Category: gay teens

Las Vegas Gay Weddings; Davey Wavey on Gay Slang; HIV Poz Guys Living Long Lives; Growing Up Gay

Las Vegas Gay Weddings

Now that the same sex marriage ban has been lifted in Nevada, Las Vegas is welcoming gay weddings, and with a great deal of style.

“This is a historic day for Las Vegas and the great state of Nevada. As the “Wedding Capital of the World” and one of the top destinations for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender visitors, Las Vegas welcomes LGBT couples wishing to legally recognize their relationship. There is simply no better destination to host a fabulous wedding followed by a one-of-a-kind honeymoon.”

I actually think we’ll be seeing a lot of same sex weddings in Vegas now that it’s legal. You can check the rest out here. There are links with this article that show how to obtain a license and how to plan something ahead of time.

Davey Wavey on Gay Slang

Just to make the point clear before I begin this post. THIS is sarcasm; it’s supposed to be humor. I’m mentioning this because it’s been made clear recently that many don’t get gay humor and they take things a little too seriously sometimes. I’m going to rectify this right now, and in future posts, whenever I post something that I think someone might misinterpret. I apologize to everyone else who gets it. But it’s become clear to me that I have to warn homophobic humor police well in advance.

The link will lead you to a video about straight guys trying to figure out gay slang. It’s done, of course, by naughty Davey Wavey, and the questions and answers are not only hysterical, but they’re true. How do I know this? I’m a gay guy and I use them myself. That’s how. It’s all part of the big gay story.

Here are a few examples.

Would you still know what PNP meant? How about rice queen? Six pack? Well that’s universal.

In full disclosure, I didn’t really know what PNP meant until I saw the video.


HIV Poz Guys Living Long Lives

I’ve actually had this conversation with people very close to me who are HIV poz. The article gives five reasons why many HIV poz guys may live as long as negative guys. Aside from the obvious, which is that no one knows when his or her time is up on this planet, I think all of them are valid. In other words, the article doesn’t paint a fantastical picture and it doesn’t make light of an HIV diagnosis like other insulting pieces I’ve read, but the facts they present are solid.

Here are two:

2. Early treatment is the biggest factor in living a normal life span.
The study found that the group who did best started HIV treatment before their t-cells fell below 350. This t-cell number has become a common marker for when to begin taking medications, but not everyone strictly follows it. The men studied who did start treatment with higher t-cells have a life expectancy of 75 years overall, which is equal to the national average for men.

Gay men who started treatment early got two bonus years, with an average life expectancy of 77 years. That’s over the national average for men.

3. Guys living with HIV are receptive to preventative health measures.
Whether is it nutrition, exercise, or taking an aspirin each day to prevent a heart attack or stroke, men living with HIV have more skin in the game. But they aren’t coming up with these ideas all by themselves. They are more likely to know about them because…

Number four goes on to mention how HIV poz guys are more in touch with healthcare. Number five is a little more realistic in the sense that it shows some of the most common pitfalls of being HIV poz. But overall I think it’s realistic in the sense that it shows HIV is now treatable.

The one thing the article doesn’t mention is counseling. If you have a great ID doc following your HIV who is willing to take the time to listen to your concerns you’re lucky. That’s probably enough. However, if you don’t, try to talk about it with someone.  

You can read them all here.

Growing Up Gay

This article is actually very light and not serious at all. However, I find it interesting because when I was growing up nothing like this would ever have been discussed openly. It’s actually a list of things young gay guys might want to do before they turn twenty-one…it’s kind of a gay twink bucket list, if you will.

This one blew me away:

9. Explore a fantasy 
It’s an amazing time to be gay. By the time you’re 21, you may have already been out for four, five, six plus years. That’s incredible! If you’re comfortable with who you are, you can be honest about what revs your engine. You certainly don’t need to feel rushed to try anything new, but a simple Google search or two hundred can’t hurt.

It blew me away because even though I knew I was gay four or five years before I turned 21 I didn’t actually come out until after 21 and by that time I’d already missed adolescence.

It’s funny, it’s honest, and I liked it so much I can even forgive the dumb political comment about supporting Hillary Clinton. I hate when they try to push a political agenda in anything like this. There’s a time and place.We’re not all jumping up and down for Hillary. Many of us are waiting to see who else runs in the primaries.

You can read the rest of them here. There are, of course, twenty-one. 

The Preacher’s Husband
by Ryan Field
.99 Kindle E-book

LGBT Homeless Crisis; LGBTI Teen Sues DMV; Not Gay Spokesman: Sam Smith

LGBT Homeless Crisis

I keep hearing more about this as if it’s becoming an epidemic. It’s good and bad. Younger gay people seem to be reaching out…and coming out…more each day thanks to what I think are changing times, and many are being turned away by parents or guardians. Last week I posted about a gay teen who was rejected by his family. His story went viral and he wound up garnering something like $100,000 through crowdfunding support, and now he’s making a plea to redirect funding to an organization so he help others like himself.

Pierce wrote: ‘Please visit the Lost-n-Found Youth website at http://www.Lost-n-Found.org for more information on how you can make a difference for the many other kids in the world like me.’ Lost-n-Found Executive Director Rick Westbrook said in a statement: ‘I would say we’re right at $10,000 (thanks to Pierce donations). ‘Daniel is an incredibly bright and courageous young man. He is the epitome of who Lost n’ Found is here to serve.’

I once wrote on the topic of finding an abandoned infant in the Virgin Billionaire series. It’s something that’s always fascinated me personally. For the main character, Luis, this was almost an obsession. I’m starting to rethink that and now I wish I’d made his obsession about finding a homeless gay kid who was kicked out and rejected. I’m not trying to play down abandoning an infant. But isn’t the abandonment of any child at any age horrendous?

You can read more here.

LGBTI Teen Sues DMV

In these every changing times I have a feeling we’re all going to have to rethink what’s expected and what’s considered the norm. In this next article a teen is suing the DMV for making him remove make-up while he was getting his license photo ID taken. Evidently, they didn’t think he looked “male” enough.

Interesting:

‘It was wrong to be taken aside and told how I look doesn’t fit with traditional gender roles and how I look is not even good enough to take a driver’s license picture taken,’ Culpepper said.

 ‘And unfortunately, a lot of people like me have to go through this.’

Culpepper’s mother, Teresa, said: ‘They said he was wearing a disguise. It was very hurtful. He was absolutely devastated. That’s who he is 24/7.’

I hope he wins the case and this sets a new standard in the court system. No one should be able to dictate how anyone looks. Last I heard we’re not all required to wear little gray hats and march in rows.

You can read the rest here.

Not Gay Spokesman: Sam Smith

A singer in the UK, Sam Smith, recently commented that he’s thrilled to have people accept him for being gay and that he would prefer they care more about his music than his sexuality. He also insists he doesn’t want to be a gay spokesman of any kind.

First, I don’t even know who he is…up until now. He makes it clear he’s just beginning to grow in the US.

Second, if there’s ever going to be a gay spokesman I think it should be a gay spokesperson, with an emphasis on the word person. After all, we’re fighting for equality all the way around.

Third, it’s important for a spokesman or spokesperson to represent all factors of a minority community.

Fourth, I think we need more role models instead of spokespeople. In that respect Smith is doing an excellent job.

When told it feels like the music is transcending the coming out, Smith said it’s because he’s not trying to be a role model for the LGBTI community.

‘It’s because I’m not trying to be a spokesperson. It sounds awful of me, but I’m really just trying to live my life and write music about it,’ he said.

You can read the rest here. I will make a point of checking him out.

 
 

Three .99 E-books in the Chase Series

 
Chase of a Lifetime Book 1
 
Chase of a Dream Book 2
 
 
Chase of a Holy Ghost Book 3

Teenage Sex Predator; Coming Out to Wife and Kids; Reassignment Surgery Medicare

Teenage Sex Predator

I’m not even sure where to begin with this article to which I’m linking because I don’t think I’ve read anything like it before. It’s written by a guy who initiated sex and admittedly manipulated situations to have sex with men twice his age when he was around 14 and 15 years old. The best I can say is that it’s not the typical sex predator account, and it is by no means the standard abused victim POV we hear often about sex between 30 year olds and 15 year olds. It has to be read in full to understand.

My strategy for getting laid worked with some regularity, and it never occurred to me that there might be something inappropriate or perverse or even criminal about it — at least, it never occurred to me.

People tell me that the criminal ramifications most certainly occur to them. They say I was molested or abused, and that it was the very definition of the word “statutory.” They say I was dealing with adults who had the capacity to know better. And, most bruising to my ego, they tell me that my seductive charms were irrelevant, and that perhaps it was the adults who were doing the manipulating.

He holds nothing against the older men in his past, which is interesting because he’s not the first gay man I’ve heard this from.

You can read the entire piece here. 

Surprisingly, the comment thread isn’t as full as I would expect it to be, at least not right now. And I was hoping it would be so I could see how other people reacted to this.

Reassignment Surgery Medicare

I think this is huge for transgender people. An appellate review board concluded in a 28 page report that gender reassignment surgery should be covered by Medicare and the old ban will be lifted. Years ago reassignment surgery was considered unsafe and experimental, but now docs are prescribing it as an actual treatment.

“We have no difficulty concluding that the new evidence, which includes medical studies published in the more than 32 years since issuance of the 1981 report underlying the NCD, outweighs the NCD record and demonstrates that transsexual surgery is safe and effective and not experimental,” the report says. “Thus, as we discuss below, the grounds for the NCD’s exclusion of coverage are not reasonable, and the NCD is invalid.”

You can read more here. The article goes into more detail about how this all came into place.

Coming Out to Wife and Kids

I find articles like this worthy of mentioning because I get so many e-mails from closeted men who are married to women and have kids. It’s not an unusual occurrence. In fact, I personally know at least five gay men in my own circles who were once married with kids. One in particular told his wife years ago and he has not let him see their child since that day.

This is a first hand account of one gay man’s experience about coming out to his wife and kids.

How do I look? This was the about the fifth time I asked my wife that question. It was a Sunday morning about five years ago. I kept trying to grab her attention as she folded laundry and watched T.V. Parading around in nothing but my boxer-briefs I kept jumping in front of her. Look at me! What do you think? “Stop it, get out of the way!”, she snapped back. “You look good.” She was annoyed. Just okay? “For the hundredth time, you look great!” “Your arms look good and your ass looks great!” “Now stop it!”

This particular article is not without emotion. It wasn’t easy for this guy to do, but at least his circumstances were a little different than other men I hear from. In many cases it would rock their worlds to come out. And I mean every single physical and psychological and social aspect of their lives and all they’ve ever known.

I just hope articles like this one help in some ways. As I’ve said before I have yet to meet anyone who ever regretted coming out, no matter how old they were or how painful it was at the time. I think the one thing to keep in mind is that you didn’t do anything wrong and you have nothing about which to be ashamed. And if anyone tries to tell you otherwise they’re the ones who are wrong.

More here.