"The Truth About Hate..."

"Fear Eats the Soul"

"The Truth Is In The Scriptures...?"

I personally believe that the Bible contains many points of wisdom, some of it divine.  But I know it is also rife with error, hate, and incomprehensible evil.  This seemingly insane rant from an 'activist pastor' proves my point... It is clear from this speech that he is recounting the same tired litany of dire outcomes that will result if GLBT people are not marginalized and allowed to be discriminated against or worse...  But if you listened carefully and all the way to the end, you realized that his speech is really a wake up call to all of us and his community... He's showing us quite powerfully that the same ignorance that people allowed to destroy the humanity of others in the past is the same ignorance that is being directed at GLBT people as they seek their rights today.  I am dumbfounded and amazed at his ability to use the hate that in the past has spewed forth from the mouths of supposedly good and learned men who claim to speak for and about God to show us the error of our ways even today...  Thank you, Pastor Snider.  This is one of the things I'm thinking about this Sunday.

"Fear Eats the Soul"

"Same Gender Loving - No. 1135"

"True Love Knows No Bounds..."

Positive images of people like me... The truth of the matter is that we all need to see people like ourselves. So everyday, I'll post a photo, drawing or some other artwork that depicts Same Gender Loving People as what we are... Only Human.

"Peace, Love And Happiness..."

After I came out, someone once asked me, "What is it that you want...?"  My answer was simply this, "Peace, Love and Happiness, the same things you want from your life."  This election day, Washington state is one of four states that can begin to make that possible by establishing marriage equality...

"Fear Eats the Soul"

"A Thought To Ponder..."

From Blogger Lewis Breland's "A Finer Tradition..."

Photo selected by "The Unbearable Truth... Fear Eats The Soul"

Filthy: The Problem with the Gay Community

Lewis Breland

To begin, then, with a preface: this outcry will not endear me to our gay community and even less to my closest friends.  There is no need to prolong the reason why, either.  I’ll be blunt, as usual.  Our community is filthy.  Drug use (let alone abuse!) is rampant from the youngest of us to the oldest of us.  Promiscuous sex is envied and looked upon as a benefit to our character – experience and accomplishment if you will.  Perhaps it is a free-spirited attitude which takes us here.  I fear that is not the case at all.  It is a careless and irresponsible personality which will allow themselves to become so blinded by reckless desire that gives us this hue.

            So what?  Why should I care if the majority of the men in the bars and clubs are there to pick up a trick for a quick night of sexual fun?  Why should it matter to me?  Primarily I am concerned about health.  If for no other reason, I advocate protected sex with as few intimate partners as possible.  Secondly, I care about whether or not (at least to myself) I am going to be able to share true love and intimacy in the bedroom.  If I can detach myself from emotion for sex with a random stranger over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again, how much harder it will be to form an intimate and romantic connection with another person whom I only wish I could give that sentiment to?

            So what?  Why should I care if the majority of the men in the bars and clubs are drugging themselves senseless and partying themselves into oblivion?  Care not for the morrow, right?  Absurd.  This is even more unthinkable to me because of the health effects of drugs to begin with.  Secondly, it’s a sure mark of human failure to cope and a mark of low morals anyways. 

            We’re looking for that one true love, right?  I seriously doubt you’ll find it in this community in which a great deal of youths are worshiping their bodies, pleasure and recklessness.  In a community where the greatest of pleasures is to get fucked up on meth and then get fucked in the ass by whoever is available is the most disgusting, disgraceful practice I can imagine.  Little wonder the outside world – the normal and average American – looks on this community with such horror and distaste.  What can we possibly hope to achieve in this state of existence whereby all we can muster is devoted to selfish pleasures of the lowest caliber? 

            I say, grow up.  I say, be responsible.  I say, care for yourself and for each other.  I say, live!  I say, fill your mind with knowledge!  I say, take care of your life!  I say, hold yourself up to be a moral bastion and role model!  I say, again, grow up or die.

            Perhaps my vision of an upright and moralistic homosexual community asks too much.  I don’t consider myself better than anyone else, for that would be a truly pointless position to take.  What I consider myself to be is an upright young man who has only recently been disillusioned by the filth I witness on every corner of the gay scene. 

            I have a few requests, if I may be so bold!  First, let’s not look at each other as pieces of meat waiting to be tasted.  Let’s hold ourselves to a higher standard and realize that we are all in the same boat together, we have similar wishes, desires and dreams.  We have similar problems to confront.  We are not isolated and cannot live without each other.

            Secondly, let’s respect our bodies and respect others enough to tell them that drug use is not acceptable, let alone admirable.  To turn your eyes blindly away from this problem is to invite disaster and to endorse/enable this abuse to continue unopposed.

            Open your eyes and see what is around you.  Sexual gratification is not the be all of existence.  A high is not the fulfillment of enlightenment.  To act as though these were the keys to happiness and success is to be one common presence at the table of gay people.  Congratulations.  You have entered the norm of gay life.  I, myself, intend to resign from this community.  I will have no part in it.  It is not a world into which I wish to bring children and raise a family.  It is not a community I am proud to belong to. 

http://pride-institute.com/programs/lgbt-treatment/lgbt-drug-abuse/

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And although I frequently use the term "gay" in describing myself and other GLBT people, I do so as a matter of convenience only (and truthfully as a way to escape needing to be very much more specific about who I am).  But certainly, "Gay" is not my preferred "label" of choice for all the reasons Lewis enumerates above.  In fact, (as you know) I greatly prefer the term "same gender loving" (SGL) as my self-identification, as it for most people far more accurately describes the character of the life I choose to lead.  And I find that the distinction is significant because at least thus far, SGL does not conjure the negative stereotypes (based in hard to accept truths) that many of our most vehement and vocal opponents point to as their justification for keeping us second-class citizens to be condemned and pitied at best, and at worst made out to be heinous criminals worthy of imprisonment or even death.

Although these thoughts about the "gay community" that Lewis brings to our attention here are hard to acknowledge, acknowledging the truth and seeking our freedom from our own self-destruction is the only way to overcome what really is wrong with being a part of the "gay community."  I agree with Lewis Breland, very often, "it is not a community I am proud to belong to.  And as I always share, remember that... "Fear Eats the Soul...." and the truth shall set you free.

Please feel free to comment on this post... All comments other than spam will be published.   

"Gay PDA Is Okay!"

"To Love Is To Be In The World Together... Live Fearlessly"

PDA: Public display of affection

"The Truth About Love..."

"Do they still call it infatuation? That magic ax that chops away the world in one blow, leaving only the couple standing there trembling? Whatever they call it, it leaps over anything, takes the biggest chair, the largest slice, rules the ground wherever it walks, from a mansion to a swamp, and its selfishness is its beauty.... People with no imagination feed it with sex -- the clown of love. They don't know the real kinds, the better kinds, where losses are cut and everybody benefits. It takes a certain intelligence to love like that -- softly, without props."

- Toni Morrison

"Saturday Cinema..."

Here is a film about coming of age, friendship, love, hope and understanding... set in the dark days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, this film about the innocents caught up in those terrible days will provoke you the think back and recall it all.  

"Fear Eats the Soul"

"This Made Me Smile..."

I love the comedic genius of Britain's Catherine Tate...

"Fear Eats the Soul"

"Same Gender Loving People - No. 1134"

"When Two Hearts Are Connected..."

Positive images of people like me... The truth of the matter is that we all need to see people like ourselves. So everyday, I'll post a photo, drawing or some other artwork that depicts Same Gender Loving People as what we are... Only Human.

"In The News Today..."

As you know, this humble blog comes to you from beautiful Detroit, Michigan, USA... So when I read this over on Gawker, as I found myself surprisingly un-surprised, I knew I had to share it:

Are You From One of America's Most Dangerous Cities? That Knife in Your Neck Says 'Yes'

By Robert Kessler

Forbes has released its annual list of the ten most dangerous cities in the U.S. Check to see if you live in one of them! And if you are currently being mugged, then you definitely live in one of them.

• 10. Buffalo, New York
• 9. Cleveland, Ohio
• 8. Stockton, California
• 7. Baltimore, Maryland
• 6. Atlanta, Georgia
• 5. Birmingham, Alabama
• 4. Memphis, Tennessee
• 3. Oakland, California
• 2. St. Louis, Missouri

The nation's number one most dangerous city is... Drumroll please... Actually no drumroll. Detroit, it's Detroit. It's always Detroit.

Detroit's violent crime rate is 2,137 per 100,000 people. What does this mean exactly? For every hundred thousand people you can see right now, 2,137 of them are being crimed on. And according to Forbes, Detroit's violent crime rate is down 10 percent from 2011, but that's still five times the national average. It's so bad, in fact, that in 2010, Detroit bested Karachi, Pakistan and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico as the second most dangerous city in the world.

This is Detroit's fourth year on the top of the list, which proves everyone has to be good at something.

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On a happier note, since I work in the death care industry, all this bids well for my continuing success and employment here in beautiful Detroit!

Yes, I make light of it to keep myself from crying over it...

"Fear Eats the Soul"

"The Artist's Corner..."

"The Kiss"

Graphic Illustration

Fred Collins