Beloved Mellow Songs

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Happy Juneteenth!

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Today in Gay History

June 19, 2007

Legislation passed in the New York state Assembly to allow issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Assembly Member Daniel O'Donnell, was the prime sponsor of the Act. This was historic, but alas, the measure could never muster enough support in the upper House. This year (2 years later) things have heated up considerably, and the New York Senate is within 1 vote of finally passing legislation providing for marriage equality in that state. Baby steps, added together, become giant leaps.

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Million CAN March

THE CHALLENGE: To collect one million cans of food for our nation's food banks, food pantries and shelters by July 4, 2009.

WHO: Progressive bloggers with a special invite to conservative bloggers.

HOW: Act locally. Here are some examples:

• Take a bag of food to a local pantry
• Organize a food drive where you work or play, your church or motorcycle club, etc.
• Organize some friendly competition amongst a group of blogs
• Challenge your Facebook & Myspace friends and your twitter followers
• There's no one right way to get involved. Look around you, see the need and do something about it.

WHAT: Nonperishable food items. Note: We've already had a cash donation to a relief agency reported (and I know this is a good way for some folks to participate) so if you report your cash donations we'll run a tally of those as well.

SPECIAL CHALLENGE TO OUR CONSERVATIVE READERS: Bring the drinks! Ask your readers to donate cannisters of premixed tea, lemonade, koolaid, etc. You could even set up collection barrels at your next tea party. After all, it wouldn't be a party without the drinks. And it'd probably give you a little better publicity this time...just saying. Now aren't you wishing you thought of this first?

Want to Change Congress?

Change Campaign Finance Laws to return Power to the People !!

Change Congress co-founder Lawrence Lessig keynotes Brennan Center campaign finance reform conference. (May 8, 2009)

They Always be the Same Ones, Miss Daisy

Today in Gay History

Happy Birthday
Patricia Nell Warren (b. 1936) Gifted Author of Lesbian and Gay Fiction

from glbtq we learn:

Winner of the 1978 Walt Whitman Award for Excellence in Gay Literature, Patricia Nell Warren is the author of successful novels about American gay culture that exemplify post-Stonewall, pre-AIDS, popular adult mainstream fiction.

Warren's well-crafted narratives center on stalwart gay protagonists who must deal with the personal and political ramifications of mid-1970s American society confronting a burgeoning gay liberation movement. Downplaying graphic sex and exoticism in favor of challenging stereotypes and demystifying gay lifestyles, Warren's gay-affirmative novels hold appeal for both gay and non-gay readers.

. . . She was married to George Tarnawsky from 1957 to 1973. She acknowledged her lesbianism soon after publishing The Front Runner in 1974.

An avid sportswoman, Warren's own experience as a long-distance runner and athlete influenced her writing in The Front Runner and about sports generally.

Read much more of her fascinating journey from Reader's Digest editor, to best-selling author, to publisher, to community activist and children's advocate in West Hollywood here @ glbtq

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Knuckle Draggers

While showing enthusiasm for such nut-job inanities as redefining freedom of religion Talibangellically to enable health care providers to deny care based on their prejudices ~

Gov. Grendel Jindal and the GOP say NO to health care solutions

At the start of the current legislative session, Gov. Bobby Jindal called for bipartisanship and “Louisiana solutions.” Yet [June 9th] at the Capitol, the Jindal administration tried three different maneuvers to kill HB 889, the Louisiana Healthier Families Act. The Louisiana Healthier Families Act would reduce our youth smoking rate and generate upwards of $127 million a year for health care – and it enjoys bipartisan support in the Legislature.

That hasn’t stopped Gov. Jindal and Louisiana Republican Party chairman Roger Villere from opposing the bill at every turn, despite offering no alternatives.

“Gov. Bobby Jindal and the Louisiana Republican Party march lockstep with the national GOP’s “party of no” approach – no new ideas, no leadership and no solutions,” says Chris Whittington, chairman of the Louisiana Democratic Party. “At a time when Louisiana faces the challenge of serious budget cuts to health care, why is Gov. Jindal so opposed to an open debate and vote on legislation that would reduce teen smoking and secure funding to offset cuts in health care?”

A recent poll done by the Mellman Group shows about three out of four Louisianans support the Louisiana Healthier Families Act. (That included 72 percent of both Democrats and Republicans and 67 percent of independents supporting the proposal.) Today, The Advocate newspaper ran an editorial urging the Legislature to support the Louisiana Healthier Families Act.

h/t to Louisiana Democratic Party

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