Former Member

In honor of LGBTQ Pride Month “Come out, come out, wherever you are!” Lyrics by EY Harburg, Music by Harold Arlen, from The Wizard of Oz soundtrack

Denial. Homosexuality is so feared by straight men that they cannot accept that they might not be straight. All those broke straight boys who like to pretend that money is the only reason they keep going back to have sex with each other. All those MSMs (Men who have Sex with Men, a sociological term) who identify as straight because it is too disturbing to contemplate that they might actually be bisexual or Gay. Alcohol is another alibi used to cover the real desires with everyone pretending to be too drunk to remember what happened. In certain (sub)cultures, being LGBTQ is much more difficult than in others. But no matter what subculture or region someone belongs to, there are others who have been there before you and others who will follow you. Your predecessors have made it at least a tiny bit easier for you and it’s up to you to try to make it a little bit easier for those who follow you. For some it might mean providing a safe space or some wise advice, for others it might mean being Out and proud. We all stand on the shoulders of those who came before us – none of us has done it all on our own.

To quote a poster my older brother used to have, “Tomorrow never comes.”

It would have been his 66th birthday. NewFest and NYC Pride partnered to design a new font in his honor. You can download the beta preview.

A lovely performance. Copland's lonely, sublimated, love-less Gay life comes through in most of what he wrote. I particularly like Quiet City for that reason. It haunts me as a Gay person myself.

A friend of mine writes a blog and as a journalist, has access to early views of many of the programs that will be shown at Frameline41. He has started to post his reviews. He’s much more serious and dedicated than I am – he actually takes notes, I try to rely on my poor memory and the Festival Program blurbs for my comments. If you want a preview of the movies to be shown at the world’s oldest and largest LGBTQ Film Festival, check out his blog!

Bailey’s teammates were shocked that he had revealed his football past to Declan, something they hadn’t been privy to.

I like this chapter more than the ones before. Teddy and Ryder felt like real people. I loved Teddy’s parents and their interactions a lot too! ;-)

As predicted by many, Sue already knew. I doubt Don will be quite as comfortable, I think he will also be accepting – it’s not as if he were an Albertan (who I have been led to believe are the closest Canada has to US Southerners). This will mean Robbie and Nathan will be able to hang out together, but will also mean Sue will be keeping a closer watch on their interactions. ;-)

Handsome Devil is being shown at Frameline41 at the Victoria Theater on Saturday, June 17th at 1:30, and again on Tuesday, June 20th at 9:15. On the one hand, the fact it is being shown in the Victoria indicates the festival programmers think there are either more significant movies to show or that there will be a smaller crowd attracted to this movie than for some of the others at the festival. On the other hand, it is being shown twice. (In the past, the festival has reserved two TBA spots for programs that sell out faster than expected or other reasons, but this year I only see one TBA. There are usually several programs that are shown twice, but usually they are shown in different theaters, one in SF and one in the East Bay.) Since the movie is being shown in the Victoria, I won’t be seeing it and I won’t include it in my brief descriptions on the Frameline41 topic to be posted later. Frameline41 will be held in five venues (in San Francisco and Oakland). 147 films from 19 different countries will be shown during the 11 day festival.

Jaime and the gang seem like very typical teenaged boys. Casually invading their classmate’s personal space without realizing the discomfort it’s causing. Pretty much oblivious to the intense emotional moment they interrupted. But not in a mean or intentionally offensive way. Kind of like a bunch of puppy dogs with their oversized feet! ;-) "Get moving, Vasser!" Coach Reed yelled. I think you meant ‘McIntyre’ this time. ;-)

Egri csillagok by Gárdonyi Géza

"If I would knew, the world would end tomorrow, I still would plant a little apple tree today." Martin Luther.

It will take an hour before the sunsets. Either ‘before the sun sets’ or ‘before sunset’. Now that they have them all, what will they do with them? Put them on the serum? Kill them? Lock them up? And what will they do with their non-vampire collaborators? They can’t put them in jail if they want to keep the existence of vampires secret…

HEHE! A new one has been posted Enjoy

I really would like to read an other essay from you AC. They were so good!

I posted an essay on a Forster piece https://www.gayauthors.org/story/ac-benus/thegayexperience/2

I'm an old head, so I love the Mafia series. Mafia 3 is full of hilarious glitches that keeps me in stitches, and the game play is repetitious. But the open world, and multiple endings makes replaying so worth it. The game is cheesy, but in a good way. You know, gangster from Mafia 2 is no longer the cool guy, but now more like Robert De Niro in 'Goodfellas.' It's set in the late sixties, and pulls no punches on the turbulent times down South. The soundtrack is authentic, and the best I've heard to date in any video game. When the last dlc comes out in July, I will play through the game one more time, and then tuck it away forever. Well...maybe not forever.

Yeah! Team Chance won! I think even in the most rural, out of the way places in the country there are people who are more accepting than we might think based on stereotypes. There have always been LGBTQ people everywhere, often living very quiet lives, with others knowing while not making a fuss over them. There is more acceptance for the known than the unknown – it’s harder to hate people we like than the strangers who are different. We just need to make ourselves more known. We can change the world a few people at a time. 🎶 All we need is love… Love is all we need… 🎶 ;-)

More from the Cherub There had never been an overture of the scale of Giulio Sabino - over 10 mins in performance - before it premiered in London in 1786. He ushered in an entire new genre, the concert overture. Enjoy this really excellent performance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxGkhm9zK8E Or this one, which is not as good

Reed seems to be all about Reed and what others can do for Reed. Chance seems to be a more well-rounded and genuine person even though he keeps his feelings bottled up too much. Chance seems to blossom when he’s with Brandon, but he’s so easily hurt by the things Brandon does unintentionally. Brandon needs to talk, really talk to Chance. Chance is an interesting set of contradictions, open to challenging the norms he was raised with (cooking and all the stuff with organic farming), yet still conforming to others (attending church every Sunday and not expressing his feeling being two obvious examples).

I think many, if not most people, regret who they had sex with the first time. I know as a young Gay man that I felt pretty desperate thinking that there were so few possibilities and that no one would ever want me since I wasn’t the type I’d date. Of course, at the time, looking much younger than my chronological age of mid to late 20s, there were many guys who were interested in me, I was just too oblivious to realize it. Only a few of the most aggressive managed to penetrate my denseness – and that aggressiveness made them a poor match for me. Eventually, I started making better choices. But it took a while to realize it was better for me to get to know the guy before we jumped into bed together. Which is not to say that I slept with any and every body, I just wasn’t as picky as I should have been. It also took me a long time to get to know me better. ;-)

Brilliant quote

What a wonderful thing they did! And since small town gossip doesn’t bypass high school students, everybody knows that their host is a Gay man. It might have given those disheveled boys the courage to have gone off into the darkness together… ;-) Brandon seemed to have a very different reaction to his kiss with Chance than he did with the kiss with Brandon. Go Team Chance!

I think Brandon is right to be hesitant about going back to Reed. And I think Chance is at least a tiny bit jealous. I’m on Team Chance.