New York City….a City of lots of laws but little enforcement…. bike-share is off and rolling and Citi Bikes are pretty much everywhere…. I’m glad that they are being used. Although some of the bike-share docking stations have gotten a lot of residents and merchants upset the Department of Transportation has addressed some of the complaints by shortening certain docks.

I have a lot of friends riding them…I’ve been riding my little fold up bike for years. There have been tons a complaints that people riding bikes DO NOT obey traffic lights and traffic laws. I’ve watched riders speed down 9^th Ave thru the light on my corner and barely missing being hit by cars making the left turn. Between running red lights and going in the wrong direction crossing the street has become challenging especially with two small dogs.

There are some cops out there that are beginning to give tickets to the riders running red lights and going in the wrong direction….although very few. What I find concerning is that the people getting the tickets appear to be upscale. Are the police targeting these people because they believe that they are the kind of people that can and will pay the tickets?

In April the City Council announced that they would enforce the ban on electric bikes. That riders would be subject to fines up to $1000 as well as having the bike confiscated. I have witnessed cops pulling people over riding Citi bikes and while writing the ticket they are past by a number of electric bikes….even ones going in the wrong direction. BUT I HAVE YET TO SEE A COP GIVE A TICKET TO ANYONE ON AN ELECTRIC BIKE!!!

What happen to enforcing the ban on electric bikes?

We’ve made a lot of progress since last Pride. There are now 12 states plus the District of Columbia that have legalized same sex marriage. Unfortunately the Illinois House did not bring the bill to a vote before their session ended.

There have been little victories…. The California Senate voted last week to approve a measure that would strip the Boy Scouts of America of its tax-exempt status, along with other public charity youth groups that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, among other protected statuses.

And some loses …as I expected Exxon Mobil shareholders last week rejected a resolution proposing that the company adopt an employment nondiscrimination policy that specifically addresses LGBT status…the vote…81 percent to reject the resolution verses 19 percent in favor.

While we celebrate the accomplishments of this past year we must not loose site that our rights and freedoms are still in jeopardy as shown by the recent acts of violence against us. Marriage Equality is a major step forward but until we can walk safely down a street unafraid of holding our partners hand we will have not achieved equality.

I despise violence! The hearings in Washington about sex abuse in the military, women being gang rape in India, synagogues being vandalized, young girls being shot because they want to go to school, a couple being denied the right to footer or adopt because they’re gay…the list goes on and on….

When I was VERY young my mother took me to see the movie South Pacific…The words of “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught” describes the root evil. We may not be able to change the world…but while you are out enjoying and celebrating Pride PLEASE BE CAREFUL!

I don’t own a car but when I did I would go to any length to avoid getting my gas at an Exxon Mobil station. It’s time that we started a nationwide boycott for LGBT Americans and our allies to know you never ever stop to get gas at Exxon/Mobil.

Today is their annual shareholders meeting and for the 14^th consecutive year the issue of job discrimination based on sexual orientation is on the agenda. While 88 percent of Fortune 500 companies have adopted written nondiscrimination policies Exxon Mobil has moved further from the mainstream. Exxon Mobil ranks last in the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality index of the Fortune 1000 corporations, with a score of negative 25 out of a possible 100. The first company to have ever received a negative score from HRC.

Freedom to Work (nonprofit LGBT worker advocacy group), submitted fake resumes for two women for an administrative assistant position at Exxon’s Patoka, Ill., office. Only one got a request for a follow-up interview. Freedom to Work filed a complaint because of one particular item on the resume set the second applicant apart. Applicant one volunteered as a secretary for a feminist group, while applicant two served as a treasurer for a local chapter of the Victory Fund, a gay-rights organization. There were also significant differences between the two resumes the LGBT resume was stronger and better qualified for the position than the non-LGBT resume she also had a higher grade point average, more advanced office skills, a higher ranking previous position with a greater level of responsibility, and a longer work history…..but they don’t discriminate!

They also have no benefits for domestic partners and when they acquired Mobil they demanded that those benefits be dropped. A company that has gone to such lengths to avoid equality for LGBT employees shouldn’t be getting our hard earn dollars.

So as I said why are people still buying gas at Exxon Mobil??

At midnight Anthony Weiner threw his hat in the ring…will New Yorkers forgive him? What does the LGBT community do? How important is having a LGBT mayor? What comes first?

The announcement came in the form of a video. He apologized for his misconduct and asked New Yorkers for forgiveness and the opportunity to be our mayor. Weiner’s entry in the mayoral race certainly makes the race a lot more interesting.

The purpose of this blog is to encourage conversation and this is a topic that I would really like to hear from you.

Aside from the fact that I’m just too tired to even think about writing anymore….so what do you think is having a gay mayor the top priority?

Once again the City has taken it upon themselves to anything they want without notifying residents. An example is seen by the hundreds of bike stations set up around the City. I ride a bike and I’m all in favor of the Share A Bike program but I didn’t expect to see these horrific looking stations put in about dumbest locations one can imagine. The Trader Joe’s loading dock on 21^st Street….or on 20^th and 7^th a block that has vertical parking!!!

How about in front of apartment buildings leaving residents the inability to unload anything in front of their building. How about the handicapped or seniors who need curb access for wheel chairs to get into and out of taxis! Also these stations aren’t mobile so how will the City clean streets or plow snow? I doubt that anything said by residents will change where the stations have been placed….and in time perhaps we’ll grow accustom to seeing these bike stations.

The past few days the City has placed three DOT guys on 9th Ave holding signs saying “STOP” and “WRONG DIRECTION”! They hold the STOP sign up to warn cyclists to stop on red. These guys have no authority can’t give tickets and many the cyclists are just ignoring their presence and as usual are ignoring the lights. Another example of our tax dollars at work!

Did you know that electric bikes are illegal in New York? The number of delivery guys with them has grown out of control. They go in any direction they want and most of them go at speeds faster then cyclists.

This is just the beginning of my bike rant…

Sanford the former governor of South Carolina whose career and marriage fell apart in 2009 after he disappeared for six days when he went to visit his lover in Argentina. He was the governor who left office in 2010 because of his admission of an extramarital affair. Sanford thinks he has been forgiven… I think it was just a few ignorant voters who put him back in office. South Carolina just elected a man who deserted his marriage and the people in his state by lby disappearing for 6 days!. And he stole from the state by using public funds to visit his mistress. How the hell did he pull this off?

If Sanford has been forgiven by South Carolinians can New Yorkers forgive Anthony Weiner? There’s certainly a difference between texting embarrassing photos on your Twitter account verses running off for 6 days while using government money and cheating on your wife.

If Weiner decides to run he would make the mayor’s race into a real street fight. Weiner has the perfect personality for the campaign …….he’s loud, obnoxious and arrogant….and most of the country views new Yorkers the same way. Weiner didn’t break any laws, he didn’t steal…he did however, hurt himself and his family, and he let down his constituents.

If South Carolina can send Sanford back to Congress can New York send Weiner to Gracie mansion?

African-American to play professional baseball we come to another first…. Jason Collins became the first openly gay male athlete who is still active in a major American team sport. Collins’s announcement was greeted with an outpouring of support from teammates, league executives and major National Basketball Association stars, Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade among them. This was such an event that President Obama called him to congratulate Jason.

Hopefully Jason’s coming out will impact positive change because it’s another step towards reaching the place where kids afraid to be honest with the world on who they are. Every time a national figure comes out, especially in fields where gay men and women are not especially known to be present, that kid realizes that there are others out there like them who have succeeded and are comfortable with themselves.

But hey folks there wasn’t this kind of hoopla in 1981 when Martina and Billie Jean came out….or in 2002 for my friend Sue Wicks ….and last week when the WNBA’s first pick Brittney Griner came out seconds after she was drafted it was barely noticed. Jason is years behind the women that had courage to come out and be who the are. Just another example of the disparity between men and women.

The Boston bombing has taken the attention away from the Senate’s failure last week’s to pass the bill to expand background checks. This failure is devastating, embarrassing and shameful. It’s statement on how broken the system really is. I’m angry, disappointed and embarrassed. I’d like to see everyone of the senators that voted “NO” be defeated in their bid for re-election because of that “NO”. How does a bill that had a 90% support of the country…fail?

Why are thousands of flights being delayed?? The sequester is another example of the dysfunction coming out of Washington. I’m frustrated by the BS of this government. I see seniors who can’t afford medication…seniors going though garbage bags looking for food that has been thrown out because of expiration dates…and yet we have a government pissing away money on a lot of BS.

When everything comes out about the Boston Marathon bombing I won’t be surprised if it turns out that once again our law enforcement agencies drop the ball.

Two days ago, we watched again as an act of unspeakable brutality was committed against innocent victims. I witnessed the Towers coming down… Boston conjured up many memories of 9/11. On 9/11 I thought about an incident that had happened to me many years prior. I was in Tel Aviv and had bent down to buy a newspaper from a man sitting on the ground in front of a supermarket. Just I bent over a bomb went off in the supermarket …if I had been standing up my head would have been blown off. It changes who we are when we watch acts of unspeakable brutality committed against innocent victims.

When I had knees I was avid runner. My goal was to run the New York Marathon unfortunately between shin splits and my knees the goal was never fulfilled. I was an active member in Front Runners …I enjoyed the camaraderie among the Front Runners as much as I enjoyed running. There’s a special unifying bond between runners especially those training for a marathon…running a marathon isn’t about wining but more about personal challenge.

My thoughts and prayers go out Bill Richard and his family in Boston on the loss of his son eight year old son Martin. Wishing a speedy recovery to his wife Denis who is in critical condition with brain injuries and his young daughter six year old Jane that has lost a leg and is also in critical condition.

Runners, Bostonians…Americans are resilient. We’ll defy the terrorists, by not allowing them control how we live our lives.

My gripe of the week….TEXTING!!! I guess my age really shows because I don’t understand why people HAVE to walk down the street and text. When I’m out walking my dogs I have to be ever vigilante never taking my eyes off of who may be walking straight at the dogs and me. Yes, we live in a world of spontaneity….everything is in real time. The other day two guys were standing in the middle of the sidewalk ….both texting. I had to ask them to move because there wasn’t enough room for me to pass. I asked what was so important….turns out they were texting each other! Has human communication gone so low that two people standing next to each other can’t talk to each other?

Even during Macbeth there were people on their cell phones texting…now come on ….it was an hour and forty five minutes….I think there’s something wrong unless you’re a doctor or handling an emergency that putting your phone in your pocket for that short a time shouldn’t be that difficult.

The other day I ran into a friend of mine who performs with the Metropolitan Opera. He told me that when he first noticed all these glowing lights from the audience he didn’t realize they were coming from cell phones. He said that it’s amazing that during a performance there are tons of people on their phones…and that it’s not only rude to the people around them but it’s also distracting to the performers.

My friends know that if we’re going out I appreciate that their phone be in their pocket. I give them my undivided attention and I ask the same in return.

So what do you think?? Am I asking too much?