“What’s The Big FCKIN’ Deal?” gets straight to the point, asking homophobes and ballot box bullies the simple question, “Some dudes like the pole, some chicks like the hole… what’s the big FCKIN’ deal?!”

We just could not resist placing this gay activist dog in the post.

The viral video may be shocking in some parts as the F-word-laden clip features a disgruntled little person with a big opinion. His purpose is to taunt homophobes with lines like, “Equality means no one gets short-changed under the law! It’s none of your f*ckin’ business if Bob and Bruce like to butt-bleep, so butt the bleep out!” Activists in the video wear bold, neon T-shirts emblazoned with the messages of “GAY MARRIAGE: WHAT’S THE BIG FCKIN’ DEAL?” and “LEGALIZE LOVE.” The T-shirts and tank tops are sold on FCKH8.com’s website starting at $9.99 each. The website also sells bumper stickers, wristbands and buttons to spread its “in your face” pro-gay message.

Video director Luke Montgomery comments, “This video really tells it like it is in a non-diplomatic way that our mainstream gay organizations understandably just can’t. That’s why millions have watched and shared FCKH8.com videos on the Internet, including Glee’s Jane Lynch, Adam Lambert, and even Perez Hilton. Gay or straight, this video is uniting people to say ‘F*ck Hate’.”

Although FCKH8 videos have generated over 6 million on-line views and sold over 70,000 T-shirts with $250,000 raised for gay rights causes we feel some of the biggest of the battle should go towards gay lawyers to help this cause. We do applaud them that the web movement has recruited over 179,000 Facebook supporters & over 41,000 Twitter followers to date drawing attention to teen bullying.

One Facebook comment included “I realize this is going to be a lil hypocritical. But seriously, someone should crack his wrist. Jesus is just so proud of his followers.” Another Facebooker said “Disgusting! I don’t have/do a limp wrist you homophobic, stereotypical bigot.”
See the video and transcript below:
Here is the transcript “So your little son starts to act a little girlish when he is four years old and instead of squashing that like a cockroach and saying, “Man up, son, get that dress off you and get outside and dig a ditch, because that is what boys do,” you get out the camera and you start taking pictures of Johnny acting like a female and then you upload it to YouTube and everybody laughs about it and the next thing you know, this dude, this kid is acting out childhood fantasies that should have been squashed.

Can I make it any clearer? Dads, the second you see your son dropping the limp wrist, you walk over there and crack that wrist. Man up. Give him a good punch. Ok? You are not going to act like that. You were made by God to be a male and you are going to be a male. And when your daughter starts acting to Butch you reign her in. And you say, “Oh, no, sweetheart. You can play sports. Play them to the glory of God. But sometimes you are going to act like a girl and walk like a girl and talk like a girl and smell like a girl and that means you are going to be beautiful. You are going to be attractive. You are going to dress yourself up.”
You say, “Can I take charge like that as a parent?”
Yeah, you can. You are authorized. I just gave you a special dispensation this morning to do that.”

It looks like they are living high on the hog going to the IncrediWorld Amazement park on our tax money. Churches get to live tax free unlike the rest of us. Anyone free June 25-28 we should join them for their IncrediWorld and see who punches us in the face for having a limp wrist! Contact information of the Berean Baptist Church is 910-868-5156. Actually you may want to contact the North Carolina Child Protective services of the church congregation who agreed with his child abuse promotion.

This guy needs to be behind bars. He is a predator on humanity and love. We can forgive him all we want but he still needs to pay for his words. Please read more on our series on gay bullying and teen suicide.

It’s somewhat hard to believe that it has been 13 years already since the bombing of the Admiral Duncan Pub in Soho, London. As a London boy who left when a child, I try to get back there as often as possible, and whenever I do Soho and Camden are the two places I cannot miss out on.

I actually attended the Admiral Duncan pub shortly after it reopened a few months after the bombing, while the London Gay Pride march was being held. I was stunned by the crowds of people there, all eager to go inside and buy a pint in support of the venue and those who had been maimed and killed in the blast. It was an amazing sight to see the entire street packed with people drinking out of plastic cups, all there for one reason – to show solidarity with the community in London and those hurt in the atrocity.

April 30th is the day it happened, the third nail bomb to explode in London, with Brixton attacked on the 17th of April, Brick Lane on the 24th, and finally Soho on the 30th.

At the time no one really knew what it was all about. This was a city which had seen its fair share of terrorism already, with the IRA constantly threatening the people of the capital, but this was the first time it was seemingly targeted at specific groups of people. Black, Asian and Gay people were the focus, leading to a lot of speculation.

Of course, after this third explosion it was soon asserted that the perpetrator of these crimes was a neo-Nazi.

David Copeland was the name of that coward. He was the one who was responsible for walking in, leaving an explosive device hidden in a bag, and then running away like the vermin he is to escape the destruction he had planned.

Four died minutes later when his nail bomb tore through the pub. Andrea Dykes, 27 and her unborn child, John Light, 32 and Nik Moore all passed away, with more than 80 people injured.

As we remember that event, we have to also ask ourselves where we are now as a society. I remember that back then, as I watched it unfolding on the news, the local community rallied around, that many more were likely saved by the fast response of the police, the ambulance staff, the neighbors of the venue and passing pedestrians. The support the community displayed after that attack was one of the most uplifting things I think I have seen.

There is no doubt that we are in a better place now than we have ever been when it comes to social cohesion. But, we should also use caution. In France, the National Front party (traditionally a racist and homophobic organization) has reached third place in the first stage of their national elections.
In Norway, the far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik is currently on trial for the racially and religiously motivated mass murder of 77 innocent people. In St Petersberg, Russia, new laws recently came into effect banning discussion of GLBT issues and comparing them to the promotion of pedophilia.

While we should certainly mourn and spend some time contemplating those lost on April 30th 1999 in the Admiral Duncan bombing, we should also consider that, while society may be moving forward in many respects, extremism has not declined.

On the 30th April 2012, there will be a ceremony held to remember all those killed and injured in the three attacks. More information can be found on the Facebook group – Facebook group 17-24-30, and an event page too.

“I didn’t have the body to play football. I was a tall, skinny kid who liked to sit outside and shoot threes,” Brown told the Salt Lake Tribune. He showed everyone that he could transform himself into the football build and we salute you for that. Lots of protein I am sure!

I’m a kid of the 80′s. I remember the first time I watched Michael Jackson’s Thriller, the song 99 Red Balloons, and the popularity of some truly awful songs by Bon Jovi. I don’t think I’m the only one who links music to a decade am I?

But I also remember the news scenes of the protests, over everything from the Poll Tax and Thatcher’s destruction of the Unions and industry, to the Gay Rights movement and Peter Tatchell.

By the time I was ready to come out of the closet and dance to I Am What I Am (I didn’t, I don’t live by stereotypes! lol) the dust had settled and we had clubs and bars all over the place. We had a community that, while still open to attack, was less threatened with the collusion of government and police. If we did experience hatred and violence we could actually report something and feel that we had a voice. We had pressure groups and charities on our side, standing up for us if we needed it.

If you haven’t really been paying much attention recently, you might think that us Queer folk are only fighting for the right to get Married, and nothing else. I can understand that perception, because what I’m about to discuss in this post isn’t being discussed on your local news, and probably not on your national news either. But it should be discussed, because it’s serious.

Earlier this month the city of St. Petersburg, Russia, adopted a new law which bans “propaganda of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexualism and transgenderism, and pedophilia to minors.”

Did you catch that? Yes, read it again. The law-makers in St. Petersburg equate all of us with pedophiles. And through the creation of this law, the city has banned the discussion and public display of all LGBT issues in their entirety. The wording of the law is so deliberately vague that it could apply to someone handing out flyers discussing the law itself, to rainbow flags, or even wearing T-Shirts which could be construed as being related to LGBT issues.

The city of St. Petersburg is now facing international condemnation from Human Rights organizations for deliberately taking a step backward, and this is expected to worsen later this year as Pride parades kick off all over the world while the Gay people of St. Petersburg are denied one, and potentially have to witness a hate parade instead – yeah, the city refused a gay pride parade last year, and approved a far-right parade in its place!

While you might simply be able to avoid St. Petersburg (which is entirely possible, I haven’t tripped over it yet), and while the Queer folk of the city evacuate for more pleasant cities, this is by no means all there is to be concerned about.

Of course, we all know about the extremism being displayed across the American political system right now. We’ve seen some of the worrying comments from men like Santorum, suggesting he would destroy some basic freedoms in order to change America and make it more “Christian” (funny how their style of Christianity almost always seems completely at odds with traditional Christian values such as love, kindness, acceptance and peace.)

In France, the far-right Marine Le Pen (daughter of the founder of the National Front) is gaining popularity. In Germany, the authorities are on the hunt for neo-Nazis they now accept are greater in number and more dangerous than they had previously assumed (one previous member claims that they are heavily armed and capable of starting a civil war). In Belgium, on Saturday March 31st, the English Defense League (an off-shoot of the now vaguely acceptable British National Party) is planning a Europe-wide protest in an effort to create an anti-Islam movement – perfectly timed after the murderous spree by an Islamic extremist recently in France.

I remember the 80′s. But I also know of history prior to my existence. I remember that that a certain dictator arose on the back of a nationalist fever, after an economic collapse that decimated much of the world. I know that the first target might have been the Communists, but it was soon the Unionists, and the Jews, the intellectuals, and the Queers too…

Hatred and intolerance is the same in any form, whoever is the target, and we have to do everything we can to pull together and fight for the rights of all. Just as a neo-Nazi has the right to express their twisted opinions about the world and society, we have the right to stand shoulder to shoulder with everyone who demands equality and freedom, and the basic Human rights that we all enjoy, and refuse to allow history to repeat itself.

The risks of doing nothing because we don’t believe it could happen again are gigantic. We must never forget our history, and we must never fool ourselves into thinking that it couldn’t happen. People never believed it could happen before, and it did.

Are you prepared to actually stand up when the hatred and ignorance is marching through your street?

Don’t you just love a good rumble?

Although, I have to confess that I was really considering not adding this post about One Million Moms at all, it feels somehow wrong to even recognize their existence, as if I’m somehow validating their right to be… well… a group of hate-filled religious extremists, I guess!

Yes, the American Family Associations nastiest splinter group is back in the spotlight again, and from the people who brought you the attack on Home Depot for supporting Gay Pride, the scatter-brained attack against GLEE, and their “boycott” of almost every brand seen in any ad break for any program they think is “Trashy”, they’re now ‘going after’ Toys ‘R’ Us!

Aside from pointing out that they watch far too much TV (that’s those right-wing Christian stay-at-home moms for you. If they’re not out in the woods shooting Deer they’re sat on their ass eating cookies, getting fat and finding anything they can to scream at the world about) I thought it would be fun to show you how the most vociferous people who claim to be “freedom-loving” and “Christian” are often anything but.

Let me tell you about this latest battle in their imagined “culture war” (yes, that’s what they think they’re taking part in, bless them).

So we’ll start back when they decided to attack JC Penny for bringing Ellen Degeneres in to represent their brand.

Of course, as shoppers – and right-wing Christian religious extremists – they love shopping, ironically that’s something they have in common with us! So when JC Penny asked the gorgeous, funny, smart and well adjusted Ellen Degeneres to become their spokeswoman (can you tell I’m a fan?) the One Million Moms crazies realized that they had nothing in common with this personality. I think that’s what it comes down to really. It seems that all the people they attack are actually intelligent, well-rounded, mentally stable modern people, and that’s totally the opposite of what OMM is about!

So, the OMM extremists demanded that JC Penny remove Ellen as their spokesperson, and they issued their demand with the threat that JC Penny would loose customers if they did not comply with their demands. Of course, OMM didn’t consider that they are actually running far short of being one million, they’re more like 20,000 (and even that is a very generous guess). In reality the OMM group is likely no larger than your average knitting club in Texas.

They often make claims that their “pressure” on companies has resulted in success, when in fact they neglect that advertising across all industries has become extremely limited due to the financial crisis. It’s actually quite funny to see companies complying with their demands on the face of it, just to placate them. But I do wish these companies would be honest and say “we couldn’t give a crap about your unreasonable demands, we cut the ads for budget reasons and not because you threatened us!”

What this fanatical group also underestimated, is that you need to have public support for a boycott of any large company, and the numbers supporting Ellen and JC Penny far outweighs the number of fanatics demanding this change. One look at their little social network shows that they barely have 2000 members – I have more people following me on another blog. Maybe that’s why thousands of FaceBook pages sprang up within hours of the demand being made public, all supporting Ellen and JC Penny, and all heaping insult on the OMM mentalists. Perhaps that’s also why the One Million Moms own FaceBook page is constantly under attack from others who would like to stop their hate for good?

So what’s their beef now?

The wonderful Toys ‘R’ Us store has decided to stock a comic book which sends OMM into a rage. It’s actually quite easy to do that, you just need to be someone they don’t like, have a lifestyle that doesn’t involve throwing shit at other people like a crazed monkey in a cage, and be a reasonable person. Basically, normality, freedom, Human rights and genuine Christian values are their nemeses.

Toys ‘R’ Us recognizes that the modern world is more open, tolerant and diverse than OMM can bear to imagine, and they stock an Archie comic which features a gay wedding on the front!

I know, sales of that particular comic must be going through the roof right now! lol

OMM doesn’t like this expression of freedom and normality, being Christian extremists and all. They’re not too comfortable with the idea of their child asking “mommy, oh wise one, why is there a picture of two men who seem to be getting married on the cover of that comic? Won’t they burn in Hell for all eternity?” (remember, these poor kids are being raised by the equivalent of Carrie’s mom. They’re the kinds of parents who psychologically abuse their kids until said child is climbing a clock tower to rid the world of people they don’t understand).

You see, to the rest of us, it’s simple. Any normal parent put in that situation would say “Timmy (all kids in these stories are always called Timmy), when people fall in love and they choose to express their commitment to each other through marriage, they have a party to show their commitment to all their friends and family. Just like mommy and daddy fell in love and married, those two men fell in love and want to celebrate their love for each other with all their friends and family too.”

See, that’s not so hard is it? No mention of where the whoo-hoo’s go and the child is more enlightened. Instead, these parents would rather keep their child ignorant. Even if they don’t agree with same-sex marriage, they are putting their children at a disadvantage in a world where their extreme views are not acceptable to the majority. Parents should want the best for their child, but these parents clearly don’t.

So maybe that’s the problem, these so-called parents don’t want their child to be enlightened. They don’t want their kids growing up in an America where people actually do have freedom. Because they don’t agree with something, and even though it makes no difference to their lives if Chris and Charles down the road can marry, they’d love to force their will on the rest of society. They’re terrified of difference of any kind and they’ll sit in their darkened little corners (presumably stroking a crucifix and a Bible) hurling bile at a world that’s moved on without them, powerless to change it. And their kids – God bless their damaged little minds – are at risk of growing up to be just as damaged and hateful as them.

Let me make this statement – these parents think that their children are at risk from a comic book, when in reality they are at direct risk of growing up to become horrid people, full of hate and bigotry. Which would a SANE parent rather have, questions about gay marriage, or a child who wastes their life hating other people for things that are none of their business and completely beyond their control?

The most important thing to take away from this is the knowledge that the majority of people who view themselves as Christian, with decent values and morals, do not agree with the extremist attitudes of the One Million Moms group. The vast majority of Christians are not Fred Phelps and they are not members of this hate group. They’re nothing like these anonymous crazies lashing out at anything they don’t like (instead of just shaking their heads and switching off the TV like the rest of us do when Bieber appears). They fully accept that many of the teachings of their religion have been hijacked and manipulated, misread and adjusted to suit those who would love nothing more than to dictate their own demands to the rest of the world.

Ultimately, the One Million Moms group will fail in this, just as they’ve failed in everything else. And why? Because they are a tiny and insignificant minority having a hissy-fit, while all the real adults, the real parents and the real freedom-loving American’s look on in embarrassment.

They’re weak and ineffectual. They know they’ve already lost their imagined “culture war”, otherwise they would proudly stand and be counted. Instead they hide behind a webpage, making demands on the rest of the world and making threats they simply cannot live up to.

But, you can actually do something to help their demise. You can contact Toys ‘R’ Us and thank them for their modern attitudes. OMM has an email campaign against Toys ‘R’ Us right now, demanding that they remove the Archie comic from their stores. You can do something by emailing Toys ‘R’ Us and thanking them. Make their few thousand (probably a few hundred, actually) emails from One Million Moms pale into insignificance with the wealth of loving support from the rest of society. It’ll take ten minutes to reach out to Toys ‘R’ Us and show them that the people support their inclusive attitudes through an email.

Girl Bar and Fuse Events have worked with Caesars Entertainment to create the ultimate women’s weekend experience featuring all the best that Sin City has to offer. Official events and hotels for Dinah Shore Weekend include Planet Hollywood and Flamingo hotels and other nearby venues.

“Our sophisticated ladies wanted ‘bigger, better and more’ 24/7, in the city that never sleeps, with a package of perks, food, beverages and entertainment where there are no ‘last calls’ and our exclusive ‘GO Pool’ at the Flamingo is ‘Topless optional.’” This sounds like lesbians in paradise to me!

“The LGBT market makes up such an important part of Caesars worldwide customer base,” said Richard Brower, Director of LGBT Marketing at Caesars Entertainment Corporation. “Having this legendary weekend move to Vegas was an opportunity we could not afford to miss.”

FRIDAY APRIL 27 VIP Hosted Cocktail Party for
Ultra Vegas Weekend Package Guests only
9-10:30pm
BLING..a night of sparkle, glitter, and glamour
Go-Go Girls/DJ’s from Girl Bar and Truck Stop
Both happen at SHARE Nightclub
10pm-4am

SATURDAY APRIL 28 GO Pool Party at Flamingo GO Pool
Go-Go Girls/DJ’s from Girl Bar and Truck Stop
special performances and appearances
11am-5pm

Gurlesque at Chateau at Paris
Party underneath the Eiffel Tower at Paris: next door to Flamingo and Planet Hollywood
Go-Go Girls/DJ’s from Girl Bar and Truck Stop
10pm-4am

SUNDAY APRIL 29 Last Chance Dance – Cleopatra’s Barge at Caesars Palace
Go-Go Girls/DJ’s from Girl Bar and Truck Stop
8pm-3am

HOTEL AND PARTY PACKAGE
Starts at $285.00 per person (2 nights, double occupancy)
- Hotel and Tax (2 nights minimum)
- Weekend Party Pass (see below for details)

ULTRA VEGAS WEEKEND PACKAGE (all inclusive)
Starts at $475.00 per person (2 nights double occupancy)
- Hotel and Tax (2 nights minimum)
- Weekend Party Pass (see below for details)
- Friday Night VIP Hosted Cocktail Party
- Ticket(s) to Vegas’ only striptease spectacular ‘Peepshow’ starring Holly Madison
- 48 Hour Buffet pass for the Buffet of Buffets (Includes Spice Market at Planet Hollywood, Le Village at Paris, Paradise Garden at Flamingo, Carnival World Buffet at The Rio, Flavors at Harrah’s, Village Seafood Buffet at the Rio, and Emperor’s Buffet at Imperial Palace)

WEEKEND PARTY PASS
Advance Price $100
INCLUDES ADMISSION TO THE FOLLOWING:
- Friday Night: BLING…a night of sparkle, glitter, and glamour
10pm-4am at Share Nightclub Go-Go Girls & DJ’s from Girl Bar and Truck Stop
- Saturday Day: GO Pool Party at Flamingo 11am-5pm DJ’s/Go-Go girls performances TBA
- Saturday Night: Gurlesque at Chateau at Paris 10pm-4am…Party underneath the Eiffel Tower.
- Sunday Night: Last Chance Dance at Cleopatra’s Barge at Caesars 8pm-3am
NOTE: Weekend Party Pass and Weekend Party Package does not include the Friday night VIP Hosted Cocktail Party (Ultra Vegas Weekend Package guests only)

PEEP SHOW featuring Holly Madison Appearing at Planet Hollywood
Tickets from $76.00
The sexiest new show on the planet is here – PEEPSHOW at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas!

The rockstar couple has been married for ten years now. Their are rumors that two years into the marriage, Gwen found out that her hubby had a daughter, Daisy Lowe, now 22 from his ex. And in 2009, Gavin’s ex-lover, 80s cross-dresser Peter Robinson, revealed their affair. Then in 2010, Courtney Love claimed on the Howard Stern Show that she had an affair with Gavin while he was dating Gwen. One Facebook comment on the divorce: I’m a huge fan of Gwen stefani and Im not sure what reasons are behind their recent decision, but I hope like hell she starts making music again.

Something incredibly unusual happened in the UK on Monday night. The seldom watched BBC 3 channel broke the mold and drew a transfixed audience. And the reason for it was a truly remarkable one too!

No, it wasn’t some new lame reality show. There were no celebrities on a panel humiliating passing victims. It wasn’t some new game show with ridiculously fake people trying to “outsmart” each other for a prize.

It was actually a documentary.

Before you start snoring at the mere reading of the word documentary, this was an important moment for the UK. In recent years there has bee a fair bit of discussion about football (soccer) here, and how corrupt it might be, how racist it might be, how violent it often is, and so on. But something that rarely sees a word of discussion is how homophobic our national sport is.

There is no doubt that racism is not acceptable in football. Great steps have been made in recent years to stamp it out, with racist chants resulting in fines for the clubs responsible, players banned and publicly humiliated when found guilty of racist slurs on the pitch, and new rules being drawn up to weed out those kinds of poisonous attitudes from the fans and players.

But something that has not been confronted is homophobia.

In the last year we’ve seen Sepp Blatter – the head of FIFA – laughing openly about the issue of gay rights and the safety of gay football fans when visiting violently homophobic nations. It wasn’t just him either, the entire room joined in laughing, a room full of sports media from around the world. It seemed that they were incredulous that there could be any gay football fans. And even if there were, their Human rights and safety were not the concern of FIFA.

So, what happened on BBC 3 on Monday? They screened Britain’s Gay Footballers, a documentary created and presented by the (beautiful) Amal Fashanu – daughter of John Fashanu – asking why there were no openly gay footballers in the national game.

For those who might not be aware, Amal Fashanu is the niece of the tragic Justin Fashanu, the only openly gay footballer to ever come out in the UK, and who subsequently took his own life in 1998 after the decline of his career and repeated revelations and accusations about his private life.

His brother, John Fashanu – also a footballer but far less skilled – had abandoned him. His entire family had seemingly disowned the young man, and so when he found himself in a position that he couldn’t tolerate any longer, he found that the only way out was to end his life.

It was a remarkable documentary, and it increased the viewing figures for the seldom-watched channel by 50%. Twitter was abuzz with discussion about the show, with the vast majority of all comments seeming to be supportive and positive toward the issue, and highly critical of the sporting bodies responsible for maintaining the status quo, and critical of John Fashanu himself.

Although the marked absence of openly gay football players is in itself quite worrying, there were two things specifically about the documentary which unsettled me.

Firstly, young Amal Fashanu faced a wall of almost complete silence from clubs, managers and players across the UK. It seemed that no professional player was willing to come forward and discuss homophobia or gay players. Even when in a room full of professional footballers she was met with silence, childish giggles or complete arrogance. It really seemed as though a message had gone out from some sort of mafia Don that no one should speak to her. Or else they may find a horses head in their locker!

The second thing that struck me was the interview with her father, John Fashanu, about his dead gay brother. You know what he said? He called his brother selfish, for “embarrassing” and “shaming” his family. Even after his brothers suicide (with a note stating how totally alone he felt) John Fashanu has no shame in sticking to his tried and trusted line of labeling his brother an embarrassment.

After a gut-wrenching and tear inducing film, there were a couple of shining moments that offered some hope. Joey Barton – professional UK footballer – was confident enough to come forward for an interview and was a shining example of common sense and tolerance. He even went as far as suggesting that there would be an openly gay professional football player in the UK within the next ten years.

Gareth Thomas, openly gay Welsh Rugby player, also spoke on camera – with a number of his straight teammates alongside him. Making the contrast between the two sports quite remarkable. As Gareth says, the Rugby union released a statement after Gareth came out expressing complete support for him. His teammates made statements to the same effect at every opportunity too. People who know him and work with him were lining up to say how much they love the guy and that they support him in his brave decision.

Hold that up against giggling immaturity and ignorance of Sepp Blatter, a silent majority of homophobes in the management of the sport, the ignorance and astounding bigotry of the many players in football who couldn’t find the balls to speak on camera, and the fact that the only openly gay footballer in the British history is dead while his brother still thinks he was an embarrassment… it all becomes quite clear doesn’t it?

I wish I believed that we’d see another openly gay footballer in the UK in the next ten years. But I very much doubt it.

The iPhone 4S was such a disappointment that many have even put off who have an iPhone 4. All it really has is a talking Siri. Not much more to brag about and we could all use the most anticipated thinner design of the iPhone 5. It is also supposed to include a Sony Camera, smaller display size and changed display resolution, and wider home button that doubles as a track pad for gestures. We are mostly hoping it will be 7mm thick, a hair thinner than the original Droid Razr. It could also have Wireless data at 4G LTE.

What about the Processor?
1GHz might be something reasonable for this to speed it up even more.

Could the backing go aluminum?
There are rumors that the iPhone 5 may go back to the original iPhone which had an aluminum back.

Steve Jobs may not be around for this version of the iPhone but do not think there will not be big surprises or something that makes you say WOW on the new release. Apple knows how to excite us all!

GLAAD wasted a full page ad on going up against this show. It got canceled today but after watching it online it looked like it certainly would not harm a transgender person. I think there are things that GLAAD should be going after such as Santorum or Romney instead of a sitcom that the gays would enjoy.

One face-book comment on the issue said “It makes your organization look about as uptight as Elton John losing out to Madonna last night. Was your organization offended when George Washington wore a wig? I mean what kind of uptight organization are you?” We also saw some comments against GLAAD for taking this action against ABC and ‘Work It’ saying “Who will they go after next.. Tootsie?”. Seriously, they might go after Britney for lip synching at her shows or yes even Tootsie. Watch out GLAAD is like the new team of elites that will stop at anything and judge.

‘Betty White’s Off Their Rockers’ would be offensive to a senior citizens rights groups if GLAAD was in charge of it. It really was more offensive to elderly and used more stereotypes than ‘Work It’.

Work It proved to show it is not easy to dress up in drag. It showed the main characters going to get help putting on make-up after he tried once and looked like a clown. It then showed toilet paper coming out of his dress while dancing.

It is a shame that this show got canceled before it really had a chance to take off thanks to GLAAD and the HRC throwing a fit and placing ads against the show. It may have also been due to low ratings for the the new ABC Sitcom but it would have aired more than twice.

This brings me to think that the HRC and GLAAD have really disappointed in the last year. HRC going after Chick-fil-a and GLAAD spending all this money against a show that really was not all that offensive. There are bigger fishes to fry or goals these organizations that run off of our donations should be going after such as the presidential candidates or HIV stigma. They might could have worked with the ABC show to make sure it was more understanding of transgendered people.

I just finished two episodes online and just could not find anything that is offensive the way GLAAD was making it out to be. If anything women could be offended but knowing how sales works it is women that get ahead more and they are taking it to the next level of a trans person getting ahead just as easily as a real woman. It seems they are glorifying drag more than anything. I don’t see that they are making fun of it but having fun with it. Am I missing something? I noticed a few comments in the show where they said this would not be allowed in their culture and maybe the signs they hold up that say “Will Do Anything for Work” maybe could have been edited out but other than that it’s certainly not more offensive than “Boat Trip” the movie. Having a drag show on mainstream TV is actually a positive thing especially when it is not associated with violence. How would you compared this to Trannies with Knives? I would like to see what Ru Paul thinks of it. It just seemed to me that that GLAAD press release was saying this would cause more violence against trans or drag. I do not see how that is possible they are not getting laughed at by anyone in this pilot or episode two. Everyone thinks the characters are women(just big boned women). It seems like it is more accepting and that could be nothing but positive. Yeah I am sure someone will have a laugh at someones expense but they are also making fun of the doctors in the episode, the wife, the kid, and the British sales women.

A Facebook Commenter said “I think that it is making light on a complete group of people and their suffrage and saying oh its just funny. Don’t think on the surface of this one. If you recall several of the same things were said about white people playing the roles of other ethnicity… And quite often making complete characterizes out of a race of people. This is pretty much along the lines of black face to transgendered and transsexual people who this is real life for and NOT a joke. I would say that GLAAD is out of line at all or a bad representation of gays in this instant. I would say that comments like this about a part of the gay community that you may not necessarily identify within not only ignorant but a a much worse representation of the gay community. My finger is wagging on this one. Sorry. But until people stop treating TRANS people as a show or comic relief I don’t find shows like this cool. At ALL. Why don’t they make a show that’s about transgendered people struggling to find work.. Which I guarantee is a lot hard than these two guys trying to find work… Because they are ultimately homophobic and cant be a part of the solution easily so they continue the status quo. Its not as simple as GLAAD being whiny…. They expressed the immaturity of a show like this and continue to express their voice every-time an issue comes up…. People are just intellectually lazy enough to call it whining.”

Today ABC announced that the series “Work It” has been cancelled after two episodes. GLAAD and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) advocacy organizations including the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) had spoken out against the series for its potential to cause harm to transgender people. The series debuted on January 3, 2012 to low ratings, and, according to Entertainment Weekly, dropped another 20 percent this week.

“While many of ABC’s positive and groundbreaking portrayals of LGBT people have been critical and popular successes, the public had little interest in this outdated show,” said Herndon Graddick, Senior Director of Programs and Communications at GLAAD. “As a result of this campaign, an important dialogue has been started in Hollywood and mainstream media about the real discrimination faced by transgender people today.”

For more about GLAAD’s campaign and to read critiques from LGBT advocates and organizations visit glaad.org/workit. Last month, after viewing the pilot, GLAAD placed a full page ad in media industry publication Variety with HRC. The organizations also published a joint opinion piece on the Huffington Post. The Variety ad noted that “by encouraging the audience to laugh at the characters’ attempts at womanhood, the show gives license to similar treatment of transgender women.”

GLAAD and HRC included photos of transgender Americans, legal facts and statistics from a recent report from the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force on the discrimination that transgender Americans face:

• Transgender Americans can be legally fired in 34 states today simply for being who they are.
• 97% of self-identified transgender people reported being harassed or abused at work.
• 26% reported losing their jobs because they are transgender.

GLAAD stated on its site that while the show did not explicitly address transgender people, many viewers unfamiliar with the realities of being transgender will still make the connection.

Previously the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, transgender writers including Autumn Sandeen of Pam’s House Blend, the Transgender Economic Empowerment Initiative and the Transgender Law Center spoke out against the show’s promos. Women’s advocacy groups and members of the Puerto Rican community have also criticized the show’s premise and jokes.

According to ABC, ‘Work It’ centered on two unemployed men who have “learned the hard way that the current recession is more of a ‘man-cession’ and their skills aren’t in high demand.” One finds out that a pharmaceuticals company is hiring sales reps, but only female sales reps. He goes to the interview dressed in heels, a skirt, and makeup and gets hired as a woman.

I think it would be great to have more drag or trans type shows and your right would be better that it not be a comedy all of the time. A show with them trying to find work as a trans person would be a great show and I am surprised someone like LOGO or Bravo does not do that.

Who is GLAAD? They are supposed to be a Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) by bringing a voice to the LGBT community by empowering real people to share their stories, holding the media accountable for the words and images they present, and helping grassroots organizations communicate effectively. By ensuring that the stories of LGBT people are heard through the media, GLAAD promotes understanding, increases acceptance, and advances equality. Are they doing their job or bullying certain shows that already have a chance of being canceled? Don’t you think they should be doing more?

Actor Darren Criss is featured in the new February issue of DETAILS magazine. The 24-year old star of Glee is bringing his song-and-dance skills to Broadway. Moms, gays, and Michele Bachman, rejoice! This Details issue hits stands nationwide on January 17 known as the February issue. Here are some highlights from Darren Criss’ “Last Call” column Q&A.

When asked about meeting Michelle Bachmann Criss said “I never let my politics supersede my manners. She came up with her husband and was sweet as can be. She was like, ‘My kids love the show. I don’t watch it myself, but I’d love it if you could sign these postcards.’ It dawned on me that she didn’t know what the hell Glee was.”

On wearing a bow tie in both Glee and How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying… “I’ve been pigeonholed.”

My favorite part of the interview was about the mothers saying they were there for their daughters. Now come on and admit you are fans too and want Darren just as badly and watch the show Glee! “What’s funny is that the moms always feel like they have to qualify everything. ‘I’m here for my daughter. Can I get a picture?’ You don’t have to apologize for liking Glee. My joke is the fans are either 16 or 60. What I wouldn’t give to have someone come back who wasn’t a mom or a teenager.”

On what it’s like getting so much attention early in his career…
“Hollywood is a strange, strange thing. I feel like I’ve been invited to a very exclusive ball and I’m just trying to make nice with everybody and hope that if they kick me out they’ll at least give me a ride home.”

An awkward or surreal moment during Darren’s rise of fame with super pop legend Mariah Carey:
“I never thought I would meet Mariah Carey, but I really never thought I’d be introduced to her by Whitney Houston. She’s like, ‘Hey, baby, this is Mariah.’ I’m like, ‘I know. I’m Darren. I don’t know what I’m doing here.’”

If you’re in the UK, there’s a chance that there are some really annoying TV shows that you just can’t get away from – in fact that’s probably true wherever you are! I swear, if I have to see an advert for Desperate Scousewives one more time my TV is going to suffer a fatal incident involving a cup of hot coffee dribbled down the back and a quick flight out of an open window!

But although I find a whole lot of those reality TV shows to be pretty repugnant, the upcoming Playing It Straight has to be one of those that really makes my blood boil.

Now, I have absolutely no doubt that there will be hoards of gay guys watching the show, mainly because it contains a whole lot of camp double entendre’s and a lot of barely clothed young men who are mostly gay but don’t act it. I have no problem with those little aspects of it, it’s the game show style of it that really annoys me.

For those who don’t get it, the set up is that there’s a relatively empty-headed young woman with far too much makeup and a love of all things expensive, trying to work out which of the guys she’s shacked up with is straight. As I understand it, there are eleven guys and Cara, some of the guys are gay, and some are straight (although you have to wonder just how many of those straight guys either lied to get on the show, or are actually bi)

Cara has to work out who is straight and who isn’t, through the use of some very humorous and humiliating games. She votes guys out, and if she picks a straight guy at the end they both win 25k. If she picks a gay guy who managed to “Play it Straight” convincingly enough, he walks away with the whole 50k.

Does all that sound like fun to you?

To me, it reeks of stereotyping, and is actually pretty offensive. The message seems to be that it is better for gay men to conform to masculine stereotypes. If you think I’m overreacting, imagine it in reverse. What if it were called “Playing it Gay” and the straight guys had to convince someone (and the audience) they they are actually gay. Cue camp walks and limp wrists, hours debating Kylie and moments of hasty simulated man sex in random places. Would we accept that as being okay?

I’m gonna climb up on my soapbox here and suggest that this kind of BS is not what people protested for. We’re doing a disservice to people who had absolutely no rights and fought for some semblance of equality by turning our lifestyles into a commodity that can be sold for the sake of some cheap laughs. These guys might have noble thoughts about what they’re taking part in, but in reality they’re selling out. Instead of making sexuality a non-issue (which is how things should be) they’re voluntarily allowing themselves to be bought as entertainment for a largely straight audience to mock and laugh at.

Now, I already have some pretty strong views on the likes of the X-Factor and all the other talent shows that are really nothing more than the public humiliating people who should probably be under the care of some psychology professionals, so it’s possibly not surprising that I find this to be not my cup of tea. But it does surprise me that there is an audience for such rubbish.

Instead of gaining equality for ourselves and getting the respect we deserve in society, some of us are happy to remain the subjects of ridicule, reminding everyone just how “different” gay people are from the rest.

I’ll step down from my soapbox now, and wish you a very Happy New Year! ;)

THE IRON LADY is a surprising and intimate portrait of Margaret Thatcher (Meryl Streep), the first and only female Prime Minister of The United Kingdom. One of the 20th century’s most famous and influential women, Thatcher came from nowhere to smash through barriers of gender and class to be heard in a male dominated world.

I love Christmas, and loathe it in equal measure simultaneously. I’m one of those guys from a large family, and every year we have those get-togethers where all the expected happens; someone has a blazing row with their partner about their teenager being given a thimble of wine, uncle George has a lengthy discussion with aunt Doris about the destruction of their local pub during the Blitz and whether it happened on a Tuesday or Saturday, and everyone has a very uncomfortable moment when a secret is revealed and you find out that back in 1942 a long passed-on relative was caught in a compromising position with a sailor… all the while I’m thinking up an excuse to get out to have a drink with a friend.

But, there are things I really love about Christmas too, like seeing some of the friends I’ve missed all year through my lack of FaceBook dedication, the look of joy on a persons face when they open that present and find that first edition book you found for them and they’ve wanted since they were a spotty teenager with greasy hair nodding along to Nirvana in your bedroom, and the rowdy parties where there is bound to be a really hot guy just desperate for someone to date for just a couple of weeks so he won’t have to rely on a previous shag buddy on New Year.

I know you might think I must be really good a buying presents for others now I’ve mentioned that first edition book, right? Well, that’s a rare occurrence, and I maybe get that reaction once over the holiday. Normally I end up buying my friends something pretty predictable and boring.

It’s not my fault I cant stand the shopping trips and increasingly buy everything on the internet. I have a phobia of adults dressed as Santa’s helpers, and all that cheesy Christmas music playing in all the shops really could lead to a strangling spree with tinsel being the weapon of choice!

So, this year, I think I have decided that all of my friends are getting adult gifts, toys, from one place. That way I can guarantee to shock everyone, and please them all at the same time. I know that although they might go red and make assertions that they would “never use such a thing”, they’ll be at home that night getting it on with their inanimate object (or, in the case of battery powered devices, very animated!)

I can’t really loose with some adult toys, can I?

For Sally, the almost virginal religious and conservative ex-colleague – a Rampant Rabbit.

For Geoff, the straight gym jock who we all have doubts about – an Aneros with some lube.

For Carl, the party animal who gets far too much sex already (and we’re all secretly jealous of) – some “Delay” cream.

And for Steven, the handsome college boy just exploring his gay side – a years supply of assorted flavored condoms.

Bring on Christmas, and may it be extremely merry for all! ;)

I saw something truly fascinating yesterday, and although it is an emotive discussion, it actually raised questions for me that it seems a lot of others hadn’t really considered. I’ll warn you now, this post might not be easy to read!

So a few weeks ago I brought up the Occupy movement and how it seems that a new wave of civil protest is braking out. This of course started on September 17th (my birthday, coincidentally!) and since then we’ve seen some remarkable events.

Primarily, we’ve seen enormous protests in solidarity all over the world. There have been messages of support back and forth between England, Australia, USA, Spain, Egypt, France, Ireland, Japan and hundreds of capital cities in countries all over the planet. Occupations have arisen in all corners, with hundreds of thousands of people calling for everything from gay rights to the end of banker bonuses. Students are demanding a fair education, mothers are demanding  adequate health care, unions are calling for fair workers rights…

But along with the amazing outpouring of a demand for justice, there have also been some impressive shows of force by those in positions of power. Notably, in the USA, the right to freedom of assembly has been under attack, with some cities allocating time slots for citizens to express themselves, some forcibly evicting protesters and – in the case of Oakland California – brutally crushing the right to protest with the use of weaponry.

That brings me to the crux of this post.

We saw a couple of Marines join the Wall Street protests after the girls were attacked by the NYPD, and they vowed to defend their fellow Americans against the violence. This was, without a doubt, a very noble and moral thing to do.

But, on Tuesday 25th October, we saw things go wonky in Oakland. The Oakland PD (in conjunction with other law enforcement departments from neighboring areas) arrived to enforce an eviction demand enacted by Mayor Jean Quan. Ironically, she came to fame for being an active member of the rights movements previously and was seen as an advocate of Liberal policies. Unfortunately, it seems that the old line of power being a corrupting force has been proven in her case.

When protesters arrived in the evening to reclaim their rightful place in the heart of the city, they were met with brute force. Officers fired tear gas, rubber bullets and “flash bang” grenades at protesters (Oakland Police have denied this, despite these weapons being filmed in use). There are reports that an LRAD weapon (sound cannon) was on scene and ready to be deployed. This is a military grade weapon, illegal for use against American citizens.

In the proceeding violence a young man fell to the ground. His name is Scott Olsen. Other occupiers quickly arrived to assist him – then a grenade was thrown by an officer directly into the crowd, exploding inches from Scott’s head. Police ignored calls for medical assistance from the crowd, and his fellow protesters carried him to safety. Scott was found to have a skull fracture and ended up in a medically induced coma.

While he is now stable and awake, his memory is reportedly impeded and his speech is slurred. There are fears that he may have suffered permanent brain damage.

The following day it became apparent that Scott Olsen is a veteran. He served two tours in Iraq for his country. Yes, the 24 year old served for his country twice in a war zone, came home safely, and was almost killed by the Police of California.

When this came to light, US marine Jay C Gentile posted the following pic -

Almost immediately hundreds of other veterans and serving military joined in with their condemnation, demanding several things including comment from President Obama, the resignations of Mayor Quan and her senior police officers, and calling for larger protests against those restricting the freedom of assembly in every city in America.

But – and this is the hard part – what if Scott hadn’t been a veteran?

I’m all for the sudden outpouring of support and solidarity with the brotherhood, but would we be seeing the same thing if the person who is now in a hospital bed recovering from a critical injury were gay, or black, or a student, or unemployed… Would the military actually care if it was “just another regular American”?

I know, it’s a hard thought to have. These people are noble for standing up now, but where were they all when they were watching those girls being maced by the NYPD? Why did that event only illicit a response from a handful of military men when this has gained hundreds of serving and veteran marines? Where were all these heroes during other violent crackdowns on protest in America? Scott is not the first, and he certainly won’t be the last.

Ultimately, it’s a great thing that they have stepped up and vowed to defend their fellow citizens against the brutality of numerous out of control Police establishments and local authorities in America. We all know that things are getting dangerous, and as the violence is stepped up by those in blue, the people will need the boys in camo to defend them. In the last couple of weeks we’ve seen groups being announced including OccupyTeachers, OccupyPolice and OccupyTheBoardRoom – but most importantly, OccupyMarines.

Hundreds of serving and veteran Marines are now signing up to Occupy alongside their fellow Americans. It’s just a shame that it took the attempted murder of a fellow Marine to get them moving to defend their people on home soil.

Share on Facebook
Levi Crocker is hands down the hottest guy on Dallas A-List and may be the most hung but what does he have going on underneath all those clothes? Here (click more) are some pics of the gay rodeo boy shirtless!

Now let’s talk about Taylor. He seemed kind of cute at first then he started sounding dumber and dumber with his George W. Bush talk. I can’t see the same sexual interest Levi Crocker would have in Taylor but maybe there is something down there we can’t find on TV. His gay girl friend Ashley seems to have made friends with everyone on the show. I have to wonder if she drinks or clubs?

One of my favorite parts of the show was when James Doyle was asked if he had sex with Levi before and he replied something similar to “we just exchanged fluids”. I also liked the hair scenes with Chase. I know what its like to have hair that changes and has its own mindset everyday and is unpredictable.

Parts of the show were strangely nothing like living in Dallas it is not that Baptist on the gay side of life. Remember we are the ones that have the so-called “Christians” outside our clubs still haunting us and stalking us to “make a change” and join their team against how we were born. They are out there with their hate singing and trying to shove the bible in our faces right there at Throckmorton and Cedar Springs every weekend. The show is a bit too focused on making us look like Southern Baptists here in Big D.

I feel that Chase has that draw to be an oil tycoon on a real Dallas show. His voice is kind of Scott McQueery in its uniqueness but so much accent. He has hot legs though and some fun, wild hair. Levi is more the star of the show at least from the first episode. Levi and James are definitely the more outspoken ones on the show but the real troublemaker seems to be Phillip Willis. Phillip Willis is welcomed as the first black man to the A-list series but may end up being the most drama (but isn’t that what reality TV is about). The girl on the show Ashley is not the first girl since A-List NYC had Nyasha.

So you ask who was Krystal the girl shown a few times at the Rodeo and at dinner with James? That would be Krystal Summers who stars in a movie Trannies with Knives and is one of the headlining drag queens at the Rose Room inside Station 4 of Dallas. You will most likely see more of her as the series goes on with the summer of 2011.

There will probably be more haters of the show than anything especially with Ann Coulter appearing on the show in an upcoming episode but it’s really not too bad. While the show really does not portray Dallas 100% as it should be from our gay scene it will most likely do a better job in upcoming episodes. There is always jealousy and the feeling of wanting to be with that boy who never really liked you back and I think we could all feel for James in that part. Levi is supposed to be the Reichen of the show with more of the jock and player character. It will be interesting to see what the next episode brings and if they stir enough drama to bring back another season. It comes on next week at a better time which is definitely a better thing since us Dallas Baptists have to be in bed around 9pm… we have bibles to read at 8pm. Yee-haw!

Bravo has the reality show Most Eligible Dallas. This show follows a group of young, successful, and single friends, throughout their lives. You have beauty queens and pro football players, and everyone is looking for love. Meet Courtney Kerr, the 29 year old who works in the fashion industry, and is best friends with Matt. She is outspoken and career driven. She wants nothing more than to be a good wife and mother, but cannot seem to find Mr. Right. Her best friend Matt Nordgren is the 28 year old ex former college Quarterback who now works in the family business. He is a serial dater, and Courtney is always quick to find flaw with his many woman friends. Enter 23-year-old aspiring singer Neill Skylar. Neill is the single mother to a one year old and she and Matt quickly develop feelings for each other, a fact that does not sit well with best friend Courtney. You can see where this is going, and these are just three of the characters on this popular reality series.

Logo is launching The A-List Dallas, which is premiering on October 10. Now this show follows a group of five gay men and their girl pal Ashley, and you can be sure there will be some truly outrageous drama unfolding on this reality show. The Logo website hilariously calls the show “Housewives with Balls”. You have James, who is your party guy and serial dater, every show has one. He comes from money, so work is optional, and he opts not to. Levi is your past rodeo star who now works for the family business, and has launched a line of swimwear for gay men. Taylor is the Christian gay republican, and Chase has the career in finance, and is looking for Mr. Right. Phillip is the one you do not want to cross because he knows everyone’s secrets. This show is sure to be entertaining, and sure to have everyone talking.

Big Rich Texas on mystyle follows a group of successful Dallas mothers and their daughters. This elite group of women has careers ranging from the marketing executive, to the runway model. Each woman is career driven and passionate, and tries to pass that knowledge on to the group of four daughters on the show. The daughters range in age from 15-22.

Not to be outdone by the reality shows, TNT is bringing back the hit soap opera style drama, Dallas. Dallas first aired back in 1978, and was a hit for thirteen years. It featured the Ewing family, and dealt with wealthy Texas oil millionaires. The show was so popular, if you ask anyone where they where during the airing of The Who Shot J.R. episode, the answer is sure to be in front of the television. It is still one of the most watched episodes of all time. Staying true to the soap opera format, the show had a lot cheating, backstabbing, divorcing, and fighting, and the spin-off will be sure to have more of the same. The show is set to air summer 2012, and with stars like Jesse Metcalfe, and Jordana Brewster, the show is sure to be a hit.

It is apparent that Dallas has all the fun, and all the drama, glitz, glamour, and love.

Susan Sarandon At Occupy Wall Street

If you blinked, you might have missed it on your nightly news, but that’s probably because all major news broadcasters are suspiciously quiet about it.

There’s something going on in Wall Street, and this time it isn’t another too-big-to-fail being given your tax money, or the markets on a slump because of the likelihood of Greece collapsing.

Firstly, I’ll give you a little background info…

On the 17th September, Anonymous (the infamous Internet group responsible for publicly trolling Scientology, taking down several sites in defense of Wikileaks and defacing all of the Syrian government websites – among other things) planned to invade wall street and start their own popular uprising against corporate greed and influence on government. They were ambitions, stating 20k people might be there. Of course, these things don’t quite start like that. So instead there was a gathering of maybe 50 people. This soon turned into a couple of thousand when they marched on Wall Street itself from their base at Liberty Plaza.

I picked up the story on sept 24th when a friend – knowing how I love a good cause to get behind – sent me a link to a video of a group of female protesters being sprayed with MACE at point-blank range by LAPD Officer Tony Bologne (yes, that is his real name!)

Suddenly, word was spreading. Their peaceful protest and uneventful marches were suddenly out there saturating the Internet. The Information Superhighway was seething with anger at the blatant abuse of freedom and rights, resulting in many thousands more joining the cause.

The numbers of those camped out in Liberty Plaza has grown, with supplies and donations from people all around the world who want to see the corporate interests pushed out of government. Similar protests are now being organized for cities all across America, and the world.

Why is this important to us, the gay community?

Apart from us being a part of the wider community that all of this affects, the Occupy Wall Street protesters have gone to great lengths to be inclusive of the LGBT community, often bringing it up in discussion in their videos and live broadcasts, inviting people to come and take part, no matter what your race, religion, sexual orientation or political leaning. On Tuesday the 27th, Michael Moore appeared to show his support and speak to the protesters. I know, sometimes he can be a right pain in the butt, right? But he again brought up the fact that America was changing, and that now over 50% of Americans believe that gay marriage should be legal and recognized. This brought cheers from the crowd around him.

Ultimately, this is everyones fight. This isn’t about whether you support Obama or not. This isn’t about whether you believe in capitalism or not. It’s about whether you are happy to sit back and watch as the corporations control your government. It’s about stopping the 1% who control 90% of the wealth. It’s about making it clear to your government that your rights matter, and that corporations do not have the right to be your rulers by paying off your elected.

Some of us remember the struggle of the LGBT community, and without those brave people we would not have the freedom we now have. Plenty of us are educated enough to know of the struggles other communities have faced to rectify society.

All of those events involved just a section of society, this fight involves all of us.

Dancing With the Stars is making its awaited return, following in the footsteps of some other shows in a similar vein and becoming a little more risky too.

It should be said here that I don’t watch these shows. There’s something about them that unsettles me. It seems as if media is forever being watered-down, designed for the brain-dead. And I have to say that I view all of these shows in a similar way. I know, I know, I’m being too judgmental, but I can’t help it. I feel as though I should say that some of my closest friends watch these shows! :)

But I was interested to see the news that Chaz Bono is to appear in the new season of Dancing With the Stars, and – I believe – not for the reasons that you might expect either!

While commentators in the equality movement are praising it as a great move by the producers, and while I’m sure many in the transgender community are celebrating some recognition in mainstream media, is anyone stopping to think about why this is being done and what the ultimate results could be?

Chaz himself has stated that he believes it’s a good opportunity to show the world that transgender people are normal, everyday, fun and interesting people. And while I agree that these messages need to be made clear throughout media, I have to question if this is the right format for it or if the hearts and minds of all those involved are in the right place.

In 2004 the UK saw transgender reality TV star Nadia Almada successfully win the Big Brother show, going on to appear in the US version a year later. While she was an incredible hit in the UK, with viewers loving her witty and honest attitude to life, the press were initially far from favorable. In fact, many only came around to acknowledging her a valid competitor when they realized they were loosing track of public sentiment.

Some of the trash they printed about her was pretty horrific, with those opposed to anything LGBT-related in vociferous uproar at every opportunity. And I hate to have to point this out, but America is certainly behind the UK when it comes to the acceptance of gender diversity.

As if the addition of Chaz into the show was not enough, they’re also inviting fashion guru Carson Kressley to take part too. Can the religious right survive such a thing without their heads simultaneously exploding all over the country?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting for one minute that this should be reconsidered or abandoned, I’m just suggesting that perhaps people still have a rose-tinted view of the media that we feed off of. This is not a move by a studio to be “inclusive” and support the sexuality and gender equality movement. This is a studio knowing that they have to create more drama to compete with other shows who do it better. And if we admit for just a second that this could indeed be the case, what lengths would they go to during the show to create more drama and secure those ratings?

It’s all about mixing high-drama in there, and people are used as props to do it. They know very well that masses of wordage will be espoused through every media outlet discussing the “abhorrent” and “influential” effect such a show might be having on the youth of today, and they’ll use that to boost their ratings.

But, there is the other side of the coin too. Perhaps this could be used as intended and real progress actually be made? Maybe Chaz knows very well what the motives are and intends to carry himself with such charm and poise as to completely disarm the cretins I believe have some interesting twists planned?

I guess we won’t know until we see the story unfolding…

It should seem obvious, the European Court Of Human Rights (ECHR) is founded on the principal of supporting equality and freedom for all, regardless of race, religion, sexuality…

Of course, those who are staunchly “Godly” see it in a completely different light, with many maintaining their intolerance and bigotry in the face of what their religion supposedly teaches.

While on the one hand there are token expressions of peace, love and tolerance (which is what religion is SUPPOSED to be about) many neglect this aspect entirely. They don’t seem to recognize their own hypocrisy; they claim to wish to maintain the status quo, the “true” word of their God, while selecting the right quotes and passages from a wide array and neglecting the very fundamental message.
They also call this the word of God while neglecting the fact those words have been altered, translated, rewritten and distorted numerous times to suit those in positions of authority, or those who wish to gain authority over followers.

None of this is new, of course. But the fight being taken to the ECHR, with renewed support from the Alliance Defense Fund, could see a long fight ahead.

It begins with four cases taken to the ECHR by British individuals who claim that they have been discriminated against through their requirement to serve gay people.
These people presumably believe that gay people are not equal to them. They believe that they are somehow superior. And they wish to challenge a law affecting millions of people because they feel “uncomfortable”.

Lets be clear here, the employment rights of one should not take priority over the fundamental Human Rights of another. Basically, I believe that the rights of religious people to refuse to work with gay people on religious grounds does not take priority over the rights of those gay people to be treated equally.

So why is the Alliance Defense Fund – A right-wing American consortium – becoming involved in the battle? The last time I checked, America was not a European nation. So, it might be fair to ask why a right-wing religious group from Arizona is meddling in the rights of others thousands of miles away. It would be like the English Defense League (widely viewed as a racist, homophobic and highly bigoted far-right group in the UK) deciding to become involved in the US legal system in an attempt to revoke the right to vote from non-white racial groups. Would that be accepted?

So, here’s my take on it all, and it might not be what you expect…

Let them have their way. GIve those four people what they want in respect of refusing to serve gay people. Don’t provide them with any financial gain, but allow them to work without having to meet the legal requirements of their employers. Let them change their working hours so they can avoid a legal requirement, but do not allow their employers to breach equality laws.

Why do I say this? Because those who refuse to bend to social changes become quickly irrelevant. The more they cry and stamp their feet, and the more they demand that the world remain in the dark ages to suit their views, the quicker they will become defunct.
Numbers attending religious services are collapsing, with churches closing every week. Those willing to embrace the modern world will succeed, and those who maintain their bigotry and hateful ways will become extinct.

They are out of touch with the rest of society. They’re like the despot refusing to accept that his power is gone even as the rebels beat at his door. They are the stubborn people who would rather drive into a lake than admit they read the map wrong.

There are thousands of others out there who have managed to reconcile their religious conviction with serving the gay community, and they will grow and grow with support throughout society. Those who want to spend their days screaming about what they think is right and wrong about other people loving each other will become increasingly less relevant to society.

Ultimately, we have already won. All we have to do is sit back and watch them embarrassing themselves and wasting their lives feeling hatred for others. We should pity them, not hate them in return.

I am of course talking about the wave of violence which recently shook Britain – and Philadelphia. Why is that relevant to us? There are plenty out there casting blame and offering excuses, stating disaffection and brutality, racism and injustice. Where were we when we were facing similar? Our very lifestyles were illegal at one time, and yet I don’t recall gangs of queers attacking shops and stealing HD TV’s! Did we miss our chance to do what we liked while blaming everyone else but ourselves? No, it’s not simply about a group of society being routinely under attack from outside forces or being denied a fair existence. That’s far too simple an excuse.

It all began on Thursday 4th August in an anti-gun operation in London, when 29 year old Mark Duggan was shot and killed by Police. It was understood at that time that an exchange of fire had occurred and that the Police had to act. Cases like this are automatically referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Unfortunately, neither the Metropolitan Police nor the IPCC bothered to discuss anything the with the family of the deceased. They were left to deal with their grief without knowing what had happened, and without any assurance that it would be thoroughly investigated. At the very least, as a mark or respect and reassurance, they should have been consulted about the death of Mark Duggan.

On Saturday, anger had increased at the lack of information or even basic respect for the family, a vigil was held in Tottenham outside the local Police station. This then became violent.

Cars were set alight, Police came under attack and the London Fire Service had been called to attend numerous fires in the area as Police struggled to maintain control.

That’s how it started. Like numerous other public disturbances all around the world, an injustice is perceived, and those in positions of authority are deemed to be the enemy.

However, there are a few things that quickly became clear; Mr Mark Duggan had possession of a firearm. Whether he fired it or not is irrelevant prior to the investigation. Police are required to take adequate action to defend themselves and protect others against an armed individual. While the circumstances of the incident do have to be clarified, he was carrying a loaded weapon in a country where such weapons are illegal and deadly force can be used to stop them. In addition, the Duggan family understood that what was happening was not in response to the death of Mark. They were immediately condemning the massive destruction around them and making it clear that it was not related to his death.

We also have to look at what happened next, after the initial protest turned violent in Tottenham. While the buildings burned and over 20 local people were forced to flee from their homes as they watched their possessions go up in flames, the looting started. Kids and young adults attacked their own local businesses. It was no longer about an injustice, it was now about selfish greed and a complete lack of respect for any other Human.

Personally, I think the Police made a fatal error on this night (and subsequent nights). They stood back and watched the community be torn apart by gangs of roaming young thugs who value Nike footwear more than Human life. It was clear from everyone in the country that they should have been acting to prevent it from spreading. But, fearful of making things worse and turning it back into a race issue, they stood back and allowed it to happen.

This spread the message across the country that the Police were unable or unwilling to act, and it showed gangs of kids that they have strength in numbers. We have seen governments fall through the sheer swell of Human will, and we know that when the people of a nation come together they can outnumber and outmanoeuvre any authority.

In this case, however, it wasn’t about an unjust government, or even an unfair social system. It was about sheer greed and consumerism, arrogance and selfish attitude, violence and the glorification of criminality.

What many do not know about the Riots in the UK is that it didn’t just happen in London, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool and Manchester. It happened everywhere. Numerous smaller towns and cities saw flash looting as kids in all areas decided that they could get away with it too. It might have been on a smaller scale, but it was happening all over the country.

Now we have the inevitable mess afterwards, where pundits and talking heads all vie for their camera time and people who elected themselves as “spokespeople” for communities try to excuse the actions of their young thugs. We’re hearing people talk about lack of opportunity, disaffection, government cuts and racism, all offering some kind of explanation other than “they’re just criminal thugs”.

I’m very liberal, I believe that people should be able to do as they wish as long as they don’t harm others. But I do not subscribe to the idea that we need to look further than their immediate families and friends to understand why this happened. Their exposure to Police and government is not as consistent as their exposure to their family, friends and environment. If we want to place blame anywhere, it should be placed at the feet of the single mother who gets wasted every weekend and leaves her kids with others, or the parents who don’t bother to ask where their 16 year old is a midnight, the absent father and the mother who can’t be bothered to sit with their kids to help them with their homework, or the family who places value on material gain while not offering their kids any tools to improve their lives and actually achieve something.

We only need to look at the words and responses of the parents of these kids as they rush from the courts after standing before a judge. They yell abuse at the press, they feel like the victims, they demand respect while refusing to offer it back. These are the people who are raising these kids, and once you see how their parents act, it’s no surprise that these kids have become the animals they now are.

However, although I do not often subscribe the theory of media influence (I didn’t when it was Manson blamed for Columbine, for example), I do accept that much of the culture we are looking at reinforces the “I DEMAND!” attitude. It’s like a perfect storm, we have a youth across the country who have very low moral values through pathetic parental example, while they have music surrounding them telling them that if they can’t afford something they should take it through any means. They’re told that they deserve things, and that they don’t have to work like the rest of us to get them. They’re bombarded with advertising and media placing value on status and property. They’re encouraged to believe that they live in a survivalist society where anything is justified as long as they get what they want – not what they need.

So, what do we do now? As the businesses rebuild and the lives lost remembered and mourned, as people gather together to help those who have lost their homes, we need to do several things to fix this society, and none of them involve providing excuses to mindless thugs who DO know better and chose to follow their culturally induced greed instead…

We need the Police to act with reasonable force in the right circumstances. It’s not hard. We saw them charge at protesters in London at the student protests, and that was without mass destruction, looting and fire-bombing. During the first night they should have used force to stop it, and if it continued the following night baton rounds and tear gas should have been used. Because they didn’t act, it emboldened kids up and down the country to do the same.

We can all recognize the difference between a political protest and a violent riot. Why was it that students and those protesting events such as the G20 are treated to such overwhelming Police control, and yet violent looters destroying businesses and homes with no political opinion at all are allowed to continue? There is something deeply suspicious about this. Are we to believe that the Police were too scared to act? All of a sudden? I don’t think so. This needs to be clarified for the future, with specific events and actions leading to an immediate escalation of Police response. For example, if more than ten people are involved and a business is looted, the officers are then given authority to use baton rounds.

We need to name and shame those families who have done such a thoroughly disgusting job of raising their kids. I was born in North London, we were a poor family with two working parents, and we would never have even remotely considered behaving like this. We weren’t raised to value material gain above moral decency. But even if that were not the case, we would have been too ashamed to disappoint our parents! We’ve lost the social responsibility that is encouraged by shame. If people were antisocial back when I was a child, people knew about it. Parents didn’t want to be the outcasts in their society because of the actions of their kids, and that helped to keep them in line. Parents are no longer scared of being seen as failures, because their identities are often protected from the press. They should not be protected, they should be publicly humiliated.

We need to send those responsible for violence and destruction to prison, for reasonable sentences. We need those who are too young or those found to have taken part in a minor way to face community service, visible to all those they hurt and visible to all those kids out there who think they have a right to act in this way and without consequences.

And, perhaps as a concession to all those extreme liberal “hug a hoodie” people out there who would like to blame society, the Police, the government (basically anyone but the individual committing the crime), we should explore methods to get these kids into programs that further their education. Quite simply, we should perhaps look at doing the job their parents should have done and try to save the next group of kids from being raised in the same way. Those kids should be forced to work for their benefits. Whether it’s cleaning up graffiti or replacing the windows they’ve smashed, rebuilding the Reeves furniture store or working on the Police patrol vehicles, they need to be put to work and they need to start realizing that claiming benefits is not an acceptable career.

For now, the chaos in the UK is over. But unless we learn the lessons from this and take action to show that it will not be tolerated, it will happen again. We need to show these criminals that society is not going to be their victim, and that doesn’t mean giving them more money or more state resources – it means forcing individuals and families to be decent members of society, with consequences if they refuse.

I have no doubt that you’ve heard the news already. Of course, something like this travels fast across the tangled web of the Internet. Twitter lights up with fans expressing their grief, Facebook goes into overdrive with fan pages and memorials, bloggers start tapping away with gushing emotion… And I join the outpouring.

I hope you like metaphorical posts, because that’s the way I plan to do this.

I was a little late to the Winehouse party. A good friend of mine who knows I love house parties invited me along, suggesting that the music was something a little different, and that people really loved it.

So while I don’t normally like that kind of popular music, I was actually really impressed to hear it when I got there. It was a great mix of blues, soul and jazz with a modern twist, and I found myself dancing along to it. It was a really great house, quite beautiful. The whole place was packed with original style and the owner seemed to have a lot of pride in the place.

It was packed with all kinds of people, old and young, alternative and mainstream. I guess I was having a great time for the first hour or so, meeting new people and checking the place out. But then I started to look around and realized that something wasn’t quite right.

There were a couple of kids throwing up on the balcony. When I went to the bathroom I squeezed past a stumbling young guy to get in and there was a sheen of white powder across the wash basin. In the hall a couple were getting far too friendly while others walked around them. Outside the front door a young couple were screaming at each other, yelling obscenities and slapping each other while the neighbors looked on in disgust.

Then something happened to the CD player, and the music started to jump. It sounded so terrible and everyone who had been dancing and having a great time gave up and took a seat. A few people tried to fix it, but after another hour it was obvious that whatever they were doing was just making it worse. It was really bad, you couldn’t understand the lyrics and although the music seemed to make sense, the energy had gone.

People started to leave. Every time another bottle smashed or another person fell unconscious the numbers thinned out. But a few stuck around and kept on listening to the stereo even though the music was impossible to appreciate. I guess they’d never heard such music before and were not quite ready to let it go just yet.

That’s when I left. I had the music playing in my head, and I really didn’t want to ruin what had otherwise been a good night. It was so sad to see the house being trashed in front of me and hear that music becoming nothing more than a horrid noise.

What had been a beautiful home had become little more than a crack house. There were a few people who were trying to stop the destruction, but it seemed futile. As I walked out the door I knew the party would be raided and closed down pretty soon, and I didn’t want to be there. Plenty of people I talked to as we were leaving thought the house might even be totally destroyed; it was so out of control it was more like a riot than a party.

In conclusion, the party started great. But soon it became clear that it was out of control. I think we all knew that it would end in a mess, we just hoped that maybe it would calm down and could carry on.

Ultimately, Amy Winehouse was an adult, capable of making her own decisions and responsible for her own health. While it is probably right to feel sad that such talent was lost, do we celebrate recklessness and addiction in any other aspect of life? I believe we should mourn, but with a certain perspective – just as we mourned the death of Kurt Cobain, River Phoenix or Marilyn Monroe.

R.I.P. Amy.

Yeah, he is pretty isn’t he? I have to admit I am a sucker for a handsome face and a confident attitude. And, being a gay guy who divides his time between sleeping, gym, the clubs and the Internet (that’s pretty much my life, and I love it) I am a big fan of the English Lads site. I’m sure you know why, given that their tag line is “Uncut Amateurs – Just That Little Bit Hotter”.

I like plenty of the guys there. In fact, I like them so much that I became involved in some fan blogs for a couple of the guys, featuring their content and promoting them a little. It’s a fun thing to do when I have a little time to do it.

Model Josh Peters was actually on my list of guys to promote too, with his hot muscled bod and all that attitude in his pics. Unfortunately, that attitude seems to extend beyond his on-camera image.

You see, one of the blogs I enjoy reading (Queerty) had featured the sexy young man on their site a while ago, showing their appreciation for his modeling work and sporting career.

But before I get into the whole story, let me give you a little background info.

Josh Peters is an MMA Fighter. For those not “in the know” MMA is a combat sport combining various aspects of several styles of martial arts. So now you know where he developed that athletic body. That just makes him a little hotter, am I right? Yeah, that’s what I thought too.

Next up, the guy is a professional male model, I believe he’s signed to a UK agency. And still he gets a little hotter, yes?

Our friends over at Queerty added a little content featuring the young hunk, which is a great thing to do and can really do wonders for a young guys career. You know that any post on a blog can really thrust a person into the limelight and if the content is good there’s a real chance of getting something more out of it too. It can really make a career.

So, you’d think that perhaps, if the young man in question happened to stumble across the post, he might send them a message saying thanks. A nice post featuring you is good thing, no?

Unfortunately, Queerty reports that the response they got from this young man when he saw it was anything but appreciative.

Subject: Remove me now

I am getting Sick of finding myself on these stupid gay sites. - Josh Peters

Wow. A guy who wants to be a male model, and poses pretty much nude but for a carefully placed hand, decides to piss off his primary fan base. I guess no one told him that the money in modeling is in high fashion, and that Gay men have a disposable income and an interest in fashion that rivals the likes of your average female pop superstar.

The conversation could have ended there, but after the guys on the site replied pointing out that he might be supporting the stereotype that models have a less than average IQ (of course, they did it in the nicest possible way) he came back with a retort that would make the English fellows of Oxford or Cambridge proud:

I guess you have to be a bumboy to find what you put on that site funny. - Josh Peters

Someone call in a PR rep, stat!

So what is a guy with this kind of attitude supposed to do? Yeah, that’s right, become a gay porn star of course! What else could he do but submit to what he found so offensive to begin with?

But it doesn’t end there folks. Not only is the previously homophobic lad getting naked and having fun on camera for the “bumboy’s” to enjoy, he’s letting other guys “do stuff” for him.

Perhaps he found a PR rep after all?

The second part of Shingles came on this summer right after I was re-potting trees outside in my backyard I got some dirt in my face which could have been a factor, My computer at home went out on me causing about as much stress as an animal dying because my computer is a human to me it has all my tax and business info on it and is something I cannot loose. Well It was lost as the motherboard crashed and they are telling me I cannot save my harddisk. The computer is still in repair at Sony and that could take months as slow as they are. Another factor is we had a trip planned to Puerto Vallarta and the humidity was overwhelming and I could feel myself getting sick but at that point I thought it was a sinus infection with my eye running non-stop. I did start feeling a strange tingling sensation when I laid down that I knew was not allergies. Something bad was going on.

When I returned from PVR I asked the Physicians Assistant what it could be and she said Sininutis. So she gave me the steroid and some Amoxyicilyn antibiotics. I took that for a day then discovered when I laid down there was a deeper, more fierce pain in my head when I laid down which could no way be allergies. There was also slight swelling around my eye. I thought I had some kind of cancer and was really freaking out.

I went back into the doctor this time and not the P.A. and he said as soon as he walked in the room I had Shingles. From there on the pain kept going up and up and it still has not ended. I got on Valtrex for one cycle plus added 3 days for my eye that was completely red. The Eye dr was worried about the redness in my eye and the inflammation in which I took a dilating drop every 3 hours and a steriod in my eye for every hour all during July 4th week and weekend. That will keep you off the lake and away from the bright sunshine. Although its also hard to drive in the daylight like this.

The shingles pain was a non-stop pain that really got annoying and made you just want to hang yourself. Just horrible. Then came the post-neuro pain which may even be worse it is SERIOUS and something my body just had to give me. The post pain has lasted now about 2 weeks and about 3 times a day it flares up somewhere on the head or eye area and then gives me this outrageous pain that even a terrorist suspect or someone on the electric chair would not even feel. This is a pain that feels like its going across the side of my head and back to the back and then in one targeted area near my eye with the piercing pain.

The shingles affected me from my right nose to my eye brow area around my eye lid over to the sides and all the way up to the end of the right scalp which is a horrible place to have this because there will be no combing or washing of the hair.

I have started taking Gabapentin which has helped some but yet I still get these 1 or 2 a day hardcore targeted pains that make me want to go into a seizure. Ambien for sleep and still doing the steroid eye drops even though my eye is still very irritated and blurry mostly.

I hope this ends it is killing me, hurting my business, and most of all taking away from my time I spend with others. With this horrible Shingles and Post pain it is really hard to be able to have dinner with friends or simple things like exercising. I am scared to get into the pool in case the water hits my head the wrong way and brings me into a pain measure.

I plan on going to the pain dr to hope something will help with this and pray that it ends soon because I do not think my body can handle much more of it.

What a tumultuous few days it’s been for the current “Queen of Pop”. As if her punishing schedule of promotional appearances and interviews in Japan were not enough, she now has to deal with accusations attacking her integrity, and a potential lawsuit.

It’s no wonder the 25 year old superstar was caught balling at the MTV Video Music Aid Japan event, organized to raise funds for the Japanese Red Cross in the wake of the catastrophic Earthquake and Tsunami which rocked both the country and the global attitude to Nuclear energy.

It has to be said that the lovely Gaga was not in fact weeping at the thought of being sued, she was in fact discussing the tragic loss of life caused by the disaster, and begging the people of the world to support the beautiful country through much-needed tourism.

Why is she being sued? It seems that a gentleman by the name of Ari Kresch, from a Michigan-based law practice has been denied access to Lady GaGa’s financial records. Oh, yes, that’s shocking isn’t it, apparently we can’t just call up demanding to see the personal and professional finances of our favorite celebrity whenever we want!

Who’d have thunk it!

On the day of the disaster, the Gaga team (does she have a team? I’m guessing so) immediately started work on the project, designing and selling charitable wristbands for all of her Little Monsters to wear in support of her beloved Japanese fans. And it seems to have raised a considerable chunk of money too, adding to what Lady Gaga herself has donated to the cause.

So, despite the fact that Gaga is worth countless millions, and is possibly already one of the most wealthy women in music, and despite the fact that she donated several million dollars to charity following the disaster, this lawyer thinks that she might have been pocketing some of the cash from the sale of charitable wristbands through her site, rather than donating the money.

Yes, that really sounds like the actions of a woman who already donated plenty of cash from her personal fortune, and a woman who routinely becomes emotional when talking about Human rights and Humanitarian causes!

Okay, if you cant sense my sarcasm at various points throughout this post just let me know and I’ll come back in to highlight the relevant lines ;)

What do I think? I think the guy should consider going after some of the real criminals in the world, instead of attacking a celebrity in an effort to grab some publicity, because with all the corruption and greed out there, perpetrated by some insanely huge corporations, I fail to see why Gaga would be a logical choice for any other reason than gaining notoriety.

I could of course be wrong, but I doubt it.

Now I suspect Arachnophiles out there will be wondering where the Tarantula makes an entrance to this post. The piano on stage at the recent Tokyo performance was “disguised” as a Tarantula. Just an interesting thing to note!

Bad Teacher premiered at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City last night, and stars Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Jason Segel, Lucy Punch and additional cast members were in attendance. Here are some photos we obtained from the gala. Bad Teacher is out as part of the Summer Movie happenings in theaters nationwide this Friday, June 24th!

Oh, the random Right Wingnuts are at it again, this time in Hazard, Kentucky. Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water… (that will make sense in a couple of minutes, I swear!)

The drama unfolded in the city of Hazard when two developmentally challenged young men began larking about at the side of the pool. Apparently, they did something so disgusting! Yes, one sat on the others knee! Oh the abhorrence, Gods eyes must have bled!

They attended the pool with a group called Mending Hearts Inc, a charitable organization connecting individuals and providing services to the Intellectually and developmentally challenged. Organizations like Mending Hearts Inc provide invaluable services, offering respite and support to parents, carers and families, and disabled individuals with a vitally important path into the community.

So what happened when this apparent abhorrent behavior was spotted? In rushed a gaggle of staff who seemingly happen to be religious (these people must be trained by Ninjas, always creeping about just waiting for their homophobic moment, and then, Shark Attack! – UK readers might understand that joke more than others).

These staff obviously had nothing better to do than to upset a group of people already struggling with equality and life in general, telling them all that they had to leave. Apparently, God doesn’t like gay people swimming in his pool in Hazard Kentucky.

I kid you not, the staff member quoted the Bible and suggested that he had the right to remove them based on that. Forget law, forget the inalienable rights to Freedom and Liberty, the Bible apparently ignores all of that (as is too often the case in the translation of some) and advises that the local pool in Hazard Kentucky is not to be used by disabled gay people. I must have missed that section because I don’t recall any mention of swimming pools and recreation centers the last time I read through it.

And this is the part that really upsets me; the two young men left in tears, humiliated and simply not understanding what they had done wrong. As if the world doesn’t already seem like a baffling and unfriendly place to them, they’re humiliated and embarrassed by complete strangers and made to feel even more like outcasts on a day when fun and inclusion should have been key.

Mending Hearts Inc did what any sensible person or group facing disgusting homophobia and discrimination should, they filed a formal complaint with their local gay rights group, in this case the Kentucky Equality Federation, and in partnership they requested an apology and that the employee who removed them be transferred to another department of the STATE RUN recreation center. They also planned a protest outside of the facility to highlight the issue.

As you’d expect, this minor skirmish has brought the truly religiously insane out of the woodwork, with Jordan Palmer (President of the Kentucky Equality Federation) receiving death threats if their planned protest outside of the facility were to go ahead.

In steps the Mayor of Hazard, Kentucky, Nan Gorman, 83. And how does she pour oil on turbulent water? By being the equivalent of that racist guy who says “some of my friends are black”, stating that the Pool once hired a gay lifeguard.

Insert.Face.Palm.Here

Oh they did? Well that’s fine then, all is forgiven. There cannot possibly be anything wrong if the Center was once so open and equal as to hire one gay Lifeguard! Move along, nothing to see here after all.

When asked, Charlotte Sizemore, executive director of the recreation center, declined to comment on the incident directly because she hadn’t witnessed it. But forgive my naiveté, as head of the facility you don’t need to witness every footfall and intolerant uttering to have an opinion and issue a sensible statement. But it appears that she let slip that although she holds such a position, others have authority, stating “They don’t want us to talk about it”. Hmm, intriguing. Gagged huh? By whom?

Charlotte Sizemore added:

“We are getting all kinds of phone calls,” she said. “We’re sorry it happened. We’re just fair to everybody. … We never have any trouble here, period.”

One of those phone calls was allegedly from a blogger (NewProgressiveMuckraker) who had the balls to call Ms. Sizemore for a direct comment. Nice to offer a chance for both sides of the story, far more professional than me. But it seems the executive director had been having a very tough day, and with the words “You don’t fucking know, Fuck you!” she hung up.

Yep, them Hazard Pavilion folks are real professionals, such a classy way to hold such a coveted position in the community.

Well, clearly her more sensible statements are not correct. I may be being unfair, but saying you’re sorry it happened is not the same as saying sorry to the two guys who were humiliated and left feeling less Human than when they arrived. Stating “we’re just fair to everybody” is clearly not true, otherwise the employee would have been moved already and a public statement would have been issued clarifying the cock-up. And finally, they obviously do have “trouble” there, this story is testament to that.

I don’t know if the protest went ahead, unfortunately. I can’t find mention of it since the initial incident. I sincerely hope they get the apology they so desperately deserve, and the fact that it has been so long in coming is evidence of the lunacy and true opinions of all involved. Forget the initial incident for just a moment, because the silence since then is deafening.

Moral of the story is, reconsider who are the ones truly “developmentally challenged”.

Second moral of the story is, don’t go to Hazard Pavilion if you’re gay, disabled, or moral, nice, decent… just don’t go.

Could it be the next huge celeb battle since Jen V’s Angelina? Okay, no it probably won’t be. But since the catastrophe that was Cheryl Cole’s move to the US, things are still not calming down in the controversial world of the international business that is the X-Factor.

Personally, I can’t stand the whole circus, it’s like a freak show with a baying crowd of rabid village idiots fawning over mediocre talent or mocking the mentally disabled. At least that’s my take on it, but I haven’t seen much.

But the surrounding controversy and hilarity is what really interests me. They should do away with all the ridicule and humiliation of people who probably need full-time care, and just focus on the drama of the over-primed, over-pumped and over-paid pseudo-stars behaving like Emperor Nero.

Thumbs down to you Simon!

So for those who do not know the whole story (and I only know bits of it), high-trousered and camp-speaking Cowell (maybe he talks like that because his pants are squeezing his nuts too hard?) decided in all his infinite wisdom, that America needed the gloriously beautiful – albeit slightly dialectically challenged – Cheryl Cole to fly over the the USA and introduce the public to a language they’d never heard before (hey dude, is she talkin’ French?)

And as you’d expect, her slightly brash and stronger-than-Tetley-tea accent sent every American reaching for the remote. Not for the caption button, but to switch to some other channel featuring overly-pretty and ridiculously impossible characters.

That just won’t do for the heads of the channel, and it seems that this time Simon couldn’t use his pop hammer of doom to persuade them to reconsider. So she was shipped off, presumably back to her home town where people actually understand her.

But that’s not the end of the story. Recently Tulisa Contostavlos (don’t worry, I don’t know either) took Cheryl’s place on the hit show during auditions (read humiliation extravaganza) for the new series in Manchester England. And it seems that in an effort to get her name on the venomous lips of X-Factor fans everywhere she arrived with a sharp tongue and an overly honest opinion. That’s right, get the audience to hate you by being a bitch, isn’t that the way to make money these days?

You can guess what happens next can’t you? The audience fell for it hook, line and sinker, and to calls of “Bring back Cheryl” Tulisa’s steely facade fell to the floor faster than I would in a college locker room. She allegedly ran from the scene in floods of tears wondering why her snide comments hadn’t made her some kind of lovable Cruella De Ville “You Beasts!”

Aside from that, they need a little more drama don’t they! So lets throw in some additional rumor and speculation from anonymous sources (probably some guy in the press room of a trash mag who wants to feel more important). Apparently young Cruella… sorry, Tulisa, is staying up and having little parties before turning up with a hangover. But then she’s only young, and partying is what these people do best I suppose. They need to be good at something though, right?

So that’s the story so far, I guess there’ll be plenty more to come. Some of it will be blatant BS, and some of it might actually be funny. But while I won’t watch the show, I’ll probably keep up to speed with the surrounding drama and PR stuntage, We all need a little entertainment, it’s a shame the folks at the X-Factor don’t know that… or perhaps they do?

X-Factor auditions are hitting Dallas, TX right now and more than 10,000 people are trying out. This is Simon Cowell’s new contest that is almost guaranteed to make you a star. The contract is for $5 Million once you become a star from this show and can be to anyone 12 or older as a solo or group. Another thing different from American Idol and X-Factor is that the judges such as Simon do more mentoring than critiquing. But the more I hear about this show I think of how similar it is to the Voice. How many of these are we going to have?

What is going on with Cheryl Cole though? I really wanted to see her on the X-Factor US version.

122 Million votes were cast last night which was 2 votes for every man woman and child living in America. It seems lots of teeny booper girls texted their votes in because I can’t Imagine how other way the cutesy Scotty could have won. His voice is way too deep to be an American Idol and the girl just did not have too much going for her not like Haley. American Idol just does not stack up to the Voice this year.. so on to the Voice and the X-Factor we go. American Idol will be forgotten soon enough!

Beginners opens in select cities on June 3rd. This film is based on writer/director Mike Mills’ real-life relationship with his father, who came out as a gay man late in life.

There are two stories this week that have captured my imagination, and the imaginations of millions around the world too.

First up, we have the rather interesting suggestion that today (Saturday 21st May 2011) is Judgment Day. 6pm Pacific time, to be exact.

Now, you can forget thoughts of Cybernet and don’t be worrying about Sarah and John Connor, it’s not a Man-Made apocalypse where the machines turn against us. In any case, if it were I would be doomed and you along with me because we’re all connected to our potential enemy as you read this.

This is all the making of one man, a man who believes that he has “deciphered” the date of “The Rapture” – in the Biblical sense.

89 year old Harold Camping (you don’t need to look him up, just imagine an old guy with an imaginary friend and a book of stories that he likes to smack people around the head with – metaphorically of course) is the guy proclaiming that he has managed to calculate that the Rapture will begin today. And he’s managed to convince his small band of followers that this is the case too.

For those who were too busy jerking off to the male underwear pages in the catalog to follow the family to church back in the day, the Rapture is the Biblical version of the traditional apocalypse story, the day when almighty God whisks 144,000 of the good people away to heaven and leaves the rest of us to suffer as the world ends in a blaze of glory. Presumably, all us gay folk are imagined to immediately break out into orgies, isn’t that what they think we all do? So call around your gay mafia gang, haul that leather fetish wear out from the back of the wardrobe, get the lube ready and grease yourself up.

There are a few problems with Mr. Camping’s prediction though, the main problem is that the Rapture is like a ninja operation, no one is supposed to know when it’s gonna happen. Just like the Ninja, it’ll sneak up on all of us when we least expect it, and we’ll be watching all the good Christian folk vanishing before our eyes (if that’s how it happens). The next problem is that he’s done this before and predicted that it would happen in 1994. And when it didn’t he asserted that he’d got his calculations wrong.

And in other news…

It seems that perhaps the Pope is heeding Mr. Camping’s words and seeking a get-out, just in case he isn’t among the 144,000 righteous people to be saved. You know, our past can come back to haunt us, and if there are only so many places on that big bus into the sky the Pope needs to make some other arrangements just in case his own Hitler youth history makes him less worthy.

Now, you might think me suspicious and a bit “tin-foil hat”, but when I think of the Pope and his wealth, I imagine that perhaps he might have a secret lair and one of those rockets able to jet him into space within an hour. Perhaps there’s a defunct church somewhere in Rome where the steeple opens up at the click of a button and we’ll see that rocket departing as the Rapture begins? Dan Brown eat your heart out!

The Pope certainly seems to be making his plans by calling up to the International Space Station and making friends with the only Humans who would survive it.

The conversation was broadcast, but I would imagine there was a section they didn’t show, the few minutes where he suggested that he might pay them a visit, at about 7pm today as a matter of fact.

I have a question… on October 22, 1844, William Miller and Samuel S. Snow predicted that this would happen, and their followers believed so desperately that they gave up all of their worldly possessions in preparation for it. So has Mr. Camping perhaps suggested that his small band of followers do the same? And did he open a bank account for them to wire all their soon-to-be-worthless cash to? If not, he’s missed an opportunity. Long live capitalism! lol

BTW, I was joking about the gay orgies. We don’t need a threat of the Rapture to have a good time.

I’ll see you at 7pm when we can all point and laugh, while wearing fetish gear and slipping off our computer chairs.

I was reading a very interesting post over on another blog recently about the seeming hypocrisy when it comes to us gay folk offending Christianity at every opportunity, while proclaiming unfairness and bigotry when we have the same in return. The article was quite effective, pointing out what – at first glance – seems to be a valid argument.

It is true that we do seem to do this on regular occasions – at queer events and in the gay media – with people dressing up and being lewd, cracking jokes and pointing fingers. And yet when we receive that same treatment from some maniacal preacher in more drag than Chi Chi LaRue we scream about it, plan boycotts, write letters and hold it up as an example of homophobia and bigotry.

So why can’t the Christian faith hold up our own dirty laundry and wave it around for all to see while we mock and cast judgment on an entire religious faith? After all, they have all the evidence they need in recent YouTube videos featuring “Hunky Jesus” at an Easter event in San Fransisco.

So what’s the deal, are we being hypocrites? Is it completely unfair for us to cry foul every time a Christian makes a statement on gay marriage or adoption while we continue to mock the Christian faith?

No, I don’t think so. And here’s why.

As far as I am aware, there is no organized, global gay group preaching that Christians are sub-Human and therefore deserve less involvement in society and fewer Human rights than them.

There is no gay organization that I have found demanding that Christians be put to death (I refer of course to Uganda where the Christian government are debating laws to imprison and potentially execute gay people).

There is no gay movement demanding unconstitutional changes intended solely to restrict the rights of Christians.

In my opinion, these three things alone are enough to excuse any and all slight offenses made by gay people against the Christian faith. Hell, we could be burning Bibles on the lawn of the Whitehouse and still excuse our obscene actions with such comparisons (do not attempt to do this, it is an extreme example intended to point out the inequality of the abuses!)

So, as we have inequality in society, we also have inequality in “offenses comitted”. But personally, I am happy about that. I would rather we set the example and be as sweet as we can be without allowing the opportunity for them to throw the accusations back at us, because no matter how justified our responses and mild comical insults may be, and not matter how slight they appear in comparison to the injustices gay people face around the world at the hands of all organized religions, we should be better than them!

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/05/11/oooh-debate-offending-christianity/feed/ 1 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/04/27/summer-festival-prep/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/04/27/summer-festival-prep/#comments Wed, 27 Apr 2011 19:30:45 +0000 Conran http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2203 Following on from the last post focusing on camping, I thought it might be fun to explore the preparation for the coming festival-packed summer of fun ahead.

Whether you’re a camping enthusiast the rest of the year or prefer your breaks with a little more luxury, many of us venture out under canvas for at least a few nights in the summer when miniature cities spring up all over the country for a weekend of live music.

But of course, it’s not all about camping. There’s plenty more to consider before loading up your car and heading out hoping to relive your parents’ Woodstock stories – though perhaps with a little less chemical enhancement!

The necessities

There are a few things that we all absolutely need when we’re considering camping in a field with a few thousand other revelers, and they’re not your hair curlers or your laptop.

• Condoms. Yes, it’s shocking, thousands of people at festivals hook up, and many go tent-hopping for the weekend. You don’t want to be caught in that predicament of really wanting that boink but having to go hunting around the festival shops at 3am looking a box of rubbers.

• Wipes. Not all festivals have showers on site, and even when they are offered they are often out of order, very limited or far too busy. Having some damp wipes to give yourself a quick bath in your tent is preferable to having everyone around you asking what that smell is.

• Antihistamines. Most of us travel a few miles out of town to go to these events, and some of us even leave the country for a really good festival. While you might not have allergy symptoms at home, going to a new area with different plant life and possibly even a completely different climate can often surprise you with allergic reactions. Not everyone needs it, just ensure one person in your group has some.

• Sun Block. It might seem obvious, but plenty of people forget it, or think they’ll get it when they arrive. The next thing they know they’re waking up after their first afternoon drinking session of the festival severely burned and unable to move.

• Duct Tape. This is a lifesaver for those who unpack their tent to find a mouse has used a corner of it to raise their young, or when they poke one of the poles through the canvas in a drunken rage of ineptitude. Once that tent has a hole, you will be waking up either damp with dew or drowning after a sudden shower. A little duct tape is all that’s needed to make it good for the rest of the trip.

• Tissue/Toilet Paper. This stuff is like gold at a festival. Sellers know people need it and will charge extortionate prices if they have the chance. Make sure your group has enough to last you.

• Energy Sweets. Many festivals now give these out completely free in the UK, because they know that after a day or two people tend to start skipping bands and sticking by the tent while they recover from the night before. These little sweets can be all you need to get that energy back and get into the mood again.

• Cash. Even if the festival has a cashless system, you never know what might happen. You need to make sure you have enough cash to be able to travel at least a few miles to civilization if you absolutely have to.

Veterans advice

As someone who has been festivalling for more than nine years, I do feel like a bit of a veteran, and there are a few things I have picked up along the way which might be of use to the festival noob.

• Bandanna. If you have ever used a toilet at a festival you will probably know this little tip. If you have a bandanna or scarf, spray a little deodorant on it and cover your face before you enter that “pit of doom” and you’ll save yourself from either passing out through holding your breath, or passing out thinking about what travels with smells. Thankfully, the Victorians worked out that smells don’t generally make you ill. But it took them a while and we’re still not totally there.

• Valuables. Most festivals now offer a locker for a small fee. This is great, but it would be better if people didn’t bring expensive gadgets to show off. What do you need an iPhone for when a cheap disposable phone does the same? When sleeping, put all valuables inside the bottom of your sleeping bag, and make sure anyone you invite into your tent isn’t able to take any souvenirs with them when they leave. But maybe give them some underwear to remember you by if you’re that nice :)

• Sex. Perhaps not surprisingly, most people are open to experimenting at festivals. While you could join festival websites and meet other gay attendees you could visit with on site, you’d actually not have that much of a difficult time hitting on random people. Most won’t immediately be uninterested, if only because they feel they SHOULD be more daring. They might be straight or only slightly, privately, curious in their everyday life, but at a festival something strange happens and horniness often takes over.

• Neighbors. I have met so many fantastic and interesting people at festivals. The people who are camping around you are not just people, they are your neighbors if even for a short time. And you’re at the same event, so chances are good that you have a lot in common. Get to know them on the first day and you’ll probably find you have a very large crowd of fantastically funny people to party with for the entire stay.

Gay or straight, the festival experience is an amazing one, full of fun and excitement and new experiences. All it takes is a little common sense, an attitude of adventure and some incredible weekends can be had as a result. The summer is a time to get out there and enjoy everything there is for life to offer. Enjoy it, because very soon the snow and ice will return and we’ll all be locked up inside by the fire once again, dreaming of what we’ll do when the sun comes back.

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/04/27/summer-festival-prep/feed/ 0 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/04/23/lesbian-camping-guide/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/04/23/lesbian-camping-guide/#comments Sat, 23 Apr 2011 12:00:55 +0000 Megan http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2200 Whether you’re looking to rough it or plan on “glamping”, complete with proper bedding and a full kitchen, smart planning will make for a shiny happy outdoor adventure. Planning, packing and finding a queer friendly camp site to make sure your weekend in the woods is all good fun is key. You can choose gay owned or gay friendly campgrounds, look for private lesbian friendly campsites or opt for a queer camping adventure. You might also just take your chances on state parks or other campgrounds, but don’t count on a liberal and comfortable environment depending upon where you opt to camp. Options are available whether you opt for tent camping or your RV.

A good camping trip starts with planning. Consider who you’re camping with and everyone’s preferences when you decide between a tent and car-camping, a backwoods trip, or a comfy rented RV for the weekend. If she’s partial to four star hotels and you like roughing it with nothing but a bed roll, you’re going to have to find a middle ground to manage a trip that you can both enjoy. Even if you have to pack light, be sure to cover the essentials…like coffee. Most of us aren’t experienced enough for a backwoods camping trip or willing to spend the money on an RV, so need to find a campground with comfortable amenities, a welcoming atmosphere and hot showers.

If you’re looking for a lesbian-friendly campground, try gaycampers.com or campgayusa.com for listings of gay and lesbian owned or glbt friendly campsites. Keep in mind that some gay-friendly campsites are men-only. If you’re not sure, call before you plan your trip. There are a few women-only campsites scattered around the country if you’d prefer that environment. Keep in mind that some of these may be clothing optional or adult only, so might not be right if you’re camping with kids (or might be perfect if you’re looking for a relaxing and grown-up getaway). Take a look at colage.org resources forcamps if you’re hoping for a family camp out option or a summer camp for the young lesbian in your life (camps for kids with queer parents are also available).

Try an old fashioned summer camp adventure for adults, complete with swimming, arts and crafts and campfires at one of the gay and lesbian camp outs around the country. Camp Camp in Maine offers a traditional week at summer camp for gays and lesbians, while the somewhat controversial Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival remains a classic lesbian camping choice. Pride weekends around the country will offer companionship at gay-friendly campgrounds.

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/04/23/lesbian-camping-guide/feed/ 0 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/04/20/facebook-0-gay-activism-1/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/04/20/facebook-0-gay-activism-1/#comments Wed, 20 Apr 2011 19:35:18 +0000 Conran http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2192

Facebook caused global controversy recently when they decided, in all their infinite wisdom, to remove a photograph of two men kissing after it was flagged by some homophobes as being “offensive”. The moderator in question didn’t seem to see a problem with obeying the vocal minority who have a warped sense of reality and promptly complied, removing the said image from a page.

Conveniently, this story also ties in to my previous report on the homophobic incident in London, where two young men were evicted from a Soho pub by the landlord and landlady for being “obscene” and daring to share a kiss.

The page on Facebook was a blog entry by Richard Metzger, commenting on the incident. Want to see the offending pic?

I know! Disgusting isn’t it? How dare someone post such a “sexually suggestive” image on Facebook, and on a blog post about gay rights too!

It’s actually quite funny to think that a post about gay rights and homophobia toward a male couple kissing was targeted in this way by the Facebook staff. It’s not quite irony, but close to it.

The Sexually suggestive element of this image is purportedly what Facebook objected to, although I fail to see why this is any more sexually suggestive than any one of the billions of images there must already be on Facebook of heterosexual couples kissing. So is it only sexually suggestive if the couple are both male? How about if it were two women, I wonder how that would be viewed by the almighty overseers at FB?

Never fear though, because the gay community and their friends are here to help out when our clan is being abused unjustly. Before you could utter the words a-moderator-lost-their-job-today thousands of copies of the image flooded FB profiles and pages in protest at the move, forcing FB staff to eventually back down and apologize for what they called an error.

In what could be considered an unemotional retraction (perhaps even reluctant?) FB staff released an official statement on the matter, suggesting ““The photo in question does not violate our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and was removed in error. We apologise for the inconvenience.”

Well, in more emotive speak I would like to say SUCK MY BALLS FB!

A royal cock-up like that requires a little more than an unfeeling response after being pressured into making a U-turn.

What I would have expected would have been something along the lines of… “We are terribly sorry for this unfortunate incident. It was not our intention to suggest that we supported homophobia. While it is clear that some members of our vast staff may be considerably backward and unenlightened, FB itself supports diversity and equality. To adequately display our regret and assert our support for the GLBT community globally, we have made a $1m donation to Amnesty International in the names of the two gentlemen at the heart of this story.”

But no, apparently their PR people are paid less than that idiotic moderator responsible for this fiasco!

What do you think, were FB right to remove it? Should their apology have had more meat on the bones? Will a squirrel fall from a tree if you hit the trunk with a hammer?

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/04/20/facebook-0-gay-activism-1/feed/ 3 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/04/14/homophobia-in-our-gay-ye-olde-london/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/04/14/homophobia-in-our-gay-ye-olde-london/#comments Thu, 14 Apr 2011 17:00:54 +0000 Conran http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2185

There are certain places you might not want to go to in the UK if you happen to be a little, shall we say, “flamboyant”. But a pub in the heart of the capital, surrounded by passing gay customers is not somewhere you’d expect to be confronted by a splash of homophobic sentiment.

It might be fair to expect a little icy attitude in a mining town or a rural farming pub, but not in the capital of our country, surely?

For those who don’t know, Soho in London is the capital-of-the-capital when it comes to the gay scene. It’s right up there with Camden for the alternative and liberal. This little area of our fabulous city is the place we all go whenever we’re in town. In the summer it is the epicenter of everything in gay culture, pretty much.  The music is pumping, the men are often shirtless and the women are ogled by all the straight locals as they enjoy a cuddle on the grass.

The place is packed with bars and restaurants, and the majority display insignia and rainbow colors to signify their welcoming attitude. Statements like “Gay Friendly” and “Gay Owned and Operated” are not uncommon, because it makes sense to appeal to your largest target audience, doesn’t it?

The Landlord and Landlady of the John Snow pub in Broadwick street Soho don’t seem to think so. They must have so many customers that they can afford to throw out the poof’s and the queen’s. Or perhaps they just missed a marketing for dummies seminar that they really should have attended?

They certainly don’t seem too bothered about letting down their operator – the Samuel Smith Brewery – through embarrassment and the inevitable negative press this will gain them.

It all began late one night as two cute boys on their first date chose to stop by in the John Snow for a drink after their enjoyable dinner. Johnathan Williams and James Bull had been having a thoroughly nice evening by the sounds of things, nice enough to enjoy a little snogging at their table. Cheeky fellas.

Now what would normally be considered uneventful in a London pub – in Soho – appears to have upset the off-duty Landlord (is that like an off-duty cop?) who interrupted the pair and asked them to stop because they were “bothering him”. How seeing two people kissing can bother a person is anyones guess. Perhaps the fella was jealous, who knows?

They ignored the unhappy chappy and continued their drink, enjoying another peck on the lips before heading off, only to be confronted again by a woman in branded uniform claiming to be the landlady. Apparently she advised them that they had to leave because they were being obscene.

After leaving (while being guided by hands on lapels, no less!) a Police report was filed. It later emerged that a couple (straight no less!) were also asked to leave shortly after for daring to question the Landlord and Landlady’s attitude!

Wow, it’s a double whammy of professional ineptitude isn’t it?

The witnesses to this (lets call it what it is) bigotry, have stated that no one else seemed to mind the young male couple loving it up, all except for this one man, and apparently his partner too.

Despite the nastiness of the Pub staff, it’s refreshing to see another couple stepping forward to show their support. They didn’t have to say anything about it, they could have just done what many others do when they see racism, homophobia or general bigotry and just pretended it wasn’t happening. But they didn’t, they stood up for them.

And that is the Soho I know and love!

I guess it might be wise for the Samuel Smith Brewery to hire an expensive PR company in an effort to rectify the damage – this only happened on Wednesday 13th, but the damage to brand and reputation is spreading fast!

With just over two months until Soho is inundated with us “Obscene” people celebrating Gay Pride, they couldn’t have chosen a worse time to reveal their homophobia. The first week of July should be one of their busiest weeks of the year, and I have a feeling it won’t be.

If you happen to be attending this year, join me and we’ll pop in just to tell them that we’re heading to the Admiral Duncan instead :)

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/04/14/homophobia-in-our-gay-ye-olde-london/feed/ 1 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/04/07/gay-skeletons-whod-have-thought/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/04/07/gay-skeletons-whod-have-thought/#comments Thu, 07 Apr 2011 18:41:52 +0000 Conran http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2174

No jokes about finding gay skeletons in a closet. Although that’s quite deep and could spawn a meaningful story of youth lost through fear, that’s not what this is all about. I’ll save that for a later date.

A 5,000-year-old skeleton has been uncovered in the Czech Republic which seems to suggest that the remains were that of a gay man, transsexual or a male otherwise viewed by his society as female.

No, there were no feather boas, no male nurse uniform or hair stylist implements. Rather, researchers suggest that the burial of the body reflects traditions more associated to female members of society than males.
So here’s the “facts” part (which you should read instead of just taking my word for it)

Males were traditionally buried with food and drink (no beer cans reported as of yet), weapons and hunting tools, and their bodies laying on their right side with their heads facing West. Whereas women were buried on their left side facing East, surrounded by jewellery, their pets (which is really creepy, did they die together on the morning poop walk?) and cooking vessels. Notably, females were buried with an egg shaped container near their feet. Although not many of the typical items expected to be found with a female were present in this grave, there were no male-associated implements or offerings there either, only an egg shaped vessel.

Now it seems that no one really knows what that egg shaped thing means. But as they are traditionally buried with women, is it not fair to assume that this symbolises a mother figure? Someone noticed that birds lay eggs, they care for those eggs until they hatch and they are suddenly a mother. Therefore it’s fair to guess that this is where that egg shaped thing comes from, am I right?

Does this show that they had some confusion when deciding whether this person was male or female, or does it perhaps depict their place in society? It seems that this guy was not seen as a warrior or fighter, and it seems there were no hunting skills here either. So what did he do? What was his place in society?

You might not think it’s important. I mean, how does this minor discovery affect any of us? But there is at least one way in which this nameless guy can help us…

Think of the next time you meet a bigot. And now instead of using the same old “Look at the Romans” you can go back even further and say “Look at the Czechoslovakian cavemen!”

Okay, so it doesn’t quite have the same power, but it does show that the roles of gay people in society have always been on the mind. Even 5,000 years ago they were perhaps debating the role of gender and sexuality in society, and by the looks of things they were accepting it too. This man obviously had his place, he was respected enough to have equality, and there probably wasn’t even a fight to gain it. You’d think that if homosexuality was a punishable offence 5,000 years ago, this guy certainly wouldn’t have been buried with respect. In fact he would probably not have lived much beyond his teenage years.

I think that what it should remind us of most of all, is that – if this man was gay, which we don’t really KNOW (lets not out him just yet) – sexuality was never really a problem for numerous societies throughout the history of Mankind. Whether it’s a tribe in South America who encourage male mutual masturbation as a form of bonding, or the Greek warriors fighting alongside their male lovers while their wives worried at home, many societies throughout history never really considered what was right or wrong when it came to sex.

So when did things change? When did we suddenly “socially devolve” and decide that the right to sleep with another adult was open to public discussion and judgement?

Yep, I think we all know the answer to that, don’t we?

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/04/07/gay-skeletons-whod-have-thought/feed/ 0 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/04/05/zoosk-dating/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/04/05/zoosk-dating/#comments Tue, 05 Apr 2011 03:38:54 +0000 Megan http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2167 Dating and hook-up sites have been around for a while now and there are loads of them to choose from when you want to join an online community and maybe find that special person. I have to admit that I’d never heard of Zoosk (just their Facebook ads) before and so I thought I would give it a trial run. I started with the first basic page and followed the procedure for joining; and I thought you might be interested to know how it all works.

Its one of those sites where you need to register before you can do anything, but it took all of one minute to do this and cost me nothing. Enter a valid email address and make up a password, you get a validation email sent to you straight away, you click that, you go back to a new page and enter the two words, by way of a further anti-spam/hack measure, and there you go, you’re in.

So, step one was simple and fast. Step two was slightly more involved and here is where it is important to remember the number one rule of joining a dating/hook-up site: be honest. There is no point in putting you details down in such a way that you appear to be some kind of Greek good, or goddess, when you’re not – it will only lead to disappointment later. The first page of details is a simple one with the basics like your name, the name you want to be known by, your age and basic stats, and the ‘match’ you are looking for – this is a site for gay, straight, and bi folk, all sexualities are welcome. Some fields are required here, you have to fill them out, others are not and you can even skip the page if you want to. I won ‘two Zoosk Coins; for logging in, but as I’d not seen any other details about the site yet I had no idea what that meant.

Now you run through the other parts of the setting up process, your location, more about you, you can download a chat player for later use, you can upload photos, put down what your likes and dislikes are, tell your story and put in some answers to the ‘ice breakers’ questions, to give some more background., All this goes on your ‘date card.’

So far the process had been easy and simple and you can miss it all out if you simply want to explore the site. Finally getting round to the home page (I did have to set my location before I could do that), I had a search option already set for me, but I could change it, there was news on recent community posts, and some boxes showing me my profile status. There wasn’t much else here as the location I had chosen was obviously a quiet one, there were no local events posted, but had I been in, say, London there may have been loads. But I tried the search, to see if there was anyone else registered within 30 kilometres of where I lived. There were! (Exclamation mark because I am very remote.)

And what was nice here was that Zoosk works like a cross between a standard dating site and something like Facebook – I could send winks, and gifts, chat privately and send private emails. There are also various other ways to search, you’ve got a private email box, plenty of help and even safety tips for blind dating, you can report profiles and abuse, and there is a forum.

It’s all rather new here but obviously growing fast due to the free sign up – I wondered how they made their money, and then noticed that you can upgrade for premium services, have more activity and get further involved, but the prices were very reasonable.

But what I liked most about Zoosk, compared to other dating sites, is that it was well designed, easy to use and fast, and I found members who fitted my ‘match’ locally, and, considering where I live, that really is saying something.

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/04/05/zoosk-dating/feed/ 0 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/03/28/man-revealed-lady-gaga-johnnyweir/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/03/28/man-revealed-lady-gaga-johnnyweir/#comments Mon, 28 Mar 2011 00:04:07 +0000 Megan http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2146 Sources tell us that all the rumors are true behind Lady Gaga being a man. Is this supernatural music force a man, woman, transvestite, or could it be a twink? Since this is highly confidential information we took our time gathering the biggest expose ever. This Billboard #1 selling artist who keeps breaking records has been hiding in eggs and ready to come out Born This Way again as its true person… Johnny Weir.

You heard it here first. Lady Gaga is Johnny Weir. She not only is posing as a woman as Gaga but as a Twink figure skater appearing in the Winter Olympics and on Logo’s network with his own show.

“I am shocked no one has noticed this before since they are both Italians and offer some of the same features while moving the same gyrations,” Nathan Cappones, HoustonGayWeb.com.

Is this true? It’s like that Johnny Ray song… Who wants to know? Is it Johnny Ray? No It’s Johnny Weir as Lady Gaga and we just found out! What will this do for Lady Gaga’s career or Johnny Weir’s figure skating? Will this make things more complicated for he/she because people will expect bigger shows such as Ice skating at the Monster Ball’s and singing while he is ice skating? We do understand it is best to keep these two careers separate but we are glad to have seen you have came out and we can see you as not only a hot female entertainer who happens to be delicious but as a gay twink that has won medals. Who else can win Olympic Medals, Grammy’s, and MTV VMA Awards.

The controversy could be bad for some but we think Johnny Stephani Weir “Gaga” will be able to handle it and we should not Hold it against her that she was #BornThisWay.

Stay tuned to DailyDoseofQueer and GodLovesGays.com for breaking news. Last year we broke the story that Whole Foods was selling Organic Air.

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/03/28/man-revealed-lady-gaga-johnnyweir/feed/ 1 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/03/24/petshopboys-ballet/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/03/24/petshopboys-ballet/#comments Thu, 24 Mar 2011 01:39:42 +0000 Megan http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2163 Pet Shop Boys Neil Tennant & Chris Lowe put a new spin on Ballet dancing with the release of The Most Incredible Thing, out this week! Based on a Hans Christian Andersen story, The Most Incredible Thing is the electronic pop duo’s first-ever ballet production. This looks exciting and will get more people interested in going out to see ballet who would normally not be interested. With the Pet Shop Boys involved we may even see some clubbers doing ballet moves to their beats. See them discuss the new project and album here:

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/03/24/petshopboys-ballet/feed/ 0 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/03/17/jakeshears-scissorsisters-nude/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/03/17/jakeshears-scissorsisters-nude/#comments Thu, 17 Mar 2011 03:01:40 +0000 bipride http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2159 Currently touring with Lady Gaga on the Monster Ball tour are the fabulous Scissor Sisters. If you notice there is one hot shirtless man on stage who strips down to his thong before he leaves stage and you find yourself asking for more of him later. This would be Jake Shears who is currently also promoting a book.

Pictured is an outtake from photographer Tim Hailand’s One Day in the Life of Jake Shears photo book of Jake naked in the shower! The book which is out now gives fans a glimpse into the private life of the Scissor Sisters frontman. Jake provides his own text for the book, which also includes a special intro by Elton John and afterword by Kylie Minogue. A portion of proceeds of this book will benefit the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

Other books in Tim Hailand’s series include One Day in the Life of Rufus Wainwright and One Day in the Life of Daniel Radcliffe. A press release with more info is attached. All can be purchased at onedayinthelifeof.org.

In addition, Jake and Tim will be doing local book signings of One Day in the Life of Jake Shears together in Los Angeles and Atlanta. Info on the signings can be found below and in the attached invites.

We were lucky enough to get a copy of the backside of Jake Shears nude but you will have to get your own copy of the book to see his front side of the frontman. We know you are dying to see his package!

Los Angeles
Sunday, March 27
Bookmarc L.A. – 8407 Melrose Place
4:30pm – 6:00pm

Atlanta
Friday, April 8
Outwrite Bookstore – 991 Piedmont Ave
2:00pm – 3:00pm

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/03/17/jakeshears-scissorsisters-nude/feed/ 1 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/03/09/glees-matthew-morrison-premiers-%e2%80%9csummer-rain%e2%80%9d/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/03/09/glees-matthew-morrison-premiers-%e2%80%9csummer-rain%e2%80%9d/#comments Wed, 09 Mar 2011 16:54:52 +0000 Megan http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2157 Just a few weeks ago we were showing you images of this handsome teacher shirtless. Now the “Glee” star and Mercury Records artist Matthew Morrison has since premiered his debut single, “Summer Rain” on American Idol host Ryan Seacrest’s nationally syndicated morning radio show on KIIS-FM in Los Angeles. The official launch for “Summer Rain” at radio is scheduled for March 14th. And Matthew will perform “Summer Rain” live on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on April 6th; and on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on April 11th. Matthew Morrison’s “Summer Rain” is now available on iTunes.

“Summer Rain” was co-written by Matthew with Claude Kelly (Bruno Mars, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, to name a a few) and the Norwegian duo known as Espionage, who produced the track in New York City. Espionage (Espen Lind and Amund Bjørklund), are respected for their work with Train (this year’s Grammy Award-winning “Hey, Soul Sister,” iTunes’ top-selling song of 2010) and many others. “Summer Rain” is the first track from Morrison’s upcoming debut album, set for May 10th release.

Matthew Morrison is best known to millions as the eternally optimistic high school teacher and glee club director – Will Schuester, on the FOX television network’s runaway hit comedy series “Glee.” The show ranks as the #1 entertainment program on broadcast television among Adults 18-34, Teens and Female Teens. Probably #1 among GLBTQ since we seem to be addicted to this tear jerking and fun show. Even some of the music videos make it over to the LOGO channel.

Morrison has been nominated for Tony, Emmy and Golden Globe awards, and shared the 2009 SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Award for Best Performance by an Ensemble in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical, for “Glee.”

Morrison is no virgin to musical theatre, vocal performance and dance, which he studied at New York University’s renowned Tisch School of the Arts. His first big Broadway break came as heartthrob Link Larkin in the hit Hairspray. Morrison was later nominated for a Tony Award for his role in The Light in the Piazza. He received a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Musical for 10 Million Miles and also starred in the Tony Award-winning revival of South Pacific at New York’s Lincoln Center Theater.

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/03/09/glees-matthew-morrison-premiers-%e2%80%9csummer-rain%e2%80%9d/feed/ 0 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/03/04/greece-travel-blog/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/03/04/greece-travel-blog/#comments Fri, 04 Mar 2011 10:11:59 +0000 Megan http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2155 When you think of taking a holiday in Greece, do you think immediately about travelling to Mykonos? It’s the ‘gay island’ after all, isn’t it? Well, it was the island for the party set and it still is a great place to go for sun, sea and sand of course. But there is more to a holiday than just parties and men-watching. And there is more to Greece than just sun, sea and sand.

Have you ever heard of an island called Symi? (Also known as Simi.) Unless you are a seasoned island-hopper the chances are you may not have done. But this island, called ‘the jewel of the Dodecanese’ is one of the few, genuinely unspoiled destinations for the more discerning visitor. Why? Well for a star it is not typically Greek. It has only been Greek for about 70 out of the last 1,000 years or so. It has been under Turkish rule, Italian, German, British and, back in the middle ages, it was part of the empire of The Knights Of Saint John. Because of this it is rich in history, rich in tradition and stands out as one of the least expected Greek islands to visit.

Start in the harbour of Yialos, the main port, and you will see neo-classical architecture everywhere. That is thanks to the Italian influence, during the occupation between 1912 and 1942, and previously when the island was under Turkish rule but allowed to develop and be more or less independent. You will find that the many tavernas and bars here, the hotels and family run apartments, are looked after by friendly and welcoming people who will make you feel at home, treat you as a friend and make your visit a special one.

Climb the 300 plus steps, the ‘kali strata’ to the village of Horio and there you will find an even more traditional atmosphere. There are not so many bars up there, a few tavernas of the traditional kind, some shops and many stunning views are to be found. And what makes this village special is that it has remained very traditional. There are many ruins still, along the narrow winding lanes, left over from the turbulent history of the 20th century, and it is in these lanes that you are more likely to be held up by a donkey-jam than a traffic-jam.

There is only one road on the island and it runs from the sleepy bay of Nimborio, trough the port, up the mountain and around the village. Take the bus across to the famous monastery of Panormitis, or down to the quiet, beautiful bay of Pedi and you are away from the hustle and bustle (if you can call it that) of Symi life.

Time stops still here. At least, if it has moved on then it has done so quietly. Yes, you can find internet cafés and yes the island has all the mod cons you would hope for, but the pace is slow, nothing is hurried and you can’t help but simply switch off and absorb the island. During my visit I spoke to several people who had found Symi by accident, and had fallen in love with it. They return year after year no matter what for what they call their ‘Symi fix’ and, after only a few days, I too was addicted.

Is it a gay island? Not especially, but it is one that will appeal to gay couples wanting to get away from the hedonistic bars and clubs of other islands and destinations. In fact, there are only a couple of nightclubs, though there are several late or all night bars if you are a stay-up-later. And then, in the morning, you have nothing to do but swim in the crystal clear Aegean Sea, take a stroll up to a silent monastery, walk through the inland forest, or simply sit in the village or harbour with a coffee and soak up the timeless atmosphere.

Getting there
There are several tour operators and independent companies operating on the island. The nearest airport is on Rhodes, 24 km by boat, and ferries travel between both islands each day during the summer.

Background and more information
Check out the island blog symidream.com/wp where a local author blogs on a more or less daily basis. There are photographs from the island photographer (who also has a small shop on the Kali Strata and is happy to chat and entertain as you browse the photos, cards and gallery), helpful links to the island’s history, suggestions of things to see and do, links to the travel companies, the weather and ferries, and everything you want to know about this secret paradise.

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/03/04/greece-travel-blog/feed/ 0 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/03/04/gay-marriage-greece/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/03/04/gay-marriage-greece/#comments Fri, 04 Mar 2011 10:01:32 +0000 Megan http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2151 A couple of years ago now there was something of a stir caused on the sleepy Greek island of Tilos. If you’ve never heard of Tilos then no one will blame you; it is far from Athens, in the Aegean, it’s only 63 sq km in size, and has a population of 300. Holidaymakers visit the island in the summer for its tranquillity and traditional way of life. Donkeys pass you in the lanes, fishing boats chug lazily around the coves and past the quiet beaches, and the pace of life is, well, slow to say the least.

So what happened back then to cause such an outrage and to push Tilos into the headlines on Greek national news? (And European news channels for a while too.)

A gay marriage took place. Actually, two gay ceremonies took place, and were presided over by the island’s mayor. So what? You may ask. Surely Greece is known for its tolerance of homosexuality? And that is where the ‘yes, but’ comes in.

Politically speaking the, now, old regime in charge of the country when Tilos hit the news, was opposed to same-sex marriage. The current government, PASOK, had presented proposals for the recognition of unmarried couples in the law, which covered both heterosexual and homosexual couples, but this made little headway. And add into the usual turmoil of Greek politics a law from 1982 that legalised civil marriage between ‘persons’ without referring to the gender of those persons and you’ve got a bit of a melting pot for disaster, or at least for confusion and mayhem, on which Greek administration seems to thrive. (And I have had first hand experience of it, so I feel able to say that.)

So, back in June 2008, Tassos Aliferis, the mayor of Tilos, defined the threat of prosecution dealt out by a top prosecutor and ‘married’ two gay couples. ‘Bravo sas’, as they say in Greece. That was certainly the reaction of one of the couples who were quoted as saying ‘From this day, discrimination against gays in Greece is on the decline.’ But sadly, that’s not the case. Yes, Greece was tolerant of same-sex relationship many hundreds of years ago, but these days it is a lot less so. You have to remember that the country is a very religious one, the church has a big say in things, families hold traditional religious values and no one likes a same sex scandal in their face, as it were. So, there was a great out-falling, the mayor was threatened with arrest, other islands who my have been poised to start conducting civil marriages put those plans on hold and the loop-hole that these two brave couples, and the mayor, had thought they could exploit wasn’t there anymore – or at least it is still up for debate and, in the meantime, civil rights, and the same sex partnership issue rumble on through the country.

So, was it all a publicity stunt to improve tourism for the island as some people suggested? And what happens next? Well, whether it was a publicity stunt or not Tilos did get into the news for a while, but there have been no reports that gay folk have been flocking there since, and it’s not set to become a second Mykonos any time soon. And that, by the way, isn’t as ‘gay’ an island as people think it is – it was but now…? Now tourism is a big issue in the country as that is what it relies on for most of its economy, so, tempting gay visitors to come and spend some pink pound seems like a good idea to me.

And as for current and future legislation? Well, I trawled through as many news rooms and sites, political agendas and papers and I could bear to, and, in the last few days, have not seen anything to suggest that the current government are going to act on the lack of human rights that same sex couples currently have, or don’t have. Maybe the government are taking a break at the moment…on Tilos perhaps?

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/03/04/gay-marriage-greece/feed/ 2 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/02/18/new-yorkers-get-arrested-for-marijuana-possession-more-than-any-other-crime/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/02/18/new-yorkers-get-arrested-for-marijuana-possession-more-than-any-other-crime/#comments Fri, 18 Feb 2011 00:58:18 +0000 Megan http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2140 Seriously what is the deal with all the marijuana arrests in this country? Do you really think it is making any sense any more for this drug to be criminalized. Actually let’s get this right in the first place and call it not a drug but a PLANT. In NYC the 2010 Marijuana Arrests Top 1978 to 1996 total. The reform of drug laws is needed now than ever with all the killings in Mexico, the violence that could be prevented, overdosing of prescription drugs, and over-crowding of jails which is bankrupting municipalities.

More people were arrested last year in NYC on charges of marijuana possession than during the entire 19-year period from 1978 to 1996, according to an analysis released this morning by the Drug Policy Alliance. Last year was the sixth year in a row that marijuana possession arrests increased where a staggering 50,383 people were arrested. This is according to a report recently released by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services and obtained by the policy alliance.

The new figure adds up to 140 arrests a day which makes marijuana possession the leading reason for arrest in New York City. This also makes an 8 percent increase over 2009 and a 69 percent increase since 2005 according to the alliance.

From1978 to 1996, there were 49,326 marijuana possession arrests according to a sociology professor at Queens College and an expert on marijuana enforcement. The increased enforcement is due to harsher enforcement not to increasing consumption.

“Over the last 20 years, N.Y.P.D. has quietly made arrests for marijuana their top enforcement priority, without public acknowledgment or debate,”

the alliance said.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg more conservative than we thought? The policy alliance claims there have been about 350,000 arrests for marijuana possession since he took office in 2002. 70% of those arrested are younger than 30.

Isn’t having possession a violation or a slap on the wrist? Possession of less than 25 grams of marijuana has been a violation, not a jailable crime in New York since 1977. It is when you have pot “open to public view” that it is a crime. The advocates are saying that many people who simply have marijuana in their pockets are charged with having the drug “in the open” after officers order them to empty their pockets.

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/02/18/new-yorkers-get-arrested-for-marijuana-possession-more-than-any-other-crime/feed/ 0 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/02/17/facebook-adds-civil-unions-domestic-partnerships/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/02/17/facebook-adds-civil-unions-domestic-partnerships/#comments Thu, 17 Feb 2011 23:48:13 +0000 Megan http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2138 We are glad to see these changes from Facebook especially because they are the most popular site right now and can set an example. Now the choice will be to call your partner a civil union, domestic partnership, open relationship, married (just like the straight couples), or it’s complicated.

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the nation’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) media advocacy and anti-defamation organization, today applauded Facebook for adding ‘In a Civil Union’ and ‘In a Domestic Partnership’ options to user profiles. The option is now available for users in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Australia.

“Today, Facebook sent a clear message in support of gay and lesbian couples to users across the globe,” said GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios. “By acknowledging the relationships of countless loving and committed same-sex couples in the U.S. and abroad, Facebook has set a new standard of inclusion for social media. As public support for marriage equality continues to grow, we will continue to work for the day when all couples have the opportunity to marry and have their relationship recognized by their community, both online and off.”

GLAAD was among the organizations that met with Facebook to advocate for this change. In October 2010, Facebook partnered with GLAAD and other national LGBT organizations to create “Network of Support,” an educational initiative that works to combat anti-LGBT cyberbullying. GLAAD also worked with Facebook to reshape the way that the site responds to hateful, anti-LGBT comments posted on public pages.

One major thing that Facebook and other companies may gay from this new drop down box of options for married gays and lesbians is the niche marketing. They will now be able to find and market to the gays and lesbians who are in long term relationships and towards those who can buy their products and services. That is one exciting niche.

Facebook’s “Network of Support” is comprised of five leading LGBT advocacy organizations in conjunction with MTV’s “A Thin Line” campaign, including GLAAD, GLSEN, HRC, PFLAG and The Trevor Project.

Follow our friends on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/GayBlog

http://www.facebook.com/frugalgay

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/02/17/facebook-adds-civil-unions-domestic-partnerships/feed/ 0 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/02/17/xy-magazine-is-back-from-the-dead/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/02/17/xy-magazine-is-back-from-the-dead/#comments Thu, 17 Feb 2011 00:32:33 +0000 Megan http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2135 You rarely see something return from the dead as many times as this magazine pulls itself back but to our surprise XY.com and XY Magazine are back in 2011.  XY has been gone so long that it makes me wonder if the latest “generation” knows about XY magazine or if they would even buy a magazine.  The magazine has always had a great focus of great articles geared towards gay youth and sparking their interest by feeding them soft porn.  It actually does a service helping gay youth feel better about themselves and making the rest of us feel older.  Thanks XY.  I think the domain name XY.com itself could be worth a few million and am shocked they did not sell out to a big domain broker or a corporation.  I am surprised AOL did not buy XY they seem to have bought everything else that has been collapsing online and they used to have a big partnership with XY Magazine inside the slow AOL software you would just type keyword XY and the teen zine would pop up. Neato Frito!

We are excited to see this mag makes its comeback and who knows maybe they will learn how to make money with the iPad in existance as we are seeing other magazines and newspapers make comebacks on the digital pad.  If there is an app for the XY teen publication then they may be “into it” otherwise it will probably just bomb and go bankrupt or disapear once again.  We did notice one neat thing in their new format is they have a blog on their XY site now and a magazine cover maker where you can put your pic on the cover once you upload it puts the image over you and your name. 

See our suggestions on gay apps for your iPad or iPhone and read our articles on XY Magazine here.  IF you are a gay teen then check out our reads on gay bullying and what you can do about it.

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/02/17/xy-magazine-is-back-from-the-dead/feed/ 0 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/02/15/can-advertising-be-sexy-and-cute/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/02/15/can-advertising-be-sexy-and-cute/#comments Tue, 15 Feb 2011 12:58:44 +0000 bipride http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2133 The new Hollister canvas outside in the malls is definitely something that makes you take a better look.  It is not only the cutest pic of a hot surfer boy and his dog but it shows him shirtless giving us a tease of maybe those jeans hes wearing.  Or maybe just those hollister boxer briefs and flip flops.  I can tell you that sex sells but in this case it is the cuteness of the surfer and his dog that is catching our eyes.  What does fashion hold for the Spring of 2011 for gay teens and younger lesbians?  PacSun, Hollister, Hurley hats?  barefoot, boots with shorts, rolled up jeans, flip-flops?  Bring on the Spring Fashion for 2011!

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/02/15/can-advertising-be-sexy-and-cute/feed/ 4 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/02/03/purple-sea/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/02/03/purple-sea/#comments Thu, 03 Feb 2011 07:34:01 +0000 Megan http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2131 Coming to DVD is the love story some of you have been waiting for just in time for Valentines Day. No plans yet? Make sure you have this in hand ready to put in the DVD player the movie Purple Sea.

From the novel Minchia di Re by Giacomo Pilati comes a scandal hidden in 19th century Sicily between two young women, Angela and Sara. Angela isn’t like other girls her age, she fears nothing and nobody. She can’t hide her feelings for Sara. To maintain the forbidden relationship, she changes her outward appearance to disguise herself as a man. The chains that had imprisoned her existence suddenly disappear and she becomes powerful, but in her heart she never denies her identity as a woman. As intense and compelling as only young love can be, the two women challenge the rules of society in order to be together.

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/02/03/purple-sea/feed/ 0 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/02/02/lesbians-issues/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/02/02/lesbians-issues/#comments Wed, 02 Feb 2011 02:12:05 +0000 Megan http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2129 Issues that Lesbians Face in 2011

With a new year under way the lesbian community has an agenda of issues to explore. Most of these issues are carried over from previous years. Some of them may be settled in 2011 while others will most likely be carried on into future years. For example, at the front of the gay rights movement, affecting both lesbians and gays, the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” rule has now been thrown in the garbage can where it belonged for many years. Even so, this was an issue that took a number of years to address and to solve. It can now be crossed over the “to do” list.

Another similar issue, that still remains with the lesbian community, is workplace discrimination. Of course there is a federal law in place that discrimination is illegal; however, let us face it, if a well-dressed woman walks into an upscale dress shop for an interview, followed by a dyke dressed in Levis and a flannel shirt along with her hair cut as short as possible – is there any question as to which lady will be offered the job? Although sex discrimination is against the law it is still a part of our culture. It is an issue that has been fought for many years before and an issue the lesbian population will face in the years ahead. Related to this issue is workplace discrimination. Nearly half of the states in America do not have laws that bans workplace discrimination based on a persons sexual orientation. The lesbians living in our country need to have a uniform policy that assures them that they will not suffer from workplace discrimination.

Family, relationships, and marriage are also issues that have faced the lesbian community for a number of years; unfortunately these same issues will most likely be with us in 2011 as well as into the future. Two women raising a child together still remains different, in the opinion of society, opposed to the customary husband and wife. Two women attending a PTA meeting, representing their child, still offers some uncomfortable moments for most female couples opposed to the husband and wife couple. Even the children of a lesbian couple continue to be discriminated against at school once it is learned that s/he has two mothers opposed to one mother and a father.

Naturally, at the top of the list of family, relationships, and marriage issues is that of gay marriage. Many lesbians have actually moved to different states or to different countries – places that accept gay marriages. This is a major political issue that remains in the forefront. Women want the same guarantee of rights as any married couple. The question remains: why shouldn’t they?

Those lesbians under age, still in high school for example, continue to be bullied and harassed. This makes it extremely difficult for a teen lesbian to function at school as well as in society. This discrimination is felt not only at school but in public as well. If the young lesbian chooses to dress in a less then feminine manner, wear her hair shortly cut, and so forth, she will most likely suffer from discrimination. This is a major issue in 2011 but hopefully it is an issue that will be extinguished one day in the near future as young people learn to understand and try to deal with differences in people.

Health care is also an important issue that lesbians must deal with in 2011. Unfortunately, this has to deal mostly with misinformation and inadequate information the medical care community has as well as the homophobia among some health care providers. These issues have led to an increased rate of suicidal behavior among lesbians as well as in stress related chronic illnesses. The lesbian community is making an effort to address many of these issues by supporting medical research in such areas as rates and risk factors of cancers, infections, and diseases among lesbians. There is also a widespread effort to gain access to the health care system. There is the need to address lesbian family issues as well as mental health concerns of lesbians.

The new year will most likely offer a continued struggle that lesbians will face in order to be heard; however, little by little they are making the guarantee that they will eventually be heard.

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/02/02/lesbians-issues/feed/ 0 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/01/28/top-lesbian-ipad/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/01/28/top-lesbian-ipad/#comments Fri, 28 Jan 2011 23:53:18 +0000 Megan http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2127 An IPad is a great way to keep up with everything current. It makes reading the news, checking your Facebook and reading the literary greats a breeze. It is also a great way to stay culturally aware. There is such a growing gay community that it is easy to get lost in the world of blogs, news stories and advice columns and while there are some really great writers out that that the gay community can relate to, such as Dan Savage and Dave Sedaris, there are several ‘classics’ that should definitely not be missed either. An IPad makes reading these greats easy and accessible. Below you will find a list of the 10 classic books that every lesbian should download on their IPad.
1. Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
This 1973 novel really broke ground in the gay and lesbian world. It tells of a lesbian love story and incorporates humor and an “everydyke” quality. It was one of the first novels of its kind to blatantly address lesbianism.
2. Fingersmith by Sarah Walters
This 1980 novel has so many plot twist in this historical fiction you won’t be able to put it down. It has been compared to the writing styles of Charles Dickens only with erotic lesbian sex scenes and a sweat shop pumping out pornographic texts.
3. Patience and Sarah by Isabel Miller
This novel written in 1969 is a historical novel and explores issues like a young women’s first foray into lesbian sex, cross dressing and leaving home to find herself.
4. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flagg
If you have ever seen the more you probably would have no idea about the lesbian relationship between the 2 main characters of the movie. Reading it, you have no choice but to notice with all the seduction, love making and food fights.
5. Crybaby Butch by Judith Frank
This is a newer novel written 2004 and tells the story of 2 parallel lives of butch women that have crossed each other’s path. The story is beautifully written and the characters are strong and compelling.
6. Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg
This story is a little more traditional and is an autobiographical novel. It was the breakout book of its genre and revealed the secretes of the butch culture before it became socially acceptable.
7. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
This 1981 novel depicts the Biblical analogies and accuses religion, convservative culture and has a way of leaving writers baffled from reading this semi-autobiographical novel.
8. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
This 1982 novel has been required reading for many high schools. It is not directly about lesbianism but rather suggested sexual sparks between Shug and Celie. Walker’s writing style is engaging and thought provoking and after reading this book it is easy to see why it has been so well loved by people of all sexualities and generations.
9. Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
Dorothy Allison is a lesbian writer who has created a memorable character in Bone. The book tells the good, bad and ugly of the deep South and the choices that are made in order to be who they are and also save themselves.
10. Crocodile Soup by Julia Darling
This is a modern novel set in England where Darling gives us a look into the life of Gert, who after mending a broken heart is ready for love again. It has a dark sense of humor and has a cast of oddballs that make it so enjoyable and intriguing.

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/01/28/top-lesbian-ipad/feed/ 0 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/01/23/gay-doritos-superbowl-commercial/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/01/23/gay-doritos-superbowl-commercial/#comments Sun, 23 Jan 2011 22:16:55 +0000 bipride http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2125 It looks like a typical or shall we say stereo typical gay Sunday brunch outside with two guys lounging by the pool grubbing on Doritos brand chips. Lets not forget that the chips are not your typical Doritos they are gay Salsa Verde in a pink fabulous bowl and Margarita’s with straws of course. The gay guys in this commercial with their legs crossed and cut off jean short shorts look like they are in a George Michael ‘Faith’ video from the early 90s. I am just not sure if i know any gay guys that wear jean short shorts I would see it better with them wearing Andrew Christian or Aussie Bums. And where are the Prada or Gucci sunglasses? Really two gays in the backyard and no designer sunglasses?

As for the peeping Tom or George whatever his name is in the flannel I assume he is the in the closet gardening husband at least according to the mmm hmm remark made by that gorgeous man crunching on Doritos. The wifey comes out there while he is pruning and starring into the big pink Doritos bowl fantasizing about them being in his mouth so he can get his wet lips around them. Although in those shots it shows the tanned legs of the guy in the backyard while he is grabbing for the chips.

This may be a little too gay for the Superbowl Demographic. I am sure this will cause a stir if it is aired like the Doritos commercial that was going to air that involved a Catholic priest. Judging from the things I have heard going on in Dallas this year at the Superbowl it could be the gayest Superbowl yet.

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/01/23/gay-doritos-superbowl-commercial/feed/ 1 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/01/15/gay-politics-2011/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/01/15/gay-politics-2011/#comments Sat, 15 Jan 2011 07:00:07 +0000 Megan http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2117 There are many legal and political issues that the LGBT community faces in the United States that need to be continually addressed. Lambda legal is dedicated to these issues, and have been for quite some time now. They are the largest and oldest such organization in the United States and have helped the LGBT community make great strides politically and legally in the past few decades alone. Most notably of late is the Gays in the Military issue that has been at the forefront of the gay rights movement. Acceptance of homosexuality has always been an uphill battle, and Lambda Legal as well as the HRC work hard to to make it easier.

One of the longest running issues that the LGBT community has faced has been workplace discrimination. While there is a federal law in place that businesses cannot discriminate against people in their hiring process based on a persons sexual orientation, there are no laws in roughly half the states that bans workplace discrimination based on a persons sexual orientation. There needs to be an even, across the board, representation of sexual discrimination laws that cover every aspect of a persons employment. From the hiring process, to the actual time of employment, and to the time of an actual discharge of said employment. Currently there is no across-the-board, uniform policy, and we are working hard to change that.

Laws regarding family, relationships, and marriage have been a high priority of ours for going on 40 years now, with the specific issue of marriage leading the way. We have been fighting hard to protect families since the 1970′s when a lesbian mother,who was a foster mother, regained custody of her children with the help of Lambda Legal when the appropriate state agency took them away. In the same time frame we helped a father who was gay get the legal right to visit his children after a legal divorce. Same sex relationships and marriages without children have also gotten our attention and help through the years in regards to obtaining the same health benefits that heterosexual couples get. There are many different legal rights that we try to obtain for same sex partners and we have learned through the years that you have to start small if you want to get to the top of that legal hill.

The youth of our country is also a big concern for us. Bullying in general in our public schools has been on the rise lately, but with gay students this is labeled as harassment for it is based on a persons sexual orientation. Being a teenager these days is hard enough, but being a gay teenager in this society is extremely difficult, and the pressure they can feel from their peers is not only felt in school, but in out-of -home care facilities as well. We have made a lot of legal strides with the public schools in our country to make them a more safe and open environment for gay students. Out-of -home care facilities such as foster homes and juvenile detention centers are also hotbeds for sexual discrimination, and we keep active in those areas as well.

Our legal teams and political activists have been working overtime for decades now to help ensure equal rights for everyone in the LGBT community. With your financial help we will be able to do even more. Organizations such as the HRC also help make life in general for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans-gender individuals better on a legal and political level. For example the HRC helped in the State Departments decision to modify the application process for a child to obtain a passport. The information on the parents now ask for “father or parent 2” or “mother or parent 1″, instead of simply “father” or “mother”. We believe that the mere acknowledgment of the different family structures here in the U.S. will lead to the acceptance of them.

With your donations to help with our legal and political work, we can all help ensure a more fair and balanced way of life for us all.

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/01/15/gay-politics-2011/feed/ 0 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/01/14/barry-diller-party-boys/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/01/14/barry-diller-party-boys/#comments Fri, 14 Jan 2011 07:39:46 +0000 Megan http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2113 The former CEO of IAC recently resigned so that the Match.com CEO could take over the business and get things moving more aggressively but before all of this happened Barry has been having some fun with the boys. You have to hand it to Mr. Diller that being on top of the world is not just being the boss man at Match, Ask.com, Excite, Vimeo, ServiceMagic, The Daily Beast, CitySerach, Reference.com, and College Humor. He likes to hang with the hottest of the A-list and have some fun with the boys. Move over Hugh Hefner we have Barry Diller.

From what we see here it seems that Gawker was out to get Barry Diller. They may have went a little too far in their TMZ or Perez Hilton type reporting. Then again someone has to go after the CEO’s and they did not get too dirty but they did go a little far putting up all the pics and stalking his Facebook account. I mean can a person have a Facebook account these days and get some privacy? The poor guy only had 50 or so friends he could trust to befriend on Facebook and he must have had a media snake in there somewhere because they sure knew what he was up to.

Barry Diller was photographed with many hot boys including some blond twins during Thanksgiving. Now he is known for spending money but he makes a lot of money as one of the top CEO’s although his companies and websites are not growing as they should for the amount he is being paid. Wait back to the Thanksgiving Weekend.. isn’t the White Party Weekend? Why were they not in Miami? Oh they had their own private area to play in the yacht!

Bryan Fox one hottie and Arturo Diaz the club promoter who he hung out with. It seems he has great taste in boys but needs to do some upgrades on some of his websites. The reporters involved in the Gawker uncovering were Ryan Tate and Brian Moylan.

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/01/14/barry-diller-party-boys/feed/ 0 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/01/14/hiv-crimes-laws-wrong/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/01/14/hiv-crimes-laws-wrong/#comments Fri, 14 Jan 2011 07:26:46 +0000 Megan http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2111 It seems there has to be something done here with all these states and countries taking action against what they perceive as people having unprotected sex or having sex at all. Some of these laws come down to hate and discrimination against gays or those with HIV. It should be pretty plain and simple if you have sex with someone and you do not use protection then its your fault as well. You can’t go blaming someone for not knowing their status or what STD they might have.

If you have had multiple sex partners then how can you go around blaming all of them or even blaming one person. We always want to blame someone for things we have done but this is something that is preventable if you take the proper steps. The choice to bareback comes with consequences for some and others just get lucky but when two people are having consensual sex then the questions or tests should be done before the sex not after.

States having HIV lists which I am sure are online somewhere or they probably will have iPhone apps with these telling you when someone with HIV walks in the door. We have gone so big brother these days even with things like HIV. It is offensive that there is an HIV list. Just because someone has HIV they do not deserve to be on some list with a scarlet letter on them. They have not committed a crime for having a virus and the person who gave it to them unless they did not consent did not either.

Of course this is a very touchy subject if someone gets an STD they are quick to blame someone. I cant imagine anyone who would want to purposely give someone an STD or HIV. It is crazy to me to think someone should be put on some public list like some type of criminal. The laws in this country and even the ones where the Wiki Founder was arrested are out of control aimed at HIV and Sex. Sex has always been such a subject the media likes to blow out of proportion as you see here this article at the Body tells it best. HIV is being turned into a crime. Not the rapist or the pedophile or the real criminal but it is the HIV which with laws like we are seeing are turning carrying HIV into a crime. With HIV being a crime this could hurt prevention and testing efforts as you can see here:

Most of the cases prosecuted around the world have not actually focused on criminal HIV transmission, but rather on exposure to the risk of transmission. These cases often hinged on whether or not someone with HIV had informed their sexual partner — sometimes a one-night stand, sometimes a long-term partner or spouse — that they were HIV-positive before having sex that may — but may not — have risked HIV transmission.

Very few cases have involved people who truly intended to harm anyone. That’s the ‘line in the sand’ that most experts, including UNAIDS, have agreed fulfill the criteria of when it is justified to prosecute allegations of criminal HIV transmission. Rather, what most of these cases boil down to is perceived responsibility for HIV prevention. Research suggests that most HIV transmission takes place during sex between two consenting adults, neither of whom is aware that one them is living with HIV.

Have such laws and prosecutions reduced the number of new infections? There is absolutely no evidence that they have. Have they made more people with HIV disclose? There’s no evidence there, either. However, there is some evidence that HIV-specific criminal laws and prosecutions for non-disclosure have made people who are at risk of HIV, and who expect to be told if their sexual partner is HIV-positive, feel more secure, even though this is a false sense of security. And there’s little doubt that these laws and prosecutions have further increased the stigma associated with HIV, sometimes making people living with HIV feel even more insecure about disclosing — the very thing expected of us.

-The Body’s Edwin Bernard

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/01/14/hiv-crimes-laws-wrong/feed/ 0 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/01/11/la-cage-aux-folles-discount-code/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/01/11/la-cage-aux-folles-discount-code/#comments Tue, 11 Jan 2011 08:14:52 +0000 Megan http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2109 We have scored you a discount code for La Cage Aux Folles, Winner of the 2010 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival. This offer is good for tickets as low as $47 and is valid for performances through April 3rd, which means it can be used now, to see Kelsey Grammer & Douglas Hodge through February 13th, or it can be used to see Jeffrey Tambor & Harvey Fierstein in the months that follow.

To redeem this offer simply visit: broadwayoffers.com
Or to order by phone, dial (212) 239-6200 and mention code SAVE19

They recently took a video of the door girl hoping to interest you in La Cage.

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/01/11/la-cage-aux-folles-discount-code/feed/ 0 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/01/07/gay-soccer-players/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/01/07/gay-soccer-players/#comments Fri, 07 Jan 2011 00:23:55 +0000 bipride http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2107 I bet we can all think of a soccer player or two who we would like to be gay. But how many ‘out’ gay soccer players are there and who are they? The important word there is ‘out.’ If you take the generally agreed statistic of ‘one in ten’ people being gay, then there should be at least one gay payer per team, and at least two gay players in any one match at any time. And then when you count the number of teams in even one country, say Great Britain, you should be looking at enough gay players to fuel every locker room fantasy you’ve ever had.

But, we come back to that word again; who many are actually ‘out’ and how many are just being given the gossip treatment? The first ‘non-out but possibly gay ‘cos we’d like him to be at the moment’ soccer player must be Cristiano Ronaldo. I tracked down some info on him which may or may not be true when asking the question ‘is Cristiano Ronaldo gay?’ on a few Q & A sites. The answer? Well, the closest I got to what might be true was someone saying that when they lived next door to him, when he was younger, it was known in the village that he was bi-sexual but preferred women to men, whatever that means.

All the other sites I saw on this subject were, more or less, simply trying to fulfill our fantasy, that CR is gay and would one day appear on our doorstep and want to leap into bed with us. Some were funny, there were edited interviews, snap-shots of him just happening to look at another guy and so on, but the answer, sadly, probably is that no, he is not.

So enough of who we’d like to be but who isn’t a gay soccer player? Who is actually out? As far as I can tell, none of them!

According to Zimbio.com, Xisco is ‘England’s first gay soccer player.’ Which is actually not true. Justin Fashanu came out while playing professional football, found life tough in the sport as a gay man, finding that ‘footballers are very narrow-minded people’ as he put it in an interview, and killed himself in May 1998. This act did a little raise the awareness of homosexuality in football, but it’s still not the done thing to be out. So maybe Xisco is one of the first to come out in recent years, he’s certainly not the only gay player. “Francisco Jiménez Tejada Xisco has become the first openly gay soccer player in England’s Premier League. Xisco isn’t completely out, but his secret has now been revealed. The 22-year-old Spanish striker currently plays for Newcastle United.” zimbio.com

Ah, but there is a catch here. Apparently Xisco is only out because photos of him kissing other guys have appeared on the net. One online commentator said, ‘Francisco Jiménez Tejada, the Spanish soccer player known to fans as Xisco, has become the first openly gay soccer player in England’s Premier League. Whether he likes it or not.’ (querty.com)

So, that’s two soccer players who may or may not be gay. Why is it so hard to discover these facts? Well, as Fashanu implied, it’s a pretty narrow-minded game. And, when you look at soccer fans (and players) you can see where he was coming from. Those thousands of men who line the terraces every Saturday, acting all macho and threatening, yelling and cheering on their teams, they don’t mind if guys hug and kiss on the pitch, but if they suspected they did that in a bedroom, well, that’s the end of that player’s career.

All a bit hypocritical if you ask me, especially if we take the one in ten rule again and divide 30,000 fans on the terraces by ten. That’s 3,000 gay fans every Saturday in one stadium alone. Watching at least two gay players, while condemning gay men…

Bottom line; there are, there must be, gay soccer players out there, but it is not a sport and environment where it is safe or advisable to come out.

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2011/01/07/gay-soccer-players/feed/ 2 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/12/18/gay-greek-weddings-and-shocked-donkeys/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/12/18/gay-greek-weddings-and-shocked-donkeys/#comments Sat, 18 Dec 2010 02:57:14 +0000 bipride http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2103 A couple of years ago the mayor of Tilos, a small Greek island in the southern Aegean, married two gay couples. And found himself at the centre of a great hullabaloo. You see, although Greece is still part of the European Union and although everyone knows that homosexuality was (many years ago) an acceptable part of Greek culture, and even though it’s widely accepted that most Greek men are at least bisexual, it is still illegal to be married to someone of the same sex in Greece, the cradle of civilisation.

Actually it’s not illegal, but it is not legal either – the law is vague and there is a loophole, which is how come the Tilos mayor married the couples. And also how come he was then arrested. The church was up in arms, and the fall out was on the scale of a Greek tragedy. The current government, the left wing PASIOK administration had been trying to get civil partnerships through on the policy agenda when they were the opposition. But since taking power they’ve still not done anything about it. They’ve got too much to worry about with the country’s economy no doubt. And while all that’s going on, there are couples who would love to marry in the country but can’t.

So what’s to be done? Well, two writers have come up with the answer and it takes the form of a film.

‘Shocking the Donkeys’ by writers Jack Rousseau and James Collins is a screenplay and has been picked up by an independent British Film company, who are hoping to film it in 2011. To be a little more precise, it’s a comedy of manners, with a cast of stunning Greek guys and old ladies. The plot centres around a traditional Greek yaya (grandmother) whose only grandson lives in America. She is delighted to learn that he is returning to his home island of Kalados to get married and sets about putting everything in place; the wedding dress, the church arrangements, the reception, the banns, the paperwork, and she gets the whole village behind her. As the boat pulls in, bearing her grandson and his intended, she brings the villagers down to meet them… and discovers that the ‘bride to be’ is actually another man.

That’s where the comedy really kicks in as the main character, the yaya, does everything she can to a) get the boyfriend off the island and b) turn her gay grandson straight. But does she succeed? Well, I’m not going to spoil the plot for you, but you can rest assured there are going to be tears and laughter along the way.

I checked out the official blog for this movie project which I found at symidream.com/movie and learned quite a lot. Not only is the blog kept up to date with what’s happening with the project, but there are interesting tips for screenplay writers there too. You get a good insight into the process of writing and it’s not as straightforward as you might think. On this project the writers spent seven months planning and building the structure of the plot. Writing movies is all about structure you see, there are many levels to a script, things that went on before the story, and what’s going on underneath what’s being said and shown is just as important as what the audience sees. More important some would say.

After seven months of writing, after kicking up a storm in the Greek press (Collins has given several published interviews and been on radio programmes to be asked to explain what this film is all about), the writers now have a completed script which the production company has for consideration.

But will a comedy about a gay wedding in Greece change the law? Probably not on its own, but if it goes a little way to raising awareness, and gives us some laughs, and shows us some sexy Greek guys along the way, then we’ll be more than happy.

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/12/18/gay-greek-weddings-and-shocked-donkeys/feed/ 0 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/12/15/most-popular-gay-blog-posts-2010/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/12/15/most-popular-gay-blog-posts-2010/#comments Wed, 15 Dec 2010 00:59:31 +0000 Megan http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2101 We have went through our most popular gay blog posts of 2010 and they range from fun shirtless type topics to topics that really broke our heart. This was a year that really had its ups and downs but mostly downs when it came to the GLBT community. We can try and stay positive all we want but it was so heartbreaking to see teen suicides and legislation such as DADT not being ended. Gay Marriage still has not taken off here in the United States but there is light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to some of the polling with how America feels when it comes to gays. They hate us less and less at least we can hope.

The A-List NYC took off on the LOGO channel because I guess they could not bring us another Queer As Folk for some reason. Viacom we love but they really need to look into a scripted show that brings us together more as a community such as QAF. We would have Sunday and Wednesday night gatherings to watch QAF and it’s too bad the network did not show us something more.

A-List Austin Armacost Shirtless

A Message to Gay Teens

Justin Bieber was also the most talked about thing in music besides Nicki Minaj and her Pink hairdos. What happened to Jesse McCartney though?

Favorite movie of the year was Burlesque with Chrstina and Cher. I never knew what air space was until I watched the movie. So it was a learning experience besides Cher made me cry with her ‘Last of Me’ moment in the movie and Christina got to seduce one of the hottest guys on the planet Cam Gigandet.

We could not have a LGBT blog without mentioning Cynthia Nixon from Sex in The City… another hot movie of 2010.

In a trend that started last year it has also continued this year as we are reminded of the hottest gay happy show on TV. Gay does mean happy right? Glee would be this show which has turned into a bigger tear jerker than ever especially with their episode on Gay Bullying and the hot new boy on there we just adore.

And put down your iPhones and iPads we know you are on GRINDR.

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/12/15/most-popular-gay-blog-posts-2010/feed/ 0 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/12/13/dallas-a-list-drama/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/12/13/dallas-a-list-drama/#comments Mon, 13 Dec 2010 19:29:24 +0000 bipride http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2099 Once you think you know someone you never do until you spend more time with them than the presentation they give out a bar, office, or social outing for the few minutes you may see them,. You may base your trust on someone you know for years but have you spent an entire weekend with them or even a few months living together as roomates. With some people their true colors do not come out until you have spent hour after hours together to really tell how their seasons and personalities change and how dangerous that person could be.

I knew this boy from the club for years and always thought he was one of the hottest guys out and probably was. His eyes blue and breathtaking and his smile, skin, and energy were always something that could pull a spell on anyone. Much less the fact that he is tall and gorgeous. seeing him out everyone must think I would like to get with him someday.

Unfortunately, that day came.. It was a miserable weekend of non-stop hell and yes now I know the meaning of what hell is and what the devil sounds like. The first night out at the club he started going off on my friend after a couple of drinks and telling him he had a receeding hairline among other rude things to him that were just uncalled for and plain mean. My friend was so drunk he did not respond the way most would have wo may have punched him in the face or walked away and gotten away from the crazy at hand.

The second episode was when we were standing by the back bar of the club and near the bathroom. This guy I know drags me in the bathroom to talk to me about something and this kid I brought out gets into a spat with him on the way into the bathroom to where he comes in the bathroom telling us to get out all loudly. Ok, so can a person not talk quietly in a bathroom for once?

Next day he was normal laying on the couch cuddling watching TV and being normal. We went to eat Mexican food and did not even have a drink just drank Tea. Went home relaxed and then later got ready to go out to the club again. This time he meet some guy that produced music or something and he kept hitting on him or talking to him for over an hour holding us in a spot forever. When we finally got away from all the useless talk (this guy was obviously hitting on him and kept grabbing at him but using business talk to excite him) we were able to go dance for a bit. Then we decided to hit up another club with more of a circuit beat. We headed here where the cover was $20 each. Yes I paid it all. Thought he would get in a better mood but after all his intakes of alcohol and whatever else he must have done with people while he was in the bathroom so long his mood went totally extreme and bipolar could not even describe it. He went up to the bar ordered a drink and expected me to pay. I said I thought you had some money.. He said no quit embarassing me and pay now and to never embarrass him again. I said OK and paid just to stop the scene.

He then tried to lay me down for embarrassing him by not paying for a drink readily after I already paid his cover to two bars, bought dinner, among other things. Maybe he didn’t really need that drink after all because we know after what happens next he certainly could not handle it. Next he goes out to the car with the police in the parking lot causing a scene saying that he wants to go home now. I was not about to leave with all the police in the parking lot and wanted to dance off my buzz. I am all about dancing before trying to drink. So I left him in the car shortly after he threatened me and said I did not know who he was and that his people would come after me, he then threatened to hit me and that is when I ran inside the club. Of course, you can’t call the police or anything when you both been drinking you will both goto jail for public detox or something. Plus I felt sorry for him and still do so its really hard to say no to him or even send him his way all alone with no one really to help him. He was too much for me to help though way too much above my pay grade in terms of mental patients. I have dealt with many people who desperately need anti-depressants and many people who desperately do not need any meds. I have dealt with a woman who tried to kill herself and then she ended up doing it in her garage another day even though we stopped her the first time. I have woken up with people trying to overdose on ambiens. But his force and threat level that he goes to in a 180 degree shift is really scary. How he can be so normal, smart, and nice, and beautiful one minute then give him an hour and its like the Devil came out.

So I still was not able to get him out of my car and he stayed with me another night which went ok during the day we watched TV all day and relaxed. Ate pizza and once again he seemed so normal. Then 10’0clock rolls around and we get ready for the club have a cocktail and things still normal. Then make it out to the club he starts wanting a drink every few min and going in the bathroom again. By the time we all walk out to the car he is fighting with my friend out in the parking lot and this even brings about a huge dent in my car that my cost thousands to repair which he cars nothing about. Tried to call him a cab to his house but he would not answer us about where to have the cab go. He said his phone was in my car and it was not. He must have lost it in the club. He said he would call the police because his phone was in my car. So I then took him to my friends house and his neighbor called him a cab.. the same thing I was hoping to do. This is after he started moving towards me in a violent matter threatening me again with loud devil sounds and fists. I ran out of my car scared of him at this point but then he finally got out but he was chasing after my friend going off on him. I ran to the car started it and went around the block to have my friend meet me to give him his stuff so I could get away from him. I was about to lose it. I had never seen anything like it.

I guess it just comes down to the fact that if you sense someone is off their rocker or could become a bipolar tragedy stay far away. This is hard to say because I know many of these types in the gay community. Especially see this a lot in the Dallas clubs and parties. I hope it is not a gay gene or something. It is really scary how many act this way but this kid was the worst I have ever seen and it scares me. Its almost like they imagine things or have dementia but yet finally get their sense back and remember it all when they are sober.

It is hard to really know if someone is completely like this though until you do spend some time with them and when you do it might be too late. It was too late on my date because I could not get him off my hands and I tried and tried to call him a cab or take him where he needed to go. I cannot afford to have that kind of liability around me and neither can a nightclub or any business.

I would like to know how to handle people like this the next time because it seemed everything failed that I tried to do. One minute this guy seems so A-list and fabulous and then the next minute hes like Austin on NYC A-List who seems kind of loose cannon but this kid is much worse. If there is help for these people let me know. I am not sure its the drinking, or his prescription pills it may be other issues.

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/12/13/dallas-a-list-drama/feed/ 0 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/11/24/phillip-morris-premiere-jim-carrey-rodrigo-santoro/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/11/24/phillip-morris-premiere-jim-carrey-rodrigo-santoro/#comments Wed, 24 Nov 2010 17:29:49 +0000 Megan http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2093 The red carpet has been busy this week with all these movie premieres. Exclusive photos (Thanks Clint Spaulding/Patrick McMullan Company) from the NYC premiere of I Love You Phillip Morris, which took place at the SVA Theater on Monday night. The photos feature stars Jim Carrey and Rodrigo Santoro, directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, and the real life Phillip Morris, played by Ewan McGregor in the film. Rodrigo Santoro was voted one of People Magazine’s Sexiest people in the World and is one of those Brazilian heartthrobs you cannot miss while Jim Carrey never seems to let us down in a movie. I Love You Phillip Morris opens in select cities on December 3rd.

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/11/24/phillip-morris-premiere-jim-carrey-rodrigo-santoro/feed/ 0 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/11/18/matthew-morrison-shirtless/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/11/18/matthew-morrison-shirtless/#comments Thu, 18 Nov 2010 01:28:07 +0000 bipride http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2088 Who would have thought that Matthew Morrison had such hot abs. We have a stunning washboard ab shirtless pic of the Glee hunk Matthew Morrison as he appears on the December/January cover of DETAILS magazine. The FOX TV star recently did a photo shoot with Norman Jean Roy that took place September 25 in Malibu, California.

The original plan was to shoot a humorous cover with the Glee star but were scrapped once the creative team at Details discovered what Morrison looked like shirtless. It’s easy to see why the talented Mr. Schuester has provided grown-ups a reason to watch the hit Fox show! But when school lets out, Morrison has even greater adult-contemporary ambitions – like becoming the next Michael Bublé. And while rumors swirl about some of his co-stars turning into divas in the light of their new found fame, it’s nice to hear that Morrison, according to writer Claire Hoffman, is remarkably well-adjusted and “has resisted becoming an a**hole as a result of his success.”

The Details article quotes Matthew Morrison-

“I definitely hooked up with a lot of girls when I was a young guy on Broadway. It was exciting. Very joyous and free.” But Morrison didn’t shed his inhibitions entirely. He joined a Bible-study group in college, and he didn’t lose his virginity until he was 21. Being perceived as a sex object confused him (and still does). “I’m not comfortable with the idea of my sex appeal, but I know in my job I have to use it. I wish I could say I got to this point in my career based on my talent, but I don’t think that’s true.”

Regarding Mr. Shuester’s co-stars: “I am a teacher to them,” Morrison says of the younger castmates he refers to as “the kids.” “I’ve taken a few under my wing. I don’t want to say they idolize me, but…” he trails off, realizing how this might sound. He’s careful about what he says and wishes some of his colleagues were a little less publicity-driven. “Yeah, I find myself learning a lot from the set. I do look at stuff people on the show are doing, and I don’t judge them, but I question it. I say to myself, ‘Keep quiet.’ Fame … it’s like a handgun – in the wrong hands, it’s dangerous.”

On dating Matthew Morrison commented:
“I’m not a good friend right now. I’m not a good boyfriend. It’s not that I’m selfish. I’m just focused.”
On paddle boarding for exercise: “I got my own board. It’s a great core workout.”
On getting in tip-top shape for this photo shoot: Morrison ate well and in the final few days used a trick Sue Sylvester pushed on her cheerleading squad: a sweet potato-only diet.

“Matt’s the star of the show. The show rests on his shoulders—everything revolves around him.” – Glee creator Ryan Murphy

“You get the sense he knows he can write his own ticket. If I were going to come back as someone, I’d come back as Matt Morrison.” – Glee co-star Jane Lynch (the lady with the Adidas warm-up, aka Sue). Sue is one of my favorites on the show even though she plays the Villan and Mr. Shuester plays the better person. Sue brings an excitement to the show of the competition we all once felt in highschool. I would have never made it out of school if I were to have a teacher like Matthew Morrison and his toned, shirtless body appearing in front of me at a Glee carwash or any afterschool event.

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/11/18/matthew-morrison-shirtless/feed/ 0 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/11/16/cher-christina-aguilera-burlesque-premiere-photos/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/11/16/cher-christina-aguilera-burlesque-premiere-photos/#comments Tue, 16 Nov 2010 20:09:14 +0000 Megan http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2085 Burlesque had its world premiere in Hollywood at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre last night and you know we are excited for this movie to finally come out! We have some photos from the evening which include stars Cher, Christina Aguilera, Cam Gigandet, Stanley Tucci, Eric Dane, Julianne Hough, Peter Gallagher and director Steven Antin. Is this the guy from the OC (Ryan’s Dad) pictured with Cher that had the big eyebrows. Oh how I miss the OC on Fox.

Burlesque (Movie poster here) opens in theaters nationwide on November 24th and all the gays will be there. The soundtrack for the film will be released on November 22nd.

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/11/16/cher-christina-aguilera-burlesque-premiere-photos/feed/ 1 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/11/12/kylie-minogue-macys-parade/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/11/12/kylie-minogue-macys-parade/#comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 01:57:29 +0000 Megan http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2083 We have all heard about Kanye West who is supposed to perform at the big hee haw at Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade and heard about it in just about every George Bush interview. Will Kanye be there or will he be too busy grabbing Kylie’s mic from her? Oh no one will be grabbing Kylie Minogue’s Turkey or they will get a hard nibble back. International superstar Kylie Minogue has joined the talent line-up of the 84th Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and is poised to create a commotion with this special Thanksgiving Day performance when America’s favorite holiday tradition steps off at 9:00 AM on Thursday, November 25th, ready to entertain more than 3.5 million spectators lining the streets of Manhattan and more than 50 million viewers nationwide. The 84th Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade airs from 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM (in all time zones) on NBC-TV.

Previously announced stars joining the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade this year include India Arie, Big Time Rush, Betty Buckley, Ann Hampton Callaway, the casts of Broadway’s American Idiot, Elf, Memphis, Million Dollar Quartet, the Big Apple Circus, the cast and Muppets of Sesame Street, Miranda Cosgrove, Jimmy Fallon & The Roots, Gloriana, Michael Grimm, Arlo Guthrie, Keri Hilson, Eric Hutchinson, Juanes, Victoria Justice, Gladys Knight, Mannheim Steamroller, Miss USA 2010 Rima Fakih, Power Rangers Samurai, Joan and Melissa Rivers, Crystal Shawanda, Jessica Simpson, and Kanye West.

So you do not have to hide yo’ kids, yo’ wife for this one until Kanye takes the stage and I am sure he will be on his best behavior there. We can’t wait to see Kylie.

With Madonna and the new teen clothing line she worked with her daughter we just wonder where Madonna the Material Girl will be for the parade. Hopefully she is done with promoting that and can move on to her next album!

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/11/12/kylie-minogue-macys-parade/feed/ 0 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/11/03/online-std-testing/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/11/03/online-std-testing/#comments Wed, 03 Nov 2010 07:00:15 +0000 Megan http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2079 In today’s world, sex outside of marriage is generally accepted for the straights and well us gays and lesbians can’t even get married in most cases and sometimes get into open relationships. Therefore, a person may have several sexual partners in their life especially before they find the right match. Unfortunately, some people have an STD, or sexually transmitted disease, and either may not know or may not tell their partner. This can lead to several complications, including severe infections, if gone untreated. However, it is embarrassing for most people to go to the doctor and admit they have been careless. Fortunately, there are online STD tests available for these individuals.

It is important to be tested and treated for an STD as soon as you suspect you may have one. Most are treatable and do not do much harm if caught within a short time of contracting it, but others do significant damage or are irreversible. The more harmful STDs include HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus, which is not curable and becomes AIDS later in life. Others, such as Hepatitis B and C, can be fatal, but may be curable or controllable. Less destructive STDs include Chlamydia, Syphilis, Gonorrhea, and Herpes. Excluding Herpes, these STDs are curable, and if caught in time do not cause much damage. Herpes is treatable, but is not curable at this time.

One of the most popular online resources is Just Get Tested, which offers comprehensive and confidential testing. After you register with the site, you can pay a fee for a test, and they will direct you to a laboratory to have your blood drawn or a urine specimen taken. The laboratory sends the samples back to the company for analysis, and they will tell you if you have an STD or not.

Another online resource similar to Just Get Tested is provided by Sterling Wellness Solutions, which is based in Louisiana. They also provide STD testing, by allowing you to pay online and visit a local laboratory to have specimens collected. Depending on your insurance’s policies, your testing may be covered by your insurance, costing you little or nothing. This site also offers a “Health Appraisal” questionnaire for members.

While on the subject of health questionnaires, if you would like to know what tests you should have done for your general well-being, it is well worth your time to check out STDWizard. This online service gives you a short survey about your habits and sexual history, and recommends testing based on your answers. The recommendations are provided by the CDC, also known as the Center for Disease Control.

Another reputable STD testing website is LabSafe.com. This website provides the same services as the afore mentioned services, and holds a strict privacy policy for all users. You pay for your testing, visit a laboratory, and receive your results from the company in a few days. The only downfall of this service is the slightly higher price than the other services.

STDs are a serious matter that must be dealt with as soon as you receive confirmation that you have one. You should visit your doctor with the information from the laboratory for proper treatment. Without proper care, an STD can cause more problems, including severe infections, infertility, sores, disruption of the nervous system, and death. If a pregnant woman has an STD, it can cause birth defects or she may even pass it onto the child. These services are on the internet to help you receive early confirmation and treatment, and to help protect yourself and your sexual partners. There are hundreds of services, but these are some of the most reputable services out there.

Think you may need to get tested now? Above is a coupon and a promotional code for $25 Off 8 Test STD Panel. Prefer to call and talk to someone about what all the STD test includes then you can with this toll free number: 877-350-0646.

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/11/03/online-std-testing/feed/ 0 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/10/27/how-to-find-a-gay-sugar-daddy/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/10/27/how-to-find-a-gay-sugar-daddy/#comments Wed, 27 Oct 2010 11:15:22 +0000 bipride http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2077 “When tearing off a round of golf, a may make a play for the caddie. But if I do, I don’t follow through, ‘cos my heart belongs to Daddy.’ (Apologies to Cole if I’ve remembered the lyrics incorrectly.)

So, how do you find a sugar daddy? How does a younger guy meet up with an older one and get himself enfolded into the arms of someone who is rich and willing to share that wealth? I’ll tell you one thing: if I knew I wouldn’t be here!

Only joking. But it’s an interesting question. In fact someone should write a book about it. But to do that you will need to know the answer. Well, here are a few things I found that may well help you a) find your own sugardaddy or b) make some money out of writing a ‘How To’ book about it all.

A simple web search brought a few interesting starting points. First of all came gayarrangement.com which seems to be the answer to all our prayers. Here is a site where you are actually encouraged to cut to the chase and hook up; that’s older, successful guys (and girls actually) who are looking for younger men and vice versa. Perfect. How does it work? Actually it works like any other dating and hook up site. You can sign up for free and get to access some basic functions and features: Set up a profile, add pictures, basic search, send and receive winks, receive unlimited emails – but you can only send one per day so don’t be greedy! And there are a few other functions too. With a full membership you get much more, but I couldn’t for the life of me find out how much that cost. You have to sign up for the free registration first and then upgrade. There’s a simple search engine to fill out so you can see before you buy what your chances of finding Mr. Right-to-the-bank are.

So that’s one site that is dedicated to fitting up younger guys and girls with richer older ones.

The second one I found was sugardaddyforme.com. This is a mixed site in that it is for gay and straight folk alike. I found it a bit frustrating as you couldn’t do anything until you had registered, not even a basic search. But once again it’s free to register and then you can go for a silver package or a gold one and both have two levels; one where only other members can contact you and one where anyone can. The top price here is $39.90 a month, and the bottom price is $19.95 a month, so even a sugar baby is going to have to have some pennies in his/her pocket to get really involved.

And then came some others (thanks to a Questions and Answers site) with the likes of: eekingarrangement.com/gaysugardaddy which again is mainly aimed at guys seeking guys and girls seeking girls, so much more up our street. Here I was able to run a basic search, see photos and basic details and then go and register, for free with the usual upgrades available. Check out sugardaddies.com to find a link to a gay specific hook up site, Date Gay Millionaire, and you’ll be up and running very quickly, once you’ve logged in.

So, these days it seems you can simply search the net, fill out a form, part with a little cash… sorry investment, and then hook up with older or younger guys, rich or poor and start preparing yourself for all the fun and frolics that come with being a sugardaddy or a sugar baby.

Alternatively you could wheedle your way into a Casino, hang around the tables, look gorgeous, be prepared to do anything bordering on actually becoming an escort or rent boy, and find an older, richer male that way. I suspect it’s much easier for older guys to find younger ones, simply flash the cash in any bar or club. But watch out; doing it that way is unlikely to lead you to genuine guys – much safer is to use one of the established sites mentioned above, follow their guidelines and meet genuinely interested parties.

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/10/27/how-to-find-a-gay-sugar-daddy/feed/ 2 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/10/18/rihanna-only-girl-in-the-world-cover-art/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/10/18/rihanna-only-girl-in-the-world-cover-art/#comments Mon, 18 Oct 2010 03:29:55 +0000 Megan http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2075 Rihanna’s “Only Girl (In The World)” music video was just released and it is the first single off her upcoming album LOUD, which will be released November 16. Above is the cover art for her “Only Girl (In The World)” single. I like this one better than the LOUD cover itself. This video has a stripper beat to it makes you want to gyrate your body around but Rihanna always has a way of doing that to us.

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/10/18/rihanna-only-girl-in-the-world-cover-art/feed/ 0 http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/10/18/16yr-olds-advice-gay-teens/ http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/10/18/16yr-olds-advice-gay-teens/#comments Mon, 18 Oct 2010 02:46:25 +0000 Megan http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/?p=2073 Here is an email we received from a LGBT 16 yr old concerned about the recent gay suicides:

My names Kendall, I’m 16 and I am a lesbian and I have been ever since I can remember. I grew up in private school my entire life and I started to realize that I did like girls when I was 11.When I turned 12 I started going to a private Lutheran school and I made some good friends throughout my time there, that were actually in the closet and I didn’t even know it. Then 8th grade hit. I texted a girl saying, ‘I wanted her in my bed’ when I was completely joking and she told everyone that I was gay. I was literally mortified because 1. I could have gotten kicked out of school. 2. It was my secret, and I didn’t even fully admit it to myself by then. 3. Kids would ridicule me. Throughout that year I was pushed into walls and lockers, called lesbian, gross, weird, ect. ALL the time, spit on once, whispered about when I walked by, and laughed at. I literally didn’t want to go to school anymore. I went through a depression but put on a happy face every single day. I contemplated suicide because I thought if they can’t accept me, who can? Maybe if I die then I’ll come back as someone else. But I pulled through when allot of my friends started coming out to me. That rumor, well true rumor, helped them realize that they weren’t alone and that they can trust that at least one person wouldn’t judge them for who they are. It completely changed my outlook on things. Me being gay is a good thing, others being gay is a good thing, and you being gay is definitely a good thing. My close friend is actually going through issues with her mom right now because she found out she was gay, and she won’t accept her. I kind of blame myself for it sometimes because I made her realize she was gay, and made her comfortable enough to share it with people. Now her life is hell. It’s those moments where you start to think yourself that maybe being gay is wrong and it does hurt people. But no, it’s her mom’s fault; she’s doing the wrong not my friend who accepts herself for it. It hurts me when people can’t accept themselves or has someone that’s supposed to love them unconditionally that just won’t even try to. Even if you think you don’t “hate” gays it’s just as wrong to say ew when you see two guys kissing. It’s judging either way. If you can accept someone who has sex before marriage, who judges, and who disrespects their parents, then you can accept people who are gay. Just because some book says it’s wrong doesn’t mean that you can go out and drive people kill themselves for it. It’s just as wrong and even worse morally. If a person doesn’t love you, or doesn’t accept you for something you can’t help, they’re the ones who are wrong. I still don’t really understand why it’s so weird and wrong to be gay or why it’s not acceptable.. But I guess our society isn’t developed enough yet. Kids, teens, parents, people of the world, if we just work together to make this world a loving, place, we can save a lot of lives. I’m not judging people who judge me, so they shouldn’t judge me for liking the same gender. These suicides, the bullying, and the judgment NEEDS to stop. If you’re thinking about suicide, remember that you are not alone. There is always someone there to help.

Keep the stories coming in we want to hear from you!

]]> http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/2010/10/18/16yr-olds-advice-gay-teens/feed/ 1