Sen. John McCain, a Republican who ran against President Obama in 2008, recently made strong statements against Russia, which include comments about Russian discrimination against gays. McCain spoke out in reply to a NYT editoral by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Among many things McCain slammed that include ruling through oppression, McCain said this about how Russia treats gays.
"They write laws to codify bigotry against people whose sexual orientation they condemn. They throw the members of a punk rock band in jail for the crime of being provocative and vulgar and for having the audacity to protest President Putin's rule," he said.
You can read more here.
As a side note, McCain's wife, Cindy, is a gay activist.
Cindy McCain talked about her recent turn as a gay rights advocate and her husband’s (potentially) evolving views on equal marriage as a guest on the Bender podcast on Thursday.
McCain credits her daughter Megan with opening her eyes and “challenging” her to do more to support gay rights — and that may not be the only case of familial influence going on in the McCain household.
Free Excerpt Chase of a Dream
Here's another free excerpt from one of my indie pubbed books, Chase of a Dream. It's the second book in the Chase series, and I released this one in both abridged and unabridged versions so that people who prefer erotic gay romance could buy the version with sex, and those who don't like too much sex can buy the toned down version. This is from the unabridged version, and you'll have to click the link to my Word Press blog at the end to read the adult rated parts.
From the raw unedited version:
After dinner, Len and
Cain went out on the veranda overlooking the Hollywood Hills and Jim put Culum
to bed. Normally, both Len and Jim would have put Culum to bed together, but
Jim thought Len needed a little time alone with his son. And Culum was such an
easy child to deal with getting him to bed was never much of a problem.
That night, with Clinger at Jim’s side, he gave Culum a
quick bath, put on his favorite little gray sweat suit that he liked sleeping
in, and tucked him into bed. There was no need for a diaper. Culum had been
potty trained completely at a very early age. He’d been such an easy-going
child Jim and Len didn’t even notice if he’d gone through the “terrible two”
stage all parents seemed to dread.
Clinger
always slept in Culum’s room, right beside Culum’s bed, on a pale blue carpet
that always reminded Jim of needlepoint. It was nubby and there were flecks of
white stippled between the blue fibers. The large tan dog had begun this ritual
of sleeping beside Culum’s bed the first night Len and Culum moved into Jim’s
house and he’d never stopped. And if anyone tried to move Clinger, he growled
and refused to budge. Although they had a nanny cam and intercom in the
nursery, if Culum needed them in the middle of the night Clinger usually
started to bark before they heard a sound come from the speakers.
When
he was all covered and snuggled in bed, Culum glanced up at Jim and said, “Who
is that man, daddy?” The child hadn’t said a word up until he was about
nineteen months old. Jim and Len had been concerned about this. But once he
started, he spoke in full sentences without baby talk. Len told Jim that Cain
had been the same way when he’d been a baby.
Jim
smiled and patted Culum’s tiny shoulder. He knew Culum was asking about Cain.
He and Len had agreed not to hide the truth from Culum about anything…ever. They
wanted him to know who he was and where he came from and to be proud of it.
They had nothing to hide, and they wanted to instill this sense of family and
strength in Culum at a young age. Culum knew Len was his grandfather; he knew
Jim wasn’t his biological dad but he called him dad anyway. “He’s your other
dad, Culum. He’s your biological dad. We told you about him before. Don’t you
remember?”
They
had mentioned Cain, but not often. Jim knew the child hadn’t processed it all
yet. The only reason they used large words like biological was to prepare him
and get him used to the word. Baby talk wasn’t allowed in their home…at least
not when Len was around. Jim often ignored this and spoiled Culum rotten when
they were alone together. But Len was determined not to make the same mistakes
with Culum that he’d made with Cain. Jim often thought Len took this to extremes
and he tried to create a balance.
Culum
let this information sink in for a moment, and then he asked, “Where’s my mom?”
This
always tugged at Jim’s heart. They tried to shower the boy with as much love
and honesty as they could. They made a point of inviting Culum’s biological mom
to LA to spend time with him. But Culum’s mother didn’t seem to want anything
to do with him and neither Jim nor Len knew how to deal with that. The thought
of a mother not wanting to know her own flesh and blood passed Jim by. But he
always kept things positive for Culum’s sake and spoke well of her. “We’ve told
you that a million times, Culum. Your mom lives in Texas. She’s studying to be
an attorney in Austin. Your mom and your other dad were a couple, like husband
and wife, and they broke up before you were born. That’s when your grandpa and
I adopted you.” Jim tried to keep things simple, especially when it came to his
relationship with Len. The kid didn’t know the difference between gay and
straight yet. Culum was still too young to ask the serious questions, like why
his biological mom and dad had given him up, and Jim dreaded the day he would
have to explain this. He knew the best he could do for now was to let Culum know
that they loved him more than anything else in the world.
“How
long is my other dad going to be here?” Culum asked.
Jim
shrugged. “I’m not sure. He said he was going to move to Los Angeles, so I’m
sure you’ll be seeing a lot more of him.”
“Do
you like him?”
Jim
patted his shoulder again. “Of course I like him. I grew up with him back in
Texas. We were best friends and we’ve known each other all our lives.” He knew
this part could be tricky, especially when Culum started to realize that Jim
had fallen in love with his best friend’s dad. But they believed the truth was
better than keeping secrets. And though it wasn’t a normal situation, they
didn’t want to make it abnormal either.
Culum
thought again, and then he looked up at Jim and said, “Read me a story, daddy.
The one about the bears.”
Jim
laughed and reached for a book on the nightstand. Culum loved books and
stories; his favorites were The
Berenstain Bears. He was glad Culum had stopped asking questions. He didn’t
like to answer questions like this when Len wasn’t around. Len had a way of
explaining things that always made everything sound so much better than Jim
did.
By
the time Jim finished reading, Culum had drifted off to sleep. Jim turned out
the light, patted Clinger on the head, and went back out to the veranda to see
what Len and Cain were doing. He smiled as he passed through the kitchen when
he saw that Len had cleaned up the dinner dishes. Though Len didn’t clean
between the knobs on the range and he didn’t wipe Culum’s fingerprints off the
stainless steel refrigerator like Jim did, he always did his best to put things
away and help out around the house. And he did this without ever having to be
asked.
When
Jim opened the sliding glass door he heard Len say, “We’ve been thinking of
buying a ranch out near Chatsworth.”
Jim
closed the door and sent Len a frustrated glance. “We’re only thinking of
moving. We’re not serious about it.” He knew Len missed his horses and he missed
Texas even more. And the house they were living in now was only two thousand
square feet…a cottage compared to the homes they’d both been familiar with in
Texas. But they’d spent so much time renovating their home and making it
perfect Jim wasn’t sure he wanted to go through all that again. But more than
that, they’d always been so happy there. For superstitious reasons, Jim wanted
to keep things the way they were for as long as he could.
Before
Len had a chance to reply, Cain yawned and stretched his arms. “I’m exhausted
from traveling all day. I think I’m going to turn in early.” Then he stood up
from a lounge chair and stretched again. This time his black polo shirt went up
and exposed his abdomen. Jim noticed that he had to be at least ten pounds
thinner than the last time he’d seen him. His low-rise jeans hung so low on his
hips the waistband of his underwear was showing.
Jim
gestured to the house and said, “I put your bags in the guest room. It’s down
the hall off the kitchen. The second door on the right. You can’t miss it. I’ll
show you if you want.” He was glad Cain had interrupted Len. It caused a pull
in Jim’s stomach when he thought about moving away from his home.
“He
can find it himself,” Len said. “He’s big boy now.” He spoke with a curt tone,
as if he didn’t have patience for Cain. He wouldn’t even look at him. It
sounded rude, as though he didn’t want Cain around.
You can read more here:
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