On the road: The nightlife

San Diego is supposed to have perfect weather, except when it doesn't and it certainly was raining cats and dogs yesterday which meant a night at the movies ("Slumdog Millionaire" if you must know).

But late night movies are not all the San Diego nightlife has to offer. There's Pecs on University Avenue, a local bearish gay bar, in which I stumbled into former National Gay and Lesbian Task Force ED Matt Foreman (ok, I didn't stumble upon him, let's say we were taken there). At Pecs, I was regaled with bud lights and was witness to some bearish cruising (sorry, no pics). Weird, it was only once I got there that I realized that I had never visited a gay bar in San Diego during my past visits which shows you how much I hang out at gay bars anywhere, including New York.

You could do worse than heading a little bit outside the San Diego city limits and head over to the casinos at some local indian reservations. Just make sure you take a specific amount of money and leave the bank cards and credit cards at home. If we had stayed longer, I am sure I'd be a slumdog millionaire by now as well. As it was, I won fortunes and lost fortunes but came up almost even plus or minus $30 bucks. The giggles came when I noticed the place was called "Viejas" which in Colombia is what the horny kids call women when they are boasting about their conquests (the literal translation is 'old women' although I'm pretty sure those who chose the name were unaware of what the word means in Spanish).

A more intimate nightlife venture would be to schedule a night to play card games with friends. Except this was a 'card-game-slash-board-game' I had never heard of called Joker which originated in Missouri. I almost got the point of it. Perhaps one more time at the table will make me a Joker expert. The good thing? It's not a betting game so no money lost. Or at least I don't think it was a betting game.

Last night, after the storm had passed and before the flick, we headed to the Ocean Beach burger joint Hodad's. Yum. From the OB dictionary: ho·dad [hö'dád] A person who does not surf, but who spends time at surfing beaches pretending to be a surfer. That's me!

TRNQILO said one of the old license plates hung on the wall and it was. Apparently San Diegoans (San Dieguites? San Diegans?) treat rain storms just like big snow storms up north: Nobody dares to go out! They might slip on a puddle! So the place was eerily TRNQILO or peaceful. That's not natural for Hodad's. The place has always been packed when I've been there before.

Then it was a hop and a skip across the street to get some ice cream. Rex got a cup and spoon...

...I got a sugar cone. Then, half-way through the cookies'n'cream, it hit me: I could have done with only one scoop! The choco-caramel swirl could have waited for another day!!

...hold that thought...

Previously:

• On the road: Not in San Francisco (Dec. 13, 2008)

California Nuptials: Gloria Nieto & Jo Kenny / Matt Foreman & Frank De Leon

Four of my favorite people got married this weekend in California.

Jo Kenny and Gloria Nieto got married on Saturday at their San Jose home surrounded by friends and family on a glorious sunny day. The couple asked guests to donate to the Barack Obama campaign or to the Equality for All campaign in California in lieu of gifts. Equality for All is the lead organization in fighting efforts to nullify the right of same-sex couples in California to marry.

I know that both Jo and Gloria, as so many other people, were mourning the passing of 87 year-old Del Martin on Wednesday, particularly because they personally knew her and her surviving spouse Phyllis Lyon so to be able to celebrate vows in light of the news must have been bittersweet, incredibly moving and life-affirming. Martin and Lyon became the first couple in California to 'remarry' earlier this year when the state officially recognized their right to marry (they had already been married at the 2004 San Francisco ceremonies that pushed California forward on the marriage issue).

I have known Gloria ever since she was a board member of the now-defunct National Latino/a Lesbian and Gay Organization (LLEGO) and have grown closer in recent years. I mean, I did bring her to the Obama side and all! My love to Jo and Gloria and my apologies for not haveing been able to be there to celebrate with them. BTW: The ceremony was officiated (sp?) by the lesbo-rrific councilwoman Jamie McLeod (above with Jo & Gloria). Gloria wants you to know that she is in a tough re-election campaign against a homophobic contender and wants you to support her as well by heading here and finding more about the race. Also, Gloria blogs here.

In the meantime Matt Foreman finally made a good man out of Frank De León (or was it the other way around?). Well, at least they finally stopped living in sin! At least in God's eyes (still, what's up with all that leather? Yikes!).

The boys were married on Saturday in San Francisco with the amazing Shannon Minter officiating (OMG, how LGT of them!). Read all about it in yesterday's New York Times!

Matt I've known forever. At least since he was the Executive Director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project and through his leadership at the Empire State Pride Agenda (he recruited me back then for the agency's board) and through his recent stint as Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. His recent move to san Francisco to become director of gay and immigrant rights programs at the Evelyn & Walter Haas Jr. Fund means we get to see less of Matt here in New York which is sad. Frank, who I've also known forever, continues to run his great FADesign here in New York so hopefully there'll be future lunches with the happy couple. Congrats Matt & Frank!

Photo credits: Photo of Jo and Gloria courtesy of Ed Rader via Gloria; Photo of Matt and Frank taken in February by yours truly at the Creating Change conference in Detroit, MI, as Matt bid a public farewell to the Task Force.

Puerto Rico: Waiting for the other shoe to drop

A year ago this month I was thrilled to hear that a committee drafting a new civil code for the island had included language allowing transgender persons to get new personal ID's matching their gender and also allowing heterosexual couples AND same-sex couples to have access to a civil union measure which would have granted the same rights as marriage.

Since then, Senator Jorge De Castro Font, who chaired the committee, was successful in getting the transgender rights language removed from the draft and has waged a personal war to disband the committee as a means to stop any measure that recognizes any rights for same-sex partners.

Two months ago I noted with dismay that De Castro Font - in yet another move to block any and all recognition of same-sex partnerships - had also been successful in getting the Puerto Rican Senate to vote in favor of an amendment to the island's constitution defining marriage as that between a man and a woman.

De Castro Font and a number of conservative religious leaders put pressure on the House of Representatives to push a similar bill on the closing days of the 2007 legislative session but leaders of the legislative body resisted rushing as delicate a matter as amending the Commonwealth's constitution with little, if any, legislative debate.

Unfortunately, in early January José Aponte, the president of the House of Representatives, indicated that the measure would be taken up by the House in early 2008 and that he was confident that there were enough votes to pass the measure.

Even if both chambers pass the bill, Puerto Rico's Governor, Aníbal Acevedo Vilá would have to sign it for it to become a public referendum. So I hoped that the Governor's recent overtures to the gay community were a signal that he would stand up to the constitutional drive.

Again, I was wrong. As the Associated Press reported on Wednesday, Acevedo Vilá said that he would sign the bill and allow the referendum if the House passes it, even as he feels that such an amendment would be "unnecessary and divisive."

The House of Representatives vote still awaits.

On Friday, Freedom to Marry Executive Director Evan Wolfson told Puerto Rico's El Nuevo Dia that "Gay Puerto Ricans, their loved ones and their families need marriage [rights] and to be treated justly under the law as does anyone else."

He added: "The House of Representatives should stop their cruel and divisive attack on same-sex partners and their children, just as the Governor should reconsider his decision to allow the referendum to take place."

Matt Foreman, Executive Director of ther National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said that "fundamental rights can never be submitted for a popular vote," adding that "Democracy was created to protect minorities from the tyrany of the majority."

We'll see where all of this goes in weeks to come.

ACT UP to General Pace: Your War is Immoral

It's been a while since I told a story in pictures. So here it goes:

Having followed the recent developments regarding the 20th anniversary of ACT UP but having yet to attend one of the planning meetings, this morning I headed over to the first of several demos being planned to mark the occasion. The reason behind it? General Peter Pace's recent comments to the Chicago Tribune in which he called homosexuality "immoral."

With home made-signs that read "Being gay is not immoral, being bigoted is," "Torture is Immoral, Love is Fabulous," "Pace = Hate," and "Don't Ask Don't Tell, General Pace Go to Hell," a lively and lovely crowd of about 200 to 250 people showed up to the protest following Larry Kramer's call to arms on Tuesday.

Kramer (top picture) was among the participants and at one point joined Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum and National gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman in knocking on the door of the Times Square Armed Forces recruitment office (or "Career Center" as they call it), but they might have known that ACT UP would be showing up because the Center remained shut and no one was inside.

Rainbow flag creator Gilbert Baker brought along a 100 foot flag that participants used to frame the protest and surround the recruitment center.

This was the same flag that Matt Foreman and Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum used at the end of the protest to stop traffic in an act of civil disobedience as they extended it across 7th Avenue. Mr. Foreman and Rabbi Kleinbaum were first warned by police officers and then quickly arrested after they sat down and would not budge.

The flag was also taken into custody.

As he promised after the Larry Kramer speech on Tuesday, former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey also showed up (that's me next to him in the bottom pic). Actually, he was amongst the first to arrive and offered to pick up coffee for me at Starbucks, alas, by the time he got back from Starbucks the protest was in full swing. Gay City News and Gay USA reporter Andy Humm spent most of his time doing an extensive interview with the former Governor so expect a detailed report in the next issue of GCN.

ACT UP'ers seen: Andrew Velez (with a "Queer Tortilla" ACT UP shirt), Eric Rhein (who wore his gay uncle's army jacket), Ann Northrop and Eric Sawyer, among others.

As well as: Puerto Rico Para Tod@s Pedro Julio Serrano, Village Voice gossip columnist Michael Musto, political mavens Allen Roskoff and Alan Fleishman, cutie patootie retired detective (and former Gay Officers Action League president) Edgar Rodriguez, Sirius radio personality and author Michaelangelo Signorile, blogger Joe.My.God and some misplaced tourists who just loved all those rainbow flags and angry fags.

What other blogs are saying:

• Queer Justice League
• Rex Wockner (for whom I actually was "on assignment" today when I took the pics)
• Joe.My.God
• Towleroad
• Good As You
• Pam's House Blend
• The Mad Professor Lectures
• Miss Wild Thing
• Andrew Sullivan
• Gothamist
• It All Goes Here
• Radioactive Quill
• The Fifth Column
• The Stranger's SLOG
  

MANY, MANY MORE PICS AT MY FOTKI SITE. Please ask for permission before using.

COVERAGE:

• "American Gay Group ACT UP Resurrected as General Pace Targeted in New York" (UK Gay News)
• "Gay Rights Activists Protest Pace's Remarks" (NY1)