Monthly Archives: January 2013

January 21, 2013

Evolution Of ‘Gay’: Randy Rainbow Offers History Of The Word in Under Two Minutes

By Joe
YouTube sensation Randy Rainbow kicks off the new launch of Gwist, an LGBT-aimed YouTube channel from the founders of Logo, with a dizzying little ditty.
Set to the tune of “Be Our Guest” from Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” Randy chronicles the evolution of the word from its original connotation to a synonym for homosexuality. The clip reaches its climax with Randy perched on a balcony with his arms outstretched, “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina”-style.

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January 20, 2013

Psalm 112

By Joe

Psalm 112

Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.
His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed.
Wealth and riches shall be in his house: and his righteousness endureth for ever.
Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.
A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion.
Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.
He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.
His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon his enemies.
He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness endureth for ever; his horn shall be exalted with honor.
The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.

Reflection

Those who respect God, those who follow the Lord, and love God do not need to live in chronic anxiety of bad news. Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Christians do not need to live in constant, debilitating fear of the unknown, of being discovered.

The pslamist tells us that God has given to the poor. Compared to straight people, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people have little power. The God who reigns over the earth is pouring out blessings on the poor, on the powerless. God’s blessings are being poured out on the Creator’s gay, bisexual and transgendered children. Just one of those blessings is salvation. 

5 Comments | posted in Religion

January 19, 2013

Moment of Zen: Morning Coffee

By Joe

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January 18, 2013

Sports Speculation

By Joe
I have to admit, when I first heard this story on NPR about the Notre Dame player whose grandmother and girlfriend had died only to learn that the girlfriend never really existed, I immediately thought: I wonder of he was gay and trying to cover it up.  Then I thought, well then why come out and say she died.  Won’t this draw too much attention to the imaginary girlfriend?  Apparently, I was not the only one to wonder about Manti Te’o’s sexuality.

If you aren’t familiar with the whole saga, here is a brief summary of the events:

On September 11, 2012, Te’o said that he suffered the loss of both his grandmother and girlfriend within the span of one day. Te’o told many media outlets that his girlfriend, Stanford student Lennay Kekua, endured a car accident and died after battling leukemia. Deadspin reporters conducted an investigation and on January 16, 2013, published a story that said they found no record of a woman named Lennay Kekua and that the story of her death was a hoax. According to the report, the pictures published in the media supposedly of Kekua were actually taken of a friend of Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, a friend of Te’o’s. Te’o did not miss any games, saying that he had previously promised Kekua that he would play even if something had happened to her.Notre Dame addressed the story on January 16. The university said in a statement that “Manti had been the victim of what appears to be a hoax in which someone using the fictitious name Lennay Kekua apparently ingratiated herself with Manti and then conspired with others to lead him to believe she had tragically died of leukemia.” In a press conference, Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrickconfirmed the university had hired private investigators to uncover the source of the hoax, and he clarified that Te’o’s relationship with Kekua was “exclusively an online relationship”. This conflicts with Te’o’s previous accounts of their relationship, which say they had met after a football game and that she visited him in Hawaii. Swarbrick said that Te’o informed Notre Dame of the situation on December 26th. He said he had received a call on December 6, 2012 while in Florida at an ESPN awards show, from the woman he knew to be Kekua claiming she was still alive. Despite the revelation that Kekua did not exist, former NFL player Reagan Maui’a claims to have met a woman who called herself Lennay Kekua in American Samoa in 2011. Maui’a said he was introduced to her through Tuiasosopo.

Manti Te’o Gay? Girlfriend Hoax Leads To Speculation On Sexuality Of Notre Dame Star

The bombshell exposed Wednesday by Deadspin reporters rocked the sporting world with revelations of an elaborate hoax involving Notre Dame star linebacker Manti Te’o and the tragic passing of his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua. As Deadspin revealed, she never existed. In the aftermath, Te’o has claimed he was the victim of a hoax, but the bizarre tale has led some to wonder if Te’o was attempting to hide a different secret–his sexuality.

On The LaVar Arrington Show, Arrington, a former NFL player, and co-host Chad Dukes referenced the possibility of Te’o being closeted as they tried to figure out what possible motivation could have led him to participate in or fall for such a hoax.

“Let’s hypothesize, he’s gay,” said Dukes. “He is a star football, college football player, with beautiful chicks surrounding him, propositioning him all the time with all kinds of media asking him ‘Are you dating chicks? Do you have a girlfriend?’ all the time.”

Arrington responded, “Is that the only sensible way of looking at this?”

“If he’s in on it, I can’t.. I don’t.. maybe there is other reasons but it makes a lot of sense,” answered Dukes.

CLICK HERE to listen to a portion of the radio segment.

In his breakdown of the many questions raised by this scandal, Clay Travis of Outkick The Coverage wrote that this hoax originating in Te’o’s desire to remain in the closet “is actually the only story that makes any sense at all.”

This is actually the only story that makes any sense at all. And even if it’s true, Te’o will probably deny it because, unfortunately, football players aren’t exactly the most welcoming of homosexuality.

Before Deadspin uncovered the fabrication, Te’o’s season had been billed as an inspirational story of epic proportions. Te’o, a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, led his team to a 20-3 victory over Michigan State mere hours after learning of the death of both his grandmother and girlfriend. But on Wednesday, the tale unraveled. There had been no girlfriend–she had never died, and no one with that name even existed.

As Te’o and Notre Dame issued breathless explanations, the rest of the world continued asking various questions? Is Te’o the gullible victim of an extremely elaborate ruse as he claims? Could the Heisman finalist have been complicit in the hoax as a Deadspin source suggested? Or perhaps, Te’o, a devout Mormon, had invented the girlfriend to disguise an aspect of his life he was too scared to share with his teammates and friends?

Cyd Zeigler Jr. at OutSports commented on the widespread speculationthat perhaps the football player was gay.

We’ve seen rumors and heard stories about countless athletes in the past. But not since Troy Aikman have I been bombarded on email, text, Twitter and phone calls about the sexual orientation of any athlete the way I was today about Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o.

Similarly, Slade Sohmer at HyperVocal ran down some of the Te’o’s possible motivations for creating a fake, long distance sweetheart.

A devout Mormon at a Catholic school, a rugged football player — these are communities that openly reject homosexuality, some of the last remaining vestiges of the decaying closet.

Sohmer has a point. There has never been an openly gay football player in the NFL, or in the NBA or MLB for that matter.

In a January interview with the Daily Beast, Wade Davis, a former NFL player who came out after he retired, said it was just easier for him to hide his sexuality, “as long as you’re denying it to yourself it’s not really real.”

Wade said that currently, the attitude is that you’re a “gay player who can pass” then that’s the better option. And if they can’t hide it, they have a good chance of being “weeded out” in high school or the college level, like Te’o.

“I think the real issue is that the idea that a gay man could play sports is an attack to straight guys’ masculinity,” Davis said. “This gay guy can play my sport better than me? What does that say about me as a straight guy?”

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January 17, 2013

I Have…

By Joe

I have nothing for today’s post.  I’ve just been too busy and/or tired to write one.  So here is a wonderful picture of a man reading.  I hope you enjoy.

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January 16, 2013

This is teaching.

By Joe

I read this on the blog “I Should be Laughing” written by Bob.  It was such a wonderful post, I just had to share it with you guys.

A Student Comes Out, A Teacher Responds


This is simple. This is about teachers, the kind we wish we all had, and the kind we wish everyone else had, too.
The students in this class were asked to write an essay about the “weight that I carry daily.”
One student handed in this letter:

Dear Mrs. __________,I wish to write to you about the biggest thing I carry. I’ve been carrying this since middle school and it’s been a huge weight on me since I discovered it. The knowledge of my sexuality has been with me for about six years now, and it was a burden for a great deal of the time. It wasn’t until recently that I started to slowly lift this off my shoulders. I’ve carried this for so long because of fear. I’m afraid of certain people finding this weight.  I’m afraid of them finding the weight and thinking differently of me. Thinking negatively of me. Hating me. That’s why I carry it. I just don’t want to be hated.  Or even worse, kicked out of people’s lives.  I want things to stay the same, but I want to get rid of this weight. It’s weighing me down and keeping me from greater things, but again that fear comes into play and makes me think differently. The fear forces me to burden myself by carrying it even longer. Thankfully I’ve been able to set down minute portions of it, by sharing the knowledge that I am not “normal” per society. I’ve received mixed emotions. Some couldn’t care less about the knowledge. Some liked me even more for it. And ultimately, some detest me for it. But I care not for those that detest the knowledge. They can go off into their sad little world of bigoted hate. I couldn’t care less for them. I’ve been able to shave off a great deal of what I carry, but sadly , a bit remains.  The bit that is reserved for my family. They will be the hardest ones to share the knowledge with, for I don’t know how they will accept it. . I have no idea if they will think nothing of it, or if they will reject the love I offer them, and disown me as their son, or brother, or nephew.  That, like much of this cold, dark world, is unclear to me. And sadly, there is only one true way to know how this will turn out. The day I can finally remove this weight from me, liberate my world, is the first great victory in my life. That is the day i just can’t wait to see.

Best regards,

_____________

P.S. – The main reason I’ve waited so long to tell you this is I just felt uncomfortable writing you this letter, and that I didn’t really know how it would be responded to.I apologize for any inconvenience my selfish feelings may have caused. Thank you for reading this. It’s a grand step in my journey.

The teacher wrote a note at the end of the paper:

I am honored to be witness to this weight being lifted off. You are an amazing, dynamic, compassionate, ‘with it,’ young man who will give the world a gift just by you being you offering your love & spirit. If people choose not to be comfortable with your honesty — their loss, my friend, their loss.

Like I said, we all needed a teacher like this, gay or straight. Tall. Short, thin, fat. Freckled, red haired, smart, not so much.
This is teaching. 

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January 15, 2013

Anticipation

By Joe

Anticipation

How beautiful the earth is still,

To thee – how full of happiness!

How little fraught with real ill,

Or unreal phantoms of distress!
How spring can bring thee glory, yet,
And summer win thee to forget
December’s sullen time!
Why dost thou hold the treasure fast,
Of youth’s delight, when youth is past,
And thou art near thy prime?

When those who were thy own compeers,

Equals in fortune and in years,

Have seen their morning melt in tears,

To clouded, smileless day;

Blest, had they died untried and young,

Before their hearts went wandering wrong,

Poor slaves, subdued by passions strong,

A weak and helpless prey!

” Because, I hoped while they enjoyed,

And, by fulfilment, hope destroyed;

As children hope, with trustful breast,

I waited bliss – and cherished rest.

A thoughtful spirit taught me, soon,

That we must long till life be done;

That every phase of earthly joy

Must always fade, and always cloy:

This I foresaw – and would not chase

The fleeting treacheries;

But, with firm foot and tranquil face,

Held backward from that tempting race,

Gazed o’er the sands the waves efface,

To the enduring seas – ;

There cast my anchor of desire

Deep in unknown eternity;

Nor ever let my spirit tire,

With looking for what is to be!

It is hope’s spell that glorifies,

Like youth, to my maturer eyes,

All Nature’s million mysteries,

The fearful and the fair –

Hope soothes me in the griefs I know;

She lulls my pain for others’ woe,

And makes me strong to undergo

What I am born to bear.

Glad comforter! will I not brave,

Unawed, the darkness of the grave?

Nay, smile to hear Death’s billows rave –

Sustained, my guide, by thee?

The more unjust seems present fate,

The more my spirit swells elate,

Strong, in thy strength, to anticipate

Rewarding destiny !”

Emily Jane Brontë 

Published in the 1846 collection Poems By Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell under Emily’s nom de plume ‘Ellis Bell’.
The English novelist Emily Brontë (1818-1848) wrote only one novel, “Wuthering Heights.” A unique achievement in its time, this work dramatizes a vision of life controlled by elemental forces which transcend conventional categories of good and evil. 

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January 14, 2013

New Poll Say, "Americans Who Believe Homosexuality Is A Sin Decrease Significantly"

By Joe

Bad news for the Westboro Baptist Church and other right-wing groups: the percentage of Americans who sincerely believe that homosexuality is a sin has decreased significantly, a new poll has found.
The Nashville-based LifeWay Research organization revealed that just 37 percent of Americans surveyed in November said they believed homosexual behavior was a sin, a seven point drop from the previous year’s survey.
Interestingly, respondents who did not believe homosexuality was a sin increased by a mere two percent, while a greater number of those surveyed said they were now unsure of what they believe.
Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research, said that President Barack Obama’s embrace of same-sex marriage last year “probably impacted the evolution of cultural values -– there is a real and substantive shift, surprisingly large for a one-year timeframe.”
Pointing also to Pastor Louie Giglio’s withdrawal from Obama’s forthcoming inauguration ceremony, Stetzer added, “The culture is clearly shifting on homosexuality and this creates a whole new issue: How will America deal with a minority view, strongly held by Evangelicals, Catholics, Mormons, Muslims, and so many others?”
According to Anthea Butler, associate professor of religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania, a surge in the popularity of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) celebrities and media figures like Ellen DeGeneres has also contributed to the movement.
“Who wouldn’t want to take their grandmother to see her show?” Butler told USA Today.
The religious non-profit organization — which believes “the Bible is the eternal, infallible, inerrant Word of God and is the plumb line for everything we say and do,” according to its website — polled 1,191 participants, whose responses were weighted by region, age, ethnicity, gender, and education to reflect the population.
Read more about the poll here.

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January 13, 2013

Blessed Assurance

By Joe

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

Hebrews 10:22 (KJV)
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long;
this is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.

Perfect submission, perfect delight!
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long;
this is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.

Perfect submission, all is at rest!
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with his goodness, lost in His love.

This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long;
this is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.


Blessed Assurance” is a well-known Christian hymn. The lyrics were written in 1873 by blind hymn writer Fanny J. Crosby to the music written in 1873 by Phoebe P. Knapp.

Crosby was visiting her friend Phoebe Knapp as the Knapp home was having a large pipe organ installed. The organ was incomplete, so Mrs. Knapp, using the piano, played a new melody she had just composed. “What do you think the tune says?” asked Knapp.
“Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine”, answered Fanny Crosby.
The hymn appeared in the July 1873 issue of Palmer’s Guide to Holiness and Revival Miscellany, a magazine printed by Dr. and Mrs. W. C. Palmer of 14 Bible House, New York City. It appeared on page 36 (the last page) with complete text and piano score, and indicated it had been copyrighted by Crosby that year. It is not certain that this was the first printing of the hymn, but it certainly helped to popularize what became one of the most beloved hymns of all time.
Because of Crosby’s lyrics, the tune is now called “Assurance”.

2 Comments | posted in Religion

January 12, 2013

Moment of Zen: Great View

By Joe
I’d love to have this view in my kitchen, and I’m not speaking of the view out the window.

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