Happy Pride Weekend and Other Things

It's been a big week in the news and it's a big weekend in Seattle! Today is the inaugural run of the Seattle Rock and Roll Marathon. I did not sign up for this one as I ran the Seattle Marathon last November - now I wish I had! I am going to head down to cheer on the runners later this morning as I know several people that have signed up. I continue to train for the New York Marathon in November. I am mostly doing maintenance runs three times a week. Speed work on one day followed by hills and rounding it all out with a long run at the end of the week. When my official training begins July 13th I'll be running 5 times a week and bloggin a lot more about the training.

I am also doing some cross training by working out 3 times per week to build core strength. I just joined a new gym in downtown Seattle. I had been working out at Explore Fitness but we moved our office a couple of years ago and my new gym All Star Fitness is just down the street from my office. If you work downtown and you want to get a workout in before work, during your lunch or right after work check these places out. Each has it's plus and minus but for a quick in and out workout they are fine.

The other big event is the Seattle Pride Parade! Tomorrow is the big day. Kent and I have not missed a Seattle pride parade in 12 years! In our circle of friends we're known as parade queens! If you have never been to a gay pride parade you really should go - the gays really know how to put on a parade! Hey it's not too late to join Kent and I. We are going to hook up with our friends Vince and John - the more the merrier!

I wanted to share something that I have had for many years. I really struggled early on in my late teen years with being gay. I remember on one of my clandestine trips from Aberdeen to Seattle's Capitol Hill, I found a magnet about the gay rights movement. I still remember buying it and making a decision that it was time to be a part of the movement. We have come a long way since I bought this magnet (that I still have in my office) 27 years ago! Read on.....


Because – Gay men and Lesbians are discriminated against in housing and employment and because how we act is more important than who we are and if we get attacked we provoked it and if we raise our voices we’re flaunting ourselves and if we enjoy sex we’re perverts and if we have AIDS we deserve it and if we march with pride we’re recruiting children and if we want or have children we’re unfit parents and if we stand up for our rights we’re overstepping our boundaries and because we are forced constantly to question our own worth as human beings and if we don’t have a relationship with someone of the opposite sex we haven’t given it a chance and if we have a relationship with someone of the same sex it is not recognized and we are told our love is not "real" and if we come out of the closet we’re just going through a phase and because lesbian and gay history is virtually absent from literature and because homosexuality is sanctioned by the supreme court and …for lots and lots of other reasons, I am part the lesbian and Gay Civil Rights Movement.

We really have come a long way! I was in a meeting yesterday discussing data needs of the State and County as it relates to gender identity and sexual orientation. It was a very interesting discussion and I continue to learn more all the time. Some people don't want to ask the question at all and other such as myself not only want to ask the question we want to push the envelop as a way to get people talking about the issue and to raise awareness. The meeting was chaired by Marsha Botzer who provides assistance to business, government, educational institutions, interested private groups, and psychological and medical communities on issues of gender identity and gender transition. She is amazing! She actually will be meeting with President Obama along with others next week. I thought I would share a brief history of the movement in the time table below.

The American Gay Rights Movement: A Timeline

This timeline provides information about the gay rights movement in the United States from 1924 to the present: including the Stonewall riots; the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy; the first civil unions; the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts and Connecticut; and more.


1924
The Society for Human Rights in Chicago becomes the country's earliest known gay rights organization.

1948
Alfred Kinsey publishes Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, revealing to the public that homosexuality is far more widespread than was commonly believed.


1951
The Mattachine Society, the first national gay rights organization, is formed by Harry Hay, considered by many to be the founder of the gay rights movement.

1956
The Daughters of Bilitis, a pioneering national lesbian organization, is founded.


1962
Illinois becomes the first state in the U.S. to decriminalize homosexual acts between consenting adults in private.

1969
The Stonewall riots transform the gay rights movement from one limited to a small number of activists into a widespread protest for equal rights and acceptance. Patrons of a gay bar in New York's Greenwich Village, the Stonewall Inn, fight back during a police raid on June 27, sparking three days of riots.


1973
The American Psychiatric Association removes homosexuality from its official list of mental disorders.

1982
Wisconsin becomes the first state to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.


1993
The “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy is instituted for the U.S. military, permitting gays to serve in the military but banning homosexual activity. President Clinton's original intention to revoke the prohibition against gays in the military was met with stiff opposition; this compromise, which has led to the discharge of thousands of men and women in the armed forces, was the result.

1996
In Romer v. Evans, the Supreme Court strikes down Colorado's Amendment 2, which denied gays and lesbians protections against discrimination, calling them “special rights.” According to Justice Anthony Kennedy, “We find nothing special in the protections Amendment 2 withholds. These protections . . . constitute ordinary civil life in a free society.”


2000
Vermont becomes the first state in the country to legally recognize civil unions between gay or lesbian couples. The law states that these “couples would be entitled to the same benefits, privileges, and responsibilities as spouses.” It stops short of referring to same-sex unions as marriage, which the state defines as heterosexual.

2003
The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Lawrence v. Texas that sodomy laws in the U.S. are unconstitutional. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, “Liberty presumes an autonomy of self that includes freedom of thought, belief, expression, and certain intimate conduct.”

In November, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that barring gays and lesbians from marrying violates the state constitution. The Massachusetts Chief Justice concluded that to “deny the protections, benefits, and obligations conferred by civil marriage” to gay couples was unconstitutional because it denied “the dignity and equality of all individuals” and made them “second-class citizens.” Strong opposition followed the ruling.


2004
On May 17, same-sex marriages become legal in Massachusetts.

2005
Civil unions become legal in Connecticut in Oct. 2005.


2006
Civil unions become legal in New Jersey in December.

2007
In November, the House of Representatives approves a bill ensuring equal rights in the workplace for gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals.

Washington State legislature passes domestic Partner legislation allowing registration of Domestic Partnership in Washington State.


2008
In February, a New York State appeals court unanimously votes that valid same-sex marriages performed in other states must be recognized by employers in New York, granting same-sex couples the same rights as other couples.

In February, the state of Oregon passes a law that allows same-sex couples to register as domestic partners allowing them some spousal rights of married couples.

On May 15, 2008, the California Supreme Court rules that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. By November 3rd, more than 18,000 same-sex couples have married. On November 4th, California voters approved a ban on same-sex marriage called Proposition 8. The attorney general of California, Jerry Brown, asked the state's Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of Proposition 8. The ban throws into question the validity of the more than 18,000 marriages already performed, but Attorney General Brown reiterated in a news release that he believed the same-sex marriages performed in CA before November 4th should remain valid.


November 4, 2008, voters in California, Arizona, and Florida approved the passage of measures that ban same-sex marriage. Arkansas passed a measure intended to bar gay men and lesbians from adopting children.

On October 10, 2008 the Supreme Court of Connecticut rules that same-sex couples have the right to marry. This makes Connecticut the second state, after Massachusetts, to legalize civil marriage for same-sex couples. The court rules that the state cannot deny gay and lesbian couples the freedom to marry under Connecticut's constitution, and that the state's civil union law does not provide same-sex couples with the same rights as heterosexual couples.

On November 12, 2008 same-sex marriages begin to be officially performed in Connecticut.
2009


On April 3, 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously rejects the state law banning same-sex marriage. Twenty-one days later, county recorders are required to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Washington State Legislature expands the domestic partnership law to allow all the rights and responsibilities of marriage to same sex couples.


On April 7, the Vermont Legislature vote to override Gov. Jim Douglas' veto of a bill allowing gays and lesbians to marry, legalizing same-sex marriage. It is the first state to legalize gay marriage through the Legislature; the courts of the other states in which the marriage is legal—Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa—gave approval.

Have a great Pride weekend and keep up the fight!

Jim