Posts made by leatherbear

More of this artist's work…

What joy to stretch naked, feral, kissed by the sun and the whispering wind. Wide eyes caressed by the dance of seasons, soft skin shivered by snowflakes in secret shadows. The wilderness sings on every breath, always with a tale to tell.

A snapshot, a heartbeat captured and released in the stillness of pixels, perhaps a thousand words. I hope my photographs are open windows and share the playful spirit inspired by our natural world.
                                                                                                                        Tomass Hawke

Unable to do my usual "Copy and Paste" of this article:

The case has to do with survivor rights of co-habitation

hXXp://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/03/03/european-court-rules-poland-discriminated-against-gay-man/

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Five same-sex couples wed in Mexico on Thursday as Mexico City
became the first Latin American city to defy religious taboos and macho stereotypes by legalizing
gay marriage.

The head of Mexico City's civil registry married four couples in a simple ceremony on the patio
of a colonial city hall to cheers and applause from family, friends and local politicians. A fifth
couple arrived late for the event – but were quickly married afterward.

The Mexico City law marks a victory for gay rights in Latin America after a string of advances in
the region. Argentina and Uruguay allow same-sex unions, and Uruguay includes adoption rights,
but the only previous gay wedding was conducted by an activist governor in Argentina without
legal backing.

"From here to the party and to be happy," said David Gonzalez, wearing a red rose in his lapel.
He has been with his new husband, Jaime Lopez, for the past decade.

The couples, who handed in their papers to get married as soon as the law took effect last week,
are all activists pushing for gay rights in Mexico, which has the second-biggest Catholic
population after Brazil and a largely conservative culture.

The legislature in the liberal bastion of Mexico City, which is dominated by the nation's biggest
left-leaning party, passed gay marriage. But the law applies only in the capital district.

"We are putting a face on a reality that has been denied, silenced and hidden," said Lol Kin
Castaneda, 33, an academic marrying her partner of more than six years, Judith Vazquez.

Gay marriage is the latest push by Mexico City's left-wing government, which has also made
divorce easier, legalized early abortions and allowed the terminally ill to refuse treatment.

Mexico's churchmen have decried gay marriage, calling it a threat to the family, and conservative
President Felipe Calderon has challenged the law before the Supreme Court.

MORE BATTLES AHEAD

There was no altar at Thursday's civil ceremony. Instead a bust of 19th century liberal President
Benito Juarez held center stage. Juarez was Mexico's first, and only, indigenous president and led
the fight to split church and state.

After the nuptials, city Mayor Marcelo Ebrard and other city officials hugged the couples, who
kissed for TV crews.

But outside the venue, two dozen protesters held up signs denouncing gay marriage. "This is not
a good image for our kids. A family is a man and a woman," said Terese Vasquez, 51.

The law goes beyond existing same-sex union legislation to grant the same marriage rights as for
straight couples, such as shared bank loans and health benefits, and adopting children.

Yet implementing some aspects of the law will not be easy.

The director of Mexico's social security institute, which administers health care, said this week
that current federal law would not allow shared benefits for same-sex couples.

"The battle to get our rights as a couple recognized is still ahead," said Temistocles Villanueva, a
film student marrying Daniel Ramos who is studying medicine.

Mexico City is home to the most visible gay community in Mexico and couples freely express
affection in many parts of the city. However, outside the capital discrimination and even violence
against homosexuals is common, activists say.

City officials are confident the law could survive Calderon's challenge if the Supreme Court
takes it up.

"They are not challenging a legislature; they are challenging history, and they will lose," said
David Razu, the leftist lawmaker who led the push to legalize gay marriage.

:cheers: I am loving these replies ~ Keep themcumming guys!!! :jaj:

Great Photo :cheers:

This would scare the HELL out of me!!!

Championship skater Johnny Weir not allowed to perform at Stars on Ice Tour

March 11, 2010 by Lauren Mattia, GLAAD's Entertainment/Advertising Media Fellow

GLAAD has learned from a source that wishes to remain anonymous that sponsors of the Stars on Ice Tour, which include Smuckers and IMG Entertainment, have refused to allow 3-time US National Champion and 2-time Olympian Johnny Weir to participate because they claim that he is “not family friendly.”

Championship skater Johnny Weir not allowed to perform at Stars on Ice Tour

To say that Weir is “not family friendly” would be a clear jab at his perceived sexual orientation. Weir is extremely involved with his family. He is putting his younger brother through college, and supports the family financially because his father’s disability prohibits him from working. Weir’s dedication to his family can be clearly documented in the Sundance series, Be Good Johnny Weir, which follows him and his family and friends through his life and career as a championship skater.

Weir’s performance and costume style is sometimes considered flashier than those of other skaters, leading to questions about his perceived sexual orientation. While Weir has not officially announced his sexual orientation, he has garnered a significant amount of LGBT fans. He remains one of the most outspoken skaters today, and won an online poll asking fans “Who would you like to see guest star on Stars on Ice?”

Weir recently announced that he is taking a break from skating in order to “rework his technique.” This news does not release the Stars on Ice sponsors from asking him to participate. The door should be opened to him as one of the most influential skaters in the field today.

GLAAD encourages its members and anyone concerned about this type of exclusion and prejudice to sign the petition here :

hXXp://www.gopetition.com/petitions/include-johnny-weir.html


Damain Bernath and Jorge Salazar Capon said they were not surprised that a second judge has ordered their marriage annulled and they vowed to continue the fight in court.

A judge has annulled the marriage between two men in Buenos Aires last week, which marked the second time a gay couple in Argentina had legally tied the knot. capital, EFE reported.

Judge Felix Igarzabal ordered the annulment after agreeing that the marriage between Damian Bernath, 39, and Jorge Salazar Capon, 43, marriage violated the Civil Code requirement that marriage be the result of consent of "man and wife," according to a judicial spokesmen.

The judge ordered the marriage suspended and the briefly married couple to return their marriage license, until the matter is ultimately settled in court, said Florencia Kravetz, who is representing the couple, according to the Buenos Aires newspaper La Nacion .

"My clients are not afraid of this attack. They knew that at some point something ridiculous like this would come," Kravetz said.

Bernath and Salazar achieved their goal of getting married last week thanks to the approval of a different judge, Elena Liberatori, an Buenos Aires administrative law judge.

"In our case, the marriage was the result of a quick process and hopefully other couples will have the same experience," Salazar had said in a press conference after the civil ceremony.

The Archdiocese of Argentina's capital and Catholic lawyers had asked the city government to appeal the ruling by Judge Liberatori allowing the marriage, but city authorities declined.

The first gay marriage in Argentina went through similar legal wrangling after administrative Judge Gabriela Seijas gave the green light to the marriage between Alex Freyre and José Maria Di Bello only to be reversed by Judge Alsina Marta Gomez, a judge with a different civil jurisdiction.

Di Bello and Freyre succeeded in marrying on Dec. 28 in Ushuaia, capital of the Argentinian province of Tierra del Fuego, as the result of an executive decree that has also been the subject of an annulment application filed by a group of Catholic lawyers. That was the first gay marriage ever in Latin America, and was endorsed by the National Institute to Combat Racism and Xenophobia, whose director, Claudio Morgado, was one of the witnesses at the historic ceremony.

More than 60 gay couples have filed petitions to marry in Argentina, where civil unions are available in four cities to couples of the same sex.

New Hampshire State Rep. Nancy Elliott (R) shared some of her views about anal sex at a recent executive session to repeal same-sex marriage. Rep. Elliott does not discuss the bill in the clip below, but she does share her views, extensively and graphically, on anal sex.

"We're talking about taking the penis of one man and putting it in the rectum of another man and wriggling it around in excrement. " Rep. Elliott said. "And you have to think, I'm not sure, would I allow that to be done to me?"

She went on in this same vein until interrupted by someone off camera. "Representative Elliott… Let's keep our discussion directly to the bill."

Rep. Elliott, however, was undeterred. "They are now teaching it in the public school. They are showing our fifth graders how they can actually perform this kind of sex... They are saying this is something that you, as a 5th grader, may want to try.

The precipitate…

Early Wednesday morning, State Sen. Roy Ashburn (R-Calif.) was pulled over and arrested for drunk driving. Sources report that Ashburn – a fierce opponent of gay rights -- was driving drunk after leaving a gay nightclub; when the officer stopped the state-issued vehicle, there was an unidentified man in the passenger seat of the car.

Ashburn has issued an apology for the incident:

"I am deeply sorry for my actions and offer no excuse for my poor judgment. I accept complete responsibility for my conduct and am prepared to accept the consequences for what I did. I am also truly sorry for the impact this incident will have on those who support and trust me - my family, my constituents, my friends, and my colleagues in the Senate."

:pope: :pope: :pope: :pope: :pope: :pope: :pope: :pope: :pope: :pope: :pope: :pope: :pope: :pope: :pope: :pope: :pope:

Rome, Italy (CNN) – A Nigerian man who sang in a Vatican choir arranged gay liaisons for an
Italian government official who served in the unpaid role of papal usher, according to transcripts
of wiretaps collected by Italian authorities.

The wiretaps were gathered as part of an investigation into how public-works contracts were
awarded.

The purported conversations were between Angelo Balducci, who oversaw the Italian
government's awarding of construction contracts -- including work on the airport at Perugia --
and Thomas Chinedu Ehiem, a 39-year-old Nigerian singer. They were recorded between April
14, 2008, and January 20, 2010.

In addition to working for the government, Balducci served as a "gentleman of his holiness," also
known as a papal usher or "Vatican gentleman." The main responsibility of the ceremonial
position is to welcome heads of state to the Vatican and escort them to see the Pope.

Balducci is one of three public officials who, along with a businessman, have been jailed on
charges related to corruption in the public works department. The public officials are alleged to
have awarded contracts to businessmen who offered them favors, money, sex, and/or house
remodeling in exchange. The suspects, who deny the charges, are in "cautionary custody" though
they have not been charged or indicted.

The Italian news media have nicknamed the scandal "grande opere," which translates as "big
works." The transcripts of the wiretaps were made public on Wednesday and widely
disseminated in the media.

Balducci's lawyer, Franco Coppi, lambasted investigators' handling of his client.

"It is shameful that things unrelated to the investigation are published," Coppi told reporters
Wednesday outside the Rome prison where Balducci was confined. "We are thinking about
taking legal action. During the interrogations, we did not discuss private matters."

Ehiem told the Italian weekly magazine Panorama in an interview published Friday that he
provided Balducci with men from Italy and abroad, including rugby players, actors, models and
seminarians.

Ehiem also told Panorama that he arranged for Balducci to meet escorts at Ehiem's house when
the government official was in Rome and in Paris, France; Naples, Italy; and other cities when he
was traveling.

"For Balducci, a 26- or 27-year-old man was too young," Ehiem told the magazine. "He preferred
older men, above 40 years old."

According to the wiretap transcripts, in a conversation dated April 22, 2008, Ehiem says, "I
called you ... because there are ... if you are free ... three or four situations that can be good ...
very, very good ..."

Balducci: "...Hmmm!"

Ehiem: "Two black, Cuban men ... really tall, tall, tall ... so ... if you are free ... we can try to
organize right away ... that is, I saw both of them, Angelo ... believe me that ... they could be two
excellent options."

In another conversation, dated August 21, 2008, Ehiem says: "Look, if you want I can have them
come one after the other ... it is possible ... if you have some free time ... I can arrange for the two
of them."

Balducci: "Which are the better ones?"

Ehiem: "The better ones are the ones I just told you about ... one from Bologna and the other one
from Rome."

Balducci: "All right, then let's do it for 3:30."

Ehiem: "OK."

Ehiem said an escort friend introduced him to the Italian businessman more than a decade ago.
"He asked me to do it with him, but I like women and just the thought grossed me out," Ehiem
said.

"He asked me if I could procure him other men. He told me that he was married and that it had to
be done in great secrecy. I told him that there was the Internet. But he asked me to take care of it
because he couldn't do it from his home."

He added, "Sometimes he would ask for two meetings a day."

Ehiem told Panorama he was trying to support his family in Nigeria, and that Balducci
sometimes paid him 50 or 100 euros, but "never more than 1,000 to 1,500 per year."

Neither Balducci nor his attorney has commented on Eheim's interview with Panorama.

A Vatican source who asked not to be identified said Ehiem had been dismissed from his choir
duties. Asked about Balducci, the source said, "It is obvious that, while in prison, he cannot
exercise his duties as a papal gentleman." But, the source noted, Balducci has not been convicted
of any charge.

"If he is convicted, then we will look into it," the source said.

:faint: :faint: :faint: :faint: :faint: :faint: :faint: :faint: :faint: :faint: :faint: :faint: :faint: :faint: :faint:

A conservative US state senator who has voted against gay rights measures during his 14 years in office has announced he is gay.

Senator Ashburn, 55, is a divorced father-of-four

Republican Roy Ashburn came out during a radio interview in California, where he sits on the state legislature.

He has been on leave since his arrest last week on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Mr Ashburn said his votes reflected the way his constituents wanted him to vote, not his own "internal conflict".

"I am gay… those are the words that have been so difficult for me for so long," the 55-year-old divorced father-of-four told KERN radio.

Mr Ashburn said he felt the need to address rumours that he had visited a gay nightclub before his arrest on suspicion of drinking and driving in Sacramento on 3 March.

Last year, Mr Ashburn opposed a bill to establish a day of recognition to honour murdered gay rights activist Harvey Milk.

He has also voted in the statehouse against efforts to expand anti-discrimination laws and recognise out-of-state gay marriages.

Mr Ashburn, who represents California's 18th district, said he does not plan to run for any public office after his term ends later this year.

Barely a week after his son Brendan died in a car crash, Maple Leafs G.M. Brian Burke was in Vancouver keeping his commitment to the U.S. team he forged—and vowing to champion gay rights in Brendan's memory

The thrumming rain is a dreary counterpoint to the rainbow banners on the lampposts at the corner of Davie and Bute in the West End, heart of Vancouver's gay village. Steps away, at the entrance to Pride House, on the eve of the Winter Olympics' opening ceremonies, there is an inescapable truth: The heavens do not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. When it rains, everyone gets wet.

Pride House is not like Molson Canadian Hockey House or Irish House or Casa Italia or any of the party houses that sprout during the Olympic fortnight to promote a brand or a nation. Pride House is an LGBT welcome center, and the building looks as if it would fit comfortably on the campus of a modestly funded state college. The ribbon-cutting ceremony was just held an hour earlier. Up a flight of stairs is a medical clinic, a TV room and an alcove with a long table on which there are glasses of white wine and plates of tired cold cuts.

"I love the man's attitude," Trevor MacNeil is saying. MacNeil is a hockey guy, a forward on the Cutting Edges, a team of gay players in a Vancouver adult league. "For Brian Burke to say, Yes, I drive a truck and I hunt, but Brendan's my son and I love him no matter what—well, for me that was shocking and great. It gives you a warm feeling knowing someone like him can be so affirmative. He's trying to make being gay in sports a nonissue. When I heard about his son's death and found links to some articles, that's when I learned Brendan had come out. I didn't realize Brendan was born in Vancouver."

So because Burke is general manager of Team USA, MacNeil might cheer for the Americans? "Hell, no," he says. "It's still Canada all the way. Brendan was Canadian."

There is nothing small in Brian Burke's world. He does not use small words. He does not say the pressure on Team Canada at the Olympics is intense; he says it is "glacial, unremitting, unrelenting." He does not say that he prefers his NHL teams—over the last 18 years he has been the G.M. in Hartford, Vancouver, Anaheim and now Toronto—to be tough or even robust; they must have the "proper levels of pugnacity, testosterone, truculence and belligerence." In macho throwdowns, Burke's thesaurus is bigger than your thesaurus.

He does not make small trades. While other G.M.'s tinker, swapping second-round draft choices for third-line rent-a-centers, Burke swings deals that bring 24-year-old franchise defenseman Dion Phaneuf and $7 million goaltender Jean-Sébastien Giguère to the Maple Leafs.

Burke does not have spats. He has epic Shakespearean feuds. In 2007, when Edmonton G.M. Kevin Lowe extended an offer sheet to winger Dustin Penner, a restricted free agent on Burke's Stanley Cup–champion team in Anaheim, Burke lambasted the move and said, "If I had run my team into the sewer like [Lowe did], I wouldn't throw a grenade at the other 29 teams."

And now Burke's grief matches the enormity of everything else in his life. On snow-slicked U.S. Highway 35 in Indiana, his 21-year-old son, Brendan, student manager of the top-ranked Miami (Ohio) hockey team, died in a car accident on Friday, Feb. 5. There are an average of 94 traffic fatalities in the U.S. every day, and Brendan and his friend Mark Reedy, 18, were only two of them. Brendan's death became a sports story not only because of who his father is but also because of what Brendan symbolized.

Three months earlier he had come out publicly, though his dad had known about his homosexuality for two years. In an espn.com story and a subsequent father-and-son TV interview, Brian—a hockey carnivore who embraces physical play and fighting; a 6'2", 240-pound fishing, hunting, Harley-riding, truck-driving, tobacco-chewing father of six who says he is "a poster boy for straight people if you look at all the macho measuring sticks"—embraced Brendan, a gay-rights advocate, for all the world to see.

Now Brian placed his hand on his dead son's chest and kept it there for the two-hour flight in the air ambulance that took Brendan's body from Ohio to Massachusetts, to his mother, Kerry—Brian's first wife—and his five brothers and sisters. The wake was held on Feb. 8, in Canton, southwest of Boston. The funeral the next day at St. John the Evangelist was "surreal in its sorrow, overwhelming in its respect," says Ned Colletti, the Dodgers G.M., who sat in the church with Devils president Lou Lamoriello, Brian Burke's old coach at Providence College. Ten priests celebrated the Mass, another reminder that for Brian Burke, nothing is small in life, or death.

Four days later Burke arrives in the city where, as president and G.M. of the Canucks from 1998 through 2004, he built a perennial playoff team. The Olympics are an obligation, not an option, to the 54-year-old. As Team USA practices in a frigid community arena, Burke says, "Lincoln lost a son in the White House. So did Jefferson Davis in the Confederacy. They didn't go home. They finished the job. USA Hockey didn't ask me to do this on the basis of, Will you do this if your personal life allows it?"

Burke, a Civil War buff, does not mean to sound self-aggrandizing by comparing his situation with Lincoln's and Davis's. He just does. "There's not a shortage of ego to the man," says Mike Milbury, a former NHL player, coach and G.M., and Burke's friend of three decades. "I think he wants to have a particular image, and he works at that image. He wants to be a world-class executive. He wants to be in the Hall of Fame. He works extraordinarily hard, in every aspect of his life. For years he was flying coast-to-coast every other weekend to see his kids. And he wasn't always making $3 million a year." Once Burke skipped a Canucks playoff game because it was his weekend with the four children from his first marriage. He made time for them—and on a life-changing Friday in February, that gave him a bit of solace.

A policeman walks past and drops a VANCOUVER POLICE cap on the bench next to Burke, who worked with the department when he lived in the city. "Thanks for taking care of us when you were here," the officer says. In the Burke canon of he-man hockey there always is payback. Now it comes in a different form, from a cop he had never met.

Burke has cried only twice this day, but it is early, a little after two o'clock. This is the first time he has smiled.

Sure, Burke took care of the cops in Vancouver. He takes care of almost everyone. That's something Joan and Bill Burke taught their 10 children. Brian, the fourth, began donating blood, with his parents' permission, at 16. He taught reading to inner-city kids. One rule at his four NHL stops has been that players must do community work.

"His personal touches," Milbury says, "are somewhat legendary." Burke has flown to the funerals of children of old college teammates. With the Dodgers clubhouse in tatters near the end of the 2007 season, he drove to Manhattan Beach at 5:30 one morning to lend a sympathetic ear. Burke texts, but at a time when even e-mail seems so 20th century, he sends handwritten notes—of congratulation, of commiseration. After a hockey writer had quadruple bypass surgery in 2002, Burke sent him a bookstore gift certificate with the note, "I wasn't aware sportswriters had hearts."

There are other things Burke says he didn't know. Like this: In times of sob-till-your-chest-hurts tragedy, tissues do not hold up. Go with paper towels.

A few days after Brendan came out to his father, in late December 2007, Brian told him, "You know the best part? I don't have to take anything back." Burke says he never told his children there was anything wrong with homosexuality. But when he really rummages through his memory, he concedes there are smudges on his otherwise clean conscience. When he played in the American Hockey League in the late 1970s—he was a stay-at-home defenseman whose skills fast-tracked him to Harvard Law School—he spoke in the lingua franca of the locker room. "Yeah, I used those slurs," he says. "I'm embarrassed by it. It was an accepted part of the [hockey] culture, and it still is. But not on my teams. It's a big part of trash talking, and that's got to change."

After Brendan publicly revealed his sexual preference, Brian was flooded with requests to do advocacy work on behalf of gays. He told the groups that while he supported his son, he had other causes: land conservation, blood donation and children's literacy. He didn't want to dilute that work. This, too, changed on that Friday in February. Brendan's causes are Brian's now. He will do a public-service announcement aimed at eliminating the bullying of gay children. And he plans to march in the Toronto Pride Parade. "I'd promised him I would march with him," says Burke, who briefly left the Olympics last Friday to attend a memorial service for Brendan at Miami of Ohio. "He won't be there, but I will."

There is one more thing he owes his son.

Remember Kevin Lowe, the Oilers executive Burke eviscerated—and who a year later fired back by calling Burke "a moron" and accusing him of destroying the Canucks before leaving to run Anaheim? "Last summer I said something [nasty] about Kevin Lowe, and Brendan asked, 'How can you stay mad at someone?'" Burke says. "I said, 'It's easy.' He said, 'No, it's not. He used to be your friend. It doesn't make sense. I don't approve.'"

When Lowe, now the Oilers' president, learned of Brendan's passing, he e-mailed Brian, referring to their shattered relationship while offering his sympathies. Burke immediately called Edmonton G.M. Steve Tambellini, with whom he had worked in Vancouver, and asked him to tell Lowe that this is one broken fence he wants to mend.

And so Burke and Lowe began the healing process last week at Canada Hockey Place. In their best moments, the Olympics can be as much about peace and friendship as about rivalries. Five nights before the U.S. beat Canada 5–3, the grieving father walked over to Lowe, a Team Canada executive, and offered his hand. Burke says an awkward sort of half man-hug accompanied the handshake. The Olympics really can be as much about peace and friendship as about medals.

"Again, that's Brendan breaking down another wall," Burke says. "That's what he does." Burke reaches for a paper towel.

leatherbear ~  :cry2: used nearly a roll of paper towels  :cry2:

:rotfl: You know I actually have one of these for for lunch now and again (before the bleeding ulcer) in the mall I work in and they are quite tasty and a little naughty to eat as well. :rotfl:

BTW: I LOVE failblog.org

For me ~ A manly man with hair that earned his leather (not leather drag) and the "right" attitude but still a total bottom/sub.