WORDS FROM THE PUBLISHER
Some folks need to focus on the positive

I ran into a woman who “knew” Vincent R. Johnson, my friend who the Models of Hope award is named after. Funny. One of my staff members shared with me that it was the same woman she spoke with at an event a few months earlier, where she was more than chatty to share the Vince she “knew”. “I used to live next door and he would bring younger men home,” say said. “He would have parties until late in the morning and I think he did drugs.” Needless to say, this upset me to no end. Not because she spoke rudely about “knowing” him, because the fact is he did all those things, as many of us have. What upset me is here is another bitter person taking what they see negative about an individual and making that the main focus. Did she know that he gave large sums of money to New Mexico AIDS Services and other HIV/AIDS organizations around the country? Did she know that he worked with the kids at Police Athletic League? Did she know he was a strong supporter of many events here in New Mexico and beyond? Probably not. She’s not the only one. Well, let me share something with the nay-sayers when it comes to Vincent R. Johnson. He was a man who didn’t hold back on living. If he was determined to do something, it would get done. Those who claimed to “know” him based on his personal life or disagreements they may have had with him, didn’t know the real Vince Johnson and may want to take a step back when they claim that they do, because there are a lot of us that would take offense to that statement.
If you would like to learn about why he is a Models of Hope visit http://www.myprideonline.com/Departments/Models%20of%20Hope_Vince.html


FEATURED STORIES
A Moment with Herman Chan

P&E: You seem to be the Real Estate Whiz, what lead you to that line of business?
After graduating from UC Berkeley, I landed a corporate desk job at Gap, Inc. Boy was that a mistake - I left after 3 months! Being chained to a desk all day crunching numbers just wasn't me. I needed to be my own boss, to be out in the field. I needed to talk to more than a computer screen! As I was contemplating my existential crisis, my mom, who sells real estate too, suggested that I get my license - "Sell a few homes to keep yourself afloat." Being the overachiever that I was, I started selling property left and right. So I guess being in a miserable job, and with a little nudge from Mom, lead me into the business!

P&E: You mentioned on one of your many web sites, www.hermanchan.net, that you "actually was born a shy flat-chested nerd, not the celestial sensation you've come to know." How did you become that fabulous, outspoken host and real estate artist we see today?
Real estate artist? Haha! That is a first. But I'll take it! This is going to sound like a cliche answer but it is true. The second I came out of the closet I transformed from shrinking violet to lively lotus. It really was that fast. When I was not allowed to be myself, when I had to hide, cower in fear, I shrank in a corner. Living in the shadows was the pits. I came out, stepped out into the sunshine, and I just blossomed (ok, I need to stop with the corny botanical analogies). I was fortunate to live in the San Francisco Bay area, where it was easier to come out. I was even more fortunate to go to UC Berkeley, whose infamously open-minded campus allowed me, even encouraged me, to say what I mean and mean what I say. I will always be a little activist at heart!

P&E: Congratulations. Instinct Magazine recognized you as one of the ‘2011 Leading Men.’ How important was this nomination to you?
Merci! I'm en route to the Leading Men Party in LA as we speak! I feel supremely honored that a country bumpkin such as myself would be on Instinct's radar. I mean, past Leading Men include Andy Cohen, Tim Gunn, and Armistead Maupin. What is my name doing in the same sentence as those people?! Getting recognized does feel gratifying. I am happy to be able to bring national attention to this bullying issue. Not to play the ‘victim’ card, but as a very out young gay teen, I was bullied more times than I would like to recall. One time, I remember telling my high school vice-principal about getting bullied, but he told me to just tone it down if I knew what was good for me. It's not just kids being cruel, it's adults too!

P&E: This is our ‘Models of Hope’ issue, all about showing our youth strong role models in the community. Do you see yourself as one, and do you feel it's important for GLBT celebrities to be in the forefront for youth?
First off, what a great theme for your issue! I think it is tremendously impactful for GLBTQ celebs to be out. We live in such a celebrity-driven culture. For better or worse, kids place a lot of stock in pop culture. For queer youth to see reflections of themselves in the media is empowering. I remember watching Truth or Dare/Vogue in the suburbs and thinking, wow that's me! Aside from RuPaul, who else really let it all hang out with no apologies during that era? Nowadays, kids grow up with Will & Grace, Ellen, Glee, and much more. Neil Patrick Harris, Cynthia Nixon, Jane Lynch, etc. are successful mainstream stars. As a media figure, there is a certain responsibility to be true to yourself and true to the public. Bullying has become an epidemic. For some reason, some gay celebrities avoid publicly acknowledging who they are (a CNN anchor comes to mind....) when they could be saving lives and changing minds just by being honest…but I digress. As for myself, I don't think I purposefully decided to be a role model. I just think there is power in being yourself, and if that inspires people, then great! GLBTQ kids need to see role models outside of showbiz too, like in sports, religion, politics, etc. Hopefully, gay youth (and adults too, I suppose) can see that you can be out, gay, and proud like me, and still be successful in business.

P&E: Your work with SayIt2MyFace.org is an amazing campaign. In your words, why is this campaign so important?
Say It 2 My Face is important because internet bullying has entered new, dangerous territory. The internet allows for anonymity, which seems to give people a license to say things they wouldn't normally say to people in person. What gets posted is often public and lives forever online. A victim is not just bullied alone in a locker room during recess - now she/he can be bullied 24/7 over social media, and the whole world is a witness to their degradation. It can ruin peoples’ lives; trust me I know. Someone posted online that I was spreading STD’s (which is absurd because I am celibate). What a nightmare. The aim of Say It 2 My Face is to get people to be mindful of their words. All of us at some point have said an unkind word about another and we must acknowledge words have power. Before posting hurtful comments, we ask everyone to ask themselves: would they really say this to someone's face? Usually not.

P&E: What else do you think is needed to support our GLBT youth?
We definitely need more public figures coming out of the closet. Everyone needs a hero. Role models are the modern day hero. We need to ensure that our gay youth feel validated; not just through media presence but through gay-straight alliances, queer youth centers, and pave the way for them to become the leaders of our community as the generation before paved the way for us.

P&E: What do we have to look forward to in the world of Herman Chan?
I'm dropping my last name. Hey it worked for Madonna & Cher. Just kidding! I'm half way done writing my book, which is based on my hit video blog Habitat For Hermanity. It will be a helpful, hilarious take on the real estate biz! It's going to be a hoot! On the romantic front, I need to start dating more. Can you believe I have never had a boyfriend? Gotta change that - my eggs are drying up!


THE CORVATTA CHRONICLES
Mike Ruiz

Most men in his position may have a certain “je ne sais quoi” attitude, but my interview with model, actor, photographer, spokesperson, and reality TV celebrity Mike Ruiz was anything but “I don't know what.”
Struggling as a youth, teased and called fagot, being told to “just toughen up”, he is a man who through adversity has become empowered, who learned at an early age to be hopeful when all else seemed bleak. Mike Ruiz has come a long way since the days of watching Studio 54 on a black and white television and being bullied in the play ground. “Some kids don't have the inner strength... in my generation closeted gay men overcompensated by becoming over masculine.”
Born in Montreal, Canada, Mike grew up in a blue collar home, “it's been a slow, long, steady process of natural progression”. Not longing for his youth, he was raised in home that was unaware and nonsupporting. A child in despair, now a 47 year old man, his empowerment comes from a place within cultivated with positive reinforcement, creativity and taking responsibility for one's self.
“People who trivialize over other people are really showing their inner feelings about themselves, when you're positive and upbeat you exude that to others. Shake off the negative on a daily basis, don't become bitter, don't lash out. Nobody has power over you, unless you give them that power. Learning to love and embrace myself... finding like minded people helped to cultivate the man I am today.”
Starring on Logo's 2010 Reality TV Series “Making the A List New York” Mike is no stranger to negativity, stereotypes, and drama within the circle but instead used his presence on the show to “communicate in a big sweeping way to a large group of people versus one on one” his charity work. Using the show as a platform for others to be inspired, his artistic book “Pretty Masculine” supports the Gay Men's Health Crisis, the oldest Gay AIDS/HIV charity in the US.
When asked about the drama between cast members, “the A List isn't the one show that makes up the gay community, often times it's just human behavior whether your gay or straight. If you want to be seen in a dignified way you need to act that way.”
“When people are thrust into money and the spotlight and are not ready it can reek havoc. I've worked for it methodically and appreciate it, taking nothing for granted.” This Bronze Muscle Man has definitely worked for it and payed his dues along the way, having been a model and actor, he found his passion behind the camera as a still photographer and directing numerous music “What else can I do now that I've achieved the surface stuff? The goal is to keep going upward and onward. The more you do, the more that needs to be done. I don't have a life manual but it's our responsibility as a community to help others. Find people to help bridge the gap and learn to love yourself.”
It seems more and more difficult to find people of inspiration, Mike will be making his rounds touring his new book “Pretty Masculine”, with one stop here in the Land of Enchantment, where his father Tony now resides. For more information on book signings and appearances visit www.MikeRuiz.com

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If you or someone you know is struggling with coming out please seek guidance and contact your local GLBT center. You may also visit www.LucasCorVatta.com for resources. Be a Friend on FACEBOOK or Follow me on TWITTER. If you have any questions, comments, rants or raves send them to LucasCorVatta@gmail.com


MINOR DETAILS
When It Comes to Religion, Let’s Keep One Resolution.

This year, let’s keep one resolution – when we talk about religious people, let’s never again refer to them as literalists. That’s because they aren’t, and no one is.
No one takes all their scriptures, tradition, or even their natural laws literally. They all pick and choose from the variety of material available to them, taking some of it literally and some not.
To continue to label them literalists is not only inaccurate, it gives them the edge in any argument. Even though everyone -- that’s everyone -- interprets and picks and chooses from the material available to them and decides what to take literally and what not to take literally, when we refer to right-wingers as literalists, we have conceded that we are interpreters but they the ones who understand it.
This doesn’t mean that historians can’t determine what an old text meant to its authors in its ancient historical context with some academic probability. It means that past writings, activities, doctrines, and institutional pronouncements are interpreted by those who believe they must at be true at all costs, through the believing interpreters’ modern lenses.
Who today takes literally the writings of the Bible that say: “God makes the clouds his chariot” or “”let the hills sing out for joy” or “let the floods clap their hands?” When the author of the New Testament letter to Timothy tells him to “Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss,” there are few who claim to take the five passages in the Bible that call for such a greeting literally and therefore meet people at their church door with lips puckered.
They’ll argue that to understand their intent, one must see these verses in their historical context, and that today’s context causes one not to literally go around practicing, especially, same-sex kissing. So, Ah Ha! They’ve admitted that contemporary societal norms trump a “literal” Biblical command.
The question becomes: okay, when don’t they? But when you ask that, be prepared to stand back and watch intellectual gymnastics explain how they’re the ones who really know what verses are eternal truths and which ones aren’t meant literally.
That’s what interpretation does.
It’s no wonder that there are some passages in the Bible that aren’t taken literally in the U.S. It’s just not a pro-Capitalist book. Those passages would condemn our entire economic system to hell.
In the older testament the Hebrew prophets regularly rail against loaning money with any expectation of interest in return, but when have you heard an American minister preach that usury meant more than 0% interest and that a society that allows usury is anti-God? If those verses ever come up, stand back again for mental gyrations that defend why they don’t apply in American Capitalism.
When Jesus of the Gospels says it’s harder for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get into the kingdom of heaven, watch the knee-jerk attempts to say he didn’t mean that literally for Americans. When he tells the rich young ruler to give all he has to the poor to follow him, don’t hold your breath waiting to have that literally take place among our richest church capitalists.
It should have been no surprise, then, when last month Tony Perkins, president of the rabid right-wing, so-called Family Research Council - whom some might call a Biblical literalist -asserted on CNN’s “Belief Blog” that Jesus was a free market capitalist who would condemn the Occupy movement.
For Jesus, he said, “there are winners and yes, losers.” “Jesus rejected collectivism and the mentality… that everyone gets a trophy – equal outcomes for inequitable performance.”
To prove that this wasn’t just a claim that affirmed his prejudices and current net worth, Perkins cited a New Testament parable generally known as the Parable of the Talents:
An abusive and crooked nobleman hated by the common people leaves town and entrusts some of his wealth to three of his underlings. In the text itself the nobleman describes himself as “a harsh man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow.”
Upon return, he rewards the two who made him more money with the funds entrusted to them (probably from extorting the people who owed their master money) and threatens the one who merely held the funds and returned them.
Thus, Perkins says, the evil nobleman (whom he takes to stand for God?) rewards investment-banker-type initiative and punishes the one who refuses to take money to make money. See, capitalism is holy.
Other interpreters understand the third underling as a hero who practiced a non-violent resistance by refusing to further exploit the poor debtors to the evil nobleman. In the immediate literary context they see this as a parable of what is to happen to Jesus, who in the very next chapter of the Gospel of Matthew is arrested and crucified.
Perkins is no literalist here. He’s a capitalist. Since he believes the Bible is true as well as the economic system that brought him his prosperity, he must interpret the Bible to agree no matter how hard it is to find American capitalism there.
And Jesus dieing with no huge following or large annual budget? That’s not a very good ending to the story.
It’s certainly not contemporary American. Where’s the building of a mega church?
And Jesus only leaving a few very poor disciples to occupy Roman society? And they began their new little community in Jerusalem by holding, the book of Acts says, “everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need….No one claimed that any of his possessions were his own, but they shared everything they had.”
Then when a married couple named Ananias and Sapphira broke this communal commitment - didn’t share what they had earned from selling a piece of their own property, but kept it for themselves - God struck them dead on the spot?
Oh no! Quick! Interpret me out of that story.
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Robert N. Minor, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at the University of Kansas, is author of When Religion Is an Addiction; Scared Straight: Why It’s So Hard to Accept Gay People and Why It’s So Hard to Be Human and Gay & Healthy in a Sick Society. Contact him at www.FairnessProject.org.


THE BOOKWORM
Ellen Degeneres: Seriously...I'm Kidding

Sometimes, it’s hard not to laugh. When your favorite four-year-old says something hilariously profound, you bite your lip, knowing that you’d be in trouble if you bust a gut.
If your beloved does something silly (but well meaning), you twist your lips to avoid the outburst you know is coming. When your great-aunt shows up at holiday dinner dressed like that, you know there’d better not be even one “HA!” to escape your lips.
Yep, sometimes it’s hard not to laugh, but it is easy to do when you read “Seriously… I’m Kidding” by Ellen Degeneres.
“As it turns out, writing a book is hard,” says Degeneres. This is her third book, each one sharing the “…” in the title. She didn’t think writing it would be difficult because, after all, she has a lot to say every day for at least an hour. There’s a lot of talking on a talk show, you know. There’s a lot of listening, too, and daydreaming is not allowed. Degeneres listens to many famous people, and one of her favorites is Portia de Rossi, who is “beautiful and one of the nicest people [Degeneres has] ever met.” Fortunately, a letter from a genealogical society said that she and de Rossi are related…by marriage.
Meaning, they’re married.
And in answer to nosy people, no, they are not planning on having a family because “there is far too much glass” in their house. Besides, first you have to give birth.
“I won’t go into specifics,” says Degeneres, “but ouch and no thank you.”
Now then, just in case you’re thinking that this book is all fluff, you will also find useful advice in these pages. Degeneres gives readers hints on being a supermodel, and how to know what clothes will come back in fashion. She writes about polls and why people shouldn’t put too much faith in them. She offers several ways to gamble while in Las Vegas, and gives kudos to funny women who have paved the way for people like her. And you will find some impressively big words in this book. But will you find laughs?
Yes… but. Yes.
“Seriously… I’m Kidding” is seriously funny. Reading it is like a 241-page monologue in your lap. Author and talk show host Ellen Degeneres is as good in this book as she is on-stage, and Degeneres’ wicked wit beams bright from almost each page. Some of her lines practically beg you to call your mother and share them aloud. But wait. Did you notice I said “almost”?
There are times when this book dives below silliness. An entire page devoted to sound effects? Four pages of drawings for your child to color? Seriously? Jokes like these and a few go-nowhere “short stories” may leave readers scratching their heads. Fortunately, the fall-flats are few, but still…if you are a fan of Degeneres’ talk show or stage performance, you will find a treasure-trove of classic humor that you won’t want to be without. For you, “Seriously… I’m Kidding” will be a hard book to miss.

Seriously… I’m Kidding by Ellen Degeneres
c.2011, Grand Central Publishing $26.99 / $29.99 Canada 241 pages