(Now that the Supreme Court has decided to consider the issue of gay marriage I thought it would be a good time to re-post The official Data Port view on  the Gay Lifestyle and, by extension, the freedom to marry the one you love.)

The subject today, oh my brothers and sisters, is the expression “The Gay Lifestyle,” which most commonly slithers off the lips of sanctimonious bible thumpers, family values enthusiasts, and defense of marriage cranks.

You know how it goes: We must protect our kids from the Gay Lifestyle—The Gay Lifestyle will destroy marriage—I have no objection to the Gay Lifestyle so long as the Bishop doesn’t practice it—I don’t want my children learning about the Gay Lifestyle in Human Biology class—and so on and so on.

There is a “wink-wink, nudge-nudge” smarminess about the term used this way,  as if these people wanted to be offensive without offending. They lack the basic straightforward courage to say what is really in their minds: I don’t want my kid to be a faggot—letting queers marry will destroy the institution of marriage—I don’t mind that the Bishop is a pervert so long as she doesn’t make love to her girlfriend. Their evasive use of “Gay Lifestyle” is essentially  dishonest.

In addition to being dishonest this way of speaking is based on a serious factual mistake.

Do you remember when, about the time you were entering adolescence , you had the facts of life talk with Mom or Dad? Pretty embarrassing, huh? Probably worse for Dad. After a stumbling chat about human reproduction and birth control came the “Choosing a Lifestyle” discussion. “You know, son, (or daughter,) when you are ready to choose a life partner you will have to make an important choice. You will have to choose whether  that partner will be someone of your gender, or of the opposite gender.” And being good, decent, parents they went on to describe the the advantages and disadvantages of each choice.

Wait a minute! Hold on there! You didn’t have that discussion? No of course you didn’t, because your  sexual orientation is not a matter of choice. It’s not like choosing a profession, or deciding to be a Goth, or choosing to live a life of poverty and public service rather than becoming an investment banker. The folks up in the first paragraph of this post don’t understand all this; and because they don’t, they may fail to give their child, struggling with the problems of gender identity, the love and support he or she needs. The next time you hear someone using this expression stop them and ask them exactly what they mean. You’ll find that it stops ‘em dead in their tracks.

(The times are not only changing…they’ve changed. The best defense of marriage is to extend the franchise.)

If you’re the sort of motorcyclist who would  (almost) rather ride than eat; if all that really worries you about old age and death is that there might not be riding in haven, then the chance for one last ride might have some appeal.

An outfit in Vail Arizona has just the service for you, an old- fashioned hearse pulled by an elegant Harley Trike. Just the thing for your last earthly journey.

Hank Brouwer is the owner/operator of the  Vail Arizona  Boot Hill Hearse Company. Boot Hill is a company that originated in Ontario, Canada, and now, happily, is available to us here in the Boot Hill state.

The Data Port doesn’t have a financial finger in Boot Hill pie, but I must admit that the idea that the old guy might take his last ride that way has some appeal. Put the urn in front, load the back with cases of beer and bubbly and throw one last party for the club.

Boot Hill Hearse Website: Click

Or phone them here: 520-762-9342

There is more to May Day than a trip around the maypole. Today is International Worker’s Day, when we remember, and celebrate, battles fought and won by the American labor movement.

On the 2nd of November in 1909, during what became known as the “Uprising of the 20,000,” female garment workers went on strike in New York. Many were arrested and a judge told those arrested: “You are on strike against God.”

Wow…who’d have guessed?

There’s nothing unpatriotic about the union movement; it’s as American as apple pie.  Boston carpenters walked off the job in April of 1825 in the interest of a 10-hour workday. Ten years later, children working in the silk mills in Patterson, New Jersey went on strike. Of course they had an outrageous demand: A six-day workweek of eleven hour days.

Sweatshops, eleven-hour days, inadequate wages and wretched or dangerous working conditions are largely a thing of the past. The result is we tend not to notice or care about Capitalism’s continuous attack on the power and even the existence of the union movement. This may not be a good thing.

A union is the average hourly worker’s only defense against the economic power of a system that always tries to buy raw materials (that’s you, oh my brothers and sisters) at the lowest possible price. It’s not dumb, if you’re an hourly wage person, to remember you’re just so much raw material to that system.

May Day Events Today:

9:00 Annual Tucson May 1st Coalition March for Immigrant and Workers Rights, from Greyhound Park Parking lot to Armory Park for a Noon rally with speakers, entertainment and info booths.

Afterwards, join Occupy Tucson at Armory Park for extended fun, entertainment, potluck, and other activities, well into the evening.