Haydennet.com, personal site of Joseph A. Hayden, J.D.

You were my friend with whom I had so much in common for so many years. You were a rock. I can’t believe this.

Just got terrible news about losing one of my closest gaydad friends in the world, Gene Baugh, in Columbus, who raised his five kids.  I read his autobiography, although I don’t think it was ever published.  He was a huge fan of the Spanish language and had spent time in Spain in his youth.  I flew to Columbus to be in his marriage to a man in 1998, and he and I also spent time together at various gay parenting conventions around the country.  We originally met in 1996 in Minneapolis and stayed in touch quite regularly the whole time, sharing the drama of our kids and our lives before and after coming out.  He was only 56, and a big bear of a man (also very tall).

His daughter, Ruth, who lives on the West Coast now, as I do, went with my daughter and me to our first Provincetown Family Week.  Ruth and I recently got back in touch with each other and today she emailed me with the news that he had been taken off life support as he had requested be done if he should ever be in this state.  He had a stroke on Friday.

So  Marie Osmond’s son who recently killed himself similarly to my cousin (jumping from balcony) was gay and Mormon? I have always liked Marie, but bigoted communities yield high suicide rates.  Roseanne Barr made a controversial blog about the subject, but I’m afraid I have to agree with her.

My friend Aaron is going to Holland for an internship for his Ph.D. in chemistry so he had a going away party last weekend.  There was great food, great music and a lot of fun people with a good mix of gay and hetero folks in San Leandro.

Some dancing (that I actually participated in)!

I’m traveling to Phurfest and hoping to see friends and family in Arizona in late April/early May.  It’s a state I’ve never stepped foot in, to my knowledge, but which my family has a long history in, apparently.  I’ve seen a lot of relatives going back generations move and return to Arizona, and I know my dad lived there for a time as a kid.  Ancestry.com has helped prove the links I have to the area, but I’m also looking forward to some pool parties and dry heat, which is one of the reasons I moved back to the West Coast.

I’m sure the check was deposited before she released the statement today.

It’s no surprise that she would support her lesbian sister and concur with her father, but somehow this hypocrite whose family still profits off of the wars in the Middle East, still holds herself out as some kind of new age Repub.

So kathlicks in DC would rather let orphans languish and remain homeless than give them to a potential gay couple b ending it’s foster care program in that city?  Klassik!  And on Ash Wednesday they decide to announce this, no less.  I wonder how many of those kids are going to grow up still respecting the kathlik church after this?

I met a lot of new friends and got to see many old friends.  I made a new friend who stared taking insulin just a few weeks before I did, so we had that very new experience in common, which made watching ourselves a bit easier.

Just as shocking as ever, with an amazing cast, I’m glad they were renewed and happy to hear that they won an Emmy!

I had a great party with at least 25 guys from all over the Bay Area last night, not including my dog Monte, who was a hit.  Most of the guys I had met before, and some of them I was able to finally met like a few gay dads I’ve been in contact with for some time.  It was very cool to have a house full of people again, as I hadn’t really hosted anything in a while, against my better judgement.  I created a private gallery, not of pictures taken last night, but of the guys who actually showed up for their benefit in case anyone wanted to get in contact with another that he met.