This is how I prefer to remember him:

But I can think of no finer tribute than this:

The 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots will be remembered in numerous ways this weekend~ listed in the extended post.

A brief history...

Something unremarkable happened on June 27, 1969 in New York's Greenwich Village, an event which had occurred a thousand times before across the U.S. over the decades. The police raided a gay bar.

At first, everything unfolded according to a time-honored ritual. Seven plain-clothes detectives and a uniformed officer entered and announced their presence. The bar staff stopped serving the watered-down, overpriced drinks, while their Mafia bosses swiftly removed the cigar boxes which functioned as tills. The officers demanded identification papers from the customers and then escorted them outside, throwing some into a waiting paddy-wagon and pushing others off the sidewalk.

But at a certain point, the "usual suspects" departed from the script and decided to fight back. A debate still rages over which incident sparked the riot. Was it a 'butch' lesbian dressed in man's clothes who resisted arrest, or a male drag queen who stopped in the doorway between the officers and posed defiantly, rallying the crowd?

These images were shot by a Times photographer named Larry Morris on the evening of Wednesday, July 2, 1969.

Yeah yeah I know this is a re-post from last year... but hey I didn't have my own fabulous place to post it then! Get over it.

Originally published on November 17, 2008 3:50 PM

It was a little slow today, and I promised a friend I'd help him with a DFI project for the inauguration. He happens to be lucky enough to have a "golden ticket" to one of the balls and asked me to help with a "tux"... shudder eek-everyone repeat after me, it's "black tie" or "formal dress" from here on out.

The Decatur Metro blog is reporting that The Grange in Decatur will be closed Monday and Tuesday. That, of course, would ordinarily only be important to fans of Irish-themed pubs. Oh, but the reason for the closing!

By beating up patrons in a local bar.

I got a phone call at 3 this morning from Todd Camp, the founder of Q Cinema and former reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. It was Camp's birthday and the night of a special Q Cinema screening of two Stonewall documentaries... because it was ALSO the 40th anniversary of Stonewall, as anyone knows.

Except, apparently, the Fort Worth PD.

Or maybe worse, they DID know and wanted to make a point.

The Dallas Voice has the unfolding events here

While I'm sure LBGTQ folks in the Atlanta metro have had their run in's with police, the march organized by local Transgender activists in Little 5 this Saturday went off without a hitch and we were ably escorted by 6 members of the Atlanta PD motorcycle squad.

The Supreme Court failed to rule upon Troy Davis' most recent petition prior to adjourning today for the summer. The Court was supposed to have discussed Davis' petition last Friday at their final conference of the spring term, with an order expected today. However, the last two sets of orders came and went without Davis' case among them, so now the Court will presumably wait until it reconvenes in September before deciding whether to give Davis' actual innocence claims a chance or to let the state of Georgia execute him.

I still think the odds on SCOTUS intervening on Davis' behalf are slim to none, but at least this delay gives him a few more months on this earth and gives his legal team a few more months to strategize to try to keep him alive. Now that the Court put everything on pause for the summer, the next few months will likely see considerable pressure on new Chatham County District Attorney Larry Chisholm to find a way to either re-open the case for new evidence, or take some other action to give Davis the new trial he has so far been denied by Georgia courts.

So today was a normal busy Monday like any other. Around 11:45AM my second visitor to the office had just left, and I was debating between diving into a new fundraising project for Young Democrats of Georgia, or heading to the gym a little early.

Then the phone rang and I got a message from God....

Cheeming Boey creates art on disposable foam coffee cups. I want one, please. Gallery of cups here.

Random questions (and smiles) of a summer's night as we head into the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Warning: some of the following paragraphs include adult language and graphic portrayals of stupidity.

I'll leave the in-depth legal analysis on Ricci v. DeStefano to my bloggy colleagues. But if you want fun background stories, then follow me below the jump.

I've long been a fan of Delta's slightly askew safety video, but Air New Zealand has taken the genre one step further. As part of their "Nothing to Hide" campaign, in which they tout that they have no hidden fees, the airline has produced a cheeky (heh heh!) safety video in which the participants are wearing nothing but body paint. Video below the fold.

Today is a fund raising deadline for candidates who've already filed for 2010. Candidates with early financial support tend to dominate throughout the campaign, which is why it's better to contribute earlier than later. This isn't a rule, but more a rule of thumb. The names below are not (necessarily) endorsements, but a few solicitations I've received today that I'm just passing along. If you're inclined to make a contribution today, do it before midnight. And PLEASE feel free to add others in the comments:

Rob Teilhet for Attorney General
Mary Squires for Insurance Commissioner
Kevin Johnson for State Rep. HD-58 (Seat vacated by Robin Shipp, election on 10/03/09?)
Poythress for Governor
Gary Horlacher for SOS

<-- Could this be considered an appropriate campaign photo. DecaturMetro has the story of candidate James Radford, complete with discussion.

Minnesota's Supreme Court ruled that Democrat Al Franken won the Minnesota Senate race.

The court's unanimous, unsigned opinion declared that Franken "received the highest number of votes legally cast" and is entitled "to receive the certificate of election as United States senator from the state of Minnesota."

For Norm Coleman this now completes what can most charitably be called the "Coleman Trifecta", of losing that is. What's a "Coleman Trifecta" you ask... first you lose to a dead guy ( Paul Wellstone), then to a Professional Wrestler ( Jesse Venture) then finally to an actor from Saturday Night Live.

The best part is that Coleman punked the NRSC to spend money they rilly rilly don't have.

With a profile of ruby red bloody meat.

Sarah! is served up in all of her garish glory.

It Came from Wasilla

Despite her disastrous performance in the 2008 election, Sarah Palin is still the sexiest brand in Republican politics, with a lucrative book contract for her story. But what Alaska's charismatic governor wants the public to know about herself doesn't always jibe with reality.

You don't even need a knife to enjoy this dish, it cuts like "buttah"

Whatever her political future, the emergence of Sarah Palin raises questions that will not soon go away. What does it say about the nature of modern American politics that a public official who often seems proud of what she does not know is not only accepted but applauded? What does her prominence say about the importance of having (or lacking) a record of achievement in public life? Why did so many skilled veterans of the Republican Party--long regarded as the more adroit team in presidential politics--keep loyally working for her election even after they privately realized she was casual about the truth and totally unfit for the vice-presidency?

Yum!

And so it begins. As the Obama Administration envelops itself in its renewed focus in Afghanistan, Iraqis are celebrating the beginnings of a draw down that's been awaited for a long time. Coalition forces have begun to cease combat operations in urban centers throughout the country. In fact, coalition forces will no longer operate unilaterally in any capacity in all of Iraq.

Despite the Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declaring today a national holiday, "National Sovereignty Day" in fact, those elements opposed to a free and stable Iraq have attempted to exploit vulnerabilities associated with today's festivities, ultimately killing scores of civilians in Kirkuk. Closer to home, at least five American Soldiers, four in Baghdad, were also killed today, highlighting the complexities of lowering the security posture in place where military checkpoints, combat outposts, and heavily armed presence patrols have been a normal part of life for the better part of the decade.

The drawdown has a long way to go, but today was a significant step forward in seeing Operation Iraqi Freedom through to its end. Despite the actions of a violent few, Iraq has better days ahead of her, and as reluctant as she may be, we're still watching her 6. As we work to get each and every Soldier, sailor, airman, and Marine back home safe and sound, let's just hope she's watching ours.