GAY STUFF: "Last Call" Article

I will blog about this later (after having already blogged once about it):

"Last Call" Op/Ed piece from the Boston Globe

Although there is clearly a link there as to why I found this article interesting, notice the point of the "long tail" business. IE: is the marketplace as a physical structure now disappearing??? ARe commercial centers at the end of their life?

GAY STUFF: Civil Unions.... in URUGUAY

Uruguay was the first country in Latin America to approve civil unions for gay couples.

That's right, folks. Uruguay beat us to the punch; oh, and made a punch line out of our country.

The Advocate story here.

HIV/AIDS: Top 10 HIV/AIDS Stories from 2007

So, it's a day late (on my part), but 365Gay (owned by Viacom) posted a nice recap of the Top 10 HIV/AIDS news stories from 2007 in honor of World AIDS Day. The link can be found here .

The headlines:

1) HIV Numbers were too high -- new estimate it at 33.2 million infected in the world, with 6,800 new infections a day and 2.1m AIDS deaths a year

2) HIV infections rising among gay men -- 13% increase between 2001 and 2005 (One day I will recap my vent about the "AIDS numbers game," but the point is there... Men who have sex with men -- MSMs -- are the number one group getting HIV in this country)

3) Merck AIDS vaccine harmful -- oh yea, it increased the susceptibility to HIV/AIDS... oops

4) Conservative Protestants/Catholics taking on AIDS -- it's about time the conservative right recognized the human aspect of the disease

5) Bush asks for doubled funding for fighting world AIDS -- that would still only be $30billion, so just under a dollar per person infected... thanks, Shrub, your kindness knows no bounds

6) Democratic presidential candidates pressed to end AIDS -- supporting crazy ideas like $50billion in world funding, allowing needle exhange, comprehensive sex ed, and allowing HIV-positive foreigners to visit our country.. thanks, guys, these don't seem all that "activist" to me, I'm disappointed it took this long

7) Resurrection of virus may help us understand HIV -- using a form of HIV that was once found in ... rabbits?

8) World Health Org recommends circumcision -- after it was found that, yes, in fact, men who are circumcised are less likely to catch HIV, which is something most African prostitutes already knew

9) Washington, DC tops the list of infected cities -- to the tune of 1 in 50 people being infected (and, to add on, it is estimated, per other sites, that 1 in 7 black men in that city, I believe)

10) Homeland Security Restricts Travel for PWA -- because HIV has a lot to do with nuclear weapons

There you go. My responses came out cattier than I had expected.

CINCY GAY SCENE: Return to Oxford

Who thought we would bring out a record crowd and raise a record number of bucks for Caracole ($3100!!!!! -- http://www.caracole.org/ and also http://www.isqccbe.org/ -- our sponsoring drag troupe). What a great night :-).

But, as they say... all good things...

POLITICS: Trent Lott Gay Scandal

This was too good to pass up. This is blog news via Joe. My. God. (http://www.joemygod.blogspot.com/) via BigHeadDC (bigheaddc.com).

http://bigheaddc.com/2007/11/26/trent-lott-fallout-the-gay-escort-who-knew-too-much/

That's right, kids, it appears there is a bit of a gay escort scandal mildly brewing about the recent resignation about Trent Lott. I don't have a lot of time to blog everything, and I'm trying my damndest to catch up with the news, but it appears that it is a young (hot) man by the name of Benjamin Nicholas, who works all over the country and has "served" many men in the US Congress.

Mr. Nicholas is denying it on his blog, 15 minutes... (www.benjaminnicholas.com/blogger.com), but only after a couple of rather interesting emails back and forth with the above blogger.

Despite Mr. Nicholas's scathing retort to Mike Jones' outing of Rev. Ted Haggard: You were paid for sex, Mike," he wrote in 2006. "The most important rule you can follow when taking people's money in exchange for sex is that—no matter what—their lives stay their own and whatever passes between the two of you remains private. Period." Mr. Nicholas's own quotes seem far too nudgenudgewinkwink to be real. Either he's telling us something, or he's really dumb. For example:

• "All I can say at this point is no comment. It's the professional thing for me to do." (If there's no pre-existing prior relationship, there's no professional boundary, unless they are doing the medical thing of saying "I can't comment either way," which would be more realistic. He should have known how that comment would be construed.)
• "As I said before, Lott has quite a bit on his plate right now and I don't really want to add fuel to the embers." (Uh-huh. Sounds like you added quite a bit of fire to his life...) Another version of this quote, perhaps a separate quote: “Trent is going through his fair share of scrutiny right now and I don’t want to add to it.” (Referring to him as Trent..?)
• “Here’s my public comment, on-the-record: Sen. Lott and I have no current affiliation with one another. I’m sure he would appreciate no further scrutiny." (COME ON. He's got to have a PR person with him by now. I'm sure they would be telling him: YOU ARE NOT HELPING THE SITUATION.)

This, btw, is culminated by the above mentioned denial on his blog. I'm curious, though as to were the implied relationship came from. It's unfortunate that BigHeadDC may have some problems in the past with its credibility (thank you, JoeMyGod), but interesting nonetheless. And there is an interesting connection to Hustler magazine, somehow, but I'm not getting that one yet. I'm trying to read more.

Whether or not he is a call boy for Mr. Lott, his blog is REALLY interesting. Check it out.

CINCY GAY SCENE: Bar Closings

It's sad to say...

The Ohio Smoking Ban may have claimed its first victim. My dear, dear, favorite lesbian bar in the world, Bullfishes, is, indeed, closed. Donna was a dear friend and used to be my landlord. It is sad to see it go. What makes it even worse was the suddenness of it. No one knew it was happening, she let it go peacefully without a goodbye party.

I spent many Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights there. Rarely there on Fridays or Saturdays, but I will give it up for that fabulous Pink Dress Show back in February that raised $750 for Breast Cancer charities.

*sigh* It's sad to see you go, Bullfishes.

Also, per the QCityNews blog (http://qcitynews.blogspot.com/2007/11/northside-gay-and-lesbian-bars-for-sale.html), it appears another one of my favorite hangouts is for sale, the Serpent. Listing price at a million dollars. Now, I've had an AWFULLY good time at the Serpent, and I really hope it will be around at LEAST for their fabulous New Year's Eve clothing optional party, but I don't think (nor does QCity) that it is work $1m, even with the rentable space upstairs. The $200,000 price sounds reasonable, but Anthony and Ford have put years and years and years of their life into that business, I'm sure there is a huge personal attachment to it. I'm almost afraid that, should the business change hands, the cops will raid the place like crazy and close down what every one goes on at Serpent for good... which, btw, would ultimately destroy the business and destroy the Northside gay scene.

Where does that leave BronZ? Or, Club BronZ (I really do need to clean up my "labels")? Well, reported to my ear from one of the best bartenders in town -- a slight uptick in business. Of course, I'm sure much of that is due to the fabulously sociable attitude Brad and John have put out there, along with the fantastic work of DJ Waves in the production of the multiple karaoke nights. It doesn't hurt, also, that it's one of the few bars in town where you can sit at a bar and have a cigarette, there on the back patio. (The owner of Little Bit Bar was scathing in her attack of their patio, as it is really kind of enclosed, but open still. Please, let us just have one place to smoke and drink. You non-smokers have enough places in town.)

See, everyone is driving across the river. I have been in Rosie's and Yadda a few times, but they have been jumping since the smoking ban occurred over here. It really annoys me that the rest of the state, and the locals, can be so callous towards local business. After all, what Cincinnati really needs, is another reason not to hang out in it.

Has anyone wondered how long this Dock/Adonis thing can go one? Rumors are flying as to which one will go first. My money, actually, is on Adonis. I think they would have been long gone had it not been for Penny Tration and her amazing abilities as the most fabulous queen in town. Of course, I would not have put money on Bella Dolce, but she seems to be holding her own. I always liked her personally, I would have never thought she could handle that big of a venue, but she's proven herself quite well on a microphone.

And finally, Below Zero? Seriously. I don't understand the crowd. Do we need two uppity gay bars in town? Universal Grille is bad enough; I've not even been to Below Zero and I already hate it. :-) But I'll go soon, Nigel, and give you a fairer review, I promise.

FAGWATCH: Part 2

I was called a fag again!!!

Again, by a lesbian.

There's this girl at this bar who once came up behind me at that bar (ok, Little Bit Bar... we'll call it LBB) and slapped me upside the head REALLY HARD and said "Hey!!!" I got upset and she tried to make amends for months and months and we then had this pretty laid back and tense friendship.

So LM and I went to LBB on Saturday night to see whether or not we would enjoy the crowd. I saw this girl, and we were chatting, and then, suddenly she slaps me up side the head. I hit her back, she jumps out of her chair, puts me in a head lock and calls me a fag. Someone finally pulls her off of me, and she sits down muttering "faggot" over and over and over again.

She claims that I hit her first, but no one around me saw me strike.

Who knows? Anyways, another reason FAG should be out of my vocabulary, because lesbians think it's cool to dis gay men.

ELECTION 2008: Republican CNN/YouTube Debate

I hope you all are watching the Republican CNN/Youtube Debate.

Well, the first 5 minutes anyways.

Giuliani came out swinging, accusing Romney of running a "santuary mansion" (as opposed to a "sanctuary city" like NYC) in hiring illegal immigrants. I seriously thought Romney was going to walk over a hit Giuliani in the face.

He didn't, sadly, but it would have been funny. So, far, however, after that little bit, it got really boring and we realized that it's just a old white guy debate.

REALLY OLD, btw, Fred Thompson and John McCain.

They look ANCIENT don't they.

CINCY GAY SCENE: Out in the City

Thanks Darren.

I am good friends with "Darren M.," well good bar-friends. He and I always seem to have the most bizarre conversations at the local bars that we frequent, whether it be BronZ or the Serpent or Bullfishes (RIP) or... have we seen each other at On Broadway? Whatever. He writes a great column for the local gay rag, QCityNews (http://www.qcitynews.com/), and I love him for it. Secretly, I'm friends with him so that he'll mention me in his column because I'm a publicity whore.

Of all things to finally write about me with...

http://www.qcitynews.com/1007darrenm.html

Thank you Darren, for making sure the whole city knows that I have "tales of [my] own sexual appetites and explorations." :-)

I'm not mad; I just think it's funny that of all the things I've talked to him about -- gay social reform, politics, interactions, bars, etc. This is the one thing he finally writes about. Hey, any press is good press.

Thanks Darren.

BLOGGING: Added to my Fav's

This will be added to my fav's here soon, but everyone knows how sad I was when "Election Projection" become a conservative blog roll on me. Well, I found my new, statistics based, non-partisan website with which to follow the elections...

http://www.uselectionatlas.org/

Check it out!

ELECTION 2008: Primary Dates -- SAVE THEM

For the upcoming primaries... Isn't it annoying when the Dems and Reps vote no separate days??? And what's with the Wyoming Republicans slipping their primary in between IA and NH? Strange -- sounds like Cheney played with that one. And why is Michigan not getting more attention than SC? Oh right, because Obama and Edwards pulled off the ballot there. It's Clinton territory now :-).

1/3
Iowa (D/R)

1/5
Wyoming (R)

1/8
New Hampshire (D/R)

1/15
Michigan (D/R)

1/19
Nevada (D/R)
South Carolina (R)

1/26
South Carolina (D)

1/29
Florida (D/R)

2/2
Maine (R)

2/5
Alabama (D/R)
Alaska (D/R)
Arizona (D/R)
Arkansas (D/R)
California (D/R)
Colorado (D/R)
Connecticut (D/R)
Delaware (D/R)
Georgia (D/R)
Idaho (D)
Illinois (D/R)
Kansas (D)
Minnesota (D/R)
Missouri (D/R)
Montana (R)
New Jersey (D/R)
New Mexico (D)
New York (D/R)
North Dakota (D/R)
Oklahoma (D/R)
Rhode Island (R)
Tennessee (D/R)
Utah (D/R)
West Virginia (R)

2/9
Kansas (R)
Louisiana (D/R)
Nebraska (D)
Washington (D/R)
Maine (D)

2/12
Abroad (D)
Washington, DC (D/R)
Maryland (D/R)
Virginia (D/R)

2/19
Wisconsin (D/R)

2/26
Hawaii (D)

3/2
Hawaii (R)

3/4
Massachusetts (D/R)
Ohio (D/R)
Rhode Island (D)
Vermont (D/R)
Texas (D/R)

3/8
Wyoming (D)

3/11
Mississippi (D/R)

4/22
Pennsylvania (D/R)

5/6
Indiana (D/R)
North Carolina (D/R)

5/13
West Virginia (D)
Nebraska (R)

5/20
Kentucky (D/R)
Oregon (D/R)

5/27
Idaho (R)

6/1
Puerto Rico (D/R)

6/3
Montana (D)
New Mexico (R)
South Dakota (D/R)

Find your state and make sure you vote in the primaries!!!!!

POLITICS: Apparently, the Peace Activists Learned from Vietnam

No real news article to base this on...

BUT... it appears that the peace activists learned a lot from the Vietnam WAr, in respect especially to the way they treat soldiers coming home. They learned that it is inappropriate to abuse them, and understand that they are just doing their job and trying to do what's best for the country. After all, there's hardly any attacks or anti-soldier rhetoric going on. In fact, the reverse is true.

HOWEVER, it seems like the war hawks have not learned, further delving into a war for minor political aims. In fact, they've treated the vets worse than the peace activists... Walter Reid, cuts in military benefits, difficulty getting VA disability benefits, shoddy armor, lack of provisions, etc etc etc...

Funny, isn't it?

ALSO... what happens to the soldiers? It is rare that I ever hear about any soldier taking a stand on either side.

PERSONAL: Books and Music

Newly added to my life and/or read and/or downloaded...

BOOKS

Parasites Like Us by Adam Johnson
Story detailing the apocalypse... the end of humanity, rather... at the hands of an anthropologist. The premise is that the main character, a professor of anthropology at a small school in South Dakota, has a series of events that lead to him and his students kill off humanity. OOPS! He is writing this for future generations to understand what happened.

This was extraordinarily hard to get into, as it took about 200 pages before the point of the whole book starts coming together. No, really. Then, it wraps up in about 50 pages that makes the rest seem plausible and important. It was, however, extraordinarily easy to read.

OVERALL GRADE: B


Shopgirl by Steve Martin
(Could not get image to work properly)
The sexual and personal growth of young Miss Mirabelle, the glove counter girl at Neiman's in LA. I picked it up for two reasons: 1) Steve Martin (yes the actor) wrote it, and 2) Emmett referenced it in Queer As Folk. The story does not venture much from the above premise.

It's short, it's sweet, and it's kinda cute, though the ending rushes upon you. But that's easy to happen in a novella of 128 pages. Pretty melancholy mood throughout, but joyful at the end, and we are thankful for the joy.


OVERALL GRADE: B+

-------------------


MUSIC
Everyone knows I like musicals, right? Well, here are my two new additions to the music collection:

Legally Blonde: The Musical
Cute, whimsical, funny. Just like the original movie. Tres gay, btw. Very Very Very Very Gay -- especially with a song call "There Right There" whose chorus is "Is he Gay or European?" And the Bend and Snap will probably end up being a Kristy song :-).



Hairspray
Duh. Are you surprised I bought it? It's great. Fun to listen to... I am often found jamming to it down the road, though I like the stage version of "You Can't Stop the Beat" better.





------

Next thing to read: Brokeback Mountain. No really. I bout the 50pg story for $5.00. That's right, kids, $0.10 a page. I'm not happy about the price, but I'm excited about the story!

GENERAL STUFF: Animal Crossing

I love you mom -- this is not about my mom, btw, but it touched me.

http://animalcrossingtragedy.ytmnd.com/

(PS -- > I own Animal Crossing, but no one else plays it but me.)

POP CULTURE: America's Most Smartest Model

• 
  BTW: Needed to follow up...
  
  Andre from America's Most Smartest Model on VH1 is definitely the hottest guy on earth, esp when he's angry. That yummy Soviet, I bet, is mean -- like, really, mean and hateful -- in bed. :-)
  
  And just in case you don't know who he is:
  (Pic, btw, comes from the WeLoveGuys Blog, which has now been added to my Fav's).
  
  Yum.
  
  HA. I mispelled his name on the blog below, so if you search for Andre Birleneau in Google, you only get my blog. SWEET!!!!! (His last name is:Birleanu).
  
  Doesn't it seem like his nipples are really high?
  

FAGWATCH: Part 1

So I wanna just preface my next blog, which may be a few days in coming, with a little bit of background:

I have promised never to use the word "fag" or "dyke" again. Why? Because over the last month I've heard them used by queerfolk in anger and hatred to or about other queerfolk.

1) At a bar in Cbus, I was called a fag by a lesbian who jumped in front of me in line. Instead of ignoring my joking and sarcastic spiel, she decided to unlease a string of vitriole (sp?) including above word at me.

2) At a bar in Oxford, the guy I had earlier in the day been on a date with called a good friend of mine a fag ... when I objected, he then proceded to try and justify the usage -- as if it were ever ok when you use it negatively.

So, since we queerfolk cannot use the word properly -- in a campy and humorous manner only amongst ourselves and instead decide that we are going to fill the world with more hate than we already have -- I am striking the word from my life. This is about respect and the realization that maybe, just maybe, that word may mean something other than an insult.

And, using it as a way to attack someone's gender expression or their sexual expression... well, that's just against the movement isn't it...

Wait for Part 2...

PERSONAL: It's been a while

The new job has begun and though, somewhere around 4am while I'm in the hospital I'm always thinking "I should blog," I have yet to do so.

Bright side: TOTALLY cute doctors and nurses; and I'm totally in crush with one of my coworkers :-).

Bad side: My circadian rhythms are funny these days.

Third shift is for the dogs... but I'm awfully good at my job.

PERSONAL: Last Weekend on Earth

So this weekend will be marked by debauchery of a new level that I haven't seen or been a part of for many many years... ok, you're right, months.

Ok, maybe weeks.

I'm lying, I do it regularly.

Anyways, so it's my 25th birthday.

Then my 3rd shift job begins. And then it all ends. Hopefully.

This is my opportunity to get shit back together.

Pray for me, pray for the Earth.

And pray for the last weekend on Earth... that I make it out alive.

POP CULTURE: VH1's New Worst/Best Show

I hate VH1... they are destroying American television, but boy am I enjoying the ride. Keep watching for I love NY2... but for now, why I love "America's Most Smartest Model:"

Andre Birleneau
VJ Logan

Slavco Tuskaloski






Does it matter if American culture is being destroyed when it looks like that

PERSONAL: Hairspray

OMG! I totally just saw this movie yesterday with my parents.

I am going to say that it is probably, now, one of my favorite movies of all time. No kidding... everyone was raving about it who saw it, and I, of course, thought it was going to be decent but passable (like CHICAGO), but this was GOOD. I couldn't stop smiling the entire time... not to mention dancing and singing along!

WOW!!!!

The cast was excellent (though Michelle Pfeiffer should NOT be singing... and John Travolta should not be singing as a woman), and it was truly an amazing movie experience.

And have I mentioned that Zac Effron, James Marsden, and Elijah Kelley are HOT! Truly and completely hot, not to mention excellent in their roles. Zac finally proves himself after that awful movie HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL; it appears Marsden can do a lot more than just be an X-man; and where the hell did they get Elijah ... he STOLE THE SHOW!!!!

I have the music to the stage version, and love it, so when I saw the 1988 John Waters version I was actually really disappointed, mainly because there was no singing (and Rikki Lake playing Tracy was really strange). But this made the world better :-).

It's a pity is has only made $117m. It came out at a bad weekend, near the Bourne Ultimatum and Transformers. But, still. Rush Hour 3 even made $136m.

I question taste sometimes. :-)

PERSONAL: Creditors?

Why do they call every hour?

CINCY GAY SCENE: OXFORD

Oxford was AMAZING on Friday.

For those who don't know, we've been hosting charity drag shows at my alma mater, Miami University, in Oxford, Ohio for almost 5 years now... this is the beginning of our fifth season. We raised the SECOND LARGEST amount of money of any of our shows (this time, for the YWCA Breast Cancer Fund)... $2400!!!!! WOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!!!!!!

If you're reading this and were there, THANK YOU!

If you're reading this and weren't there, you should... December 1st, Balcony, 11pm. We'll be there... will you???

Kristy Kay Karolina (Show Hostess)

Succio Sanchez (Co-Host/F*ckHer)

Muscle Underwear Boy

(because they are our favorite people)

:-)

GAY STUFF: "Decided to Lead with My Heart"

This is a wonderful, amazing clip from the mayor of San Diego about his decision to support gay marriage. His own tears and clear difficulty in changing his opinion and being open about it... well, it was hard for me to watch and not tear up too.

Thank you Mayor Sanders... who, btw, is a Republican.

"In the end, I couldn't look them in the face and tell them that their relationship was any less meaningful..."

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x30vw9_pressconfsm_politics

(I haven't quite figured out how to embed vids yet, sorry)

GAY STUFF: Gay Moms

I posted this on my Myspace a long time ago, so here is my original post, including my addenda. I'm reposting because now it's ended up in one of the two local gay rags... apparently they have nothing else to publish (sorry, DM, I know you may be reading, but we've talked about this! I still love your column! :-))

(addendum #1: this was sent to me from a friend with no date attached -- the paper is real and can be found at http://www.vnews.com/ -- but it's a small paper out of Vermont so it's a paper-by-paper search -- if ANYONE has evidence of the date of this publication, that would be fantastic... thanks!)

(addendum #2: CONFIRMED! I just called the Valley News in Vermont ... the editor in charge of the oped/editorial page has just confirmed that the following letter (which also appears on my blog) was put in the Valley News more than 5 years ago when Vermont was going through the civil unions debate (remember, when Howard Dean was governor). The author is a lady by the name of Sharon Underwood. He says that every couple of months it pops up somewhere, and he gets a lot of phone calls from different areas of the country asking to confirm its existence... and it does! Go Sharon Underwood, whomever you are!)

"Many letters have been sent to the Valley News concerning the homosexual menace in Vermont. I am the mother of a gay son and I've taken enough from you good people. I'm tired of your foolish rhetoric about the "homosexual agenda" and your allegations that accepting homosexuality is the same thing as advocating sex with children. You are cruel and ignorant. You have been robbing me of the joys of motherhood ever since my children were tiny.

My firstborn son started suffering at the hands of the moral littlethugs from your moral, upright families from the time he was in the first grade. He was physically and verbally abused from first grade straight through high school because he was perceived to be gay.

He never professed to be gay or had any association with anything gay, but he had the misfortune not to walk or have gestures like the other boys. He was called "fag" incessantly, starting when he was 6.

In high school, while your children were doing what kids that age should be doing, mine labored over a suicide note, drafting and redrafting it to be sure his family knew how much he loved them. My sobbing 17-year-old tore the heart out of me as he choked out that he just couldn't bear to continue living any longer, that he didn't want to be gay and that he couldn't face a life without dignity.

You have the audacity to talk about protecting families and children from the homosexual menace, while you yourselves tear apart families and drive children to despair. I don't know why my son is gay, but I do know that God didn't put him, and millions like him, on this Earth to give you someone to abuse. God gave you brains so that you could think, and it's about time you started doing that.

At the core of all your misguided beliefs is the belief that this could never happen to you, that there is some kind of subculture out there that people have chosen to join. The fact is that if it can happen to my family, it can happen to yours, and you won't get to choose. Whether it is genetic or whether something occurs during a critical time of fetal development, I don't know. I can only tell you with an absolute certainty that it is inborn.

If you want to tout your own morality, you'd best come up with something more substantive than your heterosexuality. You did nothing to earn it; it was given to you. If you disagree, I would be interested in hearing your story, because my own heterosexuality was a blessing I received with no effort whatsoever on my part. It is so woven into the very soul of me that nothing could ever change it. For those of you who reduce sexual orientation to a simple choice, a character issue, a bad habit or something that can be changed by a 10-step program, I'm puzzled. Are you saying that your own sexual orientation is nothing more than something you have chosen, that you could change it at will? If that's not the case, then why would you suggest that someone else can?

A popular theme in your letters is that Vermont has been infiltrated by outsiders. Both sides of my family have lived in Vermont for generations. I am heart and soul a Vermonter, so I'll thank you to stop saying that you are speaking for "true Vermonters."

You invoke the memory of the brave people who have fought on the battlefield for this great country, saying that they didn't give their lives so that the "homosexual agenda" could tear down the principles they died defending. My 83-year-old father fought in some of the most horrific battles of World War II, was wounded and awarded the Purple Heart.

He shakes his head in sadness at the life his grandson has had to live. He says he fought alongside homosexuals in those battles, that they did their part and bothered no one. One of his best friends in the service was gay, and he never knew it until the end, and when he did find out, it mattered not at all. That wasn't the measure of the man.

You religious folk just can't bear the thought that as my son emerges from the hell that was his childhood he might like to find a lifelong companion and have a measure of happiness. It offends your sensibilities that he should request the right to visit that companion in the hospital, to make medical decisions for him or to benefit from tax laws governing inheritance.

How dare he? you say. These outrageous requests would threaten the very existence of your family, would undermine the sanctity of marriage. You use religion to abdicate your responsibility to be thinking human beings. There are vast numbers of religious people who find your attitudes repugnant. God is not for the privileged majority, and God knows my son has committed no sin.

The deep-thinking author of a letter to the April 12 Valley News who lectures about homosexual sin and tells us about "those of us who have been blessed with the benefits of a religious upbringing" asks: "What ever happened to the idea of striving . . . to be better human beings than we are?"

Indeed, sir, what ever happened to that?

I just think it is so well written and so precisely on to be beautiful... Well done, random lady. Well done.

LAW: How to Sue God

I always wondered if this would happen...

Nebraska legislator Sues God

What I think is funny is that he got a "response." Now, clearly, it came from this Corpus Christi (if anyone ever wondered what exactly that means, it literally translates to... "the body of Christ") legal group, who is not answering questions. I can't seem to find the actual legal paperwork, but I will try my damnedest.

Sen. Ernie Chambers is my new hero.

America is basically a hypocritical society and recognizes that hypocrisy is found throughout. The public doesn’t look for politicians to tell the truth or to deliver on their promises... Politicians know this. Even when the public seems to be upset, the politicians know if they can put on a brave face and ride it out, they generally will. (this quote by Sen Chambers comes from the ultimate in "truth" in this world, Wikipedia, so who knows if it's real)

HIV/AIDS: A disappointment...

Looks like the newest round of AIDS vaccines has failed. Sigh. This was one of the ones that we were really counting on as it held so much promise, but 24/741 of those receiving the vaccine became infected (3.2% -- please note, they don't become infected by the vaccine, they are not asked to change their lifestyle while on the vaccine) versus 21/762 (2.75%). Statistically insignificant difference.

Ironically, though, I wonder if the slight uptick in percentage has anything to do with people thinking they are safer after having taken it, but I'm not sure if, with such a small sample size, it really matters at all.

There was hope, btw, that even if it did not actually block HIV, that it would slow down the process of infection, making it easier for the body to fight off before seroconversion. This using.. get this... the common cold as the delivery agent???

From the article in the LATimes:

Michael Zwick, an HIV researcher at Scripps Research Institute, said the vaccine's failure was unfortunate. But he said it was too soon to know whether other vaccines using the same strategy would also fail.

"It's par for the course in the HIV field," he said of the Merck result.

The volunteers in the experiment were all free of HIV at the start. But they were at high risk for getting the virus: Most were homosexual men or female sex workers. They were all repeatedly counseled about how to reduce their risk of HIV infections, according to Merck.

In a statement, the NIH said a data safety monitoring board, reviewing interim results, found the vaccine did not prevent HIV infection. Nor did it limit the severity of the disease "in those who become infected with HIV as a result of their own behaviors that exposed them to the virus" -- another goal of the study.

Also, here's the article from 365gay.com (which clued me in this morning).

I think it's sad that this is considered "par for the course" in this line of work. It's almost... well, disappointing.

ENVIRONMENT: Oil reserves and the Northwest Passage

A) The map speaks for itself.

B) Funny thing, this is one of the only maps like this (altered size based on some trait.. population, land use, etc) where the US is not one of the big players. Why does that strike me as funny?

C) Apparently this does not account for some forms of oil -- "tar sands" "oil sands" arctic reserves, etc. That would be why Russia, Venezuela, and Canada are not big... this is just currently known, self-reported (by the companies, apparently, and it is in their best interest to tell truthful statements about their total amount), pump and clean oil.

D) Looks like a map the neocons might like to have on hand.

Thought y'all might enjoy.

Oh and this:

The green in sea ice, the dark grey is water, the light grey is land.

That's right folks, thanks to global warming, there are now TWO northwest passages... and to think, we just needed to tell the European explorers from three hundred years ago to wait a little while (Artice ice levels are down 1 million square kilometers from their minima in 2006).

All thanks to the Sietch blog.

CINCY GAY SCENE: Two quick things:

One:

It seems so simple... this is a flash game, btw... there are balloons, just pop them. I'm stuck on level like 47 of the player pack. Any clues? (Oh and watch out for the other games, they are also addictive.)

BLOONS

Two:

Check out this year's Cincy Pride video -- I gave some of the pictures for it!!!

I think that's all for the night.. have a great day tomrow!

POP CULTURE: Britney Spears

It appears it has been removed off YouTube -NOT SURPRISED!

But please watch any news channel re Ms. Spears' latest VMA production.

Some of my favorite reviews:

-"R.I.P.: Britney's Career, 1998-2007" -- TMZ.com

-"Your performance was beyond pathetic. The old Britney Spears, who was at one point (a long time ago) truly great, would be embarrassed by your lack of professionalism and utterly shiteous appearance at the VMAs." -- Perez Hilton

Oh goodness, ladies. Stick a fork in her.

(For my part, btw, I did not think she was fat for a woman with two children.. 99% of the country would DIE for that body.)

PERSONAL: Time to restart...

Aight kids, I'm tired of feeling like this (I think I have alcohol poisoning).

So I'm stepping things up and trying to remake my life... I'm giving myself one year.

On my October 14th (2 days after my 25th birthday), everything changes.

EVERYTHING.

Will post plan as we go along.

PERSONAL: Body Image and Engendered Bodies

So there are two of me... there is me and "Mama Kristy."

Last night, I spent the evening at, essentially, a college party in Oxford and, drunkenly, discovered that what Kristy says is unacceptable by me. From Mama Kristy, it's fabulous and fun... from me, it's creepy and lecherous. I swear that is not hte intent.

Interestingly enough, it creates an interesting sort of dichotomy of gender stereotypes within the gay community. AS a full figured and fabulous woman, it is acceptable for me to be a little gross and flirtatious and make boys play games... it is desexualized. However, when people acknowledge that I am a male and have to see me as male, it becomes sexualized and it becomes less fun and more ... well, the word used last night was "creepy."

The interesting jusxtaposition of situations is that I am a 210lbs (that 25lbs lost in 6 months baby!), hairy, "cub" (mini-bear). I've accepted that as the image people have of me... more importantly, I apparently seem older than I am. At 24, people guess me to be somewhere in the range of 32-37. So, on top of being that atypical body type, I now come off as an old, fat, hairy, lecherous man.

I wonder, on the flip side, how much of this would appear creepy were I 50lbs lighter, less hairy, and looked a little more my age.

I have a theory, based on all my evidence, that the only people who are creepy are those that we don't want to be sexualized... old people, ugly people, etc. The young and the beautiful cannot be creepy or lecherous; they are "free."

My prime example: a dear friend of mine has interest in being in porn. People laugh when I suggest that I want to be in porn -- "of course you do;" on the flip side, when he suggests it, people say that he is "open" and "inspiring because he just loves his body and loves sex and accepts it."

Uhhuh.

Change yourself or change the world, I suppose.

GENERAL STUFF: Star Trek Voyager

I'm becoming addicted to this show, and I found a fascinating breakdown of how they got home here.


Including this neat (if oversimplied) map of the Milky Way galaxy in Star Trek (everyone does know that, even though they traveled 75,000 light years away, they are still in Milky Way, which I think is fascinating.

A couple of interesting things:

1) I don't remember ANYTHING called "Breen," and it appears to take up a large portion of the Alpha quadrant.

2) I'm a little shocked that they use both the alpha and beta quadrant in all the other Star Trek shows, especially since I assumed the set up would be geo-centric with the Federation in the dead middle of the alpha quadrant.

3) So, basically the Borg control the majority of the Delta Quadrant?

Anyways, that was my nerd thing for the day.

GAY STUFF: Hanky Code

So, once upon there was something called "hanky code" amongst game men which indicated that A) you were interested in sex and b) what kind of sex you were interested in.

There's a really good list here of what they could mean.

The reason I bring it up is because last night I brought it up to this cute guy at the Comet who had a black with white hanky in his right back pocket. I told him I was pretty sure it meant he was the "top" in some situation... poor guy. Really, it appears, it means he's looking for a black top.

Which, I'm sure someone could provide him.

But he laughed and thought it was "cool." I think looking for black tops is cool to.

Here are some highlights from hanky codes:

1) Worn on the right, it always means you are "looking for" "receiving" or "bottom" in any circumstance.

2) Worn on the left, it always means you are "giving" "willing to offer" or "top" in any circumstance.

So, for example:

LAVENDER: (on right) looking for drag queens, (on left) is a drag queen

MUSTARD: (on right) looking for 8"+, (on left) has 8"+

RUST: (on right) horse, (on left) cowboy

MOSQUITO NETTING: (on right) outdoor sex bottom, (on left) outdoor sex top

UNION JACK: (on right) skinhead bottom, (on left) skinhead top

RED: (on right) fistee, (on left) fister

Isn't this fun? No, not really. :-) But fun to start freaking people out with.

GENERAL STUFF: Advice

Found this on (of all places) Craigslist out of SF. Thought people may enjoy it; I thought it was pretty intelligent

------------------------------

Advice to Young Men from an Old Man

------------------------------

1. Don’t pick on the weak. It’s immoral. Don’t antagonize the strong without cause, its stupid.

2. Don’t hate women. It’s a waste of time

3. Invest in yourself. Material things come to those that have self actualized.

4. Get in a fistfight, even if you are going to lose.

5. As a former Marine, take it from me. Don’t join the military, unless you want to risk getting your balls blown off to secure other people’s economic or political interests.

6. If something has a direct benefit to an individual or a class of people, and a theoretical, abstract, or amorphous benefit to everybody else, realize that the proponent’s intentions are to benefit the former, not the latter, no matter what bullshit they try to feed you.

7. Don’t be a Republican. They are self-dealing crooks with no sense of honor or patriotism to their fellow citizens. If you must be a Republican, don’t be a “conservative.” They are whining, bitching, complaining, simple-minded self-righteous idiots who think they’re perpetual victims. Listen to talk radio for a while, you’ll see what I mean.

8. Don’t take proffered advice without a critical analysis. 90% of all advice is intended to benefit the proponent, not the recipient. Actually, the number is probably closer to 97%, but I don’t want to come off as cynical.

9. You’ll spend your entire life listening to people tell you how much you owe them. You don’t owe the vast majority of people shit.

10. Don’t undermine your fellow young men. Mentor the young men that come after you. Society recognizes that you have the potential to be the most power force in society. It scares them. Society does not find young men sympathetic. They are afraid of you, both individually and collectively. Law enforcement’s primary purpose is to suppress you.

11. As a young man, you’re on your own. Society divides and conquers. Unlike women who have advocates looking out for them (NOW, Women’s Study Departments, government, non-profit organizations, political advocacy groups) almost no one is looking out for you.

12. Young men provide the genius and muscle by which our society thrives. Look at the Silicone Valley. By in large, it was not old men or women that created the revolution we live. Realize that society steals your contributions, secures it with our intellectual property laws, and then takes credit and the rewards where none is due.

13. Know that few people have your best interests at heart. Your mother does. Your father probably does (if he stuck around). Your siblings are on your side. Everybody else worries about themselves.

14. Don’t be afraid to tell people to “Fuck off” when need be. It is an important skill to acquire. As they say, speak your piece, even if your voice shakes.

15. Acquire empathy, good interpersonal skills, and confidence. Learn to read body language and non-verbal communication. Don’t just concentrate on your vocational or technical skills, or you’ll find your wife fucking somebody else.

16. Keep fit.

17. Don’t speak ill of your wife/girlfriend. Back her up against the world, even if she’s wrong. She should know that you have her back. When she needs your help, give it. She should know that you’ll take her part.

18. Don’t cheat on your wife/girlfriend. If you must cheat, don’t humiliate her. Don’t risk having your transgressions come back to her or her friends. Don’t do it where you live. Don’t do it with people in your social circle. Don’t shit in your own back yard.

19. If your girlfriend doesn’t make you feel good about yourself and bring joy to your life, fire her. That’s what girlfriends are for.

20. Don’t bother with “emotional affairs.” They are just a vehicle for women to flirt and have someone make them feel good about themselves. That’s the part of a relationship they want. For you it is a lot of work and investment in time. If they are having an emotional affair with you, they’re probably fucking someone else.

21. Becoming a woman’s friend and confidant is not going to get you into an intimate relationship. If you haven’t gotten the girl within a reasonably short period of time, chances are you won’t ever get her. She’ll end up confiding to you about the sexual adventures she’s having with someone else.

22. Have and nurture friendships with women.

23. Realize that love is a numbers game. Guys fall in love easily. You’re going to see some girl and feel like you’ll die if you don’t get her. If she rejects you, move on to the next one. It’s her loss.

24. Don’t be an internet troll. Got out and live life. There is not a cadre of beautiful women advertising on Craigslist to have NSA sex with you. Beautiful women don’t need to advertise. The websites that advertise with attractive women’s photos and claims of loneliness are baloney. All they want is your money and your personal information so that they can market to you. The posts on Craigslist by young “women” seeking NSA sex, and asking for a picture are just a bunch of gay troll pic collectors. This is especially true if the post uses common gay lexicon like “hole” as in “fuck my hole” or seeks “masculine” men, or uses the word cock (except in the context of “Don’t send a cock shot.”) There are women on Craigslist. They are easily recognizable by their 2-5 paragraph postings. Most are in their 30's or older.

25. When you become a man in full, know that people will get in your way. People who are attracted to you will somehow manage to step in your path. Gay guys will give you “the look.” Old people will somehow stumble in front of you at the worst time. Don’t get frustrated. Just step aside and go about your business. Know that these are passive aggressive methods to get you to acknowledge their existence.

26. Don’t gay bash. Don’t mentally or physically abuse people because of who they are, or how they present themselves. It’s none of your business to try to intimidate people into conformity.

27. If your gay, admit it to yourself, your parents, your friends and society at large. Be prepared to get harassed. See rule 14. If someone threatens you or assaults you, call the cops. Have them arrested. You have no obligation to self sacrifice because of who you are. As a gay person, you’ll have more social freedom than straight men. Use it to protect yourself. Be prepared to get out of Dodge if your orientation makes your life unbearable. Move to San Francisco, New York, Atlanta, or New Orleans. You’ll find a welcoming community there.

28. Don’t be a poser. Avoid being one of those dudes who puts a surfboard on top of their car, but never surfs, or a dude with a powder coated fixed gear bike and a messenger bag, but was never a messenger. Live the life. Earn your bona fides.

29. Don’t believe the crap about the patriarchy. More women are accepted and attend college. More degrees are awarded to women than men. Women outlive men. More men commit suicide. Men are twice as likely to be victims of violence, including murder. If you consider sexual assaults in prisons, twice as many men are raped as women (society thinks prison rape is funny). The streets are littered with homeless men, sprinkled with a few homeless women. Statically, women are happier than men. The myth that girls are being cheated by are educational system is belied by the fact that schools are bastions of femininity, mostly run by and taught by women. Girls outperform boys in school. It is the boys in school getting fucked over, and prescribed ritalin for being boys. Real wages for men are falling, while real wages for women are rising. Just because someone says something enough times, doesn’t make it true. You have nothing to feel guilty about.

30. Remember, 97% of all advice is worthless. Take what you can use, and trash the rest.

GAY STUFF: Fight for son

Joe Hogue, a divorced gay father in California, is fighting for his son.

Here.

I thought it was a little suspect -- after all, check out the amount of money he's raising from celebrity EBay donations (cheapie donation, btw, Michael Jackson, Tom Petty, Rosie O'Donnell, et al... can't you just cut a check, seriously?), why would he need to raise that hard in California ... the judicial system there is friendly.

But then, his son lives in Florida.

Remember, Shrub's brother is governor reigns there. And it's still illegal for homo's to adopt. We lost that fight a few years ago. . . even with Rosie coming out.

So, this is more than about his son.. this is about the law.

It's about us.

At least spread the word.

GAY STUFF: The Mainstreaming of Gay Culture

Listen Here

(Because I need to take ownership of my own feelings, I will preface this by saying: I hate that I am on the part of the NYU prof who says "queer is the new gay," implicating that there are people that are trying to keep gay as different just because it is and no longer represents a separation from American culture. I have my own fear that, to reference another interviewee, I may be, or want to be, Will in Will & Grace).

I think it's fascinating, the sociological implications of marriage. Tucker Carlson (conservative commentator on CNN Headline News) says he is pro-gay marriage because it's "civilizing." I think we are starting to see that happen here, but it's similar to what I have been saying for a while ... and Penny Tration pointed out the same thing in her blog (here -- go to her blog, there are two articles in a row) based off a Yahoo report about the death of gay ghetto's like WeHo, Boystown, Castro, and the Village (locally, Northside).

Gay is passe. (A sharp division from "gay is good" in previous generations) It's common now, and it's on the forefront of American politics but not in a cutthroat sort of way, more of a "tying up loose ends" sort of way.

Rather than fighting for visibility and recognition and the simple right to be, we are fighting just to make sure that our rights are guaranteed and for marriage -- marriage! The penultimate of heteronormativity. Don't get me wrong, I support the right to marry for anyone ... and, later, the right to divorce. But it's telling of where we are.

The commentator makes the point that gay pride parades are less about drag queens and "extremes" these days, but more about fathers with strollers.

How, unusual. We are no longer counter-culture in most sectors of the world ... we're, mainstream. (I knew the world was falling apart when a marketing firm found out that our "purchasing power" and our "market share" was just under that of the entire African-American population. I wish I could still find that link.)

A long time ago, I read Daniel Harris's The Rise and Fall of Gay Culture and was disgusted, at the time, of the idea that this idealized world that I had heard about -- fabulous clubs, flashy drag queens, counter-cultural movement, sexual liberation -- was falling apart. After all, that's what I wanted. The more I delved, however, the more I found it to be true.

All those wonderful things have given way to a mainstream society with an unspoken "underbelly" upon which all these other things happen. (I will never forget the day a friend of mine said to me in a gay community meeting "We don't talk about sex here, that's not what we're about" -- I don't think he knows I still carry those words with me.) Oh sure, the sexual liberation exists... that is, we can be sexually liberated behind closed doors... just don't talk about it or discuss it, or even mention that we have sex.

It's all very suburban, to my mind.

Are we like everyone else? No, and that's what makes us wonderful. I think I am beginning to understand what the black community went through in the 70s-90s. "Now we have the rights, but we still want to be ourselves." It makes sense to me.

Gay culture, like black culture, was borne out of oppression. It is from oppression springs acitivism (hence, why we don't see ACTUP or Queer Nation anymore).

We are becoming a true part of this American Life... assimilated, mainstream, consumerist, and armchair lobbyists.

I just don't hope we start losing our culture because of it.

Oh, and to the couple on the interview that says "here in suburbia, you can be radical every day." I would like to retort: it takes less courage to simply put a middle-class, suburban, white (not that there's anything wrong with that) face on homosexuality than it did to come out when your life was threatened. Sorry, you aren't no Harvey Milk or Harry Hay.

...and I bet you don't even know who they are.

POLITICS: We just might win???

A little bit of a shocker in the morning paper... We just might finally be winning in Iraq.

Usually, I am critical of any information coming from the Editorial page of the Cincinnati Enquirer, as it tilts conservative. However, the basis of the editorial column comes from a new source... the Brookings Institute. (Link here)

Brookings has been historically critical of the war. In fact, the two authors, Kenneth Pollack and Michael O'Hanlon, have been outspoken critics of the war. They say, however, they found something completely different on their last trip:

Today, morale is high. The soldiers and marines told us they feel that they now have a superb commander in Gen. David Petraeus; they are confident in his strategy, they see real results, and they feel now they have the numbers needed to make a real difference.

They continue to describe successes in training Iraqi forces, reconstruction efforts, and removal of corruption in the army; though they are quick to point out more work needs to be done, including providing jobs, centralizing the government, and reducing civilian casualties.

So now we have an interesting dilemma for the anti-war folks, which includes me: the surge worked (depsite our concerns) and things are getting better.

I'm not going to spin it; I'm glad for the improving situation. I don't think anyone wanted to leave Iraq a mess, but, at the time, it felt almost inevitable that they only way out at this point was to let it go into civil war (leading to outsider invasions due to the power vacuum, potentially culminating in a new war on a regional scale). The sense of doom is receding. I'm glad the people of Ramadi and even some of the rural provinces can now feel safe in their neighborhoods, and I'm glad we're seeing ethnic integration. Thank jeebus... ahem, I mean, Muhammed.

Is this a success for President Shrub? In a way, yes... though I hate to admit it. When he first came to office, I often said that he had some of the best appointments ever. He surrounded himself with brilliant people (though corrupt, money hungry, and entrenched in the military-industrial complex). I think this, really, seems to be a success for General Petraeus. It seems Bush has put the proper person in place to deal with the mess that we created.

And, even if this does work out for the best, our reasons for going in and the last five years of failure, loss, and pain remain inexcusable. Your right, Saddam was a bad bad bad man... but the doctrine of prophylactic warfare should not be the corner stone of our foreign policy.

It should be, as always, a last resort.

CINCY GAY SCENE: Lixgood

What is the state of drag in the city? Is it, possibly, truly, dead?

Last night, friend AA and I made it up to Bullfishes in Northside ("just a drink or two" turned into a 230am night -- sometimes I am glad for bar cut off times). Expecting the usual Friday night fair, including lesbian drama and some bad hip hop, we debated going in as we discovered there was a show from a group we had never heard of before -- the Lixgood Family. Bolstered by the fact that there was no cover, which always makes me feel like I'm drinking for free, we headed in expecting to be disappointed.

The Lixgood Family was good. ... real good. To start off, I think it is an interesting societal commentary that most drag king and female-based troupes are modeled after the family (complete with "mom" and "dad"), whereas drag queen and male-based troupes are more hierarchical ("show director" "hostess" or "emcee" followed by everyone else). I think the family approach lends itself to the show as if it were an invitation to the participants to experience "family time."

But the performances were awesome; the Lixgood Family was there having a good time. While choreographed, it was relaxed and easy and fun. It was clear that they were up there just having a good time.

That simple idea always gets me off.

And the SEXY voluptuous vixens -- Miss B. Haven, Silhouette, and Catalicious -- were amazing as they rocked the stage. I love lesbians for many reasons, but they always seem to appreciate curviness in a woman.

The show excited me, and it's rare that I am excited by drag anymore.

Entertainment should be entertaining, both to the entertained and the entertainers. (Four different forms of the same word in the same sentence, grammatically correct if repetitive... BOOYAH!)

On a side note, I think black sexuality and gender performance is developing along a fascinating trend. Black drag queens have long been a part of the movement, and fought at Stonewall. But I'm curious to know whether what I saw is "things to come" or simply a fluke.

I'm booking the Lixgood Family, btw, for September. I'll keep you updated.

BLOGGING: A slight adjustment

Comparing the media release from the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce with the Joe Wessels article in this morning's Post (RIP the Post), there seems to be somewhat of a difference in information. I don't know where Wessels got the blogs he listed, but apparently there was a whole setup to this announcement that I missed.

So, with that in mind, here are the ones he listed the morning:

CincyNewsAche
Critical Inquiry into the sometimes shoddy reporting and conservatism of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Cincinnati, As I See It
A photo blog. It's quite nice, really.

Jackie Danicki
I like this gal. She's awfully purty; but mostly, I like her take on stuff. Do I think it's a little egotistical to have a website made out of your name? Sure, but I'm down with the idea.

Cincinnati Blog
No really, just a blog about Cincinnati -- if you didn't get that from the title.

Building Cincinnati
More about the architecture and built space in Cincinnati. My dear friend MC woudl absolutely adore this little page.

Two others listed that I haven't really looked into:
The Daily Bellwether
Nasty, Brutish, and Short

And on the national scale, for any who are interested, one of my favorite blogs ever:

Neat-o-rama -- No really, you, too, should become a devotee.

BLOGGING: Opening Up for Business

On the heels of the recent announcement of Cincinnati's best blogs in the city; I thought it was time I dipped into the field, a decision I've been tossing around for a while.

So, here I am, and I'm not quite sure what I'm doing.

In fact, amusingly enough, I think I've already forgotten what my web address is.

So here are a couple of things to start us off and where we're going from here:

1) Earlier this year, CityBeat -- pro-gay, sometimes pro-Cincy, independent, liberal newsrag that pisses me off more often as I agree with it -- debated the whole "Cincinnati Rocks vs. Cincinnati Sucks" dichotomy that seems an affliction in most people around town. I am, usually, on the side of Cincinnati Rocks.

2) I am officially a Westsider. That is, I live in Price Hill. However, my friends on the Eastside inform me that my former neighborhoods -- Northside and College Hill -- counted as the Westside too. I didn't know at the time. I guess I need to join up with my posse and start that silly little hand motion everyone does.

3) I am gay. I am also a homosexual. I sometimes identify as queer. And, yes, there is a difference.

4) There is a lack of good local gay blogs, or blogs from openly gay Cincinnatians who talk about their experience with both. I seek to fill that void.

5) I'm sometimes conservative and sometimes liberal. I'm sorry if that confuses you, but, it just kinda happens.

So we'll see how this goes, and, I hope, all of you can keep me on my toes. :-)