Category Archives: Same Sex Marriage

Rainbow Dream


Rainbow Dream

by: J.P. Leddy

We have no pulpit to raise our voices clear…

For it is from pulpits that venom is spewed on us…

In the name of God,  our love is condemned to fiery hell…

From those who use Jesus as a sword to shed our blood…


We will not let them keep us down in their dungeons of hate…

Our  dream breaks up chains , crosses all color and gender…

It is a dream of equality of love , the Rainbow Dream…

Where same sex lips can touch in love without bigotry unleashing…


Where we will not be beaten for being born who we are …

Where we will not be taunted simply because our love is gay…

Where we can marry because it is a right guaranteed…

Where the heart is worth more than who we bring to our bed…


Rise up and reach for the rainbow , straight and gay…

It is your dream  together,  where everyone can just be who they be…

Where love can flourish and hate can recede to the abyss…

Stand Hand in Hand, Mind with Mind, Heart to Heart ..


The Dream will be Real…


Submitted to Monday Poetry Potluck  Color, Spring and Rainbow


I also want to express my appreciation for being one of the recipients of the Perfect Poet Award.  To see the list of winners, please click here.


I would like to nominate Blaga for the Perfect Poet Award. Please visit her website and read her poetry here.

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Filed under Gay Love, Gay Marriage, Same sex attraction, Same Sex Marriage, Same sex relationships, Uncategorized

Minnesota’s Folly


The Minnesota Senate recently passed SF 1308 , a bill asking for an amendment to the state constitution banning same sex marriage in the state. It recently passed and now the House Civil Law Committee has made sure it is fast tracked into making sure it is a ballot measure in the 2012 elections.

Like all such measures seen in similar legislative movements in other states,  all Republican sponsored, the driving force has been the interests of the extreme religious right perpetrating their dogma  on public policy.   No matter how it is positioned, it still is bigotry in it’s most ugly form.

Generations in the future will look back at such measures as shameful acts where ignorance and hate dominated political leaders‘ agendas and states like Minnesota will find that a constitutional amendment that segments a portion of their population against having basic rights will be indeed a folly. Hopefully the voters will be wiser than their leaders.

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Equality Over Bigotry – Looking at Iowa


Zach Wahls

Zach Wahls stood up before the Iowa Legislature,before they passed the measure to allow voters to decide to ban all sames sex marriage in the state, to deliver what is considered one of the most clearly definitive speeches for LGBT equality.   Again we see how right wing religious bigotry and extreme conservative political interests have meddle in justice despite the State Supreme Court‘s decision allowing marriage equality in 2009.

This pattern of extremism mixing religious beliefs with political interests has resulted in some of the worse episodes of human history.  It has helped to segregate and subjugate people in terms of race or class.  It has even done the same for gender and even the status of children.

We have seen blood spilt in gas chambers across the  Atlantic and people enslaved in plantations in our own country. We have seen women treated as property and even murdered legally without any real cause under a male dominated society in some nations under the wide interpretation of religious belief that had been codified.

We have seen towers fall to the ground with suicide bombers doing it the name of their God.  Many justify their violence, their hatred ,  their bigotry and even their exclusion, coated with civility, of certain groups because of their  Allah or their Jesus.

Yes,  even those who purport to be Christians ( I  include the Protestants, the Catholics, the Mormons, etc.)  on one hand speak of the loving doctrines of Christ and in practice exude a whole different kind of gospel.  History has many examples to show this  disconnect.  Many times it happens when religion and politics mix. When Christians execute their religious jihad through government.

It reminds me of what Mahatma Gandhi said, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

So America, LGBT equality, especially in terms of marriage equality,  as young Zach Wahls spoke of his two mothers, is really an issue for all Americans. It is simply about equal rights for all under our constitution not hampered by any one religious belief.

Let us not be dragged through another right wing religious whiplash arguing the age old rhetoric and move ahead as a country that is built on the principles of progress and great ideas.  Equality must move forward.  Our country was built on the ability to extend the idea of freedom to all our citizens and not be a society of classes.  We must continually work towards that dream and we have the opportunity to light that torch to make it brighter.

Make a difference in your state. Marriage Equality is for all of us.

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No Rings


No Rings

By JP Leddy

 

The law states with venom they shout

Legal it is not and never will it be

For God so declared and so have the bigoted we

 

No two men or two women should marry

Abomination and straight to hell those will go

Seething like rabid dogs the opposition screams to and fro

 

They cite Jesus and nature in self righteous arrogance

The homos and the fags will never exchange rings

For only the straights deserve such wonderful things

 

For the straights should be given preference under the law

Democracy and equality was not meant for all

Especially the gays and the lesbians who all should appall

 

Today,  we take a stand against the bigoted them

Equality for all should be the clarion call for the throng

The right to love and rings , the new freedom song

 

Submitted to Monday Poetry Potluck: Rules, Regulations & Laws

 

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A Reminder About the Fight For Equality by Ricky Martin


2011 is another year where Gay rights or more appropriately equal rights for the LGBT community is still very much an ongoing cause.  There definitely have been major steps in our country. It has been a painful change and there are still major hurdles ahead to overcome the deep seated bigotry that exists and is being perpetuated by right wing religious zealots,  ignorance and those that simply hate.

However, the momentum has been set and in this country where every citizen deserves equal rights and where we have seen Secretary Of State Hillary Rodham Clinton declare Gay Rights as a Human Right globally, 2011 is another pivotal year where equality for LGBT people at all levels continues to be a focus.

Having recently come out, music artist Ricky Martin‘s music video capsulizes the spirit of this dream.

“The Best Thing About You Is Me”

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Where Are You?


 

Where Are You?

by: JP Leddy

 

Nightmare from which I cannot awake from

He looks like you in every nuance and move

I do not find you as I once did in his eyes

He is like some doppelganger or alien copy

 

Where is the man who against snow falling

promised me love forever after?

Where is the man who drew childish art with

colored markers of rainbows and hearts?

 

Have you been abducted by some unseen power?

Has your  soul been kidnapped by mischievous demons?

Has the government recruited you on some secret mission?

Have you been put on the witness protection program?

 

I do not recognize this twin of yours who is here with me

Who claims love for me , but still wants to lay with others

Who would prefer intimacy with strippers rather than me

Whose love comes with conditions that includes others

 

Who is this stranger?

Who breaks my heart in re-runs?

He is not you.

Where are you?

 

Entered into Thursday Poets Week 35 Rally

 

 

 

 

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LOVER – Tom Goss’s Homage to True Love Between Two Men


Tom Goss

The song has been my favorite of this talented songwriter and music artist‘s long list of tracks.  “Lover”  moves me in so many ways because of its universal message and especially of its moving message about the love of a same sex couple .  The video has a military theme, and with the  current DADT debate makes the video and the song even more poignant. It’s pure resonance leaves me beyond tears, but with  a sense of sacredness that one hopes to achieve in a relationship of love with someone that is earned.

I have known Tom for some time now.  I became acquainted with him and his music on the award winning podcast, Feast of Fun. Over time, I became a fan and then  we have become friends. He recently got married to his long time partner and love, Mike. He lives the passion of love that underlies the meaning of this song.  I believe that Tom is not only one of the most talented LGBT songwriters out there today but he is also one of the most talented songwriters in the industry.

Watch the video.   Visit his website.   You will never be the same.

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Guam’s Archbishop Attacks Local Candidates Who Support Same Sex Unions


Archbishop Anthony Apuron is shown in this October 2010 file photo. Apuron stated that a "Catholic conscience" doesn't allow someone to vote for a candidate who supports same-sex unions. The church statement was issued with the Primary Election less than a week away. (Pacific Daily News file photo)

In a move that only continues to solidify Guam Catholic Archbishop Anthony Apuron’s longstanding campaign against any form of same sex union legislation approval in the U.S. territory of Guam, recently issued a letter published in the local archdiocese newsletter.  The content of the letter, had the archbishop urging the voters of Guam not to vote for any candidate in any political party who supported recently introduced legislation that would support same sex unions.  There are at least 13 candidates that are targeted at this point.

Referring to the legislation as “evil” the Archbishop vehemently opposed the support of any candidate who went on record supporting  its passage.  It has caused  an uproar in the small island community because the majority of the population is Roman Catholic. Also, the continuing  debate of the heavy involvement of  religious groups like the Catholics and the Mormons and other conservative religious organizations in political issues is challenging the perception of  the separation of Church and State.

Again, I am particularly concerned and extremely disappointed in this current “witch hunt” mentality that he has launched against political candidates on the island.  It will only escalate the fear about the LGBT community and also skew attention away from more important issues like the economy and the pending military buildup on Guam.

This kind of rhetoric will also feed the kind of bigotry that has been heaped upon the gay community which has typically been fueled by words over the pulpit, which in turn,  have been used for justification to commit hate crimes by some people. I personally sat through a mass on Guam and heard one of the Archbishop’s letters read about the same sex issue.  No message of Christ’s love there, only hate.

As  long as the people of Guam continue to let the Church dictate their voting conscience,  we will see people discriminated simply because of their sexual preference.  The country is making so much progress on this issue, we do not want to see Guam take a step back into the dark ages at the same time.

If this kind of  religious lynching continues,  Archbishop Apuron will go down in history as one of the most notorious tramplers of human rights on Guam.

Please click the following link for full story :  Guam Pacific Daily News

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We Will Never Give Up – Never!


As the right to marry continues to be appealed in  California, with those  proponents who want to deny the LGBT American Citizens this right also continuing to spread their campaign of bigotry and discrimination, we will stand strong in this one thing. We will NEVER give up until full equality is given us under this Constitution.

You have tried to lynch us

with your self righteous rhetoric

while you seethe like hungry wolves

from your ornate pulpits

pouncing after innocent prey…

Your self proclaimed God appointed  Jihad against us

is not grounded in love but in the age old

power struggles for the souls and lives of men  forced

to kneel before your gluttonous altars built on the blood

of babes and those exiled to living hells created

by your vile hate coated with religious gold and scripture…

Like your venomous campaigns before,  you will fail

against the mighty scepter of  justice  where the  rights of

the individual trumped the bigoted majority and

where religious bias has no place

Only equality,  for all, in a land of the free…

Submitted to Monday Poetry Potluck.

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Family Themed “The Kids Are Alright” Steals Your Heart


The Kids Are Alright

How appropriate that in an environment where same sex marriage is being debated all throughout the country that a small film about a lesbian couple and their children really brings home the message about family and marriage.

Annette Bening and Julianne Moore

I found that the recently released “The Kids Are Alright” quickly becomes less about a same sex couple raising two children who were conceived by artificial insemination but more about the importance of the family unit despite the challenges that encroach upon it.

This is due in fact to an excellent script, great direction and also top notch acting especially from Julianne Moore, Annette Bening and Mark Ruffalo.   The other key players who play the children bring on strong performers namely, Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson.

The film could have petered out into a slow moving and dull film but it immediately grabs you with how well it flows with  its universal themes that affect marriage and family.  The curiosity of the children that leads to the search of their biological father and how that all disrupts their lives, and then solidifies it in certain ways, becomes  a living model or at least a reflection for most families.

Mark Ruffalo, Annette Bening and Julianne Moore

The layers portrayed beneath the main storyline plot leaves the audience satisfied  with a movie that earns itself  a place as a piece of art deserving recognition in so many different levels.

The weaving in of humor into a story that could have been weighed down with some of the heaviness of the issues actually helped us move through the characters more sympathetically, without reducing the significance of what the family was going through.

Julianne Moore and Annette Bening delivered some of the best performances of their career. Mark Ruffalo was perfectly cast.

If you want to see a movie that will remind you of  what movies are supposed to do, which is to entertain, but also to lift your mind to thoughts and experiences of the human condition.  This is the movie to see.

You will be inspired by movies again.

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