Esera Tuaolo (born July 11, 1968)

Esera Tavai Tuaolo (born July 11, 1968) is a retired American professional football player. He was a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for nine years.

Tuaolo, who is of Samoan ancestry, was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and was raised in poverty in a banana-farming family in Waimanalo. His father died when Tuaolo was ten years of age.

He played college football at Oregon State University and was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. He was selected in the 1991 NFL Draft. Nicknamed "Mr. Aloha", Tuaolo played nose tackle for several teams in his career, reaching the Super Bowl in 1999 while playing with the Atlanta Falcons. He also played for the Carolina Panthers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers during his career.

He also recorded the last tackle of football legend John Elway.

In 2002, having retired from sports, he announced to the public that he is gay, coming out on HBO's Real Sports. This made him the third former NFL player to come out, after David Kopay and Roy Simmons. He has since worked with the NFL to attempt to combat homophobia in the league and is a board member of the Gay and Lesbian Athletics Foundation. He also made an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2004 to share his coming out story as well.

In 2006, Tuaolo sang the national anthem at the opening ceremony of the Gay Games VII, a quadrennial Olympics-style event. During his career with the Packers, Tuaolo once sang the anthem before a game against the Chicago Bears. Kopay administered the official's oath during the opening ceremony. Also that year, he testified at the State Legislature Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in opposition to an anti-gay-marriage bill.

( Read more... )

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esera_Tuaolo

Further Readings:

Alone in the Trenches: My Life As a Gay Man in the NFL by Esera Tuaolo (2006)
Paperback: 296 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks (June 1, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1402209231
ISBN-13: 978-1402209239
Amazon: Alone in the Trenches: My Life As a Gay Man in the NFL

This is Esera Tuaolo's own searing story of terror and hope. A Samoan raised on a Hawaiian banana plantation, he had a natural talent, football. He went on to play for five NFL teams: the Green Bay Packers, the Minnesota Vikings, the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Carolina Panthers, and the Atlanta Falcons in the 1999 Super Bowl. But for the nine years he played professional football he lived in terror that when his face flashed upon the TV screen, someone would divulge his darkest secret. Esera Tuaolo is gay.

Alone in the Trenches takes you inside the homophobic world of professional football and describes fears that almost drove him to suicide. He evokes heartbreak--how his older brother, Tua, died of AIDS--and hope when, Esera, a deeply devout Christian fell in love and started a family.

More Spotlights at my website: www.elisarolle.com/, My Lists/Gay Novels

Louis Crompton (April 5, 1925 - July 11, 2009)

Louis Crompton, noted scholar of 19-century British literature and a pioneer of gay studies, died July 11, 2009, in El Cerrito, Calif. Crompton is survived by his husband, Luis Diaz-Perdomo, El Cerrito, Calif. Born in Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada, on April 5, 1925, he was the son of Clarence and Mabel Crompton. He graduated from the University of Toronto with a master’s degree in mathematics in 1948, and received his doctorate in English from the University of Chicago in 1954. After teaching at the University of British Columbia and the University of Toronto, he joined the English department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1955, retiring in 1989.

Crompton had an international reputation as a Shavian scholar. In 1966, he was awarded the Frank H. Woods Foundation Fellowship to conduct research on Bernard Shaw at the British Museum. His book on Shaw’s plays, “Shaw the Dramatist,” won the national Phi Beta Kappa Christian Gauss Award for Literary Criticism in 1969.

In 1970, Crompton’s pioneering course in gay studies, the second to be offered in the nation, became a hot-button issue in the Nebraska state elections. One legislator introduced a bill banning the teaching about homosexuality at any state college. The bill failed.

Crompton served as faculty adviser for the Gay Action Group, the first gay student organization at UNL. He advised its successor, the Gay/Lesbian Student Association, for two decades. He also helped establish UNL’s Homophobia Awareness Committee, which was started by faculty, staff, and students to improve the climate for gay and lesbian people on campus. He was a long-time member of UNL’s Committee on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns, and in 2003 received the Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to the GLBT Community.

( Read more... )

Source: http://scarlet.unl.edu/?p=2230

Further Readings:

Homosexuality and Civilization by Louis Crompton (2006)
Paperback: 648 pages
Publisher: Belknap Press (November 30, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0674022335
ISBN-13: 978-0674022331
Amazon: Homosexuality and Civilization
Amazon Kindle: Homosexuality and Civilization

How have major civilizations of the last two millennia treated people who were attracted to their own sex? In a narrative tour de force, Louis Crompton chronicles the lives and achievements of homosexual men and women alongside a darker history of persecution, as he compares the Christian West with the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome, Arab Spain, imperial China, and pre-Meiji Japan. Ancient Greek culture celebrated same-sex love in history, literature, and art, making high claims for its moral influence. By contrast, Jewish religious leaders in the sixth century B.C.E. branded male homosexuality as a capital offense and, later, blamed it for the destruction of the biblical city of Sodom. When these two traditions collided in Christian Rome during the late empire, the tragic repercussions were felt throughout Europe and the New World. Louis Crompton traces Church-inspired mutilation, torture, and burning of “sodomites” in sixth-century Byzantium, medieval France, Renaissance Italy, and in Spain under the Inquisition. But Protestant authorities were equally committed to the execution of homosexuals in the Netherlands, Calvin’s Geneva, and Georgian England. The root cause was religious superstition, abetted by political ambition and sheer greed. Yet from this cauldron of fears and desires, homoerotic themes surfaced in the art of the Renaissance masters—Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Sodoma, Cellini, and Caravaggio—often intertwined with Christian motifs. Homosexuality also flourished in the court intrigues of Henry III of France, Queen Christina of Sweden, James I and William III of England, Queen Anne, and Frederick the Great. Anti-homosexual atrocities committed in the West contrast starkly with the more tolerant traditions of pre-modern China and Japan, as revealed in poetry, fiction, and art and in the lives of emperors, shoguns, Buddhist priests, scholars, and actors. In the samurai tradition of Japan, Crompton makes clear, the celebration of same-sex love rivaled that of ancient Greece. Sweeping in scope, elegantly crafted, and lavishly illustrated, Homosexuality and Civilization is a stunning exploration of a rich and terrible past.

More Spotlights at my website: www.elisarolle.com/, My Lists/Gay Novels

Tab Hunter, Anthony Perkins & Allan Glaser

Tab Hunter (born Arthur Andrew Kelm; July 11, 1931) is an American actor, singer, former teen idol and author who has starred in over forty major films.

Hunter was born in New York to Charles Kelm and Gertrude Gelien. His parents were German immigrants - his father Jewish and his mother Lutheran. Hunter's father was an abusive man and within a few years of his birth, his parents divorced and his mother moved with her two sons to California. She reassumed her maiden surname Gelien and changed her sons' name to that as well. As a teenager Hunter was a figure skater, competing in both singles and pairs, and a horseback rider.

He joined the Coast Guard at the age of fifteen, lying about his age to enlist. While in the Coast Guard he gained the nickname "Hollywood" for his penchant for watching movies rather than going to bars while on liberty.

In later years Hunter's mother was institutionalized and underwent shock treatments, and he supported her financially until her death.

Hunter's 2006 autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star became a New York Times best-seller as did the paperback edition in 2007. It is still currently in publication and was nominated for several prestigious writing awards. In the book he acknowledged his homosexuality, confirming rumors that had circulated since the height of his fame. According to William L. Hamilton of The New York Times, detailed reports about his alleged romances with very close friends Debbie Reynolds and Natalie Wood were strictly the fodder of studio publicity departments. As Wood and Hunter embarked on a well-publicized and groundless romance, promoting his apparent heterosexuality while promoting their films, insiders developed their own headline for the item: 'Natalie Wood and Tab Wouldn't'.


Tab Hunter (born Arthur Andrew Kelm; July 11, 1931) is an American actor, singer, former teen idol and author who has starred in over forty major films. Hunter had long-term relationships with actor Anthony Perkins and champion figure skater Ronnie Robertson, before settling down with his partner of more than 30 years, Allan Glaser. Hunter's 2006 autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star became a New York Times best-seller as did the paperback edition in 2007.

( Read more... )

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_Hunter

Physique Pictorial promoted another nonconformist homosexual image that became a prototype for American men. This was the image of the muscled, handsome, sexually active man who—although not the effeminate homosexual—was softer-looking and less aggressively masculine than the traditional male image. Postwar American men—vulnerable, and comfortable with being sexual objects—appreciated the rebel image, but could relate more to this softer, sexy masculine image. Actors such as Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, Troy Donahue, Guy Madison, George Nader, Tom Tryon, and Rory Calhoun embodied this new image: sexy but romantic, masculine but approachable.
[...]
As much as bias against homosexuals existed, the cultural obsession with homosexuality increasingly blurred the line between heterosexual and homosexual. The buff, approachable, sexually vulnerable young Hollywood male actor often appeared shirtless and in revealing positions in publicity shots and fan magazines. Often the only difference between these photographs and those in Physique Pictorial was the context. The December 1953 issue of Tomorrow’s Man included an eight-page feature on Tab Hunter at home on his ranch, where “he leads an athletic life to keep in shape for the rigors of theatrical life.” Illustrated with twelve posed beefcake photos, ten of them shirtless, the article claimed that Hunter’s “single greatest asset is his resemblance to the down-to-earth, wholesome, ‘red blooded American boy.’” With no mention of dating or girlfriends, Hunter’s image as an emerging big star was shockingly ambiguous. --Bronski, Michael (2011-05-10). A Queer History of the United States (Revisioning American History). Beacon Press. Kindle Edition

( Further Readings )

More Real Life Romances at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Real Life Romance

Max Rhyser (born July 11)

This is an interview I did with Max in 2009. I think that nothing is better than reposting it to wish Max a wonderful birthday!

You know friends, I post a lot, but I interview only few, not since I don't like all the people I post about, but since I'm always scared when I do an interview that I'm not asking the right questions, that the interview will not represent in the right way the man and his dream... But I think that Max Rhyser's interview is FANTASTIC, and not since I asked the right questions, but since Max poured his heart in it. I can't, really I can't dismember the email he sent me with his answers to fill my questions since the email is perfect as it's, and so I'm happy to guest Max, and his heart:

"How did I decide upon New York and do I feel it is the right stop for me? Well, brace yourself...

I arrived at JFK on August 23rd, 2004. It was the rainiest August New York has ever seen. Despite being soaked to the bone, I was excited and ready to take on the world. Little did I know I was about to embark on the hardest week of my life!

I came to New York to do a Showcase in the hopes of attracting the attention of agents and casting directors - I was not so lucky. In fact none of us were... The United Council of Drama Schools in the UK had arranged a New York Showcase for the American students studying abroad, possessing a US passport I seized the opportunity. Unfortunately it was still a brand new endeavor and it failed miserably.

My last few months in London had been extremely successful. I graduated from Mountview Academy of Performing Arts a few months early to get out and work professionally. A very high-powered Agent, Dawn Sedgwick, had swooped me up after my final year Showcase in London and I began working in Fringe Theatre and immediately booked work on a BBC sitcom, MY HERO. Things were booming for me!


 
And so after the immediate and huge success in London, the failure of the New York Showcase was unbearable. As my week came to an end I knew I had to stay in New York! I wanted to prove to myself that I could make it. Going home would have been to easy! And so, I took my plane ticket and very cinematically ripped it in half!

My adventure began...
 
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Carlos Baturin & Emilio Menendez

Same-sex marriage was legalized in Spain in 2005, by law 13/2005. The first legal same-sex marriage in Spain took place on 11 July of that year, in Tres Cantos, Madrid, between Emilio Menendez and Carlos Baturin, who had lived as a couple for more than thirty years. The first marriage of two women under the law was 11 days later, in Barcelona.

The ceremony took place in Tres Cantos, a town outside Madrid, eight days after Spain became the third country in the world to grant full legal recognition to same-sex couples.

Spanish television showed the couple laughing and displaying their wedding rings after the ceremony at the town hall in Tres Cantos.

Pedro Zerolo, at the time the ruling Socialist party's top official for social issues, attended the wedding. The new law gives gay couples the same rights as heterosexual ones. Besides getting married, they can adopt children and inherit each other's property.

The justice ministry estimated that about 10% of Spain's 43 million people are homosexual.


Same-sex marriage was legalized in Spain in 2005. The first legal same-sex marriage in Spain took place on 11 July of that year, between Emilio Menendez and Carlos Baturin, who had lived as a couple for more than thirty years. The first marriage of two women under the law was 11 days later, in Barcelona. The ceremony took place in Tres Cantos, a town outside Madrid, eight days after Spain became the third country in the world to grant full legal recognition to same-sex couples.

( Read more... )

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/jul/12/spain.gayrights

( Further Readings )

More Real Life Romances at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Real Life Romance

2014 Rainbow Awards Submission: Bound for Trouble

Gay Mystery / Thriller
Bound for Trouble by EM Lynley
Paperback: 260 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (June 18, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 162798917X
ISBN-13: 978-1627989176
Amazon: Bound for Trouble
Amazon Kindle: Bound for Trouble

Daniel “Deke” Kane is a broken man, facing the end of his career in the FBI. He’s on desk duty after a botched drug raid left the suspects and two children dead. He’s got one chance to prove himself, or the only thing he’ll be investigating is the Help Wanted ads.

Ryan Griffiths has been on the run for ten years. Forced onto the streets when his father kicked him out, Ryan earns his living in other men’s beds. Finding his john dead in a hotel room drives him under the radar until a favorite client gives him a chance at a safe, clean life. But Ryan’s relatively stable new world shatters when Deke Kane catches up with him.

When Deke’s tasked to take down a drug dealer with terrorist ties and a taste for the dark side of BDSM, his only chance to get close is the suspect’s interest in Ryan, and he convinces Ryan to become a confidential informant. In return, Deke offers Ryan immunity from his past. As Ryan falls under the drug lord’s domination, Deke finds himself falling for Ryan.

Now Deke has to choose between Ryan’s safety and his own future.

Charities Donation program progress:
253$ Albert Kennedy Trust: http://www.akt.org.uk/
965$ Ali Forney Center: www.aliforneycenter.org/
25$ Audre Lorde Project: http://alp.org/
75$ CARE: careprogram.org/
100$ The Center Colorado: http://www.glbtcolorado.org/
392$ COLORS: www.colorsyouth.org/
30$ Covenant: www.covenanthouseno.org/
75$ Diversity Role Models: http://www.diversityrolemodels.org/
25$ The Diversity Center: http://diversitycenter.org/
317$ Galop: www.galop.org.uk/
150$ GLYS: http://www.glyswny.org/
100$ Human Rights Campaign: http://www.hrc.org/
50$ Huntsville GLBT Advocacy & Youth Services: http://www.glbtays.org/
25$ It Gets Better: http://www.itgetsbetter.org/
100$ Inland Northwest LGBT Center: www.thelgbtcenter.org/
235$ Lambda Legal: www.lambdalegal.org/
50$ Lambert House: www.lamberthouse.org/
50$ Lancaster LGBT Center: http://www.centralpalgbtcenter.org/
50$ LEAP: http://www.glbtleap.org/
462$ Lost-n-Found Youth: www.lost-n-found.org/
130$ Moveable Feast: http://www.mfeast.org/
25$ Odyssey Youth Center: www.odysseyyouth.org/
25$ Out Youth: outyouth.org/
50$ PFLAG: community.pflag.org/
175$ Point Foundation: www.pointfoundation.org/
100$ Ruth Ellis Center: http://www.ruthelliscenter.org/
575$ SAGE: giveto.sageusa.org/
25$ Terrence Higgins Trust: www.tht.org.uk/
280$ The Trevor Project: www.thetrevorproject.org/
160$ UCAN: www.ucanchicago.org/
25$ WayGay: http://www.waygay.org/
50$ YouthCare: www.youthcare.org/
897$ Other Funds
TOTAL: 6046$

* more than 150$ is a direct donation from a supporter of the Rainbow Awards who isn't submitting; while some authors were more than generous, arriving to donate 5 times the suggested amount, being the submission fee a non mandatory and voluntary direct donation, we were struggling to raise the same amount as last year and there is who decided to cover part of it. I thank you for all you are doing, and if you wish to donate to the above links, please drop me a note with your donation and I will update the total.

2014 Rainbow Awards Guidelines: reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4162490.html

GayRomLit Retreat: Edmond Manning

Starting from March up until September I will feature authors attending the GayRomLit Retreat in Chicago (October 16-19, 2014: http://gayromlit.com/grl-authors).

Today author is Edmond Manning: EDMOND MANNING has always been fascinated by fiction: how ordinary words could be sculpted into heartfelt emotions, how heartfelt emotions could leave an imprint inside you stronger than the real world. Mr. Manning never felt worthy to seek publication until recently, when he accidentally stumbled into his own writer’s voice that fit perfectly, like his favorite skull-print, fuzzy jammies. He finally realized that he didn’t have to write like Charles Dickens or Armistead Maupin, two author heroes, and that perhaps his own fiction was juuuuuuust right, because it was his true voice, so he looked around the scrappy word kingdom that he created for himself and shouted, “I’M HOME!” He is now a writer. In addition to fiction, Edmond enjoys writing nonfiction on his blog, http://www.edmondmanning.com. When not writing, he can be found either picking raspberries in the back yard or eating panang curry in an overstuffed chair upstairs, reading comic books. Feel free to contact him at remembertheking@comcast.net. Or visit him in Minnesota
Website: http://www.edmondmanning.com

Edmond Manning is offering a copy of I Probably Shouldn’t Have Done That to one commenter on this blog. You can comment on LJ or DW if you have an account (I will send a PM to the winner), if you don't have an account, please leave a comment on DW with a contact email.

I Probably Shouldn't Have Done That by Edmond Manning
Paperback: 170 pages
Publisher: Pickwick Ink Press; 1st edition (December 1, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0989097935
ISBN-13: 978-0989097932
Amazon: I Probably Shouldn't Have Done That
Amazon Kindle: I Probably Shouldn't Have Done That

Edmond Manning, author of The Lost and Founds series has made a few mistakes in his life. Well, more than a few. But with his characteristic ability to embrace the weird and the wonderful, he prefers to think of them as "experiences." Why label an adventure a regret if everything works out in the end? Whether getting high from an airplane stranger's candy, attempting to deceive the DMV with magic, or discovering he might be the central figure in an unfolding teen horror flick, Manning reflects on a lifetime of questionable decisions in this memoir and confessional. In the essay, Dear Penthouse, Manning ponders the appropriate response to a late-night booty call from an irritating neighbor. The Best New York Sandwich documents his day being homeless in New York City. Soft reflections about The Final Blessing from his father, and thoughts of growing older, are interspersed with odd tales of a family that believes in Moon Recession Birthdays. Manning leaps from personal lunacy to handling homophobia to sheer wonder at the beauty of everyday people which makes for a giggly, surprising, and occasionally sweet-sad journey through a gay man’s collected tales of a life filled with glorious mistakes.

Cover Reveal Blitz: Blood & Thunder (Third Series, Bk #2) By Charlie Cochet

When a series of bombs go off in a Therian youth center, injuring members of THIRDS Team Destructive Delta, and causing a rift between agents Dexter J. Daley and Sloane Brodie, peace seems unattainable. Especially when a new and frightening group, the Order of Adrasteia, appears to always be a step ahead. With panic and intolerance spreading and streets becoming littered with the Order’s propaganda, hostility between Humans and Therians grows daily. Dex and Sloane, along with the rest of the team, are determined to take down the Order and restore peace, not to mention settle a personal score. But the deeper the team investigates the bombings, the more they believe there’s a more sinister motive than a desire to shed blood and spread chaos.

Discovering the frightful truth behind the Order’s intent forces Sloane to confront secrets from a past he thought he’d left behind for good, a past that could not only destroy him and his career, but also the reputation of the organization that made him all he is today. Now more than ever, Dex and Sloane need each other, and, along with trust, the strength of their bond will mean the difference between justice and all-out war.



Release Day: August 4, 2014

Available for preorder at:



( Excerpt )

About the Author: Charlie Cochet is an author by day and artist by night. Always quick to succumb to the whispers of her wayward muse, no star is out of reach when following her passion. From Historical to Fantasy, Contemporary to Science Fiction, there’s bound to be plenty of mischief for her heroes to find themselves in, and plenty of romance, too!

Currently residing in South Florida, Charlie looks forward to migrating to a land where the weather includes seasons other than hot, hotter, and boy, it’s hot! When she isn't writing, she can usually be found reading, drawing, or watching movies. She runs on coffee, thrives on music, and loves to hear from readers.

You can find Charlie at

Giveaway: $10 Amazon gift card
Rafflecopter Widget: a Rafflecopter giveaway
LINK: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/47be554/

2014 Rainbow Awards Submission: Heidi Cullinan

Gay Erotic Romance
Tough Love (Special Delivery) by Heidi Cullinan
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd. (April 8, 2014)
Amazon Kindle: Tough Love (Special Delivery)

It takes a strong man to be this fabulous.

Special Delivery, Book 3

Crescencio “Chenco” Ortiz pulled himself up by his garter straps after his father’s will yanked the financial rug from under his spank-me pumps. He doesn’t need anyone, yet when Steve Vance steps into his life, the prospect of having a sexy leather daddy on tap begins to take on a certain appeal.

There’s a hitch when he learns Steve is friends with Mitch Tedsoe—the half-brother Chenco never knew except through his father’s twisted lies. Despite his reservations, soon Chenco is living his dreams, including a performing gig in Vegas. Now if only he could get Steve to see him as more than just a boy in need of saving.

Steve’s attraction to Chenco is overshadowed by too many demons, ones he knows his would-be lover is too young to slay. Yet as he gets to know the bright, determined young man whose drag act redefines fierce, Steve’s inner sadist trembles with need. He begins to realize Chenco’s relentless tough love might be the only thing that will finally set him free.

Gay Contemporary Romance
Love Lessons by Heidi Cullinan
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd. (October 1, 2013)
Amazon Kindle: Love Lessons

Love doesn’t come with a syllabus.

Love Lessons, Book 1

Kelly Davidson has waited what seems like forever to graduate high school and get out of his small-minded, small town. But when he arrives at Hope University, he quickly realizes finding his Prince Charming isn’t so easy. Everyone here is already out. In fact, Kelly could be the only virgin on campus.

Worst of all, he’s landed the charming, handsome, gay campus Casanova as a roommate, whose bed might as well be equipped with a revolving door.

Walter Lucas doesn’t believe in storybook love. Everyone is better off having as much fun as possible with as many people as possible…except his shy, sad little sack of a roommate is seriously screwing up his world view.

As Walter sets out to lure Kelly out of his shell, staying just friends is harder than he anticipated. He discovers love is a crash course in determination. To make the grade, he’ll have to finally show up for class…and overcome his own private fear that love was never meant to last.

Charities Donation program progress:
253$ Albert Kennedy Trust: http://www.akt.org.uk/
965$ Ali Forney Center: www.aliforneycenter.org/
25$ Audre Lorde Project: http://alp.org/
75$ CARE: careprogram.org/
100$ The Center Colorado: http://www.glbtcolorado.org/
392$ COLORS: www.colorsyouth.org/
30$ Covenant: www.covenanthouseno.org/
75$ Diversity Role Models: http://www.diversityrolemodels.org/
25$ The Diversity Center: http://diversitycenter.org/
317$ Galop: www.galop.org.uk/
150$ GLYS: http://www.glyswny.org/
100$ Human Rights Campaign: http://www.hrc.org/
50$ Huntsville GLBT Advocacy & Youth Services: http://www.glbtays.org/
25$ It Gets Better: http://www.itgetsbetter.org/
100$ Inland Northwest LGBT Center: www.thelgbtcenter.org/
235$ Lambda Legal: www.lambdalegal.org/
50$ Lambert House: www.lamberthouse.org/
50$ Lancaster LGBT Center: http://www.centralpalgbtcenter.org/
50$ LEAP: http://www.glbtleap.org/
462$ Lost-n-Found Youth: www.lost-n-found.org/
130$ Moveable Feast: http://www.mfeast.org/
25$ Odyssey Youth Center: www.odysseyyouth.org/
25$ Out Youth: outyouth.org/
100$ PFLAG: community.pflag.org/
175$ Point Foundation: www.pointfoundation.org/
100$ Ruth Ellis Center: http://www.ruthelliscenter.org/
575$ SAGE: giveto.sageusa.org/
25$ Terrence Higgins Trust: www.tht.org.uk/
280$ The Trevor Project: www.thetrevorproject.org/
160$ UCAN: www.ucanchicago.org/
25$ WayGay: http://www.waygay.org/
50$ YouthCare: www.youthcare.org/
997$ Other Funds
TOTAL: 6196$

* more than 150$ is a direct donation from a supporter of the Rainbow Awards who isn't submitting; while some authors were more than generous, arriving to donate 5 times the suggested amount, being the submission fee a non mandatory and voluntary direct donation, we were struggling to raise the same amount as last year and there is who decided to cover part of it. I thank you for all you are doing, and if you wish to donate to the above links, please drop me a note with your donation and I will update the total.

2014 Rainbow Awards Guidelines: reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4162490.html

Gay Romance Challenge: July 2014

Here is the Bestsellers List on Amazon I'm referring to for the challenge:

Bestsellers in Gay Fiction

And here is the actual situation (in bold the books I read and marked as New the books entering the Challenge this month):

1) Lux Ex Tenebris (The 12 Olympians Boo... by Sandrine Gasq-Dion
2) All Kinds of Tied Down by Mary Calmes
3) Let Love Live (The Love Series Book 5) by Melissa Collins
4) Guns & Hoses by Brenda Cothern
5) Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper
6) The Mating of Michael (Sex in Seattle... by Eli Easton
7) Double Full (A Nice Guys Series) by Kindle Alexander
8) Forbidden Mate: Holland Brothers 4 by Toni Griffin
9) Tequila Mockingbird (Sinners Series B... by Rhys Ford
10) The Ex Factor (Bodyguards Inc. Book 2) by RJ Scott

( Read more... )