Saturday June 11th I was in Portland, Oregon with family and friends celebrating my 50th birthday, along with a close friend of 30 years also turning 50. We started talking about the old days when gay bars had the best dance floors, the best DJs, the best sound system, and the best deal on a 8 ball….tee hee.
Monday you stayed home because of Sunday’s Tea Dance at Embers nightclub
Two for Tuesday’s at Scandals on Stark Street Beer was $1.25 and Vodka $1.75
Wednesday was bar crawl, ’cause it was hump day and all bars had drink specials.
Thursday we spent at the Brigg and Box’s a $1.00 for anything on the shelf. You get shit faced and go dancing at City Night Club.
Friday Starkey’s was known for a great dinner and cocktails, and Saturday Court Shows at the Embers.
We never once had to worry about Guns in a night club... not once. Our biggest fear in Portland was the cops and walking home or to your car alone and getting molly whopped. But the 80’s was a history changer for the GLBT community be it AIDS or Civil Rights. I can’t remember ever having a discussion about the 2nd amendment with any GLBT as a young queer. All I remember about using a gun is ( I am going to shoot that bitch in the head if she does not shut the fuck up.)
Sunday June 12th 10am Rose Gardens (Washington Park)was a beautiful morning. I wanted to take some pictures. I picked up my phone and started reading the news feed: 20 then 39 and 50 DEAD…..with 53 in hospital from a gunshot wound. Then the sentence (in a Gay Bar in Orlando FL).
I had to sit down …over and over in my head IN A GAY BAR …..WHY?????? Since I can remember so many of our GLBT community has been hurt or killed from religion which teaches hate… I don’t why but I started reading books on the 2nd amendment.
The best indication of what any law, including a Constitutional provision, means, is what the courts say it means. Our federal courts, including the Supreme Court, have spoken plainly and unanimously on the meaning of the Second Amendment. It is astonishing that no-one knows this. Even most books on either side of the issue fail to cover court decisions. The legal meaning of the Second Amendment tends to get lost in the hype. The pro-gun forces especially would like to ignore that there is any contemporary jurisprudence on the topic. Most NRA members probably don’t know that the organization always bases its litigation on constitutional grounds such as over breadth and vagueness--It never argues that a gun control law offends the Second Amendment, because it knows that, under the present state of the law, it would lose.
On September 4, the Senate voted to change the language of the Second Amendment by removing the definition of militia, and striking the conscientious objector clause: A well regulated militia, being the best security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Pro-gun forces certainly believe that 20th century Second Amendment jurisprudence is dead wrong, just as I believe that court decisions upholding the constitutionality of the Communications Act of 1934 are dead wrong. What we are both saying is that the courts, in a given instance, wrote the wrong story. We are entitled to our opinions. The perniciousness of the pro-gun forces, particularly the NRA, is not that they disagree with the courts, but that they lie to their members and to the public about what the law says. The success of the NRA and similar organizations in their disinformation campaign is evident in the fact that so many otherwise reasonable citizens believe that the Second Amendment, despite its reference to the militia, guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms. No-one knows that the highest federal courts in the land have consistently held that the Second Amendment is only a right held by the states against the federal government.
I am not ready to deal with this... I cry every morning driving to work thinking about the 49 who cannot drive to work and 53 wounded souls who will now have that voice in their head.. Asking who wants to kill me because I am different.
In closing, please do not stop living. Beware what is around you. See something, Say something. Do not let Religion or the Kim Davis’ of the world take your freedom who how and where to love.
Love Kitty……
Drink Vodka and Dance
Kitty has been an active member of the Las Vegas community for many years, including NGRA and SNAPI. Last year, Kitty organized the largest Drag Performance at the Hard Rock Cafe, setting the Guinness Book of World Records.
