The Gay Debate: The Bible and Homosexuality

Everything Would be Better in Hi-Def

Who I Am is not What I Have

Freedom of Religion Needs Same-Sex Marriage

I'm hoping the leaders of the religious right start to understand this. The only ones threatening to violate religious freedom are the ones pushing AGAINST same-sex marriage. If they want to protect their rights as faith organizations in this country, they have to start pushing for marriage equality.

That's how doctors are supposed to work!

An update on how today's doctor's appointment actually went now that I have actually HAD it!

All the News

I'm terrible at keeping up with blogs.

Lots of things have been happening, and I haven't even shared some of the vlogs I've made on here to keep you all up to date. Where do I begin?!

Jesse Jordan, from Bravo's old show Workout, is following me on Twitter!
...it's not especially relevant but who am I to miss an opportunity to show a picture of an amazingly gorgeous guy?

I got cast in a play, which goes up at the end of this month. Been working very hard on it, and I'll be making its own blog post about it soon! I'm very excited although....

Two weeks ago, my Crohn's disease flared up. It hasn't been as bad as my first flare up, which ended six years ago. I have to admit, as an adult who is supposed to be taking care of myself? It is much harder to deal with this time around, even if it isn't as bad. Fortunately, I live with my parents. I could not be managing right now at all without them.

Although moving hurts incredibly, and being jostled around in a car is about the most uncomfortable thing in the world, I am still going to my rehearsals. I love acting too much to let something stupid like my health and well being get in the way. With any sort of luck, next week I will be back to work for a couple of short shifts as well.... because I am bored out of my damn mind, even with playing video games like WoW.

My mom is super busy because her first book is being re-released as an e-book on May 15 -- coincidentally the same day Diablo III is coming out. They're not connected, but I'll confess that's how I'm remembering the release date for mom's book.
You should all go pre-order it from Amazon right now. And while you're there hit the "like" button!

Seeing a Doctor Should not be so Hard

Gettin' My Hair Did!

Victory is Mine... Maybe?

I had an audition this morning and I'm very excited because I think that I did awesome!

Kony 2012 Update

As you can tell from these two videos, the KONY 2012 movement -- which I talked about in an earlier post -- has not only been taking off but is ABSOLUTELY working. Public pressure on an issue can, and often will, incite governments to act. We've seen it in history, and we're seeing it today.

For those who have been supporting KONY 2012 and are going to keep supporting it, I say.... nice work. Fantastic.

And for the people who continue to criticize it? To them I have to say... how have you tried to improve the world today?

It's Gonna Be A Bright Sunshiney Day, Or Else!

I had a really bad start to my day.... but I turned it around. Proof positive that your mood is all in the choices that you make, right? Of course right!

This is my cat. This is my cat on drugs.

My cat is absolutely addicted to catnip. And I am fully committed to enabling his addiction.

Knowledge is Power (Rant!)

I was really annoyed this week by people who had no idea what they were talking about and were trying to pass nonsense off as fact.



I don't have much to add to this except that one of my Facebook friends suggested a search engine I'd never heard of: http://www.duckandgo.com -- apparently it produces much more reliable information than Google.

KONY 2012: The Great Debate

If you haven't seen it, here's the video that sparked this whole thing:

So the entire Internet is in an uproar over the KONY 2012 thing -- everyone is very, deeply divided on the issue.

Which is dumb, since the issue is "should we stand by and ignore it while someone abducts and murders children?" I feel like this should be a pretty unifying thing.

Alas, it's not. And all for reasons that -- compared to the issue at hand -- a really quite petty. Some people take issue with the organization, for various reasons. Some people don't think raising awareness is enough to make a difference. Some people seem to believe Kony must not really be a problem since they never heard of him before this.

I know Invisible Children already addressed a lot of the criticisms... but they did it in a polite, professional sort of way that lacked the snark and sass that I so desperately felt it needed. And by "felt it needed" what I, of course, mean is "would have put in if I were writing it on my own personal blog". Like I'm doing right now.

I want to preface this rant by saying: it's ALWAYS good to know what you're getting into. NEVER blindly follow anyone or anything. Always research first, and make sure your sources are reliable. If you're unsure of how to do this, they teach it in the fifth and sixth grades and I'm sure there are teachers who would be more than happy to have you sit in on their classes.

You SHOULD be asking questions. You SHOULD be curious to find out more. What you should NOT do is be dismissive of an organization that is trying to do good things. You should NOT be dismissive of an issue that has the potential to save lives. You should also NOT be so negative about all of this that you are trying to quash discussion of this issue. If you don't like Invisible Children, even after reading this, that's fine. But don't just say "Invisible Children is a scam! Don't donate to them!" instead try, "I think we should all hold off on giving Invisible Children any of our money until they can give us a more detailed explanation of where that money will be going." or "Instead of donating to Invisible Children, try this organization..." Those are constructive but still make your point.

Now here's my point(s)...

Financials - Salaries
While I can't pretend I understand a salary of nearly $90,000, I CAN tell you I'm jealous. However, Charity Navigator reveals that huge salaries aren't uncommon for people running a charitable organization. Just perusing the top 10 most viewed charities I find that the executive director of the Wounded Warrior Project pulls in a paltry $199,171 each year. The president/CEO of the American Red Cross, meanwhile, is grossing just short of one million dollars annually. The CEO of the Susan G. Komen Foundation is getting paid $417,171 each year just for making poor decisions about Planned Parenthood (I kid, I kid!) The Chief Executive Officer of the American Cancer Society is more in line with the Red Cross, pulling in just over $900,000 -- which isn't even the highest salary they provide data on. The *retired* Deputy CEO and *retired* VP of Direct Services both get paid over one million dollars a year.
I won't go through the whole list here, as you can easily find it for yourself. But here's what I'm saying: apparently running a charity is where the money is. I'm even considering founding the "Grahamburger Does Good Foundation for Good Stuff". Now, Invisible Children is nowhere near the size of these organizations but $89,669 per year (the highest any of them get paid) is also not anywhere near to what these other salaries are. If you're going to go around complaining about something like salary, you HAVE to have some idea of what the comparisons are.

Financials - Film-making and Transportation
People have also complained about how much of the donations given to Invisible Children go to film-making and travel/transportation.
Now, let me explain what Invisible Children does. Their mission is to spread awareness. They do this in a couple ways: they go around the USA and speak at colleges and schools, where they also show films they've made on the topic of Kony and the LRA. (I believe there's other trouble spots around the globe they sometimes talk about, but for the purpose of this we'll go with the LRA as it's their number one mission.) They also go to Africa to film, help rebuild, interview, etc.
So, to summarize: the Invisible Children is an organization that spreads word about Kony and the LRA through use of film and speaking engagements across the nation.
....so people are upset about how much money goes towards travel and making films? And you know about them because they made a film which went viral? In other words, you're upset because they put money into something which made them successful at their mission?
Can you see how that's like being upset with a School for the Deaf for putting too much money into programs which help people who can't hear?

Financials - Independent Audits
I'll concur that their finances could be a little more transparent, a little more easily understood. But tons of people are whining that Invisible Children haven't been independently audited. Not to burst anyone's bubble, but if you Google "Invisible Children financial audit" you get a PAGE of independent financial audits. These are so SO easy to locate that I'm not even going to bother linking them. This is your homework -- move your mouse up to the right-hand corner of your browser, where the search bar probably is -- and type in "Invisible Children financial audit".
People, I want to make this perfectly clear: being too lazy to Google something for yourself, is NOT the same as it not existing.

Financials - Political Advocacy
Somehow the fact that some of their money goes to political advocacy was translated to the idea that they are giving money to the Ugandan government. They deny this and I've not seen this cited in ANY reliable source. I have seen this cited in many blogs that give no source for that information. And when pointing out that there's no source, I have been flatly told that they haven't provided proof they're NOT giving money to the Ugandan government, who aren't real prize winners of goodliness in mankind either (anyone else remember the "kill the gays" law?)
Uhm, wait, hold that thought.
As a gay man, the anti-gay rhetoric routinely accuses me of having sex with children and animals. I've never provided proof that this isn't true (it isn't though, I promise). Am I therefore guilty? Obviously not, or I would be in jail right now alongside every other gay man in this country. When did this country become one where you are guilty until proven innocent? And even if that IS how this country is now, why is that okay? Why are we using that logic? Could it be because you're digging for reasons to hate on an organization that's doing some good and you don't have any? And what kind of person does that make you?

Anyways, political advocacy is what a layperson would call "lobbying". Yes, Invisible Children has done some lobbying. No, I don't like what lobbying has done to our government either, but I'd rather have an organization like Invisible Children spending money doing it than major oil tycoons who are the ones that usually do the lobbying. Maybe we should be thanking Invisible Children for doing lobbying the way it's supposed to be done?

Financials In General
So you still don't want to give money to Invisible Children? Cool. Great. Whatever.
Why would that stop you from participating in a movement that is mostly based on spreading information? I don't know if you've noticed -- but, y'know, probably since you're reading this blog -- but we live in an age where information spreads rapidly. For free. So don't donate, but seriously that's NOT a reason not to Tweet, Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube, etc on behalf of this cause. You don't even have to spend money to participate in the Cover the Night event... make your own posters! The point isn't the organization, the point isn't the money -- the point is *just* this: Joseph Kony is killing children, and people need to know.

Charity Navigator and the BBB
A lot of flak has been given over the fact that Charity Navigator marked points off of Invisible Children for their independent audits -- and this is where the rumor that the audits don't exist started. The points are marked off because Invisible Children doesn't have an audit oversight committee and the fact that they only have four members on their Board of Directors. You can learn this by reading.

As for the Better Business Bureau -- who, by the way, I generally consider to be a joke. They're one of those organizations that pretends to have a ton of power and influence and really doesn't DO much or have the authority to do much. Like a lot of the United Nations committees.
No business or organization is required to give information to the BBB. And with such a small board of directors that even Charity Navigator is marking points down for it, I'm willing to bet the BBB would mark them down a LOT for that. Could it be that they are waiting to expand as they claim before giving information to the BBB?

Kony's Not in Uganda, So Why is He a Problem?
Kony was in Uganda for 20 years, so MOST of the devastation he caused is right, y'know, there. The recovery efforts are focused on Uganda. And Uganda is the only country the USA is currently helping attempt to capture him. Despite the fact that he left Uganda in 2006 and began to terrorize the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic and Southern Sudan. Part of what makes Kony SO dangerous is that, unlike regional governments, he is not bound by borders -- and that's one reason that regional governments are not well equipped to handle him.

By the way -- neither the Central African Republic or Southern Sudan currently have militaries, at all, which makes them kind of defenseless against the LRA. But, naw, they got no problems there. Seriously, people?

What Can the USA Do That's Not Already Being Done?
Aside from lending aid also to the three other countries where Kony is leaving his mark in the form of training and advisors, the USA and other nations can do a bit more than advise. They can help facilitate communication between the nations, they can provide thermal imaging and other tracking technologies available to us that are not available to these third world nations, etc.
In other words, a ton of shit we're not doing already.

Kony is Only One Part of a Much Larger, More Complicated Conflict
Uhm. Yeah. Duh.
But when did anyone claim otherwise? And to use this as an argument NOT to go after Kony is basically saying, "This is really complicated and hard, I don't want to do it!" No, arresting Kony so he can be tried by the ICC will not end the troubles facing the region of Central Africa. But removing a piece of the puzzle will help. Why wouldn't we try to bring peace to Africa, and if we want to do that why wouldn't we start with the ICC's most wanted criminal? Answer me that, and maybe I'll stop assuming you're just too lazy to Tweet.

If you have more concerns about Invisible Children you'd like me to address or talk about, please post in the comments. As always, I'm open to discussion. It doesn't have to be polite (because, duh, I'll be discussing it too) so long as it's constructive.
Remember the goal here is to stop children from dying! "There's two kinds of evil people in the world: those who commit evil deeds, and those who see evil deeds being committed and do nothing."

PS The reason this isn't a video of me ranting is because I got roughly four hours of sleep last night and I have the worst circles under my eyes. I can only make videos when I can at least pretend to myself that I'm pretty! :-P There may (probably!) a YouTube version of this rant on a day when I'm feeling cuter! Going to get some beauty sleep now!!

KONY 2012

This video speaks for itself -- absolutely. I know it's a bit long but it is a MUST SEE. This is so much more important than the things I usually talk about -- even the LGBT issues which are of astounding, incredible importance. Everything we go through in this country pales in comparison to what these kids in central Africa have to endure.

KONY2012

"8": A Play about the Fight for Marriage Equality

For those who didn't get the chance to see this live -- here's the staged reading of Dustin Lance Black's play "8", which is almost entirely comprised of the transcripts of the Prop 8 trials in California.

It has an all star cast -- George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Martin Sheen, Kevin Bacon, George Takei, Jane Lynch, Jamie Lee Curtis, Matthew Morrison, the list goes on.... it's an incredible performance by all of them.

In short -- you MUST WATCH IT!

Oscars In Review

As promised, I'm talking about the Oscars!!

I did it in video format, like I said I would (albeit not as soon as I said I would -- I'll make a video explaining why eventually). It ended up being two videos -- I had a LOT to say! Unfortunately, the sound is a little bit off (more in the first video than the second), and I have NO idea why because I checked that before I uploaded and they were both fine. Anyways, other than that tiny hiccup -- enjoy!

What did you think of the Oscars? Do you agree with my assessment of the fashions?

If you were going to be on the red carpet, what would you wear? Go crazy -- but let me know in the comments!

I Want To Know What It's Like

I am about to make my Oscars video but I wanted to show everyone this first (I know, I know WAY too much of me for one day :-P) -- Ryan James Yezak is a genius, I've said it before and I'll keep preaching it Second Class Citizens is going to be an incredible look at what life is really like for the LGBT community -- and likely will be as horrifying for those of us, like myself, who are lucky enough to live in an open-minded area, as it is for the heterosexuals who watch it and will hopefully, finally get the message.

These sort of preview messages are building in intensity, which is crazy and only makes me wonder just how intense the actual film will be. It's going to have to be intense to do justice to its topic though, so I'm glad to see that.

As a side note, how bizarre is it to see Tyler Oakley and Jonathan Lovitz being so very serious?

The Bachelor With the Best Body?

This next one of OUT Magazine's 100 Most Eligible Bachelors arguably has the best body on the entire list and almost assuredly has the best, brightest smile: Nick Adams.

He's a full-blown Broadway sensation, starring in one of the gayest shows of all time -- Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

Sorry to disappoint anyone who was expecting me to talk much here... I'm as busy staring as you are!

Oh, oh, oh! I forgot to mention... he sings too! Just kill me already, right?

Minnesota Marriage Minute -- Six Reasons Why Kids Should Be Left Out in the Cold

So, you're gonna end up with TWO blog posts AND a video from me today. Too much? I thought so. :-P

The reason being, I really want to address the six reasons gays cannot have marriage that the organization Minnesota For Marriage gave in their little weekly email blast "Marriage Minutes". Of course the reasons are of sound logic (if you're deranged) and are highly researched and educated (if the only person you've ever met or Googled is Rick Santorum) and absolutely true (if you live in an alternate reality).

Here's the video:

I know, that's pretty absurd in and of itself -- especially since churches will not be losing their tax exempt status for not recognizing same-sex marriage, and no one is suggesting they should. (I would suggest, however, that churches lose their tax exempt status the *second* they put any money whatsoever towards any piece of legislation.) The bold-faced lying going on in this video isn't particularly surprising or new and different though.

But then there was text that came with it. I'm just going to link to the article where I read the text, and then I'm going to tear apart the six reasons. The article is here. As for the six reasons....

• Sex between a man and a woman has the unique capacity to create a child.

It's probably not necessary to point out that couples get married all the time who don't procreate. We allow the elderly and the infertile to marry. Furthermore, this is frighteningly close to suggesting that the government tell us how many children each couple should have. I read Ender's Game. This is not a good idea.

• Pregnancy can occur regardless of whether the couple intends to create a child or not.

Which is actually why studies have shown that same-sex parents are often times better parents. See, they HAVE to want the child. Heterosexual couples don't.

• The new human life that is created is precious and needs the protection of adults.

And we all know that homosexuals don't age past seventeen. Ever. They never become adults. All the adult homosexuals you've ever met ARE LYING. They may look 176 years old, but they're actually still below the voting age.

• The man and woman who created the new life typically and are best at protecting and guiding the child.

Actually, again, it's been shown in multiple studies that homosexual couples are much more motivated as far as protecting and raising a child because they, by their very nature, must have wanted and committed to having and raising a child before they have it.

• They agree that they will both be legally responsible for any child conceived during the marriage.

Actually, no, they don't. The law forces them to be responsible for the child. This is why the law takes children from the care of unfit parents. This is why the law can force a deadbeat dad (or mother) to start paying child support. Many of the laws regarding marriage exist to protect the children of a couple -- protections the children raised by same-sex couples lack. Using the "children" argument is absolutely the fastest way to look like a cold-hearted hypocrite who doesn't care about children, and I appreciate that Minnesota For Marriage is making it SO easy to show how they don't care about children.

• Couples must work for decades to raise a child from conception to adulthood.

Oh, I get it. Because homosexuals don't live past the age of seventeen they're not able to work for decades. Now it all makes sense.

He's Gorgeous

So the Oscars were last night!

I know, I know, I'm supposed to be writing about hot guys from OUT Magazine. And I totally flaked yesterday because of the Oscars! So here's what I'm going to do -- tomorrow I'm going to make a video talking about the Oscars so I can blog about hot guys for y'all. Good deal, yeah? Good.

In the mean time, here's another one of the hottest men on the OUT Magazine 100 Most Eligible Bachelors. Zachary Quinto! I love this man, he's beautiful.

He's gorgeous with scruff.

He's gorgeous clean shaven. (Look at the spectacular jaw line!)

He's gorgeous with glasses.

He's gorgeous with pointy ears.

I think I've made my point.

Eligible Bachelor: Chris Colfer

It's somewhat alarming to me that I'm older than one of the men on the Eligible Bachelor's List -- Glee's Chris Colfer.

He's cute -- anyone can see that, especially since at 21 he still looks young enough to play a teenager. (Then again, I'm 24 and could play a teenager, or so I tell myself!) What really sells him as a hottie though, is his unreal voice.

You're right. It's not fair that you can't sing like that.

Not only is he an immensely talented singer and actor, he also -- apparently, is writing and directing films. We'll have to cross our fingers. Here's a trailer of the movie he's starring in, and wrote, and directed -- Struck by Lightning.

EDIT (3/1/2012): The voting is closed and it looks like Chris Colfer has been selected as the number 1 most eligible bachelor of the year!

The Most Eligible Time of the Year!

It happened again.

It's the second time this has happened.

OUT Magazine is making us pick the most eligible openly gay bachelors. Again.

They're sort of torturous. You have to vote -- you can only pick one at a time, but they let you vote multiple times. Almost all of the men are beautiful, successful, wealthy, perfection. Like, you're supposed to pick from this list? As one of my Facebook friends said, "I'm like a kid in a candy shop!"

If you want to suffer the way I've suffered, click here: 100 Most Eligible Bachelors | OUT Magazine

But, it made me think of something I haven't done in a while. Talked about hot guys. Which I'll do today!

First of all, I wanted to express my displeasure over the fact that my favorite professional hottie, model and spokesperson for XWear Ethan Reynolds, isn't on the list despite his hotness (and he is single, gentlemen!)

But alas, he's not on the list. Neither am I, so obviously there's something amiss -- who could pass up this? Am I right??

We'll get the two of us on the list next year!

Moving on to the people who actually ARE on the list... I initially voted for Ronnie Kroell. Why? Well, firstly, I know him and he's super fantastically sweet and I adore him -- but also because he looks like this:

But there's so many other hotties on the list..... that I'm going to make posts about my favorites to give you all a BUNCH of posts about hot men.

Isn't this just your favorite time of year?

Friendly Advice for the One Million Moms

I think it's fantastic that the One Million Moms want to take full advantage of the fact that ENDA hasn't passed yet. What courage! Standing up for discrimination when its been under siege all these years!

Anyways, the point of this video is that frankly, I don't think we really want the One Million Moms shopping or eating in the same places that we do. So, we should encourage them not to. Support their boycott!

JC Penny deserves extra credit because they would legally have been completely fine to fire Ellen due to her sexuality -- there are no protections afforded LGBT employees in the state of Texas (where JCP's corporate offices are). Standing by her in the face of any controversy is great. Although, y'know, you also can't buy this kind of publicity -- maybe this was their intention all along.

Actually, I was kind of hoping this controversy would bring public attention back to ENDA -- which still hasn't passed -- but so far, it's mostly just stayed on Ellen and this particular situation.

Ellen Addresses Her JCPenney Critics

The controversy over all of this has been ridiculous. But, it's nice to see it's not really doing anything.

Be the Change in Your Language!

In which I discuss the important topic of adding new words to the English language. See, this is the video that could change your life!!

....or your vocabulary....

A Valentine's for Homophobes

That's really all I have to say right now. Thanks!

Keep Austin Awesome

So, I have been gone from this blog for far too long! I am super sorry, but things have been crazy up in here!

In brief, I work in retail so the whole Novemeber/December period is always hectic. Then I went to the amaaaazing party in New York City that I go to every year. Then I got a brief bout of walking pneumonia....

...and then..... and then..... I went to Texas!!

The whole vacation was enlightening, amazing, fun, and... yeah, I'll say it. Kind of life changing.

So, I'll start at the beginning. My friend Grace and I went to the airport, and got on our plane, and flew to Baltimore and then... well, got confused and left the airport by accident and had to go through security again... and then hopped on our next flight to Austin!

That's where things get a bit sketch.

So, I turned off my phone on the airplane, like you're supposed to, and I put it in my pocket. A little while later, I glanced over at the iPad of the guy next to me, to check the time. And he was reading Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler. I know, I know, you're thinking "Alright, so? That's a legit piece of literature, it's not like he wrote about killing everyone." And, yeah, it wasn't terribly unnerving.

It became unnerving when I glanced back and he was reading a manual about piloting airplanes. At that point I was pretty sure I was going to die. Needless to say I didn't -- but I did get off the plane and suddenly realize my phone was nowhere to be found. I made a lost item report, but I haven't heard back which I think is fairly peculiar.

Anyways, Grace and I spent the next week in perfect 70 degree weather, sightseeing and partying. I've been told Austin residents that they all hate "Dirty Sixth Street" but I gotta be honest.......

I. Love. That. Street.

We swung by almost every bar on the street at some point or another -- Mooseknuckle, Bat Bar, Old School, Maggie Mae's, Shakespeare's, Iron Cactus, Coyote Ugly, etc. We also hit up the gay bars on 4th Street -- Rain and Oilcan Harry's, both of which I loved! I learned some new drinks, I learned not to order pitchers of Amaretto sour, I learned that they grow hotter men in Texas than they do in Rhode Island. Probably something to do with the weather.

Turns out, not such a good idea.

See, a big learning experience.

I also discovered that there's plenty of jobs there, so... especially considering how much fun I had there... I'm looking into moving there.

And getting into the hospitality field by becoming a concierge for a hotel. At least until I become a famous actor or... y'know, just famous in general.

I mentioned it was a life-changing trip, right?

Anyways, I came back from vacation-life to my real-life.......in the middle of a snowstorm. That only strengthened my resolve. Gotta gotta gotta get out of here! After the snow, I did manage to grab myself an iPhone, which is spectacular. Expect a somewhat experimental phone-blog-post in the near future!

So, I'm curious -- what's the best vacation you've ever been on? Where did you go (or was it a staycation?) and why was it such a good trip?