Category: gay marraige

"Choose" to Publish? Pat Robertson on Gay Sex; Jim Davidson on Gay Marriage

Choose to Publish?

There’s a blog post up by a blogger I’ve never heard of until yesterday, Michael Bunker, who questions whether or not publishing the traditional way is a choice. I don’t have any strong opinions to offer about this topic because I’m not sure it’s worthy of a lengthy discussion. It’s an opinion piece and I’ve learned that unless I’m literally willing to die for a cause I don’t get into online discussions (or rants) with anyone. But I do think it’s interesting to see how some self-published writers view traditional publishing these days. In other words, I’m looking at this more from a historical POV with regard to publishing in a general sense instead of actually agreeing with (or endorsing) the blogger.

 Indie Michael would be sitting here today with a shitload of published titles (over thirteen titles) that sell well every day. This Indie Michael sold well over 30k books last year (probably around 35k, but I don’t have all the numbers yet.) He made enough to not have to go and get a regular job. At any one time he has over ten titles gracing about 15-30 category bestseller lists. He had three titles in the past year go up into the top 500 books sold on all of Amazon, and two that made it into the top 200. He has been interviewed dozens of times, and has readers waiting anxiously for his next release. You go Indie Michael!

You can read more here.

Once again, this is just for general information and I do not support or endorse anything associated with the link above.

And here’s a link to one of Michael Bunker’s books, Pennsylvania. The book was released in December. He has over 104 reviews as of this date, 92 of which are five star and 9 are four star. The book, from what I gather, is Amish science fiction.

I’ll have to mention this book to my Amish buddy I posted about a while back. We’re in daily communication to this day (he e-mails on the sly), and he might find this interesting. He wrote this guest post for me in 2012 and he’s taught me a great deal about Amish culture and the realities he faces all the time. He’s also disabused me of many misconceptions I once had about Amish culture.

Pat Robertson on Gay Sex

Why Pat Robertson would even comment on gay sex is amazing in itself because it’s basically a moot point where he’s concerned. Also not worthy of discussion either. But it’s also a little convoluted because Robertson claims it’s okay to be attracted to the same sex as long as you don’t act upon that attraction or desire.

‘But when you start having sex with that person…I don’t want to get graphic, that guy on Duck Dynasty got graphic and it got a little disgusting, but when you see what they do, it’s not very pretty.’

If you take anything out of context, especially anything sexual, straight or gay, it’s not very pretty and can often appear vulgar. I could give examples of hetero sex that’s just as repulsive to me as gay sex is to Robertson, but I think you get my point and I’d rather not “get” graphic.

You can read more here.

Jim Davidson on Gay Marriage

This article caught my eye because it’s not the usual thing you read. UK Celebrity Big Brother winner, Jim Davidson, who has been known to slam gays now says he supports gay marriage and he’s praising Scotland for legalizing it.

 ‘I think that’s very good. I shared a house with a gay man for a while and I also remember when one of my gay friends’ partners died a good few years back there were all sorts of problems with the will.

 ‘So of course gay people should be allowed to be married. It’s great. And why should straight people suffer on their own?’

It could have something to do with the overall shift in public opinion about same sex marriage. I’ve been seeing a lot of this kind of thing lately and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more in the future.

You can read the rest here. There’s a photo of Davidson. I’ve posted about the reality show, Big Brother, many times here on the blog with regard to racism, gay hate, and bigotry.


J.K. Rowling Reveals Secret Pen Name; Indiana Gay Marriage Myths

J.K. Rowling Reveals Secret Pen Name

This morning I read that J.K. Rowling’s secret pen name, Robert Galbraith, was revealed. Rowling, AKA Robert Galbraith, wrote a mystery crime novel titled, The Cuckoo’s Calling.

In top-secret fashion, she published “The Cuckoo’s Calling” under the name Robert Galbraith. Her publisher, Mulholland Books — an imprint of Little, Brown and Company — described the author as a former member of the Special Investigative Branch of the Royal Military Police.

“He left the military in 2003 and has been working since then in the civilian security industry,” the publisher’s website said. “The idea for (protagonist) Cormoran Strike grew directly out of his own experiences and those of his military friends who returned to the civilian world. ‘Robert Galbraith’ is a pseudonym.”
 
The Sunday Times, curious about who this mystery novelist really was, connected the dots — noting that “he” used an agent, editor and publisher who had worked with Rowling.
 
Well. I think I hear the call of the wild on Amazon and Goodreads.  
 
And then, I read this article that talks about a review for The Cuckoo’s Calling that came out a week before the pen name name was revealed. Someone was on the ball.
 
An oddly prescient review of THE CUCKOO’S CALLING from July 7 — almost a full week before J.K. Rowling was revealed as the author behind the pseudonym.
 
Rowling made this comment, here.
 
“It has been wonderful to publish without hype or expectation, and pure pleasure to get feedback from publishers and readers under a different name.”
 
For those who aren’t familiar with authors using pen names, this isn’t something new. Any author who has been branded to death in one particular genre and wants to break into another, or associated with one particular style, knows the only way to do that is by taking on a pen name. If you don’t believe me just look at the reviews for Rowling’s novel, The Casual Vacancy, which I loved but many reviewed poorly. And I think that had a great deal to do with Rowling using her own name and being associated with Harry Potter.
 
I admire Rowling for taking the chance, and I also admire her for writing in another genre. Many authors with her kind of fame would have continued doing what they became famous for and wouldn’t have tried to reinvent themselves…most don’t have the capacity with which to do that…or the talent. And to be honest, I usually wait to see what authors like Rowling or E.L. James do after they have the big books. In this case, it tells me that Rowling is a true career writer and she’s not just in this for the money or the fame. And if I had to guess, I would imagine she would have preferred to keep the pen name a secret.
 
In any event, I think I’m going to check the book out now. I’ve been looking for something different to read, in a different genre, and this just might be the thing. I think what she did is inspiring.
 
Thank you, Robert Galbraith, for giving me something good to read this summer.  
 
Indiana Gay Marriage Myths
 
This past weekend I was watching something I’d recorded on DVR and I noticed a message come across the screen that said something about gay marriage and Indiana. I jumped back thirty seconds and re-read it. Basically it was an announcement about a new law that states if someone even files for a marriage license in Indiana they can be arrested.
 
I don’t know about most people, but when I see something that doesn’t make sense I look it up. And that didn’t make sense to me, and this is what I found:
 

The laws make it a felony for a same-sex couple even to apply for a marriage license and a misdemeanor for a clergy member to solemnize such a marriage.

But while several blogs portray those crimes as new laws passed this year by the Republican-controlled General Assembly, they’ve been on the books for more than a decade.

They date back at least to 1997, when the state’s marriage laws were recodified by the legislature. And they may have been on the books much longer, since they don’t specifically address same-sex marriage. Instead, they generally address perjury on a marriage license application and attempts to perform marriages not allowed by law.

I think that’s a good example of how much bad information there is going around about gay marriage (and dumb blogging). I know some zealots that would go berserk over that statement I saw in TV without even bothering to look it up. When in reality, the laws don’t even target same-sex marriage, and that’s most likely due to the fact that when the laws were written no one even thought same-sex marriage was an option.

There is a lot of other misguided information floating around with the recent SCOTUS ruling, so take what you see with that proverbial grain of salt and double check it before you start posting about it. I’m still trying to find out if same sex couples who live in states were same-sex marriage is NOT legal can marry in states where it is legal and benefit from not paying federal inheritance taxes. So far, I’ve had discussions with more friends about this than I can count and half say yes and half say no. So I’m not posting anything on that topic until I know for certain. If anyone has any links about this, please e-mail me.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Gay Marriage Ruling; Tea Dance Gay Culture

Just to be clear on the gay marriage ruling today in the Supreme Court, I wanted to post something short for those who don’t always understand these things at a glance (like me).

The victory means the federal government must recognize the marriages of gay and lesbian couples married in the 12 states that allow same-sex marriage, plus the District of Columbia, and give them the same benefits that they had been previously denied under the struck-down law, the Defense of Marriage Act (or DOMA).

This means those who are fortunate enough to live in states where same sex marriage is legal are now protected by the same laws as straight married couples. And what used to be a small victory for gay couples who lived in states that did legalize gay marriage is now a huge victory or them and for equality.

84 year old widow, Edith Windsor, is a new hero of mine.

Windsor launched her lawsuit after getting a bill for $363,000 in estate taxes after her wife, Thea Spyer, died in 2009 – two years following the couple’s marriage in Canada. She noted that if her spouse had been named “Theo,” she wouldn’t have received that bill.

Windsor will now get that money back as a result of this ruling.

Tony and I have known more than a few gay couples who have been faced with these taxes upon the death of a spouse. In many cases it has wiped the survivor out. Unfortunately, Tony and I still live in Pennsylvania where gay marriage is not legal, and if that stands we may be forced to leave our home and move to a state where it is legal. So there’s still a long way to go for most gay couples, and there’s still a lot to do before we are all considered equal. But I think now, after this ruling today, things will move faster in a lot of other states.

Tea Dance Gay Culture

This morning I received copy edits from the publisher for one of my Bad Boy Billionaire Books, The Palm Beach Stud, and I thought it would be the routine revises I’ve come to expect. But this time I noticed something unusual. The book is set in Palm Beach, FL, and I’d mentioned the characters were all going to Tea Dance on a Sunday afternoon, which is still popular at clubs in South Beach…and other gay venues all over the country. I didn’t elaborate on this because I didn’t think I had to.

However, the editor left a question mark in tracker, and then she highlighted every other place I’d mentioned Tea Dance. So I was curious, and I put a question out on facebook to see how many other people didn’t know about Tea Dance in gay culture. And I found out there are many who don’t know. So I figured I would put it in a post and give links right now. I also gave a strong explanation of Tea Dance in the book and sent it back to the publisher with the revise. I probably should have known better, but I thought everyone was familiar with it. I’m just glad the copy editor caught it before it was released. One more reason you need an editor.

This is from Urban Dictionary:

Tea dance, often abbreviated as just “tea”, is a term for “happy hour” used among men and women in the gay community. Not necessarily just one hour.
The term can also be qualified by “hight” and “low” to qualify the time of day it occurs. Low tea typically takes place earlier in the evening. High tea is later. And in some larger gay resorts, such as Fire Island, there is even mid-tea which takes place between the two.

In places like Provincetown, MA, Tea Dance is something gay tourists look forward to…sometimes every day of the week. In New Hope, there’s a Tea Dance at The Raven restaurant/bar every Sunday all year long…even in the winter. We go from about 5 in the afternoon until about 7 in the evening. This link to Wiki also gives a good explanation, and gets into the origins of Tea Dance. I know more than one gay couple where Sunday revolves around Tea Dance…or as they say, “Sunday Tea.”