GAYSENIORS.info BLOG

BY Bigred42 click to see his profile

Michael Jackson in his element

Hi All:
Yesterday for some reason I played essential Michael Jackson out of the blue.  I haven’t listened to Michael Jackson a CD in years.  The last time I played a song stored on my computer about a year ago, but yesterday from 11 to 1 PM I played his music, and then I was shocked when my friend Randy told me at dinner time he had passed away in the afternoon.

I couldn’t believe it!  I admit it I was a big Michael Jackson fan as a kid.  I loved watching perform, when he was 10 years old on TV.  In his late teens though I started to feel sorry for him–he was so famous as a child, and I figured he didn’t have much of a childhood.  I was right and he didn’t.  He was a shy kid, and he came to life on stage.  Corporate America exploited him, and we all helped make him a Superstar.  He turned up maybe abusing children–which no child should be abused.  Did we not in society abuse Michael by turning him into a Superstar.  He was meant to perform and it was in his soul, but he was also exploited, and he lived in a fishbowl.  They say it takes a village to raise a child.  Michael created NEVERLAND TO RECAPTURE HIS LOST CHILDHOOD, AND IT BECAME A PRISON FOR HIM.

If Michael was not proper with children I can’t believe others didn’t know, and what is sick others would look away because he had money, and many people will do anything if the price is right.

I remember when the Beatles broke up it was one of the saddest days of my life, but I understood why they did it.  They couldn’t live in their Bubble.  I can’t imagine how it would be too be so famous and have money.  Can you imagine how hard it would be to find trusting loving relationships for people loving you for who you are.  So many people didn’t love Michael Jackson so many people used him.

some people will make jokes about him today, and so many people will remember his gifted genius today.  I loved: “Billy Jean,” “Bad,” “Beat It, ” Ben,” “She’s out of my life,” and “Man in the mirror,”  “Smooth criminal,”  “ABC.”
So many cool songs.

It’s easy to criticize famous people, and Michael might have been messed up in certain ways, but we all have to take a certain responsibility for each other mental health in this world.We don’t like to think that we should, but we are taught that we should be loving and caring since we are children, and it is important to be nurturing and caring to all our children–hopefully that is all that Michael did.  It is easy to look at Famous people and throw the first stone.  I am not sure Michael was always innocent, but if he became sick it was because along the way adults were not helping and possibly enabling him.  Our society can be pretty sadly twisted at times.

I wish I could have been the performer Michael.  When I really connect to music like he did there is proof to me that something greater than ourselves exists.  I escape my wheelchair, and my physical discomforts and I fly as high as he did on stage.

Michael Jackson is singing with the musical greats who went before him today.  He is jamming with Jimmy today, and Janis.  See you in a few Micheal.  ( At least 15 to 20 years away I hope.)  I am a music freak so do I have to make my reservations now?

I think I will listen to some Michael today.  The sad thing is there is a lot of people my age that won’t even express missing him because that is not cool, but I have never cared about what is cool when it comes to feeling.

Have a great Friday.  I was glad I was alive during Michael’s time.

Love and peace.
John

by  Barack Obama, President of the United States of America

Forty years ago, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City resisted police harassment that had become all too common for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.
Out of this resistance, the LGBT rights movement in America was born. During LGBT Pride Month, we commemorate the events of June 1969 and commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans.

LGBT Americans have made, and continue to make, great and lasting contributions that continue to strengthen the fabric of American society. There are many well-respected LGBT leaders in all professional fields, including the arts and business communities. LGBT Americans also mobilised the Nation to respond to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic and have played a vital role in broadening this country’s response to the HIV pandemic.
Due in no small part to the determination and dedication of the LGBT rights movement, more LGBT Americans are living their lives openly today than ever before. I am proud to be the first President to appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an Administration. These individuals embody the best qualities we seek in public servants, and across my Administration – in both the White House and the Federal agencies –openly LGBT employees are doing their jobs with distinction and professionalism.
The LGBT rights movement has achieved great progress, but there is more work to be done. LGBT youth should feel safe to learn without the fear of harassment, and LGBT families and seniors should be allowed to live their lives with dignity and respect.
My Administration has partnered with the LGBT community to advance a wide range of initiatives. At the international level, I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexuality around the world. Here at home, I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans. These measures include enhancing hate crimes laws, supporting civil unions and Federal rights for LGBT couples, outlawing discrimination in the workplace, ensuring adoption rights, and ending the existing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security. We must also commit ourselves to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic by both reducing the number of HIV infections and providing care and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS across the United States.
These issues affect not only the LGBT community, but also our entire Nation. As long as the promise of equality for all remains unfulfilled, all Americans are affected. If we can work together to advance the principles upon which our Nation was founded, every American will benefit. During LGBT Pride Month, I call upon the LGBT community, the Congress, and the American people to work together to promote equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.
BARACK OBAMA

This is our contribution to the gay movie festival, which is running right now

This film is considered the first gay movie in history and also a scene in a gay bar in 1919.
Thought to have been lost for decades, German filmmaker Richard Oswald’s 1919 picture “Different From the Others” was eventually discovered in East Berlin in 1976, to have survived the Nazi era. The film stars Conrad Veidt of Casablanca and centers on the oppression brought upon Germany’s homosexual men as a result of the penal code’s controversial Paragraph 175. The silent film also stars Leo Connard and Ilse Von Tasso-Lind.
A prosperous man, a famous violinist, encounters a sleazy blackmailer who he once took home from a party. For its day, this film is an amazingly frank depiction of a homosexual relationship. The matter goes to court and both are sent to jail for their respective “crimes.”

Magnus Hirschfeld

Magnus Hirschfeld was an active adviser to the film and was able to escape to France in 1930, 3 years before Hitler came to power. The Nazis destroyed his library and a quarter of million gays were killed in Concentration camps.

An article for our German speaking friends

Die Wiener Anti- diskriminierungsstelle für gleichgeschlechtliche Lebensweisen (WASt) setzte im Herbst 2008 das Thema Alter als Schwerpunkt und lädt nun zu einer Veranstaltungsreihe, die das Thema in seiner Vielfalt aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven beleuchtet.

by Charles-Gene McDaniel
2008-06-25

Charles-Gene McDaniel worked for 16 years at Roosevelt University, retiring as head of faculty of journalism and communications and professor emeritus. He lives on the south side of Chicago.

While out riding my bicycle on a fine summer day, I passed a young woman who was wearing a T-shirt that read, ‘Old age is not a disease.’ As a relatively healthy member of the senioratrict set, I could not agree more. Tell that, however, to young gay men who treat older men as pariahs ready to be carted to an ice floe to drift out to sea and an icy death. On that bicycle ride I was wearing a T-shirt that read, ‘Born in the U.S.A. a long time ago.’ I’m old and proud and gay and proud.

Gay men and lesbians complain about homophobia and this grievance, as it should be, is the core of gay political action. But gay men especially engage in gerontophobia. And here phobia applies in its original sense, meaning fear rather than hatred, although the result is at least the appearance of hate toward the aging, whose presence is considered visual pollution when they appear on the streets in the gay ghettoes. Lesbians seem less obsessed with appearances and embrace their sisters across generational lines. The young gay hunks and pretty boys should take heed.

Old people hold the mirror of our own mortality before us and we do not like what we see. Even more pronounced among gay men is the disturbing reminder of the transience of youthful beauty and vitality, the inevitable wrinkles, graying and balding, vision and hearing impairment and the southward migration of various body parts. To the young narcissists, it is as though aging were contagious. There is no turning back the clock, though, even should we foolishly want to, and there is no vaccine against it.

Everybody gets old if he is lucky. Getting old is what happens when we live a long time. American culture in general puts a premium on youth because, for one thing, the young spend more money. That attitude is even more pronounced in the gay subculture, in which social institutions and services are geared to the young, with few available to the aging. Where are the gay retirement communities? Gay social groups for the aging? Gay nursing homes? Gay and lesbian people did an extraordinary job in coming together to press for specialized facilities for people with AIDS, who are overwhelmingly young. They also have devoted prodigious amounts of volunteer time into raising money and providing personal services to people with AIDS. Their interest wanes when it comes to caring for gay and lesbian people who are suffering from cancer or the debilitating effects of stroke or arthritis. The health-challenged gay and elderly find themselves isolated and alone or, if they are in an extended care facility, among people who share nothing of their culture, nothing of their past.

Among gay social institutions there is none more gerontophobic than the bars, which are notorious in the first place because of the attitude of the gay bar-goers, but where ther is mega attitude against any older gay man who might foolishly wander into one of these noisy, smoky dens seeking companionship among his ‘brothers.’ The young are offended if an older person even says hello to them. They may not only ignore the greeting but emphasize their disdain with a verbalized ‘get lost.’ A greeting does not mean the lonely older man wants to unzip the jeans of the younger, although were it to come to that, the younger men might learn that good sex does not have to be frantic but can be warm and caring.

Other cultures, especially in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, venerate the aged. Even young gay men are friendly toward old gay men and care for them. They recognize what might come as a surprise to American bar bunnies: Gay geezers have a lot to share – the wisdom that comes from their long life of experience and learning. We fought the battles and suffered the indignities and abuse and imprisonment that made present liberation possible. Together we can make further progress toward gaining equal rights and ending gay-bashing.

Life is tough enough without suffering the added hurt that comes from rejection by other gay men. Next time an old man says hello, smile and return the greeting. Even give him a hug. It will make his day. Yours too.

Lips

And it’s right here in Ft Lauderdale.

Well the 2 webmasters at gayseniors.info Rob and Manny and 2 of their close friends Gene and Chris are so glad you asked them to locate the best Lips in Florida. The 4 of us  had a ball doing just that. Finding the best Lips in Florida was ironic at this time because a few weeks ago we attended Pride fest and just this past week we found out from Hansen Century 21 Realty Inc. that we were the winners of a their truly awesome gift basket that included 2 tickets to the World Famous Gospel Brunch at ( Believe this or not ) a place right here in South Florida called LIPS.

Sexy lips of Rob

It is located in Ft. Lauderdale on Oakland Park Blvd at 1421 East. (954) 567-0987 It’s site is http://www.lipsusa.com/ Well needless to say we found the Gospel Brunch an Very Uplifting experience. The atmosphere was incredible and everything was truly professional and first class. The food was wonderful unlike the religious food that my partner serves me at home thats either a Burnt offering or sacrifice. Several spirited types of Liquid Libations were served freely till everyone had more than there fill and they were definitely not mixed with Holy Water.

What a nice smile

The Brunch included a choice of several delicious and appetizing entrees that could satisfy any pallet. It was also all you could drink Mimosas and Bloody Mary’s. That were served before,during, and after the meal and show. Your glass was never empty due to the crack serving staff. The food service, entertainment and the entire Brunch deserve a 5 ***** star rating. Needles to say we saw a Miracle that day when Boys, through the power of the Holy Powder Puff,  makeup and costumes became some of the most beautiful girls we have ever seen. They entertained, and kept the audience enthralled, clapping their hands, taping their feet, and signing along with their songs Jokes and antics for almost 2 hours.

The two "young" guys

It turned out to be the best of La Cage aux Folles meets Jesus at the Last Supper. This  revival was performed by talented, beautiful and fun Drag Queens at a sort of religious Brunch with straight, gay, and everything between attending. Young and Old, were Fed, Entertained, and sent on their way with a hymn in their hearts, a belly full of Great food, and a sense that if we all sat down together to laugh love and enjoy like we did that Sunday and every Sunday in Ft Lauderdale the World would be a much Richer and Better place.

SUNDAY BRUNCH CAST:  Nicolette, Franchesque Richards, Nicole Phillips, Deja Debonnair, Velvet Lenore, Martina Skyy