if so, dozens of you would have been tombstoned when you ganged up against me during the LLF days. i dont bring that up often, but its hardly like i have forgotten.

what the psychological impacts of encountering bigotry is.

For instance, every time Lisa and I have been verbally assaulted on the subway or in public, it's not the physical threat that is as damaging as the psychological threat. I constantly mull over how we could have handled it better and how I could have been tougher. It makes me angry and anxious for days and days after the incident. It leaves me exhausted and embittered.

Sometimes when i hear the "subway preachers" yell about the abomination of homosexuality, I stand up to them and yell back. Sometimes I just let it go. Regardless, the anger and anxiety of these encounters follow me around for much longer than the actual incident.

We could be armed, we could all take self-defense classes but the psychological damage evoked by bigotry will remain.

"Yet another panel of scientists has found no evidence that a popular vaccine causes autism. But despite the scientists’ best efforts, their report is unlikely to have any impact on the frustrating debate about the safety of these crucial medicines.

“The M.M.R. vaccine doesn’t cause autism, and the evidence is overwhelming that it doesn’t,” Dr. Ellen Wright Clayton, the chairwoman of the panel, assembled by the Institute of Medicine, said in an interview. She was referring to a combination against measles, mumps and rubella that has long been a focus of concern from some parents’ groups."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/health/2...

He has been a strong voice for liberal/progressives causes and we should let him know that we stand by him. That we are not getting taken in by this crap again. This crap that ruins the reputation of liberal leaders.

His office numbers are 202 225 6616 / ny: 718 520 9001

I called this morning to let him know that he has my support & I will not be Breitbarted!

the 10 year is wearing? assuming one isn't a pedophile.

you may not like a parents choice of clothing for their kids, but can one really find a 10 year old sexy because they wear clothing which on adults is considered provocative?

thank you

signed little kid who likes to wear halters and assumes adults will behave like fucking adults

I was thinking about DU and what bothers me about it. I understand why Obama or Clinton or whomever else has to dither about gay rights. Their careers depend on it. I believe that they don't necessarily even believe what they are saying, but that in order to win the election, they are going with popular opinion. Mostly, I don't think politicians say what they mean, they say what will likely get them elected.

I don't understand it from activists, liberals & progressives who are not looking to get elected.

To me, there is a right and a wrong when it comes to bigotry, and a very clear black and white. not just with gay/queer issues, but with all bias related issues.


When it comes to issues of equal rights, stereotyping, bias, hate speech, people who incite and encourage bigotry, there is a right and wrong. I expect liberals, du'ers, progressives to come down on the side of marginalized groups.

When they don't, i take it much more personally than I do with politicians because i believe they mean what they say. It's not like someone is being anti-gay or anti-muslim or anti-female, because of the votes involved. It's just because they believe so.


At the end of the day, that's why it bothers me more when du'ers are not stronger allies to marginalized groups.

Some of our other friends kept in touch with him, after they broke up. Calcutta is both very large, yet very small. You run into the same people often etc. Anyway, my best friend always appreciated that i was firm in my distaste for him.

I had more or less not thought of him much, till she got cancer. Then she started blaming herself, for being a bad person and deserving the cancer. And I remembered.

I remember how he tried so hard to convince her that she was a bad person. That she was worth less than nothing. I could have wrung his neck with my bare hands. I wanted to tell him it should have been him, not her, but I didn't because even if I don't believe in Karma, my friend did. And I didn't want my bad karma to cause her disease to worsen.

After she died, he wrote to me. As though none of this happened. "i am very, very sorry. just learnt the most maddening news. bless!"

He shouldn't have written to me. Just because others forgot conveniently, how he tried to break her, I haven't

When I started writing, I wrote back to him to say what i genuinely felt. "you can never be sorry enough. she had very few years on this earth and you made a lot of them painful. if there was a god, this would have happened to you and not to debooh."

When I sent it, I briefly thought, well what if he writes back and apologizes or states that he feels genuine sorrow about what happened? Would i feel some guilt about being mean?

Anyway he wrote back to say "u r a slut and you know that. die!"

It made me laugh. This is exactly what he had always done. Anytime he was an asshole to her, and I called him out about it, he called me a whore or a slut or something like that.

Not sure why i am sharing this story.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/01/14/larr...

By Larry Kramer, Special to CNN
January 14, 2011 1:20 p.m. EST

"New York City (CNN) -- I want this article to break your heart. But it deals with a subject that has had a tough time of it in the break-everyone's-heart department. I'll bet that a number of you will be more angry at me than sympathetic by the time you finish reading it. If indeed you finish reading it.

From its very beginning, most people have not wanted to know the truths about AIDS. This is an indisputable fact that continues until this very minute. I have been on the front lines since Day 1, so I know what I'm talking about."

incorrect and irresponsible

i would write a longer op, but dont have the time. So i will let CNN answer WHY we dont have a cure. Calling something a cure, when it's not really a cure, can be dangerous because it undermines efforts for HIV prevention, which is really all we have to "cure" AIDS

http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12... /

Please read this before calling me names. In this particular case, i have a lot more at stake than most, and if this really was a cure, i would have been one of the happiest people around. I think we have reason to be optimistic, but we DO NOT HAVE A CURE yet.

Which is to say, that i had little nuanced thought. I couldn't believe when liberals said they were disenfranchised by Clinton. He was SO charming and kinda cute and seemed fun. Also he was clearly brilliant. I didn't know what these liberals were thinking. The economy under him was doing well. I thought they just were bitter people.

As we are going through the Obama presidency, i now understand why these people were disenfranchised. In fact, I have lost many of my fond feelings for Bill CLinton, as I watch Obama in power. I know that a lot of you may feel that Hillary may have been better, I don't. I think she would have been very similar to Bill Clinton or Obama.

Anyway, this is my long winded way of saying, that watching this presidency as an adult has in effect, ruined Bill Clinton for me too. I now get why those old liberals were so mad at Bll Clinton.

please feel free to post your own

I attribute it to their self esteem. If they were not ok, I would attribute it to their self esteem too. It has nothing to do with me, either you trust your partner or you don't. I would trust Lisa with Marilyn Monroe. Not cos I am hotter than Monroe but cos I trust Lisa.

Just had to clarify my statement.

Good night!

that prevents blacks from education/work and other opportunities.

this is why your cavalier attitude towards race, such as "blacks have earned their rep" is so horrifying.

a few of you had questions about that. Today HRC reveals its Ten Worst Companies for LGBT Employees, Cracker Barell is featured:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/09/t...

Cracker barrel is amongst the worst three

Moral of the story: I know my gay history