Monday, May 23, 2011

The Party has Started - Enjoy

Rejoice for - in spite of the Rapture - We are still here, We are still queer and you still need to get used to having us in your face.

So as you cannot beat us why not join in on our celebrations this week?

Some pictures from the events yesterday. I am sorry to say there was no Parade, it had to be canceled for various reasons, but listening to Mapoo Little sing was a great party starter. The crowd went wild for this little woman with the huge voice, of course she pleased us with some gay anthems but at an occasion like this it is fitting

Here are some pictures from the party and the ceremony that followed it, "The lighting of the Flame of Hope". I could not get on the sim for the last event, but thanks to Zack Preminger, I got a good view from the adjacent sim.

This great picture was sent to me by my friend Kolja Shan
The Speech given for the "Lighting of the Flame of Hope" by Nanaki Raymaker.
 
It's great to see you all here today!

This statue was a joint effort of the Board of Directors of Second Pride 2011 - specifically Tylendel Falconer, Jace  Lewis, and Nanaki Raymaker. It was designed to be seen clearly from a distance, and across several regions, and therefore uses conventional prims for the flame instead of particles.

The two most obvious symbols of the GLBT community have been used - the rainbow, as well as black and pink triangles.

Inverted pink triangles were used by the Nazis in concentration camps to identify and shame homosexuals. This symbol, which was used to label and shame, has been embraced by the gay community as a symbol of pride.

Starting out as a late-night mission in protective darkness, the giant Pink Triangle has been annually placed atop Twin Peaks - a mountain in the center of San Francisco - during every Pride Parade weekend since 1995.

The rainbow flag and it's colors has been revised over the years, each color representing a positive attribute of our shared existence, hot pink for sexuality, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for magic/art, indigo/blue for serenity/harmony and violet to represent spirit. However the most widely used flag now is the one designed by Gilbert Baker (six colors).

 In November 1978, San Francisco's gay community was stunned when the city's first openly gay supervisor, Harvey Milk, was assassinated. Wishing to demonstrate the gay community's strength and solidarity in the aftermath of this tragedy, the 1979 Pride Parade Committee decided to use Baker's flag.

This statue represents the upward progress of all sexualities and gender identities - after all - no civil rights movement has *ever* failed, as well as a symbol of hope that one day we will shine as one light, and speak with one voice.

We've got Mr. Gay 2011 and Ms. Gay 2011 here to light the flame atop this statue. A man who needs no introduction, Regi Yifu is an absolute powerhouse of creativity, generosity, and has been a source of inspiration for the GLBT community.

Marge Beaumont has served on the 2011 board of Second Pride as our Treasurer, and has worked tirelessly in her role. She is both a source of inspiration and endless humor, and I feel very honored to consider her a friend.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Second Pride - Program

What would we all do without the help of our friends?

While I was extremely busy sleeping my dear friend Eddi Haskell published the full program for Second Pride 2011 on his blog Eddi Haskell´s Second Life

As Eddi is almost as proliferous at blogging as PetGirl Bergman used to be this is your direct link to the post with the program.

RAINBOW taxi to the Second Pride (SLurl)

Saturday, May 21, 2011

The Second Pride Festival

 The SECOND PRIDE FESTIVAL
May 22nd to May 29th, 2011

Theme: International

The first Festival happened in 2005, it grew bigger in 2007 and remained a big event ever since. Every year is a different adventure as the Teams making it happen change every time, making it as diverse as our community by mixing various styles, concept and ideas each year to make every edition unique.

Making this happen in a diverse community is a challenge, especially in the Second Life virtual world as not only do people from different backgrounds meet, but to that we can add the different ethnicities, cultures, mindsets that we come across the grid which is accessible in most countries today.

Second Pride is a unique experience where we try to make sometimes very, sometimes less different people come together as one in a one week Festival of events. This is a unique human adventure to consider in advance as a thrilling roller coaster with all it's good and scary times but that everyone enjoys in the end and runs to climb back on for a second round !

Come and experience a taste of Global Pride, get out of your routine and take a shot of new things, new people, new ideas, learn to become aware of the globality of LGBT, to enjoy sharing and collaborating, setting aside self-focus, and growing to be a better person from this international sharing opportunity.


Friday, May 20, 2011

Warning To All Residents

Wild Zepp, spokesman for the McMillan household, today said that The Much Honored Bock McMillan, laird of Southern Charm, is planning his reimmersion into SecondLife tomorrow Saturday May 21st 2011 - if he survives the night. No parades please!

Residents are warned to keep their handsome male avatars, dogs and chickens indoors until further notice.

Recalculating Camping

Well, we have all heard the news. The end is nigh according to Harold Camping, it will hit us at midnight as the man-made timezones pass over the planet.

Actually the Rapture should already have started hitting in Japan, China, New Zealand, Australia and the Far East. The lifting of the holier-than-thou to heaven should already have started there and will hit Europe at midnight.

The rest of us heathens, gay and morally depraved unbelievers are going to experience a lot of earthquakes, brimstone rain, tsunamis and get to be turned into pillars of salt. All this will go on until the World as we know it finally comes to an end on October 21st.

I have been checking the Aussie on-line news papers - just in case - and there seems to be no reports of vanishing religious lunatics or any of the other signs.

Poor Harold Camping, now he must explain away - once again - how he got it all wrong. I think we can expect him to come up with a new date soon.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Czechs Test For Gayness

The European Union has slammed the Czech Republic's procedure of trying to measure the "gayness" of refugee claimants.

And just how does one measure someones "gayness"?

In the Czech Republic, officials force gay asylum seekers to watch straight porn while a doctor measures the movements of their penis. The goal is to prove that these refugees are actually "legitimately" gay.

This kind of procedure is not only indecent, it's a violation of human rights. Even the Czech Republic's human rights commissioner has called the practice "undignified.".

The Czech Embassy in Sweden tells the Swedish newspaper Sydsvenskan that the Czech government admitted that phallometri has been conducted a dozen times, but only rarely as a "last resort" and not as a general application of the method.

"A purely medieval method and a major violation of the right of individuals" is how the EU Commissioner Cecilia Malmström describes the Czech authorities' methods in which gay men have undergone phallometric tests..

According to Cecilia Malmström, the EU is waiting for information from the Czech authorities to see if the issue can be pursued. She also notes that "We have a long way to go before we can say that we live in a completely tolerant Europe"

"Phallometry", refers to measurement of bloodflow to the male genital. The most commonly reported methods of conducting penile plethysmography involve the measurement of the circumference of the penis with a mercury-in-rubber strain gauge, or the volume of the penis with an airtight cylinder and inflatable cuff at the base of the penis.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

I Owe You an Update

Well I whined publicly about my state of mind a few weeks ago so I guess I owe you an update now.

I saw my doctor today and we had a good long talk. The thing I like best about my doctor is that he really seems to listen to what I have to say. After listening to me he gives me his evaluation and his recommendations for the continued treatment, also taking into account the results of the biochemical blood work.

To sum it up he is pleased with my progress over the last year, the blood work has improved vastly and the chemical imbalances are mostly gone. He also tells me that it is not unusual that you experience a "plateau" after awhile with the medication I am on. All the same he recommends that I continue on the same treatment a while longer. He believes that a reason for my present emotional fatigue is a result of the burden I have experienced during the last year coupled with my heavy work load.

What I need is rest and a few weeks away from work to start feeling better again. I will see him again after the summer and then we will decide if changes are still needed.

Luckily I start my vacation of Friday, so I have five glorious weeks off from work!