Kiss of the Week - Issue No. 027 - Romans 2:1

Saturday Morning Coffee Break: Define Me

I'm going out of the norm for today's issue of Saturday Morning Coffee Break.  I'm featuring a music video by singer/ songwriter, Ryan Amador that is absolutely amazing.  He sings alongside Jo Lampert in a duet that is both powerful and moving.  The song is titled, "Define Me".   

Trust me, making you cry is not something I want to do, but this will be especially emotional for those who have ever been bullied or blasted with gay slurs growing up.  And this will be emotional for those straight folks with a heart and soul, who may have contemplated saying these things once, and regret ever doing so. But finally, this is for those Christians who know loving your fellow brother is something Jesus asked them to do, and yet, don't understand why their fellow worshipers are so full of hate and contempt for those who wish them no harm.

The video features Amador and Lampert stripping down to their underwear revealing gay slurs and negative stereotypes across their arms, legs, and chest.  It ends with them washing away the words and sharing a smile.  

Once again, it is absolutely amazing; I just love it.  And this why it is today's Saturday Morning Coffee Break.  And rightly so.

Grab your java, sit down and enjoy.

Published on Apr 18, 2013

http://www.ryanamador.com/
http://www.ryanamador.bandcamp.com/

Ryan Amador (featuring Jo Lampert)
"Define Me"
Director Tom Gustafson
Editor Cory Krueckeberg
DP Sergei Krasikov
Add'l Camera Jacqueline Patchen

The song DEFINE ME was released exclusively on Ryan Amador's bandcamp (http://www.ryanamador.bandcamp.com/) in conjunction with Ryan's live performance at the True Colors LGBT Youth Conference on March 22nd. It was produced by David Baloche for Grove Street Studios. 100% of its proceeds will be donated to organizations actively involved with the LGBT equality campaign. http://www.ryanamador.com/

Tom Gustafson (Director) is the director of the award-winning films WERE the WORLD MINE & MARIACHI GRINGO and founder of SPEAKproductions.

If you wish to look back at some previous issues, click my logo below and enjoy.   

Make sure to check out Saturday Morning Coffee Break every Saturday for another classic or current gay short film.

Cyanide and Happiness: Afraid To Show It

Just Sayn'

My conservative Christian friends hate it when I bring this up, but it's true.  Jesus never said anything about homosexuality, yet they live by the word of God in it's entirety.  Well... supposedly, because you know they break the law by speeding, drinking, dancing, cursing, smoking, and divorcing.   

Oh BTW, I'm Gay and a Christian.

Quoted - Dan Savage on What The Bible Got Wrong

"The shortest book in the New Testament is a letter from Paul to a Christian slave owner about owning his Christian slave.

And Paul doesn’t say, "Christians don’t own people." Paul talks about how Christians own people.

We ignore what the Bible said about slavery because the Bible  got slavery wrong.

If the Bible got the easiest moral question that humanity has ever faced wrong, what are the odds that the Bible got something as complicated as human sexuality wrong?"   
                   - Dan Savage to a National High School Journalism                                                       Conference in 2012

Cyanide and Happiness: Only The Lord Jesus Can Judge Us

My Christian Thoughts - Premiere Issue: Alfie's Home

Honestly, this has got be the most atrocious thing I have ever seen in my entire life.  We start today's new series, "My Christian Thoughts", with a book titled, "Alfie's Home".

It's a Sunday and most people are at church.  I know, I know.

Ironically enough, I used to be a frequent church-goer as a child - and way into my teenage years.  Taught Sunday School, led hymns even gave one sermon.  I wore a suit and tie often, carried around my Bible and even spread the Word of God to fellow school mates in and out of school.  What happened, you ask?  Nothing happened, I just realized the truth.  God created me as I am, and he loves me as I am.  He made me who he wanted to be.  I've said this many times before, I didn't wake up one day when I was four years old and say, "I think I want to be Gay today".

It's people like the author of this book that terrify me.  And I'm sorry to say this, but most Christians & Republicans believe in this manner.  No, I'm not sorry - most Christians & Republicans DO believe this way.

Earlier this month, PFOX (Parents and Friends of Gays and Ex-Gays) and the Family Research Council submitted a brief  that states that gays and lesbians shouldn't be a "protected class" under the law because homosexuality is something that can be changed or corrected.  So to show evidence, they provided this children's book.  I about threw up.

Alfie’s Home was published in 1993 by Cohen’s International Healing Foundation. [Image Excerpt Source]

The book starts with a picture of the protagonist on a boat with his dad.

But it goes bad fast, going right for the right-wing myth that homosexuality is caused by childhood sexual abuse…

…and by insufficiently attentive parents:

Eventually, Alfie seeks help and takes part in the “touch therapy” advocated by Cohen…

…which leads him to “realize that I’m not gay” and start dating a woman:

Oh and by the way, I was raised by two loving parents who were both excellent teachers and the most amazing people in the world. They taught me to cook, clean, change the oil, work on farm, write, read and most importantly love. And while some gay boys are molested as children and teenagers, most are not.  So to hell with this author - along with the images and story he's trying to convey.

"To My Unborn Child... I'll put a bullet in your damn skull" (if you turn out gay)

This hate talk comes from a parent or an idiot who wants to be a parent.  Everyone knows that Twitter is the place to be nowadays, and sometimes things can get a little personal, sometimes a little too personal.  "To My Unborn Child" has become a recent topic of discussion on Twitter.  Unfortunately, it turned into a disgusting ranting space for anti-gay bigots. 

***

The Twitter account @Homophobes (which retweets public homophobic tweets to its 4,500 followers) created a post at Storify (a site where users can bundle tweets onto one page and add commentary to create a story) to document over 100 tweets of mostly young men and women saying they would murder their future child if he or she was gay. [source]

 ***

 ***

I honestly don't know where to being with this to tell you the truth.  All I know is that this is who you're voting for, remember that.  Yes, I'm bringing politics into this, and for those who think that this has nothing to do with it, it most certainly does.  When you have candidates running for President who want to strip you of your dignity and your life, politics are involved.  When you have a candidate running for President who says he will stop at nothing to have every gay right overturned, you might as well put a bullet in our heads.  But you know what, why don't we just turn back the hands of time and be like Iran and parts of Africa and start killing our gay children. These imbeciles/parents don't seem to mind it.  Hell, one goes so far as to say "To My Unborn Child, I will kill you if you turn gay, (I support the gays, but will never be one, neither nor my unborn baby)."

Let me put it to you in simple terms, voting for the REDs says you are supporting their causes, and until you realize this, you are fighting against everything your cousin, brother, sister, friend, co-worker, mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew, grandson, grandaughter - the list goes on.  You are fighting against everything they have accomplished, and are still trying to.  All we want is equal rights for everyone, and the right to love who we want.  I know what you're going to say, "Oh, I can be a RED and not support everything they stand for."  Yeah, and I can say the same thing too, "I can vote for a Democrat and not support everything they do."  Only difference is, they are not trying to take away your rights and your freedoms.  If you vote for a RED - you are supporting them, you are giving them the key to the White House, which will eventually take away the rights from the people you love.

This blog post may have sounded repetitive, but I don't care, I need to make it clear to you people.  And don't even start saying you're Christian if you're tweeting shit like this.  Hell, if you're thinking or wishing it, you're just as guilty.

Quoted - Rob Nash on Gay Pride Day

"I get sick of listening to straight people complain about, "Well, hey, we don't have a heterosexual-pride day, why do you need a gay-pride day?"  I remember when I was a kid I'd always ask my mom:  "Why don't we have a Kid's Day?  We have a Mother's Day and a Father's Day, but why don't we have a Kid's Day?"  My mom would always say, "Every day is Kid's Day."  To all those heterosexuals that bitch about gay pride, I say the same thing:  Every day is heterosexual-pride day!  Can't you people enjoy your banquet and not piss on those of us enjoying our crumbs over here in the corner?"~Rob Nash on Gay Pride Day

Documentaries To Watch: Always My Son

When I first saw this video 2 years ago I was struck by how close it hit to home.  It was hard enough being hispanic in a country where we're considered a minority.  But I also had to lie to keep my homosexuality a secret from the people I cared most about, and it tore me up inside. I would pray to God every night hoping he would fix me.  Little did I know, he couldn't fix what he had created.

Here you have a father who's an ex-marine, a devoted christian, and a loving husband and he has to come to grips with the fact that he has a gay son.  As you watch the video below you will come across one of my favorite parts of the documentary - when the boy's father realizes God couldn't possibly condemn his son.  "I thought to myself inside that everything I've ever been taught that it's an abomination and yes, he's going to hell, but I also quicky thought.... my son, he's a beautiful kid, he's compassionate, he's warm, he cares for people, he's respectful, he's kind. How? If we have such a loving God, How could God condemn my son to hell?"

Always My Son is one of a series of short documentary films that were being produced by the Family Acceptance Project to help ethnically and religiously diverse families decrease their LGBT children's risk for suicide, substance abuse, depression, HIV, homelessness and placement in foster care or juvenile justice settings -- by increasing family support.[source] [source]

I Quote That - I Got Lucky

Quoted - The Salvation Army on Homosexuality

“Sexual attraction to the same sex is a matter of profound complexity. Whatever the causes may be, attempts to deny its reality or to marginalize those of a same-sex orientation have not been helpful. The Salvation Army does not consider same-sex orientation blameworthy in itself. Homosexual conduct, like heterosexual conduct, requires individual responsibility and must be guided by the light of scriptural teaching. Scripture forbids sexual intimacy between members of the same sex. The Salvation Army believes, therefore, that Christians whose sexual orientation is primarily or exclusively same-sex are called upon to embrace celibacy as a way of life. There is no scriptural support for same-sex unions as equal to, or as an alternative to, heterosexual marriage. Likewise, there is no scriptural support for demeaning or mistreating anyone for reason of his or her sexual orientation. The Salvation Army opposes any such abuse.” 

         – the Salvation Army‘s ridiculous policy on homosexuality

If The World Were A Village of 100 People: Issue No. 12 - Sexual Orientation

This is the 12th poster out of the 20 posters I have shared with you over the past several months.

Every week I have been asking, "What if the world were a village of 100 people?"  And by using statistics based on the spread of the population in the world, Toby Ng Design created these posters as another way of looking at how our world is today. 

If you missed any of the previous issues, click here.

Must Watch - Must Read: President Josiah Bartlet on Homosexuality

Ryan and I are currently watching one of the greatest shows ever to air on network television, The West Wing. 

Last night, we had the pleasure of watching our new favorite episode to date, titled "The Midterms". It's memorable because of what President Josiah Bartlet told a Dr. Schlessinger character aka Dr. Jacobs.  

She was told by the President, "I like your show. I like how you call homosexuality an abomination."  And she responded, "I don’t say homosexuality is an abomination, Mr. President. The Bible does."

The President's reply was absolutely awesome, and astounding.  Check out the small script below, better yet, watch the video I attached.

President Josiah Bartlet: [addressing a radio personality party in the White House, entering room to applause] Thank you. Thank you very much. Thanks a lot. I wish I could spend more than a few minutes with you, but the polls don’t close in the east for another hour, and there are plenty of election results still left to falsify.
[everyone laughs]

President Josiah Bartlet: I’m sorry. Uh, you’re Dr. Jenna Jacobs, right?
Dr. Jenna Jacobs: Yes, Sir.
President Josiah Bartlet: It’s good to have you here.
Dr. Jenna Jacobs: Thank you.
President Josiah Bartlet: The awesome impact of the airwaves and how that translates into the furthering of our national discussions, but also obviously how it can… Forgive me, Dr. Jacobs. Are you an M.D.?
Dr. Jenna Jacobs: A Ph.D.
President Josiah Bartlet: A Ph.D.
Dr. Jenna Jacobs: Yes, Sir.
President Josiah Bartlet: In psychology?
Dr. Jenna Jacobs: No, Sir.
President Josiah Bartlet: Theology?
Dr. Jenna Jacobs: No.
President Josiah Bartlet: Social work?
Dr. Jenna Jacobs: I have a Ph.D. in English literature.
President Josiah Bartlet: I’m asking ‘cause on your show, people call in for advice and you go by the name Dr. Jacobs on your show, and I didn’t know if maybe your listeners were confused by that and assumed you had advanced training in psychology, theology or health care.
Dr. Jenna Jacobs: I don’t believe they are confused. No, Sir.
President Josiah Bartlet:Good. I like your show. I like how you call homosexuality an abomination.
Dr. Jenna Jacobs: I don’t say homosexuality is an abomination, Mr. President. The Bible does.
President Josiah Bartlet: Yes, it does. Leviticus.
Dr. Jenna Jacobs: 18:22.
President Josiah Bartlet: Chapter and verse. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions while I had you here. I’m interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. She’s a Georgetown sophomore, speaks fluent Italian, always cleared the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be? While thinking about that, can I ask another? My Chief of Staff Leo McGarry insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or is it okay to call the police? Here’s one that’s really important ‘cause we’ve got a lot of sports fans in this town: Touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean. Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point? Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother John for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads? Think about those questions, would you? One last thing: While you may be mistaking this for your monthly meeting of the Ignorant Tight-Ass Club, in this building, when the President stands, nobody sits.