Facebook Strikes Again Censoring Marginalized Users, Don't You Dare Tell Me You're More Marginalized Than I Am, Jim Obergefell Gay Activist Runs For Ohio Office, Ryan Field Books

Facebook Strikes Again Censoring Marginalized Users

In case you ever come across homophobic or transphobic people on Facebook, beware. You can't actually call them homophobic or transphobic because Facebook considers that "bullying." Oh yes, good old homophobic Facebook takes the sides of backwoods conservative homophobic hicks over LGBTQ people commenting and defending themselves against hate and discrimination. 

And there's nothing you can do about it. Facebook has always been known for its homophobia and that's just a fact. 

In any event, here's an article that mentions how Facebook censors marginalized users. It's happened to me personally more than once, with my books that have LGBTQ content and with comments I've made to homophobic and transphobic people.

 

For example, we’ve received reports from several people whose posts about their LGBTQ activism were taken down. Ironically, one was attorney Brooke Oliver, who posted about a recent Supreme Court ruling related to her historic case that won Dykes on Bikes (a group of motorcycle-riding lesbians that traditionally leads gay pride parades) a trademark.

Here's more. This is why so many smart and well-educated people I know don't use Facebook. They actually laugh at it and they use Twitter. I'm only there for the friends I've been following for years. Otherwise, Facebook is a homophobic waste of time for me. 

Don't you DARE Tell Me You're More Marginalized Than I Am

I don't have any links for this part of the post. This is MY opinion. I see this happening all the time on social media and it really makes me livid. I have never once told anyone from any marginalized group of people that I'm more marginalized than they are. And I expect the same respect in return. And if I don't get it, we're going up on that hill. 

And I have all the ammunition I need, from the way gay men have been shamed to the way they were arrested just for being gay. And these things are still happening all over the world in those horrible anti-gay homophobic countries in Africa where they are still so backward they embarrass themselves and don't even realize it. Gay discrimination even happens here in the US all the time. 

So if you think you're going to tell me you've been more marginalized than I've been as a gay man, step back and prepare yourself. I won't do it to you and you don't dare do it to me. 

Jim Obergefell Gay Activist Runs For Ohio Office

Speaking of being marginalized, this next piece is interesting because it reminds us all of the fight for legalized gay marriage. Jim Obergefell made gay history...and US history...when he took his fight to the Supreme Court and helped legalize gay marriage on a federal level. And now he's running for public office. 

"I took a history making fight for equal rights all the way to the US Supreme Court and won. I don't mind being the underdog, and I'm not afraid to take on any issue when it's the right thing to do. I will bring that same fighting spirit as your state representative," Obergefell said in a video posted to Twitter.

Here's more. He's running in Ohio as a Democrat against a Republican who is currently holding the seat. I hope we get a follow-up on this. You can also read about how he lost his partner and fought to have him named legally as his husband. It's an inspiring story. 

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Introduction: Valley of the Dudes by Ryan Field; Trump Chooses Pence? Gays Told To Stop Hugging In Canada Amusement Park

Introduction: Valley of the Dudes by Ryan Field


 
I posted the new introduction to Valley of the Dudes below. I wanted to talk about some of the things that inspired me, and some of my concerns while writing a gay erotic romance parody.

I will put up links for this soon. I still haven't received them.



Trump Chooses Pence?

I don't even think it's official yet that Donald Trump has chosen Gov. Pence of Indiana as his running mate, however, this article seems fairly certain. I still think it could change, but I wanted to post about it anyway...because of Pence's anti-gay record on LGBT rights. And even though I usually recuse myself from all politics, this one was too important to LGBT people to ignore. That's the one time I draw the line. Update: Trump did choose Pence as his running mate. Sometimes I write these posts in advance.

Please keep in mind that even though I'd never vote for a candidate like Pence, I wouldn't have written an article quite this way. However, emotions are running high this year. 

He’s also an antigay buffoon. Pence has a long history of opposing LGBTQ equality. He was a vocal opponent of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tel, complaining that it would “mainstream homosexuality.”  He voted against the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes law because it advanced “a radical social agenda.” He supported a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and wanted to divert HIV funding to conversion therapy programs. Needless to say, in this year’s presidential race, he endorsed Ted Cruz.

You can read more here. If you do a simple search for "Pence and anti-gay law" you'll come up with more than one interesting article from reputable sources that talk about facts this time...anti-gay facts.

Pence signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which I'm sure many of you remember. I remember it well.


Gays Told To Stop Hugging In Canada Amusement Park

If you think gay discrimination ended with legalized gay marriage, think again. And this time it happened in Canada.

Oh, Canada, what have you done? You were supposed to be better than this: an employee at Canadian amusement park Wonderland ordered a gay couple to stop hugging each other “because this is a family park.” What’s worse, the park has reportedly refused to institute sufficient sensitivity training — which probably explains why homophobic harassment is a problem there.

Here's the rest.  I don't think they would have told a straight couple to stop hugging.


Introduction Valley of the Dudes 

When I was first approached about writing a gay erotic romance that loosely parodied Valley of the Dolls, I hesitated because I wasn't sure I wanted to do it...or that I could do it. It wasn't the first time I'd been asked to write a gay parody, with sex scenes, on a well-known book or film, but it was the first time I was asked to parody something I'd always considered a game changer in publishing, pop culture, and in film. I've always believed Valley of the Dolls was part of the forefront of the sexual revolution, and it broke those proverbial grounds that lead the way for other books like it to enter the mainstream.

            With my previous gay erotic romance parodies, the focus had always been to give gay readers, and straight people who love reading gay erotic romance, something they never had before. I wanted to give them something I never had growing up: a storyline with which I could both identify and escape at the same time. And I wanted these gay erotic romance parodies to be uplifting, and, to have happy endings. When I was growing up and I was searching for gay reading material I cannot say that I ever found anything that had a happy ending. And back then a gay person got a slap in the face at least once a day. But more important, there was nothing, absolutely nothing, in the mainstream with which gay people could identify. Unless you stepped into the fringes of pop culture, you had to watch or read heteronormative mainstream story lines and try to imagine what they might be like with gay characters. And that's exactly what we did. We imagined. We had no other choice.  

            I first read Valley of the Dolls years after it had been published, and I was only a teenager at that time. I also saw the film years after it had been produced, and by that time it had become a pop culture classic. I was so young at the time I didn't even realize the magnitude. I wouldn't realize it until I was in college taking a contemporary fiction course as an English elective and I had to re-read it. And through the years, I've re-read Valley of the Dolls several times, and I've interpreted the story line and the characters with each different reading in a slightly different way. It's amazing how you view certain books and characters so differently when you're in your late 30's as opposed to when you're in your late teens. I think that's especially true for gay readers who never had much content with which they could identify.

            So when I agreed to write a gay erotic romance parody of Valley of the Dolls, I didn't do that lightly. I also wanted readers to know that's exactly what I was doing, and I didn't want to be glib. But I didn't want to take myself too seriously either, which is why I tended to exaggerate a few of the sex scenes in a way that gay men might exaggerate them in real life. I knew there was no way I would ever compete with Jacqueline Susann, and I wasn't even going to try. In all honesty, even though Susann is one of my favorite authors of all time, I can't even say this was a tribute to her or her books, at least not in a literal sense. I think I would be fooling myself if I tried to pull that off, and I would be fooling readers as well. You can parody a good book or movie, but you can never reproduce the original, and I knew that when I started. However, I did want to show that you can take one of the best novels ever written and humbly try to show that it can be done with a gay storyline and gay characters. And in doing that, if you're lucky, you might be able to pay tribute to the original.

            I also think it’s a little ironic, if not symbolic, that the 50 year anniversary of Valley of the Dolls coincides so closely with the 50 year anniversary of the Gay Liberation movement. Valley of the Dolls and Gay Liberation were both part of an era that helped define sexuality and equality today. And whether Jacqueline Susann realized she was doing this or not at the time doesn’t negate the fact that Valley of the Dolls helped change the world, and influence a generation of readers, in its own distinct way. 

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Long Beach Police Allegedly Target Gay Man; Gay Monopoly; China Bans Gay People From TV

Long Beach Police Allegedly Target Gay Man

I have always supported the police. Family members of mine are police officers, however, this is something that I have seen happen time and again with gay men and I'm glad someone's finally fighting back. I've witnessed it personally on several occasions. I've even seen it happen with Catholic priests.

The alleged incident happened in October 2014 inside a men’s restroom at Recreation Park. The decoy, a male officer from the Long Beach Police Department’s vice unit, purportedly lured Moroney into the restroom then coaxed him into masturbating only to arrest him as soon as he did.

I can't comment on this particular case, however, from what I've seen on occasion with other cases the police usually send in the hottest, youngest cop they have in order to do this coaxing. Those who are familiar with cruising areas can spot these undercover cops a mile away. Those who aren't get duped into something they normally would never have done unless they were coaxed into doing it by a good looking young guy. It's one of the sneakiest tricks in the book.

But this time the guy who got tricked isn't going to plead guilty like most gay men do.

Moroney has pleaded not guilty. Now, he’s bringing out the big guns to fight the charges, enlisting the counsel of attorney Bruce Nickerson, also known as the Gloria Allred of lewd conduct cases and police sting operations targeting gay men.

You can read the rest here. What some people are missing in the comments is the fact that gay men are tricked into doing this, and it's usually with a cop so good looking very few would ever turn him down. And this is nothing new. I have a friend in Palm Springs who got tricked into something like this and it happened in Griffith Park in LA more than twenty years ago.

Gay Monopoly

I actually have one of these games. I got it in the 90s, I think up in Provincetown. I had no idea it dated back this far.

The year was 1983. The gay rights movement was gaining momentum, as was the AIDS epidemic. Ronald Reagan occupied the Oval Office, and David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” occupied every dance floor for a few minutes each night, not to mention the Eurythmics “Sweet Dreams” and Madonna’s “Holiday,” also released that year.

Needless to say, it was a confusing time with life and death issues always at the foreground. A little campy fun was a valuable thing to share.

You can check out the rest here, with photos.  What's interesting is how it covers so much of gay culture...and camp. Here's a photo of mine. I had to dig this one out of the basement storage area.

China Bans Gay People From TV

When you hear about things like this happening in other parts of the world, you have to feel sorry for the gays in these places. And you have to wonder sometimes about the idiots running these countries. Do they think people will stop being gay because they censored gay content? That's just dumb.

Earlier this week we reported that Indonesia banned “effeminate” men and drag queens from television, and not to be outdone, China has now banned all gay people from appearing on TV.

The new and regressive “moral” guidelines for broadcasting come shortly after the country pulled the plug on Addicted, a web series based off the popular “boys’ love” novel, Are You Addicted?, which features male teens kissing. Think of the children!

And that's only a sample of what's going on over there now. The censorship gets worse.

Here's the link. 

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Hawaiian Gay Wedding Gives You FEELS; Straight Dude Bros Curious About Gay Sex Stuff; Gay Hook Up App and CREEPS

Hawaiian Gay Wedding Gives You FEELS

Here's a sweet tender story about two lovely gay men who had their dream wedding come true in Hawaii. As they say in the article, it's bound to give you the feels.

24-year-old Christian Alarid and 27-year-old Shayne Barnes were contacted by HVCB to do a photoshoot shortly after they got engaged. After they arrived, Alarid was the first to find out and let Barnes know that today was the big day…if he was still into it.

Thankfully he was, and with the help of local vendors and Alaska Airlines, their families came together to watch the two vets join in wedded bliss.

There's a video of the wedding here. But bring tissues. 

Straight Dude Bros Curious About Gay Sex Stuff

Here's another one of those earth shattering stories about how straight dude men are so interested in gay sex..and buttholes. There are an awful lot of butthole questions.

Here are some of them:

“How many buttholes have you seen?”
“Would you rather a just-a-little-bit-smaller-than-an-average-dick or a way-to-big-to-do-anything-with dick?”
“Butthole maintenance. How is it for you?”
These are just a few of the questions straight guys had for gay guys when they were given free reign to ask whatever they wanted in a new Buzzfeed video.


Here's the rest of it. 

Here's one of the comments...

 And it ends with a BIG DICK! sorry not all of us have one and not all of us are obsessed with one, my only concern: does it give you pleasure and can you give pleasure with what you have… Period!

Gay Hook Up App and CREEPS

As long and as far back as I can recall there have been creeps roaming the earth. The creeps are everywhere you go and you'll even find some of them in the most harmless places like the CVS food aisle creeping jars of Ragu in the buy one get one free section. But this particular article I'm posting about now is focused on a new app for hook ups that will keep the creeps out. And it's done in a very interesting way...by members voting on who is allowed to join and who is not allowed.

Hanky — an app that hails itself as “a better way to meet men” — puts up new users to a vote, and any three current users can help decide whether that person should be allowed to join.

Cofounder Jonas Cronfeld confirms that 8 out of 10 applicants are rejected — and the hope is to get “more sexy” users.

“For a long time,” he says, “we’ve been fed up with the vibe of the other gay apps. We will probably never have 5 million members like some of these other apps because so many get turned away. But we’ll choose quality over quantity any day.”

There you are.  It kind of reminds me of the old restricted country clubs where only those with the most privilege were allowed to join.  

You can read more here, and don't miss the comments. They are the most redeeming part of this entire article and the readers are vocal about how they feel. 

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Gay Couple Humiliated In Restaurant; VAT and HIV; Power Bottom Appreciation Day

Gay Couple Humiliated

During an anniversary dinner, a gay couple was shown the door in a Dublin restaurant because other customers didn't like the way they were holding hands. One customer referred to them as "disgusting."

“My partner and I were in a Dublin city centre restaurant celebrating our second anniversary and we were being physically tactile with each other. Not kissing the faces of each other or anything, but holding hands and looking into each other’s eyes.”
“A waiter came to out table and told us that customers at another table were complaining about us. He suggested that we stop showing each other physical affection.”

It only devolved from there. Here's the rest.

It still happens, and not just in Dublin. Tony and I pick and choose our restaurants...like everything else we do...with care to avoid things like this happening. I'd rather be on the offensive than the defensive at all times. It's a way of life.

VAT and HIV

This is interesting. I'd never heard about it before this article...

VAT (visceral adipose tissue) is a type of hard fat that can affect people with HIV, surrounding the organs and making it difficult for people to do things like bending over to tie their shoes. Many people don’t know that VAT is different from regular fat. When you think about stomach fat, you normally think about the doughy fat around your midsection that usually can be addressed by a healthy diet and exercise. But VAT doesn’t work that way. It can be challenging to reduce VAT with exercise and healthy living alone.

You can read more about it here. There's also a web site link for VAT.

Power Bottom Appreciation Day

I didn't know this either, which is obviously why I missed posting about all last week. So you'll have to mark the calendar for next year. But it's actually a part of gay culture...according to wiki...I'd never heard mentioned before.

Halloween might be considered the national gay holiday, but you should treat your bottom to a fancy dinner tonight because October 30 is Power Bottom Appreciation Day.

According to the all-knowing Wikipedia, which is always right about absolutely everything, Power Bottom Appreciation Day first originated in the 1980s by “snickering gay men at cocaine-fueled Pampered Chef parties.”

Here's the rest of the article.

There's also a list of other LGBT+ holidays.

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Will the Gawker Story Change the Shame? Pastor Suffers Gay Hate the Most; You Can't Be Fired For Being Gay

Will the Gawker Story Change the Shame?

Mostly everyone has heard about a story Gawker ran about a married "straight" exec with ties to the Obama administration and the exec allegedly looking for sex from a gay pornster for hire. The pornster allegedly wanted something from the exec and it all devolves from there. Gawker has received huge backlash for publishing the piece, enough to remove the article. Of course that's been truncated and it goes much deeper.

Gawker nevertheless reported that Geithner planned to go to Chicago to meet a gay porn star and escort, and was prepared to pay $2,500 for the encounter. David Geithner reportedly cancelled the meet-up after the escort tried to get him to use his political connections to help with a housing dispute. Previously, the anonymous escort had asked Republican Sen. Ted Cruz's office for help with his housing dispute, the online article said.

And then there's this:

Readers pointed out that publicizing Geithner's possible sexual orientation did nothing for the public good: he's not a public official or political candidate who has advocated against gay rights, for instance.

"This guy is not an antigay politician whose hypocrisy needs to be outed. Why would anyone care if he wants to hire an escort?" wrote reader Mike Johnson of Los Angeles on Gawker's Facebook page.


I wouldn't have published anything like this. I believe coming out is personal and private. But I can't help thinking about the shame that's still involved with being gay. That's all. I'm not taking this to another level. I'm only talking about the shame right now. If this guy had allegedly tried to hire a female sex worker would all these people be up in arms on twitter about that?

It reminds me of the old Hollywood days when every single topic was safe to report on except one...don't tell anyone that the star is gay.  Think Rock Hudson. Hell, think J. Edgar Hoover. And that's not the way it should work anymore. I don't mean we should start outing people. But the shame shouldn't be there.    

You can read the rest here. 

Pastor Suffers Gay Hate the Most

A brilliant gay man literally saved a church from going under, but when they discovered he married a man he was let go. Think about that. Here's a brave gay man who isn't hiding anything, he isn't hiring male whores, he isn't worth millions of dollars, and he now can't work at what he loves doing anymore because he's gay. That's the kind of guy we should all be tweeting and supporting.

Thankfully, people are speaking up for him, which I've noticed has been a trend lately.

When it was discovered that Hutchinson had married his male partner, church officials told him he was “unfit” to lead the congregation. He was fired the same day.

Now that same congregation — the one he built — is speaking out in Hutchinson’s defense.
“This church was dying when he came here, they weren’t far from closing the doors. It was real close. He came in, worked on it, got people to come…He brought life back into that church,” said Kevin Hershberger, a church member.

You can read this here. 

I can't tell you much, but I can tell you this. This guy has nothing at all to be ashamed about.

You Can't Be Fired For Being Gay

This almost sounds too good to be true. I don't know enough about it to comment in depth because, oddly, it didn't seem to filter into any of my news feeds today. I find that disturbing...that I read all kinds of other articles that weren't nearly as important as this one is.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, created to enforce and implement the 1964 Civil Rights Act, ruled this week that workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation is illegal.

The ruling states that employers who discriminate against LGBT workers are violating Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination “based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.”

It’s a new interpretation of the law with wide-reaching potential.

In the past, courts have ruled that Title VII doesn’t apply to sexual orientation because it isn’t explicitly mentioned, but the new interpretation accounts for LGBT discrimination under the umbrella of sex discrimination.

“Sexual orientation discrimination is sex discrimination because it necessarily entails treating an employee less favorably because of the employee’s sex,” the EEOC concluded.

You can read the rest here. THIS is big news. I just hope there isn't a catch somewhere. 

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Bob Costas, Caitlyn Jenner, Arthur Ashe Award; Hairdresser Bans Homophobes; Gay Happily-Ever-After

Bob Costas, Caitlyn Jenner, Arthur Ashe Award

The elderly sportscaster, Bob Costas, recently commented about Caitlyn Jenner, transgender woman formerly known as Bruce Jenner who won an Olympic Gold Medal in 1978, getting the Arthur Ashe Award. Costas seems to think that someone other than Jenner is probably more deserving of the award...and, he thinks this is all about exploitation. I'm going to post a few quotes and comment. This is an excellent example of a straight person coming from a place of privilege not getting the point.  And this has nothing to do with being politically correct. This is about understanding what Jenner experienced.

This is what the Arthur Ashe award is about:

The award is part of the annual ESPN sports awards show and is given to someone who shows ‘strength in the face of adversity, courage in the face of peril and the willingness to stand up for their beliefs no matter what the cost.’

Costas said this:

I’m pretty sure they could have found someone who was much closer to actively involved in sports, who would have been deserving of what that award represents,' said Costas.

Think about that for a moment, and then read what the award is all about again. And then think about the fact that Jenner spent 65 years living as a man when he secretly identified as a woman. During this time, he won an Olympic gold medal, one of the highest sports achievements on the planet.

Then Costas said this:

Costas thinks Jenner was chosen for one simple reason: 'I think this is a play to pump up audience the way lots of things are put on television, to attract eyeballs, not because of the validity, but because of whatever the kind of gawker factor is.'

This is where the straight man of privilege just doesn't get it. He will never know what it takes to come out as L, G, B, or T. He will never know what it's like to live with the secret, the shame, the self-loathing, and the ridicule. Will Jenner attract "eyeballs?" Of course he will, and that's partly because he had the courage to come out in such a public way. Sometimes there's a huge difference between exploitation and something that is so attention-worthy it's hard to ignore. Unfortunately, I'm sure Costas is not the only one who feels this way, and I'm certain he'll just never get it.

You can read the rest here. The comments tend to vary, but most support Jenner and one even mentions Arthur Ashe and HIV.  

Hairdresser Bans Homophobes

Aside from the fact that I rarely hear anyone refer to a stylist as a hairdresser anymore, this is an interesting article about turning the tables around.

The sign in the window of Russell Hughes’ hair salon in Prestatyn, North Wales, reads: “If you are racist, sexist, homophobic or an a**hole… don’t come in.”

Hughes posted it there earlier this week after a father, who has evidently never stepped foot in a hair salon, was shocked to learn that the well-dressed man about to cut his son’s hair… was gay!

Yesterday I posted about the homophobia I see on Twitter all the time, which usually comes in the form of using the word "gay" as a pejorative. There's now a hashtag that says, #thatssostraight, to show how gay people can turn things around, too, with straight people.


You can read the rest here. I'm not normally a fan of an eye for an eye, however, I can't fault someone for being hurt and fed up with discrimination.

Gay Happily-Ever-After 

I don't think I've ever written a novel that didn't have a happy ending...or happy for now. So I'm thrilled to see that we now have a fairytale that's gay with a happily-ever-after trope.

How often in fairy tales does the brave knight rescue the princess and they live happily ever after? Well, Daniel Errico’s added a bit of a twist to that old story with The Bravest Knight Who Ever Lived, which just premiered on Hulu.

“LGBT relationships are typically avoided in children’s media or labeled age-inappropriate, putting kids at a disadvantage towards understanding later on in life,” Errico told The Huffington Post about putting the fairy back in fairy tale. “It’s important for kids’ movies and TV to introduce the world in a nurturing and positive way, which means creating multi-dimensional LGBT main characters.”

The rest can be read here, you'll love it. If you don't like happily-ever-after, think about the significance of this...and the fact that it took Hulu to do it. What is even more interesting is that there's strong chance that Mary Poppins was written as a lesbian, by PL Travers, and you'll rarely ever see that come up anywhere in heteronormative circles. I'm sure Bob Costas wouldn't get this one either. 

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Memories Pizza Reopens; Gay White House Social Secretary; Gay Movie Crowdfunding; Cathloic Priest Hosted Gay Sex Parties

Memories Pizza Reopens

It somehow seems appropriate that this particular pizza place is named Memories, because I think the world will always remember them as the business that made almost a million dollars for hating people who are just trying to live their lives. No one ever asked these people to provide service for a gay wedding. These people just made the announcement they wouldn't provide service IF they were asked. And now they'll always be THAT pizza shop, and THOSE people. History always repeats itself.

In any event, the owners of Memories recently reopened after they made their million through crowdfunding thanks to other people who don't believe gay people are equal to them, and they had a few comments.

This is rich.

“I’d do the same thing again,” the 61-year-old father of eight said yesterday.

And this.

As for all the cash his family pocketed, O’Connor says, “It was really making us uncomfortable.”

“We were like, ‘Stop! Stop! Stop!'” his daughter, Crystal, added.

I don't think there's a better example of hate and greed in the US than this right now. The rest is here. 

So far, I haven't heard that any of this money will be donated to any Christian organizations.

Gay White House Social Secretary

The openly gay White House Social Secretary, Jeremy Bernard, is calling it quits after four years of service.

“The good thing about this job—and perhaps the bad thing—is that I am not able to think about the future,” Bernard said. “One of my predecessors told me that she lost sleep toward the end because people told her she would go on to do great things next, but they never told her what. She warned me that I do have to start thinking about it. I know I do; I just haven’t yet. I’m sort of putting my head in the sand.“

You can check that out here. 

The comments are odd. Some seem to be offended that Bernard is referred to as the gay social secretary. Well? He's gay and he's the social secretary. And he seems proud of his accomplishments. So why shouldn't he take ownership of the fact that he is gay and is in this high profile position?!? Oh, unless I missed the bulletin about how no one in the world uses labels anymore, I think a few people missed the point.

Gay Movie Crowdfunding

I normally don't promote any crowdfunding here unless I believe in it. And this particular crowdfunding project for a movie titled, The Beach House, is being pulled together by gay men. Gay men who don't have the same opportunities that straight people have in films...or even in book publishing...because straight people do, indeed, rule the world. Even those who supports us. They rule the world, too. So when I see something where only gay people are working hard to produce something of quality, I don't have a problem giving them a shout. And, I would do the same for a feminist group, or any other group that doesn't have the same opportunities straight people of privilege have.

This project is happening on Idiegogo. I also like this particular site because it's where the film company that produced the documentary, The State of Marriage, that Tony and I were in raised funds themselves. And there was a Vermont Supreme Court Justice in that one, so I know everything was on the up and up.

In any event, here's some basic info about the project, and you can read the rest here:

The Beach House will be one of the first LGBT films focusing on gays in the military. More importantly, what happens when they return to the states, often with PTSD.

As the filmmaking team, our goal is to make an important film that sheds light on the struggles that our vets, both gay and straight, have when they return home. The Beach House will be a beautiful, engrossing and romantically charged film.

Catholic Priest Hosted Gay Sex Parties

Here we go again. There's a Catholic priest in Italy who has been released from his duties for allegedly having gay sex parties with male strippers. And he did this through some kind of really creepy Christ-themed role play. Bet he didn't want a label either. And for the record, if there are any Christians reading this, I think this is sick shit, too. About as bad as it gets.

The evidence was supplied by one of the priest’s lovers. Ironically, the 32-year-old whistleblower had played Judas during their role play sessions.

The man told the Italian newspaper Corriere del Mezzogiorno that he originally went to the priest for spiritual guidance, but things quickly took a carnal turn.

“He told me my pictures made him excited and asked me to send him an intimate photo,” the man said.

And....you can read the rest here.  

Chase of a Lifetime

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Convicted Gay Killers Marry; Indiana Boycotts; Steve Grand on Gay Singers In the Closet; Jane Litte/Jen Frederick Fallout

Convicted Gay Killers Marry

The first gay UK couple to marry while in prison, serving life sentences for murder, are Mikhail Gallatinov and Marc Goodwin.

According to The Independent, the newlyweds fell in love during the time they spent in prison.

The 20-minute ceremony was held in front of a few prisoners, family, and four invited officers.

You can see more here. It's hard for me to comment because of the nature of their convictions, but straight couples do this all the time from what I hear.

Indiana Boycotts

This is a tough one for me because I was talking with a friend on Twitter the other day who lives in Indiana. She's straight and she doesn't discriminate against anyone. From what she told me, most people in Indiana don't discriminate either and they are just as frustrated and angry as the rest of the country over what their Governor did.

But some kind of a statement has to be made, and if everyone pulls together and boycotts the entire state I'm hoping it will help the people who live there, too...eventually. I personally don't have anything against anyone who lives in Indiana.

In any event, San Francisco...the entire city...is now boycotting Indiana:

Mayor Ed Lee (D) said on Thursday that he objects to Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act that allows businesses in the state to cite religious beliefs as a legal defense for businesses to refuse service to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals.

Lee said in a statement that the city will not use taxpayer money to fund any city employees' trips to the Midwestern state.

I also read on Twitter that the online company, Angie's List, is boycotting Indiana as well.

You can read more here. 

Steve Grand on Gay Singers In the Closet

I didn't know this one. There's a country singer who came out as Josey Greenwell, and after about a year, he went back into the closet and changed his professional name to Nate Gree. He's now trying to market himself and brand himself to straight audiences. I'm sure a lot of you are wondering why would he do that? How could he not come out during this wonderful time for gays?

The answer is simple. Even though gay marriage is legal in many places, and even though gay rights are moving forward, the discrimination still outweighs the support. I get it and see it every day. If it's not outright discrimination it's total dismissal.

Steve Grand:

'It saddens me because I feel his decision to not be out and open in what appears to be actually in some ways going back into the closet professionally, I see it as a reflection on the sad state where people feel like they can’t be out,' Grand tells The Daily Beast.

It is sad. I agree with Grand. However, it is a reality for anyone in any of the arts. Gay people not coming from a place of privilege don't get the same opportunities straight people coming from places of privilege get.

'I feel bad for him, that he for whatever reason doesn’t feel he can’t be welcomed as an artist and he’s branding himself as a country artist but he doesn’t feel like that he can make that part of his work.'
Grand's approach has been completely different.

Again, I agree with Grand. I feel bad for him, too. But I also understand him and I don't fault him for doing what he has to do to survive. I don't think there's a gay actor, singer, or even writer who hasn't thought about this at one time or another.  

'I think I wanted to be out because I felt it sets a good example,' he says. 'We need as many people out as possible. I felt comfortable doing that and I’m all about that for myself and I encourage other people to do the same.'

My biggest hope for Steve Grand is that he breaks the proverbial glass ceiling as an openly gay singer and he gets the support from the LGBT community he needs, as well as support from the mainstream. It's still too soon to tell. Grand has a lot on his side, and I'm hoping his new album does very well. But to be completely honest, I'm waiting to see how things work out for him. I know all too well how they work out for gay authors. Ricky Martin is out now, but he wasn't back when millions and millions were buying his albums. Martin is in a much better position than a young openly gay singer who wants to keep it real.

So go out and support Steve Grand. Buy his album. You'll like it. And not just because he's gay. He's very good. 

Of Green he says: 'I don’t know his story, what his journey’s been like, so I don’t want to make any judgement other than it’s a reflection of the world that he believes in and it’s a sad reflection for me.'

I think that's a perfect way to put it. No one knows what his journey is like. But I do know what a gay journey is like in general. I have that experience now. And if you're not straight, white and privileged, it's not going to be an easy journey.

You can check out Grand's statements here.  

Jane Litte/Jen Frederick Fallout

I put this at the bottom of the post because it feels so creepy posting about it I'd rather not focus on it for too long. I'm not sitting in judgement either. Most of you reading this right now know who Jane/Jen is and if you don't there are plenty of links out there with a simple search for Jane Litte and Jen Frederick.

The more I read about this the more discouraging it gets. The good, innocent people who have been hurt by all this are what bother me the most. My heart just breaks for them.

I read this comment, in part, on a romance review blog:

I’m hurt that I respected that line more than the person who drew it.

It will be days and weeks and months before we tease out all the implications of this. Trust is fragile. I’m hurt for many indie authors who were so gracious, so generous. Who welcome newbies with open arms and open their careers to share data, strategies, information… everything. I’m hurt that future newbies might not find those arms and doors so open.

You can read the rest of the comment here, plus there are others discussing the Jane/Jen disclosure. Frankly, I can't say I'm hurt or surprised. It's what I would have expected. Past is, indeed, prologue.

But my heart does go out to those who were hurt by this. I hope they can trust again. It's not all bad. You only come across this kind of behavior once in a while in publishing. 

The Way We ALMOST Were

A Gay Parody  

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Nutella Bans "Lesbian"; Jack Falahee Won't Admit Sexuality; Meadows Are Not Forever

Nutella Bans "Lesbian"

In France, the Nutella company launched some kind of marketing campaign that allows people to customize their own jars with personal messages.

Evidently, they also decided to censor words like "Lesbian," "Muslim," and "Obese."

Internet users quickly discovered that they were not allowed to certain words in their messages, including the word 'lesbienne.' 

They then opened the source code of the page to see the full list of the banned words. 

They included a slew of insults and their spelling variations, and words related to unhealthy diets, such as 'obese,' 'diabetes,' 'fat' and controversial ingredient 'palm oil.' 

While gay and homosexual passed, 'Muslim' and 'lesbian' were forbidden. 

'Negative or insulting messages were directly removed from the field of possibilities,' Nutella said a statement.

If this is true, that's the worst kind of censorship there is. In full disclosure, I always have a jar of Nutella in the house. I won't be stocking any more after this.

You can read the rest here.  

Jack Falahee Won't Admit Sexuality

I've already posted about this actor, Jack Falahee, and how he won't say whether or not he's gay. And he's really sticking to this, with a few more additional comments.

'We don’t ask the actor playing James Bond what his sexual preference is,' he said this week on SiriusXM Progress. 'So I don’t know what it is, really, with trying to out actors who portray gay characters on television. But it is some sort of fascination in society.' 

The freshman series wraps up its season next week and Falahee's law student character of Conor Walsh and his memorable trysts with several different men have catapulted the previously unknown actor to stardom.

Being gay is not about sexual preference. That's just a small part of it. It's not a "fascination." It's about self-respect, pride, and something called equality. As a gay man who gets a kick in the face almost every single day of my life, I not only find it disingenuous of Falahee, but ignorant. He's the one who decided to play gay on TV and collect a nice big paycheck. I've never advocated forcing anyone to come out, however, under these circumstances with someone this vocal I personally think Falahee's words are an insult to every single gay person who has ever come out and suffered discrimination.

Falahee is only promoting more shame...the shame that still exists if you say you're gay. The shame that still exists if someone calls you gay and you're not. And that's what I dislike the most about him. 

You can read more here.

Meadows Are Not Forever 

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