I always believed it was King's Poor People's Campaign and his opposition to the Vietnam War that got him killed. So long as his energies were spent integrating restaurants, water fountains and securing the right to vote the political establishment was not really so concerned and for the most part many of them shared his objectives. But when he start talking about the war, social and economic justice he became a much bigger threat to the established order. It was easy to find a racist white man to pull the trigger.

Damnit Joan Walsh, I wasn't there and you have me in tears! Tears of joy and hope and promise and connectedness to my fellow Americans that I have not felt since 2004. I feel like we're getting our country back.

I want to stop rowing the slave ship, but all I hear is the 'boom boom' of the master's drum. Stroke, stroke, stroke. When does it stop so I can enjoy being wise?

Elydog, I just fell in love with you. Will you marry me? I don't care how old you are, or what sex you are.

Is that OK?

Sometimes Glenn you make me laugh out loud.

Please, more fog. Your post needs more fog.

I don't buy any of this guy's story, except that he's a straight man. He's a straight man who committed adultery. He cheated on his wife. That's the first violation of his own moral code. Then he lied about it. That's the second violation of is own moral code. Then he got the church people to collude with him in lying about it (this was the event with the young church volunteer), then he got them to pay the young man hush money. None of these people have any moral standing.

I don't buy his molestation story. That's another lie to get him off the hook as it plays to the ignorance and prejudice of his followers about the "causes" of homosexuality. The man has absolutely no integrity. Add to that the fuel he's added over the years to the homophobia of his listeners and followers that fosters the atmosphere of marginalizing and condemning gay lives. You have to wonder how many young men and women took their own lives because of his teachings? How many wounds and lacerations have been perpetrated on the self-esteem and self-worth of young gay men and women because of his ministry? Is there any way to quantify that?

How many thousands of young men and women have braved rejection by their friends and families, risked being socially ostrasized or even killed because they valued integrity and honesty and authenticity more than safety and social approval. They have a more highly evolved moral sense in their pinkies than Haggard has in his entire body. Now he wants us to see him as a victim.

I loathe and despise people like Ted Haggard. He's a philandering, narcissistic, lying hypocrite. In short, he's a preacher. God help us when we will ever be rid of these people?

Wow, he hugged Lilly at the end. What a classy guy! I'm a man and I have for years argued that women should receive equal pay for equal work. I've worked with women who weren't receiving equal pay and I always believed it was wrong. It violates the American sense of fairness. So relieved to see that now there is some recourse and protections for them.

The first time I saw a drag show was in Nashville, TN in 1973. I was 20. Although I am gay, they "scared" me. They seemed to have such an "aura", such "authority" in their larger than life personas. Once I rethought the use of long flowing robes (gowns) for priests and judges my reaction became more understandable. Add make-up and lip synching and voile! A drag queen is born. Many culture use cross-dressing as symbols of power and authority.

Drag queens and drag shows are a phenomenon of the last century. Despite the foolishness of Oliver Stone to put Hephaistion, Alexander The Great's male lover, and a warrior, in long flowing sheer silk robes billowing in the breeze, and eyeliner, I can't imagine drag as a staple of homosexual entertainment among ancient Greek warriors.

I've never been a big fan of drag, and have rarely sought out venues in which to watch it. I never thought of it as a tool of liberation, although I disagree with the poster who believes that now that we're "serious" about our rights (like we were just funning before?) we have to behave. I hope not. That will be the death of all gay fun, no matter how good the sex is! The whole phenomenon of gay drag is a genuine folk art, as it is passed on from one drag queen to another rather than in a classroom. I learned to admire their courage and their theatrical value, relax, and have a fun time. Charles Pierce was a genius. k.d.Lang's CD, "Drag" is also a complete conceptual work of pure genius.

May the drag live on!

The whole "girly boy" sobriquet is also a part of what I was responding to lo these many years ago in Nashville. I always rejected the "gay men as effeminate" lie. Some gay men exhibit feminine qualities. They're the ones who attract all the attention. But then some straight men also exhibit a softness and attitude more associated with females. Most gay men don't, which is why for the most part I have a problem with most gay characters in the media and on television. And we all know that it's the straight men who are wearing their wife's panties! Not all drag queens are gay. This is just the way it is. Maybe we're finally on to just accepting it as a society, allowing people a broader range of self-expression and psychological breathing space without all the ridicule and condemnation.