Dad has been having problems with his computer. I'm backing up his data so I can install Windows again. Surprisingly, there's not a lot of work involved. He has his MP3 collection (2-3 GB worth), his Quicken data, and lots of photos. Mom and Dad only use a few programs, so it's easy to track everything down.

My stuff is pretty easy to burn off, too. I don't keep a lot of files on his computer -- mostly music and assorted documents -- but I keep it all in my folder. I think I can have everything off in five or six data CDs.

I saw Rosie O'Donnell on MSNBC this afternoon, telling the crowd she'd just gotten married to her girlfriend of six years. Watching them together, I felt warm inside. It's always good to see two people who obviously love each other celebrating that way.

Kristofer was less impressed. He doesn't like O'Donnell very much and asked me "Couldn't you guys pick a better spokesperson?"

"It's not like we elected her," I pointed out. "I think she'll be fine. Lots of people invited her into their home on a daily basis, and if she's able to put a human face on the issue for a lot of people, more power to her. She may not have had much success fighting against Florida's adoption laws, but she put a face on it."

"Couldn't you get Rupert Everett or something?"

"He's not even American," I said.

"So? He could marry someone who lives here.

"Touche."

From The Associated Press...
Earlier, on ABC's "Good Morning America," O'Donnell said she decided to marry Carpenter, a former dancer and marketing director at Nickelodeon, during her recent trial in New York over the now-defunct Rosie magazine. During the case, she referred to Carpenter as her wife.

"We applied for spousal privilege and were denied it by the state. As a result, everything that I said to Kelli, every letter that I wrote her, every e-mail, every correspondence and conversation was entered into the record," O'Donnell said. "After the trial, I am now and will forever be a total proponent of gay marriage."

I learned long ago giving money to gay-rights groups like GLAAD or Human Rights Campaign meant solicitations for more money by those groups and any other pro-gay group or politician with dwindling coffers.

Bush's throwing his full weight behind an anti-gay Constitutional amendment means two things: I'm going to be getting a lot more solicitations through the mail and over the telephone; I'm also going to be giving a lot of money to gay-rights groups this year.

The Democrat nominee for president is probably getting a check, too.

Caroline Musgrave gave a telephone interview on MSNBC today and said she hoped changes in the definition of marriage would be left up to the people and not to judges. That's rich, considering roughly 90% of the American people opposed interracial marriage when the Supreme Court threw out laws which said it couldn't be "one white person and one black person."

Dear old Dubya is finally backing a Constitutional amendment which would define marriage as between one man and one woman in the United States. It's good to see him finally go public after weeks of being "troubled," pissing off his conservative base by not speaking out more strongly on the issue, and making assurances behind closed doors that he'd stand up those awful old activist judges who believe discrimination is wrong.

It's not a bad day's work for a president who has yet to use the words "gay" or "lesbian" in public. I know he has problems with "nuclear," so maybe Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter can help him with pronunciation.

The Musgrave Amendment making its way through Congress does more than define marriage; it also cuts out state-sanctioned "domestic partnerships," "civil unions," or any other legal recognition of committed gay relationships.

Congress needs to work fast before all us faggots get even more uppity.

I'm sure this will give us plenty to talk about at tonight's PFLAG meeting.

I think I'm what is generally called "straight-acting," meaning I can be your basic taciturn, unreadable, emotionally dry male most of the time. My sense of fashion is minimal and my apartment's mismatched furniture is a walking example of college student design.

If there was ever a nostalgia-based purchasing decision that looms on the horizon and tells the entire world "Terry is a flaming homosexual," it's the news that the animated series Jem and the Holograms is coming to DVD on March 30th in a four-disc boxed set. I had no idea such a thing was likely, so I was completely surprised to read the news and then doubly surprised when I said "YES!" as I read it.

And so I offer up this prayer: "God, whom I would love so if I actually believed in you, I know we stopped speaking a long time ago, but I am begging you to help me. It's more than I can bear. I know I will be unable to resist this temptation, so could you please arrange for DVD releases of Inhumanoids and Exosquad so I won't feel like a complete nancy-boy with Jem on my shelf? My Robotech set will not be enough. I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen."

I bought a set of badly-needed wooden chew toys for Gobo the other day. Lined up in their packaging, the blocks looked like a little rainbow flag.

"And they're fruit-flavored, too," I told Kristofer. "I don't think my hamster is gay, but this looks like recruitment on my part."