Funny Friday: Hot and Busted

Some of you may not find this funny (I do), but I saw this picture on a blog called Hot and Busted.  Can anyone guess what he was busted for?  Nonetheless, I think he's cute. What do you think?

The Excellence of Love

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13 (NASB)

I believe that everyone should take this chapter of the Bible to heart, literally. There are many criticisms of Christians and the Bible, but honestly, these basic concepts of love are what all religions and philosophies are about. Christians who condemn and judge others are merely picking and choosing the parts of the Bible they want to adhere to, and ignoring the core message. Most of the time, we should just get back to the basics of humanity and humility.

Why Don't Students Understand Boundaries Anymore?

San Diego Students Suspended After 'Gay Test' Involving Watching Porn Videos On Cell Phones

Nine seventh grade students at a San Diego-based middle school were suspended last month after watching pornographic videos as part of a so-called "gay test," according to reports.

According to U-T San Diego News, students in all-boys English class at Bell Middle School in Paradise Hills allegedly wore gym shorts as they watched videos on their cell phones. Whoever became sexually aroused while watching the videos was labeled gay, and several adolescents masturbated openly during the class.

In addition, peers complained of inaction by teacher Ed Johnson, who is now reportedly under fire because he did not respond to students who told him about the behavior while it was allegedly happening, according to NBC San Diego.

Among those to condemn the news was Patiti Boman of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, who called the incident "terrible," even though Bell Middle School officials have yet to confirm many details.

"I was thinking we were getting better and that's why we go out and speak in schools. This is news to me and this gives me chills," Boman, part of the team which helped craft the district's anti-harassment policy, told U-T San Diego news. "They use that to attack and intimidate."

Last month, U-T San Diego News reported that school officials and area lawmakers have called the matter a personnel issue and declined additional comment, citing student privacy laws.

"We cannot tell you the reasons for the suspensions, or whether further action is being taken with respect to any particular suspension," Andra Donovan, deputy general counsel for the district, said in an email as quoted by NBC San Diego. "With respect to Mr. Johnson, all we can tell you is that he is employed by the District and remains assigned to Bell Middle School as of [May 25]. His schedule has not changed."

Still, Dick Thornburgh, a former U.S. attorney general and author of a 2002 study on how to protect youth from Internet pornography, told the Associated Press that he believes the case illustrates a growing problem.

"The images are perishable, so if a teacher is concerned about someone using a cell phone to look at pornographic images, all you've got to do is press a button and it's gone," he said. "So it poses all kind of challenges."

At my school students are supposed to either turn in their cell phones in the morning or leave them in their car.  We should not have to worry about this problem, though students hide their cell phones and sneak them around school regardless of the rules and consequences of being caught.  Besides, even if my students watched porn on their phones in school, I know they do so at home, they would never openly masturbate in class.  They may often be inappropriate, crass, and rude, but at least they do know some boundaries.  The other major difference in my students and these is that my students who watch porn are 10th-12th grade, but my seventh graders would never admit to watching porn.  One of the great things about teaching in a rural school is that the kids keep their innocence longer.

Hot Summer Nights

Hot Summer Nights 

by Mary Hamrick

It haunts me so
those summer nights
in dim lit homes

where music flows
and tempers flare
and lullabies fill the air.

I while away the hours
under the electric swell of light,
(pulse-scorched out).

Bone-idle and coral pink,
this dry spell grills,
but Southern nights do fill me.

Spider-blue legs peddle tales
as gossips-a-brewing
and roaming by my streets.

Scuttling through like marsh rabbit,
neighbors wave their charmed hellos.
Feverish and swollen together,

they inhale the blossoms,
riding high, and move through summer
as the lake declines.

It haunts me so
those summer nights
in dim lit homes

where music flows
and tempers flare
and lullabies fill the air.

Mary Hamrick was born in New York and moved to Florida as a young girl; her writing often reflects the contrast between her Northern and Southern upbringing. Her work appears online in Mad Hatters’ Review and Tattoo Highway.

Pride Houston

For more than 33 years, Pride Houston has been a central part of the local LGBT community in Houston. It core mission is to strengthen equality and increase awareness around issues important to our community such as health, safety and marriage equality. Pride Houston celebrates the individuality and diversity of every person as we all strive for acceptance from parents, friends and society-at-large.

From annual charity events to aiding LGBT-support and -counseling networks, its activities continue to promote social awareness and enrich the diversity that helps the Houston community thrive.

Nearly a decade after the Stonewall Riots in New York, the Gay Rights Movement for equality made its way to Houston. The Celebration is typically held the last Saturday in June to commemorate Stonewall, and the parade, which is held in the evening after sunset. This tradition began in 1997, arranged by then-Houston City Councilmember Annise Parker, where a parade ordinance was revised to allow for the nation's only nighttime Pride Parade.

Pride Houston is a registered 501(c)3 organization incorporated in the state of Texas, and is 100 percent volunteer-run. Its annual June Celebration takes more than 10,000 volunteer hours to produce, along side its other initiatives, which require more volunteers than ever.

MISSION

Pride Houston shall work to bring lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgendered individuals and allies together to educate the world on issues important to the LGBT community, commemorate our history and heritage, celebrate our culture and strive for equality.

VISION

To honor the Stonewall Riots in New York City by having the largest and most accessible Pride Celebration in the Southern United States where all may attend, be themselves and find like-minded people.

Houston has a lot to be proud of.  I've only visited Houston once, but I had a great time in its gay district, Montrose.  The City of Houston supports its LGBT community. Take a look at Houston's City Hall lit up like a rainbow for Pride Week.  Even deep in the heart of east Texas, Houston is a city of wonderful culture, and from what I saw, a very accepting atmosphere.  Annise Parker has served as the mayor of Houston since January 2, 2010. Parker is Houston's second female mayor, and one of the first openly gay mayors of a major U.S. city.

Happy Father's Day

Fortunately, the ruby slippers are optional. Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there who have it all.
I know there are at least a few dads out there who read my blog, maybe even two gay dads out there raising sons and/or daughters, and I want to wish you a very Happy Father's Day.  Just like mothers, fathers can drive us crazy.  Most of us may not have been as close to our fathers as maybe we should have been or should be, but all of us have a father somewhere.  Besides wishing you fathers out there a Happy Father’s Day, I also wanted to tell you about my father.

We are very different in so many ways.  He is very outdoorsy: he hunts, he fishes, and constantly works outdoors.  I was always a book worm, who liked books better than sports.  I’ve learned to like the outdoors:  I walk nature trails, I like to hike, and I even like to fish occasionally.  Whereas my father worked outside all his life, I prefer to work inside, research, writing, teaching, etc.  There are a lot of other differences as well.  We can generally have a conversation for about 15-20 minutes before we get into some type of argument.  My father has never felt I was right about anything.  I can be agreeing with him, and he will fuss at me for agreeing with him.  No matter what I say, he will say the opposite.  The other day, I made a remark about a house being painted white (it used to be gray), he argued with me that the house was painted gray, just a lighter shade.  Everyone else I know says the house is white, but he still says that it is gray.  It’s that sort of thing that drives me crazy.  Needless to day, we barely get along.  I love him nonetheless, I just don’t like him sometimes.  He can be very cruel and frustrating.

To switch gears a little bit, I want to tell you also how great my father can be, without me ever knowing it.  This is part of the reason that I forgive so much of the misery he causes me.  When my parents found out I was gay, it was a very traumatic experience for all concerned.  My mother had suspected for quite a while and was being very nosy.  She checked my email.  She didn’t like some of the emails that she saw.  Most of them, if not all, were fairly innocent, but there were some like an ad from Showtime about “Queer as Folk” and maybe another one from gay.com. I was over at my grandmother’s checking on her, when my mother called me and confronted me about it.  I was tired of denying it.  All of my friends knew, so why shouldn’t she.  I knew she wouldn’t like it.  She had confronted me several years before about it, and I denied it then.  I wasn’t ready, and to make sure that I never was, my mother told me, “If I would rather have a dick up my ass, then be part of this family, then I should go ahead and leave.  They would have nothing more to do with me.”  When this time came around, we got into a huge argument.  I yelled, she yelled, and I left.  I was still dependent on them for some things, but I could live without them.  My mother went to bed and cried for the next two weeks.  BTW, this all happened two days before Christmas, while I was home on Christmas break.  When my father got home, he talked to my mother about what was wrong.  She told him.  She tells him everything. This was one of the times when he sided with me.

He told my mother, that I was there child.  She could not stop loving me, just because she did not agree with my lifestyle. He would continue to love me, and she would have to do the same.  No matter what his children did, they would still love them (it may have helped that my sister married a complete and total jackass, who doesn’t physically abuse her, but abuses her mentally).  Then he  came and talked with me.  He told me that he didn’t care what I told my mother, but to tell her something or she would die in that bed in there (you don’t know my mother, but she would have).  Then he told me what surprised me the most, “I should have taught you how to fight the urges.  I am sorry that I failed you.”  It is the only time my father ever apologized to me for anything.  I never asked about the urges, but I am pretty sure I know what he was talking about.  He knew exactly how I felt.  He had been there himself, but he had chosen a different path.  Maybe that is why they still believe it is a choice.  But I see the misery in him almost everyday.  I went to my parents and told them both that I was celibate and would remain that way, and I had never acted on my sexuality (yes it was a lie, but it was one I think was and still is for the better).  They made me promise that I would not tell anyone else in the family, and I have agreed to that. Our family has become a “Don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t discuss” Zone.  It is not my preference but it is what I must deal with for the time being.  If I ever find a man to live my life with, I will deal with the other consequences then.  I don’t think I could hide from my family the love of my life (if he ever comes along).

They still consider my being gay a lifestyle choice, I never will.  I would have never chosen this myself.  I would have chosen to live a more open life, but that is mostly not possible where I live now, and especially not with my job.  But I know what makes me happy, and after a lot of prayer and meditation, God told me that love is what matters most in this world.  I came to understand that if I lived a lie and married a woman, I would make her and my life miserable (somewhat like my father has).  If I was going to be alone, then I would be alone. At least I wouldn’t be hurting someone else.  I realize that some people had more pressures to get married and have a family and come out later in life.  I do not fault them for that, it was a different time and different circumstances.  But in this day and age, I felt I could not lie to myself or anyone else and spend a large portion of my life as a lie.

Dolly lends her vocals for a live version of Holly Dunn's timeless classic song, "Daddy's Hands."  This song reminds me a lot of my Daddy for many reasons and has been one of my favorite songs for a long time.  Holly Dunn is also one of my all-time favorite country singers, too bad she had retired from country music.  She’s now an artists in the Southwest.

Reba McEntire singing “The Greatest Man.”  This is a truly great song and also describes my relationship between me and my Daddy, although I don’t know if he thinks I “hung the moon.”  My mother always says he brags about me to everyone, but I also remember him telling me once when I made a 99 (out of 100) on my report card, “Can’t you do better than that.”  He was kidding with me, but it didn’t feel like it at the time, especially since some of my grades on that report card were above 100.  Also, my Daddy is still alive, but he is one of the greatest men I have ever known.  I hope this post proves that.

Some of you may have read much of this post before.  I not only used it for my Father's Day post last year. I plan to use it each Father's Day for as long as this blog is published.

Moment of Zen: Sweet Embraceable You

Funny Friday

I saw this and just got the pure silly giggles.  I know I did a humorous post yestrday, but I couldnt help but post this for a Funny Friday. Maybe I'm just weird like that, but I also love Adele.  I can't hear this song now without thinking of this picture.

How True

10 Colleges With a History of Gay Pride

Every June, Americans recognize Gay Pride Month via famous parades and other advocacy events promoting marriage equality, adoption, health, teen bullying and suicide prevention, and other social and political issues related to LGBT rights, which directly impact an estimated 10% of the population (and indirectly impact a far higher percentage of loved ones). Because the country is still slowly growing to accept sexual and gender identity minorities, this means many college students head off to their higher education careers isolated, lonely, depressed — or worse. Most campuses these days offer some semblance of a support structure to ensure a safe experience for all LGBT students, and queer studies courses, minors, and majors have started popping up in catalogs across the country. And it's all thanks to some of the following pioneers, who took a chance on equality when such things still stood as highly taboo.

CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCO:  In 1989, City College of San Francisco revolutionized LGBT and queer studies when Jack Collins established America's very first department promoting the inchoate field. Founded upon Dan Allen's pioneering 1972 gay literature course taught in the English department, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Studies Department really wowed students, teachers, and administrators when it launched, attracting hundreds of enrollees for some of its courses. Because the school sits in one of the world's most LGBT-friendly cities, the classes beneath the organization's umbrella often benefit from the surrounding communities' participation and input.

INDIANA UNIVERSITY:  More famous for Alfred Kinsey's in-depth studies of American sexual habits at a time when such things popped monocles and inspired pearl-clutchings, Indiana University also happens to exist as a largely LGBT-friendly campus. Activist Shane Windmeyer of Campus Pride fame also established the Lambda 10 project here alongside the school's Greek leaders in 1995. Today, it exists as the only nonprofit fully dedicated to making fraternity and sorority houses safe spaces for LGBT students. Notable, because neither institution enjoys the healthiest reputation for inclusiveness, tolerance, and equitability.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY:  Spring 1970 saw this historically progressive college offering up the nation's very first undergraduate course in queer theory. Other schools in Illinois, New York, and even Nebraska quickly followed suit, paving the way for an entire academic field. The Gay Bears Collection pulls from Berkeley's extensive archives — as well as its own inquiries — to provide students, faculty, staff, and visitors with detailed information about both hidden and not-so-hidden names, dates, and faces involved in the campus' LGBT history.

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN:  Many — if not most — colleges and universities these days sport some form of official LGBT outreach, usually through an organization or dedicated student services department. University of Michigan launched the very first back in 1971, inspiring more and more to follow suit and provide comfort and safety to an unfairly marginalized segment of the community. Known as the Spectrum Center, it has spent the past four decades ensuring an equal place for LGBT students, faculty, and staff.

KENT STATE UNIVERSITY:  One of the oldest, most inspiring LGBT student organizations in the nation started at Kent State University in 1971, following the precedent set by Berkeley's groundbreaking undergraduate courses. It started out as the Kent Gay Liberation Front and set about organizing talks, rallies, and even classes on the cause of equality. More than 70 people showed up to the very first meeting scheduled by sociology student Bill Hoover and English professor Dolores Knoll, and the school's administrators largely supported their banding together and coming out.

YALE UNIVERSITY:  When it comes to the more staunchly traditional Ivy League schools, one probably doesn't think them bastions of LGBT tolerance and equality, though Yale has historically held a more progressive stance on the matter than its associates. It became the first of its type to organize a Gay Rights Week, rally, and dance celebrating sexual and gender diversity in 1977. Three years later, the school established a Gay and Lesbian Co-Op, which continued promoting LGBT rights, hosting lectures, promoting poetry and film, and other events furthering the cause.

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO:  Thanks to LGBT Phoenixes, America's third-largest city enjoyed its very first gay rights organization, which quickly branched out into groups and events not affiliated with an academic establishment. The University of Chicago Gay Liberation Front banded together in 1969, and OutLaw — dedicated to LGBT law students — followed suit in 1984. By 1992, it was offering the very same domestic partnership benefits to lesbian and gay couples as it did heterosexuals. 

OBERLIN COLLEGE:  Oberlin College frequently lands on lists of the most LGBT-accepting institutes of higher learning in the United States. While its older nature meant at some point it did, in fact, reflect the overarching climate's prejudices, by the 1960s some semblance of sociopolitical revolution began burbling to the surface at the Conservatory. The 1970s saw more organizations, rallies, dances, and other events bringing the fight to campus, with the Oberlin Gay Liberation Front establishing itself in 1971. More contemporary scholars enjoy the Oberlin College LGBT Community History Project, which offers up first- and second-person accounts of LGBT community history both at the school and the broader social climate.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY:  Yale may be one of the most notable Ivy League schools when it comes to sexual and gender identity equality, but it certainly doesn't fly solo. Since 1967, the Columbia Queer Alliance has served as a safe haven and political rallying point for its LGBT student community — the very first of its kind in the world. Originally known as the Student Homophile League, organizers had to fight, fight, fight, and bite, bite, bite for years before Columbia officials finally green-lighted their group. It stood as one of the cornerstones of the equality movement before the Stonewall Riots two years later inspired others to action.

WILLIAMS COLLEGE:  Thanks to the efforts of Daniel R. Pinello and his 1971 Williams Advocate article "The Homosexual at Williams: Coming Out," students felt inspired to embrace their sexuality and group together in 1976 as the Williams Gay Support Organization. Reaction to its establishment and subsequent events, which included frank discussions about AIDS, coming out, and even a support hotline, showing love and support to a marginalized minority proved extremely mixed, if not outright hostile. In fact, much of the administration actively shot down attempts to celebrate diversity and promote equality. It wasn't until 1985, when instances of bullying whipped up a crowd of 300 supporters, that the campus started turning around.

Source: http://www.bestcollegesonline.com/blog/2012/06/11/10-colleges-with-a-history-of-gay-pride/