I had a friend from what seems a lifetime ago get in contact with me last week. I was thrilled to see her name pop up, and I immediately returned a little note. We've been writing back and forth catching each other up on our lives.

Unlike me, this friend had the courage to come out, leave our home town and live her own life away from the prying eyes and three-party phone lines and family living on every corner or town. She has been with her partner since 1977, living openly and not worrying about what the world thought or felt or did. She was simply living her life.

In a pre-Super Bowl interview on Sunday, President Obama reaffirmed his opposition to the Boy Scouts' ban on gay scouts and leaders. The Boy Scouts Board of Directors is expected to vote on a resolution that would end the national policy barring gay participants next week.

Contact the Boy Scouts and tell them to end the ban here.

It’s been so, so stupid in political La-La Land of late. Bad stupid! One might have thought we’d enjoy a reprieve after the presidential elections. But, no. And there’s just so much stupidity one can tolerate. I’m at capacity. Maybe worse. Beyond the point of satiety, my dear, darling father might have said. When he was above ground, routinely forming complex sentences with multisyllabic words. And gently chuckling at the world’s idiots.

But I’m not laughing. That’s for sure. Not that I haven’t tried.

MOSCOW — Legislation being pushed by the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church would make it illegal nationwide to provide minors with information that is defined as “propaganda of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexuality and transgenderism,” and includes a ban on holding public events that promote gay rights.

The bill, part of an effort to promote traditional Russian values as opposed to “Western liberalism,” is similar to laws already on the books in St. Petersburg and a number of other Russian cities.