CPC Report; An unabashedly liberal perspective
1 April 2012- April's Fools Day & Rachel Maddow's Birthday as Well
Happy Birthday, Rachel!
I think a lot of people of my generation are discomfited by the
assertion of neutrality in the mainstream media, this idea that they're the
voice of God. I think it's just honest to say, yes, you know where I'm coming
from but you can fact-check anything I say.
The little skunk proceeded to stick its little head into that jar and having managed to bring that ambrosia that smelled like strawberries within the reach of his little tongue. The little one then proceeded to lick that sticky concoction and introduce that ambrosia to his taste buds. Those little buds then informed him that not only did that concoction possessed the scent of strawberries, it also tasted better than any strawberry the little one had ever had before. It was very sweet indeed. Having finished off that very sweet strawberry-like ambrosia, the little skunk discovered to his horror that he could not get his little head out of that jar. Try as he might, the little one could not extract his head from that jar.
At that time, a very important man came hiking down that trail. This was the governor of the state of South Carolina looking to rendezvous with his Argentine mistress. When he encountered that little skunk, he had no compassion for him whatsoever. It would have been understandable of he was afraid of being sprayed with that noxious odor that skunks have, but that was not the case at all. Helping the little one was not even considered. He just looked at that unfortunate little skunk and shrugged his shoulders. "Can't help you skunk. I'm too much in a hurry. There's a very important meeting I have to attend." Then he was gone.
Next came another very important man who was one of the Senators of South Carolina. He had even less compassion for the little skunk than the governor. He also gave no consideration to help. When he saw the little one, he just shook his head and declared," This must be your Waterloo. You're finished. Can't help you. Need to see that governor. I know he's somewhere on this here trail." Then he was gone.
The next person hiking down that trail was not a man of importance. It was not even a man. It was a woman- a charming brunette possessing a very sweet and kind-hearted temperament. When she saw the little skunk, it just broke her heart to see the little one's predicament. "Poor little skunk", says she. She briefly considered the risks, but the decided to help the little skunk anyway. Kneeling down, she gently caressed the little one to put him at ease while easing the jar gently off his head. Once unencumbered by the jar, the little skunk looked into the eyes of that nice woman, turned around and walked away. The little skunk understood the kind nature of this stranger who helped him in his time of need and therefore did not spray her. Instead, the little skunk sought out that governor who gave him no help and that Senator who gave him no help and sprayed them both. This gave that nice woman an exclusive story on her MSNBC news show, the Rachel Maddow Show, about Governor Sanford and Senator Demint being a couple of stinkers. That is not quite the ending one would expect from a version of a "Good Samaritan" story, but then again, this really is not that story.
Gay people - generally speaking - have a responsibility to our own community and to future generations of gay people to come out, if and when we feel that we can.
Rachel Maddow
What's wrong with being gay. Even in my struggle against depression, I try to be happy.
Glynn Braman
Pour Vouz, ma cheri Rachel
If you dream of a world in which you can put your partner's picture on your desk, then put his picture on your desk and you will live in such a world. And if you dream of a world in which you can walk down the street holding your partner's hand, then hold her hand and you will live in such a world. If you dream of a world in which there are more openly gay elected officials, then run for office and you will live in such a world. And if you dream of a world in which you can take your partner to the office party, even if your office is the U.S. House of Representatives, then take her to the party. I do, and now I live in such a world.
Remember, there are two things that keep us oppressed: them and us. We are half of the equation. There will not be a magic day when we wake up and it's now OK to express ourselves publicly. We must make that day ourselves, by speaking out publicly -- first in small numbers, then in greater numbers, until it's simply the way things are and no one thinks twice. Never doubt that we will create this world, because, my friends, we are fortunate to live in a democracy, and in a democracy, we decide what's possible.
~Representative Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc)
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I'm used to being in the minority. I'm a left-handed gay Jew. I've never felt, automatically, a member of any majority. ~Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass.)
I'm not a screamer. I'm confrontational, but I don't think that translates into anger.
Rachel Maddow
The man who was not there by Anon.
Yesterday upon the stairs,
I met a man who was not there.
He was not there again today.
How I wish he go away.
Gay people - generally speaking - have a responsibility to our own
community and to future generations of gay people to come out, if and when we
feel that we can.
Glynn Braman
Everyone has people in their lives that are gay, lesbian or transgender or bisexual. They may not want to admit it, but I guarantee they know somebody.
~Billie Jean King, Professional Tennis Player
I'm a national security liberal, which I tell people because it's
meant to sound absurd.
Everyone is their own kind of lesbian. To think there's a certain way to dress or present yourself in the world is just one more stereotype we have to fit into.
I didn't choose the fact that I was gay, but I did choose whether to live my life as a gay woman-that was the terrifying thing for me. Especially being a gay actress.
I had a hell of a time convincing people I was gay - which was so annoying!
I've had so many interviews where the last question is, Are you gay? I had to find very creative ways to say that I was gay, but that I wasn't going to talk about it.
If I was 14 and knew some gay people, I wouldn't nearly have had the struggle I had. Our world is definitely changing.
In high school I had sex with girls quite a few times. They were straight women who I convinced to jump in the sack with me.
I have to be asked, I guess, but I love the idea of marriage. I think it's beautiful. I'm such a romantic, and I always have been.
I justified it in so many ways. I had a very, very long and difficult struggle with my sexuality.
My sexuality is a part of me that I really like. But it's not the totality of me.
I knew that I was gay, I knew it. I just couldn't see myself as a gay woman, even though that's where my heart was.
When I watched Ellen come out in '97, my jaw was on the floor. I thought, There are some people who break the doors down, hold them open, and some people who walk right through.
I ran into Ellen at a photo shoot. She took my breath away. That had never happened to me in my life.
I really never stopped thinking about Ellen, because I just haven't felt that kind of energy with anyone in my life.
I saw Ellen and my knees were weak. It was amazing. And it was very hard for me to get her out of my mind after that. Then when I saw her that night, we started talking, and that's that.
My feelings for Ellen (DeGeneres) overrode all of my fear about being out as a lesbian. I had to be with her, and I just figured I'd deal with the other stuff later.
~ Portia de Rossi, Actress
~Ellen DeGeneres, TV talk show host & Comedian
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~Anne Heche
I believe I went through a divorce. My relationship with Ellen (DeGeneres) is no less significant as a marriage than my relationship to Coley.
The decisions that Ellen made on her show were between her and her producers. I supported her decisions. I was there to hug her when she got home.
When I was with Ellen, I was telling people, If you come out, it's gonna be better for you. But I honestly don't know that.
And for anyone who ever thought that Ellen and I broke it off because of sexuality, you couldn't be more mistaken. And for anyone who thought my mother's prayers had anything to do with me marrying a man, forget it.
I do not believe that I fell in love with a woman because I was abused.
I don't belong to the straights now - they didn't get me back.
I have been very clear to everybody that just because I'm getting married does not mean I call myself a straight.
I put myself on the line with my truth and my sexuality. That is my choice. My choice.
We do not fall in love with the package of the person, we fall in love with the inside of a person.
~Anne Heche, Actress
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You can't type what a lesbian is. We're anything and everything. The one thing in common is that we make love to other women. So give up trying to limit us.
The most important political step that any gay man orlesbian can take is to come out of the closet. It's beenproven that it is easier to hate us and to fear us if you can't see us.No government has the right to tell its citizens when or whom to love. The only queer people are those who don't love anybody.~Amanda Bearse, ActressPlease
Come back to me, Gongyla, here tonight,You, my rose, with your Lydian lyre.There hovers forever around you delight:A beauty desired.
Even your garment plunders my eyes.I am enchanted: I who onceComplained to the Cyprus-born goddess,Whom I now beseech
Never to let this lose me graceBut rather bring you back to me:Amongst all mortal women the oneI most wish to see.
--Translated by Paul Roche
~Sappho
My private life is private. But at the same time, I have nothing to hide. So what I will say is that I am very happy.
Cynthia Nixon, Actress. . . . . . . . . . . .I never thought to myself, I'm going to grow up and fall in love with a man or I'm going to fall in love with a woman because my mother is a lesbian.~Ally Sheedy, Actress. . . . . . . . . . . .It's a cosmic joke that I'm a lesbian, because I understand men so well but women are a complete mystery to me.As a standup, I try to change the world. As an entertainer, I try to entertain. And as a lesbian, I try to pick up the prettiest girl in the room.~Lea DeLaria, Comedian
All I Want by AfurbieAll I want is to love you, for the rest of my life.
I want you to be the one; I'll wake up every morning with you by my side.
Knowing at no matter what happens, I'll be able to come to your loving arms.
All I want is to share everything with you.
To be able to talk about our ideas, our dreams and little every day things.
Things that make us laugh, and the not so little things that we can't help worrying about.
All I want is to give you is my love.
As a place you, can always come to for acceptance.
The simple comfort that silence brings, when things left unspoken, can still be understood.
All I want is to grow old with you, to watch our life unfold.
All I want is to love you forever.I became a lesbian because of women, because women are beautiful, strong, and compassionate.Lead me not into temptation; I can find the way myself.My lesbianism is an act of Christian charity. All those women out there praying for a man, and I'm giving them my share.~Rita Mae Brown, Author. . . . . . . . . . . .Gay and lesbian people fall in love. We settle down. We commit our lives to one another. We raise our children. We protect them. We try to be good citizens.
~California State Senator Sheila Kuehl
. . . . . . . . . . . .He (Newt Gingrich) is definitely on the wrong side of history when it comes to those (gay) issues.~Candace Gingrich-Jones, Lesbian Activist & Half sister of Newt Gingrich. . . . . . . . . . . .I hate the word lesbian; it tells you nothing; its only purpose is to inflame.
I am a writer who happens to love women. I am not a lesbian who happens to write.~Jeanette Winterson, Author
To AtthisLove -- bittersweet, irrepressible -- loosens my limbs and I tremble.Though in Sardis now,she things of us constantlyand of the life we shared.She saw you as a goddessand above all your dancing gave her deep joy.Now she shines among Lydian women likethe rose-fingered moonrising after sundown, erasing allstars around her, and pouring light equallyacross the salt seaand over densely flowered fieldslucent under dew. Her light spreadson roses and tender thymeand the blooming honey-lotus.Often while she wanders she remembers you,gentle Atthis,and desire eats away at her heartfor us to come.
--Translated by Willis Barnstone
~SapphoI have met many feminists who were not Lesbians but I have never met a Lesbian who was not a feminist.~Martha Shelley, Lesbian activist and poet.Twinkle twinkle little star
Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are?
Up above the world so high , like a diamond in the sky
When the blazing sun is gone, when he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light, twinkle, twinkle all the night.
Then the traveller in the dark, thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go, if you did not twinkle so.
In the dark blue sky you keep, and often through my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye, 'till the sun is in the sky.
As your bright and tiny spark lights the traveller in the dark,
Though I know not what you are - twinkle, twinkle little star.We all need a little light so we can see our way through the darkness of our times and are able to travel safely through it to wherever we are going.
To me, celebrity doesn't mean a whole lot unless you're willing to use it. So I wanted to use it in a different way, with my AIDS work, the human rights stuff for the gay and lesbian community and the speaking I do.You know, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender - people are people.
~Judith Light, Actress
Now Rachel gets the last word.
I have a file of letters and bits of ephemera from friends who have
died. I have had lots of friends who died of AIDS.
Glynn Braman