Last Gasp

Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

In just a few hours, 2024 will come to a close.

I suppose a do-over is out of the question?

Wakey Wakey

 

A Different Kind of Holiday Wish

Image:  Abhishek Yadav at Scopio

I was driving behind a Toyota the other day that sported a pair of unique bumper stickers. The first said "Gender? I hardly know 'er!" and the second read "My other they is a them."

Thanks to the times we're in, I found myself fervently hoping that over the next four years that RAV4 never sets one tire outside of liberal Seattle.

The GG Hanukkah Tradition

 

This Week's Quote

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

Grace. It's Christmas, for goodness sake. Think about the baby Jesus... up in that tower, letting his hair down... so that the three wise men can climb up and spin the dreidel and see if there are six more weeks of winter.

Karen Walker on "Will & Grace"

Source:  Quotes.net

All About Dec. 24

 

Florida's Finest

Image:  Facebook

The House Ethics Committee, in a report released today, concluded that former Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz used illegal drugs and regularly paid for sex, including sex with a 17-year-old girl.

In other words, Gaetz really did have all the qualifications necessary to serve as attorney general in a Trump administration.

Strictly Speaking

 

It's Not Christmas Without the 12 Gays

 

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

I think Trump voters may be surprised to learn they voted to make polio great again.

Hillary Clinton

Source: X

Are We Strong Enough?

Image by Ken Boyd from Pixabay

Cher visited me in the shower this morning.

Not like that. Get your mind out of the  . . . shower.

I was imagining what this country would be like if Trump and MAGA had never taken hold, and a song title burst into my head:  "If I Could Turn Back Time."

Then I fast-forwarded to the years ahead and how much all of us who despise Trump will need to lean on each other:  "I Got You Babe."

Finally my musings turned specifically to Trump's picks for his cabinet and other weighty positions:  "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves."

Seasonal Service

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

At today's service at my Unitarian Universalist church, children and adults presented a distinctly UU version of the birth of Jesus.

That we have an annual production is notable, inasmuch as Unitarians tend to believe Jesus wasn't divine, but rather a prophet. Still, I think Christians wouldn't have complained about today's low-key presentation.

Except, perhaps, for that bit about there being no room at the inn or Airbnb.

Catty Christmas

 

This Week's Quote

Image by Rosy / Bad Homburg / Germany from Pixabay

For a Jewish guy, I've recorded a lot of Christmas albums.

Barry Manilow

Source:  Brainy Quote

Trump's Win and Us

Image by Khusen Rustamov from Pixabay

Here's a headline from today's Washington Post:  "LGBTQ+ Americans stockpile meds and make plans to move after Trump’s win."

All I'm stockpiling is chocolate.

But I'm not transgender, and as the Post story makes clear, trans people have much to worry about. For a start, Trump has promised to prohibit gender transition care for kids, as well as end any federal spending on such treatments for adults. He also intends to push Congress for a bill stating there are only two genders and they're assigned at birth.

Small wonder that transgender folks are hoarding hormones. And planning moves. And considering suicide.

The story isn't only about trans fear.  A gay 18-year-old from Missouri withdrew his acceptance from an in-state university and plans to hightail it to California after he graduates because he saw how Trump's win emboldened his classmates. They're saying things to him like, "Without you parading around, we will make America great again like it used to be."

Like it used to be, when queers were closeted and gay-bashing was a varsity sport.

The Donald Abroad

Image:  Facebook

I saw a headline that Donald Trump attended the reopening in Paris of Notre Dame.

Did he pose out front holding a Bible?

Seasonal Fact

 

This Week's Quote

Image by Vidmir Raic from Pixabay

The first thing you lose on a diet is brain mass.

Margaret Cho

Source:  Inspiring Quotes

The Toilet Tiff Goes West

Image:  Facebook

When the people of Delaware elected Sarah McBride to represent them in Congress, Republican House members responded by seeking to ban the openly transgender Democrat from the women's bathrooms.

Some lawmakers in Montana plainly thought that was a fabulous idea. Republicans pushed a measure that would require state legislators to use the restrooms of their birth sexes. The target was Rep. Zooey Zephyr, Montana's only trans legislator.

Today the proposed ban failed, with several Republicans voting against it. I'm not suggesting that cooler heads are starting to prevail in the bathroom wars, but it's nice that, at least in Montana's capital city of Helena, they canned the commode conniptions.

Question

 

Oh, My Eyes

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

At Mar-A-Lago, Elon Musk sat next to Donald Trump during Thanksgiving dinner. There's a video showing them both dancing to "Y.M.C.A." I'm not posting it.

You're welcome.

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

I have shared the same bathroom with Sarah McBride on several occasions, and she never once made me uncomfortable. She did however help me fix my makeup. That congresswoman knows how to blend her foundation, which is more than I can say about Donald Trump.

Dana Goldberg

Source: X

Conundrum

 

As Thanksgiving Approaches

 

Mean Girls in Action

Image by Alexa from Pixabay

On Monday a Republican member of Congress introduced a resolution banning transgender women from using female bathrooms at the U.S. Capitol.

I expected this. About five minutes after hearing on Election Night that the state of Delaware had voted to send openly transgender Democrat Sarah McBride to occupy its lone seat in Congress, I knew Republicans would create a hullabaloo over the other kind of seats.

I firmly believed Georgia firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene would be the one to lead a Republican bog blockade, and was I ever surprised to read that South Carolina's Nancy Mace got there first. 

I assumed Greene would walk through glass for the chance to grandstand on this matter, but somehow Mace beat her to the potty punch.

It turns out, though, that Greene hasn't completely missed her opportunity. She declared Mace's legislation "doesn't go far enough," and she'd be willing to get into a physical tussle if McBride uses women's restrooms.

That's our Marjorie. Always ready to up the ante in the service of batshit crazy.

Can't Deny It

 

Awareness

Image:  Katie Rainbow at Pexels

It's Transgender Awareness Week, and every transgender person in America is aware that his or her life just got harder thanks to the election results.

How can the rest of us help? I'm glad you asked. 

Over the last few years, as state legislatures began targeting trans folks, some faith communities noticed. I'm a Unitarian Universalist, and my Seattle church is involved in a national effort to help transgender and gender-divergent folks escape red states.

We're a kind of aboveground Underground Railroad. Perhaps we should be called Thomas the Transgender Tank.

Anyway, my minister said that calls from frightened trans folks escalated after the election, which is no surprise. So we who are helping with the local endeavor realized we needed to up our game.

During both services today, a transgender congregant laid out how dire the situation is around the country. The money that was donated to the collection plates will be divided between the national Pink Haven Coalition and our local branch. I staffed the info table and was gratified to see church members signing up to join our group, work on fundraising or provide housing.

The refugees, whether individuals or families with kids, lack the resources to move across the country, so we'll help with temporary housing, grocery cards, info on medical and social resources, etc. And someone should probably be there with smelling salts when they first get a load of Seattle prices.

As the service I attended wrapped up today, our resident mezzo soprano launched into "You'll Never Walk Alone," and we were encouraged to join in. I did, and tears began to fall. Damn that Rodgers and Hammerstein.

I know all too well how hard it is to watch the news these days, or to do anything but fume. Unfortunately, time is tight, as wretched individuals will soon be coming for innocent people. This is what I'm doing about it. What can you do?

One Good Thing

Image:  Facebook

Trying to find anything positive in the election results is like trying to find a needle in the haystack on Donald Trump's head.

But there is one thing. According to The Hill, Trump lost ground with LGBTQ folks. Of voters who self-identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, 86 percent voted for Kamala Harris. That's a 22-point increase over 2020, when Joe Biden captured 64 percent of the queer vote against Trump.

Trump infamously gained ground with groups like Black and Latino men, but the opposite happened with us. Could it be that we did more than any other demographic to save democracy? Harvey Milk and Barbara Jordan would be so proud.

The reasons queer voters took this stand are obvious. Start with the Trump campaign turning transgender people into effigies. Beyond that, hell, we're gay:  We know when a production should never have gotten out of development.

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

Another tiny ray of sunshine: Democrat Tom Suozzi won convicted felon George Santos's former congressional seat, causing George to throw a fit and shoplift five more Hermes sweaters and stress-eat an entire Little Debbie display at Stop and Shop.

Paul Rudnick

Source: X

We All Did

 

One Option

Image by Jude Joshua from Pixabay

My sister and I drove north to Vancouver over the weekend to visit our 91-year-old Aunt Cathy.

As soon as we sat down, Cathy offered her condolences on the American election. She added that both of us were welcome to move to Canada, since "here we like immigrants."

The Most Lesbian Meme on Earth

 

News Blues

Photo by Wavy_ revolution at Pexels

The news is so painful since Donald Trump's victory, but as I drove home this afternoon I turned on my car radio, mainly out of habit.

The first thing NPR told me was Jan. 6 rioters, whom Trump described as "political prisoners" during the campaign, fully expect a pardon on his first day in office.

Click.

The Day After

Image:  Facebook

I can't believe we're here again. Another capable woman defeated by the same male turnip.

It looked likely Trump was going to win when I went to bed last night. Not surprisingly, I had a helluva time falling asleep. And then staying asleep. His smugly—that's a combination of smug and ugly—face kept intruding. So I'm not in tiptop form this morning. But a few things come to mind.

For many Americans, like me, Trump represented an existential threat to American democracy. It's now clear that for many other Americans the existential threat they felt was to themselves. In other words, it was the economy, stupid. Inflation roared during the Biden term and it didn't during the Trump term. That's an incredibly simplistic take, but that in itself suits a lot of voters.

Throw in sexism, racism, transphobia and homophobia. Add a large dose of un-Christian Christians. Drop in an appalling mess in the Middle East. And don't forget Trump super-selfishly putting the kibosh on an immigration deal, and the fact that the benefits of the Infrastructure Law haven't been felt yet.

So now we're faced with the specter of four more years of the man who would be dictator. As he surrounds himself with toadies, prepare yourself for Steve Bannon as press secretary. Stephen Miller as chief of staff. Kid Rock as secretary of state.

Our rage and bafflement are real. The temptation in these early days is to turn on each other, but that won't help in any way. I suggest instead that we all acknowledge the pain and how bitterly disappointed we are in our fellow Americans who chose this criminal narcissist with a shriveled heart and a conniving mind as the way forward.

And we must take care of ourselves. The very phrase makes me feel namby-pamby, but it's the truth. We're no good to ourselves or others if we deteriorate under this considerable strain. I, for one, plan to go to the gym this afternoon. I'll probably break into tears while on the treadmill . . . but that could also be because I hate the treadmill.

Election Day 2024

Image:  Facebook

I'm cautiously optimistic.

I assume the New York Yankees were, too.

Election Day Eve

Image by Azmi Talib from Pixabay

I can think of a hundred reasons why Donald Trump shouldn't be president. And that's without benefit of caffeine.

But for my queer-centric purposes, I'm zeroing in on just one reason here on this day before Election Day: the appalling transphobia of Trump and his fellow travelers.

The "PBS NewsHour" put my stomach in knots over the weekend by reporting that, between Oct 7 and Oct 20, the Trump campaign and allied groups dedicated over 40 percent of their enormous advertising budget to anti-trans ads.

That's an amazing figure. In the final days of the election, Republicans believe the winning strategy is to demonize the most vulnerable part of the queer community. If this were a debate class, they'd all flunk for such an irrelevant closing argument. (If they hadn't already flunked for the way Trump treats microphones.)

Since the main issues in this election are the economy, immigration and abortion, noted a "NewsHour" host, why the anti-trans push in the closing stages? A transgender journalist replied that "the purpose of a fear campaign is to distract you from issues that you normally care about by making you so afraid of a group of people, of somebody like me, for instance, that you're willing to throw everything else away because you're scared."

It strikes me that Trump could cover all the bases by running just a single ad attacking a transgender poor immigrant who aborted a kindergartner.

It wasn't at all long ago that Republicans fear-mongered around gay rights and same-sex marriage for political gain. Now transgender folks are their victim of choice. Who in the LGBTQIA+ community will be next? It's hard to imagine conservatives getting whipped into a froth over genderfluid asexuals.

The bottom line is which will happen first: They run out of fear or we run out of letters?

Watch Till the End

 

Of Course They Are

 

Halloween Frights

Image by Bany_MM from Pixabay

It's Halloween, and the terror is real.

Here in the greater Seattle area, I walked into a post office yesterday morning to find only two customers ahead of me. Great, I thought, this won't take long. The first woman was spending the money to send a ballot Priority Mail, I guessed to a child in college. That's commitment.

The second customer appeared to be a grandmother, with grandchild in tow. She all but made the clerk swear by the United States Postal Service creed that her ballot would arrive in Arizona by Election Day.

This is a liberal region, and I presumed both of these ballots would be cast for Kamala Harris. With Arizona'a swing-state status, I fervently hoped the grandmother's ballot would arrive on time, and I brooded over the potential consequences of all the swing states . . . and by the time I got out of there I couldn't have told you my own zip code.

Yesterday evening I attended a "Pre-Election Spiritual Retreat" at my church. The ministers offered poetry, breathing exercises and words of wisdom designed to help us retain emotional equilibrium over the days ahead.

I tried to be receptive. But I know perfectly well that my best shot at staying sane during this obscenely tense period is to don a costume right now that allows someone 61 to pass for 12, rush out into the neighborhood and procure enough 3 Musketeers and Hershey Bars to last me till Thanksgiving.

This Week's Quote

Image by Yvette W from Pixabay

I think a lot of gay people who are not dealing with their homosexuality get into right-wing politics.

Armistead Maupin

Source:  The Book of Gay & Lesbian Quotations

If Only

 

I'm Getting There

Image by Barbara from Pixabay

I've been one of those unwilling to call Donald Trump a fascist. I've been willing to call him plenty of other things—criminal, treasonous, burnt umber—but not fascist.

My reticence is due to a fondness for linguistic and historical accuracy, and an aversion to hyperbole. But mainly it's due to the fact that I was raised by a woman who was born into Hitler's Germany and lived, barely, through the results of fascist leadership. Yes, we know Trump has authoritarian tendencies, but does he truly rise to the level of 'ol Adolph? I mean, my family has high standards for the evil despots we encounter.

Then along comes John Kelly. As Trump's longest-serving chief of staff, Kelly told The New York Times this week that his former boss fits "into the general definition of fascist" and "certainly prefers the dictator approach to government."

Kelly is hardly a delicate liberal flower. He's a conservative Republican and a retired Marine general who spent a lot of time with the former president. He saw Trump up close and personal, for which I bet even combat training didn't prepare him. Unless that combat training took place in Studio 54.

Kelly said he opted to go on the record because of Trump's announcing he might try to use the military against his domestic foes, an unequivocally fascist move. I'm much closer now to being willing to call Trump a fascist, but I sure wish Kelly had come clean a lot sooner than two weeks before the election.

If she were alive, my mother would offer an irritated "Jawohl."

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

BREAKING: Trump fired after cash register comes up short in first shift at McDonald’s.

Kyle Keegan

Source: X

Message to Every Friend of Dorothy

 

Hoop and Hate

Image:  Facebook

If the New York Liberty win today's Game 4 of the WNBA finals, they'll capture the franchise's first league title, overcoming a resilient Minnesota Lynx team, the defensive player of the year . . . and homophobic death threats.

I don't think Vegas oddsmakers figured in the latter.

After Game 1 of the series, Marta Xargay, wife of Liberty superstar Breanna Stewart, received anti-gay death threats via email. The couple alerted the league, and the NYPD is investigating.

Minnesota beat New York in Game 1, in part because Stewart blew a free throw at the end of regulation, which makes me suspect the email is more likely to have come from Montauk than Minnetonka.

Social media abuse against WNBA players, much of it racial, rose this season. "Why is this happening? Because we are the most inclusive league in all of professional sports and I can say that with confidence. But there’s no place for hate," said Stewart.

Apparently receiving death threats against your family can focus a person, as Stewart had a monster Game 2. But as motivators go, that one purely sucks.

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

Before his milestone 100th birthday, former President Jimmy Carter told his family he wanted to hold on to support Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. On Wednesday, he cast his ballot for the vice president.

Savannah Kuchar and Marina Pitofsky

Source: USA Today

Beats Enslaving Someone

 

Blast From the Past

Image:  Wikipedia

Unless you're deceased, you know that America is in the midst of a presidential campaign.

Which prompted the website History Facts to present some of the more notable presidential campaign slogans over the years. The Democratic candidate in 1928, New York Gov. Al Smith, opposed Prohibition, so he was considered a "wet" candidate.

That led to this campaign slogan:  "Vote for Al Smith and Make Your Wet Dreams Come True."

He lost.

Couldn't Agree More

 

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

My third grade teacher called my mother and said, "Ms. Cox, your son is going to end up in New Orleans in a dress if we don't get him into therapy." And wouldn't you know, just last week I spoke at Tulane University, and I wore a lovely green and black dress.

Laverne Cox

Source:  AZ Quotes

World Dyke Day

Image:  Freepik

Today, Oct. 8, is International Lesbian Day.

According to Wikipedia, the day is celebrated mainly in New Zealand and Australia. But it's already Oct. 9 there.

As if being a lesbian isn't confusing enough.

Witchful Thinking

 

A Positive Morsel

Image by olioweb from Pixabay

When it feels as though there's bad news everywhere—like a spreading war in the Middle East and continued conflict in Ukraine and Sudan—it's sometimes helpful to find a pinch of good news.

Here you go:  Thailand has legalized same-sex marriage. Recently the king approved a law passed by parliament that makes Thailand the first nation in Southeast Asia to take this step. It joins Taiwan and Nepal as the three Asian countries allowing gay nuptials.

Now, for at least a couple of minutes, I can block out the bad and indulge in a Thai high.