My Gay Life

This is a parody of the video for eHarmony I Love Cats.

There has been a ton of gay news lately like GLAADgate, Marriage Equality in New York, homophobic rants by Southwest pilots, Obama’s fraudulent survey response, or wait maybe it was not, and much much more. And as newsworthy as all of those are and as strong of opinions as I have on all of them, I am not in the mood to cover them.

Instead I want to discuss Colorado Springs. Whenever I am outside of Colorado Springs, I always get asked why would a gay person choose to live in Colorado Springs? With Focus on the Family, New Life, Amendment 2, and the city being so conservative why would you live there?

My first response is always that Colorado Springs is a beautiful place to live with in my opinion some of the best weather in the country. Being in the shadow of Pikes Peak, being minutes away from Garden of the Gods, and only a few hours from some of the best skiing on the continent are what drew me to Colorado Springs.

I normally get brushed off for that part of my response, but I continue. Colorado Springs is home to some of the oldest gay organizations in the country. With the United Court of the Pikes Peak Empire opened in 1973 and our Pride Center opened in 1978 the gay community has been thriving in Colorado Springs for a long time. Colorado Springs is also home to one of the largest private funders of LGBT rights with the Gill Foundation. So despite the belief that there is not an active gay community in Colorado Springs, the opposite is true with a very active community.

No, there is not a gayborhood. However, there are 5-6 gay bars and Colorado Springs, and yes we even have a bathhouse. The Colorado Springs PrideFest draws approximately 20,000 people each year. That is quite the turnout for a <400,000 citizen city. Oh, and PrideFest only draws a dozen protesters.

And, by the way, despite the fact that Focus on the Family and New Life Center are in Colorado Springs, most of the residents wish they would leave. New Life Center is not as ridiculed as Focus but they still receive their fair share of attention. However, everything Focus on the Family does receives immense amounts of negative attention and they are frequently called out for their donations for anti-gay causes. In fact it has been 6 months since this happened, but I just saw a comment made yesterday asking why Focus donated $100,000 for Prop 8 a week before they laid off a significant amount of their workforce.

So, yes Colorado Springs is a conservative city. Yes, there are days I wish I did not live here and lived in a gayborhood. Yes, there are days I just want to scream you idiots at many of the city residents. But Colorado Springs is a good place to live as a gay man. There are the downsides, but the community is a close knit community without tons of infighting. And like everywhere you will have your religious zealots, but if you learn to ignore the few you will find Colorado Springs very accepting.

I have been debating about getting a dog for about the last year. Living alone and working from home are not the greatest means of getting companionship and having a dog would be really nice. However, on the other hand I am not sure I want the responsibility of having a dog. I also have never had a real pet, even when I was young, so I have no experience in taking care of a dog.

I am not sure that I want to take on the financial responsibility of dog food, vet bills, and dog toys. I like my current lifestyle and want to be able to take a spur of the moment trip without having to worry about being home by a certain time to let the dog out or feed the dog. I really do not want to have to clean up the dog’s messes. And I really like being able to sleep in on the weekends.

However, despite all of the down sides having a dog would provide a great friend and companionship. Not to mention that dogs are chick and guy magnets at the park.

What are your thoughts? Do you have a dog? Is it worth it?

Anti-Gay Senator’s Horse Affair Caught On Tape

And the congressman’s response:

Live: Senator Addresses Rumors Of Horse Affair

I am going to start posting brief reviews of books I have been reading that may be of interest to my readers.

the memoirs of a beautiful boy – Robert Leleux

I found this autobiography to be a dry read. Probably because I could not really associate with the story of Robert Leleux’s life. Robert Leleux was a gay boy who grew up in Texas with a mother who only married for money. The story was set in the 90s and covered Robert Leleux’s parent’s divorce, his crazy mother, his meeting of a boyfriend, and their venturing out onto their own. I found that the book discussed Robert Leleux’s mother too much and did not find her interesting. I am sure others will have a completely different view of this book, but it was not for me.

Read entire article.

In an unsurprising ruling, a judge in San Francisco ruled today that Judge Vaughn Walker being a gay man was not something that needed to be revealed during the trial and was not reason for Judge Walker to recuse himself. The proponents of Proposition 8 had argued that Judge Walker should only have been allowed to rule on the case if he publicly disavowed any interest in getting married to his same sex partner. However, Judge Ware responded to that argument with the following:

“The presumption that Judge Walker, by virtue of being in a same-sex relationship, had a desire to be married that rendered him incapable of making an impartial decision, is as warrantless as the presumption that a female judge is incapable of being impartial in a case in which women seek legal relief. On the contrary: it is reasonable to presume that a female judge or a judge in a same-sex relationship is capable of rising above any personal predisposition and deciding such a case on the merits.”

You could continue to show the ridiculousness of the argument made by the proponents of Prop 8 by carrying the argument through to its logical end. No person who is able to procreate should be allowed to rule on a case involving abortion as they may at some point find themselves where either they themselves are getting an abortion or their wife, girlfriend, mistress, etc. want to get an abortion. No person should be allowed to rule on a case involving free speech rights as they themselves may be influenced by the decision and their ability to use their free speech. I could go on and on.

There was nothing really surprising in this ruling, just another step along the lawsuit over Prop 8.

For those who have lost track the next steps in the lawsuit are for the California Supreme Court to way in on the standing issue about who is allowed to defend Prop 8. Oral arguments on this are expected sometime in September with an opinion released within 90 days. After the standing issue has been resolved it is back to the federal appeals court for arguments and their decision.