Great Parenting

The best parental response... pic.twitter.com/VCsJMeJ43z

— LGBT+ Proud! (@LGBTPlusProud) July 21, 2016

#ProudofEdgars

I proudly announce I'am gay... Good luck all of you...
— Edgars Rinkēvičs (@edgarsrinkevics) November 6, 2014

(via J.M.G.)

"Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs announced Thursday that he was gay, breaking a barrier in Eastern Europe’s socially conservative political arena. The declaration, made via a cheerful Twitter posting, immediately gave gay rights advocates a prominent voice in post-Soviet Eastern Europe. The region — where openly gay public figures are a rarity — has significantly lagged behind the United States and Western Europe in its acceptance of same-sex relationships. The announcement came less than two months before Latvia assumes the European Union’s rotating presidency on Jan. 1, giving Rinkevics an even higher-profile platform from which to push for more tolerance for same-sex relationships."

Climax - A 12 Hour Celebration

"Reach your climax as we celebrate out athletes and victories within the LGBT community from 12pm to 10pm SLT on February 22nd. We'll have plenty of music and dancing as we honor LGBT athletes who have overcome all odds and wowed us with their athletic talents.

Schedule:
DJ Jynxx 10am – 12pm
DJ Regi Yifu 12pm – 2pm
DJ LLedge 2pm – 4pm
DJ Gingersnap 4pm – 6pm
DJ Hotboy 6pm – 8pm
DJ Abi Bracken 8pm – 10pm

We look forward to seeing you at the Second Pride sim for this exciting event."

Wentworth Miller Talks About "Community"

"Prison Break" star Wentworth Miller talks about his coming out and about "community". The speech was held at a Human Rights Campaign dinner in Seattle in September 2013.

This is worth listening to, you guys!

Shabbat Dinner

Shabbat Dinner is an award-winning short film by director Michael Morgenstern, about what it's like to be a teen coming out and struggling to figure out who you are. Starring: Chris London, Dan Shaked, Eva Kaminsky, Michael Wikes, Dawn Yanek, Peter Tedeschi.

William doesn't know he's gay until he meets Virgo at a family dinner. The two teens attempt to discover who they really are, while their oblivious parents chatter about fundraisers and dairy-free ice cream.

(via J.M.G.)

Shabbat Dinner - the film's website (url)

"Der Hammer" Comes Out

International professional football (soccer) player Thomas Hitzlsperger, 31, has come out publicly as gay in an interview with the German newspaper Die Zeit.

“I am declaring my homosexuality because I want the question of homosexuality in the world of professional sport to be out in the open.”, the German midfielder declared in the interview while also admitting that the decision to come out publicly had been “a long and difficult process”.

Hitzlsperger, has played 52 times on the German national team and has worked in Germany, England and Italy with Aston Villa, Everton, Wolfsburg and Lazio among others before retiring from football six months ago. He gained the nickname Der Hammer (The Hammer) due to his powerful left-foot shot from long-range.

Hitzlsperger said he had decided to come out because he wanted to promote the discussion of homosexuality in professional sport. “I've never been ashamed of the way I am,” he added, although it had not always been easy to cope with some of the homophobic comments dished out.

Coming Out

Tomorrow is the National Coming Out Day.

"The National Coming Out Day (NCOD) is an internationally observed civil awareness day for coming out and discussion about people that are gay, lesbian, bisexual,transgender (LGBT), etc. It is observed by members of the LGBT communities and their supporters (often referred to as "allies") on October 11 every year (or October 12 in the United Kingdom).

Despite its name, National Coming Out Day (so called because it originated as an event in the United States) is in fact observed in many countries, including Australia, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, New Zealand, Croatia, Poland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (in the UK it is celebrated on October 12)."

All the above is excerpts from an article about the event on Wikipedia.

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I am one of the few fortunate - or perhaps unfortunate - gay men I know who never had to deal with a coming out process. Both my parents and my older sibling actually seemed to be aware of the fact before I even knew what the word meant.

There was a short period in Kindergarten that I sometimes would fall in love with women also, other than that I have almost exclusively had boys or men as objects of my affection or desire. To be quite honest there was a period between the ages of 12 to 17 that I sometimes could get sexually aroused by women also, but hell I was turned on by just about anything with a temperature and a pulse then so I am not sure that really counts.

The last phase was cured when I saw the movie "Amacord" by Federico Fellini at a film club. Do any of you remember the scene where the young Federico meets an older woman in a blue or green Angora sweater with humongous bouncing boobs that she presses against his face? Well, that scene permanently turned me off boobs forever and crushed any hopes my father my have had for my inclinations changing at puberty.

So as I was accepted and loved for what I was by my immediate family there was never anything dramatic about it, much the same as it is for most heterosexuals I believe. Of course I have also encountered bigotry but never in a way that made me question my self-worth. 

The only thing that I was sad about when I accepted my own sexuality was that I would never have children, but even that has changed nowadays.

Bock comes out

It has been reported to this blog today that Bock McMillan came out of the closet to his closest friends and family today. He revealed to them that he is actually a married and straight man with four children, ages 11 years - 2 months!

"I am in fact a proud straight husband and father. I wish to thank my dear wife Blanche Argus, my mother and father and my church for giving me the support and courage to reveal this - my deepest and most shameful - secret to the world. I am relying now on the kindness of strangers and friends to accept my apologies for betraying their trust and show some understanding", says McMillan. He continues, "My misguided attempts at trying to be a gay ponce and poofter came out of a sick need to attract attention. Once I changed my diet and started praying I realized I could not live this lie any longer."