I thought this was wonderfully put. I wish more people were as wise and as brave as Mr. Fry. The video is a bit long, but worth your time. Let me know what you think in the comments.
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I have read about Oliver North in the past. Part of me liked him because of some of the sneaky things he did. But this completely changed my mind. How someone of his intelligence can really think that allowing gays to openly serve in the military is going to be a “burden to these youngsters” serving in the military? He says that this is like allowing pedophiles into the military? Hmm… I don’t see the connection. I doubt gay people are going to be a burden to people serving because frankly, they already do serve.
He says it will affect “readiness routine, and retention.” Does he think that people are not going to sign up for the military if gay people are allowed to serve? What about the 13,000 + men and women that have been dismissed under DADT? I think that’s a retention problem.
This guy’s an asshole.
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Lately, I have had a couple of conversations about my best friend and the dynamics of of the gay man/straight man “best friendship.”
Let me provide you with my story. My best friend was the first person that I came out to. We both went to high school together and had several classes together. He was your typical jock back then. He was on the soccer team and was the star of the track team. He had a very cute girlfriend who he was truly in love with. I was more of the quiet guy who wasn’t really popular and never really spend much time around school after hours.
I came out to him one day over instant message during our freshman year of college. He was the first person I told and my heart was racing, I was sweating as I typed in that message. After I hit that send button there was nothing that I could but sit in anticipation. This was his message in response:
“thats perfectly fine with me dude.. to each his own…. there is nothing wrong with that or how you want to live your life.. if anything ur prolly the smart one.. u dont wanna live with a woman trust me haha.. but yeah dude, ur a good guy, and i respect that u were able to tell me that too. its takes a lot of courage… it takes a lot of guts to tell people something like that… some people care about these things and are weirded out by it, but i respect u and i appreciate the friendship that we have… if this is how u feel there is nothing i can do about it.. I accept you for you”
I don’t think there is anything more that he could have said to put me at ease. I felt so relieved, so grateful.
Today, we are still great friends. We often talk with each other about life how old we are getting. When we were kids, we always talked about how we were both going to be successful when we got out of our small towns and now we look back at that and laugh because we are part of the few that did get out and are making something of ourselves. He always comes to me seeking relationship advice which I am always happy to give. We have been making more and more of an effort to hang out together when we can. I am planning on having him over for a weekend in a couple weeks. We don’t talk much about my being gay which frankly, is fine by me. Him seeing me as much more than that is just what I wanted. I feel comfortable talking with him though. Recently when I was going through a rough time, he sensed something was wrong and we were able to talk about it. He truly is a great friend and I am honored to have him in my life.
I know that coming out to a straight friend may not always go as well as it did for me. Do you have a straight best or close friend? How did he react when you told him you were gay? Are you still close? Let me know in the comments.
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Viewer Discretion Advised
I saw this video on Towerload and thought I would repost it here. Here, Pakistanis are flogged in the street for being gay. At 0:15 you can see a couple kiss before being flogged.
While here in the States, we are so concerned about having the right to marriage, this is happening in other countries. I think that it is very important to realize that there are homosexuals out there that have it much worse than we do. It puts our needs and wants into perspective.
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I follow a few different people on YouTube and the 5AwesomeGays are one of the collab channels I follow. Some of the posters are better than others but the post from yesterday was hilarious. (not to mention the hot guy in the video.)Give these guys a view.
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John Berry, Openly Gay Head of the OPM
I recently read this story on Towerload which discusses how the White House has defied a federal judge’s order to grant health benefits to the spouse of a lesbian employee.
Now, I understand how politics work and that this may not be the perfect time to move push for gay rights and that there may be a better time. What I don’t understand is how the Administration can get away with totally disobeying the judges order. I am not asking for a miracle right now, I am asking for the law to be followed.
Frankly, I am beginning to get a little pissed off about this whole situation. This would have been a great opportunity for the Administration to throw their hands up and say,”We’re just complying with the ruling of the Court.” but they didn’t even do that.
What makes matters worse, the Office of Personal Management which is the department of the Executive Branch that is defying the court, is headed by an openly gay man. President Obama and the head of OPM (John Berry) should be ashamed of themselves.
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This Thanksgiving weekend has been a rather interesting one. My family had a nice dinner at my aunts house. It was good to see all of the family. I hope all of you readers enjoyed your day as well.
Recently, I have been getting the sense that everyone knows about me being gay and that me pretending it is a secret is just a big joke. Now, I am not the flamboyant type, and I tend to keep to myself so the obvious signs that people look for are probably not so obvious. I have never had a girlfriend or really showed any interest in women at all. So one could certainly speculate in that regard.
I think the time is coming closer for me to start telling more people. I have been thinking about the best ways to tell my parents. I don’t suppose there is a good way to tell your parents that you are gay. My father tends to overreact to any ‘big’ news and my mother is so ignorant about these sorts of things and she will probably be the one that falls for all of the stereotypes.
My mother is an interesting woman. She really has had a tough life. She lost both of her parents at a relatively young age and she really struggles with alcoholism. I love my mother, I really do, but she is also very unintelligent. All of these things are going to be difficult to maneuver when I decide to tell her.
I need to tell my parents and the rest of my family at some point. It is really what is holding me back from being completely open about it. I really can’t keep putting it off. I am completely independent of them which is comforting to know in a worst case scenario situation. The holidays are probably not the best time to tell them as I am sure there is going to be overwhelming amounts of stress anyway.
On another note, I am going to go hang out with Anthony this week and we are going to watch Glee and maybe get some takeout or something. I am sure that we are going to have a good time. I am really looking forward to going and just being myself. I will keep you all updated.
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I have been keeping busy over the past week or so. I have more or less been pretty good overall. I really miss Tony and where he is from. I really want to go back sometime soon and see it all again. He may be be graduating next December so that would be a good time to go out there and see him then.
Work has been going pretty well. School work is piling up. I have to go into the office tomorrow to let a contractor in. I think I am going to get as much work done as possible.
It’s a quiet night tonight. I have fallen in love with our new TV. We just got all of the HD hookups so I am rediscovering TV.
Last week, I decided to tell one of my aunts that I am gay. I actually started telling her over Facebook chat and then we talked on the phone for a couple hours. I was particularly scared to tell her because she is politically conservative and has made some comments about gay marriage and the fact that she didn’t want her kids exposed to that.
Our conversation could not have went better. She told me that she was fine with it and that she loved me. She said that it would in no way affect my relationship with her kids. I actually got to see her last weekend which doesn’t happen that often.
This week as I was walking to work, I got a phone call from her. We exchanged pleasantries and then came the shocker. Since I talked to her about my trip to see Tony, she offered to have us both stay at her place since my uncle is going to be out of the country for a few months. She said ,”You and your friend cold come here and visit the city and use (my uncle’s) car.” That was a total surprise. I don’t think that we will be taking her up on the offer, it was a very pleasant surprise.
Hopefully, this will set the stage for more good stories to come. I am going to start telling more people. It is time. I am ready. If they aren’t, thats’s their problem. I will keep you all updated. Until next time…
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Glee is by far my favorite show on television these days. I feel almost guilty for watching it. The idea of the show seems really childish, and to some extent it is, but there is something about it that attracts me to it.
It may have something to do with my crush on Finn, but there seems to be more to it. I am going to stop being analytic about it and just enjoy it but it begs the question…..Why are gay men attracted to shows like this? Is it something that we are programed by nature to be more likely to enjoy or is it more likely that it is something social and we are just not aware of it?
Let me know what you think!
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This summer, I watched the pilot episode of Glee. I was instantly, and shockingly hooked to this show. The idea is that this teacher in a high school wants to take over the Glee Club at the school he teaches at. The story follows the story of all of the students that he can get to join the club as well as his own.
The actors fit the parts very well. My favorite character, Finn is certainly easy on the eyes. There is a scene in the pilot episode with him singing in the shower that shows off his talent. Listen to him talk about the show here.
The Club has sang covered some songs that I have downloaded from iTunes where you can also download the episodes in HD.
They just aired their second show this week on Fox. It airs Wednesdays at 9PM EST.
Of course, this show must have a huge gay following. One girl in the show has two dads, and there have been several other times when they mention gay people in particular how these expecting parents mentioned that their child may be gay in a happy tone. I thought that this was interesting. It will be interesting to see where things go in terms of the development of this theme. Maybe my crush, Finn will go both ways or something. (Wishful thinking, I know.)
Anthony and I both watched it this week and then chatted online about how much we loved it. His favorite character is Mercedes who plays the soul singer/ diva in the club. He suggested that I write a post about it.
So everyone, watch the show. It is a little campy but the script is awesome and the characters are well developed. It is worth a watch.
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