Category: Gay Activist Slams Obama

Straight Men Cuddling; Zachary Quinto Shirtless; Gay Activist Slams Obama; Chase of a Holy Ghost

Straight Men Cuddling

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WNBR-riders-London.jpg

Update Below

When my author friend, Jon Michaelsen, sent me this link yesterday I have to admit that I found it more than interesting. The article talks about how it’s not as uncommon as we think it might be for straight men to cuddle in bed and show affection with each other in ways that have always been considered taboo. In fact, a study states that nine out of ten straight young men have spooned with each other in bed.

They believe as straight guys become less homophobic, they are happier to be more intimate with their friends.


‘We’re always cuddling, my lot,’ Jarrett, one of the young men who was interviewed, said.

‘We’re all comfortable with each other.’

Max, another survey participant, described how he and his friends would nurse their hangovers together at university.

Following a night out, he said he’s happy to watch TV, play video games, and frequently cuddle with friends.

‘If your mate has a headache you can like massage his head, or you just lie there together holding each other and laughing about how awful you feel,’ he said.

I could joke about this and make a comment or two. But I actually do find it interesting because I think straight men…and gay men…are always so highly underestimated because we’ve been socially conditioned not to show affection toward each other. It’s always been fine to see two women dancing together, but not two men.

There’s more here.

Update: I polled twenty straight men I know about this earlier today and not one said they’ve ever spooned or cuddled in bed with another straight man. They have no reason to lie to me. I swore it was off the record and I would not mention names. And these are guys who have confided with me on personal things in the past. Just thought I’d throw that out there.

Zachary Quinto Shirtless

Openly gay actor, Zachary Quinto, didn’t get a Tony nomination this year, but he is out there promoting the role he’s playing for an upcoming Agent 47 film with his body. He makes it clear he’s not an exhibitionist for fun…just for work.

The openly gay star of the Star Trek movies (Mr. Spock) would be the clear winner in a ‘Shirtless Selfie of the Day’ contest.

Quinto posted this shot of himself onto his Instagram account and explained that his exhibitionism has a professional purpose: he is busy preparing for his next movie role.

‘Back to work(ing out). Agent 47. Home stretch.’

You can see the photo here. I pity the young male actor out there who is not “working it” with his body these days.

Gay Activist Slams Obama

A Malaysian gay activist, Pang Khee Teik, wrote what I think is one of those open letters to President Obama stating that he doesn’t want Obama to use gays as political pawns.

While I appreciate the call for Obama to support the activism on sexual orientation and gender identity issues, I find myself confused by the intended outcome of such a support. How can they help, really? And who are they helping, really? (And no, I wasn’t invited to meet Obama. But with my cynicism, could you blame them, really?)

On one hand, Obama’s visit seems premised on securing better international relations. And better international relations are often the stepping stone for better trade agreements. Better for the signers of agreements, naturally. Most notoriously, the USA has recently been trying to promote the TPPA (Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement), which has terms favorable to USA’s corporations and their economic interests, as well as the interests of ruling elites locally, at the expense of local communities and rights. A possible outcome of TPPA is the protection of the interests of pharmaceutical firms, thereby increasing the prices of HIV drugs and making effective cancer treatment less accessible for Malaysians.

You can read the rest here. It’s an angry commentary that hops from one point to another, and I’m still not sure what this activist is complaining about. But it’s an interesting read and some points do hit close to home for me.

What I would have liked is for USA to admit to its past discriminatory policies and bad laws targeted at LGBTs, and how some are still being enacted as we speak. Some states have recently signed into law the right of people to refuse services to LGBTs based on religious convictions. Really, USA, WTF?

And some states, like Pennsylvania where I live, have yet to recognize same sex marriage.

Chase of a Holy Ghost

I’m working on a new book in the Chase of a Lifetime series, Chase of a Holy Ghost, and here’s a short excerpt. This will be the fourth book in the series and it should run about 80,000 words. I’m 99% finished and I’ll post more about a release date.

By that time Jim could see he was friendly; just a little scared. He didn’t growl or snarl once. He seemed to be a Chihuahua with one of the most docile personalities Jim had ever seen. So he poured more water into his hand and the dog continued to drink until there was nothing left in Jim’s bottle.

            Jim reached out to pet him and the dog stood up and wagged his tail. “There you go, buddy,” Jim said. “Now we’re going to find out who has been neglecting you and get you some dinner.” Maybe he’d run away and he’d just returned?

            Jim had reached the point where he didn’t give a damn anymore about getting caught, not when a poor little starving dog was involved.

            With both hands, he reached out to pick the dog up. The dog wagged his tail and didn’t put up any resistance. Jim had a feeling that if this dog could talk he would have begged Jim to take him away from there.

            Once he was in Jim’s arms, Jim patted his back and checked his collar for identification. He remembered Hal shouting a dog’s name a few times while they’d spoken on the phone, but couldn’t remember the name. At least not until he saw the scratched tag on the dog’s thin black collar: “Jax,” was all it read. That was the name Hal had screamed during those phone conversations. Jim remembered it now. This had to be Hal’s dog.

            Although Jim’s first instinct was to get back to the car and take Jax home, he had to at least try the door to see if Vince Robertson was there. Maybe Vince didn’t even know about the dog. Hal’s housekeeper or the police might have let it out by mistake and didn’t realize. It would have been presumptuous of Jim to assume anything under the circumstances and he didn’t want to irritate Vince and ruin the sale of the business.

Straight Men Cuddling; Zachary Quinto Shirtless; Gay Activist Slams Obama; Chase of a Holy Ghost

Straight Men Cuddling

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WNBR-riders-London.jpg

Update Below

When my author friend, Jon Michaelsen, sent me this link yesterday I have to admit that I found it more than interesting. The article talks about how it’s not as uncommon as we think it might be for straight men to cuddle in bed and show affection with each other in ways that have always been considered taboo. In fact, a study states that nine out of ten straight young men have spooned with each other in bed.

They believe as straight guys become less homophobic, they are happier to be more intimate with their friends.


‘We’re always cuddling, my lot,’ Jarrett, one of the young men who was interviewed, said.

‘We’re all comfortable with each other.’

Max, another survey participant, described how he and his friends would nurse their hangovers together at university.

Following a night out, he said he’s happy to watch TV, play video games, and frequently cuddle with friends.

‘If your mate has a headache you can like massage his head, or you just lie there together holding each other and laughing about how awful you feel,’ he said.

I could joke about this and make a comment or two. But I actually do find it interesting because I think straight men…and gay men…are always so highly underestimated because we’ve been socially conditioned not to show affection toward each other. It’s always been fine to see two women dancing together, but not two men.

There’s more here.

Update: I polled twenty straight men I know about this earlier today and not one said they’ve ever spooned or cuddled in bed with another straight man. They have no reason to lie to me. I swore it was off the record and I would not mention names. And these are guys who have confided with me on personal things in the past. Just thought I’d throw that out there.

Zachary Quinto Shirtless

Openly gay actor, Zachary Quinto, didn’t get a Tony nomination this year, but he is out there promoting the role he’s playing for an upcoming Agent 47 film with his body. He makes it clear he’s not an exhibitionist for fun…just for work.

The openly gay star of the Star Trek movies (Mr. Spock) would be the clear winner in a ‘Shirtless Selfie of the Day’ contest.

Quinto posted this shot of himself onto his Instagram account and explained that his exhibitionism has a professional purpose: he is busy preparing for his next movie role.

‘Back to work(ing out). Agent 47. Home stretch.’

You can see the photo here. I pity the young male actor out there who is not “working it” with his body these days.

Gay Activist Slams Obama

A Malaysian gay activist, Pang Khee Teik, wrote what I think is one of those open letters to President Obama stating that he doesn’t want Obama to use gays as political pawns.

While I appreciate the call for Obama to support the activism on sexual orientation and gender identity issues, I find myself confused by the intended outcome of such a support. How can they help, really? And who are they helping, really? (And no, I wasn’t invited to meet Obama. But with my cynicism, could you blame them, really?)

On one hand, Obama’s visit seems premised on securing better international relations. And better international relations are often the stepping stone for better trade agreements. Better for the signers of agreements, naturally. Most notoriously, the USA has recently been trying to promote the TPPA (Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement), which has terms favorable to USA’s corporations and their economic interests, as well as the interests of ruling elites locally, at the expense of local communities and rights. A possible outcome of TPPA is the protection of the interests of pharmaceutical firms, thereby increasing the prices of HIV drugs and making effective cancer treatment less accessible for Malaysians.

You can read the rest here. It’s an angry commentary that hops from one point to another, and I’m still not sure what this activist is complaining about. But it’s an interesting read and some points do hit close to home for me.

What I would have liked is for USA to admit to its past discriminatory policies and bad laws targeted at LGBTs, and how some are still being enacted as we speak. Some states have recently signed into law the right of people to refuse services to LGBTs based on religious convictions. Really, USA, WTF?

And some states, like Pennsylvania where I live, have yet to recognize same sex marriage.

Chase of a Holy Ghost

I’m working on a new book in the Chase of a Lifetime series, Chase of a Holy Ghost, and here’s a short excerpt. This will be the fourth book in the series and it should run about 80,000 words. I’m 99% finished and I’ll post more about a release date.

By that time Jim could see he was friendly; just a little scared. He didn’t growl or snarl once. He seemed to be a Chihuahua with one of the most docile personalities Jim had ever seen. So he poured more water into his hand and the dog continued to drink until there was nothing left in Jim’s bottle.

            Jim reached out to pet him and the dog stood up and wagged his tail. “There you go, buddy,” Jim said. “Now we’re going to find out who has been neglecting you and get you some dinner.” Maybe he’d run away and he’d just returned?

            Jim had reached the point where he didn’t give a damn anymore about getting caught, not when a poor little starving dog was involved.

            With both hands, he reached out to pick the dog up. The dog wagged his tail and didn’t put up any resistance. Jim had a feeling that if this dog could talk he would have begged Jim to take him away from there.

            Once he was in Jim’s arms, Jim patted his back and checked his collar for identification. He remembered Hal shouting a dog’s name a few times while they’d spoken on the phone, but couldn’t remember the name. At least not until he saw the scratched tag on the dog’s thin black collar: “Jax,” was all it read. That was the name Hal had screamed during those phone conversations. Jim remembered it now. This had to be Hal’s dog.

            Although Jim’s first instinct was to get back to the car and take Jax home, he had to at least try the door to see if Vince Robertson was there. Maybe Vince didn’t even know about the dog. Hal’s housekeeper or the police might have let it out by mistake and didn’t realize. It would have been presumptuous of Jim to assume anything under the circumstances and he didn’t want to irritate Vince and ruin the sale of the business.