Open Letter to State Rep. Henri Brooks

Dear Ms. Brooks,

It is with GREAT distress that I read of your opposition to gay rights. I am hoping that I have been misinformed when I read that: "Recently representatives of Tennessee Equality Project and Initiative:Fairness met with representatives in Nashville to discuss gay/lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues. I was disturbed to hear that one of our 'Democratic' representatives, Henri Brooks (Rep. Dist 92) voiced her opposition to gay rights and said that her constituents were black churches and that the glbt community was not 'predominant enough' for her to support glbt-friendly legislation."

Ms. Brooks, need I remind you that you represent my neighborhood, the Cooper-Young neighborhood, which has the most dense population of gays in the city? In 4 blocks of my street I can count over 12 gay households. The Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center is in Cooper-Young. This neighborhood prides itself on its diversity. Cooper-Young's incredible improvements in recent years can be directly tied to that diversity. For our representative to not ACTIVELY support such diversity would make you a poor representative of our neighborhood.

I would hope that as a representative you would not just "represent" but also take a leadership position to advance the benefits of diversity and equal rights for ALL people as the late Mrs. King did so well. If confronted, you might also give a gentle reminder to those black churches that it wasn't that long ago that white churches were using the very same biblical arguments to oppose the rights of African-Americans. What a shame that they would turn around and use the same weapons to oppress others. Particularly when the Word of Jesus Christ is meant to be one of love and acceptance of ALL people. If people want to use the Bible as a weapon to oppress others through government, let them join the Republicans who do that so well.

Surely you're aware of the fact that Harold Ford, Jr.'s national campaign fundraising has been damaged by his vote for Bush's anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment.

I hope that you can quickly correct this disturbing report. I sincerely want a progressive Democrat representing me in our legislature and I am prepared to work hard to have one. I hope that it can be you. If not, rest assured I will find a more progressive and fair-minded candidate to actively campaign for.

Sincerely,

"Fat As I Am"

No, I don't feel fat. That's just the title of a comic Bette Midler song that I love that also happens to underscore an excellent article by Benjamin Ryan that's posted on gay.com.

My pal Frankie refers to the steroid-possessed bunch as "body nazis." Ryan's article talks about his personal experiences learning to love his body as it is and goes into detail about the dangers gay men face as our sub-culture becomes obsessed with an unnatural norm.

Read the article at http://www.gay.com/health/fitness/article.html?coll=health_fitness&sernum=3213&page=1.

Don't worry. I'll address my own physique in a future rant.

Amazon.com weirdness

I LOVE amazon.com. They're brilliant at what they do. They way they can tailor their site to what you want based on your purchases and items you've viewed is excellent. Sadly like many online businesses their customer service is less than stellar, particularly if you need help with something that doesn't fit a "boilerplate" response. But they're still light-years ahead of everyone else out there.

What's odd that I haven't figured out is how I've managed to create three different user accounts there all with the exact same email address, just different passwords. Weird! Several months ago I thought it was very strange when my "Wish List" suddenly lost all kinds of stuff. Then on another visit it reappeared. Turns out I'd just logged on with two different passwords and then accessed the two different accounts.

I wrote their customer service about this, asking that they merge the two accounts. That's when they told me I actually have three accounts with them. And, no, they can't merge them.

WEIRD!

Auto Erotic

What is it with people who invest so much of their own personal self-worth in what car they drive? I'm amazed at the number of guys online who post a photo of their car in their profile. WHY?

The personal automobile is a productive, if horribly inefficient, means of transporting yourself from point A to point B. Anybody can buy one. Hell, you can RENT one for a day to have your picture taken with it. I'd much rather spend my money on travel to new places, experiencing new things, having my picture taken in exotic locales rather than having it taken in the front yard with an over-priced gas guzzler.

And what is it with people defending driving SUV's and pick trucks. Did America not learn a lesson during the energy crisis of the 1970's? We can't continue this gluttonous consumption. Fossil fuels are a finite resource. One day we will run out. What will airplanes fly on then? We've got to stop squandering this "liquid gold."

C. J. Cregg

C. J. has got to be the coolest woman on the planet.

Yeah, she's a fictional character. So what. She's the coolest woman, real or fictional. She's 75% of the reason I've become a West Wing junkie. I live for Mondays and the West Wing marathon on Bravo.

No, I haven't seen any of the "current" episodes where C. J. is now the Chief of Staff, just the repeats on Bravo.

High time

I've been having lots of thoughts lately about life, the universe, and everything. So I decided it was high time to start a blog where I can rant about some of the shit I see around me. This is the first step.