I gave a dinner party last night and two gay friends ~~ a long time couple ~~ were there.

[Hepburn]

Anyone see the bullshit in the title to my thread? I hope to hell we ALL see it because here is the real story on what I did last night:

I gave a dinner party last night and 29 of my bestest pals in the world were there with me to celebrate the season.

My friends are my friends...PERIOD. IMO, we as a nation need to get over placing people into "sexual" labels. Maybe if we did that, then all basic civil rights ~~ in particular the right to marry the person one loves ~~ would not be the subject of a continuing war in this supposedly free society.

JMHO

[NOW tense]

1. K&R

[glowing]

2. Being gay or straight is not who you are, its what you are.. Who you are is

defined by the quality of person, sometimes the thing you do at work, or like to do for fun, or who your person is. Gay or straight is just the think you were born with.. and when you get to that awkward stage when hormones flood in and you become a geek... squeeling, surging, and acting like a dork, you figure out if you like the opposite or the same sex... After speaking of the ills of the opposite sex with my mother last night, we were left wondering why in the world we weren't gay.

[Crazy Dave]

3. I feel the same way

Someone in another thread last week said that people who say they don't like to use labels are really closet homophobes and racists. I say bullshit. Like youself I don't say "my black friend" or "my gay friend", etc. Even if I introduce one gay friend to another for the first time, (I'm using that for clarity) I don't say, "_____ meet ____, they're gay too".

Just like introducing any and all friends to one another, no difference :hi:

[Hepburn]

5. You would have loved my party last night...

...one cannot imgine a bigger mix of people ~~ gay, straight, black, white, Hispanic, Asian American, old, young, Christian, Jewish, foreign born... and on and on. Even one or two Republicans! LOL!!! Sitting around the table, I would imagine that there was at least one representative of every possible group ~~ even the disabled.

They are simply MY FRIENDS! And I love them all dearly. They are are in the same group as far as I see them ~~ friends. My dear and lovely friends who mean the world to me. And the best part? They are all friends with one and other. I have what I call a HUGE extended family of very special people who happen to not be just my pals, but who happen to be friends with each other as well.

:loveya: I have a wonderful, beautiful evening yesterday ~~ with great memories that will last me forever.

[unapatriciated]

22. Your party sounds like my family .....

four children and their partners, Gay, Black, Hispanic, Chinese and my youngest disabled.
When we get together they are family and their labels are....
Richard & Rachel, Melanie & Kristen, Charlie & Erica, Michael & Marvella and the most beautiful grandchildren a mother could ask for.


:toast: to labels of family and friends

[Hepburn]

26. Exactly!

I did the name tags last night...and the only thing on them were NAMES!

:hi:

[Faygo Kid]

4. So, how was the party?

Hope you had a good time. I lived in Fort Lauderdale a long time ago, and had gay couples on three sides of me. Best neighbors I ever had; two of the households were dear friends. Damn them, though: They were tough to beat on the Christmas lights. I gave it my best, but they always beat me.

I miss them.

[Hepburn]

7. The party was outstanding!

Most of us are neighbors or former neighbors and how this started was one person ~~ a dear lady in her 70s who taught kindergarten for 36 years before she retired ~~ remarked that she would love it if we all got together and just enjoyed each other's company instead of exchanging gifts. So...that was the basis for the party last evening. It was at a German restaurant and the food was fabulous and there was a live band and a huge dance floor and we had a totally wonderful time! Great music from the 50s and 60s and my guy pal and I who love to do ballroom dancing, had a total blast. My feet and knees are killing me today ~~ but it was worth it totally!!!!!

[HillWilliam]

6. You know I love to read you

My "teh gay" is only a small part of the million things that make up who I am. Like DaveTheWave says, if there are more gayfolks in the room, we'll either figure it out or be so interested in everything else, it's not that big a deal. I'm a bluegrass fiddler. A farmer. A software developer. A wedding officiant. I've traveled just everywhere. Lived a bunch of places. A Democrat (a big'un!). A zillion other things. Gawds, there are so many interesting things to talk about.

So, what was for supper? :)

[Hepburn]

8. Heya...and thank for the compliment!

Dinner was a choice of:

Roasted chicken stuffed with shrimp

Prime rib

Sauterbraten

Beef Roulade

Dessert? A huge German Chocolate sheet cake done in their wonderful bakery. The cake was to freaking die for! (Don't tell, but I had TWO pieces!)

If you are in SoCal and have not been to the Alpine Village in Torrance, CA, please give it a try. It is a great place. During the week, they have different live bands...and DANCE LESSONS! So my guy pal and I ~~ as part of a get healthy routine ~~ are gonna do dancing and lessons at least once a week and then on Saturdays, go for dinner and dancing!

And...you sound very interesting. I love people and to me the freaking labels drive me nuts. They just are PEOPLE! And like you, they have such interesting things about them to share. I learn so much from so many and thank gawd I have the friends I have.

[HillWilliam]

9. Actually, I USED to live in Long Beach and worked in Irvine

I learned then taught clogging and country and western in SoCal. Competed and won a few trinkets, matter of fact. I still love C&W dancing, but, alas-alack, there aren't venues in NC (but you can go shag-dancing here) but husbear steadfastly refuses to learn. Ah, well! I still remember swing (east and west-coast), Lindy, cha-cha, tango, lotsa fun stuff. If I were still there, betcherass we'd cut a rug!

Gotta run. I'm making raisin and cranberry tarts, then a bigass batch of peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies.

:hug:

[Hepburn]

11. Ooooooooh, another dancer!

I love to dance! I wish you were closer ~~ still in Long Beach ~~ and we could get together and dance. That sounds like a ton of fun.

And...enjoy your cookie making. I am not much of a sweets baker, but I love to cook. I am getting ready for the Christmas morning open house brunch I have every year. My gal pal brings the sweets! This year, I am having three kinds of quiche and wilted spinach salad as the basics of the food.

:hi:

[TahitiNut]

10. Well, thank GOD you didn't have any smoker friends there.

'Cause we ALL know 'smoker' is something other than fully human.

:hide:

[Hepburn]

13. My bestest gal pal, her son and his girlfriend ...

...all are smokers. Nice area last night right outside the door where the tables were set up ~~ for the smokers.

I used to smoke and did so when it was not the "popular" thing to do...so I understand the discrimination.

So...come on over to SoCal and dine with us cuz there is a place for EVERYONE who wants to be friends!

:hi:

[TahitiNut]

16. (grin) Well, (as you know) I was being a tad facetious.

I tend to eschew labeling folks ... even though I screw up occasionally. Long ago, my friend Tom (who was blind) explained that people with disabilities didn't like to be labeled with the disability having 'higher billing' than the fact that they're people first and foremost. It's a lesson that's stayed with me. I've since always noticed that when folks (me included) refer to others according to one attribute or choice of activities, there's a high likelihood that the reference is embedded in rhetoric that objectifies the human being. Over the years I've come to realize that all of the evil and corrupt ways in which we treat one another are in ways that are one form of objectification or another - that the objectification of human beings is, itself, the fundamental ethical failing. Furthermore, I've found that even in acknowledging how someone may view their own identity is up to them. A person I might superficially refer to as 'black' or 'African-American' or 'Asian' or 'gay' or 'lesbian' or whatever may or may not view themselves in the same way. Thus, I find that I'm morally/ethically obliged to honor how they view themselves and those attributes or activities that they themselves migh incorporate into their identity.

It works better. Lots better. (At least I think so.)

[HillWilliam]

17. And there's the reason I enjoy reading you

I think we're all a bit of what we are "in the moment of the conversation". Hepburn and I just had a lovely dance -- a mere three thousand miles apart :) When I meet another gay person, that may or may not be a topic of conversation (more often not). On DU, we're usually talking about (or bitching about) politics. Your point is well-illustrated -- we're hardly monochromatic beings.

Batter's made and resting in the fridge for the requisite two hours. I made a bigass batch of suthren-style buttermilk biscuits (my nanny's recipe). I'm going to have a wee kipper then get up to fry some country ham slices. I'll take a big place of ham-biscuits to work along with a big plate of cranberry, raisin, and home-grown blackberry tarts for a pot-luck we're having for lunch tomorrow. Our company only has six people in it, but it's solvent, the work is steady, and we're all pretty close. I'm looking forward to the camaraderie (and, ok, not a little bit to ham-biscuits!)

Blog y'all later.

:grouphug:

[patrice]

12. Love that!: "...supposedly free society..." Amerika knows one whole Hell of a lot less about Freedom

than it thinks it does.

[Hepburn]

14. An "amen" to that....

...America continues to be run by corporations who still have "Barbie" think on the brain.

[patrice]

15. Our strongest freedom is to sign on the dotted-line for Slavery.

And probably the next strongest is to belong to the right church OR ELSE!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

18. the only time you need a title like your subject line

is if the party is in honor of said couple's anniversary.

[Hepburn]

23. My next one would be close....

...one of the gentlemen will have his 80th birthday in February...and my pals and I are already planning the party!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

27. How sweet!

Please give him my regards!

[Hepburn]

28. He is an absolute doll...and he told me last evening that while he did...

...celebrate his 60th and his 70th, he is not so sure about his 80th.

I will extend your regards. He is one of the dearest people I know. He and his partner of many, many years used to be neighbors. They moved and most of us miss them so very much! They are always invited to our neighborhood goings on. It would not be a party without them!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

29. He must be about the same age as an artist I knew as a child

I thought he and his art was very neat, and never thought anything about the fellows hanging around his place, as they were all very nice to me. It wasn't until I was grown up that I found out he was gay. I always thought of him as one of the sweetest persons I'd met.

[peacetalksforall]

19. Agree..

[hootinholler]

20. Hear! Hear!

Now if I only had 29 friends...

-Hoot

[Hepburn]

25. Well....

...you are a DUer...so you are my friend! :loveya:

I am sure there are at least 28 more on here that think the same way!

[Desertrose]

21. I agree...

...we are all humans and love is love. What's the big deal WHO you love as LONG AS you LOVE.

[Hepburn]

24. Yep....

...sooooooooo very true! :loveya: