Working yesterday wasn't so bad. Much to my surprise, when the delivery guy arrived at work ( he gets in about 1/2 an hour after me, and we work together sats/suns on the take-out side) he said "hey, the Gay Pride Parade is today!" When I did a silly animated frown, he said "awww, I'm sorry you're working today and have to miss it" During the day, he had some questions, and of course I mentioned the fireworks (I had to explain that term - you know, firecrackers, 4th of July, boom boom lights in the sky or whatever lame way I had to bridge the language gap). He asked about lesbians - "is it their day, too?" "Yes, actually, I think officially its LGBT." "What? BLT?" "No, L-G-B-T, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender.""BLGT Bisexual...?" "no, no, L-G-B-T....." and we were both on the floor laughing, until he got all 4 letters correct, and all 4 groups.

Now, I'm not fooling myself that all homophobia has been erased in this man's head. But he's made progress in the 9 months I've known him. He sees me read Gay City News each weekend, sometimes asks questions about pictures or headlines that grab his attention. And I think that he hasn't done just the "so he's gay, just a fact like having blue eyes" thing, but recognizes that it is an important fact to me, his co-worker that he likes and respects (the feeling is mutual). Which reminds me of watching Charlie Rose the other night, and Nina Totenberg's comments on how much the world (or at least this country) has changed since 1986 (Bowers v. Hardwick), and how many str8 folks now know openly gay people, and what a difference it has made. Her belief (shared by many) is that the Hardwick decision was a huge embarrassment for the Supreme Court, full of homophobia and bigotry.

Gosh, I am rambling with no particular place to go. But I really recommend the excellent legal analysis in Gay City News' article - A Magna Carta For Gay Americans, and I will say I will be watching closely the Matthew Limon case - (A teeny bit more info from this Kansas City Star story - Kansas told to rethink gay sex case) - and be ready for some real cheering when this kid gets out of jail.

Other tidbits. A good friend stopped by my work, gave me a beautiful long-stemmed African Daisy, which I proudly displayed on the counter for the rest of the shift. Basically a "sorry you're working today" gift, and another reason to smile. Later I did get over to the West Side, heading straight (ahem) over to the waterfront, and enjoyed about an hour of people-watching, and fell in love several times. Then headed up to The Eagle, to enjoy the new rooftop Sunday Beer Blast. Saw an old roommate who had run out on me years ago with some unpaid bills, but I walked right up to him and said "Let's forget about the incident, and be able to say hi to each other now, ok?" He was visably relieved, and we caught up a bit on each other's lives in the years that have passed. Then I headed back down to the waterfront, not only in time for the fireworks, but ran into 3 friends in the crowd, and got to do the ooohs and ahhs with guys I know, as well as the big gay crowd. Back to the Eagle, found myself practically hypnotized by the seemingly unexplainable concept of "sheer camouflage", but the man wearing the sheer camouflage shorts had just the perfect ass for something that normally would just seem so silly (ok, so I had had 4 beers by then). Fell in love about 84 times there, then back home, more money, changing into sleazier clothes, and spent the rest of the night walking back and forth between The Cock and The Phoniex. And so, yes, a bit hungover here, and barely out of bed.