I had a good Fourth of July. I know that's the kind of opening line that you use when writing to relatives that you really have nothing to say to so you talk about national holidays, but I truly and honestly did have a good one. It's like this: I got to snuggle with my baby (Daniela) during the fireworks and it made it all so much better. At least once I got past that nagging thought in the back of my head that someone was going to come up and light my hair on fire with a sparkler because of my "moral emptiness". Hate crimes and homophobia are terrifying, to say the least (understatement of the year) and as a result Daniela and I hardly ever even touch each other in public. I mean, the PDA is not something that one ever wants to witness but a little handholding is fine by me. Except if we do it it's either a political statement or so nerve-wracking that it's hard to keep up unless we're certain that we're in an ok area. I don't know, you feel like I should have a good newspaper columnist Mary Schmidt wrap-up to this, but I don't. I feel a little bit of bitching about homophobia is warranted even if it comes and goes out of the blue. And now let's go back up that that nice little segue "unless we're certain that we're in an ok area" and jump into the...

...Dyke March! Woo! Actually, Daniela wasn't there for that so I went with Danielle, my stand-in girlfriend (just kidding). Funny story: When Danielle went with me to the Matthew Shepard March this year, we got there early to help tape signs together and people thought she was my girlfriend...teehee. I loved the Dyke March. It was so much fun to be in this area with essentially all gay women making ourselves heard. It was empowering. It seems that so many glbt things really are only for the g (male) part of that acronym for whatever reason, possibly the same one that creates a male dominance in every other aspect of life and to think that the gay community would be immune is foolish. Not that I am a supporter of any type of separate but equal programming, but it was nice to just be in an event led by and surrounded by women. I can't help it that I love the ladies.

Oh man, and the Pride Parade for a full recap. What can I say? I got a great spot, got some great freebies and had a party basically. It's the new years of the gay calendar year, of course it's going to be fun. I hope all this political talk wasn't too much, I know I can get a little hard to follow. I'm gonna try to get some way for feedback to get to me so let me know what you think once I get that figured out.