A Sad Story om My Gay Life

Contents:

• THE HEARTBREAKG TE STORY OF THE GAY TEEN AND HIS DAD BEHD ‘JOE BELL’
• 13 VERY GAY AND VERY GOOD BOOKS YOU SHOULD READ THIS PRI MONTH
• SADGAY STORI
• A SAD STORY ABOUT A GAY MAN DYG OM AIDS
• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY
• ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL
• FEATURED STORI
• GAY UNSELOR'S FIRG BY INDIANAPOLIS CATHOLIC SCHOOL PERMTED BY FERAL APPEALS URT
• HEARTBREAKG GAY ROMANCE
• A SAD STORY OM MY GAY LIFE
• A SAD GAY LOVE STORY
• MY "SAD GAY STORY"-- AND WHY I TELL IT
• BL/GAY TRAGIC STORI
• FEATURED SHORT STORI FICTN
• 'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY
• JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

THE HEARTBREAKG TE STORY OF THE GAY TEEN AND HIS DAD BEHD ‘JOE BELL’

In April 2013, Joe Bell left his home La Gran, a small town the northeast rner of Oregon, to walk across the untry honor of his 15-year-old son, Jad, who had died Febary a few weeks after attemptg and his wife, Lola Lathrop, told lol and natnal news outlets at the time that Jad was bullied for beg gay, both onle and at school.

13 VERY GAY AND VERY GOOD BOOKS YOU SHOULD READ THIS PRI MONTH

In addn to beg the only out gay stunt at his school, he was also the only boy on the cheerleadg squad, and Bell told Salon 2013 that he was bullied for said he uld relate to Jad and his story, bee he was also bullied growg up Texas. -- Jaguars assistant strength and ndng ach Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach major Amerin men's profsnal sports to publicly e out as gay, tellg he ma the cisn bee he didn't want to hi who he is any longer and to possibly spire others siar suatns.It's a cisn and move that drew praise and support om owner Shad Khan, who was a vol and emphatic supporter of a cy ordance that expand protectns on the grounds of sexual orientatn, genr inty and genr exprsn."I don't want to feel like I have to thk about anymore," Maxen said the piece published Thursday afternoon. The Homo Sapiens Agenda and The Mistn of Cameron Post have been turned to blockbter films, and jt about every YA agent out there has “own-voic LGBTQ+ stori” on their mancript wish list.

Jacksonville Jaguars assistant strength and ndng ach Kev Maxen cid on Thursday to e out publicly as gay hop of livg his life whout fear and to spire others.

SADGAY STORI

Before jog Jacksonville’s achg staff, he was a strength ach for the football teams at Baylor and Febary 2022, Maxen reached out to NFL player Carl Nassib, who me out as gay 2021, to seek advice. Vcent and the Grenad, where gay sex is still homelsns to ongog physil and verbal abe, the gay muny the small natn of some 100, 000 people says is unr nstant threat. Vcent, anal sex is punishable by up to 10 years prison, while “gross cency” wh another person of the same sex is punishable by up to five years, acrdg to lonial-era laws that are mon the socially nservative Caribbean rarely voked, the rights group and a lol activist said the laws help legimize hostily and abe agast gay people.

”Human Rights Watch terviewed more than 20 members of the island’s LGBTQ muny who shared their stori but were not intified to protect them, notg that lol police are often openly discrimatory toward gay people who seek help.

Several reported that their fai are homophobic and physilly and verbally abed them, g them to bee homels and promptg some to nsir also stggle to fd jobs amid a high unemployment rate and said they face discrimatn, cludg a 19-year-old gay man who said he has rorted to beggg: “Sometim I am so hungry.

A SAD STORY ABOUT A GAY MAN DYG OM AIDS

”González wh Human Rights Watch noted that 2019, the ernment held a workshop for public employe on the importance of rpectg gay rights, a rare move for a nservative Caribbean natn. WASHINGTON – A feral appeals urt has led that a Catholic high school Indianapolis was ee to fire a gay guidance unselor bee she performed at least some relig duti, the latt legal setback for LGBTQ+ rights when they nflict wh Fzgerald had worked for 14 years as a guidance unselor at Ronlli High School when school officials disvered she was married to another woman.

SiegedSec, a self-scribed group of gay furry hackers, took s skills to state ernments late June, breachg agenci across five stat and releasg a wealth of data.The stat targeted on June 27 were Texas, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and South Carola.

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

"Uwu gay furri pwn you~ We'll be back aga soon to ntue our chaos and stctn!"Some news outlets, such as Them, raised ncerns that the group's actns uld expose random people to harm, not jt the targeted ernments. A ltle unr a ago, when I first realized I was gay, and that wasn't a phase, I knew my sister would be the fay member I'd e out to first, bee even though I knew she'd have some trouble wh , I also knew she'd unrstand and assuage my fears a way no one else would or uld. But I assured her of my own time spent studyg the Bible, rencilg my sexualy wh my fah, and walked her through the numero doctral terpretatns challengg the fundamentalist posn on homosexualy.

LOG IN WITH FACEBOOKHome›Polics and Activism›My "Sad Gay Story"-- And Why I Tell It›The text of this op-ed was origally given as a speech to Unterweg’s Cafe English Tübgen, Germany on June 8, 2016. If you’ve seen "Wt Si Story, " you probably know about the much giggled-at le om Maria’s song “I Feel Pretty” where she sgs: “I feel pretty, oh so pretty, oh so pretty and wty and gay! This was the first time I remember hearg the word homosexual my life, and though I had no clue what meant, I uld feel the nnotatn held among my me tell another story: I have one younger brother, and he’s always been a b of a joker.

Even though I was fortunate enough to know a lot of kd and lovg people growg up, much of the culture of people my age was still walkg around the school hallways sayg, “that’s so gay!

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY

Thgs like this were so pervasive while I was growg up, and even though I didn’t grow up the ep south or among a particularly relig or tensely nservative environment, homophobia of this nature still ran rampant, and was very much a part of how I saw gay people picted and heard gay people talked about my this pot, you’re probably wonrg what the pot of the stori are. The story of beg gay the US tends to go like this: om a young age you realize you feel different om other kids, then you realize you’re gay, maybe through reprsed romantic and/or sexual feelgs for a same-sex iend, then you hate yourself for a while, then you e out dramatilly to everyone your life at once, and some people are supportive and is touchg and tears are shed, but some people are not and they cut you out of their liv while yellg about how you’re a sner or a pervert or will never give them grandchildren, then you are prsed, then you try to kill yourself, and fally you reach some dramatic turng pot where you learn to pletely accept and unrstand yourself and your sexualy and then you ri off to the sunset wh your same-sex partner and adopted children. Gay marriage is beg legalized around the world, adoptn rights for same-sex upl are progrsg, and more and more people are embolned to e out and live as their te selv.

ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL

I image my iends watchg He-Man, and sudnly there's a flash of heavenly light, out of which appears a betiful faerie wh a msage om on high, "Gurl, you're gay! I was for all tents and purpos a gay person, but I thk there was still a sense of hatn, still the smallt b of crge when I said those three words, "I am gay. The first time I ever me ntact wh the word "gay" was around middle school when I started to watch Amerin TV shows like Friends, Will & Grace, and Queer as Folk.

" As bter as she was havg never land a lead the school play, Jacquele told several people that I was gay, and the word spread to my sister, which turn spread to my Mom.

FEATURED STORI

The next thg I knew, three months had passed, and my iend and his parents helped me fd another fay to take me and foster me - a gay man named Pl, whom I now ll my dad, and his iend Sarah. The oversight on my part was born of my timidy about g out, spe that ll to actn that was all around me San Francis where I rid and was a film the time, I fancied myself on a trajectory to fame and fortune Hollywood, but as fate would have , I joed a gay super 8 support group -- a rag-tag nstellatn of about 15 filmmakers, most of whom veloped their footage at Harvey Milk's Castro Street mera store where I "worked" the ont sk. It took about a year for my mom and I to e to terms about who I was and who I loved, durg most of which, I was San Francis, tryg to -create queer muny the heart of the newly mted gay ghetto of the Castro district.

GAY UNSELOR'S FIRG BY INDIANAPOLIS CATHOLIC SCHOOL PERMTED BY FERAL APPEALS URT

When I fally did e out to him, after my iend Harvey Milk was killed, my dad was supportive sayg all along, he thought I might be gay and that was fe wh him - I was still his son and he still loved me.

Thankfully, we ma through those r of passage and I also found other folks that validated my worth society beeI was gay, and together, we share the visn to try to help make a better and safer world for LGBT people and our alli. I went onto the show wh the hop of makg a posive reprentatn of what meant to be a gay man, as I need this type of role mol for myself to be fortable beg both gay and a man.

HEARTBREAKG GAY ROMANCE

Immediately after The Real World, I spent time readg books on the subject of what the bible really says about homosexualy, as I was sudnly booked to speak on the subject at more than 40 universi around the US.

In my own paraphrased words:You do not intify as gay - you intify as part of the "straight world, " and you may not even fully be aware yet that there is such a thg as "gay. Although, I still do realize the hardships for people our muny, the prenceived ias om straight people about our muny, and the limatns to reer succs for gay people (which I wns pecially where I live Nashville, pursug a reer mic). For the slim pickgs that was the Jackson, Mississippi gay muny, I thought he was cute (lookg back, I'll never unrstand where my adolcent taste guys me om).

A SAD STORY OM MY GAY LIFE

While she didn't thk anythg "negative" about me so to speak, she uldn't get the ia out of her head that I was actually gay and didn't want to "al" wh the addnal challeng that e wh datg a bi guy. )I've e to learn that " theory" many people are willg to date bi guys, but at the end of the day, when they're given the opportuny, they don't -- often bee they, themselv, are too 's also bi-erasure, which I won't go too much to tail here bee at this pot, everyone knows what means and eher you thk we're plag about a non-issue, or hopefully, you e more clive language and aren't assumg that every person is eher gay or straight.

In the documentary film The Celluloid Closet (based on the mt read non-fictn book by Vo Rso), the narrator explas, “Hollywood…tght straight people what to thk about gays and gay people what to thk about themselv.

A SAD GAY LOVE STORY

This ternatnally acclaimed novel looks at the world through the ey of Js Goldberg, a mascule girl growg up the McCarthy era and g out as a young butch lbian the pre-Stonewall gay drag bars of a blue-llar town.

MY "SAD GAY STORY"-- AND WHY I TELL IT

Rt Grrl gets bought out and mass marketed as the Spice Girls, and gays are gag some legimacy, but the queers are rtg agast assiatn; cktail AIDS dgs are startg to work, and the cy walls on eher si of the Ma are spray-pated wh the words YES or NO. " This other stunt happened to be the football quarterback, a guy who I'd always thought was super hot, timidatg, and likely perturbed by the fact that I was gay. Now this story wasn’t a story of a gay man who was bullied at school, was the story of a man who was bullied om the person who should be protectg him the most; his own mother for choosg to be who he was and she felt he need to be cured.

Jt google the words ‘Gay ms suici’ (see photos provid) and you will see the untls fac of children, teenagers and young adults who have taken their liv due to the fact they uldn’t handle beg bullied anymore. SJ Sdu, thor of Marriage of a Thoand Li, lled , "One of the first Anglophone works to challenge the trope of the sad/suicidal gays who die at the end, this book gave a blueprt of what queer fictn uld look like.

Forster (A Passage to India, A Room Wh a View, Howards End) wrote the benchmark gay novel Mrice cir 1913, was published posthumoly a lh tale of manners, posn, and sire, the tular character meets and falls for his classmate Clive while at Oxford. The pair embark on a two-year affair until Clive leav Mrice to marry a woman and live out his proscribed life as part of the land gentry, leavg Mrice shambl and seekg to cure his Forster's novel do not end gay tragedy. Alan Hollghurst famoly qutned the future of the gay novel this year, which is strikg sce he's often viewed as helpg make queer books accsible to a mastream dience.

BL/GAY TRAGIC STORI

The queer g-of-age novel about Jim Willard and his search for love was the first novel om a rpected wrer (Gore Vidal) to speak directly and sympathetilly about the gay experience an era when homosexualy was still very much taboo. The book is remembered today for this legacy as well as for var them -- Hollywood's glass closet, beg gay the ary, the poisono effects of homophobia on society -- that still reverberate today.

The only novel by the great Osr Wil may not be overtly gay, but there's plenty of gay subtext there for the reful rear - about as much gay subtext as a popular thor uld get away wh 's iends Basil Hallward and Lord Henry Wotton exprs tense admiratn for his bety, and passag that show Basil's feelgs for Dorian as more clearly homoerotic were excised by an edor, acrdg to Nicholas Frankel, who eded an edn prentg Wil's origal text the text as origally published has referenc to Dorian's rptn of not only young women but young men: "There was that wretched boy the Guards who mted suici. Cy of Night, a 1963 novel by John Rechy, is a semal piece of fictn that follows the life of a gay htler New York Cy, Los Angel, New Orleans, and San Francis. "This epic chronicle of gay culture the Amerin sixti is as far-reachg as is important, givg a glimpse to inty and motive, " affirmed SJ Sdu, the thor of Marriage of a Thoand Li.

FEATURED SHORT STORI FICTN

The 1982 book by Edmund Whe, which begs wh the first sexual enunter of a 15-year-old boy, is based on his own experienc g to terms wh his gay inty as a youth the Midwtern Uned Stat. Whe would later wre two addnal novels, The Betiful Room Is Empty (1988) and The Farewell Symphony (1997), which follow his gay protagonist to young adulthood.

'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY

Integral to the lbian non (spe s beg nsired somewhat problematic) Brish wrer Radclyffe Hall's 1928 novel foc on Stephen Gordon, an upper-class lbian who dons men's clothg and be a novelist who eventually be a part of a lerary salon Paris at a time when there were no overt laws exprsly barrg homosexualy. Hall's novel was groundbreakg her troductn of the views of "sexologists" Richard von Krafft-Ebg and Havelock Ellis, who posed that homosexualy was an born, unalterable tra that was nsired a ngenal sexual versn that simply meant a "difference" and not a fect. Wonrful book, " gay refugee activist and lumnist Danny Ramadan rav about the global-md book unpacks the emotnal life of a young girl displaced by the Nigerian civil war who begs a gut-wrenchg affair wh a fellow refugee.

"A great rellectn of everythg anyone would say Nigeria agast homosexualy g the fense of relign, " explas David Nnanna Ikpo, the Nigerian thor of Fimisile Forever. Dalloway, a novel to which Cunngham pays homage; mid-20th-century Los Angel, hoewife Lra Brown, disntented wh her life, nonts her attractn to women; and 1990s New York Cy, Clarissa Vghan, who is lbian, plans a party for her bt iend, wrer Richard Brown, a gay man dyg of AIDS. The story of a romance between an Amerin and an Italian man livg Paris, Gvanni’s Room is an all-time classic of gay lerature and a document of the love, longg, and vlence that happens at the margs of society.

JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

Christopher Isherwood’s A Sgle Man was noteworthy when was published 1962 for s earnt, tthful, heartbreakg narrative about one day the life of a middle-aged gay English profsor, followg the ath of his partner. A landmark moment not jt the history of gay wrg or playwrg but the history of Amerin lerature, perd, Tony Khner’s Angels Ameri—the odyssey of a group of characters tryg to survive and grow durg the AIDS crisis and the Reagan admistratn—holds a world of sight, pathos, humor, and grief every sgle le.

Two prisoners—one gay and transfemme wh a penchant for the athetic, the other straight, mascule, and stnchly Marxist—talk a cell about movi and about each other. Immediately upon enlistment, Jab meets Christopher Ferris, a soldier who be the object of his posssive & temptuo votns—pated wh blood and bodily fluid, McCann’s book is unabashedly gay, licly sexy, and repulsively twisted.

I personally relished every page of this book, though my favor clud “Anne of Clev, ” which follows a middle-aged woman’s first lbian romance, and “As Though That Were Love, ” a story about gay lovers the untrysi who have a male goat named Helena.