TotallyOz

haha. I guess you are right. Even in Thailand, when I see a Thai boy who has dyed blond hair, I get turned on. I think the blond crush goes back to my many trips to Montreal where I had so many blond boys I can't even count.

Last month, in a Midtown office adorned with sports memorabilia, two longtime friends met for a private talk. David Stern, the commissioner of the National Basketball Association, sipped his morning coffee, expecting to be asked for career advice. Across from him sat Rick Welts, the president and chief executive of the Phoenix Suns, who had come to New York not to discuss careers, but to say, finally, I am gay. In many work environments, this would qualify as a so-what moment. But until now, Mr. Welts, 58, who has spent 40 years in sports, rising from ball boy to N.B.A. executive to team president, had not felt comfortable enough in his chosen field to be open about his sexuality. His eyes welling at times, he also said that he planned to go public. By this point, Mr. Welts had already traveled to Seattle to share his news with another friend, Bill Russell, one of the greatest basketball players ever and the recent recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He had also met with Val Ackerman, the founding president of the Women’s National Basketball Association, in New York, and would soon be lunching in Phoenix with Steve Nash, the point guard and leader of the Suns and twice the N.B.A.’s most valuable player. In these meetings and in interviews with The New York Times, Mr. Welts explained that he wants to pierce the silence that envelops the subject of homosexuality in men’s team sports. He wants to be a mentor to gay people who harbor doubts about a sports career, whether on the court or in the front office. Most of all, he wants to feel whole, authentic. “This is one of the last industries where the subject is off limits,” said Mr. Welts, who stands now as a true rarity, a man prominently employed in professional men’s team sports, willing to declare his homosexuality. “Nobody’s comfortable in engaging in a conversation.” Dr. Richard Lapchick, the founder and director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, and the son of the basketball legend Joe Lapchick, agreed. “The fact that there’s no other man who has done this before speaks directly to how hard it must be for Rick to do this now,” he said. Mr. Stern did not find the discussion with Mr. Welts awkward or even surprising; he had long known that his friend was gay, but never felt that he had license to broach the subject. Whatever I can do to help, the affably gruff commissioner said. He sensed the decades of anguish that had led the very private Mr. Welts to go public. For the entire story: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/16/sports/basketball/nba-executive-says-he-is-gay.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

Hell, we have not even had one openly gay contestant on American Idol. I can't imagine a ladyboy in USA!

I am considering a trip to Manila. I have never spent time there but have wanted to visit for many years. Any suggestions on the gay scene? Also, has anyone stayed at the Intercontinental there? It looks reasonable prices for the dates I am looking at. http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/intercontinental/en/gb/locations/overview/manila If I go there for 5 days, should I spend the entire time in Manila or go to other areas?

I like blond boys from Minneapolis but I have not spent a great deal of time there. West Hollywood, Ca is perhaps the gayest city in my mind. They even have rainbows on their patrol cars. If not WeHo, San Francisco?

I have never been to Bangkok on a holiday when I didn't meet Singapore guys in the bars. They love coming here. I love visiting Singapore but their anti-gay stances is one reason I don't spend more time and money there!

You must watch this first one at least! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YccsNO1FV64 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAbCbUdvxIY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIO9PM32Pm4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha0ev-XAYlw

You must watch this first one at least!

I don't know what the prevailing mindset is about voting on Idol. I think we all have different opinions. I am a Haley fan myself. I love her and hope she wins. As for Scotty, I have not liked him or his group when the kicked the chubby feminine boy out of the group in the early weeks of the show. He came back and said he should have stood up for the boy but didn't. That told me all I needed to know about him. In the end, it is a competition about singing. I love the show and I watch it and I am sure some are upset that Scotty seems to be catering to his core group, and I have no problem with that. He is a kid himself and will make mistakes. We all do.

I hope you don't get upset at a few comments. I didn't take the plate size to be critical. I didn't read your personal message either. But, I have written about Brazil many times and I always put in the price keeps going up for me too. IMHO, my last few trips to Brazil rivaled that of Europe. It was once very affordable to go to Brazil and now it is getting out of hand for me. The cost of the sauna scene is certainty less than you would get in the USA but the cost of just about everything else is expensive. I think the your comments about prices in this thread are reveling to others about how bad the dollar sucks and the price of Brazil is going up for us. I felt that a great deal on my last trip. I was there for Carnival 6 years ago and I got VIP box seats for me and several boys from the sauna. The cost was about 12,000R for the night. That didn't seem a great expense when the R was 3.6 but now that it is 1.6 HOLY Shit, I didn't have the same carnival experience last year. Hotels are out of control. My last look at Sao Paulo and the Intercontinental and the Renaissance (the 2 hotels I have stayed at for 8 years) were over 700 USD a night. I would never pay that for a hotel anywhere. It was just not feasible for me. I do think the comments of posters here may be coming from a sense of surprise at how expensive things are there. I don't think malice was intended at least I didn't read it in this thread and only read positive things about you and your posts. I hope you continue your posts as many of us were really enjoying them, but more important than that is I hope you have a fantastic time! Keep posting but don't let us interfere with the enjoyment of your trip.

LOL I am not sure who you are and why you are so critical of things. hummm. Are you really a new poster? I doubt it!

I have no problem removing the pinned request. I would like to see more input from others on this. What do other posters think about this? Is it time to open up the other forums?

I am enjoying this adventure so much. You write like I'm there as I can picture the venues and the boys. Thank you! Keep having fun! Do you go to the Hippie Faire this Sunday? I hope it doesn't rain for you as that is one of my favorite things to do on Sunday. I have bought some nice painting there over the years.

I was in X Boys 2 weeks ago and it was pretty bland. But, the waiter we knew told us there were fresh new boys from Issan so we went in and he was telling the truth. There were at least 20 new boys on stage that I have never seen before and the bland turned into hot! It is always amazing to me how fast the bars change from bad to good and vice versa. Future Boys was once my favorite place in Bangkok. I loved it there. Now, it is almost a ghost town. X Boys is a friend's favorite place and I have always enjoyed it but it is on and off like cold water. It was nice to see that this week, it was back on! I also hit Super A boys again and had a lot of fun. Dream Boys was great as usual and I found several there I liked but at 300 baht a drink, it is almost crazy to even ask a boy to sit and have a drink. It is turned into more of a show bar only and not a gogo bar even though they have hot boys, I don't feel like paying 300 baht for a boy to have a drink to see what he is like.

Based on your post, I got the VIP room today. Wow! It was great. I had 2 boys in the room with me for an hour and they charged me 1150 baht. I guess the room is 1000 like you said, but I wonder where the extra 150 baht came from? Maybe a second boy? Anyway, I have a great masseur there I like that I have been with 3 times this week. I had him and another gay boy today and had a blast. The large bed is perfect for 3 people as we all fit on it and sex was so much easier in this room than on a massage table. I keep LOVING Hero! Thanks for the suggestion of the VIP room. I really enjoyed it!

I laughed when I first heard the premise of the show but man, it has got lots of drama for those of us who like it. I have now starting watch Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares. Anyone else like the show? or hate the show?

Many Thai boys are looking for boyfriends. But, be careful to be clear in your expectations up front. A few questions: How long are you going to be in Pattaya? What type of boy do you like? Have you been to Thailand before?

Ben Cohen is a world-class English rugby star, and Hudson Taylor is a three-time college all-American wrestler. They live on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean. They barely know each other. But they have something quite unusual in common. They may be the only two high-profile heterosexual athletes dedicating their lives to the issues of bullying and homophobia in sports. The question that each one frequently gets — besides “Are you gay?” — is why are they involved in something that does not directly impact them, or so it would seem. That is just the point, they said. In much the same way that the hockey player Sean Avery’s recent endorsement of gay marriage resonated in large part because it came from an unexpected source, their sexual orientation helps the message cross to broader audiences, Cohen and Taylor said. “It’s massively important,” Cohen said Friday in New York, a stopover on a cross-country campaign for his fledgling Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation. “Massively. Of course it is. I’m the other side of that bridge.” Gay slurs have emerged into the public consciousness recently. The Los Angeles Lakers’ star Kobe Bryant used one against an N.B.A. referee and was fined $100,000. The Atlanta Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell was said to have made homophobic gestures and remarks to fans in San Francisco, and was suspended by Major League Baseball for two weeks. Widespread criticism of both men was seen as cultural progress by gay-rights supporters. But in a world where no active American athletes in a major male team sport has declared his homosexuality, it remains rare for athletes to chime in on the issue of gay rights. Recent exceptions, beyond Avery, include Grant Hill and Jared Dudley of the Phoenix Suns, who recorded a public-service announcement decrying gay slurs in sports. Cohen and Taylor are going much further. Cohen, 32, just retired from a rugby career that included a World Cup title for England in 2003 and more than a decade with the Northampton Saints. Despite being married with 3 ½-year-old twin daughters, he has long had a huge following among gay fans. “They probably see me as a sex object, I suppose,” he said. His shirtless photographs have done little to squelch his popularity. With the surge in the use of social media in recent years, Cohen — whose Facebook page has been “liked” by more than 150,000 people — began hearing more and more personal accounts from fans who have felt ostracized for being gay. Some said they quit sports because of the harassment, or had been shamed into staying closeted, unable to find support from friends, family and teammates. “It brings me to bloody tears,” he said, as he read a few e-mails aloud. He wore a T-shirt that read, “I stand up with Ben Cohen,” and included his silhouette as a logo. But his quest to get involved is even more personal. In 2000, Cohen’s father, Peter, was attacked by several young men outside the nightclub he owned. He sustained severe injuries, including bite marks to his face, and died a few weeks later. With those experiences as a backdrop, Cohen started this year what he believes is the first anti-bullying organization led by a straight athlete aimed at helping the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. After a couple recent stops in England, he is promoting the campaign in Washington, Atlanta, Seattle and New York in the next two weeks. Beyond raising his family on his English farm, he plans on making the foundation his post-career priority. “I can say something, and it can be so little for me,” said Cohen, scheduled to be a celebrity presenter at Saturday’s Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation awards in San Francisco. “But it can be so powerful for tens of thousands of people.” For the entire article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/14/sports/two-straight-athletes-combat-homophobia.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

LOL Fountainhall. I didn't really understand the OP until I read your post and then went to that site. I don't really understand all the name history of most talked about. However, you deserve the award for best sense of humor. And, HeyGay and LMTU tie for most unreadable posts.

That boy was dessert, not lunch. I had already eaten that day!

With age, goes eyesight. That was us dear, in drag. Here is a pic for your memory book!

Magic Banana

Where's Elvis?

Happy Birthday!

I went into Dream Boys tonight and had a good time. Before I even sat down there was a sexy boy on stage that I thought was hot. He was muscular and had a nice 6 pack. Just the type of muscle boy I like. I slipped him a 100 baht note while he was on stage. On the next go around, I commented to friends how sexy he was. He said to the mamasan that he knew me and had been with me before in Pattaya. He said he remembered my butterfly tattoo! Shocked I tell you! He said he worked at Tum Yum in Pattaya and I had taken him from there years ago. While I don't remember this, he was insistent. I was even more turned on than my first glance. Alas, my heart belongs to another! My own Dream Boy is headed to Bangkok to stay with me so I am saving up my energy!