It's been a sad week for this LGBT parent / activist. I found out about the untimely deaths of two other LGBT Parent Activists, may they rest in peace:

Marilyn Maneely of Haddonfiled, New Jersey who, along with her surviving partner Diane Marini, sued the state for the right to marry. I had the opportunity to meet her a couple of years back at a town meeting on same-sex marriage and found her and Diane to be two of the most open, honest and caring people I've met in my life. She died of Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS), having been diagnosed with it just last fall. Besides her partner, she leaves behind 5 children and a host of family members, friends and admirers.

• Memorial donations to assist ALS patients and nursing mothers may be made to the Marilyn Maneely Memorial Fund in care of First Colonial Bank, Haddon Ave., Collingswood, N.J. 08108.

Jeff Grego of my hometown of Erie, PA who, along with his surviving partner Joey, sued the state to allow second parent adoptions in every county in PA. Who could have guessed that they would actually need one of the most serious "protections" which the adoptions allow? Jeff died tragically in a small airplane crash while on a sightseeing tour. Daughter Zoey, also on the plane, survived. Joey and son Clay had just had their tour on the same airplane. I understand that the viewing and funeral at St. Peter's Cathedral in Erie ("the" seat of the diocese!) were both jam-packed.

• Memorial contributions may be sent to an education fund established for Clay and Zoey Grego. Contributions may be sent to: Bock Insurance, 3915 Caughey Road, Suite 3, Erie, Pa. 16506.

Today, some tidbits from my life as a . . .

Lesbian. Looks like Ah-nold is going to veto that CA same-sex marriage bill since the populace once voted to only recognize marriage between a man and a woman (Prop 22); while over in MA, they're preparing to take the whole gay marriage thing to the populace since the courts upheld same-sex marriage last year. Enuf to make your head spin.

Parent. Ah, the pleasures of being a [LGBT?] parent. Getting to clean the smelly hamster cage each week. Shopping for new shoes for school, when your daughter only likes second-hand shoes, already worn in. A 6-hour trip in the car listening to the "Flat Stanley" books-on-tape. Priceless.

Activist. Met Marlene Santoyo at the train station this a.m. She's the Green Party candidate in the 200th district of PA; a district which, My Friend Jon points out, I am NOT a resident of! And here, I was soooo excited to vote next Tuesday. Snif. So, I took a bunch of flyers to hand out about her and spread the word. In that vein, here's a link to an interesting interview of each of the 3 candidates running for the state Representative seat.

Sports Fan. The Phils dropped another game to the Astros last night. Only the most important series of the year, as we're in a race with Houston for the NL wild card. Well, not any more, it seems. Ah, Philadelphia sports teams. We suck!

And that about sums it all up, eh?

Well, the California legislature voted to approve same-sex marriage in that state. Now the legislation goes to Gov. Ah-nold for his signature.

My fave quote from it all, courtesy Planet Out: (straight) Assemblyman Tom Umberg said he was concerned about what his three children would think of him if he didn't join those "who sought to take a leadership role in terms of tolerance, equality and fairness."

Now, that's what I call a Leader-with-a-capital-L.

As opposed to the following, who had their own interesting quotes publicized recently:

Rick Santorum, who said, "You have people who don't heed those (hurricane) warnings and then put people at risk. . .There may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving."

Barbara Bush, who said, "What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they (the evacuees being put up in the Houston Astrodome) all want to stay in Texas. . . and so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."

Ah, those Compassionate Conservatives.

One week from today - Tuesday, September 13th - is "special election day" in the 200th District in Mt. Airy, Philadelphia, PA.

I write this because just about every person I've mentioned this to did not know about it! [And I tend to hang with a fairly educated crowd and my neighborhood tends to be very "up" on politics, even!]

The election is for the open State Representative seat vacated by LeAnna Washington (who is now our State Senator, folks! As our previous State Senator, Allyson Schwartz, is now our U.S. Represenative - follow?). Three candidates are running:

• Republican Robert Rossman
• Democrat Cherelle Parker
• Green Party candidate Marlene Santoyo

Now, Cherelle Parker is a very good candidate: a former aide to City Councilperson Marian Tasco, active in her church, born and raised in Mt. Airy, a Dem committeeperson, etc. I'd love to vote for her, but I have this thing about ward leaders hand-picking candidates to run for office and then putting their full weight (read: $$$) behind their candidate, expecting us Dems to vote for the candidate, just because.

And, I've been having this on-off love affair with The Green Party. I like their values. I like their democratic processes. I like their liberal stances and that they are not afraid to speak out on things like the war in Iraq (against it), universal health care (for it), and injustices against African-Americans in the U.S. (and they were speaking it beFORE "Katrina").

Certainly, things to think on.

Now that I've caught up on all the news that I've missed while on vacation (really! we rarely had the TV on nor did we read the papers!). . . I have a few things to espouse on -- imagine!

• John Roberts as Chief Justice? Is Bushie serious? JR hasn't even sat on The Court yet. Wonder what his co-justices will think, having been "passed over" for the Chief-seat? I'm sure even The Supremes can have their egos bruised.


• Philly is taking in about 1,000 "refugees" (doesn't the use of that word in relation to the displaced victims of Katrina bother anyone but me?). They will be put up in some vacant public school buildings - complete with hot showers, computer labs, and exercise rooms. Leading our "local" homeless population to wonder why they can't have a similar set-up, let alone an end to the waiting list for more permanent housing.


• Speaking of the refugees, I find it sad that no one (except a handful of service providers) seemed to care about the "poor, black folks" of New Orleans beFORE the hurricane.


• In the meantime, how many National Guard troops currently serving in Iraq wish they were home in the U.S. . . to do the work they were actually trained to do - domestic security in the event of a natural disaster! I read that the Louisiana National Guard members were especially depressed, wanting their chance to help out at home, while not knowing what's become of their friends and family members.

Sad, sad, sad.

Wow! Who knew I got so much junk mail?

Having just returned from a loverly, relaxing vacation in Vermont, The Gal & I sought out our "held mail."

The very nice mailman (not our regular guy, Tom) noted that he'd have to get it from the truck.

Two minutes later, he returns with one of those big plastic mail bins - which the post office does not like to part with easily and which, at least here in Philly, they often have to make appeals to the community to return them to their local post office - full of mail.

Most of it. . . junk mail.

On a side note, went to the Warren Falls swimming hole while vacationing in the Mad River Valley. You may have read about it in the recent NY Times travel piece on the swimming holes of Vermont.

It was awesome, even if I didn't get up my nerve to jump in some of the "holes." I did, however, venture into the water and onto the rocks. It was very cold. Brrrrr.