Jason

Jason Stuart has been making people laugh out loud with his hysterical performances all over the country since coming out in 1993. He has accomplished what few other gay comics have ever achieved: brutal honesty with humor in a world that’s not always kind. Not only is Jason an all-out crowd pleaser, but he transcends the boundaries of race, gender and sexual orientation with his edgy comedic style. Jason’s material about his experiences as a single Jewish gay man living in Hollywood is original, cutting edge and just plain funny. Jason has appeared in hundreds of film/TV projects including The Closer, Will & Grace, George Lopez, Everybody Hates Chris, House, M.D., It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Kindergarten Cop, Vegas Vacation, and HBO hit, Gia.

Support Jason by visiting his website where you can find all of his up to date news and appearances:
http://jasonstuart.com/index.htm

102509

Where to begin…

Let’s start with yesterday. Woke up, tutored, went to work, came home and tutored some more, went to dinner with Lauren and Regine, went to Lauren’s house and got wasted and high and slept over. Realized that night that I was a lesbian. So here I am coming out. Yay? I had a feeling for a while that I was but I never really wanted to accept that fact. But I like guys too. Sort of.. so I guess Bi really is a thing. Hm. I don’t know. Confused is a definite.

Came home this morning and found my phone with 11 missed calls and 3 texts – one from Red, one from Maxey, and one from Alex. Jawesome. Red wanted to know where I was last night because he was at Valjon’s and I was supposed to be there but I totally was wasted at another house. Maxey just wants a rebound. Alex… oh Alex. *shakes head* I called the house phone and mom said that David ran away. So here’s the story. My brothers went to homecoming last night. Aaron came home a bit earlier than David did. When David came home, mom flipped a shit and told him to go so he went to his friend’s house and spent the night. David came home in the morning and mom called the cops or something beforehand to go find him and I was greeted by an officer as I walked in the door this morning. Hungover, I introduced myself and answered his drolling questions. When the cop left, I found David upstairs crying his eyes out so I locked him and myself in his room and I just hugged him and we talked for a bit. He’s going through what I had to go through a couple months ago. That’s when I lost Eddy as a friend and lost many others. I took him and his friends out to lunch at Ruby’s before I started work. Good times. Not really. I’m tired as shit.

[PS: This is my 100th post!! ^_^ Yayzies!]

dangerous generalizations

i don’t claim to really know anything. a lot of the things i say are said just off the top of my head as ideas. i never mean or intend to implicate anything by them. that being said, roommate and i were having a conversation on homosexuality which is now a norm in our everyday life considering where we live and who we hang out with.

both of us are straight, and by straight i mean we’ve only been in relationships with males. sure, we’ve kissed a girl and we liked it, blah blah blah. however, we are both very free-spirited, open-minded people. meaning, we don’t rule anything out, and who’s to say that falling in love with another female won’t happen later in life.

so we’re sitting on our couch watching johnny depp butcher willy wonka in the creepiest most off-putting way, and we begin discussing homosexuality. the gist of our entire conversation is that it’s strange how straight people generalize gay men and lesbian women as homosexuals, when in actuality the two types of homosexuality are very different. many of the lesbian women that i’ve met in my life don’t really like men. they’re not particular on straight women, or it takes more effort and a longer time period to become close because of their association to men. these lesbians that i’ve met are generally disgusted with their past interactions with the male species. whereas gay men (again, the ones i know and love) adore women in an idyllic sense. they don’t want to be with women, but they want to be like them. they take on a certain catty, divalicious persona trying to resemble the most outlandish characteristics they perceive in women.

i don’t know. it’s interesting, and i think a more accurate categorization instead of heteros and homos is men, women and gay men, and lesbian women, but that’s not even getting into transexuals, bisexuals, etc..

why do we label and pre-judge? we’re all just looking for acceptance.

Devin Nunes Votes NO on Defense Bill

In his ongoing attempts to deny LGBT citizens in his district the protection of Federal law available to others,  21st District Representative Devin Nunes (R), voted against the Conference Report: H.R. 2647: National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2010.

It’s interesting that there is no mention of this on Nunes’ official website, here. For a complete listing of votes, you can check the Govtrack website, here.

281 yes votes vs 146 no votes sent the bill onto the President, who has indicated he will sign the legislation.

Information on the current bill available on CNN’s site.

Elected “leaders” are seldom that.  They are most often “followers”.  Followers of polls, donations, and party marching orders.  Very seldom will you see any of them actually standing up against unpopular opinions and doing the right thing, the very essence of “leadership”.  Instead, they hold their fingers up to the wind to see which way to follow the crowds.  Pandering to the greatest number of votes or political fund donations, they use excuses like “the will of my constituents” to deny minorities equal protection.

In this vote, Devin Nunes displays his lock-step devotion to the party’s rabid anti gay members, and voted no on a bill to fund our troops at a time when we are involved in two wars.   Way to support the troops, Devin!

I hope that eventually the people of the 21st District realize that Devin Nunes is not serving their needs, and send him home to his cows.  In one of the poorest districts in California, and possibly the nation, we see no support for issues that directly impact the poverty, illiteracy, and pregnancy rates that most determine the quality of life here.  The only support anyone gets from Nunes is if they are wealthy farmers or dairymen.  The average citizen here might be forgiven if they thought they were living in a third world country, rather than the richest on the planet.

Hate Crime Bill To Obama

Got this from CNN…..GOOD STUFF!!

——————————-

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Senate passed groundbreaking legislation Thursday that would make it a federal crime to assault an individual because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity.

The expanded federal hate crimes law now goes to President Obama’s desk. Obama has pledged to sign the measure, which was added to a $680 billion defense authorization bill.

President George W. Bush had threatened to veto a similar measure.

The bill is named for Matthew Shepard, a gayWyoming teenager who died after being kidnapped and severely beaten in October 1998, and James Byrd Jr., an African-American man dragged to death in Texas the same year.

“Knowing that the president will sign it, unlike his predecessor, has made all the hard work this year to pass it worthwhile,” said Judy Shepard, board president of the Matthew Shepard Foundation named for her son. “Hate crimes continue to affect far too many Americans who are simply trying to live their lives honestly, and they need to know that their government will protect them from violence, and provide appropriate justice for victims and their families.”

Several religious groups have expressed concern that a hate-crimes law could be used to criminalize conservative speech relating to subjects such as abortion or homosexuality.

Attorney General Eric Holder has asserted that any federal hate-crimes law would be used only to prosecute violent acts based on bias, as opposed to the prosecution of speech based on controversial racial or religious beliefs.

Holder called Thursday’s 68-29 Senate vote to approve the defense spending bill that included the hate crimes measure “a milestone in helping protect Americans from the most heinous bias-motivated violence.”Watch survivor of attack discuss legislation »

“The passage of this legislation will give the Justice Department and our state and local law enforcement partners the tools we need to deter and prosecute these acts of violence,” he said in a statement.

Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, called the measure “our nation’s first major piece of civil rights legislation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.”

“Too many in our community have been devastated by hate violence,” Solmonese said in a statement. “We now can begin the important steps to erasing hate in our country.”

This month, Obama told the Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest gay rights group, that the nation still needs to make significant changes to ensure equal rights for gays and lesbians.

“Despite the progress we’ve made, there are still laws to change and hearts to open,” he said during his address at the dinner for the Human Rights Campaign. “This fight continues now, and I’m here with the simple message: I’m here with you in that fight.”

Among other things, Obama has called for the repeal of the ban on gays serving openly in the military, the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. He also has urged Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and pass the Domestic Partners Benefit and Obligations Act.

The Defense of Marriage Act defines marriage, for federal purposes, as a legal union between a man and a woman. It allows states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages. The Domestic Partners Benefit and Obligations Act would extend family benefits now available to heterosexual federal employees to gay and lesbian federal workers.

More than 77,000 hate-crime incidents were reported by the FBI between 1998 and 2007, or “nearly one hate crime for every hour of every day over the span of a decade,” Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee in June.

The FBI, Holder added, reported 7,624 hate-crime incidents in 2007, the most current year with complete data.

———————

For the original link, click here: Hate Crime Goes to Obama

Devin Nunes Votes NO on Defense Bill

In his ongoing attempts to deny LGBT citizens in his district the protection of Federal law available to others,  21st District Representative Devin Nunes (R), voted against the Conference Report: H.R. 2647: National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2010.

It’s interesting that there is no mention of this on Nunes’ official website, here. For a complete listing of votes, you can check the Govtrack website, here.

281 yes votes vs 146 no votes sent the bill onto the President, who has indicated he will sign the legislation.

Information on the current bill available on CNN’s site.

Elected “leaders” are seldom that.  They are most often “followers”.  Followers of polls, donations, and party marching orders.  Very seldom will you see any of them actually standing up against unpopular opinions and doing the right thing, the very essence of “leadership”.  Instead, they hold their fingers up to the wind to see which way to follow the crowds.  Pandering to the greatest number of votes or political fund donations, they use excuses like “the will of my constituents” to deny minorities equal protection.

In this vote, Devin Nunes displays his lock-step devotion to the party’s rabid anti gay members, and voted no on a bill to fund our troops at a time when we are involved in two wars.   Way to support the troops, Devin!

I hope that eventually the people of the 21st District realize that Devin Nunes is not serving their needs, and send him home to his cows.  In one of the poorest districts in California, and possibly the nation, we see no support for issues that directly impact the poverty, illiteracy, and pregnancy rates that most determine the quality of life here.  The only support anyone gets from Nunes is if they are wealthy farmers or dairymen.  The average citizen here might be forgiven if they thought they were living in a third world country, rather than the richest on the planet.

So Let Me Get This Straight

This country needs, among all the other things it is lacking, expanded hate crime legislation at the federal level for assaulting a person because of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Not to disparage Matthew Shepard, after whom the Senate bill is partly named, but is it not enough to try those individuals involved in his death for kidnapping and murder?  Is Wyoming so lame that the state cannot properly prosecute and punish those responsible for his death?  And is it really worthy of federal tax money being spent to go after the culprits?

Get real!  I don’t think so.

Making something a federal offense does not stop the crime from being committed.  Those intent on spreading hate or acting out in a hateful way on racial grounds continue to do so without regard for what level of violation it may be.  If not true, then racially motivated crimes would be nonexistent—and the are not.

CNN’s article contains the following: “Knowing that the president will sign it, unlike his predecessor, has made all the hard work this year to pass it worthwhile,” said Judy Shepard, board president of the Matthew Shepard Foundation named for her son. “Hate crimes continue to affect far too many Americans who are simply trying to live their lives honestly, and they need to know that their government will protect them from violence, and provide appropriate justice for victims and their families.”

Judy, you are sadly mistaken if you think this legislation will protect anyone.  But the second half of what you say can provide hope.  The government WILL NOT protect potential targets from violence, BUT you can be assure that federal tax dollars will be spent on top of local tax dollars to “provide appropriate justice for victims and their families”.  AFTER THE FACT.

You see, few laws or regulations at the federal level protect people at all.  We have the FDA, yet hundreds die each year from food-borne illnesses, improper medication, or botched medical procedures.  The regulations did not protect those victims.  It is up to those covered by the regulations and laws to voluntarily comply or face consequences.  Many do what they have to do or can get by with until or unless there’s an issue.  Then, of course, things change quickly due to the microscopic attention they are given.

Seat belt laws do not protect people or save lives.  It is the voluntary compliance with those laws that save lives.  Those who do not care about the laws disregard them and may end up a casualty of their own stupidity.  But the law does not protect them.

Hand gun laws do not protect people or save lives.  It is the voluntary compliance with those laws that save lives.  And for those who do not follow laws or regulations, we hear about as many stories of accidental shootings, armed robberies, homicides, and guns in schools.  Those who are law-abiding citizens follow the law on such matters and I would contend that these are not the ones we should worry about.  It is the gang member or drug dealer with the gun—someone who has no respect for the law in the first place—that we need to worry about.  You see, he’s going to have the gun and use it no matter what the law say.  And the law cannot protect you from him.

Similarly, someone intent on attacking someone based on his or her sexual orientation or identity is not going to first stop and think, “Gee, if I hit this person, I may go to federal lock-up rather than county or state”.  No, it doesn’t happen that way.  For that perp, the law means nothing.  For the intended victim, the law protects nothing.  For the victim’s family, it will be little comfort that there’s an extra book to throw at the bum.

OK, let’s play this out in another direction.  I go into a bar one night and am surprised to find out that it’s a lesbian bar.  But I only find out after I hit on a woman who’s sitting at the bar by herself.  Her partner comes along and doesn’t appreciate my hetero orientation or attempts to play it out with her partner.  She calls me some straight slur or insults my genitals before decking me.  Is this assault worthy of federal attention because it’s based on MY sexual orientation, even though I’m not gay?

Seems it would be.

So let me get this straight—our economy is in the crapper, we’re fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, unemployment is rampant, H1N1 is everywhere, and the priority for the Congress and President is to “protect” the GLBT community with meaningless legislation.

Right!

MORE:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/22/hate.crimes/index.html