God Told Me to Take my Book and...

Lucky me! 
I have sold 35 mil- uh, 35 thous - um, 35 hund- er, 35 copies of my book, "God Told Me to Draw These." It represents the joy in dealing with Lulu, the self-publishing company that printed the on-demand book. Because it is landscape instead of portrait in shape, Lulu will not distribute the book to booksellers like Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com. They will ship them to me, then I have to ship them wherever I find an interested buyer. Or I can order them to be shipped to such buyers. 
Unfortunately, these book dealers want 50/50. After paying for shipping, that leaves me with a loss of about $2 a book.
Whoopie. 
I found that out AFTER I completed designing and producing the 228-page book to market at an $18 cover price.


But wait! There may be good news ahead!
One person who purchased the book (a client of mine) believes the book will make an excellent source for colleges and universities to learn about gay and lesbian history in an informative, serious, and devastatingly funny way. Students would either purchase the book as is, or sections of my book could be excerpted and used in other textbooks. I would get royalties for that.
My client's company is reviewing the possibilities of producing the book, and handling all the promotion.
But he also believes the book should sell for $25 to $29 a copy. 
HINT: Anyone wanting to buy the book at the current price of $18 better order them now. In the Russian River area they are available at River Reader in Guerneville, Quicksilver Mine Co. in Forestville, and from Kristin Thurman-Fein at her upholstery shop in Monte Rio.  
If you are nowhere near these sources, Google the title. It will take you to the Lulu site for my book.


Other good news...
I have been invited to be a guest at the 2012 ComiKaze Expo in Los Angeles on Sept. 15 and 16, all because its CEO thinks my cartoons are fabulous! I will be a guest speaker, be on one of the judging panels, and have a table where I can sell whatever I want ("except vitamins and furniture!" she told me). 
Last year was their first convention/expo, and it drew more than 35,000 people. They expect to almost double attendance this year. 
If my involvement with a new representative/ publisher works, I will also have my other book, "My 18-year Addiction to Political Cartooning", ready by June. If I get national publicity for both books through the summer, the ComiKaze Expo in September might make me a star! 
Oh, ego... 
So, like I said, buy the "God" book now, before it goes up in price.


One more ting...
As Columbo used to say, "I hate ta bodda ya, but..."  While you are on this page, become a member! Post comments! Talk about anything you choose (like gay marriage in a previous blog). Spread the word. The whole idea of my blog is to have Conversations. 

Why God Made Gay People

       Having spent several years in a Benedictine monastery in the 1970s, I had time to contemplate my purpose for being on earth. Yes, I was raised as a Roman Catholic, and went to Catholic elementary and high schools. I was even able to enjoy my skills at drawing during class hours. Shucks, my artistic talent was put to use as early as the fifth grade!
       In high school I joined the Poster Club, an after-school extra-curricular group that did, well, posters. Posters for the football games, posters for the music and theater events.
       I even noticed that the priest who ran the Poster Club had a "buddy" priest. All the faculty priests lived on the top floor of the high school. These two priests had rooms side by side. I wondered about them...

       I also wondered about me. Why did I like the looks of that guy in the locker room, whose locker was next to mine? And that one handsome guy who wore tight, short gym pants in gym class instead of the regulation loose baggy gym pants. Yeah, I heard about "fairies" and "queers" but... Me?  Naaah.

       Well, God told me why I should leave the monastery. He wanted me to pursue my life as He created me; not like others tell me to be.

       I also did not know at that time when I cried in the small monastery chapel - asking God why I was in the monastery - that a baby was born who would eventually change my life.

The Bible Says You Are An Abomination

       Moving on to the present time: Have you been listening to the Republican candidates who want the conservative Christians to elect them president of the United States? They are all against homosexuality! "If gays marry, it will destroy marriage! Next thing, they'll want to marry their pets! Same-sex marriage will destroy humanity!"

       Sure. If everyone on the planet suddenly decides to turn gay. Besides, it's those damn straight marriages that keep creating gay children! 

       God created gay people so there would be beauty, wisdom, intelligence, and so many other rewards by people not hampered with having to raise families. Not that there aren't straight people who contribute these gifts to humanity.

       If the Republicans - and fundamentalists - think gay people are an abomination and must go away, they have some mighty big chores ahead.       

     They must destroy the Sistine Chapel; and any other works created by Michelangelo Buonarroti during the reign of seven popes. 

The works of Leonardo Da Vinci must be removed from all museums, including the Louvre. La Gioconda knew Leonardo was gay, and smiled about it.

Benvenuto Cellini was “pal” to a couple of cardinals, who helped him escape from prisons when he was charged with sodomy and theft. Do not visit Florence, Italy  under any circumstances. Cellini’s work is all over that town.

Sandro Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” must be removed from view, as well as any other of Sandra’s works. Did he have a thing for Fra Filippo Lippi, his teacher?

Forbid the reading of anything by William Shakespeare, especially the love sonnets to his male lover, a very young actor named Willie Hughes.

St. Paul’s Cathedral in London must be renamed. As Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong wrote of Paul:

“The war that went on between what he desired with his mind and what he desired with his body, his drivenness to a legalistic religion of control, his fear when that system was threatened, his attitude toward women, his refusal to seek marriage as an outlet for his passion -- nothing else accounts for this data as well as the possibility that Paul was gay.”

They must order the ceasing of the singing of “The Messiah” by George Friderik Handel, because he was gay.

1812 Overture? Don’t play it at any July 4th celebrations. Tchaikovsky’s fireworks were aimed at only one direction: to other men.

What the hell, here’s a list of some people that Republicans must publicly condemn:

Alexander the Great, Macedonian Ruler, 300 B.C.

Socrates, Greek Philosopher, 400 B.C.

Sappho, Greek Woman Poet, 600 B.C. 

Hadrian, Roman Emperor, 1st-2nd c.

Richard the Lionhearted, English King, 12th c.

Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria

Desiderius Erasmus, Dutch Monk, Philosopher

Francis Bacon, English statesman, author

Frederick the Great, King of Prussia

Lord Byron, English poet, 18th c.

Walt Whitman, U.S. poet, author, 19th c.

Oscar Wilde, Irish author, 19th c.

Marcel Proust, French author, 20th c.

Colette, French author, 20th c.

Gertrude Stein, U.S. poet, author, 20th c.

Alice B. Toklas, U.S. author, 20th c.

Federico Garcia Lorca, Spanish author, 20th c.

Cole Porter, U.S. composer, 20th c.

Virginia Woolf, English author, 20th c.

Leonard Bernstein, U.S. composer, 20th c.

Pope Julius III, 1550-1555

T.E. Lawrence, English soldier, author, 20th c.

Jean Cocteau, French writer, director, 20th c.

Charles Laughton, English actor, 20th c.

Marguerite Yourcenar, Belgian author, 20th c.

Tennessee Williams, U.S. Playwright, 20th c.

James Baldwin, U.S. author, 20th c.

Andy Warhol, U.S. artist, 20th c.

Michelangelo, Italian artist, 15th c.

Leonardo Da Vinci, Italian Artist, scientist, 15th c.

Christopher Marlowe, English Playwright, 16th c.

Herman Melville, U.S. author, 19th c.

Horatio Alger, Jr., U.S. author, 19th c.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Russian composer, 19th c.

Willa Cather, U.S. author, 19th c.

Amy Lowell, U.S. author, 19th & 20th c.

E.M. Forster, English author, 20th c.

John M. Keynes, English economist, 20th c.

Ludwig Wittgenstein, Australian mathematician, 20th c.

Bessie Smith, U.S. singer, 20th c.

Noel Coward, English playwright, 20th c.

Christopher Isherwood, English author, 20th c.

Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italian film director, 20th c.

Yukio Mishima, Japanese author, 20th c.

Eleanor Roosevelt, U.S. stateswoman, 20th c.

Julius Caesar, Roman Emperor, 100-44 B.C.

Augustus Caesar, Roman Emperor

Harvey Milk, U.S. politician, 20th c.

Bayard Rustin, U.S. Civil Rights activist, 20th c.

James I, English King, 16th-17th c.

Queen Anne, English Queen, 18th c.

Marie Antoinette, French Empress, 18th c.

Melissa Etheridge, U.S. Rock Star, 20th c.

Pope Benedict IX, 1032-1044

May Sarton, U.S. author, (1912-1995)

Edna Ferber, U.S. author, 20th c.

Elton John, English Rock Star, 20th c.

Margaret Fuller, U.S. writer, educator, 20th c.

Montezuma II, Aztec ruler, 16th c.

Peter the Great, Russian Czar, 17th-18th c.

Langston Hughes, U.S. author, 20th c.

Pope John XII, 955-964

Madame de Stael, French writer, 17th-18th c.

Martina Navratilova, U.S. tennis star, 20th c.

Greg Louganis, U.S. Olympic swimmer, 20th c.

Billie Jean King, U.S. tennis star, 20th c.

Roberta Achtenburg, U.S. politician, 20th c.

Barney Frank, U.S. Congressman, 20th c.

Gerry Studds, U.S. Congressman, 20th c.

Hans Christian Andersen, Danish author, 19th c.

Tom Dooley, U.S. M.D. missionary, 20th c.

J. Edgar Hoover, U.S. director of the FBI., 20th c.

Frida Kahlo, Mexican artist, 20th c.

Suleiman the Magnificent, Ottoman ruler, 15th c.

Rock Hudson, U.S. actor, 20th c.

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Mexican author, 16th c.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, U.S. author, 19th c.

Candace Gingrich, Gay Rights activist, 20th c.

Margarethe Cammermeyer, U.S. Army Colonel, 20th c.

Zoe Dunning, U.S. Military Reservist, 20th c.

Tom Waddell, U.S. M.D., Olympic star, 20th c.

Kate Millet, U.S. author, 20th c.

Janis Joplin, U.S. singer, 20th c.

Rudolf Nuryev, Russian dancer, 20th c.

Waslaw Nijinsky, Russian dancer, 20th c.

Ernst Röhm, German Nazi leader, 20th c.

Dag Hammerskjold, Swedish UN Secretary, 209th c.

Aristotle, Greek philosopher, 384-322 B.C.

Paula Gunn Allen, Native American author, 20th c.

Angela Davis, U.S. political activist, 20th c.

June Jordan, U.S. author, activist, 20th c.

Rainer Maria Rilke, German poet, 20th c.

James Dean, U.S. actor, 20th c.

Montgomery Clift, U.S. actor, 20th c.

Baron Von Steuben, German General, Valley Forge

Edward II, English King, 14th c.

...There may be a few others I might have left out. My memory goes back only so far. And yes, some of them were more notorious than famous, and some who swung both ways. 

But the bottom line is that some of the greatest people who ever lived just happened also to have been gay, and made us just a little better for it.

John

I changed my blog name so you will know it's mine.

Some people are just not that into alphabet soup.

"IMHG(OMG)O". Huh?

Let's face it. Who is going to recommend reading the blog called, um, what's it called? HIM something? MOOGO? HBO?

So I made it simple. De Salvio's Blog: Conversations.

I want to have conversations with you, and let the topics be varied... even controversial — just as long as we remain "esteemed colleagues" as they say in Congress. Of course, we all know that those Congressional colleagues on the "other" side of the aisle are not necessarily "esteemed", especially when we get steamed about their opinions and actions.

So, read my previous blog from January 4th about Gay Marriage, and let's get the conversation going. (The first blog described my original blog title. Fugeddaboudit!).

Join up, write your opinions in the Comments box, or send me an email: desalvio@sonic.net. Track me on Facebook.

To conservative Middle America: Your “morality” is killing us

How many of you watched the Iowa Caucuses last night? It became a dead heat between Mitt Romney, who bought his 24 percent, and Rick Santorum, who sang the hymns of the Bible Belters to get his 24 percent. But that was also the result of his upbringing. 

Mitt spoke according to the make-up of the different audiences in the 99 counties, especially the counties with the biggest cities (and the money). His breakfast every morning was waffles.

Rick really spoke from the heart, I must admit. Unfortunately, his heart has been tainted all his life with the narrowness of the religious beliefs he follows.

When it comes to same-sex marriage, Mitt waffled all over the place, and exhibited nervousness in any responses. Rick, however, has long held that homosexuality is a grievous sin. He was one of the first politicians to sign up with the National Organization for Marriage promising to seek a federal ban on same-sex marriage via an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Here is my position on same-sex marriage.

The whole panic generated by the idea of two men or two women seeking the exact same benefits and obligations as opposite-sex pairings is based on misinformed beliefs, and hypocritical thinking.

I have no problem with how anyone in America — or for that matter, the world — practices his or her religion, as long as it does not impact on me.  Unfortunately, most of those beliefs are based on ignorance, and outright lies that put fear in the hearts of ordinarily decent people. And people tend to act based on those fears.

You are free to believe that the Bible condemns homosexuality. I am free to believe that it doesn’t. In the Old Testament, the bottom line is that it condemns relationships that don’t produce more men able to fight against the enemies of the Jews.  In the New Testament it speaks from the writings of a man who never met Jesus, but who believed that the crucified (and, as a matter of faith, was resurrected) Jesus was returning to an earth that had only a generation or two left to exist. Paul did not believe there would be at least another two millennia of humanity. 

No matter what the Bible says, it does not — and cannot — decree what civil and human rights may or may not be exercised.  If you run to the Founding Fathers to argue otherwise, then pay close attention.  The most quoted Founding Father in this area is Thomas Jefferson and his Declaration of Independence.  His very first reference to a deity is “The Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.” Jefferson never hints who God is, or what religion owns Him. But he admired the beliefs of the Native Americans, and especially the Iroquois Nations. They strongly believed in Nature’s God — the Great Spirit. They also recognized same-sex relationships.

Ironically, conservative Christians who want to support Jefferson in this area, refuse to acknowledge his beliefs when it comes to separation of Church and State. They argue that he was talking only to the Danbury Baptists, and not to the Nation as a whole when he referred to that notorious “Wall of Separation.” Pick and choose, pick and choose. 

The Bible has thousands of beautiful thoughts and words, and guides whereby we should live. It also is filled with errors when it comes to Nature and Nature’s God. Don’t forget it was written by hundreds of mostly men who were either directly spoken to by God, or were inspired to write on His behalf. Is it not puzzling that the more people learned to read and write through civilization, the less God spoke to us?

Would these Conservative Christians rely on the knowledge that doctors had 3500 years ago when facing brain surgery? They had better not, since they had no idea what the brain did, let alone whether or not it had anything to do with sexual orientation. Yet these same people state authoritatively that homosexuality in “not natural.” What other “authority” can you show us?

In courts of law, “revelation” is revealed to the original person; anything generated from that revelation is called hearsay. God supposedly gave mankind the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone. This is an all-knowing God. One would think that He would have made them of a more durable substance, and be easily traced now. But apparently God did not know how sloppy the Israelites would be in keeping track of this most important revelation.

Over that last few decades, thinking men and women have come to accept the that homosexuality is a natural state. They have known gays and lesbians personally, and have not seen them (us) as the ogres and criminals foisted upon the gullible masses.

Not content with this disturbing development in American society and culture, the conservative Christians rolled out another weapon: homosexuals are child molesters.  Remember Anita Bryant and her “Save the Children” crusade in the 1970s?  Her claim was that because homosexuals weren’t born that way, they had to “recruit” the expand their power base, and they did this by going after easily-influenced children.  She didn’t say exactly how we did this other than in generalities.

I did a cartoon that depicted a Gay Recruiting station, similar to the Armed Forces recruiting stations set up around the country. It had a recruiting officer speaking to a teenager: 

“Once you choose to become gay, you’re eligible to be ridiculed, be shunned by classmates, thrown out of your home, condemned by your church, ignored by employers, beaten up, laughed at by cops, denied housing, denied medical insurance, and to be murdered and condemned to eternity in hell!  Whaddaya say, son?”

The young man answers, “Cool, dude! Where do I sign?”

Pretty stupid notion, right?  But it’s the drumbeat of Christian conservatives.  Gays recruit.  What man in his right mind would deliberately choose such a life?

Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition of America (formerly just Christian Coalition), when they held organizational seminars, made it a point to handle matters regarding homosexuality in a specific way. They were to immediately bring in references to the safety of children.  They could not quote real statistics regarding child molestation and sexual orientation, but it was implied that homosexuals were by nature child molesters. 

The reality is that most child molestation occurs within the family, and that up to 80 percent of such occurrences do not get reported. More often than not it gets out in divorce hearings.

But when an individual man is charged with child molestation and he is presumed to be gay, the media has historically played it to the hilt.  When upwards of 95 percent of child molesters are in fact heterosexual, what percentage of homosexuals are child molesters? I guarantee it is lower. 

Another point to consider: When homosexuals are singled out for this slander on a regular basis, it makes gay men excruciatingly careful about their behavior. Where straight men may ogle at the physical attributes of a teenaged girl (just look at the national media!), gay men turn their eyes the other way when an attractive male juvenile comes to view. It’s a protective habit borne out of experience. 

Conservative Christians rarely quote Jesus when it comes to homosexuality.  They make reference to all the other writers in the Bible (Paul is a favorite), but never Jesus.  In matters of marriage, they claim it is a “sacred tradition instituted by God.” Well, maybe, depending on which god you mean.

Genesis states that God blessed the bond of a man and a woman, but says nothing about alternative bonds. Nowhere in the Bible are such bonds condemned. In the 2nd Book of Daniel, however, we can read the eloquence of the bond between David and Jonathan. 

Marriage throughout history as been a property contract more than a matter of love between a man and a woman.  It has only been in the last  century that such a contract did not normally treat the woman as part of the property.  And it has been only in the last few decades that marriage vows did not relegate the vow “to obey” to the woman specifically.

Is this the “sacred tradition instituted by God” that conservative Christians want to continue to promulgate?   

We gay men and women want the same rights as straight men and women — no more, no less. The right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is not something for legislation, or the “tyranny of the majority” to decide by vote.

Make those restrictions against same-sex unions in your churches, temples, mosques, or other private gatherings.  We promise not to invade that privacy.  But if marriage is meant solely to unite a man and a woman for the purpose of begetting children, then don’t allow any marriages where that is not possible.  Don’t allow older people to get married; don’t allow the sterile, or impotent, or frigid to enter into such a union.

And while we’re on the subject, if sex is just for procreation, then once a wife is pregnant, stop any further sexual activity. 

Here is the solution: Let only marriages that occur in a church, mosque, temple or synagogue and with a clergyman presiding be called a “marriage.” All other mergings between two people should be called something else, like Civil Unions, Commitment Ceremonies, Merges (sounds close), Partner Contracts, and so on.

Therefore, anyone who has been “married” by a judge, a justice of the peace, a sea captain, “Marryin’ ” Sam”, or any of the other non-religious officiators cannot be considered “married.” 

As far as the legal rights and responsibilities therein, the government should not get involved in religious ceremonies and rites, and should not issue Certificates of Marriage.  It is unconstitutional.  If you want all those rights with the rites, get them from secular servants, county clerks, under due process.  Let there be a standard, legally binding contract recognized between two adult non-blood-related people and honored all over the country and the world, totally separated from any religious rites.

So, all you people who got hitched in Las Vegas or Reno, too bad.  You should not be considered married. Hitched, ball-and-chained, legally bound and gagged, sentenced for life, whatever.  Just not married.

By the way, if you want to see more of my nasty LGBT cartoons, news stories, commentaries and interviews, buy my book, "God Told Me to Draw These" on the self-publishing web site, lulu.com.

 Okay, let's talk. Give me your thoughts on the subject of same-sex marriage.

Okay, what does the IMHG(OMG)O mean?

Being a member of the Ancient Order of Gray Geezers, I am still getting used to Computerspeak. Recently I discovered "blogs". As a kid (not yet a century ago), I remember playing with Lincoln Logs. Never called them Blincoln Blogs, even though my father would occasionally tell me to "pick up your blinkin' logs!"

I've also learned about such things as ROTFLMAO - that it really isn't anything about rotting, or From the Late Mao (FLMAO) of the People's Republic of China.  Fortunately most comments that people have posted that were followed by ROTFLMAO did not send me rolling on the floor, or even laughing - let alone laughing my ass off. Maybe a giggle or two. SIMCGAL: Sitting In My Chair, Giggling A Little. Falling out of the chair and rolling on the floor could hurt, maybe break a bone. Don't want that to happen.

Then I found out about OMG! Oh. My. God!

And WTF? (which I immediately translate as "Why The Frown?).  I don't use dirty words.

IMHG(OMG)O: "In My Honest Gay (OMG) Opinion." There, I said it. As my brief bio says, "Got a problem wit dat?"

Which brings me to the point of this blog. I (or we, as you are welcome to comment) will talk about things dealing with sexual orientation. We will (See? You're part of it already!) discuss all aspects relating to religion, politics, and various social and behavioral issues. And, being the intelligent people that we claim to be, there will be no ad hominems (you can look it up).

There is only one other requirement: You must possess a sense of humor! My humor is usually self-deprecating - unless I'm talking about the current roster of Repugnican presidential contenders. I can't self-deprecate when they self-defecate, especially when it comes to equal rights (and responsibilities) for ALL people.

Can we tawk? Give me your thoughts about: Same-Sex Marriage.

BTW (Hey! I'm learning!) the background of this blog site resembles my own walls. Books. LOTS of books!