Early Gay Marriage
I always find it interesting that people like Theresa Santai-Gaffney, the woman deer hunter who is trying to appeal Judge Jones’ ruling in Pennsylvania that made gay marriage legal, don’t take into consideration that gay marriages have been around since the beginning of this country. I live in New Hope, Bucks County, PA, now, but I grew up in sleepy Salem County, NJ where it wasn’t uncommon to find two women living together in the same house, sharing their lives, and neither one ever bothered to marry a man. In fact, my first exposure to same sex marriage…and I knew it instinctively at the time…was with two women who lived four houses down from the home where I grew up. One worked as an executive secretary for du Pont De Nemours and the other worked as a school teacher. There were several others who spent their lives together putting on a façade when in reality they were living as a married couple because gay marriage wasn’t even a thing people discussed. Of course there were whispers and comments made sometimes, but all of these women were respected, participating members of the community and everyone accepted them…as long as they kept it quiet.
Of course what I’m talking about wasn’t that long ago, but I’m making that point because things have changed so much in such a short amount of time. The article to which I’m linking now discusses same sex marriage in early America. For those of you who think gays getting married and spending their lives together is something new, you might find this interesting. And it happened long before Pride Day transpired. I highly doubt Theresa Santai-Gaffney would be enlightened by this because she’s too far gone and her head is too far up her ass. But as long as there’s a chance of disabusing one person of misguided notions about gay couples and same sex marriage it’s important to keep talking about these things.
In a graveyard in the village of Weybridge, Vt., stands an unusual headstone. It is inscribed with the names of two women, Sylvia Drake and Charity Bryant, who were born during the Revolutionary era and died in the middle of the 19th century. The women were pillars of their community for four and a half decades, living together in a small house, running a tailoring business, teaching Sunday School, and acting as surrogate mothers and caregivers to hundreds of nieces and nephews. They were also, according to their own understanding and that of those around them, a married couple.
The paragraph above reads much like the story I just related.
You can read more here.
What’s interesting is that you rarely hear about same sex marriage between two men in early America. Or for that matter, I don’t even remember two men living together the way women did when I was growing up in small town America. A man who never married lived alone and was a bachelor. I do know it was a little different in more urban areas for men. But in small towns two single men rarely shared the same home. The risk was too great and the stigma too dangerous.
RIP Cameron Fox
All male adult entertainer at Falcon Studios, Cameron Fox, died at the age of 36 last Thursday. So far, there’s been no cause of death disclosed. He’d been on the scene since 1999 and won a few industry awards.
Chronicles of Pornia made a nice tribute to him.
‘There was a time during the 1990’s gay porn industry pantheon when stars were truly stars whom did not need to pander for adult fame, rather, they simply let their work speak loudly and proudly.
‘Cameron Fox was one such person.
‘I never once felt as though Cameron was phoning in a performance. He was virile, engaged and present at all times. ‘He gave more than 100% to his action scenes. Fox knew how to give his partners and his fans what they wanted to see. The mark of a real porn star.’
You can read more here at Chronicles of Pornia.
The decade of the 1990’s really was the heyday for gay porn. It was pre-internet and videos and DVDs were the only way many gay men could find all male adult entertainment in a safe, discreet way.
Netherlands Gay Village
I have never been fond of gay ghettos…or the concept of “gay ghetto.” There are a lot of gay people in the area where Tony and I live, and it is a more progressive place than a lot of small Pennsylvania towns, but we don’t live in what is considered a gay ghetto. And that’s a conscious choice to a certain degree. New Hope, PA has a gay ghetto. We just don’t live in it. We’re on the outskirts of town on a more rural road and the farms and homes around us are mostly straight people. The concept of gay ghetto always seemed dangerous to me, especially when it’s self-imposed.
In any event, there’s a new gay village being built in the city of Tilburg by a Dutch developer and some are worried this might be more about containing gay people rather than keeping them safe. It will be fully enclosed with a tall fence.
The ‘Gay Village’, planned for in the city of Tilburg, would include 13 different locations for housing. The average price for the detached and terraced homes would cost around €250,000 ($338k).
The company says the project is a reflection of research that shows 22% of gay men in the Netherlands sometimes do not feel safe in their own neighborhoods.
Frankly, it sounds more like a gay concentration camp to me. If there’s an issue with crime against gays in these neighborhoods maybe officials should be cracking down on that crime so gays are safe everywhere. And maybe gays should be prepared to defend themselves. I’m all for peace, hope, and love, but I learned how to take care of myself a long time ago and if you screw with me you might be surprised at what I have up my proverbial sleeve.
You can read more here. It’s interesting that this is happening in the Netherlands, mainly because I’m always hearing how much better things are over there than here in the US from my ultra liberal friends. They all ride bikes over there, they all live in tiny little boxes, they have windmills, etc… I guess they don’t mind living behind fences either.
Gay advocacy groups over there seem to agree with me on this one.
Dancing Dirty by Ryan Field
This book was, indeed, a gay parody I wrote as a take on the old straight romance, Dirty Dancing. I disclosed that up front, and I did it when big publishers were NOT doing it. It’s not fanfic. It’s parody. It’s also a common trope that’s been used time an again by straight writers and I wanted to make it gay for gay people and readers who enjoy reading gay romance. We don’t get much in that mainstream respect. And I don’t believe there are any new tropes left out there.
If I had to say what’s my ultimate summertime book so far, this would be it.
It’s the summer of 1978, it’s the middle of the disco era, and dancing is one of the hottest trends. But eighteen year old Junior has never seen the inside of a gay bar or danced with another man. His mother and father think he’s just shy about meeting girls and that he’ll grow out of it. His little sister drives him insane with her constant invisible companion, a talking dog named Elmer. All Junior cares about is meeting the right man and falling in love.
But when his parents buy a summer home in an exclusive resort community in the mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania, his prospects of finding love don’t look too promising. His first day there he meets an aggressive, abrasive young woman who isn’t the least bit shy about letting him know she wants to get to know him better. And the more he ignores her, the more she chases after him.
While his mother and father are enjoying all the amenities of the resort, and his sister is flirting with one of the waiters, Junior mopes around watching everyone else have fun. That is until he meets a handsome young dance instructor named Carlo who changes his life in ways he’d never dreamed were possible.
From the minute Junior lays eyes on Carlo, he knows he’s in love. And in order to prove his love, he’s willing to make personal sacrifices that no one else has ever been willing to make for Carlo…
From an Amazon review you can read at the link above:
I really enjoy the way this author takes classic stories and gives them a new twist. This book was no exception. I got a kick out of seeing how the story changed with two male protagonists, the love scenes were hot, and Junior’s internal monologue was thought-provoking. There seems to be a fun little paranormal twist with the sister’s dog, as well.
