Tag: Gay/Straight

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I ran across these two articles and thought I’d share.

Agree or not with the source website www.outspoken.com, the articles themselves have merit.

Both articles are in my mind, opinion pieces.

The first one is about a Michelangelo Signorile piece that appears in the Los Angeles Blade

After reading the Signorile piece which is also an opinion piece I can kinda see both sides. I’m not sure that Signorile is completely wrong, nor am I sure that the Outspoken piece is completely right. What I can say is that the Outspoken piece seems closer to my own opinion.

Signorile, seems very concerned that Tucker Carlson is adamantly opposed to the sexualization of children, a belief that I happen to share. Additionally, Signorille is upset that Tucker Carlson’s producer is a gay man.

That kind of blows the hell out of Tucker Carlson being a homophobe doesn’t it?

What Signorile seems to miss is that most gay people aren’t activists, and do believe that children should be children.

Signorille, accuses Tucker Carlson’s production guy of being a self loathing closet case. I think that’s out of line.

Most of the gay men I know, privately share concern about sexualization of children and what appears to be a transgender “fad”.

While they’re not opposed to adult transgender people choosing to undergo medical procedures to align their physical gender with their internal view of themselves. Those same men, don’t think it’s healthy or wise to begin transition of children who most likely don’t have the emotional or cognitive abilities to understand what exactly transitioning means.

That doesn’t mean they’re self loathing, closeted, or hateful. It means that they have questions and concerns. The Outspoken piece touches on a fundament truth. The LGBTQ+ community does not tolerate dissenting opinions. Signorille demonstrates this in his piece.

The lived experiences of the men I’ve spoken to is that they have all been shoved into a different metaphorical closet, not by people like Tucker Carlson, but by the LGBTQ+ community itself.

This is easily demonstrated by the fact that conversations about not sexualizing children, not allowing children to begin transitioning by administration of puberty blockers, and indeed that these men might on occasion watch Tucker Carlson or read Outspoken are only whispered about in private, among people that they trust.

This behavior isn’t because of Tucker Carlson, it’s because if it were to become known that these men had differing opinions, they’d be hounded by the rabid elements of the LGBTQ+ community who have become well known for Doxxing, and causing trouble, or destroying people they disagree with.

Granted, most of the men I’m speaking about don’t interact with the LGBTQ+ community, but they aren’t interested in making enemies of that community either. After all, these men have lives, homes, husbands, and in some cases families.

When you settle down and make a life, you take actions to protect that life. Angry blue haired, genderfuck drag activists, screaming from the sidewalk make the neighbors and HOA’s cranky.

In my case, after 34 years living with my partner, mostly in the same neighborhood, I’m just one of the guys. None of my very straight neighbors care that I sleep with another dude. I’ve got tools, knowhow, and willingness to lend a hand. Failing those useful attributes, I’ve got knowledge of how to use a shovel, a pair of hands, and a more or less strong back. Plus I like knocking back a beer with the guys after work from time to time.

In other words… I’m living my life exactly as I hoped and worked to live it. My rights are as secure as any of my neighbors. Nobody from the government is going to roll up and demand I surrender my house or possessions because I live with a man. Contrary to what the LGBTQ+ activists might choose to believe.

Which brings me to the second article, also from Outspoken and linked here. The title is, Biden’s diversity hires are not the role models we need

In this article, I find that I’m in complete agreement.

I’m in favor of letting your freak flag fly. But the freakier folks from the LGBTQ+ community get, the more I’m simply embarrassed.

When I think of the folks I grew up with and how they must look at these sterling examples of the LGBTQ+ community I’m mortified. There are places in the United States and perhaps the world where the only examples of the LGBTQ+ community are people like Biden’s diversity hires.

Gettyimages 1181909470 e1571862959659In the case of Buttigieg and Jean Pierre, at least they look like everyone else. But their record of achievements leaves something to be desired.

In the case of Buttigieg, his MIA act when the country was in a shipping crisis was not looked upon kindly. Yes, I know he has newborns, but there are simply times when you don’t leave your post.

Karine Jean Pierre Makes History at White House Press BriefingJean Pierre, is doing the best she can, of that I’m sure. Her problem is that she always seems unprepared. I’d imagine that her blood pressure is ringing the “DANGER WILL ROBINSON” bell every single day after Biden or Harris have spoken publicly. That she’s appearing unprepared is making the public wonder if LGBTQ+ people are competent especially considering that Buttigieg hadn’t been doing too much to get things moving seamlessly again.

BrintonThen we get to Sam Brinton. All I can say is what the fuck? I cringe everytime he/she/it/zem/zer, whatever the hell, shows up in the paper, or on TV.

Look, you can engage in gender fuck drag all you want to, you can dress up in puppy play outfits and put a dildo up your ass that looks like a dogs tail. I honestly don’t care. Hell, I’ve been to some wild assed parties too. The difference is, when the party was over for me, it was over.

All the crazy stuff was put in the toy chest for next time, and I returned to “The Real World” with a dirty smile on my face. Never in a million years would I expect to live my sexual escapades 24/7 in the public eye or at my place of business. None of the other people I’ve worked with put their personal life on display and I know that some of those straight people were into shit that’s as kinky as me. It’s just not done, It’s a distraction and not germane to conducting business. Personally, I found the plethora of dirty smiles on Monday mornings to be a lot more amusing.

Rachel levineLast on the hit parade is Rachel Levine. I can’t say anything more than Really? Come on man.

This is not to say that transgender folks should be discriminated against but you know what? FDR was mindful of public impression long before the internet and 24/7 news cycles.

He knew that how the public viewed him could make or break his ability to lead the nation. Which is why it was only very rarely that you saw him using crutches or a wheelchair.

Rachel Levine’s face is not one that inspires confidence. As a dude he’d have been marginal at best. As a woman, he/she is laughable. I honestly can’t think of a single thing Levine has said that has made it past my visual filters and into my memory. Biden would’ve  have been better off not filling the position at all, than putting Levine in.

My point is, when some people in our country see these “shining examples” from the LGBTQ+ community, they draw conclusions. Sometimes those conclusions are completely incorrect and engender fear.

When people are afraid, they do stupid and sometimes hurtful things.

I’d submit that the Biden administration has done more to endanger LGBTQ+ people than conservatives or even rabid religious types.

I suggest this, because instead of presenting LGBTQ+ people who look like the kind of folks mainstream America would encounter in their offices or on their work sites, the Biden administration looks like they sought out the most shocking and disturbing examples of LGBTQ+ and then shoved them down the American people’s throats.

Some opposition to “Drag Time Story Hour” might be due to Brinton and Levine.

I can say this, Biden’s picks don’t represent me, or most of my friends.

Oh, I have to go… The orgy is starting and I don’t want sloppy seconds!

Just kidding, I thought I’d have a little fun with it.

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So which is it?

Armed protesters stand guard outside a drag show at Anderson Distillery & Grill in Roanoke, Texas. (Kelly Neidert)

Antifa is looking a LOT more like the Fascists than the “Enemy” they’re supposed to be worried about.

Anti Drag Shows for Kids protestors

Of the two groups which looks more like a paramilitary group?

Are guns only bad when they’re in the hands of conservative leaning people? Is the take away that ANTIFA is protecting decency, which is arguable at best?

Was it ANTIFA that attacked the Federal Building in Portland or not? Weren’t they the folks blinding officers and throwing fire bombs trying to kill folks assigned to protect the Federal Building?

Who was it that beat Andy Ngo damn near to death? Oddly it wasn’t normal law abiding folks. But apparently that’s to be swept under the rug.

This is all about a drag show for children in Texas.

I never thought I’d be writing a sentence that contained the words Drag Show and Children in it.

WTF?

I remember being in a gay bar late one night in Laguna Beach where a child came up to the 6’5” tall, muscular as all hell, ex military demolition specialist, doorman, asking for help.

The doorman scooped this frightened child up off the ground, walked into the bar told the bartender to stop selling booze, the Saturday Night Crowd made a path to the bar. The whole downstairs bar emptied out and this scary giant of a man, tended ever so gently to the child’s scrapes.

In his deep baritone he asked what had happened.

When he and several others nearby who were providing wet clean towels, who’d grabbed the first aid kit, and an unimpaired RN, heard;

“Daddy and Mommy are fighting bad”

The doorman very gently asked, “Can you tell me where they are?”

“We’re on vacation. The hotel is across the street. I came over here because it sounded happy.”

“Are they still fighting?”

“I guess so, they fight a lot.”

“Okay little one, I’ll go check on them.”

He and several other men went to the door. Over his shoulder he called to a bartender, “Get some juice for her, don’t sell any booze while she’s here, and call the police.”

There are a lot of things that made me proud of the community that night. The short list is this.

The men that followed the doorman out all knew how to handle themselves. They were either military, ex military, bikers or fighters of various stripes.
All the men in the bar stopped drinking
They all put their glasses on the upper Bar
They changed the music to something happy but not blaring.
The patrons adopted proper decorum and spoke quietly among themselves.

After 10 minutes, the doorman came back with bloodied knuckles, carrying a small boy who’d obviously been smacked around, followed by a dazed battered woman.

Without question the RN moved on to address the bruises and scrapes on the woman and little boy. The doorman, with easy familiarity grabbed a clean bar towel, filled it with ice from behind the bar and wrapped his right fist.

The little boy was watching the doorman closely, obviously curious about the towel and ice.

The doorman, smiled. He got up and made a smaller towel with a little bit of ice. He handed it to the little boy, “Hold this against your eye. It might hurt at first but the cold will make it feel better.”

The doorman rewrapped his fist and sat quietly watching the RN taking care of his patients. Eventually the RN got to the doorman’s scrapes & cuts.

The doorman tried to wave the RN away.

“Thad, let me do my job!”

The doorman sighed, “Okay, but I’m fine.”

The police arrived. They were obviously a little stunned. Usually, when they came into the bar it was rowdy and they were enforcing a noise complaint. Yet this time, the lights were on full and everyone was quiet and respectful.

The doorman, spoke briefly to them. A few minutes later an ambulance pulled up in front of the hotel.

Statements were taken and the woman and her children left with the police. Before they left, the children ran back to the table where the doorman was sitting and climbed onto him. They hugged him tight and he hugged them back with tears brimming.

“You’re going to be alright children. Take care of your mommy.”

Their mom said, “Thank you so much,” then collected her kids and left.

That is the gay community I remember. Yes, hated by many, but good men and women.

We at the time, were fighting for our equal place in society. We knew that equality would only come when we demonstrated in all other respects, except who we peopled our bed with, we were just like everyone else.

Drag shows are not the place for children. Gay bars are not the place for children. The LGB community knew that instinctively without question. The story above illustrates that simple fact.

What the fuck has happened to this community? Just because we were outliers then doesn’t mean we have to keep being outliers.

I know of no folks in the LGB community who would think for an instant that a Drag show should be attended by children. It’s adult entertainment for adults. You wouldn’t take children to a strip show. You wouldn’t take children to a bar with half naked go go boys dancing on the bar.

Hell, if you’re a responsible person you wouldn’t even show a movie with such depictions to children.

It’s not even about morality or puritanical religious squeamishness.

It’s about protecting a child’s innocence!

We all find our various kinks when we’re of age, when we’re ready for it, and when we’re old enough to handle it.

Let a child be a child, for God’s sake!

Then we have in Texas, a drag show with armed ANTIFA in black out clothing forming a perimeter. What the hell kind of message does that send?

What does a child think of that?

Especially after Uvalde and all the noise about AR-15s being dangerous. ”Only bad people carry AR-15s, run and hide if you see someone with one of those”.

Then 6 weeks later that same parent is saying, “come on in here don’t worry about the rifles.”

You’ve already got a confused child, then you subject them to bad drag.

If that doesn’t cause a fear of clowns and makeup, I’ll be surprised.

Pennywise from IT

It’s long past time for the LGB community to stand up. It’s time for us to put a stop to this because we’re uniquely in a position to do so. The trans activists have hitched their wagon to the LGB community and the community has allowed it.

So now it’s our responsibility. We allowed this mess to be made it’s on us to clean it up!

Are we willing to let everything we fought so hard to gain be corrupted and stripped away by the actions of a fringe group of trans activists?

Are we willing to be shamed back into the closet by 1% of the population who simply choose to hitch their wagon to ours?

Will we allow all that we’ve accomplished to be degraded back to things like; Gays can’t marry, can’t have jobs, can’t have places to live, sodomy laws, and all that we managed to fix so that we can be thought of as equal?

I for one refuse!

I like being LGB and being treated with respect and normalcy. I like being able to get my freak on without worry of someone ratting me out to the cops for immoral behavior.

This trans activist bullshit has got to stop.

There are things that Trans folks need to have addressed. But not everyone is Trans!

How dare Trans activists imply that if someone likes the same sex they’d be happier transitioning to the opposite sex. There are little boys and little girls right now who would probably grow up CIS and LGB and be quite happy about it.

Those children deserve to discover their preferences in their own time, in their own way. How many boys and girls will have that joy of discovery ripped away from them by people deciding for them?

Isn’t that the same thing the Trans activists are saying is so wrong, when they say things like a Doctor assigns sex at birth?

Where have all the heroes gone? I’m sure as hell not a hero but if I’m all there is, then I’ll do my best.

Not Thad. But they’re cut from the same cloth

Thad – where ever you are now. 40 some odd years ago, you taught a green young man being gay or bi didn’t make you less a man, as men we still had responsibilities to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves. You taught me that gay or bi didn’t have to be my whole personality, it was just a part of who I was. You gave me a memory of decency and strength. I’m eternally grateful.

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Madness! Posting this can get you arrested in London.

I know England has different laws.

For a long time England has been more authoritarian than the United States. That was a given. Generally, though the English have been running parallel with the U.S. about most things.

Freedom of speech, freedom to assemble, and such. English Parliament versus The U.S. Congress is something I’ve never quite grasped.

Videos of Parliamentary hearings in England appear very chaotic to my admittedly Americentric eyes.

That being said, their way worked for them and it wasn’t my place to poke at or criticize something that I didn’t understand. Their way of governing has worked for a very long time.

An article out of London deserves some serious criticism. The article that got me thinking about this appeared on Breitbart London. Here is a follow-on article from The Daily Mail If you’re interested in how some people in England are standing up and fighting back here is a link to The Bad Law Project.

Apparently you can be arrested in England for posting an “Offensive” image.

I suppose the creators of this abomination of a pride flag don’t like having the unintended consequences of their horrific flag “Artistry” called out.

Especially when it’s called out with truth.

Let’s be honest. The LGBTQI Jabber Jabber whatever community has become something that is quite ugly. This latest iteration of the Pride Flag illustrates this fact in spades. There is no artistry in this flag. No grace or beauty.

In fact when I look at it, I see exactly what the Trans, Non-binary, xyzlmnop, crowd wanted to convey. “We will be greater than the old LGB crowd and we will dominate you.”

It’s right there. The mathematical “>” greater than sign, moving left to right as if to eclipse the colors of what had been a joyous, creative, inclusive, crowd of people.

I’ve written before that my opinion of the LGBTQI Jabber Jabber whatever community, is no longer representative of the LGB community that I once knew and enjoyed.

Their claims of inclusion and diversity don’t actually stand up to scrutiny. Walk into a LGBTQI Jabber Jabber whatever community center, and express a different opinion and see where that takes you.

Walk into a similar bar or resort questioning any of the dogma the community clings to and be ready for a fight. Just asking the question seeking to understand why the community supports a particular position is perilous.

Question TransRights for example. Or state that you think the overturning of Roe was the right move because you think it should be legislated by the States not the federal government and WOW! Talk about a hornets nest!

Ask why they so universally hated Trump and they’ll look at you like you’ve got three heads. If they answer at all, it’s a strange melange of CNN talking points and feelings. Rather than cogent rational reasons.

Trump was a homophobe!!!! Really? Then why did he appoint openly Gay, Richard Grenell, to one of the more prestigious ambassadorships? Not really the act of a homophobe is it?

Why did Trump have Grenell serving as Acting Director of National Intelligence?

Why did Trump later summon Grenell to finish the Abrams Accords in an effort to settle some of the strife in the Middle East.

Hardly the acts of a Homophobe.

The irony of Grenell being accepted as a broker of peace and treaties in the Middle East, (known for their hatred of Gay people,) is completely missed.

The funny thing is that most of the LGBTQI whatever community don’t seem to know who Richard Grenell is. Fewer still know he’s Gay and that he and his Husband were together in Germany during his Ambassadorship.

Most of the LGBTQI point to Pete Buttigieg as the first high ranking Gay appointee in our government.

The difference is that Grenell just lived his life. He did his job, and was no different than any other ambassador or Director of National Security.

He saw no need to pound his chest about being Gay. He wasn’t in the closet, he just didn’t have his whole world revolving around his sexuality. I believe Grenell worked continuously during his treatment for cancer (I could be wrong about that). We didn’t hear much about it, but he was strong, steadfast, and honorable.

Can you say the same about Pete Buttigieg?

Yes, having children is a big deal. However when the supply chain is clearly broken and in chaos, perhaps Pete Buttigieg could have taken time out from his paternity leave and busy diaper changing schedule to actually do his job.

Why? Because the needs of the nation should outweigh personal needs. If he couldn’t do the job due to family obligations… Then, like any man he should have stepped down from the position, and stepped up to the responsibilities of Fatherhood.

Pete Buttigieg had his husband, it wasn’t like his children had no-one to take care of them. Partners of high ranking government officials and soldiers have always carried the load when their spouse needed to attend to the needs of the country. Ask any military wife about that.

How many military wives have given birth to their children without their husbands? How many soldiers have come home after a year to meet their child for the first time?

The LGBTQI Jabber Jabber whatever community, even when confronted with these opinions and facts still cling to their dogma. Sometimes angrily or violently so.

I suspect that’s why the LGBTQI Jabber Jabber whatever community of England is so enraged when they see this.

Because it’s kinda true they’ve become the same kind of unthinking lockstep mob that once threatened to take over the world.

Notice any similarity???

Lest we forget, that same authoritarian dictatorship gassed gay men right along with the Jews, Gypsies, and anyone else they considered undesirable. There is even some evidence to suggest that the oh so stylish SS uniforms were designed by a Gay man. So hypocrisy isn’t new.

It’s not just the LGBTQI Jabber Jabber whatever community, in England. The same crowd and same dogma exists here in the U.S.

The same technological terrors of Twitter and FaceBook that caused this arrest in England are right here in the U.S. and they’re busily censoring free expression of opinion here, just as they do in England.

The difference is that our laws haven’t become quite as Gestapo-like as those in England. But the LGBTQI Jabber Jabber whatever community, here in the U.S. appears to be pushing for them to be.

Hate speech is an ill defined and bullshit term. Without clear definition anything can be construed as Hate Speech.

Memes, or images that you personally don’t like are not Hateful by nature. Although I could probably think up some that would be.

Even an image of bloody ANTIFA morons, or looters roped across the hood of a BMW like deer with a guy smiling holding an AR-15, captioned with, “Season is open, no bag limit!”

Is not hateful. It’s in extremely poor taste. It also sums up the mood of many Americans during the Summer of “Mostly Peaceful Protests”

Such an image would be censored instantly by the technological terror known as the internet.

It’s well past time for the perpetually aggrieved to grow a thicker skin. To Grow up and accept that the world and all the people in it do not exist to coddle their fragile feelings.

Maybe if they’d been called names in school, if they hadn’t been given safe spaces to cry, if they’ been graded on their achievements instead of given a pass just to move them to the next grade, they’d be functional people instead of crybabies in gender confused oversexed adult bodies.

Maybe if they’d heard, “Walk it off, go rub some dirt on it.” These crybabies would be better prepared to deal with a world that doesn’t and never will bow to their whims.

I personally think that weaponizing law enforcement and using them like Mommies and Daddies to settle hurt feelings is an obscenity. It’s a waste of time, money, and limited resources.

It appears, I’m not alone. As The Daily Mail article points out the police force’s own Crime Commissioner was displeased with the arrest of the 51 year old man for malicious communications.

Perhaps there is hope that the real adults will win the day.

I’m not holding my breath. I’m also not patronizing anything the LGBTQI Jabber Jabber whatever community has to offer.

I’ve wondered about opening a bar for normal LGB and Straight people. You know, a place that actually protects and allows free speech.

I don’t know what the name would be, but the tagline under the name would say something like, “Not a safe space… but a comfortable space to say what you think”

Nah… Probably go broke in the first month.

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For those of us old enough to remember…

There’s a chill wind blowing.

Way back in time there was this thing called AIDS. (Yes I know it’s called HIV now and it’s still around.)

In the early days it was called AIDS, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. In those early years it was most prevalent among gay men.

The Christian Right danced a happy jig because those “Filthy Fags were getting Gods righteous vengeance shoved up their asses” Those Christians were totally happy to see what they perceived as the Sodom and Gomorrah gays being wiped off the face of the earth.

The Christian Right was positively giddy about it. Anita Bryant became their poster child and the Televangelists across the country used their pulpits to suggest all gays should be left to die. (Hmm, that sounds similar to something a Washington politician said about those refusing the COVID vaccine.) Some went so far as saying all gays should be put into camps where they could fornicate themselves straight to Hell.

In the early years, the medical establishment wasn’t even sure what was causing it, or how it was spread. They had many suspicions, some of which were eventually borne out. There was a time when a lot of people (including Doctors) thought AIDS was transmitted by touch. Some thought it was airborne. Universally, though AIDS was a killer and an ugly way to go.

Eventually Researchers discovered it was apparently a virus. Then they concluded it was sexually transmitted. Oral sex to completion was off the table. Anal sex was the most likely route of infection, due to the potential for blood / semen contact.

It was a dangerous and dark time to be gay. Bathhouses, popular with some of the gay community, were closed by local government decree. Gay bars closed, and gay bashing, (always a popular pastime,) became more prevalent. “Bash a Fag for Jesus!”

By that time a whole generation of gay men were infected, and most of them died. Check out photos of the AIDS quilt.

The media spin was; Gay men were pariahs. Unclean, deadly, high risk to have in your home or in your office. Gay men were a health insurance plan nightmare and many companies cut their losses by summarily firing gay men. There was no protection against an employer terminating a gay person. In fact some employers terminated anyone diagnosed with AIDS regardless of their sexuality.

That only changed when straight people started getting AIDS.

Then a similar disease that had confounded Doctors in Africa was identified as AIDS. In the African nation, it was primarily a straight disease, and the narrative of gay men being the root cause began to wane.

COVID reminded me of those dark times. Not the disease itself but the media narrative and messaging. “Get vaccinated for others”, “Wear a mask to protect yourself and other people”, “The unvaxxed are pariahs who want you to die”

All of the narrative was just too eerily familiar.

Now we have Monkeypox!

OMG!

Some in the media are asking if this is the next pandemic and others seem to be trying to cause a new panic using the same tropes that were so successful with COVID.

A big difference is there is a conflation, intentional or not, of Monkeypox and Gay.

There’s this report from NBC News

Once again, the Gay community is ground zero and once again the media is making sure that everyone knows this outbreak seems to have started in the Gay community.

The most recent example is the two toddlers on opposite sides of the US who have monkeypox. The media has pointed out that both cases appear to have Gay parents.

Conservative Christians are already using this as fodder to promote that Gays are bad parents, apparently due to their “Unclean and sinful lifestyle”

One Washington politician, (I can’t remember who and I don’t want to give her any more press,) went so far as to ask, “How is it that children are getting a sexually transmitted disease?”

She with that one question demonstrated everything you need to know about her. Her implication is that the gay parents are having sex with toddlers.

One can also infer that she’s woefully uninformed about how monkeypox spreads, and probably is someone the gay community should keep a very close eye on.

The other thing I found interesting is there’s already a vaccine for Monkeypox. So the fear mongering is completely unwarranted.

This miraculous vaccine is called the Smallpox vaccine.

Read the box closely.

A lot of the recent pictures of vaccine vials have been edited to show only the word monkeypox. You can tell they’re edited image because a real vaccine vial typically has the manufacturer, the dosage, and information about the suspension the active component of the vaccine is delivered in.

Interestingly, the start of the smallpox vaccine was based on observations of milkmaids. There was a sharp physician dealing with a smallpox outbreak and he happened to notice that milkmaids were never among the smallpox victims.

When he investigated, he discovered that milkmaids would catch something they called cowpox. It was a one time annoyance and when it cleared from the milkmaids hands, they never got cowpox or smallpox.

Observation, led to innovation. Can you say anecdotal??? Thank God that sharp physician didn’t subscribe to the beliefs of St. Fauci of the Holy Mask. If he had, people would still be dying from smallpox.

Smallpox was eliminated from the developed world in the 1970s and upon the declaration that the scourge of smallpox was eliminated, routine smallpox vaccinations fell by the wayside.

For those of us born prior to the mid 1970s monkeypox is probably a minor concern. For my part, I’ll run it by my doctor to find out if I should get a booster.

Since the vaccine for monkeypox is the smallpox vaccine, and since smallpox was eradicated no-one should be surprised that there isn’t a huge supply of the vaccine. Most vaccines have a shelf life after which they’re disposed of. So big Pharma is going to have to ramp up production of the vaccine and that is going to take time.

Not to defend government or big Pharma…

But what do you expect? What’s the point of having huge stockpiles of a vaccine that is only going to sit in a freezer or on a shelf and go bad? That’s not good business or a practical allocation of resources.

So to all of you out there complaining about the vaccine shortages, sit down, shut up, and give it some thought before you light your hair on fire with one foot nailed to the floor and run in tight little circles.

Monkeypox is generally not fatal. If you get it, follow your doctor’s instructions, and move on with life.

You know… sort of like what you should do with COVID.

From the CDC

How does Smallpox Spread?

Before smallpox was eradicated, it was mainly spread by direct and fairly prolonged face-to-face contact between people. Smallpox patients became contagious once the first sores appeared in their mouth and throat (early rash stage). They spread the virus when they coughed or sneezed and droplets from their nose or mouth spread to other people. They remained contagious until their last smallpox scab fell off.

These scabs and the fluid found in the patient’s sores also contained the variola virus. The virus can spread through these materials or through the objects contaminated by them, such as bedding or clothing. People who cared for smallpox patients and washed their bedding or clothing had to wear gloves and take care to not get infected.

Rarely, smallpox has spread through the air in enclosed settings, such as a building (airborne route).

Smallpox can be spread by humans only. Scientists have no evidence that smallpox can be spread by insects or animals.

Also from the CDC

Monkeypox spreads in different ways. The virus can spread from person-to-person through:

direct contact with the infectious rash, scabs, or body fluids

respiratory secretions during prolonged, face-to-face contact, or during intimate physical contact, such as kissing, cuddling, or sex

touching items (such as clothing or linens) that previously touched the infectious rash or body fluids

pregnant people can spread the virus to their fetus through the placenta

It’s also possible for people to get monkeypox from infected animals, either by being scratched or bitten by the animal or by preparing or eating meat or using products from an infected animal.

Monkeypox can spread from the time symptoms start until the rash has fully healed and a fresh layer of skin has formed. The illness typically lasts 2-4 weeks. People who do not have monkeypox symptoms cannot spread the virus to others. At this time, it is not known if monkeypox can spread through semen or vaginal fluids.

According to the CDC

Monkeypox virus is part of the same family of viruses as variola virus, the virus that causes smallpox.

That being said, I’ve not been able to find an exact name for the monkeypox virus itself. It appears the smallpox vaccine is effective because monkeypox is part of the same viral family.

So in my unprofessional opinion. I think monkeypox is going to be a big nothing burger. We have a tried and true Effective vaccine. We know the vaccine is effective because it wiped smallpox from most of the planet.

We also know anecdotally that if cowpox provided immunity to smallpox, and smallpox provides immunity to cowpox, then it’s probable a pox is a pox.

The politician who implied something nefarious going on in gay households with children obviously doesn’t know how to read, or apparently how to enter a search on the CDC.GOV website.

With monkeypox we need to shut down the narrative being spun by the media, religious zealots, and the just plain uninformed.

Of course monkeypox is going to show up first in the gay community. Pride Festivals were held for the first time in two years. They are nation wide throughout the month of June, and some people travel to multiple celebrations.

These people needn’t be having sex, (contrary to the salacious news,) all they had to do is hug and kiss one another. Is it so difficult to believe that people would be ecstatic to be able to travel and see friends in person that they hadn’t seen for two years?

I do find the timing interesting.

It could simply be a coincidence, but if I wanted to test the dissemination of a pathogen I can’t think of a better way than to introduce it during pride month. Precisely because it’s a month of celebrations and gatherings where lots of people travel to various cities attending multiple gatherings.

Talk about a great infectious testing platform.

Just sayin…

I’m prone to wonder about those kinds of things.

I mean, how the hell can a pathogen that’s typically confined to a small region in Africa suddenly appear all over the world at almost the same time?

With AIDS, which also came out of a relatively small region in Africa, patient zero was alleged to be a flight attendant.

The coincidence and similarity just makes me wonder.

Call it my suspicious nature.

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At the risk of being labeled Transphobic…

I think it’s time for the trans community to separate from the LGB community.

LGB has become pretty accepted. There are still issues to address and probably will be for the next 20 years or so.

The problem I see rising is that the Trans community has become so conflated with the LGB community at large, that Trans issues are damaging the LGB community and their hard won gains.

Comments in various online publications which were once about 50/50, pro/against LGB issues. Have become increasingly hateful and vicious about just “normal” LGB folks with the addition of the Trans communities never ending strident yelling.

While I agree that everyone should be teated kindly and equally. I don’t think that Trans issues as presented belong in the LGB spectrum. I also think that the way the Trans community is behaving has drawn the LGB part of the community needlessly into an agenda that is not representative of the average LGB person.

Comments in recent articles about Lia Thomas, and Rachel Levine demonstrate in my opinion that America is growing very tired of the Trans community and by extension the LGB community.

Many of the comments paint Trans people as gay or lesbian. Moreover, comments paint the entirety of the LGBT community as deranged, mentally unfit, sick, disgusting, evil, or perpetrating some kind of con on various institutions (Lia Thomas, I’m looking at you).

The Trans people that I have personally known may start out being homosexuals, but that appears to be a transitional phase. The person is homosexual because they believe with all their heart and soul, they were born in the wrong body. They’re intimate with the gender they find attractive but they still feel that their body isn’t right. Several of the Trans folks I’ve known, have entered into loving straight relationships after they’ve transitioned.

A former man, completes the required surgeries, and then marries as a woman to another man. They aren’t homosexual at that point.

The full transitions I’ve known, left the LGB community and went off to live in suburbia with their husbands and most have adopted children.

The LGB folks don’t believe they were born wrong. Typically they believe they were born a bit different but they’re content being whatever gender they were born. They don’t feel alien in their own bodies, they’re comfortable in preferring intimacy with members of the same gender.

I know for some, this is a difficult distinction, but it’s an important one.

My personal experience is very different from the strident demands of today.

What passes for the Trans community these days doesn’t seem to have the same appreciation for the gravity of the decision Transgender people had in years past.

It’s not just about pumping hormones into your body. Yes, that is part of it, but it’s about where your head is at. A transgendered friend told me that before the surgery when she looked in the mirror she perceived her male body as a suit she was trapped in. She said that she’d felt this way for her entire male life. When she woke up from surgery, during the months of healing she anticipated seeing her true self.

She said that the first time she saw herself in a mirror after healing, she cried with joy because she felt like she’d awakened from a terrible dream. For the first time in her life, she saw herself as the person she had always been.

As a male, she’d been somewhat androgynous. As a female, she was beautiful. You had to really look closely to see minimal telltales left by her time as a male.

As a male, he’d had a slight physique very little body hair and an average sized penis and testicles. His personality was sparkling, witty, and intelligent. He was a lot of fun to be around, a great entertainer, classy, with a sense of understated style. He was a great date, and knew how to please a man.

Post Surgery, as a woman, she had beautiful breasts. they were not ostentatious or out sized. The hormones added a little padding to her hips accentuating a femininity that I’d never noticed. She was still all the other things. Sparkling, witty, intelligent, classy, stylish, a great date, and she still knew how to please a man. She was different from any other woman I’d been with, in that she was always 100% engaged in sex. Her vagina was beautiful, and visually indistinguishable from any woman I’d been with.

She joked about it a little one night as we were cuddling in her bed in the dark. She said she’d paid for the full top of the line package and one of the best surgeons. She felt she was worth it since she was reclaiming her real body. Then she asked if she’d gotten her moneys worth.

I kissed her and told her, “Yes,” as far as I could see.

She later told me I’d been her last sexual partner as a man, and her first sexual partner as a woman. She liked the symmetry. Later she made a comment that stuck with me through the years. She said, “The unhappy old me died on the operating table, the new me is going to live savoring each day.”

About a year later, after all the documentation was settled, she took a job on the East Coast.

Several years later, there was a Christmas card with a picture of her, her husband, and his child from a previous marriage. The note inside said simply, “Can you believe I’m the ‘evil’ stepmother! I love my husband and while my life may be shorter than it would have been otherwise, it’s been marvelous so far. This is the life I always wanted. P.S. You were right I think. When we got serious I told him everything and let him decide from there. He thought about it for a week or two, then decided he didn’t care. We were married six months later. Thank you my friend.”

We’ve lost touch over the years, the last I heard she was still married, living in upstate New York and very happy.

Perhaps the fact that I’ve known intimately and personally someone who was transgender is coloring my view. When she began her transition, she dressed as a woman, and was never concerned about using the ladies room. She’d sometimes comment ruefully that she’d miss urinals because they were just so much easier to deal with. She had a group of close supportive friends and we all just accepted.

Perhaps it was easier for her and us, because pre surgery she could easily pass as a woman. Perhaps, it was that at the time that the LGBT community was far less divided, more forgiving, and more accepting than today. Perhaps, it was that he/she was really a she trapped in the wrong body.

One thing I learned from her is that people see exactly what they want to see. Pre surgery, Miranda took me to The Magic Castle in LA for my birthday. She wasn’t fooled too often in the close up sleight of hand room. Later in the evening, we bumped into the magician she’d inadvertently made sweat. He asked how she knew his tricks and if she was a magician herself. She smiled sweetly and said, “Yes, in a way. You think I’m a woman don’t you?” She hugged the stunned magician and thanked him for an impressive show.

I wondered at the time if the knowledge that people see what they want to see, was why she was so good in business negotiations.

The difference I see now, versus then is that the Trans community today is very much in everybody’s face. They’re apparently angry and hostile and I don’t get why.

The Trans people I’ve known in years past weren’t angry, they were kind and gentle spirits. They were in intense counseling, not to make them be something they were not. But to make sure that they fully understood all the ramifications and risks. They were the people most in-touch with their feelings. They’d put in the time to understand themselves. They’d done all this work prior to beginning the hormones and transition because at the time, it was one of those things that you only got one shot at. They also had very realistic expectations about what they’d look like afterwards.

Some Trans people just aren’t that pretty or believable when they’re done. Back in the day, if the outcome wasn’t going to be a good one, a surgeon might simply refuse.

It makes no sense to take a decent looking man or woman and turn them into someone that will never be happy with the results of the transition surgery. Why modify someone that’s already lonely but has a shot at dating, perhaps love, into someone that is unattractive and has no shot at dating or happiness? Doctors used to take an oath to do no harm. Lately I’ve begun to wonder if the oath they take today is set to Pink Floyd’s Money.

I mean really, would you date Rachel Levine? It’s not necessarily about age, even Lia Thomas looks much better as a male than as a female. In Thomas’s case artful surgery might make him somewhat appealing as a woman but he’ll always have the proportions of a man.

In this time of gender fluidity or non-binary sexuality it seems that folks aren’t thinking that way. What future will an ugly, angry, old, Transgender have? What ever happened to honestly estimating/evaluating the outcome of a surgical procedure?

Why don’t surgeons say, “You’re too masculine / feminine for me to make you look like the opposite gender. Your hips are too narrow or wide, your shoulders are too broad or narrow, your face is too characteristically male or female. We can do this surgery if you insist, but my professional opinion is I don’t think you’ll be happy with the results.”

The same could be said of tattoo artists. If a tattoo is the first part of a large piece, say a tattoo sleeve, then isn’t it incumbent on the artist to tell the client a particular tattoo isn’t going to work in the sleeve?

I’d really appreciate a tattoo artist telling me something like, “This isn’t going to work, let me see if I can redesign it so that it fits better with the whole piece. Come back in a week and I’ll show you some options,” I’d appreciate the thoughtfulness and concern.

Instead, what we seem to have is, “let me prescribe some puberty blockers or hormones for a while and let’s see how you feel.”

Having lived for a long time as a Bi man, I found that while my sexuality is non-binary, my gender very much is.

I searched for love and found it. I don’t and didn’t care what gender package that love was wrapped up in. Arguably, I’m far more comfortable with another man but I’ve never excluded the possibility that I might find an equally loving relationship with a woman.

Looking back, I loved Mark/Miranda. (She claimed she didn’t want to change the monograms on the towels. I think it was that Miranda or ‘Miri’ was an uncommon name and it’s as pretty as she was.) I wasn’t in a place where I was ready for commitment or marriage, She was. That doesn’t discount the fact that it was the person, not necessarily the gender that I cared for.

I throughly enjoyed our time together and yes, loved him/her in both genders.

The point is, you don’t just wake up one day and declare you’re a woman or man arbitrarily. Just saying you’re Trans doesn’t give you the right to play dress up just because you want to mess with people. Drs handing out hormone therapy or puberty blockers as though it’s not a big deal, to people who’ve not done the really hard work involved in counseling and therapy is, in my opinion, a very bad idea.

I’m not Trans. I can’t speak from inside a Trans person’s skin. But I’ve walked alongside a person who was. I’ll never know all the introspection and questioning that Mark did.

I do know it was years in the making and that I came on the scene only in the last few years. When I met Mark, he was content with his choice & still dressing as a man. During the time I knew him he began dressing as Miranda moving toward full transition. He was the most stable, put together, person I’ve known.

When Miranda came home from the sabbatical, during which she had the surgeries and recuperation, she was still the most stable person I knew. She was also the most serene person I’ve ever known.

The same is generally true of the other Trans people that have passed through my life. None of them were hostile, angry, or pushy. They were respected, and conformed to the social norms of the society at large. They were dressed as a specific gender, and acted accordingly. They weren’t about doing bad drag (which has its place,) they were making a very serious life decision that was theirs and theirs alone.

I’d bet Miranda would be at the forefront of demanding parents have a choice in what their children are taught, and when, regarding sexuality. I’m also pretty sure that she’d put a verbal smackdown on anyone who remotely pushed a child toward transitioning or puberty blockers before a child could understand what that really meant.

I suspect Miranda would ironically be called Transphobic by today’s standards.

I can almost hear her laughing about that label, in some activists face.

I don’t know if she’d agree with me about LGB folks distancing themselves from the current Trans community. She might not, and she’d have excellent reasons that she could defend. In the few arguments we had, it was 60% likely that she was right. 40% likely that I was. Her position was always well thought out and backed up with facts.

Even in winning, she was gracious and beautiful. She didn’t rub it in, and she’d hug me when I was crestfallen.

“You can’t be right all the time, settle for half… Do you want something to eat, or would you like to just cuddle,” she’d ask. Id always reply, “I’d feel better about it with both.” She’d just laugh.

I think that Miranda would appreciate my opinion. She might not agree, but she’d see where I was coming from. It’s about being silenced, told what I may and may not say.

It’s about being forced to accept things that I find fundamentally wrong. (Hormones, Puberty blockers, and a rush to transition without doing the work.) Today I can’t even speak that conviction without being labeled or cancelled.

Nowadays, being a part of the LGBT community implies that you agree wholeheartedly with anything and everything Trans. Which makes being a part of that community a complete non-starter for me and many others.

I’d prefer to see an LGB community and a separate Trans community. I’d prefer to see the LGB community support the real Trans community as we used to. With love, acceptance, and the knowledge that our Transitioned brothers and sisters may leave us, not in anger, but to move on with the life they’ve always dreamed of, and deserved.

Miranda… Miri, if by some weird chance you should ever read this, all my love to you and your family. You deserve all the happiness in the world, I’m very glad you’re living the dream you wanted.