This is the part of summer that seems to be filled with happy hour mixers.

The weekend before last our office had a ballgame outing. We went to the Cyclones game at Coney Island. I didn't pay much attention to the game, but had fun chatting with the other ACLU interns and staff. After the game, we grabbed some food on the boardwalk and walked down to the beach to see the fireworks. 

Then I went to see Happy Potter 7.2 on Saturday. There were more than a few tears. And cheers. The crowd at the theater went batshit for the final scene with Mrs. Weasley and Bellatrix.

On Sunday I went and sat in the sun at the Great Hill in Central Park. Lots of hot guys wandering around but sadly no photos because my camera phone decided to start malfunctioning that day.

I went to see Harry Potter again on Monday, this time with friends from work. And in 3D. The movie didn't suffer from a second viewing.

On Tuesday my summer job with the school as a tutor with AEP (which I also did last summer) started. That's going to eat into my free time a bit, but I need the cash flow this late in the summer.

This weekend was also action-packed. On Friday I went to see Captain America. I liked it a lot. More than Green Lantern, maybe not quite as much as Thor. Although the Avengers trailer that played after the credits was pure joy.

On Saturday I went to Central Park again and had a picnic of grapes, sushi and stuffed grape leaves.  Because of the heat wave there was almost nobody in the park this time.

On Sunday I got up early and headed down to the City Marriage Bureau. The ACLU had us come out to celebrate the first day of marriage for all. I got there a bit before 8:00. The Westboro Baptist Church was one one corner and across the way diagonally were hundreds of couples already waiting in line. The WBC bigots left around 8:30. They had to get to the bigger hate rallies in the other boroughs. 

I also saw The Daily Show's Samantha Bee and Jason Jones wandering around filming. Samantha Bee had amazing shoes.

They started letting people into the bureau a little after 8:30. Around 9:30 or so the first couples emerged from the other end of the building, happily married. That's when things got really exciting. Some observations:

• There were probably 4 photographers or journalists for every couple.
• I've never been in a gathering of so many gay people where everyone had their shirt on (especially considering the heat). As one guy commented "It's like gay pride without the vodka commercial."
• Speaking of gay pride, because of my clever sign I felt like a walking photo op. I imagine that must be what fantastically dressed drag queens feel like at Pride.
• Speaking of my clever sign, the trick to drawing a good Beyoncé is the use of negative space.
•  The marriage of the puppets from Avenue Q was cute. The actors playing the puppet characters were cuter.

As my twitter friends and facebook friends probably already know, my picture has shown up in quite a few news stories about the event. (That last photo was on Queerty and was taken by a photographer with name that sounds like we ought to be related if he didn't spell his last name wrong.) Having a big poster strategically blocking my gut is probably the best outcome I could have hoped for when ending up in national news coverage.

After a few hours of marriage madness I left to go to my friend Lee's birthday party at this cute steampunk bar near Union Square where I chatted with fellow nerds about comic books and movies.

Anyway, that's what has been keeping me occupied this summer. 

p.s. If anyone is a fan of Drop Dead Diva, yesterday's episode was about a lesbian couple who wanted to go to prom. The court that hears the case is presided over by Wanda Sykes and the bailiff is played by ACLU's client Constance McMillen, who had to sue her school for the right to attend prom. It was a cute episode that also included Clay Aiken and Lance Bass and (as always) Margaret Cho - it was a gaysplosion!

The first time this happened, I wasn’t living there. But I was waiting on pins and needles, dialing into conference calls, surfing the web. I was a journalist and even though we only published biweekly, there was urgency to finding out as soon as it happened, even if it was on the other side of the country. When the news finally broke, we crouched around computers to read all about it, we huddled in the common spaces, stopped working to speculate about what this would mean for the rest of the country, how soon the weddings would begin. We laughed with a sort of nervous pride. In the weeks and months we would come to learn so much more about archaic laws and states borders and the scope of DOMA and civil disobedience by progressive governors and Constitutional amendments… but back then we had barely begun to dream about the possibilities.

Then there was California. I was working for the LGBT nonprofit organization in San Francisco. For some reason the building was unusually warm that day, which I remember because we left half the overhead lights off that day. When we heard the ruling would be out, I started refreshing the court’s website. A pdf appeared from the California Supreme Court. It was over 100 pages long. I frantically began skimming through it, trying to make sense of legal language I was, at the time, unfamiliar with. Someone turned on CNN. I read aloud to my coworkers passages I thought sounded important, or good. CNN said “no” as I reached the part where the court said “yes.” Someone brought in a cake. We took a break and celebrated. Afterward, I heard about the dancing in the streets at the Castro, but I just went home. Drained. Spent. I had things to do the next morning.

This time, it was a slow build. I remember last year, sitting in the cafeteria of the Law School watching the live stream as the first Republican “swing” voted no. Then the second. Then a democrat. Then twitter was declaring it a loss. Fast forward to the last few weeks. The calls to my senator, the emails. The calls to other senate leaders. At my internship I was asked to look into the legal impact proposed religious exception language would have. I have some small sense that somehow my analysis reached the ears of people who needed to know, to decide, to negotiate and politic.

This week, the live streaming video in an open tab on my browser. Listening to that chamber music all day as I researched other projects at work. The day the debated the definition of “sippy cup.” Sweet corn became the state vegetable. Waiting. Watching the twitter stream for updates. Refreshing blogs. Day after day of “maybe today” and “maybe tonight.”

Tonight we had a rooftop party in Brooklyn, we interns from the ACLU. It was foggy and misty, but we could see the City, the river, the dim outline of Lady Liberty, the building where we worked. We laughed and talked of other things, or pop stars and law school woes. I checked my phone for updates. Sunset. Checked my phone. “Guys, they’re voting now!” Cheers. Pizza arrived. Checked my phone. “They’re voting on the amendment – and it sounds like they have a 32nd vote.” “They passed the amendment” Cheers. High-fives. Someone urged emotional caution, not counting chickens or something. “I wish I had my computer, it sounds like someone just bitchslapped Diaz back to the Bronx.” “Wow, sounds like we just picked up another Republican vote.” Checked my phone – there were the numbers. 33-29. The exclamation points. I flipped on my phone and held it out to my co-intern at the LGBT Project. “Chris, look.” He was talking to someone. “Chris, look. They did it.” Someone I didn’t know, a student from our host’s school, tapped me on the shoulder – did you just say they passed it?. Now I had their attention. “33-29. Everyone find yourself a same-sex partner, because New York just made it legal for us to get married!”

Cheers. People congratulating each other. High-fives. The lights of the city looked blurry through the mist and fog, from our rooftop in Brooklyn.

I hear they’re dancing at Christopher Street. But I’m in Brooklyn. I just go home. I have things to do tomorrow morning. But Sunday I will be marching. And even though I’m not engaged, have no special someone with whom I have waited and waited for this day, I will still be especially proud as I walk the streets of Manhattan.

As I watch the Prop 8 hearing in the 9th Circuit, and after reading about a study finding LGBT youth are likely to receive harsher and stricter punishment from school and legal authorities, I thought I’d share our Fordham OUTLaws “It Gets Better” video for Dan Savage’s It Gets Better Project. I shot the footage for this several weeks ago and finished editing the footage into a single video late, late last night.

Studying for finals is going fine, if half-heartedly. I don’t really care about my grade in one of the classes I have a final for and feel rather confident about the other.

ETA: Yay! We’re famoso!

Harlem Hydrant. This shot was more interesting a moment earlier, before the kids playing in the hydrant ran off.

Usually, our office is colder than is comfortable. Something about servers and computer equipment, but it’s a little odd dressing in the lightest clothes possible for the commute to and from work, but packing a hoodie in my bag to make it through the day.

Speaking of the office, it’s been a very interesting summer to work in the LGBT equality movement. While Lambda isn’t involved in every LGBT case out there, we obviously pay very close attention to what is going on. There have been a lot of high profile cases like Doe v. Reed (the state can disclose the names of people who sign anti-queer ballot petitions) and Christian Legal Society v. Martinez (school can deny funding to anti-queer groups that discriminate against people who don’t share the same values and beliefs) at the Supreme Court, building precedent that the Constitution protects the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Lower level cases like the twin cases out of Massachusetts overturning part of DOMA (Gill v. Office of Personnel Management and Massachusetts v. US Dept of Health and Human Services) and the pending decision in California about the constitutionality of Prop 8 (Perry v. Schwarzenegger). There are also less high-profile, but equally significant, developments like a ruling that you cannot fire a person based on gender identity simply because you anticipate that other people might have a moral objection (Glenn v. Brumby). Additionally, things have happened like the Obama administration’s directive to hospital that receive federal funding to establish policies that respect LGBT patients and their families. I hear that federal housing authorities may soon adopt a new, broader definition of family, which will help poor and low-income queer people who rely on government assistance for basic housing to access the system legally (under the current system, problems can sometimes come up like only members of a family may live together in government-funded housing, excluding same-sex relationships not recognized by state or local law from the ability to live together legally and receive assistance).

Sure, not all the news has been positive. Civil Unions were vetoed in Hawaii. The military study of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is a joke. The Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld their ban on same-sex marriage. Still, when you take a step back, the overall trend is very inspiring right now.

Anyway, I don’t know what my point is, except that I’m sometimes amazed at how many moving pieces there are to this movement: from teenagers wearing pro-gay t-shirts at school to LGBT seniors trying to find long-term assisted living.

There’s not much else going on this week in my life. Had five days off last weekend after Pride and the Kagan confirmation hearings, finished the last day of my summer class, spent most of the week skipping the social scene and trying to stay cool. To that end, it’s been catch-up week on movies I missed because of Law School. I saw Kick-Ass (somewhere in the world there is a Hollywood producer who actually says “you know who would be perfect for this movie? Nic Cage” — we should find this man and beat him senseless.) and Iron Man 2 (good enough to watch again) and Shrek: Forever After (meh) and The Fantastic Mr. Fox (cute) and How to Train Your Dragon (really cute) Youth in Revolt (likable but forgettable) and some other stuff.

Still, a good time was had in the sun, money was raised for a good cause, and I spent a morning pretending I didn’t have to study for Torts. The video is 5 minutes of footage I shot on my fancy new camcorder, but to get the best HD use out of the camera, I discovered I’ll need to buy some better video editing software soon.

It is always upsetting to take stock annually of the number who have died for being in some way gender variant, and the community is reeling from the shocking and gruesome murder of George Steven Lopez Mercado in Puerto Rico.

Yet, in 2009, I find reason to celebrate, too. We have finally passed a nationwide hate crime act that recognizes gender identity and sexual orientation in the prosecution of bias motivated crimes.

The list isn’t any shorter (117 transgender or gender-variant people were killed this year), and violence directed at transgender or gender-variant people is a global problem, but one can hope that we’ve turned a corner. That these deaths and this violence will not remain invisible. That we move toward a better world.

For the New Yorkers who haven’t already overbooked themselves like I have this evening, events in Brooklyn and Manhattan:

Congrats, Salt Lake!

Pro-gay statutes win city, LDS nod
Surprise move » Parties met in secret to reach common ground.
By Matt Canham, Derek P. Jensen And Rosemary Winters
The Salt Lake Tribune

Hours after the LDS Church announced its support Tuesday night of proposed Salt Lake City ordinances aimed at protecting gay and transgender residents from discrimination in housing and employment, the City Council unanimously approved the measures.

“The church supports these ordinances,” spokesman Michael Otterson told the council, “because they are fair and reasonable and do not do violence to the institution of marriage.”

They also are consistent with Mormon teachings, he said. “I believe in a church that believes in human dignity, in treating people with respect even when we disagree — in fact, especially when we disagree.”

Normally more deliberate, the council opted to vote after dozens of residents in the overflowing crowd expressed their support.

“Guaranteeing a right to fair housing and fair employment is not an issue of compromise,” Councilwoman Jill Remington Love said. “We are a stronger, better city this evening. I’m proud to serve on a City Council where this isn’t even controversial.”

Congrats, Washington DC!

D.C. council committee approves same-sex marriage bill
by Tim Craig
The Washington Post

A DC Council Committee voted 4 to 1 this afternoon to send a bill legalizing same-sex marriage to the full council for debate.

Council member Phil Mendelson, chairman of the Committee on Public Safety and Judiciary, said the legislation was “both simple and monumental.”

With the committee vote, the full council will take up the bill in early December. It is expected to easily pass.

“We will get this to the mayor and Congress and it will become law,” said Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2).

Suck it, New York!

State Senate Delays Vote on Same-Sex Marriage Bill
By Jeremy W. Peters
The New York Times

The fate of same-sex marriage collided with the often-dysfunctional political process here on Tuesday as the State Senate delayed a vote on a bill that would make it legal for gay and lesbian couples to marry in New York.

After an entire day of deliberations, Senate leaders emerged from the governor’s office late Tuesday with only a vague agreement that the bill would come to a vote before the end of the year.

Gov. David A. Paterson had placed the bill on the agenda for an emergency session that convened Tuesday, and gay rights advocates had been aggressively lobbying for an immediate vote. But the legislation’s prospects have grown cloudier in recent days. Supporters have had difficulty securing the 32 votes they need for approval in the Senate, and a dispute between Mr. Paterson and legislative leaders over how to close a budget deficit that now exceeds $3 billion has held up votes on major legislation.

Mr. Paterson said he would continue negotiating with legislative leaders on budget cuts this week and would call lawmakers back to Albany on Monday and Tuesday of next week. He said he would again include marriage on the agenda, but it remained unclear whether the Senate would debate it next week or wait until later in the year.

“I think that the vote is closer than people think,” he said in an interview.

He added, “It is one of those rare types of legislation that you never know what people are going to do until it hits the floor.”

Seriously, New York, you’re going to be shamed on the queer equality political action by Salt Lake City? I know there’s a difference between nondiscrimination ordinances and marriage equality, but just for today… SLC Council bravery > NY Senate cowardice.

I only got about 2 to 2 1/2 hours sleep before my alarm was going off and I was dashing down into Chelsea to catch the bus. While I was waiting for our 6am departure one of the local news stations interviewed me. I don’t know which one and I can’t find it online, so if anyone happens to stumble across it, let me know.

I got a bit of random homework done on the bus, but mostly dozed.

As soon as I entered the Metro system in DC I ran into fellow Fordham student Matt and his friend from undergraduate school. After many delays, eventually a group of about 12 or so Fordham OUTLaws members and friends formed together for the march. There were so, so many people that the whole thing seems like a blur, but I remember walking past the White House. That was a proud moment.

You probably got a better experience of the rally than I did by watching it on C-SPAN. Police were bottle-necking the crowd to get onto the lawn, so the audience took forever to really settle in and pay attention. When Cynthia Nixon, Judy Shepard and Dan Choi spoke, that was the most intense and somber part of the day. If you want to hear the speeches, there are better videos, but this is what it was like from my vantage point.

Before the rally was over I had to leave to a) find a place to pee where I wouldn’t be arrested and b) get back to my “leaves at 5pm NO EXCEPTIONS” bus back into the city.

It was an inspiring day. I don’t know that we accomplished anything particularly great in immediate political gains, but I’m not sure that was the point. Nor do I think that firing up the base was the point. I think that the National Equality March was the culmination of a year-long effort to shift the discussion away from being satisfied with incremental state-by-state success and onto an aggressive federal agenda. Utah State Senator Scott McCoy made an excellent point (and I say that because I’ve made this same point numerous times) that change will happen in DC a lot faster than it will happen in Utah, so if we ever plan on helping the Utahns gain equality, we have to put the pressure on Capitol Hill.

Anyway, I won’t embed all the photos, but check out my Flickr set from the day. Here’s a sneak preview:

Yup, bought cheap Halloween wig at CVS and spent the evening singing karaoke songs in my dorm room. I really need to make more friends.

And, yes, they did it better on Glee.

Self-deprecating humor aside, I’m staying in tonight because I have to get on a bus at 6am tomorrow to get down to Washington DC for the National Equality March and Rally. The last major queer rights rally in DC was in 1993 when I was in Nevada, in high school, and in the closet. I really debated whether or not I wanted to go to this one, but in the end I decided that I’d rather be able to tell people “I was there” even if I have concerns about the effectiveness, purpose, goals and value of the demonstration. I’ll be marching with some of the Fordham OUTLaws folks, but hopefully I’ll run into some of the other activists I know from across the country.

Since almost everyone who reads this is also my facebook friend, if you’re at the rally, text me at the number on my FB info page and I’ll try to find you.

August Provost, a 29-year-old sailor found dead at Camp Pendleton in what appears to be an anti-LGBT hate crime.

Apparently, a bisexual sailor may have been brutally murdered because of his sexual orientation. This comes on the heels of several incidents of anti-LGBT hostility over last weekend’s 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots including, ironically, examples of police targeting the LGBT community.

Obama’s continued excuse that ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is the responsibility of the Congress is unconscionable. The Senate’s delay in passing hate crime legislation, including the highly-offensive strategy of attaching it to a defense spending which, according to Barney Frank, Obama has threatened to veto the House version of the defense bill because it contains funding beyond the administration’s request for F-22 fighter jets, is similarly unbelievable.

I agree with some of the more level heads in recent weeks – those who say that we ought to engage in fair analysis of the administration, distinguishing genuine allies from political opportunists, and maybe even a little naive faith, but it is time for strong condemnation backed by effective actions to end this violence from everyone in a position of influence who claims to be an ally to my community.

My tribe is bleeding and it must stop.