My Gay Life

My family came out to visit me over the weekend. Nothing too special just a standard visit. However, my mom had never seen my house before and my two brothers had never been to Colorado. So we did some basic stuff and went up Pikes Peak, to the Garden of the Gods, the Air Force Academy, the Olympic Training Center, Vail, and the zoo. We also hit the Manitou Cliff Dwellings which are a complete waste of money and time.

But I am exhausted. All I wanted to do over the weekend was sleep in and relax but instead I had to entertain family and play the good host. Now that they are gone it still does not end. I have to do the laundry including all of the extra sheets from my family, eat all of the left over food, return borrowed air mattresses, and try to catch up on sleep. Well time to get back to work.

So I have not mentioned anything on the Prop 8 decision last week, and probably should. I have delayed because: a) there was a lot of exciting news for me last Wednesday, b) there was some news that still has me perplexed (a legitimate governor candidate thinks biking is a secret plan by the UN to take over Colorado…), and c) I had an emergency at work Wednesday afternoon.

So I waited and have had plenty of time to think about the decision, and I still do not know what to say. On the one hand I want to say “Yay! We won the first battle of the war.” and yes this means it should be easier for the LGBT side as we do not have to prove the judge wrong in the appeals court. On the other hand I want to say “So what. It is going to be 3-5 years before this means anything. Damn our court system for being so slow.” Even after they decide this case there will be a bunch of additional lawsuits to turn over the laws in every other state.

So for me the Prop 8 news was a very short celebration that ended Thursday night. Now it is back to the grind. Trying to figure out how to Boycott Target and Walmart at the same time. Boycotting Best Buy even though I rarely shopped there in the first place. Trying to figure out how to be interested in ENDA when I live in a state that already has these protections. (Yes I know you do not have the protections and I do care about that. But, I am selfish, and therefore do not care as much.) And trying to find a boyfriend. (Apply in the comments )

GetEqual has been doing a lot of direct action protesting lately and I commend them for it as I think it is important. However, I struggle to decide if they are really making their point. There actions do get national attention within the LGBT community, but I have not seen a lot of national attention to these protests. Yes, they get local coverage, which when you are trying to influence a politician is theoretically enough. However, we all know that most politicians don’t really listen to their constituents, they think nationally and what is best for the party nationally.

Also, all of their protests have been 5-10 people who go perform some sort of impeding protest and get arrested. So 5-10 people go sit in an office until they get arrested, or 5-10 people hold a sign across the lanes of the Las Vegas strip until they get arrested, or 5-10 people sit in the capital rotunda until they get arrested. I am not saying these are bad actions, but why only 5-10 people. Would it be more effective if they did it with 50-100 people?

I understand the need to keep their actions quiet beforehand to prevent the police from being ready for them, but I really think they need to find a way to get more people involved.

I miss thunderstorms. I grew up in Ohio where on a good summer night you could sit outside and watch the lightning as the storm moved in. It was always an awesome show and nice and relaxing. You were always looking to figure out where the lightning was going to strike next and laughing when the lightning was far away and jumping when it was right next door. I probably did not appreciate it enough at the time, but I still enjoyed them.

Now, in Colorado, we still get thunderstorms but where I am at they are usually short and very strong tempests. And they usually are at 4 in the afternoon, not prime lightning watching time. Typically we do not get lines of storms that you see coming 30 miles away, partly because my horizon to the west is only 10 miles. At 4 in the afternoon in 15 minutes we go from sunny, to golf ball size hail, to torrential rains, to sunny again. Not nearly as enjoyable as the long drawn out storms of the midwest. I miss lightning shows.