Gay Republicans in California are pressing Governor Schwarzenegger to sign a bill legalizing gay marriage, expected to pass in the Assembly and the Senate again this year. Read all about it here on 365gay.com

California’s governor

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The “homohop” artist Deadlee is part of growing group of openly gay rap and hip-hop artists that are leading the way in bringing the message of gay pride to the world through music. Since Bronski Beat and Erasure in the 80s, there have been few music artists willing to put gay pride into their lyrics. Janet Jackson touched on it while speaking out about bigotry on The Velvet Rope, and she’s not even gay!

There are others trying, such as Nemesis, a new pop duo of openly gay twin brothers, who’s new video shows one of the brothers making out with a woman. (???) Ummmm…not hot. Frankly, i was disgusted at this sell-out display. At least they tried to redeem themselves by showing the other brother, (who really needs to buzz his thinning hair off,) briefly run his fingers through a guy’s hair. Still, it was a weak attempt.

Deadlee and his friends, on the other hand, are no sell-outs! They are not afraid to say clearly, proudly, and boldly, “I AM GAY!” Deadlee’s video for the song “Good Soldier II (featuring Micah Barnes)” Tells the story of a young man’s struggle with his parents for acceptance. It features a very hottt love scene between two beautiful young men, and ends tragically with one of them committing suicide because of his father’s disappointment. I really respect and applaud these artists for being true to themselves and to the cause. (My cause.)

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Click on titles to watch videos
Music:

Blue October – Foiled (See Jestertunes for more info.) Into The Ocean Hate Me

Copeland – In Motion (released in 2005, but very much a 2006 album for me.) Pin Your Wings I just found out they have a new album that came out 2 months ago that i haven’t even heard yet! (I’m sure that one will go on my 2007 list.) Control Freak

Janet Jackson – 20 Y.O. (the version with the bonus DVD) I couldn’t get enough of this. Whenever i watch her, i get up and walk with a huge swing in my hips, shaking my invisible big booty! It’s my Janet walk! I probably liked the last album Damita Jo a little bit more, but Janet will always have a special place in my heart. (Now if i could just finish learning all the steps in “All nite.”)(whispered) This is sick! So Excited Call On Me
Panic At The Disco – I Write Sins Not Tragedies from the album A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out.

This song brings back memories of our Nashville trip and the drag show where a girl in drag performed this song.

Later she danced with me on the dance floor. I guess she liked my moves. It was a little weird freaking a girl dressed as a boy, but so much fun!!!
Esthero – We R In Need Of A Musical Revolution (click on “the video”) from the album Wikked Lil’ Grrrls.

I put my headphones on and listen to this song and just fuckin’ rock out!!! It’s a cool album, but this song especially. It has a powerful and moving beat and drum part, a nasty, slapping bass part, great soaring vocals and lyrics. This album has some Janet Jackson style interludes that seem to tell the story of proud bisexual women.
Keith Urban – Once In A Lifetime from the album Love, Pain & The Whole Crazy Thing.

I heard this song on the radio when we took a trip to Nashville and fell in love with it. I even called the radio station just to find out what it was! Definitely not your typical country song.

This is a beautiful upbeat song that almost sounds part U2.

Films:

Brokeback Mountain.

watch trailer
There has been a ton of controversy about this movie from people who just don’t have a clue.

Bottom line, this is a tragic love story that perfectly portrays the inner and outer struggles of gays, how far we’ve come, and how far we have yet to go.

Stranger Than Fiction. watch trailer
A new side of Will Ferrell, and definitely the most unique and interesting film since The Matrix.

Emma Thompson is amazing as usual, as is Dustin Hoffman. Maggie Gyllenhaal has proven she’s a great actor. (Hey, brother and sister in the same “best of list” in 2 different movies.) And of course, the beautiful Queen Latifah.

Memoirs Of A Geisha. watch trailer My 5 year old niece saw Memoirs, and for days afterward kept saying, “Mommy, I’m a geisha!” Secretly, i was saying the same thing! I recently had a co-worker who was a geisha. She never actually said it, but one day the subject came up and some one said that geishas were prostitutes. She got very upset! There were other clues, too. I loved her.

New TV show: Heroes watch episodes

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Andy Bell, formerly of Erasure, is still making incredible music! Check out this video for “Crazy” from his new album Electric Blue.

Thenm check out this video of Alanis Morissette singing a different “Crazy,” originally by Seal.

Then go here to see the incredibly awesome video for Gnarls Barkley‘s “Crazy.” Wow, very wild!

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On Logo today, I also saw a very cute story about the gay penguin couple at the New York Aquarium, Wendell and Cass. It’s not a new story, but one you may not know about yet.

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I’m feeling especially proactive today because i’m watching the Logo channel. I haven’t watched this station in a long time, and i honestly had forgotten that there was a gay television network. (It’s channel 146 where i live and listed as LOGOP.) I watched a program which featured a man who just got divorced. He was with his wife for 12 years and they have 3 kids, and he finally decided to tell her that he’s gay and is with a man now and happier than ever. He was agonizing over how to tell her. When he finally did, she said, “Well i’ve thought that for a very long time! I can’t believe it took you this long to figure it out for yourself!” Apparently they had a pretty unhappy marriage. It’s a familiar enough story, but there was something about the story that really stuck out to me and took me by surprise. He said that until just a year ago, he never considered himself gay or even bisexual. Even in his own mind, for himself, he considered himself a straight man who happened to be attracted to men. Like, he wasn’t just hiding it from other people, but from himself! The sad thing about the story to me, was that the wife asked at one point, “So, 12 years together…how much of that was real?” God, what a painful question! His answer was “It was all real!”
The reason i’m writing about this is because it all comes back to ignorance and prejudice and how it damages people and lives. How many, (many, many,) men and women are there out there who are married and have children because for whatever social reasons they have denied their truth for so long and now have to face that they are not happy and are not making their spouse happy and it’s not fair to the kids. I’ve always heard that somewhere between 1 in 10 and 1 in 7 people is gay or bisexual, but does that include the ones who are in the closet and the ones who are in denial about it even to themselves?
You know, it just makes me angry that this has to happen. How much better will this world be when there isn’t such a stigma about being gay? And thank goodness that it is getting better every day, because i hate seeing this and i always have.

And how do i know it’s getting better? Well some other things i learned today on Logo: Did you know that in 1990, only 12 companies in the U.S. offered domestic partner benefits to their employees? Today, 4,304 employers provide same sex partner benefits, including more than 117 state and local governments, and 148 companies in the Fortune 500. This represents a 36,000% increase in 16 years. That is great news to me, and renews my hope in humanity and my country! That’s cause for celebration, if you ask me! (I heard these numbers on In The Life, a show that is celebrating it’s 10th year on television.)

What other delightfully interesting fact did i learn on Logo today? Well our fine men and women in the military were surveyed regarding gays in the military. 73% of them said they approve of allowing gays in the military, and 23% said they already know someone in their own unit who is gay! Wow, who knew that being gay is really not so taboo in the military? So, what exactly is this “Don’t ask don’t tell” bullshit all about, and who is it for, and does it really mean anything? Apparently not, because the fighting men and women are obviously totally gay-friendly whether the idiot president likes it or not! (And of course, a large percentage of that 27% who don’t approve are probably closet-cases anyway, so there you go!) Right? Am i right or am i right?

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Just as Melissa Ethridge is for us today, the 80′s British pop band Bronski Beat were heros to gay youth.

“At the end of 1984, the trio released an album provocatively titled The Age Of Consent. The inner sleeve listed the varying ages of consent for consensual male homosexual activity in different nations around the world.” – Wikipedia.org

This video for the song “Small Town Boy” tells the story of a boy who falls for a diver, but the diver betrays him to conceal his own homosexuality, beating the boy up in an alley with some friends. The police bring him home and when his parents discover that their son was beaten for being gay, they kick him out of the house. However, he finds out that he can always count on his friends. It is a very familiar story for gay people all over the world, and an important message for everyone. We have to continue to strive to stop this ignorance and prejudice that hurts so many people.

Now, if only Justin Timberlake and Ricky Martin could step out of the closet and take a stand for our people!

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I just went to get my hair cut just before closing time. I was the only customer in the shop with the two women working there and the teenage daughter of one of them. As i sat in the chair the 3 women were talking about cute guys that go to the highschool, and a cute guy who works at In & Out Burger. The one who was cutting my hair started laughing hysterically and had to stop cutting while she composed herself, which of course made me start laughing. I was intrigued. Then she let me in on the inside joke. “Ya, this guy at In & Out watches his bicep flex as he pulls down the lever on the french fry cutter and then looks around to see who else is watching his muscles bulge!” We all started laughing again. “Ya,” the mother continues, “And when we get to the window my daughter says ‘mom, look how cute his butt is! Oh my god, he has such a cute butt!’” More laughter. I suddenly remember all the times i’ve been through that drive-through staring at the hot guys who work there. Finally, i say, “Ya, there are a lot of cute guys working at In & Out!” It sinks in for a moment, and i can only imagine the looks being exchanged. My stylist quickly breaks the silence saying to the other 2 , “Poor Michael! He’s probably afraid when he leaves here we’re going to be staring at his butt as he walks out the door!” We all laugh again. She’s trying to make me blush, and of course now she knows i’m gay, so she can be free with me. Then the other stylists says, “No, when you give him his change, make sure you ‘accidentally’ drop it on the floor so he has to pick it up!” She demonstrates by slowly bending over without bending her knees. The daughter chimes in, “No! Bend and Snap!” The mother demonstrates again, “Ya, beeeennnnd……..and snap!” It was fabulous! When my hair was done, i went to pay, and told her to keep the change, (not even taking the great opportunity to make it into the catty joke that it should have been.) I went to leave, and the other stylist says “Bye!” I turn back and smile and say goodbye. As i walk out the door it dawns on me that they were eagerly hoping that i would do the ‘bend and snap’ for their amusement. The little diva inside me said, “Do it! Do it now!” But alas, i am far too shy! But we still had fun, and i know they were staring at my ass anyway as i walked out that door. It was the kind of fun that three women in a salon could only have with a gay guy, considering i was a customer who they didn’t know. I love being gay! (And they love me for being gay! And i love them for lovin’ me!)

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Dan was over at our house the other night and posed the question for everyone to answer – Who are the top 3 celebrity men you would like to have sex with? Here are mine:
#1: A man seemingly steeped in mystery, since there is only one photo of him in existence on the internet. Justin Brown, (30-ish) of TLC’s In A Fix. This photo does no justice. He is tall, muscular, gorgeous, butch, and always had the coolest looking facial hair. Oh……. Justin…… mmmmmmm……. j u s t i n………oh yah!

#2: Chris Daughtry, 26, of American Idol fame, and front man for the band Daughtry,(Who’s first album is available NOW.) Chris made watching the show very_ difficult!!!!! (if you know what i mean.) Every time they showed him on screen from the very beginning, i had to bite my lip! And that voice! Fuck! Daughtry MySpace page

#3: Anyone who’s old enough to remember watching Saved By The Bell probably vividly remembers, (as i do,) seeing Mario Lopez, 33, on the screen in skimpy gym shorts that left nothing to the imagiantion. If you don’t, let me just tell you without any doubt, he is well-hung! ‘Oh, hey Slater! Nice dick!’ The only thing that seems to have changed in 20 years is the hair! I’m thinking of starting a club for thirty-something gay men, and our official motto will be “Mario made me gay! All hail Mario!”

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