remember i sat down and we had like the homogenous to melt and the boys that day pointed to the homogenized milk and they said that. and i didn't even understand what they're talking about. i don't know that i still do actually. but anyway they said you're a homo you're a homo and from that day in first grade i swear my life changed forever i became like the ridicule you know the school and i don't think it really ever stopped until i graduated i don't think it stopped still to this day i was in a gas station the other day and i asked somebody i mean i'm forty one years old and i asked the gas station guy for something a pack of cigarettes or i don't even now and in the sky behind me started laughing at me and said under his breath so strange. people know your reality more than you do.

you never saw that coming. we had no idea children were gay. you know i personally went through a struggle with us i went through all the typical questions that are being asked the parents ask themselves you know did i do something wrong to cause this i was worried about my son i was thinking about grandchildren. well part of the problem for my son tim being gay was that he's actually a very traditional guy the faith was always very important to him even from when he was little when i was studying for the ministry i remember he would set up the.

animals you know as though they were in church and he preached to them. you know i was hearing a lot of messages from the church in particular that homosexuality was you know not compatible with what the bible taught and i would actually just. pray to god you know make me normal you know this is a phase that i'm going through just to get away you know i wanted it to end and i would literally you know many nights crying myself to sleep because it was something i was so upset over you know and eventually i did come to the realisation that this is just who i was this is who i was born to be. i think the truth is hard to suppress and the truth is that homosexual relationships. do have carry with them risks of health problems mental and physical health

problems and other these other social pathologies the truth is people are not born gay the truth is that homosexuals sexual orientation can change and. and i don't i have faith that the truth cannot be suppressed forever. and. this mom's may be all far away because she's afraid of us. i was just thinking that it's so funny that parents are always so afraid of strangers. when the people that i needed to really be afraid of are like the other kids in my class and teachers a member of her talk to me in schools like the. well president putin and russia come under a lot of criticism for a law that prohibits the advocacy of homosexuality or i guess the homosexual lifestyle and we'd. when the critics of the law but we observe that there are

a number of laws in the united states that can be criticized along exactly the same laws it's another the national level but many of our states are provinces have laws that prohibit the advocacy or positive depiction of homosexuality in the educational system for young people states like utah which hosted the two thousand and two winter olympics have statutes that prohibit very similarly to the russian statute the advocacy of homosexuality other states me about it states such as arizona texas and alabama likewise prohibit that kind of advocacy but go even further than the russian law does or the utah law and for example the arizona law instructs school teachers in the public school system to demonstrate to students that there is no safe mechanism or safe way to have quote unquote homosexual sex which is simply untrue. well alabama and texas instructs school teachers to

tell pupils young people that homosexuality is not an acceptable lifestyle and also instructs them to say that homosexual sex in private is a crime in those states which is not true since two thousand and three the u.s. supreme court has said states cannot make consensual private homosexual activities between two adults across. grove in texas i think that. it was definitely hard being gay i knew probably when i was about five that i. had the feelings and knew that i was interested in guys but i didn't know what exactly it was and as i went through high school and stuff i started to realize more that i just wasn't the same as anyone else and so i kind of was in the closet all during my high school years and through the college years just because i didn't

know what to expect i didn't want of the stigma of there's gay john and i feel like in the south that's kind of what happens with the g.l.b. teaching unity is they get that label on and in massachusetts when i came up here and started telling my friends and stuff that i was gay they said ok what's your point like you're still john to us so i think that being in massachusetts you're able to be a little bit more free with who you are you're able to walk down the streets with the person that you love and basically being able to hold their hands where even in the big cities in texas i feel like you still kind of have to worry as to what may happen with you with someone that isn't ok with your sexuality and ok with what you're doing possibly coming upon you and. basically getting gay bashed. there are now seventeen states and the district of columbia where lesbian and gay people can be civilly married on the same times as straight people there are fifty states in

our country seventeen out of fifty is still a minority but it's approaching half of the states in this country on the other hand the southern part of the united states and most of the central part of the united states do not recognize same sex marriage that includes indiana state in the midwestern part of the country first of all cheese bread and whatever else first you know. gallery. where's mine. how do you pierre in sausage and she sticks with a large body whatever purely selfish. yeah if you know what i mean like. in the state of indiana right now we have never gay marriage same sex marriage has never been legal public the party is trying to hide and is trying to push through a ban on gay marriage so that when marriage becomes more accept it on

a federal level as it already has a minute states indiana will be one of the most difficult states to pass they want to protect the conservatism of what they call family values. family research council believes that marriage should continue to be defined as the union of one man and one woman there's a lot of confusion about the issue of same sex marriage i like to explain that marriage is not simply a civil institution and marriage is not simply a religious institution at its heart marriage is a natural institution rooted in the order of nature itself it is only because it takes one man and one woman to make a baby to create a new human being that there is public interest in the sexual relationships of adults at all and therefore. relationships of a type of

a type that is structurally incapable ever under any circumstances of resulting in natural procreation such as a homosexual relationship simply do not serve any public interest and therefore should not be treated as marriages. well i actually. saw it with jewelry obviously. i'm not a very religious person. so this is a grocery i got for you but it's not over. so it will be a prisoner of your religion but if you. don't be a prisoner of you religious. you know many people ask me about what about the bible what about those passages in the bible that talk about or seem to talk about homosexuality you know first of all i don't believe that these passages that people quote. are talking about how it's committed loving homosexual relationships now

that they're talking about rape for instance and the genesis passage of talks about rape clearly it talks about inappropriate sexual behavior unnatural sexual behavior where heterosexual people would engage in homosexual activity which was unnatural for them and of course that's not appropriate in terms of a temple prostitution where male acolytes with prostitutes themselves to have sex with men in the temple context and of course all of these things are inappropriate . but the bible i don't think really talks about loving homosexual relationships at all. was all over.

have to tell you that where ever i go and mostly united methodist church as i am so encouraged by the welcome we got by all but also by the encouragement that we get people you know telling me you know we're praying for you we're behind you. just a month ago i was at the beginning to a united methodist church in upper state new york and there was one older lady who came up to the front and she said reverend schaefer i want you to know that i am so angry at my church the united methodist church for defrocking you. i am actually using that word now as a cuss word. and then she said in front of everybody what the frock is going on with my trip i. so by the

time my son called me in two thousand and six right after he got engaged dad would you do my wedding there was no doubt in my mind and i said absolutely son it would be a joy and it was only after i had said yes to him. that i begin to think about what that means for me as a minister of a church who prohibits. gay marriage no you know the methodist ministers are not allowed to perform same sex marriages and you know the methodist churches are not allowed to host same sex weddings. i came to the conclusion you know after wrestling with this. if the church was going to fire me that's what they had to do but i was going to do this wedding. this was more important. than my job and my career as a minister. the

same logic that the united states pursued in afghanistan you know from army relatively unknown a graphic from the jackie beans to soviet that was good enough for the united states and look what happened a couple of here is a lie again and the problem with american policy is a lack of staying power after the soviet union left afghanistan the united states essentially forgot about afghanistan that the pakistanis moved in to fill the void with the taliban that led to the growth of all with all the subsequent consequences this was the critique of pulling out of iraq as well.

right from the scene. first street. and i think pictures. on our reporters twitter. and instagram. to be in the know. on. do we speak your language as anybody will or not be in. the music programs and documentaries in spanish matters to you breaking news that will turn the tip angles to these stories. for you here. in troy altie spanish to find out more visit i. think we need to teach classes more on sexual acceptance instead of sexual you know

sexual behavior and s.t.d. and stuff like that that's all scare tactics stuff i think school impacts you so much. i don't remember ever thinking about killing myself because i've been bullied i just don't i just it was part of my life. it gave me pretty thick skin it also made me sensitive i think to people that had it worse than i did. it being bullied for being gay is the worse it gets for me in my life there's people that have it ten times worse. i remember exactly the statistics are you get to say something like every twenty seconds somebody attends this identity something like every forty seconds somebody completes suicide or country. and i think we're like oh gee t.q. teenagers the rate is like to be percent more once you don't have a support network it's like seventy five percent more. if you're less then you get to forty one without ever feeling like i need to go there suicide or it's.

because of that subject you know nothing because you know i'm always i don't clichy know it's really tough or whatever i think. it's really all just. you know that we. we like our every day. whatever it is or. you know like i

have a great. blog. you just cannot imagine feeling so. powerless. it is. the only option you know. it's really people feel that way. for me especially having gone through that severe depression and contemplating suicide. it was incredible.

national weather service in mount holly new jersey has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for east central bucks county in eastern pennsylvania northwestern bucks county in southeastern pennsylvania suddenly high county in eastern pennsylvania south central north hampton county in eastern pennsylvania until ten thirty pm at nine forty one pm national weather service doppler radar indicated a line of severe thunderstorms the severe storms extended from clarksville to top into central port moving east at thirty five miles per hour these storms are capable of producing damaging winds in excess of sixty miles per hour severe thunderstorms will be near ancient oaks and up in around nine fifty b.n. lines around nine fifty five pm m.r.'s in allentown around ten pm bethlehem and lehigh university around ten o five pm hellertown around ten ten pm science still around ten fifteen pm severe

thunderstorms produce winds of more than fifty seven miles per hour very heavy rain will also occur with this line of severe thunderstorms which could flood low lying areas quickly and covered with water do not drive into areas where water covers the road a severe thunderstorm watch remains in effect until eleven pm sunday evening for northern delaware and northeastern maryland and new jersey and eastern pennsylvania repeating a severe thunderstorm warning has been issued until ten thirty pm for the following counties in pennsylvania x. box lehigh northampton. many of our brothers and sisters and. community including my son tim have been hurt. and hurt so much. and god is not going to stand for that. one. and this one is the three of us. i am

a very spiritual person and i believe in our country one of the things the foundation believes our country is a right to whatever your belief is in a higher power or lack thereof so i'm not going to take someone's belief away so if there are seven baptist or they're evangelical pentecostal and they believe that we're going to hell because we're being gay i think they have every right in the world to believe that you know just like i have every right in the world to believe that i'm not going. to treat thank you for the student would. be to. expose whistles and. respect each other's differences and beliefs while i allow a human to have the same rights it's not a religious issue you know it's either been a evidence but atheists that are straight can get marry atheists that are straight can get married in our country it is not a religious that ship is only a religious issue when it comes to gay men or two lesbians i want to get married. i

went probably about ten years after i left for college not going to church and when i was looking to go back to church it was really something that sense of community that i missed. we started to research and look for a church that was going to accept us and so there is a movement within the united methodist church called the reconciling movement and that's a group of churches really across the whole country. that accepts gay people you know believe that gay marriage should be something that should be offered by the church except state pastors even though these are contrary to the united methodist churches teachings and doctrines and so i. went to a church that really welcomes us and has other gay couples in fact the pastor there himself is gay and is on track to being ordained as a gay as an openly gay pastor so that you know we feel welcome there and we feel at

home there so that that's a very secure feeling and we're happy to found that church. say he's. here by. all the city he's. still. on. today's lesson this is. the rule. the easy one jesus. got in trouble for being friends and friendly with people who were discriminated against and who were judged by others including institutional religion sinners tax collectors prostitutes lepers these are people who jesus called friends and he was. forth

heads a lot bigger than some of you have very good know that his same type. of the worst things that people to ever said to me and things that have been said by christians by people who are speaking in the name of jesus christ who use words like say tannic or possessed or evil or doomed for destruction in the most horrible things that can be said. that's you know that's that's part of my experience in my life also extremes. of acceptance of judgment and then also a whole lot in the middle. so how are you feeling right now. a little nervous. how awful calm a stressful day but i think it off for us so. so what do you love the most about alex i love that he challenges me.

i love that he's one to put up with a lot of my b.s. which i think is important a relationship i mean i think we can include the audio i mean i'm not investing all the time and doing something that where frankly it's going to take forever to transcribe i mean i am the only one doing it and you're barely posting the bike right away. ok i think we definitely transcribe a t.v. since it's only five minutes ok. yeah. and. we were married two years ago. it was kind of a conscious decision for us we knew that. indiana becoming a state that with legalized gay marriage was not going to happen anytime soon we wanted to wait we felt like us getting married was a conscious decision of love and that we wanted to show that commitment in front of our friends our family so we were not willing to wait so basically we did what any other couple would do and we decided where we want to get married which was last i

guess it also is not a state that recognizes legal gay marriage. yes we have no more rights now because we got married and we did two years ago and we cannot have gym memberships together we can't go and be you know next of kin in the hospital and there are exceptions to every rule but the majority wives we can't we can't file taxes together or we can't share the same legal last name unless we're petition to do that cor we on a business together which is very difficult we have to like do loopholes through that you know traveling together we don't travis' family troubles family together we're on each other's next of kin there are so many different ways we can give each other social security if one of us should die or and be beneficiaries of life insurance all these things we can list ourselves as those but when we would die if we become ill our families could step in and take those privileges away from us. there are polls that show that when people are simply asked a straightforward question about sexual behavior do you believe that

a man having sex with a man or woman having sex with a woman is morally right or morally wrong most americans still believe that it's morally wrong no one likes to be attacked verbal way or accused of being hateful or big it is the effect is that people with conservative views while they may not change their mind they become silent they are afraid to speak out. because of the thing you have built. you know. we owe. it to time. during these times. you know like now oh that's right that's what were you. really you want to me to get on message because three of my children turned to. so

my daughter debbie she's lesbian. my son tim of course he's gay and my son's parent scale as well now. yeah. hate for hate only intensifies the hate that is in this world this cycle of hate never stops and there are so many examples in this world that we could name right now where the cycle of violence and hate never stop it goes from generation to generation somebody must step up. and stop the cycle of violence and it can only be done. with love.

i know c.n.n. the m s n b c news have taken some not slightly but the fact is i admire their commitment to cover all sides of the story just in case one of them happens to be accurate. that was funny but it's closer to the truth and might think. it's because one whole attention in the mainstream media works side by side the joke is actually on here. at our teen years we have to print press. because the news of the world just is not this funny i'm not laughing dammit i'm not how. he got us into the jokes i will hand over the stuff that i got.

this is about making the business survive. corporations don't love for parishioners told hate parishioners have no feeling. corporations don't care about you or me corporations only care about profit and. people come to untouched forests and leave massively for the state come on. we're not going to quit we will not stop until it is done what is more precious music more moon.

i'm like. i'm going to make. headlines on to government fire creamy and government forces both say they control an airport in lugansk the city was shelled by kiev after its army wiped out residential buildings in nearby the knicks. the russians to this in this killed by a shell fired from ukraine school warns of harsh consequences for the act would he have say they didn't fire russian turk during. the conflict in gaza continues to escalate as the number of palestinians killed surpasses one hundred sixty people the un is calling for a ceasefire estimating about civilian.