Anderson Cooper on AIDS
The thing I find most interesting about this article is that for once an openly gay men who has a highly respected position and who has nothing to hide from anyone is challenging someone like Pat Robertson with facts about AIDS. In the past, we haven’t had anyone who has been able to do this for us. It makes me feel more validated for some reason. You just can’t fake certain things.
It seems Pat Robertson, the good Christian evangelist, has been telling his followers they can get AIDS by passing a towel. Cooper made it clear that’s not how AIDS is passed, with this:
“Just to be clear, if, like Pat Robertson, you somehow missed all the evidence, all the research, the depth and breadth of all the knowledge garnered about HIV and AIDS over the past three decades, you cannot get HIV if you share towels,” Cooper said.
Just beware of visiting San Francisco, Cooper cautions. “Because that’s of course where all the gay people live and Pat Robertson thinks they have an ingenious way of giving you ‘the stuff.’”
In fact, most doctors will agree it’s not easy to get AIDS because the way it’s spread is so specific. In one case, I personally heard a doctor say this. I think most of my readers know how that works. If you don’t, there’s plenty of information out there with a simple search, and trust me you’re not going to find any scientific data the proves AIDS can be spread through sharing a towel. And if you think that’s how it’s spread you have more problems than worrying about AIDS.
The rest is here.
Is Michael Sam Done?
Yesterday I posted about Michael Sam getting cut from the Cowboys, and I also mentioned I couldn’t find much information about the story anywhere. Not surprising. Those good old boys don’t want to touch this one with that proverbial ten foot pole.
However, today I found this story, and it’s not very encouraging. And I don’t think it’s fair. I know it’s a huge disappointment to see what’s been happening to Sam (it gutted me for a moment), but I still think he’s going to be picked up by someone eventually.
Well we’re sorry to report he did not make the team, after all. After spending the first seven weeks of the season on the Cowboy’s 10-man practice squad, they’ve decided to drop him to make way for linebacker Troy Davis, a second-year pro from Central Florida.
On the bright side, now he’s free to explore reality television with Oprah again. Assuming, of course, she’ll still take his call.
My prediction is that Sam will get picked up by another team. I think this article does him an injustice as a gay man who has inspired so many younger gay men…and gay men of all ages. I understand the disappointment because I felt it, too, but I don’t believe for a moment we’ve heard the last of Michael Sam. I also think we’ll be seeing more NFL players come out of the closet and tell the world they’re gay. You think Michael Sam is the only one? If you do, you probably think AIDS can be spread with towels.
You can read the rest here. The comments all agree with me. I think we’ll be hearing more about Sam in the future.
Are Gay Men Mean to Each Other?
I’m honestly not sure gay men are any meaner to each other than straight men are with other straight men, or women are with other women. Have you ever seen two nasty straight men in a competitive situation? It’s not pretty.
The fact is that for some reason there’s always a little peer pressure or competition between the same groups of people and that’s not going to change any time soon. It even happens in various professions. Doctors are often competitive and mean to other doctors. Actors can be mean to each other. And, trust me, you have NOT lived until you’ve watched two vicious, vituperative, competitive authors entertain you with their vitriol online.
It is what it is. I think gay men get more attention because it can be entertaining at times in a campy way. I think I’ve even admitted here on the blog that I often get along much better with straight men because there’s no underlying competition. The dynamics make it easier. I have many gay friends, don’t get me wrong. But there are some gay men in this world that make my skin crawl. I don’t think that’s mean. I think that’s normal. And this article discusses the topic with Jimmy Fowlie’s Californian web series Go-go Boy Interrupted,which I haven’t seen yet myself.
Commenters are unafraid to voice their often extreme opinions (about this show and literally everything else on the planet), which is the subject of episode three, out today.
Watch as disgraced go-go boy Danny Carter tries to cope with the bad press, and as always, feel free to chime in below.
This you can check out here. There’s also a video.
Here’s just one comment that discusses the topic, plus it gets into Internet anonymity…verbatim:
there will always be the anonymous gay cowards who use internet anonymity to impotently vent their hatred, their insecurity, their jealousy….and who are their targets? usually it’s the openly-gay men who are living their own lives on their own terms – and basically being “the type of gays” that the Anonymous Haters need to “not be” in order to be barely-tolerated by the bigoted heterosexuals in their lives.
yup – it’s internalized homophobia, it’s bitterness, it’s jealousy, and it’s the anger that others are out there living their lives why they have only internet anonymity as their outlet.
I’m always on the fence with Internet anonymity. On the one hand I believe in it and I allow anon comments here on the blog, however, I moderate those anon comments constantly because as much as I believe in free speech I don’t believe people can be trusted with the honor system. That’s human nature, too. And some people are just plain, downright, rotten to the core.When you give them an open forum where they can comment anonymously they’ll always ruin it for everyone else by saying things they normally would never say with their real names. A scorpion will always sting, but if you know this you might be able to swat it dead before you get stung.
Ring My Bells by Ryan Field
