PHOTOS: Big Gay Weddings Across Texas
The capital and largest city of Texas held joint ceremonies for same-sex couples this weekend.
Neal Broverman
www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2015/07/06/photos-big-gay-weddings-across-texas
Stop in the Shame of Love
Stop in the Shame of Love
Darryl’s self-serving relationship with math should have been the first sign of trouble. After all, his snow white comb-over and liver-spotted hands belied the age he claimed in his online dating profile.
“How does 42 feel?” I asked, having just hit the 40 mark myself. “Are there side effects?” I pitched a joke, hoping he would fess up to the fact that he was an early senior citizen using creative statistics to attract younger dates. With that air cleared, I thought we could continue the evening on honest ground.
“Oh, a number is meaningless,” Darryl said. “In fact, I feel better at 42 than I did at any other age. It’s all about outlook and perspective.”
“I was born in 1975,” I said, “which makes your birth year…?” I wanted to see how quickly he tossed back “1973.”
“Um, 1970?” he blurted as a question, after stumbling over his words for a few seconds.
“Being born in 1970 would make you 45,” I said. “Why add an extra three years?” Both of us knew the gig was up, but Darryl’s misguided confidence made it uncomfortable to watch the flustered facial contortions that were undoubtedly the result of the mental machinations grinding their rusty wheels behind his perfectly Botoxed forehead.
“Did I mention that my best girlfriend and I talk all the time about how aging affects people differently? She is a famous singer, so she feels as though the world has watched her get older.” It was his attempt to shift the spotlight.
Darryl had, in fact, mentioned his “famous” friend more than four times over the course of our initial messages and phone conversations, letting slip early on that they were the same age. And, as it turns out, the well-known chanteuse did, in fact, have a hit song — of the one/wonder variety — on the popular soundtrack of a fan-favorite ’80s film, so it was easy to place both of their ages at 55. She had been public — I Googled it — about being in her mid-20’s during her 15 minutes of fame.
Now, Darryl’s face dropped into an expressionless puddle of skin folds when he realized that he’d basically outed himself as an AARP member. Interestingly, he was the only one at our table for two who had an issue with his actual age. It was the lying that bothered me.
“Will you forgive me?” he asked. “I didn’t think that a 55-year-old could grab your interest, and I just had this feeling we would get along based on your profile.”
Darryl wasn’t wrong about that. His career as a musical theater executive was fascinating, and his good self-esteem was actually a turn on. No, he wasn’t Channing Tatum, but he was smart and funny, two attributes that outweigh matinee idol features on my scorecard.
“I think I can see past it this once,” I answered, “but please be honest going forward, OK?”
“You have my word,” Darryl said. “Now, how about we get out of this restaurant and grab a glass of wine at my house?”
He lied again; there was no glass of wine. He pushed me up against his living room wall with a passionate kiss before he could even ask if I liked white or red. Within minutes, our clothes were off, and Darryl was very vocal about what he wanted and in what positions. He was extremely submissive, making grunting animal noises and begging for sexual release. Admittedly, it was hot, and his stamina could rival that of most of the younger men I had dated. I couldn’t wait to see what vintage he was going to serve up on date two.
Our second meal together was lunch during a workday, leaving no time or place for sex. Darryl’s witty banter and affectionate sensibility, though, made it a great afternoon, leaving us both — or so I thought — anticipating the physical intimacy that would almost certainly come after our third date.
Following a movie and dinner that next weekend, Darryl surprised me by not inviting me into his home when I drove us into his driveway.
“Do you not feel like a glass of wine?” I asked with a wink, nodding to our first date.
“Oh, man, I want to have sex with you more than anything,” he said. “Except for one little problem: I really, really like you.”
Wait, what?
“What I did with you on our first date is what I do with disposable guys whom I don’t plan to see again,” he continued. “It was just dirty sex that I wouldn’t want to bring into the bedroom with someone I actually care about.”
“Let me make sure I am understanding this,” I said. “Are you saying that you didn’t think much of me on our first date, so you engaged in sex acts that you’d consider shameful if applied to a person you might want to see another time?”
“Basically, yeah,” Darryl replied. “Now, I want to do this the right way. I want to keep dating you and make love when the time is right. I want to start over and forget that the first night ever happened.”
For years, I had worked tirelessly to release all of the shame that I’d attached to my own sexual desires, and Darryl’s plan would take me back to that dark place.
“I don’t consider satisfying, consensual sex to be dirty, and I hardly think it’s necessary to forget our first date or to hit the pause button,” I said. “I enjoyed our first time, and I want to feel what comes next — be it frantic, passionate sex or more tender lovemaking.”
“That’s probably a couple of months away for me,” he said. “I need to put some distance between that sleazy banging and the kind of sex I want to ultimately have with you. I just need to move my mind past it.”
“Sort of like the way your mind moved past 1960?” I asked, irritated and feeling jerked around like a yo-yo.
“I know it seems like I am taking a step backward in my attempt to move ahead with you,” Darryl said. “Call me old…”
“Stop right there,” I retorted, before he could get the word “fashioned” out of his mouth. “It was really nice meeting you, but I think this will be our last date.”
“Are you serious?” he shouted, getting out of my silver sports car and slamming the door. “I can’t believe I even considered having ‘real’ sex with you.”
What I couldn’t believe was how concerned a 55-year-old, out-of-the-closet man was about embracing his true physical interests. He was embarrassed about his sexual proclivities and ashamed to act on them with someone he thought highly of — and, at last, I realized that I had too much hard-earned self-respect to run the risk of losing it.
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Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s sons disappointed in dad’s dissing of gay marriage ruling
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s sons disappointed in dad’s dissing of gay marriage ruling
The two sons of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker were not happy to see their father take the US Supreme Court to task for making same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states.
After the 26 June ruling, Republican presidential hopeful Walker stated: ‘I believe this Supreme Court decision is a grave mistake,’ blamed ‘five unelected judges’ and called for an amendment to the US Constitution giving states the ability to decide if same-sex couples can marry.
‘We will need a conservative president who will appoint men and women to the Court who will faithfully interpret the Constitution and laws of our land without injecting their own political agendas,’ Walker also stated.
Matt Walker and Alex Walker immediately voiced their displeasure to their mother.
‘That was a hard one,’ Tonette Walker tells the Washington Post. ‘Our sons were disappointed. . . . I was torn. I have children who are very passionate [in favor of same-sex marriage], and Scott was on his side very passionate.’
She adds: ‘It’s hard for me because I have a cousin who I love dearly – she is like a sister to me – who is married to a woman, her partner of 18 years.’
Alex Walker had even been the best man at the wedding of the cousin, Shelli Marquardt, and her wife Cathy Priem.
At his first public appearance after the ‘grave mistake’ statement, the governor toned down his comments on gay marriage and said: ‘We should respect the opinions of others in America. But that in return means that they not only respect our opinions, they respect what is written in the Constitution.’
The sons are still planning to take some time off from college to work on their dad’s presidential campaign – he will formally announce on 13 July – despite their disagreement on the hot button marriage issue.
The post Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s sons disappointed in dad’s dissing of gay marriage ruling appeared first on Gay Star News.
Greg Hernandez
Speak Out for the Millions of Americans Affected by the FDA’s Discriminatory Blood Donation Policy
Speak Out for the Millions of Americans Affected by the FDA’s Discriminatory Blood Donation Policy
Send a letter to the FDA on why its blood donation policy falls short and how it can be revised to meet the goal all of us share – keeping America’s blood supply safe.
HRC.org
These Transgender Working Girls Are Out For Vengence In Hollywood
These Transgender Working Girls Are Out For Vengence In Hollywood
It’s Christmas eve in Hollywood. Do you know where your pimp is? In director Sean Baker’s sizzling, manic new film Tangerine (shot on an iPhone and opening in select theaters this Friday), trans working girl Sin-Dee (newcomer Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) is back in Hollywood after her unfortunate incarceration and upon hearing that her pimp boyfriend (James Ransone, The Wire) hasn’t been faithful while she was in the slammer, Sin and her best gal pal, Alexandra (newcomer Mya Taylor), hit the mean streets of Tinseltown to get to the bottom of the scandalous rumor.
Check back later in the week for our interview with Baker and watch an exclusive clip (some NSFW language) below.
Jeremy Kinser
Fallen Firefighter’s Family Still Trying To Deprive Transgender Widow of Death Benefits – VIDEO
Fallen Firefighter’s Family Still Trying To Deprive Transgender Widow of Death Benefits – VIDEO
A transgender widow in Texas is still fighting to have her marriage (above) to her late husband recognized, even after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down same-sex marriage bans in Obergefell v. Hodges.
Nikki Araguz Loyd’s husband, Thomas Araguz III, was a volunteer firefighter who was killed in the line of duty in 2010. Shortly after his death, Thomas Araguz’s mother and former wife — Simona Longoria and Heather Delgado — sued Araguz Loyd, seeking to block her from collecting death benefits because she’s transgender. They argued that because Araguz Loyd was born male, the marriage was void under the state’s same-sex marriage ban. This was despite the fact that Araguz Loyd had been living as a woman since she was a teenager, and that both her California birth certificate and her Texas driver’s license were updated to reflect her gender identity.
The case has dragged on for more than five years. In 2011, a district judge granted summary judgment to Longoria and Delgado, before an appeals court overturned that decision and remanded the case for trial. Longoria and Delgado appealed to the Texas Supreme Court, where the case is pending.
Araguz Loyd said she believes now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of nationwide marriage equality, she’ll prevail and collect approximately $700,000 in death benefits. The only argument put forth by Longoria and Delgado has been that Araguz Loyd isn’t entitled to death benefits because it was a same-sex marriage.
From The Texas Observer:
“I’ll celebrate when I have finality, when I know that my fight is truly over, because while we do have marriage equality, there is still pending litigation disputing the validity of the marriage of a trans person based on it being a same-sex marriage, so we don’t completely have marriage equality in Texas yet, but we will,” said Araguz Loyd, who has since remarried. …
Kevin Parker, an attorney for Longoria and Delgado, confirmed he plans to keep fighting and still hopes the Texas Supreme Court will hear the case.
“There’s the issue regarding whether the U.S. Supreme Court decision can affect a marriage, if it existed at all, that ended years before the decision came out,” Parker said. “There’s definitely a potential effect to the U.S. Supreme Court decision, and it does mean we have a higher hill to climb, but it’s still going to go on until the Texas Supreme Court says otherwise.”
Araguz Loyd was the stepmother of Thomas Araguz’s two children, but she’s been unable to see them since his death. However, she told me she is preparing to adopt the two children of her new husband, contemporary artist William Loyd (above right). Araguz Loyd also runs the National Transgender Alliance.
Watch a report on the case, including an interview with Araguz, below.
The post Fallen Firefighter’s Family Still Trying To Deprive Transgender Widow of Death Benefits – VIDEO appeared first on Towleroad.
John Wright
Fallen Firefighter’s Family Still Trying To Deprive Transgender Widow of Death Benefits – VIDEO
LGBT Network Donor Reception at Exotic Classics of Syosset
WATCH: Rick Santorum Thinks 'People Aren't Getting Married'
The Potato Eater: A Gripping New Read by Best-Selling Author Alison Leslie Gold
The Potato Eater: A Gripping New Read by Best-Selling Author Alison Leslie Gold
Alison Leslie Gold, the international best selling author of Remembering Anne Frank, has made a name for herself by not shying away from controversial, raw material.
In her new novella, The Potato Eater, she does not disappoint.
From an audio tape made in 1977 in New York City: “I was 16 when I was arrested for corrupting the morals of soldiers and sailors, blocking a public doorway, and disturbing the peace. In prison I began to grow up and learn. I learned how to pick pockets, how to open five kinds of safes, how to forge checks, how to work second story, how to boost. We’d practice there. I learned all the necessary things to spend 20 more years in different prisons. Riker’s Island was my Junior High School. Sing Sing and Dannemora State were my High Schools. The chain gang and Leavenworth were my colleges.
Immediately I had ‘Homosexual, Degenerate, Cock Sucker’ stamped on my records so I was rarely in population with the rest of the men. I was kept in segregation with junkie queens, wino queens, booster queens, prick peddlers, drag queens and some men who just preferred to be in the homo block where they were adored and given sexual comfort. Life in segregation with those mad sissies was like being caged with a mass of mad, screaming peacocks.”
Padric McGarry was the surviving twin born in 1925 to the unwed 15-year-old daughter of Irish immigrants. Raped at the age of 7 by an older boy, he learned early during his Bronx childhood to use his wits and good looks to hustle and steal at every opportunity. He eventually did time in twenty prisons across the US, where McGarry improved his criminal skills and snatched moments of comfort with Miss Scarlet and other queens in the “Homo Blocks.”
The Potato Eater is an unsentimental biography that offers a stark, unembroidered view of the intersection of gay and prison cultures. For this unapologetic and often darkly comical account of a rootless life at the bottom of the heap, award-winning author Alison Leslie Gold drew on interviews she made with McGarry in the 1970s, as well as his letters and his own notes. McGarry died, with two years of sobriety, in a halfway house in San Diego in 1982.
“I read ‘The Potato Eater’ in shocked bursts, yet could not stay away from the next word, next paragraph. Padric is so far from anyone that I have known, he, or I, might as well be from a different planet. Alison Leslie Gold has made me realize how protected, and fortunate, I have been. Padric was awesome to have survived, and thrived, in his raw street-wise world. And it takes an awesome writer to present Padric in all his unvarnished grit as a likable and very human individual.” — Gail Vanderhoof
Buy the book here on Amazon.com | Read Alison Leslie Gold’s blog | More about The Potato Eater
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Observatory Gardens, Kensington, London
Observatory Gardens, Kensington, London
At the heart of London’s most prestigious postcode, this studio apartment offers high-end living with an air of sophistication.
Located on the lower ground floor of a beautifully kept Georgian house, the flat’s layout makes clever use of all available space.
The kitchen area, although separate from the main room, creates the impression of an open plan arrangement; white fronts and effectively used lights make the kitchen feel more spacious.
The kitchen’s white fronts offer copious storage space.
A period fireplace takes up center stage in the lounge area, making the flat feel homey and invites residents to curl up on the sofa and relax.
Wooden flooring contributes to the flat’s warmth while also serving as a reminder of the property’s past.
A small alcove partly separates the bed from the main room, offering extra privacy.
Sitting in a small alcove off the side, the bedroom area is not visible upon entering the flat; without being fully separated from the main room, it benefits from an added element of privacy.
In the bathroom, cream furnishings and dark tiles are keep in line with the apartment’s simple elegance and low-key color scheme, but it still offers the same level of high quality interiors.
The bathroom’s dark tiles stand in an elegant contrast against the cream furnishings.
A porter service and allocated safe parking spaces offer security.
Located close to Notting Hill Gate and High Street Kensington Underground Stations, Observatory Gardens benefits from transport links into the suburbs as well as deeper into Central London.
Kensington Palace, its gardens and Hyde Park are a short walk away, as are all other amenities this fashionable district has to offer.
Priced at £650,000 (€919,455, $1,010,842) the property is sold through Knight Frank.
The post Observatory Gardens, Kensington, London appeared first on Gay Star News.
Stefanie Gerdes
www.gaystarnews.com/article/observatory-gardens-kensington-london/
