2 Matts, Ryan, Zach, Music & Men!

Today is the 14th anniversary of the death of Matthew Shepard.  This article "In Memoriam..." is well written and reminds the rest of us that "the work to erase hate continues" as well it should.  There are still too many who would deny us our humanity, our civil rights, or even our lives to give up the fight at this point.  Yes we are making progress, however, only with our noses to the grindstone will  we continue to do so. 

Yesterday I mentioned the story of Ryan Andreson who was denied his Eagle Scout award because he was openly Gay.  His appearance on Ellen yesterday filled us in on what has been happening with him and the efforts to get his Eagle pin.  Ellen could not give him an Eagle pin, but she still had something to give him.  Watch this video to find out what:

Monday is the start of Ally Week where we celebrate all our allies in our fight for Equality.  One of my favorite allies is the well spoken young man pictured above, Zach Walls, who has been an outspoken advocate for Marriage Equality all around the nation since his first video of the speech he gave in the Marriage Equality hearings in Iowa broke out a couple of years ago.  I could listen to him speak anytime.  Today's youth are speaking up in record numbers, whether they are LGBTQ or Allies supporting our cause.  In today's next video below, the two young men explain just exactly why allies are important, just in time for our Ally Week celebration:

The New York Times yesterday had a word of advice for parents on "Helping a Gay Child to Come Out" that is pretty spot on for National Coming Out Day.  We need more parents to take a positive role in the coming out processes of their children.  When parents are Allies, it makes the lives of Gay kids ever so much better.  Speaking of getting better, the following 'It Get's Better' video from Michael in NYC illustrates the what not to do if your child comes out to you and the dangers of reparative therapy before he gets to the 'it really does get better" part. 

Musically today, I have video of two classic vinyl recordings for your aural pleasure.  The first part of the video is from the late 60's  or early 70's on the Deutsche Grammaphone label of a performance by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and guest conductor Sergiu Celibidache of the Cello Concerto by Antonin Dvorak featuring Jacqueline du Pre' on Solo Cello.  The second part of the video is a 1946 recording of a performance by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of then conductor, the aforementioned Celibidache of Symphony Number 7 in C, Opus 60 by Dmitri Shostakovich. 

Then finally today we have this little collection of masculine pulchritude in the all together in this week's edition of Naked or Nearly So that could be more appropriately titled 'I'm Sexy and I know it!':D  That's a wrap for today, be sure to stop by tomorrow for the photo review of the Best of the Web This Week.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!