Hail Satan!

Ever bring up a topic of discussion and suddenly become enveloped by it? Case in point - Mr. Harvey Milk. Harvey was in my thoughts last week. Now he's everywhere.....news/sex documentaries/etc.

California passed legislation this week that will designate a day to honor Mr. Milk. Once approved by the state Senate, May 22nd will be officially dubbed Harvey Milk Day. May 22nd would have been Harvey's 78th birthday. The City of San Francisco also plans to unveil a statue of the late Mr. Milk on Thursday. The statue will be located in the Ceremonial Rotunda in City Hall. Harvey was on the verge of breaking through discriminative barriers specifically involving gay acceptance and rights until he was gunned down by a disgruntled Republican (aka f*cker).

Speaking of queers and California, Mr. Sulu (aka George Takei) has announced that he will wed his long time partner after the California ban on same-sex marriage has been listed. He is seventy-one years old.



Twenty-five years ago today, a team of scientists from the Pasteur Institute in France reported a virus found in a patient who had recently died from AIDS. That virus is better known as HIV, and the rest is history. A journalist by the name of Randy Shilts chronicled the early beginnings of the AIDS epidemic in his book entitled And the Band Played On. He also wrote a book about Mr. Harvey Milk entitled The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk. Both books are also available in film format. Randy was an advocate for gay rights and AIDS awareness. He passed away in 1994 due to complications from AIDS. If you want to see the extent of the effect AIDS had on San Francisco and the world for that matter in the early 80s, then I highly recommend reading And the Band Played On. The movie version is also quite good and features several iconic, gay celebrities including Sir Ian McKellen and Lily Tomlinson.

R.I.P. Randy....

I caught a documentary on IFC (Independent Film Channel) last weekend entitled 'The Bridge'. It was chilling to say the least. The film displays the relationship with the Golden Gate Bridge and suicide. The GG Bridge is one of the most popular locations in the world for suicide attempts. The director and crew spent a year filming activity on the bridge and captured a handful of attempts while filming. The documentary tells the story of twenty-four people who threw themselves from the bridge in 2004. It is a fascinating documentary but also very sad and somewhat disturbing. One individual, who originally from Saint Louis, is featured throughout the majority of the film. His name is Gene. I was able to locate an online blog or journal that this person once kept. It is rather dark and dismal, but here is the link if you are interested. http://freekboyg.livejournal.com/
The story of Gene comes to an abrupt halt at the end of the film when he jumps from the bridge in dramatic fashion. I recommend viewing 'The Bridge', but it is a little tough to watch.

I highly encourage those few of you who actually read this source of strange and somewhat useless information to use the comment function. Comments provide feedback, and feedback is an essential part of growth and improvement especially when embarking on any writing endeavor. I learn from you the reader via feedback so by all means post away!

Check back soon for more enthralling tales from the nether regions.

Thanks to the following resources...
365gay
AFP via GoogleNews
Towelroad.com
Los Angeles Times
imdb.com
freekboyg