Former Member

The whole point of NCOD is to be more visible! Of course you’re invited! It’s just that it was started by the US-based Human Rights Campaign… ;-) This logo was designed by Keith Haring! This one clearly wasn’t! (Keith didn’t do this one either.)

I don’t advocate that NCOD be mandatory especially for the more vulnerable (those dependent on others, those who live in dangerous countries, those who could be prosecuted or killed, etc). That’s why I mentioned Coming Out to yourself. Be smart, stay safe.

We LGBTQ people are continually Coming Out to new people that we meet. Sometimes it’s verbal, sometimes there are other clues – I found out my postal carrier is a Lesbian because she was wearing rainbow-striped socks! I’m wearing my NCOD t-shirt today – it’s ancient and even has the original NCOD date printed on it: October 11, 1989! Some of you weren’t even born yet! ;-)

Were you even a teenager yet? How much younger could you have been? (I only realized I might be Gay when I was 13, but that was back in the Jurassic Period of LGBTQ history!) I write that, then I realize I’ve watched documentaries about Trans kids in elementary school (yes, I know that’s not the same, but there are parallels).

It’s National Coming Out Day in the US. Kay got started a little early with his family. Maybe by next year he’ll feel confident enough to be Out at school? ;-)

Today is National Coming Out Day in the US! It’s a day to commemorate by Outing yourself to someone – even (especially?) if it’s only to yourself! We have more power when we are more visible!

My experience was much more personal and private! He sang for me in his apartment. We were the only ones there. ;-)

If there was a dictionary entry for overthinking things, Jake’s picture would be there. His brain is going through so many different thoughts so quickly that he can’t even vocalize them fast enough! I think I’m bad, but Jake has me beat, hands down! ;-)

I had a neighbor who was a musician and a friend sing a song to me and just for me. It was very intense, I cannot imagine how much more it could be if my neighbor had feelings for me. It was incredibly personal and intimate. ;-)

VCTV? VC24? A 24/7 cartoon channel for Vampires? ;-) It must be nice to have the near-unlimited funding and resources to make such a clandestine escape with the Old Ones. I don’t think Iilya would imagine that they’d be able to do something like that. A failure to think big enough… ;-)

Hmm. Sue disappointed me this time. Nicola continues to impress me. And Daniel's heading in the right direction. We all know that this sleeping arrangement, or lack thereof, is because it's about a same-sex couple. Sue and Don had no problem with the late nights and the sleepovers when it was Fran and Robbie. If they were consistent with their boundaries with both relationships, I could imagine that they were just trying to be responsible parents. But clearly that's not the case. Even worse, they don't have to worry about pregnancy, so if anything they should have been harder on Robbie when he was dating Fran than they are now he's dating Nathan. And they want him to consent to being adopted by them? Fat chance if it was my decision. I like the three kids, but Sue and Don disappoint me most of the time. I can't talk completely bad about them, because they did take Robbie in. But then since Don's all about "image", how much of that was for his own image, and how much of it was because he genuinely cares about Robbie? And maybe he did, but now Robbie's 'out' things appear to be different. And it seems to me he's more concerned, yet again, about his own image. So I just don't know of much of their relationship with Robbie is now genuine given their attitudes since they found out about him being gay. Excellent as always, Dodger.

I have a friend* who has HIV. He has this stupid idea that he’s smarter than his doctors, so when he didn’t like some of the side-effects of his meds, he decided to just stop taking them without consulting with his doctors. His health deteriorated so badly he looked as skeletal as one of the survivors of the Nazi Death Camps. I was with him when his partner took him to the hospital. His partner was pushing the wheelchair he was in – he tried to be friendly with a couple kids and said hi, but they were terrified by his appearance! This was probably 20 years ago and the doctors were able to get him on medications he liked better. He’s still as annoying as he ever was, always providing unsolicited advice to all and sundry. But his temper appears to be mellowing out a bit – he no longer throws his keyboard across the room when he’s mad at his computer! But he still won’t call me when his partner is in the hospital (many medical problems including the after-effects of several strokes). ;-) * I like his partner better and have known his partner much longer.

So you don’t have to use your taped-up ‘r’ key, of course! ;-)

...Oh, yours is so much classier... You deserve to move on for sure. Good luck, buddy!

Will you be searching through a thesaurus so you can avoid using words with an ’r’ in them? ;-)

Well now we know that Sue’s rush to meet the ‘in-laws’ was more about c*ck-blocking than wanting to meet Nathan’s parents! Clearly Sue pressured Nathan’s parents into acceding to Don's and her demands. It’s interesting that Don didn’t feel compelled to meet Nathan’s family. ;-) I once bought two tuxedoed Thin Man-style Teddy Bears that my employer had been selling for Valentine’s Day. My clueless coworker couldn’t understand why I didn’t want to buy a pair (ie one that included the female companion in the wedding dress) – our much more aware coworker told her that I was buying a pair! ‘Clueless’ never did figure out why I’d want two male bears! ;-)

Same-Sex abusive couples are often hidden because the larger community is oblivious to the possibility and some in the LGBTQ community are afraid of the bad publicity. There aren’t a lot of resources for them either, even if they do seek help. A battered male spouse also has to deal with sexist questioning about why he didn’t fight back, homophobic slurs against his masculinity, and the fact that most battered women's shelters are in fact set up for women and children only (even teenaged sons are often not allowed to stay).

I’m sorry, but Jake needs to practice some tough love with his mother. He’s finally realizing she’s just been using him. He’s been enabling her bad behavior. Nat is practicing her own version of tough love with Jake, but I think maybe she just needs a break from dealing with his problems.

Cam was listed as ‘adopted son,’ it was his father (who shares his last name) who was excluded.

Dark, with a constant sense of foreboding. This tale put me in the cell with the imprisoned, and left me there to suffer along with him. The author paints a vivid portrait, allowing the reader to wield their own brush. I recommend to anyone who has a love for the macabre to not pass on 'Night Thoughts.' Edited just now by R J Drew

I am always in search of dark tales, and this was like finding a treasure. I absolutely loved it!!

I always hated that hospital waiting room thing. You mostly just sit there with your relatives and wait. No one is in a mood to do much talking or eating. It’s incredibly stressful. People complain about hospital food, school cafeteria food, and airline food as if they were isolated examples of bed food. I think they all have things in common. They’re all prepared in bulk and often not served immediately. Those things make it more difficult to prepare tasty food. Hospitals have the additional burden of needing to provide meals that fit special dietary conditions that are often counter to taste and consistency.

I think Devon & Colin’s Chosen Family is getting some very interesting members! Iustina & Repetate are kind of like having children that have a severe mental health problem (somewhat like autism) or a very low IQ. They’ll need to be taken care of for the rest of their lives and most people don’t understand them. ;-) Colin was poring over the computer, not pouring.

I've read this story a few times. And the decency of Luke's character and personality stands out every time.

The only thing worse than talking about your mother continuously during a date might be talking about your ex continuously during a date – especially if it’s your ex-wife! ;-)