You Gotta Love How Dolly Loves The Gays

I'm sure that it's probably not surprising to hear that Dolly Parton supports equal marriage rights for same-sex couples, but it just warmed every last cockle in my big ol' queer heart to see that she feels a kinship with us homosexuals because, like us, Dolly knows how it feels to not be accepted in the "mainstream"--whatever the [bleep] that is.

In my humble opinion, Dolly & God have at least one thing in common: they both (using Dolly's words now) love everybody for who they are. Now that's what I call true Christianity!

Speaking of which, in the article linked above, Dolly gives her opinion on mega-church pastor Joel Osteen's contention that "homosexuality is not God's best," and she does it in her always-loving way.

You'd be absolutely correct to note that, physically speaking, Dolly is loaded up with plastic and silicone topped off with some great fake hair (I'm pretty sure she'd be the first to admit it), but that big ol' country heart of hers? As they might say down south, it's as genuine & as big as all get-out...even bigger than her tallest wig & her world-famous bosom! :-)

Love For Sale

Well, not really love, but the right to celebrate that love with a legally-binding civil contract called "marriage".

If you haven't already heard about it, a heterosexual woman from New York named Jamie Frevele, who claims she doesn't have any intention on using her right to marry is actually "selling" her right to marry on Ebay!

I know it sounds odd, but what she actually plans on doing with the money from the highest bidder is to donate it to a LGBT rights group. I personally think it's pretty ingenious! It attracts attention to New York state's failure to provide equal marriage rights to same-gender couples AND it raises money for a good cause!

Who knows how long Ebay will allow this particular auction to go on before it pulls the plug, but here's a screenshot the "item" for "sale" as of 6:40 am, Eastern (US) Time (the high bid at this time is $307):


Click on the pic to enlarge it

I also love Jamie's description of the "item", part of which reads:

I'm an unmarried heterosexual woman, and since I probably won't be using my right to get married, I would like to give it away. I would like to sell it to the highest bidder and donate the proceeds to an organization that supports LGBT rights since the government designed to protect all of us is picking and choosing based on what they think is icky, weird, or unkown to them.

Bid now, and you can have my super wonderful privilege and legal ability to get married as many times as you want in a classy place like the one pictured. You don't have to know the person, you don't have to like them, you don't have to think through your decision to get married or anything - you can just do it! Because you can! Come on, it's cool to get married, and think of the pictures you'll have to show people of this person that they will definitely think is so wrong for you and probably is! But heavens to BETSY, do NOT marry someone of the same gender because that would be a mockery of the institution of marriage.

And if it doesn't work out, just get divorced. Half the cool people who get married do that anyway.

I will write you up a fancy, wonderful, articulate proclamation handing over my right to get married. I have no official documentation because this is something I was born with since I was born heterosexual. Unfortunately, this is only a symbolic gesture. However, since I'm picky and difficult, it's probably something that, if a physical object, would have been considered pristine and shiny after some dusting. Your bid, on the other hand, is real, and the donation you make to an organization that supports those who have been treated as second-class citizens will be well worth it.

Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

The D.C. Catholic Archdiocese has threatened to stop helping thousands of the needy in the nation's capital if the District's City Council approves a pending bill which states that marriage between 2 people in the District of Columbia shall not be denied or limited on the basis of gender, and which also ensure[s] that no minister of any religious society who is authorized to celebrate marriages shall be required to celebrate any marriage...or solemnization of a same-sex marriage.

Though the Catholic Church in general is not usually known as a great supporter of GLBTQI equality, apparently this Archdiocese on this issue, has chosen to demonstrate their obvious displeasure with this bill by revealing a predilection toward being particularly punitive: castigating not just same-sex-loving people & our "enablers", but anyone & everyone in need under their religious purview.

According to the Washington Post article referenced above, Advocates for same-sex couples said they could not immediately think of other places where a same-sex marriage law had set off a break with a major faith-based provider of social services.

The article, however, goes on to say that [t]he church's influence seems limited, with one of the 13 council members stating that the Church was being "somewhat childish", and another council member saying that he would rather end the city's relationship with the church than give in to its demands. Good for them!

After the loss in Maine, a victory for equal marriage rights in the nation's capital would be particularly encouraging, of course.

As for the Catholic Church in DC, apparently the answer to the famous question, "What Would Jesus Do?", is to hold "the least of these" as hostages to their beloved dogma.

I guess that the world (outside the Catholic Church, anyway) has gotten it wrong all this time: sometimes the baby must be thrown out with the bath water...for the baby's own good, of course! (Please note the sarcasm dripping from that last sentence) :-/

What Do You Think I Fought For On Omaha Beach?

Meet 86-year-old Philip Spooner. He lives in Maine & is a veteran of World War II, and has 4 children. He gave testimony earlier this year at a hearing regarding marriage equality for same-sex couples in his home state. His words are sometimes difficult to hear & understand, but still, he speaks so clearly & eloquently on why it's wrong to deny to equality to all citizens. As Mr. Spooner explains, equality for ALL of his children & ALL Americans is why he put his life on the line for this great country all those years ago. Please give Mr. Spooner a listen...

The End of The Beginning?

Nate Silver, the guru-in-chief at my favorite political prognostication website, 538.com has posted an article regarding the slowly-but-surely withering impact that equal marriage rights (a.k.a. "gay marriage") is having on the so-called "Values Voters".

At the most recent "Value Voters' Summit" held at the nation's capital, former Arkansas governor, Mike Huckabee, beat out Mitt & Sarah & Newt & (to quote the Gilligan's Island song) "the rest" in a straw poll. (As an aside, not that they'd want me there, but had I been in attendance, I would have SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO voted for Sarah Palin!! I really, really, really want her to be the GOP presidential candidate in 2012!! ;-) If for nothing else, I am a HUGE Tina Fey fan, and I cannot get enough of her Sarah imitation. They so look like they were separated at birth!! (No offense to Tina!)

Anyway, Nate points out in his article that when these "values voters" were asked about what social issues matter most to them, "gay marriage" (a.k.a. equal marriage rights) fell from its previous spot in 1st place all the way down to #3, beaten out by abortion & "Religious liberty".

Nate also notes that it's not that "values voters" have given up the ghost where the "gay marriage" fight is concerned, but it just doesn't cause the fire in as many bellies as it used to. I suppose the GOP used the issue so often through the years & really delivered nothing substantive since DOMA during Clinton's term, that they may have just slowly begun moving on.

Also, whatever disagreements I may have with the "values voters", I know that they can read polls as well as anyone else. With more & more people in general learning more & more about equal marriage rights & with the population as a whole just being more comfortable with those of us in the sexual minority, and the obvious fact that the up-and-coming younger generation of Americans completely unchained from the fears & lies of the past, it seems to me that even these "values voters" are slowly coming to see the light. I think they know that, for the most part, they've gotten about as much political & legal mileage out of this clunker as they're gonna get.

Please don't get me (or Nate's article) wrong: The battle for GLBTQI equality is not over by a long shot & there is still some fight left in a good portion of these "values voters", but it seems that some on the right feel like they've got "bigger fish to fry" as they say!

I think that the words spoken by Winston Churchill nearly 7 decades ago may best describe this situation: Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

One can only hope...and pray!

Brad For Mayor!

I've had an on-going crush on Brad Pitt ever since I saw him shirtless in the movie, Thelma & Louise. I know his character was sort of a low-brow, thieving cowboy gigolo who had no problem using his nearly-perfect body as a means to get whatever he wanted & demonstrated no compunction whatsoever in taking advantage of a woman who was in desperate straits, but, with that sweet Southern twang in his voice, that spectacular smile & the aforementioned shirtlessness, I couldn't help but forget all the bad stuff whilst admiring his Adonis-y abs! :-)

Now, I've gone & completely forgotten what I was posting about in the first place...

Oh yeah, as you may or may not know, in real life, Brad Pitt--besides being a great actor (in my humble, biased opinion) is a loving father & life partner of the beautiful Angelina Jolie) has made a mission out of helping rebuild the areas hardest-hit by Hurricane Katrina through their organization, the Make It Right Foundation.

Brad, who--as you can probably imagine--is a pretty popular guy in New Orleans these days, was interviewed recently on the "Today" show & was asked the possibility of running for mayor of NOLA. In response he said, "I don't have a chance. I'm running on the gay marriage, no religion, legalization and taxation of marijuana platform."

As you can imagine, I'm so with him on the equal marriage rights (as a matter of fact, I simply adore Brad & Angelina for publicly announcing that until same-gender couples can be legally wed, they will not enter into legal matrimony themselves...now, THAT'S what I call "walking the walk"!!), and (though I have never smoked anything in my life), and though I would never encourage anyone to smoke anything (even tobacco), I think I'd be OK with legalizing and HEAVILY taxing marijuana. I'm even OK with the "no religion" part, because I've personally learned to separate "Religion" from faith (two different creatures all together, in my book), which is what I hope he is talking about when he speaks about his (probably fictitious) campaign platform. As Jay Bakker says, "Religion Kills"; for me, faith sustains life (at least it has sustained mine).

All I want to know is where I get one of those "Brad Pitt for Mayor" t-shirts???

"...Something Sick...About Break[ing] Into People's Bedrooms & Claim That God Sent You."

I had referenced Rev. Al Sharpton on one of my recent posts, and I included a link to his stance & work in overturning California's Proposition 8, which included a portion of a speech he had given at an Atlanta church. Below I have included a link to the entire article from the website for the newspaper, Southern Voice, which describes itself as the South's "most respected and most read gay and lesbian newspaper."

Below the link you'll find parts of Rev. Sharpton's speech earlier this year at Atlanta's Tabernacle Baptist Church. I know that he is a pretty controversial figure for a lot of people & I know that he probably has as many detractors as fans, but I really do love the way Sharpton can turn a phrase & how he can fire up the faithful!

Most of all, though, I love how fearless he is in speaking up for GLBTQI people & how willing he is to take this particular good fight to the fearmongers who--to paraphrase the line from the movie Saved!--delight in using the Bible as a weapon against our community.

Sharpton decries churches pushing Prop. 8

It amazes me when I looked at California and saw churches that had nothing to say about police brutality, nothing to say when a young black boy was shot while he was wearing police handcuffs, nothing to say when the they overturned affirmative action, nothing to say when people were being delegated into poverty, yet they were organizing and mobilizing to stop consenting adults from choosing their life partners. There is something immoral and sick about using all of that power to not end brutality and poverty, but to break into people’s bedrooms and claim that God sent you.

I am tired of seeing ministers who will preach homophobia by day, and then after they’re preaching, when the lights are off they go cruising for trade.

We know you’re not preaching the Bible, because if you were preaching the Bible we would have heard from you. We would have heard from you when people were starving in California, when they deregulated the economy and crashed Wall Street you had nothing to say. When [alleged Ponzi schemer Bernie] Madoff made off with the money, you had nothing to say. When Bush took us to war chasing weapons of mass destruction that weren’t there you had nothing to say. … But all of a sudden when Proposition 8 came out you had so much to say, but since you stepped in the rain, we gonna step in the rain with you.

I, Barack Obama, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month

I know that it may not seem like a big deal to most people, and I also know that there’s much more to supporting the LGBTQI community than making a Presidential Proclamation but I am so thankful that we finally have a President who acknowledges that LGBTQI people actually exist, without using us as a way to whip up fear, encourage ignorance & rally the politically faithful. I still believe that offering committed same-gender couples "civil unions" instead of full & equal civil marriage rights as opposite-gender couples is not good enough (by a long shot) & that the "separate-but-equal" idea is heavy on the "separate", but light years away from "equal" & that it is as wrong today as it was in the last century. President Obama is right when he states that "there is more work to be done," but this proclamation reminds me that I no longer have to feel like an enemy of the state simply because I love someone of the same gender.

What a change from the previous occupant of the White House, of course, who only ever spoke about us in terms of the threat we posed to “family values” and “traditional marriage”.

Like Senator Barbara Boxer once said, “Elections have consequences…”.

I personally LOVE this particular consequence!

Dick & Mary & The Mad Tea Party

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” --from Alice's Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

OK, when I read today on The Advocate’s website that former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney (yes, the guy who is making the rounds nowadays trying to untarnish his image & scare people into thinking that we are now somehow less safe because of President Obama) may soon be “coming out” as a supporter of equal marriage rights for gays & lesbians, I had to first re-read the article to make sure I hadn’t misunderstood anything; then I pinched myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming; then I had to check the calendar to make sure it wasn’t April Fool’s Day; then I took an online test to be sure that I was still (mostly) in possession of my faculties & that I could still read & comprehend English; and finally, I pinched myself again. Truth is, I didn’t misunderstand what the article said: Dick Cheney may finally be considering doing the right (as in “correct,” not as in political spectrum right) thing where GLBT rights are concerned. It even feels weird to even type those words. Maybe another pinch is in order...

Anyway, I am quite sure that, should this still hard-to-believe excursion into the Looking Glass occur, it will probably be in large part because of his daughter, Mary, who is publicly out about her sexual orientation. Dick Cheney may be many things (please, feel free to fill in the blanks, according to your political persuasion), but he is also a father, who we can only assume loves his daughter. I’m no fan of Dick Cheney (and I’ve long been disappointed that Mary Cheney—when she was a much more public figure—was not more vocal not just in favor of GLBT rights, but in her opposition to Bush’s push for the so-called “marriage protection” amendment), but I don’t believe it is my place to judge or comment on the relationship between a father & his children. For me, personally, that is beyond the pale.

I disagree with Dick Cheney on 99.997% of issues & I actually feel sorry for Mary Cheney that she has to carry around with the rest of her life the idea that she silently went along with a political administration that was out to score as many political points as it could on the backs of GLBT folks.

As interesting & as surreal (and, oddly, even as ostensibly helpful) as it would be to hear Dick Cheney come out as a supporter & possibly a friend of GLBT rights, I can’t help but remember how Dick Cheney treats some of his friends.

Makes me wonder if I should get ready to jump for joy or duck for cover!

In the Case of: Your "Rights" Vs. My Life

I truly understand that the right of the citizenry to propose changes to the legal documents that guide their society is most certainly sacred. I also think that, as Americans, we have a duty to be active participants in our own government, and that we must never fail to make our voices heard on those issues that affect our very lives. I believe these things, and though it seems to me that too many of my fellow citizens are too often too ready to dig the heel of permanent second-class citizenship even deeper into my figurative throat, I still agree with what President Lincoln told Congress in 1862 in the very midst of the bloodiest war ever waged on American soil: even with "the fiery trial through which we pass", the United States of American remains the "last best hope of earth."

Having said that, anyone who has ever read anything I've written on LiveJournal or on my own blog will not find it surprising that I am more than just a little displeased with the ruling yesterday from the California Supreme Court regarding equal marriage righgs. As I stated before, I get the idea that free people have the right to change the laws when they feel a change is needed. Intellectually, I understand that right. What I don't understand is when it became acceptable to use the state's most sacred legal document to take rights away from ONE GROUP OF PEOPLE. What I have a problem with is why 52% (or whatever percentage it happens to be) of citizens believed they were imbued with right to decide that another group of citizens are not entitled to be treated fairly & equally under the law. And what neither the California Supreme Court nor any other entity or person can ever convince me of is that any of us are ever completely safe from the loss of liberty at the ballot box simply because most people want to take that liberty away.

Today it's GLBT people because we've made ourselves targets by refusing to abide our closets any longer & just sit in timid silence while ugly lies stand unchallenged, but if you believe that this brand of malicious "justice" ends with us, then you have no idea the genie that has been loosed from the bottle. The people who pushed & paid & prayed for Prop 8 have most certainly been heartened by their "triumph" in the highest court in the Golden State, to be sure, and they may feel that the enemy has been slain. Today these citizens celebrate what they have so proudly taken from their compatriots. I imagine that these scared little people must find a measure of safety & comfort now that GLBT people have been put in their place.

What they do not know & cannot understand is that what they have been allowed to take from us (and, though I live in Florida, it is my "family" in California who have been hurt, so I have been hurt) means infinitely more to those of us from whom it has been taken than to those who have taken it. They may never grasp that we cannot let it stop here, and that we cannot allow ourselves to be vanquished, and that while they fight for their "beliefs" & their "opinions", WE ARE FIGHTING FOR OUR VERY LIVES. There truly is no comparison.

We cannot afford the luxury of taking time to feel sorry for ourselves or to have a moment to mourn our loss; too much hangs in the balance--too much has already been lost. And, though I hate the idea of it, we will almost certainly lose again, if not in California, then in another place just like it, where fear & lies obviously speak louder than those of us same-sex-loving people who seek only to live our lives quietly yet openly, just like those citizens who somehow feel they are entitled to a little more equality than some other citizens.

If we "win" or if we "lose" these grand battles that must surely be fully engaged by GLBT people & our straight allies, I hope we will be driven by something else President Lincoln once said: “I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have.”

Remember, it is only light of truth that can dispel the darkness of ignorance & fear...even ignorance & fear with an official government imprimatur on it.

Under the cut below, you will find a post about this subject by Rob Thomas on the Huffington Post (yes, he of Matchbox Twenty), which I found pretty enlightening for a mere musician ;-).

I love the title of his post, too, The Big Gay Chip on My Shoulder


The Big Gay Chip on My Shoulder

I am a straight man, with a big gay chip on my shoulder.

A while back on my Twitter page (yes, I know how ridiculous it sounds), I mentioned that, if I believed in the devil, Pat Robertson might be him.

Being a fairly liberal-leaning guy with either liberal friends or Republican and Christian friends who don't believe that being one has anything to do with the other, I was surprised at how many people took offense to what I had to say.

These people weren't friends of Mr. Robertson but friends, apparently, of God. They had "spoken" with him and he had assured them that he was no friend of the gays. He also told them that he loved America more than any other country and was a huge fan of Dancing With the Stars.
The small controversy or "Twitter-versy" (patent on phrase pending) all started when I had made the mistake of asking why two people of the same sex shouldn't be able to make the same life-long commitment and (more importantly) under the same god, as straight people. Why can't my gay friends be as happily married as my wife and I? It seemed simple to me, but let me start off by telling you a series of things that I believe to be true:

I am a person who believes that people are born gay. I don't think you have any control over what moves you or to whom you're attracted. That's why it's called an attraction and not a choice.

I believe that America is a great nation of even greater people. I also believe that anyone who says that this is a "Christian nation" has RHS, or revisionist history syndrome, and doesn't realize that most of our founding fathers were either atheist or at least could see, even in the 1700s, that all through Europe at the time, religion was the cause of so much persecution that they needed to put into their brand new constitution a SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE so that the ideals of a group of people could never be forced onto the whole. (I also find it funny when people point out to me that it says "one nation under god" in our pledge of allegiance, not realizing that this was an addition made in 1954 during the communism scare of the McCarthy era. It's not surprising, however, knowing that these same people would punch me in the mouth if I called Jesus a Jew.)

I believe the fact that an atheist, who doesn't believe in God at all, is allowed to enter into the holy land of marriage while a gay Christian is not, shows that this law is arbitrary. Are we to believe that anyone who doesn't live their life according to the King James Bible isn't protected by the same laws that protect those who do? Using the same argument that I've seen on the 700 Club, that would mean that Jewish, Hindu, or Muslim weddings are also null and void.
I believe that to deny this right to the gay population is to say to them, "this god is not your god and he doesn't love you." There isn't one person who is against gay marriage that can give me a reason why it shouldn't be legal without bringing God or their religion into it. Still, I'm amazed at the audacity of a small, misdirected group of the ultra-conservative Christian right wing, to spend millions of dollars, in a recession, on advertisements to stop two men or women who love each other from being able to be married, but when you present any opposition to them, they accuse you of attacking their religion. Isn't it funny that the people who are the quickest to take someone's basic rights to happiness are always the loudest to scream when someone attacks their right to do so?

But this isn't a paper about religion. How could it be? Since we clearly have a separation of church and state, how could a conversation about laws have anything to do with religion at all? I'm writing about basic civil rights. We've been here before, fighting for the rights of African Americans or women to vote, or the rights of Jewish Americans to worship as they see fit. And, just as whites fought for African Americans or Christians for Jewish Americans, straight people must stand up and be a voice for gay people.

I've heard it said before, many times, that if two men or two women are allowed to join into a civil union together, why can't they be happy with that and why is it so important that they call it marriage? In essence, what's in a name?

A civil union has to do with death. It's essentially a document that gives you lower taxes and the right to let your faux spouse collect your insurance when you pass away. A marriage is about life. It's about a commitment. And this argument is about allowing people to have the right to make that commitment, even if it doesn't make sense to you. Anything else falls under the category of "separate but equal" and we know how that works out.

The support of legalizing gay marriage is in no way meant to change the ideals of the section of Christians who believe that homosexuality is a sin. But we should refuse to let other people's ideals shape the way we live our lives. Each of us has a short ride on this earth and as long as we stay in our lane, and don't affect someone else's ride, we should be allowed to drive as we see fit.

...and a little child shall lead them, or, The Littlest Activist

Ethan McNamee is a third grader at Montclair Elementary in Denver, Colorado. As improbable as it sounds, for his class project, Ethan organized an Equal Marriage Rights Rally today at the Capitol Building in Denver.

From all I’ve read about it, this was entirely Ethan’s idea & he was told that not everyone in attendance at his rally would necessarily agree with what he was saying. In the video below, Ethan even addresses the fact that “there might be some people who have a different view from us”, but young Ethan encouraged supporters to “please keep all your positive energy on the rally. Despite the views of these people, I believe that I am doing the right thing, and lots and lots of people can many lives better…”.

Since I don’t think I can put it any better than Ethan did today at the rally, let’s hear and (thanks to YouTube) see what Ethan has to say.

Rock on, my little brother…

The Gaythering Storm!

I have to wonder if these people in the National Organization for Marriage ever knew that the $1 million + they spent on their "I'm Scared of Gay Marriage" campaign would bring more laughter & ridicule than any actual support for their paranoid delusions??

From Funny Or Die...

A Gaythering Storm from Jane Lynch

Marriage Equality Polls & Numbers & Charts, Oh My!

Just read a recent poll by CBS News about the slowly-but-surely growing acceptance of equal marriage rights for same-sex couples by the public in general, and--as an admitted NON-expert as regards polling--I found myself pretty encouraged by the numbers I saw!

Below the cut, you will find more information on the poll & my totally amateur analysis of the information I found. The charts & the words are not the most professional things you will ever see, but I hope it helps to explain why I find more hope every day that fate (or, your own personal version thereof) is definitely on the side of the good guys (and gals) in this struggle. P.S. If you want to take a closer look at the charts included in the article behind the cut, just make clicky on them to increase their size.


According to the CBS News poll, which took place between March 12 – 16, 2009, posted on PollingReport.com, there was an upward swing of 11 percentage points in support of legal marriage for same-sex couples in the 5 years between the first poll taken in March, 2004 and the last one taken in March, 2009.

One interesting aspect of these polls, for me, is that while there has been this slow but sure increase in the acceptance of the idea of equal marriage rights for same-sex couples,there has been a corresponding decrease in the proportion of Americans who support either civil unions (down by 6% in the same 5-year period) or who want no legal recognition at all for committed same-sex relationships (down by 5%). According to my handy, dandy Texas Instruments calculator, 6 + 5 = 11, which is the amount of increase in those who believe in providing equal marriage rights to gay & lesbian Americans.

The “Unsure”s remain at about 5% of the population.

While a plurality of those surveyed in March 2009 support no legal recognition of same-gender relationships (35%), those who support either full marriage rights (33%) or civil unions (27%) comprise a majority of those surveyed (33% + 27% = 60%). While the exact numbers have certainly shifted in these past 5 years, the facts for 2004 were still the same: 40% wanted no recognition of same-sex relationships; 22% wanted full legal marriage, and 33% supported civil unions. So, obviously even 5 years ago, more Americans supported SOME sort of legal recognition for these relationships (55%) than those who don’t (40%). The same, of course, is true today, but the poll seems to indicate that the public is, generally-speaking, is in the throes of a collective change of heart & mind where some sort of legal recognition of same-sex relationships is concerned.

If we take a look at a more detailed break-down of those who have been surveyed & where they stand on this issue, we see what many other polls have also shown: that the younger the person, the more accepting the person is of the idea of legal marriage or civil unions for same-sex couples. Those identified in the poll as between the ages of 18 and 45 were supportive of legal recognition of some sort for same-sex couples by a 2 to 1 margin, 64% (41% marriage + 23% civil union) to 32%. While a majority of the next age group (45-64) also supports legal recognition, the youngest group in the survey was the only age group where MORE people support full marriage than civil unions. Those aged 45-64 support civil unions over full marriage by a 32 to 29% margin (with 35% wanting no legal recognition at all). For the oldest Americans (aged 65 and over), 45% (18% for marriage; 27% for civil unions) support legal recognition while the biggest response (47%) was for no legal recognition at all.

Not surprising to me at all is the fact that the March 2009 poll shows that more women (64%) support legal recognition than do men (55%), though obviously a majority of both support some sort of legal recognition. The poll shows that 12% more women support marriage over civil unions (38% vs. 26%); whereas, with men, slightly more men favor civil union than legal marriage (27% vs. 28%). In spite of those numbers, a plurality of the men surveyed want no legal recognition at all for same-sex relationships (42%); this compares with 30% of women who favor no legal relationship recognition (8 points less than the percentage of women who support full marriage).

Where political affiliation (or, lack thereof) is concerned, Democrats in general seem to be more in tune with the overall population than Republicans. Overall, a third of all poll respondents were in favor of equal marriage rights. Forty-six percent of those who self-identified as Democrats support equal marriage rights (13% more than the general population),while only 6% of self-identified Republicans agree with equal marriage rights (27% LESS than the general population). Thirty-seven percent of Independents favor equal marriage rights (4% more than the average).

With civil unions, 27% of all those surveyed support civil unions for same-sex couples, while 23% of Democrats do (4% less than the average); thirty-four percent of Republicans support civil unions (7% more than average); political Independents came closest to the average in this area, nearly duplicating the overall average of 27% (compared to 26% of Independents).

Overall, 35% of those surveyed see no legal recognition for same-sex couples, which is 5% more than Independents, 9% more than Democrats, and 24% LESS than Republicans, the majority (59%) of whom want no legal recognition of committed same-sex couples.

It’s also interesting to note that Republicans seem to be more firmly set in their ideas than Democrats or Independents: 5% & 7% of Democrats & Independents, respectively, said they were unsure of how they felt about the subject, while only 1% of Republicans said they were unsure. Overall, 5% of all poll respondents had no opinion.

While the overall population has become generally more accepting of equal marriage rights between the last 2 polls in May 2008 and March 2009 (58% for marriage or civil unions in 2008 vs. 60% in 2009), it is telling that Republican support of equal marriage rights between May 2008 & March 2009 fell by over half (from 14% in 2008 to 6% in 2009); also, the percentage of Republicans wanting no legal recognition of same-sex relationships increased from 50% in 2008 to 59% in 2009. Even though there was a slight 2% increase amongst Republicans supporting same-sex civil unions during this time frame (32% vs 34%), overall, the overall numbers appear to indicate a more conservative leaning on this issue in the current GOP, whereas the opposite trend appears to be taking place amongst Democrats (whose support of equal marriage rights INCREASED by 10% in the same time frame ) and Independents (whose support of equal marriage rights increased by 3%).

The 10% increase in full marriage rights by Democrats appears to have come from a corresponding decrease in support for civil unions (a 4% decrease) and from Democrats who supported no legal recognition at all (a 6% decrease).

The 3% increase from Independents for equal marriage rights appears to have come from a decrease in those Independents who wanted no legal recognition (down by 1%) and those who were previously unsure (down by 2%).

Finally, comparing the survey results from the first poll listed (which took place in March, 2004), overall support for legal marriage is half-again as high 5 years later (22% in 2004 vs. 33% in 2009).

Support for civil unions 5 years later has actually DECREASED from 33% to 27%. The same holds true for the “No Legal Recognition” opinion, down by 5% points from 40% then to 35% now. Those who are unsure still account for 5% of the population. Considering the only increase in all these categories has been in support of full “Legal Marriage”, the decrease in support for civil unions appears to indicate that most people who may have accepted civil unions in the past have now evolved their thinking & now support full marriage rights for same-sex couples.

Full results of the polls in question can be found at Polling Report.com.

Julian Bond Stands & Delivers For The Gays!

Julian Bond, the head of the civil rights organization, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NCAAP), spoke at a Human Rights Campaign Gala in Los Angeles.

Mr. Bond is always eloquent. This speech is a prime example that Mr. Bond's dedication to true equality for all Americans. He cited Coretta Scott King (wife of slain American civil rights, Dr. Martin Luther King) and Mildred Loving (whose case regarding marriage between people of two different races was the first to be argued before the US Supreme Court, which finally pierced the evil heart of Miscegenation) and how they both saw the battle for marriage equality for same-sex couples as an integral part of the honorable, and on-going, battle of civil rights for all people.

He really makes a good pitch & reminds me again why I am so glad Julian Bond is on OUR side.

Enjoy:

Hi-"Fidelity"

I had first heard of Regina Spektor when she gave the California Courage Campaign permission to use her song, Fidelity, to lend a little musical assistance in the fight for equal marriage rights & to overturn California's Proposition 8.

When I had heard the California Courage Campaign was working to get the word out about the dangerous precedent that Prop 8 would set in allowing 50% + 1 of the population to take away the rights of their fellow citizens, I posted about it in this blog, and I included a video of Regina's song created by the CCC that presented pictures of some of the real people & real families that would be legally hurt if Prop 8 were allowed to stand.

Today, I found Regina's song on YouTube with the original video she created for it. This video, of course, does not mention equal marriage rights, but I think it is a cute & visually appealing little video (well, maybe "little" isn't the right word since--as of the writing of this post--nearly 10 MILLION people have viewed the video on YouTube).

I've personally have always believed that an honorable cause deserves a knock-out theme song, and this catchy little tune by our Ms. Spektor--in my mind--more than fills the bill...

Living & Loving In The Beehive State

Though he started out in the arcane world of professional baseball stats as a number-meister extraordinaire, Nate Silver has nearly officially morphed into the next big thing in political prognostication. With the same attention to detail & his nearly-trademarked kit-glove handling of ostensibly insignificant minutiae that he pours into baseball, Nate may have started out as an internet sports sensation, but his ability to not only read but forecast the direction of the political winds with as much apparent ease as his nearly dead-on sports prognostication has only served to add to Nate’s notoriety & “street creds,” as they say.

The day of the 2008 election, on his political website, 538.com, Nate predicted a final Electoral College vote in favor of Barack Obama of 349 to 189, off by only 16 electoral votes. While he (fortunately) incorrectly predicted that Obama would "narrowly [lose]…Indiana" to John McCain, he was spot-on in calling not only my own home state of Florida for Obama, but Virginia & North Carolina, too. I remember well hoping against hope that Nate was right, but having strong doubts about not only Obama’s ability to flip two reliably crimson red states like VA & NC to sapphire blue, but his chances of delivering a state like Florida with nearly every statewide office being held by the GOP as well as a nearly non-existent state Democratic Party over to the political light side. Nate’s proven adroitness in calling political winners with as much ease & nearly as much accuracy as calling baseball games has made me a true-blue believer. While I'm on the subject of colors, I gotta say that, as one of his newest fans, I think Nate Silver is golden! :-)


This is my admittedly long-winded preface to the issue about which I am really writing today. Nate is reporting on his website that Jon Huntsman, the Republican governor of Utah has announced his support for civil unions for same-sex couples. For me, it’s not as personally satisfying as if Gov. Huntsman had endorsed full marriage rights for same-sex couples and, in the best of all possible worlds, it would have been nice if the governor had made his sentiments known earlier in his political career as opposed to the end of his term, but, considering from whence comes this news—Ground Zero for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints—this is really pretty big news!

In putting this announcement into proper perspective, Nate writes on 538.com that this die-hard Republican’s conversion is "in its own quiet way, just as much as a cultural signifier as [California’s] Proposition 8. The days in which bigotry can be exchanged for votes may be numbered."

One can only hope...and keep fighting the Good Fight.

Happy Valentine's Day (+1) To ALL of Us!

Recently, Suze Orman, the openly-gay financial guru, put her own unique economic spin on the argument for marriage equality for all Americans.

On behalf of Suze, I dedicate this belated video valentine to all those married couples whose government recognition of their promise to take care of one another brings them more than just financial security & to those who still fight to know how that feels:

Please Don't Divorce Them Redux

In spite of what the world has shown me in my 46+ years, and against all apparent reason, at my core, I am an optimist--sometimes obstinately so. :-)

Having endured a closet that almost killed me, and having slowly but surely started to re-claim my faith & working to come out as a gay follower of Christ, I suppose in my mind & in my heart, I really can't help myself. God has shown me that the old line is true: it IS darkest before the dawn.

Even with an abiding faith that, as the email from the California Courage Campaign stated, this "shameful attempt to nullify these unions will not be vindicated in the eyes of history" & that "love will prevail, no matter how hard they try to fight it," I have also come to understand that faith without words is dead.

Of all that my Lord has taught me since leaving the prison I had built for myself, my eyes have been opened to the undeniable reality that my own broken heart simply cannot stand as a reason to stop fighting; those Christian Soldiers out there who see "abomination" in how we love, and who see us as enemies instead of siblings in Christ really do count on our being too demoralized to speak up & to stand up for our own hearts & our own lives.

It's not enough to not-so-simply know that I am right in believing that even GLBTQI people were made in God's image, and that we are loved just as we are...warts & all, as they say. It's not enough to know that following where the heart that God gave me leads me, and being truthful to myself & to the world is no sin. It's not enough to refuse to hide anymore. It's not enough to merely hope for better.

I know that "love is patient, love is kind...it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres," and I know that it is life-changing love that provides the impetus to keep going when sometimes all else seems lost, and--while "they" may not realize it yet--Love is what "they" are truly fighting here. I'm pretty sure that those who would, with ugly pride, attempt to put asunder what God has brought together know not what they do, and so it is up to each of us--unwilling to forgo this most noble of human endeavors simply to validate someone else's dogma--to remind them every...single...day that the enemies they have created in the dark recesses of their minds & against which they preach their Gospel of Exclusion bear no resemblance to the virtual Army of Lovers--and those who support our equality--who fight for a higher & much more sublime purpose than simply the right to do with our genitals as we please.

For so much of my life, it was other people who fought the fight for me, because I was too weak & too hurt to fight for myself, but--THANK YOU, GOD--those days are gone.

Part of my own spiritual rehabilitation is speaking out & screaming as loudly as I can & to as many people as I can that the Emperor Has No Clothes, and reminding the world (or as much of the world as I--as one person--can reach) that this whole fight is not about how I love, but that I love...and that's why I know we will yet see victory...even if not in my own time on this earth.

In this battle, those who fear & lie about us don't seem to be on the same page as the rest of us. "They" think they are fighting people who toil endlessly to be able to have the right to engage in what "they" have determined is "perverted sex," not knowing--or, at least, not admitting--that what we are really fighting for is our hearts' desire.

The true bottom line here is that we have so much more on the line in this fight than "they" do, so maybe they really can't fully understand that we can never give up, and we can never give in because--while they are fighting for what they believe is their "Godly cause"--we are fighting for our very lives.

To me, there is simply no comparison.

Please Don't Divorce Them

The California Courage Campaign reports that Ken Starr (of Clinton-Whitewater-Monica-Lewinsky infamy) & the Prop 8 Legal Defense Fund will present their case to the California Supreme Court starting on March 5, 2009 demanding that the Court void 18,000 marriages of same-sex couples that were legally performed between June 16 & November 4, 2008 in that state. The same court that ruled that citizens of the State of California could not be denied the right of marriage by mere virtue of their sexual orientation will hear Starr’s pleas to not only deny those self-same citizens of the right to marry, but to validate the idea that a minority’s rights are subject to plebiscite. Ken Starr & his minions will, in essence, seek to force divorce on all those couples who simply took advantage of their right to make a legal bond with the person they love.

Even though I don’t live in California, I am on their email list & I got an email from the Courage Campaign today that updated the status of the fight in the Golden State. They included a music video made by the Courage Campaign with pictures of some of the loving couples & their families who will be affected by whatever the California Supreme Court decides (a ruling is expected by the end of June, 2009).

The song in this video is entitled, “Fidelity” by Regina Spektor, who gave full permission to use it in the battle to overturn Prop 8 in California.

After watching the video, I hope you’ll do what I did and sign the online petition standing against what Ken Starr is attempting to do. The last paragraph of the petition states simply:

As Americans who believe in the rule of law and fundamental civil rights, we know that Ken Starr and the Prop 8 Legal Defense Fund's shameful attempt to nullify these unions will not be vindicated in the eyes of history. We know that, ultimately, love will prevail, no matter how hard they try to fight it.

So simple, right??

The email I got today started off by stating, “This video will break your heart,” and it did, but it also reminded me that the Good Fight still needs fighting & that good people can no longer just sit on their hands.

"For The Bible Tells Me So" Redux

The Sundance Channel was showing For The Bible Tells Me So today, and I watched it again & felt the same things I felt when I saw the movie originally, and I cried again. Seeing this wonderful film again reminded me of the first (and probably only) movie review I have ever written, and I wanted to include it on my blog today. Fair warning: the review is long & winding (something new for me, right???) & can never really describe just how I really feel. Suffice it to say, I was deeply moved. Below is a trailer for the movie:

Started off with Anita Bryant getting a “fruit pie” in her face during a press conference & then a press conference prayer for perpetrator to be delivered from his “demon lifestyle.” Childish as it seems, I never get enough of the guilty pleasure of Anita's banana cream pie facial!

Next I saw Jimmy Swaggart proudly stating, "I've never seen a man in my life I wanted to marry, and I'm going to be blunt and plain: If one ever looks at me like that, I'm going to kill him and tell God he died.” The congregation’s response? Laughter and applause. For some reason, I personally don't believe that the good reverend will ever need to worry about such a thing ever happening to him.

Never heard anything about Billy Graham but I did from Franklin Graham who proudly stated that God loves us homosexuals, but he will still judge us on our damnable sin & is still not happy with us.

There was the husband-and-wife preaching team Brenda and David Poteat from North Carolina, whose daughter, Tonia, is lesbian. Mr. Poteat explains that God loves you but you have to love Him back. Where being gay is concerned, I guess loving God back just isn’t enough.

Mrs. Poteat said how ashamed she was that, after her daughter came out to her, she would instinctively think of how her daughter performed sexual acts with another woman, instead of seeing her as her own flesh-and-blood. She says that while she has overcome that misconception, she still has problems with her daughter’s “lifestyle,” but she does accept that the woman her daughter has chosen as her life partner has made her daughter so very happy & Mrs. Poteat is at least happy for both of them in that respect. The Poteats still apparently don’t agree with their daughter’s “lifestyle” but they still love her. I guess a small victory is better than none at all.

Chrissy Gephardt (daughter of former US House Majority Leader, Dick Gephardt) & even Gene Robinson, the Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire, were married for a while to people of the opposite sex but each eventually comes to the conclusion that they could not wish their God-given sexual orientation away and they couldn’t simply act str8 to “fix” their lives & that they couldn’t go on lying not only to themselves but to their wonderful spouses, who also deserved to live with & love someone who could love them the way a spouse should. I didn’t know before the film, but I found out that, at his consecration as Bishop, Robinson had to wear a bullet-proof vest due to death threats. I guess “God’s work” can be such a messy affair sometimes.

The film covered the favorite word of the Religious Right where homosexuality is concerned: “abomination”. They said that, according to the Bible, it is also an abomination to eat anything that comes out of a pig & certain kinds of seafood.

In the film, they interviewed Rabbi Brian Zachary Mayer, the chief rabbi of Los Angeles-based Religion-Outside-The-Box said, "A few verses above and below it says you shouldn't plant two different seeds in the same hole, you shouldn't co-mingle your crops ... There is other text that says you shouldn't wear linen and wool together. To just pick out, this is the one that we're going to follow ... the Bible doesn't come that way -- it's selective reading ..."

I discovered a few more abominations in Proverbs, Chapter 6:

16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

Many Christians who do not know me and do not want to know me may see my very life of one half of a relatively-stable committed same-sex relationship as an abomination, but I have to wonder, after reading these words, if those very same “good” Christians who “speaketh lies” and who “soweth discord” amongst my former brethren about my “sin” aren’t looked upon by the God they claim to love so dearly as a similar “abomination”. Wouldn’t that be a really ironic & sad kick in the pants??

In the film, Archbishop Desmond Tutu states simply that homophobia is a not-so-distant relative of the evil of apartheid, which he himself endured & helped to subsequently conquer, and calls them both what they are, "contrary to the heart of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

In 1988, Mary Lou Wallner’s daughter Anna “came out” to her in a letter she had mailed to her mom. Being a deeply religious family, in the letter, Anna said she loved God & she knew God loved her & that she hoped her mom wouldn’t try to change her.

A couple of weeks later, her mom finally wrote back to her, and said, in part, “Undoubtedly, the most difficult part of your letter was the gay thing. I will NEVER accept that in you. I feel it’s a terrible waste, besides being spiritually and morally wrong. For a reason I don’t quite fathom, I have a harder time dealing with that issue than almost anything in the world. I do and will continue to love YOU, but I will always hate that, and will pray every day that you will change your mind and attitude.” (as a matter of fact, in the trailer for the film, the “I will always hate that” part is shown to the singing of “Jesus Loves Me”).

A few years later, after very little contact with her daughter except for another letter stating how her mother’s response to her coming out was devastating to her & that she could not forgive her for what she saw as her mother’s abandonment of her, Mrs. Wallner received some awful news. I have cut & pasted the following few paragraphs from Mrs. Wallner’s website (TEACH Ministries—To Educate About the Consequences of Homophobia) as she explains it better than I ever could:

On February 28, 1997 at 10:00 p.m., I received a phone call from my ex-husband and Anna's Dad. At about 4:00 p.m. that afternoon, Anna had been found hanging from the bar in her closet. She had been dead for 15 hours. It was ruled a suicide by the coroner -- no autopsy, no note, no nothing -- but days, weeks, months and years of pain and anguish.

I have heard it said that when a loved one dies of suicide, there is a sense of utter failure. I can identify with that. I did not love her unconditionally, even though I knew 1 Corinthians 13 well. Among other things it says, Love is patient...and kind; Love is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs...It always protects, always hopes, always perseveres.

Throughout these years, since Anna's death, I have done a lot of soul searching to figure out just what part I played in Anna's death. I have wrestled with who I am and how I treated my own flesh and blood.

No matter what else happens in my life, I will always acknowledge the pain and tragedy of Anna's suicide. However, her death has also brought me face-to-face with the untruth I have been taught throughout my life by the church. My transformation has occurred through a wonderful gift given to me by God: getting to know, understand, and love GLBTA (Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, Transgenders, and Allies).

I am now proud to call myself an ally and am honored to count these children of God amongst my closest and dearest friends. This new awareness has been supported through intense study of biblical passages, as well as continued dialogue with individuals on both sides of the issue.

Recently, I went to the curio cabinet that holds Anna's pictures and dolphin collection. I said to her, "I will never again treat a gay person the way I treated you. That's a promise!"

Anna hanged herself in her closet using her dog’s collar & I will always remember the picture they showed of Anna with that collar around her neck. I will also always remember what Mrs. Wallner said about how she was going to provide to other gay & lesbian sons & daughters who have been abandoned by their families the love she could never find in herself to share with her own daughter. Those words nearly brought me to tears. Not for me or my journey thus far, but for Mrs. Wallner herself, doomed forever to carry around in her heart the knowledge of how very much her love & acceptance would have meant to her daughter. Her pain must be unspeakable.

Jake Reitan, son of Phil and Randi Reitan, had come out to his parents as a young teenager. The Reitans were a family of Evangelical Lutherans whose lineage was replete with pastors in the church & who held the same beliefs regarding homosexuality that they had always believed the Bible & their church had taught them. When it came down to the long-held dogma & the love of their youngest son, they were torn, and they decided to keep it the “dirty little secret” in their family & had advised Jake to keep this to himself til he graduated from high school, for fear of what might happen to him.

Mrs. Reitan told the story about an incident that occurred shortly after Jake came out. She said that they lived in a house in Minnesota that had a long driveway & that she had come outside & had seen something written on the ground at the end of the driveway. When she got to the end of the driveway, she saw the word “FAG” written in chalk on the ground. She rushed inside & got some water & a scrub brush & she erased it before Jake had a chance to see it. She had become deeply scared because she knew now that the secret was out.

The Reitans eventually became activists for gay rights amongst the religious community in America & have worked to make life easier for their son & for all the other sons & daughters who had to travel their son’s path. The film showed that the Reitans were even arrested for trespassing in Colorado Springs, Colorado trying to deliver a letter to James Dobson explaining how his “Focus on the Family” ministry actually actively hurts countless numbers of families who love & care for their GLBT family members when, among other things, he compares gay people’s very existence as much a threat to Christianity as Nazis were to the Jews during World War II & when he tells families to refuse to accept their gay child. Because the good doctor refused to focus on this particular family & listen to their concerns about how they felt attacked by his group, the mountain came to Mohammad. After being confronted by the police guarding the Focus on the Family property from this "assault' & explaining that if they took one more step they’d be arrested, Phil Reitan explained that he was an American and a Christian & a father who loves his children & that he demanded to tell Dobson what he’s doing to all those families. Phil & Randi, with their son’s arms around them, all stepped forward & were peacefully taken away in a police van, but the world was there in the form of cameras & other protesters & the moment was marked forever where this family who saw themselves as victims of this “godly” man’s ministry had said, “No More!” It was a beautiful thing! Contrast that with one of the letters that the Reitans received for daring to stand up to this Man of God, an anonymous “fan” of Dr. Dobson’s writing in a letter to the family, “Death to the Faggits!”.

The movie also brought up an interesting dichotomy where these anti-gay ministries are concerned. They talk about how the believe in the literal translation of the Bible, especially as concerns the “abomination” of a “man lying with a man” is concerned, but they conveniently forget the literal command in the Bible to take all you have and give it to the poor, and what an abomination in the eyes of the Lord must be the ever-growing profits of these ministries, while the poor are getting poorer. How selective their literal interpretation of the Bible is!

Gene Robinson’s parents, conservatives from deep in the heart of Kentucky, tell of their son’s life. They talk about how, when he was born, he nearly died & that he had physical problems & that no one expected him to live very long or, if he lived, to be able to do or be much. From his earliest years, they told of how he loved God & how he studied the Bible & how he knew he wanted to share God’s love with the rest of the world. His parents, with the deepest Southern twang I’ve heard in a long time, spoke with pride of how their son had overcome so much in his life & how he had worked so hard to tell the world the Good News of his God’s redemptive powers. His parents were there when he was consecrated as Bishop & his parents even placed the Bishop’s garment on their son during the ceremony. They said that God had made their son “that way” & of their belief that the Lord had had His had on Gene & brought him through so much so that he could be a beacon of hope for those who had forgotten how to hope. Speaking of hopelessness, the film also quoted a statistic I had never heard before: gay & lesbian people are 3 to 7 times more likely to commit suicide that those who are not gay or lesbian. Sounds like Gene Robinson is more needed than I thought.

The film revealed that hate is really a violent form of fear. Not that I believe that everyone who says they are “against homosexuality” hates gay people, but it’s hard to come any other conclusion about those people who say “Slaughter the Gays” or “Death to Faggits” or “God Hates Fags” or that AIDS is God’s punishment for homosexuals.

All in all, biased as I may be, I don't think that the film disparaged anyone. The film certainly presented a certain point of view & that point of view is certainly widely unpopular in most Christian circles nowadays, but it does very much humanize those of us who have long been all but demonized in popular religion today & shows that not all people of God see a sin that needs ridding when they see people like me.

It also opened my eyes to understand that to get from there to here is sometimes a long, painful, soul-searching journey, just like my own lifelong trip from deep inside a cold, dark closet to the warmth of truth & freedom.

When I think of people like Mary Lou Wallner and her daughter Anna or Phil or Randi Reitan and their son, Jake, and how their lives were changed forever when their children came out to them (each with obviously different results) and how they were forced to challenge what their churches have always told them was undeniable truth and how they were made to see things quite differently with the passing of the years & the circumstances of their lives, I'm left wondering now if what I have endured to this point in my life had never happened I would truly appreciate life here on the other side of that closet.

Silly as it may sound, maybe Dolly Parton's right when she said if you want to enjoy the rainbows, you're gonna have to stand a little rain! Considering the foregoing, I think "a little rain" is a bit of an understatement, but still the thought remains.