He tweeted:

I just got married!!!!!

On the 5th anniversary of our wedding in London grant and I tied the knot again in NYC!!! #eatmericksantorum

How awesome his he!

I like to think of myself as a type of activist. Yes, I don’t get out there and march in the streets like some do, but I do believe that we can all do our part to make equality a reality as well as fight the food fight and while I do most of it from home, I am still doing something and that is all that matters.

A lot of people would say, what is the big deal about gay jewelry, but those people are crazy. And just plain wrong. Buying real and true gaypride jewelry, designed by some of the most creative gay and lesbian minds around, with a message of hope and peace as well as hefty donations to organizations like the Matthew Shepard Foundation, can make a big difference.

When you wear these pieces of gay and lesbian jewelry, you are promoting the cause and donating to such good causes, that you can feel good about each and every purchase. Take a look at the Matthew Shepard Foundation and see for yourself what they are doing for the greater good. Lambda Legal is another powerhouse that is on our side and your money goes to supporting the gay causes they fight for each and every day.

Here are just a few of the hottest lines of gay and lesbian jewelry with a message of hope for the LGBTQ community, all of them can be found at Love and Pride:

The Fly Naked with Reichen has been offering designer titanium jewelry at affordable prices for several years now and the collection has expanded to include not just rings, necklaces and bracelets but other great gift ideas like money clips and key chains. This line of gay mens jewelry has become a true customer favorite.

This is a brand new line of gay and lesbian jewelry and I can honestly say that I LOVE IT! It is one of their best concepts yet. We all have duality to our personalities, whether you realize it or not and this jewelry collection for men and women allows you to explore that and play with it.

In this line you will find double sided pendants, spinning rings with different sides of color and texture. It’s a creative and exciting collection that has taken the concept behind Jeff Lindsay’s novel “Darkly Dreaming Dexter” to a whole new level. Even if you aren’t a fan of the television show or the books, you will love these pieces.

Revolution of Love marries two unique technologies to create wedding rings for both gays and lesbians that will last a lifetime and a half.

You get all natural Clarity Enhanced Diamonds put into setting made from 585 Platinum, which by the way is an innovative platinum-hybrid with coloration and durability characteristics superior to those of traditional 950 Platinum.

The best part of these platinum and diamond wedding and commitment rings and necklaces is that they cost a fraction of what you would expect them to.

What is a collection of gay jewelry without one of the most meaningful pieces of jewelry ever designed: Matthew Shepard Pendants.

We all know the name, and we all know the horrors that were perpetrated against this charming, loving and innocent young man. But instead of turning to hate and anger his family and the Matthew Shepard foundation has chosen to reach out and help the community through the following three words: Understanding. Compassion. Acceptance. Truly words to live by. T

These beautiful circular pendants, designed by Udi Behr exclusively for the Matthew Shepard Foundation – are a fantastic way for you to help spread a very important message: Erase Hate.

You can be assured that 100% of the net proceeds from each and every sale of any lesbian or gaypride jewelry in this collection will go straight to the Matthew Shepard Foundation. This way you will be able to directly support diversity programs in education as well as help youth organizations establish environments where young people can feel safe to be themselves. See how easy it is to help the LGBT community through the simple purchase of jewelry?

Love and Pride brings you an exclusive collection of gay and lesbian jewelry in 18k gold, silver, leather, diamonds and semi-precious stones, all in celebration of rock legend Freddie Mercury from Queen.

All of these rings and necklaces are limited edition pieces of the LOVE Made in Heaven collection and each of them is emblazoned with the collection’s signature, patented double trillion – a personal tribute to Freddie – and a way for all touched by his talent to continue the love affair. You will also find the exclusive “Made in Heaven” signature – which was inspired by Freddie’s final album with Queen.

This gay jewelry is worn by celebrities all around the world, people like Ringo Starr are big fans.

He took to his blog to say the following (the wording is unedited but I did add some paragraph spaces because single blocks of text just drive me nuts lol):

when i found out that jamey rodemeyer killed himself – i felt deeply troubled. but when i found out that jamey rodemeyer had made an it gets better video only months before taking his own life – i felt indescribable despair. i also made an it gets better video last year – in the wake of the senseless and tragic gay teen suicides that were sweeping the nation at the time. but in light of jamey’s death – it became clear to me in an instant that living a gay life without publicly acknowledging it – is simply not enough to make any significant contribution to the immense work that lies ahead on the road to complete equality.

our society needs to recognize the unstoppable momentum toward unequivocal civil equality for every gay lesbian bisexual and transgendered citizen of this country. gay kids need to stop killing themselves because they are made to feel worthless by cruel and relentless bullying.

parents need to teach their children principles of respect and acceptance. we are witnessing an enormous shift of collective consciousness throughout the world. we are at the precipice of great transformation within our culture and government. i believe in the power of intention to change the landscape of our society – and it is my intention to live an authentic life of compassion and integrity and action.

jamey rodemeyer’s life changed mine. and while his death only makes me wish that i had done this sooner – i am eternally grateful to him for being the catalyst for change within me. now i can only hope to serve as the same catalyst for even one other person in this world. that – i believe – is all that we can ask of ourselves and of each other.

zq.

I knew I liked this guy for a reason.

In a video swiftly released by the White House yesterday morning, President Obama said, “We are not a nation that says ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’. We are a nation that says, ‘out of many, we are one’.” To a non-US citizen, this makes obvious sense. What kind of good can a policy do, if that policy’s point is to discriminate by virtue of silence and ignorance?

DADT was put in place during the Clinton administration, replacing far harsher legislation that allowed the military to ask, and then allowed them to refuse a gay person a job in the Armed Forces based on their answer. The DADT legislation was seen as a “good compromise” between liberal LGBT rights activists and conservative Christians. As with any good political compromise, both sides ended up angry. Now that it’s been repealed, here’s the obligatory knee-jerk:

Of course, the Christian Right is putting on its best Barbara Walsh pearls and saying into the camera, “We are very concerned.”  And when the Christian Right says, “We are very concerned”, what they actually mean is:

"Run! It's the GayRoller!"

The woman who speaks at around 1:40 (and coincidentally looks like she needs to get laid pretty badly) more or less sums up the entire Right’s argument, and what’s wrong with it.

Yes, the military is probably made up of a higher-than-normal percentage of bigoted rednecks who don’t like gays, Blacks, Mexicans, A-rabs or Chinese people (say it in your head with a thick Southern accent). Yes, those people might get their skirts in a twist because the dude in the next bunk likes other dudes.  And yes, a lot of those people have probably watched enough gay soldier porn when they thought nobody was home to know what happens next, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to affect morale, combat readiness or their own manliness.

What’s even worse is that, when conservative governor Rick Santorum (Google his last name.  He’s pretty pissed about that) addressed Fox News and The Horde at a debate this week, the entire crowd booed a gay soldier for coming out on video.  Santorum then went on to lay down a poorly constructed argument for why we shouldn’t have any talk of sexytime at all in the military, and so that clearly means no gays.

You know what I really think?

To those who say that having gay people openly serving in the military would hurt morale, there is only one worth-while response: harden the fuck up.  If you’re narrow-minded and bigoted, that’s your problem. If you don’t like who you’re serving next to and trusting with your life because of their legitimate life choice, then you should have no place in the military, not them. To boo a soldier is pretty low, especially one who is fighting the war these people campaigned for.

Now, I normally don’t bother reading YouTube comments in case I catch the stupid, but a few of them really struck a chord, and were actually written with some insight. On the Santorum video:

They’re booing because they feel their “manhood” threatened. First by the fact that they’re afraid this soldier might “like” them (he wouldn’t), and secondly, because this soldier is putting his money where his mouth is. In short, he’s proving that a gay soldier can be more of a man than an aging, loudmouthed, bigoted armchair general. Tip o’ the hat to this man, and all like him. “

And on the angry Christians video:

If God didn’t want gay men in the military, He wouldn’t have made us look so hot in uniform.”

Case closed.

I wish the people who watched Fox News also read the same newspapers that we do.  If they did, they would see this cartoon by editorial cartoonist Chan Lowe, and maybe it would make them think a little:

As the hit country-music band Sugarland was about to perform at the Indiana State Fair, a huge gust of wind blew in unexpectedly and brought an elaborate stage setup crashing down into the crowd, injuring dozens of fair-goers and claiming the lives of five.

While we most certainly count every life as precious and significant, one death touched our hearts a little more, the death of Christina Santiago.

Christina, a 29-year-old Illinois resident, will always be remembered as more than a victim of a horrific accident. Santiago was a proud and fierce advocate in the LBGT community and described by those who knew her as a beautiful, wonderful, fair individual whose happiness exuded from her ever pore.

Along with her partner Alisha Marie Brennon, Christina made it a personal goal to advocate for the rights of the LBGT community and for the rights of all to receive equal health care.

Christina was a big supporter and member of the NOH8 Campaign, even posing for a photo shoot for the Campaign in October 2010, and she worked as a program manager at the Howard Brown Health Center’s Lesbian Community Care Project.

President and CEO of Howard Brown, Jamal Edwards, claimed that Santiago was “a fierce advocate…as brilliant as she was beautiful.” According to Edwards, Christiana had been a driving force in the expansion of women’s health services in Chicago, stating that she was a “powerful advocate for all LGBT women.”

Christina dedicated a large portion of her life to ensuring that members of the LGBT community were treated fairly. A member of the community herself, Christina and Alisha were among the first couples to receive a civil union in Cook County, Illinois, when civil unions became legal in the state earlier in the year.

To date, Alisha remains in critical condition, one of the dozens injured when the stage collapsed.

We’re all saddened by the death of Christina and that her and Alisha’s union was so short-lived, but our thoughts and prayers go out and remain with Alisha, all other victims of this tragic accident, and their loved ones.

First off I want to say that this video isn’t just with Ryan Kwanten (Jason Stackhouse in True Blood) it also has Chris Bauer (Andy Bellefleur also on True Blood) and I would have added that in the title as well but then it would have been the longest in the history of the internet.

Back to the most important thing at hand though. Gay bullying is still rampant in our schools, playgrounds and even our own homes. It must stop and I, along with probably millions of others want those suffering to know that it does get better.

It should also be noted that the It Get’s Better campaign isn’t there only for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. There are endless reasons for people to feel that they don’t fit in, that they are alone and no one understands or cares. This is simply not true.

Watch the video and see that there is light at the end of the tunnel. You aren’t alone and this phase in your life will pass, no matter how bad a situation is there is always hope and if you reach out and ask for help you can get the helping hand you need to get back to the light.

That was a really long sentence but I want you all to know that I love each and everyone one of you, not for your “normal” traits but for the neat quirky bits that make you, well, you.

And just because I came across it:

You’re very welcome.

Here’s the deal. We need to spread the word about the Gay Pride Facebook contest. I am looking for the perfect icon to represent our community on FB and that means more more more MORE entries and I need your help to get them.

Spread the word about the contest in any way you can think of and be entered to win a $20 gift certificate for Love and Pride gay and lesbian jewelry. Just email me a link to where you posted about the contest at gayprideonfb@gmail.com and you will be eligible to win. Yay! Every link you post is another entry.

Here are a few ways you can do it, a link to original post about the contest must be included:

• Tweet about it
• Blog about it
• Spread the word on forums (no spamming though!)

And don’t forget to enter yourself. Feel free to wow me with creativity, I am open to any kind of art as long as it is original and not sexually explicit in nature.

Good luck in both contests!

xoxo

This is my very first contest and I am so excited! Anyone can enter, you don’t have to be gay or anything, you just have to want to help make the world a better place and win cool swag!

As some of you may know (I hope), I have a Gay Pride page on Facebook. Well right now it has a boring rainbow flag icon and I for one am sick of looking at it. I am looking for something with more pizazz, something original and yet an image that still embodies the LGBTQ community. That is where this fun and exciting contest comes in.

The chosen image can be anything as long as it’s original and not porno-esque. It can be a photo, a drawing, a computer generated image, pasta art, fingerpaint, whatever floats your boat. I will give you a tip though, I am a sucker for color, so only send me black and white stuff if you don’t want to lose haha. No, I’m serious though.

I am thinking that one of the Pieces from the Matthew Shepard Collection would be an excellent prize but I’m flexible, if you would rather have one of the other pieces of jewelry from Love and Pride Jewelry that works too. As long as it’s no more than $115.

To enter the contest simple email me your image at gayprideonfb@gmail.com before July 31st, 2011.

Here are a few ideas I am thinking for the winner of the Gay Pride FB page icon:

And if you want even more ways to win visit my Contest for a Contest link and win even more goodies!

In a victory that came almost as a surprise to gay marriage lobbyists last night, the state of New York has legalized gay marriage. Among those responsible for the Bill passing are several Republicans, who voted against it the last time this Bill came to the Senate and the Assembly floor.

One of those Republicans, Senator Mark Grisanti, sought office promising to oppose same-sex marriage in New York.

“I apologize for those who feel offended,” Mr. Grisanti said, adding, “I cannot deny a person, a human being, a taxpayer, a worker, the people of my district and across this state, the State of New York, and those people who make this the great state that it is the same rights that I have with my wife.”

The Empire State Building after the victory was announced

The victory of same-sex marriage had a clear champion in New York: Assembly Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, who had promised to campaign for same-sex marriage when he was elected.  Unfortunately for him, his time in office has been dominated with trade union labour negotiations – but he assigned his chief aide to the problem and put real momentum into the campaign towards the end.

The bill was passed 33 to 29, and naturally many Republicans are less than thrilled about the result. The New York Times reported: “For Senate Republicans, even bringing the measure to the floor was a freighted decision. Most of the Republicans firmly oppose same-sex marriage on moral grounds, and many of them also had political concerns, fearing that allowing same-sex marriage to pass on their watch would embitter conservative voters and cost the Republicans their one-seat majority in the Senate.”

Celebrations went on long into the night in Times Square, as well as at the Stonewall In in the West Village – the site where the Gay Rights movement could be said to have had its beginnings in a 1969 riot against police who had raided the venue.

The crowd outside Stonewall Inn in West Village grew to over 1,000 people, all sipping champagne from plastic flutes

Map showing state laws regarding same-sex unions

That map, from this Wikipedia page, shows each state’s attitude towards same-sex marriage, as expressed by its laws around it.  There’s a whole key, but basically red bad, blue good, grey meh. Pink means it’s banned, and any darker means there are even more restrictive laws about other kinds of same-sex unions. Maroon means that homosexuality itself can be banned.

Then there’s this map.  This is a map which shows the number of times a state has been mentioned in a country-western song. The states which get more mentions appear bigger.

Scaled map showing states by number of times mentioned in a country-western song, or, the product of a wasted early adulthood.

Not surprisingly, those states where it’s OK to be gay get no mentions, and so appear tiny.  Also not surprisingly, these states are the ones who were on the winning side of the Civil War.  Just saying.

Anyway, there’s not much info there between just those two maps.  What does it mean?  All we can say from the above is that states that allow same-sex unions of some kind don’t get many mentions in country music.

This is not an ad

In Search of the Gay Cowboys

A Google search of ‘lesbian cowgirls’ brought up a lot of results, all of which were very interesting.  Once I turned ‘Safe Search’ back to ‘moderate’, however, I was left with only a few nuggets in my prospectin’ pan.

It turns out there are only a few examples of female country singers who have come out of the closet, and absolutely zero examples of gay men who actually have careers in country music. I’m betting there are quite a few guitar-totin’ cow-pokes who prefer a man’s company, but none of them are talking. I mean, somebody is sitting on the internet late at night, searching for love on GayCowboys4U.com.

This might help to explain things.  It’s another map.

States by gayness

Obviously some of the well-known ‘pink states’ are very pink, especially those that allow same-sex marriage.  But there are a few surprises, like Florida and New Mexico.

From this, we have to assume that some of the states that enshrine Country & Western also have a few gay people – possibly even as many as the average in other states. If you roll the dice enough times, some of these people will be gay Country & Western singers – and I’m even willing to bet it’d be more than the average, given the widely-documented disproportionately high number of gay people in show-business.

And there are some, in fact.  Unfortunately the country music industry has not, in general, been kind to them since they came out.  Here are a few gay Country & Western singers we’ve managed to find.  You’ll notice they’re all ladies:

KD Lang

This one wasn’t much of a surprise to anybody. She wore androgynous country clothing, had short cropped hair, and carried her guitar with her everywhere. She grew up obsessed with Patsy Cline, and made it big in the States by touring with Roy Orbison. That was in 1989, though, and she was Canadian, so the Americans forgave her funny haircut.

She came out in 1992, on the cover of LGBT advocacy magazine The Advocate, and since then we’ve been hearing less of KD.

Brandi Carlile

This cute-as-a-button New Country star has never been shy about disclosing her sexuality, and her career doesn’t seem to be suffering much from it.

Her music has been on Grey’s Anatomy, and she’s toured with some big names like Johnny Lang, Hanson, Indigo Girls, The Fray, Chris Isaak, Tori Amos and Shawn Colvin.

Maia Sharp

Maia Sharp came out when she was 23, and unlike some more mainstream performers has managed to use her lesbian identity to her advantage, rather than hide it.  She has a large lesbian following, and has written for The Dixie Chicks and Trisha Yearwood.

In addition to writing she also has her own solo career, and an album launched in 2009 called Echo.

Mary Gauthier

Mary Gauthier is one of the most successful female Country & Western singer-songwriters of the last 30 years and, well, look at her. She’s currently signed to Lost Highway Records, Shelby Lynn’s old label, and is making a ton of money by writing songs and touring.  She makes way more off royalties from songs she’s written than her own music, sadly, but it’s good to see a gay country star doing so well.

Her songs have been recorded by the likes of Jimmy Buffett, Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton (the douchebag), Bill Chambers and Candi Staton.