Month: May 2020

His Dad Thought His Hook Up Was an Intruder; A Mosque In the Heart of London's Gay Village; Ryan Field Books

His Dad Thought His Hook Up Was an Intruder

While this guy was living at home with his parents, he decided to take a hook up home and things got a bit awkward.

At that point, Lehmann’s dad had a complete freakout, running fo a baseball bat. Nick calmed his dad down, assuring him that he had a gentleman caller. Then Lehmann’s dad insisted on meeting said guest.

Here’s the rest. I don’t blame the dad for freaking out. I wouldn’t want to find out there were strangers lurking in my home either. Frankly, I can’t find the comedy in this. But maybe it’s just me. 

A Mosque In the Heart of London’s Gay Village

This is interesting and confusing. I’m not even going to comment. I have a problem supporting any religion that’s anti-gay, including Christianity. So there’s no way I can ever be objective about something like this. 

A British LGBT+ community forum welcomed plans on Thursday (May 28) for a mosque and community centre in the heart of London’s gay district despite seething pushback.


Here’s the link. 

You can read more about LGBTQ in Islam, here. 






Amazon

“A wonderful story that I loved. The characters were well developed, and strong. Gus: A sweet young man. Doing something for all the wrong reasons. Craig: his boyfriend, he’ll go along with anything Gus say. Henry: Gus father a no nonsense man, who’s husband died last year. I enjoyed this story.”

Uncertainty by [Field, Ryan]

What readers said about “Altered Parts”
“Best Gay Novel In Years. This story will stay with you and you will feel you know every character and the beauty of their home in the mountains of North Carolina.”

Altered Parts


Altered Parts by [Field, Ryan]


While the book is easily readable, it also addresses emotions stereotypes and relationships. I would have preferred it be 3 times as long and tragically most guys don’t find happy endings as depicted.. but in a short book, it provides food for thought, clarity and insight.. far more and better expressed than 99% of gay fiction . I don’t think it could have been done better.


Kendle's Fire by Ryan Field







His Dad Thought His Hook Up Was an Intruder; A Mosque In the Heart of London’s Gay Village; Ryan Field Books

His Dad Thought His Hook Up Was an Intruder

While this guy was living at home with his parents, he decided to take a hook up home and things got a bit awkward.

At that point, Lehmann’s dad had a complete freakout, running fo a baseball bat. Nick calmed his dad down, assuring him that he had a gentleman caller. Then Lehmann’s dad insisted on meeting said guest.

Here’s the rest. I don’t blame the dad for freaking out. I wouldn’t want to find out there were strangers lurking in my home either. Frankly, I can’t find the comedy in this. But maybe it’s just me. 

A Mosque In the Heart of London’s Gay Village

This is interesting and confusing. I’m not even going to comment. I have a problem supporting any religion that’s anti-gay, including Christianity. So there’s no way I can ever be objective about something like this. 

A British LGBT+ community forum welcomed plans on Thursday (May 28) for a mosque and community centre in the heart of London’s gay district despite seething pushback.


Here’s the link. 

You can read more about LGBTQ in Islam, here. 






Amazon

“A wonderful story that I loved. The characters were well developed, and strong. Gus: A sweet young man. Doing something for all the wrong reasons. Craig: his boyfriend, he’ll go along with anything Gus say. Henry: Gus father a no nonsense man, who’s husband died last year. I enjoyed this story.”

Uncertainty by [Field, Ryan]

What readers said about “Altered Parts”
“Best Gay Novel In Years. This story will stay with you and you will feel you know every character and the beauty of their home in the mountains of North Carolina.”

Altered Parts


Altered Parts by [Field, Ryan]


While the book is easily readable, it also addresses emotions stereotypes and relationships. I would have preferred it be 3 times as long and tragically most guys don’t find happy endings as depicted.. but in a short book, it provides food for thought, clarity and insight.. far more and better expressed than 99% of gay fiction . I don’t think it could have been done better.


Kendle's Fire by Ryan Field







Backstory Behind Diana Ross's Pride Anthem "I'm Coming Out"; Gay Spouses and Social Security Survivor Benefits; Ryan Field Books

Backstory Behind Diana Ross’s Pride Anthem “I’m Coming Out”

I definitely Stan for Diana Ross. I always have, even as a little kid. And I’m not the only one. She has millions of Stans all over the world who are still fascinated by her.

Here’s some amusing backstory about her huge hit song, I’m Coming Out.

“She didn’t understand that that was a gay thing,” Rodgers says, “that that was a person saying, ‘I’m coming out of the closet.’ She didn’t even get that.”

There’s more here. It’s all amusing. It’s a little before my time, but I love the song anyway. 

Gay Spouses and Social Security Survivor Benefits

Here’s a very endearing story about a gay couple who were together for a long time and who weathered the height of the AIDS crisis. They had a commitment ceremony before marriage was legal, and when marriage became legal they got married. Unfortunately, after they got married one of them passed away from cancer and the other was denied social security survivor benefits because they hadn’t been married for the mandatory 9 months. 

Thankfully, this happened. 

This week, however, a federal court ruling changed that. The LGBTQ advocacy group Lambda Legal won a class-action lawsuit, Ely v. Saul, on behalf of same-sex couples denied Social Security Administration benefits because of gay marriage bans.

You can read the rest of it here. I personally knew several older gay couples who were denied survivor benefits and it was a huge financial blow to their basic survival. 

I’m so glad these things are changing. I sometimes think we should have rioted more often. 






Amazon

“A wonderful story that I loved. The characters were well developed, and strong. Gus: A sweet young man. Doing something for all the wrong reasons. Craig: his boyfriend, he’ll go along with anything Gus say. Henry: Gus father a no nonsense man, who’s husband died last year. I enjoyed this story.”

Uncertainty by [Field, Ryan]

What readers said about “Altered Parts”
“Best Gay Novel In Years. This story will stay with you and you will feel you know every character and the beauty of their home in the mountains of North Carolina.”

Altered Parts


Altered Parts by [Field, Ryan]


While the book is easily readable, it also addresses emotions stereotypes and relationships. I would have preferred it be 3 times as long and tragically most guys don’t find happy endings as depicted.. but in a short book, it provides food for thought, clarity and insight.. far more and better expressed than 99% of gay fiction . I don’t think it could have been done better.


Kendle's Fire by Ryan Field



Backstory Behind Diana Ross’s Pride Anthem "I’m Coming Out"; Gay Spouses and Social Security Survivor Benefits; Ryan Field Books

Backstory Behind Diana Ross’s Pride Anthem “I’m Coming Out”

I definitely Stan for Diana Ross. I always have, even as a little kid. And I’m not the only one. She has millions of Stans all over the world who are still fascinated by her.

Here’s some amusing backstory about her huge hit song, I’m Coming Out.

“She didn’t understand that that was a gay thing,” Rodgers says, “that that was a person saying, ‘I’m coming out of the closet.’ She didn’t even get that.”

There’s more here. It’s all amusing. It’s a little before my time, but I love the song anyway. 

Gay Spouses and Social Security Survivor Benefits

Here’s a very endearing story about a gay couple who were together for a long time and who weathered the height of the AIDS crisis. They had a commitment ceremony before marriage was legal, and when marriage became legal they got married. Unfortunately, after they got married one of them passed away from cancer and the other was denied social security survivor benefits because they hadn’t been married for the mandatory 9 months. 

Thankfully, this happened. 

This week, however, a federal court ruling changed that. The LGBTQ advocacy group Lambda Legal won a class-action lawsuit, Ely v. Saul, on behalf of same-sex couples denied Social Security Administration benefits because of gay marriage bans.

You can read the rest of it here. I personally knew several older gay couples who were denied survivor benefits and it was a huge financial blow to their basic survival. 

I’m so glad these things are changing. I sometimes think we should have rioted more often. 






Amazon

“A wonderful story that I loved. The characters were well developed, and strong. Gus: A sweet young man. Doing something for all the wrong reasons. Craig: his boyfriend, he’ll go along with anything Gus say. Henry: Gus father a no nonsense man, who’s husband died last year. I enjoyed this story.”

Uncertainty by [Field, Ryan]

What readers said about “Altered Parts”
“Best Gay Novel In Years. This story will stay with you and you will feel you know every character and the beauty of their home in the mountains of North Carolina.”

Altered Parts


Altered Parts by [Field, Ryan]


While the book is easily readable, it also addresses emotions stereotypes and relationships. I would have preferred it be 3 times as long and tragically most guys don’t find happy endings as depicted.. but in a short book, it provides food for thought, clarity and insight.. far more and better expressed than 99% of gay fiction . I don’t think it could have been done better.


Kendle's Fire by Ryan Field



Celebrities Pay Tribute To Larry Kramer; Gay Couple Pardoned by President In Zambia; Ryan Field Books

Celebrities Pay Tribute To Larry Kramer

Sadly, I haven’t seen much about Larry Kramer in any mainstream news. Which isn’t all that shocking. If it’s not about the likes of Straight Will and his Grace exploiting gay content, they go blank. They don’t even want to know there was once a gay activist named Larry Kramer. It’s not on their radar.

But not everyone went blank, thankfully.

“We have lost a giant of a man who stood up for gay rights like a warrior,” said Sir Elton John. “His anger was needed at a time when gay men’s deaths to Aids were being ignored by the American government.”

Here’s a lot more. There are a few comments from Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Gay Couple Pardoned by President In Zambia

I remember posting about this last year. A gay couple in Zambia was given a 15 year prison sentence last year for having sex, US Ambassador Daniel Foote was horrified about this and when he spoke up about his concerns he was sent back to Washington. They didn’t want him around anymore.

And here’s the latest turn of events…

Zambia’s President Edgar Lungu has pardoned two men who were jailed last year for having sex with each other.

Here’s the link. And there’s a more in-depth piece, here. Unfortunately, you won’t read about this in any mainstream news. 






Amazon

“A wonderful story that I loved. The characters were well developed, and strong. Gus: A sweet young man. Doing something for all the wrong reasons. Craig: his boyfriend, he’ll go along with anything Gus say. Henry: Gus father a no nonsense man, who’s husband died last year. I enjoyed this story.”

Uncertainty by [Field, Ryan]

What readers said about “Altered Parts”
“Best Gay Novel In Years. This story will stay with you and you will feel you know every character and the beauty of their home in the mountains of North Carolina.”

Altered Parts


Altered Parts by [Field, Ryan]


While the book is easily readable, it also addresses emotions stereotypes and relationships. I would have preferred it be 3 times as long and tragically most guys don’t find happy endings as depicted.. but in a short book, it provides food for thought, clarity and insight.. far more and better expressed than 99% of gay fiction . I don’t think it could have been done better.


Kendle's Fire by Ryan Field

Hollywood Hills House Parties During COVID Are Out of Control; RIP Larry Kramer; Ryan Field Books

Hollywood Hills House Parties During COVID Are Out of Control

With everything shut down right now thanks to COVID, some people are having their own parties and not caring too much about social distancing.

It’s so bad in Hollywood that the local police put together a video asking people to tone things down.

You can watch the video here. They are actually pleading with people not to be asshats.

RIP Larry Kramer

For as long as I can remember, Larry Kramer has been around the LGBTQ community. When I started coming out in the 90s and early 2000s we still went to gay bars and we still found our LGBTQ information from small indie print newspapers. Back then I remember Kramer’s name was always in the gay newspapers. And through the years he managed to keep up with the times and technology. 

So it was sad reading that he passed away. He was always there, always around. 

Larry Kramer, the noted writer whose raucous, antagonistic campaign for an all-out response to the AIDS crisis helped shift national health policy in the 1980s and ’90s, died on Wednesday morning in Manhattan. He was 84.

Here’s a lot more. 







Amazon

“A wonderful story that I loved. The characters were well developed, and strong. Gus: A sweet young man. Doing something for all the wrong reasons. Craig: his boyfriend, he’ll go along with anything Gus say. Henry: Gus father a no nonsense man, who’s husband died last year. I enjoyed this story.”

Uncertainty by [Field, Ryan]

What readers said about “Altered Parts”
“Best Gay Novel In Years. This story will stay with you and you will feel you know every character and the beauty of their home in the mountains of North Carolina.”

Altered Parts


Altered Parts by [Field, Ryan]


While the book is easily readable, it also addresses emotions stereotypes and relationships. I would have preferred it be 3 times as long and tragically most guys don’t find happy endings as depicted.. but in a short book, it provides food for thought, clarity and insight.. far more and better expressed than 99% of gay fiction . I don’t think it could have been done better.


Kendle's Fire by Ryan Field

The Great Gay Hook Up Drought of 2020; Gay Mister Rogers Actor Can Finally Come Out; Ryan Field Books

The Great Gay Hook Up Drought of 2020

This is amusing. No one ever thought anything like this could ever happen. With so many gay men not out looking for sex thanks to COVID, comics are having a field day.

This is from a Youtube comic named Michael Henry.

His latest video, entitled ‘Quarantine D’, explores the fact some gay men are still hunting for dick, at a time when many others are choosing to abstain and not hook-up.

You can check out the video here. Cearly, a sign of these highly uncertain times.

Gay Mister Rogers Actor Can Finally Come Out

This is a story about one of the actors who worked with Mister Rogers on the infamous children’s TV show. His name is François S. Clemmons and he played Officer Clemmons as a recurring character on Mister Rogers.

Clemmons has a memoir out now and he’s talking openly about his life in many respects, including the fact that he’s gay. 

For that time period, this is pretty typical. And sadly, in some cases it’s still typical today. 

Rogers met Clemmons when he heard him sing at a church. Clemmons began appearing on Rogers’ show when he was a grad student at Carnegie Mellon. Rogers loved Clemmons as a friend and respected his talent. Yet, he was a product of his time. “If you’re gay, it doesn’t matter to me at all,” Rogers told Clemmons, “but if you’re going to be on the show … you can’t be out as gay.” 

There’s more, here.  This is another reason why it really irritates me when I see a straight white actor playing gay face. 






Amazon

“A wonderful story that I loved. The characters were well developed, and strong. Gus: A sweet young man. Doing something for all the wrong reasons. Craig: his boyfriend, he’ll go along with anything Gus say. Henry: Gus father a no nonsense man, who’s husband died last year. I enjoyed this story.”

Uncertainty by [Field, Ryan]

What readers said about “Altered Parts”
“Best Gay Novel In Years. This story will stay with you and you will feel you know every character and the beauty of their home in the mountains of North Carolina.”

Altered Parts


Altered Parts by [Field, Ryan]


While the book is easily readable, it also addresses emotions stereotypes and relationships. I would have preferred it be 3 times as long and tragically most guys don’t find happy endings as depicted.. but in a short book, it provides food for thought, clarity and insight.. far more and better expressed than 99% of gay fiction . I don’t think it could have been done better.


Kendle's Fire by Ryan Field



Gay Ass News Website; The 20 Year Old Gay Kiss That Made TV History; Ryan Field books

Gay Ass News Website

I found this website and thought I would share. It’s called Gay Ass News and it’s very different from anything you’ve ever seen before.

First, it’s not a print site. This is all audio and you listen to the news stories instead of reading them. It’s different.

You can check it out, here. Unfortunately, it’s a great concept but the last post was October 2019.

The 20 Year Old Gay Kiss That Made TV History

I don’t recall this one because as a gay person I wasn’t watching TV shows like Dawson’s Creek 20 years ago. These were heteronormative TV shows that did not fall under my gay radar back then. In fact, 20 years ago Tony and I were still actively going to bars and spending most of our time with other gay people. And no other gay people I knew were watching TV shows like Dawson’s Creek either. So this is one of those straight things, done by straight people, that happened for gay people. 20 years ago gay people had no voices in the mainstream.

Now, 20 years later, the people involved with Dawson’s Creek are reflecting.

Said Smith: “Nobody had really done it before, and I was being asked to do this. I said, ‘All right, let’s make some history. Let’s change the way people think.’ … Look at any show today — comedy or drama — you’re going to have gay, lesbian and transgender characters. That’s the way it should be. That was the goal back then. In society, we’ve made that transition and I’m very proud we did that.”

You can read it all, here. We still have a long, long way to go.






Amazon

“A wonderful story that I loved. The characters were well developed, and strong. Gus: A sweet young man. Doing something for all the wrong reasons. Craig: his boyfriend, he’ll go along with anything Gus say. Henry: Gus father a no nonsense man, who’s husband died last year. I enjoyed this story.”

Uncertainty by [Field, Ryan]

What readers said about “Altered Parts”
“Best Gay Novel In Years. This story will stay with you and you will feel you know every character and the beauty of their home in the mountains of North Carolina.”

Altered Parts


Altered Parts by [Field, Ryan]


While the book is easily readable, it also addresses emotions stereotypes and relationships. I would have preferred it be 3 times as long and tragically most guys don’t find happy endings as depicted.. but in a short book, it provides food for thought, clarity and insight.. far more and better expressed than 99% of gay fiction . I don’t think it could have been done better.


Kendle's Fire by Ryan Field

Gay Sex Club Closed Down For Not Social Distancing; An Openly Gay Man Who Works In A Church; Ryan Field Books

Gay Sex Club Closed Down For Not Social Distancing

So far, since the first week in March, Tony and I have followed all the rules for lockdown, self-quarantine, and social distancing. We’re wearing masks in public, and we’re really not going anywhere or having anyone over to our home. And our families and friends are doing the same things. We haven’t even ordered take out food because we don’t trust it.

I’m not saying we deserve a medal for this, however, we actually had the mild version of Coronavirus in March and we’re still following all the rules. And we will continue.

Apparently, though, some people want to return to normal sooner rather than later, and they are paying the price.

A gay sex club in Lansing, Michigan, has been shut by police, after being accused of violating rules on social distancing.

Here’s a link to the rest.  Even though so many events have been canceled for the year by now, many people seem to be returning to normal at the beaches and boardwalks around the country. And I guess time is going to tell if that was a mistake or not. 

An Openly Gay Man Who Works In A Church

Even though I want to slam that new gay character in Pixar’s Out, I can’t do that. The entire concept is trite. Yes, for those of us who have been out and openly gay for a log time, Out is about as inspiring as beets. But I can’t slam Out and it’s not a bad thing at all.  Sometimes we tend to forget that not everyone is “out” and not everyone has been able to be proud and openly gay. There are millions of us who are NOT out. And that’s what this next inspiring story is about.

This was written by a gay man who works in a Church in Texas.

I no longer hide my vocation with vagueness, telling half-lies to potential matches and, if I am honest, to myself. I am open, having come out of my gay-Christian closet. I seek out those who openly express their faith, in hopes that we will have one more thing in common, that what might be the most important aspects of our lives might complement each other.

You can read this in full, here. 






Amazon

“A wonderful story that I loved. The characters were well developed, and strong. Gus: A sweet young man. Doing something for all the wrong reasons. Craig: his boyfriend, he’ll go along with anything Gus say. Henry: Gus father a no nonsense man, who’s husband died last year. I enjoyed this story.”

Uncertainty by [Field, Ryan]

What readers said about “Altered Parts”
“Best Gay Novel In Years. This story will stay with you and you will feel you know every character and the beauty of their home in the mountains of North Carolina.”

Altered Parts


Altered Parts by [Field, Ryan]


While the book is easily readable, it also addresses emotions stereotypes and relationships. I would have preferred it be 3 times as long and tragically most guys don’t find happy endings as depicted.. but in a short book, it provides food for thought, clarity and insight.. far more and better expressed than 99% of gay fiction . I don’t think it could have been done better.


Kendle's Fire by Ryan Field

Matt Lauer Slams Ronan Farrow; Pixar's First Gay Main Character; Ryan Field Books

Matt Lauer Slams Ronan Farrow

I’ve been seeing this trend all week. I think everyone knows what happened with Matt Lauer. If you don’t, it’s a simple search. After years of going silent, the former news personality is now going after Ronan Farrow.

Lauer cites purposely misleading passages in the book, slams Farrow for not attempting to corroborate allegations against Lauer with third parties and claims that Farrow’s own grudge against NBC helped fuel his discrediting of Lauer.

Here’s the link. I think the most interesting aspect about this whole thing is that Lauer is not the only one to question Farrow’s journalistic integrity. 

Pixar’s First Gay Main Character

This is something new and different, said no gay person ever. It’s been done a million times. However, even though the coming out story line has been done before, you have to remember that it’s still new to the mainstream world in a general sense. And there are still a lot of LGBTQ people in the closet.

Pixar has unveiled its first gay main character in its new short film “Out” released on Friday.

You can check it out, here. It can be streamed on Disney +. 





What readers are saying about “Uncertainty”

Amazon

“A wonderful story that I loved. The characters were well developed, and strong. Gus: A sweet young man. Doing something for all the wrong reasons. Craig: his boyfriend, he’ll go along with anything Gus say. Henry: Gus father a no nonsense man, who’s husband died last year. I enjoyed this story.”

Uncertainty by [Field, Ryan]

What readers said about “Altered Parts”
“Best Gay Novel In Years. This story will stay with you and you will feel you know every character and the beauty of their home in the mountains of North Carolina.”

Altered Parts


Altered Parts by [Field, Ryan]

What readers said about Kendle’s Fire. 

While the book is easily readable, it also addresses emotions stereotypes and relationships. I would have preferred it be 3 times as long and tragically most guys don’t find happy endings as depicted.. but in a short book, it provides food for thought, clarity and insight.. far more and better expressed than 99% of gay fiction . I don’t think it could have been done better.


Kendle's Fire by Ryan Field