LGBT POV

Happy Mother’s Day. Days such as today are difficult on LGBTs who have no families to cherish or children to adore. But some of us – I am among them – have the very great privilege and pleasure of getting to share a friend’s mother upon occasion. And that affords us the joy of getting to share their world.

Such was the case recently when John Duran – longtime civil rights and criminal attorney, now Mayor Pro Temp for the City of West Hollywood and my friend for over 20 years – took his mother Gloria to Washington DC where John lobbied on behalf of the city for senior housing and then brought Gloria to the Cinco de Mayo celebration at the White House.

Please click inside to read Gloria Duran’s wonderful Cinco de Mayor with son John in DC and at the White House.

The big news coming out of the California Democratic Convention Saturday was Attorney General Jerry Brown’s launch of his gubernatorial campaign with a challenge to his Republican rivals to an unprecedented, “honest, prime-time” three-way, pre-primary debate.

But the underlying story is just how worried the Democrats are about voter anger and apathy in the huge blue state that is pot-marked with deep pockets of conservative red.

In fact, the November mid-term elections are shaping up to be a conflation of the culture wars, the rise in California’s version of the Tea Party’s fierce anti-government attitudes and hate groups – just as President Barack Obama comes to Los Angeles Monday – on April 19, the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing.

Photos from Sunday’s Rock for Equality rally and march from the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center to the local Social Security Administration office, to protest the discrimination against same-sex couples in the Social Security system. Speakers included Sen. Barbara Boxer; Rep. Linda Sanchez; Rep. Judy Chu; Lorri Jean, CEO of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center; and Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Full coverage of the event to come, from Karen, whose preview of the event is here.

Click inside to see all the photos.

Moving photographs from Michael Arden’s new book Same Sex – Recipes for Love are on exhibit now through May 1 at The Advocate & Gochis Galleries at The Village, 1125 N. McCadden Rd., Hollywood, 90038.

For the past 17 years, in addition to his career as a photographer, Michael is a part-time lecturer at USC where he also teaches courses at USC School of Architecture in Architectural Photography and general photographic principles.

I’ve known Michael for years and can’t emphasize strongly enough how much of his heart as well as his vision as a professional photographer went into this book. Please visit his website Michael Arden Photography for a pdf glimpse at his book and his other work and visit the gallery to pause before these photographs and let the love of these same sex couples warm you. Please click inside to see more photos from Michael’s book.

Ricky Martin posted this photo on Twitter of him and his kids. H/t to Greg Hernandez of Greg in Hollywood.

As part of West Hollywood’s 25th Anniversary of Cityhood, the city is commemorating some of its most famous residents, including a month-long tribute to F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of America’s greatest writers.

On Sunday, Frontiers In LA news writer Peter DelVecchico went on the “Fitzgerald in West Hollywood” tour of places frequented by Fitzgerald, including the famous the Chateau Marmont Hotel. Please click inside to see Peter’s sizable photos and read his notes from the tour.

After watching President Obama’s bravura performance before the GOP Caucus Friday, I was reminded of this photo – which in turn reminds me of the Rodney King plea: “Can’t we all just get along?”

It’s just past noon in West Hollywood. The temperature reads 70 degrees – tee shirt weather on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010. Pepper and Charlie enjoy a moment in the sun before mom has to get back to work.

As expected, the California Assembly officially elected openly gay Assemblymember John Pérez (D-LA) as their next Speaker on Thursday. Also as expected – the vote was along party line – 48-26, though Perez is known to “cross the aisle” and listen to the Republican perspective.

Karen Bass (D-LA) will remain Speaker for probably another month, before she relinquishes the chair and Perez is sworn-in.

Meanwhile, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger just declared a budget emergency – see the story here and a summary of the budget here – which I will report on when more information and analysis about the impact to HIV/AIDS services becomes available.

For Christmas strays like me, holidays can be emotionally difficult. But I am very lucky to have some close friends – one of whom – John Duran – has consistently invited me to share Christmas Eve with him and his family. Actually, John is lucky enough to have two families – the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles and his loving, extended Latino family. This year, the Gay Men’s Chorus helped open the annual free Holiday gala at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion televised on PBS/KCET. As the fourth act to perform, they included an audience-participation hand “dance” that got everyone on their feet and having fun. And with the wonderful actress/singing Diva Sheryl Lee Ralph doing the hosting duties, the word “gay” was comfortablly and repeatedly used during the introduction.

After their three songs, some member of the chorus, some of John’s other friends and I went to his parents’ house in Santa Fe Springs where family of all ages came to eat, sing, be merry and open presents. After a joyful evening with a houseful of family, who welcomed me and John’s other friends with abundant love, I went home to my two “kids” – Charlie and Pepper, who were once stays themselves and now we’re a family of our own. Please click inside to see scores of photos and happy faces of Christmas joy.

Click inside for quips.

Corrected. The nation awoke this morning to find a two-story AIDS Red Ribbon decorating the White House:

Click inside for the news story and more photos.

This oh-so white bunch of actors apparently represents the American family in the eyes of the antigay Family Research Council. And look where they’re going to shop to contribute to FRC’s antigay cause: Apple’s iTunes, Jos A. Bank. Expedia.com and Zales. By the way – notice the placement of that hand with the wedding ring. As Chandler Bing might say: could they BE any more obvious?

A friend of mine sent me an email which was sent to her by her sister who’s friend sent it to her. What connects us all is that we love dogs. Just no two ways about it: we love dogs! And this email was an uplifting story with lots of dog photos to coo over. So, in the middle of writing about hate crimes and politics, I wanted to take a break, look at the photos again – and share them with you. I confess that I found 6 year old Shane’s wisdom refreshing since – truthfully – there are days when I still mourn the loss of my little Shitzu Chu Chu, whose “good death” I wrote about for The Bilerico Project. Click inside to enjoy the story and the photos as dogs lovers – or perhaps just someone who could use a smile today.

Note from Syd: I first met Vincent Jones, 33, at Camp Courage LA this past January. Others may know him as the moderator for the California Leadership Summits in Fresno and San Bernadino this summer, or from his work at Liberty Hill Foundation. But Vincent’s grassroots work goes back much farther– to the 1990s in Los Angeles and DC. Let’s hear his story…

Day Two of Camp Courage Sacramento kicked off with the infamous “Team Chants” module. After 20 minutes of preparation, each small group performed a short chant, usually centered around themes of equality and social chance. Whether a group’s chant came together or fell apart, the crowd roared with laughter and elation after each performance. A boisterous time was had by all.

Camp Courage is an intensive two-day training designed to teach the principals and skills of community organizing to activists working to restore marriage equality to California. Inspired by the “Camp Obama” trainings the powered neighbor-to-neighbor organizing across America in 2008, Camp Courage teaches empowerment, team building, leadership development, and grassroots organizing skills. This weekend, we’re in Sacramento.

We’ve had a difficult week and we’re going to face more hatred heading into the 2010 elections. But as we ponder what’s happened and consider our next moves – let’s take a momentary break and ponder the story of Faith the dog. Click inside for the story and photos.

People like me can go on and on trying to paint word pictures about the meaning and emotion of an event – and when we’re successful, it’s like the gift of poetry. But people like Robert Stuart Lowden are artists with each shot saying more than I can say in, well, a thousand words. I asked Robert to describe his experience of shooting the protests that following the passage of Prop 8 and he generously agreed to also share his photos. Click inside to see them.