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Nov 10, 20203 min read
The Great March
STORY: —excerpted from the book Farm Story: Coming Out Of Indiana by Eddie Casson In October 1987, at what has become known as “The Great...
Oct 22, 202014 min read
Kissing Summer
STORY: I wanted to disappear. “Hi, Paul! What are you doing these days? Where are you working?” I stared blankly at this acquaintance,...
Oct 4, 20205 min read
Bartending at Studio
STORY: It was late evening, as just about everything was at Studio 54. I can’t remember who got me the interview, somebody I met in...
Sep 29, 20207 min read
Reflections on BOYS IN THE BAND
COMMENTARY: Brian Hutchison, Charlie Carver, Zachary Quinto, Robin de Jesus, Jim Parsons and Tuc Watkins in Los Angeles, during the...
Sep 21, 20204 min read
Saloma
STORY: I don’t like parties, but I had promised I’d attend this one birthday gathering at a ritzy pub in Istanbul, where I live. The...
Sep 12, 20203 min read
Mea Culpa
STORY: At the age of 19, I began to realize that something was wrong with my soul. I live in Turkey, a Muslim country with a long secular...
Sep 2, 20205 min read
Speedy and Bam
STORY: When I was in graduate school in Boston in the mid-1970s, my attraction to other guys was proving intractable and I feared it...
Aug 28, 20206 min read
Same-sex Marriage, New York Style (2011)
STORY: June 2011, my partner, Juan, and I left our 13-month-old son, Oliver, home in Roanoke with his nanny, and traveled to New York...
Jul 11, 20204 min read
Catharsis
STORY: In the mid-nineties, I was a naive 21 y.o. young man, full of fear about my budding homosexual orientation. Coming out was not an...
Jul 11, 20203 min read
Portrait of a Gay Adolescent
STORY: I’ve just come in from coffee at my downtown spot, the Zoot Cafe—downtown being all of two blocks long in the quintessential...
Jul 11, 20202 min read
First Times
STORY: I began having sex on a regular basis when I was really young. In fact, the first time it happened, I was only eleven. The school...
Jul 1, 20205 min read
Pride and Protest: LGBTQ Pride Meets Black Lives Matter (June 28, 2020)
COMMENTARY: The Queer Liberation March for Black Lives and Against Police Brutality took place this past weekend and was a spirited,...
Jul 1, 202010 min read
For Dougie
STORY: I grew up in a family of “eccentrics.” I’m a direct result of their quirks and quips, attenuated somewhat by the many years I...
Jul 1, 20202 min read
Black Lives Matter – Why We March
COMMENTARY: As we approach the 2020 LGBTQ Pride commemoration on Sunday, the focus in most locations will be on supporting the Black...
May 19, 20201 min read
Comparing the AIDS Crisis to COVID-19: AIDS Veterans Weigh-in
COMMENTARY: BAMMER hosted its first Zoom webcast “Reflections on the AIDS Crisis in the Age of COVID-19” on Saturday evening, May 9th,...
May 3, 20203 min read
Self-Acceptance and a Queer Life in India
STORY: My name is Rahul. I was born in a small town in Tripura state in North-Eastern India where I spent my first 18 years. My earliest...
Mar 19, 20204 min read
Looking Back at AIDS During the Time of COVID
STORY: I listened with interest to the online discussion Reflections on the AIDS Crisis in the Time of COVID-19 hosted by BAMMER on May...
Mar 1, 20202 min read
Looking Back
STORY: Two recent developments refocused my attention on all the friends I lost to AIDS in the 80s and 90s. Recently, Peter Gorobetz, a...
Feb 10, 20201 min read
What “Ordinary People” Thought About Gays – 200 Years Ago
COMMENTARY: We can change the past by what we choose to remember. Too often historical narrative is controlled by the status quo, those...
Feb 8, 20201 min read
BAMMER and Me: Jacob Tobia, A Coming-of-Age Gender Story
PODCAST—EPISODE 13: Jacob Tobia is a gender-nonconforming Los Angeleno who’s on a roll. Four years ago, they landed a job as an executive...
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