We're Not Letting This Go...

I hope that most of my readers (if there are any of you left) have heard about the raid on the Rainbow Lounge in Fort Worth on June 28th. TABC Officers, assisted by Ft. Worth Police, brutalized 6 people in a supposed "site check" of the bar, which had only been open for ONE WEEK. One of those 6, Chad Gibson, was hospitalized because they bashed his head in. His skull was fractured and he had a subdural hematoma. Chad is a small person, he weighs less than 150 lbs. Yes, he was drunk, but eyewitnesses state that he was not combative or resisting when the officers came into the bar.

The irony of the situation? It happened forty years to the HOUR of Stonewall. That can not be a coincidence.

Fort Worth Police and the TABC have issued this statement about what happened; there is an "investigation" going on at the moment, and the TABC officers involved have been assigned desk duty while that happens. The Ft. Worth police department has suspended operations with the TABC until this is figured out. However, no answers have been forthcoming.

Lately, my lovely wife and I have been active with a group called QueerLiberaction. We attended a "Milk Box" forum (after Harvey Milk) on July 5th, and we attended the rally in Fort Worth on July 12th. There has been little to no local media coverage of these events. They have been peaceful, organized, and non-threatening. This video, made by a friend of ours, shows scenes from the rally and short "sound bites" from people who were there. Why isn't THIS being shown in the press?



Instead, what leads the online coverage today in the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram is this. Why is it that when we're doing our thing peacefully, we get no attention? There were three hundred people in Fort Worth on Sunday. We stopped traffic on Main Street when we marched to City Hall to post our demands on the doors. There has been NO mention of this in any of the local press, except for two small TV soundbites, one on ABC, the other on NBC. The Dallas Morning News and the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram have not covered this protest at all online. The few papers that have covered the story have relegated it to back pages and small blurbs. But as soon as we show up en masse at a Ft. Worth City Counsel meeting, THAT makes the news. When we get ejected from that meeting for voicing our concerns, THAT makes the news.

When does it stop? When do we get our say?

The reason that we're out there, rallying, marching, fighting for our civil rights is because we're tired of being treated like someone else's problem. We intend to get what has been promised to us since Stonewall, and what "normal" people have had seemingly forever. We deserve our Civil Rights. And we're not going to stop until we get them.

Today Has Songs!

I heard this walking to the office this morning and it totally resonated.

School Night

She went over to his apartment
Clutching her decision
And he said, "did you come here to tell me goodbye?"
So she built a skyscraper of procrastination
And then she leaned out the twenty-fifth floor window
Of her reply
And she felt like an actress
Just reading her lines
When she finally said
"Yes. it's really goodbye this time."
And far below was the blacktop
And the tiny toy cars
And it all fell so fast
And it all fell so far

And she said:
"You are a miracle but that is not all
You are also a stiff drink and i am on call
You are a party and i am a school night
And i'm lookin' for my door key
But you are my porch light

And you'll never know, dear
Just how much i loved you
You'll probably think this was
Just my big excuse
But i stand committed
To a love that came before you
And the fact that i adore you
Is but one of my truths."

"What of the mother
Whose house is in flames
And both of her children
Are in their beds crying
And she loves them both
With the whole of her heart
But she knows she can only
Carry one at a time?
She's choking on the smoke
Of unthinkable choices
She is haunted by the voices
Of so many desires
She's bent over from the business
Of begging forgiveness
While frantically running around
Putting out fires"

"But then what kind of scale
Compares the weight of two beauties
The gravity of duties
Or the ground speed of joy?
Tell me what kind of gauge
Can quantify elation?
What kind of equation
Could i possibly employ?
And you'll never know, dear
Just how much i loved you
You probably think this was
Just my big excuse
But i stand committed
To a love that came before you
And the fact that i adore you
Is just one of my truths"

"so i
i'm goin' home
to please the one i so love pleasing
and i don't expect
he'll have much sympathy for my grieving
but i guess that this is the price
that we pay for the privilege
of living for even a day
in a world with so many things
worth believing
in."

--Ani DiFranco

Collide

The dawn is breaking
A light shining through
You're barely waking
And I'm tangled up in you, yeah

I'm open, you're closed
Where I follow, you'll go
I worry I won't see your face
Light up again

Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the wrong words seem to rhyme
Out of the doubt that fills my mind
I somehow find you and I collide

I'm quiet you know
You make a first impression
I've found I'm scared to know
I'm always on your mind

Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the stars refuse to shine
Out of the back you fall in time
I somehow find you and I collide

Don't stop here
I lost my place
I'm close behind

Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the wrong words seem to rhyme
Out of the doubt that fills your mind
You finally find you and I collide

You finally find you and I collide
You finally find you and I collide

-- Howie Day

Time After Time

Lying in my bed I hear the clock tick,
And think of you
Caught up in circles confusion
Is nothing new
Flashback warm nights
Almost left behind
Suitcases of memories,
Time after

Sometimes you picture me
I'm walking too far ahead
You're calling to me, I can't hear
What you've said
Then you say go slow
I fall behind
The second hand unwinds

If you're lost you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall I will catch you I'll be waiting
Time after time

If you're lost you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall I will catch you I'll be waiting
Time after time

After my picture fades and darkness has
Turned to gray
Watching through windows you're wondering
If I'm ok
Secrets stolen from deep inside
The drum beats out of time

If you're lost you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall I will catch you I'll be waiting
Time after time

You said go slow
I fall behind
The second hand unwinds

If you're lost you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall I will catch you I'll be waiting
Time after time

If you're lost you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall I will catch you I'll be waiting
Time after time

Time after time
Time after time
Time after time

-- Cyndi Lauper (covered by Rob Thomas)

Today Has Songs

Trouble

Oh no, I see,
A spider web is tangled up with me,
And I lost my head,
The thought of all the stupid things I said,
Oh no, what's this?
A spider web, and I'm caught in the middle,
So I turned to run,
The thought of all the stupid things I've done,

I never meant to cause you trouble,
And I never meant to do you wrong,
And I, well if I ever caused you trouble,
Oh no, I never meant to do you harm.

Oh no, I see,
A spider web and its me in the middle,
So I twist and turn,
Here I am in my little bubble,
Singing

I never meant to cause you trouble,
I never meant to do you wrong,
And I, well if I ever caused you trouble,
Oh no, I never meant to do you harm.

They spun a web for me,
They spun a web for me,
They spun a web for me.

-- Coldplay

Over You

Now that it's all said and done,
I can't believe you were the one
To build me up and tear me down,
Like an old abandoned house.
What you said when you left
Just left me cold and out of breath.
I fell too far, was in way too deep.
Guess I let you get the best of me.

Well, I never saw it coming;
I should've started running
A long, long time ago.
And I never thought I'd doubt you,
I'm better off without you
More than you, more than you know.
I'm slowly getting closure
I guess it's really over
I'm finally getting better
And now I'm picking up the pieces,
I'm spending all of these years
Putting my heart back together.
'Cause the day I thought I'd never get through,
I got over you.

You took a hammer to these walls,
Dragged the memories down the hall,
Packed your bags and walked away.
There was nothing I could say.
And when you slammed the front door shut,
A lot of others opened up,
So did my eyes so I could see
That you never were the best for me.

Well, I never saw it coming.
I should've started running
A long, long time ago.
And I never thought I'd doubt you,
I'm better off without you
More than you, more than you know.
I'm slowly getting closure;
I guess it's really over.
I'm finally getting better
And now I'm picking up the pieces
I'm spending all of these years
Putting my heart back together.
'Cause the day I thought I'd never get through,
I got over you.

Well, I never saw it coming.
I should've started running
A long, long time ago.
And I never thought I'd doubt you,
I'm better off without you
More than you, more than you know.

Well, I never saw it coming.
I should've started running
A long, long time ago.
And I never thought I'd doubt you,
I'm better off without you
More than you, more than you know.
I'm slowly getting closure.
I guess it's really over.
I'm finally getting better.
And now I'm picking up the pieces.
I'm spending all of these years
Putting my heart back together.
Well I'm putting my heart back together,
'Cause I got over you.
Well I got over you.
I got over you.
'Cause the day I thought I'd never get through,
I got over you.


--Daughtry

How to Save a Life

Step one, you say "we need to talk,"
He walks; you say "sit down it's just a talk."
He smiles politely back at you;
You stare politely right on through
Some sort of window to your right
As he goes left and you stay right
Between the lines of fear and blame
And you begin to wonder why you came

Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And would I have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life

Let him know that you know best
Cause after all you do know best
Try to slip past his defense
Without granting innocence
Lay down a list of what is wrong
The things you've told him all along
And I pray to God he hears you
And I pray to God he hears you

Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And would I have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life

As he begins to raise his voice
You lower yours and grant him one last choice
Drive until you lose the road
Or break with the ones you've followed
He will do one of two things
You will admit to everything
Or he'll say he's just not the same
And you'll begin to wonder why you came

Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And would I have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life

How to save a life
How to save a life

--The Fray