Fabulous Fridays, Hot Seat Flip, Pool Lamps, Weekend Pride Festivals, In The News, and Fun and Surprises

It's Fabulous Friday's again blogger friends, and I found a couple nifty gadgets for summer as you have friends and relatives stopping by on vacation, and some hot accents for the perfect nightime soiree around the pool. Up first from HotSeat Incorporation, that is popular for its racing seats, will soon be launching a special hot seat, HotSeat Flip which will allow you to play games, watch movies and listen to music in Dolby Surround Sound. The extremely comfortable seat comes packed with surround sound video and gaming chassis and will feature 6 hi-fi speakers, wireless remote control, 3 audio inputs and subwoofers. The world’s first surround sound and gaming Loveseat Futon, is not just a hi-tech seat but it is extremely comfortable too. Like, if you want to snug comfortably like your bed then the hot seat can flip flat to a bed. Besides, the HotSeat has a neat and tidy design with all the wires hidden under its frame and the seat is available in a several frame colors and stylish fabrics, so it will compliment any decor. No word on the pricing is yet known, so keep visiting the company’ site, if you think you can’t do without one!!

Next, if you want to make your pool-party more happening then decorate your pool with these attractive floating pool lamps designed by Hector Serrano from Metalarte. The fancy lamps are rechargeable and are constructed of waterproof polyethylene, so, no worries of getting an electric-shock in case anybody wants to take a dip! The fascinating pool lamps are available only through selected design retailers for a price of $450 each. So, even if you don’t have a luxurious pool, then you could turn yours into one without any major expense…great idea!! Isn’t it!!

There are LOTS of Pride festivals this weekend, and the Gay Guru, wishes a safe and fun celebration to Atlanta, Chicago, Columbus OH, Denver, Dublin Ireland, Honolulu, Houston, NYC, Oklahoma City, San Francisco, Santa Fe, Seattle, St. Louis, and Toronto. I am trying to get out to Columbus Pride, but it's a 3 hour drive each way, and have a lot of other things to get done this weekend, so will play it by ear, I will be thinking of you all my Columbus Ohio friends.

In the news, I found This, This, and This interesting. If you have not read or heard about the Harvey Milk story, there is a fantastic documentary about it, that you can get at Amazon.com HERE. He was really the godfather of gay rights in San Francisco, controversial, but effective. It is a story you should really see, and I recommend it highly.

Thats all today blogger friends, I hope you all have a good weekend, I am not sure how my posting will be this weekend, because of the possible trip to Columbus for Pride, but I do have a surprise planned for sometime this weekend, and a major announcement on a fun new friend to The Gay Guru, that has created something I think is very funny and you will enjoy. Take a peek in a couple times this weekend for the surprise and announcement. Take care...........GG

Gay Summer Camp, A Lesbian Fire Chief, Homophobic Baseball Manager, Republicans Bullying Kids

Morning Blogger Friends. Today will be a light blogging day, as I have to do the final preparations for a couple new projects I am working on that are launching this week. I will be blogging more about it in the next couple days, they are both fun projects that are just pure silly and fun to work on. I was reading my daily blog reads yesterday when I came across The Triangle Foundation, one of the state of Michigan's leading organizations dealing with GLBT issues. Triangle Foundation has announced plans for a summer camp for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender (GLBT) and allied youth in grades 8-12. The camp, titled Camping.OUT, will take place August 13-18, 2006 and provide a safe place for GLBT youth to participate in the usual camp activities and have an opportunity to learn how to become community leaders. While the camp's primary focus will be the types of fun activities often associated with a youth summer camp, campers will also have the opportunity to participate in group discussions, workshops and activities designed to improve their skills as community leaders. The style of programming the staff of Camping.OUT will be using allows the campers to decide for themselves what they would like to do from a variety of activities being facilitated by the camp’s staff. Jeffrey Montgomery, Executive Director of the Triangle Foundation commented that “This camp is an investment in our community’s future by nurturing a sense of activism and civic consciousness. People are coming out at younger ages and it’s time to provide the youngest in our community with a summer experience that is safe and also empowers them.” How great an idea is this!!! This is how we are going to change peoples perceptions. Educating younger people how to not only deal with and accept their orientation, but give them history to be proud of and a foundation for changing how to get the world more tolerant of the GLBT community. If you or your company donate's to charities at all, please consider going to the Triangle Foundation website and making a donation, earmarked towards camper scholarships to this terrific idea. I am sending a check for $500.00 dollars so I can send one kid to this camp, and am going to apply for a volunteer if they still need any help.

In the news, a 22 year veteran of the San Diego Fire Department is expected to be confirmed as its next chief when city council meets on Monday. Tracy Jarman, and out and open lesbian, was nominated this week by Mayor Jerry Sanders. If as expected council agrees to his choice Jarman will lead a department that includes 928 firefighters, 124 lifeguards, 85 uniformed positions in Emergency Medical Services, and 121 civilians, and manage a budget of $160 million. Jarman is 50 and lives with her domestic partner. She began her career at the department as a recruit, working her way up. Sanders said that she was the unanimous choice of a five-member selection committee that considered over 30 candidates for the position.

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen says he wasn't trying to insult gays when he hurled a homophobic slur at a Chicago sports writer this week. The verbal attack against Mariotti was caught on tape Tuesday and occurred in front of about 20 other journalists. "What a piece of shit he is, fucking fag,'' Guillen said, referring to Mariotti. Guillen was set off by an article the reporter had written about Guillen's management skills. In his apology Guillen stressed the mea culpa was aimed at Chicago's gay community and did not extend to Mariotti. But many members of the LGBT community are dissatisfied with the apology since it isn't Guillen's first homophobic outburst. Even though the Sox have no plans to penalize Guillen the team's vice president of communications issued a statement distancing the organization from the slur.

And finally, a New York state Sen. Thomas K. Duane (D -Manhattan) blasted Senate Republicans on Wednesday for preventing a bill designed to protect students from bullying from coming to the floor for a vote. With two days left in the 2006 Legislative Session, Senator Duane called on Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and his Republican colleagues to release the Dignity for All Students Act from the Education Committee to the full Senate. “There is not a single reason why Senate Republicans are blocking this bill, which would serve to protect our most vulnerable children in public schools throughout New York State from harassment or discrimination,” said Duane. DASA bill would amend the New York Education Law to prohibit harassment against students in school, including harassment based on real or perceived race, color, national origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual orientation, gender (including gender identity and expression) and sex. “I can only guess at the reasons why my Republican colleagues do not want to see this bill pass. Is it the fact that it offers protection from harassment for students based on their gender identity and expression? Until we have a floor debate and vote, I’ll never really know.”

I hope you all enjoy your day today, Summer is officially here, take some time to walk in a park, have a picnic, go to a drive-in movie, or watch the firefly's...GG

"HUMP"day Wednesday, Straight Acting, MySpace Lawsuit, In The News, Eye Candy

Morning Blogger Friends, it's "HUMP"day Wednesday, and that means some hot eye candy a bit later in the post. I want to talk a minute today first about "straight acting". It came up over Pride down in Cleveland where a group of friends and I were people watching at the festival and gossiping and being snarky, like all gay guys tend to do on occassion. One of the Mr. Leather finalists, whom a couple of my friends knew, came up to us to say hi, and immediately as he opened his mouth, to coin a phrase, "his purse dropped out", meaning he talked very "queenie." After he left, a friend said he thought this guy was, "not straight acting enough," to be in a Mr. Leather contest. Of course that started a whole discussion about what does "straight acting" mean, and where does it belong, if anywhere in the gay universe. One of the reasons I call myself the Gay Guru, is that a lot of my friends have always said I am the "go to" guy, on a lot of issues, gay and non gay, because I tend to tell it how it is and usually speak from my heart without my brain getting in the way, and I should be a Self-help Guru or something. Sometimes a good thing, and sometimes a bad, lol. Anyway, whether it was a good topic or not, I couldnt believe my friends were being so snarky to the guy on PRIDE day for crying out loud. Isn't that what we as the GLBT community are trying to achieve, equality and acceptance no matter how we look, act, who we sleep with, or what we want to become. Shouldn't equality and acceptance at least start WITHIN our community, before we ask the world to accept us? Anyway, it was a lively discussion, until we hit the beer garden, and I would appreciate any comments from you readers what you think of "straight acting".
The picture above is courtesy of fellow blogger Kelly, who came up with the great idea to challenge other bloggers to post this flag in honor of Gay Pride Month, and is keeping it as a header in his blog all month long.

Have you already about the lawsuit against Myspace? A mother is suing MySpace for not protecting children from adult sexual predators. Monday, a 14 year old girl who said she was sexually assaulted by a man she met on Myspace.com sued the faddy social networking site for $30 million, claiming that it fails to protect minors from adult sexual predators. Her lawyers said that they should compensate the girl for their failure to protect her online when they knew sexual predators were on that site.” WHAT????? This is sooooooo what our country has come to anymore, sue someone else for your own problems that you created yourself. The girl was 14!!!!!! That is a minor that SHOULD be under the control and supervision of her mom(parents). Is MySpace there to make sure she only visits "safe", "adult approved", websites? Is MySpace the one who should find out who her 14 year old daughter is going out to dinner with? Did MySpace GIVE her the permission to go out to dinner with a 19 year old stranger? This is a PARENTAL problem, not a social network's problem. Can MySpace be used by creepy old perv's to lure some people out to meet them? Of course it can be used that way, but only if the person is naive and unaware of the dangers of cyberland. And if you have a child like that it is your responsibility as a parent to monitor their internet viewing habits, by keeping the computer in a family neutral zone where you can be seen online by all, like a family room, or installing special software to track websites and keystrokes. Don't kill the messenger, stop the message from being recieved thru education and parental responsibility.

There are so many negative press items about MySpace out there, that I really wish we could start to see those who have had great experiences there should start sending them out or recording them for the rest of the world to see. Anything can be used for good or evil, but it's the person who is using it whose intents need to be monitored, not the system itself. I am thinking about creating a MySpace page for positive actions on the site. For now, check out my simplistic MySpace page HERE and request to be one of my friends.

In the news today, I found interesting articles HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE, showing that progress is being made in Canada, Australia, and some religious circles.

And now to most readers favorite part of "HUMP"day Wednesday, the eye candy. As always, these are just random hot pics I have found around the web that are appealing to me. I do not hold the copyright to any of these pictures, and if you do and would like the picture removed, please email me at Admin@thegayguru.net, and I will remove the picture immediately.....enjoy

Hope you enjoyed your eye candy for the week. If you would like to subscribe to the Gay Guru's daily blog rss feed, go over to the right column and press the subscribe button, or click on one of the feeds available. Also be sure to put yourself on the map, the Frappr map that is, also over on the right. Enjoy the rest of your week blogger friends...........GG

Welcome New Friends From Queerty, The Fly in My Tea, Hopeful Interview with Ryan White's Mom, In The News, The Mighty Woofables

Hey Blogger Friends, it's Tuesday, and I think I have finally recovered from all the walking and sun at Cleveland Pride. A big thank you to friends at Queerty.com for mentioning the post and showing a couple of the pictures I have up. To anyone new to the blog, welcome to the Gay Guru, just a regular ol' gay guy in NE Ohio trying to give a little advice, information, commentary and humor to the GLBT community, and our friends and families. If this is your first time stopping by, you might want to check out my accompanying website, HERE. To get you familiar with this blog, we have MEME Mondays, with fun facts about me and a fun MEME to do yourself, there are "HUMP"day Wednesdays, with always some great eye candy of hot guys, and Fabulous Fridays, where I feature some kewl no gadget or something fun, usually way outta my price range, but on the christmas list nonetheless, and usually feature some "In The News" stuff each day. So Welcome to the Gay Guru daily blog, hope you will stop by often and check the website when you can. The website is updated with new information twice a month.

For two seconds today, I am going to talk about the Herculean Fly, or My Damn Neighbor, I am not sure which. You see, the sun is shining bright here in NE Ohio these past few days and the Gay Guru loves meself some SunTea, brewed outside on the porch. I get home today to discover that either there is a Jeff Goldblum, human like fly with super human strength, or my neighbors were playing around with my tea jug. It's the kewl gallon glass container with yellow daisy's etched in the glass, (I am gay, dont give me any grief over this, jeeeesh,) and has a little plastic spicot? at the bottom and a screw on top with a little flip top to pour from the top as well. You see, the flip top was open on my tea jar and there was a HUGE fly swimming around in my fresh sun brewed, green tea. Until I find out what happened, I am employing the use of a huge manly Texas Fly Swatter I got as a gag gift a few years back, and keeping an eye on my neighbors, LOL.
I got an email from Ryan White's mother, Jeanne White Ginder. I emailed her to let her know we were featuring Ryan as a topic on the current AIDS Awareness page on the website, and asked if she would mind doing an email interview with me to talk about her son and the Ryan White Act that is being considered again in Congress. If you havent heard Ryan's incredible story, about how a young boy with Hemophilia, was so terribly discriminated against due to contracting HIV thru a blood transfusion, and wasn't let into school and all sorts of other prejudices, you need to read his story here. I emailed Mrs Ginder back requesting the email interview and will keep you posted.

In the news today, a Pentagon document classifies homosexuality as a mental disorder, decades after mental health experts abandoned that position. The document outlines retirement or other discharge policies for service members with physical disabilities, and in a section on defects lists homosexuality alongside mental retardation and personality disorders. Critics said the reference underscores the Pentagon's failing policies on gays, and adds to a culture that has created uncertainty and insecurity around the treatment of homosexual service members, leading to anti-gay harassment. Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Jeremy M. Martin said the policy document is under review. "It is disappointing that certain Department of Defense instructions include homosexuality as a 'mental disorder' more than 30 years after the mental health community recognized that such a classification was a mistake," said Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass.

And it seems, more and more of the European nation's leaders are getting a clue that has fallen on deaf ears here in the US...The leading contender for the Socialist Party nomination to run for President in 2007 has come out in favor of same-sex marriage. "Opening up marriage to same-sex couples is needed in the name of equality, visibility and respect," Segolene Royal tells the LGBT publication Tetu in this week's edition. She said that if her party forms the next government she will introduce a gay marriage bill. "It is essential that everybody has equal rights and dignities and the chance to express themselves freely." Royal also told the publication that same-sex couples should be allowed to adopt. She becomes the first high ranking politician in France to support both marriage and adoption rights for gay and lesbian couples. In the past Royal has supported limited partner benefits but opposed adoption. Public opinion polls show she has wide support for the nomination but she has been controversial.

And finally, proving that they just dont get it, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will be the keynote speaker at a fundraising event next week for the national Log Cabin Republicans despite his veto of legislation to allow same-sex marriage and his threatened veto of a bill to mandate the teaching of LGBT history in California schools. "There is a better than 50-50 chance this man will be the governor of California for the next four years, and for the gay community to label somebody based on one veto is shortsighted," Log Cabin national president Patrick Guerrero told the Associated Press. Schwarzenegger has had a rocky relationship with California's gay community.
Thats it for today blogger friends, if you havent signed up for The Gay Guru Emailing List, be sure to go to the home page at the website and sign up or send me an email from the email you want to be added to the list with the words "Email List Sign-Up" in the subject line and mail it to admin@thegayguru.net. By the way, my favorite new comic has been updated this week at The Mighty Woofables. Be back tomorrow afternoon with some hot eye candy for our "HUMP"day Wednesday, laterz...........GG

MEME Mondays, Cleveland Gay Pride Festival (part 2)

Okay Blogger Friends, here is part 2 of my Cleveland Pride Celebration, at the Pride Rally and Festival. Unfortunately, being the big dork that I am, my camera was in "movie mode", instead of "picture mode" for most of the festival, so I have lots of mini-movies, and not sure how to get screen captures off of them. So here are the only pictures I can scrounge from the Festival. As I said on the previous post, the Pride Festival was held at Voinovich Park, which is right on the waterfront of the great Lake Erie. The festival was right after the rally and parade and went from 2pm until 8pm. This was a lot better turn-out, than for the parade, but there was a lot of families around with 'lil children, so I am sure my too much sun/hot theory, came into play for these sweet and precious families. The rally featured a lot of the democratic candidates running for state and local offices in Ohio, and a call for equal rights and an end to discrimination.

Inside the festival, I lost track at over 60 vendors, and thankfully food and drink vendors that were constantly running out of "cold" water and soda. The loneliest booth at the festival was the Log Cabin Republicans, and I took some small pleasure in that. I will be writing about a lot of the booths on my local coverage in the gay magazine I write for here, but there were some awesome booths. There were two entertainment stages, the main, and a small performance stage, and both rocked the place. Unfortunately the camera was in wrong mode for all of the small stage performances, but the great gay marching bands played, and a phenominal Drag Kings show took place with these ladies rocking the place as guys. (I wouldnt want to be there for the tape removing afterwards, ducktape and sun I am sure dont mix.) Of course for the main stage, my camera was in the wrong mode until Singer/Model Paul Lekakis came out to perform. I still missed a lot of stills from it, but I was paying attention more to the camera for good shots of Paul, lol. His big claim to fame was the #1 Billboard hit "Boom Boom Boom, Let's Go Back To My Room". He was very nice afterwards, I bought a CD, he signed a picture for me, and is going to try to do an email interview with me for a future website update. Click on his link to check out his website and get the current single, "I Need A Vacation." Also on the main stage were national performers Thelma Houston, and Cadye Kane. Sorry, no photo's of them, just mini-movies, damn. All in all, it was a great festival and I was happy to be there, sunstroke or not, lol. Have some fun looking at what meager pics I have, and then I have your MEME for the day....take care blogger friends!!

Two Friends at End of Parade Showing Sticker Love to Closet Case UK Blogger Friend


The Walk from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to the Rally/Festival


The Huge Crowd at the Pride Rally Before Festival Was Opening


Entrance to the Pride Festival


You Can See How The Festival Was On Lake Erie, Beautiful Park


One of the Many Drag Performers on a Waterfront Stroll


Out Performer and Model Paul Lekakis


Paul Lekakis Signing His Picture and CD for Me


View From Festival of Rock/Roll Hall of Fame, Museum of Science and Industry, and the Cleveland Browns new Stadium


Leaving The Festival on that Long-ass Walk Back to the Car


Hope you all have a great week, I am bag into blogging mode again after two light days, thanx again for your patience. "In The News", returns on tomorrows blog. Enjoy your MEME, and please leave some comments about Pride and the pics.

Cleveland Pride's theme this year was "Calling All Heroes", in honor of that, your MEME for the day is to see what kinda here you are.....here you go.....GG

Your Superhero Profile

Your Superhero Name is The Space Hawk Your Superpower is Waking Through Walls Your Weakness is Itching Your Weapon is Your Gas Gel Your Mode of Transportation is Clown Car

What's your Superhero Name?

FOR THOSE QUEERTY AND COLUMBUS CRAIGLIST FRIENDS CHECKING US OUT FOR THE FIRST TIME, CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE MAIN PAGE AND CURRENT POSTS FOR THE GAY GURU.....WELCOME TO MY SITE

MEME Mondays, Pride Parade (part 1)

Hey Blogger Friends, it's MEME Monday, and today's MEME is all about PRIDE. Thanks for understanding the light posts the last couple of days, between Cleveland Pride, and Fathers Day, it was a busy weekend. Hope you all had a great weekend yourselves. The Pride parade and festival in Cleveland on Saturday was a great time, but HOT!! As I told you yesterday, it was in the low 90's with no cloud cover. Thank goodness the festival was down at Voinovich Park, named for Ohio's former Governor, now Senator, so we had some nice breezes coming off the lake later in the day. For those of you that don't know it Cleveland sits right on Lake Erie. The park is also right next to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, The Museum of Science and Industry, and The Cleveland Browns football stadium. I am going to break this up into two posts because of blogger picture limitations, so on this I will talk about the parade with pic's, and in a little while will chat about the festival and some pic's from there.

The parade was supposed to begin at 1pm, and I wasn't sure what that meant in gay time. Drag time, you have to add 30 to 45 minutes, but with parade permits and all, I wasn't sure, but you know what....It started at 1:01pm, color me impressed. The parade started near the center of downtown, and was about a mile and a half or so trip down to the festival park. I parked at the starting point and walked down to the festival along with the parade. (Great walk down to festival, steep uphill walk back to car almost killed me after all that sun.) I have to say I was dissappointed at the turn-out, but blamed it on the heat maybe. There were stragglers all along the parade route, but wasn't really a concentrated group till you got closer to the festival grounds and end of route. There was a scattering of about 10-20 bible thumping protesters about 3/4 into the parade, blowing bullshit with a blowhorn from the opposite side of the street. What was really great was a large contingent of supporters stood directly in front of them and pretty much drowned them out every time a group or float went by. The ironic silliness of the protesting is that they did it right in front of an artpiece that is a HUGE red rubber stamp, with the words "FREE" across the front of the stamp. The parade itself was nice, not a lot of floats, but lot's of groups showing support and community, especially a lot of gay friendly churches that was nice to see. Now I am going to give you a little PRIDE MEME about me, and show you some of the parade pictures.

MEME Pride Facts About The Gay Guru

First Came Out of Closet: 18

First Person I Told: My Best Friend Doug

First Pride Parade: Los Angeles/West Hollywood

Gay Causes I support: HRC, Local GLBT Community Center, Ohio AIDS Coalition, NOCI

Parade Kick-Off


PFlag Contigency


Sponsored by Great Cleveland Club "The Grid"


The Rainbow Band


The Cleveland Mustangs Softball Team and Supporters


The LGBT Cleveland Community Center and Youth Group


The Big Red "FREE" Stamp, The Small Group of Protesters Were Near


The Humans Right Commission


The Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network


And Just a Fun Float


Be sure to check below for pictures of the Pride Celebration in the park. Will also add a fun MEME for you to do as well. No "In The News" today due to Pride postings.......GG

Fathers Day, Cleveland Pride

Well, in keeping with my new policy of short posts on Sundays, and so I can go spend some time with Papa Guru, (think I am taking him to movies while Mama Guru cooks dinner,) Just a few announcements. Cleveland Pride was a lot of fun yesterday but HOT!! Low 90's most of day, luckily not too much humidity. Unfortunately, my cable for my digi-cam to my 'puter is nowhere to be found, so I am gonna go out and by another one today as I am out with dad. Will post all about the parade and festival tomorrow. You all enjoy your day and will talk to you more later or tomorrow.........GG

Cleveland Pride Today, Submit "Ask Guru"/"Hot Date/Couple" Forms to Website, Funny Videos

Hey Blogger Friends, happy Saturday. Just a quick reminder that I am off to Cleveland Pride parade and festival in about an hour. There wont be a blog post today, but will have one tomorrow with lots of pics from Pride. I hope you all enjoy your Saturday. Remember that I have decided NOT to update the website until July 1st. That means you still have time to go to the website, if you want to submit any "Ask the Guru" questions or send in a submission for "Hot Date/Couple of the Month". If I dont see much more interest in the Hot Date/Couple, I may eliminate that part from the next website update, it's up to you to keep that part alive. If you really want to see it continue, submit your name(s) and photographs on the website submission page. I will leave you with a couple of funny videos I have found in my net surfing, (warning, the second one has innappropriate language for youngsters to be around.)....Take care blogger friends, .....GG

This Clip has Adult Language, Make Sure No Lil One's Around

Fabulous Fridays, The Hydra Spyder, Inflatable Soccer Pitch, Area Pride Festivals, In The News, Website Update Postponed

It's Fabulous Fridays once again blogger friends. Time to look into the must have's for the rich and famous, or just something to envy or heck, if you got yourself a nice sugardaddy, or ARE a nice sugardaddy, lol. Remember the land/sea motor home, back in one of late April's post? Well, for those of you not interested in a long camping excursion and just want a nice day ride, how about the hydra Spyder from the Cool Amphibious manufacturers. The amphibious vehicle can travel on both the water and on the road and is also unsinkable. SeriousWheels, reports that, “the vehicle can seat four people, and it can easily pull a water skier with 400 h.p.” The standard production model Hydra Spyder is powered by a Corvette LS2 6.0-liter V8 engine that delivers a 400 ft. lbs of torque and has five speed manual high performance close ratio transmission. The upper body of the car and has a 5052 alloy aluminum plate lower hull construction.
And for those of you caught up in "World Cup" fever, you can actually play in your own soccer pitch anytime anywhere with Subbuteo Giant Inflatable Pitch! The football pitch is ideal for four-adults, so if you were thinking it’s meant only for teenagers or kids then you need a reality check!! All you need to do is, simply plug in its uber-powerful pump and the pitch will inflate in just 30 seconds. So, what if you are not gonna play in the FIFA World Cup, you still can fancy kickabouts in your own football pitch. And, guess what! This personal luxury is not going to cost you a rich sum either. This backyard inflatable pitch is all your, just for £299.95.(thats euro's, not US currency, lol)

Another weekend full of PRIDE events is upon us, and if you are living in: Anchorage, Baltimore, Cleveland, Louisville, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Portland OR, Providence, and Turin, Italy, I hope you have a great time. I am a little pissed that Cleveland and Pittsburgh couldnt coordinate their dates better. I live smack dab in the middle of the two, an hour either direction, and it was first posted that Pittsburgh is going to have it's Pride festival on Saturday and Cleveland was going to be on Sunday. Well, now it seems that both events are tomorrow, Saturday. I was hoping to hit both and take lots of pictures to feature two similar but different celebrations, now I am just going to the Cleveland Pride festival, just because most of my friends will be at that one. I do have the digital camera charged up with spare batteries also charged, so hopefully will have some great pics for you all. There is a slight chance of thunderstorms tomorrow, but after seeing Scottie's pride pics in Indiana that he took in the rain, I think it will all work out.

In the news, with probably alterior motives, a Republican does it right by firing a transit official for homophobic remarks. Maryland's Republican governor has fired Robert J. Smith, his appointee to the Washington Metro transit authority board, after Smith refused to back down from homophobic remarks he made on a cable TV show. Sunday, appearing on a Montgomery County cable access show, Smith called gays "persons of sexual deviancy". "Robert Smith's comments were highly inappropriate, insensitive and unacceptable," Ehrlich said in a statement. "They are in direct conflict to my administration's commitment to inclusiveness, tolerance and opportunity." Ehrlich is attempting to position himself as a moderate as he seek re-election. But he has not been a key supporter of LGBT rights. Last year he vetoed a bill that would have given unmarried couples that registered as life partners the same rights as married couples in dealing with health care issues saying it "could lead to the erosion of the sanctity of traditional marriage as already codified in Maryland law."

And in a blow to gay parenting, the Kentucky Supreme Court has ruled that even though a partner in a same-sex relationship may have shared responsibilities in raising a child she has no legal right to be considered a co-parent. The case involved a lesbian couple where one partner adopted a baby but where both partners shared in caring for the child. Brenda Fawbush had adopted the baby girl and her partner Teresa Davis helped care for her. But, six years later, when the couple split up Fawbush refused to allow Davis to see the child. Davis went to court seeking de facto parent status. Both a lower court and the Court of Appeals ruled that Fawbush could not be considered a de facto parent under Kentucky law which requires that a person must be a child's "primary caretaker." Fawbush appealed to the state Supreme Court which on Thursday upheld the lower court rulings. The decision also affects non married opposite-sex partners and grandparents who help raise children.

And in more marriage news, gay marriage could be cash cow for Washington State. Another Thursday came and went without a ruling from the Washington state Supreme Court on same-sex marriage. Arguments challenging the state's ban on same-sex marriage, the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, were made before the Court in March 2005. But while the wait goes on a new study shows that if same-sex marriage became legal Washington would gain $3.9 million to $5.7 million annually. The study was conducted by the Williams Institute, a think tank at the UCLA School of Law. It found that savings in means-tested public benefits programs and an increase in tax revenue from same-sex weddings and wedding-related expenditures would account for the windfall in Washington’s budget. The study showed that Washington’s wedding-related businesses would see a $63 million annual increase in demand. Almost 8,000 same-sex couples in Washington are likely to marry, and many other same-sex couples will travel to Washington to marry. Badgett said the the study found that each year the state would see an extra $4 million in retail sales tax revenues from these new weddings. This finding echoes Forbes Magazine’s estimate that if same-sex marriage were legalized across the U.S., gay and lesbian weddings would generate $16.8 billion in spending during the first several years.

Finally, I want to commend Matt over at debriefing the boys, for coming out to his parents. He has put such thought and work into the process, and I think he made it easier for both himself and his parents. Now I realize not everyone can do this with THEIR parents, but its a great account of it, nonetheless. Also, I have decided to hold off the update of the website until July 1st. There are just too many great improvements in store for the site, and new pages and announcements, that it is too overwhelming to get done by today or tomorrow. I believe you are gonna love all the new content, but please keep stopping by and telling your friends about the website, and if you havent tried the "stuffed bacon cheeseburgers" on your grill yet this summer, get on over to the food and drink page and check out the recipe.......Have a great weekend blogger friends...GG

P.S. Because of pride will probably be no Saturday post and a late Sunday one..thanx.....GG

Some Thoughts on Tolerance, "Current TV", Seeds of Tolerance, In The News, The Mighty Woofables

One more day till the weekend blogger friends, Happy Thursday. After yesterdays posting on self esteem, today I want to talk a little about tolerance, and a great new video forum that I just found today and have been spending too much time looking over already this morning. I looked up tolerance in the dictionary this morning and here are the definitions I found:

1. The capacity for or the practice of recognizing and respecting the beliefs or practices of others.

2.
a. Leeway for variation from a standard.
b. The permissible deviation from a specified value of a structural dimension, often expressed as a percent.

3. The capacity to endure hardship or pain.

4. Medicine.
a. Physiological resistance to a poison.
b. The capacity to absorb a drug continuously or in large doses without adverse effect; diminution in the response to a drug after prolonged use.

5.
a. Acceptance of a tissue graft or transplant without immunological rejection.
b. Unresponsiveness to an antigen that normally produces an immunological reaction.

6. The ability of an organism to resist or survive infection by a parasitic or pathogenic organism.

Don't we all fall into one of those definitions categories at one time or another? Don't we all have our own unique belief system, though maybe handed down from our parents or our enviroment? Would someone call what you practice sometimes strange? Aren't we being pigeon holed into being a second class of citizen, and usually put into a percentage? (gay population is supposedly around 6-10%) Haven't we all endured some type of hardship or pain in our life? Don't we all have some physiological response to the poisen being spewed by some organization or the other? And don't we all try to resist or survive the infection by a parasitic group of hate mongers towards our religion, sexuality, opinions and beliefs?

Tolerance is something all people deserve, tolerant of someone's opinion, gender, sexuality, class, whatever. And unfortunately we sometimes must tolerate even the most closed minded and vicious viewpoints. Our rights in this country, USA, are founded on free speech principles, meaning we have to be tolerant of anyone's right to express their opinion, but we DO NOT have to agree with that opinion. That is why we cannot be silent. Respect the RIGHT of others to voice their opinions, but exercise YOUR RIGHT to dispute it and offer your own thru word or personal action. Get involved!!

This new video forum I was talking about is called "Current TV." Current is a national cable and satellite channel dedicated to bringing your voice to television. Current is about what's going on: stories from the real world, told by you. They call it viewer-created content, or VC2. Right now, VC2 makes up about a third of the channel -- and that share is growing. It works like this: Anyone who wants to contribute can upload a video. Then, everyone in the Current online community votes for what should be on TV. You can join in at either stage -- watch & vote or create & upload. (We've also got online training to help you get the skills you need to make TV!) This is definitely not a traditional TV network. Watching Current, you'll see more, on more topics, from more points of view.

Starting today, Current TV is beginning a campaign, called "Seeds of Tolerance," and in conjunction with the campaign, offering a contest where YOUR video could earn you $100,000 dollars. In partnership with the Third Millennium Foundation, Current TV is offering the chance for you to make a difference and earn $100,000. Between now and August 15, submit a video on the theme of tolerance—any form of tolerance. Whatever story you want to tell, and however you want to tell it. Your video can discuss, homophobia, racism, sexism, economic or social class, disability, age or religion. Guest judges Paul Haggis, Melissa Etheridge, Margaret Cho, and Edward Norton, have volunteered their time to help choose 5 finalist videos. I think this is an excellent opportunity from the more creative bloggers I have met out ther to make a difference and get your voice heard and scene by people all over. Good luck and if you enter, please send your submission over to me as well, and I will GUARANTEE it will get shown, whether a finalist or not.

Due to the long post, I will recommend the following daily news stories without commenting on them.. I thought This, This, This, and This, were pretty interesting.

The website update is going slow but sure due to a lot of outside work demands I have this week, but should be completed by Saturday latest. If you havent checked it out this week, The Mighty Woofables comic strip that I enjoy has been updated. Enjoy your day blogger friends, please leave comments or keep writing me emails, I love to hear from Gay Guru readers..............GG