Here's to lovers everywhere! Best wishes to you and the
one you love! Happy Valentine's Day to you and your
partner... your significant other... your
sweetheart... your darling... your soulmate...
your life's companion... your forever friend!
"We love
because it's the only true adventure."
-Nikki
Giovanni
MESSAGES OF LOVE
Valentine's
Day Message from HRC
Recently, the Human Rights Campaign featured a special slideshow on their website to commemorate Valentine's Day. The limited edition slideshow presented a heartwarming collection of mini stories that carried a theme... Our love matters. Here are some excerpts...
My love matters because I have what
most want: A strong magnetic bond. A bond that holds us through
trying times. A crazy love. A love I want to spend every moment
with.
Being part of a family is one
of the greatest gifts we could have received. The love we share
for each other is hard to put into words.
Because we have proven that
family values count with same sex couples and our daughter loves
us unconditionally.
The purest kind of love - the
kind of love that fulfills, inspires and raises individuals to
their greatest potential in a selfless and giving way - is the
kind of love that matters. OUR love matters.
I can't believe how lucky I am to have found you... I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you.
Love matters because it is magical. It keeps you going when you feel like you can't go anymore. It makes you strive to be the best that you can be and to accomplish things that nothing else can motivate you to do.
Every woman dreams that she will be lucky enough to fall in love with her best friend...
Why our love matters? Because it changes the world. Our love is an expression of the divinity within each of us...the light in me honors the light in her. The more we let that light shine, the stronger our love grows.
Our love matters because there is only one true happiness in
life, to love and be loved. I am thankful to share my life with
my partner. His love and support means the world to me.
Our love matters because LOVE MATTERS!
"I met a young man who was wounded in love,
I met another man who was wounded in hatred."
-Bob Dylan
WHAT IS LOVE?
Love is
Insane... Really
Finally there is
scientific validation for the insanity one feels when we fall in
love. Researchers have discovered that the brain's chemistry of
infatuation is akin to mental illness, which gives new meaning
to the phrase "falling madly in love."
The research
findings, reported in the February issue of National Geographic,
also found that the cocktail of brain chemicals that spark
romance are not the same as the ones that foster long-term
commitments. So as we celebrate Valentine's Day, we might want
to think (which is almost impossible when one's brain is flooded
with the delirium of passion) about the longer-term consequences
of our libidinous desires.
Those who have
felt the unrelenting craziness of passionate love know that
reason and reality fly out the window once one's true love
enters the scene. Work, bill paying, responsibilities, sleep -
even getting regular food - can all fall apart, and we find we
have unlimited energies to devote to our beloved. The good news
is that the brain has a built in protection mechanism. The
insanity doesn't last.
Researchers found that the brains of people in love respond similarly to when it gets a surge of dopamine. Cocaine users describe an increasing tolerance for the drug as time goes by, and a need for more and more of a fix, and lovers' brains do the same thing. After a while the high just wears off. Although the loss of the rush can be a letdown, for those who need to hold down a job and keep the utilities on, it is probably a good thing.
That is not to say that passionate love cannot morph into long-term happiness. Many couples in the studies reported that their first blush of passion was overwhelming, but that as time went on the irresistible urge to bed each other became tempered by another desire, to talk to each other and spend time having fun together in other ways. The relationships that stand the test of time are the ones in which the lovers discover that they actually like each other, as well as drive each other mad with desire.
As each of you
celebrate this day of love, we encourage you to enjoy the
unquenchable thirst that our brain chemistry provides when we
find the one that turns us into that lunatic we hardly recognize
as ourselves. Relax and enjoy it. It should be a relief to know
that you are not permanently insane, just crazy in love.
And if you're
lucky in love too, the one that drives you mad between the
sheets will be the same person that you like talk to across the
dinner table. We hope you enjoy this Special Love and Romance
issue of Between The Lines and we wish all of you a Happy
Valentine's Day!
Originally printed
in PrideSource 2/9/2006
(Issue 1406 - Between The Lines News)
LET'S GET MARRIED... NOT
Gay Couples Seek Marriage Licenses
Valentine's Day is again a day of protest for some Connecticut
gay couples.
For the third consecutive Valentine's Day, George Chien and Julio Flores were denied a marriage license today at Hartford City Hall.
Gay couples across the United States have applied or will apply
for marriage licenses at their city and town halls today as part
of an annual marriage equality campaign.
In Connecticut, this
is the first Valentine's Day that gay couples are eligible for
civil unions, which give them the same legal rights as
heterosexual married couples.
Connecticut's
legislature was the first in the nation to legalize civil unions
without court pressure. Following lawsuits, Massachusetts
allowed gay marriage and Vermont has civil unions.