As a Catholic and Christian, I humbly ask my fellow Christians to remember the true meaning of Easter; that our Lord Jesus rose from the dead and forgives us of our sins, and that we are all his children and that HE is the final judge of our life.

Worship at the church of your choice and give thanks. Yes, pray even for those of our brothers and sisters who call themselves Christians but who condemn and hate us and see us as more dangerous than “terrorists and killers.”

I urge our GLBT community, family, friends and allies to spread the word and boycott the Hyatt and Marriott Hotels, A-1 Self Storage and Hoehn Motors. The owners of these businesses have given hundreds of thousands of dollars to finance the initiative that would ban marriage equality. It is businessman Doug Manchester whose actions are the most disturbing, as we have held many events at his hotels and send visitors there.

Mr. Manchester, I too am a Catholic and I can’t believe that this is the main reason you used for your defense. You even state, “I don’t want to offend anybody.” Well you have, and as a broke Catholic I would have urged you to donate that $125,000 to help clean up our church’s scandals or to catholic charities. As a national board member of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and a past state chair of Equality California, I will be calling for an official national and state boycott of your businesses as well as A-1 Self Storage. Let me make it clear that I respect differences on this issue. Former Gov. Gray Davis, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama do not support same-sex marriages, but they also have not given a dime of support to radical, right-wing campaigns to stop marriage equality.

Recently I had a meeting with City Councilmember Toni Atkins and her senior staff at her city hall offices to discuss some issues and concerns (some regarding my role as chair of the city’s Human Relations Commission). While this may be Atkins last year in office, she is not playing the “lame duck” role one bit – she continues to work hard every day for the third district, focusing in particular on the rise in gang violence. Atkins and her staff are working as hard as ever on projects and issues facing our city and district, and she will do so until her last day in office. I witnessed this first hand when I met her and her staff.

Candidate for the District 3 City Council seat, Todd Gloria became the only candidate to be endorsed by our city’s firefighters and police officers. In fact, more than two dozen firefighters walked the precincts recently urging District 3 residents to support and vote for Gloria.

With the rise in gang violence and senior crime in the third district, the Police Officers Association made it clear it felt Gloria was a candidate to take a lead and handle the issue of crime in our neighborhoods. Candidate Stephen Whitburn sought the endorsement of both the San Diego City Firefighters and the San Diego Police Officers Association but never got close to getting either.

When I arrived in Vancouver, Canada for a four-day schedule of events, I knew physically something was wrong. I was very weak so I stayed in my hotel room and rested about 90 percent of the time I was there, only fulfilling my obligations to speak at a Canadian conference, charity fund-raiser and human rights rally. After each speech, I was immediately taken to my hotel room and by the time I got back to San Diego, I found myself in the emergency room at Scripps Mercy Hospital.

Vancouver, Canada was voted the second best city to live in the entire world! It will be hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics and is one beautiful city, very progressive with a huge GLBT community.

In almost all of my speeches, I told Canadians how fortunate and blessed they were to have universal health care, same-sex marriage rights, and protection for gays and lesbians serving in the military. I was presented a special honor (an INUKSHUK) from the First Nations community, which is Canada’s Native Americans. I was the only American invited to speak at a rally to lift the HIV/AIDS Visitors Ban in the United States, as we are one of only 13 nations in the world that does not allow people with HIV/AIDS to visit.

I was very honored to have been asked to speak alongside three members of the Parliament of Canada (like our U.S. Congress): Penny Priddy, Hedy Fry, and Bill Siksay, all elected members of the House of Commons in Ottawa, Ontario. Also Helen Kennedy, the national executive director of Eagle Canada, flew in from Toronto to speak. There was, of course, media coverage of the rally. Though I was ill, I did my duties and I was treated with a lot of care, concern and respect, and I wish to sincerely thank my Canadian hosts, activists, leaders and elected officers for making me feel so welcome. The mayor of Vancouver, who is handicapped in a wheelchair, also attended the charity fund-raiser.

I was treated very well by the receptionists, nurses, aides and my first doctor. But the second doctor … well that’s another story, and there may be legal repercussions. I can’t talk about it now, but will soon.

As for me, I am holding my own and going through more tests. I especially want to thank so very much Bob Lehman, Tom Felkner, Jess San Rogue and Dr. Linda Barufaldi for seriously being my guardian angels during this difficult time. God bless you Tom, Bob, Jess and Linda from the bottom of my heart.

The “gay Academy Awards” of San Diego, yes the annual Nicky Awards, have been set for May 19 at the Birch North Park Theatre on University Avenue. There are new and exciting changes to the upcoming Nicky Awards, with all proceeds continuing to benefit nonprofit organizations, including The Center.

The deadline for nominations is April 2. There will be different tickets to choose from, including VIP dinner, general VIP, preferred seating and general. For more information, to purchase tickets or receive nomination ballots, call 619-602-9453 or e-mail michealmacknsd@aol.com.

Children’s Easter Egg Hunt this Sunday!

About six years ago when grandmother Linda Childers and I founded the now annual Children’s Easter Egg Hunt, we never imagined it would turn into an event that would draw hundreds of children and their parents. This year’s event will once again be held at Trolley Barn Park at 2 p.m. It’s free to all children 12 years and younger. We still need donations of Easter baskets and you can drop them off at The Center or phone Empress Lala at 619-794-2777. A big thank you to all the bars, businesses, organizations and people that have donated or are planning to!