Never give up

It's not easy.

Bigotry all over the place. The worst is the hidden type. Folks make you believe they support equality and hide their disgust.

Violence is everywhere. The numbers will drive you crazy. Whether you fight for all animals or fight especially for dolphins in the cove or rhinos in Botswana, cows in a local factory farm or geese in a down operation.

Tens of thousands of refugees around the globe.

Filthy rivers and lakes.

You might be involved in fighting for an end to AIDS or supporting the homeless.

Rape that seems to have become an accepted part of our culture.

In the year, almost two years, of writing this blog we have met people who are fighting the fight, fighting to make the world a better place for all living beings and being a voice for the voiceless. We are privileged to know you and to know that you read our blog and take the time to get to know us.

Sometimes the amount of cruelty we experience or know exists can be too much. I wrote a blog post about self care recently as we as activists must take care of yourselves.

We also must never ever give up.

Never.

It may seem impossible. It can definitely be overwhelming.

Don't give up.

Take a breathe. Or take a break. Go for a run or take a vacation. Take care of yourself.

And don't give up.

To all of you who every day speak for the voiceless and work towards a world that is safer for all living beings, thank you.

You rock our world. Wherever you are, whatever you are feeling at this moment, please know that you are a rock star.

Never give up.

Thank you for reading!

Date night -taking care of ourselves

There is a lot going on in our world. Both Mike and I seem really busy with work, civil unions were just passed, the US Supreme Court is hearing arguments on Prop 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act (rulings on both could affect marriage equality) and the list of emails/letters to write in support of animals is endless.

So what do we do?

Date night.

Mike is at his bi-weekly boot camp and I am cooking dinner. The furries have eaten and when Mike gets home we get to enjoy each others company, talk about our days, love on each other.

One of my firm beliefs is that in order to be a strong voice for the voiceless, in order to be a warrior for equality, I need to take care of myself first. That includes eating well, exercising, prayer and meditation, time with friends and definitely date nights with my husband.

When was the last time you had a date night with your other half?

Sometimes it's dinner out. Or a hike. Lately it also includes a run as we both train for our first half marathon. Regardless, it's time alone, just us.

I love it. I highly recommend it.

On date nights we both reinvigorate personally as well as a couple. It's not that we can't do that every day, it's that with the list of things going on that I wrote of above, it's easier to do when the focus is on date night.

Tonight's dinner is simple: blackened tofu with black beans, kale, butternut squash and corn. I tossed in some cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. It's all just cooking together on a low heat. It smells delish.

Of course date night can also include cooking together. That's a blast. When we do that Mike does most of the cooking and I do most of the talking!

We'd love to hear of your date nights!

Take care of yourselves. Make good decisions, ones that are healthy for you, your relationship, the animals and our world.

Thank you for reading!

All eyes on the Supreme Court

The lobby of History Colorado was jam packed with hundreds of supporters of the civil unions bill that Governor John Hickenlooper was about to sign into law. I became emotional as several state legislators spoke about this historic day, one which many in the lobby had worked on for years. And yet, as the state senate co-sponsor said, this is not the end of our work.

Yes, we have more to do.

I want full marriage equality. Nothing more, nothing less.

If you have read our blog before this is of no surprise to you. Mike and I were married on April 30th of 2005. It was the best day of my life.

In our eyes we are married. On May 1st of this year(midnight of our 8th wedding anniversary) we will walk over to the City and County building in downtown Denver with a bunch of others to get legally recognized as a legal civil union.

The Supreme Court is hearing two cases around equality, including one on marriage equality, this week. As I read in a New York Times  commentary yesterday, victory around marriage equality is not a matter of if, it is  a matter of when.

Full marriage equality is so close, I feel like I can taste it.

The excitement and the emotion is building up. I could definitely feel it in the lobby of History Colorado. The joy expressed could have been heard all of the way to the state capitol, several blocks away.

Is America ready? You better believe America is ready. Do 100% believe in full marriage equality? Of course not. Yet nobody has a right to vote on my marriage and hopefully the Supreme Court will agree.

Simple equality.

Thank you for reading this and thank you for all of your support.

The big world of blogging

I'm enjoying a relaxing morning at home. It is snowing outside, Mike is at his boot camp, and the furries are stretched out all over me.

I have not been able to put as much time into my blog since starting my new job back in February. Crazy busy is an understatement. And this morning, as I read notes from our readers and other bloggers I feel so fortunate to be part of this community.

I am also preparing to go to my first blogger's conference. Back in 2011 I went to a blogger's reception as part of Creating Change, an annual conference presented by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and I was thrilled to chat with national bloggers from all over the place. At that time I was just starting my fundraising blog and really had no clue about blogging. The Gay Vegans blog wouldn't come around for another few months.

By the way, my profession is fundraising. I use my fundraising blog, Adventures in Fundraising, to support other fundraisers and to show folks in activist communities how fun fundraising can be.

Now, The Gay Vegans blog will be two years old in June. Just before that I will be attending this blogger's conference, Vida Vegan Con, in Portland, Oregon. I am beyond super stoked, if you can imagine what that looks like! There will be a ton of other vegan bloggers, from all over the world. There will be sessions on just about every topic imaginable, and most of all there will be other bloggers who I can learn from and who currently are or in their past have been right where I am in wanting to learn more, make my blog (especially the visual part of it) better and see what their ups and downs are in their world of blogging.

It's going to be a blast.

I am also looking forward to going to other blogger conferences, ones that will include different topics and different focuses. I know there are a ton of bloggers out there who blog about the same things I do, like compassion, equality, marriage, activism and politics, and meeting up with those folks with be just as much fun.

What are your favorite blogs? I would love to know.

If you are going to be at Vida Vegan Con, let me know. I will look forward to meeting you. And if you live in the Portland, OR area, I will be there for five days during the conference.

Thanks to all of you who read our blog, who take action when we ask for help, and who each day work towards making this world a better place for all living beings.