Living Out Loud with Darian

This is beyond hot! Get ready to turn up the volume on your speakers and reminisce about a time when house and disco music was the soundtrack to your gay club experience; and openly gay singer Sylvester wailed high notes in his signature falsetto that sent club goers into a spiritual frenzy of dance floor ecstasy.


The man re-introducing this sound to a new generation of kids is the musical genius and former gospel sensation Tonex' who now calls himself Brian Slade. 'Get Over You' is one of several tracks that appears on Slade's 'Dawn of The Unicorn' mixtape available on iTunes. Slade has been kind enough to share material from the mix-tape exclusively with loldarian.com.


You may recall watching our exclusive interview with Tonex' last year during his coming out and the fallout from the black church because of his decision.


'Get Over You' showcases a side of Tonex' that many have never seen before, his alter ego Brian Slade, who I happen to believe was there the entire time lurking under the surface.


Slade rocks a beautiful straight perm and flirts with the camera behind a backdrop of pulsating beats infused with clips from the gay classic Paris Is Burning. His comfortability factor with his feminine side and his sexuality is on full display and Slade seems to revel in it. It's enough to make his (closeted) colleagues in the gospel music industry uneasy and green with envy at the same time.


"I was definitely trying to make Sylvester proud with this video. I've never felt so free", Slade tells loldarian.com. A source tells loldarian.com that Slade has been cast to star as Sylvester in an upcoming film based on the late singers life.


Get into the video below! Download 'Going Away' a new track from his new mixtape A Brilliant Catastrophe out October 1 here.

Music superstar Ciara and reality star and new bride LaLa are speaking out against anti-gay bullying in schools and lending their voices to support LGBTQ youth who are victims because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.





"It Gets Better" is a video project created by sex columnist and gay activist Dan Savage and his husband to spread the message to LGBTQ youth who are at risk for depression and suicide due to anti-gay bullying. The recent death of fifteen-year-old Indiana teen Billy Lucas sparked the idea for the YouTube project that invites LGBT people all over the world to record videos of hope for LGBTQ identified teens.


"You have to know that your life is in your hands and you control your destiny", says Ciara. "You determine your destiny...you're in total control."


I know today it can seem like the worst thing in the world...the pressure of being in high school and trying to fit in, but believe me when I tell you it does get better," adds LaLa.





This is an amazing and much needed project. America's Next Top Model mentor and openly gay Jay Manuel has also uploaded a message to LGBTQ teens. These videos can save lives. Upload your story here. Watch Jay Manuel's video below:

Fox 5 Atlanta News returned last night with part two of their exclusive interview with Jamal Parris, the third young man who has filed a lawsuit accusing mega-church pastor Bishop Eddie Long of sexual coercion. You may recall seeing part one yesterday as Fox 5 tracked down Parris in his home state of Colorado late in the evening as he was grocery shopping. Today, Parris drops another bombshell regarding the alleged unwanted sexual abuse at the hands of Bishop Eddie Long.


“Being around him is almost like a drug,” Parris explained. “You can’t believe the place you are at in your life and the things you are doing and the cars you are driving, and the people you are meeting. So, it becomes, if I want to continue to feel this love and this power, I’ll do whatever my dad wants me to.”


Parris explains the intent behind the now infamous cell phone pictures sent by Bishop Long and tells FOX 5 that Long forced him to have sex before and after church services. SMH.


Watch Part 2 below:

Black British writer and filmmaker Kofi Kofi Kofi.com brings his award winning live theatrical short 'Say My Name' to the screen as a short film based on the play revolving around the tumultuous relationship of fictional characters Ricky and Chris.


The story kicks off when ‘rude-bwoy’ Ricky ignores his undercover lover Chris while hanging ‘on road’ with his crew because he is afraid being ‘outed’. This single act hurts, humiliates and infuriates Chris triggering a raging, brutally explicit, and frank row in which conflicting issues about masculinity, sexuality, race, self definition and love are confronted. With their relationship in the balance Ricky is forced to confront his deepest darkest most inner feelings. “To be or not to be”….OUT!





The ongoing topic of down low behavior is once again addressed in this cinematic piece, but as art reflects life the challenges that internal and external homophobia presents for same gender loving couples as well as the down low provides an opportunity for dialogue.


I highly recommend that you take thirteen minutes out of your day to watch this short film. Headphones are recommended as some language is NSFW and the actor's British accent may make it difficult to understand some dialogue.


Watch 'Say My Name' here.


Thanks khalid!

There's an onslaught of videos and articles being published daily on the Bishop Eddie Long saga that it's almost impossible to keep up. But just in case you missed Bishop Carlton Pearson's riveting interview with CNN's Kyra Phillips we have it posted here for you to watch.


You may recall Pearson being ousted from the Pentecostal church, a movement in which he was one of the modern forefathers after embracing what he calls the 'gospel of inclusion' which embraces LGBT individuals into the body of Christ, challenges traditional conservative theology, and denounces the threat of God's plan to have his children burn in hell for eternity.


Pearson tells CNN's Phillips about his change of heart towards LGBT's and his personal theology: "I got tired of sending them to hell. It was the hell issue…they're going through it now. These brilliant human beings spending eternity in a customized torture chamber…it messed with my theology and my heart", says Pearson.


"The devotion to the devil and hell is as strong as their devotion to Jesus in the Christian church", Pearson added.


In one of the most authentic and revealing moments(and there were many) Pearson was asked by Phillips why homosexuality is so taboo in the black community and he had this to say in jest: "That's for white folks, ya'll supposed to do all that stuff. We're real men."


Although Pearson was being comical his response is a sad reality of the pervasive attitudes of many in the black community who believe homosexuality is "un-African" and has been imposed on black men by the dominant white culture. SMDH.


Watch Pearson's heartfelt and spot-on interview below:

The Bishop Eddie Long sexual coercion saga continues to play out in the court of public opinion as the third accuser, 23 year old Jamal Parris breaks his silence on the man he calls a 'monster' to Atlanta's Fox 5 News.


Fox 5 tracked down Parris in his home state of Colorado as he was grocery shopping. At first apprehensive to speak to the media Parris quickly opened up about what he recalls as the most painful period in his life.


"I cannot get the sound of his voice out of my head, I cannot forget the smell of his cologne and I cannot forget the way that he made me cry many nights when I drove in his cars on the way home," said Parris.


"What you have to understand is this man manipulated us from childhood", he added.


Fox 5 gave Parris an opportunity to speak directly to Long on camera and in one of the most heartbreaking moments of the interview he had this to say: "That man cannot look me in the eye and tell me we did not live this pain. While you can sit in front of the church and tell them that you categorically deny it, you can't say that to our face," he said. "And you know this. You are not a man. You are a monster."


Parris says the anti-gay mega-church pastor seduced him and used Scripture to justify male-to-male sexual activity, a story that echoes the other three victims.


Bishop Long vaguely addressed the growing scandal last Sunday during two heavily attended worship services at New Birth but never proclaimed his innocence.


"There have been allegations and attacks made on me. I have never in my life portrayed myself as a perfect man. But I am not the man that's being portrayed on the television. That's not me", Long said to thunderous applause.


"I want you to know, as I said earlier, that I am not a perfect man. But this thing, I'm going to fight," he said. "I feel like David against Goliath, but I've got five rocks and I haven't thrown one yet", he added and exited stage left with his wife in tow.


Parris' sincere interview has given some New Birth members reason to pause as it should. There's not to many black men willing to admit publicly they've been sexually abused by another man if there wasn't an ounce of truth behind the incident.


Watch Jamal Parris' interview below:

You've got to watch this! I'm not sure Ted Haggard is the man Bishop Eddie Long wants defending him given his meth-smoking, male prostitute employing past but he showed up on Anderson Cooper 360 last night to talk out of both sides of his hypocritical neck. Thankfully, Pastor Troy Sanders of Victory for The World Church in Atlanta and friend of loldarian.com exposed Haggard and the oppressive theology espoused by Long and his ilk in front of a national audience.


And the money quote from Pastor Troy: "It didn't take a scandal for me to come out and walk in truth. I called myself on the carpet and others,so there's other options besides waiting until we get into scandal to be called on the carpet around walking in truth."


AMEN!

CNN.com reports:


Two Georgia men have filed a lawsuit claiming that prominent Atlanta, Georgia, pastor Eddie Long coerced them into sex.
The suits, filed Tuesday in DeKalb County, Georgia, allege that Long used his position as a spiritual authority and bishop to coerce young male members and employees of his New Birth Missionary Baptist Church into sex.


A spokesman for Long told CNN on Wednesday that the allegations are "a case of retaliation and a shakedown for money by men with some serious credibility issues."


Long "categorically and adamantly denies these allegations," said spokesman Art Franklin.


"Defendant Long has a pattern and practice of singling out a select group of young male church members and using his authority as Bishop over them to ultimately bring them to a point of engaging in a sexual relationship," the suits allege.


See PDF of lawsuit filed by Maurice Robinson here.


See PDF filed by Anthony Flagg here.


A third lawsuit has also been filed as of Wednesday September, 22 2010.


Listen: My thoughts on Long's 'fall from grace' and his long history of homophobia on Da- Doo Dirty Show along with Rod McCullom and Nathan James below.





Who's Blogging About It?


Rod 2.0 VIDEO, REPORTS: Georgia Men Allege Emails, Texts and Photos with Anti-Gay Pastor Eddie Long


Pam's House Blend: The 'homosexual' world of alleged sexual predator Bishop Eddie Long: 'follow the master'


The Grio: Gay sex claims against Bishop Eddie Long rock gospel community


The Root: Bishop Eddie Long Sued by Two Men for Sexual Coercion


Sandra Rose: Audio: B.J. Bernstein, Eddie Long Spokesman Call Into Local Radio Morning Shows

Yesterday Oprah Winfrey returned to Williamson, West Virginia twenty three years after her captivating interview with Mike Sisco, an openly gay man living with AIDS at the beginning of the epidemic. Sisco enraged the residents of the small West Virginia town when he decided to go for a swim in a public pool. Oprah's cameras captured the outright hatred, homophobia, and vitriol of Sisco's neighbors and much of the country towards gay men and those living with HIV/AIDS in the late eighties.





One surprising segment of the show featured former Williamson resident Eugene Thorn a family friend of Mike Sisco who is also openly gay and HIV positive.


Thorn tells Oprah: "I knew I was gay when I was six. I started looking at guys more than I looked at girls. They (people) would call me Tiffany because I could twirl a baton faster than any girl could even think about twirling a baton. So they would just be like, "Oh you're just gonna be a girl...you're just a little queen."


" I didn't know what AIDS was at the time. I got to watch the show after it aired and I said he's gay and I'm like him but I'm not saying anything."


If you're a long time Oprah Winfrey viewer or critic then you're aware of the absence of openly gay black men on her show over the years with the exception of the amazing Billy Porter and the unfortunate appearances by J.L. King and Jonathan Plummer amidst the down low hysteria, so Eugene Thorn's appearance was a big deal.


Many of the town's residents were aware of Thorn's sexual orientation prior to his national television appearance but almost no one outside of his immediate family & close friends knew about his HIV status.


"I'm HIV positive, undetectable, my family supports me and they love me and nobody frowns upon me," says Thorn. "I take my meds and I'm in great health."


Kudos to Oprah for providing a platform for Eugene to share his story and to Eugene for having the courage.


Watch Eugene's segment from The Oprah Winfrey Show below:



Eugene Thorn on Oprah
Uploaded by darianoutloud. - Explore videos for gay and lesbian community.


Thanks to Jeff for the video.