Month: July 2015

Steve Grand Is Perfect; Jerusalem Pride Stabbing; Gay Sex, UK Prime Minister, and KGB Agents

Steve Grand Is Perfect

Well I’m sure Steve Grand’s not perfect. No one is perfect. Not even me. However, I wanted to post something about this because I see it happen all the time with gay artists of any kind and I’ve stopped linking to web sites like Queerty because of it… unless I’m looking for pure clickbait. 

This article I’m linking to is interesting because I think of Steve Grand as the talented young openly gay artist I wish I’d seen around twenty years ago in the 90’s. He’s the ultimate inspiration. When I discuss him with other gay men we all agree that he’s one of the best we’ve seen in ages. I have never once heard a negative comment about him. He’s almost too good to be true, and I’m not talking about his looks. I’m talking about his music, the way he’s worked so hard to get where he is, and how he continues to move forward all the time. So I completely agree with him in this case…on every single count. 

Steve Grand wants us all to know he’s more than just a guy in a skimpy bathing suit.

He sings, writes songs, is good to his fans, is a staunch LGBTI activist and ‘a colorful, complex, deeply flawed, ever-evolving young man.’

Grand, who gained Internet fame when his video All-American Boy went viral, has been all over gay sites in recent days – including Gay Star News – because of an interview he did with Underwearnewsbriefs.com in which he defended his wearing of bikini briefs.

But he’s not happy about all the fuss over his skivvies.

‘I usually let things like this pass without speaking up about it. For two years I’ve trudged through it all with a smile, so hopefully I’ll get a pass for speaking up on my behalf this time,’ he wrote in a Facebook post Wednesday (29 July) evening.

‘It would be nice if any other aspect of my life/work as an artist/advocate got a fraction of the press I get for wearing a bathing suit by gay media.

You can read the rest here. Of course they try to explain themselves, because I’m linking to the gay clickbait media and they need butter for their bread. I don’t mind clickbait. I love it sometimes. I understand how important it is to gain a readership through clickbait. But all the time is getting really tired for me with gay presses. And I think Steve Grand deserves a little more respect than what he’s been getting. 

Jerusalem Pride Stabbing

I hate to be a downer on a Friday, but this is distressing. Six people were reported stabbed at Jerusalem Pride.

The incident happened on the corners of Sokolov and Keren Hayesod streets, with the victims evacuated to Shaare Zedek Medical Center and Hadassah University Medical Center in the capital’s Ein Kerem neighborhood.

The attacker is allegedly an ultra-orthadox, so once again religion and violence go hand in hand against gays.

The rest is here.  

Gay Sex, UK Prime Minister, and KGB Agents

This sounds like something from General Hospital back in the day.  UK Prime Minister David Cameron was under the impression that KGB agents tried to recruit him when he was 19 years old, but the story gets more involved.

He first told the story in 2006 on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs.

‘I traveled on the Trans-Siberian railway… and then met a great friend in Moscow,’ he said. ‘We went down to the Black Sea and were on the beach in Yalta.

‘These two Russians who spoke perfect English sort of turned up on the beach, which was mainly reserved for foreign tourists, and took us out to dinner, and interrogated us in a very friendly way about life in England and politics.’

But it turns out it wasn’t KGB agents, Russian author Gennay Solokov claims secret service sources have told him that there was no bid to recruit Cameron. And in fact, they were just a couple of gay men looking for sex.

There’s more here. There’s just something about the whole thing that leaves me wondering…

But what a great story line for a gay romance.

The Rainbow Detective Agency

Box Set

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The Interesting Case of Erotic Romance vs Porn Fiction by Ryan Field

The Interesting Case of Erotic Romance vs Porn by Ryan Field

I won’t be linking to anything today because I’ve been wanting to write this post for some time. A conversation I had on Twitter earlier today prompted me to get moving on it and stop putting it off. I’ve mentioned the topic before, but I don’t think I’ve gone into any detailed explanations. And I think it’s important to do this sometimes so readers understand what often motivates authors who write erotic romance…or even erotica. We don’t do these things by accident. Also, let me make it clear this is my opinion and it’s what works for me as an author, and I feel this way about all erotic romance, not just gay erotic romance. If you don’t agree with me, I respect your right to do that.

Way back when in the earlier days of the Internet, when I subtitled the blog with this…A quiet blog that discusses LGBT issues, fiction, publishing, pop culture, and happily ever after romance books with naughty guys who always have strong stories…I didn’t do it by accident. I wanted to make a point of stating that there is a big difference between erotic romance and fiction that’s considered “porn.” “Strong Stories.” I’m not going to try to define porn here because even SCOTUS hasn’t done that yet, but the one definition of erotic romance I’ve always seen is that erotic romance is a book or story that contains sex and has a story line. A strong story line. In other words, if you take the sex out of any erotic romance the story should still be able to stand on its own. In most cases erotic romance authors work even harder with their story lines to offset the sex. Yes, there are books out there with just sex. They often call them erotic romance. I don’t. And neither do most of the erotic publishers or authors I know. The story is still the main focus.

For me, the sex in an erotic romance should move the *story* forward. I never thought of my stories as moving the sex forward. And I’ve gone to great lengths at certain times to prove this with my own books.

In book 2 of the Chase series, Chase of a Dream, I purposely…not by accident…released two distinctly different versions to the public with the intention of showing that an erotic romance can stand alone without the detailed sex scenes. Here’s a link to the version that I labeled “Unabridged.” That version contains the original sex scenes. As you can see from the cover below I even stated that clearly, on the cover, so there wouldn’t be any mistakes. Of course a few people made the mistake and I quickly exchanged the books for them so they could get what they wanted without have to go through a third party.

With that said, here’s another link the to version of Chase of a Dream that I released *without* sex scenes. I repeat, no explicit sex scenes. A PG rated gay romance. It was a matter of revising the unabridged version of about 7,000 words. That’s all. 7,000 words of sex were removed. The entire book is about 60,000 words. So you see where I’m going with that. If an erotic romance with explicit sex scenes only has 7,000 words of sex in it, there must be a storyline somewhere. More important, I didn’t consider this self-censoring because I wanted both versions out there so readers could decide which one they preferred. I wanted the readers to make their own choices. It was double the work, but I still think it was worth the time, effort, and expense to publish it both ways. As far as I know, no other erotic romance out there has been released with and without the sex scenes in two different versions.

Here’s the cover of Chase of a Dream without sex scenes. Again, as you can see I made this clear to the reader by stating “Abridged version does not contain strong erotic scenes.” There were still a few people who didn’t see that and I quickly exchanged the book for them. In most cases, ironically, where there was a discrepancy, the people who accidentally made the mistake wanted the version with sex.

And to take this just one step further, when I got the rights back from a book that was released about five years ago titled The Bachelor, I revised it completely, changed the cover, and then re-released it with a new title, Meadows Are Not Forever. That book always bothered me because I didn’t like what the publisher wanted with it. So I indie pubbed it myself and I think I improved it. The MOST significant thing with that book is that this time I did self-censor, admittedly, and I did it for a reason. I wanted that book to be out there *without* sex scenes because I never thought the story line needed the sex scenes. And I’m no prude, trust me. I just wanted that book to be a sweet little romance that talked about gay relationships where sex can be more of a problem than a solution. Here’s a link to that one.

One book reviewer almost made me cry when he wrote this:

This is the first book by Ryan Field I’ve read, and I have to say I’m very pleasantly surprised. In Meadows Are Not Forever he introduced us to a young man on the cusp of leaving the young stud age and moving into the mature, adult age because, gasp, he’s learning there is more to life than just SEX. I know, for some of you it maybe hard to believe, but it’s true! And like many of us when we made that transition he learns what is really important in life.

This reviewer has no idea how much that meant to me. He “got it” and I never had to explain a thing and didn’t have to go into detail about sex scenes. That almost never happens. 

What prompted me to write this post was a comment I saw on a tweet earlier today about erotic romance. It was done in jest and there was no harm intended. Someone said something to the effect of “That book has too much sex for me,” and then they joked about it in a friendly way. However, my reply was that you can always skip the sex scenes and there’s still a strong story line…or should be a story line. In fact, I could take each one of any of my books or stories, now in the hundreds, and revise them without sex at all and they could still stand on their own. When writers who understand what erotic romance is, and they’ve been doing it long enough, they are always thinking and planning ahead to make sure the story line is always more important than the sex scenes. I personally think the sex does, indeed, add to the stories and move them along…I also think it creates another level of reality in a world of fantasy that’s often necessary. I like to write sex scenes and read them. But the truth is they aren’t always needed. I know there are people who disagree with that, and I’m fine with that. However, that’s why I wanted to prove, instead of just talking about it blindly, that an erotic romance can stand alone without the sex scenes.

And if these books and stories can’t stand alone without the sex they aren’t erotic romances as far as I’m concerned. I’m not judging them, not by any means. I don’t care if an author wants to just write sex scenes and make them the story line. I think that’s wonderful and more power to them. But that’s just not how it works for me with erotic romance. I’m sure this won’t end the debate of erotic romance vs porn in fiction, however, at least I explained what motivates me when I either add, or remove, sex scenes from a book.

But most important, if there’s a strong story line readers can always skip the sex scenes in an erotic romance and still enjoy the book…or least they should be able to do that. The story should always come first. 

Groups Urge Pope to Meet with LGBTI People; Steve Grand's "Gay" Swimwear; Colin Farrell Best Man At Brother's Gay Wedding

Groups Urge Pope to Meet with LGBTI People

This is always so hard for me, because I was raised Catholic, went to 12 years of Catholic school, and I know how the Church works with regard to things like this. It is what it is and logic has very little to do with it.

I also understand why these groups want to meet with the Pope.

Nearly 30 groups and individuals, led by GLAAD and DignityUSA, have sent a letter to the leader of the Catholic Church urging him to do so and explaining that there is ‘institutionalized discrimination against LGBT people and families.’

The letter explains that the church’s teachings and pastoral practices have resulted in ‘a compelling pastoral need’ for ‘great healing and reconciliation.’

The letter is signed by GLAAD’s President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis and DignityUSA’s Executive Director Marianne Duddy-Burke. It is endorsed by 28 additional organizations and people and was mailed directly to Pope Francis earlier this month.

Even if they do meet with him I’m not sure much will change. Look at how the Catholic church views divorce and you’ll see what I mean. Women still aren’t allowed to become priests. Nuns are treated as second class citizens. And please don’t comment about how they grant Papal annulments. I’m all too familiar with that as well. I even filled one out for a family member who paid thousands of dollars and waited almost four years to get a Papal annulment.

You can read the rest here.

I think it’s wonderful these groups want to meet with the Pope. I just hate to see good people let down.

Steve Grand’s “Gay” Swimwear

I didn’t even know this had happened. Evidently, there were comments made about Steve Grand wearing “gay” swimwear.

‘I try not to pay too much attention. At some point in life it’s important to realize that no matter what you do, people are going to have something to say about it so you may as well do/wear what makes you happy.

‘I’ve seen a small number of gay men criticize my choice of swimwear for being immodest and ‘stereotypically gay.’

‘People are entitled to feel however they feel, but again, I wear what I wear for me and not for them; because it makes me feel good. I’m not looking for everyone’s approval all of the time.

‘There is a time and place for modesty, but, for me at least, a hot summer day in Chicago, on a boat with a bunch of other gay dudes is not one of them.

‘And frankly I don’t care what some may consider to be a gay stereotype or not, and anyone using that as some kind of jab is probably grappling with their own internalized homophobia. I wear what makes me happy.’

As usual, he replied like a gentleman and took the high road. There are very few fights worth fighting online unless you’re willing to die for the cause.

The rest is here, with a photo of the swimwear they criticized. He looks good.

Colin Farrell Best Man At Brother’s Gay Wedding

I’ve posted about Farrell and his openly gay brother, and this is only news for now. I hope that in five or ten years it won’t be news anymore. Weddings will just be weddings, not gay weddings.

Colin Farrell will be be best man at his brother’s wedding next year once gay marriage legislation is passed.
The Hollywood actor also played best man at his older brother’s civil union ceremony in 2009, but said he regretted not coming back to Ireland to celebrate the gay marriage referendum, which was passed in May.

‘If I’m honest, selfishly I’m sick I wasn’t at home. It nearly took the joy out of it for me,’ he told the Irish Independent.

There’s more here.    

The Rainbow Detective Agency

Box Set

Four books in One


 
 

Groups Urge Pope to Meet with LGBTI People; Steve Grand’s "Gay" Swimwear; Colin Farrell Best Man At Brother’s Gay Wedding

Groups Urge Pope to Meet with LGBTI People

This is always so hard for me, because I was raised Catholic, went to 12 years of Catholic school, and I know how the Church works with regard to things like this. It is what it is and logic has very little to do with it.

I also understand why these groups want to meet with the Pope.

Nearly 30 groups and individuals, led by GLAAD and DignityUSA, have sent a letter to the leader of the Catholic Church urging him to do so and explaining that there is ‘institutionalized discrimination against LGBT people and families.’

The letter explains that the church’s teachings and pastoral practices have resulted in ‘a compelling pastoral need’ for ‘great healing and reconciliation.’

The letter is signed by GLAAD’s President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis and DignityUSA’s Executive Director Marianne Duddy-Burke. It is endorsed by 28 additional organizations and people and was mailed directly to Pope Francis earlier this month.

Even if they do meet with him I’m not sure much will change. Look at how the Catholic church views divorce and you’ll see what I mean. Women still aren’t allowed to become priests. Nuns are treated as second class citizens. And please don’t comment about how they grant Papal annulments. I’m all too familiar with that as well. I even filled one out for a family member who paid thousands of dollars and waited almost four years to get a Papal annulment.

You can read the rest here.

I think it’s wonderful these groups want to meet with the Pope. I just hate to see good people let down.

Steve Grand’s “Gay” Swimwear

I didn’t even know this had happened. Evidently, there were comments made about Steve Grand wearing “gay” swimwear.

‘I try not to pay too much attention. At some point in life it’s important to realize that no matter what you do, people are going to have something to say about it so you may as well do/wear what makes you happy.

‘I’ve seen a small number of gay men criticize my choice of swimwear for being immodest and ‘stereotypically gay.’

‘People are entitled to feel however they feel, but again, I wear what I wear for me and not for them; because it makes me feel good. I’m not looking for everyone’s approval all of the time.

‘There is a time and place for modesty, but, for me at least, a hot summer day in Chicago, on a boat with a bunch of other gay dudes is not one of them.

‘And frankly I don’t care what some may consider to be a gay stereotype or not, and anyone using that as some kind of jab is probably grappling with their own internalized homophobia. I wear what makes me happy.’

As usual, he replied like a gentleman and took the high road. There are very few fights worth fighting online unless you’re willing to die for the cause.

The rest is here, with a photo of the swimwear they criticized. He looks good.

Colin Farrell Best Man At Brother’s Gay Wedding

I’ve posted about Farrell and his openly gay brother, and this is only news for now. I hope that in five or ten years it won’t be news anymore. Weddings will just be weddings, not gay weddings.

Colin Farrell will be be best man at his brother’s wedding next year once gay marriage legislation is passed.
The Hollywood actor also played best man at his older brother’s civil union ceremony in 2009, but said he regretted not coming back to Ireland to celebrate the gay marriage referendum, which was passed in May.

‘If I’m honest, selfishly I’m sick I wasn’t at home. It nearly took the joy out of it for me,’ he told the Irish Independent.

There’s more here.    

The Rainbow Detective Agency

Box Set

Four books in One


 
 

Posting Photos of RL Friends on Facebook; Raven-Symone's Advice to Caitlyn Jenner; How Tom Cruise Helped Ian McKellen's Acting Career

Posting Photos of Friends on Facebook

I have a rule about all social media, not just facebook. If I’m going to post the photo of a real life friend…or anyone…I ask their permission first. I don’t just do it without consent. It doesn’t matter if it’s a group standing in front of a restaurant or a small dinner party at home. I don’t feel comfortable posting anyone’s photo without getting permission. Why, you ask? Because your real life friends might value their privacy and not want their photo posted on your Timeline. Not everyone wants everyone to know what they are doing twenty-four hours a day. There are some people out there who prefer to hold on to whatever privacy they still have left.

I was curious about this and I wanted to know how other people think. Here’s something interesting. 

Here is some good news, however. A study suggests that people who do this may be alienating themselves from those who might be called normal human beings. 

As CBS Washington reports, researchers from three British universities — the University of Birmingham, University West of England, and the University of Edinburgh — have concluded that frequent Facebook photo-posters “risk damaging real-life relationships.”

Whatever you do, don’t post photos of kids without consent from parents. Frankly, I would go berserk if I were a parent and someone posted my kid’s photo on facebook or anywhere.

So when she spotted a friend of her ex-husband posting “literally hundreds of pictures” of her daughter, Elmuts said she expressed her displeasure and asked her to remove the photos. A confrontation ensued, after which the woman unfriended Elmuts on Facebook. 

Here’s a page where there’s a legal discussion about posting photos of friends on Facebook.  

If you do a simple search you’ll find a lot more information out there. But for me the bottom line is short and sweet: just don’t do it without asking for permission first. I had a family member once post images of me online at a family gathering and I didn’t want those photos up. I asked her to take them down and she did. It wasn’t an issue. But that was a family member. If you have to go to a real life friend and request that it could lead to a problem that could have been avoided.

Don’t be that social guy who posts photos of everyone he ever knew in the universe without asking their permission first. And we all know someone who does this all the time in real life. I personally know one who has been posting photos of friends all week and I’ve been getting e-mails about it from more than half the people I know. They aren’t too thrilled about it either.

Raven-Symone’s Advice to Caitlyn Jenner

I’ve been reading more and more articles about how hugely ignored most transgender people are as compared to the privileged and elite transgender person that Caitlyn Jenner is. Some stories are downright painful to read when you see how some trans people suffer. I’ve seen other commentary about how many trans women don’t really want Caitlyn being their spokesperson. I’m not knocking Caitlyn, and neither is anyone else. Her journey has brought the entire discussion out in the open and in many ways it paved the way for people like me writing blog posts about it. However, there are a few strong opinions out there about the way she’s been doing it.

Raven-Symone said this:

‘When I came out, I didn’t go and go hardcore and be like, “I’m going to save the world for LGBT,”‘ The View co-host said on Monday’s episode of the talk show. 

‘You’ve got to learn it. You’ve got to learn it first, and she’s not, really.’

‘Beforehand, I was definitely repping the community, even when I wasn’t saying this is what I was. And I’m not faulting you because yes, we need you. It’s too fast, too soon.’


I found that here.

How Tom Cruise Helped Ian McKellen’s Acting Career

Here’s an interesting article about making the right career choices through gut instinct, but not knowing you’re doing that at the time.

‘I got offered a part in Mission: Impossible II with Tom Cruise, but they wouldn’t let me see the whole script because I might have spilled the beans. I only got my scenes,’ McKellen tells People.com.

‘Well, I couldn’t judge from reading just those scenes what the script was like. So I said no. And my agent said, “You cant say no to working with Tom Cruise!” and I said, “I think I will.”‘
It’s a good thing he did.

‘The next day, Bryan Singer asked me to play Magneto and then Peter Jackson asked me to play Gandalf, and I said yes to both.’

And there you are. I hope I made a few of the right career choices this year, too, by finally turning a few things down that I wouldn’t have turned down five years ago. Only time will tell. All I can say is that looking back in hindsight, there are a few things I should have turned down. Sometimes you have to learn the hard way.

You can read more here. 

The Rainbow Detective Agency

Box Set

Four books in One



Posting Photos of RL Friends on Facebook; Raven-Symone’s Advice to Caitlyn Jenner; How Tom Cruise Helped Ian McKellen’s Acting Career

Posting Photos of Friends on Facebook

I have a rule about all social media, not just facebook. If I’m going to post the photo of a real life friend…or anyone…I ask their permission first. I don’t just do it without consent. It doesn’t matter if it’s a group standing in front of a restaurant or a small dinner party at home. I don’t feel comfortable posting anyone’s photo without getting permission. Why, you ask? Because your real life friends might value their privacy and not want their photo posted on your Timeline. Not everyone wants everyone to know what they are doing twenty-four hours a day. There are some people out there who prefer to hold on to whatever privacy they still have left.

I was curious about this and I wanted to know how other people think. Here’s something interesting. 

Here is some good news, however. A study suggests that people who do this may be alienating themselves from those who might be called normal human beings. 

As CBS Washington reports, researchers from three British universities — the University of Birmingham, University West of England, and the University of Edinburgh — have concluded that frequent Facebook photo-posters “risk damaging real-life relationships.”

Whatever you do, don’t post photos of kids without consent from parents. Frankly, I would go berserk if I were a parent and someone posted my kid’s photo on facebook or anywhere.

So when she spotted a friend of her ex-husband posting “literally hundreds of pictures” of her daughter, Elmuts said she expressed her displeasure and asked her to remove the photos. A confrontation ensued, after which the woman unfriended Elmuts on Facebook. 

Here’s a page where there’s a legal discussion about posting photos of friends on Facebook.  

If you do a simple search you’ll find a lot more information out there. But for me the bottom line is short and sweet: just don’t do it without asking for permission first. I had a family member once post images of me online at a family gathering and I didn’t want those photos up. I asked her to take them down and she did. It wasn’t an issue. But that was a family member. If you have to go to a real life friend and request that it could lead to a problem that could have been avoided.

Don’t be that social guy who posts photos of everyone he ever knew in the universe without asking their permission first. And we all know someone who does this all the time in real life. I personally know one who has been posting photos of friends all week and I’ve been getting e-mails about it from more than half the people I know. They aren’t too thrilled about it either.

Raven-Symone’s Advice to Caitlyn Jenner

I’ve been reading more and more articles about how hugely ignored most transgender people are as compared to the privileged and elite transgender person that Caitlyn Jenner is. Some stories are downright painful to read when you see how some trans people suffer. I’ve seen other commentary about how many trans women don’t really want Caitlyn being their spokesperson. I’m not knocking Caitlyn, and neither is anyone else. Her journey has brought the entire discussion out in the open and in many ways it paved the way for people like me writing blog posts about it. However, there are a few strong opinions out there about the way she’s been doing it.

Raven-Symone said this:

‘When I came out, I didn’t go and go hardcore and be like, “I’m going to save the world for LGBT,”‘ The View co-host said on Monday’s episode of the talk show. 

‘You’ve got to learn it. You’ve got to learn it first, and she’s not, really.’

‘Beforehand, I was definitely repping the community, even when I wasn’t saying this is what I was. And I’m not faulting you because yes, we need you. It’s too fast, too soon.’


I found that here.

How Tom Cruise Helped Ian McKellen’s Acting Career

Here’s an interesting article about making the right career choices through gut instinct, but not knowing you’re doing that at the time.

‘I got offered a part in Mission: Impossible II with Tom Cruise, but they wouldn’t let me see the whole script because I might have spilled the beans. I only got my scenes,’ McKellen tells People.com.

‘Well, I couldn’t judge from reading just those scenes what the script was like. So I said no. And my agent said, “You cant say no to working with Tom Cruise!” and I said, “I think I will.”‘
It’s a good thing he did.

‘The next day, Bryan Singer asked me to play Magneto and then Peter Jackson asked me to play Gandalf, and I said yes to both.’

And there you are. I hope I made a few of the right career choices this year, too, by finally turning a few things down that I wouldn’t have turned down five years ago. Only time will tell. All I can say is that looking back in hindsight, there are a few things I should have turned down. Sometimes you have to learn the hard way.

You can read more here. 

The Rainbow Detective Agency

Box Set

Four books in One



Scottish LGBTI Awards; Jindal Blocks Westboro; Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats; Review A Guy With Two Penises

Scottish LGBTI Awards

In case I never mentioned it, I link a lot to Gay Star News and I like the way they use LGBTI. The “I” means intersex. I welcome that addition and seriously praise it far more than that offensive “Q” word I see all the time.

In any event, for the first time ever there will be an awards event in Scotland for LGBTI people.

The very first Scottish LGBTI awards will take place on September 10, hosted by advocacy group Equality Network.

The awards will honour individuals and organizations who contributed to the progress and wellbeing of the LGBTI community over the last year.

This year is a historical one for progress in the country. In 1980 – 35 years ago – homosexuality was decriminalized in Scotland. It’s been 20 years since Scotland’s first Pride March.

Fifteen years have passed since Section 28, which raised the age of consent for gay people, was repealed.

You can read more here. In case you didn’t know, the national animal of Scotland is the unicorn. I only know that because it’s in my next book in The Rainbow Detective series, The Scottish Duke.

Jindal Blocks Westboro

The funerals for the victims of the Louisiana shootings will be held soon and Gov. Bobby Jindal had some interesting things to say to the Westboro Baptist Church.
 

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is prepared to do everything in his power to block the Westboro Baptist Church from protesting the funerals of the victims in the last week’s Lafayette movie theater shooting.

According to The Hill, he issued an executive order yesterday (25 July).

‘In times of grief and mourning, the rule of law is especially important to protect the rights of citizens when they are most vulnerable, and any effort to disrupt or interfere with a family’s ability to grieve following the loss of a loved one is a reprehensible act,’ the Republican wrote, according to The Hill.

‘Any action by any individual or group to in any way disrupt, interfere, or cause additional suffering during this time of mourning is unconscionable and morally reprehensible,’ the order continued.
There’s more here. Finally, something I can agree on with Bobby Jindal. 
Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats
Evidently, Merkel’s Christian Democrats are not in favor of gay marriage. 
The majority of members of chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Party’s (CDU) Berlin faction oppose gay marriage, a poll has revealed.

It found 45% were against the German government opening marriage to same-sex couples, with 35% of members in support.

The poll, conducted to gauge member’s opinion on marriage throughout the country, also revealed that 3% deemed the question ‘not important’.

Berlin’s general secretary Kai Wegener, who announced the result today, said: ‘I believe this result will accelerate the debate on a national level.’

The result comes ten days after Merkel said she supported gay marriage, as long as it was not called marriage, in an interview with German Youtube star LeFloid.

Another example of why there’s still a long way to go. It’s actually kind of interesting to me because I’ve worked with several European publishers in the past and I’ve always been under the impression things were more open and liberal over there. I guess not in all cases.

I don’t get the part where she supports gay marriage as long as it’s not called marriage. What should we call it? She’s a backward woman who is missing something important. The whole point behind “gay” marriage is we hope that someday it won’t be “gay” marriage. It will just be “marriage.”

The rest is here. 

Review for The Rainbow Detective Agency The Guy With Two Penises

I saw this review for one of the Rainbow Detective books and thought I’d share. I like reviews like this because they mention things that normally don’t occur to me while I’m writing. I just do it and when someone makes comments like this I wonder sometimes how I managed to do it.

In any event, here’s part of the review, below. You can read it in full here. There are a few other reviews, too.

What I miss in most gay-themed books is a realistic, tension-filled symphony and cacophony set up by two highly individualistic men. Proctor and Blair are such men. They are opposites who, whether or not either will admit it, are blessedly made for each other. And yet they seem always on the verge of breaking into splinters by the sheer tautness of their hold on each other. Their chemistry is freaking off the charts. Together they set off an electromagnetic charge that defies description. My kind of characters.

Scottish LGBTI Awards; Jindal Blocks Westboro; Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats; Review A Guy With Two Penises

Scottish LGBTI Awards

In case I never mentioned it, I link a lot to Gay Star News and I like the way they use LGBTI. The “I” means intersex. I welcome that addition and seriously praise it far more than that offensive “Q” word I see all the time.

In any event, for the first time ever there will be an awards event in Scotland for LGBTI people.

The very first Scottish LGBTI awards will take place on September 10, hosted by advocacy group Equality Network.

The awards will honour individuals and organizations who contributed to the progress and wellbeing of the LGBTI community over the last year.

This year is a historical one for progress in the country. In 1980 – 35 years ago – homosexuality was decriminalized in Scotland. It’s been 20 years since Scotland’s first Pride March.

Fifteen years have passed since Section 28, which raised the age of consent for gay people, was repealed.

You can read more here. In case you didn’t know, the national animal of Scotland is the unicorn. I only know that because it’s in my next book in The Rainbow Detective series, The Scottish Duke.

Jindal Blocks Westboro

The funerals for the victims of the Louisiana shootings will be held soon and Gov. Bobby Jindal had some interesting things to say to the Westboro Baptist Church.
 

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is prepared to do everything in his power to block the Westboro Baptist Church from protesting the funerals of the victims in the last week’s Lafayette movie theater shooting.

According to The Hill, he issued an executive order yesterday (25 July).

‘In times of grief and mourning, the rule of law is especially important to protect the rights of citizens when they are most vulnerable, and any effort to disrupt or interfere with a family’s ability to grieve following the loss of a loved one is a reprehensible act,’ the Republican wrote, according to The Hill.

‘Any action by any individual or group to in any way disrupt, interfere, or cause additional suffering during this time of mourning is unconscionable and morally reprehensible,’ the order continued.
There’s more here. Finally, something I can agree on with Bobby Jindal. 
Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats
Evidently, Merkel’s Christian Democrats are not in favor of gay marriage. 
The majority of members of chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Party’s (CDU) Berlin faction oppose gay marriage, a poll has revealed.

It found 45% were against the German government opening marriage to same-sex couples, with 35% of members in support.

The poll, conducted to gauge member’s opinion on marriage throughout the country, also revealed that 3% deemed the question ‘not important’.

Berlin’s general secretary Kai Wegener, who announced the result today, said: ‘I believe this result will accelerate the debate on a national level.’

The result comes ten days after Merkel said she supported gay marriage, as long as it was not called marriage, in an interview with German Youtube star LeFloid.

Another example of why there’s still a long way to go. It’s actually kind of interesting to me because I’ve worked with several European publishers in the past and I’ve always been under the impression things were more open and liberal over there. I guess not in all cases.

I don’t get the part where she supports gay marriage as long as it’s not called marriage. What should we call it? She’s a backward woman who is missing something important. The whole point behind “gay” marriage is we hope that someday it won’t be “gay” marriage. It will just be “marriage.”

The rest is here. 

Review for The Rainbow Detective Agency The Guy With Two Penises

I saw this review for one of the Rainbow Detective books and thought I’d share. I like reviews like this because they mention things that normally don’t occur to me while I’m writing. I just do it and when someone makes comments like this I wonder sometimes how I managed to do it.

In any event, here’s part of the review, below. You can read it in full here. There are a few other reviews, too.

What I miss in most gay-themed books is a realistic, tension-filled symphony and cacophony set up by two highly individualistic men. Proctor and Blair are such men. They are opposites who, whether or not either will admit it, are blessedly made for each other. And yet they seem always on the verge of breaking into splinters by the sheer tautness of their hold on each other. Their chemistry is freaking off the charts. Together they set off an electromagnetic charge that defies description. My kind of characters.

Gay Slur Painted on NY Home: Dutch Singer Thinks Miley Cyrus Is A Fake

Gay Slur Painted on NY Home

This is one of the reasons Tony and I have security and cameras everywhere, and also why we specifically *chose* to live our lives in a place that’s gay friendly with a larger gay population. Unfortunately, not every gay person does live in a place like this and they have to endure this kind of bigotry.

The home of a New York gay couple was vandalized with the slur ‘Jenner fags.’

According to WNYT.com, the graffiti was noticed by Lyle Houston on Thursday morning (23 July). He called partner John Mcenerney after discovering the damage to their Wynantskill home. Wynantskill is located approximately 8 miles from Albany.

‘You would think my initial gut reaction would be like, “oh my God, I fear for my life.” I kind of feel more sorry for the person that they felt it was necessary to try to destroy somebody’s house,’ Mcenerney said to WNYT.

You can read the rest here.


This doesn’t just happen to gays either. I remember when my younger straight brother took an African American girl to his prom. The next morning the “N” word was painted all over my parents garage doors.

Dutch Singer Thinks Miley Cyrus Is a Fake

This is amusing. A Dutch singer, Loona, is calling out celebrities like Miley Cyrus for claiming they are bisexual. Loona allegedly thinks these celebrities are full of crap and only looking for publicity. Hey, gay is the new “black.” It’s getting the most publicity and who isn’t trying to make money on that?

Singer Loona, whose last single Caliente was out on 5 June, was referring to Kristen Stewart, Miley Cyrus and Cara Delevingne during a broadcast on female bisexual celebrities for boulevard magazine Punkt 12 on German freeview channel RTL.

She described Stewart, who was in a relationship with her Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson for at least two years, as being ‘more of a masculine type’, saying: ‘I could accept it [bisexuality] from her.’

In 2013, Loona admitted to faking being in a same-sex relationship with a German model for PR purposes; she now said she never expected the attention the relationship got, but couldn’t really believe Cyrus’ relationship was honest.

‘Miley Cyrus is a girl only looking for publicity,’ she said in the interview.
‘So I don’t believe her; and it’s definitely a PR stunt.’

Frankly, if I had to bet on this my money goes with Loona. I see so much fakery these days with some people that I only have to see a post or an update begin with “Weeee” and I go into cringe mode.  Oh wait, there’s “Squeeee.” I think it’s amusing because most people know this and they just don’t say anything. Most people are too polite.

And while Cyrus might be bisexual and all this hype might be sincere, I love this Loona for actually having the guts to speak up, call it out, and not care about what anyone thinks.

The rest is here. 

The comments are interesting.

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Expansive Gay Rights Bill; China Won't Allow Gay Sitcom; Murder of Trans Woman Caught on Video

Expansive Gay Rights Bill

I’m backing off a little with excerpts and links to Queerty.com.  I don’t have anything against Queerty, however, I’ve noticed a change since the marriage ruling. Instead of posting about the gay rights bill Democrats have been working on, they’re posting about…Madonna. I just don’t think Queerty is interested in representing all gay men anymore. They seem focused on a smaller more concentrated segment of gay male readers.

And there’s nothing wrong with that. I think everyone knows I love cheesy clickbait as much as the next person. And, there are plenty of mainstream news outlets talking about the more important LGBT news items so it’s not like I’m at a loss for free content.

In any event, Democrats have been working on an expansive gay rights bill that will protect against discrimination.

For gay-rights advocates, if there was any conceivable downside to their definitive victory  at the Supreme Court last month, it was the sense of finality that came with it. There was no equivocation, no qualifiers, no hedging in the Court’s decision. The right for same-sex couples to marry is now enshrined in the Constitution, culminating a decades-long battle that accelerated rapidly to a decisive victory in the last few years. They had won.

With their most important goal achieved, what more could they want? Quite a lot, it turns out.

“Despite how far we’ve come, we cannot mistake our progress for victory,” said Winnie Stachelberg, the executive vice president for the Center for American Progress, the liberal think tank.

You can read the rest here.  

China Won’t Allow Gay Sitcom

In foreign news, there’s a gay sitcom called Rainbow Family in China, and the Chinese government allegedly won’t allow it to air on TV. So they’re streaming it.

 Rainbow Family focuses on Xie Kezan, a gay man in grad school who has yet to come out to his family. Joining him in the cast are Song Yi, Xie’s best friend and the thirstiest of straight girls, as well as a flamboyant roommate, Austin, and Austin’s freeloader ex-boyfriend.

Creators of the show list Will & Grace as a major inspiration in terms of design and script.   The sitcom is produced by Ling Jueding, the CEO of Chinese gay hookup app Zank.

You can see some of that here. 

Obviously, there’s a lot of work to do globally, too. 

Murder of Trans Woman Caught on Video

I still like linking to Gay Star News in the UK because unlike Queerty, they seem to balance the news with cheap clickbait and serious items. The only problem with Gay Star is they have these weird plug-ins that don’t work well with most browsers and I hate dealing with tech issues like that when I’m blogging.  I wish web site owners would plan for this and not assume anything.

But I digress. And I don’t like to complain about free content either. They do a great overall job at Gay Star. Here’s a story about a transgender woman who was murdered and it was caught on video.

A transgender woman was stabbed in the neck by someone in a car after being called over to talk.

The murder was captured by surveillance video from a local tattoo shop.

K.C. Haggard, 66, died from wounds suffered in the attack that occurred in the California city of Fresno early Thursday (23 July).

According to the local Fox affiliate, the graphic video of Haggard’s attack shows someone in the passenger seat stabbing her in the neck then the car driving off. The victim is then seen holding her neck as she stumbles down the sidewalk and tries to flag someone down for help.

She then collapses onto the sidewalk.

More about that here. 


The Rainbow Detective Agency
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