Adam Sunny Flanders

George Allen Rekers – you’re probably already familiar with the name if you watch the news; doctor for the Family Research Council (closely associated with the Maine Family Policy Council AKA Christian Civic League), the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), and the American College of Pediatrics (not a real college, by the way). He was recently caught with a 20-year-old male prostitute who has since admitted to having sexual relations with Reker.

It is being widely covered in national media, but I really liked Rachel Maddow’s report, which is more frank and to the point. Reker, like many fundamentalists, has based his career on making life miserable for gay youth and just mailed out an anti-gay letter to American schools misinforming them that homosexuality can be cured. This is a complete lie, as most intelligent individuals recognize. There are absolutely no scientific studies to support any claim of NARTH or the FRC. In fact the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the legitimate organization, the American Academy of Pediatrics, all support the fact that homosexuality is inborn and cannot be changed.

It’s nearly the end of the semester, only one more day to go. I have one more final exam tomorrow and my lab presentation next week, and then I’m heading down to Florida for a few weeks of scuba diving and other fun things in the Keys. I passed all my classes (17 credit hours) and I will be taking a few courses this Summer as well, but nothing too intense. I just completed my first set of transgenic plants in the lab I work in on campus and they will be seeding soon. I’m excited to put together a full garden this Summer – I already have so many things growing here in my apartment, like tomatoes, watermelon, morning glory, cypress vine, and stevia. I got a really big tent and a new sleeping bag, so if anyone wants to go camping, let me know! I’m sure I’ll also be doing a lot of rollerblading, hiking, tennis, photography, and scuba diving, too. My family and I always go camping a lot in the Summer, but we take our motorhome RV, so it’s not exactly roughing it, lol. I’m sure a lot of really interesting things will be happening this Summer. And thanks to all my readers for the over 5,000 unique hits in the past year!

The plaintiffs in Gill et al. v. Office of Personnel Management have their first hearing today in federal court. This is the first federal hearing in a direct attack on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which currently allows the federal government and other states to ignore marriages performed in states that have recognized same-sex marriage. It means that if a same-sex couple is married in Massachusetts, for example, their marriage is not recognized by the federal government or most states that do not perform same-sex marriage themselves, such as Maine.

The lawsuit seeks to overturn DOMA on the grounds that it violates the equal protection clause of the US Constitution. This lawsuit is long overdo and is being lead by GLAD’s Mary Bonauto, who also lead the marriage equality victory in Massachusetts and is a native Mainer, currently living in Portland. I had hoped she would sue the State of Maine for the civil rights violations of Question 1, but overturning DOMA is much more important – many legal experts have pointed out that this lawsuit has the greatest chance of affecting national change, ie: federal government and nationwide recognition of marriage equality.

Some of you are already familiar with Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the pending challenge to Prop.8, which is expected to go all the way to the US Supreme Court. The arguments of both sides in that case have already been heard and we await a decision by US District Cout Judge Vaughn Walker, who recently created a media frenzy by publicly outing himself as gay. Either one of these lawsuits could potentially result in nationwide, federally-recognized same-sex marriage. Without exception, all civil rights have historically been granted by the high courts or Congress. In ruling to legalize same-sex marriage in DC, the DC Council recently affirmed their position that the majority does not have a right to vote on the basic human rights of others, particularly minorities (which is exactly what we did here in Maine). Importantly, Congress had the opportunity to reverse this decision but did not – it could be said that Congress affirmed the rights of same-sex couples.

It will be very interesting to follow the progress of these lawsuits. It is clear that the momentum for GLBT rights – equal rights – has gained a critical mass. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is coming under heavy fire every day and the Pentagon has already softened the existing rules of DADT. The Federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the Federal Student Non-Discrimination Act will make federal law reflect the same non-discrimination policies we have here in Maine (since 2005) and several other states. It’s about time!

This week’s GLEE was one of the best so far. The entire episode was full of Madonna’s music, my favorite artist. They even sang my favorite song ever, What It Feels Like for a Girl. A lot of the jokes were funnier than usual, too, and the episode dealt with some elephants in the living room a little more honestly than it has in the best. GLEE is a really fun show, but its campy and unrealistic situations don’t quite measure up to shows like Degrassi: The Next Generation, which has already dealt with GLEE’s controversial topics much more effecively and in a straightforward manner. But GLEE is not meant to be true to life in that sense. It’s mostly about the awesome music! Anyway, you can watch this week’s episode or past episodes at FOX.com

OK, I got the video uploaded in 13 parts. I filmed almost non-stop for the entire 2 hours of the show. The first half is student performers and the second half is professional drag queens. Below is part 1, but you can view the entire playlist here: UMaine Drag Show 2010

Some of you will recall my excitement last Summer upon the discovery of a seedpod on my Madagascar Jasmine plant (see my plant page). I was recently able to finally harvest the seedpod and collect the seeds, of which there were about 100! They trail light feathery strings, much like dandelions. I tossed a few in the air and allowed them to gently float down to the floor. The tassles could easily be removed from the seeds, which I have stored in a dry tube.

After orchids, Madagascar Jasmine is my favorite flower – it produces large white waxy flowers that will literally cause your entire room to smell like jasmine for weeks or months. MJ is most commonly used for bridal wreaths and I always wind mine (I have two) around a steel hoop. They are extremely aggressive growers and low maintenance. I have never grown one from seed, so this will certainly be a new adventure for me! I currently have some healthy tomato plants growing along with some lemon herb. My stevia seeds are challenging to grow, but I have had some success getting them to germinate. I would like to be able to grow my own stevia since I use it to sweeten my tea – I drink about 1-2 gallons of tea every day, no joke. Anyway, here are some pictures of the seedpod and seeds…

I’ve also just begun transforming my Arabaidopsis plants – well technically transforming their meiotic genes in order to produce a transgenic line from the resulting seeds. I will be creating an entire page on my website devoted to my research, when I get some time. I really want to get my paleogenetics website up ASAP.

Also, Pride Week has been a huge success so far. The drag show is tonight at 8:00 PM. I will try to film it like I did last year. You can still watch the entire show by visiting http://www.umaine.edu/wildestein or my YouTube account. The Rainbow Pride Flag has been waving all week on the campus mall and Jenny Boylan, author of She’s Not There and transgender activist and professor at Colby College, spoke to a standing room only yesterday…the room’s capacity was 300 seats! I’ve read her book and she’s written 11 others, including a children’s / young adult book dated for release May 11th – I’m excited to read it, having just finished Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol. Boylan’s book is titled Falcon Quinn and the Black Mirror. You can read more about Jenny’s UMaine appearance here. She continues to be an inspiration for all of us who believe in being true to ourselves.

This also may interest some of you – a video panning of Streptomyces, a soil bacteria we studied in my microbiology lab. I used a simple gram stain and my video microscope at 400X to capture the image below.

Just when things are looking dark, sometimes they can turn around. Things are darkest before the dawn. My grandmother has once again proved herself to be incredibly strong. In fact, I just got off the phone with her. Despite hospital-talk about planning for the worst, my grammy now seems to be doing much better than before, allowing me to have a full conversation with her over the phone just now. She’s been through a lot of difficulties in life and I’ve unfortunately continued that tradition in my own life, but she continues to show me that our potential is limitless and that we can overcome any obstacle with faith and perseverance…and smile and laugh about it at the same time!

I love you Grammy Flanders!

Some of you have asked about an RSS feed for my blog, and I will be adding one very soon. Also, my paleogenetics website is coming along well and should be published soon, I’ve just been really busy with my classes – it’s been a big exam week and finals are at the end of the month. I have a lot of interesting things going on in my life that I promise you will all hear about this Summer. My Arabidopsis plants have just begun to bolt (flower) and I spent a fair amount of time today preparing media that will be used to genetically alter them, as part of my senior thesis. Pride Week is this coming week at UMaine. I haven’t taken a minute to look over the schedule yet.

And then last night I went to the emergency room because of having panic attacks and they discovered I have hypothyroidism, which probably has exacerbated my clinical depression and fatigue. But I’m glad to know because it means I can do something about it, and it’s good to know I’m otherwise in excellent health. I’m a strong proponent of medication. The person I was 2-3 years, because of my depression, I don’t even recognize today, having taken Zoloft for so long now. Sometimes you can’t just “think away” a psychological problem, anymore than you can think away a broken bone. The hospital placed me back on an anxiolytic I took a while ago and I haven’t had even a twinge of anxiety since.

As a last note, my grandmother suffered a stroke a couple weeks ago and she’s still in the hospital with little or no improvement – she’s not even able to speak. I immediately flew home when my mom called me. Not much can be done – I’m trying to enjoy the irregular warm weather with friends to help deal with the situation because I really care about my Grammy Flanders and I know she would want me to be doing happy things, like she and I always have, like mini golf and bowling, right up to the day she was hospitalized. In my flickr photostream you can see one of my friends and I enjoyed a day skating at Acadia National Park. I just got a bunch of camping gear and I’m also anxious to get back in the water to continue scuba diving, though the weather has been kinda crappy lately. In terms of my grandmother, the doctors have been asking my dad those questions that may imply a difficult decision, but we all have to go through the cycle of life and death. I’m grateful that my mom encouraged me to make an effort to spend more time with her in the past year or so.

One time, after my ex broke up with me and I was just a total mess and started hibernating in my room, my grandmother sat down and hugged me and I asked her, “When your husband [my grandfather, who I never met] died, how did you deal with it? How did you keep going?” And she said, “Well, I just figured I’d see him again someday. No point in getting all upset over it.” The Buddhist view of death is interesting and it’s always rang true with me. Buddhists see no beginning or end, only change. Life is a part of death and death a part of life. Thich Nhat Hanh probably says it better in No Death, No Fear…

“Looking deeply, we can also see that the waves are at the same time water. A wave may like to seek its own true nature. The wave might suffer from fear, from complexes. A wave might say, “I am not as big as the other waves.” “I am oppressed,” “I am not as beautiful as the other waves,” “I have been born and I have to die.” The wave may suffer from these things, these ideas. But if the waves bends down and touches her true nature she will realize that she is water. Then her fear and complexes will disappear.”

Christmas 2008

I really liked this ad concerning equal rights for same-sex couples. It’s well-produced and even for me, having had over a decade in gay rights activism, it made me step back and think, “Wow, discrimination is really hurting people right now, every day.”