"Day Without a Gay" may prompt some workers to take the day off

Cris Jones plans to take a personal day off from work today but not because he's feeling sick. The transportation planner with the city of Boulder is going to "call in gay."

He's joining others in a "Day Without a Gay," a nationwide boycott of work prompted by Californians' recent passage of a proposition banning gay marriage.

The Colorado Queer Straight Alliance organized a volunteer day today at the African Community Center in east Denver. The group was expecting at least eight volunteers, coordinator Jules Graves said. Some critics have questioned the wisdom of holding the boycott as the deepening economic recession has many already fearing for their jobs.

"In general, people are nervous about the economic situation, so they're less likely to take the risk and participate," Graves said.

Several Denver-area professionals with ties to the gay/lesbian community said they won't skip work but will observe the day in other ways. Greg Griffin, The Denver Post

http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_11180517

Power Hungry Politics

New York Times Magazine writer Matt Bai and author of a must-read book for Democrats, "The Argument: Billionaires, Bloggers, and the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics," recently provided an apt description of American politics for the last sixteen years. Democrats would be wise to remember "The real trend line in our politics - from Ross Perot and Bill Clinton in 1992 to Obama this year - speaks not to any change in governing philosophy but to a growing frustration with incumbency and dogma, a sense that both parties are more concerned with perpetuating their own power than they are with adapting government to a fast-changing world. Voters aren't really identifying more closely with one party or another when they periodically revolt; they are simply defining themselves against whoever happens to be in charge at the moment."

As someone who believes, wholeheartedly, in the importance of voting and the power of the little guy to effect change, the above statement really rang true for me. I am not interested, as a voter or a citizen, in furthering the power of one group over another. My loyalty, ultimately, is to my country, not one party over another. I am excited to see what we can achieve in the next four years. And I really have hope that we will see change, as a proactive response to the world in which we operate, rather than a reactive response to what "the other guy" has been doing.

Prop 8: The Musical

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

World Aids Day

Today is a day to mourn the losses we have faced as a community and a day to celebrate the gains we have made. Close to 30 years ago, AIDS was killing us. Admitting you were ill meant censure, job loss, and isolation. There are still challenges to this disease. There is still social stigma. But there is also federal funding, despite the last few years of abstinence only blockades, there is more hope than there was. In some ways our hope has been a stumbling block. The new generation doesn't respect the depth of consequences that AIDS can have for them because they haven't watched their friends dying. 

Join Boulder County AIDS Project tonight for their World AIDS Day Concert, Boulder Dinner Theatre. Contact Kate Hibberd for details kate@bcap.org.

Openly Transgender Mayor!

This election marked the first African-American President. The first time in 40 years an Oregon Senate candidate beat an incumbent Senator. And in tiny Silverton, Oregon, residents have elected the man who's believed to be the first ever openly transgender mayor in the United States. KGW report on transgender mayor
Stu Rasmussen served two terms as the Mayor of Silverton in the 1990s. But he hadn't admitted to being transgender. He's not the same man now that he was then. Today he wears a skirt and high heels. He has breast implants, and long red hair. He looks like a woman - but he's not.
"I identify mostly as a heterosexual male," Rasmussen said. "But I just like to look like a female."
Rasmussen is a man. He even has a girlfriend. He says he's always been transgender, but he only "came out" a few years ago.
"Some guys' mid-life crisis is motorcycles or sports cars or climbing mountains or trophy wives or whatever." Rasmussen said his mid-life crisis was quite different. "I always wanted cleavage, so I went out and acquired some."
With the way he looks, he wasn't sure how his run for Mayor would go.
"The first 30 seconds they think, am I in a freak show? Is there a camera behind me? What's going on here?" Rasmussen told NewsChannel 8. "And then we get down to discussing whatever the issue is - city business or business or whatever - and they figure out this guy's different, but he knows what he's talking about."
It's Rasmussen's knowledge of the issues, and of the town, that won over so many voters. As one voter said, "Stu's very devoted to this town."
Rasmussen won by a hefty margin - 13 points. It really wasn't close.
"He wants to maintain the integrity of Silverton," voter Gail Frassenei said. And she said she isn't sure Rasmussen would be elected anywhere else. "I think it's amazing a small town like this can be so open-minded, to elect someone that's made a life change."
"I'm prejudiced, but I think this is just about the coolest town on Earth," Rasmussen said, just before he broke down, a tear gently running through his eyeliner, and onto his cheek. He can't wait to take office in January. He said he's finally confident enough to be himself, as he runs his hometown, wearing his signature heels.

http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_110608_news_transgender_mayor.18a1f2fa7.html

Rabble Rousing.

I'll be honest. I am done with people being brushed aside because they are different. I was so excited that Detre and the Bias Incident Hotline put together a rally tonight to protest the recent rash of hate crimes here in Boulder. I spoke on behalf of Boulder Pride. Because to be queer is to come from all communities. Queer people are poor and wealthy. Queer people come from every race and religion. Queer people come from every geography. I spoke because I believe in the importance of unity.

There is a poem I am sure you have all heard, but I want to share it tonight.

When first they came for the criminals I did not speak

Then they began to take the Jews

When they fetched the people who were members of trade unions

I did not speak

When they took the bible students

Rounded up the homosexuals

Then they gathered up the immigrants and Gypsies

I did not speak

Eventually they came for me

And there was no one left to speak

I believe there is a power structure in America that fears the oppressed. I believe there are people who use our differences to divide us from one another, with the knowledge that if we stand together, we are unstoppable. I believe the recent hate crimes against minorites and women are expressions of that fear. And I believe that if we stand together and speak out, but also more importantly, act out, that we are unstoppable.

Tonight we marched and learned. But it cannot stop here. It cannot stop tonight. One night is not enough. You must do more than you think you are able. You must reach higher than you believe you can.  One step at a time, we will change the world we live in. Because together we are unstoppable. 

A Moment of Silence to Honor the Dead

We started as a movement when the leather and trans community decided they were done with being kicked around. Our community loses its history because of our unique nature. We aren't born into gay families with gay traditions. We are born into straight families, for the most part, with straight traditions, and then we swim upstream for at least some of our life, looking for our place of origin. Until we realize that our origin is distant and strange. We must balance within ourselves the dichotomy of our familial traditions and our cultural identity. Rarely do they overlap.

So our history began, when and where? We are unsure. But consistently we find a way to fit into the cultural norms and we distance ourselves from those who do not. Today is the transgender day of remembrance. A day to honor the struggles and pain of one part of our community, as it reflects the pain and struggles of our movement as a whole. 

There are gatherings in Fort Collins and Denver specifically meant to honor our trans community. In response to local hate crimes, the Bias Incident Hotline has organized a Journey into Justice and will honor the transgender community as part of their rally and protest.