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Poodles say the darndest things!
I have a knack for saying the wrong thing, innocently and unintentionally of course. I honestly thought a “teabagger” was someone from England, because they drink tea there. So I introduced the new head of Technicolor New Media’s International Versioning department at a staff meeting as “the newest member of our management team and our…
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Oryctolagus Cuniculus
What do Cher, Madonna, Beyoncé, and Rihanna have in common? Besides all being mononymous? Ok, add Diana Ross and Lady Gaga. Girl singers? Well yah, thank you Captain Obvious. What if I add Elton John, Freddie Mercury, and Lil’ Nas X? Gay singers? Sure, but Cher’s not gay. I’ll throw in Divine and RuPaul. Gay…
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The Killing of Georgie
Life and culture are full of milestones by which we measure progress, and nowhere is this more obvious than the LGBTQ+ community. I was 3 years-old when the Stonewall Riots kicked off the modern push for gay rights and I have had a front row seat for many of the “firsts” in that movement. I…
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Different from the Others
I know how lucky I am to have been born when I was. I know that where I live – Southern California in general and Palm Springs specifically – gives me advantages others lack or can only dream of. Even now, with Trump and Company leading an all-out war against diversity, looking to rollback decades…
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Enough!
Ah, November. It is the beginning of so much in the Coachella Valley. It marks the official start of what we call “the season” here in Palm Springs – a period of six months, more or less, of heaven on earth: highs in the mid-70s, rarely a cloud in the sky, maybe a raindrop or…
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Never a truer friend was there
I have a friend who is going to die shortly. I know this not because of his diagnosis or some prescience on my part. I know it because in light of his diagnosis he has made the choice to end his life using the California EOLOA – the California End of Life Option Act –…
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Are you an ally?
Have you ever had the experience of hearing a friend, a coworker, a religious leader, a politician, or even a stranger in line with you at the checkout of the supermarket say something derogatory about LGBTQ+ people, or just homophobic, and thought to yourself ‘I don’t agree with that at all?’ Seen on the news…
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The Black Cat
When the Civil Rights Act was passed and signed into law in 1964 by President Lyndon Johnson, it did not end discrimination, it signaled that it would be the official policy of the United States to treat all people equally under the Constitution. It acknowledged the inherent dignity of every person. Five years later, on…
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The Warrior Ethos?
I… um… the… it’s… but… there are no words. I’ll try though. I thought it was hilarious – ignorant, stupid, childish, petty, but hilarious – last March when Newsweek reported that pictures of “Enola Gay,” the aircraft that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima in Japan during WWII, were flagged for removal from the…
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Proclamation
“Coming out” is not a one-and-done deal. Throughout our lives, LGBTQ+ people are faced with “the dilemma” – over and over – of when and how much to share about themselves. As a physically disabled man, I require assistance just to accomplish many of the things that make up my day. I need help taking…
Your mileage may vary.