lifeonq.com

Last Chance for Advance Voting

Bizarrely, Georgia law prohibits early voting after today.  This is your last chance to get your vote in before the expected long lines on election day next Tuesday.  If you want to get your vote in, now’s the time.  Georgia Queers, go scare some Republicans this Halloween and early vote.  A complete list of early voting locations for your county are available on the Georgia Secretary of State Website.  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is publishing information on current wait times at various locations on their Website. Here’s a quick list of many of the advance voting locations in the metro Atlanta area:

More »

Atlanta Lesbians Have Many Trick-or-Treating Options this Halloween

There are several treats in store for Atlanta lesbians this Halloween, with a handful of parties and special events to choose from.  If you’re looking for the best lesbian bar or party to show off your Halloween costume, here are your options:

Bellissima, Atlanta’s newest and chicest lesbian bar, will hold its first annual Halloween Bash featuring DJ Vicki Powell.  There will be a costume contest with $100 in cash and prizes.  There’s a $5 cover.  If you haven’t been there yet, you should go. Bellisima is located in the former Miss Q’s space in Amsterdam Walk in Midtown.  Don’t worry about fighting for parking in this popular club and restaurant haunt–there’s free, complimentary valet parking at Bellissima.

Girlology 101 and Girls in the Night will present Girlz & Goblins: The Bewitching at the Park Tavern, 500 10th St., Atlanta, from 10 pm - 3am.  Enterntainment will include DJ Dimples from Miami and DJ Deja Vu from New York City, plus a $500 cash prize for the best costume (costumes recommended but not required).  And just added to the lineup is the Tiffany Scott dance troop, performing Thriller. There’s a $10 cover all night, but everyone drinks free before midnight, and if you bring any girlology or girls in the night membership card, you can get in free before 11:30 pm.

My Sister’s Room in East Atlanta will host Immortal Embrace:  A Night of Vampire Glam.  Doors open at 8 pm and there’s an $8 cover charge.  There will be a performance by the Court of Kings followed by DJ MD, plus a vampire costume contest.

Paris Decatur will hold a Halloween Party and Costume Contest - 8 pm - 2 am.  The winner gets a $100 bar tab. Drag King show at 10 pm; DJ Dr Dre at 11 pm. The bar remains open till 4 am.

Traxx Girls will host a Dreamz & Nightmares Fashion Show by High Heel Productions at Club Miami on Buford Highway.  There will also be a $500 costume contest.

Lizzy’s Lezzy Halloween Humor

To get you in the mood for Halloween, here’s a funny Halloween video from Lizzy the Lezzy.  Trick or treat!

Ga Equality Rallying Support for LGBT Voter Mobilization

Georgia Equality (GE) has announced a special event just before the election to raise funds for its Rally The Vote 08 effort.  An evening of cocktails and politics to support the work of Georgia Equality will be held on Wednesday, October 29 from 6 till 9 pm at Einstein’s on Juniper Street in Midtown.  GE will recognize the important role gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Georgians will play in this year’s elections.

From local offices to the presidency, candidates for political office are spending more time and effort courting our community than ever before.  Funds raised by the Rally the Vote event will support the group’s work to educate and mobilize LGBT voters and support ongoing work to advance fairness, safety and opportunity for LGBT citizens and their allies.

You can RSVP or inquire about becoming an official sponsor for the event here.  If you can’t attend, you can still make a donation to help support GE here.  If you do plan to attend, the suggested donation is $35.  Host committee and business sponsorships are available beginning at $100.  For more information, you can e-mail
geinfo@georgiaequality.org or call them at 404-327-9898.

Things to Do in Connecticut: Get Gay Married

Aahh, autumn in New England.  There is so much beauty.  Take Connecticut for example.  Many of us outside of the Northeast think of it only as New York City’s suburb, but this charming little state has a lot to offer, and enjoys a special place in history.  For example, did you know the hamburger was invented there?  Did you know that Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn were created in Mark Twain’s house in Hartford?  Did you know that his neighbor was Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin broke new literary and social ground?  Did you know that you can now get gay-married in the Constitution State?

George W. Bush, that “Texas cowboy” who was actually born in Hartford, Connecticut, must be turning in his political grave.  CNN reports that the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled today that gay and lesbian couples have the right to get married.  That makes the Constitution State the third in the country to legalize gay marriage, after Massachusetts and California.  It was actually first to legalize civil unions in 2005.  In its ruling, the Connecticut Supreme Court said that equal protection means equal protection, whether the rights in question are for gays and lesbians or any other citizen:

“To decide otherwise would require us to apply one set of constitutional principles to gay persons and another to all others. The guarantee of equal protection under the law, and our obligation to uphold that command, forbids us from doing so. In accordance with these state constitutional requirements, same sex couples cannot be denied the freedom to marry.”

So go ahead, go leaf-watching.  You can get gay married while you’re there. You might even include the Connecticut state song, Yankee Doodle, in your ceremony.

Live Blogging the Pain and Suffering of Another Presidential Debate

9:10 pm - Jeez, I never realized what a smartass John McCain is. Within the first minute of his first remarks, he said it was good to finally see Sen. Obama at a town hall meeting, with a smirk. He is a true red Republican. Sarcasm and belittling–that’s a strategy I can believe in.

9:15 - Wow, Sen. Obama just actually answered a question that Sen. McCain answered with talking points. But actually answering questions doesn’t seem to be the measure of debate performances these days.

9:18 McCain again tries to cover his gaff about the “fundamentals of our economy” being “sound” by stroking the “American Worker.” If the American Worker is so productive and the best in the world, why are all our jobs going overseas?

9:25 McCain is all revved up about alternative energy. Too bad he keeps voting against it.

9:46 McCain is going on and on about Obama’s tax plan. Here’s an idea: let Obama talk about his plan–you talk about yours. Deal? Oh. You don’t have one.

9:41 Another smartass comment from McCain. “Tom, I’ll answer the question.” Too bad you didn’t instruct your running mate to do that a week ago. I wish Obama would say, “John, this has got to stop. Just stop it with the political rhetoric. Times are tough. Let’s get past this and talk about our plans.”

9:44 Nuclear energy is clean? Really?

9:53 I love watching the uncommitted voter graph on CNN. When Obama speaks, it goes to off the top of the charts. When McCain speaks, it flat lines or sags. It gives me hope.

9:55 McCain admits he could use a hair transplant. He is very old. And senile.

10:03 Jeez, Obama keeps answering the questions. What is he thinking?

10:06 My friends…My friends. Mr. McCain, you are NOT my friend.

10:11 McCain brings up his BFF Teddy Roosevelt again. I think he must have gone to school with him.

10:13 Obama insists on a follow up. McCain says if he gets one, I want one. Republicans. So selfish.

10:19 Patraeus. Patraeus. Rock me Dave Patraeus! John McCain is in love.

10:33 Time to play the Prisoner of War card.

10:36 Well, Sen. Obama clearly won. Now I’ll watch all the analysts tell me how Sen. McCain won.

Wake Up and Smell the Democracy

If you’re the type who often procrastinates, and you have not yet registered to vote, then you’ve done it again. Today is the last day to register to vote in Georgia. It’s the same in many other states as well, with deadlines sweeping across the country.  If you wait, it will be too late.

You can register to vote online a number of places, including declareyourself.com, headcount.org, or here in Georgia, you can download the form directly from the Secretary of State’s office. If you’ve always believed that your vote doesn’t make a difference, well then, just take a look in your wallet.  Open your 401(k) statement. Visit Arlington National Cemetery in Washington D.C. and pay your respects to all the soldiers killed in Iraq.  You might want to pack a lunch–there are a lot of them.  Think about the complete clusterf@$& we’re in, and then think again about whether or not your vote matters.  The truth is that if you don’t vote, you (and the rest of us) are in danger of getting another radical, right-wing, war-mongering, gay hating leader.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I can take another four years. Can you?  Your vote does matter.  Many elections here in Georgia are won or lost by only a few hundred votes or less.

Declare Yourself, a nonprofit, politically neutral organization, began in 2004 to encourage young people (and old alike) to register and vote.  Over a million people did. This year, with the help of celebrities like Jessica Alba, Leonardo diCaprio and Ellen Degeneres, Declare Yourself is using the power of social networks like myspace to try to help make sure everyone is awake and paying attention. I am paying attention, and I’m more than a little worried.  Isn’t it time you woke up, smelled the coffee, and registered to vote?  Do it now.  Right now.  Here in Georgia, this is your last chance.

Down the Rabbit Hole with Sarah Palin

Kudos to Aden Nak for putting together this amazingly accurate and hilarious flow chart that makes Sarah Palin’s nonsensical performance in the vice presidential debate fit some sort of logic.

Nothing Palin said made much sense to me until I ran across Aden Nak’s explanation.  Now I understand that in her frozen tundra of a brain, it was clearly perfectly executed.  And down the rabbit hole we go!  Wheeeeee!

Palin Supports Gay Rights But Not Gay Rights

I have not been able to blog for a while now. The complete disintegration of my country has had me speechless. Between the stock market crash, McCain “suspending” his campaign to hang out in New York for a while and the House of Representatives deciding to torpedo all our 401(k)’s with the convenient excuse that Speaker Nancy Pelosi upset them….I can only stare at CNN slack-jawed, shaking my head.

As far as the Pelosi speech goes, I listened to it, and there was nothing any more partisan than anyone else from either party has said for the last eight years. It in fact was only one percent as inflammatory as most of what comes out of the mouths of Republicans. And what’s more, even if she had said, “Fuck all you Republicans! May you burn in hell.” — that is no excuse for not doing the right thing for our country. What happened to “country first?”  It’s pretty absurd when that faggot Barney Frank has to tell you to man up.

Tonight, as I write this, I think I’m nearing a stroke from the rise in my blood pressure. The vice presidential debate has been over for well more than an hour, and four Advil later, my temples are still throbbing. Nothing Palin said made any sense–just pick a random set of English words and mix them up. As long as the phrases “Maverick,” “Washington outsider,” “executive experience” and the like are spewed with that folksy smile and a bat of eyelashes, Republicans will get a hard on and run to the polls for relief. Does anyone know where I can get a tranquilizer or something? My BP may not go down for days.

There were many bizzaro moments in the debate, but one interesting one for us queers was Palin’s seemingly pro-gay stance on equal rights. She doesn’t want to “change the definition of marriage,” but she does believe that gay people should have the right to visit their partners in the hospital or own a home together. The poor ignorant moose killer doesn’t know that there are over 1,000 laws that prohibit or make monumentally difficult those rights, because they use the word “marriage.”  Apparently she’s been too busy using helicopters for moose combat to read her bible, which clearly defines traditional marriage:  Governor Palin is actually the property of her “First Dude.”

This is only one of the many naive statements she has made since being shoved into the national spotlight for the purpose of giving anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-American right-wingers a hard on. I don’t think she’s a total idiot. Okay, maybe I do. She is just not ready, by any definition, to hold such a high office. Two wars, North Korea, Pakistan, the economy, the environment…people, this is serious. We all have to get out and do something to be sure as many thinking people as possible vote, and of course vote ourselves. Otherwise, you’ll find me in line at the French Embassy, where I’ll be pleading for my visa.