle. Being gay is just part of life."

We need to change society first. Unabashedly advertise.