Living Proof

Slavery was okay in the Bible, ma'am. 50 years ago it was illegal for you to get married,  ma'am. It's kind of interesting what's been happening lately since social media has been exploding with the messages of those who are for and against marriage equality. Now I'm seeing the religious antigay people coming out of the woodwork spreading all of their cherry picked scriptures from the Bible to tear down those who want equality. If you've been reading me for some time now, you know where I'm heading with this one. I'll try to put a twist to it for you so you don't feel like you're reading the same thing again and again. But today, it's important I put this message out there. So bear with me, loyal readers. For new readers, especially the antigay religious folk -- I challenge you to answer a few questions. Do you include salt, in offering to your God? If not, you're sinning. Do you eat fat in your diets? If so, that's supposed to...

It truly amazes me how some people view gays and lesbians. Since yesterday, I have been reading threads upon threads on mostly those who agree that the LGBT community should be able to marry the person they love. I have also read comments from those opposing marriage equality. For instance, one man stated, "Well, if you let this sort of thing happen, then 'other groups' will want to marry. It will happen." What other groups? As I read further into other angry posts, another person said that some people will want to marry their relatives, underage minors (pedophiles) and even went as far to say pets. The more I read these outrageous responses from your typical 'everyday normal citizens' --- I actually wondered what the people around me really thought of it. You know, years ago if you said something positive about the gay community, or dare I say - you were gay in a company that was a bit more conservative, you could have been fired for it. Now, it's mor...

So your religion says that "gay marriage" will ruin the sanctity of marriage. Your religion says that two men together or two women together is an abomination to God. Your religion tells you a whole lot of things. Your religion also tells you to steer clear from shellfish. Your religion tells you that you shouldn't shave your beard. Your religion forbids you to have tattoos. Your religion tells you that premarital sex is a sin and yet you don't follow your religion's rules, but you're okay with judging other people's lives, and you're also okay with ruining other people's lives by instilling your religion and 'thought to be' morals upon other people's relationships. You want to stop gays and lesbians from marrying, while the sanctity of marriage has already been ruined by many straight people, including celebrities and those who take marriage for granted. You seem to be okay with the fact that so many people get a divorce over the sl...

Have you ever felt like all your efforts were unseen and just invisible to everyone but yourself? Ever try to make people in your life happy but it just feels like you're hitting a brick wall over and over again? Then you start asking yourself, "Am I even happy?" A friend of mine wrote a really great post called, " Play Nice " which really spoke volumes on the laws of attraction. She writes, "The law of cause and effect where every action produces an equal and opposite reaction essentially states that there are consequences to our actions. We are the crafters of our own destiny and happiness and what we put out creates a kind of energy that will travel through the Universe and in a different form will come back to us." It sounds like this "law" should be foolproof, working on all levels of everything that's positive. My question is, are these theories and "laws" similar to ones in the Bible - "to control the masses" ...

What would you do if you caught someone sneaking into your house through a window at 2am? What would you do if you were a gun owner? Unfortunately, sixteen year old Caleb Gordley from Virginia snuck out of his house to hang out with his friends. His parents had grounded him for not cleaning his room, so he took it upon himself to make a clean getaway for the evening. When he returned home after a night of heavy drinking, he had snuck into a window of his neighbor's house thinking it was his own. The neighbor unfortunately shot and killed Caleb thinking it was an intruder...but technically, it was an intruder in their eyes. The Gordley's have forgiven the neighbor for the death of their son, which is a huge and commendable thing on their part. I cannot even imagine being in their shoes. There's also that tiny thought in my head that asks, "What if it wasn't a mistake and Caleb had intentions on robbing his neighbors?" Maybe he saw something he wanted during ...

In some ways, there seems to be this right of passage for Catholics (mostly clergy) to bully those who are of different beliefs and lifestyles. I'm not talking your typical push you 'round the playground' type of bullying, but the type where if you don't believe what I believe, then you're just disgusting...period. They've made their point very clear, while trying to clean up their messy files of pedophilia and homosexual activities that have been going on in their churches for centuries. They never even step up to the alter and apologize, only to make excuses, cover up scandals and pretend like it never happened. Before I get into my distaste for the new Pope, I have a story of my own. Back in the eighties when I was going to CCD - night school for religion, they had sent us away to a religious retreat in upstate New York. It didn't seem like a "retreat" as much as it looked like a prison with cement walls and a door for each room. The only fu...

Is it so bad if it was finally discovered, revealed and scientifically proven that being gay, lesbian, bisexual, heterosexual or transgendered was all but a choice? Even for myself, I sometimes want validation for my decision of being gay, for deciding not to go with the husband, kids, big house on a hill with a white picked fence three dogs in the yard kinda' deal, but everything is always in the gray area. I don't have a problem with my "preference" - my "choice". Didn't God give us choice? Mom always said it would be a harder life, but when I look around at all my friends, my family and other people who have the life people "should" have, it doesn't look so easy to me. And not that I want the easy way out, but I was never ridiculed by any of my friends or family for being gay or having a partner of the same sex. Other Christian people, yes. See, the discrimination that comes in all colors also includes other groups, like minorities and...

Through having spoken to many bisexual women, I'm finding there's a fine line between the labels of "bisexuality" and "polyamory". Most of the LGBT...and I guess we're adding the "Q" for queer -- they frown upon bisexuals simply because it's like a slap in the face for the lesbians. Like, 'have your cake and eat it too' type of mindset. Are they confusing bisexuality with polyamory? We all want acceptance, whether gay, lesbian, transgender, but once bisexuals want the same acceptance, we seem to fling it out the window as this horrifying attempt to make excuses to cheat on your spouse. For instance, would you think it was cheating if a wife strayed on her husband with another woman? Depends, right? For me, I see no difference, unless of course it's a polyamorous lifestyle. What about women who are truly bisexual, yet monogamous with whoever they made a commitment with? It seems unfair that many people of the lesbian community ...

There are many things you can do selfishly, without looking "selfish". There are many things we can do to create a better world, with hidden agendas. It's tricky. Here, on my blog, I write opinions through past experiences or what I'm currently going through this this very moment. I am not a doctor nor represent anyone from any medical field or psychological profession. I do however, know a whole lot about psychology -- anxiety, depression, all that good stuff and the medications that tag along with it, because I'm a patient. But I'm also a patient who is highly against antidepressants only due to my experiences being on them for a short period of time. A few days ago, I was contacted by the producers of The Dr. Oz show. They wanted me to be a guest on their panel to discuss my opinions and experience with antidepressants. I thought I would be the 'odd guy out', being that most doctors love pushing pills, however I was assured that Dr. Oz had similar f...

Sometimes life throws you a bunch of curve balls. Whether big or small, they tend to get caught up entangling your life leaving you neglecting the biggest part of your happiness: your friends & family. This year I have had so many minor health issues, mishaps and other annoying struggles which had me living in doctors’ offices and emergency rooms. With that, I just want to apologize to all my close friends who haven’t heard from me as much lately. At times, I’m too tired to answer the phone, I forget who called me leaving me to forget to call back. There’s really no excuse for it. Things could be much worse. I’m a big baby when it comes to medical fiascos. With that, brings the thought of what had taken place a few years back. I was walking in Shoprite picking up a few things one afternoon. As I was grabbing a gallon of milk, this lady with long dark hair all the way down to her waist with a long flowing dress walks up to me, eyes bulging out as if she had just seen a gho...

If you've ever been assumed about, I'm guessing you're probably frustrated over all the misconceptions people can dish out about you. I used to give a shit until I realized how imperfect we all are, whether we want to admit it or not. And being imperfect is a beautiful thing about life: we all share a commonality that draws us together, yet keeps many of us apart. We fear being 'figured out' - we fear that our vulnerabilities will be shown to the world. We're not the "perfect mother", "perfect wife", "perfect son", "perfect salesperson", "perfect singer", "perfect writer" -- and we're not. Not everyone's gonna love ya. Plain and simple. We try our hardest and it all gets flung out the flippin' window. But the thing is -- why are we caring and trying so much to prove our worth? It's a waste of time. I've quit caring about a lot of things in life (not careLESSly mind you), but in ter...

Suffering with anxiety disorder isn't easy. There are so many lovely accessories to go with it, like depression, self-medicating and doctors who are too lazy to treat their patients with effective therapy, writing a prescriptions all day and hoping for the best. Like me, not everyone can take antidepressants due to their many side effects. I have to opt for 'talk therapy' and what's perceived as "cognitive behavioral therapy", when it's only some guy who's heard probably 20 people before you whine about similar things just staring at you nodding or asking you, "So how do you feel about that?" I started reading books and articles online. I have learned so much from reading that by now, I should have a fricken degree. I have the type of anxiety whereas if I feel a tinge of pain in my jaw or left arm, I'm off to the hospital getting the works done: EKGs, blood tests, stress tests, you name it. If I experience swelling anywhere (like puffin...