Pride Stories

This morning I woke up to something pretty amazing. LGBT Stories has officially passed 100,000 downloads across iTunes, Spotify, and the other podcast platforms out there. December will be 2 years that I’ve been producing this show, there have been ups and downs, I’ve questioned a lot, and tried to “do the most viable thing” for the show at times. However, there is one thing that this journey has taught me, always go back home. Any time I’ve wondered what direction I should go in regards to the show I’ve always reminded myself to BE AUTHENTIC, just like I set out to do from the very beginning. It’s awesome how that’s never steered me wrong. I’m very happy with this success and I am looking forward to our new “First Kiss Friday” segment of the show (those details are to come), as well as the all-around growth that’s currently happening with all things LGBT Stories! So... cheers to 100k, and time to go grab 200k! Thank you, everyone, who listens, literally can’t do this without your ears.

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I did not grow up with immigrant parents, well, technically they did immigrate here from Haiti but they were so young when they came here that they are extremely assimilated. I can’t really claim that I know what it’s like to have parents whose ideologies and morals are so grounded in the ways of their home country.

That's why while I can, of course, relate to what its like to be gay and grow up in America, I have not the slightest clue as to the added difficulties that people like our guest today go through, being gay and having immigrated parents who simply WILL NOT accept this sort of “Lifestyle”.

And please note. I am not saying that LGBTQ people who have immigrant parents have it “harder” than those of us whose parents were born in America. This episode is simply to point out the differences and to take a look at those differences because no one's story is the same but everyone’s story deserves to be told.

As we continue to work this month with “Harry’s” and support them in their work to donate the profits of their Shave With Pride kit to The Trevor Project I’ve decided that we should have their LGBTQ employees on the show.

This is how I met, Elton. Elton was raised by immigrant parents and tirelessly struggled to gain the acceptance of his parents, more specifically his mother, all his life. I hope for those of you who are in similar situations as Elton find a sense of comfort in knowing that there are millions of other LGBTQ people who’ve experienced or are currently experiencing what you are.

And those of us who did not, I truly hope that we allow ourselves to see the diversity that exists within our community. I hope this we view this as yet another way that we can support and uplift our community as a whole.

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Whats better than a classical violinist or a beautiful shirtless man? Well, I’ll tell ya… how about a beautiful shirtless man who plays the classical violin? Yeah, the imagery, right?

Today you’re in luck! Let me introduce you to Matthew. Matthew grew up from a very young age playing the violin and it’s followed him throughout his life, all the way into his 30’s. His violin has been the catalyst to performing in local malls and also to the heartwarming story of how he met his now boyfriend.

However, like so many of our guest, and many LGBTQ people around the world, Matthew faced a lot of rejection for being gay from the religious people in his life. You’ll hear him talk about this more in debt, but part of it is losing the support of his loving family, eventually leading to the demise of his relationship with his mother for sometime when he came out to her.

As Matthew navigated his twenties and early thirties as a gay man looking for love. Soon he finds himself enamored by an unexpected love that lasts to this day. As the relationship progressed his partner suggested Matthew begin recording videos of himself playing the violin and posting them on YouTube. It is one small suggestion that plummeted Matthew into being who we now know as, The Shirtless Violinist. 

This episode brings me a lot of joy. I’m happy to share a story on the show that is filled with more happiness and joy than heartache and pain. I’m pleased to share a story that about a healthy, loving partnership between two kind and gentle men. It’s amazing to show how something as simple as music can be so ingrained throughout the fabric of someone's life only to shape who they are so many decades later.

So, this episode goes out to all the relationships out there. Straight or homosexual relationships; cheers to you for committing to your partners through endless thick and thin times. We need more of this in the world. And those of you who were like me as a child who daydreamed about having a loving partner to walk through life with, never stop dreaming for if you can dream it, how will it ever materialize.

Peace, love, and happiness. Keep loving one another.

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Nathan Postlethwait is an extraordinary man, and today you’re going to learn why. Nathan reached out to me a few weeks ago in hopes that he would be able to tell his story on the show. He recently released a blog called The Other Side of Saved that is unexpectedly touching so many people. Nathan is finding that as he opens his life up to the world that he is meeting more and more men that lived through similar things as he did for so many years.

In today’s story, you’ll Nathan will tell you about his life from the childhood internal struggles he had trying to meet the expectations of his father, sexual abuse throughout his teens with a man two times his age, and his time being taken through gay conversion therapy and how that affected him.

Nathan is a strong man; everything that he has gone through in life is what has led him to be able to share his truth with the world, and along his own personal journey be able to inspire other LGBT people to do the same.

I hope you enjoy today’s story. After listening to I welcome you to take the discussion to our online private facebook group and let Nathan and I know what you think. Do a search on facebook for LGBT Stories and join the group, or you can simply visit www.facebook.com/groups/lgbtstories and that will take you directly to the group.

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Justin Lee, the original founder of The Gay Christian Network, GCN, shares his story of coming to terms with who he is as a gay Christian.

Justin is a speaker and author of "Torn: Rescuing the Gospel from the Gays-vs.-Christians Debate".

Check out his website www.geekyjustin.com for more!

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Our shows logo was designed and donated to us by Ryan Sirois, author of, "King of Stars". Pick up Ryans inspiring book today!

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LGBT Stories is created and hosted by, Kevin Gerdes.

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EPISODE 17 - BREAKING THE RUHLS

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In todays episode author Larry Ruhl shares an emotional roller coaster of the story with us. In his story he shares the back-and-forth relationship between his mother and father, the sexual abuse he sadly injured by his father, and horrible verbal abuse from his mother. 

However, in the end, Larry comes out triumphant! He understands that telling our stories is the one thing that can bring hope an understanding to all.

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Our guest Trace shares his story of what it was like to grow up in the Mormon church while discoing his sexuality as a young man. He talks about the struggles that he went through within the church, his own family, and internally. Take a listen to Traces story and share your thoughts on one of our social media platforms! We love to hear from you! Don't forget to rate us on iTunes!

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In this episode we are going to hear the story of a good friend of mine… his name is Stan. For as long as I have known Stan I’ve always known that he was in the Army. Foolishly I never thought about was how it must have been for him to be a gay man in the army. For some reason, it just never crossed my mind. Stan is also a very spiritual man. He has a deeply personal relationship with his God and it is admirable, to say the least.

I would imagine that being a gay man in the army, and being a spiritual man who happens to be gay creates a sense of a distorted self-identity. However, much to my dismay, Stan does a wonderful job at debunking this belief of mine.Originally I had asked Stan to tell his story of what his experience was like being in the Army before and after DADT was repealed. What I got was a story about the intersection of faith, homosexuality,

Originally I had asked Stan to tell his story of what his experience was like being in the Army before and after DADT was repealed. What I got was a story about the intersection of faith, homosexuality, a living through personal challenges while having to portray an image of one's own masculinity.

Today's episode dives deep into a few hot topics that are used against the LGBT community (such as faith and homosexuality) to persecute us, or used to make us seem less-than. I'm hoping that when you listen to Stan’s story that his genteelness and his desire to share his message of hope and love inspire you to do the same. Love thy neighbor.