I expect simple behaviours here. Friendship, and love. Any advice should be from the perspective of the person asking, not the person giving! We have had to make new membership moderated to combat the huge number of spammers who register
Location: USA
Registered: April 2009
Messages: 429
Before jumping into the fray. I want to get back and get some good discussions and vibes. Just need some more time to get my feet back on the ground. Nothing terrible or awful, just needed a break. Hope everyone is well, or nearly well.
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13756
Every now and then we find out that a normal, ordinary chap who just got on with his life also happened to be homosexual. So it was with the late Kenneth Kendall.
Kenneth Kendall was a bastion of genteel British TV, and his sexuality was never a matter of dicussion.
He was a campaigner in a quiet(!) way for safe sex:
"Quote:"
Cowes resident and former newsreader Kenneth Kendall celebrated his 80th birthday with a party at his art gallery in the High Street, organised by his partner of 14 years Mark Fear, 60. "It was marvellous. I even managed to blow out all the candles on my cake," Kendall tells me. "I think I am going to turn into a cantankerous old gentleman: I have warned everyone that I'm not going to do anything that I don't want to do, and I may well become selectively deaf." The 200 guests, including old friend Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, spilled out on to the pavement, before the crowd went on to finish the evening with dinner at the 1930s themed Royal Yacht Squadron ball.
Adds Kendall, who once famously handed out condoms during a Cowes week as part of a safe sex campaign: "I do think that safe sex is still relevant, and I dare say I would hand them out again - were I to be asked."
World AIDS Day is on 1st December every year. I will be wearing a red ribbon as usual (and carrying a few to hand out), to encourage people to ask me and talk to me about HIV.
"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. ... Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night devoid of stars." Martin Luther King
This article clearly indicates there is rapidly approaching closing date for discussion on this measure; but, no rebuttal article is noted about it's outcome.
The second, an op-ed piece from The Bilerco Project:
Absolutely delicious! Especially the historic implication surrounding same-sex marriage. Why is it that Americans are only just now learning of Mr. Lincoln's lavender-tingled propensities (the latter word used without any obvious and intended pun)?
All this from the man who gave the World "The Emancipation Proclamation"; William Wilberforce, had Lincoln actually conceived of the latter concept in his teens, could well have benefited from Lincoln's earlier poetic ruminations had then then been widely known.
Warren C. E. Austin
The Gay Deceiver
Toronto, Canada
Spectacular images from this morning's (sic. yesterday afternoon's for those of us living in the EST time-zone) outstanding solar eclipse published today at netscape.aol.com.
Warren C. E. Austin
The Gay Deceiver
Toronto, Canada
Location: the burning former USofA
Registered: July 2010
Messages: 399
Sent to me from my sister-in-law. She's infamous for spamming all of us with these kinds of things. But this one I wanted to pass along.
A woman came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find her 5-year old son waiting for her at the door.
SON: 'Mummy, may I ask you a question?'
MUM: 'Yeah sure, what it is?' replied the woman.
SON: 'Mummy, how much do you make an hour?'
MUM: 'That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?' the woman said angrily.
SON: 'I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?'
MUM: 'If you must know, I make $20 an hour.'
SON: 'Oh,' the little boy replied, with his head down.
SON: "Mummy, may I please borrow $5?"
The mother was furious, 'If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I don't work hard every day for such childish frivolities.'
The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door..
The woman sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?
After about an hour or so, the woman had calmed down, and started to think:
Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $5 and he really didn't ask for money very often. The woman went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door.
'Are you asleep, son?' She asked.
'No Mummy, I'm awake,' replied the boy.
'I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier' said the woman. 'It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the $5 you asked for.'
The little boy sat straight up, smiling. 'Oh, thank you Mummy!' he yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills.
The woman saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry again.
The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his mother.
'Why do you want more money if you already have some?' the mother grumbled.
'Because I didn't have enough, but now I do,' the little boy replied.
'Mummy, I have $20 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.'
It's just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts. Do remember to share that $20 worth of your time with someone you love.
If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of hours. But the family & friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives. Please don't break this even if you only send it to one person.
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13756
I started out thinking "This preacher can't preach, he can just read. What a lousy speaker." I changed my mind at the end. I think he gave too much time to the first part and his conclusion was diminished by feeling rushed, though.
Protests to Twitter got his account suspended, but he is back on the air today. But the BBS article suggests that the police are investigating his tweets.
Location: New Zealand
Registered: August 2009
Messages: 317
This is old news now, but bear with me. Following the earthquakes in Christchurch NZ, in September 2010, February 2011 - and July, December etc, etc. A student, Sam Johnson, using mostly Facebook, inspired and activated an army of thousands of students & young people who went out with shovels & wheelbarrows and started cleaning up the mess - thousands and thousands of tonnes of it! http://www.samjohnson.co.nz/about-the-student-volunteer-army /
Not only did they do a wonderful job but they inspired and united a shattered community and country. Tens of thousands of others got involved with relief work, including the 'Farmy Army' who came into town with their tractors and diggers etc, to continue what the kids had started.
A few days ago the Huffington Post reported his story and made it clear that Sam is gay. It's interesting that it took a US publication to feature that side of him. Most people here are saying, "I didn't know that he was gay, and so what if he is?" His sexuality had nothing to do with what he did, but he's definitely an inspiration to everyone.
(He's a red-head too - which makes it even better! )
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13756
That you Dr Spitzer for acknowledging that your study into reparative therapy is fatally flawed. Thank you for finally apologising for putting homosexual people through hell.
The NY Times article may be behind a registration wall, but do read it.
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13756
Sometimes one sees so very clearly the actual harm done by the relentless US circumcisers. The penis in this picture is seriously damaged. You can see so clearly the scar and the difference between the shaft skin and the inner foreskin. That is intended to be smooth and moist. It's a mucous membrane like the inside of your mouth.
In this picture the membrane looks harsh and pitted. The frenulum, the source of almost all sexual sensation, is not present. It has been removed with a knife.
Those of you who are circumcised may say "so what, sex is fine" and you will be right. For you it is fine and it is so because you only know what you know. Those with frenulums will know how erotic the item is. Those without manage without.
But we do need to make sure that this mutilation is not done as a matter of course to newborn boys. I don't say this to offend or upset the Jews. You Jews must make your own peace with your god and your sons.
Compare that image with this:
Glossy, shiny and smooth.
Neither penis may be to your taste, but you can see clearly the difference.
The models in each are over the age of majority and the pictures are judged to be lawful
Location: South Africa - Gauteng
Registered: January 2007
Messages: 309
You'll Never Really Know...
What if I told you that his days had been numbered?
What if I told you his hour was near?
Would you believe or would it fade on a whim?
Or would you just think I am being dim?
Robbed of my vision I stumble and blundered,
A desperate reach but still nothing I hear.
It was Death I'd heard whisper - a heralding bell,
But not even Death could have stopped the day that I fell.
I see that you've changed and I know she loves you,
But believe when I say she'd never do what I'd do for you.
I'd never draw you a line or tell you enough,
I'd hold you up and push you through if times got tough.
I'd turn straw to gold if that's what would make you smile,
I'd lay it all down and care only for you all the while.
I'd do all I could to protect you from strife,
And when that seemed like enough I'll also give up my life.
I see that you've changed and I know that she loves you,
But now believe when I say she'd never do what I'd do for you.
I despise that she's on your hand and in your heart,
And that I never got to play my part.
But that fateful day I held my tongue and chose silence,
And prayed every day since for providence.
I loathe that I still hold you so high,
Devine to my mind still making me cry.
I don't think I will ever let go not on my own,
I don't think I want to let go...
Location: Canada
Registered: March 2010
Messages: 188
I've been gone for a couple of months, busy with work, vacationing in Mexico and what-not. I have returned to find this awesome new forum... NICE WORK!!! Now I have something new to play with
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13756
I have just come back from making a donation to our town's new pet project. Our bookshop closed and the town, wisely or unwisely, started a Community Bookshop run by volunteers, selling old and new books. My wife is a shareholder though we each, privatley, think it will fold. We wish it well. And so we took some books we no longer wanted to the Community Bookshop for them to resell. This was our donation. My wife asked me to drop the books in because she was concerned that they would see one, Kama Sutra, and draw their lips tight over it.
I went in with a load and asked them to check whether each book was likely to sell. If not I was going to take it to the local animal charity shop. They were two ladies, one about 10 years older than me, one about my age, and they worked through the books with glee.
"I don't think we want this one," said the older one. "It's published by the Gay Men's Press!"
I wondered, gently, why not. I mentioned that we have a gay mayor, we have gay shopkeepers, we have a gay couple running one of our local tea shops, and that it didn't seem an unusual thing at all to me. I didn't want to turn it personal by saying "I'm gay!" because that would have made a different point, and badly.
"Oh, I suppose these things don't matter nowdays," she answered.
Shed been happy with Kama Sutra, she'd noticed only that Beautiful Thing was a play script, she'd not recognised Me Talk Pretty One Day as a gay book at all. She had just been drawn to the publisher's name.
Unless she's thrown the books away now, I think I may have made a quiet point successfully. I just wonder what was going through her mind
Location: US/Canada
Registered: September 2009
Messages: 733
LGBT advocate Zach Wahls<div style="text-align: justify;">NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- Saturday night writer and LGBT advocate Zach Wahls took the stage at the GLAAD Media Awards in New York to share his personal story following his speech in front of the Iowa House of Representatives which was the most-watched political clip of 2011 according to Youtube. While on stage, Zach spoke about the power of media in spreading his message. He talked about the impact of his video, including changing the mind of a soldier on marriage equality and building confidence in a lesbian woman to become a mother.
"Quote:"
"Since that speech went viral back in February of 2011, I've been all over the country, from California to New York, down to Florida, continuing to share my story and have this conversation about gay marriage or as I like to call it, marriage," said Wahls.[/font-family]
Wahls joined hosts Cory Monteith and Naya Rivera along with Ted Allen, Laverne Cox, Dakota Fanning, Tracey Gold, Vinny Guadagnino, Megan Hilty, Cheyenne Jackson, Isis King, Carson Kressley, Padma Lakshmi, Jay Manuel, Bernadette Peters, Thomas Roberts, Kim Wayans, and others at the GLAAD Media Awards in New York, which helps fund GLAAD's work to share culture-changing stories that build support for equality.
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13756
I was playing on Tumblr, and I either found of imagined this user name. I never bothered to go and look. Why? Because it just feels nasty. And then I noticed more and more appalling user names, ones that disparage the very thing they seem to worship.
Then I looked at Nifty with eyes I've always used, at the tales I've avoided. The ones that despise the men and boys they appear to be attracted to.
That got me wondering. Why does anyone use such terms about the things they are naturally attracted to? And why is it so common?
Location: Canada
Registered: December 2003
Messages: 869
... of an exceptionally well known Pornography producer and distributor and felt the need to share it with you all here, thinking that because of where I found it, you all would likely have missed it!
Warren C. E. Austin
The Gay Deceiver
Toronto, Canada
Location: England
Registered: November 2003
Messages: 1756
On Tuesday, 20 March, the sun will appear to cross the Equator near the Maldive Islands on its journey northwards. This will happen at 05.14 hrs GMT/UTC.
Oddly enough, the actual equinox is today, the 17 March, in the UK with the sun rising at 06.10 hrs and setting at 18.10 hrs at Greenwich (London). I am told that this is because the Earth is not a true sphere.
Hugs
Nigel
I dream of boys with big bulges in their trousers,
Never of girls with big bulges in their blouses.
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13756
General prohibitions
There are a few things I really object to. I object to them because they are simply bad netiquette and appear impolite.
gratuitous bad language
insults or abuse
knee jerk reaction posts that then need retraction
identification of people here by name when they use a nickname
poor use of case. ALL CAPITALS is shouting, and all lower case is unreadable
use of the board as a "contact centre". This is not a place to do that
spam
critiquing posts by others. I don't mean the occasional "Great news" or similar, but I do mean "marking" posts or deprecating others "in comparison to this one" etc. Disagree with what they say by all means, but don't make them feel small.
I'm not keen on thread hijacking. I don't mean "Never diverge from the topic", but I do mean "Do not grab the thread and take it in a different direction." If you have a wholly new topic, start a new topic.
Nudity is not appropriate on the forum, nor are pictures of people where the 'whole person' is not the topic of the picture. Pictures showing erect penises, clothed or not, or inappropriate clothing, or intended to show minors in some sort of erotic position are subject to summary and unexplained removal.
Threads are no longer permitted when their sole purpose is to display pictures. There are twin reasons for this, copyright and taste. While they picture might be to 'our' taste that are unlikely to be to the taste of the prurient and noisy minorities out there
There are others, and, if necessary, this list will growEdit Function for Posts
Please obey some simple rules when this function is in operation:
Please use it sparingly to correct factual inaccuracies or typos
Please do not use it to blank or remove the sense or spirit of your original post unless in an emergency, and if you have to do this please insert a comment saying why you have done what you have done
Please do not use it in such a way that you render replies ridiculous by your changes
We have had to add a banner at the foot of the forum for age related posts because of COPPA and the EU wishing to raise the "Digital Age of Consent" to 16. So, please read that footer
Location: U.S.
Registered: November 2009
Messages: 630
...imagine that. Agatha Christie would be shocked, as I am sure many of the English are today. Not by the recently discovered murder, a dispicable act in itself, but by the reports covering the incident.
Sandringham, as I understand it, is Queen Elizabeth's country estate and covers about 30 square miles. That's enough territory to encompass a city like New York since Manhatten Island is slightly smaller. But you would think by the reports that the body was found in the Queen's parlor.
A reporter on CNN said that the royal family vacationed there over the holidays without realizing they had a murder victim in their midst. Midst?
You know if any of us said something like that in a story posted to this site we would hear the laughter for weeks. Midst indeed. I wonder why the talking heads on the news are not held to the same standard as those who work in print. Is it that television is such a vapid and insidious waste of time?
That get's my vote. >
Age appears to be best in four things; old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read. (Sir Francis Bacon 1561-1626)
Location: Canada
Registered: December 2003
Messages: 869
Anyone here got an amusing Holiday season anecdote to share?
I'll start the ball rolling with one of my own. This is a true story. It actually happened to me and my then lover Jon back in the day.
We had been vacationing in Bermuda prior to the advent of Christmas week and were on our return flight when the worst winter storm in generations hit the entire eastern seaboard of North America from Labrador to Florida. All air and most sea-based traffic was cancelled and everything quickly ground to a halt. Our flight was diverted to Kennedy International Airport. Our airline issued accommodation vouchers to all the passengers and arranged transportation to downtown New York City.
There is something YOU MUST PICTURE here to appreciate the full impact of this story.
Not-with-standing severe storm warnings having been broadcast for some hours prior to our departure (which I can't recall whether we ever actually had heard), Jon and I had started our journey from Hamilton Bermuda not quite two hours earlier in balmy 70 degrees Fahrenheit, or thereabouts temperatures; and because, we had fully expected to be going from limousine to aeroplane to limousine we hadn't bothered to change from our vacation wear to standard street attire suitable for Toronto (or anywhere else for that matter) walking about; consequently, we arrived at our assigned New York City hotel, alighting from the taxi on to the sidewalk into a foot of snow clad only in tank-t's, shorts and sneakers. Our baggage was still aboard the aeroplane, and would remain there for the next 24-hours when it was subsequently determined our flight (nor anyone else's) was not going to resume any time soon.
Presenting ourselves and our airline accommodation voucher at the front desk of the hotel we were informed they had no rooms available, leaving Jon and I in a quandary about what to do. We weren't able to go walk about, our clothing was quarantined for how long we didn't know, and apparently we now had no place to park ourselves either.
Near despair (and about to erupt in hysteria) I spotted a familiar face in an adjacent marquée: Karl Malden was smiling right back at me urging that I "never leave home without it". Upon spotting this missive, I promptly did an about-face and marched right back up to the front desk and demanded to know of the clerk whether the hotel honoured "American Express". They did, and Jon and I successfully upgraded our airline accommodation vouchers to a suite of rooms for the duration of what transpired being 4-days.
In my nearly 35-year career in marketing, this would likely prove to be the only time I ever encountered real truth in advertising.
If I get suitable response to this thread, I will consider sharing one more, this time detailing Jon's and mine one and only ever experience with a water-bed during a road-travel holiday sojourn to Florida.
Warren C. E. Austin
The Gay Deceiver
Toronto, Canada
Location: Canada
Registered: December 2003
Messages: 869
... posting this missive tonight; but, it would appear that I'm going to be damn busy throughout most of the day and later.
A year ago it was more or less certain, and in some circles, expected that I would not be here.
For a variety of reasons, not the least of these apparently being the fellowship and goodwill extended by many here, I somewhat miraculously awakened from what should have been a fitting and sobering end to a long and gloriously debased and debauched 50-odd year journey partaking of sundry carnal delights.
That I have subsequently continued to daily arise and take a fresh breath with each morning's sunrise stupefies me no end, and I have counted each and every one of them as they have passed as a blessing granted, extended and accepted. My adventure in this World is evidently not quite over, although I can't for the life of me fathom why.
The aforementioned taken as a given, let me to say to you all:
Revel in, and cherish, all interactions with your fellow travelers, extending to them the very same fellowship, courtesy, compassion, truth and honour that you would have them anoint you with. Learn well, and early, the judicious application of not sweating the little things, and thereby become truly able to determine what is actually important to all and not simply white noise.
DO NOT TAKE 62-years, or more, as I have done, to learn this maxim.
Above all else, regardless of your faith, politics or social construct accept and foster the understanding amongst those around you that there can never, ever, be degrees of EQUALITY. "Equal means equal". No more and no less. None of us can ever be more equal than another, and the sooner humankind comes to accept this premise, the sooner we all will learn to live in harmony, and the sooner all will be allowed to be the very best that each and everyone of us has been, and is, destined to be.
TO ALL at A Place of Safety, may I extend my best wishes for your continued safety, good health and personal fulfillment in the coming new year.
Warren C. E. Austin
The Gay Deceiver
Toronto, Canada