https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Rainbow-e-Bakery/168794123270177

Come join us March 27th at the Old Courthouse on Douty St. across from Superior Dairy for a peaceful candle light vigil. Bring your candle, posters and family & friends with you as we stand united for equality on the final evening of the Prop 8 and DOMA hearings.

We are also still looking for gay and lesbian couples waiting to wed who would be willing to tell us all what the overturning of these two laws will do for them and their family. If you want to share with the community what positive impact this will make in your life please email me at Melissa@gayhanford.com. We want to hear your story!

• Community news and politics- we are looking for someone to write articles that would be posted here on the Gay Hanford website. We would like to keep our community involved and informed on local, state and national political actions that directly affect the LGBTQ community.
• Entertainment reporter- like movies, books, music? We would love to hear your likes and dislikes in our Books, Movies, Music and More link! Especially if they have a GLBTQ theme let you family know!
• Sports Director- Want to help get our community active and having fun? This is a volunteer position for you! We already have a softball team and we now have our crazy Gay Hanford Rec Days- how crazy can you make them?!
• Social/Entertainment contact- Having events where our community and our family can have some fun and meet some new friends is something we try to do on a monthly basis. We need someone to help us with ideas, get people involved, and run the party! If you are all about bigger is better! then come volunteer to help with our social and entertainment!
• Community Service coordinator- Giving back to the community in which we live, learn and love is incredibly important. It is a way to break down barriers, give back and have fun while meeting new members of our extended family. If you are community service oriented person and would live to help us get this program going, we need you! 
• Something that you want to do but it isn't listed here? Let us know! We just love volunteers and if you are willing to help out we are willing to abuse, I mean, use you!

For more information on the about positions or just to volunteer in general please contact erin@gayhanford.com. 

1. The Gay Hanford Co-Ed Softball club has a full roster but that doesn't mean that you can't show up and practice with them! Every Sunday afternoon at 3:00, mark your calendars and come out and have some fun! To get more details on how you can throw some pitches and swing some bats contact Melissa@gayhanford.com.

2. Gay Hanford Running Club (or walking!) joins the Lemoore Running Club on Saturday and Sunday mornings for some runs around the neighborhood. Join the fun! For more information contact Erin@gayhanford.com.

3. Dust off those bikes and get some miles in the saddle with the Gay Hanford Cycling Club! Rides on Sunday mornings! For more information contact Erin@gayhanford.com.

GAY HANFORD REC DAYS

What is this you ask? It is just our way to get out and do something as a community. You don't need to be experienced, in fact we hope to try some activities and events that maybe no one has tried before and we are going to try (emphasis on TRY) to make it free or as affordable as possible. Have some suggestions? Let us know! 

Listen to Her Heart starts off running and doesn't slow down! The story actually begins after Yalen Martinez has been swindled in an on-line dating scheme by a woman working with the mob and her plan on how to get retribution kept me turning the page right away. I mean who wants to go on-line to possibly find there mate and instead end up feeling used and tricked out of thousands of dollars? In Yalen's quest for revenge the reader is introduced to some wonderful characters that will have you guessing as to which side of the good/bad fence they are sitting! The adventure begins when she travels to Tennessee and picks up the unlikely companion of Briana Latham, the woman's who profile was used to pull off the scam. The meeting with Briana immediately has Yalen off balance and taking actions she wouldn't normally take. Including having Briana travel with her to England where Yalen has tracked the nerve center of the dating scam to be located. Did I mention that Briana is an ex-Victoria Secret model?  Overall, Trin Denise creates some very colorful characters and some faced paced action that kept me engaged until the last page. The fact that the story is actually based on true events is a bit disconcerting but it just adds to the level of story movement. I would definitely recommend this story for anyone looking for an action packed plot with great character chemistry.

Trin Denis' "Listen To Her Heart" can be purchased at her website http://www.trindenise.com/lesbian-romance-novels.php starting at $3.99 for an e-book.

Hope to see you there!!

With the price of gas seeming to rise every time I head to the pump, I have decided to take the bus between Hanford and Visalia twice weekly. It was a daunting adventure at first- finding the right pick-up spot, making sure my alarm clock was set with enough time for me to get there, knowing where the bus is going to drop me off and how long I will need to wait to get picked up, and of course figuring out what the bus etiquette is.

From someone who loves lines, not standing in them, but the structure and fairness they provide, I was a bit appalled at how a bus is boarded. Upon arriving at a bus stop there are of course people milling about, listening to their personal music, reading books, some staring off into space, but mostly pretending like they are not standing at a bus stop. That all changes when the bus arrives! These seemingly nice, complacent people, push, shove, and glare in order to get onto the bus. Of course there is no line just a mass of people moving toward the door causing the ultimate bottleneck. It’s quite intimidating and one must relinquish their personal space if they hope to make it safely into the confines of the bus. It is that moment when I started considering how much gas my car had in it, if it could take me safely to my destination- gas prices be damned! However, I persevered and soon found myself onboard.

Did I mention checking any personal space at the door, because a bus is not conducive to relaxing, stretching out the legs, having plenty of arm room, or any padding on the backside in any manner? If the airlines really wanted to get mean, they could put the seats from the bus onto their planes, and then people would have something to truly complain about! But I digress, because I was one of the lucky few who found myself planted onto a hard plastic seat, bouncing down the corner and playing jello with my seat mate as the driver swung us precariously around corners. What a way to start the morning, was a constant thought flowing through my head.

And then it changed. As I sat staring, while trying not to stare, at the people who were riding with me I saw things that I have missed lately in society. People were bears coming through the doors of the bus, but once on board the attitude changed. It was as if each of us knew we were a microcosm of a community and the better our attitudes the better life would be for the next 40 minutes as we trucked along 198. So this is what I learned while riding the bus:

1.       You don’t get a personal bubble while onboard, but people really didn’t seem to mind the human contact. I’m not talking groping or inappropriate actions- those I think would have had dire consequences, but as one young man lost his battle with keeping his eyes open and eventually slumped onto the shoulder of the woman seated next to him, she simply adjusted her book to the other hand and kept on reading.

2.       People are still courteous. It may not seem like that while you are sitting in a traffic jam and the third car in a row won’t let you change lanes even though you have considerately put on your blinker. When an older woman in a foot brace and lugging a huge piece of luggage got onboard, a seat was vacated for her so she had a place to sit. Sure another had to suffer through the discomfort of standing, but it was just the right thing to do.

3.       People make the best of the situation they are in. When that same woman lugged that huge piece of luggage through the doors, several people on the bench seat worked together to stow it beneath their seats, out of the aisle and away from others feet. (Foot space is a luxury!!) It wasn’t ideal to push and shove the luggage around, but it did make the most of the space available for everyone.

4.       Pay it forward, I am sure, was invented for bus riders. A woman and her son were trying to get on the bus for the return trip to Hanford. They were $.50 short. The bus driver was not able to adjust the fair after it was started, but that didn’t stop a man from walking from the back of the bus to give her the two quarters she needed. Not a huge sacrifice for most people, but when you are feeling stranded towing a young child around, simple kindness like that, I’m sure is an amazing gift.

5.       Everyone makes an effort to go out of their way. On the same return trip, our bus driver received some garbled message on the radio and at the next red light we detoured off our route. She pulled up to a bus stop bench in front of an empty lot and looked around. She then turned to the riders and asked if anyone saw an older man with a cane making his way to the stop or around the stop. At first we were, or at least I was, a little annoyed at having to take time out of my precious day for a wrong turn by the driver, but when we realized that it was to try to rescue someone from possibly being stranded 30 some miles from Hanford, we all started looking. I mean how much would it suck if you missed the last bus back to Hanford and had no other means of transportation to get you home? We never did find him, but the effort was there, not only by the riders but the driver and the dispatch as well.

Just some simple things that occasionally get overlooked in life. I decided I did enjoy riding the bus and seeing a sampling of our community be nice to each other. In the end, if we aren’t nice to each other then it is just going to make for a super long ride until the next stop.