National Coming Out Day 2008

October 11th has been celebrated as National Coming Out Day since 1988.

To celebrate it, people come out to others as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered. According to a post I read on the Gay Christian Network, it began in 1988 as a commemoration of a march on Washington the year before.

So just last night my best friend from college found me on Facebook and I came out to him. Though he responded well, I think that may be enough direct coming out for this year's celebration :).

But I did set my Facebook status to reveal my queerness.

Happy National Coming Out Day!

A "Business Trip" Friday Five...

From RevGalBlogPals...

So for today's Friday Five, you're invited to share your experiences with the exciting, challenging world of business travel....

1. Does your job ever call for travel? Is this a joy or a burden?

Yes, it does sometimes. Especially for training.

2. How about that of your spouse or partner?

Well, it was a business trip she took that led to our wedding in Toronto, so I doubt either of us has any complaints about that trip :).

3. What was the best business trip you ever took?

The best one I ever took was the one where I first trained for certification as a healing coach-practitioner. I was SO excited to be learning the healing system I knew would completely change my life and that of my family!!

Boy, was I right!

4. ...and the worst, of course?

LOL! I was working as an addictions counselor and was on a training trip to learn how to do acu-detox.

The bad part? I had this weird stomach flu, so I have hazy memories of the actual training and vivid memories of feeling terribly nauseous and being sick quite frequently!

5. What would make your next business trip perfect?

If all my expenses were paid! :)

"That One"

The following is taken from http://www.thatone08.com/ ...

That One was raised by a single mother and his grandparents. They didn't have much money, but they taught him values from the Kansas heartland where they grew up. He took out loans to put himself through school. After college, he worked for Christian churches in Chicago, helping communities devastated when steel plants closed. That One turned down lucrative job offers after law school to return to Chicago, leading a successful voter registration drive. He joined a small law firm, taught constitutional law and, guided by his Christian faith, stayed active in his community. That One and his wife Michelle are proud parents of two daughters, Sasha and Malia.

EARLY YEARS

That One was born in Hawaii on August 4th, 1961. His father, That One Sr., was born and raised in a small village in Kenya, where he grew up herding goats with his own father, who was a domestic servant to the British.That One's mother, Ann Dunham, grew up in small-town Kansas. Her father worked on oil rigs during the Depression, and then signed up for World War II after Pearl Harbor, where he marched across Europe in Patton's army. Her mother went to work on a bomber assembly line, and after the war, they studied on the G.I. Bill, bought a house through the Federal Housing Program, and moved west to Hawaii.It was there, at the University of Hawaii, where That One's parents met. His mother was a student there, and his father had won a scholarship that allowed him to leave Kenya and pursue his dreams in America.That One's father eventually returned to Kenya, and That One grew up with his mother in Hawaii, and for a few years in Indonesia. Later, he moved to New York, where he graduated from Columbia University in 1983.

THE COLLEGE YEARS

Remembering the values of empathy and service that his mother taught him, That One put law school and corporate life on hold after college and moved to Chicago in 1985, where he became a community organizer with a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment.The group had some success, but That One had come to realize that in order to truly improve the lives of people in that community and other communities, it would take not just a change at the local level, but a change in our laws and in our politics.He went on to earn his law degree from Harvard in 1991, where he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Soon after, he returned to Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer and teach constitutional law. Finally, his advocacy work led him to run for the Illinois State Senate, where he served for eight years. In 2004, he became the third African American since Reconstruction to be elected to the U.S. Senate.

POLITICAL CAREER

It has been the rich and varied experiences of That One's life - growing up in different places with people who had differing ideas - that have animated his political journey. Amid the partisanship and bickering of today's public debate, he still believes in the ability to unite people around a politics of purpose - a politics that puts solving the challenges of everyday Americans ahead of partisan calculation and political gain.In the Illinois State Senate, this meant working with both Democrats and Republicans to help working families get ahead by creating programs like the state Earned Income Tax Credit, which in three years provided over $100 million in tax cuts to families across the state. He also pushed through an expansion of early childhood education, and after a number of inmates on death row were found innocent, Senator That One worked with law enforcement officials to require the videotaping of interrogations and confessions in all capital cases.In the U.S. Senate, he has focused on tackling the challenges of a globalized, 21st century world with fresh thinking and a politics that no longer settles for the lowest common denominator. His first law was passed with Republican Tom Coburn, a measure to rebuild trust in government by allowing every American to go online and see how and where every dime of their tax dollars is spent. He has also been the lead voice in championing ethics reform that would root out Jack Abramoff-style corruption in Congress.As a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Senator That One has fought to help Illinois veterans get the disability pay they were promised, while working to prepare the VA for the return of the thousands of veterans who will need care after Iraq and Afghanistan. Recognizing the terrorist threat posed by weapons of mass destruction, he traveled to Russia with Republican Dick Lugar to begin a new generation of non-proliferation efforts designed to find and secure deadly weapons around the world. And knowing the threat we face to our economy and our security from America's addiction to oil, he's working to bring auto companies, unions, farmers, businesses and politicians of both parties together to promote the greater use of alternative fuels and higher fuel standards in our cars.Whether it's the poverty exposed by Katrina, the genocide in Darfur, or the role of faith in our politics, That One continues to speak out on the issues that will define America in the 21st century. But above all his accomplishments and experiences, he is most proud and grateful for his family. His wife, Michelle, and his two daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, live on Chicago's South Side.

How Racism Works...

Not sure who wrote this, it was forwarded to me by email. But I agree...

What do you think people would be thinking and saying if the candidates positions were reversed?

What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review?

What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said "I do" to?

What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards?

What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?

What if Cindy McCain graduated from Princeton?

What if Obama were a member of the Keating Five? (The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.)

What if McCain were a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

If the candidates positions were reversed like this, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?

This is what racism does.

It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.

PS: What if Barack Obama had an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?