I was in Manhattan the other night, walking down 7th avenue with a friend of mine visiting from Los Angeles when we came upon Tiles For America. It is a memorial for the victims of 9/11. I snapped this pic. But for those of you who are not familiar with Tiles For America, below is a description from their site....

Tiles for America began on September 12, 2001. In the aftermath of the tragedy, crowds gathered in large numbers in front of Saint Vincent's Hospital, located at the corner of 7th Avenue and 11th Street. This was the hospital that was prepared to receive the thousands of survivors that many people were hopeful they would be. Lorrie Veasey, owner of OUR NAME IS MUD, also located on 11th Street, began to create what she hoped would be an inspiration to recovering victims. From raw clay she fashioned approximately 5000 small angels and American flags, which she and friends attached to a fence that faced the hospital on September 14. The angels and flags were attached with ribbon, and before two weeks had passed, most of them had been removed from the fence.

Lorrie is a member of an organization called the Contemporary Ceramic Studio Association. They have a web site with a bulletin board where "Paint Your Own Pottery" studios correspond with one another. Studios across the USA were understandably horrified at the events of 9/11 and eager to find a way to help. The idea of a tile memorial took hold, and soon studios all across the USA held individual fundraisers in which tiles were created for the NY Memorial. Soon, case upon case of tiles began to arrive. Studio owners often drove through the night to bring their tiles to the site (such as Patti Bowman from Glazenfyre in Virginia Beach VA-who drove up with 1500 tiles), and many studio owners worked in freezing weather to install them, (Most notably Deb from Garden City Doin the Dishes and Meredith from Art and Soul).Tiles for America began on September 12, 2001. In the aftermath of the tragedy, crowds gathered in large numbers in front of Saint Vincent's Hospital, located at the corner of 7th Avenue and 11th Street.

OWN, As we all know is Oprah's new network. I am currently on the east coast and it is about to launch in about an hour. I am going to watch the launch, are you? I am really interested in seeing the behind the scenes program of the Oprah show. I love that shitz....

Does this mean anything? You know how there are always those dates that you will not see again for like 100 or a million years and everyone makes a big deal about it?

I don't make New Years resolutions because i try to work on things i want to change all year long. Some times successful and sometimes not so! :) Lols... But i am curious what other people are planing on doing or changing in their lives this coming year...What do you have in mind?


The resolution to look like this pic, never really works out so well... :o

I want to again, extend my thanks and gratitude to all of you who have followed my site this past year. You are truly the best!!! I also want to thank every one who has me on their blogroll also, thank you for the support!!! I am working on some new changes with Sozo from Sozosblog.com. A new year, a new look....

The last Friday and Day of the year! Happy New Year everybody and thanks so much for coming by everyday and checking out Izzoiz.com....Much appreciated...Hope you all have a great New Year............

Chris Brown spews homophobic and sexual abuse tweets to fellow singer.


And hes not the only one. I understand harsh words when your angry or being personally attacked but sending it in text for all the world to see and then saying you are not homophobic. It becomes difficult for people to see beyond that. Further more, when you are a celebrity (or anyone for that matter) stooping to a level of throwing someones personal pain at them in a attempt to one up them is irreprehensible. You can not come back from that. The gay reference is one thing but to make of someones sexual abuse when they were a child, only shows ones true character...


 Gotta love TMZ...Below is the exchange between Brown and Raz:

Brown got into it with singer Raz B -- after Raz tweeted Brown, "Im just sittin here Thinking how can n**gas like [Eric Benet] and [Chris Brown] disrespect women as Intelligent as Halle Berry, Rihanna."

Brown immediately lashed back -- writing, "n**ga you want attention! Grow up n**ga!!! Dick in da booty ass lil boy."

Brown is clearly referring to allegations Raz had made a while back -- in which he clamis he was molested by his band's male manager.

Brown continued his attack -- and then tried to explain himself ... tweeting, "I'm not homophobic! He's just disrespectful!!!"

Apple has again rejected a revised app version of the "Manhattan Declaration," a document written and signed by various leaders in the conservative-christian community, according to a report from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). Apple originally approved, then rejected the app earlier this month in response to petitions and criticism from gay and progressive groups. The new version was rejected for the same reasons as previously given, the company's belief that the app would "expose a group to harm" and that the intent of the app is to be "objectionable and potentially harmful to others."


And when they apply for the third time i hope Apple kicks their hating ass to the church pew again...Praise Jeezusssss

Rupert Everett spoke to the UK'sBBC's Radio 4 about his views on Hollywood and the entertainment industry in general, discussing what happened to his career following his announcement that he is gay. He also took a shot at Jennifer Aniston and straight actors playing homosexual characters.

When asked about the professional reaction he received after he came out of the closet, Everett responded, "Nothing very much [in terms of Hollywood reaction]. I just never got a job there, and I never got a job here, after [coming out]. I did a couple of films, I was very lucky at the beginning of my career... and then, I never had another job here for ten years probably and I moved to Europe." Despite a general view to the contrary, Everett calls Hollywood "an extremely conservative world" that "pretends to be a liberal world."

Earlier, he said he felt, "show business is ideally suited for heterosexuals, it's a very heterosexual business, it's run mostly by heterosexual men, and there's a kind of pecking order."

Everett believes that "pecking order" decides who will continue to do well in Hollywood, regardless of box office takes or quality. "There are lots of women and lots of men in the business that the powers that be decide are the right people and they'll stand with them for quite a long time," he said.

FARGO - The Fargo School District has paid $300,000 in damages and attorney’s fees as part of an out-of-court settlement with a former student over allegations that he was repeatedly bullied by classmates.

Terms of the settlement include payments to the former student of $190,600 and $109,400 to his lawyer, according to an e-mail from the district’s attorney, Tiffany L. Johnson.

The North Dakota Insurance Reserve Fund, a government self-insurance pool in which the School District is a member, has paid the claim, Johnson wrote.

A tentative deal in the case had been reached in mediation Nov. 30 and some aspects of it became public earlier this month.

As part of the agreement, the district agreed to other measures, too, said Pat Monson, attorney for the plaintiff. They include:

E Training teachers and staff on how to recognize and deal with bullying;

E Providing programs and curriculum on bullying for students at all grade levels,

The student, now 21, had been bullied from the fifth through the ninth grades, Johnson wrote.

Only 3 more days left of the year. I am going to spend New Years with friends here on the east coast. What are you doing??

WESTON Jobcentre is investigating claims that staff taunted a gay couple with homophobic comments during weeks of discrimination.

The council selected 55-year-old Stan Kimer, a lay leader in the Metropolitan Community Churches -- a denomination that ministers to homosexual men and women.

The council's executive director, the Rev. George Reed, says this is the first time a southern state church council has been led by an openly homosexual person.

The state branch of the Southern Baptist Convention does not belong to the North Carolina Council of churches, but North Carolina's Roman Catholic dioceses are members. The council promotes left-leaning legislative goals on policies including immigration, guns, and the death penalty. Kimer, a retired IBM sales executive, says he wants young people more involved in inter-church activism.

The small town of Blackfoot, Idaho entered the national spotlight last week as the latest battle over bullying and harassment in our nation's schools.

Five former student athletes at Blackfoot High School were charged with various misdemeanors including false imprisonment, battery and felony counts of forcible sexual penetration using a foreign object.

Students and locals from the 11,000 resident town sat in the courtroom to hear the charges, which stem from alleged incidents of hazing, a term referring to harassment, abuse or humiliation used as part of initiating someone into a group. Police say various hazing incidents took place on school grounds, in a bus and in school locker rooms between December, 2009 and February, 2010. Four of the five former students are being charged as adults and face the possibility of life in prison and fines of up to $50,000. A hearing has been scheduled for January 5, 2011.

Blackfoot Police Chief David Moore says that “a significant amount” of victims have been identified, leading to a new, separate set of hazing incidents at the school. The school's varsity football coach, Jonathan Packer, has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into the alleged incidents.

The previous posting about Allentown PA, got me thinking about the Billy Joel song of the same name and the homo erotic video for it. About half way through, there is a scene with blue collar men in a gang shower soaping up and you see butt, which was very progressive for MTV at the time. Watch it below, its hot...

Allentown may soon become the first municipality in the Lehigh Valley to offer medical benefits to partners of gay employees, whether active or retired.

Under a domestic partnership bill before council, partners of gay employees would be eligible for health benefits as long as the couple can illustrate they live together and are jointly responsible for household finances.

Many private companies and institutions in the Lehigh Valley, such as Muhlenberg College and The Morning Call, offer similar benefits, as does the city of Philadelphia.

Steven Weber says he's “extremely proud” of playing gay in the 1995 film adaptation of the Paul Rudnick play Jeffrey.

Weber, who is best known for playing carefree Brian Hackett on the long-running NBC sitcom Wings, recently talked about the film's impact withGregInHollywood.com's Greg Hernandez.

“When you look at Jeffrey, which still holds up, it's kind of quaint in a way,” Weber, 49, said. “It's a bit of an artifact but it still has some impact and I'm extremely proud of that film.”

“I was a pioneer,” the openly straight actor added. “I wish I had more controversy on this subject but I got nothing but encouragement, it was a smart thing to do, it was a great role. Paul Rudnick was a great writer and I would have been a schmuck to not do it. I had no misgivings or problems or obstacles.”

A luxury hotel catering exclusively to the male gay tourist trade will open next month near the Tulum archaeological zone on Mexico's Riviera Maya, the facility's general director told Efe on Tuesday.

"The hotel is uniquely for men. That is to say, only homosexual couples are accepted, it's not for women, although among our personnel we have heterosexual men and women and all have received specialized training to avoid having our guests feel uncomfortable or discriminated against," Patrick Lurenz said.

He said that another prohibition will be on men entering the hotel with minors.

Lurenz said that the Adonis Tulum hotel, the first establishment of its kind in the state of Quintana Roo, is now in the last phase of remodeling prior to opening its doors to guests in January.

He added that the Adonis is near the Tulum hotel zone, very close to the archaeological site of the same name and it has 94 luxury suites.

The couple, from Danbury in Essex, have five surrogate children and made history after travelling to the US and using donated eggs and a surrogate mother to become fathers to twins Aspen and Saffron, both 11.

They launched a legal battle over the children before a US Supreme Court judge ruled both men should be registered on the birth certificate as “parent one” and “parent two”. Three years later, Barrie 41, and Tony, 45, faced another battle over their son Orlando, now six, who was also born to a surrogate mother in the US with sperm from one of the couple. The Home Office refused indefinite permission for the boy to remain in the UK after the couple returned to the country after living in Spain.

They have since had two more children, Dallas and Jasper, both nine months old, through surrogacy.

Like Sir Elton’s son Zachary, the Drewitt-Barlows’ first babies were born to a surrogate mother in California. While surrogacy has increasingly become an option for gay couples in the UK over the past 10 years, it is tightly regulated under British law and couples often consider travelling abroad where the rules are less strict.

California is recognised as being generally accepting of surrogacy agreements, including those that involve gay and lesbian parents.

Palm Springs Police Chief David Dominguez apologized Tuesday for “an inappropriate comment” he made during the 2009 Warm Sands neighborhood public gay sex sting.

The comment “did not display the utmost professional conduct expected from the Chief of Police and I sincerely apologize to the community at large,” Dominguez said in a statement.

It’s the first time Dominguez has admitted to making expletives during the lewd-conduct sting, which has sparked controversy across the valley over how it was carried out, the severe charges those arrested face, and the gay slurs police made during surveillance.

Dominguez was alleged to have said “what a bunch of filthy (expletive)” and “you guys should get paid extra for this,” according to a Sept. 11 complaint filed by an attorney representing at least one officer who took part in the sting.

Dominguez previously declined to comment on the complaint.

His apology came about an hour after City Manager David Ready released a memo to the Palm Springs City Council, outlining Ready's conclusions – and regrets – about how the controversial sting to curb public gay sex in the area played out.

This is a great old song. And since it is the Holidays and we all have people  we wish we could be with during this time, whether it be in another state, fighting a war or simply because they have passed, here is a little ode to those we love and miss... Wish you were here....

Nate Berkus on Wednesday will unveil his redesigned youth lounge named after Seth Walsh, the 13-year-old gay California student who was bullied to commit suicide.

The unveiling of the youth lounge at YES, an LGBT community center in New York, will take place during an hour-long episode of The Nate Berkus Show devoted to anti-gay bullying.

CHARLESTON, W.Va., Dec. 27 (UPI) -- A gay coal miner in West Virginia is suing his employer, charging co-workers in several mines have repeatedly harassed him.

In a lawsuit filed in Kanawha Circuit Court, Sam Hall says he was subjected to verbal abuse and lewd gestures by his supervisors and other miners, even after he complained to management at Spartan Mining Co., The Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette reported.

"Due to management's participation and provocation, most of the pervasive ongoing harassment has been caused or encouraged," states the suit, which names Spartan, a subsidiary of Massey Energy, and foreman Randy Thomas as defendants.

CHARLOTTE — Anti-gay, Republican Mecklenburg County Commissioner Bill James today said gays are “sexual predators” in an email to his colleagues on the board.

James’ remarks were made in response to County Commissioner Chair Jennifer Roberts’ request to send a letter thanking some members of the Charlotte-area congressional delegation for their “yes” votes on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) repeal this month. Roberts was to send the letter to U.S. Reps. Larry Kissell and Mel Watt and U.S. Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan. President Barack Obama last week signed the repeal act into law.

“Homosexuals are sexual predators,” James wrote in one email from string of three between county board members, Roberts and County Manager Harry Jones, and provided by James to qnotes. “Allowing homosexuals to serve in the US military with the endorsement of the Mecklenburg County Commission ignores a host of serious problems related to maintaining US military readiness and effectiveness not the least of which is the current Democrat plan to allow homosexuals (male and female) to share showers with those they are attracted to.”

James added, “The US Government would not allow Hetero men and women to share showers and other personal facilities yet the leading homosexual in Congress (Barney Frank) thinks it is OK for homosexuals to do so allowing enlisted men and women to fall prey to higher ranking or more powerful homosexuals who ogle them (or worse).”

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Bobby Beltran and Christopher Ortega are still somewhat in shock about what happened to them early Sunday morning.

"This happened on 4th Street, right in the middle of everything, on Christmas night,” Beltran said.

The two were wrapping up Christmas celebrations at Rain, a gay bar.
Around closing time, the two left and parted ways on the corner 4th and Lavaca with a hug.

"Shortly thereafter, a car drove by," Beltran said.

Inside the car, according to both Beltran and Ortega, were five men who started yelling homophobic slurs.

"After that I said, 'Get out of here. That stuff is not welcome out here in Austin,'" Beltran said.

What happened next, the two did not expect. The five men got out of the car and for the next 5 to 10 minutes, the men took turns kicking and punching the both of them.

During the beating both Ortega and Beltran say the men continued yelling homophobic slurs.

“You could tell, it was almost coordinated,” said Ortega.

The two say the only thing they were thinking, where are the cops?

And, "Stay alive. Keep your face protected, stay alive, survive,” Beltran said.

A man who got his penis stuck in a steel pipe had to be cut free by firefighters using a metal grinder, after doctors in casualty could not free his genitals from their metal trap.

Medics at Southampton General Hospital struggled to get the man's penis out of the stainless steel pipe, because the restricted blood flow had caused it to become erect.

Instead, they resorted called in Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service.

The fire crew turned up with a special equipment unit from St Mary's station in Southampton and seven firefighters to help, in what a spokesman understatedly described as a 'delicate operation'.

The firefighters used the four-and-a-half-inch industrial metal grinder to cut the pipe from around the anaesthetised man's penis.

.The penis was left bruised and swollen, but otherwise unharmed by its traumatic day.