September 11, 2015

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 14 years since the attacks on America. This time every year I post something in remembrance, so rather than repeat myself, I’ll link to a few of those posts now. Being so close to New York no one around here escaped that day without some kind of connection.

This is from last year. The photo I took is very recent.

It’s been said that after the sinking of the Titanic the world changed, too. Many consider that the end of the Edwardian Era. There’s debate over that and I’m not weighing in on it here. But I do think the attacks on September 11, 2001 took us from a more innocent time and brought us all into a new era of caution that hasn’t yet been named. It will be interesting to see how these attacks are handled in future years as people reflect on that day in 2001. I have nieces and nephews who weren’t even alive yet and I’m not sure they’ll ever understand the impact it had on those of us who lived through it all that day, and all the days that followed.

And this excerpt is from 2011 where I talk about the Anthrax scare many of us here in the New York area had to deal with.

My first thought was for family and friends in Manhattan. At the time, my brother and his partner were on East 31st Street and I hadn’t spoken to them in a few weeks. I had no idea where they were or what had happened. But when I called their number, I found that all lines going into Manhattan were dead. The entire city was in lock-down and no one could get in or out. 

It’s interesting when you go into Manhattan now because everything seems so normal, as if nothing bad ever happened that day. However, on the drive into New York from New Hope there are still American flags hanging above each overpass on Rt 78, so no one ever forgets. 

Gay Adult Performer Dead At 24

I’m not familiar with adult performer, Mehran Chestnut, who recently passed away at only 24 years old. He was in a reality show I didn’t know about titled, Tha Life Atlanta, and various gay adult films. So far there is no cause of death.

As King B, Chestnut performed in gay porn scenes for several adult film studios, including NextDoorEbony and Raging Stallion.

Tha Life Atlanta producer George Smith posted a video tribute to the performer on YouTube and noted that he was truly saddened by Chestnut’s unexpected death.

There’s more here. 

Troye Sivan’s “Wild”

I don’t know much about Troye Sivan either, however, Taylor Swift recently tweeted him about his gay teen romance video, “Wild,” and he’s getting a lot more attention now.

So what got Taytay so hot and bothered?

Well, for one, Sivan’s “Wild” is a catchy pop ballad in its own right.

But the video features an adorable childhood friendship-int0-teenage romance that got us a little teared up.

It looks as if Steve Grand has a little competition now, which was bound to happen eventually. And I’m glad it’s happening. We need more pop music with gay men singing about romance. I have to admit this video is excellent and the song is as good.

You can see it here.

“Garriage” Not “Marriage”

This is as sad as it is funny.

But first, this particular LGBT publication, Queerty, continues to use the worst ableist language there is with words like “crackpot.” And they don’t even know they are doing it or how many people with mental illnesses they are harming. Sorry, but I expect more from a gay publication with things like this. Ableist language is a form of discrimination that’s as bad as any LGBT discrimination. Someone should tell them.

In any event, with that comment out of the way, there’s this conservative, Pat Fagan, who is the director of The Family Research Council‘s Marriage and Religious Research Institute, and he would like to see gays use the term “garriage” instead of “marriage.” That’s not all…he wants lesbians to refer to it as “larriage.”And, then he suggests “harriage,” to cover all the proverbial bases.Yes. Garriage, Larriage, and Harriage. Sounds like three new stooges in town.

A proposal, something along this line, that we in the pro-family movement start using related terms, but keep “marriage” for what it always was. So we might call — and this is to be worked out — but something like, if you’re talking about gay marriage you call it “garriage.” If it’s lesbian, you call it “larriage.” If you want a generic homosexual marriage, it’s “harriage.” But getting these words into use I think is key. And that will take time, but whomever holds the language ultimately holds the whole game.

I think someone should tell him to go “fuckage” himself.

You can check that one out here.