I love the song “Get Outta My Way” by Kylie Minogue to the point that it is in my personal Top 5 of best songs of the 21st Century (thus far).
A fellow tweeter mentioned this tribute video and I had to see it for myself. I don’t usually go for the super-pretty boys, but the guys in this video were just what I needed to get kick off my Monday morning.
From 2010, here’s Get Outta My Way (Boys) Tribute [HD].
ps. In case you’re wondering, my favorite is the one wearing glasses (but not sunglasses).
The second episode of the TV sitcom “Alice” was called “Alice Gets A Pass”. It was broadcast on August 29, 1976. In this episode, a famous football player, Jack Newhouse (Denny Miller) that went to college with Mel is passing through Phoenix and wants to stop by and see his old college buddy. They plan a fishing trip together for the coming weekend. While at the diner, Flo and Mel get Jack to take Alice out on a date. They have a great time, go on a couple more dates and Alice hints that she would be interested in taking their relationship a little bit further. Jack comes out as gay, to which Alice responds, “Are you sure you’re not just jolly?”
Jack confirms that he is indeed gay and hopes that they can still be friends. Alice rethinks her decision to allow Tommy to go on the fishing trip with Mel and Jack, which prompts Jack to confront Alice at the diner on her reasoning. He makes a compelling argument: “if I was straight and Tommy was your daughter, would you allow her to be around me?”, which Alice says she would have no problem with that. This causes her to rethink her position and she allows Tommy to go on the fishing trip.
At the end of the episode, as Alice and Tommy are discussing the trip, she tells him that Jack is a homosexual. Tommy is a little surprised, because everyone at school talks about how you should be able to instantly tell if someone is gay but overall he doesn’t care. He likes Jack for who he is. Alice and Tommy hug and the credits roll.
Now, I remember watching this episode as a young kid (I was eight years old when this episode originally aired), probably in reruns on a weekday morning or something. For 1976 and especially for the second episode of a brand new sitcom, this seems like a very edgy subject to tackle but it is well handled from beginning to end. The episode feels honest and I find it to be a surprisingly positive episode of the gay community. The comedic bits are handled mostly well; there’s a few 1970s era digs in there but overall the episode flows well and the message is positive. Imagine, a positive gay episode in 1976, and again, it was the second episode ever of “Alice”.
Props to the writers, cast and crew for taking that change during the bicentennial.
The reason I remember this particular episode so well is because of Tommy’s reaction at the end. His fairly nonchalant attitude towards Jack’s sexuality struck a good chord with me. In the era of Anita Bryant and the pie in her face, hearing a kid around my age speak his truth about his attitude toward gay people actually made me realize that not everyone in school, despite the taunts I would endure from time to time, was evil. There were good people out there, people that didn’t really care who I fell in love with as long as I was a good person.
This is something we all need to remember from time to time.
Now, because you know you want to sing along with it, here’s my favorite version of Linda Lavin singing the theme song from “Alice”. I have gathered nine different vocal takes of the theme song from its nine seasons, and the “second season long version” theme is my favorite. I remember when this new version debuted, I had to explain my sister the different between “Early to rise” with the first season and “Early to rise” with this version. Having a VCR back then would have made the argument much easier.
Happy National Coming Out Day!
I had figured out I was “different” by second grade, confirmed I was fooling no one by 11th grade Ethics Class and made a promise to myself on the first day at SUNY Fredonia that I would no longer try to suppress who I was.
Despite every name, threat, punch, religious intervention and law that tried to convince me to be something I’m not, the biggest obstacle of being gay has been my own internalized homophobia and fear of disappointing those I care about. As I approach the second half of my life, I’m getting over that and just embracing who I am. I admire those that don’t have that internal struggle. My struggle has been relatively easy; I know others have had it much worse. I hope it gets better for them.
So here’s a picture of me, “pretty in pink”, taken August ’90 on Jones Beach on Long Island.
H/T to Dave at Blogography for sharing this Australian commercial. A good way to start the day.
To help with context, as Dave explained in his blog post:
I love advertising that really makes you think, and this ad from Australia is absolutely brilliant in getting its point across. Before watching, it may be helpful to know that Aussies use BBQ sauce the way Americans use ketchup. And Aussie tomato sauce is much like ketchup except not… For an equivalent American context, the guy telling his dad he likes tomato sauce is the equivalent to going to Chicago and telling the hotdog vendor that you want ketchup on your dog.
So today the Supreme Court of the United States announced their decision in regards to Same Sex Marriage. The 14th amendment of the constitution guarantees the right to marriage to ALL Americans and from this moment forward, Same Sex Marriage is legal in all 50 states of the United States.
Earl and I have been legally married since October 2011, shortly after Same Sex Marriage was legal in New York State. The legality of our marriage has weighed heavily on life decisions: where will we move, where will I work, etc. This is no longer a factor, we can live in any state in the union and be legally married.
What an incredible feeling.
I was on a conference call at work when the decision came down. I had to make sure the phone was muted as I cried tears of happiness. I didn’t expect to be emotional about the decision but I was. It was like a weight was lifted, even though we’ve had it pretty good here in Upstate New York.
We are married all of the USA now. Our friends in other states can now get married.
And it is an incredible feeling.
Congratulations to Illinois on the passing of marriage equality! This is absolutely wonderful news.
Once signed, the new law will allow same sex couples to be married beginning in June 2014.
Yay!
Today is National Coming Out Day. For your reading pleasure, here is a blog entry I wrote back in 2004 on this very subject. And here is another blog entry I wrote back in 2006.
As I said in one of these entries:
So if you’re gay, peeking around the closet door and wondering what to do today, just take a step out and tell someone, anyone, that you’re gay, even if it means admitting it to yourself by looking at your image in the mirror. You deserve the self-respect and those around deserve the respect of you telling them the truth.
I feel this everyday.
Our future just got even brighter.
I didn’t think I would get really emotional about the ruling announcements today, but some tears were shed in my cube as I saw the news go across the ticker.
Congratulations to the United States for taking another big step toward equality across all of your 50 states. Welcome to the 21st century.
I stumbled upon an article on Google+ about Google Pride, the initiatives being taken by Google for Pride Month, in recognition of it’s LGBTQ employees. It’s always good to see companies recognize and celebrate the diversity of their employees. I always consider this sort of thing when out looking for the next chapter in my career.
I started my tech career working for DEC, or the Digital Equipment Corporation, which at the time was based in Maynard, Mass. (DEC is now part of Hewlett-Packard). My first gay pride parade was in Boston in 1989, when I joined many colleagues in the group BGLAD, Being Gay or Lesbian at Digital. Like the efforts described by Google, Digital was supportive of BGLAD and another group within the company, DECPLUS (DEC People Like US), and provided resources so that we could show our pride in the parade with banners and everything. It felt good to work for a supportive company and I have been fortunate enough to work for other companies that are supportive (to varying degrees) as well. I’ve been out in my career for a long time and that’s something that I’m very proud of, if one can be proud of just being themselves. A fellow Google-Plusser mentioned it best, it’s not so much that I’m proud of being gay but rather that I just lack shame for being gay.
I wish we lived in a time and place where we didn’t need Pride festivals and parades, where LGBTQ folks were considered to be completely part of the norm. I don’t need a day to be gay at Disney because I’m always gay at Disney. But until we come to the realization of that time and place that I dream of, there will be the need for Pride Month with the parades and the festivals and the drag queens and the dykes on bikes and the leathermen and all the millions of other folks that are just being themselves.
I think our family needs to go to the Boston Pride parade this weekend.
Just a guy with a husband. We’ve been together 28 years and he still makes me see fireworks on a daily basis. Hiker. Storm Chaser. Private Pilot. Tech Guy. Hackerish.
Weird? Eccentric!