Don't Ask Don't Tell is Officially Dead

Former Air Force Lt Col Victor Fehrenbach

Cross Current: Into the Storm

During my first semester of university, there were two days a week where I only had one class which did not start until 2pm. On one of these days, I decided to sleep in a little. When I got up that day, I went down the hall of my dorm to take a shower. As I walked down the hall, I noticed that everyone's doors were open and every television was on. I didn't exactly notice what was on because I tend to walk fast, but I noticed on one of the T.V's rising smoke coming from a building. For whatever reason, I thought it was some channel showing footage of the aftermath of the 1993 bombing in the World Trade Center. I didn't really get why anyone would be showing that, so I didn't think to much of. After the shower, I got back to my room and turned on my television and turned to a news channel. This was nothing special, it was pretty much my morning ritual (and still is). It was not until this point that I actually started to get some grasp of what was going on. Like pretty much everyone in this country and many around the world, I was glued to the television the rest of the day. My roommate was from Maryland and his dad worked in or near Washington D.C. and was frantically trying to get a hold of him.

I know a lot of people remember everything that happened that day; where they went, who they talked to, what they ate, everything. Someone I work with told me he remembered what he was wearing, and that he had not worn it since then. I on the other hand don't remember much. It is an enormous haze. It was too big for me to wrap my mind around until much later.

 

I believe it was the weekend a few days later that I was with some people and there was a guy there who was of Middle Eastern descent. I remember him saying something to the extent of he and people like him here in the States were in for a rough time. I felt incredibly bad for him knowing, like I had looked into a crystal ball, that he was unfortunately correct. An immense amount of Islamophobia has arisen since that day.

It is strange to think that this is what people went through 60 years before when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Knowing that the world you had known had changed. For better or for worse, it was gone for good. The past ten years in retrospect have seemed very dark. Thousand of lives lost that one day followed by more bloodshed. Fear at the mere mention of unattended luggage or suspicious boxes at an airport. Security measures that border, and sometimes cross into, loss of civil liberties. These things practically never existed in my childhood. Now these things are the new "normal."

That day changed everything, and most of it has not been for the better.

The Silver Fox

At work a few days ago, the subject of Anderson Cooper randomly came up (not an uncommon occurrence there). One person happened to mention him being gay. Another person kind of said, "Wait, Anderson Cooper is gay?" I was shocked that this was news to this person. It's pretty much an open secret, though the news man doesn't talk about publicly unlike some of his fellow news people like Thomas Roberts (openly gay) or Rachel Maddow (openly lesbian). Of course his personal life is his business, as anyone's should be.

I think part of my shock comes from the fact that I'm in a pretty gay media bubble of sorts. I frequent sites like After Elton, Outsports, and others where every once-in-a-while rumours get reported about who is gay and such (for the record, the writers on these sites usually don't believe the rumours...as they shouldn't). I've been doing this for years and unlike most of these, AC has repeatedly come up and combined with the standard "I don't discuss my personal life" statements that he has given lends itself to him hiding something. I guess like the rest of us, he'll come out on his own timeline (unless he gets outed by TMZ or something like that).

The good news is that, closeted or not, he isn't afraid to take on LGBT issues and homophobia on-air.

Shallow note: I've seen a picture of his alleged boyfriend. HAWT!!! Nothing less for Anderson (quite hot himself).

I'm crossing my fingers that I won't get sued for posting this.

News Flash: Male Bisexuality Exists (Duh!!!)

The saddest part of this study is that I'm pretty sure taxpayer dollars went to find out something that I could have told them years ago.

Media Saturation

It doesn't really need to be said that the death of a child is tragic, whether accidental or intentional. However, it seems like whenever I turn the television to a news channel, any news channel, they are talking about this Casey Anthony case. I really don't understand what it is about this particular case that has the media in such a frenzy, not to mention stories about things that actually affect the population (which this case does not). There have to be tons of cases of similar significance around the country at any particular time that aren't seeing the light of day, let alone to the magnitude of this case. 

Well, I guess the good news is that this case is almost over and these media people can go back to talking about the train wreck that is Lindsay Lohan. That's good television.

The Perfect Reason to Watch the News: Thomas Roberts

He also pretty good at his job too.

I won't tell his complete story here, but he's overcome a lot of major stuff, so he's pretty inspirational.

A Little Bit Safer

I usually don't get into such serious things here but I couldn't wait. Osama Bin Laden is dead. The world is, at least, a little bit safer. It's great to end the weekend on such a high note.

I kind of feel like watching "Team America" now.