renaissance poisson

awesome photo of gay men getting married in washington state:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-absolute-best-photo-of-gay-couples-getting-mar

ah, stereotypes. always best shattered.

via the *poing*.

when the cover of a book features a grungy skull instead of naked torsos, you know this isn't your average erotica, even if it was shelved with the lovely smut when you bought it. which was a good hint for me to time the reading for an evening when i was looking for a good story instead.

blurb: When Craig Robertson's religious fanatic father disappears, Craig is forced to return to the home he'd left behind after an underage affair in order to look for answers. His new lover, private investigator Paul Maloney, agrees to help so they can continue to enjoy their fledgling relationship.

During his initial search, Craig finds items that belonged to Michael, his lover in that long-ago ill-fated affair, and soon discovers that Michael has disappeared as well. The search becomes an investigation into Craig's past, and, because of distressing gaps in his memory, he's terrified of the truths he might find. Finally Craig tells Paul his deepest fear: that Michael is dead and he himself is responsible.

While Paul refuses to believe his lover is a murderer, Craig's obsession with uncovering clues grows, and their fragile relationship begins to disintegrate. Now on his own, haunted and stalked, Craig has to face down the horror of his memories if he wants to have any hope of a future at all.

i thought it was rather a captivating psychological mystery. the whole thing was hard for me to read because it had religious zealots in it of the type of my birth family (the supremely self-righteous, god-fearing kind who think they must beat said fear of god into you). while there is some sex and not just fade-outs, it's not erotica, and while there is romance, it takes a back seat to the story of craig uncovering his suppressed past. i figured out early on who did what, but that didn't bother me, since this is less about whodunnit, but more about craig dealing with the slowly unveiling reality of what really happened.at times i wanted to shake craig, but i believe that was more a personality difference between the character and myself than bad writing. in many ways craig is stuck at the emotional maturity of a traumatized 17 year old, and even when i was an emotionally traumatized 17-year old, i was much more prone to using logic to attack my pain than hiding from it, suppressing my memories, and going "lalala, i can't hear you" to people who point at the logical flaws in my arguments.

to some degree i could identify much more with paul, the PI, who had different tools to cope with the things they find out. but he, too, has secrets, and it's not a simple task to mix romance and business, especially not when neither of you are gonna win a prize for good communication.

the writing was good. both main characters are complex and conflicted, the supporting cast features strong women (this is a positive marker for me; i hate gay fiction that casts women only ever into the role of villains), the plot holds together pretty well for something that's not genre mystery. the villain is a bit uni-dimensional, a bit too nasty, and he gets away with things that might make modern city folk raise their eyebrows -- but i am ok with that because hey, i come from that background, and it is so very nasty, and has such dark secrets behind every door that i am ok with the broad brush; it's even a bit cathartic for me.

the romance, while not being the primary line of the story, is still interesting. both men have secrets, both are gun shy, both aren't exactly great at communicating intimately, but i liked the slow development here, the fragility of a budding romance that comes under immediate pressure where the writer shows a delicate balance between the definitely possibility it will crumble -- or become a source of strength.

i'm shelving this under "gay fiction", and i'll be looking for more from this author. in fact i found out after reading this that there's a semi-prequel, paul's story before he meets craig: maloney's law. i wish i had read this beforehand, because i am sure it explains much about the baggage paul brings to his relationship with craig.

i remember.

don't read this if you're already having a lousy day, because it will very much not improve it.

i learned something new today. washington DC has as part of its legal code a provision that prohibits any referendum that would have the effect of authorizing discrimination against DC residents on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender.

that is awesome.

and fortunate. because the forces of bigotry, hiding behind another "marriage initiative", are busy trying to work against same-sex mariage in DC, since there is clear movement towards recognizing it in the district.

the arguments are... i know i said i'll try to no longer use words like "stupid" as an insult, but what else is it if a christian quotes pontius pilate: "let the people decide". good grief! does this person not know what those people voted on? "stupid" doesn't even cover it.

read this report from a hearing in DC; the unintentional irony can be shoveled with gigantic trowels. what can you say to such people? they don't even know their own religion, their own history, the meaning of words they use:

Another woman patiently explained to me that the 60-odd people who testified against equal rights for gay people [...] did not hate gay people. They just feared gay people, she said. They were not homophobic.

i watched the whole thing on CSPAN (thank you CSPAN, btw, for regularly being the best source for information, unfiltered and undistorted by talking heads who're all too often not thinking heads).

now, i don't really think much of marches, unless they can bring incredible numbers, and this one was unlikely to do that. but i think now that i was wrong. i had forgotten the incredible energy a good rally that connects you with many like-minded people can provide, and that energy goes back home with you, and provides you with more oomph to continue the fight.

there were some really excellent speeches, and i wrote down a lot of quotes from people who impressed me specifically. ( see them here )

what struck me most poignantly is the contrast between this rally and the teaparty event last month. for one, this was an incredibly racially diverse crowd, not just whites. and these people have suffered throughout their lives tremendously more than the teapartiers; they have every reason to be seriously pissed off -- and yet the rally wasn't filled with hatred; the signs weren't crude, insulting, nor disgusting; the atmosphere was positive, focussed on working together despite the obstacles.

if "by their fruits you shall know them" it was pretty obvious to me whose fruit is spoiled and rotted, and whose is wholesome.

trying to make me sorry i left, eh? :)

france is becoming the first country to no longer pathologize transsexuals.

if only the american psychiatric association would get its collective head out of its collective ass.

the "national organization for marriage" usually makes me sick, but today it became -- inadvertantly, of course -- the prime hilarity of my day.

a few weeks ago i heard that they were planning to either change their name, or start a major campaign as "two million for marriage". a title/slogan that acronymizes to "2M4M" -- which sounds like an ad on a kinky gay sex site to us perverts. that's almost right up there with "teabagging".

i thought after this came to their ears, they might change their mind about the name. but no, they went right ahead. what they didn't go right ahead with, however, was the acquisition of the appropriate domains.

enter 2m4m.org.

via sara.

for becoming the 4th US state to legalize same-sex marriage. there is a part of the new law that makes me somewhat uncomfortable -- not only religious institutions are exempted from having to perform services for same-sex couples, but also religiously motivated groups (like the knights of columbus can refuse to rent same-sex couples their hall for the reception). on the positive side, neither general vendors (caterers, florists) nor justices of the peace may do so, and if religious organizations accept state funds they will be required to adhere to the terms as well.

today, vermont legalized gay marriage, overriding the republican governor's veto with a 2/3 majority vote in both houses.

i am surprised. i didn't think they had the votes. an extra thank you! goes to the people who switched sides, for realizing, if late, what the right thing to do is here.

also, the district of washington's council voted unanimously to accept gay marriages from other states.