meaning making
My favorite hours this past weekend was at a fundraiser and birthday celebration in San Francisco to honor a legendary LGBTQ+ activist and beloved community elder. 🎉 The venue was the Hibernia, a historic bank repurposed into an event space. Cleve Jones took the stage after the crowd sang happy birthday to him. He’s 70… Continue reading The Shield
This week, I received a DM from a friend sharing this pic. That’s me getting a haircut, when four of us gay men shared an apartment close to Florida State University campus in late 1980s Tallahassee, Florida. Jeff, in the picture, worked as a hairdresser. So we all received the family discount (i.e., free) on… Continue reading A Zonian Coming Out Story
Tallahassee is in the Deep South. The largest employer in town is the State government which headquarters in a phallic Capitol complex. The city is also home to Florida State University and Florida A&M. In the late 1980s, the town held about 100,000 people, half of them being university students. Set in rural Leon County… Continue reading Club Park Avenue Trip Report: A Cocktail with the Cosmos
My first Pride event. The year was 1988 or 89. I was an undergrad at Florida State University in Tallahassee. My boyfriend and I drove my clunky Toyota Starlet to Atlanta for pride weekend celebrations. We stayed with a friend near Piedmont Park and met up with a lesbian couple (Vicky and Wendy) we were… Continue reading Thirty+ Years Ago, What I Remember from my First Pride
“Be yourself, everyone else is already taken”. ~ Oscar Wilde
In a couple days, it will be 19 years since Erin and I went on our first date - a Saturday matinee of The Bourne Identity. And 5 years since our hastily-planned state-sanctioned marriage on the south lawn of the Texas Capitol. In the EARLY morning, before heat. On a Wednesday. And with the sprinklers… Continue reading Love is Love – #PaulandErinTLA
Early on, there were times I wasn’t sure being gay was compatible with having a life worth living. But even during those dark times, if someone had offered me a pill to make me straight I would’ve declined it. I clung onto a belief, instilled in grade school at St Mary’s in Balboa, Panamá, that… Continue reading Rainbow Spirituality