I am sorry this is so late, I am doing better which I will write about tomorrow, as I have to sit at my allergist’s office. The problem with today is my pain which makes it hard for me to function or get things done. But I am stronger is what I want to assure people. Hugs
He is a veteran.
He speaks several languages.
He was a Rhodes Scholar.
He was a mayor.
He was the Secretary of Transportation.
If he runs (again) in 2028, he’ll have my vote.
(Gilbert Baker Day was yesterday, but PRIDE month is all month. I’m not sure I recall ever learning Gilbert Baker’s name before this morning. Also, I’m really gonna miss Gov. Kelly after her term ends, even if we manage to elect another Dem.)
Kansas residents and activists gathered with Gov. Laura Kelly last week for her signing of a proclamation honoring rainbow flag creator Gilbert Baker. (Photo from Kansas governor’s office)
Happy Gilbert Baker Day!
Thanks to a proclamation from Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly signed Friday, we can celebrate the life and work of Parsons native Baker this June 2. He created a piece of American iconography that has spread across the globe and into the hearts of those who care for their gay neighbors: the rainbow pride flag.
Lauren Shepard of Parsons was on hand at the Statehouse to watch Kelly sign. She had just graduated from Pittsburg State University with a master’s degree. According to her, efforts to honor Baker locally ran into static.
“Ultimately, the town, the city commission ended up tabling the idea, so we pivoted and got together and started a Gilbert Baker Memorial Scholarship through the Parsons High School, where he graduated,” she told me. “So now every year we select a student that’s active in their OAQ, which is like a gay-straight alliance, it’s a student organization there at the high school.”
Wall was out of the state Friday, but a group assembled by her showed up to honor Baker. It included Shepard, several Lawrence activists and state Sen. Marci Francisco. I tagged along and noted that multiple groups had gathered on the second floor of the Statehouse for their own proclamation time with Kelly. One was promoting an “Asteroid Day.”
Inside the governor’s ceremonial office, group members realized that no one had actually brought a rainbow flag — the symbol for Pride Month and LGBTQ+ rights more generally.
Crisis averted, the group took pictures with Kelly, the proclamation and the props. That was that.
No one on hand missed the broader implications. Baker had turned his back on his Kansas background, living in San Francisco and New York City. He had finally agreed to return to Parsons, Janovy writes, for a key to the city and film festival in 2017. A month before the events, Baker died at the too-young age of 65.
“It allows us to recognize one of our own who created an emblem that allows us to recognize all of LGBTQ across the country and across the world,” said Rachel Reed of Lawrence. “And it’s very, very important.”
Janis Guyot serves as president of Lawrence PFLAG and stood in for Wall at the signing. Afterward, she held the proclamation certificate as others in the group swirled around to take a look.
“I’m really happy that there’s something to celebrate for the LGBTQ world right now,” Guyot told me. “It’s tough time for all of them.”
Since Baker’s untimely death, we’ve seen a public push and pull over gay rights. Transgender folks — members of the movement from the beginning, whether they were identified as such or not — have been systematically excluded and discriminated against. The Kansas Legislature has repeatedly passed hateful laws.
Who knows what Baker might say about this recent turmoil. Given that he went by the drag name “Busty Ross,” I imagine he would bring an irreverent sense of humor along with his passion for making the world a better place.
Hopefully, he would say progress hasn’t stopped, and it won’t stop, regardless of small minds and even smaller hearts.
In an oral history from 2008, Baker suggested as much: “I do know that time is on our side and that the young people generation, and more importantly my generation, we have fought hard, and we have — we’ve worked on our parents, we have our own children, and we’re moving society forward. So I think we’re going to be all right. I mean, it may take a little more fight and a little more work than people want, but we’ll get there.”
Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
To understand this cartoon you have to switch the axis of the point of view. For the rich guy the red line is going up, for the worker on the other axis it is going down. Hugs
If it’s got reliable WiFi, I’ll take it! After I win the lottery, of course. 🙂
Imagine not hearing the neighbors barking dogs, others music or TV shows, no one coming to the door to preach their religion to you. The only thing is I would need a heliport for Amazon deliveries.
House Democrats announce bill to block construction of Trump’s archwww.washingtonpost.com/politics/202…
According to new reports, Trump's White House personally ordered the Pentagon to give a $620M loan to a company linked to Don Jr.Stocks for other Don Jr.-advised defense contractors are surging, amid rumors of more DoD deals.This is corruption. Watch.
National Park Entrance Fees Are Funding Trump’s D.C. ProjectsThe administration is spending at least $67 million worth of fees paid by visitors to national parks on fixing D.C. fountains and the Reflecting Pool.Gift article
Donald Trump Jr is on the advisory board of both Kalshi and Polymarket.The Trump administration IS the most transparent in history. Transparently corrupt, that is.www.fox9.com/news/trump-a…
“It’s no coincidence, of course, that Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, happens to be a paid advisor to both Kalshi and Polymarket. The Trump family has profited handsomely from the president’s second term, with some estimates north of $4 billion since early last year.”
Republicans are always taking credit for projects they voted against and Trump made happen without them.
You cannot believe anything a Republican says
MAGA hypocrites never let a demonstrable truth stop them from telling a lie!
Maine Senate poll: Pine Tree/UNHGraham Platner 51% (+2 since February)Susan Collins 42% (+4)another candidate 2% (-2)don't know/undecided 6% (-3)**Platner leads +11 with moderates, +20 with women.Collins leads +3 with independents, +3 with men.scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcont…
The Trump admin collected $166 billion in tariff payments before the Supreme Court struck them down. Refunds have already started hitting business' bank accounts – but they're not the ones who paid the fees.That would be American consumers who aren't seeing a dime.@alexsjacquez.bsky.social 👇
A court declaration filed by the Trump administration has revealed that Customs and Border Protection overstated its tariff refunds by at least $10 billion.
Look them in the eye and tell them how Joe Biden wanted to codify reproductive rights, ensuring them forever, but he was old. So, you voted for the Party that has repeatedly said they would ban abortion, and some of whom want to repeal the right of women to vote! Or, (just as bad) you decided not to vote at all.
Ken Paxton is the most corrupt politician in America. He embodies the broken system we’re running against.It’s time to come together: The People vs. Ken Paxton
The Republican Party quietly deleted their own ad attacking Ken Paxton's record on crime… because Paxton is now the Republican Party's nominee to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate.Figured if the ad is important enough to delete, it's important enough to see…
Alabama seeks Supreme Court approval to use a pro-Republican map, impacting Black voter representation as Trump's party works to maintain congressional power.
NEW: I've filed a claim with Todd Blanche for compensation from the $1.776B slush fund for the unlawful investigation by the government into my podcast in August 2019. I'm seeking $8.647 million in compensation for weaponized lawfare – the equivalent of punitive damages, lost pay and retirement.
NEW: DOJ closes Biden autopen investigation. Jeanine Pirro failed to make a case, and never even brought it to a grand jury http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/tru…
The Justice Department wants to interview some poll workers and ballot counters who participated in the 2020 election in Fulton County, Georgia, in a new effort to dig up details about the ballot-processing, prosecutors revealed at a court hearing last week. https://cnn.it/4nMl38E
NEW: The Department of Labor told employees to report anyone using DEI, in an email reminding workers that they can even report behavior that predates Donald Trump’s second term. One employee tells @wired.com it felt like a “reminder to narc on your coworkers.”read @telliotter.bsky.social:
Markwayne Mullin looked at 300 starving people in U.S. custody & said they just want “their ethnic food” & can go back to their country to get it. Worms in the food. Cancer patients denied meds. A senator pepper-sprayed at the gate. Mullin’s diagnosis: wrong ethnicity.He’s a racist pig.
DHS Secretary Mullin dismisses the detainee hunger strike in an ICE facility:They're refusing to eat because they want their ethnic food. Well, they can go back to their country and get whatever food they want. This isn't Holiday Inn.
I hate the YouTube algorithm and and myself more for giving into it and saving all the hateful abuse videos I get. I am crying now trying not to alert Ron who is in the next room with the door between us open. I had two open windows. In one I had so many tabs of abuse that the algorithm pushed them to me because I occasionally watch them. I deleted 8 of them before switching to the other open window. What does YouTube think I need to see / hear after all that deleting and not watching all those videos? The two videos below.
Am I the one to blame but if so what does that say about all the vulnerable children who are led down hate rabbit holes? At least the harm happening here is to me done myself aidded by the shit pushed into my feeds and I am so stupid that I click on them and leave the tab open while I try to move onto something else. But eventually I end up coming back to the ones that hurt me so much. Who is to blame? As always in my life, as in my childhood … I am, and I have always been according to those that hurt me. Goodnight. Scottie. Hugs
I really enjoy this creator and how he has done this entire series on the Christian god and the inconsistancies of the bible and the figures in it. In this series the god is a self centered older teenager who only thinks of themselves and their needs/ wants. The full series starts out with a future highly technological civilization having graduates from school take a psychological test as them an omnipotent being and their assistant is actually their teacher in real life. But in this case “god” is so narcissistic it causes problems in the simulator they are all connected with. But the series does show how narcissistic and only thinking of their feelings, wants, and needs this Christian god is. Sadly the creator has moved on from making the series and the spin-offs from them as his main YouTube product but he still produces these videos which I am grateful for. But try to remember that God is a student and Jefferies is in reality his teacher still trying to teach him how to be a good person. Reverse the roles of the characters and you get the joke. Hugs.
Me when I am so tired. Hugs
Scottie's Playtime 