Rediscovering My Favorite Pasttime

A V-Day Message

Some Parents Are Just Kuh-Razy.....

......Thankfully the rest of us still have our heads screwed on correctly.

One such couple in Tulsa, Oklahoma decided that a children's book featuring a character from the classic TV show Arthur was too inappropriate for children. Buster's Sugartime features the lovable character, named in the title, meeting with different families, including a same-sex couple. The couple from Tulsa argued that because Oklahoma's laws ban same-sex marriage, all books discussing the topic should be banned too.


The Board of Education, of course, denied the request from the couple. School superintendent, Cathy Burden, said, "If legality in Oklahoma was an issue we were to use in criteria, then we would have to get rid of a lot of books in our library referencing things like pirates and robbers and cattle rustlers and many other topics that are certainly in popular fiction not only for children but for adults."

No books should be banned. Period. Everyone should be able to read everything and make their own informed decisions on how they feel about it and react to it. Of course. Of course.

A Sad, But Ironic Letter

Found this letter on the wonderful World Wide Web. I'm just praying that the girl who wrote it to her father was serious, but I'm almost 100% sure she is. There weren't any literature or comments with the note, so I don't know.

But to think a father would say such things to her daughter is just appalling. Too bad there are so many people like this out in the world.

(click on the photo to make it large enough to read easily)

Speaking of appalling people, the Advocate.com reports that the Mayor of Moscow recently spoke his opinion that homosexuality is "satanic," adding that he WILL stop any attempt this May at a gay pride parade. He broke up the parade last year also, which ended in violence between the public and local police force. I CANNOT believe that someone would so adamantly stop a parade concerning human rights. To that, he said, "It's high time that we stop propagating nonsense discussions about HUMAN RIGHTS and bring to bear on them the full force and justice of the law." As if homosexuality should be illegal. How terrible!

Lower Divorce Rates in Gay-Friendly States

The title of this post pretty much says it all.

But just in case you didn't catch it, here's the dirt simple explanation. According to "numbers guru" Nate Silver, states that legalized gay marriage in recent years have seen an 8% decline in the number of the divorces since 2008, while states enacting gay marriage bans have had divorce rates increase by .9%.

Looks like the gay haters are getting all upset over spilt milk in other states and breaking up with each other over it. People need to realize how horrible it is to hate someone purely because of what makes them a human being: love.

Gay Glee News Galore!

Not only has Glee recently been picked up for a second season, but the big people upstairs have announced that they'll be holding auditions for 3 new roles, including one gay romance for current show character, Kurt. The producers have said that the potential Kurt-romance role will be a major part of the show; they want to push the boundaries on how big they can make this gay coupling.


I am ecstatic to hear this news! They can really can get some great things out in the public eye for gay people, especially in the direction for gay rights. Add on that they hinted about a possible lesbian coupling last season between two cheerleader characters, and we could really start seeing some family-oriented LGBT action on primetime television!

Links: Advocate.com, Pinknews.co.uk

A Family is a Family is a Family

Here's a cute advert for a documentary from HBO by Rosie O'Donnell. I know. Rosie? Don't trust it; but I still really like the short video.

Hold the Phone!

I have to tell you about this right now because it has made sooooo HAPPY! Ewan McGregor and Jim Carrey are starring in a new movie together to premier in March called I Love You Phillip Morris. The best part: they're two gay men in love!

Yes, it's a romantic comedy with some drama tossed in. Do you have any idea how excited I am that the beautiful Ewan McGregor is playing a gay man?! Words cannot describe my elation. I can't wait for this movie.

Check out the trailer. Looks like a keeper.

New Semster...New Beginnings

Hey everyone! I hope your classes are going well. Don't be skipping any; it will do you know good and only develop habits that will follow you through the rest of the semester. Start strong--stay strong.

It's a brand new year, and Spring will be here sooner than you think. The days will start getting longer, and the sun will shine brighter. It's time to seize the day, take control of what you've got, and celebrate the life you have and everyone in it. As Master Oogway said in Kung Fu Panda, "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That's why it is called the Present." So take today's gift and live life to the fullest.

Religion's Hating on the Gays...Still

It really breaks my heart every time I hear yet another story about how some religious person is taking out their doctrine on the LGBT crowd. I, personally, am not religious, but I will respect a person's theological beliefs........until he/she starts hurting another person because of what he/she believes. That is by far crossing the line. Bigotry based on religion is unacceptable.

But it always baffles me when a religious figurehead, especially one followed by literally millions, if not billions, of people, attacks an entire population of gay people. The Pope is guilty this time.

In light of Portugal's triumphant legalization of gay marriage, the Pope had the following to say. In a speech directed at environmental issues, the Pope spoke about the protection of endangered species, including humans. "One such attack comes from laws or proposals which, in the name of fighting discrimination, strike at the biological basis of the difference between the sexes." He specifically mentioned "certain countries in Europe and North and South America," obviously alluding to Portugal's and Mexico City's very recent legalization. He also noted, "Freedom cannot be absolute."

Pardon my British swearing, but what a load of bollocks.

The Pope is also known widely in the LGBT community for his outspoken opinion on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa when he said last March that condoms only "aggravate" the HIV problem. Aggravate??? Really? REALLY??? He preaches that the only true way to prevent the spread of the terrible virus is through 100% abstinence. Yeah, because that'll ever happen (not that any of us even want it to).

On a similar note, the Muslim church is also having a severe effect on the LGBT community. The Albert Kennedy Trust, a charity for homeless youth, reports an increasing number of LGBT youth seeking their help because they cannot live with their families anymore. For many reasons, not limited to "threats of physical violence, actual violence and restriction of liberties," many young gay people are fleeing their homes as far away as the Middle East to this charity in the UK.

A trust worker said, "We've had people chased out of the house with knives and we have had issues around young people who had exorcisms planned to get rid of the gay demons." Muslim families simply will not tolerate having a gay child, and often try to force the kids into marriages to cure them of their ailment. The LGBT youth are forced to flee, often for fear of their lives.

This kind of discrimination--no, torture, is not only appalling but heart-breaking. I can believe that any parents would ever try to kill his/her child because of that child being gay. I've heard some scary stories, but this is by far up near the top of horrible human flaws.

I'm just gonna end with this: I genuinely hope I never meet one of these horrible parents, because they are not going to like me at all when I'm done with them.

Links: Advocate article, Pink News article 1, Pink News article 2

Jane Lynch "C's" Obama as a Disappointment

I can't remember where I first saw her, but I knew when I saw Jane Lynch on Glee (her character, Sue Livester, famous for her news broadcast "How Sue 'C's' It"on the Fox show), she would be a SPECTACULAR addition to the cast. She has once again shown her merit in her comments concerning Obama's performance on the pursuit for gay rights.

The out actress told The Guardian, "Shouldn't there be safeguards against the majority voting on the rights of minority? If people voted on civil rights in the 60s, it would have never happened. It took somebody like [President] Lyndon Johnson going, 'F all of you! I'm going to do this.' Obama won't do it. He's a huge disappointment to me."

Well spoke, Jane. Well spoken.

Advocate.com article

A Way for Me to Get Involved

In case you didn't already know, I'm moving to Orlando, FL (WOOOOOO!) in just 10 days!!! Well, while I'm there, I hope to get a good foothold in the gay scene and really get to see what's up with gays in another part of the world--especially one such gaytopia as Orlando!

Here's a possible political angle I very much plan to look into. According the Pink News.com, a campaign spearheaded by Sex and the City out star, Cynthia Nixon, will be launched this year. It is a 3-year campaign from the American Civil Liberties Union attacking the currently legal gay adoption ban.

Now, I don't know the first thing about the current laws in Florida, except that they're either the only place or one of the few places in America where gay adoption is illegal, which is just terrible. I'm pretty sure a small child in either an adoption agency or foster care isn't going to care what gender his/her parents will be, as long they are super loving.

A ban on gay adoption needs to happen, and I'm definitely to continue researching this topic and give you more insight while in Florida. If you know anything, please feel free to contact me at mitcharp@gmail.com

Lady Gaga Defends Adam Lambert

Unfortunately, the source for now of this information is the National Enquirer, so we can't be sure if it's legit, but I certainly hope so.

The story is that while at a club in Ottawa, Lady Gaga, among friends including Adam Lambert, was approached by a man and verbally assaulted. He told her that he thought she was a man, and asked if she was okay with going to hell because of everything she represented and the gay community that she supported. She told him that she didn't care, and if she went to hell, it'd be alright if she didn't have to see his face there. Go Gaga!

The man then went on to insult not only Gaga but Lambert, calling them both freaks, among other things. Lady Gaga became upset at this point, yelling that it was okay to insult her, but her friends while she is around. She then, supposedly, took the glass of wine she was drinking and poured it onto the man before leaving the club.

I feel bad for Gaga and Glambert if someone attacked them like this, but I'm proud to hear that she stood up for not only herself and Lambert, but gay people everywhere by not caring about what a bigot had to say.

Pink News

Prop 8 is About to be Challenged

Starting this month, the first court case since Proposition 8 was passed in California is going to be heard at the San Fransisco district court. Two gay couples, Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, and Paul Kattami and Jeff Zarillo, are the ones who filed the case, and they are represented by Ted Olsen and David Boies. I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot about this case in the coming months.

Over 30 states have specific bans on gay marriage, and if this case goes anywhere and accomplished legal action against Prop 8, it is quite possible that many other states will follow suit. The case argument is that it is unconstitutional for a state to ban gay marriage.

Pink News

U.S. Travel Ban on HIV/AIDS Lifted

President Barack Obama has taken another step in the right direction. He has lifted the travel ban that restricted all HIV/AIDS-positive people from entering the United States, and this relief is a long time coming (22 years!!!).

Finally, loved ones can be reunited and families will never be separated by such a terrible ban as this one ever again. The whole idea of banning people from "the land of the free" because they are ill of a terrible virus is horrid. How could anyone have thought that this was a good idea?

Personally, I have no idea what was going through people's minds at the time. The only reasoning that I could muster is that it would have been for quarantine purposes: keep the virus out to keep it from spreading. However, this is terribly unfair to those suffering from HIV/AIDS. Just because someone has the virus does not mean they are some sort of sexual deviant terrorist set on coming to America and spreading the illness as far and wide as possible. Millions of good, sensible people have tragically contracted the illness, and it is downright discrimination to lock them out.

Fortunately, the government has come to its senses on this issue. No more ranting needed.

Pink News article

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

It's 2010, and with a brand new year comes a brand new blog. As many of you have done, I'm sure, I've made a list of some New Year's Resolutions, and I plan to stick to them. I've made resolutions for years, but I've never really stuck to them. However, in 2009, I made a list, and then I did something to make it concrete so that I could stick to it more easily.

I wrote it down!

I know, what a concept right??? But yeah, I went and made a sparkly, rainbow, Very Gay New Year's Resolution flier, if you will, and I stuck to it! Of the 5 or so resolutions, 4 of them were acheived! Wooo! And again this year, I'm going to do the same thing. Here are my resolutions:

1) Go to and thrive at the Disney College Program at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL.
2) Strive for above average grades in the fall (Don't wanna set the bar too high by saying "Get straight A's." I surely won't do that. haha)
3) Maintain the healthy and happy relationship that I have with my boyfriend.
4) Have regular postings on my blog.
5) Create a photo album for 2009 (and finish the one from 2008!)
6) Maintain a steady workout routine in the hopes of improving my value self-worth through superficial and stereotypical judgments of the gay culture (a.k.a. make my body look supa hot so that when I go to gay clubs, people will want to hit on me!)
7) Play my Wii more; I miss it.

So....yah! There's my list of resolutions for 2010. Not exactly the most inspired work of literature, but I think it gets the job done. I'd love to hear your resolutions! Leave a comment and tell me all about it!

Thank Goodness for Hate Crime Legislation

Short rant: I'm SOOOO thankful that the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes bill was passed recently, just for this. This loser assault guy is now going to get to go to prison for hate crime charges because he and his buds attacked a couple because they assumed the two men to be gay. This story is for all those people who said hate crime legislation is just going to make it easier for upset gay people to get mad at religious folk for not letting them do what they want in the church; people REALLY DO get attacked, raped, and even murdered because of their sexual orientation and/or identity.

And NOW, we have the protection against it. Thank goodness the government did something right.

Vid Exposure

In light of the recent loss of gay marriage in Maine, many supporters of gay marriage are in an uproar over the entire debate. Some ask a very good question: if the Church is so against gay marriage as their doctrine calls for, what about divorce? An anti-gay religious leader from Washington, D.C. does NOT have any good answers.

How Disappointing

In case you weren't aware, a massive race was occurring last night in our nation's history. The second state in America was in the runnings for an election to determine the fate of homosexuals, only seen one other time in California. Question 1 in Maine was an election ballot to strip away the recent bill signed by the Governor of Maine that legalized gay marriage. This is the same initiative that took place in California, and it was just as frightening.


The results: LOSS - Question 1 was legalized and gay marriage is Illegal in Maine.


What a tragedy to have this happen 2 times in a row for the LGBT community! It only proves that the general public should not be allowed to make decisions on human rights. It was the same during the civil rights movement and before that when Americans owned slaves. If the general public had been able to vote, America would've never progressed into the wonderful place of opportunity it is today. But one demographic is still oppressed and will remain so until the government kicks it up a notch.

"The majority will NEVER vote for minority right."

There is a small possibility to explain what may have caused this (besides calling 53% of Maine residents a bunch of bigots, because that's terrible--I'm sure they had their reasons for voting the way they did). Of course, I could just be throwing stones, but the population is much more likely to vote Republican right now. With the current state of the economy, many people consider it our Democratic President's fault (I'm not getting into whether or not it is; too much to think about) for the shape of the country currently, so those people are much more likely to vote Republican on every ballot.

Could this have affected the Maine election? A similar situation certainly encouraged voters on Prop 8 in California, so it's very likely.

I know someday that gay marriage WILL be legalized, I just wish it were sooner rather than later.

Response to a Daily Beacon Letter

Alright, alright, here I am entering my opinion into an argument I really have no say in...again. The audacity of some people really upsets me though, and I need to express my feelings when upset.

This letter in the Daily Beacon today was a response to another letter sent in on October 20, that I actually responded to here. In the most recent addition to this trail of letters, Will decides that he is going to go on a rant about how Courtney shouldn't be demanding universal health care to help out unborn babies, because it would actually make abortion more available if the health care bill were passed. He also addresses other "beliefs" that he possesses. These are my responses.

It comes down to two very simple points for Mr. Will.

Firstly, there is NO debate on whether abortion is right or wrong. It is a matter of opinion. There is no law, to my knowledge, that says abortion is "right" and should be the way things are done. Yes, it is legal, but you can still believe that it's "wrong," just like people against gay marriage in states where it has been legalized do. Legislation doesn't force people to be individually and morally okay with abortion; people are allowed to hate something all they want. Hate does NOT justify illegality, however. Women deserve the right to choose to have an abortion if they so desire. If they want to: good for them. If they don't want an abortion: good for them. Pro-life people are more than welcome to picket and yell and hate abortion clinics all they like; that doesn't mean the clinics should be closed down.

Secondly, (and this is directed to Will individually) you really have ZERO say in the matter. Yes, you have your voting rights, but unless you get some girl knocked up, you should not care about abortion at all. You're never going to have one. You. Are. A. Male. You cannot possibly understand what it is like to be pregnant, to be carrying a future human being inside of you, or the amount of responsibility that comes with the entire situation. A pregnancy can ruin more than one person's life. It is up to the person who is pregnant (i.e., the woman) to decide the fate of the growing person inside of her. You may have your opinion, but realize that you can NEVER truly understand the situation enough to develop an accurate opinion. You'll only ever have your beliefs to go on, as will I.

As a male, I recognize and understand that I won't ever be pregnant or know what it's like to be pregnant. Therefore, it's not my place to tell other women that they cannot have a child. Personally, I see no reason to have an abortion. Have the baby and put it up for adoption if you cannot care for it. Simple as that in my eyes. However, my eyes aren't the ones that count; it's the soon-to-be mothers that need to decide to have an abortion or not. And they should have every chance to make that decision.

The entire rest of the debate is left up to opinion. Period.