The need for Mardi Gras

Posted on by lc061

Today is the 35th anniversary of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras! From it’s violent beginnings in 1978 when protesters were attacked by police, to it’s more celebratory vibe today, this hugely profitable event is an important annual event for LGBT people all around Australia. Here’s why:

  • It projects an image of diversity, acceptance and democracy to other countries. There are currently 78 countries which criminalise homosexuality, which at least 7 of them providing the death penalty; many other countries are deeply homophobic. Holding the parade here demonstrates that we will not tolerate homophobia in this country; at least on a State level
  • People who say homophobia in Australia doesn’t exist are kidding themselves. It is not just rural areas of Australia where there is a severe lack of visibility for LGBT people, but even when ANZ rolled out their delightful ‘gayTM’s’, a deluge of nasty comments on Facebook decried them for “parading themselves”, “promoting homosexuality” and other nastier things. As a gay man who is somewhere between youth and middle age, I can attest that I still encounter homophobic attitudes even in these ‘enlightened times’. I am not saying it is as bad as it used to be, nor do I in anyway compare it to other countries where it is literally a matter of life or death to be out, but it is far from perfect.
  • It stimulates the economy! And the pink dollar is as good as the gold, as crass as it sounds.
  • It highlights issues people don’t think about. I’ve encountered people who don’t even know what an Intersex person means. The huge variety of floats from different groups is a wealth of information.
  • And my personal favourite: it shows all the nasty homophobes in this country that we are HERE, we are QUEER and we’re not going ANYWHERE!

Some comments on ANZ Facebook (names withheld)

  • Can i have a special StrATM….??
  • Shove if down peoples throats why dont you.not everybody in the world thinks gayness is right or agrees with it.some people find it offensive and unatural.
  • find it rather silly. Hetero sexuals don’t make a big song and dance about their sexual preference. Personally I believe, gay, bi, kinky, hetero and any thing in between are all normal. We all have a right to our own preference. Stop making a big bloody deal out of nothing and enjoy life and all it has to offer
  • his is shameful i am offended that you think of gay people in this manner and wish to use them to further your corporate agenda

and so on. Here’s a reminder of how far we’ve come and to thank the ’78er’s who paved the way:

Have a great night!

Sci fi legend dead at 83

Posted on by lc061

Popular ‘Star Trek’ actor Leonard Nimoy has died at the age of 83. Best known for playing the character of ‘Spock’, the octogenarian had suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, prompting him to plead with people not to smoke cigarettes. The son of Ukrainian Jewish peasants, he began his career in the 1940’s and began making minor appearances in television shows and movies with varying degrees of success. It wasn’t until the mid 1960’s however until he made his mark in the wildly popular ‘Star Trek’ tv show, which spawned several movies and also entered the cultural lexicon with his characters hand signal – known as the ‘Vulcan Salute’. In 1975, he penned an autobiography, “I Am Not Spock”, and twenty years later reversed his position with “I Am Spock”. The strain of such enormous popularity and maritial problems with his then wife Sandra Zober took it’s toll on Nimoy and he developed a long term addiction to alcohol. “The minute we finished the last shot I would have a drink. Then it became a series of drinks, little by little. Before I knew it I was drinking more and more because my addictive personality was taking over”, he stated, though a 1987 marriage to Susan Bay was a turning point for the actor and helped him to quit the bottle for good.

He also courted controversy with a series of paintings that depicted weight, religion and sexuality, prompting a prominent Rabbi to condemn his portrayal of Jewish women in men’s clothing as blasphemous. His other artistic pursuits included poetry and music, and he released at least five albums without any major chart success.

The notorious anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church recently announced their plans of picketing his funeral because of his support for LGBT rights, although the plan was foiled when the service was held privately.William Shatner could not make the funeral because of charity commitments and remarked on Twitter that,”… I am doing charity work and one of my dearest friends is being buried. The church has insinuated that I too am going to hell, what a time to be alive.”

Nimoy’s cultural impact was so great that it even prompted President Obama to farewell him with a statement, “Leonard was a lifelong lover of the arts and humanities, a supporter of the sciences, generous with his talent and his time. And of course, Leonard was Spock. Cool, logical, big-eared and level-headed, the center of Star Trek’s optimistic, inclusive vision of humanity’s future”.

The 83 year old is survived by his wife, two children and a whole legion of science fiction fans who will not forget the unique looking actor for a very long time.

Let’s pump iron! Or let’s not.

Posted on by lc061

Although I haven’t been in a while, I thought I’d offer up my experience of attending a gym last year. Every so often, I realize that I’m pretty damn unhealthy and that I’d rather like to look more like one of the hot dudes on “Home And Away” rather than Alf Stewart. So, last year I went all out. I bought protein powder, began a food diary, and actually got a routine going. Problem is, it’s hard work. Surrounded by guys who are a decade younger than me, and much fitter, who like they spend all their time there whilst continuously ingesting steroids didn’t really motivate me to do better. In  fact, it just made me think that the whole fitness thing is unobtainable and, despite my other obsessive interests, I really had to fight to go there a lot. Plus some of the guys there were so breathtaking, wearing those little shorts, their muscular thighs bulging out, it was really difficult not to get distracted. And I, with my paranoid demeanour, couldn’t help but think they were judging me, thinking “why does this guy even bother”? To make things worse, the showers are all enclosed. I did see one guy’s arse though one day which was rather exciting. So, as a lot of things I do in my life, I lost interest. I went on a drinking binge for like two months, then came back but the motivation just wasn’t there. And in the first week of going to compensate for not having been for so long, I decided to do weighted squats. Then I heard a creak in my left knee; naturally I kept going and to this day it hurts if I bend on the wrong angle. Or kneel down for extended periods of time…So, I think my experiment with the gym is over for the moment at least. I used to get really into bike riding but I have a flat tyre at the moment and no money to fix it. So, it looks like when I get my motivation back, I will take up walking again. But the elephant in the room, in more ways than one, is that I’m pretty happy watching tv on the couch and eating. So can I really be surprised?

ISIS pushing gays to their deaths

Posted on by lc061

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES

So unless you’ve been living under a rock, or smoking it, you would have heard of the dastardly terrorist group ISIS, who I recently read about are now recruiting children. So between that, the death of American hostage Kayla Mueller, the seemingly enless beheadings and whatnot, it probably doesn’t surprise you that the horrific murders of gay men barely registered a blip on mainstream news outlets. Thank goodness for gay news outlets. In Syria, the gang of thugs threw men to their deaths and the photos have haunted me since seeing them.

gayguyisiscourtesy Daily Mail UK

As you can see it’s a really long way up and for someone like me who is terrified of heights, I can only imagine how I would feel. The thing to remember is that even those these horrendous events happen so far away from us, and in a culture so different from our own, it still happened. I don’t know what happened to get this poor soul to that point; but there are numerous accounts of men and women being blackmailed, given no trials and sometimes convicted of the ‘abominable crime’ of homosexuality on hearsay alone. The crowd, who stand around cheering them on below, deserve to be called what ISIS are: gutless, nasty, worthless pieces of shit who add a crude modern element to watching a man being thrown to his death: they stand around filming it on their phones, as obviously ISIS have. Which would make a wonderful memory I’m sure –

MOHAMMED: Oh do you remember that day we saw the sodomite thrown off the building and his brain splatting all over the ground?

FATIMA: Yes darling, we should do it again sometime.

The problem is, with so many other ISIS related atrocities going on, the mainstream news isn’t really going to bother with the torture and killings of gay men, even though in reality it’s been an ongoing problem particularly in Iraq for a number of years. The desire to help is overwhelming. But what can one do so, so far away except inform others about it? I have regularly lamented about the lack of activism the LGBT community can muster for our overseas brothers and sisters. I refuse to listen to anyone who tells me that “it’s their country and their laws”. Sorry, that’s a copout. And frankly I doubt if it was a racial group whether you would say that. But for some reason, gays in other countries are still fair game.

gayisisscourtesy of news.com.au

Here’s the thing I find puzzling: if these oxygen thieves are so committed to their beliefs, why do they always wear masks in their videos and pictures? If they have such strong beliefs, why not show your face to the world? Perhaps it’s because somewhere inside their heads they know what they’re doing is wrong? Or maybe it’s just that they really are cowardly, pathetic scum who are scared of retaliation. I like to think it’s the latter. These images which stick in my mind will never be unseen and it has been advised that is a form of trauma. I tend to agree. Sadly, as a budding journalist, the need to report on things, even if they are horrid, is paramount. In the case of LGBT people overseas, it is a duty I want to undertake to let people know of what happens to LGBT people in other countries with the perhaps idealistic, even childlike view, that someone somewhere will help.

I hope the victims of this murder are in a more peaceful place now.

What-entines- Day?

Posted on by lc061

It’s Valentines Day, the day where people feel guilty enough to be nice to their partner for the whole day and single people are meant to assess what the hell it is they’re doing wrong. Except, for this gay dude, I am so used to being single that I really don’t mind being alone. Shockingly for a gay man, I’m not really that comfortable with my body and being with a partner means sex, and being naked, and sharing a bed and having morning breath and all that stuff that I don’t really want to share with another human being. Well maybe the sex part. Anyway, sure it would be nice to find ‘the one’. But unlike my sisters who are seemingly incomplete without a partner, I really don’t mind being alone. In fact, I often prefer it. When I go out, it’s usually alone; no one bitching about being tired, no one to answer to, new people to meet and I do things on MY schedule. To be honest, my relationship in my twenties was with partying. I had a few boyfriends here and there but I guess I wasn’t interested and there was a smorgasboard of sleazy sexual encounters that weren’t going to have themselves. However now I’m on the nicer side of my 30’s, those sexual encounters are not quite as a drawcard as they once were. Not to say I don’t indulge every now and then, but nothing like it was a decade or even five years ago. My focus right now is on my studies, which terrifyingly starts in two weeks -the student emails are coming thick and fast -insert smutty joke here-and I need to do well so I can get out of where I’m living: I’m so over living here. And if a nice fellow comes along then so be it. But I think the elephant in the room, in more ways than one, is that I have to be comfortable with myself before I can let somebody else in. I saw a meme on Facey which resonated with me the other day: some people are looking to be loved ,they’re looking to be helped. For me, this is true. It’s so easy to get drunk or wasted, or spend hours watching PornHub or sitcoms whilst eating mountains of food but it’s also a way of distracting oneself. There are a plethora of ways to make yourself feel better about yourself so here are some ways that work for me:

  • A bath. I don’t know what it is about it, but it is just relaxing. I like mine nice and hot and with lots of bubbles. I bring in a cup of Milo and a good murder book and this guy is happy for an hour or so. Oh God, I’ve become a 60 year old woman.
  • TV. Now I’m not talking about hours and hours of it, although that is ok once in a while. But for me, three of my favourite shows, “Family Guy”, “American Dad” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” have the sort of offbeat cutting humour I so enjoy and laughter makes you feel good: no doubt about it.
  • Reading. Reading rocks. I just read “Sleepers” the true story of the four boys who grew up in Hells Kitchen in the USA and were sentenced to a year in juvenile detention and the horrific events that happened to them there. ANyway, I read this in a couple of days ,I couldn’t put it down. Reading is a legal escape and it also helps you grasp the English language and keeps the brain active.
  • net surfing. Oh how I love the internet. What an amazing invention. Whether I just want to talk nonsense of Facebook, or here now I guess, enter competitions or watch porn scientific documentaries, it’s amazing what is on here.

So, in summing up, happy Valentines Day to all the people who have found love. Perhaps one day I’ll know what all those tragic 80’s songs mean and we’ll go out for dinner together…

One night awake…one year in Saudi Arabia…

Posted on by lc061

Late last night I was woken from my slumber by the idiots, I mean students who felt their conversations were so important that the whole street should hear them (I’m talking 3am), I stewed in my anger, but then, as is so often the case with me, my mind turned to interesting things I could write about for my new baby, gaydudeinqueensland. For some reason, my mind turned to Saudi Arabia, a country with one of the vilest human rights records ever, yet untouchable by democracies both because of its strategic location in terms of Iraq and also of course, the massive amounts of oil it holds. We’re not talking about the guys in Bali 9 who will most likely be shot. We’re talking about women, LGBT, atheists and “sorcerers” (no, I’m not kidding) who will be buried up to their head in the sand and then stones pelted at them until they die. They also make sure the stones chosen are small enough to not kill them on the first pegging so they suffer the maximum pain. The much feared religious police act with impunity and the strict brand of Islam practiced – Saudi Arabia is considered Islam’s spiritual home- literally is the law in that land. The repugnant mix of technology has made its way into the country, thus allowing people to film the brutal treatment of anyone not, well basically being a robot, to be filmed and allowing the outside world to see what a disgusting regime is being run over there. So last night I had a thought.

I could be God for a few years. Or Allah in this case. I can do whatever I want. I plan on spending a few weeks in each country to rid the country of what I see is fucking it up. Starting with Saudi. So, late one Arabian night, I’d literally make the women disappear. They would go up to some kind of limbo where they could bake and chill and take those burqa’s off which I’m sure would be super comfortable in the stifling desert heat over there. Maybe they’d even get the privilege of driving. Anyway. Now aside from the fact that I’ve obviously just created some kind of insane magical act and will probably send a lot of the men left there insane, it would be really interesting to see how the society would go without women. Would they stay as typically macho as they already are? Or would their narrow views widen as they realize that there are no more ‘traditional relationships’? Would homosexuality become accepted? Oh yeah, I forgot, plus I’d make the worlds need for oil 0 and have each leader of the countries who buy from SA send a cold letter to say ‘thanks, but no, thanks’. Oh, how cold it would be. So suddenly this giant has no power, no women and er, too much oil. Would the men’s need for sex be so great that sex between each other outweigh their Islamic ideals? Or would they just all end up killing each other? I don’t know but it would be a reality show that I’d be sure to tune into every day. Fuck “My Kitchen Rules”. Anyway, by the time I’d gotten to this stage, my head had filled with delusions of grandeur and I forgot that I was actually just an unemployed student with an overactive imagination and high ideals. Then I went to sleep. Next week: New Zealand. But I’ll probably need more than a year…lol.

Here are some links to justice, Saudi style: warning: GRAPHIC

Know when to STFU

Posted on by lc061

Election night was a major source of irritation for me. Not because Campbell Newman had that smug smile wiped off his face; on the contrary, I am in hindsight happy that Labor have regained some power from the help the rich pricks in the LNP. But rather because I was in a foul mood and I wanted to watch “Seinfeld” in the lounge where my television is (I have  no antenna point in my room). However, my journalist flatmate, who I shall name Mike is a Labor enthusiast who kept yelling out in joy as if someone had just tickled his balls for the first time “there’s a 45% swing in Capalaba! I can’t believe what this senior political analyst just said”, and so on. Now, I don’t mind people having a passion (within reason); in fact, I think it’s good that people of ‘our generation’ take an interest in politics. My beef is that he wasn’t reading my mood. Sometimes I like to chat. Sometimes I just wanna watch mindless television and zone out. I am generally pretty good at picking up on someone’s mood by the way they respond, the way they greet me, etc, but sadly not everyone is the same. Despite the intense heat, I eventually resigned myself to my room claiming I was going to bed because I just couldn’t handle the enthusiasm and more so, the inability for him to notice I was in a bad mood. So if you’re reading this, for Allah’s sake, pick up on people’s mood before blindly rabbiting on about something. A good relationship means you can be silent and it not be uncomfortable. Now I’m off to bed. Don’t disturb me.

Review: Joe Bataan “Mestizo” (1980 Salsoul)

Posted on by lc061

Joe Bataan’s 1980 album, “Mestizo”, simply has to be one of my favourite albums of all time. Released on  Salsoul Records as disco was dwindling in popularity in the U.S, it is nevertheless a hot combination of irresistible twanging, bass, syndrums, sizzling percussion, and the rapping that was coming into vogue at that time. Make no mistake: this is a disco album, but much more on the funky side – no strings here. Joe wasn’t the first artist to make a disco rap record: the Fatback Band had “King Tim III” in 1979 and the Sugarhill Gang borrowed “Good Times” from Chic for “Rappers Delight” in the same year. But I do believe it was the first on Salsoul and for me it is just terrific.

Starting with “Mestizo”, this is an anthem for “mestizos”, those of all colours from South American nations, but as with most music of that genre from that period, Joe sings and chants to a broad selection of people. Musically, this one is terrific, just so catchy and the instruments are top notch. The album is infused with synth bleeps and bloops from the syndrum which add a delightful hedonistic touch to it. “Rap O Clap O” follows and this is the hit from the album (numerous videos and mashups of it exist on YT) , the rapping is nothing mind blowing or contemporary but it is fun and married to the groove and handclaps it is dynamite. “Sadie (She Smokes)” has Jocelyn Brown on vocals (I think) and this one has received a cult following. Again the relentless twanging bass and hot drumming make this one awesome, although the girls insistent chanting of she smokes midway through the song gets a bit overbearing. All three songs are seamlessly mixed, but “Latin Lover”, written by Leon Bryant is up next and stands alone; again it is out of sight. The rumbling bass and congos with cowbells just work a treat and when Joe chants “come on girl, you’re my Latin lover, I don’t want any other” it’s really hot – the cut has a laidback quality that speeds up every now and then – a perfect hustle song and another winner. Another three song medley on what would have been side 2: “Rock Me All Night Long”, although Joe’s voice can be a little grating at times, the music is so dynamite it excuses it and the groove is just amazing. Segueing into “I See Your Hiney”, the shortest song at just over 3 minutes, this has a memorable lyric in “I see your hiney/ its black and shiney/ if you don’t hide it/ I’m gonna bite it”. Can’t argue with that! Luckily the groove is as strong as its predecessors and its another hunk of disco funk at its finest. The final song in the medley is “Rap O Dance O”,  a sort of companion song to “Clap O” that works very well on its own. It has a riff that reminds me of “Come And Dance With Me” from Al Hudson and One Way’s album of 1979 that makes me wonder if Joe had listened to it . Again, lots of chanting, “Get up, move your feet, dance to the beat” etc that hooks you in and makes your body move. Finally Joe covers Heatwaves ballad “Always and Forever”, a Rod Temperton penned tune that never really did much for me from them, and doesn’t do much for me from Joe. Bonus tracks on here include a 6 minute version of “Sadie”, that is better than the album cut as it has a hot intro, an instrumental version of “Rap O Clap O” (the only bonus track credited on the sleeve as being something different), a slightly longer version of “Rap O Clap O” and the long version of that song, which is terrific because it adds some Spanish singing that cinches it as a great song. Joe is not the best singer that has ever graced this earth, but he wrote most of the material on here and he conceived an album that is so strong musically, that the vocal shortcomings can be excused. If you’re looking for lyrical genius this isn’t the album for you, but if you like your disco grooves funky then don’t overlook this fantastic album.

“Rap O Clap O”

“I See Your Hiney”

and for the kids here’s a mashup of Joe and Bruno Mars

You can buy “Mestizo” on Ebay, Amazon, and the usual digital outlets. I also interviewed Joe Bataan on discomusic.com:

http://www.discomusic.com/forums/showthread.php/41074-Interview-with-Joe-Bataan?highlight=joe+bataan

Why drug sex doesn’t work out (for me)

Posted on by lc061

Drugs and sex. Two things that are supposed to get ones dopamine all worked up. Mix in a dash of testosterone and I-don’t-give-a-fuck-itism and you’ve got one hot and heavy night right? As I’m starting to get a little older, I’m finding out that these encounters rarely end well for me. Gone is the dashing young lad who could recover with a couple of valiums and brush off the inevitable griminess that can only come after indulging in certain stimulants and the harshness of the early morning sun. Those looks…they know what I’ve been doing for sure. After a bit of time…ok a lot of time on the scene, I can say I’ve seen some pretty ugly things happen on these adventures that don’t really equate to the glamorous pick yourself up and look fabulous scenes that “Queer As Folk” and countless low budget gay films depict. Nope, I’ve partaken and seen in amyl nitrate being sniffed like it’s oxygen until your head pounds and you forget where you are. Being literally laughed at in a cruise club as I pull out a flask of rum desperate to get the panicky feelings of the ice fucking with my system to disappear. Going to flats that look like they rats are getting free rent. The sexual urge being at it’s peak but uh, the member at hand, so to speak,not being able to do what it should. A man with HIV crying for me not to leave him after a twelve hour session of him blowing me and us doing speed but greedily drinking all his wine as I walk down the stairs. A gay ice dealer so tweaked he thought I was recording him as he sat on my toilet shooting up.

None of this I’m particularly proud of. But if someone can relate to it and know they’re not the only one who has experienced it, then there you go, for free, you got some free counselling. It just seems that the combination of sex and drugs are irresistible to a lot of gay men. Always have had a high sex drive – and maybe always will. They say that a man’s sex drive decreases as he ages, but there’s no shortage of men in their 50’s and 60’s at beats or cruise clubs. Or so I’ve heard. But it does seem the old brain isn’t really a fan of toxic chemicals any more. Indeed a night out for druggy sex would be unthinkable for me without a bottle to calm my head afterwards. I’ve also self presented to emergency wards convinced I was losing my mind only to have the nurses coldly look at me and dole out a couple of valiums, clearly irritated at the bed I was occupying which someone who was really sick could be in. Nope, the emergency wards have little time for people who have inflicted this upon oneself.

So why do it? Well, I do it a lot less. I have some hot dude bugging me at the moment whom I have been putting off. Apparently he’s an ‘ex-addict’ who promises he won’t ‘blow my mind’. Hmmm. Still, in times of horniness, it can be all too easy to forget about the horror of the next day…oh the regret. Nope, the year is young for me, and I’d rather like to get through it with success at uni and not damaging the organ that really matters…my brain.

Welcome aboard

Posted on by lc061

G’day. I’m LC, and I’m a 31 year old gay bloke living in Queensland. I am currently studying a Bachelor of Arts and am hoping to major in journalism. Since I enjoy writing and am certain the world will be thrilled to know my opinions and events that go on in my life (insert ironic wink here), I decided to start up a blog. I have four main sections of the blog at this point that I shall be focussing on:

1. World events and my opinion. They don’t necessarily have to be LGBT related, but often will be, with suitable links to where I found the article to credit the author – and abide by essential journalistic standards.

2.Music reviews. I should warn you that I only listen to 70’s disco, funk, soul and r & b, so if you’re into Lady Gaga etc, then you won’t find much that tickles your fancy, so to speak. But if you want to disco-ver a world beyond Village People and Abba where the grooves were and ARE real, then come learn a thing or two!

3.Shit that happens to me. Pretty self explanatory really.

4.Sex. Sex sells. And if it doesn’t it’s at least fun to brag about some of my encounters 🙂

So, thanks for stopping by. Feel free to comment, insult or otherwise. Peace y’all.