Girl Cooties

I've not been to a Mormon singles event in years. Until last night …

A Very Gay Transcript

A heads-up: a web/e-mail friendly transcript of the Very Gay Podcast is available at my YouPublish site: A Very Gay Transcript. It’s available (like the podcast itself) for anyone to use, under a Creative Commons license.

That is all.

A Totally Gay Podcast

I was recently interviewed by Nine Moons founder Rusty Clifton about my being gay and active in the church — and about California's Proposition 8. If you've got 45 minutes, give it a listen…

Listen to the podcast…

NB: This post is cross-posted from Nine Moons: A Totally Gay Podcast, please join us over there to comment!

For all My Friends with Girlfriends/Wives

One of my favorite pastimes is helping my friends dream-up gifts for their loved ones. So I'm tickled to death to find this interesting service that helps dudes create one-of-a-kind games they can play with their girlfriend or wife. It's called games for her by you. I have no reason to buy one, myself … but I'm betting — based on the well conceived website — that these are top-notch.

A Gay Mormon Thanks President Hinckley

This morning, I came across a post at Ex-gay Watch (hat-tip: Northern Lights) that mentioned the passing of President Hinckley. Several dozen comments followed, including one commenter who wished President Hinckley “good riddance”.

I replied, of course, at length… but the salient part of my comment was this:

My own life [out, celibate, and active] very much reflects the positive influence that President Hickley had on the Church in this area, and I don’t wish him good riddance, but happy trails and fond reunions with his wife and parents.

It’s true, really. In the last 15 years, the strides made by the Church with regards to embracing its gay members have been marked. And for that (among many things), I can’t thank President Hinckley enough.

NB: This post is cross-posted from Nine Moons: A Gay Mormon Thanks President Hinckley, please join us over there to comment!

What Is Modesty, Really?

I think we understand what the standards of modesty are in the church. Cover your garment if you where one or dress like you wear one if you hope to some day. And when modesty is discussed at a BYU campus, it's almost entirely framed within the context of the Honor Code — and the Honor Code Office's delightful, quirky, and just a little creepy advertising.

But what is modesty? What are we trying to achieve?

It can't just be about dress and appearance, can it? Sure it's hard to not dress your daughter like a floozie — but is that the length and width of the issue? Aren't we really just picking at the surface of a higher law — a body ethic?

What might that ethic include — what would it look like, how might it behave? And what would its scriptural underpinnings be — or would it come from somewhere else?

NB: This post is cross-posted from Nine Moons: What Is Modesty, Really, please join us over there to comment!

Missing Boy Wonder

So Boy Wonder is out of town for the summer — testing his wings and making new friends. He'll return in September, but that doesn't keep me from missing him now.

It's funny, really... our first date was three months back, and since then we've chatted daily (we're both online during the day for work), and gone out every week... but we still managed to keep it casual. We were never boyfriends, and we weren't even officially "dating" ... of course, that doesn't change the fact that I've got a hole in my life that is aching to be salved.

But no worries.

It's kind of nice to know that people can still affect me that way... that I can wrap my heart around someone... that people can play an important part of my life. I can so easily be caught-up in more cerebral pursuits, that I fear (sometimes) that I couldn't possibly love someone. That somehow I'd forgotten how. But that's just nonsense... we're all profoundly social creatures, and I'm no different — and certainly not as special as I'd like to think, sometimes.

Anyway... be good, Boy Wonder... and I'll see you later this summer!

Happy (Late) Valentine's Day!

So... I hope you had a great Valentine's Day.

Oh, me? Well, thank you for asking...

I rented a car Tuesday morning to make the evening a little special (not to mention comfortable). I got a Jeep Liberty (which seemed appropriate, as we were going over the mountain to Park City for dinner)... Anyway, I left work early to run errands, and discovered that the car smelled of wet cigarettes (ew!)... so while I was out and about, I swapped-out the rental ( a little silver Jeep Liberty ) for a car that didn't have the added feature of causing nausea ( a little black Jeep Liberty ). Then I rushed home and straightened-up the place a bit and changed clothes.

A little after 6:30 he called to say that he was 10 minutes out... so I hopped downstairs to the Italian market and purchased a couple of fancy-schmancy sodas for the road, and a handful of Italian candies ( two "kisses" and to "devil's balls" ).

Anyway, my date gets cold easily, so I put a sheep's skin throw ( I've got several — I love those things! ) on his seat, and brought down a nice lap blanket that I purchased in Iceland... in case he got cold. When he arrived, the car was ready, and a mixed-CD that I'd burned especially for the drive to Park City was in the player... So we climbed in and hit the road. It was a lovely drive, and he held my hand most of the way... which really made my evening. We chatted about all sorts of things — school and work and life — and when we arrived, we walked to the restaurant (Café Terigo) holding hands.

I don't much care for kissing in public (regardless of orientation), but I love holding hands. Love love love it.

Dinner was nice... an opener of coconut-crusted shrimp with a vinegar dipping sauce, a shared pasta papparadelle with chicken sausage, and a shared chocolate crème brullée ( I've decided that I don't like crème brullée... this was a perfect specimen, but I just don't like the caramel shell... anyway... ). After dinner, we walked Park City's Main Street, holding hands and chatting — and popping into the occasional art gallery that was still open. We then drove around looking at the big homes before heading down the mountain.

Back at my place, we came-up to my loft, where we talked and cuddled... then I gave him a small gift and sent him home before it got too late (and before I got too caught-up in the moment to mind my Ps & Qs).

So there you have it... a perfect evening with an amazing guy. Needless to say, I was on cloud nine for some time after he left. Yeah, I know that I'm a hopeless romantic... but that's okay by me.