It’s easy to have values when times are good. It’s when times are tough that people demonstrate their true natures. Enter Sweet traveler Crista Luedtke (yeah, call her Crista).

Among other things, Crista is a mortgage broker. While the whole mortgage market is collapsing, Crista’s business is growing. Why? She’s got the key ingredient to weathering any storm: Integrity.

She believes that you should “do something you love, do it differently, have fun and give back.” The other day Crista called me with an idea: Partner with Sweet to help the projects we’re working on all over the world. Of course, I said YES!

Crista’s approach to mortgage is simple. “I focus on education and empowerment,” she said. “I want my clients to have the information to make well informed decisions on their financial choices and to be part of the process with me. In buying a home, it is important to be both properly advised on the choices available to you and have the trusted guidance of an adviser who works with each person’s unique needs. I am happy to offer free consultation where you can be assured the most honest approach to lending.”

Here’s the deal: For every mortgage referred to Crista by Sweet that closes, Crista is going to donate $500 to the charity of Sweet’s choice. Each month, we’ll choose a new beneficiary. It’s that simple. When you need a mortgage or refi, call Crista, she’ll find you the best deal available (seriously, she rocks at this) and we’ll make the world a better place. That’s totally Sweet.

Our first beneficiary is the St. Lazurus school in Kibera, Nairobi’s largest slum. Sweet visited the school during our Kenya safari (Read all about it). That such hope can shine through such poverty is an inspiration. It’s a place where so much is done with so little. The tiny school, less than 3,000 square feet, educates about 150 children from 2 to 14 years old. Most of that space is not used at present because a lack of funds has halted development of a cafeteria / general assembly building, which can be finished for 1,000 US dollars.

If you are thinking of making your dreams of owning or upgrading your home a reality, contact Crista. Email her at crista@fcgmortgage.com or call her at 415.609.7227.

Let’s save the world, one mortgage at a time.

Crista and her partner Jill own boon hotel + spa and boon eat + drink in the sweet, little gay mecca of Guerneville. If you’re in the area, it’s an eco-rific oasis in the redwoods. And seriously, you can’t beat breakfast in bed or getting to take your dog on vacation with you.

When I met DJ Trina Johnson in February 2009, I knew Sweet would be working with her a lot. She’s dynamic, driven and compassionate. In addition to keeping 2,000 women dancing all night long at Babes Around Denver’s phenomenal First Friday event each month, she’s an accomplished business woman who loves music and making people’s bodies move.

What really struck me about Trina was her heart. She leads with it. All the proceeds from her DJ career go toward her No. 1 passion: Taking care of stray dogs. That’s why she’s totally Sweet.

One of the most popular DJs on our maiden voyage in November, Trina is looking forward to filling our Cozumel resort with music and organizing a community service project to help dogs on the island this September. We’re so proud to have her on our Sweet team. Brava, Trina.

Here’s her story in her own words:

Everyone has their “thing”
While walking home from school one day I noticed a little black dog tied up to the porch post inside a neighboring yard. I quietly walked over to him, untied the rope from the post and brought him home with me. I remember thinking it was the most inhumane, cruel thing I had ever seen. I was only five years old. I snuck him in to the house. He and I lived in my closet for about a week.

I fed him, gave him water, took him outside (even in the middle of the night), played with him, slept in the closet with him. Life was perfect, until my parents found him. I first told my parents that I found him, then I told them he had no home, then I resorted to “his owners were really mean to him and kept him tied up outside and starved him and didn’t want him.”

My mom didn’t fall for it. She looked at the dogtag and called the owner. They came and took him away that day. I really missed him and every time I walked by his house, he was inside. I guess I made things worse for my little buddy.

In the years to come, I must have brought home at least a dozen stray dogs I had found on the streets. They always seem to find me, when they are lost that is. Some I was able to keep, others we had to take to “The Pound” or the owners somehow mysteriously knew we had their dog. Thanks, mom!

Before College, trying to figure out what it was I wanted to do when I grew up, I thought about Veterinarian School. I was at the hospital one day while my sister was having a baby and fainted. I realized that the site of blood and guts floored me, literally. Not a desirable trait in a vet.

For while, I adopted dogs. In 1997, I went to Mexico for the first time. There were dogs running around everywhere. Some with mange, most of them pregnant. I remember my first vision was looking out the window on to the beach, seeing a momma dog walking with 9 or 10 puppies following her. It broke my heart. I went to the grocery store and bought as much dog food as I could carry. Every day, I fed the dogs. I went back every year to Mexico and did the same thing. Eventually, I connected with a Humane Society in Puerto Vallarta. I donated money every year and took flea collars down when I went.

Everyone seems to have a “thing,” like human rights, abortion, hunger, children, etc. I have always donated to local Humane Societies and sponsored animal events in Alaska. After I closed my nightclub in Denver, I didn’t have an outlet to be able to raise awareness or money for the animals down there. It was shortly afterward that I began DJing for Babes Around Denver that I came up with the idea to donate all of my fees to various shelters around the country. I thought, if I could get my name out there, I could raise a lot of money for various shelters. In 2008, I donated $8,000 to various animal charities. In 2009, I donated $12,000. I can’t wait to hit the $20,000 mark.

My reward for it all? With music in my soul and animals in my heart, I get to do two things I love the most. There is no greater feeling in the world than knowing what you do makes a difference, no matter how big or small.

Follow DJ Trina’s adventures in animal rescue.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter.”
— Martin Luther King, Jr.

On the eve of the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday and in the midst of a trial to overturn Proposition 8 in California, I was fortunate to attend a Marriage Equality USA fundraiser hosted by the San Francisco cast of Broadway’s “Wicked” (one of my favorite musicals).

The celebration of the birth of the great civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., was a fitting backdrop for this event. Pint-sized powerhouse Patty Duke, who plays Madame Morrible, was on hand to challenge our community to “share our truth.” The Pledge of Allegiance promises “liberty and justice for all,” she said. “There are no exceptions. We’ve gone as far as we can preaching to the choir.” Further, she said that challenging bigotry by sharing ourselves with the world will crumble its foundation.

The ultimate PFLAG dad and one of my favorite people Sam Thoron underscored Duke’s remarks. “We have to tell our truth, always and everywhere,” he said, adding with a wink and smile, “All we have to do is change the whole world.” Sam and his wife Julia have been wickedly involved in LGBT civil rights since their daughter came out over 20 years ago. There was no question in their minds that she should be treated the same as her straight siblings.

Sweet is proud to support the work of Marriage Equality USA. It’s an all-volunteer, national non-profit organization that’s hell-bent on changing hearts and minds through education and meaningful, one-on-one interactions with people who don’t know us, but would deny us our basic civil rights.

As we celebrate great gains in civil rights today, I’m hopeful that we’re drawing closer to fulfilling the promise of our democracy. “When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir,” Dr. King said in his “I Have a Dream” Speech 47 years ago. It’s time for LGBT Americans to collect our inheritance.

“We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream,” Dr. King said. In supporting the work of Marriage Equality USA, you can help spread the truth and make equality reign.

When I first met Cathy outside the Monteleone before our pre-cruise party in New Orleans, she looked excited and terrified, but in a tough New Jersey kinda way (a dash of Snooki). I wanted to share her coming home and coming out story with you. Here it is in her own words:

This journey was golden for me, literally from start to finish. Meeting you that first night and the way you welcomed me, set the tone for everything to follow. It was golden. You are golden. I had never taken a trip alone in my life. I was scared to death, but from the moment you started chatting with me as we walked to the first party in New Orleans, I never felt alone.

From your staff to your glee ambassadors to Diana, Kruiser, Frankie, everyone welcomed me along. I was so fortunate to meet and hang out DJ Dirty Kurty, Jen Corday, Wendy and The Flawless ladies, Chantal and the list goes on. I got to enjoy each port getting to know a different group of interesting women. I was not only entertained, but enlightened and inspired. I’m so glad I was involved in the beach clean-up, what a day to remember! I miss them all and I hope they will be in Cozumel in September. Did I mention that the music rocked? I love to dance. I didn’t stop all week.

When I was on that ship, I wanted to shout out to the whole world who I really am. I came home on a mission to tell my family and friends. I tried to hold onto that feeling of support and unity I felt all week on the trip and one by one, I told them. My close friends, my brother, my sister, and my mother all know now, and they still love me. I was just about to tell my son and daughter, but my son decided to surprise us all with his engagement to his long time girlfriend. I didn’t want to pull them off their cloud, so I held off a bit. Telling them will be the hardest thing, but before this week is out, they will know, too. I just can’t wait any longer to start living my life openly.

I went to Henrietta Hudson’s in NYC and gave my favorite bartender a Sweet T-shirt and told her and everyone there how great Sweet is. Hopefully, the word will spread and you’ll keep doing this a very long time. I have a lot of catching up to do, and I wish I could come on every vacation you plan. For now, I’ll just have to wait and see you next September.

I just want to thank you again, not just for a great trip, but for your kindness to me. Thank you, too, for filling the ship with some of the most amazing women I have ever had the pleasure of getting to know. You did everything right. I don’t know how, but you did.

It brings to mind something a very special woman said to me a long time ago: “I can’t believe it was your first time!”

After an exhilarating morning painting and donating computers to the Roatan E-Learning Center, we grilled our local guide Wilbur about the state of LGBT rights in Honduras. We’d all heard horrible things about civil rights abuses.

We listened with rapt attention as our charming and eloquent guide told us that things on the mainland weren’t so nice for gays and lesbians, but in Roatan (the tiny island off the coast of Honduras where we spent the day) he assured us, “Things were cool as Kool-Aid.”

Unfortunately, no man is an island. This past month, LGBT civil rights rabble-rouser Walter Trochez, 27, became the 17th LGBT person killed for his sexual orientation on the Honduran mainland since last summer’s military coup. Walter was working feverishly to draw attention to the renewed violence against the LGBT community when he was killed.

Walter’s death underscores the work still to be done in building bridges of understanding all over the world. As American tourists, we have the privilege of traveling to these countries in relative safety, like when 1,200 of us invaded Roatan armed with smiles and good intentions. It is these kinds of interactions and the coverage of our good works (like the local news coverage of Sweet in Belize) that lays the foundation for these bridges.

Read more about Walter and the state of the LGBT community in Honduras.

I’m about to head off to D.C. for yet another march for equality. I want to be all gung-ho and hopeful, but I’m tired. Tired of paying my taxes to fund bank bailouts, fight confusing wars, support a failing health care system and a myriad of other things all the while not being able to avail myself of my full citizenship rights because I choose to love in a way that’s not federally recognized.
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It’s finally time to start thinking about packing for the Caribbean. Whooo hoooo! Bon voyage day is almost upon us.
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