More background and praise for the movie "Pride"...

"Safe in My Hands" video and song is a moving way for Allstate to recognize LGBT pride. Thank you!

This DC-based high school principal shows his students how to live with authenticity and dignity, by coming out at the school's pride event

Ingenuity & self-respect: a former gay Boy Scout talks how he painted a LGBT center to complete his requirement to become an Eagle Scout

With our victories in Texas and Arizona yesterday, and our win in Kentucky today, LGBT Americans are a bit more free

Tweet of the day

This gave me chills. Love you guys #mizzounation RT @Mizzou Support for Sam at Memorial Stadium. #OneMizzou pic.twitter.com/pVejgYWiC2
— Michael Sam (@MikeSamFootball) February 10, 2014

Unprecedented! One of the most promising college football players comes at the BEGINNING of his NFL career. Introducing Mike Sam...

Mike's money quote:  "I just want to make sure I could tell my story the way I want to tell it. I just want to own my truth."

Pride in action: gay, political columnist, Josh Barro candidly talks about his sex life in responding to an internet troll

Here are my responses to Lynn, the Facebook messager with a lot of very personal questions about my sex life.

Dear Lynn:
That's a lot of questions. I'll have to take them one by one.

"I have male friends, but I've never wanted to have sex with any of them. I've always preferred to be with a woman."
That's interesting. You know Lynn is usually a woman's name, right? I'm going to proceed under the assumption that you're a heterosexual man named Lynn and not a lesbian.

"Do you have any idea why you prefer men?"
My understanding of the science is that sexual orientation is in significant part determined by genetic factors and the prenatal environment. I have a biological older brother, which changes the hormonal environment in the womb in a way that increases the likelihood of homosexual orientation.
There's an evolutionary theory that, in large families, gay offspring improve inclusive fitness by making their siblings more likely to raise children to adulthood. In other words, by being gay, I'm around to help my brother take care of his kids, so they can have more kids.

Sexual orientation also appears to be partly determined by factors other than these, and therefore likely by the postnatal environment. I'd note that environmental factors during childhood don't necessarily imply choice. For example, Japanese people do not have any genetic inability to differentiate 'l' and 'r' sounds, but a child raised in a Japanese-speaking environment will lose this ability by age 2; though he can learn as an adult to make the different sounds in speech therapy, he'll never be able to learn to hear them differently.

So, I suppose my attraction to men was determined by a combination of genetic factors and pre- and post-natal environmental factors, but I don't know exactly what combination.

"Do you dislike women because of your mother or some other woman?"
I like women just fine; I just don't want to have sex with them. I don't think my lack of sexual attraction to women has anything to do with my mother or any woman in particular.

"Did your dad or another man force themselves on you?"
No.

"Or did you just come to realize that you preferred men?"
Yes, this one.

"Have you ever had sex with a woman?"
No. I am not at all sexually attracted to women but I'd like to have sex with a woman someday, out of pure curiosity.

"I assume you have sex with other men, right?"
You're pretty insightful there, Lynn.

"What do you and your male partner do during sex?"
Most of the things you're imagining and a number of things you probably haven't thought of.

"Do you let them perform anal sex on you?"
Sometimes, sure.

"Do you perform oral sex on them?" Do you let them cum in your mouth?"
I sometimes do all of these things, yes.

"I would think you'd feel degraded by these acts. On the other hand, if the roles were reversed, you might feel like you have power over them. Do you feel degraded or powerful or is it just as exciting either way?"
Sometimes sex has a significant power exchange component, which can be great in either the dominant or the submissive role. But usually it's more egalitarian than that. Getting fucked can be degrading (in a fun way) but it doesn't have to be.

"Do you ever think about how people feel about you?"
Frequently. Doesn't everybody?

"For instance, when someone looks at your photo and imagines a man's penis in your mouth. Does that not embarrass you?"
Until now, it hadn't occurred to me that people might be imagining that. Is that what you imagine, Lynn?

"What if they look at your picture and imagine a man fucking you in the ass? Either one would embarrass the hell out of me."
I think you may have some issues to work through, buddy.

"If I were to ever become gay, I could never let anyone know it."
You seem to have given a lot of thought to me with a penis in my mouth. Most of the people who think about that are gay. Is it possible that you're already gay?

"I don't understand how you could be proud of it."
I wouldn't say that I'm proud of being gay. It's just a fact about me, like my height or my birthplace. I am proud about being open about my sexual orientation and not taking to heart when people like you write me ignorant letters about it.

"I think Phil Robertson feels the same way. He doesn't hate you; he just doesn't understand why you would want to be gay or even allow the world to know that you are."
I think Phil Robertson spends a lot less time thinking about me sucking dick than you do.

More cracks in the closet door of pro sports: retired top German soccer player Thomas Hitzlsperger comes out...

This is a big story in Europe, especially Germany, where soccer is king.  For years, there have been rumors of several gay players on the German National Team, which this announcement tends to corroborate.  A far superior player to Robbie Rogers, Thomas will be role model for countless gay youth around the world.  And he is a handsome guy, in that German way, to boot!

From the Guardian:

Thomas Hitzlsperger has become the most high-profile footballer to come out, announcing on Wednesday that he is gay. The former Aston Villa, West Ham and Everton player has given a long interview to the German paper Die Zeit, in which he says that he is talking about his sexuality because he wants "to further the debate about homosexuality among sports professionals". 

Hitzlsperger represented Germany 52 times, played in a World Cup and a European Championship and won the Bundesliga with Stuttgart. He retired in September last year, having also played for Lazio in Italy and Wolfsburg. "It's been a long and difficult process" [of becoming aware of being gay]. Only in the last few years have I realised that I preferred living together with a man," Hitzlsperger added.

Thomas was a tough but humble player who was nicknamed "Der Hammner":

Thomas Hitzlsperger has never shirked a challenge. In 2000, as an 18-year-old, he decided to leave his parents and six siblings in Germany to move to England. He had just been released by Bayern Munich, where he had been for eight years, but did not want to join another Bundesligaclub. 

He wanted a challenge – and in Aston Villa's manager he found one. John Gregory ignored Hitzlsperger for a year and a half, sending him on loan to Chesterfield towards the end of his reign, and it was not until Graham Taylor took over that the German midfielder was given his chance. 

Recalled from that loan spell, Taylor immediately thrust Hitzlsperger into first-team action and he never looked back. "At that point [with only six months left on my contract] I was frustrated because I had not played," he said at the time. "I was approached by [Bayern's rivals] 1860 Munich and wouldn't have had a problem joining them but then I decided to knuckle down and make it in England." He then added, with a smile: "Now it is going so well that even the announcer can pronounce my name every now and then. That has almost been my biggest success so far." 

And there you have Hitzlsperger in a nutshell. Competitive, yet self-deprecating. On Wednesday he became the most high-profile footballer to announce he is gay. It will have taken courage and it will have taken time. In the end he decided the time had come. "It's been a long and difficult process [of becoming aware of being gay]. Only in the last few years have I realised that I preferred living together with a man,"Hitzlsperger said in the interview with Die Zeit.

Thomas' coming out will surely encourage other athletes to do so.  This story makes my day.

Tam O'Shaugnessy, Sally Ride's life partner: "Sally was much more interested in doing than in receiving awards"

It is great to be in our own skin

I'm sure that our gay ancestors are cheering us on! I feel it...

On Saturday, openly gay featherweight boxer Orlando Cruz lost his world championship fight. But he is a winner!

Sadly, Orlando lost his fight in Vegas. 

But this guy's decision to come out publicly has done much to improve his own life as well as thousands of others lives around the world. He is a big winner in my book.

These gay teens show that love is winning (& grinning)!

From fuckyeahgaycouples.tumblr.com:

This is a picture of my boyfriend and I: him (Travis) on the left and me (odair-comma-james) on the right before prom. We have been together now for over five months and he is the love of my life. He has helped me through so much. He has even helped me come out to my siblings and basically our entire school. We are the gay couple of our high school basically. Anyway I just love him so much and I will miss him next year at college when I don’t see him every day!