Tag Archives: NO on Prop h8

I Never Learnt to Share

Termination without cause is what they said and termination without cause is what happened. I suppose budgets should have been checked beforehand, and now this. It’s wasn’t that great an investment in time but I do have to confess my disappointment. I certainly do appreciate the time spent and still think highly of them, enough to not harbor any bad feelings. That’s the way things go I guess. I stopped by the morning and received the official news. There are still days left on the schedule and where they stand on this remains to be seen. I guess I’ll find out soon enough.

A beautiful day today though. I’m heading into the city in a few hours, Bill is taking part in a staged reading about the Proposition 8 trial in California, about same sex marriage. It was written by Dustin Lance Black and when first put on in Hollywood, had bold faced names in the roles. Bill is my bold faced name. It’s a few hours from now and I just have to figure out how to fill my time until then. I’ve already done laundry and ran a few errands. I could always watch my clothes dry I guess.

Bill and I have been taking a break from politics and the news, opting to watch comedies on TV. A few weeks ago when I was hanging out with Rand, he asked me what shows I watch on TV. I realized that I don’t watch programs, the channel has usually been set on MSNBC. And that has been stressing me out. So a conscious decision was made to laugh, or at least watch something amusing. So we watched The New Girl and The Mindy Project, both were actually funny. Then for old times’ sake, Lawn Hors d’œuvre SUV which was pretty good. Then we watched The Soup and Key & Peele on Comedy Central. Bill loved Key & Peele a lot.

That’s the TV roundup since Bill went to bed soon after that I followed a little while later. Quite boring isn’t it?

Today is also National Coming Out Day. That’s a way of showing support to people in the closet about their sexuality, showing them that there is nothing wrong with being gay and that life is better once you stop hiding yourself. Staying in the closet does not help anyone and in fact makes a lot of problems.

I was outed myself and once my sexuality was revealed, some people were fine with it and others dropped me as a friend. Nothing had changed really, something I had kept hidden was revealed. People who were friends on Friday were no longer my friend on Monday. Nothing I could do about that. There was a betrayal involved, the ‘friend’ I had come out to, told his girlfriend who had a big mouth. Luckily I did find new friends who were quite supportive.

It’s all about support you see. It is a necessary thing, considering that there are so many people against coming out. They seem to prefer a person living a lie.

I just got back from seeing Julio for a few minutes. It was good to see him. He is going to a wedding tonight and needed a pair of cufflinks. He knew I had a pair to loan him and it was good to get out in the sunshine and talk. He was disappointed with my turn of events and offered a few words of support. We had a few laughs, it’s rare that we see each other these days and he is hardly ever online, spending more time in the real world.

And now I just came home with Bill. Bill played the role of Paul, one of the plaintiffs in the Proposition 8 Trial reading. He was excellent and quite passionate, drawing tears from members of the audience, not just me. Well done, excellent cast, excellent reading of an excellent script by Dustin Lance Black. I am quite glad I made it, walking up to 80th Street and Lexington Avenue from 33rd St and Sixth Avenue. I was early and it was a good walk. With all that walking (in dress shoes no less), I wore a suit & tie for the occasion.

Kudos all around.




09 Feels So Good

Of The Instant

Well today is Wednesday and it’s certainly been one of those days. But first of course, last night. Bill was so sad. Dealing with his mother’s health and his cousin’s husband’s idiocy and lack of compassion which is only practiced on Sundays in that household it seems.

I did my best to help Bill. Just being there for him is enough I guess. He packed up his clothes as well as various items he might need and got them ready to bring with him to work, and then to Stuyvesant Town. I helped him with his bags this morning, taking a later bus and carrying one of his bags to his office on my way to work.

While Bill and I were talking, Harpy called. Bad news for Harpy, he’s been laid off. They gave him two weeks notice. It sucks but he’ll make some dosh working at Farfetched which in itself might be on thin ice financially. I don’t even know if they’ll need me this holiday season. It would be nice, but perfectly understandable if that doesn’t work out.

I got to the office this morning which was under construction. Everything was out of place or all over the place. Not my ideal place to walk into. After about an hour I decided to go out and run some errands which I usually do later in the day. Also got my shoes shined since I wanted to look good for the demonstration tonight. I heard you get points for your appearance.

Vivek returned from India with a deal made and him telling me that I will have a job until March 2010 so I guess I should say ‘thanks but no thanks’ to the application for the Obama/Biden administration. I requested one as a lark when visiting Obama’s website to tell them my story last week.

I stayed later than usual at the office since I had plans to make it to the No on Prop h8 demonstration outside the mormon temple at 65th Street and Columbus Avenue. Things had calmed down considerably in the office by then and I sat at my desk making a sign and playing Erik Satie, Gymnopédies – 1. Lent Et Douloureux which is nice and relaxing and perfect for making signs.

I made my way across town listening to Gang of Four to psych myself up with some agit-pop. Also stopped in De La Concha cigars and treated myself to a nice cigar, a La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero.

I was in a pretty good mood and looked good as well. You don’t see too many guys in suits and ties at political demonstrations. I followed the crowds walking up Broadway to the meeting place and unfolded my sign and chanted and yelled with everyone else.

We were on both side of Columbus Avenue, I was penned in, in front of the temple telling them what we wanted and when we wanted it. Equal Rights! Now! Not special rights mind you, equal rights like all married couples. There was a larger group across the street penned in a traffic island shouting the same things. Tax This Church!

Somehow, we got permission from the police to march down Broadway. They stopped traffic as thousands of us marched and yelled and cheered. Some people joined us from the sidewalk as we marched.

I caught up with Andres, a fellow blogger who writes Blabbeando which is in the sesame seed blogroll. After chatting online for a while, we finally met. Nice guy he is. Knows many people. Kept running off to say hello to this one or that one.

After marching to Columbus Circle, it all seemed to peter out. Andres was heading back to Queens, me to Hoboken. We made tentative plans to have dinner sometime. My cigar extinguished while marching in the crowd. Didn’t want to bother anyone with the smoke, nor did I want to hear any complaining about it.

I lit up again after crossing Central Park South and smoked it, taking my time walking down Eighth Avenue, passing dozens of police cars on stand by, perhaps ready to bust some heads should something go wrong. It was a boisterous crowd so rioting was unlikely to happen with the police, stoic and sitting in their cars.

A few blocks south of that, a few police vans and squad cars were zooming up Eighth Avenue lights and sirens a blazing. I made it to the bus, got a seat and continued reading The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein.

Bill at his mother’s still cleaning and shredding and working his way through his anger for his cousin’s husband. Who knows how long he’ll be in Stuyvesant Town? It’s good to be home, but it would be better if he were here or with me at the demonstration.

My sign, perhaps a bit wordy or slapdash…

Everyone else

Andres

Night School Observers

There’s something to be said about marching with thousands of people, gay and straight for equal rights. Also a good reminder that gay people come in all shapes and sizes. The cookie cutter image of gay people is so last century…..