A really wild thing is happening in Utah right now. Our state Constitution allows citizens, with incredible effort, to occasionally put a Measure on the ballot to vote in a law. In recent years, the majority of voters in our state have voted to legalize medical marijuana use, expand medicaid access, and most recently to empower a bipartisan commission to redraw our maps and undo the wildly unfair gerrymandering in our state. Our legislature has routinely gutted these ballot measures and made them obsolete. One of the most egregious examples

My husband is now scheduling friend dates to go to Costco. He came home from work so exhausted today but told me "I have to meet Jenna at 7:00. We are shopping. It's really important to both of us." And before the usual straight people with weird (unhealthy) perceptions of relationships show up in the comments, I am a gay man married to a gay man. This is not an affair. You don't need to warn me. We are OK.

I booked a flight on a tiny airline (the only one that goes to the farm town where I'm visiting family). There are 3 passengers on this flight and the plane is basically a minivan with wings. The pilot just had us play a quick icebreaker game before we took off. 10/10 experience. The plane apparently never goes high enough to lose cell service.

The Republican Party has devolved into this. This is what your GOP reps propose counts as competent leadership. The intelligent republicans are desperate for power and they are exploiting the uneducated to get it. That's the entire game at this point. And it's so sad.

https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1581066687532527616

This is no longer a matter of ideological differences. Anyone showing loyalty to the Republican Party at this point doesn't give a damn about what's good for you. They just want the machinery to make them relevant. They are either too apathetic or cowardly to stop the bleeding.

I so badly wanted to avoid commenting on this mess because I think it’s incredibly petty, but whatever, I keep getting asked about it and messaged about it. So here I go. The Kate Kelly attack was really sad for me. Mostly because she said some unkind things about my mom. I actually agree with her that a lot of us in the LGBTQ community need to do a better job at caring about causes but don’t affect us individually. I’ve tried to be a spokesperson about that, not just on Twitter, but in my active advocacy in my life.

A new account I just received from Ukraine, translated:

I was born and live in the west of Ukraine, in Ivano-Frankivsk. It seemed to me that it would always be safe here. But today I and my whole city woke up to rocket explosions and the roar of planes. Smoke all over the city. As it turned out, such a morning was not only in our city. And all over Ukraine. In an instant, life seemed to be divided into before and after. In the first seconds there was panic, fear and shock. What to do, where to run, who to call.

I left my bag with the knitting project I’ve been working on (a sweater) in the rental car I turned in today. Please keep me in your prayers at this time. @thriftycars Update: a fellow knitter who knows the stakes has contacted me from Thrifty and vowed to help. This is the Knitters’ Code.

Will continue to report as o receive new information.

There are Mormon missionaries who live across the street from me and right now the one in the car is refusing to unlock the door for the one standing outside of it. The situation is tense. Stay tuned. The outside elder started walking away and the driver began honking his horn so the outside elder came back but the door is still locked.

Some have gotten upset at my recent tweets over the past 10 years so I want to make it clear: I’m not an expert on this. I don’t know if people are born straight or if they choose it. All I know is I still love them and their challenge will be worked out in the next life. I have so much respect for people who struggle with opposite sex attraction but stay celibate and go to brunch for their entire lives even though we don’t let them order most of the food.

I've seen this quote getting shared in various forms in the context of "gay lifestyles." I want to preface my thoughts here: I don't know Tom, but know many people who do and he seems like a genuinely *wonderful* person. This is not meant to be a criticism of him in any way. I have issues with the quote because of the societal realities that could cause someone to say or share it in the first place.

I don't want anyone in my life to work to "accept" let alone wonder if they can "condone" the parts of my life that bring me the most joy.

Thinking of coming out? Congrats! Some unsolicited advice:

-this is good news you are sharing so act like it. We often do ourselves a disservice in these conversations by approaching them apologetically or from a place of shame. You are not burdening anyone with this good news. You are blessing them with it.

-if someone reacts poorly to your good news, that says nothing about you. It only says something about them. It’s ok to say “I’m disappointed you feel this way and hope your love for me will help you see this differently but that’s your journey.”

I lived in Russia one summer and one day I went to see Lenin's body on Red Square (he has been preserved and you can see him through a glass case and it's truly wild). While I was standing in line this guy about my age offered to share his umbrella with me because it was raining. I was 25 and closeted (and would be for another 5 years). The guy was from a small town in Siberia, visiting the big city on vacation. He was cute and he spoke about as much English as I spoke Russian (rough) so we communicated in a messy mix of both.

I like to call this one “Pretending To Be Named Plaintiffs In Landmark Gay Rights Case.” This one is “Walking Down Some Steps While Wearing A Sweater In July.”

I tuned in to the sanctions hearing against the Kraken lawyers an hour ago, only intending to quickly see what everyone looks like, and I've been glued to it ever since. The incompetence of the Kraken lawyers and the judge's absolute disgust is great tv.

OMG. They filed someone saying the Kraken lawyers can't be sanctioned because of the First Amendment and "the Supreme Court precedent is too numerous to even cite" and that they don't want to offend everyone with a long string cite and the judge said she will not be offended

There were a lot of early moments that made me realize my husband was it, but a big one was when I asked him what he wanted to do for date night and he suggested we walk the dog, get some takeout, “and then the 3 of us snuggle on the couch to a good movie.” My 25-year-old self would not have understood this. I thought I wanted an extrovert like me who would crave parties and crowds and adventure. It turns out when you find someone who feels like home, that’s all you really need to be complete.

If you are a gay Mormon follower of my Twitter, please let me vomit some unsolicited advice at you: you truly don’t have to accept that your options in life are a mixed-orientation marriage or perpetual celibacy and loneliness. You are not required to seek out or listen to people in mixed orientation marriages or anyone who is pitching this to you as a reasonable option. By the way, if you are listening to someone in a mixed orientation marriage and it sounds like they are trying to convince

On my wedding day I gave my phone to a friend so I wouldn’t have a pocket bulge. She gave it back to me at the end and said “I took photos of people having an authentic time at your wedding.” I thanked her for the thoughtfulness. A few hours later i checked them out. A sampling:

Last year this guy started coming to the gym every day right after I got there. Without fail he would show up within 5 minutes of my arrival. It was like he had a tracker on me. I was annoyed with this because he had this infuriating habit: Dude would go to the front desk, ask for the TV remote, and then go and change the channel of all 12 TVs in front of the treadmills to Fox News. Every day. And then he wouldn't even watch them. He was just being a Fox News evangelist.

YOU GUYS. I just saw the most wild thing! A man started walking toward the Girl Scouts cookie stand in front of the grocery store and he yelled “my bitches are BACK” and this Girl Scout just yelled “no. Walk away.” AND HE DID. I still can’t process what I just saw. I don’t understand it at all. It was like witnessing the worst miscalculation he was bright red and just went back to his car. Everyone just stood in silence. This girl death stared him all the way through his walk of shame.

I just found the episode list of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.

Episode 1: the women go to beach day on the gorgeous banks of The Great Salt Lake.

Episode 2: Kassaddee throws a glass of Horchata at Braxleee inside a Cafe Rio just after General Conference. Episode 3: the women take a road trip to Zionsss!

Episode 4: things heat up when Makinly starts stealing customers from Erynn after finding inspiration from the most recent Young Living conference.

Episode 5: Jinnifer puts on a birthday party for her some Baxtee at Classic.

I’ve shared this other places. People ask about it from time to time. Here’s the story of the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me or anyone ever. It was 2017 and I had taken my car to the dealership to have some work done. The dealership gave me a loaner car and told me it was out front, running.