No Pride

The LGBTQ Community suffers from a true lack of awareness. As I was reading  this  article, it became very clear to me. In the last year, I have read two different articles talking about the who, what, where, when, and why of gay men's loneliness and its effects. The Epidemic of Gay Loneliness ; by Michael Hobbes Gay loneliness is real but, "bitchy, toxic" culture isn't the full story ; by Ben Miller I came across both of these articles through Reddit. The response to both of these articles prompted Michael Hobbes to do an AMA  on Reddit shortly after his article was published. This is all pure context for the issue at hand.  Mr. Hobbes' friend, Jeremy, is described as being completely driven by crystal meth, cocaine, and the sex parties he would attend. Drug usage is not part of my routine, at all. I live in the South, a place often made fun of due to the rampant crystal meth addiction and I can honestly say, I've never used it.  Multiple s...

My time with dating apps was relatively short. At one point or another, I was a member of Grindr, GROWLr, Scruff, and Surge, all at the same time. My experience was not what I had hoped for at all. I heard it was almost too easy to find someone to have sex with. If I couldn't find someone to have sex with on one of these apps, I was doing something wrong. I didn't even go out on one date. Defeated, deflated, and sent slithering down into Mom's basement, again. I had a few interested persons but, they were either already in a relationship or someone I was not interested in sexually. I ran into some old friends but, didn't make any new ones. Yet again, showcasing how living outside more prominent LGBTQ communities has an effect. I admit I have "red flags" and being single is largely my fault but, I can't help wonder what my life would be like if I attended High School or even college in this area and found someone who was interested in a relation...

When I first created this blog project, I didn't really know how to go about promoting it. It has adult content, so I can't publicly post it on my Google+ profile and I don't like the idea of openly promoting through Twitter because that account is connected to Facebook and therefore, my family.  One of the main reasons I started this project, is I'm openly gay but, not in an expected manner. Living in Alabama with my conservative family poses threats. The threat of a very uncomfortable situation, unnecessary anger, disdain, the creation of a toxic environment, bullying, harassment, estrangement, and even violence. Yes, it is that bad in the area I live in. I'll get into that at some point, I'm sure.  In the end, it isn't really worth it to promote in that manner. I turned to the last avenue I could think of, Reddit. I have a very strange relationship with Reddit, as documented on my other blog, " @ntisocial ". However, the results of doin...

Edited December 12th, 2018: Grammatically and Readability _________________________________________________________________________________ One reason I started, No Pride, is because I don't feel like the LGBTQ community is really a community. If it is, I'm not a part of it in a way I would like to be. Being openly gay in Alabama is pretty much what most people would imagine it to be. In large part, it is the reason I now choose to stay out of the local workforce, I don't have a lot of close friends, and my family just doesn't seem to understand what I'm going through, regardless of what they know to be true. Even more difficult, is how rare it is to come across someone who also identifies as LGBTQ. The loneliness, on top of the sexual repression, on top of the alienation, on top of the bullying and harassment is enough to drive anyone crazy. "They" should be proud of themselves, I currently suffer from severe anxiety and depression, which, I'm not a...

Edited: 02-28-2018: Grammatically and Readability Edited: 06-03-2018: Grammatically and Description _________________________________________________________________________________ My perspective as an openly gay man living in an uber-conservative, non-metropolitan area is, the LGBTQ community is not really a community. I would describe it more as a group of people who just so happen to share a very small piece of common ground. Friendships and sometimes even relationships are built upon this one piece of information but, I haven't had the luxury often. At the beginning of 2017, I was crushed by rural isolation. I reached out for friendship, companionship, just about anything through whatever means the internet offered. I was attached to Skype for a while. I only found a handful of people to talk to. Some of them I was interested in, even sexually, but it never really went anywhere. I took a hiatus from Skype because one contact, in particular, was extremely to...