Wounded Men

Wounded Men

I tend to kiss the wounded men
Make wounded love, make wounded friends
A wounded marriage to a wounded spouse
A wounded life in a wounded house
A wounded babe, it begins again
With a wounded son kissing wounded men

They Always Warn

They Always Warn

They always warn before they strike;
I pretend surprise.
Righteously burns the venomous bite
from fangs of love-laced, proffered lies.

Toxic is the truth, when dosed
by those who're prone to live
lives of hope and dreams bespoke
by those who're prone to give.

Yet nary does a day pass by,
when in the throes of death I spy
the end of love in someone's eye
and soon to speak the words "good bye."

And then the numbing does set in
to ease the sight of rendered skin
shed, uncoiled by former friend.

Families Matter

Families Matter

---

This is a photo of my brother-in-law's ballot. I'm so proud of him!






An open letter to my family:



As expected, we lost in Texas and now I'm a second-class citizen when it comes to creating a family. If I decide to spend $10K on attorney's fees, I could come up with a set of contracts that mimics a fraction of what straight people get when they pay $42. There are about 1200 rights and protections accorded to married couples. Unfortunately, the loss means it'll be more likely that I'll have to substantially more money to defend the contracts in court.

The good news is that I'm living in the right county. Travis county was the only county to defeat Amendment 2. Also, our polling statewide showed that voters aged 18-24 voted with us. This means it's only a matter of time before the old bigots and homophobes die out. Winning elections is not just about counting votes. It's also about changing attitudes. I think we have time on our side.

In contrast, last night Maine was able to defeat their anti-gay measure.
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/11/big-win-in-maine.html

And let's not forget, the CA legislature recently passed a law in support of gay marriage, but Arnie single-handedly veto'd it. Also, Massuchussets has successfully defeated homophobia and bigotry and allows gay domestic partnerships.

Here are the countries that allow gay marriage [no distinction]:
Belgium
Netherlands
Spain
Canada

Here are countries that allow gay civil unions with equal rights and benefits [but not called marriage]:
Denmark
Finland
Iceland
Norway
Portugal
New Zealand
Buenos Aires, Argentina
South Africa
Sweden
France
Germany
Britain (in process)

A lot of the countries on the list are our NATO allies. Why is it that the US agrees with them when it comes to war (except lately!), but we disagree with them when it comes to morality and environmental issues? Too often our position on human rights seems more line in with North Korea and Iraq.

I'm glad my straight family joins the leading nations of the civilized world in supporting my right to create a family of my own.

--r