Posts made by leatherbear

:cum:

:cum:

Both parts of the torrent uploads are in the approval Que awaiting torrent staff approval.Once approved they will become visible to members.

I will tell you that you are seeding too many torrents just now for approval. You should be seeding only your 2 uploas to gain approval.

Hope this helps.

The Hello Kitty backpack is ready, as are the Justin Bieber notebook and the shiny purple pencil box freshly larded with Ticonderoga #2s. All that's left now is to pack the first lunch and saddle up for the first day of school drop-off, knowing that our simple presence will provide an education of its own. As the only two-dad family in an elementary school with almost 500 kids, we become the default face of same-sex parenting for some of the children and their caregivers. And that's OK – when we filled out paperwork to adopt six years ago, we literally signed up for this.

Last year, soon after Kindergarten started, my husband and I eagerly attended Parent Night together. Anyone at this event had no trouble figuring out the relationship between the dude in the leather jacket and the guy in the foofy scarf. But once the semester was well underway, it was rare for anyone to see both dads at once. My husband did all the drop-offs and most pick-ups, while I was the one volunteering in the classroom and organizing after school play dates for my daughter. Some of her classmates' parents only ever saw her with him, while others only saw her with me. Not surprisingly, both of us dads got asked about our wives and we both cheerfully referenced our husbands in reply. That linguistic substitution was usually all it took for our fellow Kindergarten parents to adopt our language.

Occasionally, this prompted an outpouring of curiosity. When one mom commented that she hadn't seen me on the playground the day before, I said that my husband usually did pick-up. As if primed, she pounced on the distinction. "How did you get to be the wife?" I gently explained that I wasn't a wife. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) In a state with same-sex marriage, that's not just a matter of semantics but of legal fact: Two men are two husbands.

She knit her brow. "So who does the wifely duties?" As I knew she was originally from a country with a very conservative culture, I didn't snort at her use of the word "wifely" or ask if that meant having a martini waiting for my husband at the end of the work day. I just laid it out: In our house, we divide chores up by who hates which task least. I hate housecleaning less than laundry, so I do the sweeping and picking up, while he sorts endless darks from lights. This answer seemed not only sufficient, but pleasing. She sighed, "It must be nice to choose like that!"

I wasn't offended by this conversation, nor was I truly surprised. This wasn't the first time I've heard these queries and it won't be the last. Even some of our most liberal friends tend to treat me and my husband as Encyclopedia Homosexualis from time to time, turning to us to explain what X or Y is like for gay people. We can't answer for all other gays and lesbians, of course, but we can tell about our personal experiences in this society. Indeed, I think we have an obligation to do so, for if we don't tell the truth about our lives, the stuff made up by politicians and preachers may be allowed to define us instead.

If the other families in our school constantly see two involved dads and one happy girl, that will be more persuasive than any information or opinion that the media can supply. It's better, still, if they get to see us down in the trenches, wrestling with meltdowns and misbehavior they find familiar. These moments of pure recognition -- parenting is parenting is parenting -- speak volumes about all that connects us.

Such visibility matters as kids head back to school in these politically charged times. In recent months, Tennessee has inched closer to approving a "Don't Say Gay" policy designed to keep teachers mum about our lives, while California has headed the opposite way, deciding it wants to require LGBT history in classrooms. Both policies try to legislate what children should or shouldn't learn, but let's face it: No matter what kids read on the page, the real world is always going to provide the most thorough education. And in the real world, families like mine exist.

So as our daughter chooses her first day outfit, and dreams of showing off her new lunch box, we're preparing, too. School hasn't even started, but we're already ready for the pop-quizzes to come.

NEW YORK – Three years ago, during his junior year at New York University, Kirk met with a financial aid officer to plead a familiar case: his inability to manage the yearly payments on his $50,000 tuition bill.

Once again, the school official reminded Kirk that in order to register for next semester’s courses, he needed to come up with another $8,000 -- or risk expulsion.

Kirk nearly divulged his secret to the loan officer, finally letting her know exactly what he had resorted to in a desperate attempt to finance his education. Midway through college, Kirk had begun turning tricks in order to pay for school.

“Once and for all, I just wanted her to understand what the expense of NYU was really costing some of us,” says Kirk, now 23, who graduated a little more than a year ago with a degree in theater and film. “I felt like telling her: You really have no idea what some of us do in order to stay here."

And the escort work didn’t end when Kirk left NYU. He has continued selling his wares on what he describes as “virtual street corners" -- websites where young gay men seek out the companionship of wealthy older suitors.

After personal ads on Craigslist drew little in the way of reliable income, Kirk went on the hunt for a "sugar daddy." He currently has a profile on a website called SeekingArrangement.com. Kirk’s lithe, bare physique figures prominently in most of his profile photos, while others showcase his dark, chiseled features. He describes himself as a bachelor’s degree-holding non-smoker and social drinker who’s on the hunt for a “patron/daddy/boyfriend.” While the price of Kirk’s companionship is listed as negotiable, he generally charges about $200 an hour.

Kirk is hardly alone in his decision to sell sex in order to pay for school. Late last month, The Huffington Post chronicled the uptick of debt-strapped young women similarly searching online for suitors or wealthy benefactors who, in exchange for companionship, sex, or both, might help with the bills.

But the willingness to date for money is not limited to beleaguered young women struggling to pay off debt. An increasing number of gay male students have also taken to the web in the past several years searching for wealthy benefactors. While young gay men exchanging sex for money certainly predated the financial collapse, recent events have pushed some students to consider engaging in risky behavior that in more robust economic times might have been unthinkable, according to several owners of websites that broker such hook-ups.

The rise in the number of straight and gay college students moonlighting as "sugar babies" occurs at a time when the life plans of many 20-somethings have taken a brutal detour. Earlier this summer, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that half of recent graduates are underutilized -- whether they are jobless, working part time, or working in a job that doesn’t require a college degree and therefore tends to pay less.

In addition to a lackluster job market, a historic number of recent graduates are also struggling to pay off an overwhelming amount of student loan debt. The U.S. Census Bureau recently reported that over the past 20 years, the average annual cost of college has more than doubled. Nineteen million currently enrolled college students now face an average cost of $15,876 for one year of in-state tuition at a public university or $40,633 for one year at a private institution.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s quarterly report on debt recently found that delinquency rates for student loans are on the rise, with 11.2 percent of borrowers more than 90 days past due, compared with 9.5 percent of student loan borrowers during the same quarter in 2009. Further, between the first quarter of 1999 and the first quarter of 2011, student loan debt increased by a whopping 511 percent, with borrowers under the age of 30 bearing the biggest financial brunt.

While many 20-somethings embarked on their dream of a college education when a decent-paying job was virtually guaranteed as part of the package, the rules have now changed -- and a new generation is coming of age during an era of limited options.

Gautam Sharma, the 39-year-old founder of SugarDaddyForMe.com and GaySugarDaddyFinder.com, estimates that between 60 to 70 percent of his sites’ sugar babies are either currently enrolled college students or recent graduates. Of Sugar Daddy For Me’s 3 million members, Sharma says that about 2 million are sugar babies. Men seeking a gay sugar daddy account for about 80,000 of the site’s members and of these, about a quarter list some combination of “school,” “college,” “university,” “money for school,” “student debt,” “college debt,” “tuition,” and “college expenses” in their profile.

Another site, SeekingArrangement.com, which boasts over 800,000 members, has seen a sharp increase in users that it defines as “college sugar babies.” The site's 41-year-old founder, Brandon Wade, estimates that about 35 percent of its members are college students and 90,000 are gay male sugar babies. In 2007, the site said it had 5,239 gay male sugar babies who were also enrolled in college. Today, that figure stands at 35,682.

Kirk tries to abide by a few basic ground rules when getting sex for money: he refuses to perform oral sex, always wears protection, and will only have sex as a top, never a bottom. Whenever possible, he tries to avoid having sex with supposedly straight, married men looking for a “discreet” hook-up.

“I don’t want to feel objectified because of an exchange of money for sex. I want to feel equal and empowered, but I’m also really explicit that I’m just there for the money,” says Kirk, who estimates that he’s received money for having sex with more than 100 men in the last few years.

Kirk acknowledges that he’s benefited from the largesse of his various encounters. One sugar daddy paid for two years’ worth of rent on an apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, while another cosigned an additional loan for school. A recent hook-up yielded a new iPhone.

For the time being, Kirk says he sees working as a part-time prostitute as a practical solution to climbing out from beneath a mountain of student debt. Kirk also works as a server at a Manhattan restaurant four nights a week and auditions for theater and film work during the day. On free nights, he regularly trawls the web, looking for a generous sugar daddy willing to take on the burden of helping him pay off his hefty loans.

But with tuition money due each month, and an endless stream of voice mails from student loan creditors, sex work is starting to feel like something Kirk can’t afford not to do. The clock is ticking and Kirk knows that he won’t be young and gorgeous forever.

“IT’S PASSION ALL NIGHT LONG”

“How many of you sugar babies are hungry, but not for food?” the emcee croons to a packed crowd of hundreds at the Hudson Terrace, a rooftop lounge on 46th Street in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen. “Remember, guys: You’ve got to be generous. You’ve got to make it happen. It’s passion all night long.”


As fucked up as today's Laws are at least we don't have to live with these sanctions.  :cheers:

:cheers: Mista Mahaj P  :cheers:

Take a look at which cities ranked the highest below, and read the full Williams Institute report here:  hXXp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/26/same-sex-couples-williams-institute-national-data_n_938166.html#s340513&title=San_Francisco_CA

UCLA's same-sex advocacy think tank, The Williams Institute, released groundbreaking national data on gay couples Thursday, finding nearly one million of such pairs currently live in the United States.

The census research discovered that 901,997 same-sex couples live in 99 percent of American counties, in cities from West Hollywood, Calif. to New Hope, Pa. Sixty percent of the couples are female, and 22 percent currently raise children.

Researchers ranked large, mid-size and small cities by concentration of gay households (adjusted for population size). Not surprisingly, San Francisco topped the list of large cities, with 11,555 couples. But the data revealed some unexpected discoveries as well: Salt Lake City, for example, ranked among the highest mid-sized cities, while New York was nowhere to be found. North and South Dakota showed the lowest numbers.

Williams Institute Demographer Gary Gates said the research reflects a significant societal shift. "The LGBT community has dispersed beyond traditional enclaves as social stigma eases, couples are more comfortable coming out, and a generation of aging and out same-sex couples begin to retire," he said.

SFGate noted that he findings will undoubtedly be cited in upcoming debates concerning issues important to the gay community, like the Defense of Marriage Act and state marriage laws.

Jack Holden

Another HUGE waste of research money!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought Kinsey proved this in the 50's.

@notquiteme:

yeah we're a highly infectious disease.  we can cause gayness just by a single drop of blood in your veins.

Exactly!! I can understand the reason for this ban 30 yrs ago but to enforce such a ban in this day and time in History is just another way to continue the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS in those days.

As an activist back then, there were in one week 6 suicides in the state of Florida from the lack of education and Blood Bank Workers calling to inform the donor that there donation was rejected because it tested positive for HIV. This scenario was soon corrected thru education of Blood Bank Workers but the education has obviously been lacking in other areas of this ridiculous ban on Blood Donations from Gay Men.

Wake up and smell the coffee…............. Please!!!!!!

hXXp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/24/rabbi-yehuda-levin-earthquake_n_935596.html

A New York rabbi claims gay marriage and the earthquake that shook the East Coast are directly connected.

In a video uploaded to YouTube, Levin says gay rights legislation, like the gay marriage law passed in New York, are responsible for earthquakes, like the one that struck Washington, D.C. Tuesday.

“The Talmud states, 'You have shaken your male member in a place where it doesn't belong. I too, will shake the Earth,'” Levin says.

He also notes that he does not dislike gay people.

"We don't hate homosexuals," he says. "I feel bad for homosexuals. It's a revolt against God and literally, there's hell to pay."

On Top Magazine reports that Joseph Farah, editor of WorldNetDaily.com, expressed similar sentiments.