on Monday, I returned from a two-week vacation where I did my best to unplug and remove myself from the constant clatter of voices that berate us on a daily basis from our televisions, computers, and phones about current "issues" and politics.  I very much wanted to spend some time not discussing or listening to discussions about the economy, President Obama, issues of race, gay rights, and (god. please. no more.) health care reform.  Of course, it's not possible to entirely remove oneself from all of this without turning off the iPhone (no, I can't do it!) and/or heading out into the woods, trekking into the desert, or sailing out to a desert isle.  I did my best, but you know...

Now that I'm back at work and the din is as loud as ever, I've tried to use my brief moment of quiet to achieve a little clarity on what is going on and to sit back and observe rather than engage.  One thing that I've noticed, and something that's been pointed out by many of the more liberal talking heads, is who the people are who are showing up shouting at these "Town Hall Meetings". I perceive them as being white, mostly older, seemingly uneducated (that might be unfair but this is my observation, so scram!), heterosexual, mostly male, and not from an urban environment.  Or "Real Americans" as Sarah Palin would tell us. ...

According to my mom, I was a "good little boy" who didn't cry much and seemed to be happy most of the time. I was a small boy with strawberry blonde hair and a smattering of freckles across my face. My mom has told me that I was very sensitive to how others were feeling and that I was always very curious.  I started talking and reading fairly young and often drove my parents and grandparents to the brink of insanity with my constant questions of hows and whys about the world and how things worked.  I remember being allowed to play dress up in high heels and makeup, and spending hours in the kitchen alternating between creating new recipes (all of which my brave grandmother willingly tasted) and dissecting the hearts, gizzards, and other organs that came with the turkeys cooked for Thanksgiving dinners.  I didn't care much for sports and preferred to spend my afternoons putting on puppet shows or switching between playing beauty shop and operating room in my grandmother's front bathroom where my clients and patients were one and the same (you always want to have gorgeous hair when having an appendectomy!).

I also remember being treated differently than other children at a very early age.  Okay, maybe I was a little weird and precocious, but I noticed that there was something about me that made parents...

According the the U.S. Department of State Dec. 10, 2008 press statement, "Today is the 60th Anniversary of the adoption of the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document that affirms the inherent rights of people everywhere and enshrines basic freedoms of thought, expression, peaceful assembly, religion, and association." The statement goes further to say, "The United States stands in solidarity with the brave men and women around the globe who work to defend human dignity and advance the cause of freedom."

Really? Most of us gay Americans would argue that the U.S. Department of State has a very long way to go within its own borders in standing in solidarity with us to affirm our human rights.

This is why today is also the perfect day to let America experience a National Day Without Gay.

In the year 2008, 60 years after Article 7 of the Universal Declaration said, "All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection under the law....and the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State", the State of...