WordPress is Sexy Couldn’t help but laugh when I saw this bit of praise from one of our users on WordPress.com. It reminded me that I forgot to plug our recent redesign, particularly the newly-refurbished features, VIP, and forums. And it doesn’t stop there; more sexy is on the way (let’s just say I’ve been looking at Flickr and Vimeo for inspiration lately).
Tuesday, our future First Lady, Michelle Obama, spoke to the LGBT Caucus at the Democratic convention. I’ve loved this woman since we were first introduced to the Obamas, but it gave me goose bumps to listen to a potential first lady speak so intelligently on gay issues. Can you imagine Laura Bush or Cindy McCain even saying the term “LGBT?” If you’re not yet convinced that Barack Obama is supportive enough of gay issues, I think the fact that he and Michelle actually acknowledge that we exist is a hell of an improvement over the alternative.
Because I’m sure a few people who read my blog probably have no idea who Del Martin is, here’s a list of things we can thank her for, taken from her obituary (PDF):
Martin co-founded the Daughters of Bilitis, the first public and political lesbian rights organization in the United States
Martin helped create the Council on Religion and the Homosexual in order to lobby city lawmakers more effectively to reduce police harassment and modify the sex laws that criminalized homosexual behavior.
As an early member of the National Organization for Women (NOW), Del Martin worked to counter homophobia within the women’s movement—fear of the so-called “lavender menace.” She and Lyon were the first lesbians to insist on joining with a “couples’ membership rate.”
She was a leader in the campaign to persuade the American Psychiatric Association to declare that homosexuality was not a mental illness.
Martin’s publication of Battered Wives in 1976 was a major catalyst for the movement against domestic violence.
This is just a small example of the many ways in which we should all be incredibly grateful to Del and Phyllis for dedicating their lives to stopping the hatred and discrimination that mars the lives of gay and lesbian people.
Today, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community lost an iconic leader and a beloved friend. Del Martin, 87, passed away in San Francisco with Phyllis Lyon, her lifelong partner and spouse, by her side.
I couldn’t help but be moved when I read about Del and Phyllis’ wedding on the day that marriage rights were finally restored to gays and lesbians in California. It’s so sad to see that they were able to enjoy their marriage for such a short period of time, but I bet they’d both tell you they were just glad to have lived to see the day they were able to wed. Not that the radical right doesn’t wish to see their marriage invalidated anyway—take the time now to donate to the National Center for Lesbian Rights’ No on 8 PAC to preserve the rights of gays and lesbians in California to follow in Del’s footsteps.
Campaign officials for U.S. Senator and Republican presidential candidate John McCain have shot back at Madonna for a segment of her just-launched new concert tour.
So now, when asked “just how behind-the-times is the McCain campaign?” you can now confidently answer: about 25 years.
GOP sources say McCain and his close friend Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) still haven’t given up hope on making what some believe would be a game-changing decision by tapping Lieberman.
Just the faintest glimmer that this might be possible gives me goose bumps. John McCain picks a washed-out pro-choice former Democrat who both liberals and conservatives despise as his VP? Please tell me Santa’s coming early this year.
