08.28.09
Posted in D's Thoughts at 12:56 pm by pikapp44
Today our Babies (dogs) went to a really great grooming salon and animal chiropractitioner.
They played with “Newby” the handsome Chinese Crested who runs the salon.
P.A.W.S. - stands for Pet Alternative & Wellness Services.
Located in Fort Lauderdale at 2709 Oakland Park Blvd (954) 530-0047.
Pat is the Groomer and Karen is the animal Chiropractitioner. Paws is not your typical grooming shop.
The top of the line tub has an easy access door and ramp. The grooming table can be lowered inches from the floor.
The chiro techniques are gentle. They work on the spine, bones, joints and muscles.
Of course they also offer treats, food and more.
P.A.W.S. A place for people who love their pets…unconditionally.
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08.27.09
Posted in D's Thoughts at 11:31 am by pikapp44
The man whom many in the LGBT community consider their greatest friend in the U.S. Senate has died.
Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who fought for equal rights for gays on many fronts and was an early defender of people with HIV, died late Tuesday night, Aug. 25. He had been suffering from brain cancer.
“Our community has had no greater champion in Congress,” said David Smith, who worked as the senator’s Director of Communication from late 2003 to early 2005.
Smith, vice president for programs at the Human Rights Campaign, said credited Kennedy with taking on some of the community’s worst adversaries, including the late Senator Jesse Helms, during its toughest battles.
“From early days of AIDS crisis, he was there for us,” recalled Smith. “He was battling for us, taking on a then very powerful Jesse Helms, who wanted to see us in concentration camps. God only knows what would have happened if Senator Kennedy hadn’t been there.”
Elizabeth Birch, who was HRC president during many of those battles, recalled a “very intense” meeting with Kennedy and staff in which LGBT leaders “talked about the importance of having transgenders included” in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).
“He said, ‘We never intended to leave anyone behind and we won’t leave anyone behind’,” said Birch.
“The other hallmark of who he was,” said Birch, “was he supported gay marriage ahead of any of his peers –and, frankly, ahead of people a generation or two behind him in Congress. He was a man who, whenever he hit the limits of something, he would just keep trying.”
Kennedy was one of only 14 senators who voted against the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1996. He did not argue for same-sex marriage, but rather against the attack on same-sex marriage.
“We all know what is going on here,” said Kennedy on the Senate floor during the DOMA debate. “I regard this bill as a mean-spirited form of Republican legislative gay-bashing, cynically calculated to try to inflame the public eight weeks before the November 5 election.”
“This bill is designed to divide Americans, to drive a wedge between one group of citizens and the rest of the country, solely for partisan advantage,” said Kennedy. “It is a cynical election year gimmick, and it deserves to be rejected by all who deplore the intolerance and incivility that have come to dominate our national debate.”
As author of ENDA, he led the debate in 1996 when the Senate came within one vote of passing the bill.
“We know that discrimination against gay men and lesbian women exists in this country today, Number 1,” said Kennedy. “Number 2, we know that there are no laws to protect them. Number 3, we know that the whole issue of gay men and lesbian women is an immutable condition. It is a condition of life.
“What we are trying to say is when Americans want to work and can work and do a job, they ought to be able to be judged on the job that they are going to do and not on one of these other factors,” said Kennedy. “We can free ourselves from discrimination against those gay men and lesbian women in the employment place.”
Chai Feldblum worked closely with Kennedy on ENDA, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), to prohibit discrimination against people with HIV, and the Ryan White CARE Act, to provide needed care to people with HIV.
Feldblum recalled that, during the work on ADA, he held a meeting at his house with several of the key people working on the legislation and said he was “very focused on protection for people with HIV.”
“The bottom line,” said Feldblum, “was that he was our ‘go-to person’ with anything to do with gay rights. He was that person both because of who he was and the position he held.”
Current HRC President Joe Solmonese released a statement calling Kennedy the “greatest champion and strongest voice for justice, fairness, and compassion.”
“The loss to our community is immeasurable,” he said. “There was no greater hero for advocates of LGBT equality than Senator Ted Kennedy.”
A number of gay leaders said it would be difficult to fill the void in leadership on LGBT-related issues that has been left by Kennedy’s loss.
“We have our work cut out for us in terms of working with other [members of Congress], nurturing relationships with other champions,” said HRC’s Smith. Even as recently as the current fight to pass the Matthew Shepard hate crimes measure as part of the defense authorization bill, said Smith, Kennedy’s efforts have been critical.
“When it passes,” he says, “it will be because of Senator Edward Kennedy that for the first time, sexual orientation and gender identity will be part of a U.S. Civil Rights Code.”
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08.22.09
Posted in D's Thoughts at 5:10 pm by pikapp44
Meeting in Minneapolis, the 4.7-million member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) , the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States, voted Friday “to allow Lutherans in same-gender relationships to serve as pastors of congregations and serve in other professional leadership roles.” Until now, only celibate gay men and lesbians could serve such church roles.
Three other major Protestant denominations – the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Episcopal Church, and the United Methodist Church – recently have wrestled with the issue as well.
Some see a cultural and social broadening in this latest decision to allow gay clergy in same-sex relationships to hold pastoral positions.
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08.15.09
Posted in D's Thoughts at 8:18 pm by pikapp44
The Mormon church’s vigorous, well-heeled support for Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California last year, has turned the Utah-based faith into a lightning rod for gay rights activism, including a nationwide “kiss-in” Saturday.
The event comes after gay couples here and in San Antonio and El Paso, Texas, were arrested, cited for trespassing or harassed by police for publicly kissing.
The court case was dismissed, but the kiss sparked a community backlash and criticism of the church.
“I don’t think that kiss would have turned out to be the kiss heard round the world if it were not for Proposition 8,” said Ash Johnsdottir, organizer of the Salt Lake City Kiss-In.
Atali Staffler, a Brigham Young University graduate student from Geneva, Switzerland, said she joined the 200 or so people who filled a downtown amphitheater for the event because she has watched her gay father and many gay friends struggle to find their place.
The 31-year-old, who was raised Mormon but is not active in the church, said the church shouldn’t be involved in Prop. 8.
“I encourage them to promote the values they believe in and to defend their religious principles in advertisements, but civil rights have nothing to do with religious principles,” she said.
“This is America. A kiss on the cheek is OK,” said Ian Thomas, 26, of Leesburg, Va., who organized the Washington Kiss-In. “It’s got to be OK. If not, we’re in serious trouble.”
About 50 people, mostly gay and lesbian couples, gathered at Piedmont Park in downtown Atlanta and kissed for about five minutes.
“You think that America is evolving into a gay-friendly nation,” said Randal Smith, 42, “but what happened in Texas and Utah show us it’s still a long way off.”
National organizers say Saturday’s broadly held gay rights demonstrations were not aimed specifically at the Mormon church. But observers say the church’s heavy-handed intervention into California politics will linger and has left the faith’s image tarnished.
“What I hear from my community and from straight progressive individuals is that they now see the church as a force for evil and as an enemy of fairness and equality,” said Kate Kendell, executive director of the San Francisco-based National Center for Lesbian Rights. Kendell grew up Mormon in Utah. “To have the church’s very deep and noble history telescoped down into this very nasty little image is as painful for me as for any faithful Mormon.”
Troy Williams, who is gay and grew up Mormon, said ending the tension between gays and the church requires mutual acceptance and understanding.
“For both sides to peaceably coexist, we’re all going to have to engage in some very deep soul searching,” said Williams, a Salt Lake City-area activist and host of a liberal radio talk show.
Church insiders say Prop. 8 has bred dissent among members and left families divided. Some members have quit or stopped attending services, while others have appealed to leadership to stay out of the same-sex marriage fight.
But church spokeswoman Kim Farah said Friday that Mormon support for traditional marriage has nothing to do with public relations.
“It’s too easy for those whose agenda is to change societal standards to claim there are great difficulties inside the Church because of its decision to support traditional marriage,” Kim Farah said. “In reality the Church has received enormous support for its defense of marriage.”
Mormonism teaches that homosexual sex is considered a sin, but gays are welcome in church and can maintain church callings and membership if they remain celibate.
The church has actively fought marriage equality legislation across the U.S. since the early 1990s and joined other faiths in asking Congress for a marriage amendment to the Constitution in 2006.
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08.14.09
Posted in D's Thoughts at 9:49 pm by pikapp44
Like most municipalities, Broward County in South Florida is experiencing hard times. Broward — home of Fort Lauderdale and the heavily gay community of Wilton Manors — is proposing to balance its budget by slashing 30% of its cultural grants, a move that could impair Fort Lauderdale’s Stonewall Library & Archives.
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08.12.09
Posted in D's Thoughts at 10:25 am by pikapp44
A young Republican staffer who allegedly had an affair with Florida governor Charlie Crist was slapped with felony charges on August 5 for stealing nearly $20,000 in property from a pastor’s daughter, reports the Broward-Palm Beach New Times.
Fort Lauderdale police charged Jason Wetherington (pictured, left), who appeared in the Outrage documentary, with grand larceny, dealing in stolen property and false verification of ownership stemming from his late July house-sitting gig in Las Olas for Jennifer Thompson Jones. She is the daughter of Pastor Larry Thompson, leader of the influential First Baptist Church of Fort Lauderdale, where Wetherington is a member.
Wetherington allegedly stole three of Thompson’s rings, including her wedding and engagement rings, then pawned them at a shop in Deerfield Beach on July 20. In a message circulated on Facebook, Thompson said that Wetherington “confessed” to stealing her wedding ring and selling it, as well as stealing $5,000 from her parents’ safe, an accusation not included among the official charges.
Wetherington, 24, rose quickly in the GOP ranks as a teen, and served as regional field director for former Florida secretary of state Katherine Harris’ failed 2006 bid for U.S. senate. During that time, he came out to Pastor Thompson, and told numerous people that he was engaged in a sexual affair with Crist, then the attorney general. Crist denied the accusation.
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08.09.09
Posted in E's Thoughts at 1:28 pm by pikapp44
P.A.W.S. stands for Pet Alternative & Wellness Services.
Located in Fort Lauderdale at 2709 Oakland Park Blvd (954) 530-0047.
Pat is the Groomer and Karen is the animal Chiropractitioner. Paws is not your typical grooming shop.
The top of the line tub has an easy access door and ramp. The grooming table can be lowered inches from the floor.
The chiro techniques are gentle. They work on the spine, bones, joints and muscles.
Of course they also offer treats, food and more.
P.A.W.S. A place for people who love their pets…unconditionally
Permalink
08.07.09
Posted in D's Thoughts at 9:04 am by pikapp44
WPLG-Ch. 10 fired Charles Perez, saying his allegations of gay discrimination were “false and outrageous” and left them “no real choice” but dismissal.
Perez filed a discrimination complaint July 31 with Miami-Dade County’s Equal Opportunity Board, claiming the station demoted him after publicity over a bitter breakup with his male partner.
He was fired Thursday.
Station Vice President and News Director Bill Pohovey said, “As a gay man myself, I can safely say the station does not discriminate against gay people.”
Perez’s switch from weeknight to weekend anchor was not a demotion and was in the works before the publicity, the station said.
Perez, 46, now plans to add a retaliation charge to his complaint, his attorney Melanie E. Damian said late Thursday.
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08.02.09
Posted in D's Thoughts at 7:50 am by pikapp44
Israeli police say a masked gunman killed two people and wounded at least 10 others, some critically, when he opened fire Saturday in the basement of a gay community center in Tel Aviv.
The shooter, who witnesses say was dressed in black, unloaded an automatic weapon on a group of teenaged boys and girls attending a support group in the community center’s basement, and then made a clean getaway. The dead and wounded were said to be young people, including teenagers.
Tel Aviv law authorities say the attack was most likely not an act of terrorism, but a criminal attack. A city-wide search, with roadblocks and other security measures has been instituted as police search for the gunman.
The city’s police chief stopped short of calling the shooting a hate crime, but he did order other Tel Aviv gay bars to close for fear of a follow-up attack.
If it is determined to be a hate crime, it would be the most deadly attack ever against Israel’s gay community.
While gay events and community centers in Jerusalem are often met with protest, Tel Aviv has a thriving gay community.
In 2005, three participants of a gay pride parade in Israel were stabbed. An ultra-orthodox Jewish man was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
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