Song of the Week: Open Arms

"Open Arms"
(S. Perry and J. Cain)

Lying beside you
Here in the dark
Feeling your heart with mine
Softly you whisper
You're so sincere
How could our love be so blind
We sailed on together
We drifted apart
And here you are
By my side

So now I come to you
With open arms
Nothing to hide
Believe what I say
So here I am
With open arms
Hoping you'll see
What your love means to me
Open arms

Living without you
Living alone
This empty house seems so cold
Wanting to hold you
Wanting you near
How much I wanted you home

But now that you've come back
Turned night into day
I need you to stay




So now I come to you
With open arms
Nothing to hide
Believe what I say
So here I am
With open arms
Hoping you'll see
What your love means to me
Open arms










While not exactly a wedding song, this duet performed to perfection by two "out" performers Brian Lane Green and Lee Lessak brings home the idea of two men being romantic with one another. More often than not in almost everyone's mind marriage has to do with the culmination of romance, although that's not exactly what it is.

In the meantime news from the current Advocate 08/18-20/07:

Prominent N.J. legislator voices support for marriage equality


The idea of moving beyond civil unions to provide full marriage rights to same-sex couples in New Jersey is gaining traction. A prominent New Jersey legislator who had not previously supported full marriage rights is now asking, "Why not gay marriage?"

Sen. Raymond Lesniak posted an entry on a New Jersey blog Thursday that concluded, "Allowing gay couples to marry is not going to repair the fabric of society, but it's not going to tear it apart either. To paraphrase John Lennon, let's give love a chance. We might just find it works."

The post came on the heels of a Garden State Equality poll that found 63% of people in New Jersey said they "would be fine" if the state legislature decided to grant gay couples full marriage rights because civil unions had failed to provide full equality under the law.

Steven Goldstein, chairman of Garden State Equality, said Lesniak is among a "handful of the most powerful politicians in New Jersey" and called the news "spectacular." (The Advocate)


in related news the hypocrite of the year award goes to Fred Thompson:

Fred Thompson urges marriage amendment, August 17, 2007:





The GOP's Fred Thompson may have yet to officially announce his presidential candidacy, but that didn't stop him from saying that a constitutional marriage amendment could "cure" the disparity between states' laws on same-sex marriage.
In an Iowa interview with CNN's John King, Thompson intimated that rather than leaving marriage up to individual states, he would use the bully pulpit as president to push for a federal marriage amendment -- an initiative that has dismal prospects at best as long as at least one of the chambers of Congress stays in Democratic hands.

King: "Would you, a President Fred Thompson, actively push a presidential amendment banning gay marriage?"

Thompson: "Yes, yes, I think that with regard to gay marriage you have a full-faith-and-credit issue. I don't think one state ought to be able to pass a law requiring gay marriage, or allowing gay marriage, and have another state be required to follow along, under full faith and credit. There's some exceptions and exemptions for that.

"Hasn't happened yet, but I think a federal court very well likely will go in that direction, and a constitutional amendment would cure that."(The Advocate)




The denizens of the good state of Tennessee and especially those in Nashville know that Thompson's private life makes Bill Clinton look like a choir boy. The holier than thou republicans will stay home in droves once they get wind of it.

Why don't people realize that heterosexuals have destroyed the sanctity of marriage: 50% of theirs end in divorce and the statistics of incest, child and spousal abuse are through the roof. Maybe they shouldn't get married.

In the meantime from the north country come these excerpts from a report in www.365gay.com
Scott Brison made history Saturday by becoming the first MP to marry his same-sex partner since gay marriage was legally recognized two years ago.
The Liberal politician wed his partner Maxime St. Pierre at a ceremony in a small white church near Brison's country home in Cheverie.
Brison is the second high-profile politician this summer to marry their same-sex partner.

A few weeks ago, George Smitherman, Ontario's first openly gay cabinet minister, wed his partner Christopher Peloso at a lodge near Sudbury, Ont.
Brison publicly acknowledged he is gay in 2002 and became Canada's first openly gay cabinet minister in 2004 after he crossed the floor of the Commons to join the Liberals.




But he's always closely guarded his private life, saying once that he is ``not a gay politician, but a politician who happens to be gay.''
Brison crossed to the Liberals in 2003 before a highly divisive debate on the same-sex marriage bill in June 2005 that saw more than two dozen Liberals join with the Conservative Opposition in voting against the legislation.