Pride & Opinions

So it is that a certain presumed Republican nominee for the November Presidential race has deemed it necessary to resort to petty juvenile cracks directed at a certain presumed Democratic nominee’s celebrity status.  The aforementioned Republican nominee has further seen fit to involve the names and likenesses of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, no less.

John McCain’s campaign manager Rick Davis was quoted after the commercial spot was released as saying “the focus on events and activities is much more something you would expect from someone releasing a new movie than running for President.”

Perhaps the McCain camp is simply not able to grasp the idea that we live in a different world than the one in which McCain was taken as a prisoner of war.  We live in a fast paced, modern society in which all people in the public eye – no matter what form that position takes – must evolve along with the society they represent.

It appears to me as though John McCain’s age is his biggest obstacle in this election season, and even my devoutly Republican partner (gods help me) admits that he is too old to be the President of the United States.  Still, instead of making fun of his opponent for having the attention of the world he may want to instead take a few notes.

It should come as no surprise alas, that Ms. Hilton would have something to say about the whole thing, and surprisingly her response was quite well articulated.

Kudos to Paris Hilton for having the most honest and entertaining political commercial of the 2008 election season.

Take that, bitches.

That  could well be the headline now, after Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed legislation into law that would allow out of state same sex couples to get married in the Bay State.

The law repeals a 1913 law requiring that couples applying for marriage licenses only be allowed to have one if the marriage would be recognized in their home state.  That law hadn’t been in use for quite some time, as it was originally intended to stop interracial couples from being wed while most states still had laws against it.

I know this is a bit of a departure for a Historic Thursday post here at Pride and Opinions, but this is a historic move that will open the door for thousands of same sex couples to trek to Massachusetts to have their partnership recognized as a marriage in the eyes of the law.

Making this even a more historic move, Governor Patrick made sure that this law included a clause that would allow it to go into effect immediately, while most laws do not take effect for 90 days from the time they are first signed.

Now gay and lesbian couples on the east coast don’t have to travel all the way to California to get married!  We have choices, kids!

I can’t help but wonder how many same sex couples are rushing out to get married now who will then be faced with the problem so many hetero couples in Las Vegas have been forced to deal with (remember Britney and her childhood best friend / hot ass boy Jason Alexander?)

He was born in Woodmere, New York and graduated from the University of Albany before joining the U.S. Navy and eventually finding his way to San Francisco.

He was the self-named “Mayor of Castro Street” – a title that few residents of the time would argue.

Elected to public office as a city supervisor for District 5 in San Francisco after two unsuccessful attempts (in 1973 and 1975), Harvey Bernard Milk was “the first openly gay man elected to any substantial political office in the history of the planet”¹

After less than one year in office though, Harvey Milk was shot and killed along with then mayor George Moscone by a recently resigned city supervisor named Dan White on November 27. 1978.  White who had attempted to get his job back and was denied.  The day Milk and Moscone were murdered was the morning on which Moscone was slated to announce White’s replacement.

Even though he carried plenty of ammunition, gained admission to the building undetected through a window and systematically murdered first the major and then Milk, White’s defense team denied premeditation.  He was eventually convicted of voluntary manslaughter.  He was sentenced based on diminished capacity, a law that was later abolished.

The White Night Riots

In the wake of the devastating loss to the gay community, on the night before what would have been Harvey Milk’s 49th birthday, people (largely gay men and lesbians) began to gather at City Hall and would eventually begin rioting.  The riots were so named after Dan White, and included chaotic fires, large scale destruction of property.

Remembering Harvey

In 1985, a documentary called “The Times of Harvey Milk” was released and would go on to receive an Oscar.

On May 22, 2008, a statue was unveiled at City Hall on Milk’s birthday, flanked by an honor guard of gay and lesbian youth.

¹Time Magazine - http://www.time.com/time/time100/heroes/profile/milk01.html

If you are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender it is up to you to learn your own history.  That is the purpose of Historic Thursdays here at Pride and Opinions, because we as the GLBT community need to know our roots.  I promise you won’t learn this stuff in school.

Throughout school we are taught about the horrific acts associated with the Holocaust, but the focus was always (at least in my education) on the atrocities inflicted upon the Jewish people.  While I am in no way attempting to imply that the impact on the Jewish community was unfathomable I feel that it is important for me to mention an aspect of the Holocaust of which you may or may not be aware.

It is a little known thing called Paragraph 175.

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