Up in the mountains of Northern California, there is still 15-20 feet of snow. Lassen National Park is using this giant snow plow (the blades are 5 feet tall) to clear the roads, but they’re only getting though a tenth of a mile a day. So much for Sunny California… Photo taken June 16th. Happy Summer Solstice!
-AidanAbroad
Posted in Northern California, Road Trips
Pink Clouds for Monday of Pride Week. Sunset over Ocean Beach in San Francisco after a particularly gorgeous day.
-AidanAbroad
Posted in Northern California, San Francisco
-AidanAbroad
Posted in Food, North America, San Francisco
photo credit: NY Times
In this article, a New York Times journalist travels to Wyoming to visit a former colleague, Michael Glatze – a young man who had been an activist and advocate for queer youth, a scholar of queer theory, and the editor of XY, a defunct magazine for young gay men. Now, Michael is an ex-gay attending a Bible college in Wyoming.
(Here is another blog post about his history as an ex-gay activist. And here is one that reveals strange racist comments that Glatze made against President Obama. And here is Joe My God’s coverage of Glatze.)
This article provides insight into Glatze’s strange transformation, and includes an insightful interview with his former partner of 10 years, Ben. Ben is quoted as saying,
“A radical queer activist and a fundamentalist Christian aren’t always as different as they might seem.”
Questions about Glatze’s future and how long this former role model for young queers turned ex-gay will remain in his current fundamentalist Christian heterosexual lifestyle remain unanswered. His ex maintains that Glatze’s legacy as a queer activist still remains:
“He devoted a decade of his life to helping gay youth, and the work he did saved lives,” he told me. “What he claims to believe now doesn’t take that away.”
Check it out – worth reading.
-AidanAbroad
Seen on the awning of a shop on Mission Street in San Francisco, on my walk home tonight. Strange art for a Saturday night/Sunday morning…
(Also, note the “Like” sticker slapped on – Facebook-inspired graffiti?)
-AidanAbroad
Posted in Food, San Francisco, Signage
I’ve been saying for a long time that gay marriage is actually a conservative cause… Here is an article by Herbert Hoover’s great-granddaughter Margaret Hoover that argues the same thing: “The conservative case for gay marriage: GOP is not the party of intolerance.”
This article was written in the context of the current fight for same-sex marriage in New York State. She writes, in part:
“Conservatives are right to value marriage as the world’s most powerful social institution. The marital bond provides a nongovernmental social safety net, whereby individuals care for one another and anchor civil society in self-sufficiency.
“But to deny one class of citizens the freedom to marry based on their sexual orientation is discriminatory – anathema to the great tradition of freedom and equal opportunity upon which the Republican Party was founded. Civil unions are an inadequate substitute. We’ve seen in America that separate is never equal.
“Limited-government conservatives believe in maximum individual freedom consistent with law and order. We do not believe that the state should have the power to confer rights upon some law-abiding citizens while discriminating against others.
“Nor should the government be in the business of telling churches, synagogues or mosques whom they can and cannot marry. That’s why the bill in New York includes protections for religious liberties that ensure no religious leader or institution will have to solemnize marriages for same-sex couples.”
Worth reading – check it out.
-AidanAbroad
…tonight at our “Hootenanny” Western-themed show (country and Americana). Catch us Saturday at 2pm or 8pm. Details here. Dancing gay cowboys, country drag, “Home On The Range” like you’ve never heard it, and much more!
-AidanAbroad
Posted in Drag, Men, Music, Northern California, San Francisco
A cluster of red buds on some endangered snow flowers in Lassen National Park yesterday. The park ranger told me that they grow up through the snow in early spring, feeding on the roots if trees rather than on chlorophyll.
-AidanAbroad
Posted in Northern California, Road Trips
Tagged Hiking, Lassen, Red Bud, Snow Flowers
A hot geyser (or gay-sir, as my Icelandic friends insist is the correct pronunciation) in snowy Lassen National Park today. Brown bubbles and sulfuric steam… a good detour.
-AidanAbroad
Posted in North America, Northern California, Road Trips, Travel
Just thought I’d share this pic from my attempted camping trip. June 15 and snow closures in the park!
-AidanAbroad
Posted in North America, Northern California, Road Trips, Travel
gayhighwaymen
Maštíŋčala Sáŋ
The Gay Highwaymen 