While Margaret has always been a star in my eyes, this has been a big year for her. She has a regular role on the show “Drop Dead Diva”, playing the character of Teri, the outspoken secretary for the lead character. She has recently released her first music CD, “Cho Dependent”. She has gone back on the road and is doing live comedy performances across the country. If all of that wasn’t enough, she was also recently added as one of the star contestants for Dancing with the Stars. She is partnered with the super hot, Louis van Amstel. As Margaret says in her performance, “We’re the all gay team.” You know with a duo like that, Bristol Palin doesn’t have a chance.

This years live stage performance of Margaret Cho, features the opening act of Kelly Liam Sullivan. The famed YouTube star who penned the simple yet catchy song, “Shoes”. Liam Sullivan is a self described Margaret Cho roady and constant companion. He even directed many of her music videos for her new music album.

As soon as Margaret took the stage, she instantly went into full on, in your face shit talking. Sometimes, quite literally. But that’s exactly the kind of humor that makes her so relatable. Because everyone knows you really aren’t friends with someone until you can talk openly about your bowel movements with them. Margaret just does it with a national audience. Some might not appreciate the candor, but when I watched her I really felt like I was listening to one of my fag hags. She could have been any one of them. She was speaking her truth, and didn’t give a “shit” about what anyone thought about it.

As gay men we live so much of our lives in the closet. Telling people what they want to hear. Holding back our true feelings. Failing to speak up and say the things that are at the tip of our tongues. Even failing to communicate and tell the people we love how we really feel about them. It’s an ingrain fear of rejection that holds us back. When Margaret says some of the crazy things she says, you can’t help but feel liberated yourself. Instead of preaching she teaches by example. If she can stand up on stage and literally talk about the most intimate details of her life, then it makes speaking our own truths a little less scary.

Margaret also has a very simple response to anyone who doesn’t like the things that she says, “FUCK YOU”. It’s simple and to the point, and frankly something that probably needs to be said more often to the people in our lives who would try to put us in our place.

Throughout her performance she integrates some of her new music into the show. One of the songs she performed, “I’m Sorry”, was inspired by true events in her life. Back in 1994, she had a show called All American Girl. She fell in love with one of the executives on the show, who didn’t reciprocate her affections. They never had a relationship, but to her, he was someone she always felt love for in her heart. A few years ago she was thinking of this guy, and decided to google him to see how he was doing. Turns out this guy had been married and was now in jail for murdering his wife. The song is a comedic take on obsessive love. Both the song and her real life story speaks to how even though the loves in our life didn’t work out, eventually we find it was probably for the best, and it certainly could have ended much worse.

By the end of her show, she ended with another one of her songs and had the entire Austin Gay Mens Chorus as her back up singers. It was the perfect ending to a show which praised gay men, and Margaret’s special connection to them.

She’s so real, and so open, even though you are member of an audience you can’t help but feel you’ve walked away from a great evening with your best fag hag. This is why she deserves the title of Queen of the fag hags.

For more information on this article:

• Cho Dependent” 2010 Tour
• I’m Sorry Video from Cho Dependent
• Eat Shit & Die Video from Cho Dependent

The story of gay public radio in Austin actually predates the show OutCast. Starting in 1999, Lonny Stern, launched OutSpoken at KOOP 91.7FM. It was a gay advocacy program that promoted local gay issues. His show was on the air until 2006.

Heath Riddles grew up in Oklahoma City, OK. For most of his adolecent life he was in the closet, and didn’t come out until he was in college. When his fraternity brothers found out he was gay he was completely shunned. It was a devastating experience for him. He was shocked to find people that he once thought of as his friends, now wouldn’t even acknowledge him walking around on campus.  Luckily, when he came out to his family they were completely supportive.  To this day, Heath’s dad makes sure he listens to his son’s radio show every week and promptly calls him afterwards to tell him how he did.

After college, Heath started his career at an NBC affiliate in Oklahoma City. Due to the competitive nature of the TV news business, it was difficult for Heath to catch a break. Especially, when working for a small market like Oklahoma City. It wasn’t until the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, that Heath was given an opportunity to produce news content. After that, Heath soon found his way to Austin, and got an opportunity to produce the 10 o’clock news for the local Fox affiliate.

Heath soon realized that his passion wasn’t in the commercial news business, but was in gay rights and advocacy programs. Heath left the TV news business in 1997 to work in development at AIDS Services of Austin. He has also worked as Deputy Director at the Lesbian Gay Rights Lobby of Texas (currently Equality Texas) and in 2002 was appointed by Mayor Will Wynn to serve on the Austin Area Comprehensive HIV Planning Council.

During his time working with AIDS Services of Austin, Heath ended up meeting Stephen Rice.  Stephen shared a similar story to Heath. Stephen grew up in ultra conservative Tyler, TX. He too, waited till college to come out. He was also a member of a fraternity at Southwest Texas State, and was even the Vice President of his fraternity. His story, unfortunately, like Heath’s ended in being completely shunned by his frat brothers after coming out.  At the time, Stephen remembers not really being comfortable with the label of being gay until moving to Austin. It wasn’t until he found his friends and made his own “gay family” in Austin that he felt like he could truly be himself.

Both Heath and Stephen shared a passion for gay advocacy. They even ended up becoming neighbors and developed a strong friendship over the years. In 2008, after a two year gap since the original OutSpoken aired, Heath decided that he wanted to launch his own version. He went to the same public radio station that produced OutSpoken, and pitched his show OutCast. With his experience in television production, gay rights advocacy, and a great voice he was all but guaranteed to be picked up by the station.

When OutCast first launched, it was just a one man show starring Heath.  Stephen remembers begging Heath to join the show, and after much persuasion, Heath let Stephen join the show in periodic guest appearances. These guest appearances soon turned into a regular co-host position for Stephen.

Just listening to the two of them, you would believe they both originally set out to be radio personalities. They both have the sort of voice that translates perfectly their chosen medium. It’s a talent both admitted just came naturally. Their programming initially focused on local gay news and issues, but they quickly found that through podcasting, they actually had a much larger national audience. They have now become national gay radio personalities. As an example of their national reach, they most recently were invited to the national gay press conference in San Francisco.

OutCast Radio is a completely non-profit organization. It is sponsored by  Dell Computers Gay and Lesbian Outreach group. All sponsorship funds are used to pay the radio station broadcast fees. While it’s not a paying gig for Heath or Stephen, it’s a labor of love. It fulfills a passion for both of them to help further the cause of gay rights, by providing a public forum for other gay advocates.

As their radio show has grown, they have tried to keep up with the needs of their ever expanding audience. Recently, they have added Kate Messer to the program. Kate brings a strong journalism background, as well as balanced voice for the lesbian community to their program.

It’s not a stretch to envision their show continuing to grow and eventually getting picked up by either XM or Sirius Radio. Till then you can listen live every Tuesday at 6pm CST on 91.7FM in Austin, or you can listen to their show on their website via podcast.

For more information on this article:

• Listen to OutCast Radio
• OutCast Radio Website
• KOOP 91.7FM

The story of the politics of division is a story that is as old as the civil war. For almost a hundred years after the civil war the south was considered a Democratic strong hold. Regardless of the candidate, the Democratic party could count on winning the Conservative Southern vote. However, that all changed in 1968. This was time of great political upheaval. Desegregation was a major issue in the South. The Democratic President, Lyndon Johnson, had disappointed many loyal Southerners in his support of the civil rights movement. In the 1968 election, Richard Nixon, a Republican, took advantage of the resentment within the Southern states and devised the Solid South strategy.

The Nixon Solid South strategy was simple. It would use code words like “states rights”, “traditional values”, and “law and order” to express to Southern white voters that Nixon stood for their values. The tactic worked, and it turned the once Solid Democratic South from blue to deep red. By the 1972 election, Nixon won almost every state in the Union except for Massachusetts.

Flash forward to the re-election campaign of George Bush in 2004, and racial civil rights divisions had largely gone away. However, the new target of civil rights weren’t based on race, but based on sexual orientation. Ken Mehlman, told The Atlantic, that Karl Rove had devised a new plan for the Republican party to use anti-gay initiatives and referendums to help increase Republican turn out in the 2004 election in key battleground states like Ohio.

Even though Ken Mehlman was the Republican leader at the time, he didn’t feel he was in a powerful enough position to go against the universal sentiment within the party against gay rights.

During the 2004 election only 31% of the US general population was in favor of gay marriage rights. The anti-gay initiatives worked, and George Bush won an easy re-election in 2004, even though his overall popularity was under 50% at the time of re-election. In 2004, George Bush won the mandate that was denied to him in the 2000 election.

The gay wedge issue was successfully used again by Republicans in the 2008 election in California by sponsoring Prop 8, which constitutionally banned gay marriage in the state, after the California Supreme Court ruled marriage rights could not be denied to gay couples. During the 2008 election only three states had legalized gay marriage, and still only 36% of the population was in favor of gay marriage.

However, since 2008 popular opinion about gay marriage, and gay rights in general have shifted dramatically. Today, the country is split 50/50 in support of gay marriage. A new CNN poll shows that 22 states currently support gay marriage. Perhaps its because gay marriage became legal in a heartland state like Iowa. The world didn’t end, and no “straight” marriages were in jeopardy because Iowa legalized gay marriage. In the Prop 8 trial, the defense for Prop 8 couldn’t come up with a single credible reason to deny gay marriage. Their only argument was that “straight” marriages were preferable to gay marriage, because they could produce children. However, the failed to reasonably provide an answer for “straight” couples who couldn’t have children. Should they be denied the right to marry?

Ken Mehlman, today claims that he has struggled with his sexuality for years, and only recently decided to come out so he could support gay marriage rights. Even though he’s late to the game, we should all appreciate his willingness to come out and support this fundamental right. If the Republican party wants to be the party of family values, they ought to all be on the bandwagon of gay marriage rights.

While it’s almost certain that gay marriage is headed towards the Supreme Court, and more than likely will become the law of the land in all fifty states, there are far more issues our community has to think about.

Even if we get the right to marry, we still face discrimination in the work place. Congress has promised us ENDA (The Employment Non-Discrimination Act), but they have yet to move any legislation forward. Nancy Pelosi has promised us an end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, however, that has also stalled in congress.

With the 2010 election the Democrats will more than likely barely keep control of both houses of congress. Which means that we’ll need Republicans like Ken Mehlman to stand up for gay rights. We’ll need Republican support in the House and Senate to push these much needed bills forward.

With public sentiment on our side, it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when we’ll get these rights. If the Republican party was smart, they would drop their politics of division, and start looking to court gay conservatives to their cause. It’s not an unheard of proposition, the Conservative Party in the UK has already embraced gay Members of Parliament. Last year during CPAC, the Conservative Party of the UK sent a few MPs to speak on behalf of gay rights within the Conservative movement.

These are all good signs for all of us. The question of our rights are changing from if we should have rights, to which party will stand behind our rights the most. That’s something we can all be optimistic about.

Thomas Simmons grew up in an ultra conservative small town in Michigan. He was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness. He was very active in his church. He was always considered the good boy, and always worked hard to live up to other people’s expectations. He remembers being in the fourth grade and being made fun of by other kids. The teasing he received was usually of a mocking nature about acting sissy, or gay. He remembers at that point of making a point to over compensate and become as manly as possible. He trained himself to act and become “straight”. He fought his own internal struggle with how he felt inside, and how others thought he should be. Ironically, his sister was also lesbian. She came out a year before he did. When asked why he waited to come out after his sister, “I guess I waited because I thought it was more acceptable for her to be a lesbian than it would be for me to be a gay man. I always knew my mom would be accepting of me, but I feared how my dad would react.” In what he describes as the worst year in his life, in 2008, his parents divorced. He ended up living with his mom and his sister. At that point he decided to come out to them. Neither of them were shocked.

Growing up Thomas had always wanted to live in Florida. In fact, before his parents divorced he had planned on moving there himself now that he was 20 years old. After the divorce his mother wanted a fresh start and to move away from their uncomfortably small town. She decided that Florida sounded like as good of place as any. She left Thomas and his sister in Michigan to watch the house, while she drove down to Florida to scout out jobs and find a place for them to live. On her way down several hurricanes hit Florida. She ended up stopping in Raleigh, NC. She stayed there for a week and decided she really liked it there. She found an apartment and a job, and that became their new home.

After Thomas came out in 2008, except for a very brief online relationship, he really hadn’t dated much. Thomas always appreciated having a just few really close friends. After moving to Raleigh, he was searching for people he could talk to and understand him. One day he was on MySpace and he ran across David Coley’s profile. The thing that struck Thomas was that David didn’t have the “sexy shirtless pics” all over his profile. He seemed intelligent, and something about him made Thomas want to get to know him better. Thomas sent David a quick message telling him that he wanted to get to know him better.

Thomas remembers waiting a few days before he heard back from David. They ended up chatting online for a while, and soon Thomas found himself wanting to talk to David over the phone. He asked David to call him. David agreed, but Thomas recalls after asking David to call him he didn’t hear the phone ring for hours. David eventually did call Thomas, and they talked for hours. It was an instant connection.

In June of 2009, Thomas and David had their first date. Thomas recalls, “I had butterflies in my stomach from the moment he walked into the coffee shop. It wasn’t a bad nervous, more like the excited nervous you feel when you’re a kid and you get to go to an amusement park.” David lived about 40 mins away from Thomas, so even though they talked regularly on the phone, they only went on one date a week for the next three weeks. However, by date three, they knew they wanted to be a couple.

David Coley, grew up in Jacksonville, FL for most of his life. In his early twenties he lived briefly with his sister in Kansas, but eventually his family moved to North Carolina. Growing up David was raised in a very strict Pentecostal home. His mother raised him on her own. While he always felt different, he was told from an early age that it wasn’t acceptable to act in a feminine way. He recalls his mother occasionally pulling him aside and telling him he shouldn’t “walk a certain way”, or he shouldn’t “talk a certain way”. His mother didn’t think anything of these tendencies other than the fact that David was almost always surrounded by women, and had few male role models. However, David understood the message, that it wasn’t acceptable for him to express himself in any way that would be perceived as feminine or gay. He hid his sexuality, and he dated women to keep up appearances.

Today, David has moved beyond his upbringing to become the self described, “Diva of the group.” He’s into fashion, and self taught himself how to sew and design clothes. While he doesn’t do this professionally, he’s talented enough to have been approached by friends and family to design custom dresses for them.

David recalls his side of his first meeting with Thomas, and the butterflies he felt. Dani interjects, “They weren’t butterflies, they were bats!” David was so shocked at how good looking Thomas was. He thought, “I normally date sort of geeky guys. Thomas is more the classic good looks kind of guy. When I first saw him I probably had a look of disgust on my face. I was just so shocked that this was him.” David had the same instant connection to Thomas. It just felt right.

Dani is the third person in 2G3. Dani grew up moving around the country with her parents. The longest she’s lived any place is in Raleigh. Dani and David first met working together at Best Buy. They were both store merchandisers on the same team. Dani is a straight woman, and in the words of David, “The very definition of a fag hag.” As a self described “Tom Boy”, Dani just thinks its more natural for her to be friends with other men than with women.

Dani first met Thomas, on David and Thomas’s first date. David and Thomas had just gone to the movies at the local mall, and Dani ran into them outside. She instantly ran up to Thomas and gave him a big hug. Thomas recalls, that while he isn’t use to such immediate affection it just felt natural. He formed and instant bond with Dani.

The three members of 2G3, never intended on ending up in Raleigh, NC but it seems that fate brought them all together there. Just talking to them, it’s hard to believe they haven’t been friends for years. If ever you believed in soul mates finding each other, the three of them have created a unique soul family together.

As gay men and women, we often aren’t given families that we can trust and count on. Through our lives we find our own families. These are the people that even though they aren’t related to us by blood, they are related to us at a much deeper level. They are the people that we feel a connection to deep down in our souls.

The remarkable thing about 2G3, is just how relatable they are to everyone else. When you watch them you think, “This is what it’s like when I’m with my friends.”

Along with their reality show aspirations, both Dani and Thomas are writers and hope to one day pen a published novel. David hopes to one day make a career for himself in fashion.

You can watch weekly videos they share within their group on GayLynx Friends. You can also watch their full series online from the links included below.

For more information on this article:

• Legend’s Club – Where they film 2G3.
• Eva Simons
• For more episodes of 2G3

Back in 1996, when Mikey was only 22 and barely legal to drink, he was experimenting with his life and was offered a role in a “soft core” gay porn video. While he doesn’t regret the experience, after the one video he realized that wasn’t the direction he wanted to take his life.

Following his true instincts three years later in 1999, he got his police certificate in the state of Florida and began his career as a police officer for the Lauderhill Police Department. “I’ve wanted to be a cop ever since I could remember”, says Mikey.

When asked if he was ever hesitant to come out, “I’ve always been out. Ever since I was at Lauderhill. I even took a few straight cop buddies of mine to the gay clubs with their wives. It was no big deal.”

In 2001, Mikey transferred to the Hollywood Florida Police Department. During his initial few years there he thrived. He was a rising star within the department. He was quickly promoted and by 2005, he was promoted to the elite South Florida Money Laundering Strike Force. In this role he acted as an under cover agent. Often times collaborating with the FBI, the DEA, and other state and federal organizations to catch drug dealers, money launderers, etc. He was so successful in this role he received a special commendation stating, “Detective Verdugo has flawlessly conducted these operations in Miami, New York City, Chicago, Puerto Rico and Los Angeles.” In his first year on this special task force he was directly responsible in seizing more than $1.5 million in US currency, and more than $3 million worth of drugs.

However, regardless of his performance, Detective Verdugo was often the witness of many anti-gay slurs and comments directed towards himself or “gay men” in general starting in 2004. The first time he experienced harassment was after a weekend circuit party in Miami. Someone sent an anonymous note to his superiors claiming they saw him at the event. Even though the department has never done surprise drug testing, he was required to take a random drug exam to see if he had taken drugs while at the event. While eating lunch with other officers, one of them asked him, “What do you fags do with those huge dildos?” While changing in the locker room, he over heard a superior of his say, “I don’t want Faggots on my SWAT team.” These are just of the few of the many examples he had to put up with during his time at the Hollywood Police Department.

Finally, in 2007, Detective Verdugo had enough of the harassment and filed a hostile work environment complaint against his direct supervisor. Against normal policy regulation, his supervisor was not suspended pending the investigation, but it was Detective Verdugo that was moved out of his department and put on street patrol.

During the initial hostile work place investigation in 2007, Mikey V applied for and was offered a role on the HGTV reality series Design Star. During his two months away from the department during filming of the show, Mikey V decided to drop his suit against the Hollywood Police Department. The internal investigation of Detective Verdugo’s initial hostile workplace complaint was sustained and his supervisor was only required to attend sensitivity training. When asked about how he felt about the way the department handled his situation, “Look I went against one of the boys. He’s (Detective Verdugo’s direct supervisor) one of the untouchables.”

Starting in June of 2008, after HGTV began airing Design Star Season 3, Detective Verdugo, now known as Mikey V became an international reality star.

In July of 2008, someone recognized Mikey V from the Design Star show as having once performed in a “soft core” gay porn film. It spread through the media like wild fire. As a result he was immediately put on administrative leave for a fact finding investigation. At this point, the Hollywood Police Department had the “reason” they needed to terminate Detective Verdugo. In January of 2009, the final conclusion of the investigation was that he would be terminated from the Hollywood Police Dept for failing to disclose the one time video as employment.

Detective Verdugo, appealed the investigation findings unsuccessfully. However, he kept pursuing the issue. In April of 2009, he was offered his job back under many severe restrictions. Per this offer, Detective Verdugo would never be promoted in the future, he could be placed anywhere in the department without dispute, and he could not sue for anything that happened in the past or for anything that might happen in the future. He refused to sign the agreement and continued to pursue his rights. In October 2009, he began the arbitration process. During which he claims, “They were even more hostile towards me than the initial investigation.” Finally, in December of 2009 the arbiter upheld the termination.

On January 25, 2010, Detective Verdugo’s story was placed on the front page of the South Florida Gay News. Within the next two days his story had international coverage, appearing both on MSNBC and USA Today. His story was a media gold mine. A reality star, gay cop, fired for being in a gay porn video.

Even with all this unwanted media attention, Detective Verdugo, continued to pursue justice. He appealed again his termination with the state of Florida. On March 23, 2010, he appeared before the Florida Department of Law Enforcement where he was accused of leaving out the detail of his one time involvement in a gay porn video. During his hearing he watched other officers that were convicted of DUI’s, domestic battery, and felony narcotics, all being permitted to keep their police certifications. However, the board ruled that his actions were immoral and in bad judgment and as such he should not be permitted to wear a badge or carry a gun.

After this defeat, Detective Verdugo, convinced that this was an injustice continued to pursue the matter with the state of Flordia. Finally, on August 12, 2010 The Florida Department of Law Enforcement ruled in Detective Verdugo’s favor and allowed him to keep his police certificate. Even though he won his right to keep his police certificate in the state of Florida, this ruling puts in conflict the initial grounds of his termination. Detective Verdugo, still has to appeal to the Hollywood Police Department to get his old job back.

Regardless, of anyone’s opinion of Mikey V’s participation in the “soft core” gay porn, it’s clear to any outside observer that this was just the “reason” that the Hollywood Police Department needed to get rid of a troublemaker. Someone who had the courage to stand up for his rights. Mikey V’s abuse and harassment happened before he was a reality star, his fame, unfortunately, was probably what gave his superiors the ammunition they needed to finally get rid of him.

Now that the state of Florida has reinstated his police certificate, he’s qualified to be a police officer anywhere in the state. So why doesn’t he just move to a friendlier police department? Why is he still pursuing his old job with the Hollywood Police Department? Detective Verdugo says, “I spent nine years with that department. I was a good cop, and my problem was never with other officers just my superiors. One more year and I would have tenure.”

When asked why he pursued this long and difficult road to get his police certificate back, in light of the fact that he’s a famous interior designer with a successful design company he runs on the side, “Being a cop is who I am. I can do both successfully, but ultimately, my identity is that of a cop.”

Detective Verdugo’s fight for his rights as a gay cop are a lesson for all of us. Even in the face of harassment, humiliation, and numerous legal appeals which directly questioned his right to be treated as an equal human being, he fought for justice. He never gave up. Beyond the scandal, and the headlines, he’s a true hero, and paved the way for a more fair and equal world for all of us.

For more information on this article:

• Check out Mikey V’s Facebook Page
• Check out Mikey V’s Design Studio
• Find out more information about LGBT Employment Rights