Today, five of the Homorazzi cast are embarking on another summer season of soccer with the Out For Kicks Soccer League here in Vancouver – beginning with our kick off BBQ at Second Beach in Stanley Park. Teams are announced while enjoying some good only BBQ food – for me, this will be the first BBQ of the year!

This year, Adam and I decided to be Team Captains. I’ve previously been on the board 3 out of the 6 seasons I’ve played in the league (Adam was also on the board with me for one of those), so this year we thought we’d do something different.

This past Thursday, we had our Team pickings with all the other captains. Adam has been in LA with Dono & Alex all week, so I was left to pick our teammates on my own. It was actually a fun experience, but a little nerve-racking. I picked the people I wanted to get first and also tried to get as many friends on our team as possible, out of the 160 people play this year. There are 8 teams of 20 in total.

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This is certainly not music to my ears. Lisa Reimer, music teacher in Vancouver, B.C. was fired by a private Catholic School called Little Flower Academy, when the school found out that she was a lesbian whose partner had just given birth. She said that she was warned by the school principals not to speak of her partner or new baby, and to keep them off school grounds because otherwise “there would be a witch hunt”.

She had informed the school of her sexual orientation when she requested a maternity leave in December 2009, which she was denied. She was forced to work from home starting this past Monday, because parents complained. Her one-year contract ends in June, but she says was told to stay at home to mark papers and that her classes were cancelled.

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WHOA! This is crazy and in our own backyard…and was it inevitable?

North Vancouver’s Bren Tynan, 54 years old, is accused of sexual assault, sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching with a 15 year old boy. And Grindr plays a big part because of the geo-tagging Iphone app’s ability to find who’s close to you. He was arrested in Vancouver by the sex crimes unit and will be in court today.

Grindr users are supposed to be 18 or over to use the application, which allows you to find other gay men in close proximity, with the intention of having sex (as you know). The loophole here is that Grindr users are 100% anonymous because you don’t have to register or provide any personal details when signing up. So, how would they be able to verify age or anything?

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THIS is an opinion column.

You know what shouldn’t be? The cover story on the biggest and most widely distributed gay newspaper in Vancouver. The story is about gay spaces vs. mixed spaces on the club scene. And it really got my goat. And DEFINITELY not because I’m anti-mixed spaces, but I’ll get to that later. The whole thing became a rehashed issue when a new 28,000 square foot mixed club opened up in the city, which has served it’s purpose and been fantastic. I mean, I’ll give it to the publication in question for really trying to be uncharacteristically unbiased by throwing in a few quotes towards the beginning of the article about people being pro gay only spaces. But the whole thing, as does with most to nearly all of the writing in said newspaper just comes down to what the opinion of the “reporter” had at the time, and it seemed that reporter liked mixed spaces. What happened to the days where reporting showed both sides equally, helped inform the public to make their own decision on an issue without pushing them one way or the other?

Now, you can call ME biased, working in one of the only 100% gay clubs in Vancouver that wasn’t asked for an opinion of any kind or nearly given a mention, save to acknowledge an ex employee who has moved to the “mixed” club the whole article was written about, but this is pretty obvious why. By leaving us and a lot of figure heads out completely, they proved their point, but only through ommitance of the other side of the coin. That’s not reporting. The smartest thing in the entire article is the very last sentence…

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If you’ve been following my progress in my Behind The Cast (and why wouldn’t you, it’s amazing…jus sayin’), you’ll know that I keep blabbing about Bryan and Weights 101. I’ve also been asked the question by a lot of people “What are you doing? Where are you goin” Well my friends, I will tell you all right now. YES I know this is a shameless plug but what do I care. I’m sharing my amazing find with the entire planet and you will not be sorry.

If you’re like me which some are, the gym intimidates you. Yes you can throw me into a room with 100 gays, and I can hold my own no problem. Throw me in a gym with even 15 people, and I clam up and freak out. I get incredibly self conscious, I don’t really know proper form, and chances are it will all end up as a big social gathering with the other gay folk. So what’s a poor chubby gay fat boy to do? By some miracle of the gay god of insecurity, I was told about this trainer Bryan, at a completely private gym SAY WHAT?!? Let me try to sell it to you. What sucks about regular gyms? The people, the prying eyes, machines always being busy etc. Not here. Weights 101 is a revolutionary wellness centre for people looking for something a little more private, personal and 1 on 1. Weights offers completely customized workout programs, detox treatments, and facial rejuvenations, and best of all it’s completely private.

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This week has been busy with work and half marathon training so I haven’t been on any dates, but writing last week’s post made me remember some doozies from the last time I was online a few years ago:

After a few emails with ‘the Musician’, we agreed to meet at Starbucks. Although it’s becoming more and more common, there is still a certain stigma surrounding online dating so I’m always sort of self-conscious about being too obvious about it in public. I approached him, introduced myself quietly, extending my hand.

He smiled widely and then began to speak like Austin Powers did after getting unfrozen (when he’s having trouble controlling the volume of his voice), saying: “WOW, CAN YOU BELIEVE WE MET ONLINE? IT’S SO CRAZY! THIS IS MY FIRST INTERNET DATE… WHAT ABOUT YOU? HAVE YOU BEEN ON OTHER DATES WITH PEOPLE YOU’VE MET ONLINE?” The other patrons in line were pretending not to listen, but it was absolutely impossible not to overhear, and I heard more than a few snickers. Thankfully the line moved relatively quickly and I quickly sprinted for a table in the most remote corner of the coffee shop. When we were safely out of earshot I asked him about his profession as he’d told me in an email that he was in a band- I was picturing something along the lines of Dave Matthews, but even Garth Brooks would have been fine… but no, he proudly told me that he played the trombone in a MARCHING BAND! I know this requires a lot of talent and I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to march and do much else at the same time, but I’ve always considered marching bands something best left behind in high school, kind of like giving hickeys and wearing pyjama pants outside of the house (this guy was over thirty….). After being spoken to at full volume for about ten more minutes, I managed to finish my latte and make my exit. I ended up in a running clinic with him a few months later and he pretended not to remember me…fine with me!

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Since I knew almost nobody when I moved to Vancouver in November, with the gentle prodding of my co-workers, I decided to give online dating a try…I’d done it with some success in the past (a year-long relationship on my first attempt and a fizzled romance but strong friendship on my second) so I thought it was a good place to start. I sheepishly reinstated my account on lavalife, and decided to try Plenty of Fish this time around as well- it’s free after all! Unfortunately, this time, the results have not been quite as encouraging…

A couple of weeks in, I ran into Homorrazzi cast member, Patrick, in his shop on Davie. After not seeing him since we went to University together about 8 years ago, we traded the usual “how’s work?”/”how’s your family?” pleasantries, but being two urban singles, naturally the conversation quickly turned to dating. Instead of being the supportive, sympathetic friend I was hoping for, when I began to tell him about some of my dates, Pat laughed his head off! When he picked himself of the floor and stopped laughing long enough to speak again, he suggested I document my adventures and share them on the site (just in case I was looking for further humiliation). But Pat is a good friend, so I obliged. The names have been changed to protect those involved, but the stories are, unfortunately, true…

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Well Vancouver, our very out and proud, community oriented and sweet as puddin’ pie NDP MLA Spencer Herbert will soon not be Spencer Herbert. Did you know last Saturday (Mar 27th), he got MARRIED?? Well, he’s actually been off the market for about a decade, because he wed his long time partner and LGBT community activist Romi Chandra on their 10 year anniversary. So congrats! *Insert round of applause here*

Well he’s actually taking his partner’s surname as well as his own and will legally change his name to, and campaign with, Spencer Chandra Herbert. Has kind of an exotic ring to it. I’ll support it!

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