Category: Life

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Twitter: NY Unicorn Clears Snow From Driveway

Good on this woman in New York for finding a way to make the definitely-unpleasant task of clearing snow from her driveway just a bit more magical 🙂

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Gay Man Defends Bro’s Coming Out To Dad “It’s Like You Forgot Everything You Learned”

Reid Chandler (photo: Yordan)
Eight years ago, Reid Chandler came out to his family. A process he admits was “tough.” In a recent post on Twitter, Chandler shares that his family has been “amazing” in the time since he came out and “made a lot of progress,” which he straight up (you’ll pardon the pun) appreciates. But over the Thanksgiving holiday, his brother came out as well which Chandler characterizes as “tougher.” As his dad drove Chandler to the airport after the holiday, the father dropped an unsettling comment regarding his second son’s coming out – “Don’t take this the wrong way, but it makes me and your mom feel like we’ve done something terribly wrong as parents.” After processing the comment for a time, Chandler wrote to his father about the remark responding to the steps backward it seemed to represent. In sharing the missive on Twitter, which has now gone viral, he wrote: “So I love my parents and I won’t tolerate mean comments… but understand we are from a really southern, conservative background and me coming out was tough. My brother coming out last week was tougher,” Chandler wrote. “It took me that long to process but my dad needed to hear this.”

Here’s the text of Chandler’s message to his father:

Hey, I want to preface this text by saying I love you and you’ll always be my dad. I appreciate everything you’ve ever done for me and I have a lot of respect for you.

But a comment you made on the drive to the airport has kept me up all night every night this week. I don’t expect a text back from you and I don’t even know if I want one. But this needs to be said.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but it makes me and your mom feel like we’ve done something terribly wrong as parents.”

How do I not take that the wrong way? Essentially you are saying that me being gay is a result of terrible parenting. That this is a pestilence we were cursed with. That I am a curse.

The belief system you and mom were raised on are not mine or Layton’s responsibility to tiptoe around or be sensitive to. Whatever you were taught about gay people-it is wrong. Point blank, period. End of story.

Imagine a parent telling their straight son he is a mistake. How wrong does that sound? That’s how you sounded to me in the car.

It is just as likely your child will be straight, bi, gay, trans, etc. You just weren’t raised to believe that and I guess I have to accept that. But I won’t accept feeling the way I’ve felt all week.

Eight years ago I came out to you and it’s been a journey for our whole family. You’ve been amazing all things considered and I thought we’ve made a lot of progress. You even invited my boyfriend at one time on vacation. Yet my brother comes out and it’s like we hit the reset button. It’s like you forgot everything you learned about love and compassion.

Be better and do better. Expand your mind. And if you don’t, fine, I can’t force you to and I certainly won’t bring this up again. But the train has left the station, Dad. My life is on the path it was always meant to be. Get on board or don’t. I will find happiness one way or another. It breaks my heart I have to even ask this of you.

Just because I love men doesn’t make me less of a man. And just because you don’t accept that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

In follow-up posts, Chandler said he didn’t anticipate his message receiving the attention it has “but I guess that’s what happens when you put something on Twitter.” He added that he considered removing the tweet because it felt “too personal” admitting he was “in an emotional space” when he tweeted it. But after the overwhelmingly “warm and moving” responses he received (over 28,000), he decided to leave it up as it seemed to resonate with so many. He also tweeted that many followers had asked if he got a response from his dad. He has but “sharing more of our conversation feels a step too invasive.” Sharing that his father was “kind and loving” in his response, he added that, “Our family is very close and I know I’m privileged in that regard.”

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Coldplay’s Chris Martin Opens Up On Conquering Childhood Homophobia

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin (image via Depositphotos)
During a recent video interview with Rolling Stone, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin opens up for the first time about struggling with his sexuality as a boy, homophobic bullying he experienced as a kid, and realizing he carried some homophobia of his own. “When I went to boarding school, I walked a bit funny and I bounced a bit,” said Martin. “And I was also very homophobic, because I was like, ‘If I’m gay, I’m completely f*cked for eternity’ and I was a kid discovering sexuality.” “‘Maybe I’m gay, maybe I’m this, maybe I’m that, I can’t be this,’ so I was terrified,” the 42-year-old added. He described his classmates at boarding school in the UK as “a bunch of quite hardcore kids” saying “for a few years, they would very much say, ‘You’re definitely gay,’ in quite a full-on manner, quite aggressively telling me that – and it was weird for me for a few years.” That “terrible turmoil” led Martin to discover his personal escape – music – especially “classic soul, British shoegaze rock and cathedral music” which would all ultimately find its way into the sound that is Coldplay. And then, at the age of fifteen and a half, after reading about Elton John’s life and career, the anti-gay mindset “stopped overnight.” “I don’t know what happened,” he told Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner. “I was like, ‘Yeah, so what?’ and then it all just stopped overnight. It was very interesting. Once I was like, ‘Yeah, so what if I’m gay.’” “Just growing up a bit and having a bit more exposure to the world, thinking, ‘A lot of my heroes are gay’ or whatever,” he realized. “Whatever they are, it doesn’t really matter.” Martin says that epiphany led him to consider other conflicting issues in his young life as well, including religion. “[It] made me question, ‘Hey, maybe some of this stuff that I’m learning about God and everything — I’m not sure if I subscribe to all of this particular religion,’” he shares. Describing his personal relationship with religion as “wobbly,” he eventually he settled on his “own relationship” with the concept of God, and realized “it’s not really any one religion for me.’” The Rolling Stone sit-down is one of just a handful of interviews the singer is giving in support of Coldplay’s newly-released album, Everyday Life. Check out the band’s latest music video, “Daddy.” https://youtu.be/OWhiCkEY-Yk (source: Rolling Stone)

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Gus Kenworthy Switches To Team Brit For 2022 Olympics

Out Olympic silver medalist Gus Kenworthy is making one more run at the Olympics, but this time he’ll be skiing Brit-style. After two Winter Olympics competing for the United States, Kenworthy, 28, says he will switch to represent Great Britain after his application to switch to GB Snowsport was approved Tuesday by the International Ski Federation. The handsome Gus says the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing will most likely be his last. Born in Chelmsford, England, his family relocated to Colorado in the US when he was three. His mother is British and he holds a British passport. He currently resides in Los Angeles. Kenworthy shared with his Instagram followers: “I am very excited to announce that I will be competing for Team GB on the road to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. “Although I was raised in the US I was born in the UK and my mum is British through-and-through. She has been my #1 fan for my entire life and has proudly stood at the bottom of the mountain waving the stars and stripes in support of me for two Olympic cycles. “Now, in what is sure to be my last Olympic appearance, I’d like to return the honor by proudly holding up the British flag for her.”

Kenworthy told the BBC: “I think for sure 2022 is my final Olympic Games, and I decided I wanted to do it for my mum.” “I have no doubt in my mind that I could go back for the US, but this is definitely going to be a much smoother approach for me. This gives me a path where I’m not taking a place away from one of my friends in the US.”

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Black Friday Hits Record-Breaking Online Sales

Online sales hit a Black Friday record with $7.4 billion in sales as people stayed home and shopped via the internet. That’s just barely behind the record one-day online sales which was $7.9 billion on last year’s Cyber Monday. Adobe Analytics tracks sales for 80 of the top 100 U.S. online retailers, and according to the AP, they expect online sales to jump to another record this Cyber Monday with an estimated total of $9.4 billion. Adobe reports 39% of all online purchases on Black Friday were done on cell phones. Top sales items included Frozen 2 toys, sports video games, and Apple laptops. Meanwhile, RetailNext – which tracks instore activity at thousands of stores – says instore traffic dropped 2.1% from last year. However, in-store and online shopping aren’t always separate. Many shoppers order online and then pick up purchases in person, avoiding the hustle and bustle in store aisles. Adobe says online/in-store sales surged 43.2% from a year ago.

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Pete Davidson: I Used To Get Off To Leo DiCaprio

In an interview with Paper Magazine, SNL’s Pete Davidson (he who almost became Mr. Ariana Grande) was asked about what it feels like be a sex symbol and realize you are someone’s “sexual awakening.” In response, Davidson reveals a surprising tidbit from his past. “Well, I used to jerk off to Leonardo DiCaprio,” said the funny man before clarifying, “Uhh, like his acting.” “I used to have a HUGE crush on Leonardo DiCaprio,” he continued. “I had this huge poster of him from The Beach in my room, and there used to be, like, ‘Leo love books’… Do you remember? Like, right when Titanic came out [when I was] in like third or fourth grade, he was just like, ‘teen milk.’ There were love books and I had all of them. He was the coolest.” Davidson has since met the Academy Award & Golden Globe winner, but kept the encounters brief. “I’ve met him twice and I’ve just shaken hands and run away fast.” Now, we all know it’s possible to crush on an artist for his talent, so let’s leave it at that.

Davidson is also asked about having lots of gay friends and being an LGBTQ ally, and he gushes in his response. “Well, nothing’s cooler to me than seeing my friends crush it,” says the 26-year-old comic. “I also have the most talented friends ever. And I think my friends are a good reflection of me… anybody that I fuck with is sweet and morally sound, you know?” I find it super weird that it’s weird that a straight dude has gay friends,” he adds. “Like, some straight dudes do have gay friends, but like they make like a big show of it as opposed to them genuinely being a friend.” Davidson has also noticed how some pop stars seem to “use gay men as props,” and he has an opinion about that. “If you really listen to any of the songs that they’re doing, or any of the things that they’re doing, it’s to promote them[selves]. It’s rarely for the LGBT community. It’s to make them look good. Like, how cool they are that they’re hanging out with gay people.” You can read more of Davidson’s candid interview over at PaperMag.com.

(lead image via Instagram)

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And The Answer is #WeLoveYouAlex

Answer: Alex Trebek being moved by a contestant who can’t win. Question: What is beautiful? When a player on today’s episode of Jeopardy realized he couldn’t win the game show, he decided to use his final Jeopardy answer to send a message of love to host Alex Trebek. Contestant Dhruv Gaur wrote “We love you, Alex” after being stumped on the answer. The hashtag #WeLoveYouAlex soon began trending on Twitter. Trebek was diagnosed earlier this year with stage 4 pancreatic cancer but has announced he has no plans to retire. He is currently undergoing a second round of chemotherapy. And he has yet to miss a show.

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Adam Rippon Skates On A ‘River’ Of Ice For His 30th Birthday

Olympic bronze medalist Adam Rippon shares his 30th birthday skate

Olympic bronze medalist Adam Rippon shares his 30th birthday skate Out Olympic bronze medalist Adam Rippon celebrates 30 trips around the sun today! For his birthday, the self-appointed ‘America’s sweetheart’ took to the ice for a skate to Joni Mitchell’s “River,” covered by Tony Award winner Ben Platt in his Netflix series, The Politician. In sharing the video clip, Rippon wrote on Facebook:

“Today is my 30th birthday. I couldn’t be more grateful for everything and everyone in my life.

“Thank you for always sending love and positive energy my way. I hope I’m always able to do the same for you.

“I wanted to do something fun for myself so I asked one of my old skating choreographers, Cindy Stuart, to put this together with me. She is amazing. And Ben Platt is also amazing (duh) and when I heard him do a cover of this song I knew I had to skate to it. A huge thank you to On Ice Perspectives for putting it all together.”

Happy birthday, Adam!

I had the utterly charming experience of interviewing Rippon for the release of his memoir, Beautiful on the Outside. Hit the play button below to take a listen: