A top Bundesliga player has spoken anonymously about being in the closet, saying there is still ‘little hope’ for gay athletes to be open about their sexuality.
A top German footballer has secretly come out as gay but refuses to go public because of fears for his safety.
Speaking anonymously to magazine Fluter, the Bundesliga player said: ‘I would no longer be safe if my sexuality was to be made public.
‘I don’t know whether I will be able to take the constant tension between the model heterosexual player and the possible discovery until the end of my career.’ Continue reading →
Yet Ireland is a long way away from us here in San Francisco, The Rainbow Project is a great role model for gay men and groups world wide.
About The Rainbow Project
The Rainbow Project is a health organisation that works to improve the physical, mental & emotional health of gay, bisexual and non-heterosexual men in Northern Ireland.
We are the largest gay organisation in Northern Ireland and have two centres: one in Belfast city centre and the other in Foyle, L’Derry.
History
The Rainbow Project was established in 1994 by a group of volunteers who were concerned about the spread of HIV within the gay male population of Northern Ireland.
These volunteers wanted to provide information and support to men who have sex with men (MSM) ahout HIV and AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). They carried out research within the gay and bisexual communities in order to find out what type of information and support services were required. Continue reading →
I just finished reading about the suicide of a gay therapist Bob Bergeron. No one knows why he committed suicide—the author of the article and many of his friends are left to wonder about the reasons. But the irony left in the wake of his death is hard to ignore. He was about to publish a book on successful gay male aging and his suicide note suggests that we was struggling with the very issue he was writing about—a potentially difficult issue for many gay men as we grow older..
A closer consideration of gay male aging suggests why growing older might be a particularly tricky. First of all, a large component of gay male culture is focused on beauty, youth, and sexual attractiveness. Like their heterosexual counterparts, gay men respond and react sexually to visual stimuli, namely the physical appeal of their sexual partners. As a result, beauty is privileged and so are the men who have it.
Joan Collins once said that physical beauty is a gift granted in youth that is slowly taken away little by little over time. Thus, gay men who are lucky to live long enough to age must face the decline of their attractiveness. However, growing up gay in a stigmatizing society might leave them particularly ill-suited to face the challenges of this time of life.
Bob Bergeron is a case in point. According to an article in the Sunday April 1st New York Times, Mr. Bergeron grew up nervous and awkward, poor at sports and unable to interact with other boys. If he was like a lot of other growing up gay boys, he was probably scapegoated and physically harassed. Many of us, include me, were terribly bullied as children. We were called out for being gay before we even knew who we were. At the same time, we learned being gay was something shameful and disgusting needing to be hidden from the world, including the people closest to us. Many of my clients and research respondents who have experienced this stigmatization grow up with deep wounds and a profound sense of personally inadequacy and low self-worth. So perhaps we were vulnerable to some of the dark sides of gay male life, namely, its overemphasis on looks, youth, and sexual attractiveness at the cost of healthier and life sustaining values that can assist us as we age. MORE
A gay discussion where “How Have John Waters Movies Helped Shape Gay Culture in Baltimore,” is on the table, I’m in (Well, if I were a little bit closer).
Charm City now has its own gay male social group aimed at men 18+. (Wikimedia photo by Kathleen Conklin)
A new gay men’s discussion and social group was launched in Baltimore earlier this month. Based on the success of a similar group—the Gay District in Washington, D.C.—Charm City Gay Social was formed and meets each Friday from 8:30-10 p.m. at the First United Church – United Church of Christ, 1728 Eastern Ave. in the Fell’s Point area. A move to the Mount Vernon neighborhood may take place eventually.
The group, which was founded by David Sugar and Ian Damm Luhr, is aimed at gay men 18 and over. It holds weekly discussions on a variety of subjects, including “What Kind of Gay Are You: New Gay Stereotypes” and “How Have John Waters Movies Helped Shape Gay Culture in Baltimore.” The organizers are seeking discussion facilitators for future meetings.
There may be a game night added to the mix or other activities to be determined. Following the discussion, participants go out for dinner in the area or head to the clubs. MORE
Gay Leadership Project: Gay Men To Be Role Models For Superb Health, Financial Independence And Loving Relationships – says Angelo – Gay Life Coach And Gay Matchmaker.
Can a gay matchmaker from Miami turn into a visionary? Paul Angelo MHA, MBA offers a compelling vision for financial, health and relationship success for gay men in the U.S. and world-wide. The Gay Leadership Project is the beginning of something big – says Angelo.
Paul Angelo, the gay matchmaker and gay life coachoffers a new vision for gay men. In 5 years, Angelo sees gay men to be role models for superb health, financial independence and loving relationships. Continue reading →
I can remember sitting in health class when I was 14, watching a video about AIDS. It was a humid 90 degrees outside, and there was no air conditioning in the building. An image of a man, no more than 100 pounds and covered in lesions, appeared on the screen, and I suddenly felt nauseated. I broke out into a sweat and watched it pool into a tiny puddle on the surface of my desk. I went to the boys’ room and stood at the sink, looking at myself in the mirror. Growing up in the ’90s, we were taught that sex equaled death. Specifically, gay sex equaled death. And to my fragile, impressionable young mind, that meant being gay equaled death, too. When you believe death and disease are your destiny, what’s to stop you from being promiscuous, doing drugs, or even taking your own life?
Of course, it gets better. And it did, at least for me. But as an adult, I encounter younger gay men who didn’t grow up seeing the things my generation saw. So much has changed in just a few short years. HIV is no longer a death sentence; it’s a “manageable condition.” And the number of gay men practicing unsafe sex, out of recklessness, complacency, or even deliberate self-injury, continues to grow. The CDC reports that infection rates among men who have sex with men, particularly blacks and Hispanics, are on the rise. READ MORE
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A new public health campaign in Columbus, Ohio, is attracting attention for its ads promoting sexual health among young gay men.
The “Take Care Down There” campaign billboards and print ads feature shirtless men with arrows pointing below their waistlines.
Makeda Porter, the prevention-services manager at Columbus Public Health told LGBTQ Nationthat Columbus health officials anticipate that their message — “essentially, take good care of yourself — will be perceived as straightforward without being preachy.”
According to Porter, over a period of a few months, she and her colleagues met with several focus groups, concentrating on young men in general and young black men in particular.
In a report published last August by the Centers for Disease Control, the annual number of new HIV infections in the United States was at approximately 50,000 new infections each year between 2006 and 2009.
The CDC’s first multi-year estimates from its national HIV incidence surveillance find that overall, the annual number of new HIV infections in the United States was relatively stable at approximately 50,000 new infections each year between 2006 and 2009.
However, HIV infections increased among young men who have sex with men (MSM) between 2006 and 2009, driven by alarming increases among young, black MSM – the only sub-population to experience a sustained increase during the time period. MORE
This video, shown at SAMHSA’s 8th annual Prevention Day in February 2012, recognizes the work of Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), Healthy Connections to prevent substance abuse, suicide, and HIV infectionamong gay male youth and adults. GMHC, Healthy Connections, located in New York City, reaches out to gay and questioning male youth and young adults, particularly African-American males ages 12 to 17 and 18 to 24, who are at risk for substance abuse, HIV infection, and suicide. Healthy Connections provides prevention and intervention strategies and HIV testing. A facilitator travels to areas throughout New York City where the target population congregates and initiates conversations with individuals in these areas; during the conversations, the facilitator explains prevention services to gauge whether the individuals may be interested in participating. Outreach and informational palm cards are also provided at bars and clubs. Contact information is collected from young men who have sex with men interested in any of the services. Visit http://www.gmhc.org for more information about GMHC and its prevention programming.
Among the Olympics torch-bearers named this morning are gay figures from the sporting world.
7,300 torch-bearers were named this morning and will carry the flame for 70 days and 8,000 through the UK in July ahead of the opening of the Olympics on 27 July. Continue reading →
Coming out can be a difficult process for any teenager. According to Scott Heggart, it’s even harder when you’re an athlete.
The Canadian-born Heggart, now 21 and a first-year communications student at the University of Ottawa, told the Ottawa Citizen he began to understand his sexuality in 7th grade, but feared that he would have to stop playing football, basketball, softball and hockey if he came out. “I’d started to understand who I was, what it meant,” he recalled. “The worst thing, from my teammates’ perspective, was to be gay.”
Though he came out to his supportive family at age 15, Heggart says an even bigger challenge lay ahead: revealing his sexuality to his teammates. So instead, he opted to document his coming out experience anonymously by posting videos on YouTube, one new clip every day for a year from 2008-2009. Said his mother Julie, who was initially concerned by her son’s decision: “It was a place where he could be himself and share his struggles and his conflicts and everything he was going through with this broader community.”
In the video series, Heggart speaks poignantly about the process, and takes on other topics like religion, same-sex marriage, the so-called “ex-gay” movement and other topics. When he finally did come out to teammates and classmates by posting a photo of himself with his new boyfriend, Brock, on Facebook and changing his relationship status, Heggart says he received “respect and support.” He now says the 2011 suicide of Jamie Hubley, a 15-year-old gay Canadian teen, inspired him to go public about his YouTube identity.
Inside First 