Fuck Ken Mehlman

Ken Mehlman - Coward

Yeah, I said it.  My apologies to the regular readers of this blog who are offended by my gutter language but there is no other way to express my contempt for former Republican National Committee chairman and Bush/Rove flunky Ken Mehlman for coming out of his gay closet.

Today on the news I listened and watch Christopher Barron of GOP Proud say "Ken Mehlman showed great courage by coming out."  Excuse me?  Great courage?  Great courage is coming out when it makes a difference.  Great courage is not coming out when the coast is clear.

David Roberts, who is gay himself, was anchoring the MSNBC show that I was watching today.  He was interviewing the same Christopher Barron that I mentioned before.  He asked Mr. Barron why Ken Mehlman did not respond to his request for an interview.  I know that answer to that question.  Ken Mehlman did not respond to his request for an interview because he is still a coward.  Mehlman thinks he can do one fund raiser and his conscience is clear.

The damage the Ken Mehlmans of this world do is vast and unrecoverable.  How many gays and lesbians have been beaten and killed because they chose not to live in a closet?  They are the courageous ones.  Not a mealy mouthed apologist for the hate driven Republican campaigns that brought the Bush/Rove disaster to the White House.  How many gays have lost their livelihood because they were truthful about who they were instead of selling their soul for the almighty dollar?  How many have been kicked out of the military by the absurd Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy that is still in effect today?

When you think courage think Matthew Shepard.  Ken Mehlman is human flotsam.

Ken Mehlman give prostitution a bad name.

Am I mad?  You're damn right I'm mad.

A Night Out on the Town

We braved the after effects of the Saturday night winter snow storm and ventured into downtown Rehoboth Beach for a festive night on the town.






My friend Bob C. and I were going to see the first performance of the Camp Rehoboth Chorus. But first we met our friends Jack and Paul for dinner at The Feathered One, also known as The Purple Parrot.







For several months last year we had a semi-routine of meeting friends on Sunday night at the Parrot for dinner. This was before the Tourist Hordes descending on Rehoboth during the summer. We locals don't even attempt to go into town during the season. But the off season? It's wonderful.







We missed our friends Wayne and Harvey last night. Wayne was working and Harvey moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. No more cold weather for Harvey.







After a delightful and festive dinner (and after Paul had to have the waiter back out his $9.00 Happy Hour price for a table wine) we were off to the Rehoboth Theater of the Arts for the inaugural performance of the Camp Rehoboth Chorus.



We carefully made our way down Rehoboth Avenue and over to Baltimore Avenue on the mostly snow covered sidewalks to the former church that is now the Rehoboth Beach Theater of the Arts.



Upon entering the building we could see that the Camp Rehoboth Chorus would he well attended. Our friends Big Bob and Jim were in the chorus. I came to see them and take a video with my Flip video (my newest toy.)



The concert was a grand success! Smiles abounded in the audience. Much credit goes to the organizer Fay Jacobs. It was so good to see a broad smile on her face during the whole performance.

If I had any complaint at all, it was that the seats (folding chairs) were very uncomfortable. The chairs were placed too close together. Many of the folks in the audience are large which isn't conducive to this airline type of seating. My back was killing me after the second song.



During intermission I moved the seats to the right and left of me but it was noticed immediately by my friend Bob C. when he returned. Robbing Peter to pay Paul.



I'm looking forward to the next concert but I hope they do something about the seating arrangement. At least the seats were padded.

After the Equality March

What a day! The weather was just perfect. The skies above were crystal blue punctuated by white puffy clouds. The temperature hovered around 65 degrees and a slight breeze. We could not have asked for better day to have a march for equality for the GBLT community in our nation's capital.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, the first and only march I ever participated in was the first march on Washington D.C. for gay rights back on October 14, 1979. This march was different in many ways.



First, this march was much nosier. The 1979 march had many more people (over 100,000 versus the 40,000 or so that were at today's march) but we were all quiet. Remember this was the first ever gay rights march in Washington D.C.



Our route from the Washington Monument was lined by hundreds of police on motorcycles. That was for our protection. In 1979, there was so much tension in the air you could slice it. By contrast, today's March route was not lined by police motorcycles. In fact, we had no police protection at all other than the standard police protection afforded all citizens of this country. That's progress, now we of the GBLT community are being treated like all other citizens.



Today's march was boisterous. It was like a block party. There was no tension in the air. Oh sure, along the parade route there was the occasional religious bigot holding a bible up and shouting that we were all going to hell. But they were quickly shouted down, in the "nicest way possible."

Color abounded with the many rainbow flags. Laughter was heard all around. Even though the parade was somewhat disorganized (as most parades are), everyone was patient and good natured about the delays.



My only problem after walking the route from the White House to the Capitol Building was that my back was aching something terrible. My friend Bob and I had to sit on the capital lawn to recover.

Oh, I also lost one of my rainbow flags (I quickly purchased another) and my hooded sweat jacket during my walks. I especially miss my navy blue hooded sweat jacket but I'm sure it has found a new home. Hopefully the new owners will appreciate it as much as I have over the years.

Bob and I enjoyed out two hour plus outing on the cool, green grass of the Capitol Building grounds. I took the occasion to walk around and take pictures of the Capital Building and the demonstrators and I even met a few and exchanged e-mail address with them to send them copies of the pictures I took of them.



Then it came time to meet up with our little group that took the bus from the K-Mart parking lot in Rehoboth Beach earlier in the morning for our trip to Washington. We were to all meet outside of one of the buildings of the Smithsonian Institute.



Bob and I arrived early. Bob wanted to stop inside the Smithsonian to get a new booklet. I went in with him. I soon noticed that I was being given disapproving stares by some of the more conservative tourists in the building. One that I remember especially was a lady about my age (67) who was sitting outside on a bench with her husband. I nodded a friendly acknowledgement in her direction as I followed Bob into the building. She gave me a cold look and turned her head without acknowledging me. I mentioned this to Bob and he said "No wonder, you're waving your flag (the gay rainbow flag) all around." And indeed I was plus I had about eight strands of various colored bling (Mardi Gras necklace beads) draped around my neck. I was so caught up in my freedom that I forgot that I was entering a different zone when we went to the Smithsonian with all the regular tourists.

Well, not wishing to offend anyone's conservative sensibilities I quickly retreated to the Smithsonian men's room and furled my rainbow flag and took my many colored necklaces off and placed them in my camera bag. I emerged from the rest room a different man. I told Bob "I can always pass. I’ve been doing it for years"



I immediately noticed that I was no longer receiving disapproving glances from the folks now that I had put my beads and flag away. However, Bob did receive one or two “looks.” He was still wearing his Equality March T-shirt (which he layered over his other clothes earlier in the parade.) However, his T-shirt was plain white with printing on it. Not like me, a gay man proudly displaying his many colors. Well, it was fun while it lasted.



Something very interesting did happen during the parade. Just as we started someone shouted behind me "Look! There's a rainbow!" And sure enough, I looked up from the street to the sky above a nearby building and there was the rainbow. What really made this rainbow significant was because there was not a hint of rain today. The whole day was sunny. So, one has to wonder......were we receiving a blessing from Above? It sure did look like it.