Current total of members in said club? 1.

The trouble Charlie has is the same trouble I have, which is having trouble finding the right words to explain a position. It’s easier to talk about certain issues in person than it is to rap out a script in 5 minutes or less. Blogging on the internet also has it’s quirks since so many people have a tendency to take things the wrong way and fail to collect the entire mental picture due to false anger.

I understand Charlie. I don’t necessarily agree with everything he says, but I respect his right to an opinion. His circumstances are different than mine, so naturally we’re not going to see eye-to-eye on everything. Overall, I think Charlie is a good dude and he means well, but those who are easily offended will always reject him.

If people are looking for a “perfect” atheist to represent their group, then they are wasting their time. There’s no such thing. I appreciate the things I like about Charlie. I will also forgive and ignore what I don’t like about Charlie. People who try to shun him in public are showing their own bigotry, which does nothing but add more fuel to the fire. I know that to be true, because I’m also guilty of being a bigot. It’s a problem for everybody to work on.

And for the record, there’s no such thing as a stupid person. If you have a talent, no matter how small or large, then you’re not stupid. You can be ignorant in specific areas of knowledge, but if you don’t have a reason to learn nor require the extra information to maintain your lifestyle, then there’s no reason to be ridiculed for it. I’m sure if you wanted to learn, then you would look it up yourself or ask others for help. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s what humans do. However, I do wish such a person would not preach about something they know absolutely nothing about. It’s okay if your trying to figure something out, but don’t be a militant prick about it… Know what I mean?

Please forgive me if my post offends you. It was not my intent to do so. I’m only being honest which I know sometimes is a bad thing to do. If people can’t be open with each other, then there’s no point in trying to say anything. I’ll go crawl back under my rock for now.

Have a nice day.

Check out “cubed,” or any of his other songs. He sounds even better after hearing Charlie here.

http://www.myspace.com/greydonsquare

OH SHIT.

He is in the closet.
He is a horrible rapper.

I don’t even know where to begin, actually. Because so many of you seem so incredibly intelligent (certain parties glaringly excluded,) I’m hugely intimidated. Low self-esteem, you see. But I’m going to try and keep this sort of free form.

The whole “gays are brain damaged”/”there is something wrong with them medically/emotionally/physically” thing has been disproved so many times by modern psychology and science that it’s almost laughable when people drag out these same arguments. If you want to break it down into a moral argument with me, I’d say we have something to talk about. The rest is so easily dismissed!

The American Psychiatric Association published that homosexuality is not a mental disorder in 1973; the American Psychological Association did the same in 1975. So unless your assertion is that these organizations are made up wholly of homosexuals or homosexual-sympathizers with an agenda – or you put absolutely no faith in the mental health standards embraced in America – you have to accept that you’re wrong. This whole wheelhouse also covers the “they became gay because of molestation/an absent father/an overbearing mother” argument.

In terms of the “brain damage” theory – that homosexuality is a result of some sort of physical abnormality – there is unequivocally no evidence to support such a claim. The American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association, and National Association of Social Workers state:

“Currently, there is no scientific consensus about the specific factors that cause an individual to become heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual — including possible biological, psychological, or social effects of the parents’ sexual orientation. However, the available evidence indicates that the vast majority of lesbian and gay adults were raised by heterosexual parents and the vast majority of children raised by lesbian and gay parents eventually grow up to be heterosexual.”

Similar statements have been made by The Royal College of Psychiatrists and The American Academy of Pediatrics.

There HAVE been various studies that have shown some odd differences between gay and straight men; specifically a difference in earlobes, finger length and – my personal favorite – that gay men seem to have larger penises than straight men. (Sorry, Charlie…)

There’s just so much ground to cover in terms of refuting all of the bullshit that has spewed throughout these postings. Gender roles are addressed (albeit ignorantly.) Everyone is welcome to embrace what they think a man or woman is “supposed to be,” and that includes those who feel that tradition is key. That being said, it’s simple oppression to tell someone how THEY are “supposed to be” based on their gender.

I won’t even get into the whole “definition of marriage” debate. Marriage, by definition is the joining of two things. When I used to wait tables, we used to “marry” the contents of two ketchup bottles into one full bottle. The traditions of marriage between humans are go back so far, and are so diverse, that the idea of saying the way it has “traditionally been” in the infant years of America is kind of comical. Marriage, in that sense, is just one more thing religion (Christianity in particular) co-opted from others. (Excuse me while I go sing a fabulous sea shanty…uh, sorry, I mean hymn.)

This whole “being around gay men makes me uncomfortable because I know they want to have sex with me” thing…I just love it. I admit it; I relish it. If you REALLY feel that way, then congratulations. I would imagine you now know what women have felt like for five thousand years. That being said, here’s a hot tip: if a gay guy comes onto you or tells you he finds you attractive, turn to him and say “I’m straight, and I’m not interested.” If he is aggressive, say “I need you to stop right now. You’re upsetting me.” I promise you that this will work 99.99% of the time. And in the 0.01% of the time it doesn’t work, I give you my permission as a gay man to get a little physical with him to get your point across. Just understand that this also means the next time you get freaky with a woman’s backside on the dance floor without asking first, you should be prepared to have her swing a chair upside your head.

The whole topic reminds me of a blind date I went on when I was 22. This guy took me to Ruby Tuesday’s – he was just that classy – and somewhere during the conversation, he randomly says: “I was reading this article about reservations, and it just got me thinking how we should track down and eliminate the rest of the Native American population. They’re all drunks and wife beaters anyway; we’d be doing them a favor!” My response to which was spontaneous and hysterical laughter; because, at the time, my 22-year-old brain was completely unequipped to deal with that kind of blind, baseless ignorance. Yet, at the same time, it recognized that absolutely nothing I could say to this individual would change his mind or enlighten him. (I ended up excusing myself to the bathroom and sneaking out…)

All this being blabbered…the thing that REALLY gets me pissed off is the whole “you’re persecuting me because of my religion! You’re trying to censor me or stop me from saying what I want to say” bit. Man, oh man, it makes me want to stab things.

Besides the obvious – that challenging someone’s statements, thoughts, ideals is in no way attempting to stop them from expressing them – it’s just so deeply hypocritical! How can you tell me that I’m SO wrong in my way of thinking – of LIVING! – that I deserve to spend all of an eternal afterlife being tortured and punished (and insinuate that you want to hurry me off this mortal coil to get there faster,) and think that I would just sit with my thumb up my ass* and say nothing. Guess what? I think you’re wrong. I think your God doesn’t exist, I think your morals are askew, and I think you’re human filth. You’re not going to shut *ME* up by insinuating that I’m trying to shut *YOU* up, so you might as well let that one go, because it just makes me want to say more, louder, and more frequently.

Before I stop typing this doubtlessly overly-wordy response, I just want to say… Charlie, even without this huge gay-bashing extravaganza you’ve got going on, just looking at your photos, videos, physical presence, manner of dress…et al…sets off my gaydar like a motherfucker. Seriously. I know I’m stereotyping, but on this particular occasion I feel pretty good about it. I’ve done a ton of volunteering with GLBTQ organizations that specifically reach out to black men who, as the terminology now goes, are “men who have sex with men”; and if you’re not one of them, I will eat my telephone. Seriously. I wish I had a shitload of money so I could go Larry Flynt on your ass and put adds out trying to locate men who will come forward to admit they had sex with you. I wish, I wish, I wish…

Ultimately this whole thing I’ve just typed feels like an exercise in futility. Much like “legitimate Christians” (whatever the fuck THAT means) don’t take Westboro seriously, I suspect that people who are anti-gay – and have actual ability to make an impact to their ends – feel the same way about you.

“End Scene”**

* – mmmmm…thumb up my ass. (That’s a special thought goin’ straight out to you, Charlie, just to show that I too can be trite.)

** Okay I lied, I have more to say, but it is so separate from the rest of my meandering that I wanted to put it in it’s own little situation down here.

I’ve made my living as an actor and musician since I was twenty. Actually, in point of fact, as of current I’m BARELY making a living at all. Being that the state of America is what it currently is, I don’t feel too terrible about that. But I’ve had songs in shows, films, I’ve put out records, I’ve toured, and blahblahblah…and the road is rough.

ANYWAY… as both a gay man and an atheist, I’m all too aware of how much easier it would be if I hid both of those facts; but I know it would damage my psyche if I pretended to be something I’m not. So it really frosts my fucking cookies to see someone co-opt my belief system in order to try and sell records. It would be like me running around in a tagelmoust singing songs about mother Africa. It’s gross.

Don’t get me wrong. I understand that part of being a successful entertainer is taking what it is you are and magnifying it to the Nth degree. But Charlie is so clearly NOT what he’s pretending to be. It gives me emotional mono to think that he might sell records by feigning what it is that I actually am.

So I want to submit this plea upon what will surely be deaf ears.

Charlie. Please. Stop trying to be a professional singer/rapper/musician. Please. You’re terrible. Just awful. I’m not speaking just aesthetically. which I also believe, but also technically, compositionally, lyrically…it’s painful. You are doing a disservice to your cause by presenting this hideous package. It is to weep, brah. F’realz.