Inspirational Story about the National Equality March

I found this letter written by a mother about how her son has been treated his whole life for being gay. It was a heartbreaking story that commanded very serious emotions. I almost cried while reading it.

At the end of the letter, she said she will be in DC Oct. 10-11 for the National Equality March. That's very exciting to me because I am planning on going there for it as well. Wouldn't it be cool if I met her?


I seriously recommend reading the letter. So good.

For more information about the National Equality March, go here.

Harvey Milk Day

The California legislature passed the vote to create a Harvey Milk day on the famous gay rights advocate's birthday, May 22. The only thing standing in the way is the governor, Ahnold Shvarzaneggar. He better wise up and make his audience/voters happy.

This day would be such a revolutionary recognition of everything that not only Harvey Milk, but all gay rights activists, have been fighting for. The battle certainly isn't over, but this would be a nationwide recognition of it.

Namibia to Host First Ever Gay Pride Parade

I am always beyond excited to hear about a town/city/region hosting its first gay pride parade, but this time it's a country! In Africa, the country of Namibia is going to host its first gay pride parade in the city of Keetmanshoop.

They're not expecting a horrible display of violence, but sodomony is still illegal in this country. We'll just have to see what happens. I'm hoping to only find articles about how successful to parade is.

Advocate article

The Gays LOVE Lady Gaga

Yes, we do. You may think you don't, but you're wrong. Gays love her.

And here's the proof. At recent concert in New York, Lady Gaga was performing and dazzling the audience in that special way she does. She was so dazzling, in fact, that two gay boys were turned on enough by her to start having sex, according to PinkNews.com. Whilst Madonna (yes, the Madonna) was in the audience, two gay men just whipped it out and started going at it!


No word on if they got into trouble or not (I'm sure somebody was upset by it), but Lady Gaga was super happy to hear about it. Her sister texted her during the concert to let her know, and she was beyond ecstatic. She loves the gays and thanks them for all her support, claiming that she wouldn't be where she is today without them. They got her going.

All I know is I love her enough to keep her performing strong. "P-p-p-pokerface!"

My Gay Spanish Presentation

So I gave my presentation about a Gay Pride Parade a couple hours ago (I took so long to get on here cuz I had some other things to do first). It was definitely a very terrifying experience for me, and it's interesting to think about why.

I'm definitely not one to be scared of what other people think of me or how they'll react to me and how I live my life, but for some reason it really worried me today in this class. I'm pretty sure it was for the following reasons: I had no idea how these people felt about gay people; I have to spend the rest of the semester with them, pissing them off isn't a good idea; would the teacher be ok with it?; would I get shot after class? That last was one kinda a joke.

Here's how the class went: teacher welcomes everyone; I present; the class continues. Ugh. I got to start the class off with my presentation, setting the tone for the rest of the class. And to make it even more terrifying, the teacher opened up my presenting by saying (in Spanish, of course), "Class, the first presentation that is being presented today is one that is very controversial. Everyone has their own opinions about it, but I want you all to respect Mitch's opinion and try to be open to it." Fuck. He thinks they're gonna go crazy too. When he asked me if I was ready to go, I could barely say "Si." It squeaked out of my mouth.

I started off the presentation by sheepishly trying to throw some charm at the class. I told them all (in Spanish, don't forget) that i was very nervous, and to excuse me from stuttering. It got some smiles of approval from the girls (it should be noted that most of the class was girls, who tend to be more open-minded--most of the time--so that's a positive), so I was off to a good start.

Looking back, I can't remember what all I said to the class. I know I told them everything that was on my note cards and it was all in Spanish and made sense when I said it, but that's it. It rushed by in a blur. At first I was afraid I was moving to fast, but I remembered that when I had practiced earlier, it seemed like I was going too fast then also, but I was actually wasn't. So i kept up the fast talking (at least it was fast to me) and finished my presentation in good time.

My presentation was about a news article for the paper, El Sol de Zacatecas, back in July of this year. It was a simple article about a gay pride parade held in the town of Jerez, and I elaborated on what happened, what it meant to the community, and what gay pride parades mean in general to the world. At least my thought process was well-written.

Drag queens (reinas) from the parade in Jerez

The response from the class after seemed positive enough. People actually answered the questions I asked of the class, which is a major plus. I would get smiles and nods of agreement when I would say things, so at least part of the class was on my side. And the after discussion led by the teacher about my article was very well-responded to and it was all positive. Success!

I hope no one holds being gay against me after this.

I'm Giving a Gay Presentation Today

Today, in about 45 minutes (O god, only 45 minutes left to worry), I'm giving a presentation to my class....in SPANISH! It's my Spanish 305 class, and we're supposed to present a news article from a Spanish country in Spanish. And because I'm masochistic and an idiot, I decided that it would be a good idea to basically come out to my class and do a presentation about a gay pride parade in Mexico.

Did I mention that I'm the first person in the class to present? Way to set the bar high, right? Who knows what the hell kind of presentation will be given on Monday.

Fortunately, the darn thing only has to be 5 minutes long, so it's not going to be that bad. My only worry is getting booed/threatened/shot out of the classroom. We'll just have to see what happens. I'll give you more details about it after the class!

Irish Marriage Equality Advert

I really liked this video; it puts a very literal perspective to the idea of having to ask millions of people to vote on whether or not gay people should be allowed to marry.

Everyone Can Use a Gay in Times of Tragedy

Hilarious video, but it turns out that they make a good point. I feel like I'm always there to help my friends out and brighten their days when something bad happens. Then again, I try to be a good friend anyways; I don't have to be gay to do that.

Local Knoxville News of HIV/AIDS counselor

I found this article in the News Sentinel, and I am truly inspired by it. This woman, Dr. Jeanne Gillian, has worked for 13 years counseling people who have been diagnosed with HIV and AIDS. She works at a volunteer center at Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center, along with many other volunteers. The amount of stress and time-consumption she must experience is truly inspirational.

She was personally affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic back was she was just getting started with all of this. Her son was diagnosed with HIV and eventually died because of it's horrible complications. She can personally relate, and it's very tragic.

I plan to contact her in some way, whether by mail or phone, to let her know how much I appreciate her efforts; they are simply wonderful. I encourage you to do the same.

Judy Shepard Writes a Book About Her Son

I read an excerpt from her new book, The Meaning of Matthew: My Son's Murder in Laramie and a World Transformed, I was practically brought to tears by the short story. It was the story of the phone call that Judy received at 5am while she was across the world in the Middle East saying that her son had been attacked and sustained very serious head injuries. The amount of shock and tension I felt while reading Judy's feelings about how her son was not likely to live was terrifying.

The story of Matthew Shepard is a very sad one that hopefully won't be repeated anytime soon, even though I know it has since and will be again.

Lambda Student Union

I recently mentioned my participation in the Lambda Student Union, and I would like to take a moment to briefly explain what it is.

The Lambda Student Union is a UT campus organization that was established to act as a network for students to serve needs of communication, friendship, insight into the LGBTA world, and to be a place for students to go to feel safe and have someone to talk to. I don't know how long it's been going for, but I know it's been a while.


I've been a member for almost 2 years now, and I currently serve as Historian and Treasurer. It has been one of the greatest experiences of my life; it's something I wouldn't change for anything.

Lambda is very involved both on campus and in the community. We host several events throughout the year and are planning to add even more to our agenda. Some events include recognizing World Aids Day, National Coming Out Day, the National Day of Silence, and our annual Lambda Luau. We also try to collaborate with other on-campus organizations, including the LGBT Commission. If you want to work with us, don't hesitate to let us know.

We like to have fun too, of course. We hold Movie/Game Nights, a bi-annual Drag Show, and many of our members host their own parties that all members are welcome to attend.

It's a really fun organization that I hope you'll get to know much better through my blog. I'm going to start posting blogs about the events that happen involving Lambda, so look forward to those!

A Day in Hand

An interesting campaign that I am definitely going to participate in.

It calls for everyone, gay or straight, to get involved by simply holding hands. That's all.


The idea is that by "speaking out" silently, the LGBTA community is protesting society's stance against gay people without causing undue drama or inappropriate language. This is an inspired idea, very similar to the National Day of Silence. It's supposed to become a monthly event.

I'm definitely going to bring this up at UT's local Lambda group. I think it could be such a good thing to really get started, especially if it gets the appropriate attention it deserves.

A Day In Hand website

Pink News article

Jamie Lee Curtis with some Good Insight

While I was checking my daily news sites, I came across an interesting blog post from Actress Jamie Lee Curtis. She was talking about how when she saw the inspirational movie, Bucket List, she was moved to tears at the very end of the movie during the credits by the song, Say, by John Mayer.

I'm sure you've heard this song; I hear it on the radio all of the time. I did not really listen to it though until I read this blog. The song really is very inspirational, especially from an LGBT standpoint.

At some point in our lives, all gay people are in the closet. We are forced to hide for fear of what might happen to us. Some come out; some don't. I think it's important to realize the value that comes from letting people know who you are.

I'm not going to go into some "come out" rant. That's not my style, nor the point of this blog. From what Jamie said, I think it's important to realize that we don't have forever to say what is hiding inside of us. Life could be taken away in an instant, and then the chance is gone. Even if it doesn't have anything to do with being gay, it's important to express yourself, your feelings, your thoughts, while you still can.

So get out there, and "say what you need to say."

Huffington.com blog post

Other People SHOULD Care About Us

People always say that We want gay marriage, and you shouldn't care because it doesn't affect you at all. I've even caught myself saying this...because it's what I think. But I never really thought about what I was saying.

Corvino, from 365gay.com, brings up an interesting point. Of course we want people to care, to change how they feel about us. That's the whole point of trying to get gay marriage legalized; so that other people can see how in love and happy gay people are.

I'd never really thought about it that way. It's kind of like a saying gay marriage is a 2-sided coin: on one side, you don't want people to care what you're doing behind closed doors; but on the other you want them to care more than anything about you so that they'll be okay with how you live your life.

I Promise I'm Back

I know I said I'd start back blogging again and haven't, but I've been SUPER busy! Classes started back up recently, and I decided to be ULTRA-Masochistic and take on the position of Stage Manager for the play Fat Pig. My life vanished in the blink of an eye after I made that mistake.


But now the show is over, so I should have a little bit more time to post on here.

I would like to mention that I'm going to be changing some things up a bit here though. I'm going to start tossing in some variety into my posts from now on. Instead of just posting about the gay news of the world, I'm going to start getting more localized. Why not use my blog as a story-board for the Lambda Student Union, a UT organization that I am an active member of? So expect more from that.

I'll have some other suprises up here for everyone too, so get EXCITED!!!

Lazy, Lazy, Lazy

I want to apologize for my horrible lack of blogging lately. I've just been super super super busy! And lazy with the blogging thing. My schedule has been all over the place in July, but when classes start back I'll get back into the swing of things.

I'll be back; I promise.

Senate Gonna Vote on Hate Crimes Bill

I really hope the Senate makes the right decision here. It's about time that the government start making some appropriate legislation in support of gay marriage.

John McCain can suck it!

Advocate article

Student Forced Into "Ex-Gay" Camp

Sad story. I certainly this poor guy gets out of here before he's too emotionally hurt...forever.

PinkNews Article

Kiss In Protest By Mormon Church

After a gay couple who kissed last weekend was in a slight altercation with police just outside of a Mormon church, a Kiss-In was established by a local LGBT community as a peaceful protest. I say job well done!

Pink News Article

HUGE Step for India

Homosexuality has been officially decriminalized in New Dehli, India! This is an unbelievable step in the right direction for gay people in Inida.

Great Britain put the anti-gay laws in place back in the 1800's, and now they've been abolished in the capital city. It is very likely that the laws will soon be abolished throughout the country following this legislation. How exciting for the gays of India!

NYT articles