Why the press distorts Pope Francis' statements

This writer, Jim Yardley, is incorrect in his statement:

"The interview is the first time Francis has explained the reasoning behind both his actions and omissions. He also expanded on the comments he made about homosexuality in July, on an airplane returning to Rome from Rio de Janeiro, where he had celebrated World Youth Day. In a remark then that produced headlines worldwide, the new pope said, “Who am I to judge?” At the time, some questioned whether he was referring only to gays in the priesthood, but in this interview he made clear that he had been speaking of gay men and lesbians in general."

In his article about Pope Francis' interview.  Jim Yardley tries to say that Pope Francis'

How differently people hear Pope Francis' statements

I was amazed to hear on WLNS this morning that they thought from the various people that are Catholic that they interviewed, that Pope Francis' statements on social issues including the topic of homosexuality are interpreted in such different ways.  So many people just can't seem to understand and accept what he is saying, because he is being so gracious in what he is saying.  Same-sex sexual attractions are not a sin and all intimate same-sex sexual behavior is a sin.  And that we should love all people and not focus just on their sexuality. 

AP article on Red Cross accepting blood

I have asked about this situation when I give blood at the Red Cross.  I especially appreciated the part of the AP article that talked about how inviting friends to come with you to give blood might not be appropriate in terms of the questions they are asked about their past sexual behavior.  I was surprised by this statement from the FDA:

"According to the FDA, men who have had sex with other men represent about 2 percent of the U.S. population, yet accounted for at least 61 percent of all new HIV infections in the U.S. in 2010."

How does this statement compare to the general public myth of 10% of the population being gay?

John Shore's odd blog post, from my perspective

This was an odd post, from my perspective, that John Shore made to his blog site, when you consider that he has blocked my further comments there, as Wayne has done with my comment to his site about the NALT project.  As I said before, I have no confidence that if I made a video and submitted it that it would be included. 

I still get the notifications, "JohnShore.com <donotreply@wordpress.com>" for new posts to the site. 

They had time to read my comments to decide to block them...  Is this really about not having time to respond?  And of course, John or anyone else associated with this project has yet to define what the term, LBGT-affirming Christian, means.  

Excellent interview article on George Silberschatz

I found this to be an excellent interview article, paralleling my own observations in so many ways. 

George Silberschatz on Psychotherapy Research and Its Discontents by David Bullard

Clinician and researcher George Silberschatz, PhD, discusses both the benefits and limitations of psychotherapy research, as well as its misuse by therapists marketing their services.

Wayne's video of support for NALT project

I posted this to the video Wayne made for the NALT project: 

I watched John and Catherine Shore’s video that they made on Sept. 9th for the NALT project. 

For those who are interested, I worked through each point in the video at my Blogger site entitled Our Culture and Society.  The title of my post there is:/ethnologystudy.blogspot.com/2013/09/reviewing-john-and-catherine-shores.html 

Reviewing John and Catherine Shore's video for NALT project

My title of this post:

This is one of the poorest explanations of the pro-gay Christian positions that I have ever heard.

Working through the video by John Shore and his wife, Catherine.  It is 12:51 minutes long.  The title is, “My wife and I on why “God condemns homosexuality” is irrational, unbiblical, unfair, and un-Christian.

But first, John hasn’t yet stated what type of intimate sexual behavior is consistent with Scripture, from his perspective as a Christian and thus where that behavior crosses the line into being sinful in his opinion.  He seems to focus on the far ends of the spectrum.  Does he agree that all sex anytime, as Evan Hurst has said, saying sexytime, whatever that actually meant, is biblical?  And is John comfortable saying that he is more than a cultural Christian as Evan Hurst says that Evan is and as Evan says that Dan Savage says that Dan is?

Working through the video. 

·         Being gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, transgendered.  However is that about behavior or identity, orientation or attractions? 

I'll let you make your own decisions about...

I'll let you make your own decisions about this one commenter:

6 Comments

1. 

   Mike Jones

   Sep 6, 2013 at 9:49 am

   I didn’t see that the focus of the NALT project was to “distance themselves from others who oppose gay marriage,” as Sarah Pulliam Bailey says here. It seems to have a much wider focus. John Shore and other co-founders of the project do address the topic of gay marriage here: http://notalllikethat.org/about/ where they are explaining the project.
   

Comment to John Shore's article on NALT

I posted this as comment #29 to John Shore’s article entitled “Introducing The Not All Like That (NALT) ChristiansProject” The article was written on September 4, 2013.

Mike Jones September 5, 2013 at 2:22 pm

John, if you had listed “Q” as well, when you said “LGBT-affirming Christians,” I would have at least known that I fit in there, as I am always questioning many things, it seems. The only thing that I’m pretty sure that I am not is ever-straight, other than I have only dated women. What category do you place someone like myself in who is a Christian man who is single, who experiences primarily sexual attractions toward men, who is not ex-gay, not gay, only bisexual way over on the homosexual attractions section of the Kinsey Scale, who isn’t gay-affirming himself and who is not sexually active with anyone, but who has non-sexual attractions mostly toward men? And who accepts and respects people who are gay, ex-gay, anti-gay, bisexual, straight, not yet Christian, or never to be a Christian.
 

Continuing... Sept. 8th:
The commenter, Lymis, had welcomed me with the label of bisexual. 

Comments dialogue at the LA Times article

Dialogue about the LA Times article

I think that it will be informative for people, who are interested, to read through the comments dialogue for the LA Times article on California SB 1172. 

Well, the dialogue continues between me and one commenter, as of Thursday evening, Sept. 5th.  [it continues as of Saturday evening] One thing that I suggest that you watch for is what commenters say about the reasons they think I say something, and see if you think this is a reflection of what they are doing in their comments. 

In Brian Pellot's article on 9/6/13 for his Blog at the Religion News Service, he interviews Dr. Heiner Bielefeldt, where Dr. Bielefeldt says,

I agree with this statement by NARTH

I don't agree with all of the perspectives that NARTH represents.  This time, I do agree with this statement here by NARTH about the Federal Court of Appeals ruling on California law, SB 1172. 

However, reading the statement by Liberty Counsel, at the same site, is troubling to me on multiple fronts.  The comments there are closed so I cannot express my reactions there.

And I agree with most of this article from NARTH, by Christopher H. Rosik, Ph.D., written in May of 2012, entitled, Fact- Checking California Senate Bill 1172. 

Ages of consent in North America

This will be a helpful reference.  These are the various ages of consent for areas in North American, including the range of ages of consent in the 50 states of the USA.  Especially consider California and New Jersey's ages of consent. 

My thoughts on bill SB 1172 in CA being upheld by Federal Appeals Court

Commenting on the AP article about the Federal Appeals Court upholding CA law SB 1172.

Conversation therapy does not necessarily seek to turn gay youth straight.  But if you say something enough, in a democracy, the public tends to believe it.  That’s what I meant when I said that in a democracy, effective communication is incomplete and inaccurate communication. 

Again, the APA says sexual orientation includes sexual attraction, sexual behavior and more. 

Does therapy appear dangerous in other regards – of course.  And as I said about the NJ bill A3371, at my blog here,  if you read it carefully it also bans licensed therapists from helping a bisexual minor become gay.   

My review of CA bill SB 1172

I posted these points for consideration in regards to California bill: SB 1172 to the LA Times article.   

Working through CA bill SB 1172: 

Points I want to make for consideration.  I split them up into 5 separate comments to meet comment space restrictions for the LA Times:

·         You can be religious and be a clinical counselor.  Laws like this inhibit clinical counselors from seeking to be licensed, if they do not agree with the precepts of the law.

·         My point is that it also thus prohibits a licensed health professional from assisting a minor who wants to change their sexual orientation from bisexual to gay.  Gosh, this is poorly written. 

·         Even though they are saying that a bisexual orientation is not a disease, etc., they are saying by the language of the law, that it is  not healthy to change from bisexual to gay. 

·         Again, the language is only “can pose.”  This can equally be said for any form of counseling or any form of medical treatment. 

Nudging toward better vocabulary

I think that it is important to continue to nudge people toward using correct vocabulary. 

So, I posted this reply today to a person's comment to Jonathan's article.

Mike Jones Aug 28, 2013 at 12:03 pm               

"I would then ask, in the wider world what is bisexual synonymous with?  

I know it’s cumbersome to say, “same-sex sexual attractions” instead of “same-sex attractions,” but there is a significant difference between the two terms, even within the gay community as well as within the segment of the Christian community who experiences some level of same-sex sexual attractions, but who do not desire to express those attractions in intimate same-sex sexual behavior.  

NJ law is being challenged in court

I felt that it was important to post this reply to a person commenting on

Susan K. Livio's article.  The article was about New Jersey bill A3371

Mike Jones

Aug 27, 2013 at 12:38 pm

Again, we need to be careful as to whether we are referring to identity, orientation, attraction, behavior, or romantic attractions. We can determine our identity, as separate and distinct from our orientation or our attractions. People can decide to be straight in their identity, and they can decide to be straight in their behavior, even though they might be gay in their orientation, or they might be bisexual in their orientation.

My comment to the actual article was:

Mike Jones

Commenting on AP article on Divide over Religious Exemptions on Gay Marriage

AP article – Divide over Religious Exemptions on Gay Marriage

The last part of this article seemed to be the most telling:

"The religious community would have done much better to ask for protection for their religious liberty instead of trying to stop same-sex marriage and try to prevent it for everybody," said church-state expert Douglas Laycock of the University of Virginia, who is recommending the more pragmatic course. "The more same-sex marriage seems inevitable, the less likely we are to see religious liberty protection in blue states."

Mark Silk struggles to understand Timothy Dolan

I was reviewing some of the other articles that Mark Silk wrote on his RNS Blog site. 

 

So, I decided to post the following comment on Mark's blog from July 31st, entitled, Dolan Disses the Papacy.

 

Similar to Mark writing about Jesus when he isn’t a Christian, he can also write about people who are Christians who experience same-sex sexual attractions who desire to follow Catholic teaching on sexuality, and thus feel it wouldn’t be honest for them to say that their identity is gay.   

However, because of Mark’s vantage point, which is not the same vantage point as even the person who is a Catholic priest, who does experience some level of same-sex sexual attractions, who has made the decision to be celibate chaste in their position as a priest, it is harder for him to understand and to write accurately about what Timothy Dolan is speaking about. 

Thus, the phrase that Mark uses, “basically banning gays from becoming priests,” shows

My most recent comment to Jonathan's article

This is my most recent comment that I posted to Jonathan's article.  There has been some meaningful dialogue there.

What I find more lacking today in our culture and our society is compassion and respect and love coming from people who are gay affirming in their own position, towards people who are not in denial, but who are open about the same-sex sexual attractions that they experience and who have decided for themselves to not pursue intimate same-sex sexual behavior. They might be in heterosexual marriages. They might be single. They might have been married and are now divorced. They might or might not have experienced a shift of some degree in their sexual attractions.

Jonathan Merritt writes about intersex individuals

I posted this comment to Jonathan Merritt's article. 

"Jonathan, I’m glad to hear that you pursued this with Russell Moore. His response to you shows me that he hasn’t thought about the question much. I think we need to be careful in how we use both terms, transgendered and transsexual. Some people who say they are transgendered, do not desire to seek a shift in sexual anatomy or seek hormonal input. They are comfortable with their sexual biology. We also need to be careful in how we understand gender as opposed to sex."

I was glad to see that Jonathan has an in with Russell Moore where he can have Russell respond to him.  I wasn't able to trigger a response from Russell when I wrote to him privately or when I commented about intersex individuals to his article on transgendered individuals.

Chris Christie is against bisexual teens becoming gay

So, consider the logic of Governor Christie.  If sexual orientation cannot shift, then a bisexual person under 18 cannot become gay.  If a questioning person in an LBGTQ group wants to shift from Bisexual to Gay, Chris Christie says that cannot happen, since he believes that sexual orientation is set at birth.  Think about all the teens that say that they are bisexual when they are engaging in only gay sexual activity.  Is that about orientation or identity?  This law only pertains to people who are licensed.  Thus it wouldn't apply to most LBGTQ support groups.  And notice that section 2.b. says that even gender identity, thus from bisexual to gay, cannot be assisted by a licensed person for another person under 18 - since it says "not limited to".  The logic of the bill is that a shift can only happen toward someone of the same gender and not toward someone of the opposite gender. 

AAB didn't stay long in the top 100 TuneCore rock chart

Steve posted this on his Facebook page on Aug. 10th:

"Thank you for being part of the TuneCore digital music distribution community.  Congratulations on the success of All-American Boy! #4 on iTunes rock chart!"

Hummm, instead of being on the rock chart, I wonder why the song wasn't on the country chart.....? Given how the media promoted the video and song being from a gay country singer. 

And, by Aug. 14th, it was #90 and by Aug. 15th, it was out of the top 100.  It's always interesting how information is presented. 

It looks like the song was made available on iTunes on Aug. 8th. 

Nick says he was Steve's lover in AAB

This is what Nicholas Alan said on August 1st. on Twitter:

Hey Guys Thanks for checking out my page! see me play the lover in Steve Grand's VIRAL youtube Music Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjiyjYCwNyY

Now that's an interesting way of describing the role he had in AAB of declining Steve Grand's romantic advances.  If that is what Nick sees as being someone's lover - to reject their advances but still be their friend, that does sound more parallel to his interactions with people on the gayhoopla site. 

The Moynihan Letters

This is an excellent article by Dr. Robert Moynihan, carefully going though the context and the conversations of Pope Francis with the reporters interviewing him on his flight back from Brazil. 
 
I had not come upon The Moynihan Letters before.  

Scott P. Richert's article, Pope Francis on Homosexuality, Take a Deep Breath

I posted this today to Scott P. Richert's article Pope Francis on Homosexuality, Take a Deep Breath, on about.com 

My guess is that it is because Pope Francis has allowed himself to understand the subject of same-sex sexual attractions and same-sex sexual behavior very well, that he speaks in the way that he does on this subject.  My guess is that he understands very well priests and women religious who do experience some level of same-sex sexual attractions or who experience only same-sex sexual attractions.  He understands how those individuals think who make the decision not to pursue same-sex sexual behavior.  He understands those who find the need to own an identity of gay, but still be celibate.  He understands those who have difficulty resisting same-sex sexual behavior even though they have made the commitment to the Catholic church to do so.  He understands those who are sexually active and are priests or women religious. 

Mark Silk's political spin on Pope Francis' statements

Posted to Religion News Service as a reply to Mark Silk’s reply to a person commenting on his article, “Explaining away the pope.”

*amazing that Mark Silk is: "...and in 1998 founding editor of Religion in the News, a magazine published by the Center that examines how the news media handle religious subject matter."  When he so blatantly uses the RNS news media to distort religious news.  He doesn't even have a degree in religion. 

Mike Jones Aug 6, 2013 at 5:26 pm

The individuals Pope Francis is referring to when he asks that we not marginalize them, is anyone who has some level of same-sex sexual attractions. He is not referring to how they might express behave in response to those attractions. What the Pope is referring to in terms of who he asks that we not judge is anyone, as even the Pope is only like a trial lawyer, whether for the defense or for the prosecution. Depending on the topic and point at hand. He knows that no lawyer ends up being the judge or the jury. Yet he also knows that he is invited to represent his position well in the court setting, so to speak. The setting here and his position is that same-sex sexual attractions are not sinful, and all intimate same-sex sexual behavior is sinful.

Pope Francis, thus is not judging at all. He is saying that he understands how someone could say, “the fact of a person being gay.” He would invite them to restate that, as something like this, “the

Nicholas Alan (Taylor) - the AAB pulling at straws

Nicholas Alan is now pulling at straws.  Discover what this talent agency actually is….

Steve Grand finally gives credit to Nick Alan on his Facebook page after more than a month of the video coming out.  Steve refers to Nick as his good friend and references Nick’s newFacebook page that was created only on July 29^th

So, it appears that Nick doesn’t go by Taylor but the AAB: 

Nicholas Alan  Fan page for Nicholas Alan aka "The All American Boy" For bookings or interviews contact bc@bactalent.com

Brandon Cohen just started this company in July of this year, 2013.  Hummmm.....

Most accurate article I have found on Pope Francis' comments

This article from AP is the most accurate article that I have read thus far on Pope Francis' comments he made with reporters on his flight back from Brazil. 

A dialogue about Pope Francis' words

A portion of my dialogue with someone commenting at National Catholic Register to the article there on Pope Francis’ comments on his return plane flight from Brazil.  I posted my comments with Disqus. 

 

This has turned out to be an intriguing dialogue with this person, going by markbirch, on the National Catholic Reporter where I signed in with Disqus.  I didn’t have to be arguing to make my points with him – which is the way he interacts with other people here at this site.  All I needed to do was to continue to present facts in regards to his statements.  I didn’t need to be accusatory toward him.  I didn’t need to say he was wrong.  I just needed to keep saying what I knew to be right.  What I’m asking him, in my own way, is why does he care what the Pope says, if he isn’t a Catholic any longer and is only an agnostic.  From our dialogue being on the NCR site, our discussion is public.  So, I decided to post this section of the dialogue here.

Media back-peddling on spin of Pope's statements on gays

The media is back-peddling rapidly on their spin on Pope Francis' statements on the subject of homosexuality. 

Compare this MSN tagline:

Pope says “If someone is gay…, who am I to judge?”

Or this caption from the BBC:
Pope Francis: Who am I to judge gay people?

And what he actually was saying:  (my translation)

Pope says who am I to judge priests who have some level of same-sex sexual attractions and who are celibate since the tendencies of same-sex sexual attractions are not sinful. 

Hear now how the media is now changing its spin:

MSN:  Pope Francis is reaching out to gays, saying he won't judge priests for their sexual orientation.” 

AP's Matt Freedman's distorted spin on Pope Francis' words

Notice here how the AP verbally in their News clip, spins the story.  Precisely what I predicted. 
Points they try to make:

• shift in tone toward gays
• won't judge gay priests (when "a gay person" is referring to more than priests)
• if someone is gay and searches for the Lord, who am I to judge...  (but what was the if? - exactly...)  Who was he talking about when he said, "If they accept the Lord and have goodwill, who am I to judge?"  There is a difference between someone accepting the Lord and someone searching for the Lord.  It's not just about priests.  He was referring to "a gay person," as he phrased it.  What did he mean by accepting the Lord?  What does Lord mean?  It means more than just Savior.  And what does he mean by goodwill?  There is sure a difference between these two statements:  1.) Matt's spin of what the Pope said: "if someone is gay and searches for the Lord, who am I to judge?"  2.) Pope Francis' words, "If they [a gay person] accept the Lord and have good will, who am I to judge?"

National Catholic Reporter article on Pope's plane interview

This is the National Catholic Reporter article explaining some of the details of Pope Francis' hour+ interview with reporters on his plane flight back from Brazil.

I posted this comment to their article:

You have quoted Pope Francis as saying:

"There's a lot of talk about the gay lobby, but I've never seen it on the Vatican ID card."  "When I meet a gay person, I have to distinguish between their being gay and being part of a lobby. If they accept the Lord and have goodwill, who am I to judge them? They shouldn't be marginalized. The tendency [to homosexuality] is not the problem ... they're our brothers."

Do you think he is clear enough here?  What does Pope Francis mean when he uses the term, gay person?  I think he also needs to distinguish between the general term of, a gay

Chicago Tribune accurately explains Pope Francis' position on gay individuals

This is a much more accurate article on Pope Francis and people who have sexual attractions toward those of the same sex.

I posted this comment to The Chicago Tribune today:

Congratulations. This article is more accurate than the article at USA Today in terms of what Pope Francis is communicating about people who experience sexual attractions for those of the same sex. Compare the two articles and see just how much more accurate this article is, and thus in comparison how agenda oriented the USA Today article is: I've put the other article up at:
http://ethnologystudy.blogspot.com/2013/07/pope-francis-definition-of-gay-clergyman.html

Pope Francis' definition of gay clergyman

It's hard to know from this article what Pope Francis' definition of gay clergymen is

Or, for that matter, what the writers' definition of key terms he uses is either.

 

Another pesky word to define – judge.

I’ve done several studies on judging is and what it isn’t biblically.  I wonder what Pope Francis is thinking when he says he won’t judge.

What does the biblical concept of an individual person judging mean?  How is this different than the idea of judging from the standpoint of a defense or prosecuting attorney perspective?  As Christians are we as people ever to be more than lawyers and be court room judges?  From my study, I do not think so. 

Adam Levine, Chris Pine and Steve Grand

Adam Levine or Chris Pine could have been Steve Grand's All-American Boy

After catching the CBS Sunday Morning segment today on Adam Levine, I was inspired to write this post.  I’ve written about Chris Pine elsewhere in one of my blog posts here at Our Culture and Society.  I’ve followed Adam for a number of years.   I’ve grown to really respect him.  It was nice to see Adam be able to be so open and relaxed and honest here – much like how I saw Steve Grand be in Matt Rettenmund’s interview in the Boy Culture Blog.

I think Steve could have asked men like Adam and Chris to portray his supposedly straight male crush where Steve is pleased the straight man didn’t reject him if he made a pass at him.  You could possibly mistake both Adam and Chris as being men who are free enough in who they are that they might be interested in a gay man’s advances. 

I think both of these guys would have had the response that Matt mentioned in his recent comment  - "Not for me, but we're cool."

But I get it why Steve didn't ask one of these guys.  They would have been too expensive...

  
Adam's brother, Michael, is openly gay.  And as I said, I respect

My conclusion, Steve needed his ideal gay All-American Boy

My conclusion. As an openly gay man, Steve needed his ideal gay All-American Boy to portray the straight male AAB role in his video so he could get the scenes just right.   

 

Porn free version:
 
Yeah, some guys are G4P.  Others, just gay all the way.  After doing a bunch of research.  Here’s my take.  Steve Grand needed his ideal gay AAB to portray the straight guy role so he could get the scenes just right.  What’s your take? 
Click at your own risk.  This is art.  What influential gay news blog sites are saying:
 *some hotlinks disabled (copy, paste and add back the www to activate these URLs)

·         www.boyculture.com/boy_culture/about.html    (background doc)

Last section of my comments to Matt's article

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

My thoughts, mostly about the BuzzFeed article on Steve Grand

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

On the first 25 comments to the Boy Culture Blog article

From my email/journal to myself

My email/journal thoughts regarding the first 25 comments that were there when I began to read the Boy Culture Blog article on Steve Grand.  And Steve's answer to the key question I have been asking. 

Coming Out Of Somewhere: A Q&A With And Gay Pop Cultural Opinion Of Steve GrandComments (25)   

First, some points about what the commenters have said:  (When there were 25 comments)  (Since the article seemed so long, I first read through the comments to see how people were reacting to it)

Musings about Kevin Griffin's Examiner article

My musings after reading Kevin Griffin’s article in the Examiner on Steve Grand

 

First some thoughts:

Why does Steve play piano and sing for his church?  Because he likes music.  Not that he likes what the Catholic church teaches him on a number of fronts.  It’s just what he grew up with being exposed to.  He may still be having some tough times relationally.  He didn’t have enough relational skills to be able to apply what his counselor was offering him.  So, what he needed the most was just someone to listen to him and someone to talk with.  He goes to extremes with things, but he doesn’t centered enough in himself yet.  He is so much more fragile than Nick is.  Nick seems to love it that Steve is infatuated with him.  Like a younger man to follow him and worship him.  I think it plays right into Nick’s personality.  Steve doesn’t want his faith to set limits on him, he seems to want it for the ways that please him, at least at this point in his life. 

                                                                                                               

What is Steve referring to when Kevin Griffin quotes him as saying: 

“That was the idea, to cure me of that. It wasn’t like Exodus—I wasn’t getting shocked.”

 

Reflections from reading the Boy Culture Blog

My thoughts on where Steve is at in his life now

Steve becomes deeply engaged with what he throws himself into:

·         Age ?-12 – desiring a connection with male role models; isolating from peers; reflective

·         age 13 – positive Scout camp experience with a straight older youth counselor; takes on a gay identity

·         ages 14-18 – interacting with his clinical psychologist counselor; become an Eagle Scout; express self through music

·         ages 19-20 – diving into the gay culture; one year in college; modeling photos for Ausse DNA magazine

·         ages 21-22 – pulling back and reflecting on his life; meeting Nicholas Alan, his AAB

·         age 23 - performing music, making AAB music video; continue long career of playing and singing for church

One segment from Steve’s extensive interview with Matt Rettenmund:

* I see in the comments there, that they are beginning to discuss Nick's work as Taylor. 

Matthew Rettenmund's interview with Steve Grand

Boy Culture Blog article

And a reply to a commenter...

This is probably the most in-depth interview I've seen with Steve.

The link to the BuzzFeed site is also extensive
The link to the QueerMeNow site is sexually graphic

§  Boy Culture Blog article

* I was also asked why I am looking at the connection between Steve Grand and Nicholas Alan
In short, Steve said it this way in the interview:

"Nick just so perfectly embodied the story I was trying to tell."

So, I answered:
 

Hello _______  I’m glad that you asked.  Sorry, no crush on Nicholas Alan.  I had a sense that what I was picking up on with Nick was that of someone who had acted in straight acting gay-for-porn work.  There was just something in how he was interacting with Steve.  I wasn’t clear on what point Steve was attempting to make in the video.  Was he wanting to portray that Nick’s character was a s

Drake Jensen, Steve Grand, Eli Lieb

All are openly gay singers

They each have music videos on YouTube

Contrast these three openly gay men who make music for a living:  Drake Jensen, Steve Grand and Eli Lieb.

·         Who is more country?

·         Who talks about their current relationships?

·         Who bears their chest in their music videos?

·         Who has a bonfire, swims and kisses in their videos?

·         Who is a gay activist?

·         Who is promoting their video as them being gay?

·         Who is had been transparent about being gay?

·         Who is telling a story with their music?

·         Who talks about faith in their videos?

·         Who is in a relationship?

·         Does age make a difference?

·         Who grew up in a rural context?

·         Who sings country music?

·         Who has done other than country music?

·         What did coming out as a gay man mean to each of them?

 

Here are some links to help you:

o   http://www.out.com/out-exclusives/2011/11/11/face-face-eli-lieb

Steve Grand's live interview with CNN

After viewing the CNN interview "A New Kind of Country"

I sent a News Tip to CNN using their email option:

Nicholas Alan portrayed Steve Grand's straight male love interest in the music video All-American Boy.  Here is how he, going by his stage name of Taylor, is using the All-American Boy video to promote his projects:  Click the video, “What is? USA CAM GUYS.”   The usacamguys project is promoted as not being pornography. The Gaydemon review says: “USA Cam Guys isn't exactly a porn site”

I also sent this comment to Steve's Facebook page:
Here is how Nicholas Alan, as Taylor, is using Steve’s All-American Boy music video. The usacamguys project is promoted as not being pornography……. The Gaydemon review says: “USA Cam Guys isn't exactly a porn site” Here is how they are using Steve’s AAB video:   Click the video, “What is? USA CAM GUYS”

See also the post here on Taylor using AAB video to promote the USA CAM GUYS  project

This is my take on the interview:

I can see why people liked the interview.  He came across as being a nice guy.  And he wasn’t overly polished, but he had his stick down that he wanted to say.  Yet, I wasn’t surprised.  I’ve worked through the interview, point by point.  And as much as there are a lot of good things about the interview, Steve’s deception about Nick still profoundly takes away from my appreciation and respect for what the interview communicates. 

Taylor using AAB video to promote the USA CAM GUYS project

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Steve Grand's radio interview with Kiss 92.5 Toronto

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

RNS article on JONAH lawsuit

article on JONAH lawsuit also published at Huff Post

My second comment on the RNS website

*the first comment I posted there is at the end here as well 

Mike Jones

Jul 19, 2013 at 8:35 pm MarcoD is referring to point #9 in the legal document linked to in this article. I’ve worked through the first 32 of the 116 points in that document for your review and consideration. So as not to use up further space here, please see my blog. The Google Blogger blog post there is entitled, “RNS article on JONAH lawsuit.”
 

So, working through the link provided in the RNS article:  The Plaintiffs’ Complaint, etc., by Lite DePalma Greenberg, LLC.

 §  RE: 1.) Purporting? 

§  From gay to straight – (please define these terms)

§  RE: 2.) So they suggest that it’s all the same – ex-gay, reparative, conversion.  All the same therapy.  So, this means that they are saying that changing an identity is what they are challenging,

Key statements of Steve Grand in interview articles

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Final comment posted to the Washington Blade

My last post about the article on Steve Grand to the Washington Blade

RE:  Michael K. Lavers article on July 10th

Mike Jones

Rob, I’ve attempted to present in the comments that I have posted here that I wish Steve was telling the story of a straight male friend who was respecting him and not rebuffing him for his advances. And while we know of many straight men who do this for us, Steve chose to not ask a straight man to perform that role in his video. Steve needed the man in his video to be his straight acting gay male

Selected tweets from Taylor (Nicholas Alan)

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Comments to Bolerico Project RE: Mark King's article

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Tweets I'd like to send to Steve Grand

I still have some questions that I'm thinking of asking Steve.  However, it's hard to know how many tweets he is able to reply to. 

@SteveGrandMusic Was your goal to cleverly deceive people without technically saying what was untrue? Is this your morality?

 

@SteveGrandMusic So, what exactly does the term, straight male, mean to you? 

Facebook posts and tweets to Steve Grand

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.