Happy National Coming Out Day!

Today is National Coming Out Day, an annual celebration of ones self-identifaction as a member of the LGBTQI community by "coming out" of the proverbial closet. Founded in 1988 to promote progress through visibility, we as a community have come a very long way in our quest towards equality. I've heard a lot of people exclaim that it seems ridiculous to have a specific day to celebrate being out, open, and proud of our sexual orientation, that our lives should be a testament to this very fact. I agree. Choosing to live openly as queer individuals encourages others to do the same and shows them that they are not alone and have a family and community that accepts and loves them for who they are.

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

I was going through old journals and came across this gem of a piece from a blog posting I wrote in my sophomore year of high school when I just came out of the closet. It's funny how some things have changed but how a lot has, more or less, stayed the same. We, as a society, are constantly reinventing ourselves and that cannot be more true for me right now. If you told me that I would be working for RentBoy, The Saint at Large, Folsom Street Events, and other similar companies when I was just coming out of the closet I would have, first of all, had no idea what you were talking about and, after learning what they were, laughed in your face and made a snide comment regarding sex workers and the porn industry.