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Father Mychal Judge - Gay Patron Saint of 9/11

2011-09-11T12:58:00.018-04:00

911 HERO

Father Judge hurried to the World Trade Center and was met by his close friend Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who asked him to pray for the victims, New York, and the first responder’s safety. At 9:59 AM the South Tower collapsed and debris crashed through the North Tower lobby where Judge was offering aid and comfort. He was hit in the head and killed while giving the last rites to a victim.

The act of his body being carried out soon after to St Peter's Church was captured in the film 9/11, and a photo appeared in a report from Reuters. It became an iconic image regarding 9/11. Mychal Judge’s body occupied body bag #0001, and was certified the first fatality because his was the first body to be recovered and taken to the coroner.

Father Judge's funeral was attended by over 3000 people on September 15, 2001 at St Francis of Assisi Church in Manhattan. At the funeral, President Bill Clinton said that Judge's death was "a special loss. We should lift his life up as an example of what has to prevail ... We have to be more like Father Mike than the people who killed him"

The Légion d'honneur was awarded to him by France. Father Judge's fire helmet was presented to Pope John Paul II. Several members of the U.S. Congress nominated him for the Congressional Gold Medal as well as for the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2002, the City of New York renamed part of W. 31st Street "Father Mychal F. Judge Street."

Many within the Roman Catholic Church have called for sainthood for Father Mychal Judge. Several churches independent of Rome including the Orthodox Catholic Church of America have declared him a saint despite resistance from the Holy Father. Father Judge is seen as a de facto saint by widespread acclamation of the faithful, as was the custom of the early Church.

Following his death a few of his friends and associates revealed that Father Mychal Judge was gay as a matter of orientation rather than practice, as he was a celibate priest. According to fire commissioner Thomas Von Essen: "I actually knew about his homosexuality when I was in the Uniformed Firefighters Association. I kept the secret, but then he told me when I became commissioner five years ago. He and I often laughed about it, because we knew how difficult it would have been for the other firemen to accept it as easily as I had. I just thought he was a phenomenal, warm, sincere man, and the fact that he was gay just had nothing to do with anything."

In his honor, Congress passed The Mychal Judge Police and Fire Chaplains Public Safety Officers Benefit Act into law in 2002. This was the first time the federal government ever extended equal benefits for same-sex couples, allowing the domestic partners of public safety officers killed in the line of duty to collect their federal death benefit.

Judge was a long-term member of Dignity, a Catholic LGBT activist organization that advocates for change in the Catholic Church's teaching on homosexuality. On October 1, 1986, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued an encyclical, On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, which declared homosexuality to be a "strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil". In response, many bishops, including John Cardinal O'Connor, banned Dignity from diocesan churches under their control. Father Judge then welcomed Dignity's AIDS ministry to the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi, which is under the control of the Franciscan friars, thereby partially circumventing the cardinal's ban of Dignity.

Judge disagreed with official Roman Catholic teaching regarding homosexuality, though by all accounts he remained celibate. Judge often asked, "Is there so much love in the world that we can afford to discriminate against any kind of love?"

Despite all the evidence above and much more, many Christian evangelicals still claim the father wasn’t gay and assert it is a plot to make him a homosexual icon and slander the name of a saint.

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Famous Gay Athletes Knock On the Closet Door

2011-07-21T10:57:00.011-04:00

FAMOUS GAY ATHLETES-RUMORED GAY ATHLETES-CLOSETED GAY ATHLETES
This is Volume III of my series on Famous Gay Athletes. See the sidebar for Volumes I & II.

Recently Rick Welts, CEO and President of the Phoenix Suns took a meeting with David Stern, Commissioner of the National Basketball Association. Welts revealed he was gay and intended to go public with the news. Stern's reaction threw Welts... he already knew. So far the team hasn’t fled for fear of Welts sneaking peaks at them in the shower, or of him potentially changing their uniforms to lavender short-shorts with pink piping up the sides.

A week later Kobe Bryant had a technical foul called on him and responded by loudly calling the referee a faggot, then on a June 30th call-in talk radio show, Eagles’ DeSean Jackson referred to a caller as a “… gay ass faggot”

According to many long-standing studies, 1 in 10 people are gay or gay leaning; but for the sake of argument lets put it at 1 in 50... and apply those odds to how many members of NCAA and professional sports teams there are. The issue is inevitably going to come down to this; sooner rather
than later a popular American athlete like Dartmouth’s Andrew Goldstein on a major team is going to come out of the closet while still an active player. When that happens the issues won’t be will his teammates run like screaming virgins from the showers or will the fans abandon the team – the issues will instead be related to familiarity.

Firstly, almost without exception, most well known gay figures like Esera Tuaolo, John Amaechi, and Rick Welts were shocked upon finally coming out to discover that their teammates/associates with few exceptions had already figured it out and/or accepted it. Secondly, it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t know and like at least one relative, coworker, close friend or neighbor who is gay. How do you negatively judge a teammate in the same breath that you’d reluctantly belittle or condemn your much loved lesbian aunt, a brother’s gay son or your favorite basketball opponent in the office league?

Eastern Michigan track star Austin Hendrix decided he was tired of lying to cover up and found it emotionally liberating to tell the truth to his coach, teammates and friends. The same can be said for Cricket Star Steven Davies who related that the dressing room fag jokes and his team’s whole attitude towards gays became so oppressive that he felt compelled to come out, rather than begin a life of constant lies and made-up girlfriends. In an interview, Swedish soccer/footballer sensation Anton Hysen (who speaks American English like a native) quoted, “…I’m never gonna come to your games again because you got a faggot on your team,” while describing some of the hate mail addressed to his fellow players since he recently came out of the closet himself. Hysen admits to being caught up in the “jock mentality.” In school he often picked on or berated known gay classmates to cover his own secret. Like Hendrix, Goldstein and Davies, he was relieved that the expected backlash didn’t come and in fact they were flabbergasted by the messages of support that they’ve received from around the world.

Sports Illustrated surveyed 1401 professional athletes on whether they’d accept an openly gay team member in their midst. The response revealed positive results: MLB 61.5%, the NBA 59.6%, the NFL 56.9%, and the NHL 79.9%. NBC and the USA Network conducted a similar poll of sports fans for their reaction to the prospect of openly gay athletes. 86% responded that they would have a positive reaction to an openly gay male participating in sports. 78% also disagreed with the notion that openly gay athletes would hurt professional sports.

Perhaps the ultimate Major League sports heroes are the team members of the San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox who made videos for the “It Gets Better” campaign telling young gay people not to give up hope and that their future will get better despite the bullying and the verbal abuse that they experience in their daily lives. The Giants’ video can be viewed here, The Cubs can be viewed here, and the Red Sox here.

Blind hatred and ignorant prejudice are deadly in today’s sports world, despite the bible-beaters who would scoff that the problem is being overblown and exaggerated in this day and age. Here are two prime and all too true examples taken from recent headlines of tough and popular current world-famous sports heroes, told in their own words, who almost took their own lives more than once rather than crack open that closet door…

Gay sports hero Andrew Goldstein was at one time the only major team sportsperson to be out of the closet while still playing as an MVP/All American goalie for Dartmouth. He tells in his video of times when suicide was preferable to being branded a faggot or worse by his teammates. Goldstein relates how he grew up in a time when athletes were taught that the word “gay” meant stupid or weak. Fags existed to be depantsed in high school hallways or to have their heads forcibly shaven. If you listened to the venom in your friends’ voices, to be queer was to be spat on, beaten up and verbally pummeled every day of your life.

Following in the ultra-masculine footsteps of Australia’s openly gay hero Ian Roberts, comes 36-year-old Welsh hero Gareth Thomas, proudly flashing a smile featuring his famous trademark – two missing front teeth to a stadium packed with thousands of his fans roaring, “ALFIE! ALFIE! ALFIE! ALFIE!!!” As a player he is the personification of the word “fierce.” He is a versatile rugby footballer at fullback, center or wing and is also one of only a handful of openly gay professional athletes to come out of the closet while still playing. In 2007 Thomas scored a legendary try during the Rugby World Cup that earned him his 100th rugby union international cap. Currently he is a star for the Crusaders in Europe’s Super League after playing for Wales and the Cardiff Blues.

He lived and breathed rugby from his youngest boyhood fantasies. Family genetics, a talent for tactics, and hard work gave him the magnificent body required to conquer a brutal game so tough that it made the American version of it with its pads and helmets look like a school kid’s match of flag-football at a junior high school gym class. Within his mind, alternately real and imagined self-righteous, pious and judgmental monsters in the dark constantly threatened to sweep all of his rabid fans and athletic accomplishments away. That menace was so real that it would eventually force him to lie constantly to those who trusted him, and to seek out a girl and convince her that he loved her, ever conscious of the fact that he was robbing her of lost years of true love that she’d never get back just so no one would suspect he was gay.

His guilt-ridden conscience could take no more after trying to take his own life several times, and he eventually broke down in tears in a changing room after a game and came out to his coach and teammates after first confessing to his wife of three years. He is a hero for sitting down alone in front of a camera in order to keep others from suffering his fate. In doing so, he’d have to retell the most heart-crushing times of his life. Gareth’s video session should be required viewing for every macho team athlete or coach who ever laughed and called someone a faggot, poof or worse.

He tells honestly and candidly of the multiple times he’d walk perilously closer and closer to the edge of the tall majestically high cliffs of his homeland hoping for a strong gust of wind to sweep him helplessly to his death. Pain crosses his brow as he recounts the day he sat at the edge of his swimming pool with a bottle of vodka trying to get drunk enough to close his eyes and topple silently into the water never to have to face himself again. He also knew that that was the coward’s way out that so many other closeted professional athletes had taken; both named and unnamed that’d come before him.

After his millions of worldwide fans found out he was gay Alfie was astonished that he’d become such a figure of national pride that he was even included in an exclusive list of celebrities attending Prince William and Kate’s Royal wedding.

Rugby fans hope that Alfie’s courageous honesty will assure that other young athletes won’t have to face the hell that he did. Click here to view his video

Perhaps the typical American jock doesn’t fear the limp wrested pansy in their locker room as much as the ever-numerous homosexuals that bulk up in gyms to transform themselves into threatening hulks. Maybe his loud protesting is worry that a couple of Gareth Thomases in a vengeful mood over his latest fudge-packer joke might padlock him upside down and naked into his locker to be later rescued by a snickering janitor with a pair of bolt cutters.

As more and more well educated young straight athletes have taken over professional and college sports, the general attitude has shifted noticeably. Instead of having been led to believe that a gay athlete comes in the form of a swishing sissy; most of today’s college and pro jocks have experienced for themselves that that faggot on the opposing team is capable of painfully mowing him down and doing a humiliating victory dance on his head… just to prove a point. Just like black baseball players and female cops before them, gay athletes want it known that their grit and determination to go that extra mile and prove themselves athletically against the stereotypes is to be sought out-not avoided.

Someday America in general and American sports specifically will stop being held hostage by an old church lady fanning herself with the Bible and gasping for air every time a player scratches his crotch or cusses within earshot of her. If only the refs could ban her from the stadium, I think the game would be a lot more enjoyable for everyone.

Jet's List: Famous Gay Athletes, Celebrities, & Politicians

2010-06-04T19:49:00.638-04:00

Jet's list: Famous gay athletes, gay actors, gay actresses, gay celebrities, queer people, Rumored gay athletes, Closeted gay athletes, Black gay politicians, queer athletes, black gays, rumored gay people, gay nude people, gay naked actor

~ Jet's List – The Gay Honor Roll
In this list are Gay butchers, gay bakers, gay candlestick makers, Lebanese lesbians all in a row, big hunky footballers begging to throw. Queer actors, gay sailors, queer generals! gay tailors, gay bankers all pleading for a deposit, G-O-P Senators still in the closet, the headlines all read of a closeted thespian, and Iceland's Prime Minister's an out-and-proud lesbian!!!

Listed alphabetically in each category below are Gay/Lesbian/Bi-sexual/Transgender: Heroes, Entertainer/Celebrities, Business & Political leaders, Journalists, Authors & Composers, Famous Gay Athletes, Leaders in the Fashion Industry and Artists

~~~> HEROES...
~ Sgt. Eric Alva gay SOLDIER – was the first U.S. military service member injured in the Iraq war. He was in charge of 11 Marines in a supply unit on March 21, 2003, when he stepped on a land mine, losing his right leg

~ Mark Binghamgay9/11 HERO-ATHLETE – who helped storm the cockpit of Flight 93 before it reached Washington D.C. Read about him in “Famous Gay Athletes Vol I,” by clicking the link to it at the top of this sidebar. I’ve also written a more complete article about him on my Jet’s Gay Pride Page.

~ David Charlebois gay 9/11 HERO – was the first officer on American Airlines Flight 77 which was hijacked and flown into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001

~ Chaplain Mychal Judge gay 911 Hero. – Chaplain Judge was the first one killed in the World Trade Center plaza, and became the occupant of body bag number #0001. Mychal was one of mayor Guiliani's best friends and chaplain for the New York Fire Department. He was also privately gay. He lost his life when the South Tower collapsed on him as he tried to aid and comfort an injured firefighter. Judge’s helmet was presented to the Pope, and although the Church has not responded to it, there is a movement of Catholics working to have him canonized and made a saint.

Read my detailed article on him by clicking here

~ Brigadier General Virgil A. Richard gay MILITARY HERO – is a retired Army officer who served 32 years of active military service of which 30 were devoted to Financial Management. Richard has become an outspoken critic of the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy of the U.S. Armed Forces and has gained national media attention as a part of a small group of high-ranking military officers who have come out as gay after retirement

~ Matthew Shepard gay HATE CRIME ICON – was a college student who was kidnapped and beaten to death for being gay – See my article on him at my Jet’s Gay Pride site by clicking the link to my Jet’s Gay Pride Page in this sidebar.

~ Oliver Sipple gay HERO – a decorated US Marine and Vietnam War veteran widely known for saving the life of Pres. Gerald Ford during an assassination attempt in San Francisco. The subsequent public revelation that Sipple was gay turned the news story into a cause célèbre for gay activists.

~ 1st Lt. Joshua David Seefried-"J.D. Smith" gay MILITARY LEADER – is now able to proudly display a photo of his Air Force boyfriend on his office desk. The 25-year-old Air Force officer serves his country at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey attached to the 87th Air Base Wing. Since 2010 he cofounded and runs OutServe, an underground network for gay military personnel that boasts more than 65,000 member in 40 chapters world wide. On September 20, 2011 his organization's magazine published an issue featuring photographs and biographies of him and 100 other gay service members. It will be available online and at Army and Air Force commissaries... with the Pentagon's blessing

~~~> ENTERTAINERS
~ Clay Aiken gay SINGER – pop music, “American Idol” winner

~ Chad Allen gay ACTOR best known for appearing on the TV series “Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman”

~ Mitchell Anderson gay ACTOR – is best known as Ross, the bespectacled, gay violin teacher on "Party of Five" and as a doctor with his fellow gay actor Neil Patrick Harris on "Doogie Howser, M.D."

~ Alan Ball gay ENTERTAINMENT – is noted for writing the films “American Beauty” and “Towelhead”, and creating and producing the HBO drama series “Six Feet Under” and the current popular vampire series “True Blood.”

~ John Barrowman gay ACTOR – is a Scottish singer, actor, dancer, musical performer and media personality, best known on British television for his roles in "Torchwood" and as Captain Jack Harkness in the science fiction series "Doctor Who"

~ Lance Bass gay SINGER – rose to fame as the bass singer for the pop boy-band 'N Sync.

~ Meredith Baxter gay ACTRESS – also known as Meredith Baxter-Birney, is an actress and producer. Famed for her two TV roles on "Family" and "Family Ties"

~ Andy Bell gay SINGER – is the lead singer of the English synthpop duo, Erasure

~ Paul Benedict gay ACTOR – was best known for his role as Harry Bentley on the TV show “The Jeffersons” and the recurring character The Number Painter on "Sesame Street" His film roles include "The Goodbye Girl" in which he played Richard Dreyfuss' stage director in a production of Richard III.

~ Sandra Bernhard gay ACTRESS/COMEDIAN – is a stand-up comedian, singer, actress and author best known for playing Nancy Bartlett on the hit sitcom "Roseanne" and appearances on "Will & Grace" as herself.

~ Dirk Bogarde gay /ACTOR – was a British novelist and matinee star in such films as “Doctor in the House” and “Death in Venice”

~ Bill Brochtrup gay ACTOR – is a frequent guest host of the PBS newsmagazine In “The Life,” and has been a series regular on three shows, CBS sitcom “Public Morals,” ABC drama “Total Security,” and seven seasons on “NYPD Blue.”

~ Jim J. Bullock gay ACTOR/COMEDIAN – co-starred on "Too Close for Comfort" and was a regular "square" on "Hollywood Squares"

~ Raymond Burr gay ACTOR – is the only and ultimate quintessential actor who could properly embody Earl Stanley Gardner’s infamous lawyer “Perry Mason,” and later played the lead as Chief Detective “Ironside”.

~ David Burtka gay ACTOR/CHEF – long-term lover/husband of actor Neil Patrick Harris (see below).

~ Dan Butler gay ACTOR – Television and Broadway actor known for his role as Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe on the TV series “Frasier.”

~ Anthony Callea gay MUSICIAN/COMPOSER – is an Australian singer songwriter whose debut single "The Prayer" holds the record as the fastest selling single of all time in Australia. Callea has accumulated a string of awards including an Aria Award, Channel V Artist of the Year, Pop Republic Artist of the Year, MTV Viewers' Choice Award, Variety's Young Entertainer of the Year, MO Award and a Gospel Music Award and his albums, singles and DVD have all achieved Top 20 status.

~ Graham Chapman gay COMIC ACTOR – was an English comedian, actor, writer, physician and a member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. He was King Arthur in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” and Brian in “Monty Python's Life of Brian.”

~ Tracy Chapman gay MUSICIAN – is a singer-songwriter, best known for her single "Fast Car" and is a multi-platinum and four-time Grammy Award-winning artist

~ Margaret Cho gay ENTERTAINER – a comedian, fashion designer, actress, author, gay icon, and recording artist and is best known for her stand-up routines, through which she critiques social and political problems concerning race, sexuality, and sex. She has also directed and appeared in music videos and has her own clothing line.

~ Montgomery Clift gay ACTOR – film and stage actor/sex symbol who received four Academy Award nominations during his career, three for Best Actor and one for Best Supporting Actor.

~ Wilson Cruz gay ACTOR – is a universally liked actor and has served as a model and mentor to gay youth of color.

~ Alan Cumming gay ACTOR – Scottish stage, television and film actor, writer, director, producer and author. He played the Emcee in “Cabaret,” Boris Grishenko in “GoldenEye,” Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler in “X2: X-Men United,” and Fegan Floop in the “Spy Kids” trilogy.

~ Joe Dallesandro gay ACTOR – American actor, and Andy Warhol superstar. He is generally considered to be the most famous male sex symbol of American underground films of the 20th century, as well as a sex symbol of the gay subculture.

~ Jay Davidson gay ACTOR – was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the transsexual Dil in "The Crying Game" and also appeared as Ra in "Stargate"

~ Richard Deacon gay ACTOR – was best known as Mel Cooley on “The Dick Van Dyke Show” (1961-1966) and Fred Rutherford on “Leave It to Beaver” (1957-1963) and he played the founder's aide in Judy Holiday's classic "The Solid Gold Cadillac." In real life, he was a gourmet chef. Though co-stars such as Dick van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore were well aware that he was gay, his homosexuality was not revealed until after his death.

~ Ellen DeGeneres gay TALK SHOW ICON/ACTRESS

~ Andy Dick gay ACTOR – comedian, actor, musician and television/film producer.

~ Casey Donovan gay ACTOR/GAY PORN ICON – The sexy star of iconic gay film “Boys in the Sand”

~ Kyan Douglas gay ENTERTAINER – was the grooming expert on “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”

~ Dumbledore gay LITERARY CHARACTOR – Headmaster/Wizard - The famous character from the Harry Potter series. I’ve written an article about the controversy and praise on my Jet’s Gay Pride Page (see link in sidebar)

~ Melissa Etheridge gay MUSICIAN – rock singer-songwriter and musician. She has received fifteen Grammy Award nominations winning two, one Academy Award and has sold twenty-seven million albums worldwide. Etheridge is an iconic gay and lesbian activist since her public coming out in January 1993.

~ Rupert Everett gay ACTOR – is an English actor, who originally became famous for his role in the film "Another Country" He went on to star in "My Best Friend's Wedding", "An Ideal Husband", "The Next Best Thing" and the "Shrek" sequels.

~ Mark Feehily gay SINGER – was a member of the popular Irish vocal pop group, Westlife.

~ Harvey Fierstein gay ACTOR/COMEDIAN/ – noted for the distinction of winning Tony Awards for both writing and playing the lead role in "Torch Song Trilogy,” and for his gravel-voiced film role in the blockbuster “Independence Day”

~ Colton Ford gay PORN STAR/MUSICIAN – is a gay adult films star turned professional musician specializing in dance/club music

~ Jodie Foster gay ACTING ICON/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER – is a world-famous actress, film director and producer. She started out as a child "Coppertone" ad girl, graduated to TV most notably as tomboy Joey in "The Courtship of Eddie's Father", then starred in such films as "Taxi Driver" "The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane" then hit fame with "The Silence of the Lambs" "Nell" "Maverick" "Contact" and "The Panic Room"

~ Stephen Fry gay ACTOR – is an English actor, writer, journalist, comedian, TV host and film director. American audiences came to know and laugh at him as Melchett in the “Blackadder” series and more recently as Dr. Gordon Wyatt on the crime series “Bones”.

~ Robert Gant gay ACTOR – appeared in Showtime's “Queer as Folk” as Ben Bruckner.

~ Stephen Gately gay ENTERTAINER – was an Irish pop singer-songwriter, actor, dancer, musician and author, who was one of two lead singers of the pop group Boyzone that scored a record-breaking sixteen consecutive singles in the top five of the UK Singles Chart

~ Will Geer gay ACTOR – is remembered for his portrayal of Grandpa Zebulon Tyler Walton in the 1970s TV series, “The Waltons.” He was romantically linked in his youth to Harry Hay-founder of the gay rights movement in the early twentieth century.

~ Boy George gay SINGER COMPOSER – British singer-songwriter and leader of the pop group Culture Club

~ Sir John Gielgud gay ACTING LEGEND – is a giant and an icon in the acting profession as well as being a director, and producer. Gielgud is one of the few entertainers who have won an Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award. He won an Academy Award for his supporting role as a sardonic butler in the 1981 comedy “Arthur,” starring Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli, and a BAFTA Award for “Murder on the Orient Express.”

~ Sara Gilbert gay ACTRESS – is best known as Darlene Conner, the sarcastic middle child, in the hit TV series "Roseanne," medical student Jane Figler on the hospital drama "E.R." and Leslie Winkle on "The Big Bang Theory." She also starred in the films "Poison Ivy" and "Riding In Cars With Boys." She is currently an afternoon panelist on “The Talk”

~ John Glover gay ACTOR – best known for a range of villainous roles in films and television, including Lionel Luthor on the Superman-inspired TV series “Smallville.”

~ Leslie Gore gay SINGER/COMPOSER – is best known for her 1963 pop hit "It's My Party", which she recorded at the age of 16. Following the hit, she became one of the most recognized teen pop singers of the 1960s. She also wrote songs for the original version of "Fame."

~ Gordon Grant gay PORN ICON – Gay porn icon of the 70s known for his fantasy-inducing “Arnold Schwarzenegger”-sized muscular build and sexy engaging smile

~ Jonathan Groff gay ACTOR – is best known for his role on TV series "Glee" as Jesse St. James, the male lead of rival glee club, Vocal Adrenaline

~ Rob Halford gay SINGER – is the lead singer for heavy metal band Judas Priest, He has been nicknamed "Metal God" and he is considered to be one of the most consistently powerful vocalists in rock. In 1998, Halford came out as gay publicly on an interview with MTV News.

~ Tony Hamilton gay ACTOR/MODEL – began his career as a professional dancer with The Australian Ballet Company. It was inevitable with his square jaw, muscular good looks, and lithe physique that he later became a fashion model working in Europe, America, Asia and Africa, working with famous fashion designers such as Gianni Versace, frequently appearing in magazines such as Vogue and GQ.

His desirable good looks landed him acting jobs as well and he is probably best remembered for the dashing role of IMF-agent Max Harte in the 1988 revival of the TV series "Mission: Impossible,"

~ Neil Patrick Harris gay OUT & PROUD ACTOR/awards host – See my sidebar article on him at my Jet’s Gay Pride site.

~ Randy Harrison gay ACTOR – is famous for playing irresistible blond “twink” Justin Taylor, a gay teen, in 2000's American version of Showtime’s hit series "Queer as Folk"

~ Nigel Hawthorne gay ACTOR – A famous British actor, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1987, and was knighted in 1999. His most famous roles were as Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Permanent Secretary of the fictional Department of Administrative Affairs in the British series "Yes Minister" (and Cabinet Secretary in its sequel, "Yes, Prime Minister"), for which he won four BAFTA awards, and as King George III in "The Madness of George III" (Olivier Award) and the film adaptation, for which he received an Oscar nomination.

~ Sean Hayes gay ACTOR – is famous for his role as Jack McFarland in the sitcom “Will & Grace,” for which he won an Emmy Award, four SAG Awards, one American Comedy Award and six Golden Globes nominations.

~ Rock Hudson gay FAMOUS ACTOR/AIDS ICON – was known as a Hollywood Hunk and a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s. Women (and gay men) flocked to every movie he starred in. He was regularly featured in romantic comedies with Doris Day. Hudson was repeatedly voted "Star of the Year", "Favorite Leading Man", and similar titles by numerous movie magazines. The 6 ft 5 inch tall actor was unquestionably one of the most popular and well-known movie stars of the time and was known to boil the hormones of women (and men) worldwide with his chiseled good looks.

According to a book about the University of Kentucky football team "The Thin Thirty," Rock Hudson would pay individual team members $200 or more to allow him to have oral sex with them.

He completed nearly 70 motion pictures and starred in several television productions during a career that spanned over four decades. His death from AIDS was a factor in finally getting Pres. Ronald Reagan to acknowledge the disease. He was most famously featured in: “Giant, Pillow Talk, Send Me No Flowers, Ice Station Zebra,” and in TV roles in “McMillan & Wife” and “Dynasty.”

~ Tom Hulce gay ACTOR – and theater producer. He is best known for playing Mozart in the movie "Amadeus" and as Pinto Kroger in "Animal House"

~ Tab Hunter gay SINGER/ACTOR – is the very definition of the phrase "sex sells." His blond boy-next-door good looks made him an instant teen idol and got people to notice that he was as talented as an actor/singer as he was handsome. He starred in over 40 major motion pictures and had a hit record with "Young Love", which stayed at #1 on the charts for six weeks. He also had the hit "Ninety-Nine Ways", which peaked at #11 in the charts. His success prompted Jack Warner to enforce Hunter's contract with the studio by banning Dot Records from releasing a follow-up album he had recorded for them. Warner Bros. Records was founded specifically for Hunter. One of Tab's most famous lovers was Anthony Perkins of "Psycho" fame.

~ John Inman gay ACTOR – is best known for his role as Mr. Humphries in the British TV series "Are You Being Served?"

~ Elton John gay MUSIC ICON – the ultimate pop/dance music icon. If ever there was a gay celebrity to be proud of, this popular multiple Grammy winner is it. Often referred to as the Godfather of the fictitious “Gay Mafia”

~ Leslie Jordan gay ACTOR/PLAYWRIGHT – is an accomplished stage actor and playwright and is best known for his deliciously played role of Karen Walker's hilariously pretentious (and short) arch-nemesis Beverley Leslie on the hit series “Will & Grace.” For that role he received an Emmy Award in 2006.

~ Tommy Kirk gay ACTOR – was a popular child actor who starred with Tim Considine, Kevin Corcoran, Annette Funicello and Fred MacMurray in such Disney classics as “Old Yeller, The Shaggy Dog, Swiss Family Robinson, The Misadventures of Merlin Jones and its sequel The Monkey's Uncle,” the original “Absent-Minded Professor” and its sequel, “Son of Flubber.”

As he grew into his teens, he realized he was gay and told several of the wrong people. As a consequence Disney fired him. As Kirk tells the story, "Even more than MGM, Disney was the most conservative studio in town. The studio executives were beginning to suspect my homosexuality. Certain people were growing less and less friendly. In 1963, Disney let me go. But Walt asked me to return for the final Merlin Jones movie, 'The Monkey's Uncle,' because the Jones films had been moneymakers for the studio."

After all, the self-righteous will sell their morals for the almighty dollar. After leaving Disney he became a popular "teen-idol" and starred or appeared in many successful "beach" movies.

In a bit of irony, Tommy Kirk was later inducted as a Disney Legend on October 9, 2006

~ T. R. Knight gay ACTOR – Is best known as Dr. George O'Malley on “Grey's Anatomy.”

~ Nancy Kulp gay ACTRESS – An icon for lesbians in the 60s, she is best known as Miss Jane Hathaway on the popular television series “The Beverly Hillbillies.” – Clarification-though I’ve found mention on many websites that Miss Kulp was living as an openly gay woman, I can find not definitive proof.

~ Adam Lambert gay ENTERTAINER – Singer, songwriter, and actor from San Diego, California. In May 2009, he finished as the runner-up on the eighth season of “American Idol.” He is the first openly gay mainstream pop artist to launch a career on a major label in America.

~ Nathan Lane gay ACTOR – a two-time Tony and Emmy award-winning actor of stage and screen famous for his roles as Albert in “The Birdcage,” Max Bialystock in “The Producers,” Ernie Smuntz in “Mouse Hunt,” Nathan Detroit in “Guys and Dolls,” Pseudolus in “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” and his voice work in “The Lion King and Stuart Little.” In 2008, he was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

~ k.d. Lang gay SINGER/COMPOSER – Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Lang has won both Juno Awards and Grammy Awards for her musical performances; hits include "Constant Craving" and "Miss Chatelaine". She has contributed songs to movie soundtracks and has teamed with musicians such as Roy Orbison, Tony Bennett, and Anne Murray. The chorus of her hit "Constant Craving" was unintentionally "borrowed" by the Rolling Stones for their hit single "Anybody Seen My Baby" for which she was given co-writing credit.

~ Bernard Lee gay ACTOR – an English actor, best known for his role as “M”in the first eleven “James Bond” films.

~ Liberace gay PIANO ICON – was a famous American icon entertainer and virtuoso pianist. During the 1950s–1970s he was the highest paid entertainer in the world

~ Little Richard gay SINGER/COMPOSER – a music icon, singer, songwriter, pianist and recording artist, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame mentions him as “the architect of rock and roll”

~ Lindsay Lohan gay ACTRESS/SINGER – a child fashion model, a movie actress in “The Parent Trap, Freaky Friday, Mean Girls and Herbie: Fully Loaded” and as a singer with such hits as the album Speak and followed up with A Little More Personal (Raw) in 2005

~ Chris Lowe gay MUSICIAN/ARRANGER/COMPOSER – One half of the magnificent duo THE PET SHOP BOYS

~ Jane Lynch gay ACTRESS – is best known as cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester in the TV series “Glee”

~ Paul Lynde gay ACTOR – A well-liked gay icon, comedian and actor who was well known for his roles as Uncle Arthur on “Bewitched” and Harry McAfee, the befuddled father in “Bye Bye Birdie.” He was also the regular "center square" on the game show “Hollywood Squares.”

~ George Maharis gay ACTOR/SINGER – best known for his role as Buzz Murdock in first three seasons of the TV series “Route 66.” Maharis also recorded numerous pop music albums

~ Sean Maher gay ACTOR – and his lover/partner Paul have two adopted children Sophia Rose and Liam. Sean stopped acting for two years to be a "stay-at-home" dad. Sean played a closeted gay man in short-lived "The Playboy Club." He has also appeared in "Firefly" "Serenity" "Halleys Comet"

~ Barry Manilow gay SINGER/COMPOSER – is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, entertainer, and performer, best known for such recordings as "Mandy", "I Write the Songs", "Weekend in New England", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copa Cabana."

~ Ricky Martin gay SINGER – is a Puerto Rican pop singer, humanitarian and actor who achieved prominence, first as a member of the Latin boy band Menudo, then as a solo artist/sex symbol with such hits as “Livin' la Vida Loca.”

~ Johnny Mathis gay MUSIC ICON – Pop music icon, known for his hit singles “Chances Are” and “To Much, To Little, To Late”

~ Roddy McDowall gay ACTOR – began his career as a child actor in such films as "How Green Was My Valley" "Lassie Come Home" "My Friend Flicka" and "The Keys of the Kingdom." As he grew into his twenties he became popular with an in-crowd of more famous male sex symbols and is rumored to have been lovers with both Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift.

He became famous for his roles in four of the original “Planet of the Apes” movies and the TV series that followed. Other film appearances included roles in “Cleopatra”, a pivotal role in the original "The Poseidon Adventure" and "Overboard" in which he played a kind-hearted butler opposite Goldie Hawn. He also appeared on stage and TV. One notable role was in the pilot for "Night Gallery" in which he played a scheming nephew out to kill his uncle. He appeared frequently on “Hollywood Squares”

~ Kelly McGillis gay ACTRESS – actress whose movies include Witness, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination, “Top Gun,” and “The Accused.”

~ Ian McKellen gay ACTING ICON – known to many for roles such as Gandalf in the "Lord of the Rings" film trilogy and as Magneto in the "X-Men" films.

~ Freddie Mercury gay MUSIC ICON – the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen and as a songwriter, Mercury composed many hits, including "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "Somebody to Love", "Don't Stop Me Now", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "We Are the Champions", and "Barcelona"

~ George Michael gay SINGER – a two-time Grammy Award winning English singer-songwriter who rose to fame in the 1980s when he formed the pop duo Wham!. His first solo single, "Careless Whisper" sold about six million copies worldwide.

~ Michelangelo gay FAMOUS ARTIST – an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer. Two of his best known sculptures, the Pietà and world renown David, were sculpted before he turned thirty. Despite his low opinion of painting, Michelangelo also created two of the most influential works in fresco in the history of Western art: the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling and The Last Judgment on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Rome.

~ Eric Millegan gay ACTOR – an actor primarily known for his work on the TV series “Bones” in which he played Dr. Zack Addy.

~ Sal Mineo gay ACTOR – became famous for his role in “Rebel Without A Cause”, in which he played John "Plato" Crawford, a teenager hopelessly in love with Jim Stark (played by James Dean). His performance resulted in an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor,

~ Dave Moffatt gay MUSICIAN – a member of the Canadian Pop/Rock band The Moffatts. He played keyboard and sang lead and background vocals. At a very young age, the Moffatt boys became international stars, with great numbers of pre-teen, teen and adult fans.

~ Cynthia Nixon gay ACTOR – The former "Sex and the City" star is holding firm to her statement that she has chosen to be a lesbian, sparking controversy. "For me, it is a choice, I understand that for many people it’s not, but for me it’s a choice, and you don’t get to define my gayness for me."

~ Rudolf Nureyev gay BALLET ICON – was one of the world's most famous male ballet dancers

~ Rosie O’Donnell gay TALK SHOW HOST/ACTRESS – a famous stand-up comedian, talk show host, actress, singer, author, media personality and magazine editor.

~ Peter Paige gay ACTOR – is an American actor, director, screenwriter, best known for his role as Emmett Honeycutt on Showtime's hit series "Queer as Folk"

~ Anthony Perkins gay ACTOR – best known for his role as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's “Psycho”

~ David Hyde Pierce gay ACTOR – and comedian best known for playing psychiatrist Dr. Niles Crane on the sitcom “Frasier.”

~ Paula Poundstone gay COMEDIAN – is known for her sardonic style of stand-up comedy and masculine fashion sense.

~ Dack Rambo gay ACTOR – most notable for appearing as Walter Brennan's grandson Jeff in the “The Guns of Will Sonnett,” as Steve Jacobi in “All My Children,” as cousin Jack Ewing on “Dallas,” and as Grant Harrison on “Another World.”

~ Robert Reed gay ACTOR/MR. BRADY – is best known for playing two completely different roles on TV, both at the same time - Mike Brady; beloved father of "The Brady Bunch," and Lieutenant Adam Tobias on the detective series "Mannix"

~ Charles Nelson Riley gay ENTERTAINER – an actor, comedian, director and drama teacher known for his comedic roles in movies, children's television, animated cartoons, and as a panelist on the game show “Match Game.”

~ Cesar Romero gay ACTOR – played The Joker in the 1960s television series “Batman.” In 1966, the show was transferred to movie theaters, and Romero became the first actor to portray the Joker in a motion picture.

~ Gabriel Romero gay ACTOR – is best known for his ground-breaking role as Fernandito, the first openly gay character on Spanish-language television sitcom Los Beltrán and for his role as Marco on “Dante's Cove.”

~ Dick Sargent gay ACTOR – best known as the second actor to portray Darrin Stephens on the original hit television series “Bewitched.” In actuality, Sargent was originally cast as Darren but shortly after had to turn it down due to a contractual obligation, then was offered it when Dick York left the role, technically making him the first and third Darren… sort of.

~ Fred Schneider gay SINGER/MUSICIAN – the front man of the rock band The B-52's, of which he is a founding member

~ Richard Simmons gay CELEBRITY – is a fitness guru, most famously through his “Sweatin' to the Oldies” line of aerobics videos and DVDs known for his eccentric, outgoing personality.

~ Jaason Simmons gay ACTOR – an Australian actor best known for the role of Logan Fowler on the TV series “Baywatch”

~ Dusty Springfield gay POP MUSIC ICON – was an English early pop music icon because of her distinctive sensual sound. She was one of the most notable white soul artists. Known for such hits as "I Only Want To Be With You", "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself", "Wishin' and Hopin'" and "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" and her later standout recordings with The Pet Shop Boys’ “What have I done to deserve this?”

~ David Ogden Stiers gay ACTOR/CONDUCTOR – on “M*A*S*H” who played “Charles Winchester III”

~ Michael Stipe gay SINGER/COMPOSER – the lead vocalist for the alternative rock band R.E.M. When asked if he ever declares himself as gay, Stipe stated, "I don’t. I think there’s a line drawn between gay and queer, and for me, queer describes something that’s more inclusive of the grey areas."

~ Jason Stuart gay ACTOR/COMEDIAN

~ Wanda Sykes gay ACTRESS/COMEDIAN – talk show host, comedian and actress. She earned the 1999 Emmy Award for her writing on “The Chris Rock Show.” In 2004 Entertainment Weekly named her as one of the 25 funniest people in America.

~ George Takei gay ACTOR/ACTIVIST – best known for his role in the TV and then movie series “Star Trek,” in which he played Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the USS Enterprise.

~ John Tartaglia gay EDUCATIONAL TV – joined “Sesame Street”'s puppetry team at 16 performing as a right hand, Phoebe, Elmo, Ernie and Oscar the Grouch He also created and puppeteered the roles of Princeton (the recent college grad) and Rod (the closeted Republican-investment banker) in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical “Avenue Q,” for which he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical

~ Rip Taylor gay COMEDIAN/ACTOR – a well known American television game show comedian and actor.

~ Neil Tennant gay SINGER/COMPOSER – front man for the incredible techno pop duo “The Pet Shop Boys”

~ Scott Thompson gay ACTOR – is best known as a member of the comedy troupe “Kids in the Hall”

~ Lily Tomlin gay ENTERTAINER/COMEDIAN ICON – actress, comedian, writer and producer. She has been honored at the Kennedy Center, won Tony Awards, Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award and has also been nominated for an Academy Award. She is known as the wisecracking and snorting telephone operator Ernestine who loves to proclaim to her customers, "We don't care, we don't have to...we're the phone company," and asking “Is this the party to whom I am speaking?” She has also starred in such movies as "Nashville" "Nine-to-Five" and "All of Me"

~ Tommy Tune gay ENTERTAINER – an actor, dancer, singer, theatre director, producer, and choreographer. Over the course of his career, he has won nine Tony Awards.

~ Gus Van Sant gay DIRECTOR – American film director, screenwriter, photographer, musician, and author, nominated for an Academy Award for "Good Will Hunting" and "Milk"

~ Clifton Webb gay ACTOR – Broadway and Hollywood acting legend best known for his “Mr. Belvedere” series of movies

~ Will Wikle gay REALITY SHOW CONTESTANT – a registered nurse and is best known for his appearance in the fifth American season of “Big Brother.”

~ Paul Winfield gay ACTOR – was known for his portrayal of a Louisiana sharecropper the landmark film "Sounder" which earned him an Academy Award nomination, and as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the television miniseries "King", for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award. Star Trek fans know him as Captain Clark Terrell of the U.S.S. Reliant in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. He also played Lt. Traxler, a friendly but crusty cop partnered with Lance Henriksen in “The Terminator” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

~ B.D. Wong gay ACTOR – best-known for his roles as Dr. George Huang on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” as Father Ray Mukada on HBO's “Oz,” and for his starring role as Song Liling in the Broadway production of “M. Butterfly.”

~ Chely Wright gay SINGER – an American country music artist, famous for her #1 single "Single White Female" and has charted more than fifteen singles on the country charts. She has also written songs for Brad Paisley, Richard Marx, Mindy Smith and a top 10 hit for Clay Walker, "I Can't Sleep"

~~~> BUSINESS & POLITICS...
~ Alexander the Great was a Greek king of Macedon. He is the most celebrated member of the Argead Dynasty and created one of the largest empires in ancient history. The famed philosopher Aristotle tutored Alexander, who was known to be undefeated in battle and is considered one of the most successful commanders of all time. He is one of the most famous figures of antiquity, and is remembered for his tactical ability, his conquests, and for spreading Greek culture into the East.

~ Ian Campbell at 23 is not only Britain’s youngest mayor, but he’s an out-and-proud gay man. He leads mostly conservative Retford, England and is a shining example of overcoming adversity to become a success.

~ Chaz/Chastity Bono was born Chastity Sun Bono; March 4, 1969) and became Chaz after a sex-change. He is an American LGBT rights advocate, writer, actor, and musician. Bono is the only child of entertainers Sonny and Cher.

~ Mary Cheney gay POLITICAL HYPOCRITE – Lesbian daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney; Mary Cheney's sexual orientation is a source of public attention because of her father's political station as a staunch conservative, her political involvement with the Republican Party, and the 2004 Republican platforms in opposition to same-sex marriage.

~ Tim Cook was named the chief executive officer of Apple Inc. after Steve Jobs announced his resignation on August 24, 2011. Cook is credited with pulling Apple back from the brink by getting them out of manufacturing. This helped the company reduce inventory levels and streamlined its supply chain, dramatically increasing margins. In January 2007, Cook was promoted to COO.

Cook served as Apple CEO for two months in 2004, when Jobs was recovering from pancreatic cancer surgery. In 2009, Cook again served as Apple CEO for several months while Jobs took a leave of absence for a liver transplant.

In January 2011, Apple's Board of Directors approved a third medical leave of absence requested by Jobs. During that time, Cook was responsible for most of Apple’s day-to-day operations while Jobs made most major decisions. Following the resignation of Jobs, Cook was made CEO of Apple Inc. on August 24, 2011.

Tim is widely known to have a "man crush" on Lance Armstrong, who he frequently quotes. He is a workaholic putting in 12-14 hour days and is usually the first one to arrive at Apple and the last to leave.

~ Brian Epstein The Beatles' early success has been attributed to Epstein's management and sense of style. Paul McCartney said of Epstein: "If anyone was the Fifth Beatle, it was Brian."

~ Rep. Barney Frank is the U.S. House Representative for Massachusetts's 4th district since 1981. In 1982, he won his first full term, and he has been re-elected ever since by wide margins. He is a gay politician that we can be very proud of. Frank became the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee in 2007. The committee oversees the entire financial services industry, which includes the securities, insurance, banking, and housing industries.

~ David Geffen is an American record executive, film producer, theatrical producer and philanthropist. He created Asylum/Electra Records in 1970 and Geffen Records in 1980, and is one of the three founders of DreamWorks SKG

~ Merv Griffin rose to fame with his afternoon talk show "The Merv Griffin Show", and later created the game shows “Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, Click, and Merv Griffin's Crosswords” and was one of the most successful men in the entertainment industry. He remained friends with his ex-wife, whom he acknowledged created the premise for Jeopardy! Questions that he was either bisexual or gay persist. He is quoted as saying, "I tell everybody that I’m a quatre-sexual. I will do anything with anybody for a quarter,” to The New York Times, May 26, 2005

~ Harvey Milk was the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Both movies about his life have won Academy Awards

~ Annise Parker is Houston's second female mayor, and the first openly gay mayor of a U.S. city with over a million residents

~ Rep. Jared Polis is the first openly gay man elected to the U.S. House as a freshman

~ Christine Quinn, a Speaker of the New York City Council, which is among the most powerful positions in city government after the Mayor.

~ Johanna Sigurdardottir gay PRIME MINISTER – The current Prime Minister of Iceland. The only out-and-proud openly gay politician to be elected head of state regardless of her sexual-orientation... so far

In June of 2010 under her leadership Iceland legalized Gay Marriage.

~ Vaughn Walker Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Walker is one of only two known gay federal judges

~ Klaus Wowereit elected the Mayor of Berlin, he is one of the most famous gay German politicians. In coming out, prior to the 2001 mayoral elections, he coined the now famous German phrase "Ich bin schwul, und das ist auch gut so." ("I am gay, and that's all right, too.").

~~~> ATHLETICS...
~ Graham Ackerman gay GYMNASTICS – won the national championship in the floor exercise event at the 2005 NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championship at the United States Military Academy at West Point, making him a three-time national champ. In 2004 he won the national titles in two events—floor and vault.

~ John Amaechi gay BASKETBALL – a famous and popular professional basketball player – read about him in “Famous Gay Athletes Vol II” by clicking the link button at the top of this sidebar.

~ Sen. Ray Ashburn gay POLITICAL HYPOCRITE – an staunch anti-gay Republican California State representative who was “outed” while leaving a gay bar. As for his legislative gay-bashing, even after admitting he was gay, he used the excuse that he was only representing his district.

~ Billy Bean gay BASEBALL – Professional baseball – read about him in “Famous Gay Athletes Vol II” by clicking the link to it at the top of this sidebar.

~ Brendan Burke gay HOCKEY

~ Glenn Burke gay BASEBALL – read about him in “Famous Gay Athletes Vol I” by clicking the link to it at the top of this sidebar.

~ J.P. Calderon gay ATHLETE/MODEL – professional volleyball player, model and a contestant on "Survivor," in several seasons of "The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency" and appeared on the February 2007 cover of Instinct magazine.

~ Richard Chamberlain gay ACTOR – gained widespread fame as young girls (and boys) swooned over him as the title young intern in “Dr. Kildare,” and later in "The Towering Inferno." Soon after he became known as "the king of the miniseries" by appearing in, “Centennial, The Man in the Iron Mask, Shogun, and The Thorn Birds” and also was the first to play Jason Bourne in the 1988 version of “The Bourne Identity.”

~ Mark Chatfield gay OLYMPIC SWIMMER – "For the record, I'm not just gay-I'm a screaming queen!" An Olympic Swimmer; the 1973 U.S. National champion in the 100 yard breaststroke and an All American at USC in 1972 (100 Breast, 200 Breast), 1973 (100 Breast, 200 Breast, 400 Medley Relay), 1974 (100 Breast, 200 Breast, 400 Medley Relay) and 1975 (100 Breast, 200 Breast, 200 IM, 400 Medley Relay). An accomplished Baroque and period musician, vocalist and composer, he played principal cello and was a countertenor.

~ Scott Cranham gay OLYMPIC DIVER – who competed in the 1976 Summer Olympics

~ Steven Davies gay CRICKET – See the sidebar link above to my article “How Many Professional Athletes Are Gay?” Part III

~ Chris Dickerson gay ATHLETE – Mr. Olympia – read about him in “Famous Gay Athletes Vol II” by clicking the link to it at the top of this sidebar.

~ Donal Og Cusack gay ATHLETE – a well-known Irish hurler and Ireland's first openly gay elite sportsman. He plays hurling at club level with Cloyne and has been a member of the Cork senior inter-county team

~ Justin Fashanu gay ATHLETE – English football – read about him in “Famous Gay Athletes Vol I” by clicking the link to it at the top of this sidebar.

~ Joey Fisher gay HOCKEY – University of Georgia

~ Rudy Galindo gay SKATER – read about him in “Famous Gay Athletes Vol II” by clicking the link to it at the top of this sidebar.

~ Ed Gallagher gay ATHLETE– college football – read about ordeal and accomplishments in “Famous Gay Athletes Vol I” by clicking the link to it at the top of this sidebar.

~ Andrew Goldstein gay LACROSSE – read about him in “Famous Gay Athletes Vol III” by clicking the link to it at the top of this sidebar.

~ Bruce Hayes gay OLYMPIC SWIMMER – read about him in “Famous Gay Athletes Vol I” by clicking the link to it at the top of this sidebar.

~ Austin Hendrix gay TRACK ATHLETE – Eastern Michigan track star. Read about him in “Famous Gay Athletes Vol III” by clicking the link to it at the top of this sidebar.

~ Anton Hysen gay SOCCER – Swedish soccer/footballer sensation. See the sidebar link to my article “How Many Professional Athletes Are Gay?” Part III

~ Patrick Jeffrey gay SWIMMING/DIVING – a college athlete on the Ohio State University swimming & diving team. He swept the one-meter, three-meter and platform at the Big Ten championship his senior year and was named conference Diver of the Year. He twice competed for the U.S. at the Summer Olympics, in 1988 and 1996. During the 1996, he was already out and performed as an openly gay athlete. Since 1999 he has been the diving coach at Florida State University

~ Corey Johnson gay FOOTBALL – a defensive back in the Arena Football League. He played college football at Georgia and also for the Nashville Kats, Los Angeles Avengers, Buffalo Destroyers, Carolina Cobras, New York Dragons, and Arizona Rattlers.

~ Orlando Jordan gay WRESTLER – is best known for his tenure in World Wrestling Entertainment, where he was a one-time United States Champion.

~ Chris Kanyon/Klucsaritis gay WRESTLER – a professional wrestler, best known for his work in World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation, under the ring names Chris Kanyon (or simply Kanyon) and Mortis. After his first attempt at coming out of the closet, he was so badly treated that he recanted. After later confirming he was gay again, he died of an apparent suicide.

~ Peter Karlsson gay HOCKEY/HATE CRIME ICON – was a popular Swedish ice hockey player and was murdered by a 19-year-old who used a knife to stab him. The murder is believed to have happened because Karlsson was gay. After the murder, Karlsson's team played a protest match in support of him. The killer's sentence, which was only eight years, which outraged the Swedish gay community.

~ Johan Kenkhuis gay OLYMPIC SWIMMER – read about him in “Famous Gay Athletes Vol I” by clicking the link to it at the top of this sidebar.

~ Billy Jean King gay TENNIS ICON – read about him in “Famous Gay Athletes Vol I” by clicking the link to it at the top of this sidebar.

~ David Kopay gay AMERICAN FOOTBALL – read about him in “Famous Gay Athletes Vol I” by clicking the link to it at the top of this sidebar.

~ Daniel Kowalski gay OLYMPIC SWIMMER – is an Australian middle and long distance swimmer specialising in freestyle events. At the 1996 Summer Olympics, he was the first man in 92 years to earn medals in all of the 200 m, 400 m and 1500 m freestyle events.
2000 Summer Olympics: gold medal in the 4x200 m freestyle relay
1996 Summer Olympics: silver medal in the 1500 m freestyle, bronze medal in the 400 m freestyle, and bronze medal in the 200 m freestyle.
Kowalski was part of the world record setting Australian gold medal 4x200 m relay team at the 1998 Commonwealth Games.
Kowalski was inspired to come out by Welsh rugby player Gareth Thomas

~ Mark Leduc gay OLYMPIC BOXER – a boxer from Canada, who won a silver medal at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics

~ Greg Louganis gay OLYMPIC DIVING ICON – read about him in “Famous Gay Athletes Vol I” by clicking the link to it at the top of this sidebar.

~ Matthew Mitcham gay OLYMPIC DIVER – an honored Australian Olympic Diver – read about him in “Famous Gay Athletes Vol II” by clicking the link to it at the top of this sidebar.

~ Chris Morgan gay ATHLETE – is a famous British power-lifter and gay athletic ambassador

~ Martina Navratilova gay TENNIS ICON – read about her in “Famous Gay Athletes Vol II” by clicking the link to it at the top of this sidebar.

~ Diana Nyad gay SWIMMER – a world record-holding American swimmer and public radio contributor. She recently attempted to swim from Cuba to Florida

~ Brian Orser gay OLYMPIC SKATER – is a 1984 and 1988 Olympic silver medalist, 1987 World champion and the 1981-1988 Canadian national champion. He is one of the most accomplished skaters in Canada's history, with eight national titles, two Olympic medals, and a world title to his credit. He is the skating director at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club.

~ Bob Paris gay MR. UNIVERSE – read about him in “Famous Gay Athletes Vol I” by clicking the link to it at the top of this sidebar.

~ David Pichler gay OLYMPIC SWIMMER – U.S. Olympic diver in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where he was elected team captain. Pichler and Mark Ruiz won the synchronized platform final at the FINA-USA Diving Grand Prix in May 2000

~ Ian Roberts gay AUSTRALIAN RUGBY ICON – read about him in “Famous Gay Athletes Vol I” by clicking the link to it at the top of this sidebar.

~ Craig Rogerson gay OLYMPIC DIVER

~ Roy Simmons gay NFL FOOTBALL – read about him in “Famous Gay Athletes Vol I” by clicking the link to it at the top of this sidebar.

~ Jerry Smith gay AMERICAN FOOTBALL – read about him in “Famous Gay Athletes Vol I” by clicking the link to it at the top of this sidebar.

~ Mark Tewksbury gay OLYMPIC SWIMMER – read about him in “Famous Gay Athletes Vol I” by clicking the link to it at the top of this sidebar.

~ Gareth Thomas gay RUGBY ICON – read about him in “Famous Gay Athletes Vol III” by clicking the link to it at the top of this sidebar.

~ “Big” Bill Tilden gay TENNIS ICON – considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time – read about him in “Famous Gay Athletes Vol I” by clicking the link to it at the top of this sidebar.

~ Esera Tuaolo gay AMERICAN FOOTBALL – read about him in “Famous Gay Athletes Vol I” by clicking the link to it at the top of this sidebar.

~ Dan Veatch gay OLYMPIC SWIMMER – swam for the United States team at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, finishing seventh in the 200-meter backstroke, his specialist event. He won the 200 m backstroke at the Pan Pacific Games in Brisbane in 1987 and again in Tokyo in 1989

~ Dr. Tom Waddell gay OLYMPIC ATHLETE/FOUNDER – read about him in “Famous Gay Athletes Vol I” by clicking the link to it at the top of this sidebar.

~ Rick Welts gay SPORTS – CEO and President of the Phoenix Suns-See the sidebar link above to read about him in “How Many Professional Athletes are gay Part III.”

~~~> JOURNALISTS, AUTHORS & COMPOSERS...
~ Leonard Bernstein gay COMPOSER/CONDUCTOR – was best known to the public as the music director of the New York Philharmonic, and for writing the music for “West Side Story, Candide, Wonderful Town, and On the Town.” According to The New York Times, he was "one of the most prodigally talented and successful musicians in American history

~ Dirk Bogarde gay AUTHOR/ – was a British novelist and matinee star in such films as “Doctor in the House” and “Death in Venice”

~ Truman Capote gay FAMOUS AUTHOR – many short stories, novels, plays and nonfiction works are literary classics, including the novella “Breakfast at Tiffany's” (1958) and “In Cold Blood” (1965), which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At least 20 films and television dramas have been produced from his novels, stories and screenplays.

~ Anderson Cooper gay NEWS ANCHOR/JOURNALIST – journalist, author, and television personality. He currently works as the primary anchor of the CNN news show “Anderson Cooper 360°.” Cooper often broadcasts live on location for breaking news stories. He also frequently guest hosts on “Live with Regis and Kelly.”

~ Harvey Fierstein gay PLAYWRIGHT – noted for the distinction of winning Tony Awards for both writing and playing the lead role in "Torch Song Trilogy,” and for his gravel-voiced film role in the blockbuster “Independence Day”

~ Jet Gardner (me) gay Writer, artist and creator of general web interest sites (see sidebar links)

~ Don Lemon gay CNN REPORTER

~ Chris Lowe gay MUSICIAN/ARRANGER/COMPOSER – One half of the magnificent duo THE PET SHOP BOYS

~ Michelangelo gay POET – His greatest written expressions of love were given to Tommaso dei Cavalieri who was 23 years old when Michelangelo met him. Cavalieri was open to the older man's affection: I swear to return your love. Never have I loved a man more than I love you, never have I wished for a friendship more than I wish for yours. Cavalieri remained devoted to Michelangelo until his death.

Michelangelo dedicated to him over three hundred sonnets and madrigals, constituting the largest sequence of poems that he composed.

~ Stephen Sondheim gay BROADWAY ICON – may not have been the founder of Broadway, but the street should've been renamed after him. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, and a Pulitzer Prize. He has been described as "the greatest and perhaps best-known artist in the American musical theatre." His most works include “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Assassins,” and lyrics for “West Side Story and Gypsy.”

~ Gertrude Stein gay FAMOUS AUTHOR – published her memoirs in 1933 under the teasing title The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (her lover). It became Stein's bestselling book. The two were a couple until Stein's death in 1946. Together they hosted a salon in France that attracted expatriate American writers, such as Ernest Hemingway, Paul Bowles, Thornton Wilder and Sherwood Anderson, and avant-garde painters, including Picasso, Matisse and Braque.

~ Alice B Toklas gay CELEBRITY – Gertrude Stein's confidante, lover, cook, secretary, muse, editor, critic, and general organizer, Toklas remained a background figure, chiefly living in the shadow of Stein, until she published her memoirs in 1933 under the teasing title The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. It became Stein's bestselling book. The two were a couple until Gertrude Stein's death in 1946. Together they hosted a salon in France that attracted expatriate American writers, such as Ernest Hemingway, Paul Bowles, Thornton Wilder and Sherwood Anderson, and avant-garde painters, including Picasso, Matisse and Braque.

~ Gore Vidal gay WRITER/ICON – A famous and infamous American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter and political activist. Early in his career he wrote The City and the Pillar (1948), which outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality. He subsequently emerged as one of America's more important literary figures due to the enormous quantity of work produced over the course of his career, including novels, essays, plays, and short stories covering a wide variety of topics

~ Bruce Vilanch gay COMEDY WRITER – an American comedy writer to whom many owe their careers. He caught the public eye when he became a wisecracking regular on seasons 1-4 of the revamped “Hollywood Squares,” alongside Whoopi Goldberg where he provided not only his own hilarious comebacks, but also to Goldberg and many others on the show. He has wrote topical joke material for a number of awards show hosts, notably for Billy Crystal at the Academy Awards.

~ Rufus Wainwright gay SINGER/COMPOSER – Canadian-American singer and songwriter/composer for film soundtracks such as “Brokeback Mountain, I am Sam, Moulin Rouge!, Shrek, Meet the Robinsons, Big Daddy, Zoolander, and Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man”

~ Walt Whitman gay POETRY ICON – was among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse. His work was very controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection “Leaves of Grass,” which was described as obscene for its overt sexuality.

~ Oscar Wilde gay AUTHOR/ICON – was an iconic Irish writer, poet, and prominent aesthete, famous for his world renown "Picture of Dorian Gray"

~ Tennessee Williams gay BROADWAY ICON – won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for “A Streetcar Named Desire” and for “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” In addition, “The Glass Menagerie and The Night of the Iguana” received New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards. His play “The Rose Tattoo” received the Tony Award for best play. In 1980 President Jimmy Carter presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

~~~> FASHION...
~ Tom Ford gay FASHION – is a fashion designer and entrepreneur

~ Carson Kressley gay FASHION – the fashion expert on “Queer Eye For The Straight Guy”

~ Gianni Versace gay FASHION ICON – a famous Italian fashion designer of much sought-after accessories, fragrances, makeup and home furnishings as well as clothes. He also designed costumes for friends Elton John, Sting, and Princess Diana among many others. Openly gay, Versace and his partner Antonio D'Amico were regulars on the international party scene.

~~~> ARTISTS...
~ Leonardo da Vinci gay FAMOUS ARTIST/SCIENTIST – Known worldwide for his "Mona Lisa" and "The Last Supper" he was an Italian polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived.

Court records of 1476, when he was aged twenty-four, show that Leonardo and three other young men were charged with sodomy, and acquitted. In 1506, Leonardo took on pupil-lover, Count Francesco Melzi, who remained with him until Leonardo's death. Melzi inherited his artistic and scientific works, manuscripts, and collections.

~ Salvador Dali gay FAMOUS ARTIST – a world famous Spanish master artist and a skilled draftsman, best known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealist work. Some of his more popular works are sculptures and he is also noted for his contributions to theatre, fashion, and photography. Between 1941 and 1970, Dalí created an ensemble of 39 jewels. The jewels are intricate, and some contain moving parts. The most famous jewel, "The Royal Heart," is made of gold and is encrusted with 46 rubies, 42 diamonds, and four emeralds and is created in such a way that the center "beats" much like a real heart.

~ Andy Warhol gay ICON/ARTIST/FILMMAKER – became famous worldwide for his work as a painter, avant-garde filmmaker, record producer, author, and public figure that surrounded himself with bohemian street people, distinguished intellectuals, Hollywood celebrities and wealthy patrons. In his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, The Andy Warhol Museum exists in memory of his life and artwork. The highest price ever paid for a Warhol painting is $100 million for a 1963 canvas titled Eight Elvises.

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Gay Couples Officially Welcomed to Marry on Mt. Everest!

2010-04-22T10:19:00.011-04:00

GAY TOURISM NEWS

In 2006 Nepal’s King Gyanendra was forced from his throne by a democratic uprising. Since then the new parliament has begun working on a same-sex marriage law, which the Supreme Court ruled in favor of back in 2008. The law, expected to be in place by May 28th would safeguard the rights of sexual minorities, making it the first nation in Asia to do so. This legislation comes as a surprise to Nepal’s neighbors, because as little as two years ago under King Gyanendra's iron-fisted rule, homosexuals could be arrested and sentenced to up to two years in jail, and were often beaten and persecuted by local police forces.

When the new law goes into effect, Nepal will be the first country in the region to sanction and approve gay marriages.

In the light of this new development, Tourism Minister Sharat Singh Bhandari has decided to tap into a resource worth tens of millions of dollars, but ignored by the majority of nations worldwide; gay tourists. Homosexual couples are considered to be one of the most able-to-leave-on-a-whim and free-spending categories of the lucrative and profit-hungry travel/vacation market today, but are shunned for religious/moral reasons in most of the traditionally favored “family” travel destinations. Nepal however, plans to employ a temptation that most other tourist traps can’t match... An officially recognized gay wedding on the world’s loftiest peak… Mt. Everest!

Travel packages custom designed for gay couples also include special hotel rates and even elephant safaris for same-sex honeymooners.

In a move sure to have bigots renaming the famous peak Brokeback Mountain after the renowned movie, the Tourism Ministry of Nepal has already begun courting American gay couples. A few months ago in a pre-emptive strike, Bhandari sent an invitation to the International Conference on Gay & Lesbian Tourism in Boston Massachusetts, which read, “As the world knows, Nepal is the land of Mount Everest, world’s highest peak and the birth place of Lord Buddha, light of Asia. I, therefore, would like to take this opportunity to invite and welcome all the sexual and gender minorities from around the world.”

The invitation was sent in light of Nepal’s anticipated hosting of the first official Asian Symposium on Gay & Lesbian Tourism in Kathmandu to take place this June.

Bjamdaro added. “We’re completely changing this country. It’s a newborn republic — and we want to showcase this change. We also want to re-establish tourism as a major industry.” The Tourism Ministry’s goal is to attract over a million visitors to the Himalayan nation in 2011... and this just might do it.

Lance Armstrong, Matthew McConaughey, Jake Gyllenhaal = Gay 3-way "Bromance?

2010-04-10T02:20:00.038-04:00

ENTERTAINMENT/CELEBRITY/GOSSIP-Matthew McConaughey naked, Matthew McConaughey shirtless, Lance Armstrong naked, Lance Armstrong nude, Jake Gyllenhaal gay, sexy naked men, gay bromance

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The first thing to note in all this is that Lance Armstrong, Matthew McConaughey and Jake Gyllenhaal are really good friends and bike buddies, and have been for years.

Jake Gyllenhaal (an avid cyclist) has put himself into rigorous training in an all-out bid to play Lance Armstrong in a possible Sony movie of the 7-time Tour de France winner’s life.

In fact, word in Hollywood is that it’s more than just “possible” and that method-actor Jake already has a lock on the role, which is why Gyllenhaal has been spending so much time with Armstrong lately.

Despite that, Jake seems to be playing with his fans, using his success from Brokeback Mountain to get advance publicity and maybe start some very interesting gay 3-way romantic rumors.

What’s even more surprising is that his two best pals Armstrong and McConaughey seem to be playing along!

Don't you wish you could give Matt a hand like that?

What intensified all the speculation was when Lance Armstrong appeared on stage at Hollywood’s Kodak Theater with his two friends in the audience. On camera at the ESPY awards last month to accept his 4th consecutive "Best Male Athlete" award, he good-naturedly began crudely ribbing Jake, introducing him to the audience as his very good friend and then pausing with a frown to ask Gyllenhaal why he was sitting up front when he thought Jake liked it “in the rear.”

Then he introduced McConaughey as his friend of seven years and pointed out that Matt was the most recent People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive.

Suddenly glancing over at Jake like a jealous lover, Lance sternly reprimanded him by pointing at himself and warning Gyllenhaal that his eyes belonged only on Armstrong! Click the link above to watch a clip of the actual interplay.

As a result, sports betting websites like Bodog began laying 3 to 1 odds that Gyllenhaal’s next paparazzi captured kiss would be with Armstrong. Gyllenhaal and McConaughey got 2 to 1 odds.

On the other hand, a smooch between Jake and on-again off-again girlfriend Natalie Portman only got 1 in 3!

Following his split with Sheryl Crow, Lance has reportedly been seen spending more and more time living with and at long-time friend Matthew McConaughey’s rented Malibu beach house when he’s in L.A.

The resulting telephotos of them together are guaranteed to boil the hormones of female fans — and more than a few men’s as well!

Whether by intention or design rumors began flying about a romance between the three spandex clad hunks, often seen biking together in the hills around Malibu or partying at local bars, even shopping together.

Speculation grew even more intense when Armstrong took Gyllenhaal to France with him. They were photographed with each other constantly at Paris’ posh Crillon Hotel, and Lance even arranged for Jake to ride in the Discovery team car with him during the Tour’s time trials.

Jake even joked of changing TV channels on Lance, while watching the Tour to catch Tiger Woods win the British Open.

To set the record “straight,” Jake has always been an intense cycling fan. Lance took to the idea immediately when his close friend and an Oscar nominee proposed playing his part in a movie based on Armstrong’s book It’s Not About The Bike. Jake has been spending an intense amount of time with Lance, trying to learn everything he can about the sports hero. Gyllenhaal is determined to do justice to the cancer survivor’s life story.

The only cloud on the horizon is that apparently Americans don’t seem to be caught up in cycling enough to lay down $20 for a box of popcorn to see the movie.

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Netherlands Military Outraged Over U.S. General Blaming Gay Dutch Soldiers For Massacre

2010-03-19T18:23:00.019-04:00

Gay Soldiers-gay Dutch-gays military-DADT-gays in the military-Netherlands Military, gay rights Gay general

Before the Srebrenica Massacre of 1995, it was estimated by United Nation officials that a total of 34,000 soldiers would be needed to protect six Serbian towns that had been declared “safe zones”. As the Bosnian ethnic cleaning and mass murder of Muslims continued, NATO allocated too few men with only light equipment to protect the town of Srebrenica. Amidst pleas from them for supporting air strikes that fell on deaf ears, a force of only 450 Dutch Soldiers tried to hold back the Serbs, but were quickly overwhelmed, handcuffed to utility poles and rendered helpless to prevent between seven and eight thousand Muslim men and boys being marched off and slaughtered before their eyes.

There was swift and at times angry Dutch reaction after retired NATO commander and U.S. General of the Marines John Sheehan told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday that former Dutch Chief of Defense General van den Breemen told him that homosexuals were partially to blame for the Netherlands’ impotent reaction during that infamous 1995 massacre. The Dutch government and people’s response to the bigoted American General’s attempt to rewrite history was immediate.

Dutch leaders and military officials were shaking their heads in outrage that anyone in their government would state such a thing, since gay soldiers have been allowed to serve openly with honor, gallantry and distinction in their unionized military for over thirty-five years.

Retired General van den Breemen himself reacted to the use of his name by stating through official military channels that Sheehan’s statement was, “absolute nonsense.”

Dutch Defense Ministry spokesman Roger van de Wetering stated, "It is astonishing that a man of his stature can utter such complete nonsense, the Srebrenica massacre and the involvement of UN soldiers was extensively investigated by the Netherlands, international organisations and the United Nations. "Never was there in any way concluded that the sexual orientation of soldiers played a role."

Friday morning Radio Netherlands’ commentaries agreed with van de Wetering and asserted that with all of the studies in the aftermath of the massacre, homosexuals in their military was never even brought up as a factor, and to assert so was ridiculous. Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen and Defense Minister Elmert van Middelkoop both branded the bigoted attempt to blame gays in their military as “Extreemly strange” and reasserted that gays have served honorably in Britain, Canada, Australia and most notably Israel with no upset of morale or courage. On Dutch media Middelkoop later branded Sheehan’s remarks, "scandalous, and unworthy of a soldier."

Sheehan’s additional assertion during the hearings that a squad leader trying to molest a fellow soldier under his command could have dire consequences in the heat of battle drew swift reaction as well from people with years of experience at serving with openly gay soldiers. Dutch military union leader Jan Kleian appeared on television and said of Sheehan, “That man is just crazy,” then considering that statement added, “That sounds harsh, but what else can I say, because it is complete nonsense.”

Appalled, Renée Jones-Bos, the Dutch Ambassador to The United States expressed her utter disagreement with General Sheehan’s assertion by posting the following on her website:
The military mission of Dutch U.N. soldiers at Srebrenica has been exhaustively studied and evaluated, nationally and internationally. There is nothing in these reports that suggests any relationship between gays serving in the military and the mass murder of Bosnian Muslims.

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Dragon Age-Origins’ controversial sex scene?

2009-12-05T11:08:00.017-05:00

gay video games - gay gaming - Dragon Age game - controversial gay game - homosexuals in gaming

The right-wing born-again hypocrits are at it again, this time it's directed at Dragon Age-Origins. They have no objections to the violence, or the blood, gore and guts, or even to the player being able to have a romantic affair or two, or even a female player having a lesbian liason, but they predict that the world will fall under God's judgement if you allow your children to play this game.

Why?

As with most popular games of this genre, you must hone your magic and combat capabilities, and interact with other characters/players. The surprise is that you can also have romantic encounters. The bible-beater's problem is that if you play as a male character you are given the option of having a romantic/sexual liaison with a male elf named Zevran.

Conservative Web site World Net Daily has tried to incite religious panic in the streets in an article with the headline “Players have dirty ‘gay’ sex in hit game,” or as Chelsea Schilling put it, "Dragon Age: Origins “depicts two men in various sex positions in a secret scene of homosexual seduction.”

The game's maker, BioWare, in Edmonton, Canada, said the inclusion of the gay sex scene, as well as other romantic interludes, was not meant to incite arguments or bolster any social causes, but to provide players with an immersive gaming experience.

Mike Laidlaw, the game’s lead designer, said in a telephone interview that the game “is designed to celebrate player choice and create a story that is reactive to the way you choose to play it.” and is the key to creating a believable game experience. He added that in order to create a satisfying game, you have to have at your command all of the tools used by storytellers and that he sees romance as being one of the most important ones.

He pointed out that the gay love scene in Dragon Age: Origins occurs only if the player chooses it. To prompt the sequence, which is far less intense than scenes in “Brokeback Mountain,” the player must accept an invitation from Zevran to his tent and prompt him with a few lines of innuendo-laden dialogue. (“I was raised to take my pleasures where they could be found,” Zevran says after the rendezvous.)

Though heterosexual and lesbian couplings are also in the game (which received a highly positive score of 91 from the review-aggregation Web site Metacritic.com) for its PC release, it is the gay sex scene that seems to have provoked the most discussion and generated the most hostile reactions from the fanatic religious right.

Mr. Laidlaw said that BioWare knew about the criticism of the gay scene in its game, but added that these comments were not coming from its customers. “People who have played the game are very happy with the experience that they’ve been having. If players are happy with the experience, I think we’ve done our job.”

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Gay USMC Tim Smith-Your Billboard is Safe Here

2009-10-01T15:49:00.021-04:00

don't ask don't tell, famous gay athletes, gay marines, gay rights, memphis billboard, Gay Soldier, Homosexual rights, gay rights, gay advertising

It’s a distasteful matter that has no business being on a billboard! That’s what many religious fanatics will argue and for once I agree. If a U.S. Marine plastered “I love having oral sex with my wife and I protected your freedom!” I could understand the outrage and the motive of some to have it torn down, but the fact of the matter is that that same Marine being good in bed with his wife won’t get him discharged from patriotically serving his country. Nor would several factors such as being left-handed (once considered evil), a woman or being black bare the same results. Things that are considered by some to be undesirable and a choice won’t get you discharged either, like being Jewish, being an illegal immigrant who wants to serve his new homeland and earn his citizenship or not having voted for George Bush in the 2000/2004 elections.

Just being gay however will.

Though it hasn’t been that way for a long time, you used to not be able to serve your country if you were “a negro,” and even when you could, you were segregated from your fellow white soldiers. Oh, you could defend them, give your life to save them, but you wouldn’t be allowed to eat or sleep anywhere near them. This is one of the reasons that the actions of the heroic and much-decorated Tuskegee Airmen who saved hundreds of airmen’s lives took so long to become general knowledge. Some didn’t want it known those Negroes could be as brave (if not more so) as their fellow white soldiers.

Thankfully that’s changed, but when it did there was as much of an uproar over military desegregation as there is over the “Don’t ask-don’t tell” policy today.

The Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center in preparation for the National Coming Out Day on October 11th put up a series of billboards in Memphis Tennessee. On one of them was the image of ex-USMC Tim Smith (27) in full dress uniform emblazoned with the words “I’m gay and I protected your freedom.” Smith who is currently a student served his country between 2001-2005. The mere fact that Smith was brave enough to serve his country goes to the heart of his patriotism. The fact that he was brave enough to allow his image to be displayed so prominently and publicly putting himself in harm’s way of prejudice, hate and publicity goes to the heart of his courage.

Located at the bustling corner of Poplar and High St, the fact that the lit billboard was defaced and torn down by locals speaks volumes, especially since it was located on a busy downtown street and within blocks of the local police station. Instead of giving up, Smith (a University of Memphis student) proved his heart and commitment to the cause by stating, “As soon as the materials and prints come in, that billboard will go back up.” Memphis police are currently investigating the incident as vandalism and theft of property.

For those of you who claim that in these times displays such as these aren’t necessary and you shouldn’t have to put up with a bunch of drama queens trying to get attention, I would point out that as you read this there are thousands of gay translators and intelligence officers filling a valuable service to our country in the Middle East that are being unnecessarily yanked out of their positions for no other reason than their sexual orientation. There are right at this very moment closeted gay soldiers defending your sons and daughters’ lives with rifles, tanks, aircraft and courage, in danger of being dishonored and discharged if someone “found out.”

To them and to USMC Tim Smith, I will do my part to honor them by putting up that formerly battered billboard in a place where no one can deface it or tear it down… right here. Smith was drummed out of the military after a self-righteous minister decided it was his pastoral duty to press the point that the soldier wasn’t moral enough to serve his country and pushed the issue with the Marines until the four-year veteran was discharged.

There are those who claim that gays only number maybe one or two out of a hundred because you don’t see that many painted up and sequined fairy queens around town. The truth of the matter is that we’re closer to one-in-ten and that your next-door neighbor, best friend and/or local butcher, baker, and candlestick maker are gay, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at them, so they remain invisible and uncounted.

On October 11th, I urge all of America’s closeted gays to come out to just one friend, family member or co-worker. Now I'm sure a lot of you straight folks will smirk and come up with the snappy retort, “How much courage could that take in these times?” I’ll answer, could you summon the courage to tell your best friend that you are gay-even if you aren’t? If it just doesn’t matter in these modern and enlightened times and I’m blowing this up all out fo proportion, then you should get the same responding look from them as you would if you suddenly announced that you were left-handed… Right?

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How Many Famous Athletes Are Gay? — Vol. II

2009-08-27T18:11:00.076-04:00

billy bean, chris dickerson, famous gay athletes, Gay Athletes, homophobia, john ameachi, mark tewksbury, matthew mitcham, pro sports, rudy galindo, gay celebrities, gays in the news, gays in sports, homosexual sports, queer athletes

The following quotes go to the heart of why gay athletes have trouble being honest with their teammates and why articles like this are necessary.

Garrison Hearst-San Francisco 49ers running back: “Aww, hell no! I don't want any faggots on my team. I know this might not be what people want to hear, but that's a punk. I don't want any faggots in this locker room."

Julian Tavarez-The Chicago Cubs pitcher after being booed by San Francisco fans said: “Why should I care about the fans? They're a bunch of assholes and faggots here.''

After NBA star center John Amaechi disclosed he was gay, NBA player Tim Hardaway said: "First of all I wouldn’t want him on my team. and second of all, if he was on my team I would really distance myself from him because I don’t think that’s right and I don’t think he should be in the locker room when we’re in the locker room. Something has to give, If you have 12 other ballplayers in your locker room that's upset and can't concentrate and always worried about him in the locker room or on the court or whatever, it's going to be hard for your teammates to win and accept him as a teammate."

Can you picture Hardaway as a helpless defenseless virgin while that-that beast Amaechi had his way with him right there in the locker room and in front of his fellow team members too “worried” to come to his rescue? Can you imagine network television having to put an extra thirty-second delay on a telecast just in case Amaechi decided in the middle of the game that Hardaway was just ohhhh-so attractive that he might lose control and play grab-ass with him instead of making that crucial three pointer?

In the spirit of “your damned if you do and damned if you don’t,” LeBron James expressed a problem with closeted gays on his team saying, "With teammates you have to be trustworthy, and if you're gay and you're not admitting that you are, then you are not trustworthy. So that's like the No. 1 thing as teammates — we all trust each other.... It's a trust factor, honestly. A big trust factor."

John Amaechi
Englishman John Amaechi didn’t even take up basketball until he was 17-years-old. It would be an understatement to say he’d entered the sport a little late in life, so people scoffing at him wanting to be an American basketball star would be considered reasonable. Of course if you’d ever met the 6-foot-ten, 270-pound athlete in person, it’d probably lessen the shock of his latter achievements.

Among his considerable list of accomplishments by the time he’d turned thirty, he’d crossed the Atlantic several times to become not only a famous European, but also a well-known American basketball star. The twice First Team Academic All-American for Penn State went on to become an undrafted NBA starter for the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1995-96. He also played in

France and Italy. Amaechi is the only British player to be inducted into the U.S. Basketball Hall of Fam

e after incredible seasons in Cleveland, Orlando and Utah.

Among the four major American sports, John is only the sixth pro athlete to talk openly about being gay and the only one so far within the NBA. Averaging 6.2 points and 2.6 rebounds a game, Amaechi has proven that being a homosexual team player should be about as controversial as being left or right-handed.

Nowadays John is a British TV personality, helps run and fund the Amaechi Basketball Center in Manchester, and is a best-selling author for ESPN Books with his autobiography Man in the Middle.

In a way LeBron had a valid point a few paragraphs back, if you’re a team you should be able to trust each other with anything. A good example of how this actually helps a squad comes in the form of…

Brian Sims
After Sims left Bloomsburg University he became an unusual legend, as much for his athletic accomplishments, as for the fact that unless you knew him personally you’d never believe he was gay. If any stereotype fit him it’d be a college jock. Conversation leaned toward the coming game, the opponents strengths and weaknesses, which cheerleader might get lucky next, what professors he would like to sack in the parking lot, and where and when he wanted to turn pro. Sims was known for a lot of things, not the least of which was that he could bench press 225 pounds not 10, not 20 but nearly 40 times. He was captain of their Division II football team playing defensive tackle, and at a hulking 6 feet tall and 260 pounds, he wasn’t exactly what you’d call your clichéd “faggot” by a long shot.

Brian began feeling his attraction to other men back in junior high, but with two Army colonels for parents, it went without saying that he suppressed it as much as possible. Once he entered college and was out on his own, he gradually not only faced his sexual preferences, but also accepted them.

As Bloomsburg University began realizing that they could very likely clinch the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championship, one of Sims’ ex-clandestine boyfriends decided on his revenge for being dumped… he convincingly informed quarterback Eric Miller that Bloomsburg’s team captain and all-conference defensive tackle was a homosexual. Miller kept the news to himself about his good friend, but whispers in the locker-room became rumors in the halls as more and more students were told.

As Brian’s roommates will verify, it wasn’t exactly easy confirming that the handsome first-team jock was gay. Especially with the steady stream of girls wandering in and out of his room at all hours of the day and night. After all, being gay isn’t whom you have sex with, but whom your hormones react to and whom you fall in love with. After all many closeted husbands with children and famous athletes of all kinds hide behind relationships with women—most ending in disastrous results.

As a very successful and long season progressed, the team knew that the last thing they needed was for one of their most crucial and key players to get sidelined worrying about how they felt about him, so they confronted him, told him they knew, supported him, and made sure he was confident that they were behind him 100 percent. No one avoided him in the locker room or shower, in fact if anything it brought them solidly together as a team, supporting each other as a fighting unit with one true interest and love… football.

As the championship match drew nearer, it even became a point of team pride and humor. Over-confident opponents who’d heard the rumors came and then left the field of battle knowing that they’d have to face their home fans after suffering a galling defeat at the hands of a team with a queer for a starting player who somehow was also a star all-conference tackle and its captain!

As fate would have it and despite Sims chalking up three sacks in the final game, Delta State took the national championship racking up a score of 63-34.

Brian Sims is now a successful lawyer connected with the Philadelphia Bar Association and works with the Pennsylvania legislation in matters of discrimination against gays and lesbians.

Billy Bean
Baseball’s Billy Bean of the Tigers, Dodgers and Padres tied the record of four hits in his first time out as a major league player. The southpaw outfielder had a .226 batting average at 487 times at bat. As with Glenn Burke before him, Billy didn’t dare acknowledge his homosexuality. His coming out September 6, 1999 after he retired from eight years as a pro, landed him on the front page of the Sports section of the New York Times and as a guest on 20/20.

He enjoys life nowadays as an author of Going The Other Way, consultant and an openly gay TV personality. Billy has also spearheaded an effort to downplay “ex-gay” ministers who believe that forcing young boys to play sports will cure them of their homosexuality.

Rudy Galindo
Ice-skating has known and been proud of Rudy Galindo since his first championship in 1982. The mention of his name and sport however usually sends rednecks all over the country laughing, “That ain’t no real-man sport! Hell, my wife wears less sequins and makeup that them fags do!” To them I’m sure Rudy would challenge them to match his phenomenal physical strength, perseverance and athletic prowess to fly like he does, and then to land safely without killing themselves. Nor could they equal his dedication to the sport by stubbornly being back on the ice after a double hip replacement in 2003 mere weeks after the surgery and competing professionally the following April.

Galindo’s whirlwind career solidified itself when he took the U.S. National Novice Men’s Championship in 1982. He went on to partner with Kristi Yamaguchi to win several U.S. National Pairs Championships. He has also won or placed in several World Junior Men’s and Men’s Championships, and was a fixture on the Champions on Ice tour until it folded in 2007. All this despite being diagnosed a decade earlier as HIV+ in 1996.

Chris Dickerson
"To be a truly great champion you must be so dedicated that the sport becomes woven into the warp and woof of your life"
Chris was inducted into the IFBB Hall of Fame in 2000. Since his career began in 1965, he’s been Junior Mr. USA (Most Muscular,) Mr. New York State and Mr. California. In 1970 he became the first African-American AAU Mr. America. He has also been Mr. Universe, Mr. World, and just to make sure everyone was impressed with his 30-year career, at the age of 43 he became the oldest Mr. Olympia in 1982. He earned the 2008 Ben Weider Lifetime Achievement Award and his method of posing in competition is considered second to none as witnessed by this video.

On top of all that, he’s a respected opera singer.

Matthew Mitcham
Despite coming out publicly just before the Olympics, Australia’s openly homosexual golden boy Matthew Mitcham is living the life that gay American sports heroes can only dream of. Australia even issued a fifty-cent postage stamp in his honor the day after his Olympic triumph. Johnson and Johnson covered the expenses so that his lover Lachlan Fletcher could attend the games as a spectator. His being gay is such a non-issue in his home country; their media was shocked at some of the legal precautions he had to take while competing in other countries (particularly the middle east.) At one point he was asked to forgo his appearance on the Gay Pride float in Australia’s Mardi gras parade in order to appear on the local morning show’s instead!

Mitcham fever hit its peak during the Beijing Olympic Games’ 10m-platform event. There, Matthew knocked down what was then considered the undefeatable Chinese diving team and in the process earned the highest scoring dive in Olympic history with a perfectly executed 112.10-point back two and a half somersault with two and a half twists. Up until the last dive of the competition, China’s Zhou Luxin had a 30 point lead, but Matthew smashed it spectacularly beating his impressive 533.15 score with his own 537.95… all at the age of 20. A few months later he won the 2008 Diving Grand Prix, and was voted Australia Sportsman of the year for 2008 by his peers and fellow countrymen.

Because of the treatment that they get in their own countries, of the 11,028 athletes to compete in the Beijing Olympics, only eleven were out and proud gays. The odds are that that left approximately 1091 just as deserving gay athletes out in their cold closets.

Mark Tewksbury
"When you compete, you need to focus on your strength, but when you're in the closet, what you focus on is fear and vulnerability."

"The fear of rejection is the ultimate overriding factor that makes it really difficult to make yourself stand out in any way, and certainly in a way that might not be seen so positively by your teammates."

Amongst other things, Mark is known for doing something not many other athletes can do… break his own World Records. In fact at the Canadian Winter Nationals in Winnipeg he did it twice in two days… and without a high-tech body suit. By the time Tewksbury retired in 1992 he owned the 100m short-course backstroke and had earned six World Records in the event plus one short-course world record in the 200m backstroke. Aside from medaling for Canada in the 1988 Seoul and 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Mark also achieved good showings in the Pan Pacific Games from 1987 thru 1991.

Mark has earned several Canadian Athlete of the Year awards; including the prestigious Lou March Trophy, the Lionel Conacher Award, and the Norton H. Crow Award. He has also been inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, the Olympic Hall of Fame; he was named Canada’s Male Athlete of the Year and is in the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

In 1996, Mark became an integral part of the International Olympic Committee that selected the site of the 2004 Summer Olympics, but became embroiled in a conflict over the treatment of Olympic Athletes and perceived corruption in the organization. In 1998 Mark disclosed his homosexuality and several months later resigned his position at the IOC, deciding instead to concentrate on his role of bringing the celebrated Gay Games/Out Games to Montreal; an event that he hosted in 2006.

Though his coming out did little to damage his athletic reputation, it cost him a very lucrative job as a motivational speaker because he was suddenly “too gay” despite his talent in the field that landed him the position in the first place. CBC Sports apparently didn’t agree and hired him as a play-by-play announcer and commentator at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Today Mark is involved with his own motivational speaking, has recently published his autobiography entitled Inside Out: Straight Talk from a Gay Jock, is involved in Canadian politics and sits on the boards of several important Gay organizations like the Gay and Lesbian Athletics Foundation.

With so many asking me to do a sequel to my 2006 article How Many Famous Athletes are Gay, I began pondering why I’d written the original article in the first place. I believe that I was trying to get the general public to consider people like American pro football’s Esera Tuaolo, Dave Kopay, and Australian Rules’ Ian Roberts, in order to illustrate that all gay men aren’t sex-crazed, little-boy-chasing, limp-wristed fairy queens. Nor are lesbians like tennis greats Billy Jean King or Martina Navratilova all chopped-haired “bulls” that ride motorcycles and become ranking officers in the military.

According to Navratilova, fighting such destructive negative stereotypes is important where gay high school athletes are concerned, especially when they’re forming their own self-images. Many teenaged gay athletes have committed and/or attempted suicide through the years because of the treatment they received at the hands of their own teammates and coaches. When pro basketball player John Amaechi came out, Martina is quoted as saying of him and gay sports figures in general, "It's hugely important for the kids so they don't feel alone in the world. We're role models. We're adults, and we know we're not alone but kids don't know that," she said, referring to small-town gay athletes feeling alone. "He will definitely help a lot of kids growing up to feel better about themselves."

Referring to John Amaechi’s coming out, ex-pro defensive lineman Esera Tuaolo spoke of his similar public experiences before and after the disclosure of his own homosexuality, "What John did is amazing. He does not know how many lives he's saved by speaking the truth. Living with all that stress and that depression, all you deal with as a closeted person, when you come out you really truly free yourself,'' he said. "When I came out, it felt like I was getting out of prison."

Most American gays take offense at the local media making a point of only filming the stereotypical over-painted and glittered drag queens and “dykes on bikes” during annual Gay Pride parades. Why? Because more often than not, and like it or not, American gays and lesbians look and act like your typical next door neighbor, the popular high school linebacker, your office mate or even your best friend.

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Heartless U. S. Rep. Calls Matthew Shepard Murder/Gay Bashing A “Hoax”

2009-05-01T15:22:00.026-04:00

Gay, gay bashing, hate crime, Matthew Shepard Murder, homosexual murder Wyoming, homosexual legislation, queer bashing
According to court testimony, in the months leading up to October of 1998, Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney lived with a friend named Tom O’Connor. Tom intimated to McKinney’s girlfriend that he’d had sex occasionally with her boyfriend Aaron, and thought he was bisexual. Despite O’Connor’s later sworn statements in court to the contrary, McKinney denied having sex with him. After months of suffering taunts and denials, McKinney became anxious to prove his macho manhood and decided that a good old-fashioned “fag bashing” might just fill the bill.

The trouble was that O’Connor was too good of a mutual friend to be the intended target of his wrath.

McKinney and his attorney would later try to assert that his eventual victim had blatantly approached the two much bigger men for sex and that his client merely overreacted. They didn’t count on both McKinney and Henderson’s girlfriends later refusing to provide them with alibis, and then turning against them in court. According to subsequent testimony by both women, (Chastity Paisley and Kristen Price) the two men planned in advance to “play queer”, gain the trust of some homosexual, and then rob and beat him up. Their story was later confirmed when Henderson turned state’s evidence in order to avoid the death penalty.

On the night of October 6, 1998, McKinney and Henderson entered the Fireside Lounge in Laramie Wyoming, and picked a slightly built college student named Matthew Shepard as a likely candidate. After a few casual drinks and some flirting to gain his trust, they offered Shepard a ride home, which he accepted. Instead, before he realized what was happening, they drove him far out of town into ranch country, pulled a pistol on him and then robbed him of his shoes, keys and valuables.

Not satisfied with that humiliation, McKinney then used a rope to tie him to a ranch fence. The two friends proceeded to torture, taunt, and severely beat him; being careful not to kill their prey in order to prolong his ordeal. When they later returned to their girlfriends, they bragged of repeatedly forcing Shepard to beg for his life, and intimated how they planned to rob their victim’s apartment now that they knew where he lived.

When they were subsequently arrested, the bloody gun, along with Shepard’s wallet and shoes were found still in McKinney’s truck. The off-handed discarding of his wallet proved that robbery was not the main motive for the attack.

Late in the afternoon of the day after the beating a man discovered the 21-year-old college student still tied to the fence, barely alive, but in a coma. He was so badly beaten that he was at first mistaken for a scarecrow with a red painted face. He later said the only part of Shepard's head not covered with blood was where tears had apparently washed tracks down his cheeks.

His skull was fractured from the back of his head to his right ear. He was so badly beaten that he suffered brain stem damage, which meant his brain could no longer regulate his body temperature and heart rate. As the night’s temperature fell to near freezing, Matthew probably slowly suffered the cold in agony until mercifully lapsing into a coma. Because of the blood loss from dozens of deep cuts to his scalp and face, the doctors at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins determined there was nothing they could do to save him. Though he remained on life support, he never woke from his coma and died days later on October 12, 1998.

His story inspired candlelight vigils all over the world and made national headlines.

Fast-forward ahead in time to 2009.

Inspired by Shepard’s story and many like it over the years, hate-crime legislation bearing his name has been introduced in the U.S. Congress.

Republican Representative Virginia Foxx of North Carolina argued that Shepard was killed accidentally as part of a robbery, not because he was gay: "The bill was named for him, the hate-crimes bill was named for him, but it's really a hoax that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills."

In a later attempt to clarify her statement by blaming it on faulty information from right-wing websites, she tried to appeal to outraged colleagues by stating, “Referencing these media accounts may have been a mistake, but if so, it was a mistake based on what I believed were reliable accounts.” She went on to try to back peddle by saying, “Mr. Shepard's death was nothing less than a tragedy, and those responsible for his death certainly deserved the punishment they received.”

In my opinion Rep. Fox deserves to be removed from office. It is incomprehensible that an elected official could stand on the hallowed floor of the U.S. House of Representatives and verbally spew what are essentially prejudiced and ignorant statements based on slanted and inaccurate accounts. It goes to prove the assertion that just because you agree with something doesn’t make it fact. In this case, thankfully, it came back to “bite her on the ass,” and she deserves nothing less than the same treatment from her constituents; who I’d dare say are more than a little embarrassed that she seems to have clumsily confirmed a few unfounded and unwanted southern stereotypes.

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Jim Carrey Gay Liplocks with Ewan Mcgregor in Next Movie!

2009-04-05T13:22:00.034-04:00

Carrey, I love you phillip morris, McGregor, Gay Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor gay, Gay movie, homosexual entertainment, Queer comedy
(I've updated this five times in TWO years!)
"I Love You Phillip Morris," starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor (Star Wars.) The movie based on crime reporter STEVE McVICKER's (Houston Chronicle) book, I Love You Phillip Morris: A True Story of Life, Love, & Prison Breaks, which followed Russell's adventures through the imfamous Texas justice system.

Russell's many bizzare escapes (usually on Friday the 13th) included using a perloined walkie talkie as a prop to get through jail security, using a green pen and a bucket of water to fabricate phony surgical scrubs and forging his own death certificate after faking a terminal case of AIDS!

An ironic twist to all this is that with the time added to his sentences because of his jail breaks, he'll never get to actually see the movie based on his life story! (Texas doesn't consider this kind of movie suitable to show to its prisoners... surprise surprise) If what I've heard of how this story was drastically altered in order to bring it "Carrey style" to the silver screen; it's probably just as well.

CAUTION: Don't be fooled by the photo!

UPDATE December 2009...Over the last two years, I've more or less left this topic alone, hoping that the rumors as to why this movie took so long to be released were false, and while it has found fans in Europe, if born-again puritanical christian Americans have their way, the U.S. may never see it.

I personally found it disappointing that the American version has been re-edited and parts reshot as not a comedy, but more... a lame comedy... a making lots of/too many funny faces, stereotypes, and swishing around insultingly comedy... in fact a typical "over the top baffoon" comedy of Carrey's. Whether this was because the star was worried about his sexuality being questioned, or that he figured that turning it into a typical "Carrey film" might increase ticket sales is anyone's guess.

In other words it was transformed into a "dumber than dumberer" comedy to avoid picket sign-wielding prudes outside every theater entrance. As of this writing, the movie got high praise in 2008 at the Sundance Film Festival, but for some reason it's still struggling to get a distributor west of the Atlantic... probably because some over-the-top sex scenes are being only shown in Europe and not the increasingly puritanical U.S.

The movie begins with Jim on his death bed, telling his life's story. What follows after that are lame jokes and lots and lots and lots of reassurances (probably to himself) that Jim Carrey's not really gay, basically by playing it so completely over the top that no one would believe it. Carrey's character is over-portrayed as a good cop, a good Christian organ player at his church-his eyes dazed and glazed with the love of Jesus (not a good sign in a gay flick.) He's also a good father, and a GREAT husband, with numerous scenes of him sticking his tongue down his wife's throat, along with him banging her loudly and enthusiastically.

It's a dead give away of where this flick is going when he announces to his wife that he's gay, and then he uses his stock and over-used comedy face afterward in one of the dumbest "Carrey clown" looks he can possibly muster for the camera.

Another typical shot is of his childish antics while waiting for an elevator with the police just down the hall.

Once you get past all of that, you'll see glimpses of what this flick probably started out as... no stupid jokes, and no baffoon's funny faces.. in other words a true love story based on actual occurances.

Ewan McGregor's sexy and innocent performance is the only saving grace, but not worth the insult to the gay community that the rest of the movie delivers.

Shoved aside instead of being edited back in so that they can be seen in context, the best scenes are meerly promised as "DVD extras" at Sundance, such as an extended gay kissing scene, and a near x-rated but tender gay sex scene that didn't make it to the final edit, (another one that will shock Ace Ventura fans involves him graphically pounding a muscle hunk doggie-style). that were played with passion and realism. These all promise an enjoyable hour and a half or so ...until Carrey ruins it by intentionally ending each scene that survived the cutting room floor with a stupid and/or misplaced laugh/giggle/titter for his (assumed) adoring audience.

Unfortunately because of that, it'll probably wind up as a direct to DVD release in the U.S., and a typical, yet hopefully forgettable "fag joke" (and a lame one at that,) where he ridiculously asserts that car accidents and attempted suicides can turn you into an overly stereotypical homosexual if you're not careful... the kind where you're gay you absolutely must have the latest fashions (not) and gym memberships and if you can't afford them, you're compelled by your nature to steal the money to buy them.

--By far, the most insulting line in this movie is the wife asking if the "gay thing" goes hand in hand with stealing?, which could cause gay audience members to walk out of the theater in numbers too great to ignore and demand their money back-- Judge for yourself if I'm exagerating and click here to see the trailer for this complete waste of time, and take my advice if this doesn't discourage you? Either buy the book instead, or buy the DVD after it's been discounted... and use the fast forward button a lot.

Another reason for gays... or anyone for that matter, to walk out and/or not bother with this movie/DVD is that all the web-buzz about those sex scenes is just that... buzz. As I mentioned before they've all been edited to within seconds of their lives-if that.(groan) Oh they're being seen right now all over Europe, but will never reach America's Puritanical screens.

As of June 2010, It seems I may have to delete the "next" in the title of this review! Believe it or not, this more than two-year-old movie is still not available on DVD! I'm becoming amused at still amending this article that I wrote a couple of years ago. As of this date, it has been announced that the movie has been stalled indefinately at the U.S. borders; probably by born-agains waving their Bibles frantically while stomping their feet and screaming hysterically. Apparently demands are being made to re-edit the movie to make it "less gay"... Uh... hello?

I'm beginning to wonder how much of this originally "true" story will remain that way. The best bet would be to wait and see if the "European version" complete with explicit sex xcenes will be available on e-bay or somewhere... or better yet-buy the book on Amazon (click on it above)

As Much as I disliked this movie, I dislike religious zealots deciding what the American public can and can not see.

How Many Famous Athletes Are Gay?

2009-01-18T14:25:00.049-05:00

famous gay athletes, football, Gay, Gay Athletes, Gay Games, Gay Olympics, heroes, homosexual, NCAA athletes, gay pro sports, professional gay athletes, gay soccer, queer sports, homosexual swimming, gay tennis, gay celebrities

How many current professional athletes are gay? An intriguing question, which for many reasons will probably never find reliable answers. Here's just a few good ones to consider. . .

From early on in high school sports, most athletic adolescent boys tend to seek out the weak in gym class to pick on, bully, and give verbal and physical abuse to. To them anyone who didn’t play sports were sissies and "fags" to be beaten up in school parking lots in front of their friends, so it was no wonder that openly gay pro athletes are rarely heard of, or from.

One of the heroes of Flight 93-September 11, 2001, was an out and proud athlete...
After learning of Mark Bingham's story (The gay rugby player that helped bring down Flight 93 before it hit the U. S. Capitol) I wondered what other sports pros out of the approximately 4,000 active in the U. S. had the guts to face the inevitable judgment and fan hatred by coming out. I was appalled to discover most had to wait till after their careers were over.

There’s no doubt in my mind that in all corners of professional and college athletics from boxing to football, the ranks are full of gays. You’ve just never heard of them. This also includes the ranks of coaches, owners or general managers.

The most plausible reason would be constant speculation of an opposing team’s sexuality as an insult among sports fans, some of which comb the web and enter discussion boards not only for information, but to start damaging rumors. A good example of this would be when sportswriter Skip Bayless publicly (and unfoundedly) speculated that Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman was gay.

More examples can be found in professional sports athletes like Dave Kopay and Esera Tuaolo (football), Martina Navratilova, and of course the great Billie Jean King (tennis). Unfortunately because of the overzealous Taliban-style "religious-right"'s influence imposed on the U.S. in recent history, American athletes such as Aikman have suffered unfounded fan judgment whether they actually were gay or not. The situation has become just as serious as when entertainers and politicians were accused of being communists in the 1950s McCarthy "witch hunts". Just the mere mention of the word "commie" back then was enough for regular folk such as Lucy Ball to lose their friends, and sometimes their jobs and homes.

The best illustration of why more don’t come out is shown by just looking at what one of the best athletes in history-Magic Johnson went through in 1991. He summoned the courage to announce that he had AIDS. Religious fanatics and hate mongers like Jerry Falwell loudly branded the virus as God's exclusive judgment on homosexuals. Suddenly Magic's fans didn’t care that he had a death-sentence disease. No, they were more obsessed with gasping repeatedly “Magic’s Gay?... a fag!?!” Which of course, he wasn’t.

A good example of how misguided hatred of gays in sports can affect the athletes themselves comes in the form of 6'6" 275-lb offensive lineman Ed Gallagher who played at the University of Pittsburgh from 1977-79. After years of fighting homosexual urges, in 1985 he gave in and slept with another athlete. The gut wrenching decision to finally admit to himself that he was gay was too much for him and two weeks later he tried and failed to take his own life by leaping off Valhalla's Kensico Dam on March 1, 1985.

The attempt left him a paraplegic. In an interview afterward, he said that he couldn’t resolve his inner conflicts of what he’d always been taught that a sports athlete was supposed to be versus his sexual urges, so rather than face his own self-loathing and the expected rejection and judgment of his fans, he decided to end his own life. He later went on to found “Alive to Thrive” to help others in his position. He died May, 4th 2005 of a heart condition.

Here is an honor roll of brave men and women who deserve respect for not only being honest with themselves and their fans about their sexuality, but whose lives were nearly destroyed because of that honesty.

Roy Simmons was an offensive guard between 1979 and 1983 for the New York Giants and Washington Redskins, who came out on The Donahue Show. He is one of only three NFL pros to acknowledge his homosexuality.

Back in 1975 David Kopay, a running back in the NFL between 1964 and 1972, came out of the closet three years after he retired. His 1977 autobiography The David Kopay Story became an instant best seller and flew off the shelves as sports fans got their first glimpse of a gay football star.

Kopay’s first lover was Washington Redskins all-star tight end Jerry Smith. From 1965-77 Smith caught 421 career passes and scored 60 touchdowns. He remained in the closet until he died in 1987, even after his affair was revealed in Kopay’s autobiography. Despite that revelation, he was still voted one of the greatest Redskins of all time in 2002.

In baseball, former A's/Dodgers outfielder Glenn Burke is credited with being one of the inventors of the “high five. ”

Glenn came out in a 1982 Sports Illustrated article — three years after he was released from his contract with the A’s. It was rumored that he was traded to the A’s because Dodgers management suspected he was gay. The hatred and depression of being forced to end his career at 26 led to drugs and he wound up a street person in the San Francisco Bay area, dying alone and broke in 1995.

Other needless past tragedies include:

Big Bill” Tilden, who was considered a tennis legend, an athlete on par with the likes of Tiger Woods today, and a much sought-after celebrity in the 1920s. In 1949 he was declared one of the most outstanding athletes of the first half-century by the National Sports Writers Association. He won seven U. S. clay court titles, seven U. S. Opens, three Wimbledons, six U. S. doubles championships and holds the Davis Cup record for eleven appearances in a challenge or final round.

Behind the scenes Tilden wasn’t careful enough with his “secret” and in his celebrity and fame thought he was secure with his fans’ support. He began intimating to his close friends that he was gay and soon after a behind the scenes conspiracy began to discredit him and ruin his reputation.

In 1953 he died dirt poor in a one-room walk-up apartment alone and forgotten.

In 1988 Justin Fashanu was a British star soccer player. Bigots began spreading rumors that he had an ongoing sexual affair with two British cabinet ministers in an attempt to ruin both their careers-not caring what it did to his. Justin's career and self-worth were so devastated that 10 years later they found him in an abandoned garage in East London; the 36-year-old master athlete hung himself after an obsessed fan in Maryland claimed he assaulted him. The charges later were proven false.

On the other hand there have actually been some semi-happy endings:

Esera Tuaolo, the huge veteran of the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, and Atlanta Falcons appeared on an October 2002 episode of HBO's Real Sports. Upon seeing this, San Francisco 49ers running back Garrison Hearst was quoted as publicly announcing “I don’t want any faggots on my team,” and later had to apologize for it.

Before making peace with the negative reactions Tuaolo had considered suicide after bouts of depression and intense loneliness. Fortunately with the help of some of his former teammates, a concerted effort of the gay and lesbian community to stand by him, and his lover, Esera now leads a happy life.

Does anyone not know the name Martina Navratilova the tennis great who came out as a lesbian in the New York Daily News in 1982?

Billie Jean King has been a household name for decades, and rightfully so.

The unmatched and incredible Billie won twenty Wimbledon titles, helped create and start the Women’s Tennis Association, was named the Associated Press’s Woman Athlete of the year in 1967 and 1973, was named "Sports Illustrated’s 1972 “Sportsperson of the Year,” and Time Magazine’s Woman of the Year for 1976. In front of 30,472 cheering fans packing the Houston Astrodome and 50 million TV viewers, she beat tennis hustler and former champion Bobby Riggs in what was billed as the ultimate tennis “Battle of the Sexes.”

She was forced out into the Gay Rights forum when her ex-lover sued her for “Galimony,” which fortunately didn’t seem to hurt her career at all.

According to an April 12, 2005 Sports Illustrated poll, sports fans are far more accepting of lesbians in sports than gay men. Overall though, in the same poll 86 percent of Americans think that openly gay male athletes should be able to play in team sports. However, the poll went on to say that 68 percent of respondents think it hurts an athlete’s career to be openly gay.

Thankfully and apparently, outside the borders of the United States, the religious bible beaters have a lot less influence. With rare exceptions these days, most overseas gay men have found acceptance in the world of sports.

Voted fourth in “Total Sport’s” 10 Toughest Men Of Sport list, popular Australian gay rugby star/turned actor Ian Roberts came out in 1995 while still currently at the top of his macho game. He’d played front rower in 85 games for South Sydney, over 100 in Manly, and at the age of 23 was the highest paid rugby league player in the world.

The other players on the North Queensland Cowboys shrugged his sexual revelation off as no big deal and his fans followed suit. In a 1996 interview Roberts is quoted as saying :

"I take offense at the old locker room argument which assumes a man cannot, in any circumstances, control his urges. Any self-respecting human being can respect the rights and ways of another human being. The idea, then, that gays can convert, or want, heterosexual guys, is ludicrous. We want to play the game, not the field."

Despite expectations of a drop in his popularity, Roberts held/has several well-paid endorsement contracts. He even posed nude in a gay magazine, with no ill effects to his career, becoming a sex symbol “down under” for both men and women, and has gone on to a successful acting career after retiring from sports.

Greg Louganis is arguably one of the best male divers of all time, winning four gold medals between the 1984 and 1988 Olympics. His career ended after famously hitting his head on a diving board at the 88 Olympics, forcing him to reveal he had AIDS out of concern for the other athletes. His autobiography "Breaking the Surface" and subsequent movie have made him a legend and a sought after celebrity.

In 1968 army physician Dr. Tom Waddell came in sixth at the Olympic decathlon. He and his lover Charles Deaton were thrust into the spotlight in 1976 by being the first gay partner/lovers to appear in the “Couples” section of People magazine. Tom went on to form plans for the “Gay Olympic Games” stirring up controversy and lawsuits because of the use of the word “Olympics” in the title. Renamed the “Gay Games,” they first took place in San Francisco in 1982 and since then has grown to feature officially recognized athletic events and record holders, and it boasts participation of thousands of gay and straight registered athletes every four years.

Laughably many straight athletes entered thinking they’d have an easy time of it, only to be proven wrong, then later joined because of the challenge.

A gold medallist in the 800-meter freestyle relay at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, Bruce Hayes came out of the closet at the 1994 Gay Games winning seven gold medals there and setting several recognized master’s swimming records.

Body building legend Bob Paris from Indiana won the 1983 Mr. America and Mr. Universe bodybuilding titles. He went on to marry his long-time lover Rod Jackson changing their names to Jackson-Paris and appeared on the

Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss it after coming out of the closet in the July 1989 issue of Ironman magazine. He went on to write several books including his autobiography "Gorilla Suit: My Adventures in Body Building" in 1997.

24-year-old Dutch swimming sensation Johan Kenkhuis, a silver metal winner in the Athens Summer Olympics in the four-man 100-meter freestyle relay, came out in 2004 by mentioning to the press that his boyfriend of four years would be watching him compete.

In all nine other athletes came out of the closet during the games in support. For him it wasn’t a big deal, nor was it in his homeland where gays have been treated equally for decades.

It’s refreshing to see that in other parts of the world the only thing that matters is how you do your job, perform your task, or excel in your sport. If only that were the case in the sports world here in the up-tight United States, but sadly it's not.

This article continues with more famous athletes in Vol II-CLICK HERE to go to it!

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Gathering Gay Backlash Storm Could Threaten CA’s Economy and Culture

2008-11-09T14:46:00.010-05:00

EDITORIAL

The election of Barack Obama had an unanticipated side effect in California last Tuesday. Black voters turned out in droves and showed overwhelming support for Obama. While in the voting booth, they also displayed their opinions concerning a ban on gay marriage. While the White and Hispanic vote were fairly divided evenly regarding the state constitutional ban, the huge block of Black voters that turned out, heavily supported it by an estimated 70-75 percent. The irony in that is that the gays that also turned out in droves to support Obama were figuratively “kicked in the balls,” by the very people they’d voted support for, for decades in one Afro-American civil rights initiative after another.

As a gathering storm of resentment builds between blacks and gays over this perceived betrayal, so could trouble in California on several fronts. Gays in general have no children or spouses to support, which means a huge block of hundreds of millions of their disposable and mostly professional income is pumped into California’s economy every year in terms of purchases of homes, cars and personal and business income taxes.

Because the state is famously (or infamously as the case may be) known as gay-friendly, it is also known as the number one gay tourist destination, pumping even more millions of tourist dollars into the state’s economy annually. As gay community leaders gather to plan their next move, many are considering leaving California for the East coast, or even Canada where gay civil rights and marriage are legal and considered “matter of fact.”

There is also the matter of the Mormon Church pumping support for the anti-gay ban in the form of in excess of $20 million, both from the church itself and its out of state members. The resulting recent large protest marches in front of several of the LDS California headquarters have turned into near riots.

As a growing racial resentment builds between gays and their black former-allies, the only losers in this conflict may be the State of California and its powerful Democratic Party, in terms of political contributions, lost tourist revenues and income taxes. More and more gay professionals are talking about punishing their former safe haven by moving their culture and their businesses away to more friendly locations.

That could spell disaster for California economically and politically, to the point of it no longer being a forgone conclusion that the state would automatically fall into the Democrat’s column during national and presidential elections.

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©-2008 by Jet Gardner/Blogcritics.org

What Would I-a Gay Man-Have To Be Paraniod About?

2008-07-27T10:04:00.010-04:00

Walk a mile in my shoes before you laugh/scoff at the title of this piece and brand me paranoid. I'm sure there are stereotypes that apply to you that aren't true.

Mexicans are lazy and stupid enough to work for nothing. Arabs are invading this country and refusing to learn our ways or even speak our language. Irish are all drinkers. Blonds are easy pickings for sex and aren't all that intelligent.

I've lived my whole life with influential groups in my community and in this country convincing my friends, neighbors and employers of lies about "my kind"...

A. I kidnap little boys from playgrounds, and Innocent husbands from gym locker rooms, and then sodomize them into becoming fags so I can propagate my species.

B. That I only have one thing on my mind at all times-sex.

C. That god gave all faggots AIDS and that if you talk to me, shake hands or accidentally touch me, you'll get it.

D. That any heterosexual that proclaims to be my friend will instantly be branded a faggot too by his peers and ostracized for being perverted by me.

E. That I know all about fashion and love to dress up... in dresses and make up.

F. That I mince around, swish, and speak with a lisp.

G. That it's alright to fire me from a job I held for 10 years because you found out I was a homosexual.

And finally...
That I CHOSE to live this way...

How many of you guessed that none of the above are correct?

Think seriously about why none of you would go out and tell five of your closest friends you are gay (even though you're not) and see what happens to you, how your friends suddenly seem unsure of you-then you'll see the hell I live every minute of every day of my life and why I fear fundamentalist Christianity influencing politics.

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These great books are all from my own library including the classic Gordon Merrick "Charlie and Peter" Trilogy and the incredible "Front Runner" trio from Patricia Neil Warren. There's also fun stuff to display your Gay Pride with at great Amazon prices!

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©-2006 by Jet Gardner/Blogcritics.org

J.K. Rowling Declares Dumbledore Gay! What's the Fuss?

2007-10-23T10:16:00.013-04:00

Dumbledore, Gay, Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, Gay fictional character, Harry Potter gay, homosexual wizard

Every major news organization from The New York Times to Time Magazine is going to press this week with the news that J.K. Rowling has declared Hogwarts’ Head Master and Wizard Dumbledore was gay!.

Poor Jerry Falwell must be turning over in his grave, as his fellow archconservatives and bible beaters scramble to get the Harry Potter series of books banned from public libraries. Falwell had a fit over Teletubie’s “Tinky Winky”; can you imagine if he’d lived to see this?

I anticipate (and expect) the hyperventilation from the religious right, but there’s also the far left to deal with in this situation. I expect they’ll be protesting that Rowling should’ve outed the Master while he was still alive, and within the pages of her books instead of as an afterthought. The absence of that important part of his life from the Potter series makes poor Albus appear to be ashamed of that integral part of his character.

I, on the other hand, think it was classier for her to do it at Carnegie Hall, and in the company of fans. After all, it’s the fan’s reaction to the news that’s more important than the shallow screams from people who don’t even know, nor have even read the books.

In Harry Potter’s world it was about as necessary to announce your favorite color, left or right handedness, preference of car or favorite book, as it was to announce your sexual preference… which is as it should be. Rowling hadn’t made the announcement to raise an issue; she was merely answering a fan’s question as to whether Dumbledore, a believer in the prevailing power of love, had ever fallen in love himself.

Her answer was both simple and eloquent: "I always thought of Dumbledore as gay." She then went on to explain that Dumbledore had once fallen in love with Gellert Grindelwald, and had suffered when his intended became a powerful dark wizard.

Much to her delight, the audience applauded wildly at the announcement.

As a writer myself, I know that it’s necessary sometimes to let your audience get to know and love a character before you begin exposing everything about him. It’s better to let them think that a character is a trusted friend and ally then to come right out and expose them as a double agent for the “other side” in the first few paragraphs.

In conclusion, I’m glad she did it this way. Had she outed him in her books, they’d never have been as successful and beloved as they are now. It’s about time that people in general learn that homosexuals aren’t all pedophiles who chase little children to “recruit” them into their ranks.

Most of us have to announce it to people, or they’d never know…

As is the case for good Dumbledore.

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©-2007 by Jet Gardner/Blogcritics.org

First Evangelists, then GOP Congressmen, And Now Doogie Howser Is Gay! Is NOTHING Sacred?

2006-11-05T10:27:00.015-05:00

Doogie Howser, Gay, Gay actor, gay rights, How I met your mother, Neil Patrick Harris, Gay TV stars, gay celebrity, queer actor

I never thought I’d hear myself say this, but it’s just possible that the struggling gay rights movement has the scandalous Republican Party to thank for a really great year! First there was the groundbreaking, tender and moving Brokeback Mountain winning average folk's hearts and major film awards hand over fist along with and including films such as Capote.

Then the U.S. political scene was rocked by the Mark Foley page scandal, putting congressmen and their staffs in danger of being outed left and right (both literally, politically and figuratively). Add to that, the likes of ‘N Sync’s Lance Bass, Amazing Racer and hunk Reichen Lehmkuhl, and then Grey’s Anatomy’s T.R. Knight all coming out of the closet as gay, to name only a few of the more popular and notable entertainment celebrities.

Now word is trickling down that Neil “Doogie Howser” Patrick Harris has denied a two-day-old denial by his publicist Craig Schneider mistakenly released to the news media stating that Harris is not gay.

If you think you're confused by that last sentence, about now Jerry Falwell and Fred Phelps must feel like victims in a gay version of The Night of the Living Dead. All those actors were to be expected, but then there was famous and Bush-friendly, not to mention prominent evangelist Rev. Ted Haggard being snagged in a homosexual sex and drug scandal.

Harris’ self-declared “long-time sweetheart” and fellow actor David Burtka were recently rumored in the entertainment press to not only be gay, but a committed couple as well. Whispers didn’t really start up until Canada.com reported that Neil got his lover a choice role in his current CBS comedy How I Met Your Mother.

Born June 15, 1973, Harris, one of this year’s People Magazine’s Hottest Bachelors, started his acting career in fourth grade. He tagged along with his older brother in Ruidoso, New Mexico to an elementary school audition as a munchkin in a kid’s version of The Wizard of Oz. Instead, he got snagged to play Toto because he was the smallest one who tried out for the part.

From there he landed the role of David Hart in Clara’s Heart in 1988. In 1989 he was cast in the title lead as teen medical prodigy Doogie Howser M.D. from 1989 to 1992. From there he took on several stage and TV roles designed to lose his loveable boy doctor persona. These included a killer on Law and Order, as well as a troubled gang member in Howard Stern’s Son of a Beach. He also took parts in stage productions of Amadeus, Rent, and Cabaret, and in the recent movie parody of himself in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.

Harris has stated that in these times, he has no problems with people knowing he’s gay, and is very happy with his lover David.

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These great books are all from my own library including the classic Gordon Merrick "Charlie and Peter" Trilogy and the incredible "Front Runner" trio from Patricia Neil Warren. There's also fun stuff to display your Gay Pride with at great Amazon prices!

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A Straight Friend's Guide to Gay Pride

2006-06-05T11:06:00.009-04:00

Gay Games, Gay History, Gay Olympics, Gay Pride, queer history, homosexual history, Famous gay celebrities, queer rights, homosexual rights, queer pride

A friend and fellow Blogcritics writer Andy Marsh asked some honest and intelligent questions of me in my article "How Many Current Professional Athletes Are Gay?" (of which volumes 1&2 can be found in the table of contents above) and I felt honored that he’d asked, because a lot of my straight friends have probably wondered the same things, so I’ve converted it into a sort of conversation.

Andy: Is it really necessary to have a Gay Games? The way I read the article, it sounds like these athletes want or wanted acceptance...does calling yourself out with things like the gay games really make you feel included or excepted? Are there hetero games or hetero pride days?

Jet: Having lived through the turbulent '60s and '70s the short answer is yes; back then it was; Nowadays maybe not, but back then definitely. As an example, way before your time there was an era when blacks had their own sports teams (The Negro Leagues) because they were segregated and weren’t permitted to play with whites. A sense of intolerance towards blacks back then even extended to having separate whites-only drinking fountains. That same intolerance began brewing toward gays in the 70s and 80s as people like Anita Bryant and Jerry Falwell’s “Moral Majority” began their unchecked hate mongering and their spreading misinformation about AIDS began doing a lot of damage. In short they succeeded in super gluing the words Gay and AIDS together, leading people to believe their lie that all gays had and spread AIDS.

They were so successful that back then even Gay publications were calling it “The Gay Cancer”. Tragically they actually had people believing that you could get AIDS just by swimming in the same chlorinated pool or breathing the same air. The best example was in the 1988 Olympics when Greg Louganis’ head hit the diving board, causing a scare because he’d bled in the pool. Suddenly professional and amateur sports began banning gays from competing because people were led to believe out of ignorance that it was just as easily and/or mysteriously contracted as cancer.

We knew better, but we couldn’t convince the general population of that, so we started holding our own games to insure that great athletes had a place to show their stuff and be recognized without the over exaggerated stigma involved with HIV positive athletes competing.

Andy: It just seems to me that wearing a big sign that says what you are — no matter what it is — is just asking for trouble. Think about it. Even here at Blogcritics, there are people that give some people shit for never serving in the military and those same people give other people shit that DID serve. So it seems to me that any label you put on yourself is just asking some other group to fuck with you, but that's just me. Does calling yourself out with gay pride day and stuff like that really make you feel included or accepted?

Jet: Let me answer that in four parts.

1. There was an era in my life when I’d make good close friends with people, we’d socialize, have fun, play sports, see movies etc. Then they’d find out I was gay, and suddenly want nothing more to do with me, for only that reason. So I started wearing that sign you mentioned so that they’d know up front who I was and if they couldn’t handle it, it was better to find out then rather than be hurt and spurned later by someone you’d grown close to as a friend(s). In days gone by it might have been “My god I didn’t know you were Jewish!” or “Is your father really black?” and a day later you’d stop hearing from them.

2. By the late 70s televangelists, the born-agains and the religious right had seized on an opportunity that had been handed to them on a golden platter making us pariahs of society. They had people actually believing that AIDS was God’s punishment to homosexuals, and that just being gay was “contagious”. The U.S. is one of the few countries in the world where the general population thinks AIDS is a gay disease. Ronald Reagan refused to stop the disinformation by simply ignoring the AIDS crisis for a long time, doing damage by his complacency. Unwittingly it fooled straight people for years into thinking they could have unprotected sex because they weren’t gay, so they couldn’t possibly get it.

Back then, exclusive use of the word homoSEXual was used, to emphasize their assertions to the frightened population that we are all sexual creatures first and humans second, meaning that the very moment we saw another male; especially a young, tender, impressionable and innocent one, we’d lose all control of our sexual urges. They took advantage of people not understanding back then how someone can grow up gay naturally, so they convinced people that somehow homosexuals were recruited into it by some pervert at childhood to perpetuate the species. How else does one become gay: certainly not naturally? It must be a choice-like anyone would choose to be spurned and hated!

3. The Gay Pride parades are actually a celebration of an important anniversary in our culture (our very own Fourth of July you might say). It’s the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. There was a real time Andy, when it was actually illegal just to walk into a gay bar. In New York it was a nightly occurrence for cops to go in to gay taverns like the Stonewall Inn and arrest and/or beat up half the clientele just to harass them. It became fun sport for bored policemen.

On Friday evening, June 27, 1969 the cops figured a bunch of drag queen fairies and pansies wouldn't fight back, and started brutally using night sticks during an arrest raid, and those mincing little fags in their dresses, leather or tight jeans decided enough was enough and fought back-resulting in one HELL of a riot that is talked about to this day. It signaled the beginning of the Gay Rights movement, so we celebrate the anniversary in June every year.

It’s the religious right that’d have you believe that our parades are just an attempt to get in your faces and scream “we’re here and we’re queer!” Actually we’re just celebrating like the Irish do on St. Patrick’s Day. I’m appalled every year at how news reports only show the glitter queens prancing in their rainbow wigs, high-heels and falsies, or the Dykes on Bikes, and ignore the hundreds or thousands of ordinary people marching along side them, perpetuating the myth that the vast majority of us aren’t “normal”, and don’t lead “normal” lives, in “normal” ways.

The parades are a way to show people just how much of an invisible population we are, and the only effective way to do that is in sheer undeniable numbers. Here in Columbus tens of thousands of people turn out every year, just to say "Hey; there are more of us than you might think there are!" and in New York and San Francisco they number in the hundreds of thousands. Then the next day we all seem to mysteriously disappear back into thin air; which frightens some people. As long as we’re all lisping flamboyant queens wearing pink chiffon, they know who we are and where we are. You fear what you don’t understand Andy-you fear what you don’t understand.

4. As for Gays coming out in the military, well another short history lesson. Andy. As you know, a long time ago homosexuals were considered sick and disgusting, but back during the Cold War gays made a lot of meaningful contributions in the military especially in the ranks of military intelligence and scientific and nuclear research, but paranoia set in because it was assumed that if you were gay you were susceptible to being blackmailed by an enemy spy into giving out secret information. Russia was infamous for photographically trapping diplomats with young gay hustlers in Moscow to get information.

We're more like everyone else than you might think Andy, and most of us are just as patriotic. I personally fly a giant flag off my balcony on holidays. We would openly make contributions by serving openly in the military if we could, but simpleminded people won't let us, so thousands of gav servicemen contribute their talents and lives for your rights and the rights of hatemongers like Phelps and Falwell and no one acknowledges it publicly.

Are you aware that one huge problem in Iraq right now is a lack of translators and medical people? The army just dismissed dozens for no other reason than that they were gay! Ignorance-pure ignorance-as if there really is a terror of some poor soldier being turned into a terrified helpless virgin unable to fight off the advances of some fag while he his way with him. There are people who think that gays look at the army as a huge “hunk” grocery store, where we can pick and choose, when the reality is we’re just as anxious to serve our country as anyone else.

Andy: One more thing. I seriously doubt you were appalled to find out that pro athletes stay in the closet until their careers are over, unless you've been in a real closet with the doors locked for the last, what, 50 some years?

Jet: I’m not surprised that Pro athletes stay in the closet until their careers are over—I’m appalled that they have to, especially when in other countries it isn’t necessary.

I hope I’ve answered a few questions. Happy gay pride week!

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Please have a look at these great Gay Movies and TV shows on DVD from my own library from Amazon! Hover your cursor over the object for a description-Use the arrow buttons to rotate the carousel...

These great books are all from my own library including the classic Gordon Merrick "Charlie and Peter" Trilogy and the incredible "Front Runner" trio from Patricia Neil Warren. There's also fun stuff to display your Gay Pride with at great Amazon prices!

WARNING: Reproduction of the FIRST PARAGRAPH of this article is permitted as long as a link back to it is provided.
Reproduction of any part this article past the first paragraph is forbidden without the author's permission
©-2009 by Jet Gardner/Blogcritics.org