Bil told me he has been waiting for me to respond to the court ruling legalizing marriage for gays and lesbians in California, so after a week, here I am. I certainly don’t wish my silence to be misconstrued as apathy toward the subject matter; rather, it’s difficult to articulate exactly what I’m feeling right now. But I’ll try.

Right. So about last Thursday. Half of the TVs where I work during the day are tuned to CNN, and when I saw the initial reports about gay marriage being legalized in a certain part of the world, the location was ambiguous (the sound is muted, so all I had to go on were the banners), so I assumed it was another European country that had made the ruling. In fact, I was in the middle of my usual speech about how California, while not explicitly legalizing gay marriage, has the most liberal domestic partnership laws in the nation, when it became clear that it was, in fact, my home state that had overturned the ban on gay marriage passed in 2000. But I didn’t cheer. Maybe I should have. Instead, I stood with my hand over my mouth and wondered why the hell I ever left to begin with.
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Trevor at 11:22 pm under Politics, Activism, Love
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California Supreme Court overturns gay marriage ban

The good news is piling up fast around here. Case in point: California courts declared that a ban on gay marriage is illegal. This post comes a couple days after the actual news, and I can’t really say anything poetic about it all, even though I want to, but you must understand that this makes me really happy. Super-happy. Not because I’m gay and unmarried (I am neither), but it’s kind of a point of shame for me that our country still thinks that gay folks are second-class citizens. Other countries have legalized it. We haven’t. In fact, in some of our states here in the USA, marriage between a man and a man or a woman and a woman is constitutionally forbidden. That means permanently no-no. And while I am not a member of the oppressed party, the oppression appalls me.

So, when I heard that my home state has decided that discrimination of this sort is – yes – unconstitutional, I felt a massive surge of pride run through my veins. I felt the same pride about Massachusetts, because I lived there for one year. But one year does not compare to the 23 years I spent living in California. That’s 23 times more joy and relief and hopefulness for the future that I’m getting right now. Rock on, California!

Unfortunately, I also cannot help but remain somewhat cynical. I know our country pretty well, and I think there will be some trouble down the road because of this (this being an election year and all). And there has been a rather strong response from both sides of the debate. But I’m not going to bother with all that just yet. Fuck it all for now. For now, I’m just going to enjoy it. Hooray, progress!

Filed by Bil at 8:58 pm under Social Issues, Gay Agenda, Politics, Activism, Love
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“Charity and personal force are the only investments worth anything.”
– Walt Whitman

The first year I was in Chicago, my heart broke at the homelessness everywhere. In my hometown in Ohio, there were no homeless people. At all. And in the “big city,” which was Akron, you’d see one or two homeless people a week. It just wasn’t heard of, and when you did see them, you were safely in your car so you didn’t have to make the hard choice to lie to them and say you don’t really have any spare change in your pocket.
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Stephen at 10:56 pm under Religion, Activism
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This is the best perspective on the WGA strike I’ve seen so far, brought to you by none other than the main writing staff from The Office, which of course includes probably my most perplexing celebrity crush ever, Paul Lieberstein. Watch it. It’s well worth it.

Filed by Trevor at 12:27 am under Activism
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So — having met with our legendary Third Napoleon, Per Diem has made some genuine progress in terms of not just forming the company but putting plans into motion. We have set guidelines and deadlines. We have made solid decisions (accidentally) and kept some of our ambiguities (on purpose). We’re on the road and inching forward.

One particular deadline we have set for ourselves is to decide on our shows for next year by the end of next month. We all agree this is the smart way to do it, because the longer we wait, the harder things will be. So we will plan WELL in advance.

We’re going to be doing a play I wrote just as a little introductory showcase-type play to kick things off, and then the official era of this company will begin. I’ve been spending so much time talking about this introductory play and so much time thinking about future plays (for, like, when we have money to spend on shows) that I hadn’t yet really thought about the first show of the actual season that I want to do.

Suddenly, there’s all this pressure to find a good show that means a lot to me that we can do for little to no budget. That means lots and lots of reading in my immediate future…it’ll be just like college all over again, except this time I really do have to read everything. Because the consequences matter.

In addition to Per Diem, I have also been cooking up a project with Trevor that should go live sometime this season…and oh, don’t worry, dear reader(s), you’ll hear all about it. It’s going to be SUPER-fun. It might also be therapeutic.

Oh — speaking of SUPER-fun and theatre…if you live in or near Chicago, go see “Crucible the Musible!” You won’t regret it. But you will regret it if you don’t see it, ’cause it’s pretty much the best show in the history of theatre.

Filed by Bil at 1:31 am under The Arts, Activism
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Bil sent me a link to a protest MoveOn Chicago had organized in response to Bush’s recent appalling SCHIP veto, so I headed on down last night to take part. Initially I’d intended to write a little play-by-play in the manner of my Ira Glass post, but frankly at the moment it’s a little hard to take a glass-half-full attitude about the current situation in our country. It brings me no end of misery at the realization that we have just barely under a year-and-a-half remaining with our current president; thus I believe ours is the generation that will see the collapse of this great nation, save the scenario in which we stop treating democracy like a spectator sport.

I will say this, however: I was greatly encouraged by the sheer volume of supportive honking from passing drivers, not to mention the presence of several resident physicians from UIC and Northwestern. Please, please contact your representative and urge them to vote to overturn Bush’s veto in two weeks. Please.

[EDIT: This clip of the fantastic Rachel Maddow going up against Pat Buchanan must be seen. Excellent!]

(Keep reading…)

Filed by Trevor at 8:32 am under GOP, Politics, Fightin' Words, Activism
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Lately I have seen headlines that make me cringe and I have been making myself ignore them. I don’t usually notice these headlines when it is convenient for me to be outraged or depressed, so I tend to just roll my eyes and move on with my life. It’s nothing new, I figure, nothing useful or good.

Like this headline:

Bush committed to tracking al-Qaida

Sometimes I can’t help but start to read it, but then I see the opening paragraph:

CAMP DAVID, Md. - President Bush said Monday that with the right intelligence U.S. and Pakistan governments can take out al-Qaida leaders, and wouldn’t say whether he would consult first with Pakistan before ordering U.S. forces to act on their own.

This is both laughable and frightening, and I’m at work today, so I stopped reading that one right then and there.
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Bil at 11:31 am under Social Issues, Politics, Activism
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Let me start off by stating that I agree — Cheney must be impeached. I encourage you all to go to impeachcheney.org and sign their front page petition. Tell your representative, if you know who that is. Get everyone you can to go and sign this petition.

Now, having said that, I would like to point out that their YouTube-based propaganda campaign is dishearteningly shitty.
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Bil at 11:56 am under GOP, The Media, Activism
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I performed at the Newport Mesa Irvine Interfaith Council’s National Day of Prayer Breakfast this morning at the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach. As part of a two-member Unitarian Universalist delegation, it would seem, as my minister apparently opted to sleep in. Oh well. I was impressed by the diversity and sensitivity of the occasion; they even had the chafing dishes of bacon and sausage clear on the other side of the room from the eggs and potatoes out of respect for the Jews and Muslims in attendance. I was also impressed by the presence of a local imam, particularly by his quoting of the Holy Qur’an, as the current state of world affairs behooves us all to increase our awareness of the true Islamic faith. I mean this sincerely — I have next to zero knowledge about that particular religion and even less about its holy book. Finally, I was glad to see a significant Mormon presence, surprising to me as they’ve been conspicuously absent from most of the other interfaith activities I’ve attended. But maybe that was just a fluke.

I had planned to remark on the requisite lack of atheist representation this morning, but it’s becoming clearer to me that the Unitarian Universalists are essentially the atheist — or failing that, deeply cynical agnostic — presence at the interfaith table. And how fitting that only two of us showed up! While neither Beth (my Music Director, who played piano with me today) nor I are atheists, we sat there unconsciously muttering corrections under our breath during the keynote address, given by Peter Vidmar, a former Olympian and active Latter-Day Saint. Not out of disrespect or even irritation — more out of habit than anything else. All things considered, it was a good way to start the day. It even made me forget the fact that I’ve got to drive back down this afternoon and do it all again.

Today is the National Day of Prayer; in this time of war, make the observance of this day a priority. Regardless of religion — you too, atheists and pagans — please contact your local blood bank and give blood today. Get off your knees on and on your feet, and let your actions be your prayer.

Filed by Trevor at 10:53 am under Shameless Plugs, Religion, Atheism, UU, Social Issues, Activism
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The Wiccan pentacle has just been added to the surprisingly long list of religious symbols the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs permits on gravestones. I say “surprisingly” out of my own cynicism, as I feel the state of religious acceptance in our society today is abysmal. Many of my fellow congregants practice Wicca as well as various other Pagan faiths, and thus I’ve become acquainted first-hand with the frustration that arises from taking part in a religion so deeply misunderstood and reviled by the general public. And I’m sure any Muslims out there would agree with that. Nevertheless, the knowledge that our country recognizes such a wide variety of religions so publicly brings me a renewed sense of confidence that our government’s capacity for recognizing civil liberties is not completely disabled.

Please take a peek at the article on CNN.com as well as the accompanying video.

Filed by Trevor at 11:50 pm under Religion, Social Issues, Activism
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