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MEANWHILE, IN CLAIREMONT

Never underestimate what is right in front of you. Since moving to San Diego I have been finding my neighbourhood increasingly more interesting. I drive past this guy everyday I go to training and I stopped to interview him and take some portraits. This is Mike.

DEAR MR. PRESIDENT – MY LETTER TO BARACK OBAMA

Dear President Barack Obama,

I had a dream this morning that I was having breakfast with you and your family at the Whitehouse. I have been meaning to write to you and this dream was as good a catalyst as any.

Pertinent to Martin Luther King who also had a dream, I also wish that one day all people could truly be equal; unfortunately though they are not. I am a gay Australian born male married to an American man, but my marriage doesn’t count for the same federal rights as heterosexual couples. I face deportation and have a court hearing in Los Angeles on February 6^th 2013.

For years I have been in this country that I have come to love with my husband who I love very much and it pains me to think that if I were a woman, that things would be very different. I believe that things we really want sometimes take hard work. This struggle has caused me great indescribable despair at times and I dream of a day when I can put the inequality that I live with daily to rest.

I have always been an activist for gay people, challenging stereotypes and standards. When I was 16 years of age attending an all-boys school, I took my then boyfriend to my prom. I have always been proud of who I am and making a difference for others. I come from a privileged country, Australia, where equal rights for defacto couples, regardless of sexual orientation, is recognized the same as married couples.

This letter is not a complaint to you or your administration but rather a very candid reach for recognition and challenge to action. I’m sure you have a grasp of what gay people are going through in your country and I would like to add another face and story. I have seen the many things you have already done for the gay community, starting with signing the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act to repealing ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” and wish to give great thanks and gratitude.

I want to thank you for repealing the travel ban on people living with HIV. I want to thank you for your plan to prevent and end homelessness including LGBT youth. I want to thank you for your support on anti-bullying and your “It Get’s Better ‘ video. I want to thank you for clarifying the meaning of ‘family’ to help protect bi-national families such as myself who face deportation and I want to thank you for declaring The Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. The current reality is however, that The Supreme Court still has to make the final decision on the future for all the current and potential future married gay couples. I love my husband very much, I don’t intend on leaving him and he doesn’t intend on leaving his country. I live nervously everyday dreaming of a future, post court hearings about equal rights for gay people.

Watching the presidential inauguration I could see a strong civil rights theme and gay rights was something the democrats stood for in their campaign for re-election. I saw the lesbian and gay band association giving representation to the gay community.

I feel like with everything that is going on and all the attention drawn to the gay community right now that we are very near the edge to full equality, but I am still yet to see full equal rights actually happen and so I write this letter to you in hope that it reaches you and that there is anything you may be able to do to sway the Supreme Court. It boggles my mind coming from a different political system to think that nine people hold the outcomes of such a large community of people in their hands.

Gay rights are a civil rights issue and don’t need to be a political issue. The fight against intolerance acts to strengthen and validate the presence of intolerance. The battle for gay marriage in America is only adding ammunition for ignorance.

I had a dream too and I hope I can write to you later this year and tell you that it has been realized.

With great respect and admiration thank you for your time.

Yours Sincerely,

Paul Gunn

SATANICA

I just received my copy of Satanica magazine by Gio Black Peter and Christopher Stoddard a couple days ago. It put a smile on my face to see Next Magazine write about it on their website and feature one of the nude self portraits I contributed. Can you pick which one it is? You can read the full article here: NEXT Bummed I’m stuck in Cali right now and can’t get to the launch.

BROOKS

HAPPY HALLOWEEN & HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEAN PAUL LOCKHART (AKA BRENT CORRIGAN)

Sean and I got together recently on this editorial idea of becoming possessed. Sean seems to have a fascination with horror and the occult which perhaps is a symptom of his birthday falling on the same day as Halloween.

*click to open 2nd image in landscape

Brad, San Diego.