glbtq | Russel Ray Photos

Friends who have known me for a long time call me ART. It’s not a name; it’s an acronym. It stands for Anal Retentive Tracker. I track everything. When I was in grades 6-12, I used to type up my own lists of everything. If we would have had computers back then………………….

One of the things I track for my WordPress blog is the number of followers. I know what it is on a daily basis. I don’t go out of my way to get followers like some people do when they visit 100 people each day and follow them, knowing that they will reciprocate. Personally, I like to visit people multiple times, get to know them, understand them. That brings me to the purpose of this post.

I am openly gay. I have been since April 27, 1993, which I decided to make San Diego my home. I’m not going back in the closet, not in this lifetime or the next. I met my spouse, Jim Frimmer, on May 26, 1994, about a month after I quit looking for someone — lol. Love seems to work like that. Want love? Don’t go looking for it!

Jim and I moved in together in November 1995. When California offered Domestic Partnerships, we got domestic partnered (on July 30, 2004). Just doesn’t have the same ring as getting married, so when the California Supreme Court legalized marriage in 2008, we got married (on October 20, 2008).

Our 18+ years relationship/domestic partnership/marriage has lasted longer than Cher & Greg Allman, Todd Meister & Nicky Hilton, Jeremy Thomas & Drew Barrymore, Eddie Murray & Tracey Edmonds, Mario Lopez & Ali Landry, Dennis Rodman & Carmen Electra, Britney Spears & Jason Alexander (55 hours!)…. Perhaps even yours!

We are content, happy, satisfied……………..

Every time I mention something about me being gay, I lose followers. It’s not hard to make that determination. For example, on June 14 at 10:10 p.m. Pacific Time I made this comment. Within 12 hours I had lost 13 followers. That’s why it’s important for GLBTQ people everywhere to come out of the closet and interact with the world in a true and honest fashion.

Now let’s see how many followers I lose after this post — lol.

You don’t have to unfollow me covertly, like by waiting a couple of days. I don’t go through my list of followers to see who has unfollowed me and then reciprocate by unfollowing them. I pretty much follow everyone who follows me, and I follow some who don’t follow me. I don’t follow people who use a poor choice of four-letter words, nor do I follow a couple of R-rated and X-rated blogs.

Alright! Have at it!

Best wishes to everyone — including conservative religious political extremist fanatics — for health, happiness, peace, and prosperity.