O, happy vacation day. Just getting around to posting after a simply wonderful Indigo Girls concert. [Those of you who know me were wondering when I'd get around to talking about the Girls, didn't you?]

The venue : Wolf Trap (for old times sake). The seats : About 15 rows back, Emily side (hey, my friend Karen bought them). Opened with : "Hammer and a Nail" !

"My life is part of the global life
I’d found myself becoming more immobile
When I’d think a little girl in the world
Can’t do anything
A distant nation my community
And a street person my responsibility
If I have a care in the world
I have a gift to bring"

Exactly what I wanted to say today about why I like the Indigo Girls - music & otherwise. They talk the talk, and walk the walk. They say what needs to be said, and are activists for very important causes: Honor the Earth, native American rights, no nukes, pro-Choice, anti-School of the Americas, involved with NGLTF (look it up), etc.

As my friend Karen pointed out at the concert, it was reasonably priced and t-shirts were only $15. They keep the costs down, so their concerts / music can be accessible to a variety of audiences. (And that it was - one of the strangest IG crowds I've seen in a while ... but, that's another story. It's always a bit strange when alcohol is served at a concert venue, eh?)

Ah, voting. I promised I'd write about it (and politics) today, and here I am. Meet "the Activist" in me.

Have I ever been a happy voter? Not much. I vaguely remember wanting to vote for John Anderson (Independent) in 1980, but not quite being old enough yet. A grade school teacher of mine took us to a rally for Jimmy Carter in 1976; that was pretty exciting. My first vote in a presidential election was for Gary Hart (pre-scandal).

I quite enjoyed Bill Clinton's campaign win (yep - I voted for him). My girl Marcy & I even travelled to D.C. for the inauguration. Of course, then came "don't ask, don't tell," the national health care shambles (why are Americans so afraid of strong women like Hillary?), blah blah blah. I was way over him even before "Monica."

There were some bright spots when I lived in Maryland. I worked on the campaign of Salima Siler Marriott for House Delgate. She's still one of the only politicians I've ever met who I actually like / trust / respect. Maggie McIntosh is doing good things there. Parris Glendening turned out okay (second term). Barb Mikulski, Kweisi Mfume... we had decent representation there.

Then, I moved to PA. Arlen Spector (still can't forgive him for that Anita Hill crap). Rick-boy. John Street. Donna Reed Miller. I do like Chaka Fattah, though, I must say. I liked Ed Rendell as mayor, but I'm not sure what he's up to as govenor, though.

Presidentially, I never got to cast a meaningful vote for Bill Bradley. But, this year, I am quite enjoying the whole Howard "I'm from the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party" Dean shake-up.

I guess I'm not much of a Democrat after all. I tend to be more liberal than our middle-of-the-road "newbies." So, I've been checking out The Green Party Dig the organizing principles / values of the American Greens :

Grassroots Democracy

Social Justice and Equal Opportunity

Ecological Wisdom

Nonviolence

Decentralization

Community-Based Economics and Economic Justice

Feminism and Gender Equity

Respect for Diversity

Personal and Global Responsibility

Future Focus

It seems so simple. So right. But, like gays and lesbians, people are afraid of what they don't know. I kind of like the Green platform, but then, how many times will I ever get to vote in a primary? Will the party ever get the respect it deserves? Will there be media coverage, inclusion in debates? Will I end up feeling like a second-class citizen if I "go green," much like The Gays (except, this summer) feel every day?

Stay tuned.

There's something I've wanted to clear up for a long time now: PGN publisher Mark Segal does not speak for all us gays and lesbians in Philadelphia.

It's a good thing I listen to NPR all day, as I just caught Mr. Segal's endorsement of John Street for Mayor of Philadelphia. Which is interesting, because I could swear that just a few years ago, Mr. Segal's group, POPEC (Pride of Philadelphia Election Committee) endorsed Sam Katz over John Street for mayor. The race is the same this time around; so what's changed?

I, for one, haven't forgotten how John Street, as a city councilperson, rallied church leaders (including everyone's favorite bigot* Cardinal Bevilaqua) against the city's domestic partnership bill. He also filed a lawsuit against the city when Ed Rendell authorized an executive order allowing mayoral appointees to receive domestic partnership benefits. That's real "inclusive and sensitive to our needs"!

Why should I trust him now? As mayor, he said he'd support the current domestic partnership ordinances (all 3 of them -- woo hoo). Then, a state appeals court struck them down, after a lawsuit filed by Bill Devlin of the Urban Family Council and others (more on Mr. Devlin and that group at a later date). So, Mayor Street says the city will appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court (ahem - has this happened yet? nooooooooooo). Do I think it's a priority of a person who so strongly advocated against domestic partnerships in the past? Nooooooooooooo.

As for Mr. Katz. Well, let's just say, there's no excuse for that $10K he gave Santorum's campaign in the past. Yes, he's said he's sorry he did it and won't do it again and was dismayed by Santorum's anti-homosexuality comments. But, here's the rub: Santorum was not a good guy before all his anti-gay stuff. He's extremely anti-choice. A very conserative, right-wing Christian guy. Katz should have never given him money in the first place, for a number of other, non-gay reasons.

So, where dost that leave a weary voter? [For you non-politicos, yes, there IS a 3rd party candidate, kind of.... but he's from the very Constitution Party : you know, Right to Life, Right to Bear Arms, Maintain a Strong National Defense, and my favorite "Restore the US to One Nation Under God" blah blah blah]

I, for one, am focusing on my local city council race - District 8, northwest Philly. Guess what folks? We have 3, count 'em 3, candidates: incumbant Donna Reed Miller (D), Republican Deborah Williams, and Green Party candidate Tom Hutt. Since it's not a primary, we can vote for whomever we want! More on this tomorrow.


* lest you're offended by my use of the word "bigot" in referring to the Cardinal, let me remind you of its definition: "a prejudiced person who is intolerant of any opinions differing from his own"

Lesbian. Parent. Activist. Sports Fan. I tried to sum myself up in those five words for this blog. Today, you get the "Sports Fan."

Went to the Phillies game last night. For those of you who have been hiding under a rock the last week or so, it was "Gay Community Day" with the Phillies. The scoreboard said so. The 500 and 600 levels, first base side, screamed it. A large number of us were actually watching the game!

Other sports fans among us might ask, "What game?" Yes, the Phillies lost. To the Brew Crew. A team we easily should have beat. We lost our lead in the wild card race. Found out, once more, that Duckworth is inconsistant. The team couldn't hit a fly (except Pat the Bat did get a very nice triple early in the game to knock in a run). Boo Birds were in the stands.

But, I digress. The focus of the evening, of course, were The Gays. I mean, all the tv stations were there, in our sections, interviewing fans. Still photographers snapping away like they'd never seen gay sports fans before. Poor Larry, who helped organize the outing. He got to throw out a ceremonial first pitch (to the Phanatic), then got bombarded by the media. I don't think he got to see much of the game at all.

I found it quite curious just how much press this event attracted. Then my friend Bryan pointed out that it IS the "Summer of the Gays." It's our 15 minutes of fame, roll with it. With all the brouhaha about extra security, fans calling into talk shows saying gays shouldn't be allowed to go to baseball games (now, that's about as un-American as you can get), blah blah blah, it was just. . . a night at the ballpark. Fans cheered. Fans booed. The Phanatic entertained. Some girl in a cheesehead cap and a guy in a cow suit danced. The home team lost and I lost my virginity.

Ok, I admit it, before last night, I was a Vet Virgin. Never been there. Never want to go there again. Glad I won't have to. I did get a very nice certificate for attending my first Phillies game at the Vet, signed by Larry Bowa (himself?). Now, when I was a kid growing up in Western PA in the '70s (and rooting for the Pirates), I must admit I did quite like Larry Bowa, and Mike Schmidt too. [Also, Roberto Clemente, Manny Sanguillen, Mario Mendoza--don't go there!--Pete Rose, Richie Hebner] The Phillies-Pirates had quite a rivalry back then. I saw the Phillies then - in Three Rivers Stadium [also glad that stadium's no longer]; but never in the Vet. Until last night.

If that sounds like I was a dyke-in-training to you, let me point out that all my straight girlfriends back then were also into baseball. It was our American pasttime. We went to the little league games to watch our (boy) friends play (girls not allowed!); we followed the Pirates (and Dodgers, and Phillies, and Indians); we collected baseball cards; we owned our own mitts and played at the school yard; we listened to games on the radio with our dads.

So, I still don't know why all the fuss over The Gays at the ball game last night. We were just having a group outing - like the Elks, or the church choir, or the youth groups do. We were watching a national pasttime, overpaying for Buds and dogs, and sweating in the August humidity. And the Phillies lost. What could be more non-gay than that?

Ok, so maybe this blog won't be the daily life of Maria Vee and family, as the "family" part of us gets kind of busy, especially on the weekends.

So, what does a gay/lesbian-headed family do on the weekend? In our case, we scheduled play dates for The Banana (which almost included a trip to our pool, 'cept for the thunderstorms!), went to a minor league baseball game, tried to catch up on long distance phone calls to friends and family, checked out a new restaurant/cafe near our house, did some laundry, paid some bills, and went to a "Kids Tea Party" with an Angelina Ballerina theme.

Now, this latter event was sponsored by one of our local public tv stations we shall call The Big K (yes, we're fortunate enough to live in a large media market that has more than one public tv/radio outlet). We attended the event by virtue of The Banana's membership in the public tv station's Kids Club. [So far, we've also had the chance to meet Clifford the Big Red Dog, have Stan & Jan Berenstain sign some books for us, and have our picture taken with Pooh Bear].

Since Marcy is only working part-time these days, we've been watching our spending, and the "memberships & subscriptions" line item of our budget is being scaled back. This lead to a recent philosophical discussion on our family's charitable giving. "Why," asked Marcy on the day I was writing the check to the Big K (see above), "aren't we also giving to The Big Y?" (one of the other local public tv stations - which happens to be very grassroots in nature, much to our liking, and has very diverse, local programming, i.e. targeting the African-American, gay, Indian, and Asian communities).

My response was that I was trying to save some money by only joining the Big K this year... and trying to maximize our giving -- in that, the Big K also airs locally produced programs, plus Clifford, Arthur & all the good PBS kids shows, and NOVA (which I like), and has a great radio station that I listen to all day with NPR and local programs, and has the Kids Club, blah blah blah.

It came down to, what's best for The Banana? Supporting the Big K which, while somewhat corporate in nature, does have good kids programming and family events; or the grassroots public tv station, the Big Y (headed by a woman, by the way), which is making a name for itself through diversity : both "core values" of ours (grassroots-ness and diversity).

I realized through our discussion that, while the family Kids Club events are fun, we also want The Banana to learn important core values. I wrote out checks for both.

A few words today about cultural differences. Isn't it interesting how people from other industrialized countries accept gays and lesbians while here in America, land of the free, there's so much homophobia?

We recently had two female students from Germany stay at our house while visiting Philadelphia (we're travel hosts through an international peace-and-justice travel organization called Servas). Now, granted, the mission of Servas is to promote tolerance and understanding of different cultures through travel; however, you never know if a traveler is tolerant or just looking for a cheap (free) place to crash.

Our experience? Our visitors have been extremely tolerant (to the point that it's never been an issue) of our being lesbians - as noted in our "host bio", we are "gay and lesbian friendly" (as well as close to local public transportation, always a draw). And our visitors have run the gamut -- young, old(er), men, women, from England, France, Germany, and Italy (to date). I couldn't even tell who might have been gay or lesbian themselves (blowing my theory about "Boy Meets Boy" - I mean, I used to think "what gay man can't tell who's gay or who's straight?").

And, last night at the new local ice cream hot spot, my bud Fernando points out that the guy who brought up the "touching" issues regarding the gay bishop was from the U.S. (Vermont) and that anyone from Cuba, say (or, insert your nation here: Puerto Rico, Italy, etc.) would have expected to touch and be touched during a conversation, without instigating a full investigation into sexuality.

So, today I'm chalking homophobia up to culture (ours!). Sometimes, I'm embarrassed to have been born in the usa.


[Side Note of Interest: Our Servas visitors have all been very interested in going to the art museums while travelling in the U.S. Quite a difference from the American tourists I see everyday on the way to my office, who just loooove to take pictures of the Hard Rock Cafe guitar! Go figure!]

Summertime. . . and the livin' is easy. . . how many of you had a vacation this year? We're still coming up on ours and can't decide what to do. Seeing as we're going to Disneyland in CA in October for a week with Bubbe & Pop, and to Vermont again in December, we didn't think we'd do much of a vacation this summer. But, we have time off. So. . .

While perusing the Advocate yesterday (borrowed, not purchased), I came across an item about Rosie O'Donnell's gal Kelli who started a travel company targeted to LGBT families. Now, there's a concept, I thought. We tend to seek travel more as a family than as gay or lesbian, but would like both family-friendly and gay-friendly travel. . .so, I checked out the website and it seems as they're doing an LGBT Family Cruise: NYC to the Bahamas. Aha! so they really meant a travel company targeted to rich LGBT families.

Now, I'm not saying we're poor: we do okay and The Banana seems to have everything she wants and needs; but, before I spend a minimum of $999 per person for a small room on the inside of a cruise ship, and would still have to buy Disney tickets, souvenirs from Key West and the Bahamas, and get to New York and back, well. . . as my neighbor said when our roofer offered us a low-cost "patch" job option or the full-roof fix option -- "What? He thinks we all just have $4,000 lying around our houses?"

Now, if I did have that kind of money lying around waiting to be used, I'm not sure a cruise, even an LGBT family cruise (which, I hear, Olivia Cruises might be offering as well), would be my first choice of a vacation. Europe would be up there. Alaska. Save the money for private school and go camping or crash with friends.

Even the Family Pride Coalition's Family Week in P-Town can get price-y. Now, I love P-Town, and can't wait to get back there with my girls, but a week in a rented house on the Cape in high season. . . well, we needed to start saving for it last year. [Point of clarification: we tend to try to pay off our credit cards, not have ongoing debt.]

So, I'm thinking we'll just do some day trips; maybe try to go camping with my cousin and his girls for a few days; use a friend's shore house and hang at Rehoboth Beach. I'm saving my money for some personalized Mouse Ears!

Ok, even I'm getting a bit tired of all the gay news these days. Since I listen to NPR all day at work, I'm often inundated with the same stories, hour after hour and if I never hear the media talk about gays or lesbians again, well... Ok, that would just be wrong. We've missed out on decades of media exposure, I should be glad for what we've got.

Although, this gay bishop thing -- does the phrase 11th Hour not mean a thing to them? Obviously, this was a very fine thread being pulled here, and that charge about the gay youth group website having links to porno sites (www.bisexual.com ?). . . well, I ask you, how many times have we all taken the wrong path down the wrong web site and accessed (or even received e-mail from) a porno site? What was that bibilical quote Bushie paraphrased the other day ? ... "I caution those who may try to take a speck out of the neighbor's eye when they got a log in their own."

Ok, now that I can't believe I just quoted GW Bush, I move on. As my friend Sondra pointed out to me, "It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world" and I should just listen to classical music all day and ponder how such beautiful music is created despite (or because of ?) the madness of the world.

But, I can't help myself. I'm a news junkie. Although, it's pushing it a bit to call NPR or Fox or CNN "news". What happened to investigating and reporting on what's really going on in the world, instead of what's fed to us through press releases, press handlers, communications directors... (by the way, how many of you, like moi, are glad we don't have to hear from Ari Fleisher anymore? Guess there's just only so many fabrications you have in your system before you crash-and-burn, eh?).

So, let me remind you all - there's more to life than the mainstream. Think : The Nation, The Progressive, The Onion, The Guardian. Slate. And, with props to my bud Bryan (yes, oh yes, you were right = 666! I was wrooooong), check out Common Dreams.

Chalk up another morning in the How the Gays and the Straights Really Are Alike category. My train buddy, Bryan (straight, even though he does spell his name that way) and I had a lovely chat this a.m. about, among other things, the Pennsylvania Lottery, the Phillies, child abuse, news coverage by the local papers, and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. It's both of our daughters' new favorite show.

The Banana (my daughter) tends to like the hair and clothes portions of the show; Madgal (his) likes the show in general and the quips. Agreed favorite to date: "Oh look, you've put a living room where the crack den used to be!" [Yes, I've used code names for our daughters to protect their still innocent lives.]

Also, I'm pretty sure the train riders this morning were mostly straight. A few of us gays were riding, but we tend to disperse ourselves amongst the populace, you know; we don't always sit together - or know each other, for that matter.

My parents are visiting. I'm pretty sure they're straight. The construction guys in the Wawa where I get my coffee, too; yep, straight. Neighbor across the street who brought me over a catalog this morning so I can buy a screen door like theirs; straight. That we can all live together in harmony and pleasantness = priceless.

So, there I was, in NYC for the weekend celebrating my birthday, having my Starbucks, reading the Times, and, lo and behold!, I discover it's the "Summer of The Gays!" Who knew? Good thing the NY Times is there to tell us all...

I say this tongue-in-cheek, of course - I mean, is there a soul alive in the U.S. who hasn't realized yet that "we're here, we're queer, we're not going away"? Entertainment Weekly has full page ads for Boys Meets Boy ("who's gay? who's straight?"). USA Today (the "people's paper") runs articles about the legal challenges, marriage, the Vatican's opposition. Good god, y'all, even NBC ran Queer Eye for the Straight Guy in its prime-time Thursday ("Must See TV"!) lineup!

So, seeing its the "Summer of The Gays," I thought I'd fill you all in on what us gays do during the summer.

Hmmm. Okay. Those of us with kids spend a lot of time at the pool or shore or lake or whatever water source we can find to cool off a bit. Some of us with disposable income (although, I've not met many lesbians in that category, and only some gay men, so I don't get what all the fuss is about) travel about - you know, to the "gay places" -- Key West, P-Town, New York, L.A., San Francisco, D.C., Erie PA, Scottsdale AZ, Salt Lake City, Richmond VA, the battlefields of Gettysburg, and Cooperstown NY -- anywhere we have family, friends, interests.

We also spend time in the summer having yard sales and block parties with our (straight!) neighbors, watching fireworks with our (straight!) friends, gardening, painting and fixing up the house, walking our dogs, coddling our cats, wondering how baseball players can make so much money yet play so poorly, and pondering how to get out of work early on those beautiful, summer days when sky is clear, the air isn't humid, and watermelon is on sale.

We try to catch the summer reruns on TV, lounge about on our stoops or porches, barbecue when we can, eat out at all the sidewalk cafes / restaurants we can find, and go to the movies : you know - those "gay" classics: Seabiscut, Bad Boys II, Legally Blonde, X-Men 2: United, American Pie Wedding (okay, so maybe we gays don't go to that one), Bend It Like Beckham, Finding Nemo. . .

Did I miss anything? If I did, just insert whatever YOU do for the summer and there you have it, it's the Summer of The People! So, the Gays are a little more visible this summer. So what? Every other summer we're inundated with straight men's beer bellies hanging over their shorts (thank you to those venues which have "t-shirts must be worn" rules); teeny, tiny g-string bathing suits on women and girls; and public displays of affection on the boardwalk, the bus, in the malls... straight men and women, flaunting their heterosexuality.

Give us the summer. It may be all we have for a while.

You know it's going to be an interesting day when you open your newspaper up and there on the front page, side-by-side, are conflicting articles about "the gays." On one side, we have the pope declaring the immorality of gays and lesbians; on the other side, we have the United Way of Southeastern Pa declaring the immorality of those who would discriminate against gays and lesbians.

Ah, freedom of the press. Of expression. Some days the irony of it all just makes me chuckle.

I must say, I am proud of "My United Way" (okay, old campaign, but fitting, doncha think?)... Pulling their funding from the Boy Scouts Cradle of Liberty chapter (note the irony inherent in their name!) in Philadelphia for, basically, being wimps. This is the chapter that first took a stand and said it would not discriminate against the gays, and then went and and outsed a gay scout who publicly declared he was, omigosh!, gay!

I must give a shout out to the man who send a Letter to the Editor, fittingly published in today's newspaper, supporting marriage rights for gays. His argument? "Life is too short." Now, where have I heard that before?

Ok, enough of the personal being the political and vice versa; the parents are visiting and we're off to A.C. to do the American thing: gamble away our hard-earned money so that Big Brother can pay lowly wages to their peons. Hope I win a few bucks! ;)