Happy New Year

I would just like to wish all my reader a happy new year.  I hope it's a good one :)

Store

I had a day off work today so I decided to create two stores where you can find any DVD's I have watched or books I have read and would recommend to others.

I created a store for the UK & US, the difference between them is just the region code on the DVD's.

US Store (Region 1)
United States, Canada, Bermuda & U.S Territories.

UK Store (Region 2)
Middle East, Egypt, Japan, South Aftrica, Swaziland, Lesotho, Greenland & Europe (except Russia, Ukrain & Belarus)

Take a look :)

Gay Teen Suicides Update

I have talked about gay teen suicides before but I thought I would do an update about what is happening now.

Tyler Clementi (Age 18) from New Jersey jumped from the George Washington bridge and died after his roommate secretly filmed him having sex with another man then broadcast it online.  Tyler's parents are said to have filed a notice to sue Rutgers University for failing to implement policies to prevent the invasion of privacy.  A spokesman from the university said that they were sympathetic to the family but it was not responsible for Tyler's death.

Seth Walsh (Age 13) died 9 days after hanging himself from a tree in his garden, Seth's mother made a heartbreaking video in which she read out Seth's suicide note and she talked about him and his situation at school where not only  fellow students bullied him but so did some of the teachers, and although other teachers knew about it including the vice principle they done nothing to help, they just didn't care (View Below).  Now Federal Education Officers are investigating the suicide.  Apparently the officers spent 2 days interviewing teachers, administrators and students.

If you are being bullied please don't harm yourself, remember people love you and although it may seem hard to believe now it will get better.  If you need to call someone then there are helplines everywhere.

Call  08457 90 90 90 in the UK & Northern Ireland.

Call 1850 60 90 90 in the Republic of Ireland

Call the Trevor Project on 866488 - 7386 or visit www.thetrevorproject.org in the US

US Senate Vote to Repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell

The US senate has voted 65 to 31 in favour of repealing the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Policy that bans LGBT people from serving openly in the US Military.  The bill just needs to be passed to the US President Barack Obama to be signed into law.

Barack Obama said in a prepared statement "The Senate has taken an historic step toward ending a policy that undermines our national security while violationg the very ideals that our brave men and women in uniform risk their lives to defend.  By ending 'don't ask, don't tell', no longer will our nation be denied the service of thousands of patriotic Americans forced to leave the military, despite years of exemplary performance, because they happen to be gay.  And no longer will many thousands more be asked to live a lie in order to serve the country they love.  It is time to close this chapter in our history.  It is time to recognise that sacrifice, valour and integrity are no more defined by sexual orientation than they are by race or gender, religion or creed.  It is time to allow gay and lesbian Americans to serve their country openly."

This policy was introduced in 1993 and since then more than 13,000 people have been forced to leave the US military under this policy.  It will now come to an end after 60 days to allow the US defence department time to figure out the best way to introduce the new policy.

Click here to see the CBS News report.

It appears to me that with President Obama the US could become a much more gay friendly place, Please let me know your thoughts either by commenting or emailing me at GYD@live.co.uk

Thank You

Update On Reace Mcdonnell

In my previous post I talked about Reace Mcdonnell the 19 year old MYP who was suspended after an "anonymous mother of a teenage boy" found explicit photographs of him on the internet.

In my previous post I did not mention what Andy Hamflett the chief executive of the UK youth parliament had said as I really did not like the way this comment was worded but while speaking to PinkNews Reace mentioned this comment so to give you the full picture here it is.

"Our Primary concern is for the safety of all the young people we work with and we are taking these allegations very seriously.  The young person in  question has been suspended whilst the matter is investigated."

When I first read this comment my first thought was that there primary concern is the safety of all the young people they work with, what exactly is so dangerous about him?

Reace commented in regards to the youth parliament "I suppose they thought they can't be seen to support me.  They said this was a matter of 'child protection' but i'm 19.  They were implying that I was somehow a danger to children."

He also said that the Plymouth Herald who had first published these rumours had contacted him, however the youth parliament had told him not to speak to them.  He said "I get the feeling they were more concerned about looking after themselves than acting in my best interests.  I don't think they will clear my name now because my term as deputy youth parliament member comes to an end in January."

Speaking to pink news Reace said that he believed someone was trying to damage his reputation, he also worried that these malicious rumours would damage his chances of getting into university.  He said "All my positive work has been pushed down on google and this is now at the top.  I'm really upset."

Apparently the youth parliament has contacted him to tell him they are treating this as a case of homophobic bullying against him.


But is it too little, too late?

Again please comment or email GYD@live.co.uk

Thank You

MYP Suspended Over Gay Porn Pictures

A 19 year old openly gay member of the UK youth parliament, Reace McDonnell has been suspended after the mother of a gay teenage boy allegedly found pornographic pictures of him on a porn networking site.

The boys mother said "I am concerned as a mother for my child.  He has recently 'come out' as gay and has been following the out youth in Plymouth.  Reace McDonnell, who leads this group and is an apparent role model for teens in the LGBT community, is on the internet.  My son has spoken to me about this internet site and thinks this is 'cool'"

Reace McDonnell posted on facebook saying "I would like to remind people NOT to believe everything you read in the papers.  I think its really quite pathetic that you should intringe on my life like this, not only at this pivotal stage, but atall, considering im an adult.  My statement is that the allegation is not based on fact and should be discredited and ignored by all who read it."

A close friend of Reace commented "It's sad that people seem to be so interested in Reace's private life when all the hard work he does representing young people in his public life should be more important.  He's quite open about being gay and has regularly stood up to be counted on the important issues affecting LGBT young people like homophobic bullying.  It's ironic that in spite of, or perhaps because of, his hard work he now seems to be the victim of nasty and upsetting rumours"

Now this is where I take Reace's side, I have not seen these images I couldn't possibly say whether they exist or not, however even IF they do exist then he is 19, legally he is an adult so he hasn't done anything illegal and it is entirely up to him what he does in his personal time it is not as if he was advertising these pictures to any of the young people the youth parliament work with.

So if these pornographic photo's do exist then he was keeping them away from his professional/public life so why the hell was he suspended he has done nothing wrong.

Plus just one thing I would like to know, why was the teenage boys mother looking through gay porn on the internet anyway?

I would really love to know people's views on this subject so please either comment or email your views to GYD@live.co.uk

Thank You.

My Coming Out Story

My coming out story started some time before anyone actually found out, when I was very young I always had an idea that I liked guys and I always knew I was different but I never really thought anything of it. One night when I was about 17 I was lying in my bed looking through pictures of a particularly good looking male actor on the internet with my phone when all of a sudden it hit me, I realised I was gay I felt so scared I realised that for the rest of my life I was always going to like men, I started to panic thinking what is the rest of my life going to be like and eventually I managed to cry myself to sleep.

Coming Out

The best time to come out really depends on you.  Some people come out at a really early age, however not everyone can do that. 
It might be easier to come out to some friends first then they could support you.  You might also prefer to wait until you are financially independent if you feel your parents won't take it well.

If you are struggling there are alot of people who can help and there is alot of advice out there, I watched alot of video's on youtube about coming out and I found this to be a good help.

According to the Cass' Identity Model there are 6 stages to coming out:

1. Identity Confusion
    This stage begins with your first awareness of gay thoughts, feelings or attractions.  This stage often    includes denial.
2. Identity Comaprison
    In this stage you accept the possibility that you are gay.
3. Identity Tolerance
    In this stage you become more understanding that you are not the only one
4. Identity Acceptance
    This stage is where you realise that you will be ok.
5. Identity Pride
    This stage is where you begin to come out.
6. Identity Synthesis
    This last stage is where you integrate your sexual identiy with all other area's of yourself.

To read more about the cass' identity model click here

If you want to talk then email me at GYD@live.co.uk 

I will upload my coming out story tomorrow

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy which bans openly gay soldiers in the US military may contribute towards the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STD's) according to Dr Kenneth Katz.

He claimed that soldiers could not be honest with medical staff about their sexual histories, he also said that this means that infections go undiagnosed so the service members and their partners go untreated.

Please let me know what you think, either by commenting or emailing GYD@live.co.uk
You can also email me any ideas would like me to talk about or even email me an entire post to upload if you wish.


Thank You

Representation of Homosexuality in the Media

Hi Guys.

How do you guys think the media is representing homosexuality. Personally I think it's getting better but still has a bit to go. Many stereotypes that are still displayed in the media today are for example, Gay guys are apparently all very promiscuous, and many have solvent abuse issues and have trouble staying in a committed relationship. Another misconception is that gay guys are very effeminate however in the UK and possibly some other countries this is changing for example in Skins series 1 & 2 there was the gay character Maxxie Oliver played by the absolutely gorgeous Mitch Hewer he barely followed any stereotypes at all he was just one of the lads, another example of this is an Emerdale character Aaron Livesy played by Danny Miller he is not at all effeminate and he is a mechanic.

While doing a little research into this topic I came across a music video by Perez Hilton called the clap, while I did see the funny side to this video I also thought that it was exactly the kind of media attention that makes homosexuals look bad, I will embed this video at the bottom of this post.

What is it that causes bad representation, I believe that in many cases alot of the actors andscript writer's have no familiarity with gay people, they don't know any so they just make the character act according to the stereotype that other media programs have shown, obviously there are other reasons an I would love to hear your views so please comment or email: GYD@live.co.uk

Another thing I came accross was an interview with Darren Hayes from Savage Garden on his views about homosexuality in the media.

And here is the Perez Hilton video I mentioned