The Most Poignant PRIDE Yet

This was a bittersweet weekend for us. We had the opportunity to reconnect with old friends, meet some new friends, amd remember someone who's made such a huge mark in our lives.

On the eve of Sevcik v. Sandoval's day in court (at the Ninth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals) and just after a remarkable series of advances for transgender civil rights, Las Vegas PRIDE weekend came and went. It was a time for celebration of recent progress, as well as a time of reflection on the challenges that still lie ahead.





Friday night's parade offered quite the exciting line-up. Communities of faith, Cleve Jones & Culinary 226, a host of local businesses, and even a few Las Vegas Metro Police officers (!!!) participated in the parade. Also riding in the parade were State Senators David Parks (D-Paradise), Pat Spearman (D-North Las Vegas), Kelvin Atkinson (D-North Las Vegas), & Justin Jones (D-Enterprise), along with Assembly Member James Healey (D-Enterprise), Lieutenant Governor candidate Lucy Flores (D), NV-03 Congressional candidate Erin Bilbray (D), and State Senate candidate Teresa Lowry (D).

Along 4th Street in Downtown Las Vegas, all these people marched in solidarity with Southern Nevada's LGBTQ community and our continuing struggle for full civil rights. They came to show their respect for our community and ask for our support. Doesn't it feel nice to receive this kind of respect?







Then came the Saturday festival. And yes, there were festivities all throughout Clark County Government Center's amphitheater. There were also some elected officials coming back to meet voters. And there were volunteers registering voters. There were families coming in to soak in the sun, along with young LGBTQ Nevadans coming in for a safe place to express themselves.





The whole weekend was a thing of beauty. When I first moved here to Southern Nevada five years ago, one of the first activities I did was Las Vegas PRIDE. So I always experience a rush of emotions around this time of the year every year. However, this PRIDE was the most poignant one for me yet.







I came to know Sandy Eddy quite well over the years. We both served on the Stonewall Southern Nevada board together. And during our time on the board, she became one of my "Vegas adopted mothers". She really meant that much to me, and to all the other people who came into her life.

Last Thursday, Sandy suffered a stroke and was rushed to the hospital. She didn't make it. Yet even at life's end, she kept giving of herself. Several of her organs are about to be donated to those in need. And during this time of mourning, she's brought back together those who had recently drifted apart.



Las Vegas PRIDE was one of the many community events Sandy made sure to do. That's why I ultimately felt compelled to go this past weekend. Even though I initially didn't even want to pull myself out of bed Friday morning, I knew Sandy would kick my ass if I didn't pull myself together and go. She always made sure to go where she was needed.



Sandy Eddy may no longer be with us physically, but I could feel her spirit with me at PRIDE. And I figured she would have been happy about everyone who turned out for the parade, all the activity at the Stonewall & PLAN booths at the festival, and all the other people at PRIDE who were there to serve the greater community.

This was a bittersweet weekend for so many of us. But with so much more to do, Sandy would want everyone to press forward. So we will. (Yet in the spirit of giving that Sandy embdodied all the way through to her very last moments, now's a great time to reach out & help her family during their time of grief.)

The Meaning of PRIDE

In March, the Nevada Legislature was abuzz over a constitutional amendment. Not that long ago, SJR 13 would have been unthinkable. But now, Nevada is on the path to marriage equality.

This and other recent civil rights advances were on everyone's mind at this year's Las Vegas PRIDE. There was plenty to celebrate this past weekend in Downtown Las Vegas. And there was plenty to reflect on. While the overall vibe of the Friday night parade was quite fun and lighthearted, there was a more serious moment.





Assembly Member James Healey (D-Enterprise) and State Senator David Parks (D-Paradise) briefly talked about what's at stake, especially in regards to marriage equality. They drove in the parade, along with Culinary 226, PLAN, ProgressNow Nevada, Rep. Steven Horsford (D-North Las Vegas), Rep. Dina Titus, and HRC Las Vegas. And they drove alongside floats for casinos, bars/nightclubs, religious groups, social groups, and much more.



The fun continued the next day at the PRIDE Festival at the Clark County Government Center... Along with plenty of good work. Representatives from Senator Harry Reid's (D) Las Vegas office came by to talk with festival goers. The Clark County Democratic Party and Southern Nevada Stonewall were registering voters at their table, while the PLAN crew were doing the same at their table. Oh, and Rep. Horsford even came by to say hi to festival goers.





Senator Parks and Assembly Member Healey later had a chance to speak again at the festival. They were joined by Assembly Member Lucy Flores (D-North Las Vegas), who shared what PRIDE means to her.



Throughout the weekend, folks were reminded of the meaning of PRIDE. After many years of struggles for acceptance, the seeds of equality are finally sprouting. In just the past four years, Nevada has seen progress on relationship recognition, hate crimes, employment discrimination, and more. Half of Nevada's Congressional Delegation (guess who...) now support full LGBTQ civil rights. And now, Nevada is finally on the road to marriage equality.







And of course, the festival had plenty of fabulous live entertainment. After all, this was a celebration. After many years of shame, Nevada's LGBTQ community can finally begin to reap the rewards of PRIDE.

NV-Sen/NV-03: Heller's & Heck's "Bad Romance"

Earlier this month, many Southern Nevadans had themselves a "fabulous gay old time" at Las Vegas Pride. Yet while many political candidates came by to court local LGBTQ voters. However, there were some notable absences. Perhaps most notably, Dean Heller and Joe Heck (and their "Team Nevada Shadow GOP") were MIA at Pride.

Hmmm, I wonder why. Could it be?

1. Heller has opposed marriage equality and even domestic partnership benefits for same-sex couples —but no longer wants to talk about it. In 2006, Heller said on his campaign website that he “supports traditional marriage between one man and one woman and will work to defend Nevada values in Congress.” This year, he reaffirmed his belief that “marriage is between one man and one woman” and said he “would not support changing that.” But, he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “I don’t want it to be the issue in the campaign. I truly don’t want this to be the issue.” He also voted for a 2007 amendment restricting the District of Columbia government from using any federal funding to provide domestic partnership benefits.

2. Heller voted against Hate Crimes protections for LGBT Americans. In both 2007 and 2009,he voted against adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the federal hate crimes laws.

3. Heller thinks it should be legal to fire someone just for being gay. He voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in 2007, which would have banned employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

4. Heller opposed letting LGBT servicemembers serve openly. He voted against Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal twice in 2010. In 2009 he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal he supported continuing the discriminatory policy.

5. Heller has been a total zero on LGBT equality. Over the course of the 110th and 111th Congresses, the Human Rights Campaign rated him as voting against the interests of the LGBT community 100 percent of the time.

Notice Heller's downright flippant attitude toward Nevada's LGBTQ families.



Now contrast this with Shelley Berkley and her steadfast commitment to securing equality for all Nevada families.





As we've discussed before, Mitt Romney is leading Dean Heller, Joe Heck, and the rest of the G-O-TEA in embracing teabaggers' bigotry and doubling down on endorsing wrongful discrimination. They're doing this because they still think they need to shore up their "TEA" fueled base. Yet while they're doing this, they're alienating the rest of our increasingly diverse and multicultural state. And with the newest CBS/New York Times poll showing a strong national majority favoring marriage equality, it's quite likely that Nevada voters are trending quickly towards embracing equality as well.

Joe Heck may still be calling marriage equality "a distraction" while he & Dean Heller dutifully stand by the G-O-TEA agenda of belittling and even endangering (!!!) LGBTQ Nevadans, but they increasingly look anachronistic and incredibly out of touch. Just contrast Heck's cold and downright rude remarks with John Oceguera's heartfelt support for marriage equality and full civil rights for LGBTQ Nevadans.



This is a bigger problem for Nevada Republicans than Dean Heller, Joe Heck, and their slick campaign consultants want to admit. And this is the real reason why Heller and Heck refuse to talk about it. But as long as they keep trying to hold down Nevada's LGBTQ families, a growing and strengthening number of Nevada voters may ultimately decide to just hang up on them.

Mitt Romney Wants Lift As "Culture Warrior"

Last weekend, there was certainly plenty of political fun at Las Vegas Pride. In addition to the slew of local candidates courting LGBTQ voters, President Obama's campaign made a big splash at Vegas Pride. And especially now that Obama and the Democratic Party are fully embracing full LGBTQ equality, Pride revelers were cheering on OFA and the Democratic candidates.



But now, it's not just Nevada LGBTQ voters embracing President Obama. In fact, one REPUBLICAN pizza parlor owner in Florida really gave Obama quite the embrace!

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“Man, are you a power lifter or what?” the president asked.

The iconic photo only shows the back of the president’s head and his arms raised in supplication, so you’re not entirely sure how he feels about it. The video shows that Obama was shocked but seemed to enjoy the ride Van Duzer gave him. The restaurant owner says he told a Secret Service agent his plans, and the agent said “I was alright as long as I didn’t take him away.”

And so he didn’t. The photo was everywhere on Twitter and Facebook Sunday night, and I struggled to figure out why –and why I had such a strong reaction to it. I literally felt for the very first time that the president would win re-election —and of course that’s irrational. But the sight of this swing-state Republican small business owner (who admittedly supports Obama) pulling the president into a gravity-defying bear hug seems to thwart the conventional wisdom that guys like [Scott] Van Duzer don’t like our first black president. It makes me feel optimistic about what I’m saying in my book: that a lot of people we’ve written off as hopelessly Republican don’t like Mitt Romney and maybe against all odds find themselves fond of the president.

[...] Coming out of his convention with a bounce, watching Romney and Paul Ryan stonewall their way through the Sunday shows without a single human moment of connection, the president has to feel good about his chances as we move into the middle of September. It’ll be a long six weeks, but this photo tells us something about why people say, despite the sluggish economy, they believe the president can relate to them better than Romney can. It will be a powerful advantage in the weeks to come.

And here, we see Mitt Romney's worst campaign nightmare coming true. In many ways, what happened yesterday in Florida was a potent visualization of the new polling data suggesting significant movement in Obama's direction after a successful Democratic Convention.

So how is Romney responding to all this? Oh, he's just dipping back into that cesspool of G-O-TEA bigotry! He tried it again at his own convention in Tampa two weeks ago, and he's doing it again this week.

Mitt Romney suggested that President Obama has taken God out of his heart during a rally in Mansfield, Ohio on Monday, telling a crowd of manufacturing workers that unlike the current occupant of the White House, he will always be guided by the Almighty. The comments appear to be a new post-convention Republican strategy to paint Obama as anti-God [...]

The former Massachusetts governor began his address by thanking the audience for reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, which he recalled saying himself “as a boy in fourth grade.” Then, in what is a newer section of his stump speech, Romney implied that Obama and the Democratic Party have taken God out of their governance, referring to a last minute effort —made at the request of Obama himself —to reinsert the word ‘God’ into the platform at the DNC convention.

The campaign has tried to exploit the incident, with Romney promising, on Saturday, that “I will not take God off our coins,and I will not take God out of my heart.” Last week, Paul Ryan claimed that Democrats had “purged” God from their platform, ignoring the document’s long-standing section on “Faith.”

The new attack line is also reminiscent of Romney’s charge from January —when the candidate was trying to stave off a primary challenge from Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA). “Then of course there’s the assault on religion,” Romney said, describing the Obama administration’s policy expanding contraception coverage to women.

Ah, so here we are again! As we discussed last month, silence should not be confused for "softening". For quite some time, Mitt Romney and his Nevada henchmen (Dean Heller & Joe Heck) have said they "don't want to talk about social issues". Yet while they were saying that, they were actually doing something completely different.

Yet now, Mitt Romney has made a calculated move to fully embrace his role as the G-O-TEA's "Culture Warrior in Chief". Since the Republican Convention had the bounce of a lead balloon, he has to try something different to change the course of the election. And he's taking a calculated risk in embracing the standard G-O-TEA "CUL'CHUR WARZZZ!!!" playbook of focusing in on "god, guns, gays, and gynecology".

Tomorrow, Mitt Romney will be campaigning in Reno. And on Wednesday, President Obama will be campaigning in Las Vegas. And as Obama is clearly getting a lift after his uplifting convention, Romney is trying to put together a new plan to tear him down. Clearly, he thinks "TEH CUL'CHUR WARZZZ!!!" may be his last chance to do just that. He may soon be in for a very rude awakening.

#VegasPride 2012: La Comunidad

So Las Vegas Pride Weekend has been quite the fun weekend. However, it's also been quite productive. Yesterday, we noted the interesting turn of events on the politics of pride. Today, I'm hoping we can dig more into some good policy.







On Friday, PLAN hosted a pre-parade party and welcomed several guest speakers to come over and discuss what's happening in our community. One guest speaker was Marco Castro-Bojorquez from Lambda Legal. And not only did he talk with us about Latin@/LGBTQ outreach, but he also shared with us this amazing short film about three Latina mothers and their children's coming out experiences.



It was a great way to show everyone how and why forging cross-community alliances is so important. Oh, and so was the little pep talk by the always fabulous Astrid Silva of PLAN Action. Since she knows a thing or two on community outreach, she shared her experience on forging alliances to work for the common good.

And getting back to Lambda Legal, they also provided an update on the Sevcik v. Sandoval marriage equality law suit. Already, court watchers are seeing it as potentially a major breakthrough case for marriage equality. This really sets up Nevada to take center stage in the ongoing struggle for marriage equality. But since we're talking about a federal law suit here, it will take several years before it heads to the US Supreme Court.

In the mean time, Nevada LGBTQ community activists have plenty of work ahead in educating people on the need for marriage equality. The same goes for workplace equality, even though the Legislature has acted on that, along with a host of other issues still facing our community. And again, that's why we need to reach out to other oppressed minority communities in order to work toward the common goal of ending all wrongful discrimination.

That's why it was beautiful seeing the diverse crowd at PLAN's Las Vegas office on Friday. Hopefully, this weekend won't be the last time we see a civil rights intersection like this.

#VegasPride 2012: The Parade (& The Candidates Who Joined Us)

There's just something special and something awe inspiring about Las Vegas Pride. Is it the glitter? Is it the the variety of wardrobes? Is it the backdrop of Fabulous Downtown Las Vegas? Or is it simply the people, the diverse array of people coming together to celebrate who we are, where we've come, and what lies next for our LGBTQ community?



As you can see below, we had quite the parade last night. And what made it all the more special were the guests who marched with us. It will make you wonder who's really a "political liability".







Both John Oceguera and Steven Horsford rode in the Las Vegas Pride Parade with HRC Las Vegas and our local Stonewall Democrats. And both candidates were more than happy to greet the parade watchers and share not just their standard campaign pitches, but also their promise to support full equality for Nevada's LGBTQ families. Oh, and did I mention they were riding by a bunch of "militant marching gays" who were dancing to the likes of (the late great) Whitney Houston and Lady Gaga? This was truly a sight to behold.

And what made this even more amazing was the fact that both Horsford and Oceguera face competitive Congressional races. Remember the days when many swing district Democrats preferred to shy away from "controversial issues"? Obviously, Horsford and Oceguera had no "controversial issues" with coming to Pride and openly proclaiming their support for LGBTQ equality. This really showed how far both national and Nevada Democrats have come, as well as the strong character of both candidates present.







In addition to Oceguera and Horsford personally marching/riding with HRC & Stonewall in Pride, Shelley Berkley (NV-Sen), Dina Titus (NV-01), and President Obama's Nevada campaign all had strong representation at Las Vegas Pride. And again, all campaigns were so proud to march with HRC & Stonewall and tout their pro-equality records. I guess now that the Democratic Party has made a bold move in embracing marriage equality and the LGBTQ community in full, Nevada Democrats are now making good policy into good politics.

Oh, and by the way, no prominent Nevada Republicans were to be found at Pride last night. Is this what they mean by saying they're "silent on social issues"? Well, it's not like Mitt Romney, Dean Heller, Joe Heck, and Danny Tarkanian really have anything to be proud about when it comes to LGBTQ outreach.

And that, my friends, was Night 1 of Las Vegas Pride Weekend in the heat of the 2012 election cycle.

Images of Las Vegas PRIDE 2010

Please excuse me while I'm still recovering from last weekend. I was busy at Las Vegas PRIDE, both at the parade on Friday and at the festival on Saturday. As usual, I marched with Stonewall on Friday... Then worked the booth along with our friends at Progress Now Nevada, the Harry Reid campaign, Shelley Berkley campaign, and the Dina Titus campaign. We registered new voters, signed up volunteers, and let people in our community know that there is an important election coming up this year and it's a really good idea to vote.

And of course, it was so much fun just to be there! Believe it or not, there was a time when it was a courageous act just to throw an event like this. Coming out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer (intersex, genderqueer, asexual, etc.) was considered shocking in and of itself... And sadly, to a large extent it still is in many places throughout our country. PRIDE was designed to be a place for people in our community to come out, be proud, and become a part of the community. And today, it's still like a "big queer family reunion" every year where we all get together, do some good, and have a good time as well.

OK, enough of me blabbing... Here's a glimpse of this past weekend of PRIDE!

Thoughts on Las Vegas AIDS Walk & HRC Family Picnic

(Also at Stonewall)







In the almost year since I've been living in Las Vegas (actually Henderson, but close enough!), I've been trying to get more involved in the community and be of good use. That's why I joined Stonewall. That's why I'm more than happy to help out with voter registration. But hey, it's not always all political for me. Sometimes, it's good just to go out, walk, and help raise awareness (and some cash... Seriously, chickens don't work here) for AFAN and what they're doing here in Las Vegas to help people living with HIV/AIDS and help prevent new cases of HIV/AIDS.

HIV/AIDS is still a major problem in our state and in our country, and it affects everyone. That's why it's important not to forget what we're facing and why we need to stay aware and keep fighting it. There may be new and better treatments available to help people live with HIV/AIDS, but it's not an easy life and it's still a powerful, incurable virus that leads to painful diseases.

However, it is preventable. And that's what AFAN is also doing, in addition to caring for people in our community with HIV/AIDS. That's why I was glad to walk with our Stonewall Team and Harry Reid's Team yesterday. OK, OK, I guess we did make it just a little political... And fun, too. The walk in Downtown Las Vegas was great, as we had live bands, street performers, and much more!

And afterward, the fun continued. HRC Las Vegas did its second annual Family Picnic right after AIDS Walk so we could all eat, drink (water, that is... It was HOT!), and be merry. And for all of us in the LGBTQ community, it was also nice to mingle and celebrate our "pre-PRIDE warm-up". We also saw some great friends of Stonewall visit, like Clark County Democratic Party Chair Roberta Lange, Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Fabulous) and Secretary of State Ross Miller (D-Awesome). We've seen plenty of progress on the state level, like SB 283 domestic partnerships, and hopefully we'll see more progress on the national level, like passing ENDA and repealing DADT.

And of course, this is why we all need to reach out to our family, friends, and neighbors to GET OUT THE VOTE! We can't expect any progress if we don't have allies in Congress, so it's imperative that we make sure progressives turn out and vote for the Democrats who will keep making change happens. That's why I was so glad to see people come to our Stonewall/Harry Reid (I bugged them yesterday about starting an "LGBTQ for Reid" group, and hopefully we'll see one soon!) booth and register or re-register (which is necessary when one moves) to vote. And as you can see in our photos, we did a pretty good job with voter registration!

So thanks to all our friends for coming over, joining us in the walk and in the picnic, and really making yesterday a big success! And if you want to join us again this next weekend for PRIDE, there's still time to sign up to volunteer for Friday's parade and/or Saturday's festival. Hey, why would you want to miss out on the next great fabulous party in town! :-D