That you support the freedom for everyone to marry the person they love.

Okay, I broke down and finally signed-up for Facebook.  I swore I would never add another social networking site to my list, but I was getting sick of folks asking me if I had a Facebook page. 

I still don't get what is the point of poking someone. 

But what I am hoping will happen is that I started a group of Gay San Francisco Giants fans.  I have always said that I wanted to find such a group, but I never found it.  I can't believe that Jeff and I are the only ones out there...

I thought everyone should take a look at Shane's blog today...

I got this email today.  Thought I'd share.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance was set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder on November 28th, 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Rita Hester’s murder — like most anti-transgender murder cases — has yet to be solved.

Although not every person represented during the Day of Remembrance self-identified as transgender — that is, as a transsexual, crossdresser, or otherwise gender-variant — each was a victim of violence based on bias against transgender people.

We live in times more sensitive than ever to hatred based violence, especially since the events of September 11th. Yet even now, the deaths of those based on anti-transgender hatred or prejudice are largely ignored. Over the last decade, more than one person per month has died due to transgender-based hate or prejudice, regardless of any other factors in their lives. This trend shows no sign of abating.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance serves several purposes. It raises public awareness of hate crimes against transgender people, an action that current media doesn’t perform. Day of Remembrance publicly mourns and honors the lives of our brothers and sisters who might otherwise be forgotten. Through the vigil, we express love and respect for our people in the face of national indifference and hatred. Day of Remembrance reminds non-transgender people that we are their sons, daughters, parents, friends and lovers. Day of Remembrance gives our allies a chance to step forward with us and stand in vigil, memorializing those of us who’ve died by anti-transgender violence.

For more information see http://www.gender.org/remember/day/.

---

Human Rights Campaign - Washington , DC , USA

November 20th is Transgender Day of Remembrance

11/20/2007

WASHINGTON–In honor of Transgender Day of Remembrance, the Human Rights Campaign has released two videos and an editorial from transgender activists. The videos and editorial speak to the need for solemn tribute to those who have lost their lives to hate violence and to raise awareness of the constant threat of brutality faced by the transgender community.

"Over the past decade an average of one transgender person a month has been killed as a result of a hate crime," said Presbyterian minister Rev. Erin Swenson of Atlanta , Georgia during her video. "Even more frightening, these crimes are often unresolved, leaving many of us wondering if we will be next."

"When violence is allowed to take the life of some of us because of prejudice, a bit of the divine in all of us is sacrificed," said Drew Phoenix, pastor of St. John's United Methodist Church in Baltimore , Maryland , in his video. "Healing and change can only happen when we allow ourselves to see the violence and suffering as it really exists, to reflect on its cost to us as a people and to mourn such loss together."

The videos are available on the HRC Back Story blog, www.hrcbackstory.org.

HRC has also released an editorial by Diego Sanchez, Director of Public Relations & External Affairs for AIDS Action Committee, New England 's first and largest AIDS organization. Sanchez also serves on HRC's Boston steering committee.

Media sources should feel free to publish his editorial, which can be found below.

The Meaning of Transgender Day of Remembrance – Diego Miguel Sanchez

A week after saluting our fallen soldiers on Veterans Day, and days before food and football feasting on Thanksgiving, we honor and reflect on our murdered transgender brothers and sisters on the International Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) on Nov. 20.

For some, it's a day on the calendar. For me, it's a day of vivid, visceral feeling because I know one thing: that on any day of any year, as a transsexual Latino man, I could be among those killed. I could, like too many others–remembered or forgotten–be attacked by someone with no regard for my life, someone who may not face responsibility for his or her brutal act of violence. TDOR remembers our dead and celebrates our lives.

The penalties for killing or firing someone like me are topics of debate in the halls of Congress, in the media and at people's dinner tables. It's troubling to realize that the protections most of us take for granted must be justified for the transgender community–we must convince people of our humanity. Those attitudes are humbling in their cruelty and destructive potential.

When I was five, I told my parents that I was "born wrong." I didn't have other language for it, but I knew I felt like a boy, despite being born female. My mother embraced me and showed me a magazine cover featuring Christine Jorgensen, then the most visible transsexual woman. She held me and told me it would be okay. Like every mother, I'm sure that she wished her embrace could protect and keep me safe in the world. But it couldn't and it can't.

In the trans community, experiences like mine are rare. Life has treated me gently and kindly. I was dually socialized. Mom gave me lessons for girls. Dad gave me tools to be a wise gentleman. I studied hard, enjoyed people, sports and music and built a successful career.
I've reached my 50th birthday. So many of us are murdered well before our prime. That's humbling, too.

In 1998, a transgender woman named Rita Hester was murdered in Massachusetts –a crime that remains unsolved. It was in Rita's honor that Gwen Smith of San Francisco began a tradition of taking a day to reflect upon the lives lost to hate violence, which is today known as the Transgender Day of Remembrance. I sat with Kathleen Hester, Rita's mother, at Boston 's TDOR. I gained the courage to endure the pain of lives mercilessly taken when I saw her eyes and heard her speak of Rita with love and longing.

While I spent the first part of my career in Fortune 100s, the second is about social justice and healthcare access. Today at AIDS Action, I take on the thinking that trans people are less than human, undeserving of the rights and access to which other people are entitled. I challenge health insurers with policies that explicitly deny trans people coverage. I fight to eradicate discrimination against trans people in employment, public accommodations, credit and housing. And I battle the ignorance and fear that puts our community at risk of violence. Murder is the most blatant expression of hate and intolerance toward transgender people. But there are subtler forces at play that slowly do harm to the lives of transgender people–discrimination and stigma.

We transgender and transsexual people rely on each other, on allies, on biological or created families, and on society's rules to embrace us. TDOR allows others to stand beside us and to mourn those we have lost. Each year, I spend TDOR with Ethan St. Pierre, a trans activist, web radio host, and nephew of Debra Forte, another murdered transgender woman. For us, it's personal.

My work gives me a unique perspective on policy's impact and people's power. There is hope–small victories matter. This year, the Italian Parliament will recognize TDOR, following the election of its first transgender member, Vladimir Luxuria. For the first time, both houses of Congress have approved a fully-inclusive hate crimes law that would expand protections to cover violence based on a victim's sexual orientation and gender identity.

Today, there will be 63 TDOR vigils in seven countries. Find a TDOR event near you and go. Your support matters. A full roster of events is available at www.RememberingOurDead.org. Showing your humanity affirms that we are equally human.

The Human Rights Campaign is America 's largest civil rights organization working to achieve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against GLBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

http://www.hrc.org/8318.htm

The New York Times did a very intersting article today, using the cancellation of Halloween is an opportunity to discuss if gayborhoods like the Castro are becoming passé.  Good read

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/us/30gay.html?ex=1194408000&en=7b5af41772745eaf&ei=5070&emc=eta-1

I guess that folks that think the governator should veto any bill that would allow gay marriages also feel that they would prefer that gay people aren't healthy either. 

A longer life and in better health - marriage really is good for you

(hat tip to Alayna, who will soon be married and I miss seeing and talking to every day)

Learn more by visiting www.letcaliforniaring.org.  I'm going to order a ring and t-shirt myself in support.

Last weekend, I went to the Bay Area Rodeo with Chris & Casey, and Johnnie & John.  While there was a lot of dead time in between events, it was a beautiful day and a great time was had by all.  Here are some photos of the day.

Getting ready for the rodeo!

John & Johnnie

Casey & Chris

Cheerleaders

Lou & Mike & Isaiah & Joshua

Bull Riding!

I love that my company is heavily focused on diversity, and that the company cares about the LGBT community.  Here are some facts I learned:

• HP Participated in 17 LGBT Pride festivals, LGBT Chamber of Commerce events, and Queer Proms in North America and London in 2007.
• HP Sponsored 13 LGBT community events – some for 7 years in a row!

I always consider myself very lucky that everywhere I've worked in California I have never felt discriminated against for being gay.  But I found some of this stuff interesting:

Williams Institute Report shows consistent evidence of sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in U.S.

·   When surveyed, 16% to 68% of LGBT people report experiencing employment discrimination.

·   Fifteen to 57% of transgender people also report experiencing employment discrimination.

·   When surveyed, many heterosexual co-workers report witnessing sexual orientation discrimination in the workplace.

·   In states that currently prohibit sexual orientation discrimination, LGB people file complaints of employment discrimination at similar rates to women and racial minorities.

·   Gay men earn 10% to 32% less than similarly qualified heterosexual men.

·   Transgender people report high rates of unemployment and very low earnings.

·   Controlled experiments reveal sexual orientation discrimination in workplace settings.

• Nearly two-thirds of all American adults (64%) believe it is unfair that federal law currently allows for an employer to fire someone because they are gay or lesbian.
• A similar majority (60%) of heterosexual adults were not even aware that federal law does not provide protections for employees on the basis of sexual orientation.
• An overwhelming majority (79%) of heterosexuals also feel that how an employee does his or her job, and not their sexual orientation, should be the standard for judging an employee.
• When it comes to the issue of transgender employees in the work place, two thirds of heterosexuals (67%) also agree that employee performance should be the standard by which they are judged and not whether they are transgender.