The Dooryard

Patricia Nell Warren for City Council

The Front Runner author Patricia Nell Warren has declared her candidacy for a seat on the West Hollywood City Council, and I encourage all of you to support her with a donation.

I have known Patricia for at least five years. In that time I have found her to be caring, funny, intelligent, incredibly well-read and an independent thinker. If you lined up my political beliefs and hers, they would probably be at polar opposites from top to bottom. But, if you measured our core values - a love of individual freedom, a passion to help people, a yearning to do good work in this world - then we would be very similar.

I am fiercely supporting her not for her political beliefs but for who she is. She has so much integrity and so much determination. Plus, in The Front Runner and so many other writings and appearances, she has given gay people all around the world so much. The opportunity to have her as an elected official of the world's largest "gay city" would be an incredible gift.

I urge you to support her with your donations and your word of mouth. You can find a statement by Patricia and information on donating to her after the jump.>>

Historic Choices

If I was a national leader, I would love to have the choice that faces California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger after the state legislature passed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage.

Tough choices make great leaders. It's one of the things that I think will forever undermine Bill Clinton's historic legacy: he never had to make any really tough choices. No war. No recession or depression. The toughest domestic-policy choices he had to make - to put gays in the military or sign DOMA - he made political choices that had nothing to do with his ideals.

Now Schwarzenegger is going to get to decide whether he will sign or veto the historic, first-of-its-kind, bill. While I'm a fan of him, I'm betting that he will veto it. It's tough making historic choices. If he vetos the bill, he's just doing what most Americans would do. If he signs it, he will be a party of history, while royally pissing off his base. And, given his popularity in California, he needs his base.

Or so he thinks. Whether they like it or not, people almost always respond positively to a strong leader who makes strong decisions. Sure, lots of conservatives in California will be pissed. But, the majority of Californians will recognize Schwarzenegger's historic decision and regard him highly for it.

Right now, the governor is saying that he thinks it's up to the courts (which is funny, since most Republicans are saying it's up to them). This is a ridiculous argument. If a bill is in front of you, you either sign it or veto it based on its merits, not whether you want the courts to decide it or not. If he cops this plea, he will be bitch-slapped in the polls and on this blog.

The choice for him now is to stand up for the rights of the minority or be swung by the majority. It's a choice that dates back to the crafting of the U.S. Consititution. I know the choice I'd make - history calls.

Rainy LA

Dan and I are in rainy Los Angeles this weekend, so I can accept my prize for winning an annual NFL pool I'm in (I've won it five of the eight years my six friends have done it - yawn). It's great to be back here, visiting my old haunts like Doughboys, Eat Well and the little gay Starbucks on Santa Monica Blvd. More after the weekend . . . .

Support Cynthia's

One of my favorite restaurants in Los Angeles has always been Cynthia's. It's a restaurant of about 15 tables on Third Street. The spot is famous for three things: great fried chicken, even greater blackberry cobbler and a grating owner whom many have wanted to punch.

People go there for all three reasons. The first two are easy; Cynthia herself - that's another story. She can be the nicest person in the world, coming to the table, chatting, making sure everything is OK; but, if you're not nice to her, she just won't take it and then devilspawn can come out of her.

It's the latter part that has gotten her a lot of attention in the last three weeks, when the friend of an assistant from Paramount sent an e-mail to everyone she knew, in hopes of ruining Cynthia after Cynthia "ruined" the girl's birthday party.

Wherefor Art Thou, Krispy Kreme?

I remember when Krispy Kreme came to Los Angeles - or, rather, Van Nuys - several years ago. I got wind of it from a friend of mine in Walt Disney Music, as he sat at his desk on the phone with me chomping on a donut.

"What are you eating?" I asked.

"A Krispy Kreme," he said.

"Oh, who went to New York?"

"No one. A new one just opened in Van Nuys."

It was not five minutes later that I hopped in my white Ford Probe and headed down the 101 to Van Nuys Blvd. When I got there, it was an hour-long wait to get inside - and the wait grew to up to two hours, according to the local news that night. It seemed everyone in the city had come to get their own private taste of heaven.

I had been obsessed with Krispy Kreme since my first trip to New York City in 1997, when I ventured into the white and green shack at 23rd & Eighth. I have always loved donuts. But, while a Krispy Kreme wedding cake may be going too far, these little beauties are in a class of their own. And the "glazed cream-filled" are one of man's 10 greatest creations.