MN the next focus in gay marriage battle; LA clubs are very festive

CNN on Saturday morning has a detailed report on the schizophrenic aspect of gay rights battles in Minnesota, a “blue state” but home to Michele Bachmann.  It does house one of the largest pride festivals, in Loring Park in Minneapolis, in the nation the last weekend of June (when one year I was 102F with lots of people passing out).

CNN has a perspective by Chris Welch here. CNN offer also an op-ed “The Christian Case for Gay Marriage”, by Mark Osler, in which the discussion surrounds apostle Peter, who said that no one has the authority to deny baptism for those who seek it.

It still strikes me that when you oppose gay marriage for a lifelong committed couple, you're admitting that you need the special recognition given to total physical intercourse possible in heterosexual marriage -- and a need for that social approbation (along with the procreative and lineage-forming meanings) to maintain interest for life in "your own" marriage. Everybody has to be bound by the same rules for it to mean anything, so the feeling goes. 

In the meantime, I continue to offer my gay geography lessons, not the sort that would win for a team on Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice (even if you have Carson).

Los Angeles – West Hollywood has its festival June 8-9 – same time as Washington DC.

The West Hollywood area (actually a separate incorporated city) is notable is banning all street parking at night for those without permits – and towing.  Fortunately, the nearby public library offers garage parking for barhoppers for reasonable rates.  But night life, even in gay-friendly neightborboods, is always at odds with neighbors who want quiet and security.  We know that well from zoning battles in DC.

The behavior of people  along the Santa Monica strip (not far from Beverly Hills) is festive but not effete– in the clubs, the dancers are more prominent than in the East Coast.  The Rage has long lines to get in. The Trunk has an odd décor on a tree outside simulating the destruction of LA in the movie “Skyline” with the drooping UFO-lights.  Eveyln’s “Bad Boys” is small but lively with two stories.  And (as is the case in Dallas) there are a couple of hamburger eateries nearby so people don’t drink on empty stomachs.

 In San Diego, along University Ave. in a neighborhood called Hillcrest, things seem low-key (Flicks).