The Republic of T.

The kid’s daycare is closed for a teacher training, and I’m at home with the boys so there won’t be much blogging today. But I didn’t want to let the day pass without posting this.

Bay Windows has posted a beautiful story about the daughter of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick coming out publicly.

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Y’know, it really shouldn’t be news when people commit to each other, except maybe for a engagement announcement or wedding announcement in the paper. It definitely shouldn’t be controversial, like Bishop Gene Robinson entering a civil union with his partner of 19 years. When two people step up to the altar or the steps of city hall to declare their love for one another, their desire to name one another as kin, and their desire to commit to one another, it should be celebrated, because it means a commitment to community.

And maybe that’s why it is controversial. Because, in many ways, it’s public. But it’s also personal. Sometimes in wonderfully surprising ways, when it turns out that you know the people behind the headlines.

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After the kids go to bed, the television in our house is usually turned to one of the channels of the Discovery franchise. And, once he’s had his fill of my crime shows, the hubby usually declares that it’s time to watch something in which no one dies a horrible death. Last night, in the course of flipping channels, I caught a commercial about a show I’m definite going to watch.

I’d have missed it if I’d been a little close to the remote, because a commercial for the Duggar family — those conservative Christian darlings of the Quiverfull movement — came on, and my usual reaction is to dive for the remote while mutter something about Discovery giving these folks a platform. But fortunately, I was to slow and the remote was too far away. Otherwise I’d have missed the commercial for “Quads with Two Moms.”

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Well, it’s pretty clear by now that I’m not going to get anything posted today, or any significant writing done. Today was Parker’s pre-school graduation, so that most of our afternoon (including dinner at Parker’s favorite restaurant.) I’ve got two or three things in mind to write about, but I’ve had them in mind for more than a week and still can’t find time to actually write about them. It’s not likely to happen this weekend either.

In the meantime, there are a lot of folks doing some great writing about some pretty interesting stuff. So, you can read them while I’m doing whatever it is that I’m doing.

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Note: Today is Blogging for LGBT Families Day, the purpose of which is “to indicate that not all families fit the traditional model of one mother and one father.” A good number of my posts today will be in keeping with that theme. So, stay tuned for more here. You can head over to Dana’s for regular updates, and a full listing of participants, blog posts, etc.

Fathers’ Day is rolling around again, and it promises to be a special one (if also an exhausting one) in our house. Parker will make a couple of cards at school, which we’ll display on the fridge. Dylan … well … provided that the teething process isn’t bothering him too much that day, will give us several big grins throughout the day.

The hubby and I will exchange cards, a few extra hugs, and probably just enjoy watching Parker and Dylan. We might sit down on the sofa after the kids are asleep and watch a movie, if I can get something via Netflix that we’ll both enjoy. (We have completely different tastes in movies. I prefer dramas and documentaries &0133; some indies and some kinda “dark” … and he prefers mostly comedies.) Or maybe there’s another option. Asha at Parent Hacks points out that Amazon is having a huge Father’s Day DVD sale

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By now, it’s not news, I’m sure. But equality won a victory in California today.

The California Supreme Court has overturned a gay marriage ban in a ruling that would make the nation’s most populous state the second one to allow gay and lesbian weddings.

The justices’ 4-3 decision Thursday says domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage. Chief Justice Ron George wrote the opinion.

The city of San Francisco, two dozen gay and lesbian couples and gay rights groups sued in March 2004 after the court halted San Francisco’s monthlong same-sex wedding march.

The case before the court involved a series of lawsuits seeking to overturn a voter-approved law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

With the ruling, California could become the second state after Massachusetts where gay and lesbian residents can marry.

There’s more, of course. I’m going to try and get through as much of it as I can, but at some point I’m going to have to find a quiet spot in the office, to cry. (I called the hubby to tell him, but we couldn’t talk for long, because both of us wanted to retain some composure.)

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The Josef/Elisabeth Fritzl story I mentioned in the previous post is becoming something like a horrific automobile accident. At first you don’t want to look, and then when you do you can’t tear your eyes away. There seems to be no end of news stories about it, and as I’ve been reading them it’s occurred to me how easy it is to forget what we’re looking at and what we’re not.

I’m not a lawyer, but if I were and I had Josef Fritzl for a client, I’d advise him to stop talking. I’d muzzle him if I could. But Fritzl can’t stop talking, and no one seems to be able to stop him either.

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I was halfway through writing the previous post when I came across something that made me realize this would be a two-part deal. That’s when I cut the post short and wrote:

The last time we visited Parker’s pre-school, one of teachers said she remembered when we came there with Parker as an infant. She remarked about how well Parker has grown up, and was happy to see that we are raising Dylan too. I think I know what she sees when she looks at our family now. She sees a family with two devoted parents, and two thriving children.

What other people see, I can only imagine. And I can only wish I didn’t have to care.

But it’s obvious that I do have to care.

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I fell down a bit of a rabbit hole yesterday. During a (rare) quiet moment, I took some time to catch up on my news/blog reading. And I finally started reading a collection of news stories that I’d quietly tucked away until I could actually bring myself to read them. I thought that would be a long time, because they were the kind of stories that I usually put out of my mind, because I can’t bear to think about them.

What started me was Katharine’s comment, which linked to Scott’s post about something Felix Fritzl said upon seeing the moon for the first time.

“Is that God up there?” - Felix Fritzl, 5, sees the moon for the first time since leaving the cellar.

And so it began.

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Wow. I remember the Friday night in June 2005 when I first read about Zach’s story. It shook me up so much that I had to post about it. (When I got up on Saturday morning it was still with me. I emailed around, trying to get some of the more highly trafficked blogs to pick up on it. (At least one declined because of fear that Zach might not even exist, but Amanda Marcotte and Lindsey Beyerstein were among the first to pick up the story and share it with their readers.)

I remember posting it to all the places I was blogging at the time. (my Daily Kos diary, the Gay Spirituality Blog, HomoMojo, etc.). Then I stepped back and took a look at what was happening. I realized that there were a number of other “long tail blogers” coving the story, and creating something of a blog storm. Several of those bloggers, myself included, were interviewed for a podcast about how the story grew in the blogosphere.

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Picking up where a previous post left off, the hubby told me about the conversation he and Parker had in the car yesterday morning, on the way to Parker’s pre-school.

I’m not sure why it is that Parker and his Papa talk politics on their drives to and from home. But Parker made a rather touching leap from the political to the personal in the course of this brief chat.

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No, I don’t mean gay dads. (More about us later.) I mean dads with gay son, who are proud of their gay sons.

I posted about the Details article on heterosexual dads who are worried their sons might be gay. (But, hey, they’re not homophobes. Some of their best friends are gay. So they can’t be homophobic, right?) Well, PFLAG is responding to the article with a weeklong series of posts by dads about why they’re proud of their sons.

OK, I’ll admit up front that PFLAG has a special place in my heart, for many reasons. I still get teary eyed when I see the PFLAG contingent marching in the Capitol Pride parade. Whenever I saw them, I’d usually run out into the middle of their group and get as many hugs from as many supportive parents as I could.

I’ve only recently begun to restrain myself from doing that, since I got kids of my own to parent. (One of whom is big enough to give great hugs.) But if they don’t mind, these PFLAG dads have made their way onto my list of “PFLAG Parents I’d Like To Hug.”

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What kind of blogger am I? Am I a “gay blogger”? Am I a “political blogger”? Am I a “Black blogger”? Which variety of blogger am I first?

Endless questions, without concrete answers. But it looks like I can add one more category: Daddy Blogger

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