Monday, Marriage & Mozart

Happy Monday all! (yeah, right)  Anyway, I have not kept up with the news much here lately, in fact I did not open my news reader all weekend.  However, when I went to my Blogger Dashboard, one of the blurbs from the blogs I follow caught my eye.  While Marriage Equality has not yet come to Texas, it will soon enough thanks to either the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court of the United States.  In an historic sign of the times and good things to come for the LGBT citizens the Lone Star State, the venerable Fort Worth Star Telegram, the long time voice of Fort Worth founded by Amon G Carter when he combined the Forth Worth Star and the Fort Worth Telegram into one newspaper in 1909, published its first Same Sex Wedding Announcement yesterday.  The announcement celebrated the vows of David Hernandez and Joshua Rogers.  This is another thing I did not think I would see in my lifetime.  

Last week the group Fairness Fort Worth had announced that this event was forthcoming (which I somehow missed) with the following statement:

"Over the last several weeks FFW has held discussions with FWST senior management encouraging the paper to present a more realistic picture of our community throughout their coverage area. This has resulted in increased coverage of timely legislative and court actions, the announcement by our Tarrant County Clerk's office regarding issuing marriage licenses when courts clear the way and a superb article featuring two local same-sex families with children who represent the essence of what it means to be part of the integral fabric of our community. ...

On Friday, March 7, Star-Telegram Publisher Gary Wortel confirmed with FFW President David Mack Henderson that the paper will begin carrying announcements from our community members that more accurately reflect our lives. Please note that the criteria for Marriage Announcements specifically is based upon legal place of ceremony.

These are paid announcements and are now available to ALL citizens, as they should be under the City of Fort Worth's non-discrimination ordinance regarding public accommodation. ... We encourage our community to actively promote their authentic, loving relationships, giving testimony to our lives truly lived and fostering an embracing environment for our youth in search of proactive role models and seeking their rightful place as they grow and develop into healthy adulthood."

FFW President David Mack-Henderson posted this on the FFW Facebook page upon the Announcement's publication:

"CONGRATS to DAVID HERNANDEZ & JOSHUA ROGERS on their wedding announcement in the FWST! Theirs becomes the first published in our local paper and serves as a testament that we are an integral part of this community. Who's next?! A generous anonymous donor has offered to pay for a handful of our marriage, engagement and anniversary announcement ($75 level) through March, based on need. If interested, please private message David Mack Henderson confidentially."

So if you are planning your wedding or have recently wed, you may now let the world know in the pages of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.  "Will Wonders Never Cease?"


Your Monday with Mozart features and all star performance of the Master's Divertimento for String Trio in E Flat Major, K 563 by Violinist Isaac Stern, Violist Pinchas Zukerman and Cellist Leonard Rose.  You may also hear Mozart's Symphony Number 39 in a live performance from the Grosser Musikvereinsaal in Vienna by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe over on my tumblr.

Then of course you must have your eye candy and for that we have your Monday's Undies and your Hottie of the Day! which should get your weekly quotient well on its way to being filled in grand style.  Thanks for the visit, see you again on Saint Patty's Day!  Until next time as always, Enjoy!

An Editorial Reprinted From The Fort Worth Star Telegram

My hometown may be about to get it's first openly Gay elected official. This editorial appeared on Friday in response to the right wingnut attack on Joel Burns, the Gay Democrat running as one of six candidates in the November 6 election. This is not something I thought I would see in my hometown in my lifetime. Maybe we are making progress after all.

Foot in mouth

Star-Telegram

Fort Worth City Councilman Chuck Silcox continues to surprise us -- sometimes pleasantly, other times not.

We were extremely disappointed in his latest headline-making remarks, attempting to make an issue of the fact that council candidate Joel Burns is gay and a Democrat. Burns is one of six candidates in a Nov. 6 special election to succeed outgoing District 9 Councilwoman Wendy Davis, who plans to run for the Texas Senate in 2008.

A candidate's sexual orientation does not determine whether he or she will make an effective council member. Nor does a candidate's political party affiliation.

The Star-Telegram Editorial Board recommended Burns for the District 9 seat because of his experience on important city commissions and his intelligent, well-informed positions on vital municipal and regional issues. His sexual orientation never entered into the board's recommendation discussions, nor should it have.

We thought that Silcox, the longtime District 3 councilman representing much of west and southwest Fort Worth, was above making such narrow-minded remarks. After all, it was he who showed tolerance and political courage in 2000 by leading the charge in reviving support for an ordinance banning discrimination against gays in employment, housing and public accommodations. The ordinance eventually passed.

Silcox, who earlier had voted to table discussion of the proposed ordinance, said he reversed his position after talking to someone who lost his longtime job merely because he was gay. To fire a capable employee merely because of his sexual orientation was unfair, Silcox said.

It's sad to see Silcox inject partisan politics into the District 9 race. Filling potholes and fighting crime aren't Democratic or Republican issues, nor should they be.

Some of the best council members in the city's history have been Democrats, and some have been Republicans. And one reason that they were among the best is that they didn't needlessly and divisively thrust partisan politics into municipal issues.

Contrastingly, Congress often gets little accomplished precisely because of the extreme partisanship displayed by both major parties.

We hope that the District 9 race will return to truly important issues, such as crime prevention, code enforcement and street maintenance -- issues that all Fort Worth residents should be concerned about whether they be heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian or independent