[Icarus'] Wings Won't Get You Too Far

One For the Team

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 06:10:43 GMT

I'me trying to find jobs, like usual. If anyone out there who live in Arizona would like tattoos and piercings, contact me at 623 695 5539. Txting is much appreciated. Or if you're bored and wanna txt that's cool too.

So, people have been gettin on my nerves lately. I'm a vegetarian so naturally people are all up in my face with their tacos and various meat products going "MMMMM THIS IS SO GOOD!" and "WOW I BET U WISH U COULD EAT THIS!"

The truth is, No. No I dont' wish I could eat it. It disgusts me. Helping the animals is a definite plus, but I just don't like meat. And even if I was just doing it because I wanted to help the animals, you rude people should respect that and stop being immature little bastards. Next time one of you ignorant people come up in my face with meat and attempt to get me to "crave" it, I will either hit/kick you in the balls, or throw up on you. End of story.

Oh, and another thing. I AM BISEXUAL. Bi, meaning two, and sexual meaning well sex. I like both sexes. Not straight, not fully lesbo, though I happen to like the female gender a bit more. Gender is nothing to me. Me happening to like the female gender more is pure coincidence. I base everything about my relationships on the person's personality, not what gender they are, not what they look like, etc. I'm not a shallow person, unlike most of america. When I say "Beauty is on the inside," I mean it. And I do not care what any of you say because for me that saying is true. That's just how I am. You "hot/sexy" guys/girls with no personality, stop askin' me out. I'm not going out with you. Forget it.

Anyway back to the bi thing.

I recently started dating a male because (for one of the main reasons) I figured my former girlfriend and I should experience different people/ different things without one another (but still be best friends). One major reason for that is- I think it's important to experience new and different things. If not, you look back on your life with regret, wishing you had done things you turned down because of someone or something else. I know my former girlfriend and I will always be there for one another and always love one another, so we both should have new experiences to just live our life. So a bit after the break up, I started going out with a male named David. We had been working together for awhile at Alley Kat before we both got fired/quit and I thought he was nice, funny, and cool. He's a lot like me, but physically a male, blonde with the same colored eyes as me, and his birthday is June 20th, one day after mine. He was in a relationshit before but he liked me so we started dating. I decided to give him a shot. Just because all the other guys I dated happened to dicks, jerks, or assholes, doesn't mean he was gonna be one too. And simply because I've never liked the feeling of penis or anything relating to the penis or feeling of a penis doesn't mean I couldn't like it. Yeah, that sounds like all the signs of a lesbian. Well, it is. But I still considered myself bisexual because I liked some guys' personalities. And the personalities are what count for me.

But now, behold! Some of the gay community are shunning me. The ones who didn't even wanna admit they were gay, or the ones who say they're bisexual as well (not you, Ashy), have been saying I ABANDONED them! I've always been bisexual. STFU.

Then there are some of the straighties that say "Ha, I told you it was just a phase."

ExCUSE me? Still bisexual here. Always have been, always will be. Just because you guys called me lesbian for 8 years doesn't mean I ever renounced myself as bisexual. You just never heard me when I told you who I was. And I hate people who don't listen to me. They aren't my real friends if they didn't even get that I was bisexual. I've been out since I was 3.

So yeah. They annoy me. Do they annoy you too?

Writer's Block: Fashion Forward

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:38:22 GMT

What do you think we'll be wearing twenty years from now?

Presented by Intel, Sponsors of Tomorrow.

View 500 Answers

Plastic and vinyl

My Life

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:41:09 GMT

Hey what's up you guys? I have no internet where I'm living right now (not at my mom's anymore yay!) which sucks but at least I don't have to be nagged at for shit I don't do anymore. So I haven't been posting on most things. When internet gets back up I'll do more postings and tell about what's goin' on in my crazy life for any of you who actually care. I'll comment on everyone I've inadvertently ignored over the past millenia I've been gone. Crazy shit has been goin' on all over the world; things to do with gay rights and so many other things. I'll be happy when I can start posting more.

Peace ya'll.

Of Gods and Monsters by Atreyu

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:44:59 GMT

Strength comes from within, not from above [x3]

You do not giveth
Therefore you cannot taketh away
No being is my master
I am not a spiritual slave

Heavenly father
Rightous son
Holy Ghost
Fiction

In my brethren love and freinds
I need no divinity on which to urge my soul

Strength comes from within, not from above [x2]

Writer's Block: Helping the Less Fortunate

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:43:07 GMT

What do you do for those who are less fortunate than you? What do you wish you did more of, if anything?

I got fired

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:43:27 GMT

From Alley Kat Tattoo on March the 11th by Antoinette Morgan through Ebon Hackett. Reasons: A whole buncha random fucked up shit because I'm pretty sure she doesn't like me. But you wanna know the funny thing? About a week and a half later, Ebon texted me wanting to know if I wanted to job back. However there is waaaay too much drama, stressed, and bullshit going on over there. I did as asked and got bitched at. I didn't sleep for three days, became sick for two weeks, and was stressed for a month while trying to go to school while working 11 hours a day. Only one day off. Not too good now is it? While I was working there I couldn't see my gilfriend hardly at all, I was barely home, and all I wanted to do was breathe. There's a lotta fucked up shit going on there. On March the 24th, Antoinette decided to take away lunch break for the 48th shop because the manager can't hold his own alone. She's fired some of the best tattoo artists, Nate Powers and Soda Pop to name a few, and some of the best upcoming artists, like David Pyle who did even get a chance to tattoo in the shop for the 6 to 7 months he was there. Some of the people there are good people, and some are good people who have been corrupted by Antoinette's insane paranoid ways. There are still good artists there, like Crystal, Kai Yazzie, and Alysia.

So the moral of this story that has barely begun and barely finished, is to watch where you apprentice at, weed out the spys and crazies, and don't give up even when you've been kicked down. I'm still tattooing and piercing especially so I can get better before I tattoo anyone else. But if you live in arizona and would like to contact me for a tat or piercing, text me at 623 695 5539 or email me at Chinalinda89@yahoo.com . I also know a couple other tattoo artists who are really good looking to do some work. It won't be free, but it'll be cheaper than at tat shops. We have to eat too, of course.

Get a Tat or Piercing today!

Sat, 27 Dec 2008 19:48:03 GMT

Alley Kat Tattoo is currently offering a few discounts for the new years for our quality tattoo work. that is 15 dollars off any tattoo over 50 dollars and 25 dollars off any tattoo over a hundred. we have portfolios for all our artist and we can work with what ever style that you are going for. so make sure you mention this add in order to get these awesome discounts. We have three locations, one on 43rd and olive, one on 48th and glendale, and one on 85th and grand so feel free to stop by any of our locations or contact our 48th location at 623 930 7171

Come see me! <3

The Laramie Project

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:15:56 GMT

So you see, this is a play that will be happening at GCC on this coming Saturday about the murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay male who was beaten and left to die tied to a fence around 10 years ago in Laramie, Wyoming. This play is in observance to him, to honor him and any other homosexuals that may have been hurt or died from the hatred of homophobic people.

This group http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_hates_fags will be going to GCC to picket and protest the play and tell everyone at GCC that they are fag-loving sinners who are all going to hell. They have sent countless letters to GCC itself as well as anyone's email they could find who attends, saying that "God Hates Fags" and encouraging not only intolerance and discrimination, but violence. This is an outrage and blatant slap in the face to society, not to mention the Christian faith, because they are in fact "Christians." Or at least that's what they call themselves while they twist words in the bible, completely skipping over the "Love thy neighbor and thy enemy as thyself" parts.

Anyone in Arizona, I urge you to go to the play. It'll be at night, at seven I think. I'm not too sure on the details. Just see it. It is very moving. Maybe attempt to get across to these people that their hate is uncalled for, and completely not what a loving god would want for his people.

Thanks.

An Extremist for Love

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 06:04:00 GMT

Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice - or will we be extremists for the cause of justice?
- Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail


		Our anger is just. Our goal is vital. Our cause is love. The passage of hateful initiatives has ignited the passion of thousands. Sign the pledge to keep fighting, loving, and listening – and overturn these laws.

On November 4, voters in California, Arizona, and Florida declared that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people are not equal under the law.

Our rights were stripped. Our love was branded unworthy of the name marriage, though our commitments and responsibilities to each other are worthy of nothing less.

We are angry – and that anger has moved to the streets.

This Saturday, thousands of people across the country, spontaneously organizing themselves in a truly grassroots movement, will convene to raise the call for equality. To find an event near you click here.

But as the LGBT community and its allies exercise our uniquely American right to protest, I hope we will remember that our actions in the streets will set the tone for the ongoing debate about marriage equality.

Will we reduce a human rights movement to tactics of recrimination? How we respond to these hateful amendments will say much about who we are.

Let the joyful faces of the couples receiving Connecticut marriage licenses for the first time yesterday remind us: our cause is love; and only through love can we win the freedom to marry.

Join with me and thousands of others – pledge to become an 'extremist for love' and fight to overturn these amendments.

The Mormon and Roman Catholic Churches played a huge role in the travesty called Proposition 8, forcing me to question whether members of those communities have forgotten the lessons of their own struggles against persecution. It is chilling to realize that the Catholic and Mormon Churches knew they were telling lies – that marriage equality would require children to learn about homosexuality in school, that priests would be required to solemnize marriages of same-sex couples – and they lied anyway.

In the wake of commanding support for Prop. 8 among African Americans, we are also asking ourselves why the community that has endured the most violent and persistent discrimination in our country’s history failed to understand our struggle for human rights. In this campaign we reached out to diverse communities, but we obviously failed to communicate to African Americans the interdependence of our struggles.

Have we heard the concerns of the people we asked to listen to us? We assert that marriage rights are basic human rights; we must also show that our concern for human rights does not end with marriage.

As we ask communities of color and religious communities to engage and partner with us, we must, in turn, demonstrate our commitment to the people and issues they care about. We must show that we will not turn away from the forty-seven million uninsured once we have domestic partner benefits, and that non-discrimination laws are not complete justice when legions of children are denied equal opportunity due to failing schools, violence, and racism.

Today, I recommit myself to being an extremist for love. I will engage my friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers – no matter what their religious beliefs or cultural backgrounds – and will ask them to engage me in their lives. I am ready to listen and act on their behalf, even as I make my case for their support.

At the same time, I will speed HRC's public efforts to overturn these laws:

Our Religion and Faith program is organizing a wave of dialogues with churches;
We support the lawsuit to overturn Proposition 8;
We are working to pass hate crimes, workplace equality, and other laws that will help more LGBT people to come out, since openness is the key to changing hearts and minds;
And HRC will support all future measures to overturn these hateful amendments.

I ask you to join me today in promising to keep your anger and passion alive, and to turn them to the tasks that will broaden support for our cause.

Take the pledge to work for justice – and understanding – until equality is the law of the land.

November 4 was neither the beginning nor the end of our struggle. It showed us how much work is left to do, but it also brought out the passion we will need to do that work.

That passion will win in the end. We must hold on to it, and use it wisely.

Warmly,

Joe Solmonese
President

ALLEY KAT TATTOO AND BODY PIERCING!

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 02:29:33 GMT

Hey guys! Come over to 4746 West Glendale ave if you live in Arizona and get some tats! or Call 623 930 7171!

Totally awesome! Get a TAT TONIGHT!

PHOENIX - JOIN THE IMPACT

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 06:09:18 GMT

"Hey, we're rallying for equal rights in Phoenix on Sat. Nov. 15, at 11:30am at City Hall (Cesar Chavez Park)! Pass it on!"

Here's the website: http://jointheimpact.wetpaint.com/page/Phoenix

And for anyone else that doesn't live in Arizona, here's the website for you:

http://jointheimpact.wetpaint.com/

Go there and join the fight for LGTB rights in your area!

Human Rights Campaign

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 05:30:56 GMT



	Dear Community, Unfortunate news has dimmed the exhilaration of this historic, life-changing election. I am deeply disappointed to report anti-LGBT marriage bans passed in Florida and Arizona, and in Arkansas voters voted to bar all unmarried people, LGBT or straight, from adopting children or serving as foster parents. Meanwhile media outlets have begun to report bad news for marriage equality in California. However, the Human Rights Campaign just participated in a conference call with our coalition partners and we firmly believe that all votes should be counted before calling the race. Several million votes in California have yet to be counted. Now is not the time to speculate on somebody’s fundamental rights. So we are waiting to see the final results from those ballots and will be issuing a statement after the race has been called. Please stay tuned. While this news certainly put a damper on such a historic election, we should celebrate the fact that our movement came together in an unprecedented way, and worked tirelessly to defeat these amendments, and millions voted with us yesterday. It is indeed a bitter pill to swallow. But we cannot allow distorted facts or shallow tactics – the foundation on which our opponents built their campaigns – to break our spirits. We are on the right side of history – and we will continue this journey. Let us not forget that we saw many glimmers of hope for LGBT equality across the country last night. We increased the ranks of pro-equality lawmakers in both the House and the Senate. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO), ringleader of the campaign to write discrimination into the U.S. Constitution, was soundly defeated. Jared Polis (D-CO) became the first openly gay man ever to be elected to Congress as a non-incumbent. Democrats took the New York State Senate, giving us our best chance ever to pass a same-sex marriage law in a legislature. We beat back a ballot question in Connecticut that could have threatened our recent victory there. In fact, marriages begin next week. And we elected Barack Obama as our next President, ending eight years of anti-LGBT policies. I truly believe that despite these setbacks, our nation is moving in the right direction. After fighting for years, so many victories are now within reach. And thanks to yesterday’s victories, we can now pass critical LGBT equality measures like the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act and begin unraveling the damage of the last eight years. I vow to you today that HRC will not give up, nor will we retreat. Moving forward, HRC will: Continue our efforts to win incremental victories for relationship recognition, so that legally married lesbian and gay couples in Massachusetts and Connecticut have full standing under federal law; the same holds true for civil unions and domestic partnerships in places like New Hampshire, Vermont and Oregon. Use amendments and other legislative vehicles in Congress to establish growing equality for LGBT Americans under federal tax, Social Security, pension, insurance and other laws – piecing together as many of the rights of marriage as we can until the full victory is achieved in years to come. Work with our allies in New York to make good on the extraordinary opportunity presented by the election of a new fair-minded majority in the State Senate, which paves the way for the nation's first-ever legislatively achieved marriage equality victory. We are also simultaneously working on marriage equality in New Jersey. Together, like we have done some many times before, we fought the good fight until the bitter end. In Florida, HRC contributed $120,000 to Florida Red & Blue (backers of the SayNo2 campaign), including $50,000 of early seed money that allowed the campaign to raise significant additional funds and provided high-level fundraising consulting for the campaign. We started building an early base for campaign operations by sending staff to Florida and conducting volunteer trainings during the January Presidential Primary. We held a Camp Equality election skills training in Fort Lauderdale and mobilized hundreds of volunteers. And in the final weeks, four additional HRC staffers and a Campaign College participant were sent to work on the ground in Florida. In Arizona, HRC contributed $50,000 to Arizona Together for media production and air time. We had three HRC staffers and one Campaign College participant on the ground. We also held a Camp Equality election skills training in Phoenix and mobilized the participants to work on this issue. In Arkansas, HRC provided half of the funding necessary for the Arkansas Families First campaign to hire a campaign manager. We deployed a Campaign College participant to work on the campaign for 12 weeks, and an HRC staffer to work on the campaign during the final push. And in California, HRC participated fully as a member of the marriage coalition executive committee, with unprecedented on-the-ground support, and extensive voter mobilization efforts. I am proud that HRC was the second largest funder of No on Prop. 8, behind Equality California, in what ended up being the most expensive campaign in the nation next to the presidential race. When all was said and done, HRC and our members invested nearly $3.5 million directly to the efforts in California. But our messages of fairness and reason were met with appalling messages of fear, distortion and downright hate that our opponents put forth on television, on radio, across the Internet, and in Sunday sermons. In 2000, a similar marriage ban in California was passed by a margin of 61% to 39%. So the closeness of this race and the positive shift in public opinion underscores that it is only a matter of time before we add more states to the march for marriage equality. As Obama said last night, “That's the true genius of America – that America can change.” Yesterday, an unfortunate majority of voters stood with the most extreme and negative elements of society to deny the rights of loving and committed gay and lesbian couples. But it’s not the first time that has happened to us, and it won’t be the last. It doesn’t change the fact that we are married. It doesn’t change the fact that we have families. Make no mistake. We are bowed, but not discouraged. We are sad, but not disheartened. We grieve, but not as those who are without hope. Today we will mourn the losses in Florida, Arizona and Arkansas, but tomorrow let's resolve to lift one another up, and continue our march forward. Remember, our marriages didn’t begin with a decision of the court, and they will not end with a vote of the people. Warmly, Joe Solmonese President

Writer's Block: A Little Light

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 05:26:10 GMT

Now that the election is over, we can get to the important stuff. Why is there a light in the refrigerator but not in the freezer?

Submitted By vivichick

View 501 Answers

I always wondered that too....

TIME for CHANGE!

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 06:16:46 GMT

And now it has happened. FINALLY! People are starting to SEE! Opening their minds and hearts and realizing we should be loving and NOT fighting! We should be brave and hold our head up high for CHANGE! 8 long, agonizing years of standing still finally GONE! Now is the time to move forward with our lives, NOW is the time to come together and rejoice! For we will finally have the chance for open-mindedness! We will finally have the chance for change! Take a good look, everyone, tonight has been a historical one! Do not forget this! Our Nation, our WORLD, can only look forward! No backward glances! EQUALITY AND LOVE FOR ALL.

Obama has won. Let us hope and pray in all our ways that he will do his duty to America and never forget the Constitution of the United States. Let us hope he keeps his promises and helps all the families that need it. Let us hope, for the sake of the people who have suffered in the past, that we will now and forever more have separation between church and state, following always our inalienable rights to LIFE, LIBERTY, and the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.

Take time to breathe, my friends, for we have WON.

We are FIGHTING DREAMERS takami wo mezashite
FIGHTING DREAMERS narifuri kamawazu
FIGHTING DREAMERS shinjiru ga mama ni
Oli oli oli oh-! Just go my way!

Right here right now (bang!)
Buppanase like a dangan liner!
Right here right now (burn!)
Buttakitteku ze get the fire!

Right here right now (bang!)
Buppanase like a dangan liner!
Right here right now (burn!)

Kewashii shura no michi no naka hito no chizu wo hirogete doko e yuku?
Gokusaishoku no karasu ga sore wo ubaitotte yaburisuteta

Saa kokoro no me mihiraite shika to ima wo mikiwamero! (yeah!)
Ushinau mono nante nai sa iza mairou!

We are FIGHTING DREAMERS takami wo mezashite
FIGHTING DREAMERS narifuri kamawazu
FIGHTING DREAMERS shinjiru ga mama ni
Oli oli oli oh-! Just go my way!

Right here right now (bang!)
Buppanase like a dangan liner!
Right here right now (burn!)

Oto wo tatezu shinobiyoru kage ga itsumo bokura wo madowaseru
Yuugenjikkou ooki na kaze ga uneri wo agete fukiareru

Kazashita surudoi katana de onore no asu kirihirake! (yeah!)
Hoshou nante doko ni mo nai sa naa sou darou!?

We are FIGHTING DREAMERS takami wo mezashite
FIGHTING DREAMERS narifuri kamawazu
FIGHTING DREAMERS shinjiru ga mama ni
Oli oli oli oh-! Just go my way!

Right here right now (bang!)
Buppanase like a dangan liner!
Right here right now (burn!)
Buttakitteku ze get the fire!
Right here right now (bang!)
Buppanase like a dangan liner!
Right here right now (burn!)
Buttakitteku ze get the fire!

We are FIGHTING DREAMERS kono nakamatachi to
FIGHTING DREAMERS subete wo makikomi
FIGHTING DREAMERS kokorozashi takaku
Oli oli oli oh-!

We are FIGHTING DREAMERS takami wo mezashite
FIGHTING DREAMERS narifuri kamawazu
FIGHTING DREAMERS shinjiru ga mama ni
Oli oli oli oh-! Just go my way!

(Don't forget your first impulse ever)
(Let's keep your adventurous ever)

We are fighting dreamers, aim for the top
Fighting dreamers, don’t worry about appearances
Fighting dreamers, do what you believe in
Oli oli oli oh-! Just go my way!

Right here right now (bang!)
Open fire like a bullet liner!
Right here right now (burn!)
Gonna kick your butt, get the fire!

Right here right now (bang!)
Open fire like a bullet liner!
Right here right now (burn!)

Among the dangerous pandemonium of the street, we open up a map of people – where will we go?
Violently coloured crows took it away and threw it away

Come on, open the eyes of your heart, just take now to the limit! (Yeah!)
We’ve got nothing to lose, so let’s go now!

We are fighting dreamers, aim for the top
Fighting dreamers, don’t worry about appearances
Fighting dreamers, do what you believe in
Oli oli oli oh-! Just go my way!

Right here right now (bang!)
Open fire like a bullet liner!
Right here right now (burn!)

Those shadows that sneak up on us without a sound always throw us off balance
Say it and it’ll happen; a big wind is blowing, whipping everything into a frenzy

Take the sharp sword you brandish and use it to slice into your own future! (Yeah!)
There are no guarantees in sight, are there?!

We are fighting dreamers, aim for the top
Fighting dreamers, don’t worry about appearances
Fighting dreamers, do what you believe in
Oli oli oli oh-! Just go my way!

Right here right now (bang!)
Open fire like a bullet liner!
Right here right now (burn!)
Gonna kick your butt, get the fire!
Right here right now (bang!)
Open fire like a bullet liner!
Right here right now (burn!)
Gonna kick your butt, get the fire!

We are fighting dreamers, I’ll do everything
Fighting dreamers, with my friends
Fighting dreamers, gonna aim high
Oli oli oli oh-!

We are fighting dreamers, aim for the top
Fighting dreamers, don’t worry about appearances
Fighting dreamers, do what you believe in
Oli oli oli oh-! Just go my way!

(Don't forget your first impulse ever)
(Let's keep your adventurous ever)

Writer's Block: Secret Ballot

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:42:39 GMT

It's hard to ignore the fact that today is Election Day in the U.S. If you went to the polls today, tell us what it was like. Long line? Free stickers? Hanging chads? We want the details.

View 500 Answers

I did early voting.

HIRED

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:06:42 GMT

I'm hired as an apprentice! Woo~ Now, I have two years and then I'll be a senior tattooist. :D While I'm doing that I'll be finishing up my college degree and doing hair styling school! Things are looking up for me and down for my wallet!

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 22:20:05 GMT

So, I called this place that needed an apprentice for tattooing. I've made some drawing and everything. I hope they like them because I really wanted to learn tattooing. Hopefully the hours can go along with my school hours as well. :D

Writer's Block: Short Days

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 22:01:02 GMT

As the Northern hemisphere spins toward the shortest day of the year, it's getting dark earlier and earlier. What comforts do you fall back on when the days are short and the nights are long?

View 500 Answers

I take comfort in the nights being long. The darkness is a wonderful comfort where I can just breathe.

NO ON PROP 102 RALLY IN ARIZONA

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:55:37 GMT

If you live in Arizona, go to this if you can. I got this in my email and decided to share it with all of you. The links probably don't work or anything, but all you really need to know is the info on the rally.

Everywhere across Arizona, people have been asking for a NO on 102 rally. Here is your chance. Join your fellow LGBT family and our allies in speaking out against Prop 102. Come rally to tell politicians to get to work on real issues that matter to Arizona families. Voting on the marriage issue isn't important to people; we must focus on more important issues like health care, immigration, the energy policy and our economy. Arizona has a budget deficit and schools across the state need help.

Keep politicians out of marriage.

Rally this Wednesday on the four corners of Camelback and Central in Phoenix. THE OPPOSITION HAS RAISED OVER 7 MILLION DOLLARS! This state is infested with Yes on 102 signs and billboards. Enough is enough.

What:           NO on 102 AGAIN! Rally
When:          This Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 | 5:30 - 7:30 pm
Where:         Corners of Central Ave. and Camelback Rd.

Reserve Your No on 102 Sign

Join Equality Arizona and our progressive partners for our Weekend for Change, Saturday, November 1, and Sunday, November 2. Help distribute "No on 102" yard signs, phonebank, canvass neighborhoods, and much more. Help defeat Proposition 102 and change the faces at the Legislature. Volunteer your time and energy to the Statewide Weekend for Change by clicking here!

Election Day Poll Workers Needed

Protect the integrity of our elections by working at the polls. Be a paid poll worker on November 4th and take home over $100 in one day! As a poll worker, you can play a critical role in making sure every voter can vote on Election Day. Contact Linda Brown at Linda@azadvocacy.org or 602.297.2500 to apply!

In Equality,

Barbara McCullough-Jones
Executive Director

P.S. Please consider supporting our efforts to defeat Prop 102 and elect pro-equality candidates with a contribution of $50 or more today. Click here to donate now.

Talk about Drama...

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:01:09 GMT

I have two friends. I don't know what their problems are. They are creating dramas out of nothing. It really hurts, you know, when you get a call from someone you care about and they're practically crying, hurting, but just made it all up.

Makes me want to turn up my music, drown out the noise, close my fingers over my throat, and bite my lip until it bleeds nonstop. If I feel like I can breathe, I might as well not really be able to. If I feel like I've been cut open and exposed, bleeding, I might as well be so. Right? I feel like I can't hear anything but this constant noise, so I might as well hear it.

I'm waiting to see this explanation. I want to know why he did this. I have many explanations of my own. I don't want to have to cut off ties, but if telling the truth will be a problem for him, that's what's going to have to happen.

Writer's Block: Neuromancer

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:55:31 GMT

Happy birthday, Neuromancer! Since its publication 24 years ago, William Gibson’s visionary novel has influenced everything from technology to pop culture. What other novels have had such an unexpected impact?

View 290 Answers

Ecstasia.

Group Marriage

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:10:06 GMT

Published on Monday, May 17, 2004 by CommonDreams.org

Group Marriage: A Legal Right?

by Ira Chernus

Today is a rare good news day. A day to celebrate. 50 years ago, on May 17, the Supreme Court said that separate is inherently unequal. Today, that principle is being extended to all the gay and lesbian couples who are getting married in Massachusetts.

Not long ago, here in conservative Colorado, the state legislature refused to endorse a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage - even though the amendment is being sponsored by Colorado congresswoman, Marilyn Musgrave. Maybe some of our legislators found Musgrave's wording a bit over the top. After all, her amendment would ban marriage not only between couples of the same sex, but also between (that is, among) groups.

Groups? Who is advocating legalizing group marriage? It sounds like a scare tactic. Listen to right-wing alarmist Stanley Kurtz, of the conservative Hoover Institute, writing in the neo-con Weekly Standard: "Once we say that gay couples have a right to have their commitments recognized by the state, it becomes next to impossible to deny that same right to polygamists, polyamorists, or even cohabiting relatives and friends. And once everyone's relationship is recognized, marriage is gone."

Segregationists used the same kind of scare tactic 50 years ago, when the Supreme Court was considered the landmark school integration case, Brown vs. Board of Education. Allow the federal government to order white public schools to let blacks in? Why, the next thing you know, they will be ordering schools to educate the "mentally retarded." And everyone knows that's absurd. The Supreme Court treated that argument as irrelevant. The justices probably agreed it was absurd.

But surprise! Just 20 years later, the federal government did order public schools states to educate children with every kind of disability, including developmental disabilities. The principle of the Brown case -- everyone has a right to equal education at public expense -- was applied logically and consistently. Could the same thing happen again? Should the right-wingers' talk about group marriage be dismissed as just a scare tactic?

The whole point of going beyond co-habitation to marriage is to get the legal rights dispensed by the government (inheritance, medical decisions, joint tax filing, etc). As the Supreme Court said 50 years ago, everyone has a right to equal treatment under the law. You can't treat two groups differently and say that they are equal. That's the strongest argument for gay marriage. It's just a matter of giving gays the same rights as straights. Any two people should have the right to marry, on this view. Still, many gays agree with many straights that marriage should always and forever be a union of two and only two people.

What is so sacred, though, about the number two? Is there a good reason to restrict marriage to couples? I have not heard one yet.

Arguments that are sometimes made against group marriage actually turn out to be arguments for group marriage. Some may say that legal marriage of three or more just couldn't work. It's too complicated. However, there are all sorts of legal arrangements involving three or more people that work just fine. A corporation, for example, is a legal arrangement allocating rights (and privileges) to thousands of people. No one suggests making two the maximum number of people who can form a corporation. And there are thousands of non-legalized co-habitations involving three or more people that work just fine.

There is also concern about decision-making in a life crisis. Would you rather have decisions about your life (or your estate after death) made by just one person who loves you deeply, or two or more people who love you deeply? Why not let the burden be shared? Monogamous marriage hardly obviates family wrangles in such situations, anyway. So there is no strong argument here against group marriage.

Right-wing writer Kurtz repeats the most common argument against group marriage: "[Monogamous] marriage is a critical social institution. Stable families depend on it. Children need the stable family environment provided by marriage." But since when is monogamy a sure-fire recipe for stable families? How stable are all the monogamous marriages you know? The two-parent nuclear family is just as likely to be an unstable pressure-cooker.

Children raised by three or more may be happier and healthier than those raised by just two. These kids will certainly grow up with a better adult to child ratio. They will be more likely to find an adult with the time to give them the attention and support they need. And the financial support pool will be bigger, too.

It's not group marriage that needs to be defended. It's monogamy. Monogamy works fine for some people, no doubt. But the demand for monogamy in every love relationship brings untold pain and suffering to many more. Our music, our movies, our tabloids, and everything else in our culture tell us that if we can't have undivided, eternal, monogamous love, we have no love at all: "S/he found another, and I'm so blue, I want to lay me down and die."

Sooner or later s/he probably will find another. That's how humanity seems to work. If the only response we have learned is suffering unto death, we are bound to suffer. It's a system calculated to produce pain.

But suppose we learned, from earliest childhood, that when s/he finds another we should celebrate and reach out to embrace that other. Their new love is bringing more love and happiness into the world. If we have the strength and good cheer to reach out and embrace them, to enlarge the circle of love, we are bringing more love and happiness into the world, too.

Monogamy is no more a part of "human nature" than heterosexuality or racial segregation. It's all a matter of social learning. There are already many thousands of Americans who have learned, from experience, that it doesn't hurt to enlarge the circle of love from a couple to a triad or a group. It can feel wonderfully good. Once you break out of the monogamy trap, the demand for absolute monogamy, which creates so much unnecessary pain, looks counter-productive, self-destructive, and downright silly.

If you support integrated schools, gay marriage rights, and logical consistency, you have to support marriage rights for groups. As we look back 50 years to equal rights for all races, and celebrate today as Massachusetts gives equal rights to all sexual orientations, let's look ahead 50 years, to the day that group marriage becomes not just legal, but totally accepted.

Ira Chernus is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder chernus@colorado.edu

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0517-12.htm

So, in my Philosophy of Sexuality class, I'm learning about something I never knew actually existed. Group Marriage. I always wanted to know what happened to all those couples who fell in love with another person, etc, or wondered what would happen if you an your partner happen to love another person as well, not friendly but sexually as well as emotionally. This hit me like a ton of bricks. Mainly because I felt I should've already knew this. My mind has been very open since birth, so I don't ever understand how things like this could be wrong. I never understood anything like that because it just always seemed acceptable in my eyes, even if my parents didn't think so. I just never thought about their opinions on the matter. But when I moved to Arizona, it's like I ate from the Tree of Knowledge and became aware of everything. Before then, I was ignorant, never thinking about these subjects. Why should I? No one ever acted gross around me when I made out with either sex, no one told me to stop it, etc. It just wasn't ever considered wrong. Or if someone did tell me to stop it, it wasn't because "It's gay and wrong." They either never gave me an answer, or told me "I was too young to be doing that."

Anyway, I'm going to stop ranting. This article is wonderful and points out many gay issues, as well as the group marriage issue.

Writer's Block: Rosh Hashanah

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:01:59 GMT

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins today. How are you celebrating? If you're not, how do you plan on guiding your fate over the course of the next year?

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Very carefully.

Writer's Block: Independence Day

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:17:00 GMT

In recognition of Mexican Independence Day, tell us how you celebrate your own independence.

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I dance and think about how we (or I) can help create a better future, be it by cleaning up the world or helping homosexuals become equal and reduce hate crimes.

Writer's Block: Greenery

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 23:59:27 GMT

Today in 1971, Greenpeace was founded. How are you helping to keep your section of Earth green these days?

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I recycle, walk places I can, pick up trash, throw away my own trash, plant seeds, and I'm sure other things I can't remember at the moment.