Straight Ally Charles Barkley

     The world of professional sports still has a long way to go in regards of homophobia and ability of it’s gay players to be out.  However there are several professional players that have voiced their support for gay equality.

     Enter Charles Barkley, who supports gay marriage. Thank you.  There are few men in the world of sports that I can safely say are my heroes or good role models and he sure is one of them.

I’m glad he is a liberal, and I sure hope he runs in 2014. I can’t vote in his state, but he sure has my full support and he should have yours too!

GO GET THEM CHARLES!

Male Athletes

          Being more of a sci/tech nerd I’ve never really followed sports that much. Football, soccer, basketball just don’t seem to grab my interest for too long.  Yet there is something fascinating about wrestling.  It is beautiful, it is art.  It is a symphony of life played by men. Written by their every planned move of their bodies.

      Really they are beautiful gladiators.  Yet the sports culture is still really homophobic.  This is disheartening to those of us who are gay and want to join in.  So for the following blog entries I’ll post stories of sport athletes that are inclusive, or gay themselves.  After all we do have allies out there, we are not alone.

    

     A couple of images after the jump.

Glee’s Mark Salling

     There is a video on YouTube of Mark Salling singing about the “golden days” in Glee.  It’s pretty neat, and you have to check it out.  It’s about a year old, but it’s still pretty awesome.  From the poster’s description of the video:

“Mark Salling make a really lovely homage to the Glee Cast and Crew. From his fresh website: http://www.marksallingmusic.com/ For for it guys.  The guy is definitely great.”

 

Ryan Reynolds Sexiest Man Alive!

     Following on the footsteps of Hugh Jackman, Matt Damon, Jude Law and Ben Affleck, Ryan Reynolds has been voted sexiest man alive 2010 by People Magazine this last week.  How could you not agree this guy is beautiful?

     Also check him out landing a big kiss on Scott Thompson’s face! You have to admit he is pretty cool being comfortable enough to kiss another man. He is happily married to Scarlett Johansson so don’t get your hopes up.

Check out more photos of Ryan after the jump.

IT REALLY DOES

     In the eve of the tragic events that have come to pass in this last month sex advice columnist Dan Savage has started a project titled It Gets Better and so far from personal experience it really does.

     The tragedies of Seth Walsh & Tyler Clementi are truly heartbreaking and alarming. Their stories are sadly not that rare.  Marcus Wayman committed suicide after cops threaten to out him to his family called him a “fag” and quoted homophobic bible passages at him.  This is Marcus Story’s it is quite heartbreaking too.

     The worse is that the abuse come from all sides, but the best is that high school is not the real world. Just a brief moment of life.

     Things got a lot better for me right after high school in college. I got my first boyfriend and it was great, romantic, unexpected.  I met a lot of decent friends and my classmates where totally supportive or at least not homophobic.  In government the cutest guy, who was straight, was a strong advocate of gay rights and so was my teacher.  I could walk down the hall without fear of open discrimination or any bullying.  It was what I always wanted school to be. The best is now I have no shame and no guilt. I understand what homosexuality really is, not what some pastor thinks it is, and in many cases closeted and ashamed gay pastors or priests.

     If you are a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transsexual who is struggling with depression or has suicidal thoughts or know someone who might, please contact the Trevor Project or call:

1-866-488-7386

Chris Colfer for The Trevor Project - It Gets Better from The Trevor Project on Vimeo.

Sal Mineo

Salvatore Mineo Jr., was a talented and handsome actor from the Golden Age of Hollywood.  He shared the big screen with the likes of James Dean and Tim Curtis. Known as the Switchblade Kid for his typecasting as a rebellious youth he was a heartthrob that stole the hearts of many (“Bio/Filmography”).

     Sal’s parents immigrated from Sicily to the U.S. and he was born in New York on January 10th, 1939.  From a young age he showed talent in performance arts starting with his enrollment in a dance school before the age of 10. 

 

     “If I'd understood back then that a guy could be in love with another one, it would have happened. But I didn't come to that realization for a few more years and then it was too late for Jimmy and me.” –Sal Mineo

     In my search for gay actors that I could safely look up to I found that the farther back in time I go the more touching and interesting the stories are.  It can often be heartbreaking the stories of such celebrities.  Despite the controversies of the time Sal lived through the time of the gay rights movement in New York, and by the 70s he was said to be dating men exclusively.

I’m thinking of you.

There is something special about a person that makes them, at least in your own eyes, great. Often it is an unexpected stranger that suddenly grabs hold of your attention, perhaps as it regularly happens, but some of these are exceptionally special. Yes there are variants as each and everyone is unique. Truly an individual all is an amazing product of genetics that in a billion years you will not again find. So what is it that drives us to this ability, thought, beauty or dreams of others? I yet do not know. It surely must be our own infrastructure that responds to this beauty. Alas, but I am not a neurologist, geneticist, doctor, nurse, none of these yet I am.

The little I do know is my attraction for others. I speak of the more innocent and pleasant attraction, the one that persists some how. Like a color that brings joy to your eyes so much that you dream awake as you quietly observe. As it so often I find my self falling asleep thinking of men. Though I doubt I’ll speak of the few I fall asleep to in my mind for they are very real and rather intimate. Instead I’ll speak those that I often see, yet never met. The more platonic dreams are the most comfortable to share.

I honestly hope that no one takes offense, yet if one does please do not hesitate to contact me. I understand that in our society some of these men will not be too happy with what they read, though sadly I can’t help to guide my attention from everyone. I do try to target those who could welcome it, but in this place orientation is blind. What I mean is that a person is a person regardless. A geek is a geek, and a nerd is a nerd be he a man or she a woman. I wish to cause no shame or displease anyone, but simply to share my feelings and to build an archive of memories so that one day I can look back and remember those faces I once as a young man thought of and wonder whatever became of him

Sincerely,

Alim Rahman (J.L.)