Venez comme vous êtes (come as you are) - updated with link

I saw this French ad for McDonald's on Daily Kos with the comment "They'll never run this in the U.S. ..."



So true.

h/t to Barbara Morrill

--the BB

The pink triangle stole - updated

Here you go, my patient puppies.

In order to make up for my oversight, I took the stole and my camera to a group dinner at the home of friends and had the host take this shot. The robust tan you see is my face almost glowing from hours of sun today. Fortunately, I tan more than burn.

Now for some stories behind the stole (as opposed to stories told "under the stole").

I pieced this stole for Pride Day 1997, I believe. At that time I was the interim priest at St Aidan's, San Francisco. I wore the stole as the St Aidan's contingent marched in the parade on Market Street that afternoon. I also wore it that morning at Mass. At the end of the service a colleague announced that the Diocese of California had one more lesbian and I put the stole on her. So an emotional coming out is tied to this stole, along with wonderful memories of the good people at St Aidan's.

Yes, Susan S., I got soppy recounting this tale along the parade route when we had come to a stop. What can I say? I'm a tenderhearted guy.

UPDATE:
It occurred to me that some guests to this site might not know the significance of the pink triangle. In a nutshell, it is one of the symbols of the gay rights movement drawn from the history of Nazi Germany. A pink triangle was worn by gay prisoners just as yellow stars of David were worn by Jewish ones. Many gays suffered in the holocaust, along with Jews, Poles, Jehovah's Witnesses, and others of whom the Nazis disapproved. You may learn more here. Like the cross, it is a symbol drawn from a history of cruelty to be transformed into a mark of identity. And pride. It also reminds us of solidarity with those before us who have suffered and died.

--the BB

St Mike's at ABQ Pride 2009

Parishioners greeting us from the sidelines and cheering us on.

Marching down Central Avenue.

Tom used his lovely convertible for this. I walked about 3/4 of the parade route and then got tired and overheated. So I got in the car and did the Betty Windsor "smile and wave" routine.

There were so many smiling faces along the parade route that I got a little soppy. If we had 364 other days a year to be who we are, happily and without fear....

Sorry, no pics of me in the pink triangle stole. This was not deliberate; I just forgot to have someone take a photo of me. My mind was much more on getting there, keeping up, and getting home at the end. We drove right into the NM Expo grounds and thus even had free admittance but all I could think of was getting home.
--the BB

Le Weekend

Tomorrow is the Pride Parade in ABQ. I have not done anything related to this since moving here but plan to join the parish contingent and march tomorrow morning. I have pulled out my pink triangle stole (hot pink at that). I will share photos, but probably not until Sunday evening.

The photo is of the Sandias viewed from the 4th floor of the building where I work.

Dinner with friends tomorrow evening, church Sunday morning, gym after church, writing when I can. (Nobody needed all that boring detail but perhaps it will disabuse those who think I lead a glamorous life. LOL. Are there any of those poor souls out there?)

I only got about three paragraphs written today but proofed about 20 pages of what I had written earlier. Glaring inconsistencies help humble a body.

Sweet dreams, my clever cassowaries!

--the BB