Houses In The Queer Comunity.

Houses in the Queer community.  Are they as accepting as they seem?  I myself have been a part of two houses in the past and was even one of the founding members of one house.  I have noticed they have seemed to take the gay community by storm on the west coast this past year or so.  Formerly a majority east coast gays only, it has expanded all the way to Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and even up to Seattle.

So I think almost everyone in the gay community knows what a house is but just to clarify if you haven't here is a loose definition. "A family unit of LGBT people, often comprised of individuals who have experienced some form of family rejection (including homelessness) or those that merely seek guidance and mentoring from more experienced LGBT people. Houses are usually led by a house mother or father and the kids of the house sometimes carry the last name of the house founder." 

So now that you know what it is, it generally sounds like a good idea right?  Well it is a great idea but most ideas all sound great in theory.  I have noticed that first of all in the house communities if you are not some sort of minority then they don't want you in their house.  Now this is not true for all houses but for a majority of them.  Second of all is that most of the house parents and other officers of the houses are still at an immature point in their life and are not fit to be helping out others going through hard times.  Third is that most houses require you to pay dues to be a part of the house and if you are going through issues and hardships would adding another financial obligation be prudent for helping out others?  I doubt it.

Now that I have pointed out the negative points I would like to say that is not true of all houses.  There are some upstanding houses in the community that do not have dues, that have been established by people who are truly devoted to helping the community and those in it and would like to make this world a better place.  These houses are few and far between and so it can take some time to find those.  What would my suggestions be to you?

1. Find a house on your own.  Don't join a house where they are recruiting.  That just means that they are in their beginning stages and don't offer much support at all and the leadership is very questionable.

2. Make sure that you research your house before you join it or even apply.  Check out youtube to see some of their battles and there will be a ton of comments.  Also most houses have a downelink page and a myspace page so search them out on there as well.

3. Make sure you make your decisions from your research, not from what a member of the house is telling you.  As humans we always speak greatly of things we are a part of.  It's part of our flawd design.

I hope that little bit of insight helped you guys today and don't forget to find me on Yuwie and watch some of the videos on our youtube bar for the latest GLBTQI videos out right now!  And also if you are looking into a good MATURE dating website check out some of the sponsers as well.  They are great alternatives to eHarmony.com and some others. 

New Feature and Next Entry!

Hey guys! Just a quick update!  Well tonight I'm going to be working on the next blog and it might be done tonight or it might be done tomorrow and it is going to be about Houses in the LGBTQI community. 

Also a new video feature!  I added a video bar on the side so if you want to check out some of the videos on there from different LGBTQI Themed channels!  I hope you guys like it and remember to send in suggestions for subjects or questions you want answered to askmrjamison@yahoo.com

Thank you to all of my readers!!  And remember to check out some of the sponsor sites! Some of them are pretty useful! :-) 

Josh

Gay Resources

Hey there guys! Apologies for my not writing yesterday.  I was just so busy that I fell behind!  What I wanted to give you guys were a few links to some different gay networking sites where you can meet and chat with other people that identify with you.

Manhunt -The first one here is Manhunt.   It is mainly a hook up site but it does allow you to chat with people and meet guys from all walks of life.  Not exactly my favorite website but it does have it's advantages.

Adam4Adam- Secondly I have Adam4Adam here.  I think that Adam4Adam is one of the better websites for gay males.  It is based around hooking up but you will find a lot of really amazing people here to chat with and a lot of people looking for strictly Platonic relationships with friends.  Although if group sex, kinks, misc. fetishes, or dates are what you are looking for this site has it all.  Although there is not a gender option for this site it seems to be moderately trans friendly for the Trans-Guys'.  I would like to note for both this site and Manhunt to always engage in safe sex if you do choose to have casual sex with members on this website.  Remember that although you may be truthful about your HIV Status not everyone else is and there are other things out there besides just HIV.  Remember to wrap it up and play safe guys!

Downelink- Downelink which is now partnered with LOGO is like a gay myspace.  It has come a long way from when it first came out.  The home page will show the first few Missed Connections posted which is generally a bulletin board but from time to time you will see a missed connection from someone in your home city.  They also show the most recent blogs, a friends bulletin however they have no friend ordering feature.  They are in order from newest to oldest friends.  And although it is imitating myspace they have no built in music player as of now but they do have a videos section and they post video links on your home page so you can view some of the hottest videos out from LOGO!

Butch-Femme- This is simply put a real life community for the Lesbian Butch-femme community.  Although I am not a lesbian myself some of my dearest friends are and I hear them talk about this website all the time and it has articles, chats, forums, and is a normal online community.  If you are a Lesbian or Trans-Girl I would highly recommend checking out a membership on this page.

Planet Out - The parent company to Gay.com and a multitude of other smaller gay themed websites.  To me planet out is over done and in it's final stages of life.  They DO have some good articles on there however lack much sustenance to keep you entertained.  I would suggest going to gay.com to chat and meet with people.

Gay.com- Gay.com is a great chat website.  They have some gripping articles and are constantly updating their site.  Their personals are alright but leave a lot to be desired.  They recently updated their chat codes so you can only use their JAVA chat via their website and you are only allowed one chat room at a time for the free memberships.  You have your own name@gay.com email address when you sign up and you have unlimited chat time (as long as it's in one room) and an unlimited amount of private messages.  You can have a photo gallery but you can only view the primary picture if you don't pay for the membership (so keep in mind to put your best picture first)  All in all this is a good website but watch out because it can suck you in.

D-List- Another "Gay Myspace" website.  They have a featured members section which always has a lot of hotties on it for you to meet.  They have an "I'm interested" button if you don't quite know what to say but you wanna say "Hi".  You can build a profile, put music on it, post your own videos and it allows public and private videos.  All in all it's a good website that is easy to navigate.

XY- A community with personals and news and music.  Not the best site in the world but I would recommend it for people in High School or maybe first year of College.  Cool people on the site and over all I'd recommend checking it out!  Starting paid memberships soon though!

Mogenic- A Gay resource site for gay teens.  You can chat, make profiles, meet people, and ask questions (although I personally think you should ask them here) but it is a good site for people just coming out or that are not out yet.   It has alot of stories on there and is a place you can express yourself.