Scotland Pardons Gay Men
Here’s another story about something terribly wrong that was done to gay people for many years. It’s hard to believe they treated us this way, but they did.
Scotland has passed a law that will pardon gay men convicted for having consensual sex before such acts were decriminalized.
Here’s more. They go into a lot more detail, and they get into the Alan Turing story. They also mention that gay sex was a crime in Scotland until 1981.
There should be more public apologies for things like this.
CrossFit Exec Fired For Calling LGBTQ Events A Sin
I just posted about this yesterday. You can scroll down and read it. A CrossFit affiliate in Indiana decided to cancel a Pride event for what sounded like religious reasons, and there’s been backlash.
Russell Berger, who was CrossFit’s chief knowledge officer, tweeted his support after one of the gym’s branches cancelled a Pride event, saying that celebrating LGBTQ Pride was a ‘sin’.
The gym in question, CrossFit Infiltrate, is based in Indianapolis and was instructed by its local owner to cancel the LGBTQ Pride workout.
Here’s the entire story. I actually didn’t think we’d be hearing more about this one. But I’m glad we are. According to this article, the CrossFit affiliate that started all this in Indiana closed its doors after the backlash.
Hollywood and Los Angeles Pride
Here’s a piece that’s focused on Los Angeles Pride from the POV of Andrew Christian model, Murray Swanby.
What’s your pride expertise?
I travel all over during pride season, and have hosted at a few international prides across the world, but Los Angeles is my home so I think you always enjoy that the best. It’s your local community.
Here’s the rest. It’s actually in-depth, and there are photos.
FREE Gay Fiction Excerpt Ryan Field
I haven’t done a Friday excerpt in a while and I figured it was time. This is from an untitled WIP about a young gay man in Palm Springs, CA who falls in love with a guy who turns out to be someone totally different than he said he was. This is really raw so there may be mistakes.
Chapter 1
If someone wants to make a stellar first impression, they don’t flash their potential in-laws an unsolicited dick pic only days before they meet them for the first time. It doesn’t matter whether or not their junk is concealed beneath a thin, sheer layer of white cotton briefs. It doesn’t matter whether the dick pic was intentional or not. Because even though mistakes happen all the time with text messages, if the outline of the entire huge penis can be seen in detail on the screen, it could set the stage for the entire future relationship with their in-laws. And no matter how hard people try, there are certain things in life that can never, ever be unseen.
So it’s no wonder Earl Bradshaw blinked at his phone screen when he received a text alert from his son, Baldwin. Earl and his wife, Abby, were packing to leave for Palm Springs, California in the morning to spend Thanksgiving with Baldwin and his fiancé, Gabriel. Earl had just asked Abby if he should pack his tennis shoes when he got the text alert. At first he didn’t know what it was, but then he looked again and saw the outline of what appeared to be a man’s penis showing through sheer white underwear. It was a close up shot that showed every detail of a semi-erect penis, including the length and the girth. The text that came with it read: “Hey Baldwin, baby. Look what I’ve got for you. The Big Boy.” To make matters even worse, the dick pic was sent in a group text to Earl, Abby, Baldwin, and Baldwin’s younger brother, Harold. It was the same family group text thread they’d been using all week to talk about their Thanksgiving plans.
While Earl gaped at his phone with wide eyes and one palm pressed to his throat, Abby looked at her phone and asked, “What on earth is that? It looks like a big dead bird. Is that a dead bird, Earl?” She turned her phone sideways and tilted her head. Apparently, she couldn’t find her dime store reading glasses and didn’t feel like looking for them. She still hadn’t accepted the fact that she needed reading glasses, and she resented the fact that up until a few months ago she could see everything perfectly. It happened so fast: overnight.
Before Earl could reply, Harold rushed into their bedroom with his phone in one hand and a TV remote in the other. “Did you see that text?”
“Yes,” Earl said. “We’ve seen it. We’ve all seen it.”
Poor Abby was still staring at the photo and shaking her head from side to side. “Maybe it’s not a dead bird.”
“I can’t believe he sent a dick pic,” Harold said. “I’ve heard about dick pics, but this is the first time I’ve ever actually seen a real life dick pic on my own phone.”
Abby blinked. “A what?”
Earl sent him a look. “Delete those messages from your phone immediately, Harold, and then go back to you room and finish packing.”
“It’s only a dick pic,” Harold said. “There’s no need to turn all red-faced and scream about it. No one killed a kitten.”
“What’s a dick pic?” Abby asked, as she reached for her reading glasses on the night stand.
Harold laughed. “What do you think it is, mom? Think about it. Dick pic.”
Abby tapped her index finger against her lip and said, “Oh.”
“Harold, go to your room,” Earl said.
“But dad.”
“I said go to your room, delete those texts, and finish packing,” Earl said. “I don’t want to hear another word about it.” He’d always believed in life there were certain circumstances that didn’t need explaining. They didn’t happen often, but when they did the best possible way to deal with them was to ignore them completely. At that moment, he couldn’t think of a better thing to ignore than that text message with a huge penis.
As Harold turned to leave, Abby put on her reading glasses, looked at her phone, and gasped. She stared for a moment, and said, “You know for a moment I thought that was a photo of a dead bird. I honestly didn’t realize that it’s a penis.”
Earl sat down on a bench at the foot of the bed and said, “Just give me your phone and I’ll delete it.” In her defense, though, Abby had married Earl right out of college and she hadn’t dated many guys before him, so she hadn’t seen that many penises in her lifetime.
Abby couldn’t stop staring at the photo. “It looks so much bigger than anything I’ve ever seen in person. What I don’t understand is why would Gabriel send us a photo of his penis?”
“I have no idea,” Earl said. “And frankly, I’m still not even sure why we’re going all the way out to California to spend Thanksgiving in the middle of the desert.”
“It’s Palm Springs,” Abby said. “You’ll like it. We’ll all like it.”
“But it’s the desert,” Earl said. “There’s something so unnatural about going to the desert for Thanksgiving. If you go away for Thanksgiving you go to a cute bed and breakfast in Vermont, or somewhere cold and fall-like. Not the desert. Who does that?”
“We’re doing this for Baldwin,” Abby said. She handed Earl her phone so he could delete the photo of Gabriel’s penis. “He wants to introduce us to the man he’s planning to marry.”
“Well, he’s doing a good job of it with that photo they just sent,” Earl said. When Baldwin had told them he was gay, Earl hadn’t been prepared for some of the emotions that went along with that. It wasn’t that it bothered him that Baldwin was gay. He’d never had a problem with that. He loved his son and he only wanted him to be happy. However, he wasn’t prepared for the fact that other men would want to take Baldwin away from him, especially an aggressive scruffy man named Gabriel who texted a photo of his unusually huge penis. Earl had always thought of Baldwin as refined and delicate. The thought of a rough beast like Gabriel in bed with Baldwin turned Earl’s brain inside out.
Abby saw the look on Earl’s face and thought it might help to lighten the mood. “Well, at least we now know why Baldwin always has a great big smile on his face. From what I can see, he’s a very lucky young man.”
“Abby,” Earl said. “He’s our son. I’m not sure I like the idea of him marrying a man who would text a photo like that. I’d prefer him to marry a more refined man. A gentleman who knows the meaning of good taste and discretion. I don’t like the idea of my son marrying a sex maniac.”
“They all do it nowadays.”
“Huh?”
Abby shrugged. “Everyone does it now. It’s called sexting.”
“So you don’t know what a dick pic is, but you know what sexting is,” Earl said.
Abby shrugged again. “I read things on the Facebook.”
Earl’s phone rang and he saw it was Baldwin calling him. He answered and Baldwin said, “Dad, I’m so sorry about that text. It was only meant for me. I’m so embarrassed. You were never supposed to see that. Gabriel didn’t realize it was my phone. We have the same phones and he thought he was texting me privately from his phone. He had no idea it was going to everyone.”
Then another voice started talking. “Hey, dad, I just wanted to say I’m sorry for the mix up. That text was meant for my baby, Baldwin.”
Earl sat up straighter and adjusted his shoulders. “Who’s this?” He wasn’t talking to Baldwin anymore. Some strange loud voice was calling him dad.
Someone laughed and said, “It’s me, your future son-in-law, Gabriel. I just wanted to say something so you don’t think I’m some kind of perv or something.” He laughed again. “I don’t normally send of group texts of my junk, you know what I mean, dad.”
Earl just sat there at the end of the bed staring at the wall in front of him. He didn’t know how to reply, and he’d never given this stranger…Gabriel…permission to call him dad. Wasn’t that supposed to happen after the wedding? Wasn’t it a bit presumptuous of this guy to start calling him dad now? Gabriel was not only vulgar, but he was pushy, too.
Baldwin must have yanked the phone out of Gabriel’s hand, because the next thing Earl heard was, “I’m sorry, dad. I’ll see you tomorrow. I’ll be at the airport waiting for your plane to arrive.”
Then Earl heard more laughter, as if Gabriel was tickling Baldwin and Baldwin was trying to get him to stop. Oh, Earl did not want to hear this.
“I have to go now, dad,” Baldwin said. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning. Have a safe flight. Give my love to mom.”
“Wait, don’t hang up yet,” Earl said. But it was too late. Baldwin had hung up and left him sitting there with his mouth half open, still wondering who on earth would text a photo of his penis to his future in-laws.
Abby sat down on her side of the bed and asked, “What did Baldwin say? Why are you sulking like that? I haven’t seen that expression since we rushed you to the emergency room with a kidney stone. Are you having trouble peeing again, Earl?”
Earl stood up and crossed to a bedroom chair so he could get undressed for bed. He set his phone down on a table beside the chair and said, “No, I’m not having trouble peeing again, Abby. Baldwin just said he’d see us at the airport and that he was sorry for the text. It was a mistake. What’s-his-name accidentally sent it to us instead of Baldwin. What’s-his-name got his phone mixed up with Baldwin’s phone and we got a group text as a mistake.” He decided not to mention that Gabriel had spoken to him.
“His name is Gabriel,” Abby said. “It’s not What’s-his-name. And I’m looking forward to meeting him in person.”
Earl kicked off his shoes and said, “I’m not sure about this guy, Abby. He doesn’t sound normal. And he looks so scruffy and unkempt.” Gabriel sounded like sex maniac, but Earl didn’t mention this to Abby. She wasn’t as worldly as he was and he didn’t want to upset her. She didn’t know about aggressive men like this Gabriel. Earl had come across his kind before, gay and straight. Aggressive men like Gabriel tend to seek out nice, quiet reserved people like Baldwin because they know they can take advantage of them. Although Baldwin was extremely bright and he’d never been anyone’s fool, he tended to be more submissive than aggressive and men like Gabriel knew how to spot that from miles away. The thought of a man like Gabriel doing unspeakable things to his son made Earl want to punch something.
A PG Rated Gay Romance
Altered Parts: Limited Edition
