i'm still here...

...but I've been spending most of my time on MySpace lately. If you don't catch me here, please come visit me at myspace.com/justinthymela.

yes, we can

Last night, history was made as the world watched on. Like the landing of the first man on the moon, this is a moment in history that will long be remembered.

a bittersweet victory

Yesterday our country elected its first black president. Watching Barack Obama give his victory speech, it was quite evident that I was witnessing one of those rare events in human history that will forever change the course of not just the nation, but perhaps of the world. It was moving and inspiring, and I have to admit feeling tremendously overwhelmed with emotion. With everything that has gone on with this country for the past eight years, a feeling of suppression, despair and hopelessness had grown quite strong. Even though the road to recovery and healing for America will be a very long one, there is now at least a glimmer of hope that things can actually turn around for the better.

However, as hopeful and monumental as the election of Obama is, the passage of Prop 8 in California leaves me quite saddened. It is the first time in history that existing rights have been taken away from a group of people - generally once rights have been received (like with blacks, women voters, etc), those rights become an intergral part of our society. Can you imagine if you were African-American what it would be like if those hard-won civil rights your relatives fought so hard for were suddenly taken away from you, because a larger percentage of the population did not believe you deserved them, believing somehow those legal rights damages their own existence? That it would be "better" for society if you to not have those rights?

In the days leading up to the election, ads for Prop 8 flooded the airwaves, urging voters to vote yes "for the children." For the children? What does my relationship and whom I want to marry have to do with children? After all, I'm not planning to marry a child, so please tell me because I really, really want to know - what does repealing the right of gay marriage have to do with children? Its false logic is so ludicrous that I find it so hard to fathom that people actually believed it.

As far as we have come in electing a black president, we still have a very long way to go before everyone is included.

If any person has the right to speak on marriage for all, though, it's Mildred Loving. I urge you to read her statement:

Loving for All

By Mildred Loving

Prepared for Delivery on June 12, 2007,
The 40th Anniversary of the Loving vs. Virginia Announcement


When my late husband, Richard, and I got married in Washington, DC in 1958, it wasn't to make a political statement or start a fight. We were in love, and we wanted to be married.

We didn't get married in Washington because we wanted to marry there. We did it there because the government wouldn't allow us to marry back home in Virginia where we grew up, where we met, where we fell in love, and where we wanted to be together and build our family. You see, I am a woman of color and Richard was white, and at that time people believed it was okay to keep us from marrying because of their ideas of who should marry whom.

When Richard and I came back to our home in Virginia, happily married, we had no intention of battling over the law. We made a commitment to each other in our love and lives, and now had the legal commitment, called marriage, to match. Isn't that what marriage is?

Not long after our wedding, we were awakened in the middle of the night in our own bedroom by deputy sheriffs and actually arrested for the "crime" of marrying the wrong kind of person. Our marriage certificate was hanging on the wall above the bed. The state prosecuted Richard and me, and after we were found guilty, the judge declared: "Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix." He sentenced us to a year in prison, but offered to suspend the sentence if we left our home in Virginia for 25 years exile.

We left, and got a lawyer. Richard and I had to fight, but still were not fighting for a cause. We were fighting for our love.

Though it turned out we had to fight, happily Richard and I didn't have to fight alone. Thanks to groups like the ACLU and the NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund, and so many good people around the country willing to speak up, we took our case for the freedom to marry all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. And on June 12, 1967, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that, "The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men," a "basic civil right."

My generation was bitterly divided over something that should have been so clear and right. The majority believed that what the judge said, that it was God's plan to keep people apart, and that government should discriminate against people in love. But I have lived long enough now to see big changes. The older generation's fears and prejudices have given way, and today's young people realize that if someone loves someone they have a right to marry.

Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don't think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the "wrong kind of person" for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people's religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people's civil rights.

I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about.

day 1256 - happiness is...

this should set your hair on fire...

stick it to sarah palin

One of my MySpace friends just posted the following message in his blog, and I think it is absolutely brilliant!

Instead of sending around more emails about how horrible Sarah Palin is, let's each make a small donation to Planned Parenthood in her name--you can do as little as $5! And here's the fun part: when you make a donation in her name, they'll send her a lovely card telling her that the donation has been made in her honor.

Here's the link to the Planned Parenthood website.  You'll need to fill in the address to let them know where to send the "in Sarah Palin's honor" card. You can use the address for the McCain campaign headquarters, which is:

McCain for President
1235 S. Clark Street
1st Floor
Arlington, VA 22202

Do two good deeds in one! Send McCain/Palin a strong message, and support our sisters' reproductive rights.

day 1240 - happiness is...

and even more lipstick...

As scary as McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as a running mate is to any sane, rational, thinking person may be, you gotta love just how much comedy fodder this woman has provided. If they are elected, at least we will all have had a good laugh before we start crying...

I'm keeping all of my bits crossed that the hilarity will end in November.

leave sarah palin alone!

This, my friends, is an instant classic!

oh what a day...

I have had an amazing weekend so far. If I had to pick a way to celebrate my birthday, I could not have asked for anything better than to be able to spend a few days just laughing.

Last night, Ross took me to dinner at a restaurant on Sunset Blvd. called Charcoal, and we had the best mohitos I've ever had. After a few of those, we took a stroll down the boulevard before making our way back to Arclight Theatre. We sat at the balcony bar for a bit and had a few more cocktails, and then went to see "Hamlet 2." From the previews we knew it was going to be funny, but I never expected to laugh as much as I did throughout the entire movie.

But that was nothing compared to tonight. This evening, Ross took me to see a play at the Elephant Theatre called "7 Redneck Cheerleaders." From the reviews, I expected it would be good, but I have never seen anything that made me laugh so hard and so consistently. There was not a moment in the play that was not funny. The script was so well written and it could not have been case more perfectly than it was. Tonight was originally supposed to be the closing night, but the play was so well received that it has been extended through October - which gives me a chance to take some friends to see it again (it was really that good...).

More details on this later (I don't want to jink anything by revealing too many details right now), but Ross's audition went very well yesterday. It is for a reality show that will be premiering on the Lifetime Network, and production is expected to begin in less than two weeks. It was something he happened to come across at the last minute that really appealed to him, and within 24 hours, he had booked an audition in person so now it's just a matter of waiting to hear if he has been selected (all of my bits are remaining crossed until we find out).

If he is chosen, it would mean that we would be apart for upwards of 6 to 8 weeks, depending on how long he remained in the competition. But that's nothing to worry about yet...

More later this weekend... for now, it's back to my birthday celebration! :-)

keeping my fingers crossed...

Ross is currently at an audition for a reality show that begins shooting in less than two weeks. He's really excited about the prospect, and knowing how much this means to him, I am crossing all of my bits...

the latest celebrity sighting...

...is Victor Garber ("Alias," "Titanic") in Larchmont Village this morning.