Ohio Queers: ‘Gay in America’ book signing in Columbus Nov. 9

Scott Pasfield will be bringing his popular book tour for “Gay In America” to Columbus Wednesday, Nov. 9!

Released Sept. 27, the book of portraits highlights gay men from around the country, from the ordinary to the extraordinary. One of the portraits features a couple from Columbus, named only as Jonathan and Paul. Pasfield has been making his rounds in the press and traveling around the country for the past couple of months publicizing the book, which has been getting quite a bit of attention nationally.

The book signing is a Network Columbus event presented by Outlook Media from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at The Thurber House (91 Jefferson Ave., Columbus). This is a FREE event!

Check out this prior post about the book’s release for Jonathan and Paul’s photo, an interview with Pasfield from GLAAD and the book’s promo video.

Ohio Queers: Attack on gay 15-yo in Chillicothe sparks national call-to-action

Mother of attacked 15-year-old in Chillicothe tells the local media her son was the victim of a hate crime while at school.

UPDATE (10/30): The Chillicothe Gazette is now reporting that the student who attacked the 15-year-old at Union-Scioto High School for being gay may face a harsher punishment. Principal Jim Osborne told the paper, “the discipline has been revisited based on the ongoing investigation and in light of the new evidence.” The evidence, no doubt, is the video of the attack that has gone viral. The paper also reports that the female student who took the video may also face disciplinary action. I hope there will actually be some real consequences for the attacker, and this isn’t just some way to pacify the media and the general public.

As for the criminal chargers pressed by the victims mother, the case is currently under investigation. According to the Gazette, “the extent of the injury and the medical records are needed for [Ross County Prosecutor Matt Schmidt] to help determine if the assault meets the criteria to be considered a felony. His office is waiting on charging the juvenile until the additional investigation is completed.” I don’t quite understand why this is necessary. A full classroom of witnesses and video of someone beating you up isn’t enough proof to charge someone a felony???

And this tidbit in the last part of the story was interesting: “Since the story went viral, Schmidt, [Sheriff George Lavender] and Osborne reported they have been inundated with phone calls and emails….Osborne said Friday he came into the office to 40 voice mail messages and 500 emails.” Looks like the call-to-action is working.

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Thursday morning the Columbus ABC News affiliate posted video of their story about of a 15-year-old at Union-Scioto High School in Chillicothe, Ohio, who was brutally beaten in the classroom because he was gay. The horrific incident was captured on a bystander’s cell phone and posted on Facebook. (You can watch the video below.)

The unidentified gay student suffered a possible concussion and a chipped tooth, but the shocking, and very unfortunate twist, came at the end of the report when it was revealed that the bully was only suspended for three days. The teenager’s mother called what happened to her son and hate crime and has vowed to press charges.

Less than 24 hours after ABC6 On Your Side ran their feature, nearly every gay or gay-friendly journalist/blogger in the country, and beyond, had picked up the story, including Perez Hilton, Queerty, Towleroad, The Huffington Post, The New Civil Rights Movement, Dan Savage’s SLOG and even The Daily Mail in the U.K. Many of them have featured contact information from the school, referencing a call to action, started by Equality Ohio and GetEQUAL Ohio, for people for contact the school and call for the student to be expelled.

Equality Ohio Executive Director Ed Mullen (a man I’ve met and consider one of my local heroes) posted this on his Facebook page: ”Disheartening that it takes a video of a 15-year old gay youth being beaten at school for people to stand up and take notice of bullying and harassment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. 9% of youth reported to GLSEN being physically assaulted in school. Unconscionable.”

Equality Ohio is also calling for supporters to contact members of Ohio’s House Education Committee to lobby for the passage of Ohio House Bill 208, a bill that would add “sexual orientation” to the state’s anti-bullying law, which is currently going through Ohio’s Congress. Here’s more from Equality Ohio:

Union-Scioto has no policy in place that specifically protects students from being bullied or attacked based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The Union-Scioto Local School District does have a policy that prohibits harassment based on sex, race, color, national origin, religion, disability, among others, but it does not specifically protect against harassment based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Ohio House Bill 208 would add sexual orientation, gender identity, and other enumerated protections to Ohio’s anti-bullying law without changing the general prohibition against any bullying or harassment.  Research demonstrates that students feel safer and actually are safer in schools that have enumerated anti-bullying policies that include sexual orientation and gender identity. Proponents of the bill are seeking testimony in the House Education Committee, but the bill has not been a priority of the committee.

CLICK HERE for contact information to each of the legislatures on the House Education Committee. And below is contact information for the school and local authorities:

Union-Scioto Local Schools District Administration:
Superintendent: Dwight Garrett dgarrett@mail.gsn.k12.oh.us
High School Principal: James Osborne josborne@mail.gsn.k12.oh.us
Unioto High School Asst. Principal: Wilma Gillott wgillott@mail.gsn.k12.oh.us

Union-Scioto
Administration Office
1565 Egypt Pike
Chillicothe, Ohio 45601
740-773-4102

Unioto High School
14193 Pleasant Valley Road
Chillicothe, Ohio 45601
740-773-4105

Sheriffs Department: 740-773-1185
Prosecutors Office: 740-702-3115

Let’s hope that the outcry and the flooding of the school’s phones will lead to some positive change in Chillicothe. As someone who’s from Ohio and has been to Chillicothe on several occasions, I can say that, unfortunately, this kind of behavior is not unexpected from the that town. It’s a very conservative area that’s known for its institutionalized bigotry.

It’s hostile environments in school’s like this that lead to the suicides of students like Jamey Rodemyer and Jamie Hubley. This is exactly the reason why I’ve started the Make It Better Foundation. This happened in a classroom. The school can’t even give the typically used excuse of “it’s not our responsibility because it happened off school grounds.” If this bully had beat up a kid because he was black or Latino or disabled he would have been expelled. No question.

Ohio Queers: First LGBT ‘Who’s Who’ starting in Columbus ~ Submission deadline is THIS Friday!

Columbus will be the first city in America to publish a LGBT version of the popular Who’s Who books franchise. Outlook Media owners Chris Hayes and Michael Daniels have teamed with Who’s Who Publishing for the historical endeavor.

Here’s more from the Who’s Who in GLBT Columbus Web site:

The GLBT community in Columbus is out, proud and powerful. Did you know our community makes up approximately 15 percent of the population, spending 25 cents of every dollar in the metropolitan area, accounting for $7.5 billion in the local $30 billion economy? Impressive right? So are the people that contribute to those statistics. People like you.

The foreword to Who’s Who in GLBT Columbus™ will be penned by Tom Grote, founding board chair of the Equality Ohio Education Fund and local businessman, investor and entrepreneur. In addition, the book will feature the history of the central Ohio GLBT community and will highlight some of the very best, brightest and most influential members of the city’s diverse GLBT community.

If you self-identify as a member of the GLBT community and would like to be included in this groundbreaking book, we invite you to submit a quality digital headshot and a current biographical sketch no longer than 180 words for inclusion in this upcoming edition. We are also adding a never before seen feature in any Who’s Who Publishing book—the ability to submit photos and bio information as a couple! (Couples’ submissions can be 350 words.)

It was also recently announced that the introduction will be written by Mary Jo Hudson, the first openly gay Cabinet member in Ohio, serving as director of the Ohio Department of Insurance for Gov. Ted Strickland.

Outlook and Who’s Who held a kickoff party for the book at the Ohio Historical Society Oct. 12 that featured Grote, Hudson and Mayor Micheal Coleman. They plan to host an unveiling celebration Dec. 14 at Shadowbox Live, (503 S. Front Street, Columbus).

You can submit your bio and head shot by mail (Who’s Who Publishing Co. Editorial Office, 3700 Corporate Dr., Suite 110 Columbus, OH 43231), email (GLBTColumbus@whoswhopublishing.com) or online (click here). The deadline for submissions is THIS Friday, Oct. 28, 2011.

Ohio Queers: Delaware Christian School shuns gay alum; response from another gay former student

David Emerson (left) with a fellow protester outside Delaware Christian School

Last week it hit the news-waves that an out and proud Columbus DJ at Rewind 103.5/104.3 was removed from the Delaware Christian School’s alumni page on their Web site because it was “discovered” that his Facebook page listed him as gay.

David Emerson is a 2002 graduate of DCS and had been profiled on their alumni page for years, applauding him for is accomplishments in radio. It wasn’t until this past April that they pulled Emerson’s profile. And when Emerson found out last week he thankfully didn’t take the news lightly and took action.

He was interview by local Columbus affiliates Fox28/ABC6 and NBC4 about the travesty. The gay blogosphere has also picked up the story at Towleroad and Lez Get Real among others.

Emerson told ABC that when he called the school and spoke to DCS Principal Gordon McDonald, he simply responded with, ”you are a gross and immoral representation of my school.” And when NBC spoke with McDonald directly he had this to say:

“David Emerson is a fine young man of whom I think very highly. I am very proud of his professional accomplishments. I regret the deep differences that have occurred. However, speaking for Delaware Christian School I cannot approve of the lifestyle that he has chosen to endorse as posted for public viewing on his Facebook site. Based on David’s posting last April I removed David’s photo and comments from our alumni website. He has publicly chosen to identify himself with a lifestyle that is not in keeping with the biblical belief taught at Delaware Christian. I respect his right to choose and live out his belief but do not want to convey the message that I approve that lifestyle.”

It’s become obvious to me that Mr. McDonald is more of a “gross and immoral reprsenation” of the school than Emerson could ever be. When did it become O.K. for school principals (be it at public or private schools) to condone hate?

Emerson held a protest at the school on Friday, calling for the principal to reinstate his profile on the site. (The photo above in from said protest.) Oh, how, I wish I could have been there.

Many of you may not know this, but I also attended Delaware Christian School. It was during my 7th and 8th grade years. And it was by far the worst two years of my K-12 experience. As a student there I was relentlessly bullied for being “feminine,” and when I told the administration it was suggested that I change my “gay actions” if I wanted the bullying to stop. The bullies were never punished. If it weren’t for my transferring to another school I’m not sure I would have survived the hate.

My experiences at DCS are actually the memories I reference most, as examples of the hate I experienced growing up, when I’m writing or speaking out against anti-gay bullying on behalf of the It Gets Better Project.

It is principals like Mr. McDonald who run schools under this type of bigotry who are causing gay youth to kill themselves. His ludicrous actions are basically teaching his students that disregarding those who are different is a principle to live by. Ultimately, the school is producing bigots and standardizing hate. Is this really the type of administrator we want running a school?

Ohio Queers: OSU rugby player comes out to team on MTV’s ‘Coming Out’ special last night

For National Coming Out Day yesterday MTV aired “Coming Out” an hour-long documentary featuring the coming out process of two very different lgbt individuals, one of them was Nevin Heard, a 20-year-old All-Star athlete from Cincinnati, Ohio.

The documentary follows Nevin as he builds the courage to come out to his teammates on the Ohio State Rugby team. After doing so the team completely accepts him and one of the players who speaks up up for him initially is an ex-military service member. Though not the first time such moments have been caught on film, it’s definitely a powerful moment that reminds us there are many out there who still struggle with the courage to be themselves.

Here’s a synopsis of the documentary from MTV.com:

“Coming Out” is a one hour documentary special that weaves together the personal journeys of Rachael, a 21 year-old lesbian living in Sacramento, CA, coming out to her estranged father; and Nevin, a 20 year-old African American collegiate all star athlete in Ohio, coming out to his college rugby team.

The special reveals the anxiety, pain, and exhilaration of the coming out process as Rachael and Nevin proudly stand up for who they are, even if it ultimately puts those relationships in jeopardy.

Click here to see a clip from the special featuring the moment when Nevin comes out to his rugby team.

I found Nevin’s audition for the special on YouTube. It definitely shows a funnier/truer side of him that we don’t get to see on the special, and it features other members of his family as well as his ex-girlfriend. Check it out below:

Happy National Coming Out Day! Celebrate those who can be themselves and remember those who can’t

Wouldn't this be perfect for a Coming Out Party! I must find a cupcake shop that makes these.

Today is National Coming Out Day, a day that recognizes the courage it takes to live openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individual, and reminds us that there are many out there who still can’t be open because of the intolerant communities in which they live. It is more important now more than ever for the lgbt community to stand up and be counted. I’ve always had the same philosophy as the great Harvey Milk: If they know us they are more likely to vote for us.

I do recognize that each individual should come out in their own time and there are many communities where coming out can be down right deadly, such as in Uganda, where they are still considering the Kill the Gays Bill or Jamaica, where it is socially acceptable for citizens to abuse gays openly in the streets. But now more than ever, those who can need to stand up for those who can’t.

Today I’m going to be speaking at a Coming Out Day event at West Virginia University in Parkersburg, a city that I’ve heard is less than accepting. I’ve had many people ask me, “Why are you going down there? You aren’t going to change their minds, and it seems dangerous.” My mother has been trying to talk me out of it all week. She did finally convince me to a least take someone with me. (Being her baby boy has these occasional consequences.)

I’m going because small town communities in states like West Virginia, Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Utah, Colorado, Texas, Minnesota, are where the most closeted of us live. If we don’t start creating communities of inclusion in the most conservative of areas we’ll never win at the ballots, we’ll never see true equality.

That’s why I’ll continue to go to areas that aren’t the most accepting, to encourage their gay citizens to stand up together and be counted, to show the bigoted that we’re not the monsters they think we are. We have families we love, we have jobs, we’re dealing with this shitty economy just like you. Because if I can convince one person to help make their community safer for lgbt people, if I can make one parent see that there’s nothing wrong with their kid, if I can make one preacher come to the realization that we’re not an abomination, then any of the ugliness that I ever endured because of coming out will all be worth it.

 

CNN’s Anderson Cooper hosts national town hall meeting on bullying [VIDEO]

Last night Anderson Cooper hosted a groundbreaking national town hall meeting broadcast on CNN call “Bullying: It Stops Here.” It was held at Rutgers University in New Jersey, where Tyler Clementi attended school before committing suicide last year after his roommate broadcast his sexual encounter with a man on the internet.

The special featured experts, celebrities and kids from school districts around the nation that spoke about bullying and how it can be stopped. Cooper also premiered eye-opening statistics from a report he conducted with The Bullying Project.

Dr. Phil, Kelly Ripa and Jane Lynch were just a few of big names that attended, but the heroes of the night were the youth who came forward and shared their emotional stories.

You can watch the full special below.

Ohio Queers: Local bi/straight couple making news for marriage in NY

A bisexual female and a straight man from Ohio ran off to Niagara Falls to get married to send a message about gay marriage, and the media has taken notice. 10tv covered the couple’s story and the fight for marriage equality. Also featured in their report is a brief appearance by Brandon Monson from Equality Ohio. Check out the full story from 10tv below.

From 10tv.com (click link for video):

A couple spoke out on Friday about their decision to marry far away from home.

Tabitha Woodruff said she came to a conclusion after three dates with Brian Davis, 10TV’s Jessa Goddard reported.

“We went on our third date and afterwards I told him, ‘I want to marry you,’” said Woodruff.

While Woodruff and Davis’ romance has all the makings of a good old fashioned love story, it comes with a modern twist, Goddard reported.

“I’m bisexual, so I’ve dated both men and women,” said Woodruff. “It’s always a little nerve-wracking because my family doesn’t really approve of the LGBT community at all, and the state of Ohio doesn’t either.”

In a show of solidarity with their friends in the LGBT community, Woodruff and Davis decided to take their special day, and their money, to Niagra Falls, N.Y., where same-sex marriages are legal, Goddard reported.

Woodruff and Davis said they know their trip down the aisle will be untraditional, Goddard reported.

“We’re hoping that this small gesture, symbolic gesture, may encourage the state to consider those kinds of issues,” said Woodruff. “Because our money is going somewhere else.”

Ohio’s constitutional amendment, passed by a ballot initiative in November 2004, prohibits same sex marriage and does not recognize same sex marriages from other states.

Local Theater Spotlight: ‘The Downtown Job’ by MadLab Theatre

MadLab Theatre‘s premieres have been a hit or miss affair over the past few years. “Stripped Away” (2008) and “The Killing Room” (2009) left much to be desired, yet last year’s area premiere of “Cabfare for the Common Man” was a bona fide home run. Their latest premiere, “The Downtown Job” by Paul Cohen, showing through Oct. 29, lies somewhere in between.

Cohen showcases the tale of three eccentric criminals as they try to use an off-off-off-Broadway dud as a cover for the perfect heist. For the dud, Cohen includes a spoof of “The Vagina Monologues” titled “The Opening of Revelations,” a one-woman show about the man “faces” of ladies’ parts.

The thieves are planning to use explosives to blow into a bank vault next door and wish to use the sound effects of the theater show to cover up the rambunctious activity that is to take place below. The criminals hilariously stumble through their unsound plan as double agents, mistaken identities, an elusive benefactor an a host of yonic metaphors, make for one pretty exciting and entertaining show.

The three thieves lead the pack as an unconventional Three Stooges consortium, who only go by their code names. Jennifer Feather Youngblood is Sturgeon, the easily annoyed leader and brains behind the operation. Brooke Cartus is Blowfish, a butch female cadet with a harsh Irish accent who enjoys stabbing things with her army knives just as much as she does blowing them up. And Scott Tobin is Seahorse, the token doofus who ends up falling for the girl he’s supposed to be duping to get the job done.

Carmen Scott nearly steals the show as Ophelia, the untalented actor at the center of the Broadway dud. She completely nails the acting-like-your-badly-acting shtick and shows pretty spot on comedic timing with the many double entendres and odes to “down below” that are part of “Revelations.”  And Michael Moore puts in double duty as Jaguar, a shady explosives dealer, and Coolidge, a pompous critic with a popular theater blog (hmmm?).

Cohen’s slightly confusing script veers in and out of a pretty funny concept. A mismatched love triangle between Seahorse, Ophelia and Coolidge is intriguing but doesn’t seem to have much connection with the overall plot. And the ending seems to just be patchwork for a flawed through-line.

Director Stephen Woosley, with assistance from Jason Sudy, make quite a bit out of Cohen’s convoluted storytelling. Their deliberate pacing kept the audience in stitches for much of the show. And Doug Northeim’s spot on set design, featuring an asymmetrical represatation of a woman from the waist down, is a perfect extension of the show’s vulva-heavy themes.

In the end, “The Downtown Job” proves a typical night at MadLab, heavy on the crude with a symbolic aftertaste, yet somehow it all still goes down extremely smooth.

“The Downtown Job” runs 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 29 at MadLab Theatre, 227 N. Third Street, Columbus. Tickets are $12. For more information visit www.madlab.net.

Will it get better? Reflections on the Jamey Rodemeyer tragedy

I’ve been meaning to write about Jamey Rodemeyer’s suicide for some time now, but just haven’t had the words. My first reaction was anger and I think I just needed to calm down before being able to write about it coherently.

As many of you know i was featured in the book “It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying and Creating a Life Worth Living,”  put out by the It Gets Better Project back in March. Since then I’ve been traveling to high schools and colleges in my spare time speaking about the tragic effects of anti-gay bullying and how creating “communities of inclusion,” especially in small towns, can save a child’s life.

When I first heard about Jamey’s death I started to feel as if I’d been fighting a loosing battle. If kids keep dying what’s the point right?

What’s most devastating about Jamey’s is he had done everything right. He’d taken the advice of he It Gets Better campaign. After coming out in Junior High he’d faced the bullying head on, he’d told his parents, he’d addressed it with the teachers and administrators at his school. He’d found friends hat had supported him, and like many of had to at an early age, he’d created his community of inclusion.

And after all of this, after getting through the terrors of middle school, he even created an It Gets Better video to give hope to other kids like himself. So what happened? We have thousands of videos on YouTube promising kids it’s going to get better, from the President on down. Why didn’t it get better for Jamey?

CNN’s Anderson Cooper was one of the many mainstream talking heads that covered the Jamey Rodemeyer tragedy. During a couple interviews (see video below) it was mentioned that the message from society is partly to blame. Personally, I think it’s fully to blame.

When “Christian leaders” and “moral politicians” are able to say hideous things like this, and then have their hate speech on rotation on the nightly news, how else are our youth supposed to respond? It has been found time and time again by child psychologists that bullying is a direct reaction from the environment in which the bullier is grown. Kids aren’t born with hate, they are taught it.

If our religious leaders and media-hungry politicians don’t start changing the message, I’m afraid the bullying will only intensify and our lgbt youth will never be safe. Telling them “it gets better” will never be enough. We have to start at the top, we must re-educate our educators. Or all hope may be lost.

I must admit, every time I hear of another kid who becomes the casualty of our intolerant society, I do want to give up. But now, more than ever, we need to spread the message of acceptance. Which is why I’ll continuing to speak at any school that will have me. I’ll keep telling my story until the hate in our schools becomes unacceptable. Until people who say things like this are shamed by their ignorance.

Glee-cap: ‘Asian F’

Quick-cap: Mike Chang gets an A – (a.k.a. “Asian F”) and his father wants him to quit glee club. Mercedes and Rachel vie for the role of Maria in “West Side Story.” After the role is double cast, when Mercedes is the clear winner, Mercedes decides she’s done living in Rachel’s shadow and quits both the musical and glee club to join Shelby Cocoran’s (Idina Menzel) new glee club. Mr. Shu meets Emma’s parents who are crazy, ginger fascists, who only associate with other red heads. Kurt and Brittany vie for Class President. Brittany shakes her butt during a pep rally and takes the lead in the polls. Mike decides to go after his dream as a dancer instead of listening to his father, which his mom supports. (Cue overly produced audition of “Cool.”) Even after getting the lead in “West Side Story,” Rachel decides to also run for Class President, which pisses everyone off. The “West Side Story” cast list also includes Blaine as Tony, Santana as Anita and Mike as Riff.

And that’s what you missed on…GLEE!

Fave moment: This week was out of control amazing. This episode definitely goes in my Top 5 Favorite Glee Episode to date. I don’t even know what moment to pick as the best. That Brittany-led “Run The World (Girls)” number was AMAZING! It stole the whole episode. I also loved that they finally gave Harry Shum Jr. (Mike Chang) his own full story line. It was perfectly written and Shum acted the hell out of it. He’s also not a bad singer. His vocals during his “West Side Story” audition were pretty great.

Annoying moment: This is kind of being nit-picky, but I thought it was kind of lame how they didn’t let Kurt and Blaine kiss after Kurt gave Blaine flowers for his expected win of the role of Tony. It looked like Kurt went in for the kiss but Blaine backed off. I thought Blaine was originally brought on to be the out and proud character that didn’t care what others thought? Seems fishy to me.

Fave quote: Coach Beiste is starting to take over Coach Sue’s role as the zing-master. She had many of this week’s funniest lines, including this one: “This is one of the hardest decisions of my life. And that includes when I had to sell one of my prize donkeys to pay my gas bill.”

Fave song: The remake of the “It’s All Over” scene from “Dreamgirls” was an amazing surprise I definitely wasn’t expecting. Loved it from top to bottom. I personally think it was “Glee’s” best moment thus far. But there were so many amazing numbers this episode. Loved Mercedes on Jennifer Hudson’s “Spotlight” and the diva-off with Rachel and Mercedes on “Out Here on My Own” from “Fame” was phenomenal.

You can watch full episodes of Glee here.

Ohio Queers: ‘Brothers in Blood’ event sheds light on blood bank discrimination

Next week Columbusis going to be host to an extremely exciting and very important event that I’ve been dying to talk about for weeks. Outlook Weekly and the American Red Cross are boldly joining forces to present a positive protest against the age-old ban against gays donating blood.

For 30 years now, if a man makes it known during the donation screening process that he’s slept with another man at any point after 1977 he is put on the “permanent deferral” list and banned from donating blood ever again.

The policy is based on outdated HIV/AIDS statistics that no longer hold water. A gay man in a monogamous relationship is far less likely to be infected than a straight female in an open marriage, but under the policy, the blood of the female would be readily accepted.

Brothers in Blood is definitely unprecedented. For many years the response to the ban has been for gays and gay allies to simply ban Blood Drives, which seems silly when you think about the fact that each donation saves three lives. Those dying from blood bank shortages would be the only people affected by a boycott. It’s a sentiment Mackenzie “Ken” Worrall, the main organizer behind Brothers in Blood, latched on to and ran with.

I spoke with Ken, a fellow journalist and friend (who wrote an amazing piece, titled “Do we not bleed,” for Outlook this month), about the event and how it came to be.

“I went to [Michael Daniels, Outlook co-owner/publisher] when I was still interning at Outlook and told him I wanted to plan some kind of activism event that gays, especially gay youth, could get involved with and excited about,” he said. “Olga Kooi, a friend of mine from high school, who used to work with Outlook, told Michael she was moving on to work for the American Red Cross…that’s when Michael got this great idea and I just ran with it.”

“I’m calling it a positive impact event,” he said. “Instead of having my friends boycott blood drives, and keeping people from saving lives, why not gather a bunch of people to donate for me.”

And that’s the main premise of BIB. Though, it is a blood drive (at which out gay men can still not give blood) it gets gays and allies in a room to discuss this issue and start a continuing conversation on how in can be changed.

Ken also said the event will not just be a blood drive. Another amazing thing about this event is the support it’s getting from the city. The list of sponsors is too long to print. There will be free food from various local vendors, including brownies from Sugar Daddies, a fact Ken is particularly excited about. (“You can’t have a blood drive without brownies.”) Also he’s got some live jazz planned and is in the process of adding a live band or some other live music element to the mix.

“It is an event,” he said. “Want people to socialize and talk. Those who can’t donate can sign up for our listserv and we’ll contact them to donate once the ban is lifted, those who can donate can go to another line and prepare to donate, then everyone meets in the food area to discuss the ban. I’m all about breaking down barriers.”

The Columbus Dispatch ran an article yesterday about the event and the ban, in which it mentioned an interesting fact I was unaware of. Apparently the FDA is looking at alternatives to the band and one alternative is to replace the “permanent deferral” with a “12-month deferral,” which means a man is unable to donate for a year after a sexual encounter with another man.

I still think this stinks of discrimination (like civil unions instead of gay marriage), but as Ken said, “I think they should definitely look at how they judge that, because there actually a lot of gay men who are monogamous. But I do think it’s a goods step in the right direction.”

There are other strides being made. The American Red Cross of Central Ohio is completely backing Brothers in Blood and its efforts, and heads of the national American Red Cross have also gone on record supporting a change to the ban. Ken also mentioned that Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius had just recently set out concrete steps to reevaluating the ban.

I’m so excited for this event. Kudos to Ken and Outlook for revolutionizing the way we respond to this very important dilemma.

Brothers in Blood is 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13 at the King Arts Complex, 867 Mt. Vernon Ave, Columbus. This is a free event! Get more information at the Brothers in Blood Facebook event page. 

Gay YouTube soldier returns with live coming out video to mom

After his coming-out-to-dad video went viral, Randy Phillips, the popular gay YouTube solider returns to tell his mom on camera. This time the results aren’t so good.

Check out the full video below:

Glee-cap: ‘I Am Unicorn’

Quick-cap: This year’s school musical is “West Side Story.” Rachel is a shoe-in for Maria, but Kurt is having trouble landing the part of Tony. Apparently he’s too gay to play a leading role (is this art imitating life?). Coach Sue is still on her anti-arts-education kick and is ahead in the polls for Ohio’s Congress, which gives Mr. Shu an idea (wonder what that is). Kurt is running for class president and Britney decides to become his campaign manager. Brit goes way too gay (even for Kurt) and after Kurt turns down all her ideas she decides to run for president herself. Rachel’s real mom is back (yay Idina Menzel!) and teaching at McKinley High, which is causing major drama for Rachel, Puck and Quinn. Quinn decides to go back to her blonde goody-two-shoes self, but we realize it’s just a plot to get full custody of her kid (oh snap!).

And that’s what you missed on…GLEE!

Fave moment: I always love seeing Kurt’s dad, Burt (the incomparable Mike O’Malley), on the show, he epitomizes the dad I wish I had. He always give Kurt the perfect advice. “Dude, you’re gay. And you’re not like Rock Hudson gay, you’re really gay. You sing like Diana Ross and you dress like you own a magic chocolate factory.” The fact that he can pull this line off and make it sound like a compliment, makes me love the character even more.

Annoying moment: I wasn’t a fan of the whole Kurt’s-too-gay-to-be-straight story line. I just ringed homophobic too me. And didn’t also seem a racist when they were talking about wanting a non-white Maria. Or maybe it was just me.

Fave quote: Two from Sue: “And now after a long day of snorting Splenda and cutting class, she kills the pain the only way she knows how: Smoking corn starch.” and “The arts are like crack, William, but much more addictive and not nearly as glamorous.”

Fave song: Blaine definitely did it for me at the end during “Something’s Coming,” and Rachel’s “There’s a Place for Us” gave me chills.

You can watch full episodes of Glee here.