Bert & Ernie, "Roommates"?

Now, personally, I have no vested interest in Bert & Ernie Coming Out, as to me they were always best friends who lived together. Now, could they be gay? Yes. Does that mean they're a romantic couple? No. Could one be gay and one be straight? Yes. Could they both be straight? Yes. It's possible, if improbable. ;-) hehehe.

That said, Sesame Street will eventually have an LGBT character. It just will. The show premiered in 1969...America still struggling to deal with racial integration and on comes a TV show set in New York City where people of all walks of life and ethnicity and cultural background are living in harmony together. With Muppets. Check out the earliest seasons - the racial-integration angle is worked hard and it needed to be - this country was split apart by racial tensions and prejudice. Sesame Street showed young children a world where colour was not a divide - cultures were celebrated, differences emrbaced, friendship and understanding giving premium. All good things.

The South African version even has Kami, a Muppet with HIV. North Americans may balk at that but the reality of South Africa's HIV rates in their population show how necessary a character like Kami is to children who are indeed growing up in an HIV-positive world.

LGBT people are a part of culture. Children watching Sesame Street have always had gay family members, most just didn't know it. Many young people (ahem, MOI) who watched the show were/are gay.

It may not be Bert & Ernie, but one day LGBT people will be represented on Sesame Street. And I have a feeling we'll be welcomed warmly.

How Not To Hit On Me

Grindr. Say what you will about it, it's here and it's being used. A lot. Whether it's for people who want "Oral Sex with GPS" or a quick and easy way to find 420-friendly queer dudes to kick back and watch art-films with (don't laugh, it's used for that more than you know) the reality is that Grindr is useful, useless, hilarious and sad in equal measure. You get very little room to "say" things, and it's amazing how people (mis)use the limited characters they have.

A guy will say "muscular" to describe himself. Yes, well, we can see from your picture that you're muscular, so that's a waste of text-space now isn't it? That said, his choosing to waste text space by stating the obvious is actually a terrific indicator that he's a Moron Seeking Other Morons. Duly noted, and thank you for the heads-up.

Now while it's hard to "get a feel" for a person on an app with such 'limited' profile space, the reality is that what is said, what is not said, and the specific way in which things are or are not said still manages to actually give you a pretty darn good idea of who you're chatting with.

Shown here. All was going well, nice friendly flirty chat, nothing overtly sexual either. Friendly, like I said. And then I was asked "Hey, are you Masc?"

Here's what happened next - My text in YELLOW his text in BLUE

*

*Now, we all know "Nor Ono" is Grindr-autocorrect-speak for "Not Into" hehehe!

Then I was sent four text messages informing me that I have "mental issues" and that I'm "really judgmental."

Now, let's stop for a moment to address that. HE is allowed to "pre-judge" all "fems" or "blacks" and not want to meet them, but I'M not allowed to not want to meet someone who prejudges "blacks" and "fems"? He's allowed to not be into blacks and fems but I'm not allowed to be into a guy who's not into blacks and fems? Heaven forbid we be so quick to snap to a judgement based on someone's being so quick to snap to a judgement based on someone's ethnicity. My mind just turned inside out.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, I present the approach to logic of a douche-nozzle who will spend his entire life wondering why his experience is so mediocre.

Love, Little Kiwi

*elegant curtsy*

Pitbulls Are Lovely

After 8 months since visiting my Canadian homeland, I have returned. And the lovely wee lady shows how happy she is to see me.

:-)

Hissey Fit

The bittersweet irony of Miss Matt Hissey *le sighhhhh*

He hates "stereotypical gays" yet he himself is a number of gay stereotypes.

*ahem*

1. the "Stereotypical Gay Dude Who Can't Stop Talking About How Not-a-Stereotype He Is"
2. the "Stereotypical Deluded Gay Guy Who Doesn't Realize That He Actually Embodies Exactly What People Think of When They Think 'Gay Stereotype'"
3. the "Stereotypical Gay Republican Who Thinks Hating Liberals Will Earn Back His Daddy's Love"

4. the "Stereotypical White Moneyed Right-Wing Gay Man Who Hates Liberals Because His Parents Hate Liberals"

it's like INCEPTION, it just works on so many levels. Truly, the mind boggles. It's the INCEPTION of gay stereotype discussions.

Now, we get people in and out of the community who constantly talk about how "it's pressure from the gay agenda" that makes people "act like gay stereotypes."

Uh....then why is this right-wing anti-gay little asswipe the absolute embodiment of quite a number of "gay stereotypes"?

I thought they were the social construct of the 'gay community' that this man, and the other wimps of GOProud, utter loathes...no?

How can a lifetime spent avoiding "stereotypical gays" in the 'gay community' result in this kid being the stereotype he is today?

So why does he embody those gay stereotypes, then? If he's avoided them all his life, then why does he embody so many?

This wuss might very prove that being gay, and having many perceived "stereotypically gay traits" is in fact biological.

GOProud, My Ass

my first trip to Fire Island

*sighhhhh*

Highly-emotional trip I had. I've been reading about Fire Island since my late teens. And I realized, when I finally made my pilgrimage there this summer, that I'd never truly allowed myself to think about "what it will be like when I finally visit it"; I'd never allowed myself to think that one day I'd get there. Well, I made it. For once, I'm struggling to find the words to describe it. Ethan Mordden was right - it's magical.

There are many stories about my trip to tell, and even more to share only between the closest of friends. For now, a glimpse of what I was seeing and feeling.

More Squishy Babies

Little Kiwi getting knocked over by a squishy bulldog. Lovesit.

The Invasion - Fire Island

Drag queens have always been an integral part of the bohemian Cherry Grove bar & club scene, but frowned upon and practically forbidden in the more affluent and conservative Fire Island Pines of the 70s. According to legend, in 1976 a Cherry Grove man in drag (Teri Warren) was denied service at the Botel, a Pines restaurant & bar owned by John B. Whyte.

Upon hearing about this blatant discrimination against one of her sisters, the newly crowned Homecoming Queen of the Arts Project Cherry Grove, PANZI (Thom Hansen) took it upon herself to lead a small group of 9 brave Cherry Grove girls in a water taxi into the Pines harbor one hot afternoon for what they expected to be a confrontational welcoming by the Pines men.

On the contrary, the Pines men were so surprised and entertained by this “Drag Queen Invasion” in the middle of the day that they welcomed them all to drinks at the Blue Whale bar for what now is a yearly celebration and tradition.

NYC Pride 2011

Well, folks, it was one for the ages. This may have been the most joyous Pride celebration that New York City has experienced in a great many years. The reason, of course, was the vote days earlier on legalizing Marriage Equality in New York State. The "tone" of Pride was utterly hinging on the outcome of that vote; would we have a fight in our hearts or a cause to celebrate? Well, of course, we won. I marched in the parade with PFLAG NYC, and a number of friends who were all experiencing there very first Pride. It was absolutely thrilling. The love in the air, the bond of Family and Community - there are no words to describe the overwhelming joy of the celebration.

Hugs and Love to you all.

Marriage Equality Comes to New York

Thank you to all who voted in favour of Equality, and all who worked hard to get the message of Equality out into the universe. We won.

Lessons From My Father

WEINERGATE! Aka, Lamest "Sex-Scandal" Ever

When violence breaks out at a sporting event, the cameras rush in to capture all the action.
When a tit broke out at the Superbowl years ago, the FCC got their muthafuckin' FINE on.

There were riots last night in Vancouver, because the canucks lost a fucking hockey game. riots. cars set on fire and exploded. because team lost a HOCKEY GAME.

and yet...people freak out about Gay Pride? "Oh..the stereotypes of pride..there's gonna be A DRAG QUEEN! ...there's gonna be GUYS IN SPEEDOS!...or BOOBS! or BARE BUMS!"

yeah. know what there's not gonna be? carbombings and rioting.
those are 'straight male stereotypes' that are actually harmful that we're, blessedly, free from.

again, the anger and morality of "sex issues" and not "violence" ones.
every city that hosts the Superbowl sees a spike in not just drug and sex trafficking, but specifically CHILD sex trafficking.

it's all-too-common for violence and vandalism to erupt after a sports team loses a "big game"; i used to live in the UK - the 'soccer hooligans' thing is legit.

it's a more than common occurrence, to the point that it's almost expected and more police are deployed to areas where the games are being held in ADVANCE.

if gay pride events had the histories of violence that many big sports games have then i'd understand a backlack against them.
as is, people seem less concerned about violent reactions to sport losses and more concerned with dudes showing their bums.

and bums, like sexy jewish penises, pose no actual threat of harm to society.

Now, the reality is that straight men have a more violent image than gay men do and yet gay men are the ones demonized by society.

The Best Way to Put Someone in Their Place

Now this, ladies and gentlemen, is how to put someone in their place. I give three snaps in a Z-formation, like a drag queen from 1994.

Phoebe Cates Made Me Gay

Oh, my childhood love for Phoebe Cates, which I've never outgrown. From the skin-baring tawdriness of "Paradise" (if you're gonna rip off a film, why rip off a film as lousy as "The Blue Lagoon"?), and "Private School", to the 80s classics that are Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Gremlins. The typical 80s-curios that are Lace and Lace II ("Incidentally, which one of you bitches is my mother?"), Date With An Angel, and then her all-too-fleeting but actually wonderful work in the 1990s. Drop Dead Fred? It's a cult film my generation has embraced. Princess Caraboo? One of the sweetest of the 90s-era of lavishly-mounted period romps. And then "The Anniversary Party", where her ecstasy-fueled breakdown about motherhood stops the show.

I LOVE HER. And I always have. And I always will.

Feeling Sigourney

Yeah. That's right. I'm channelling my inner Ellen Ripley. I kinda love it, actually. Sure beats having to, you know, do my hair. Look at me, I'm a daddy now!

A Tree of Life Grows in Brooklyn?

First, thanks to my good friend Sally for that title! ;-)

Second, I actually loved the film. Cannot wait to see it again a few more times. It stands as a singular experience, the most Malick-y film ever made. This is Malick's skill as a director - his choice to share an experience and tell a story without the expected trappings of conventional narrative, structure, exposition and linear storytelling. In a way, it's sort of like a mega-budget feature-length "thesis project" of a film. Those experimental short films where the filmmaker "tells a story" in a non-traditional way. Well, he's the long-ass version. I hear similar criticisms from people about films like this, or films by David Lynch - "it didn't make any sense, I didn't know what it was trying to say."

Uh...ok. I can list a couple hundred films that "made sense" and that were clear in "what they were trying to say" that still totally and utterly sucked donkey balls and were failures. It's abstract art, folks!

It's an emotional story, told through the memories of a child and a grander sense of life on Earth that keeps reminding the viewer that all this complexity and the questions of life were and are the ongoing evolutionary process of single-cell organisms.

The use of music in the film is as flawless as always. The photography absolutely stunning in its clarity and composition. The performances so real and unforced that it just feels as if an invisible camera just happened to catch the action.

The heartbreaking simplicity of small insightful moments; a gesture of love when one young boy puts his hand on the shoulder of another, who lost his home and received burn scars from a house fire. The guilt and intense shame of adolescent hormones rushing through a young man's mind. The need to destroy and exert power over others coupled with a clashing message of love and understanding and empathy.

There are moments in this film that will haunt me forever. For those who just didn't like it...well...I made this video for you.

EX-GAY Confessions/Lies/Apologies

EX-Gay? No. Just one more in a long line of young men whose families are so bigoted and closed of heart that they convince themselves of lies and untruths (thus breaking God's Ninth Commandment) in order to win back the love of their families. It happens all too often, and it needs to stop.

The Rapture. Armageddon. End of Days.

ANTI-CLIMAX! The Musical

International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia

Oops...

After a day of reading scripts on the Highline park in NYC I had a spring in my step, a song in my heart, and a stupid (and painful) tanline that makes me look like an asshole.

Oh, well.

Note to Self - you're Scottish. The sun doesn't like you.

Never Blend In

My contribution to David E. Watters' "Give 'em Hope" campaign initiative.

Mother's Day

The Death of Osama Bin Laden

Perhaps I shall have more thoughts as news and information and gravity and "the next step" and all that jazz set in. For now, I'm feeling this.

Love, Little Kiwi

I'm not really *happy* about his death. I'm definitely relieved, but it's not as if his death suddenly means that the world is a safer place, and that those who believe what he believed no longer believe it. I hope American Conservatives don't give in to their typical bloodlust and demand to see the photo(s) of his dead body. I hope that in this moment, Americans show some class and take a moral highground - an enemy is vanquished, and the time is now to start remembering how to proactively change world culture toward understanding, not vengeance nor gloating or neanderthal-level machismo.

We do not need to see the photo(s). Those demanding that we do are sick lowlifes in this country, who should be ashamed of themselves. America, find your grace.

A Father's Message

My Dad wrote this as part of the PFLAG newsletter back home in Toronto. Thought I'd share it with y'all. Love.

The first Pride Parade that I attended, not as a participant but as a bystander, was in San
Francisco, while on vacation, in 1978. This was shared with my future wife, Irene, and well before our marriage and children.
Who knew it was a portent of things to come. Fast forward more than 30 years and I am now a member of the Board of Directors of PFLAG Toronto and its Treasurer. Why? Our son is a gay man. I watched him grow up alongside his sister, and both of these wonderful children filled me with love and pride – from toddlerhood to adulthood.
When our son came out the dismay to us was not that he was gay but the realization that throughout his youth he had worked at acting straight and tried to fit in, while suffering the taunts of schoolmates who picked on him. He missed out on fully enjoying his early teen years and we could not go back and “fix” it for him. Sadly this is a story often heard at PFLAG of youngsters being bullied, ostracized and marginalized because they are, or are perceived to be, ‘different’.
Through our children and my PFLAG Toronto involvement I have met so many people who accept each other for being exactly who they are. It has truly opened up my life, and made me a better person.
I am a Chartered Accountant by training, and have held a number of senior positions in large North American companies; Chief Financial Officer for Woolworth Canada and Club Monaco –Polo Ralph Lauren, to name a few. Today, I am happy to be known as a proud PFLAG Dad.
I am currently a part time professor of Finance at Seneca College. I proudly wear the rainbow bracelet when I am teaching and have found that occasionally students will ask why and what it means. This starts a dialogue that invariably ends with the student indicating that they have friends or acquaintances who are gay and they either talk about the difficulties they face or they ask about them. Often they thank me for speaking openly and personally about a topic they have not explored before. They say they will think about sexual orientation with more positive feelings.
It illustrates that we can educate the world, one person at a time. I am proud to be a part of PFLAG Toronto, helping to support the LGBTQ community and all families.

Gary Miller