Wedding pics of Mina & Sharon at Long Beach Lesbian and Gay Center Aug. 24, 08

Mina and Sharon were legally married Aug. 24th on the afternoon of their 37th anniversary of being together.

Pics from Wedding of Mina & Sharon at Long Beach, Ca. Lesbian and Gay Center

Some pics of Our Wedding Aug. 24th 08 at Lesbian and Gay Center Long Beach

Tribute to Del Martin, Lesbian Pioneer Activist

After Mina and I came back from out trip to Alberta, Canada, we learned that Del Martin, our beloved sister in spirit, has died.
Del Martin and her wife/spouse, Phyllis Lyon were married recently in a poignant ceremony that took place in the city of SF with many officials and friends and others looking on. Mina and I have known Del and Phyllis for many years, since the beginning of our own journey into Feminist, Lesbian and Gay activism in the early seventies. I can't say we were close to either one of them, but we always felt a special bond with Del and Phyll and whenever we met them along the way usually when we went up to SF but also sometimes down here in LA., both made us feel very special as if we were part of their great adventure and we always felt respected for what we had in common though separated by a generation or so the what was the desire to make great changes especially as they affected Lesbians. Mina and I recruited Del and Phyll early on (the early eighties) into our work in the area of Lesbian and Gay aging. Back then both of them though chronologically over 60, neither really identified with being in old age.

As time passed though, they both realized the importance of working for the rights of Old Lesbians and when OLOC (Old Lesbians Organizing for Change) was created in 89-91 , both quickly joined. We were too young to join OLOC but were very pleased at this development. I remember when Del and Phyll participated in the White House Conference on Aging. they were the first along with a few others to push for the recognition of Lesbians in this austere congregation of activists and professionals in the aging field. It was quite a feat they both pulled off, getting Old Lesbians and Gay men on the agenda. It was actually under the Clinton administration as I remember it but the emphasis was on intergenerational issues and minority issues were being de-emphasized. The first Bush administration didn't even have a White House Conference on Aging. Lisa Hamburger, a lesbian and gay housing specialist was one witness to that White House experience. She kept me up to date on what was happeing at the time as it took political clout to even be able to attend that convention. I was eventually invited but turned the invite down as I could not imagine getting anything done among the conservative forces in power at the time but Del and Phyll refused to give up on us and they made a difference I will never forget. I did feel as though Mina and I had laid the groundwork for what eventually transpired and so looking back I realize what a good team we really were in this regard. Del and Phyll had tremendous political clout and Mina and Sharon knew where we needed to go re the field of aging as it related to Lesbians and Gay men.

The last time Mina and I saw Del was at Jeanne Adelman's, the lesbian feminist therapist, last birthday party up in Oakland or was it down here in LA at some other event. Not sure which. Del and Phyll once again reached out to us and once again we felt reinforced and supported by our brave leaders which is how I regard the two of them. I also liked their coupleness. Del and Phyll fought to be recognized as a couple by NOW, as feminists which meant they only had to pay dues as a couple. Something most feminist and activist organizations still do not do because there is a general feeling of dis-ease around long time couples as though we are somehow less than, frightens "strong" feminists around the issues of togetherness. I read this fact in one of the obituaries for Del and I thought this is something Mina and I have to fight against too.

Of course, Del and Phyll are known for being the first Lesbians to organize a Lesbian organization, DOB, Daughters of Belitis, which operated in groups all over the country. DOB was started way back in 1954 if I am remembering right. They began their careers as writers and journalists and their talent at writing helped to produce a number of significant books i.e Lesbian/Woman which was widely hailed as a breakthrough discussion and description of who we were, what our situations were, and why we needed to have our civil rights. Later Del wrote a book on wife abuse and there were a series of articles
and other works that came out written by Martin and Lyon. The articles we read by Del and Phlyy were important guideposts for us in our movement work as both Del and Phyll had experienced the homophile movement and had gone through many of the same trials and episodic problems with sexism and lesbophobia that we were experiencing a later date but new and relevant to our time in the movement. We learned by their example and found many similarities in our thinking. We never though of ourselves as another Del and Phyll as no one can be them. Both were and Phyll still is bigger than life and also very part of mainstream politics. They get/got things done on a big scale while we plod along on a thinner more left and sometimes a fantasy type of terrain.

Years ago, Mina and I were very honored to receive free tickets to a very prestigious event in LA that Del and Phyllis were invited to attend. They asked us to go and be there in a sense for them. We were blown away and felt in awe at the prospect.
At the time we knew Del and Phyllis knew we worked as movement activist, sometimes on the same wave length and sometimes on the same project. Both always treated us like equals. We will never forget the casual way they related to us and allowed us to be our own natural selves toward them. They never saw themselves as higher than, or more important than. I found Del and Phyll to be true Lesbian activists without any subterfuge or false agendas. Del was unassuming, had a good sense of humor, and always kept her feet on the ground but when you looked straight in her eyes you saw intensity and true knowledge of where she wanted to go from here. I also saw love for others.

To Phyllis I say I am so sorry for your loss. It is unimaginable, after at least 50 plus years of "wedded" bliss. Goodbye Del. I salute you. And salute you again and again as long as I have memory of who you are. Your memory will live on long past my time. You were the first and the best role model anyone could ever have had. Rest in Peace. Fond Adieu.

Sharon Raphael

Our Honeymoon at Lake Louise in Canada (pics)

Mina and I just came back from our honeymoon at The Chateau at Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada. We enjoyed exploring this area close to the province British Columbia and located in the province Alberta Canada about 2 1/2 hrs. from Calgary. The drive from Calgary to Lake Louise was very scenic. More pics to follow soon. Will also include wedding pics as soon as I get them.

Sharon Raphael

My Walk Around the Lake


Sharon at Lake Louise

Mina & Sharon at Lake Louise

The Lake and Glacier behind The Fairmont Chateau at Lake Louise

The Sad Passing of Stephanie Tubbs Jones D. Ohio

I was so sorry to hear about the death of Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones. Jones represented the district where I grew up on the East Side of Cleveland, Ohio. Although, I was not living in the area when Jones was in office, I kept track of her accomplishments which were many. They were hard to miss especially when she took on supporting the campaign of Hillary Clinton and before that was a supporter of the Clintons and more importantly was a staunch advocate of minority, LGBT issues and women's rights. She died at age 58 of an aneurysm in the brain. I can only ask why so young? Too many African American women die before they have a chance to even reach old age. I can't help but think of the death of Barbara Jordan who also died before her time. What a shame Tubbs didn't have a chance to participate in the Democratic Convention of 08 as she was pulling for Barack Obama since Hillary is out of the race. Now Feinstein has broken an ankle and I understand she will not be at the convention either. These are two important women who can make a big difference in the way Obama's decision making might go. I am sure both of them were rooting for Hillary to be the Vice President but that will be decided before the convention. However, both women's efforts might have produced some interesting highlights and events around the Clinton experience at the convention. If Tubbs Jones had lived, I wouldn't have been surprised if Obama hadn't appointed Tubbs to his cabinet at some point, that is if he does win the White House but, now, of course that is sadly not possible. Tubbs would have made a difference on that score too as the way Ohio votes is often the way the nation goes and Tubbs' district of Cuyahoga County which has a very large African American voting population as well as Russian Jewish population might make a big difference. It was quite evident corruption of the voting process took place in that district (Republican manipulation of the vote) and Tubbs was investigating and on top of what had gone on and was trying to make it not happen again. Tubbs along with her political ally Dennis Kucinich also from the Cleveland area were early proponents against the Iraq War.

SRaphael

Associated Press Release

In this May 8, 2006 file photo, Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio, questions the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections during a meeting in Cleveland. Tubbs Jones remained in a hospital Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008, a spokeswoman said. No other information was released. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan, File)
©2008 Google
US Rep. Tubbs Jones of Ohio dies after hemorrhage
By M.R. KROPKO – 5 hours ago
EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) — Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the first black woman to represent Ohio in Congress and a strong critic of the Iraq war, died Wednesday after a brain hemorrhage, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Tubbs Jones, 58, died Wednesday evening of a brain hemorrhage caused by an aneurysm that burst and left her with limited brain function, said Eileen Sheil, a spokeswoman for the Cleveland Clinic, which owns the Huron Hospital in East Cleveland where Tubbs Jones died.
"Throughout the course of the day and into this evening, Congresswoman Tubbs Jones' medical condition declined," Sheil said in a statement from the clinic and Tubbs Jones' family.
The liberal Democrat, first elected in 1998, suffered the hemorrhage while driving her car in Cleveland Heights Tuesday night, said Dr. Gus Kious, president of Huron Hospital. The car went out of control and crossed lanes of traffic before coming to a stop, police said. An officer found the ailing lawmaker.
A brain aneurysm is a bulge in an artery in the brain. It can leak or rupture, causing bleeding in the brain.
Several news organizations, including The Associated Press, had reported earlier in the day that Tubbs Jones had died. That report, citing a Democratic official, was corrected a few minutes later when a hospital official held a news conference to say she was in critical condition.
Tubbs Jones represented the heavily Democratic 11th District and chaired the ethics committee in the House. She was the first black woman to serve on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, where she opposed President Bush's tax cuts and his efforts to create personal accounts within Social Security.
"After making history as the first African-American woman elected to Congress from Ohio, the congresswoman worked to expand the rights of all Americans," President Bush said in tribute. "Our nation is grateful for her service."
Tubbs Jones was a firm supporter of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton during the primaries until throwing her support behind Sen. Barack Obama in June. She was to have been a superdelegate at next week's Democratic National Convention in Denver.
The Clinton family released a statement saying they shared a friendship with Tubbs Jones that "deepened through every trial and challenge."
"Over the course of many years, with many ups and many downs, Stephanie was right by our side — unwavering, indefatigable," the statement said. "It was that fighting spirit ... that allowed Stephanie to rise from modest beginnings, to succeed in public service, to become a one-woman force for progress in our country."
Obama called Tubbs Jones "an extraordinary American and an outstanding public servant."
"It wasn't enough for her just to break barriers in her own life. She was also determined to bring opportunity to all those who had been overlooked and left behind — and in Stephanie, they had a fearless friend and unyielding advocate," Obama said in a statement.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who also represents Cleveland, was visibly upset Wednesday night when he left Huron Hospital. He held the hand of his wife, Elizabeth, as he recalled Tubbs Jones' energy and spirit.
"She poured her heart and soul into her job," Kucinich said. "She worked so hard and gave everything she could. I'm devastated. Wherever we'd go, we'd speak of each other as brother and sister. It's an incalculable loss."
Tubbs Jones was a passionate opponent of the Iraq war, voting in 2002 against authorizing the use of military force.
Just as the war was starting in March 2003, she was one of only 11 House members to oppose a resolution supporting U.S. troops in Iraq. She said she did so because the resolution connected Iraq to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and said Iraq poses a continued threat to the United States.
Neither of those claims had been proved, she said, adding that was why the United States couldn't persuade the United Nations to support an attack.
In 2005, Tubbs Jones opposed certifying President Bush's re-election because of questionable electoral results in her home state.
Tubbs Jones was known as an outspoken, gregarious lawmaker who wore bright colors and displayed her congressional pin on a gold necklace.
She was a fiery speaker who could inspire crowds at political rallies, as she did while introducing former President Clinton when he campaigned for his wife in January in suburban Cleveland.
Tubbs Jones had served as a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judge and prosecutor before running for political office.
Addressing the Democratic National Convention in 2004, Tubbs Jones recalled her parents, who "punched a clock day in and day out — one as a skycap, the other as a factory worker," until the day they saw their daughter representing their hometown as a congresswoman.
Associated Press writer Andrew Taylor in Washington contributed to this report.

Armistead Maupin article about The City of S.F. Don't we all agree?

new book by Maupin

article copied from Outraveler online.

Armistead Maupin: The City and the Writer

If there is one modern gay writer who is intimately interwoven with his hometown, it's Armistead Maupin with San Francisco.

The author of the beloved Tales of the City novels (the first appeared in 1978) moved to the City by the Bay at the age of 27 and has never left. Maupin recently presented the world with "Michael Tolliver Lives" (HarperCollins, 2007), featuring for the first time in years characters who appeared in his original books. Matthew Link (who lived for years in the same Cole Valley neighborhood Maupin now resides in) recently spoke with the author about his personal relationship with the city.

It's interesting to see how Michael Tolliver has grown old with the city. Does he reflect your own history with San Francisco?
Yes. It's quite an unavoidable situation as I get older. It would be kind of foolish if I kept trying to write about my characters' youth. I'm deliberately introducing some younger characters so that it's not just one great big circus of geezers, but, yeah, I like the sensation that the characters, like myself, have had this long history in the city. Sometimes I don't even note my own aging until I look at my characters and think, Oh, my God, Brian is 63 years old! Which happens to be my age, but somehow it's far more shocking in one of my characters than it is in me.

For me, living in San Francisco in my 20s was a great way to find myself. It seems like people are drawn to the city to do soul-searching.
They are still and always have been. The city is less involved with your outsides than with your insides, if you follow me. It's not a place that's big on ambition or appearances or money, although all of those things help, God knows. It's a place where you are free to make a fool of yourself and thereby discover yourself. I certainly took that opportunity and worked it to the fullest!

Nearly all of your books are set in San Francisco, and your persona is so linked to the city now. Do you think you would have become the author you are if you lived elsewhere?
I honestly don't know. The whole package was so seamless. My creativity and my personal life and everything else came together during the process of my coming out in San Francisco… For the most part I find the city fulfilling in the same ways I always have. It's so physically dazzling; it has a small-town vibe with cosmopolitan attitudes. And nowadays it's quite simply my home. And something I am so heavily identified with I probably would feel weird living anywhere else.

Do you think in this age of "Will & Grace" that San Francisco still serves the vital function it has in decades past as a gay refuge or gay mecca?
I think we created a prototype of how to function as gay people that has been copied elsewhere in the world -- there's no question about that. Every time I'm in a European country and I see that rainbow flag flying at the end of an alleyway, I remind myself that it was created here by a guy I used to chat with on the street. Apparently it still is [a gay mecca] for a lot of younger people, because they tell me they read my books and then moved to San Francisco because of them. I wish I could actually collect royalties on that! It makes me feel good because it lets me know that my love for the place was apparent in the work.

When I was 19, I saw the movie "Vertigo" and it haunted me and impelled me to move to San Francisco. Somehow, it sums up the beautiful sadness that seems to hang over San Francisco and the city's dreamlike quality.
Like no other movie, it really captures the bittersweet quality of the place and the physical texture as well. Hitchcock used a fog filter, and I think that helped in conveying the notion of what the place is all about. It's kind of soft around the edges -- the waking dream. It's heavily shaped my own work, actually. There are a number of people who fall from high places in "Tales of the City." The movie, for me, is a bit of an obsession. I find something new in it every time I watch it, and that's saying something, because I've watched it many, many times.

Alfred Hitchcock called San Fran the Paris of America --
Let me stop you right there, if you don't mind. [The famous San Francisco columnist] Herb Caen used to cringe over the years at the term "Frisco," but the only one that really bothers me is "San Fran." [Laughs] It's the term that visiting flight attendants use. It's not really a term of affection for locals. It's increased in popularity in recent years, but I cringe when I hear "San Fran." It's just a bug up my ass. We're so protective of the place, the people who live here.

It's true, people really have a deep personal relationship with San Francisco in a way they don't with many other large cities.
I think that's true. That causes other people to refer to us as smug, but it simply reflects a genuine affection for the place. But God knows it's not easy to live here. It's way too expensive; you know traffic is awful; there's a lot of drawbacks to living here. But you're so heavily rewarded by your surroundings in terms of both people and scenery -- and people who are scenery!

Every time I go to visit San Francisco, I nearly cry when I'm leaving.
I'm sure I would too if I were yanked away from it.