British TV Reality Stars Gay Baiting
It seems as though gay baiting is not going away any time soon. Here’s an article about two straight male reality TV stars in the UK, Sam Thompson and Pete Wicks, who released a series of photos that are a good deal more intimate and sexually charged than most straight guys would bother to take under normal circumstances.
Thompson then leaked several of the images, which include several shots of the two, presumably naked, snuggled up in a bubble bath.
Here’s the link to see the photos. I know that at a glance it seems harmless. But there are still many straight people out there who’ve been conditioned to laugh and joke about anything gay, and I’m never really sure if people who do things like this are laughing with me, or at me. I say this all the time, but I think it needs repeating again. Try something like this with any other marginalized group and see how far you get.
Aaron Schock Gets Caught At Coachella
The infamous Aaron Schock made the news again this week. And I’m still trying to figure out why I’m supposed to care so much about him. I’m not throwing shade. I really just don’t get it. But I’ve seen this story everywhere and I figured I’d share.
Schock was spotted at Coachella with a group of shirtless men, and there’s an image where he’s allegedly kissing another man.
Here’s the link. There are photos, and there’s a video. The article also gets into the concept of “White gays.” That part of the article is actually interesting.
LGBT Rights Lawyer Richard Green Dies
The world is mourning the loss of a brilliant man named Richard Green.
Green spent decades of his life battling against LGBTI discrimination and oppression. Both his work as a lawyer and psychiatrist reflect the passion and resilience he possessed for this endeavor.
You can read more about Green, here
FREE Gay Excerpt: The Rescuer by Ryan Field
Blurb:
After Keith’s boyfriend, Chet, turns down Keith’s ultra-romantic marriage proposal on the beach in Provincetown, MA, Keith is left devastated and confused about what to do next. He begins to question everything, including his career as the director of a unique animal rescue foundation that’s partly SPCA and partly pet hotel.
Keith loves working at the SPCA more than life itself, and he loves the animals as much as the people in his life, but he knows his job just isn’t good enough to convince Chet to marry him. It might be time for him to join the prosperous family business, become an executive like his brother, and give up on his simple dream of re-homing and rescuing animals.
He winds up finding love and strength in some of the most unlikely places, one of which is with a shy, quirky 3-legged dog named Misty who teaches him the importance of trust and tenacity. Even though he’s surrounded by all the things he loves most, from a mischievous pet monkey to a skunk who thinks she’s a cat, Keith knows he’ll never win Chet back unless he tries working at the family business. There’s only one thing he’s overlooked, and when he finally figures this out he realizes what’s most important to him in this world.
Excerpt:
He kept Misty at the far end of the barn in a special area where all the larger breeds were housed. They all had well secured kennels and long runs so the dogs would never be cramped. No two dogs were ever kept in the same kennel together. They all had their own fluffy beds, bowls, and blankets. Each pen was heated and air conditioned for their comfort, and they were able to go outside in a secured run whenever they wanted. Keith had worked hard for years to make his SPCA more like a hotel or resort than a clinical government facility. It had always been his fantasy to fill their lives with everything that made their stay at his SPCA more like a real home. He could never be certain when they would be rescued and adopted, so he focused on giving them all a sort of home away from home while they were there. Whenever people asked how he got funding for all this luxury, he would simply smile and say, “I make do.”
Even he had to admit that he spoiled Misty more than the others. He’d placed a sofa and a thick lush carpet in her pen, and then he’d painted the cinderblock walls a pale shade of pink. The other workers at the SPCA joked around when he hung a small crystal chandelier over her doggie bed. He didn’t care. Misty was different from other dogs he’d ever known in the past. To glance at her from a distance she resembled any other medium sized pit bull, with a stocky muscular frame and a shiny light gray coat. However, at a closer glance she wasn’t like other pit bulls at all. She’d been born with 3 legs, but she moved around as if she had 4. She had a severe indentation at the top of her head, and her snout was so misshapen it veered sideways which made her look perpetually lopsided. And if all that wasn’t enough, her eyes weren’t even. The left eye was significantly higher than the right. Her ears didn’t match either. The left ear was about two inches longer than the right. But there was something different about Misty on a completely spiritual level Keith couldn’t quite explain. Her crooked light green eyes melted his heart whenever he glanced into them. Her uneven ears made him smile. He could never be totally sure if he felt sorry for her because no one wanted to adopt her, or if he was proud of her for always remaining calm and even in spite of her circumstances.
She was smart, too. Smarter than a German shepherd or a Poodle, and they were the two smartest breeds he’d ever come across. When he walked up to her pen that morning, smelling fresh and clean from the soap he’d used in the bathroom, she took one look at him and walked in the opposite direction.
“Good morning, Misty,” he said, with a soft even voice. He held the bag that had the surprise up higher and shook it a few times. “I’ve got something you’re going to love in here.” He suspected she understood every word he said.
Misty sent him a backward glance and rested on her bed, as if she didn’t care in the least.
She never growled or snarled at Keith. Even though everyone warned Keith she couldn’t be totally trusted, he opened the gate of her pen and stepped inside. He knew better than anyone that she could be trusted. He showed no fear and he wasn’t worried she’d attack him. Although she looked frightening, she didn’t have a mean bone in her body. She’d been there for a long time and they’d reached a point where he knew it was safe to enter her pen. The only thing she showed him…and everyone else…was total indifference.
While Misty remained on her bed, he walked over to a small sink inside her kennel and said, “I’ve got something you’re going to love.”
He pulled a small pint size container out of the bag and reached down for Misty’s bowl. He opened the container and shook a powdery substance into her bowl, and then he added water and reached for a spoon on a shelf above the sink. As he stirred the powder into the water, he glanced back at Misty and said, “I ordered this special doggie pudding just for you. It’s supposed to taste just like bacon and all dogs love it.”
Misty looked up and watched every move he made. He knew she would never get up and walk over to him, not even if she was curious about what was in her bowl. So after he mixed it up and it reached the consistency of chocolate pudding, he set her bowl down on the floor and exited the pen to see what she would do.
Misty just yawned and looked the other way.
“Aren’t you even going to check it out,” he said. He talked to all the dogs there, so this was nothing new for him. He knew they understood. He could see it in their eyes.
She still wouldn’t look at him.
He didn’t want to force her. His goal was to gain her trust, and the only way to do that would be to leave her alone. If she liked this special treat he’d left for her, she was smart enough to remember. Misty never forgot anything, which was why he never scolded her. So he put his hands in his pockets and said, “I’ll stop back later, Misty. You can check out the pudding alone.”