1. Sexual Orientation – defined in the bill as “homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality.”
2. Gender Identity – “means the gender-related identity, appearance, or mannerisms or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, with or without regard to the individual’s designated sex at birth.”

The law, if enacted, would extend the federal guarantees that are afforded to people on the basis of race, religion, creed, sex, etc. It is time that these basic civil rights are afforded to LGBT individuals.

For too long we have complacent in thinking that we would be safe from being fired or offered a job because we are gay. In this day of LinkedIn, facebook, twitter, blogs, etc. we are making ourselves easy targets for employers or potential employers to discover our sexual orientation or gender identity. I equate this to displaying a rainbow flag tattoo on a visible spot on our bodies.

I for one am one to not hide who I am. But I do firewall my personal and work lives. LinkedIn and my gmail account are for work professional purposes only and everything else is personal. Just a simple Google search will find out that I am gay.

Why does this matter? Some people are afraid of gay people because they do not know us. Others are outwardly homophobic because they are protecting their true homosexuality. Still others are just racist and/or ignorant bastards. Did I mention that many also use their political party or religious affiliation to justify their homophobia?

Enough of that. There is one thing you must know about the bill. The least reported facts are what workplaces are included and excluded from following this potential law. This law would not pertain to uncompensated volunteers.

Organizations which must follow the law.

• Private companies with 15 or more employees.
• Federal and State governments.
• Some non-profit organizations (namely, labor organizations).
• Any company that must adhere to a certain parts of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
• Presidential appointees.

Organizations exempt from the law.

• Non-profit, 501(c)(3) religious institutions.
• Any “corporation, association, educational institution, or society” that is exempt under the religious discrimination provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
• Any of the Armed Forces such as the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard (due to “don’t ask, don’t tell”).
• Private clubs such as the Boy Scouts of America as decided by the Supreme Court.

The law provides several protections based on sexual orientation or sexual identity. Check out the law for a comprehensive list. In short, we need to pound Pelosi to have her get this resolution to the floor of the House for a vote. It is my understanding that there was a sit-in yesterday outside her offices. Good work ladies and gentlemen!

The proposed bill, HR 3017.

Thanks to Sue for pointing this out!

1. While on dates, gay men split the bill.  While I am told that men are expected to pick up the tab for their lady, gay men “go dutch.”
2. We will never be able to be abstinent because we can’t get married.  Unless one cares to be an 80 year old virgin or a Roman Catholic priest, abstinence only sex education does not apply to lesbians and gays.
3. We don’t have “normal” sex.  Well, duh!  Gay men have sex with other gay men.  What’s the problem with that?  Please do not go on some biblical tirade.  Sodomy is defined as a sexual act that cannot lead to conception, in the bible this is sometimes construed as “spilling one’s seed.”  Technically, according to Genesis 38: 9-10, the Lord will put you to death for such a crime.  Anyone who has ever participated in fellatio, cunnilingus, masturbation, mutual masturbation, frotage, heavy petting, anilingus, bestiality, dildo practice, or who has used a contraceptive device or medication shalt[sic] be put to death.
4. We do not have the traditional male-female problems to deal with in a relationship.  I got an “F” on a paper because I had difficulty in describing the gender-based struggles between straight husbands and wives.  The gay men in the world would say this, “Women are from Mars, Men have Penis.”
5. Some of us engender our own stereotypes.  It is most certainly true that a large percentage of gay men love pop divas (Cher, Madonna, Liza, etc.) and show tunes while a large portion of straight men “adjust” themselves in public (ghastly).  But did you know that a higher percentage of straight men are pedophiles than gay men?  Stereotypes do not discriminate.

Where does that leave us?  Well, numbers 1 and 4 above seem to be the only major differences between straights and gays.  Numbers 2 and 3 can’t be included because nearly every one of us on this planet practices more than just the missionary position number before we’re married.  Number 5 also can’t be used against us because both sides have their own stereotypes (the fey man versus the macho man).

Since when have people in the LGBT world been so deserving of discrimination in the workplace, at churches, in parks, in Vegas wedding chapels, and in the hearts of those who consider themselves “loving and caring”?  Never.  In fact, many of these loving and caring people who are so altruistic that they want to protect the influences of the fags from the little children are pushing this issue.  Frankly, going dutch and not reading “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” is hardly a solid foundation to stand on.

Ignorance, racism, sexism, misogyny, intolerance, blind faith, misguided values, morals, hatred, and bigotry are what we face here.  Please tell your state representative to vote to allow gay marriage.  At a minimum ask them to bar a constitutional amendment from going forward.  While this post has been a little tongue-in-cheek, I hope you see how similar gays and straights really are.  This topic is usually approached from the viewpoint to showing our similarities, but I believe that it is easier to list our differences… which are few, indeed.

I will leave you with a list of the types of men who are allowed to be married in this country.  Is it worse to let loving, caring LGBT individuals marry?

1. The cheating man known for inseminating the country-side can be married.
2. An abusive husband that beats his wife nightly can be married.
3. A man on the “down low” who has unprotected sex with a male prostitute then spreads HIV to his wife can be married.
4. The politician who has sex with men in an airport restroom can be married.
5. A man serving several life sentences for raping then killing women can be married while in prison.
6. The man facing deportation can get married.
7. A female vocalist can get married while drunk and high in Vegas.
8. A male-female couple that met over the Internet can get married, including mail order brides.
9. A straight couple who fell in love can get married after knowing each other for only one day.
10. A woman can marry a man and divorce him the next day just to take his money.

The aide says that he is pro- anti-discrimination and for LGBT rights, including gay marriage, although I would love to officially confirm that off-the-cuff statement.  Due to the current leadership in the state, I questioned him more on state issues than LGBT issues.  Our current governator [sic] is seemingly anti-mental health and pro- Philadelphia and LGBT rights.

The first thing I did was ask him if he would do more to promote PA to businesses.  I especially am concerned with getting businesses to come back to small towns.  I grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania and would love to see more work on that front.  People there need fair paying jobs.  He actually knew of my hometown, Warren, which I found interesting.  It is a great place to hunt, fish, boat, hike, and climb.  It’s also the home of the Kinzua Dam and Reservoir which keeps Pittsburgh, among other places from flooding.

My next line of questioning had to do with state run mental health care.  My mother worked at a state mental institution for 23 years, so I have become concerned with a few issues like the closing down of the state hospitals.  This leaves many people who have serious issues out in the cold.  When a state hospital closes, the patients get placed in group homes where they don’t receive quality care.  They may also end up being taken care of by relatives who don’t want them and do not know how to treat them mentally or physically.  If a patient doesn’t end up in a group home or family home, they will be on the street.  Most of those people will end up in the prison system with terrible/no mental health care.

Mental heath care needs to be focused on patient care by trained professionals.  Group homes are mostly hire affordable staff with a low ratio of registered nurses or doctors to patients.  This leaves them with basically little to no quality care.  I propose that we need a standard of care for the mentally ill people who are in group homes.  He found that to be an interesting idea and hopes he takes it to heart.

BUT… politics being politics, at the end of the day getting votes is all about baby kissing!

I learned the hard way that gaining numbers of downloads on a podcast isn’t the right [read: correct] way of creating content for your audience.  I say your audience because there will be a certain number of people that will listen to and enjoy your rantings and ramblings.  You need to make that audience your own.  Jason knows that he can put people to sleep.  Jason knows that a lot of people won’t like his show or points of view… just look at the reviews on iTunes!

Give us a place to stand and we will move the Earth. ~Archimedes

A podcast is like a TV show.  Not everyone is willing to commit the time to watch/listen.  For some reason, people think that everyone will like their blog or podcast while TV shows are geared to a particular audience that likes a particular “thing.”  I do a certain type of show in a certain manner for a certain type of people.  If you don’t like that, I really don’t give a shit; shut up about it.

The whole point of this is to say that you will most likely not have an audience that numbers in the millions… or thousands.  Do what you like to do and what satisfys you!  Also remember that an audience of 50 reading a blog is more than would listen to you preach outside of city hall.  As far as I’m concerned, if I can help just one person, I have been a success.  Podcasting and blogging give us a place to stand from which we may be able to move the Earth.

Photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/ / CC BY 2.0

http://www.jasoncable.com/podcasts/com.jasoncable.podcast0158.mp3

I remember my first trip here 22 years ago.  My family came down to the ‘burgh for a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game.  I especially remember driving through the Fort Pitt tunnels and seeing this enormous city come into view.  As a friend of mine in New Jersey put it, “Pittsburgh is the only city in the country with a ‘front door.’”  He was right.  Pittsburgh is a beautiful town which today provides something for everyone. голова болит секс

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We have three major sports teams, a new hundred million dollar casino, the Andy Warhol Museum, a large zoo, history and art museums, three world class universities, two world-famous health care systems, high tech and financial companies, a world-class symphony orchestra, and the list goes on and on.  I’m proud to call Pittsburgh my home and will be staying here for (hopefully) a long time to come.

I didn’t believe it until I heard it on TV, but Pittsburgh still has a nasty, decades old stigma to overcome.  I hope that the 2,600 reporters from around the globe report good things about our city.  The protests were not the story.  People are focusing on them in their blog postings, etcetera, but should have been trying to make our city look good so that we can overcome the folklore of Pittsburgh.  Give Pittsburgh a second chance!

The election was priority 1 in the news while the worsening financial crisis was relegated to Suze Orman on CNBC and Lou Dobbs on CNN.  They are both polarizing figures and don’t necessarily garner an audience as large as “Dancing with the Stars” or “Top Model.”  Suze stuck to her usual message of credit card debt relief and the housing market while Lou stuck to our illegal immigration crisis and staggering trade deficit with China, not to mention the joys of free trade agreements.  I don’t think either one saw this recent Wall Street deflation (umm… fucking mess) coming.  A reasonable person would say that a “crisis” of this magnitude would have shown itself much sooner.  Where were the economists?  Why didn’t they warn us?  Did they warn us and did we not listen?

I’m scared.  People are losing trillions of dollars in investments amid the market’s floundering.  [I have a million more adjectives, trust me.]  Fear is causing the downturn in the markets.  The collapse or near collapse of several major financial institutions is also a cause for concern.  A few things need to change:

1. We need to implement constraints on the proportion of risky debt that a bank owns.
2. Sub-prime mortgage lending needs to end.  Although this will lead to a slow down in new housing starts, responsible lending and borrowing can ensure that these types of issues do not reoccur.
3. Any of those on the precipice of foreclosure need to have their mortgage monthly payments rolled back to where they were before their adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) adjusted or interest-only payments ballooned.
4. Predatory lending practices in the housing market must stop.  80/20, 80/15, and 80/15/5 loans are not acceptable any more.  I believe that at least a 10% down-payment needs to be required, if not 20%.  We saw housing prices deflate which left many with a mortage(s) much larger than their house value.
5. We need to see more “truth in lending” in the credit card markets.  I have a Washington Mutual (WaMu) credit card whose interest rate went to 32.99% even though I pay it off monthly and had my FICO score increase by 50 points.  WaMu did this to raise more capital in their tough times.  Credit card companies should have to warn you of rate increases in advance and disclose all of their late fee charges.
6. We need a cap on credit card interest rates.  Whether it be tied to the Prime Interest Rate, LIBOR Index, 30 year treasuries, or a fixed rate such as 19.9%, anything would help.  People get in to these situations where they are paying 30% interest rates with minimum monthly payments of 4% of their total.  This would mean that it takes a person 25-30 years to pay off that credit card.
7. Banks cannot keep treating people the way they have for the last 15-20 years.  It’s disgraceful and harmful to the American people.  Their profit motive of screwing the customer is now gone because we can’t afford it anymore.
8. Let’s roll back the bankruptcy laws of a few years ago and allow unconditional Chapter 7 filings and resolutions to help us get through these times.  Bankruptcy is not only caused by the borrower, but the lender.  Lending institutions should not go unfettered in their lending to high risk people.

Yeah, I’m scared.  The thing is that we all got us here.  Wall Street, Main Street [sic], you, me, Joe six pack [really sic], investment banks, and other financial institutions got us to where we are today.  Let’s not panic and screw ourselves any more.  Also, this vein pissing contest of a Presidential election is a joke.  Do you think either one of these men can unite the country and create the waves of “Change” that we really need?  If you do you’re kidding yourself.  It will take longer than 4 or 8 years to erase 10 BILLION in debt.  Savings bonds anyone?  I have little doubt that their interest rate will increase next month!

I just watched the vice presidential debate which was quite interesting.  There were no major mistakes by either one, but you can see that Senator Biden eclipsed Governor Palin.  It’s not a surprise, but she surpassed her expectations.  Eh, what do you want?  It was obvious that he likes the LGBT community and she is staunchly opposed to gays and lesbians.  Even through the haze of a bottle of white I could see that.

Unfortunately, I do think Biden is for gay marriage although support of it would be political suicide.  Gay marriage support is political suicide.  It’s not a popular topic, especially in this election, and is caustic for Democrats vying for the any top spot in a federal job.  Now, for Obama, he would NEVER sway towards the side of gay marriage.  Biden would, in my own humble opinion before you.  For me, it’s marriage or nothing.

I was glad that both sides were open and fairly honest.  It’s about time!  The last presidential debate was so wishy-washy that I couldn’t believe it.  Obama and McCain performed like Senators.  Biden performed like a knowledgeable, in-the-know guy.  Palin was person who memorized the Republican Platform.

Can I vote for Joe Biden?

What brought you to Social Media and what keeps you hanging around?

Well, I’ve told the story quiet a few times, but I got extremely angry about an article that appeared in The Advocate about 3 years ago.  I thought that this new type of broadcasting called podcasting was a great way to get my point out there.  150 episodes later, I still love to use it to let off some steam.

Which social networking tool gives you the shakes when it’s not updated or is experiencing down time? (Podcasts, Blogs, Micro-blogging, etc)

My podcast and blog CANNOT be down!  It drives me crazy if that happens.  Luckily, I have a great provider and a dedicated server that I maintain.  It costs $90/month, but is very worth it!  Twitter I don’t use for long stretches because their availability sucks and it pisses me off.

I do get frustrated when my favorite podcasts disappear or no longer create new content.  It makes me sad, so I understand your frustration some times.

What kind of insight could you offer to others on a topic at PCPGH3? If none, then what do you most want to hear more about?

First, I’d like to hear more about using social media to get me out of the house!  :-)  No, seriously, as anti-social as I tend to be, I would like to get out more and conduct interviews with people on the street, politicians, and visiting pseudo-celebrities.

I feel that I can offer some great insight on worldwide audiences, diversity in social media, how to present oneself vocally in a personal show, and on the technical ends.