Thursday, June 25, 2015

Waking up

Sooo...things have been all kinds of quiet over here...I doubt anybody reads this at all...but whatever...Tons of hot shit and new content is coming...trust.

On another note, since the SCOTUS is set to rule on Marriage Equality tomorrow, I decided to resurrect a few articles I wrote as a semi-series in hopes of landing a writing gig for a local gay rag and decided that the political climate was current enough that this would seem timely (despite being written about 2 months prior) so if you're looking for wrestling and all things Drake...stick around. If you're looking for political discourse (that's not too lofty and heavy-handed) take a gander....
 

The Origin of Attitudes (Apologies to Darwin)'

    I had great empathy for Obama when he came under fire for his then infamous quote about his "views on gay marriage are evolving" shortly before being "outed" by Uncle Joe and less than a year before the Democratic front-runner for the 2016 White House race, Hillary Clinton, made her own endorsement.

    Experience, time, education, and chance all work together to both form and change a person's feelings/opinions on different issues, especially ones as politically volatile as gay rights/marriage equality. Obama said his decision was partly informed by discussions at the dinner table with the First Lady and their daughters' confusion over same-sex parents being treated differently than so-called "traditional" families.

    We have witnessed the march towards full equality for LGBT persons grow in ridiculously great leaps and bounds during Obama's tenure. For example, in 2010 a poll showed support for marriage equality at a minority of 47% and then only three years later to an over ten-point increase to a 58% majority. We have seen an outpouring of support from outside our community in our political, personal, and organizational (NASCAR, Wal-Mart, NCAA) allies with the backlash ignited by the passing of numerous RFRAs (Religious Freedom Restoration Act) which are in various states of development all over the country (most famously, or rather infamously, in Indiana). The fact that the issue of marriage equality has recently gone before the Supreme Court also signals a huge shift in public opinion, that the time is now for it to become the law of the land.

    The "evolving opinions" on equality also hit another milestone just this past week when Obama announced a call to end "reparative therapy" which is designed to change an LGBT person's sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Oregon is expected to follow suit and become the third state to ban the "treatment." As far back as 1997, the American Psychiatric Association (which had also, in 1973 and 2012, declassifed homosexuality, gender identity/dysphoria, respectively, as mental disorders) warned of the emotional and mental risks associated with the practice of said therapy. Until recently the practice had continued unabated with groups such as the (now-defunct) Exodus International and even the office  of the husband of the once-presidential hopeful, Michele Bachmann.

    Here is but a small snapshot of how our country has "evolved" on gay rights issues in recent years:

    *2003: Supreme Court strike down anti-sodomy laws in Lawrence v Texas
    *Starting in 2008:  gay marriage bans state-by-state declared unconstitutional due to     states' constitutions' Equal Protection Clauses as well as laws recognizing marriages     performed out-of-state
    *2009: Congress passes the Matthew Shepard Act which penalizes hate crimes that are     motivated by a person's perceived sexuality or gender identity
    *2011: The end of Don't Ask, Don't Tell
    *2013: SCOTUS Declares Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act as unconstitutional, Obama instructs the Department of Justice to stop defending it in court
    *2014: The Red Cross modifies the ban on gay blood donation from lifetime to one-    year deferral.   
    *2014: Obama signs executive order adding "sexual identity and gender identity" to         non-discrimination laws for federal employees
    *2015: The Bruce Jenner interview ratings bonanza with almost 17 million     people tuning in to watch him discuss his transition to positive reviews
    *2015: The passage by the House and Senate of Florida of adoption reform which puts     an end to the ban on adoption of children by gay couples. Gov. Scott has until June 30,     2015 to sign or veto the bill.

    Public attitude towards LGBT issues and marriage equality has completely flip-flopped in such a short time and come what may with the decision handed down by the Supreme Court in June, we are not going anywhere. We and our allies grow stronger every day, each defeat only strengthens and emboldens us. Our time has come and the world, like Obama, has evolved with us.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Where Things Went Sour (Blogger Run-In Part 2)

(NOTE: Italicized text in this post is written by D2. The bold...nothing more needs said)

The problem that often comes with being a Gemini is that there is a tendency to have two very different and distinct personalities. These personalities, for the most part, tend to coexist and get along in a mutual goal of survival. One takes over in a situation where a certain kind of...tact and skill is required and the other is forced to take a backseat until they are needed.

I get along with D2...for the most part, until he turns into a whiny little bitch who wants to just...get along and be friends with every god damn body like a little fucking puppy or something. I, on the other hand, prefer to face off with some prettyboys with the aim of busting them up.

And I prefer to step in when he needs to extricate himself from a sticky situation...which is what I'm doing now.

The hell you are!

The hell I am.
 

Aside from the salivating and gnashing of teeth Drake exhibited from the news that everyone's favorite wrestling blogger, Bard, was in town, I was excited. I would finally get to meet the man that both Drake and I had had many conversations with in the past two years on topics both wrestling and non-wrestling related (I'm a multifaceted individual).
 

Maybe it's just because of my stint in the service-industry  or the fact that I'm a good ol' humble midwestern boy but I love hosting people. I love making them feel at ease and will go out of my way to make sure that they enjoy themselves and get to see and experience something unique to my home.
If there's one thing I hate doing, it's falling short of someone's expectations. So, getting to meet "the man behind the abs" was at first a little intimidating. I wanted to live up to everything Drake had pumped us up to be in our written discourse. So, while all Drake wanted to do was take the ridiculously cute blogger to the arena and drag his ass all over the ring, I wanted to take him to experience the sites and sounds of BG East-South (eat your heart out, Kimye).
 

I took him to the house where so many of the sun room mat battles had taken place and where the meticulously assorted gear cache is kept. (Side note: I often imagine Ty sneaking into the gear room and spreading it all out and diving into it like Scrooge McDuck in the opening of Duck Tales. There's a lot of fucking gear.) We visited the pool where, not too long prior, the BG Brat Pack (Kayden, Skrapper, Trey, Ty, Mason, and Drake) put on the hottest Wet N' Wild match to date. I gave him a tour of the grounds where so many of our beautiful outdoor portraits are taken...It's not only a wrestling paradise, It's a little slice of paradise by all definitions.
 

I also treated Bard to breakfast at a nearby restaurant that have fueled the wrestlers for the grueling shoot days where they're slated to face numerous challengers both local and away. We also visited a laid-back bar that has been the site of some off-screen BG hijinks involving ridiculously rock-bottom priced Long Island Iced Teas.
 

That's where he slipped me the roofie.
 

Well, I can't attest to that. We finished our drinks which, like at breakfast, I picked up the tab, determined to make this an amazing experience and introduction to BG's south campus for my favorite blogger. After showing him the ring and mat rooms, we sat down in the lobby to talk and shoot the shit some more about everything, like normal, which he graciously agreed to not share the intimate behind-the-scenes "dish" on Neverland.

At this point, Drake was
(and currently IS!) getting antsy wh-

DAMN RIGHT I'M GETTING ANTSY! We were at the fucking arena! We were a hair's breadth away from both the mats and the ring. I don't give a fuck how many goddamn pictures he wanted to take and how many little mental wank fantasies he wanted to live out. We were at the arena and I wanted to fight.

So after, I began to worm my way back into the day's activities I decided to take over and cut the shit and call this stupid-cute blogger out...

"So all that talk about us wrestling...was that just talk or are we actually going to wrestle?"

To be continued
(Really?!)





  
:)