Former Member

My mother had stopped driving on her own decades before her memory started going bad. Unlike me, she didn’t really like driving. Besides, she always kept her keys and wallet in her purse. I started hanging my keys on the deadbolt lock because unlocking the door is necessary to leave the apartment. That keeps me from locking myself out of my apartment. My best friend has a full set of my keys, but he lives across the Bay in San Francisco. ;–)

Domestic violence is a dark secret in the LGBTQ community. We try to hide the evidence from the outside that already hates and fears us. The organizations set up to assist victims do not always have programs to assist us – especially if the parties are men. There is evidence that it happens more in our families than in the society in general. And it makes sense since we tend not to have the same sort of support systems that others have.

My mother’s symptoms were different. We thought she was showing signs of Alzheimer’s Disease. The doctors ruled that out and discovered a fairly large brain tumor. Although they operated, she never regained her memory. After her surgery, she was silent around me, but she may have spoken to others. She was never really herself after the memory loss became apparent. She lived several years after the surgery, but she wasn’t really there anymore. It’s been over 16 years since she died. My father survived about a year and a half after she died.

Sorry. Much like writers who feel compelled to put down on the page what is screaming to get out of their heads, I have masses of trivia crammed into my brain. I can’t not share it. ;–)

My parents had my older brother at 30. My older brother had my first nephew at 31½. My younger brother waited until he was 34 to have his first child. My nephew was a mere child just short of 27 when he had his first daughter! My family takes things slowly… ;–)

Adam has gained a ‘son-in-law’ too! ;–) He’s gained new energy and motivation to improve his life (especially his diet!). He’s becoming more mature due to his new responsibilities. (Is Lindsey in charge of the finances at the bakery?) It’s amazing how well Ky and Dizzy know Artie after such a short amount of time. They can read him pretty well. I hate to think about what they’ll be like after a few years together! ;–)

Shouldn’t that be Samwyse? ;–)

The Oakland A’s and SF Giants have had annual Pride Nights for years! The Giants even have an annual ‘Until There’s a Cure’ Night for HIV/AIDS awareness and support! But a documentary Alone in the Game) on LGBTQs and sports points out that, unlike the NBA, MLB doesn’t have a plan in place for when a player Comes Out or is Outed. And there already have been known Gay pro baseball players: one who created the High Five (Glen Burke), one who Came Out after he retired (Billy Bean – not the former A’s Coach), and two who play or played in the minor leagues (Sean Conroy and David Denson) – plus an umpire (Dale Scott). Why are there no Openly Gay players in Major League Baseball? Note: I hate watching baseball, but years of being forced to watch games on TV and in person have forced information into my brain and all the LGBTQ stuff I learn just links up on its own! I couldn’t remember Glen Burke’s name when I first wrote this Comment. I remembered Billy Bean, but I had to look up the others.

I don’t know what Costa is other than a fancy coffee place used as your setting. But as I was watching highlights of the SF Pride Parade last night, they showed a contingent from Under Armour, a company whose CEO caused a boycott of the brand by many who participate in Pride parades. Large corporations whose policies seem to be anti-LGBTQ often try to paper over that by advertising in our venues using rainbow versions of their corporate logos. Just because a company (or more accurately, an affinity group of their LGBTQ employees) participates in Pride doesn’t mean we should automatically support them. ;–) When major companies sponsor Frameline, they are assigned particular Programs (sometimes related to their businesses). Competitors Wells Fargo and Bank of America been Frameline Sponsors for several years. When a PSA supported by BofA was shown, there was polite applause (BofA still hasn’t created an LGBTQ-specific ad of their own). When the Wells Fargo ad was shown before a different Program, the reaction was definitely mixed with some hissing and booing audible even though they’d partnered with a major LGBTQ organization in a blatant and obvious attempt to improve their image. At least this year they didn’t run the ad with two women learning ASL because they were adopting a hearing impaired child together – the tagline ‘For when two become three’ was much too easily subverted by inserting the word ‘accounts’ after the numbers! ;–)

I am watching highlights of the SF Pride Parade on the local CBS station. The broadcast started live on a small independent station that was then owned by an Outed Gay man. It bounced around a few times on various channels and was eventually tape delayed (probably due to the difficulty making sure to avoid showing the occasional naked person). This was the first year KPIX was the Parade Media Sponsor. Early on they talked to Senator Kamala Harris and that got me wondering about California’s other Senator – it turns out that she has never participated in any Pride Parades even when she was SF Mayor. Our recently retired Senator Barbara Boxer (Kamala Harris won her seat) was the first Federal official to participate in a Pride Parade in 1991’s San Diego Pride Parade. Lt Governor Gavin Newsom, former SF Mayor and almost certain winner of the California Gubernatorial election this fall, was also there. The current SF Mayor and the SF Mayor-elect were there too. Oddly enough, the FBI had a contingent in the parade too. @Canuk will be happy to find out that SFO was in the SF Pride Parade! He might also find it interesting that the Canadian and Mexican Consulates marched as a single contingent! (The Consulates of Brazil, Britain, Canada, France, Japan, Norway, and Switzerland were all official sponsors of Frameline42.) ;–) Corporate participants included local companies like Adobe, Apple, Chevron, Dolby Laboratories, Netflix, PayPal, Salesforce, Visa, and Zendesk. Pixar and LucasFilms were part of a larger Disney contingent. And two Social Media companies that I won’t mention, but all of those odd little icons clustered together on so many webpages seem to be based in the Bay Area and were present in the parade too. One of the anchors of the presentation was Hank Plante, one of the first Openly Gay TV reporters (the other contender for the title is from the East Coast somewhere). Hank spent decades on as Political Reporter on KIPX, the SF CBS affiliate (now owned by CBS). Hank’s successors on air include two Out KPIX reporters (who did the roving interviews) and two KGO ABC7 personalities, a morning anchor and the weekend weather guy. KQED’s Politics Reporter is also Gay and I’ve spoken to him at both Frameline41 and Frameline42. I’m not aware of any on-air openly LGBTQ news people on the other three major TV news stations in the Bay Area. Ironically, the show was followed by a televangelist.

Have you read any of @Aceinthehole’s stories before? ;–)

I am very comfortable with my gender, my gender identity, and my orientation. I may not be the butchest guy around, but I am definitely male. I have no desire to dress, look, or act like a woman. But that’s just me. I have no problem with others who fall elsewhere on the various scales. I would prefer not to see any more pictures of straight men wearing panties when their biggest problem is that they need to lose half their weight before they post naked pictures online! ;–)

Here’s Ace apologizing for cutting back to two chapters a week. Most of the stories I read post at most a single chapter a week! Many post at random, some with multiple month gaps. Don’t apologize for prioritizing your life over our pleasure – we’ll get over it somehow! ;–) I guess I never realized how young you were. This must mean I’ll be waiting even longer for updates on Teddy, Ryder, and Oli… ;–)

Do you really think I want to see any women’s underwear? I’m definitely Gay! I am not some straight guy who is so into lingerie that he steals them through the internet (somehow!) from some poor puppy’s mouth halfway around the world! ;–)

I wasn’t going through your drawers! You really need to keep them away from the puppy! Your puppy was proudly carrying them around in its mouth! ;–)

I’m old and my brain retains trivia well. ;–) And the word is ‘versatile’, not bottomless! Bottoms are definitely involved – or at least they were, way back when… ;–)

And sneaky because most Aussies are still sleeping right now… although that part wasn’t intentional.

I’m slowly adding to my thoughts on Frameline42. I’ve gotten halfway through the festival so far. I’ve also added the Award winners. ;–)

I didn’t realize I had so much influence! ;–) This is so easy!

Back in ancient times (the ‘70s), T&A meant including scantily clad young women on TV to goose the ratings, especially if they were exercising for no apparent reason. Since the vast majority of writers, producers, directors, and executives of the time were heterosexual men, there was real no male equivalent.

Only three hours? Amateur! My parents gave up on forcing me to do stuff like that because I could outlast them in stubborn! ;–)

I hope you weren’t wearing your usual ratty underwear that's falling apart! What would the EMTs think when they saw it? Your mother would die from embarrassment… ;–) Or is that the plan, give everybody out there a thrill when the ancient underwear exposes what it’s supposed to be covering? ;–)

I think they’ve gotten pretty good at communicating their feelings. If Adam explains why he’s doing it, Troy is unlikely to object. The kinder, gentler option would give Kyle a chance to actually rehabilitate where incarceration would only resolve vindictive impulses.

That’s why the few texts I send out contain properly spelled, grammatically correct messages with no shortcuts. I’m old-fashioned and type carefully. It’s also why I hate my Android cellphone and prefer my iOS iPad with its much larger onscreen keyboard even in portrait orientation. (Android isn’t as good at guessing your actual intentions.)

If Transman Adam is still a possibility, he could be Artie’s bio-mother! If you examine Artie’s fingerprints carefully, you can see the three sixes hidden in the whirls and swirls. Being even more an abomination, three of Adam’s fingerprints have the word ‘six’ in cursive! [See kids, this is what happens when you listen to Messiah. It’s the devil’s music, endorsed by Satan himself. Just one note and your brain is warped forever!]