Give Bush the Boot

After going through travel hell to get to D.C. from Seattle, I decided to hit the Mid-Atlantic Leather weekend at the Washington Plaza. I’m not sure if this counts as an “inauguration party” but you gotta give those leather queens points for timing.

My very sweet and talented host Shea Van Horn has seen fit to line Lisa Chacon, my Obamarama Tour partner, and I up with a whole array of “other side of the track”-style parties and gatherings. So after tossing a few back with the Leather Boys we went to an “A-Gay” Party thrown by David Goodhand (nice name.)

I met a bunch of hot, married gay boys and girls who are thrilled that Mr. Obama is taking over this show.  Who knows: maybe we’ll  get marriage passed all around and we can really move on.

Next we hit a neighborhood bar filled with people watching the re-runs of yesterday’s big concert. Looked like a great show. Had I not dealt with travel drama all day I might have made it.

I have never seen so many married gay boys in my life. It’s weird actually. Where I come from, everyone seems to be single or in some variation of an “open” relationship. Something about this town seems to foster rowdy hot, married gay men. I think I’ll be coming back to visit. Maybe some of that will wear off on me.

The energy everywhere is fantastic, people are all being so considerate and funny. I, for one, would love to see people take that vibe and incorporate it into their daily lives. It’s amazing to see so many people feeling excited again after all these years of fear and gloom and  still more fear.

Lines, lines and more lines for Inauguration Tickets

Today’s adventure was getting the cherished ticket I won in the Lottery. I had to rangle major lines of people all trying to do the same thing. I overheard a security guard telling some people that all the house office buildings connected underground and that we could go to any line at any building and get to the building we wanted—Rayburn in my case—by taking the basement routes. So I rallied the people in line around me and we headed out. People had been waiting for  up to three hours at this point.

We found a tiny line and while we were waiting we saw Arnold Schwarzenegger coming out which I took as a good sign that we were in the right spot. While traversing the basement corridors we ran into Barney Frank, the openly gay congressman from Massachusetts. He was with his spouse and they were on their way to the gym. Gotta love the gays!

Jared, Barney, and Shea Van Horn on route to getting my ticket

I ended up getting inside and getting my ticket all within an hour. I have a “Silver Standing” ticket. It’s real pretty, but lets face it, it’s way the hell back there. Not that I’m not grateful. It could be worse. [Ed note: Yeah, you could be me, watching on TV!] We’re going to have to hit the lines at dawn in order to get a good spot within our special ticketed standing area.

The view from Lisa and I's special Silver Standing tickets

Adults having some good clean fun

On the way to pick up tickets we passed a crowd tossing shoes at a huge inflated likeness of Bush with a sign that said, “Give Bush the Boot.” Hundreds of people were throwing shoes at him trying to catch them on his long nose. When someone made it, the crowd would lose it. People of all ages were tossing shoes.

I love this kind of thing! Simple, funny actions that cross generations and drive the point home. Everyone is very excited about Obama and excited to Give Bush the Boot, at last.