HRC Calls on the LGBT Community and Allies to Participate in National, Grassroots Push to Lobby Congress Face-to-Face

Click on the link to read the entire story.

clipped from www.hrc.org “No Excuses” campaign demands equality through in-district visits. 7/30/2009 Washington – The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, today launched a national, grassroots campaign called “No Excuses” to demand action from Congress on key issues of equality.  Designed to take advantage of the congressional summer recess, when members are in their local offices and meeting with constituents, “No Excuses” will mobilize HRC's 750,000 members and their allies to meet directly with lawmakers and push for federal legislative change.  Members and supporters can get involved by visiting: http://noexcuses.hrc.org. The interactive “No Excuses” website allows supporters to download a meeting toolkit, schedule a meeting and report back on how it went.  To take action, visit: http://noexcuses.hrc.org. The in-district meetings will focus on the following key legislative priorities in the 111th Congress:

NPR: Provincetown, a perfect spot for a crime thriller

A cute story about Jon Loomis' new crime thriller.



Popular with gay and lesbian tourists, Provincetown, the bustling summer resort on Massachusetts' Cape Cod, is known for its packed beaches and cute boutiques — not for its crime rate. But looking out at Herring Cove one early morning, alone except for the odd seagull pacing the beach, author Jon Loomis points out the place where the corpse of a cross-dresser was found.

"The first body, Reverend Ron, turns up back in those dunes there wearing a dress, and causes a bit of a stir," says Loomis. "It seemed like a good place to dump a body to me."

A poet and a college professor with an ear for comedy, Loomis is referring to one of the victims who turns up in his fictional detective novel Mating Season.

The book is the author's second mystery set in Provincetown and featuring detective Frank Coffin. In his first book, High Season, Loomis describes the grisly death of real estate developer Serena Hench. As Coffin, the son of a sea captain and Yankee born and bred, searches the victim's beautiful trophy house on the bluffs, he is well aware of the differences between Provincetown's newcomers and natives:

Inside, Coffin found himself thinking like a real estate ad: The cathedral-like spaces of the living area afford panoramic water views. In fact, the banks of floor-to-ceiling windows afforded an almost 360-degree view of the outer Cape: Long Point, the harbor, North Truro and Corn Hill. ... Coffin let himself out, climbed into the Dodge — which bucked and coughed before thundering to life — and backed down the long, steep driveway. Serena's house was less than a mile from Coffin's neighborhood, but she might as well have lived in a different universe. There was no panoramic view from Coffin's house, no Motherwell prints artfully arranged. His windows all looked out at other people's houses, shingled in gray cedar, packed in tight.

Provincetown has changed significantly since its inception as a fishing town; the fishing fleet that once sailed its harbor is long gone. Over on Commercial Street, there's only one townie bar left.

The town has dealt with the clash between newcomers and residents since the Pilgrims swiped corn from the Indians. Now Loomis writes about the undercurrent of tension that runs between the mostly gay summer people and the mostly straight year-rounders; between people who want the gray-shingled old ways preserved and the developers who want to build on every bit of beachfront.

In the books and in reality, the locals are totally dependent upon the summer visitors, who eat in the very good restaurants, shop in the very cute boutiques, buy biscuits at the dog bakery and jam the main street of town.

"The thing you have to think about in this town is that the off-season population is about 3,000 — high season it goes up to about 60,000 on a busy weekend," says Loomis. "It's unsettling in a way, and you want to tell them to go home, but to leave their wallets, because we need the money."

Despite this tension, it all works peacefully in real life: Standing on one beautiful beach, which he identifies as "the family beach," Loomis points: "Further down to our left is the lesbian beach, and way beyond that the gay man's beach. It's a funny little segregation but it seems to work for everyone."

But the novels are a different story; on the page, Loomis heaps up the bodies in this peaceful, playful beach town.

"There's a murder here maybe once every seven or eight years," says Loomis. "They don't happen very often, so when you have a book like my first one that's got four or five bodies in it in the space of a few days, people are like, 'That's kind of crazy.' But it's fiction."

Loomis says Provincetown works for his novels because the town is so crazy in the summer that it's impossible to create a character who is over the top. He notes, as an example, Miss Ellie, a local man with long blond hair and a miniskirt singing show tunes with a karaoke box in front of Town Hall.

As we walk down Commercial Street, tourist Bob Walsh, who overheard our conversation about Miss Ellie, stops us: "I heard you chatting at breakfast this morning about Miss Ellie," he says. "Miss Ellie's had the operation, so she wouldn't want to hear you say it's a fellow."

Loomis says he has a couple more Provincetown thrillers featuring Frank Coffin in the works. They use real events as a starting point, including a fire at the Crown & Anchor, the nightclub that hosts the town's famous drag queen show. The nightclub, which actually burned to the ground a few years ago, has remained a powerful image in Loomis' mind.

"Everyone worried that the entire town was going to go up because these great pieces of burning debris were sort of floating through the air," says Loomis. "We all stood on the beach and watched it burn down, and the drag queens wept because all their beautiful outfits burned up."

Same-Sex Benefits Bill Clears First Hurdle

We are moving forward!

clipped from voices.washingtonpost.com A bill granting full health-care benefits to domestic partners of gay and lesbian federal employees cleared its first legislative hurdle today, as a House subcommittee approved the measure along a party-line vote. The House subcommittee on federal workforce issues approved the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act by a 5 to 3 vote. It extends several benefits to gay partners, including access to health care coverage, retirement and disability plans, and life and long-term care insurance. The measure earned an endorsement from President Obama in June when he extended some federal benefits to same-sex partners of federal workers. The president's memo did not give access to health care or retirement benefits, something Obama said he could not do without the legislation. "Extending equal benefits to the same-sex partners of Federal employees is the right thing to do," Obama said at the time, noting that several top employers already offer benefits to same-sex partners.

Breaking News: Harvey Milk to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Click on the for the story and more links.

clipped from www.pamshouseblend.com This is the country's highest civilian honor, and it is well-deserved. If only Harvey could be here to step up to the podium, receive the medal, and proceed to tell the administration and Congress to get off its *sses and do something concrete and lasting that will help all LGBT people in America achieve equality.. (Victory Fund): The award will be accepted at a White House ceremony August 12 by Stuart Milk, the nephew of the late San Francisco Supervisor and civil rights activist. American tennis great Billy Jean King, who is openly lesbian, and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, who has championed LGBT equality throughout his political career, also will receive the Presidential Medal of Honor at the August 12 ceremony.  Kennedy was honored by the Victory Fund in 2004 with its Oates-Shrum Leadership Award in recognition of his tireless work on behalf of LGBT Americans.

U.S. Senate will hold hearings on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"—a first since 1993

To read the entire article, just click on the link.

clipped from www.thedailybeast.com After determining she didn’t have enough votes in support of a temporary suspension of the ban on gays in the military, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand tells The Daily Beast she has secured the commitment of Senate Armed Services Committee to hold hearings on “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” this fall. It would be the first formal re-assessment of the policy since Congress passed it into law in 1993. A statement from the Gillibrand’s office, shared exclusively with The Daily Beast, notes that “265 men and women have been unfairly dismissed from the Armed Forces since President Barack Obama took office.” Gillibrand’s fast-track proposal for halting DADT, an amendment to the Military Reauthorization Act that would have ordered the Defense secretary to stop investigating gay service members, was never introduced. Even with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid expressing his support, Gillibrand couldn’t gather the 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster, according to a spokesperson.

This Friday: The Short North Civic Association premieres “Screen on the Green” at Goodale Park, featuring “Raising Arizona”

At sunset. A cult classic.

Donations are appreciated so that we may have more movie nights. Donors will be eligible for a drawing for gift certificates from area merchants including Basi, Jeni's, and Cameron Mitchell!

clipped from www.shortnorthcivic.org On Friday, July 31st around sunset, the Short North Civic Association invites neighbors and friends to grab a blanket and gather under the stars at Goodale Park for a free outdoor screening of “Raising Arizona.” The hilarious 1987 cult favorite from the Coen brothers, ranked number 31 on the American Film Institute’s list of the top 100 movie comedies, stars Nicholas Cage and Holly Hunter as a hapless couple whose baby lust leads to kidnapping, armed robbery, blackmail and a visit from “the lone biker of the Apocalypse.” Frances McDormand, John Goodman and William Forsythe co-star. The feature will be preceded by a classic Warner Bros. cartoon. “Raising Arizona” is rated PG-13 for adult content, language, some violence and criminal activity. The Screen on the Green program will begin at 9:00 p.m. on the softball field at Goodale Park, located at the corner of W. Goodale St. and Dennison Ave. There is no rain date. Concessions by Rad Dog! vegan hot dogs and Clintonville Community Market!

Columbus Dispatch: [In Central Ohio] Glimmer of hope in home sales

Click on the link to read the entire article. For most areas of Central Ohio, we are at or close to the bottom. See my post from two days ago with the charts.

clipped from www.dispatch.com Home sales improved locally and nationally from May to June, fueling optimism about early signs of an economic recovery. Although central Ohio sales last month were down nearly 7 percent from a year earlier, they jumped 15.6 percent from May. June's 2,092 sales were the most in 10 months. "We're still not out of the woods," said James Newton, chief economic adviser for Commerce National Bank in Columbus. "But undeniably, this has to be seen as a good sign." Central Ohio real-estate professionals pointed to a continued reduction in homes on the market as a sign of stabilization, which is needed for an eventual rise in prices. June's average sales price of $169,270 was 6.2 percent less than a year earlier, but it was up slightly from May's $168,576. ry Parsons, president of the Columbus Board of Realtors, said in a statement. The organization counted a 7.12-month supply of homes on the market in June, down from 8.21 months in May and an 8.03-month supply in June 2008.

Sheriff’s Sales: 1 in 3 Franklin County Home Sales

Interesting data.

clipped from www.columbusunderground.com By Jung Kim | July 23, 2009 1:51pm | Filed under Development | Comments Community Research Partners’ third Data Byte is out! This Data Byte looks at sheriff’s sales in Franklin County and its school districts. A sheriff’s sale is the process by which the county sheriff appraises a property’s value and sells it at a foreclosure sale or auction. In 2008, sheriff’s sales represented one in three (32%) sales of 1-3 unit residential properties in the county and one in five (20%) condominium sales, up from 12% and 3% respectively in 2003. Rates vary across school districts, from 6% in Upper Arlington to over half (55%) in Whitehall. Click here (PDF) to read this Data Byte and learn more about the growing issue of sheriff’s sales.

Central Ohio Real Estate Market Data Release-CRITICAL

This is data for the ENTIRE Central Ohio Area. If you are thinking of buying or selling a home, this is critical market information. Send me an email and I can send you data for your neighborhood or your future neighborhood.

Click on the image to increase the size

Columbus Ohio's Oktoberfest is back on!!!

clipped from www.10tv.com COLUMBUS, Ohio — This year's Oktoberfest is back on. Schmidt's Restaurant and Sausage Haus announced plans Monday to keep the annual celebration going, 10TV News reported. The announcement came after the German Village Society said earlier this month that the event was canceled because of budget cuts and staff cuts. Oktoberfest will run from Sept. 25-26 at the Ohio State Fairgrounds. Admission to the festival is free, but attendees will pay for parking. Watch 10TV News and refresh 10TV.com for additional information. Previous Stories: July 10, 2009: Restaurant Tries To Save Oktoberfest July 7, 2009: Organizers Cancel This Year's Oktoberfest Monday,  July 20, 2009 5:43 PM

NPR: Magazine Writes New Rules For Polite Digital Society

Nice story that has nothing to do with real estate. Click on the link to read or listen to the entire article.

clipped from www.npr.org All Things Considered, July 19, 2009 · In the world of social media, there have gotta be some rules, right? The August issue of Wired magazine's cover story is titled, "How to Behave: New Rules for Highly Evolved Humans." For the article, editors at Wired asked a group of social scientists to develop etiquette for new technology and social media. "There was a lot of subjective opinion on how to behave," Wired editor Nancy Miller says. "We sort of decided that the best way to go about this was the Wired way, which is try to find a scientific approach ... to explain why and how we behave like we do, and what makes sense in this new era of technology." Some Of The Rules Don't lie with your Facebook photo. If you can't buy it online, feel free to BitTorrent. Don't hesitate to haggle on Craigslist. Don't Google-stalk before a first date. Never broadcast your relationship status. Texting in the company of others is OK.   On Wired.com The Entire List Of Rules, And The Explanation Behind Them

Don't Forget the Short North Summer Sidewalk Sale Friday and Saturday 11-4pm

Click on the link to view the entire article

clipped from www.shortnorth.org Retail shops on and adjacent to High Street from Goodale Street to Fifth Avenue It’s time for the annual Short North Summer Sidewalk Sale. This two day event features amazing offers from the district’s favorite shops. It’s the most outrageous sale of the year. Mark your calendar: Friday, July 17 and Saturday, July 18. Core hours for the sale will be 11 am – 4 pm. Some businesses will continue their sale well into the evening. Come early for the best selection. Sample savings: •    Alexander’s Jewelers –take an extra 20% off all diamonds already on sale •    Collier West – up to 90% off •    Emperor’s Newest Clothes – 15%-50% off selected items •    Go Figure Consignment – items as low as $2 •    Jinny – up to 50% on selected items •    Luxe De Vie – up to 75% off •    On Paper – up to 75% off •    Paradise Garage – up to 70% off •    Posh Pets Boutique – select items $5 •    Substance for Fashion Conscious People - 25%-50% off spring and summer styles •    Torso – select items $10 •    Undone – BOGO Bras and up to 70% off shoes

Westerville, Ohio (a Columbus suburb) named as 15th Best Place to Live in US

clipped from www.columbusunderground.com By Walker | July 15, 2009 1:00pm | Filed under Development | Comments A new survey released by CNNMoney has ranked the top places to live all across the country and Westerville (the largest suburb of Columbus) was the top Ohio city, clocking in at number 15 on the charts. The city was noted for their historically preserved Uptown District, quiet streets with historic homes, quick commute to Columbus, and loads of parks and recreational amenities. The Top 100 includes a total of six Ohio cities. You can view the full list here.

Out of the closet, out on [Ohio State's] campus?

Click on the link to read the entire article. My quotes are below.

clipped from uweekly.com Out of the closet, out of campus? By Melissa Eisenberg Columbus, Ohio has a reputation for having one of the highest homosexual populations in the country. Such characterization is especially evident in The Short North, with many clubs and businesses supporting the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community. However, less than a mile away, The Ohio State University camps may not hold the same reputation. Mere exposure to the GLBT community could be changing the minds of many straight OSU students, however. "[In the Short North] two straight guys could look across the street and see two gay guys holding hands. After ten times seeing this, it becomes no big deal," said Terry Penrod, board member of The Human Rights Campaign and former OSU student. "Just the fact that we have a Short North helps people bridge gaps between the gay and straight community," Penrod added.

Columbus Dispatch: German Village tested by crime, infighting

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clipped from www.dispatch.com A summertime crime spree. A canceled Oktoberfest. And enough turmoil in the German Village Society that it's hired a consultant to act as a marriage counselor of sorts to try to patch things up among members. Not a comfortable time for a high-profile Columbus neighborhood prized by many for its reputation as a comfortable place to live and visit, with its well-maintained brick homes and popular restaurants. While it's not the end of the world, the events have pitched the well-to-do community into a well of unwanted attention. "Any one of those things would be difficult to deal with," said Brigid Butler, president of the German Village Society. "It's a rough spot," said Bill Curlis, a society board trustee and community leader. Rough enough that Executive Director Erin O'Donnell told society members she was resigning after six months on the job. How tough was the job? She is going back to being a Republican fundraiser.

Anti-LGBT leaders are calling the hate crimes bill the "Pedophile Protection Act" PLEASE CALL NOW

For items 2 and 3, just click on the link.

clipped from www.hrcbackstory.org Do you have a minute and a half today?  You must if you’re reading this. The Matthew Shepard Act is coming to a vote on the Senate Floor THIS WEEK and we need you to make two calls… one to each Senator that will take no more than 45 seconds. Call 202-224-3121 and tell each senator of your Senators to vote YES on the hate crimes bill. Our allies on the Hill are reporting an avalanche of 300,000 letters and calls from right-wing groups trying to stop it. Anti-LGBT leaders like Focus on the Family’s James Dobson are now calling the bill “utter evil.” They’re even referring to it as the “Pedophile Protection Act.” 1.  Before 5 p.m. ET, call the Senate Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and tell the operator you’d like to speak to the Senators from your state.  (You can also look up your Senator’s direct number here) 4.  IMPORTANT: After you hang up, click here to let us know that you made the call. Don’t skip this step! It helps us track our progress

In Columbus, open houses making comeback as tough market persists

Click in the link to read the entire article.

You can also view innovative video virtual tours at http://www.youtube.terrypenrod.com

clipped from www.columbusdispatch.com Home shoppers can tour a home on their phone, schedule an appointment online and "virtually" visit a neighborhood on their computer. But with home sales at their lowest levels in years, buyers and sellers are dusting off a low-tech staple: the open house. Open houses started to decline in the early part of the decade, as the industry boomed and the Internet allowed prospective buyers to shop online. Last year, though, 59 percent of sellers hosted open houses -- up from 51 percent during the height of the housing boom in 2005, according to the National Association of Realtors. Open houses are also gaining in popularity among shoppers, the association says: 48 percent of buyers visited an open house last year, far above the 28 percent who did so in 2000. "We've been looking online, but there's only so much you can see from the Internet," said Bob Jennings, who has been visiting open houses to help his mother-in-law, Barbara Wood, pick a condominium.