My Background

Who the hell are you to tell people what they shouldn't or shouldn't do, what's properly gay or isn't? I mean, what makes your opinion more valid than any others? Just who the hell are you anyway? Anon.

Well sometime after I got your email I was asked a similar question about my background and what makes me an expert, only much more politely. But where the hell is your anger coming from?

To answer your question:

1.) I was a phone counselor way back for the Mattachine Society in its last years, talking to and helping people who had issues with and questions about their sexuality. I was very, very young, but I learned fast.

2.) I was Chairman of the Media Committee of New York's Gay Activists Alliance, the country's first militant Gay Rights group, for many years, dealing with the media (publications, films, television), monitoring how the gay image was portrayed, sending out press releases underlining our objections to, say, a certain film, organizing protests, meeting with producers and the like. Similar to what GLAAD (The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) does today.

3.) Co-host and co-producer of Gay Rap on WBAI radio some years ago.

4.) Writer/Reporter for many gay publications including The New York Blade, Philadelphia Gay News, and The Alternate. I have written about gay issues for decades, and interviewed hundreds of gay men, formally and informally, on a variety of subjects.

5.) Lived life as an Out and Proud Gay Man for many, many years. Hopefully I've gained some wisdom along with experience.

Thanks for asking, bubbalah!