Rolling Stone has just published the most detailed and in-depth story on the district I have yet to see. The reporter, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, has done a masterful job at unpacking just how lethal and evil this “no promo homo” policy has been.

Please go read it and see how an on-going culture war wrapped in supposed religious morality leads to a very real body count when it comes to our queer children. I double dog dare you to remain dry-eyed through the article.

A slight boy with an asymmetrical haircut speaks in a soft voice. “What this GSA means to me, is: In sixth grade my, my only friend here, committed suicide.” The room goes still. He’s talking about Samantha. The boy starts to cry. “She was the one who reached out to me.” He doubles over in tears, and everyone collapses on top of him in a group hug. From somewhere in the pile, he continues to speak in a trembling voice: “I joined the GSA ’cause I wanted to be just like her. I wanted to be nice and – loved.”

Many 40-somethings have these rough spots and the cause can be as simple as old-fashioned exhaustion.

Except, starting in August of 2011, I started having very new-fashioned joint flares. I would wake up WIDE awake sometimes at 4 AM, sometimes at 2 AM, because some evil gremlin had replaced all of the synovial fluid in my hands and feet with gasoline and then set everything alight. By late September, I finally realized what the problem was and then dutifully headed off to check-in with the medical establishment.

It’s taken a few months to sort things out, partially because you don’t really want this diagnosis and MDs really don’t want to make this diagnosis: rheumatoid arthritis.

Now, a lot of folks confuse rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with the more common osteoarthritis (OA). OA is the “wear and tear” arthritis–something I’ve had for years. OA is the nagging, PITA [pain in the a**] aches and pains that ebb and flow, even with the weather. But generally, OA can be managed through medicine, diet and exercise. RA, by contrast, is an autoimmune disease where my immune system is on major over-drive.* In fact, my immune system is currently so “over-amped” that it is trying to eat my joints, and if it continues unabated, will eventually feast upon my organs as well (heart, lungs, eyes and kidneys).

The typical symptoms of RA are fatigue, brain fog, and joint flares. The most bothersome for me is the joint flare. As a kid, I stood too close to a wire electric floor heater a few times, which gave me a really creepy burning sensation. During a joint flare, I have this same cooking/burning sensation, but it’s on the inside of the affected joints (wrists, fingers, elbow, feet, ankles and knees), followed by waves of nausea and feeling very “hung over” once the heat subsides. The affected joints are left aching and stiff. It is quite debilitating and it is nothing like anything else I’ve ever experienced. (If you’re really interested in the biological mechanisms, please see this).

RA is treatable, but not curable (unlike many forms of cancer, but like AIDS). It also tends to run in families: My mom’s mom had RA, her sister had it, and their mother probably died from it–at the grand old age of 45. Endless numbers cousins have it as well. To be quite blunt, unabated, RA is lethal. In the bad old days (before the late 1980s), patients were given gold injections, massive amounts of prednisone, and stinky Darvon for the pain (the FDA banned Darvon in 2010). This is the treatment protocol that my Grandmother Pearson endured. And unlike many people, she actually tolerated the gold injections. The Prednisone doses were too high, and her vertebrae eventually collapsed, but this also can happen with untreated RA.

Yet even in the bad old days of incredibly toxic treatments, treatment did have its advantages. My Grandma Pearson lived to be 80 years old and worked as a public school teacher until age 70. By contrast, her sister, who was but a mere year older, died at age 64, probably from RA-related complications (heart disease is a considerable risk). The biggest difference between the two women is one had long-standing health insurance and access to decent health care (Grandma, who taught HS English for 45 years) and one did not (her sister).

Today, with the advent of chemotherapy (yes, but in much lower doses–typically methotrexate), and the biologics (Enbrel is the best known), patients can hope to avoid the massive joint damage that my Grandmother, and her sister, and their mother endured. The goal is to “nuke” RA into remission, and if that can’t be done, the goal becomes to slow down the decline into total disability. And to be honest, a fair number of individuals do have disease that is “resistant” to current treatment. But, for now, I’m going to err on the side of optimism. While I lost on the genetic lottery on this disease, I’m hoping that I respond as well as my grandmother did to what are admittedly toxic medications.**

What it means for this blog is that I will probably a consistently inconsistent presence, posting when I can, but I may have times when I can’t. This is, after all, a new normal.

*For about the last three years, I have had this freakish ability to avoid any and all infections. In 2009, my mom was in an isolation ward with a massive Clostridium Difficile infection. After two days of visiting her, I dumped the “moon suit” gear, finding the entire rigmarole far too cumbersome. The nurses nearly had a stroke seeing me “naked,” but I was perfectly fine as I stayed with mom 12-16 hours a day (for two weeks). Nary a burp or twinge from me. Mom recovered and I was never sick. But give how contagious c diff is, I should not have escaped unscathed. Clearly, I have enjoyed a certain degree of immunological impunity. Alas, with the arrival of Prednisone and methotrexate (my current DMARDs or Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs), those days are over.

**A gentle warning. I have no patience with suggestions that I alter my diet or seek out “alternative treatments” a la Venus Williams or Steve Jobs. I really like science, inadequate as it can be at the present. I am utterly hostile towards “mystical treatments.” To be unkind, it’s expensively packaged Hill Billy medicine. I have no desire to return to the Appalachian ways of my youth. So, I’m FINE with a lifetime of various DMARDS, possible biologics, and NSAIDs. Ingesting possibly inadequate and toxic medicines beats consuming outright snake oil every single day in my book.

That said, some of of the smiles are through barely clenched teeth. Dan Savage, per usual, has a terrific take down of former Senator Santorum and his ugly hate towards queers.

However, at this point in the campaign season I’m far more concerned with Mitt Romney. Santorum is a hateful clown, but a clown. And he’s running out of cash. Romney has the deepest of pockets and will say and do anything to get elected. Once he was pro-gay rights (to get elected in Massachusetts), now he’s against equal rights for queers (no civil unions and absolutely NO marriages). Progressive bloggers have a fondness for calling Romney “mittens” (see Talking Points Memo), which hints at a almost childish desperation to be liked.

While commentators note Romney’s dis-ingenuousness, he’s got the cash and the big GOP donors have lined up behind him. I suspect it will be Obama v. Romney, and that Obama will win without breaking a sweat. While Obama’s supporters might be unhappy with where things are (count me in on that!), I find it improbable that the white, evangelical blue collar base of the GOP is going to bleed for a GOP corporate raider who happens to be Mormon. These folks aren’t about to vote for President Obama (the Kenyan Muslim socialist–SNARK!), but they’ll probably just sit this election out. By contrast, progressives might not raise money for Obama, but given the problems with Romney, Obama probably has their votes.

Stay tuned.

Now, I lived in Des Moines from 1985 until 1991, and the results last night are classic Iowa GOP politics. The vote was pretty well split between the uber-Christianists and the Country Club Republicans (who are also largely Christian, but are NOT theocrats).

One big loser from last night was Michelle Bachmann, who took a drubbing. Besides being wildly homophobic, Bachmann was fervently incoherent on the campaign trail and was almost out of cash. Back in June of 2011, she announced she would NOT seek re-election, but she has time to change her mind. That said, I’m sure folks back home aren’t too pleased with her presidential focus (instead of focuses focusing on their needs).

The next primary is to be held next Tuesday, in New Hampshire, where I expect Romney to do much better. Santorum is low on cash and faces a less receptive audience that is famously libertarian.

So, fire up the popcorn popper and stay tuned. It’s going to be an interesting 2012.

While every GOP candidate has worked hard to burnish their homophobic credentials, Santorum has one of the more frightening track records, falling into the category of “professional homophobe.” Continuing in that vein, Michelangelo Signorile has a post up pointing out that Santorum has recently come out for “forced divorce” for those lesbian and gay people who have married. That is, Santorum wants to use the power of the federal government to forcibly dissolve the marriages of queer people who have entered legally binding contracts, which marriages are in a secular state.

We see forced divorces in countries that are either out-right theocracies or have strong theocratic tendencies. Typically, some poor couple runs afoul of mendacious relatives and/or nutty religious authorities who decide they can dissolve a marriage OVER the objections of the married couple. This is not a case of legally invalid marriages like one sees with a few polygamous Mormon sects, but marriages that are perfectly legal, then subsequently voided by some religious poo-bah or the state (think Saudi Arabia).

That “radical cleric” Santorum has embraced this form of state-sanctioned religious punishment for US citizens whom he finds theologically objectionable should disqualify him from ANY US public office. Yet there he is, running neck and neck with Mitt Romney in Iowa.

It’s already a very interesting election season. Time will tell if it becomes a very frightening one for queer people.

So, here’s a disconcerting story about a new book (Nixon’s Darkest Secrets) that will be out next month. According to the book’s author, Dom Fulsom:

Yet the most extraordinary claim is that the homophobic Nixon may have been gay himself. If true, it would provide a fascinating insight into the motivation and behaviour of a notoriously secretive politician.

Fulsom argues that Nixon may have had an affair with his best friend and confidant, a Mafia‑connected Florida wheeler-dealer named Charles ‘Bebe’ Rebozo who was even more crooked than Nixon.

No, no, no. I will have to see the evidence on this one. Nixon and Bebe Robozo? Really?

Nixon and Robozo????

All sorts of people hate Nixon for all sorts of good reasons. I do NOT want him to be another truly tortured, self-loathing queer with out-sized political power. Didn’t Roy Cohn already fill that niche?

*I did feel pangs of sympathy for Nixon when Pat Nixon died. But then again, I always believed that she got multiple bad deals.

Below is a pseudo flash mob that “struck” the Carlson School of Management, at the University of Minnesota, though clearly it’s a promo video for the University. That said, it’s lots of fun. And best of all, for me, is I spotted an old bud from my musician days (Hello, Dale Kruse! Drop me a line!).

Enjoy and have a FABULOUS holiday season.

HT:  Tenured Radical

Now, there is some question as to whether or not this bill includes state universities or not. But clearly, the intent is to treat Michigan’s queer public employees as lesser citizens (read “dirt”).

Just a thought: This move should really help Michigan’s economy (not!), by pushing talented queer public servants, including university researchers and administrators, to move to more welcoming environs. I’ll be the first to say, “Come to NJ,” where everyone is welcome (if only so the political class can pick your pocket, but that’s another story. At least folks are equal opportunity thieves).

So, Merry F*ckin Christmas, Michigan queers. If you’re a public employee, you’ve just been slapped hard in the face. Good luck taking care of your families. Clearly, they and you don’t matter one bit to Michigan’s political class.

Lawrence and Tyron Garnder were arrested in 1998, when police burst into Lawrence’s apartment. Instead of finding a man with a gun “going crazy,”* the flustered Harris County deputies found two men engaged in consensual anal sex. Both men were arrested under Texas’ “Homosexual Conduct Law” which banned same-sex consensual sexual behavior. Both men paid a fine of $200 and began litigating their case. The case came before the US Supreme Court in March of 2003, and on June 26, 2003, the US Supreme Court issued it’s landmark decision.

In the 6-3 decision, Justice Kennedy writing for the majority noted that:

“Had those who drew and ratified the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth Amendment or the Fourteenth Amendment known the components of liberty in its manifold possibilities, they might have been more specific. They did not presume to have this insight,” Kennedy held. “They knew times can blind us to certain truths and later generations can see that laws once thought necessary and proper in fact serve only to oppress. As the Constitution endures, persons in every generation can invoke its principles in their own search for greater freedom.”

The decision explicitly overturned the homophobic monstrosity of Bowers v. Hardwick (1986), which had upheld the constitutionality of criminalizing queer identity. Lawrence v. Texas explicitly overturned Bowers.

US queers owe an enormous debt of gratitude to both Lawrence and Garner. They were brave enough to be publicly OUT as queers to litigate their criminal case, thereby leading to the de-criminalization of all US queers. This case laid the ground work to overturn the hated military queer ban, and I hope, eventually, the repeal of “the defense of some marriages act” (DOMA). It remains the most important court cases for queer people in the US.

*This was a false report filed with the police. The neighbor who filed this report was later arrested, pled no contest to the charge, and served 15 days in jail.

From a 2005 e-mail sent by Dr. Triponey:

“Coach Paterno would rather we NOT inform the public when a football player is found responsible for committing a serious violation of the law and/or our student code,” she wrote, “despite any moral or legal obligation to do so.”

Hmmmm…this is looking like a consistent, if disturbing, pattern of behavior on the part of Paterno. Perhaps, there are some Penn Staters who were more equal than others. Clearly, the violent on and off-campus behavior of football players was NOT considered to be that serious.

The news is going to continue to get worse….