Former Member

If Wes turns out to be a dud, they could always introduce him to Stuart! ;–)

You were researching the poisoned candy myth for more than three months? ;–)

Hugs. I'm sorry for your loss, and know GA has lost a true friend

The sheen of liquid is just starting to appear on the icicle that’s Joy! ;–) I’m not sure about Wes, but more friends is always a good thing, especially for those of us who are mildly to moderately socially awkward. ;–)

Yeah, I’m blocking a group of people who are seemingly incapable of learning from facts. ;–)

What’s really weird is that I saw that when they broadcast it and only saw two couples. For some reason, I didn’t realize there were two couples on the right side of the stage! And since I don’t have a DVR, I couldn’t go back to rematch it. Sorry. It was just me being oblivious. Again.

The JKL ‘concert’ only feature two couples (plus the two singers and two musicians) on stage. Are you all referring to the music video?

I tried looking up Lauv. I found out he’s from SF, but his Wikipedia page only mentions ‘relationships’ without mentioning gender. There were suggestions that Troye announcing that Lauv was his new boyfriend was just a publicity stunt. ;–) The camera pulled back very quickly when Troye and Lauv embraced and had their heads together at the end of the song. Even if the couples were meant to be ironic, why wasn’t there a same-sex couple included? It would have been more impactful if the couples had gotten up and paired off by gender instead. Jimmy Kimmel has kissed several male guests on air. He even claimed to be Gay to get a reaction from Mike Tyson. There’s also the pretend feud with Matt Damon that included a music video of Jimmy claiming to be f-ing Ben Affleck in retaliation for Matt f-ing Jimmy’s at-the-time-girlfriend, Sarah Silverman. While he’s not the most evolved person in the world, he doesn’t seem to be homophobic. Neither does his show.

@Wesley8890 has posted shorter chapters… ;–)

So @Ronyx! Your writing style could have remained very dark and we could have been comparing your work to A to Z or Ripped! But I’m glad your focus has always been on teenagers dealing with real problems – and getting their Happily Ever After. ;–) While Gary doesn’t want to admit he remembers what happened, I think he will eventually need to tell. I can’t remember how or if that happens, but I think he’ll want to do so at some point. And not when he’s 90 years old and on his death bed. ;–)

Just for you, dughlas! For those who, like me, block videos from automatically loading and playing, here are a few links: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Troye Sivan & Lauv – I’m So Tired Lauv & Troye Sivan – I’m So Tired (official audio) Lauv & Troye Sivan – I’m So Tired (lyrics) Jimmy Kimmel Live s17e19 – Daniel Radcliffe, Phoebe Robinson, with musical guest Troye Sivan featuring Lauv From a different YouTube page that talks about the song: Note: I haven’t watched the links. I probably should have at least watched the one with lyrics, but I won’t. ;–)

I just finished reading this on Codey’s World and decided to Comment here so it would be public. ;–) I have to agree with everything that has been said above. ;–) I also want to point out that Trevor didn’t have to be the one who stopped the second attack (that we know of) on Jeremy. I don’t endorse the fact that the crowd of Goths continued to fight Travis after they made sure Trevor was safe, but at least people stood up for him this time. I’m also glad that baseball team members were there too – athletes have an exaggerated influence on their fellow students. This is an example of why Zero Tolerance policies don’t really make sense. If someone is stupid enough to attack a fellow student, both get punished. It doesn’t seem to matter to administrators that some have less to lose and the consequences have different effects. Perhaps Zero Tolerance policies should apply to administrators and faculty too! At a minimum, Jacobson should be suspended for his actions and responses.

I watched Jimmy Kimmel Live this evening because Daniel Radcliffe was the major guest, but Troye Sivan was the musical guest who closed out the show. What disturbed me was the two pairs of heterosexuals whose apparent only role was to cuddle to make straight people feel more comfortable while they watched an Openly Gay man sing. The four heteros did not play instruments, sing, or dance. They merely seemed to be props to exist in the background of a few closeup shots. I couldn’t figure out exactly what the lyrics were, but there didn’t seem to be any connection to the cuddlers. Am I being over-sensitive or was this yet another example of LGBTQ marginalization and straight-washing?

My favorite Aunt & Uncle and my cousin (their daughter) have been more important in my life in the last few years than my brothers. ;–) My younger brother rarely communicates with me outside of the sometimes offer of a ride to the twice a year holiday dinners (at either my favorite Aunt’s or cousin’s – my older brother hasn’t hosted in over a decade and my younger brother never has) and a birthday greeting via email. My older brother usually sends an email on my birthday, but not always. Of course, I don’t always remember their birthdays either. But my younger brother was assigned the role of maintaining contact with me by my older brother (I don’t always get CC’d when something family-related occurs – remember there are only three of us).

I have to believe that Steve just died. He fought so long and he survived long enough to hear who killed his brother-in-law. Poor Twyla. She’s strong, but she’s still stuck with her selfish and demanding mother. And she still has to hear all the details as they are revealed during the trial – I can’t imagine that she won’t be present throughout the entire process. I’m glad Ben wasn’t more seriously injured.

@Thorn Wilde shared a link with me and this article was being promoted alongside the one I was referred to. I didn’t think it was worth starting a whole new Topic for something unavailable to me, so I went searching for something appropriate. I found this one hiding just before I gave up. I figured others would enjoy seeing the picture, if nothing else. ;–) I could try setting up a GoFundMe to raise money so @northie could buy a bunch of roses for you and ship them overnight… but we could probably FTD a hundred regular roses here in the US for a similar amount! ;–)

You’ve mentioned your forum post several times here, @Cynus! Where’s the link? I’m lazy and has trouble finding author forum topics. ;–)

In the UK this year (2019), a supermarket chain, Morrisons, will be selling these dyed, rainbow-colored Roses to help homeless LGBT youth for Valentine’ Day. They’ll be available from the 11th and 50p will be donated to The Albert Kennedy Trust. It looks like you could duplicate the process at home, if you have the patience. ;–)

I’ve learn a lot from watching documentaries. I’m a member of Frameline (San Francisco’s Gay film festival) and I’ve been buying a Castro Pass for quite a few years now. It allows me to watch any of the programs shown during the Frameline festival at the Castro Theatre (except the Opening and Closing Night Films). It’s a 90-120 minute commute on transit every day for 10 days, so I often sit in the theater the whole day, leaving only for restroom breaks and sneaking in and out to eat dinner. This exposes me to lots of movies I’d never think to buy tickets for if I were buying them individually. It’s a great way to learn about all those other letters in the LGBTQ community – and even some that don’t have letters (like Plushies and Furries)! ;–) Of course, you’d need to attend a large, well-programmed festival to get the full benefits. Fortunately, there are plenty of movies available online, streaming, or for download. And Frameline has a free YouTube channel with movies that focus on the lesser known parts of the community. ;–) If you join GA’s free The Pit club, you can find my thoughts on the movies I’ve seen during the last three Frameline festivals. Frameline (San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival) is the world’s oldest and largest LGBTQ film festive, larger than LA’s Outfest or New York’s NewFest. Wikipedia has a list of LGBT film festivals, but many film festivals only last a few year when the organizers get tired of doing all the hard work and the festival dies. There are also several mainstream film festivals that are well-known for including LGBT content including TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) and Sundance. There’s the Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, but I didn’t see anything listed for Portland. ;–)

When I was homeless, I met a young Transwoman on hormones whose breasts had just started to bud. Guys who would insist that they were straight were sexually harassing her. They were repeatedly propositioning her. It got to be so bad she had to leave the shelter to stay at a different shelter in another county. So there is a flip side of that too. Men who chase after Transwomen because they are women, but also have a penis – which apparently means (to the guys hitting on her) that they still straight even if there’s a second penis involved. People don’t seem to be able to grasp the concept that ‘Gay’ is an identity, not a behavior. I happen to identify as Gay and have only ever wanted to have sex with other men. Sociologists even have a term, MSM (Men who have Sex with Men), to describe men who do not identify as Gay (or bisexual) yet still choose to have sex with other men. I wish I could say that I was open-minded enough to ignore the existence of a vagina on someone I’m having sex with, but I’m sorry I must admit to being too shallow to overlook that.

Could you please explain 4. Traps to me. I feel like I’m missing something there. I just don’t understand it and I’d like to. ;–)

I once worked in a large super bookstore (just before Amazon crushed physical bookstore chains) which had three small sections side by side: Gay Interest, Women’s Studies, and Ethnic Studies. I had one man ask where the straight, white men’s section was. I swept my arm across the entire store… On a Gay porn site’s Forums, I once asked what it meant to be a man, specifically saying that the question was psychological and not physical in nature. I asked them to think about a potential accident or medical condition that required the removal of the genitals. There were many who said they’d never thought about it that way and talked about responsibility and other similar characteristics assigned to the male gender role. But there were still a few who said they looked between their legs and that was how they knew. There are men who have cancer that’s advanced enough to require removal of the testicles. They struggle with feeling like less than a man. Soldiers involved in explosions that destroy the lower section of their bodies face a crisis feeling that they are no longer masculine. Being a man does not necessarily involve genetics or little bits of tissue. It’s in your brain. It’s how you feel. If you don’t understand that, and it took me a while to grasp those truths, there are many documentaries about Transmen that will help you expand the definition and meaning of being a real man.

But Gary was attacked where there were no other witnesses. Faculty can’t be everywhere at once. Maybe the teacher who was supposed to be monitoring that restroom was called away for a different emergency – like having the janitorial staff refill the (rationed?) paper supplies. ;–)

That’s probably it! Or your shared love of musicals? And you’re both much younger than many of the others (usually closer to my age) who we frequently encounter Commenting on our favorite stories. ;–)

I don’t know why I confused @Wesley8890 with Page Scrawler (who I will not summon to a random story again). ;–)