National Coming Out Day 2011

Today, I came out....

....as a YouTuber. What were you thinking? So now, you can expect that some of these posts will be videos of me -- or will contain videos of me. I know how excited you all must be. (At least, act excited for me, okay?)

Anyways, National Coming Out Day is an important day where we put forth extra special effort to be supportive of people who are in the closet or are in the process of coming out. Not that we shouldn't be supportive every day -- but it's like... you know how on Valentine's Day it's supposed to be extra important to be all lovey-dovey and romantic with your partner, even though technically that's how you should behave all of the time? It's like that.

That's my first video -- you are all getting to hear my monumental, mostly boring coming out story! And thank God that I have a family that let's something like that be such a boring non-issue.

And this is my real message about coming out. So, loyal readers (and not so loyal readers, let's not discriminate!) tell me something about you. Anything! Come on!

When news breaks, we fix it!

I'll confess. I stole the title of this post. You already knew that didn't you? Damn it, I was trying to be clever! I was trying to start you off smiling, because this is not all upbeat and happy.

Anyways, in the news today.....  You may remember earlier this week, I wrote about the pastor in Tennessee who ordered his deacons to attack his own son for being gay? Well, he's been arrested! Hurray! For theft from a copper scrapping yard. Oh... wait, what?

Yes, that's right. In Tennessee, you can apparently get away with having other people beat your own child for you -- in a public place with a crowd of witnesses. But if you steal from a copper scrapping yard... that's the end of the line for you! They don't mess around with this really serious shit!

Sadly, LGBT leader and attorney Paula Ettelbrick died from cancer this morning. (Well, "causes related to cancer" the article I read said. Someone is going to have to explain to me how that's different.) For more than 25 years, Paula worked for organizations that fought for equality -- and not just in the USA but worldwide. She was a member of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Empire State Pride Agenda, the Stonewall Community Foundation, and probably countless others. The saddest part is that I don't think a lot of people have heard of her -- and some of the organizations she worked for and was a senior member of are virtually unheard of. But she has done a LOT and devoted her whole life pushing for equality.

An elderly, mentally ill, homeless lesbian named Yvonne Mcneal, who could not even walk without use of a cane, was shot multiple times and killed by police for refusing to drop a set of (not at all concealed) knives when they responded to a domestic dispute call -- the domestic dispute, by the way, was happening over the phone. As in, the police shot Yvonne because they recognized the danger that the knives posed to Yvonne's girlfriend on the other end of the phone.

Why, yes, I too look back and fondly remember the first time I murdered someone by reaching through the phone lines. Good times. (I half expect the FBI to show up on my doorstep and arrest me for saying that. We'll see!)

I figure we need to have some upbeat stuff in this -- but most of my news comes from my Facebook and Google Plus newsfeeds and apparently we're all just not that happy today. So I'm going to pose a question:

How does she do that?! I can't wink like that! Look!

Every time I wink, my other eye bugs out. How do you wink and NOT have your other eye go crazy? Where do you learn to do that?! I want answers, people!

Matthew Shepard

13 years ago, today, openly gay Matthew Shepard was brutally attacked in Laramie, Wyoming. This was not the first hate crime he had been the victim of, but it was the last. Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson offered Matthew a ride home from the Fireside Lounge on the night of October 12. Instead, they drove him to a remote area, pistol whipped him, robbed him, tortured him, and left him tied to a fence post and left him for dead. According to their testimonies, they also intended to steal from his home.

Matthew was in a coma for the next six days. He was found on the morning of October 13 by a cyclist named Aaron Kreifels, who initially thought Matthew was a scarecrow. He had fractures on the back and right side of his skull, and at least a dozen lacerations around his head, face, and neck. There was also brain stem damage which prevented his body from being able to control its temperature or heart rate. Doctors deemed his injuries too severe to operate.

Both Henderson and McKinney are both now serving two consecutive life sentences, charged with felony murder. Neither was convicted of hate crimes because neither federal or Wyoming law protected targets of crimes motivated by homophobia.

In 2001, partially spurred by this crime, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crime Prevention Act was introduced in Congress. After eight years, it finally passed in 2009.

I know, probably, hopefully, everyone who is going to read this blog already knows this story -- if not in its every gory detail then you at least have the basic idea down. Still, it is important to remember once in a while that things are getting better, and that a lot of blood has been shed to get us where we are.

It's also important to remember that hate crimes still happen. All of the time. The media's focus lately has been on the startling number of LGBT teens who've committed suicide this year, but let's not forget that we've even seen government endorsed (and enacted) homophobia coming out of Africa. And a study done in 2010 suggests that the closer the LGBT community comes to equality, the more hate crimes we'll have to deal with.

Which reminds me of another image I came across today:

Obviously, in perfect seriousness, violence won't solve the problem of violence. But wouldn't it be nice if it would? Or, y'know, festive at the very least.

Horrific News Out of Tennessee -- Again

I'm a Christian -- a Lutheran, it should be noted -- so this story is probably much more appalling to me than, y'know, the stereotypical gay person who mistrusts religion. Not that I don't understand where that mistrust is coming from. It's coming from bullshit like this:

Unicorn Booty: Pastor Orders Congregation to Attack Gay Couple for Attending Church

Now, that headline is sort of incorrect and it certainly simplifies things down a lot. The pastor, for instance, was also the father of one of the victims. Yeah, take a minute to let that sink in. There's always stories about father's who disown their kids, or even fathers who try to beat the homosexuality out of their kids. This is a whole new level.

This father sent to deacons (one of whom was the son's uncle) of the church to physically beat his child for him. And his child's boyfriend. At church.

Now, that's bad enough, right? But that's not as bad as it got. First of all, the entire congregation is there watching the deacons beat the shit out of these two guys and didn't do a damn thing. And then, when the cops came at the call of the two gay guys who'd just been attacked..... they spoke to the pastor, didn't stop the deacons from shouting homophobic slurs, and then didn't take a statement from the victims or allow them to press charges.

Tennessee is vying for the "Worst Place to be Gay in 2011" Award. Back in April, the Tennessee Senate passed a bill which forbids any discussion whatsoever about homosexuality before the ninth grade. Tennesse was also the location of comedian Tracy Morgan's homophobic rant during a show -- during which he said he'd kill his son if he was gay. An employee at Dollywood made a lesbian turn a marriage equality shirt inside out before she entered the park -- also in Tennessee. And if that weren't enough, let's not forget about the neighbor who graffitied the barn of his lesbian neighbors.... after burning down their house.

I'm not sure just what can be done when you have a state that is not just permitting such outrageous homophobia, but seems to be encouraging it.... y'know, short of toppling the government and taking it over for ourselves, but I feel like that would probably end badly. But I am all ears if anyone has any more legitimate suggestions. Please?

Insert clever title here!

I know when most people start a blog, it starts off very "This is me, this is why I'm blogging" and blah blah blah. But I figure two things: first of all, yawn, am I right? And second of all, this early in a blog's life the only people reading it are people who already know me. So that would make an "About Me" thing like.... even more boring.

And so, instead, I'm going to talk about a subject that should get most everyone's attention:

Porn Star Gavin Waters

Nipples.

What, you didn't really notice his? They're there. Everyone has them -- boys, girls, etc. We all now why girls have them but most people just sort of accept that men have them too, and some men like to play with them but otherwise there's not a real purpose.

The purpose of nipples it dangle shiny things from! Right?

As it turns out, nipples are important on men because.... well, we're not really sure. I've heard a couple of theories -- one is that nipples are like brains and lungs and everyone gets them regardless of their sex.  I've also heard that when we are in the early parts of fetal development, we're both male and female -- in other words, we're given *all* of the parts we might potentially get before our body's development and then later the sex chromosomes kick in and say "Hey, get outta here girly bits!" (I'm simplifying this a lot.)

Interestingly enough, this sort of makes us all transgender. And it means that men who are effeminate are really just staying close to their roots.

Viral sensation Craigery Morgan

And it's true that once you've covered that there's not really a lot going on to talk about that's of any interest, so you're probably thinking "This was all a clever excuse to post picture of hot men!"

Why, yes, yes it was.

Not gonna lie, I only used one source for the information on this post: The Straight Dope. All the pictures game from Google Image Search -- obviously I don't own any of them. If I knew people this hot, do you think I'd be blogging?!