Posts made by leatherbear

History has been made today in the boxing world, as featherweight boxer Orlando Cruz has come out as a "proud gay man."

The Puerto Rican native, 31, told USA Today: "I've been fighting for more than 24 years and as I continue my ascendant career, I want to be true to myself. I want to try to be the best role model I can be for kids who might look into boxing as a sport and a professional career."

He then went on to note, "I have and will always be a proud Puerto Rican. I have always been and always will be a proud gay man."

A former Olympian who competed for Puerto Rico at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Cruz has been fighting professionally since December 2000. His next fight is scheduled for Oct. 19 in Kissimmee, Fla., but he will reportedly sit down for an exclusive Telemundo interview before that.

A number of publications have noted that while Cruz is not the first gay man to fight professional, his revelation makes him the first to speak openly about it while being active in the sport. As USA Today noted, Emile Griffith, a welterweight and middleweight champion who fought in the '50s and '60s, told Sports Illustrated he was bisexual years after his athletic career had ended.

Among those to praise Cruz's decision was Bleacher Report columnist Michael Walters. "For Cruz to come out while still actively participating in what has to be considered one of, if not the, most macho sports is truly brave," Walters wrote.

Video @ hXXp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/04/orlando-cruz-comes-out-gay_n_1939204.html?ref=topbar

Written by : Nate Phelps ~ Executive Director, Calgary Centre for Inquiry; member of the board of directors, Recovering from Religion; LGBT advocate

It was a full-spread illustration across both pages. Giant waves crashing over frantic people clinging desperately to the few visible mountaintops. Most were half-clothed or naked. One woman is clawing the side of the Ark with one hand. Her other is raised over her head holding her screaming infant up toward the implacable bearded man standing, arms crossed, staring down at the drowning people.

Each time I was sent to vacuum the church auditorium, I would find a niche between the row of seats, and while the vacuum ran, I would open to that page and stare. I obsessed over that picture for hours, my 6-year-old mind fascinated and terrified at the idea that human life was so expendable. At the back of the small auditorium in the vestibule area was a large sign, the lower right corner broken off, with a verse painted on it: "It is appointed unto men once to die and after this the judgment." These two images are a few of the earliest impressions I can remember as a child.

From the day of our birth, my 12 siblings and I would sit for three hours each Sunday and listen as our father taught us about his god, the god of Calvinism. Fred's god was a vengeful, angry creator. Even as his ways were past finding out, my father searched incessantly. The god of John Calvin was unique in that he was the one who decided who attended Heaven and Hell. The doctrine of Absolute Predestination took the idea that men were born corrupt and dead in their trespasses and sins a step further, depriving man of his free will and placing that power in the hands of God. It was God who knew in the council halls of eternity past those he would choose and those he would create as vessels of his righteous wrath.

It became clear very early that my father took the sins of the world personally. So as neural connections formed in our immature brains, they were soaked with this image of an unchanging deity who despised the majority of his creation, a god involved in a game of sorts, with humanity as his unwitting pawns. Since we couldn't make the decision to accept Christ, we had to wait for him to touch our hearts and know that he had chosen us. The outward manifestation of his anointing was our behavior in the world, and that behavior was defined by our father.

From behind the pulpit our father raged against every other belief system and world leader. Straw men were built and destroyed Sunday after Sunday as our father taught us to hate them all. His theology was soaked with the fiery indignation of the Old Testament god, and he demanded that his minions embrace the same righteous disdain for the world of unbelievers. It was only natural that he would eventually conclude that the only true believers on the Earth were in attendance at the Westboro Baptist Church.

From my earliest memories I can recall questions in my mind. How could we be the chosen ones if we treated people with such disrespect? How does an all-consuming god manage to remain invisible from world affairs? What of the people born in other parts of the world who never heard of him, or those born before Calvin or Christ? What about me and my actions gives me value above all others?

In an environment that violently quelled any defiance, I found myself uniquely at odds with my father and on the receiving end of brutal violence for much of my childhood. At one point the police became involved, but my father preached his way out of that and assured us that God had protected him, validating his violent behavior toward his wife and children.

In my 16th year I knew that I couldn't stay there. Our father had concluded that God gave him authority over all decisions about our lives, and I was unwilling to submit. In spite of threats of being ostracized, I began planning my escape. I knew I couldn't leave before my 18th birthday, because he still had legal authority over me until then. So I scraped together enough money to buy an old Rambler Classic and hid it from my family. Little by little I boxed up my meager belongings and hid them in the garage. By this time all trust in my father had been destroyed, so when he quizzed me about my plans, I didn't hesitate to lie. When other family members inquired, I knew my response would get back to him, so I lied. On the night of my 18th birthday, I lay in my bed pretending to sleep. When the house went quiet, I brought the car around, packed the trunk, and then slipped back into the house to watch the clock climb to midnight. Then I left. For all intents and purposes, I have not seen my family since.

For a long time I fooled myself into believing that I had escaped unscathed. Then I began to realize that hours of silent raging and isolation from the world was not normal. I came to understand that this ever-present fear of divine punishment wasn't natural or healthy. I was certain that God would never give me children because of my rebellion against him. When my wife gave birth to three healthy babies, my world unravelled. Years of counseling followed as I stripped away the hateful mythology of my father and was finally freed to embrace my innate secular humanism. It is a continuous process for me as I uncover and discard assumptions and beliefs that lay buried deep in my mind.

As I began to speak and write about my journey, I was overwhelmed with letters and comments from others who have struggled with religious extremism, violent childhoods, and the destructive effects of blind prejudice and hate. Members of the gay community wrote to say they understood and related, having experienced violence and rejection in their own childhoods. I was amazed to discover that the insidious ideas I held about the LGBT community dissipated as I got to know the individuals that made up that group. I learned that the best way to destroy a prejudice was to have the courage to encounter those we have learned to prejudge. The perceived differences dissipate like a fog in sunlight, and we discover that they are us.

I read and wrote. I began to speak out. My family's campaign gave me a voice, and I concluded that I had a duty to use that voice to counter the ugliness and pain that my father's ideas have caused. When I speak, I often close with something that the British philosopher Bertrand Russell said. He was asked what he would most like to say about his life and the lessons he had learned. He responded:

I should like to say two things, one intellectual and one moral. The intellectual thing I should want to say … is this: when you are studying any matter, or considering any philosophy, ask yourself only what are the facts and what is the truth that the facts bear out. Never let yourself be diverted either by what you wish to believe or by what you think would have beneficent social effects if it were believed. But look only, and solely, at what are the facts. That is the intellectual thing that I should wish to say. The moral thing I should wish to say ... is very simple: I should say love is wise, hatred is foolish.

James Schwartz was raised in an Amish community in Michigan. In a segment on HuffPost Live, he shared his struggle to fit into this group when he realized he was gay.

"If an Amish youth comes out to his parents and says 'I'm gay', then they really don't have any choice," he said. "They're going to have to leave. Unless they choose, of course, to stay in the closet."

James eventually made the decision to leave his first home. "Going to my first gay club, I sort of felt for the first time that sense of community, and others that were like me," he shared. "They really gave me the courage and strength to decide to live life for me instead of making a lot of other Amish people happy."

Schwartz joined host Nancy Redd to discuss growing up in homophobic communities along with Nate Phelps, LGBT and anti-abuse advocate and son of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps, Bob Pardon, Executive Director of Meadowhaven, a long-term recovery center for survivors of high-control organizations, and Libby Jane, who grew up a member of the Vision Forum/Quiverfull movement.

Video @ hXXp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/05/growing-up-gay-and-amish_n_1942538.html?1349448596&icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl24|sec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D216245

After Bully Forces Him to Perform Oral Sex on School Bus

After being forced to perform oral sex on an 11-year-old bully on a school bus, a 7-year-old boy twice attempted suicide, reports the Daily Mail UK.

According to a lawsuit filed July 2, administrators failed to take action when the sexual abuse was reported.

In November 2011, the boy told his mother that the older child “made [him] do something nasty” at the back of the bus, according to a police report.

The boy said he was forced to perform oral sex on the classmate, ‘J.R.’ who warned him, ‘If you don’t do this, I’m gonna hurt you,’ the report says.

The boy’s mother contacted Rebecca Dinda, principal of the Downtown Miami Charter School the boys attended, according to the lawsuit.

Ms. Dinda assured the mother ‘the assault would not happen again and that the two children would be separated and closely monitored.’

But the attorney for the boy’s mother, Jeffrey Herman, said the bullying and threats continued, followed by a second sexual assault in a school restroom.

‘They have a duty to prevent that harm from happening with these little kids,’ Mr Herman told reporters. ‘The school failed miserably.’

The younger boy’s mother said ‘John’ attempted suicide twice after that, once by deliberately standing in traffic with his eyes closed and another time by sticking a metal hanger in an electric socket.

According his mother, the boy, only identified as ‘John,’ is undergoing counseling, having difficulty sleeping and making friends, and is taking medication.

‘It has been a nightmare, and I would not want anybody to feel the way I do,’ she said.
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Charter Schools USA Inc., operator of Downtown Miami Charter where the incidents occurred, are named in the lawsuit, as well as the bus company and driver.
Attorney places the blame squarely on the negligence of the school, claiming that at 11-years-old, it is not clear if  ‘J.R.’  is aware that he did anything wrong and that he is also undergoing counseling.
According to the Mail, it is unclear if Miami Police Department is investigating at this point, but Herman is seeking millions for his client.
“There will be big damages in this case. His life will never be the same,” he said.

:haha: :haha: :haha: :haha:

:hehe: I knew it was too good to be a man  :hehe:

I  :love: Black and White photos!!!

:cheers: Hot Video with some Hot Men  :cheers:

IMHO ~ the condom companies need to do anything and everything necessary to create new sizes in condoms to fill these needs. The HIV/AIDS rates in these areas are certainly still out of control. Properly sized condoms could only improve the chances that they would be used.

PM was sent minutes after my post. However, I just checked and apparently it was a "blank" message  :afr: Not sure what happened but I will send it again soon.

Open Forums for picture posts are :

Erotica & Sexuality https://forum.gaytorrent.ru/index.php?board=73.0

Leather and Bear Community https://forum.gaytorrent.ru/index.php?board=103.0

Gay Sports Enthusiasts > Swimming https://forum.gaytorrent.ru/index.php?board=122.0

Plans are to bring back our old Special Interest Groups as we find Mod's for them and to create new Special Interest Groups in the future.

'RuPaul's Drag Race' Star Cause of Death Revealed

The 27-year-old star of 'RuPauls Drag Race' suddenly passed away. Her death has left viewers and RuPaul in shock. Now the cause of death for Sahara Davenport has been revealed as heart failure.

Video @  hXXp://www.aol.com/video/rupauls-drag-race-star-cause-of-death-revealed/517497315/?icid=maing-grid7|main5|video-module|sec1_lnk1|215639

:welco: to GT.ru mrmodest

I sure hope you will post some of your photos from your blog here in the Forums and we would love to see your Animated Porn Gifs as well.

:hehe: I will be sending you a PM in the near future about getting you involved in the Forums  :bighug:


:thx: for posting and I hope to see more of these posts in the future  :cheers:

The guy in the second picture is truly hot!!

:welco: to GT.ru ThэClσnэЯangэr¤

:hiya: agis

:thx: for the Music posts you make here at GT.ru!!!

:welcome: to our Forums hope to see you here often

leatherbear= LBC @ GTN

:thx: for your kind words. We are also happy to bring back my beloved Forums. I look forward to the members getting involved with the Forums and communicating with each other as well.  :cheers:

Karl Frisch

Syndicated Columnist, Democratic Strategist, Progressive Radio Personality

The 2012 election may not be decided by gay soccer dads and lesbian Costco moms but their quality of life will be defined by those occupying the White House and Congress in 2013 and beyond.

While much of the conversation surrounding lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people of late has concerned the issue of marriage equality, there is much more to be said about the way our government treats LGBT Americans.

Over the past few decades great progress has been made in the fight for LGBT legal equality but I'm guessing many straight Americans – even those with close friends and family who happen to be gay -- would be surprised to learn just how much is left to be done.

Gays and lesbians can be fired in 29 states based simply on who they love and not the quality of their work. On that score, the number of states sanctioning discrimination is even worse for transgender people. Stable, law abiding same-sex couples in 32 states are forbidden from jointly adopting children and denied the right to adopt the sons and daughters of their partner in an equally unfortunate number of states. Students who identify as, or are perceived to be LGBT remain vulnerable to state-sanctioned discrimination by their teachers and public schools in 36 states while 33 members of our "more perfect union" have no statewide programs protecting them from bullying. When it comes to renting a home, lesbians and gay men can be denied a lease simply for being gay in 29 states and again, the numbers are even worse for the transgender community. While hospitals accepting Medicare and Medicaid are currently barred from denying visitation to same-sex partners as a result of a mandate issued by President Obama, 26 states have no laws guaranteeing such simple human dignity should the edict be rescinded by a future president.

It has been 15 years since Ellen DeGeneres came out on national television and while our culture has moved miles towards LGBT acceptance and inclusion, our laws have moved mere inches.

The presidential debates between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney will largely focus on the continuing economic anxiety of everyday Americans. To that end, debate moderators should consider how such economic worries are intensified for the nearly 10 million Americans who are confronted by these and countless other forms of government endorsed bigotry.

We know President Obama's record on LGBT equality thus far. To highlight only a few of his most notable accomplishments, he signed the hate crimes bill into law, repealed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," appointed a record number of openly LGBT people to his administration, and came out in support of marriage equality. But what can we expect from his second term? Does he remain committed to the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would forbid employers from firing someone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity? If so, how can he expect to see such legislation reach his desk with anti-gay zealots controlling the House of Representatives and a GOP Senate minority hooked on the filibuster? Will he skip Congress and sign an Executive Order barring government contractors from discrimination?

In 1994, Romney famously told a New England newspaper, "I am more convinced than ever before that as we seek to establish full equality for America's gay and lesbian citizens, I will provide more effective leadership than my opponent." His "opponent" was Ted Kennedy, a champion for LGBT equality. Since then, Romney has dropped his attempts to one-up Kennedy on the rights of LGBT people by opposing ENDA and calling such employment protections a "burden" on business. Furthermore, his opposition to same-sex relationship recognition is even more extreme than George W. Bush's notorious effort to pass a constitutional amendment banning marriage equality. At least Bush supported civil unions for same-sex couples. Romney supports the constitutional amendment Bush championed, opposes civil unions, and would allow states to ban even basic domestic partnership agreements. He claims that LGBT individuals should be shown respect but how would he show such deference as president if he believes it is okay for these citizens to be fired because of who they are and that their relationships are inferior to those of their straight friends, family, and neighbors?

These are only a few of the specific questions that moderators should ask Romney and Obama during debates regarding our economic future and they should require the same specificity from the candidates in their answers.

Regardless of what happens in the race for the White House, there are signs that this election could very well be a watershed moment for LGBT equality across the country.

In 2012 at least eight states -- Delaware, Florida, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, North Dakota, Texas, South Dakota, and West Virginia -- are poised for removal from the list of states without openly LGBT state legislators. A significant step when you consider the fact that no state has passed protections for LGBT residents without having an openly LGBT state lawmaker.

The same holds true for Congress. In November, we could elect the nation's first openly LGBT U.S. Senator in Wisconsin's Tammy Baldwin and could see the delegation of openly LGBT Congresspersons increase from its current membership of four to seven including a lone Republican and two firsts: a bisexual and a person of color.

At the ballot box, voters in Maine, Maryland, and Washington will likely approve marriage equality initiatives becoming the first states to do so at the polls while Minnesota could very well defeat efforts to add a ban on same-sex unions to the state constitution.

With so much at stake for LGBT people and numerous historic electoral wins on the horizon this fall, shouldn't President Obama and Mitt Romney have a frank discussion about issues important to LGBT Americans and their families?

Gay folks aren't all that different from anyone else. We worry about our families, our jobs, our friends, and the future of our country too. We might even worry just a little bit more.

Karl Frisch is a syndicated columnist and Democratic strategist at Bullfight Strategies in Washington, D.C. He can be reached at KarlFrisch.com. You can also follow him on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Pinterest, and YouTube, or sign up to receive his columns and updates by email.

Again if I can do anything to help with research or contacting organizations I am just a PM away.  :ok2:

:thx: alexboy505 for your support in this post  :bravo: