Plat du jour

Another golfer's plate.

Question(s) of the day

The NHL finally finished its season yesterday. Why were they still playing ice hockey in June? And come to think of it, if the league has teams in both the U.S. and Canada, what nation does the National Hockey League really belong to?

GENDA passes the Assembly

I was pessimistic about the chances of the New York State Assembly passing the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act this year. I thought Speaker Silver's previous objection, that it would be a one-house bill that could be used against Democrats in marginal districts, would continue. But I guess he changed his mind. It passed by a vote of 102-33 late this afternoon.

Perhaps it was the fact that the Pride Agenda's Equality and Justice Day attracted 25% more people this year than it did in 2007. That was before the Assembly had passed the Marriage Equality bill. But the even higher turnout (1300 people) demonstrated that the LGBT community was just as serious about GENDA, the only one of the three bills the Pride Agenda was pushing that hadn't passed.

Now GENDA will go before the State Senate, where, like Marriage Equality, it will go absolutely nowhere, since it doesn't have a Republican sponsor. Hopefully the Democrats will take control of the Senate in November (they only need to pick up two seats). Then, GENDA has a chance of becoming law next year, and my work on the GENDA Coalition will truly be rewarded.

The biggest day ever for my glob

Yesterday was the biggest day ever from my glob. 61 visitors. I've gone over 50 two or three times before--I think the previous record was 53. This was a major leap.

It came after seven consecutive days over 35 visitors (one over 40). To what do I owe this sudden interest? The French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros. How could that be--since I didn't post a single word about it? The reason: the broadcasts feature commentator Mary Carillo--I've gotten dozens of people searching to find out something about her. Most want to know if she's lesbian.

So they do their websearches and reach my post from last fall.

I'm still don't think there's enough evidence to judge her sexuality. Besides, it's none of my business--or any business of any other television viewer. I like her as a sports commentator, and I really don't care who she sleeps with--I don't think it has affected her commentary in any way.

My week in review

An out-of-town friend of mine complained about my change in blogging habits. It wasn't the decrease in my posting frequency, or the lack of my reviews of the various entertainment events I see. Rather, she just missed reading about my life--what I was doing with my time. So I am now going to start a weekly post just to cover the highlights. Maybe I'll throw in a comment or two.

Sunday: Watched the Indy 500, rooting for Danica Patrick. Later my wife and I watched the Tudors.

Tuesday: Went to the Empire State Pride Agenda offices, to call people to ask them to call their State Assembly members to get them to vote for the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA). I made 34 calls, talked to 16 answering machines and about a dozen actual, live people. (Later in the week we found out GENDA is on the Assembly calendar and will probably be voted on next Tuesday.)

After that, I went to dinner at Lips Restaurant with someone I had met there a couple of times over the years, who was up from Alabama for a visit.

Wednesday: Went with my wife to a concert of a choral group one of her friends is in.

Saturday: Went with my wife to hear the New York Philharmonic--an excellent concert with Emanuel Ax performing Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto, the "Emperor." He favored us with an encore. Prior to that we attended a "Friends' Night," an opportunity for donors to the orchestra to meet some of the orchestra members for a half-hour or so. I think this was the third year we have gone to one of these. This year we spoke with the English horn player Thomas Stacey, who told us about the orchestra's recent trip to North Korea, and violinist Fiona Simon, who talked a bit about some of the various personal relationships between orchestra members--she joined the orchestra after marrying a Philharmonic member. We also spoke briefly with orchestra pianist Harriet Wingreen.