Hillary at the Abbey

I have one word for you. Hope.



I'll be honest, I'm going to have a hard time writing this blog. I'm just so overwhelmed by last night's events.

For a tired, old, bitter and cynical lesbian like myself, the fire in my heart and soul has long been gone.... stomped on repeatedly by the last 8 years of this government. Hell in a handbag, indeed. A Wallmart Handbag, no less.

But alas, last night those faint embers were fanned and today I feel a bit of a fire inside me (or maybe I'm just hung over).

La Clinton was fabulous. Also, the people were fabulous. It's not enough that a candidate take a stand, we have to support them. Last night, I was shocked/surprised/pleased to see so many of my peers in a bar that is usual used for cruising and drinking, actually caring about politics.

I felt it. Really. Hope. We need it and I think at this point everyone is willing to fight for it.

To get your own Homos for Hillary t shirt, go to www.homosforhillary.com

(****SPOILER ALERT... The following is a lesbian rant. If you would like to stay in denial, turn on your big screen to any reality show and skip this paragraph)
Look around at this country. You can't buy a bag of spinach without the fear of E Coli (thanks to W for putting special interest in charge of USDA), your gas costs close to $4 a gallon so you can drive around and RUIN the environment (thanks for killing the electric car, special interest groups again), just to close the coffin on the environment, all the national parks are being restructured so they can be torn down for drilling, and you probably don't have health insurance. You also have to put your kid in private school since the public education system is in the toilet, you've been drinking and eating food with horrible/dangerous chemicals (aspartame, anyone?), the chicken you eat is so full of female hormones to make their breasts huge and delicious that men have no sperm count left (hormones don't biodegrade, folks! Ever wonder why everyone has to go to fertility clinics?), and god forbid you had some debt back in 2005 when W signed the new bill on bankrupcy laws (thanks to special interest groups) which restructured the entire concept of credit - and I just hope you don't have a friend or family that has had to go overseas and kill just for all of the above. Or worse, as with the majority, end up mortally wounded then sitting around at decrepid VA hospitals without any care. Oh, and it was wrong for Hitler to ship Jews off, yet when we send people off WITHOUT evidence BASED ON THEIR NATIONALITY to an island, we can beat and torture them all the while claiming to be outside the laws of the US. Baby, you are outside the laws of HUMANITY. What's that I hear... wait... it's faint. Oh, it's God weeping. WEEPING PEOPLE. This is not who we as Americans are, nor we has human beings are. Why have we allowed all of this to happen? Why is it okay?
(*****Angry lesbian rant over)

So anyway...

LOGO and HRC held this historic "GAY FORUM" last night in Los Angeles. Following the event, each candidate went to a fundraising event.

I was at the Hillary Clinton event at The Abbey (if you're from out of town The Abbey is THE GAY HANG OUT here in town and has been for fifteen years or so).

The tickets went for $50 for general admission (which sold out in record time) and $1000 for VIP. I was lucky enough - thanks to my date Jeff Mack - to attend the VIP event.

So here's the evening from my POV.

The line to get in started about an hour before the event. People stood in the sun in sweltering LA heat, and the line went down a bout a half a mile.

My buddies Dave Barrett and Andrea Meyerson were the first two in line! Andrea has produced several wonderful shows for LOGO (Laughing Matters 1,2,3) and runs one of the largest and most successful lesbian social groups in the world, Women on a Roll.

I got to go to the front of the line... But I waited a little longer to be frisked by the female security guard. She was cute. I asked her to go real slow and...well, she accommodated. Damn I didn't even get her number.


Here I am with pals Jessica and Ilene. You might recognize Jes from HELL'S KITCHEN. I tell ya, she was on the war path this night - recruiting everyone to join her in volunteering for the Hillary campaign. He's going to host some fundraising parties, and I'll keep y'all posted on all that in the future. GO JESS!!!!

I was not the only one that noticed that the secret service men were HOT!! Okay, I mean smoking. I kept winking at them, then eventually tickled the one that stood by the VIP room. I mean, come on they are like British Guards... huge and no smiles. He finally smiled and I wasn't thrown out....


That's screenwriter Dave Barrett with his opinion on them.

The line continued to be unbelievably long, as commented on here by Clinton staffer Matthew Porter:

Okay, okay, I had them repeat it for the camera! Damn, just can't stop directing. But everyone was honestly truly amazed by the length of the line even if these two men don't have the reality show acting chops of Paris and Nicole.


Here I am with fellow lesbian filmmaker, Tamika Miller. So Tamika entered a competition to create a spot for the Hillary campaign and it made it the the finals!

Here it is:


Really lovely. Tamika directed SARONG SONG which did the festival circuit. To read more about this fantastic up and coming lesbian filmmaker, read about her in CURVE: http://www.curvemag.com/Detailed/797.html



Plasma screens were al over the place - in every room, on every wall - broadcasting the Forum live on LOGO.

People paid attention to Barack and John Edwards. But when Hillary came on... ALL EYES were glued to the screens and a silence fell over the entire place.



After the forum, I rushed back to the VIP room (winking again at the huge secret service guy at the door) and got ready to meet La Clinton, as she was being whisked from the forum to this event.

This is my new friend. We stood in line together waiting for La Clinton come to the lovely shrine area they made for her. As you can see, we both wore pin striped suits with pink shirts.

At this point, the VIP area was PACKED and hot as all hell. This man was my life boat. I kept wanting to crawl out of the sea of people, get air and have a smoke, but he kept PULLING ME BACK IN, "No! You can't you'll miss her!" So I endured the sweltering heat and indeed, it was worth it.

I did meet her and what I said to her was, "It's nice to see you again. Go get 'em girl!!"

I'll upload that photo of she and I once I get it from the photographer.

After I got to touch the next president of the United States, I went back out to join some of my friends at the bar of the general area. Then... La Clinton came out with David Cooley (who started the Abbey) and Gray Davis. The crowd went nuts.


Here's David Cooley's intro to her:



Here's part one of her speech:



and Part II


I know, I know...all those comments from the audience. Darling, we're gay. Of course the boys are going to get catty about her weight and wardrobe, this is what we do. Not me. I was trying SO HARD to keep my camera steady. I hope you enjoy the videos. I am scared of heights and have a bad back.... and to get these for you I stood on a high stool and held the camera steady even though my back was just SCREAMING!

Okay, stop the orchestra, lower the curtains...the diva has finished her aria. Enjoy intermission and make sure to come back for Act 2. The opening number is a show stopper.