Viral Youtube Clip Outs a Gay Soldier

Soldier opts to us the internet to gain strength to come out of the closet as a gay man and discusses his views on DADT. He proclaims he is from the bible belt. The headless soldier step by step talks about his process of revealing his real identity to fellow comrades and friends. He eventually comes clean with his girlfriend and shocks her with the news that he is a homosexual.

He was nervous and stressed out after video he posted of a band that came through his camp that performed Adele’s Rolling in the Deep. after posting the video he woke up the following morning to find the video had 17,000 views. He knew he would have something explaining to do after the video went viral.

Professional Bowling Champ Comes Out; Lets Call Him the King of Balls

Oh goody, now that the big wigs are coming out we should have a domino effect effect. I guess some would put bowling in a league of sports. I mean after all you change your shoes and all. There aren’t many sports where you can eat chill dogs though. I might have assumed he was gay by his chicken plucked eye brows, but we all know that would have made an ASS out of U and ME. AB

Professional Bowling Champ Comes Out
By Michelle Garcia

A professional bowler who was named Rookie of the Year says being openly gay while on the tour was “extremely important” to him, so that he could act as a role model for fellow gay athletes.

After passing the California bar exam in 2009, Scott Norton went on to pursue another life-long dream or becoming a professional bowler. In his first season, 2010-2011, Norton won a Professional Bowling Association tour title, and then was named PBA Rookie of the Year by his peers. Norton wrote on the league’s website Thursday, that his experience on the tour “surpassed nearly everything I could hope for in terms of acceptance.”

“I am very proud and happy with who I am and who I have become as a person,” he added, “and I would hope that this will empower other gay athletes – past, present, or future – to come to terms with the truth about who they are and love themselves for who they are.” READ MORE

Rachel Maddow Calls for All Gay Anchors to Come Out Already

You all know that Rachel is my girl! I do as she says (wait does that make me her girl). She calls for other “closeted” anchors to be open about their sexuality. Rachel takes on so many armies herself and deserves a little back up. So, Anderson don’t be a pussy. Rachel needs you. You don’t need to have a parade or be on the cover of magazines (although those who finally come out usually do because they are so happy and relieved). Staying in the closet only is bullying yourself.

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[Images via Getty

 Maddow is one of the very few gay news anchors in America – well, one of the very few openly gay news anchors. Does she feel frustration towards an equally well-known news presenter who is widely assumed to be gay but has never come out? For the first time, Maddow pauses: “I’m sure other people in the business have considered reasons why they’re doing what they’re doing, but I do think that if you’re gay you have a responsibility to come out,” she says carefully.
READ MORE AT GAWKER

Related Articles

• Rachel Maddow Asked About Closeted News Anchors: ‘If You’re Gay, You Have a Responsibility to Come Out’ (towleroad.com)
• Rachel Maddow On Fellow Cable News Anchors: ‘If You’re Gay You Have A Responsibility To Come Out’ (mediaite.com)

Barney Frank, You’re Cute and I Trust you. Are we in a Relationship?

I can only take politics in small doses or by Twitter feeds. I am obsessed with Barney Frank and the messages that come out of his mouth breaking through his adorable lisp ( yes, I said adorable. Welcome to Daddy Hunt)

In Barney , I believe!

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Frank sees gay equality “in my lifetime”

via www.reuters.com

(Reuters) – The highest-profile openly gay lawmaker predicted on Wednesday that the United States could soon see an end to legalized discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender.

“We are on the verge of major breakthroughs,” Representative Barney Frank told the Reuters Future Face of Finance Summit.

He pointed to President Barack Obama’s decision last month to stop defending a law that defines marriage as being between a man and a woman, and a vote by Congress that will lead to an end of the ban on gays serving openly in the military.

“I can foresee now an end to legal inequality based on sexual orientation and gender equality some time in my lifetime,” said Frank, who turned 70 three days ago.

READ MORE

Related Articles

• Frank sees gay equality “in my lifetime” (reuters.com)
• Barney Frank To Run For Reelection In 2012 (pinkbananaworld.com)

An Athlete’s Story of Coming Out; Be an athlete or athletic supporter ( wink)

Via www.hrcbackstory.org The following is from Brian Sims.  Sims is the President of Equality Pennsylvania and a former college athelete.  He was the first openly gay captain of an NCAA football team.  He played at Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania. Just over 10 years ago, I had the honor of coming out to my college football teammates, and it was an honor. In just a few short days and weeks, a group of men and athletes that I considered family, reminded me why I became an athlete and ultimately why athletics is about sportsmanship and not always just about winning. Just as importantly, I learned that a genuine commitment to sportsmanship, above all else, can be one of the most effective paths to winning. In the last few days, Professional English Cricketer, Steven Davies has apparently been going through a similar time in his life. Davies’ decision to come out of the closet, to his teammates and to his fans, is a truly historic and courageous act. By coming out, he joins an incredibly small group of professional athletes that have done so, especially while still playing. To be clear though, just as his family and friends have supported him for year, Davies’ teammates have already given every indication that they’ll also be supporting him this season, and as the rest of his career unfolds. You shouldn’t be surprised to hear that! If I’ve learned anything from meeting out athletes at colleges and universities across America, and from the recent discussions about gay athletes from straight pros, it’s that for every courageous, out athlete we see at every level, there are many times more straight teammates standing in solidarity and support of them. Davies’ is learning a lesson that my teammates taught me – and that I’m trying very hard to share with America’s athletes – that sportsmanship is as much about your actions and behavior on the field, as it is off. He’s learning that his teammates can, and should be, relied on and trusted. He’s learning that attitudes and expectations about gay athletes have changed dramatically in just the few short years that he’s been a professional athlete. He’s learning that young athletes all over the world have grown up with gay people in their lives, on their televisions, in their classrooms, and in their homes. Steven Davies’ career and his life will never be the same. His public announcement that he is both a professional athlete, and an openly gay man reminds me so much of HRC’s mission to ensure our equal rights so that we “can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community.” I’m looking forward to learning more about Davies, and Cricket, this year but even more, I’m looking forward to hearing more about his newfound job as an out athlete and his teammates work as allies of a gay professional athlete. There’s a lot of work left to do but I know that every time Davies and his teammates take the field, they’re telling their friends, the fans and their opponents that they play to win, but they also play with the best players on their team, gay or straight!

Related Articles

• British Cricketer Steven Davies Comes Out: ‘By Far’ The Hardest Thing He’s Done (queerty.com)
• I’m Gay: Professional English Cricketer Steven Davies Comes Out of the Closet in a First for the Sport (towleroad.com)

Lambert Ready to be Gay Role Model ( to a few)

Adams advice is to close your eyes and be yourself. Thats a great start, but the real challenge is when you open your eyes and  find that, that is when the real work begins. Finding your place in  this world, a safe place to be you. Closing your eyes and getting your footing is awesome, but  your interactions with the world around you will be the path to happiness and self acceptance.

Having Adam as a role model is” off the hook” for some but I think it may also cause some peer pressure and insecurities of its own. It tells young gays ( and the straights) that being gay means you are VERY DIFFERENT, don’t fit into a cookie cutter and that you HAVE to wear outrageous shameful outfits in public that no one but Elton John and Prince should. But what if you are dealing with coming out issues and like to be  preppie or dress from Banana Republic? Are you not as gay as Adam? Is there added pressure to BE WILD, WACKO and CRAY CRAY because thats what “gay is” ? Does this create a split personality to coming out?

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Lambert Ready to be Gay Role Model

By Advocate.com Editors

Adam Lambert says his stardom is “an amazing opportunity to be able to help people,” during an interview with Entertainment Tonight Canada.

Asked for his advice to people struggling with their identity, the pop stars says, “close your eyes and focus on who you are and what you want.” Later in the interview Lambert says, “You have to love yourself in order to love someone else” and reveals that he is currently dating someone.

Watch an excerpt of the interview below.

Children’s Book Explaining Homosexuality

Simple , to the point and easy for a child to understand. So, now the kids get it, How do we teach ignorant adults?

< I don’t know the name or authors name >

LGBT Egyptians, Another level of Despair

When we aren’t to busy thinking that America is the center of the Universe and how Fab ( Rupaul, shaking finger) we are here in the privileged USA, we realize damn, we have it good in retrospect! I think that if “we” even knew half the struggle our gay brothers and sisters around the world go through, our community would be much more untied and not such bitches.

What Protests Mean for LGBT Egyptians

By Advocate.com Editors

Michelangelo Signorile talks with activist and scholar Rasha Moumneh about the protests in Egypt and what they mean for LGBT rights throughout the country.

Moumneh, a researcher with Human Rights Watch who focuses on LGBT and women’s rights, says that while there have been crackdowns in Egypt — most notably in 2001, when 52 men were arrested on board a floating gay nightclub called the Queen Boat — Egypt’s laws against homosexuality are vague.

“Egypt does not have an antisodomy law,” she says. “What they do have is a sort of generalized debauchery law. The problem with that law is that the interpretation is less to individual judges — it’s an extremely elastic law. So you have all sorts of quote-unquote moral crimes being prosecuted under that law.”

She says in Egypt, she doesn’t think there’s a concerted effort to target gay people — what happens to LGBT people in Egypt is indicative of what’s happening all over the region.

“These crackdowns usually happen … when the government wants to flex its moral muscle. When they want to show they’re still in control, that they’re still the savior of Egyptian society.”

She says it’s very difficult to tell how these protests will affect LGBT rights in the country moving forward. She said there is a growing attitude among young people to “open up more space toward personal freedoms.”

Listen here.

RIP BRENDAN BURKE

Take a moment to remember Fellow human being that left this world early.

A year ago today the world lost Brendan Burke, son of Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian. Brendan was killed in a car crash on a snowy highway in Indiana.
Brendan will be memorialized at a game tonight with the team he worked for, Miami University, and the University of Michigan, with Miami wearing special jerseys in honour of their former student manager.
Just mere months before his death, the 21 year old took it upon himself to open the door to future athletes. Brendan, with his father by his side, came out to the media and announced that he was gay. This brought a lot of attention to himself, and brought the topic of homosexual athletes into the spotlight. This is a battle that Brian Burke, and many athletes through the NHL will continue to fight in spite of the loss of a brave young man.
Brendan Burke is a pioneer in sports, and will be remembered for his bravery. His life was short, but he made the most of it, and years from now, his courage will mark the beginning of a new era of not just hockey, but sports in general.

Clay Aiken Goes All Violent Jazz Hands on Doubters

I can relate, sorta. I never had a coming out party or ran to the top of a mountain and screamed, IM HERE  IM QUEER, GET USED TO IT! Nor have I had it published in any magazines. I was always the little weirdo, queer kid that people just called gay because of my difference in appearance. So, when I started sleeping with men ( many many men), it wasn’t a shocker to anyone.

Clay Aiken Was Never in the Closet

By Advocate.com Editors

Pop singer Clay Aiken says, “There was this misconception that I was not out,” in an interview with The Georgia Voice.

While promoting his Tried and True tour, Aiken, who officially admitted he was gay in People magazine in 2008, was asked about the obligation of gay performers to come out. “I was in Spamalot and everyone knew, but I don’t necessarily want to sit at a table with strangers and tell them,” he said. “When you come out, you do it with people you are comfortable with.”

The singer says that while his coming-out may have surprised a few people, it had no adverse effect on his career.

“I definitely do see the liberation and understand the rationalization of people wanting me to be out,” he says. “On the other hand, I wouldn’t say that coming out has made me happier because that implies I was not happy before and I was.”

The Voice writes that Aiken is now comfortable discussing being gay and mentions that he even went to D.C. to speak at a Capitol Hill briefing on antigay bullying at the end of last year.

“I’m not drunk … I’ve got cerebral palsy.” is Gay. Can you Guess?

Phewwwwww, thanks for the clarification , I can now breath. Next………..

Facts of Life Star Is Gay

By Advocate.com Editors

Thirty years after endearing herself to ’80s sitcom viewers, Facts of Life star Geri Jewell, who played Blair’s cousin Geri, has come out as a lesbian.

On The Facts of Life, Jewell played a young woman with cerebral palsy who often said, “I’m not drunk … I’ve got cerebral palsy.” Jewell comes out in a new memoir, I’m Walking as Straight as I Can: Transcending Disability in Hollywood and Beyond, in which she details tax problems, addiction, disease, and her life as a gay woman.

Read more here.

 

Oprahs 25 Gay Years

Image via Wikipedia

Oprah and Gayle sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G ……… I say, who the hell cares. Is that something you even want to think about. live and let live

25 Years of LGBT Issues on Oprah

By Advocate.com Editors

Oprah takes a look back at 25 years of covering LGBT issues on her talk show with special guests Greg Louganis and India’s Prince Gohil on Tuesday’s episode.

Olympic gold medalist Louganis will appear on the show to discuss coming out at the 1994 Gay Games and revealing on The Oprah Winfrey Show the following year that he is HIV-positive.

Prince Gohil appeared on the talk show in 2007 after his family disowned him for coming out. The show promises updates on the prince’s relationship with his mother, the queen.

Check your local listings for airtimes.

Related Articles

• Oprah Commemorates 25 Years of LGBT Stories (pinkbananaworld.com)
• Oprah’s Show on Tuesday Looks Back at 25 Years of Raising Awareness About LGBT Issues (towleroad.com)

BRAVE HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR COMES OUT

High school senior Kayla K. comes out to her high school, in an assembly honoring Martin Luther King Jr. Jan 13 and 14, 2011.

VIA towleroad

Being ” Different” Makes a Difference

With our communities “It Gets Better” campaign in full effect, I have also been softened to the feelings of our queer youths. I have often been called “different” and have often responded in a F*** You manner in an auto self defense mechanism. But in my ripe old age I wear “different” as a badge of honor. I mean, who wants to be regular? Who remembers regular people after they’re 6 feet under?

If our world was a homogenized vanilla water downed mess, I would be quite bored. Through technology our universe has become much smaller. We brush elbows with our gay brothers and sisters in India or South Africa just as easily if they were across the street. This making diversity at an all time high and unfortunately some could argue, tolerance at an all time low (my must we go backwards, isn’t it common knowledge that it’s harder to swim up stream?)

The most wonderfully influential people of recorded history have always stood out as corky, bizare, “other than”, with cause, fighting for a something , yet to be worthy by the majority (such as civil rights). Who remembers those “vanilla” artist that have no unique traits, but molded but talent agencies ( one hit wonders). From my childhood I remember Cyndi Laupers checkered board hair, Elvis‘ swaying hips, Willie Nelsons stringy beard, Elton Johns unimaginable looks, Sid Viscous and Johnny Rotten ( my heros from 1986-1990), Boy George (expanding my mind of gender) and Vincent Vangough guiding me with the strength of paint brush. You cannot create ” different”, it just is. Plus being “different” can be financially rewarding, just saying. Who’s got bank?

different |ˈdif(ə)rənt|adjective1 not the same as another or each other; unlike in nature, form, or quality: you can play this game in different ways. | ( different from/than) the car is different from anything else on the market.• informal novel and unusual : try something deliciously different.

2 distinct; separate : on two different occasions.

To those pictured below, you made it known to me that different was A-O-KAY! Celebrate diversity!

I didn’t mean this to be a public service announcement but,

It REALLY Does Get Better!

( if this bitter queen believes, so can you! )

Getting Our History Out of the Closet and Putting on Display

I’m the first to judge and ridicule our gay brothers and sisters ( let that be NYE resolution #1 : Be nicer to my gays). I applaud loudly, to those who put in the effort to get “our” history out, and to take it to gigantic proportions. The GLBT Historical Society has opened its new museum in the Castro with generous help from numerous business sponsors, individual donors and volunteers.

The GLBT Historical Society is marking its 25th anniversary by bringing a new cultural destination to San Francisco’s Castro District. Set to open in November 2010, the society’s GLBT History Museum will showcase the stories of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and their communities through dynamic exhibitions and public programs.

Stop in , take a gander. Have one less latte  and donate the money that day. Make a difference, BE PROACTIVE.  I won’t tell anyone, that you actually care. It will be our little secret.

http://www.glbthistory.org/index.html