Hi Everyone!

Alex and I had a great time at the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade and Festival. We have both come down with colds. So I just don’t know if we will record a show this week. You just might have to wait until next Monday. Sorry about that.

Dean

The largest Gay Pride celebration around the world is now underway in San Francisco. Alex and I are going to spend the weekend in the city taking in as much as we can of the celebration this year. Of course, our first dilemma this morning is deciding what to wear to the city for the weekend.

One week ago, it reached the high 90’s in the city and today the temps will range from 54 to 69. As I look out the window this morning from home, it is cloudy, or is that just more smoke? There have been over 800 fires burning in the state of California over the past couple of weeks, many burning out of control as we have a lack of resources to put them out. Can anyone say “Armageddon”? Well, lets not go there boys and girls!

It has been so smoky in the Bay Area over the last week that one can only see a few miles away. I have got myself a very nasty cough and no other cold symptoms. It’s just a wait and see situation as to whether it is a cold or troubles due to the smoke. Oh, I digress! The question at hand is what are a couple of gay boys going to wear to the Gay Pride celebrations in the city this weekend?

Actually, I wish trying to decide what to wear was the most important question for the weekend, but somehow I just don’t think that it is. Am I about to get myself in trouble here with my Gay brethren? Probably. I think the question that I need to ask myself this morning is what is the meaning and purpose of the Gay Pride celebration and parade this weekend?

I think a little history is in order first. Here is a direct quote from the San Francisco Pride organization on the history of the parade…

The annual Pride Celebration commemorates the rebellion of LGBT patrons of the Stonewall Inn in New York City’s Greenwich Village in response to a routine police raid on June 27, 1969. The following year, a “Gay-In” that took place on June 27, 1970 that was the early progenitor of the current Pride Celebration. Since 1972, the event has been held every year, though under various names: “Christopher Street West” in 1972, “Gay Freedom Day” from 1973 to 1980, then “International Lesbian & Gay Freedom Day Parade” from 1981 to 1994, and finally, its present appellation, San Francisco Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride Celebration.

Since its modest beginnings, San Francisco Pride has ballooned into one of the largest and most well-known Pride events in the world. Pride events everywhere have come to symbolize several things: the long history of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer resistance to the gender and sex binaries and the hegemony of heterosexist institutions, the freedom of all people to meaningfully and proudly express their sexual and gender identities, and the commitment of LGBT people to combating oppression. From this history of rebellion grew the mission of San Francisco LGBT Pride: to educate the World, celebrate our culture, commemorate our heritage, and liberate our people.

There has been talk lately, well probably every year the parade has been held actually, about whether or not the parade and celebration has lost its way. Is there any political relevance to the event at this time in our history? Is the pride celebration putting forth the message and image that is needed to further the acceptance of the GLBT communities by the mainstream? Has the sexual behavior and lewdness become too much? Is it just a parade of commercialism with big money contributed by the likes of Anheuser-Busch, Wells Fargo, Google, Virgin America, and others? Is it a platform for any nut-bag to walk down Market Street with a cause that has nothing to do with the current issues of the GLBT community?

Step back from your direct involvement in all of this for a moment and think about what is being rightly or wrongly portrayed to the rest of the world by this celebration this weekend. Does some of what goes on here embarrass you just a bit? I’m going to be very honest here as I always am, yes some of it is embarrassing to me. There are going to be times this weekend that I’m going to cringe, close my eyes and say to myself oh that wasn’t really necessary now was it? But, I’m not going to let all that stop me from my Gay holiday in the city this weekend.

Gay marriage, at least for now, is legal in California. Friday was the busiest day so far for Gay marriages at the San Francisco city hall. The attendance at the celebration this weekend will be greater than years past with many in the GLBT community coming together from around the country and world to celebrate our freedom to marry. This is certainly one reason for us to get together and celebrate this weekend.

I also think that the celebration has just turned into one big commercial event. I think this is what the event represents to many of us. It is the American way. I guess I’m not complaining that much, I am going to partake myself. Let me assure all of you though, I will not be striping down to my underwear and dancing like a little girl on any float, nor will I be marching up Market Street carrying a sign depicting the plight of males across the world that are being circumcised each year.

What I will be doing is celebrating our victory on Gay marriage in the state of California and I will simply be a participant in the largest Gay party the world has ever seen. We will spend money on a hotel room, eat at restaurants, shop at Macy’s, turn our heads at every cute guy that walks by, drink many Bud-lights, eat some crappy event food, take pictures of the religious zealots and their signs condemning our sinful homosexual ways, get sun-burned, buy sun screen lotion, party, party and party!

So lets go party! Oh, wait, that’s right, I’ve got to figure out what I’m going to wear this weekend! I can’t find the pair of Ralph Lauren Polo cargo pants that I wanted to wear. Damn it! I think I left them in the motorhome the last time that Daniel and I were at the ranch. Well, its going to be a few hours before I’m ready to go…got to make myself look all pretty…oh I mean homo masculine!

Dean

TYT on Michael Savage: Drawn to masculine beauty, not old ugly women!

http://www.theyoungturks.com/

Pure Sex religious zealots on mission to help us deviant homosexuals

You have to listen to this podcast! Click the link below to listen to truth from the pulpit…
http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/Pure_Sex_Radio/archives.asp?bcd=5/10/2008

60 Minutes Gay Sergeant gets discharged!

I saw that one coming from a mile away. Click the link below…
http://www.ontopmag.com/article.aspx?id=1914&mediaType=1&category=26#

 

 AlexDeanGMT-076 [1:31:52m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Hi, this is Alex and Dean - Gay Men Talking, coming to you from San Francisco!

At 5:01pm on Monday, June 16th, the first legal Gay marriage took place in the office of Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco. Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, a couple of more than fifty years, were the first to get married at a time in our history which is being called the second summer of love. Alex and Dean were there outside the Mayor’s office waiting in support of Del and Phyliss and all Gay couples who will now marry across the state of California.

Alex and Dean had a busy week with dinners, cocktails and a concert. Gay men and straight women’s brains, George Michael, RENT, Mario Lopez and David Beckham’s underwear are all part of today’s current news and entertainment. Listener’s email comments are read on last week’s show on Gay self esteem, depression and other topics.

Next week is Gay Pride weekend in San Francisco. Alex and Dean will be there taking it all in!

To purchase your copy of Dr. Kimeron Hardin’s latest book “Loving Ourselves: The Gay and Lesbian Guide to Self-Esteem” and the movie “Shelter” on DVD, please visit us at www.alexanddean.com.

www.alexanddean.com

alexanddean@gmail.com

“Wedding Song” and “Hold Back” music this week by Allison Crowe
www.allisoncrowe.com
Allison’s music can also be found at
www.mevio.com

San Francisco Gay Pride

 

 AlexDeanGMT-075 [1:58:03m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Hi, this is Alex and Dean - Gay Men Talking, coming to you from San Francisco!

This week Alex and Dean welcome their friend and author, Dr. Kimeron Hardin, who discusses his latest book “Loving Ourselves: The Gay and Lesbian Guide to Self-Esteem.” In a fun and informative Q&A, Dr. Hardin talks about growing up gay in a conservative religious family from the Bible Belt and how that transitioned into a career in clinical and health psychology. Dr. Hardin also discusses common issues in dealing with low self-esteem and what people can do to help overcome these issues. Dean opens up about his self-esteem issues and the impact that has had on his life as a gay man in a straight world.

Alex and Dean celebrate pride as they prepare for the San Jose Pride Parade and Festival. To help kick things off they play a song from Nice Peter called “It’s Time to be Gay.” Gay marriage is still in the news as California and the gay community braces itself for a historic day as legal gay marriages are set to take place. Alex and Dean plan to be there to celebrate this historic day. And as always, Alex talks about RENT….again! In other entertainment news Alex discusses George Michael, A Chorus Line, and Design Star 3. Nice Peter closes the show with “The Bush Song.” No, it isn’t what you think, or maybe it is.

www.alexanddean.com

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“Loving Ourselves: The Gay and Lesbian Guide to Self-Esteem” and “Queer Blues: The Lesbian and Gay Guide to Overcoming Depression” by Dr. Kimeron Hardin Ph.D.
www.kimeronhardin.com

“It’s Time to be Gay” and “The Bush Song” by Nice Peter
www.nicepeter.com

San Jose Gay Pride

San Francisco Gay Pride

June is Gay Pride Month in many communities around the world. It is a time for us to celebrate who we are. This year, San Francisco’s Pride celebration is June 28th and 29th. The theme is “United by Pride, Bound for Equality”. This year is quite special for the city of San Francisco and for many Gay and Lesbian couples who will be able to legally marry in the state of California begining June 17th.

I can vividly remember the day, March 10, 2004, when Alex and I were married at the city hall in San Francisco. This was our second trip to the city to get married. About four weeks prior, we were turned away due to the overwhelming number of Gay and Lesbian couples that were trying to get married. We were one of the last couples, over 4000 in total, to get married before the California Supreme Court issued a temporary stay on the following day. A temporary stay that lasted over four years.

Our marriage on March 10, 2004 was soon taken away from us and we once again became second class citizens at the hands of the religious fanatics that were then and still are running this country and our daily lives. This was a time of great happiness and sadness for me. Along with Alex and me getting married, in March of 2004 I graduated from University with a four year Bachelor of Science degree. This was quite an accomplishment for me at this stage of my life. I wish I had done that when I was twenty two! Sadness came when the courts put a stop to gay marriage and when on Good Friday, April 9, 2004, my mother lost her brave battle with cancer.

My mother died in a hospital in San Diego hundreds of miles away from her home in Eugene Oregon. The whole family was at her bedside when she passed. I’m glad I was there with her. I can’t image being witness to anything more emotionally tramatic then watching my sweet mother open her eyes at that moment, look up at my father and then exhail that last breath of air from her mortal body. As I look back at that day, it also signified in a way the death of our family. Many of us never spoke again to one another until the death of my father late last year brought us children together again for a brief time.

My mother didn’t watch me graduate from the University, she didn’t attend our marriage at the city hall, I didn’t even tell her that Alex and I went to the city and got married. One thing that I do know however is that my mother was always proud of me. There was never a moment in my life, never a thing that I could do wrong where she wasn’t proud of who and what I was and am. I wish I could have that same level of pride and confidence in myself as my mother had in me. If she was still with us and if Alex and I do get “legally” married, she would certainly be there.

As we celebrate pride this month, I will do so with the knowledge and excitement that Gay marriage is for the first time legal in the state of California. We truly are Bound for Equality! It is also extremely important for us to realize that this wonderful gay marriage right can slip right through our hands once again and forever, come the election this November. The religious right will put up a fight to the likes that we have never witnessed before for a consitutional amendment against Gay marriage. This will be their battle for their silly little way of life. This is our battle too. It is now our time to fight for our way of life. Another time and opportunity will not come again.

Dean

Alex and I headed over to a couple of book stores in a near by community this morning to look for a couple of Gay self help books written by a friend of ours. Needless to say, we didn’t find the books we were looking for.

Barnes and Noble was our first stop and then Borders. What was interesting at both of these book stores was the shelf space that these two stores dedicated to Gay and Lesbian books or I should say the gross lack of shelf space. Barnes and Noble did have one rack of Gay and Lesbian books, but Borders had less than one shelf (see photo). However, at Borders, there was almost an entire row dedicated to all kinds of books on straight sexuality, books that no one would want their children to have access to. I guess that is acceptable to the religious fanatics and those wig wearing, wooden teeth baring old men that seem to be running this country today and telling us all how we should live, what we are to believe in and what we can read!

Well, wait a minute. That’s right, I do know why we have such little shelf space dedicated to even Gay and Lesbian self help books; there just simply are no Gays in San Mateo! That must be the answer. I do want to be at least a little fair to both Barnes and Noble and Borders, they do have the books we are looking for available on line. I was just hoping to be able to contribute to my own local community by spending my money locally. Castro Street, here I come!

Dean

Even before the California Supreme Court struck down the ban on Gay marriage, the fanatical religious right, all in the name of American family values, was hard at work trying to get a constitutional amendment placed on the ballot in November to ban Gay marriage in California once and for all. Our long struggle is not over. It will be a very tough uphill battle to defeat this amendment come November. The country is divided on just about every issue facing American’s today and California is just as divided on this issue as any other.

So what can we do? Well, we need to get people to the polls in November and they need to vote down this amendment to the state constitution. Below are some links to sites that you can visit and find out what can be done.

Equality for All - http://www.equalityforall.com/
This is the coalition specifically formed to fight the initiative. It organized a “do not sign” effort and is gearing up to fight it.

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund - http://www.thetaskforceactionfund.org/
This is NGLTF’s PAC (separate from its non-profit side)

Freedom to Marry - http://www.freedomtomarry.org/
They work to promote marriage equality nationwide

Equality California - http://www.eqca.org/

Please visit them today! Please help out!

 

 AlexDeanGMT-074 [1:38:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Hi, this is Alex and Dean - Gay Men Talking, coming to you from San Francisco!

While Alex stays at home to see Sex in the City, Dean and Australian Daniel take a trip to the ranch and motorhome to do the manly things that real men do! No manicures here boys, just grease under the fingernails.

June is gay pride month across the nation and come June 17th, gays can legally get married in California. However, the radical religious right has succeeded in placing another anti-gay marriage initiative on the November ballot. This will be the ultimate gay rights struggle for generations to come.

Obama has won the Democratic ticket and now Dean says he will have to vote for him. Will Clinton be his running mate? Will Obama and Clinton be a good choice for the advancement of gay rights in America or do these two simply want our votes?

Lots of reader email, entertainment and other news are also part of this weeks exciting show from Alex and Dean.

www.alexanddean.com

alexanddean@gmail.com

 

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Hi, this is Alex and Dean - Gay Men Talking, coming to you from San Francisco!

Alex and Dean recuperate this week after Australian Daniel wears them out!  That’s right, Australian Daniel is in town and Alex and Dean spend the weekend with him.  From the Top of the Mark to bar hopping in the Castro they paint the town red.  Aussie Daniel also joins them for a BBQ and more bar hopping in San Jose.  And if that isn’t enough, Daniel sits in on this week’s podcast and shares his experience of 3 weeks on the pacific aboard a freighter along with his plans for the summer and his time with Alex and Dean.

Alex and Dean also discuss the ordination of their good friend Reverend Tim.  It was a great ceremony and Alex and Dean were glad to be there to share this moment with Tim.  Congratulations Tim…we hate to see you go.

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Hi, this is Alex and Dean - Gay Men Talking, coming to you from San Francisco!

Today is a historic day for California and the Gay community. The California Supreme Court overturned the ban on Gay marriage. Alex and Dean share their thoughts on this pivotal moment in Gay history. Will it be a short lived victory for us? The fanatical religious right with their terrorist ways have already been working on a constitutional amendment to permanently ban gay marriage.

Alex and Dean also catch up their listeners on their goings-on over the last two months. A “blues” song is in the works, a new convertable, dead cows and smashed up cars and another mid-life crises toy for Dean are all part of the mix today.

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Hi, this is Alex and Dean - Gay Men Talking, coming to you from San Francisco!

Alex and Dean catch up on past email from their listeners after we find out about Alex’s new friend at the gym. A young gay man tells us about his coming out experiences and we find out that Dean is not the only homo-masculine man in the world.

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 Alex and Dean GMT 70 [1:20:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Hi, this is Alex and Dean - Gay Men Talking, coming to you from San Francisco!

Alex and Dean wrap up their Hawaiian vacation. They spent three hours, eighty feet in the air, zip lining from tree to tree. They got mud in their faces and celebrated Dean’s birthday with a horse drawn carriage ride and a dinner not to forget.

It’s another road trip to Oregon and this time they drive the motor home south to it’s new home. Is Dean getting a little too hung up on the motor home? Should we call this being homo-masculine or being straight?

Alex and Dean talk about the presidential elections and the gay defense for a 15 year old murderer. The boring Oscar’s came and went, American Idol is back. Oh yes, David Archuleta is so cute! I guess Dean is going to watch this year after all. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck videos…that’s all that needs to be said.

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Alex! Wake up! our 20 minute flight to Oahu is over! That’s about all it took to fly from Kauai to Oahu yesterday. Ok, throw in another 20 minutes of ground time, but that was the shortest plane ride that I have ever been on. When we were sitting at the gate in Kauai and they were boarding the flight ahead of ours, I said to Alex “I wonder how they get all those people on that little airplane?” Know we know. I’m not a tall person and when I sat down in the airplane seat, I could barely open the seat pocket in front of me and put my magazines in there. Wow! It really is a good thing that the flight is only about half an hour. That’s Hawaiian Air folks. We will try Aloha Airlines next time around.

 Waikiki has really gone through a make over, at least at the north end of the strip where our hotel is located. We were worried that it would really be different. Well, this end of the strip is different, but for the better. It is nice to see this area get a face lift. Only issue I have is that there are too many Prada type stores! Damn those rich old ladies! Alex and I did buy a couple shirts at Quiksilver. Well, their no Prada, but damn their boy clothes are expensive. I asked the cashier if they ever get old men like me in the store buying themselves young guys clothing. She assured me that they do. Oh, good I feel better about buying myself a shirt that guys 30 years younger then me wear!

Wow, I think we are being attacked! Is it Pearl Harbor all over again? {long pause} We were in our room and we heard real loud explosions out over the bay. It was fireworks for the Chinese New Year celebration, so we just went down to the beach to watch.

The hotel that we are staying in is also begin refurbished. This is the fourth time that we have stayed at this hotel. They are doing a great job! The room is really nice. It will be a beautiful hotel when they are all done. They did away with the pastel blue colors and went with an upscale earth tone palette. Sweet!

We have made a few trips up and down the Waikiki strip. No hookers have yet to ask me if I want company. We stopped at Hula’s yesterday afternoon and had a beer. Tonight we are going to Angles to gawk at the “younger” crowd. Damn, there have been a fair share of cuties on the island so far. It was good to see such a mix of young and old at Hula’s yesterday.

We had beers at the Yard House today. They must have over 200 types of beer on tap. Needless to say, “cute waiters”! We also got some beach time in today. Alex is now happy! He looks good with his shirt off. All that working out is paying off!

Well, it is almost time to head to Angles. Alex is anxious to see if he can hook one ten years younger than himself. He says that I get to sleep with someone more than ten years younger so why not him? Hmmm, good question. Maybe I can find a hottie for myself that is ten years younger than Alex as well!

This is our last morning in Kauai. Alex and I are heading down for breakfast and then it will be time to check out. It is about a 10 min drive to the airport. It took us an hour to rent the car, let’s see how long it takes to return one! Well, we are on Hawaii time here! We just had a rain shower pass over. In Hawaii, when it rains it RAINS. The shower passed over quickly and the sun is trying to peak out. Yesterday, Alex and I did an ATV tour into the country side. We saw the area where many Hollywood movies have been filmed over the years including scenes from Jurassic Park. It’s only a 30 minute flight over to Oahu, so we will talk to you again from there!