It’s the last day of Pride Month so figured it was time to bring back the extended dance cut from Heather Small’s classic anthem, PROUD! (This is the mix from the #QueerAsFolk series finale.)
The glasses are the ones I wore as Ben Bruckner throughout the series, so I thought they needed to make a quick cameo appearance.
Love you all. Our journey to live our most free and expansive lives continues. Happy Pride Year. “Love First.” And then dance.
#Proud #LGBTQ #PrideMonth #QAF #LoveFirst #Freedom
Why are these guys so dang happy?! Oh wait, that’s right! It’s the birthday today of the one and only @thepeterpaige! Please join me in wishing my beautiful friend his best year yet! Happy birthday, dear Peter! So much more amazing stuff to come!! Woo hoo!!
Lunch with one of my favorite people on the planet. Love me some @thepeterpaige. And those amazing glasses. #QAF #Family Strings of Life- SOL
Happy Pride QAF-style, Everyone! Courtesy of Ben and Michael. ♥️🏳️🌈♥️
#Pride #QueerAsFolk #LGBTQ+ #Freedom #Pride2022 #QAFMoment #BestGayLife
This month is the 25th Anniversary of Disney’s Hercules! And with it comes many memories. Playing the famed Herc was one of my very first jobs in Hollywood. From beginning to end, I worked on the film for a period spanning 18 months, on and off, memorizing Tate Donovan‘s classic, humorously stuttering dialogue (pre-recorded and given to me to learn on cassette tapes) and infusing the scenes with my own comedic interpretation.
As new as I was to the process, my good fortune in getting to work with some of Disney’s most legendary animators was clear to me. Directors John Musker and Ron Clements (already legends going into the process as the director/creators of The Little Mermaid and Aladdin), and all the team, were beyond amazing to work with.
Granted, by the end of the run, the Hercules outfit I donned each session was showing signs of its prolonged use. In particular, Hercules’ hair, which had started as a well formed wig, ultimately morphed into the hairspray-infused helmet you see in the photo above.
But nothing could dampen the joy I felt at getting to be a part of this incredible classic, acting out the many fights and scenes, action-filled and romantic, as the animators worked their Olympian magic to create this timeless homage to the Greek demigod.
Huge shout out to @michelledanse, my Megara cohort, who helped bring that character to life so beautifully. Herc is forever in my heart, and having gotten to work on that project will always remain for me one of those truly cool, utterly unique Hollywood experiences. Thanks so much, John and Ron, for giving me the opportunity to “go the distance” and be a part of immortalizing your timeless, eternally heroic, big lovable lug, Herc.
#Hercules #Disney #DisneyAnimation #ZeroToHero #GoTheDistance
This month is the 25th Anniversary of Disney’s Hercules! And with it comes many memories. Playing the famed Herc was one of my very first jobs in Hollywood. From beginning to end, I worked on the film for a period spanning 18 months, on and off, memorizing Tate Donovan‘s classic, humorously stuttering dialogue (pre-recorded and given to me to learn on cassette tapes) and infusing the scenes with my own comedic interpretation.
As new as I was to the process, my good fortune in getting to work with some of Disney’s most legendary animators was clear to me. Directors John Musker and Ron Clements (already legends going into the process as the director/creators of The Little Mermaid and Aladdin), and all the team, were beyond amazing to work with.
Granted, by the end of the run, the Hercules outfit I donned each session was showing signs of its prolonged use. In particular, Hercules’ hair, which had started as a well formed wig, ultimately morphed into the hairspray-infused helmet you see in the photo above.
But nothing could dampen the joy I felt at getting to be a part of this incredible classic, acting out the many fights and scenes, action-filled and romantic, as the animators worked their Olympian magic to create this timeless homage to the Greek demigod.
Huge shout out to @michelledanse, my Megara cohort, who helped bring that character to life so beautifully. Herc is forever in my heart, and having gotten to work on that project will always remain for me one of those truly cool, utterly unique Hollywood experiences. Thanks so much, John and Ron, for giving me the opportunity to “go the distance” and be a part of immortalizing your timeless, eternally heroic, big lovable lug, Herc.
#Hercules #Disney #DisneyAnimation #ZeroToHero #GoTheDistance
This month is the 25th Anniversary of Disney’s Hercules! And with it comes many memories. Playing the famed Herc was one of my very first jobs in Hollywood. From beginning to end, I worked on the film for a period spanning 18 months, on and off, memorizing Tate Donovan‘s classic, humorously stuttering dialogue (pre-recorded and given to me to learn on cassette tapes) and infusing the scenes with my own comedic interpretation.
As new as I was to the process, my good fortune in getting to work with some of Disney’s most legendary animators was clear to me. Directors John Musker and Ron Clements (already legends going into the process as the director/creators of The Little Mermaid and Aladdin), and all the team, were beyond amazing to work with.
Granted, by the end of the run, the Hercules outfit I donned each session was showing signs of its prolonged use. In particular, Hercules’ hair, which had started as a well formed wig, ultimately morphed into the hairspray-infused helmet you see in the photo above.
But nothing could dampen the joy I felt at getting to be a part of this incredible classic, acting out the many fights and scenes, action-filled and romantic, as the animators worked their Olympian magic to create this timeless homage to the Greek demigod.
Huge shout out to @michelledanse, my Megara cohort, who helped bring that character to life so beautifully. Herc is forever in my heart, and having gotten to work on that project will always remain for me one of those truly cool, utterly unique Hollywood experiences. Thanks so much, John and Ron, for giving me the opportunity to “go the distance” and be a part of immortalizing your timeless, eternally heroic, big lovable lug, Herc.
#Hercules #Disney #DisneyAnimation #ZeroToHero #GoTheDistance
It’s that time of year. Grateful to celebrate my dear young cousin’s emergence from high school into her next chapter. It’s been a joy to watch @cierajaclyn grow from the sweet baby she was into the wonderful young woman she’s become. That commencement music, signifying the turning of the page, chokes me up every time. #passages Indian Rocks Beach, Florida
It’s that time of year. Grateful to celebrate my dear young cousin’s emergence from high school into her next chapter. It’s been a joy to watch @cierajaclyn grow from the sweet baby she was into the wonderful young woman she’s become. That commencement music, signifying the turning of the page, chokes me up every time. #passages Indian Rocks Beach, Florida
Thank you for all the birthday messages today, Everyone. I couldn’t be more grateful for another beautiful year of life filled with its exquisite, unpredictable twists and turns, every experience, even (or especially?) the challenging ones, a part of this delicious experience of life. (I probably said delicious, because I’m eating birthday donuts at the moment. 😋🍩) Beyond excited for another year of connecting with you all and for the countless adventures ahead of us. So much more to come!
#BestGayLife #Love #Freedom #ComfyShorts #HappyBirthday
Thanks to @axelmalibu for this reel. I mentioned before that this experience helping to bring Disney’s “Hercules” to life was one of my first jobs in LA. (And one of many steps in the journey to manifesting the childhood vision of getting to be an actor in Hollywood.) It was also clearly unique!
You can see here how the scenes we worked on ultimately became the scenes in the film itself. You can also see that we had the chance to work with some, uh, creative substitutions for other characters, items, and situations.
Since it was going to be animated, there was a LOT of leeway to use things that were ultimately going to show up very differently in the movie. (For example, there were various interesting objects used as Pegasus along the way when I was riding him!) The acting style was also necessarily animated. 😉
Overall, I worked on “Hercules” for eighteen months and am forever grateful for getting to be a part of the journey with such extraordinary artists and creators.
(Thanks to amazing Hades animator #NikRanieri for posting the footage online and who plays Hades in these scenes. Director Ron Clements sometimes stood in as Philoctetes/Phil. And, if you’re a @Disney fan, check out the cool stuff @axelmalibu has on their page.)
#Hercules #Disney #GoTheDistance #BestGayLife
Pride! It’s that beautiful time again. It used to signify, for me, being proud despite our difference from others and was tethered to the idea of not yet being entirely equal.
Today, having long since awoken from that old, flawed, brainwashed concept, Pride means fully embracing and honoring our innate equality with all people, equality that’s always been our truth, even when the laws didn’t (or don’t) yet reflect it.
It means expressing our inherent, unarguable value and wholeness in the world, helping our LGBTQ+ fellows recognize and remember it as their truth as well. A month to celebrate it, a lifetime to live it.
Love you all! Happy Pride! 🏳️🌈
#Pride #LGBTQ+ #PrideMonth #Freedom #Pride2022 #BestGayLife
Because it was Labor Day weekend, I thought a good bit about this journey of work and career that we all experience. I’ve been an actor for twenty-eight years and am deeply grateful for the journey and that it continues and constantly evolves into a new place.
I’ve also been working with a wonderful writing partner for a number of years creating projects that are finally getting traction, in part seeking to advance our LGBTQ stories in meaningful ways. More on that soon.
Most recently, though, I’ve been led to what feels like a true life calling, helping gay folks like me live their fullest and most expansive lives. I had no idea when I did the Living Your Best Gay Life workshop last year that it would awaken this in me in the way it has. It was like that moment in the movie “Signs“ when everything lines up and the protagonist realizes that all the events of his life have led to this moment.
There are visions we hold consciously and take action toward. And there are visions that are revealed to us if we’re listening and paying attention. I’m extremely excited to see how this journey of working with my fellow gay folks evolves and grows in the years to come.
Thank you all so much for being a part of this adventure! We’re all in it together! 🏳️🌈💪💛✨
#TheCareerJourney #LGBTQ #Pride #Gay #Freedom #GayLifeCoach #BestGayLife
📸 @toddthephotographer (Thanks for your beautiful work, Todd!)
Another of our challenges as gay people is the tendency to seek things outside of us to counter the misconception (that was conditioned into us) about being less valuable as a result of our gayness. Society perpetuates the belief that all that external stuff can prop us up and make us feel more desirable or important.
The book “The Best Little Boy in the World” encapsulates this concept well. Like so many of us, I strived through much of my early childhood and adulthood to feel worthy and important as a result of numerous outer accomplishments and aquisitions and ways of expressing myself. Yet none of them worked to accomplish that goal.
In actuality, as we wake up to the truth that our value was with us from the time we were born, we experience a true freedom from the constraints of the world’s outer validation based system. And all these external things become just stuff to play with in life — to enjoy having and expressing, if and as we choose to.
#BestGayLife #Pride #Freedom #LGBTQ #GayLifeCoaching
This photo was taken on today’s date, June 26th, in 2003, during the Houston nighttime Pride parade. It was the same day that the Supreme Court handed down Lawrence v Texas, the decision that overturned the sodomy laws in the U.S. (still remaining in 14 states at the time, including Texas).
The ruling established the right for gay people in the United States TO HAVE CONSENSUAL SEX LEGALLY. (It also became the symbolic date on which the Court would later overturn the Defense of Marriage Act, aka DOMA, and affirm the right to same-sex marriage.) The decision in Lawrence was based on the same 5th and 14th Amendment reasoning that made up the foundation for Roe v. Wade.
I made an appearance at a Houston nightclub that historic night and was in the DJ booth when the wonderful @djtracyyoung stopped the music so that, on the mic, I could remind everyone in the club that, for the first time since 1973 (and, in truth, long before), when the state of Texas had criminalized “homosexual conduct,” they could go home and legally have sex. The roar from the dance floor was deafening. Pure, unrestrained joy.
That Texas law criminalizing “homosexual conduct,” while invalidated by the ruling in Lawrence, nonetheless remains a part of the Texas penal code. Lawrence v Texas is one of the cases that Justice Clarence Thomas proposes revisiting.
The next chapter for all of us has begun.
#Freedom #Equality #Pride #LGBTQ #LawrencevTexas #RoevWade
There are different ways to go about getting free of the old limiting decisions we’ve made about life that led to the limiting beliefs we hold. There’s the powerful, longer therapeutic journey. And there’s also work that can be done at the subconscious level in a succinct and targeted way.
I spent eighteen days becoming a certified trainer of NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming) with the intention of deepening my ability to help fellow gay folks get free of old ideas about scarcity and limitation. Those notions are particularly common for gay people because we grew up in a world where love and romantic opportunity were less available, often significantly so. This played a part in shaping a scarcity mindset. It’s as if many of us felt there was only so much love in the room and that we had to grab for and hold onto it lest it it get away and not be available anymore.
As freedom from limiting beliefs allows us to realize that it’s an abundant universe with more than enough for everyone, our relationship with every aspect of life changes for the better. We come to know that, beyond whatever challenge we might be fixated on, there are always more doors, an infinite number, through which we can walk, experience, and enjoy life.
#Freedom #LGBTQ #WakingUp #BestGayLife
As we close out summer, this seemed like a fitting, good-humored salute to our transition into autumn. Though given the current heat wave, there’s still plenty of time for frosty treats. Wishing you all lots of Good Humor this weekend and in the season to come!
Being the Good Humor man was another unexpected step in realizing that childhood vision of pursuing a career in Hollywood, which, to the kid I was back in Tampa, seemed like such a remote and hard to fathom possibility.
Filmed over the course of six days, the commercial commemorated what was then the 75th anniversary of the Good Humor man, an old-time iconic symbol of childhood. (Can’t remember the number of afternoons I ran to my mom for money after hearing the ice cream man‘s music.)
The campaign included a nationwide tour with stops at children’s hospitals where I got to do the dance, sing the rap, and hand out ice cream to some beautiful, smiling faces. Forever grateful for the experience.
(On a side note, the little girl you see running in the spot (with a pink shirt and overalls) and who appears throughout, was actress @jenamalone in her first job as an actor. I remember her enthusiasm for getting the part, being in LA, and going for her dream. Congratulations, Jena, on all you’ve accomplished! You did it!)
#GoodHumorMan #EndOfSummer #Heatwave #BestGayLife
Happy Father’s Day, Dad. I’m forever grateful to have had such a wonderful father. And that, even though you’re not still here in physical form, I get to connect with you and feel your presence, love, and support every day. I remember how proud you and Mom were, on the day this photo was taken, to watch your little boy graduate from Georgetown Law. Thank you for all of it, Dad. I love you always.
Everything we create in life is in great part the result of our focus, past or present, conscious or unconscious. Things, of course, happen that are outside our control, but, with respect to what we can control, our focus is paramount.
Whatever we do turn our attention to, our brain’s Reticular Activating System supports that attention, beyond what we consciously perceive, by providing either more examples of that thing or ideas about how to get or create it. Even when we’re unaware of it, our subconscious mind leads us to circumstances and choices that are in keeping with our focus. It can seem like uncanny coincidence or even magic, but it’s often just our subconscious mind doing its thing.
All of this happens whether we’re focused on something we want or something we don’t. Thus the great importance of keeping our focus a priority, to the best of our ability, throughout our days. What are you focused on today? Are you focused on the things you’re grateful for and that are going well in your life and that you want to achieve or experience? If so, you’re likely to get more of those things and may just end up living your Best Gay Life.
#Focus #LawofManifestation #LGBTQ #LifeCoaching #Pride #BestGayLife
It’s powerful the positive impact that characters can have on our lives. The great ones leave an indelible imprint for the better. This guy certainly has for me. And, honestly, randomly meeting him in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at @Disneyland, just strolling down the walk at night, was surreal.
I was honoring the end of an eighteen-day training to deepen my ability to help fellow gay folks through my coaching work. My friend @jonhillstead said, “Chewbacca is right behind us.” And, sure enough, there he was walking along by himself in the dark. So I chatted with him. The kid in me was beyond excited. Thanks, #Chewbacca!
And, yes, I am, in fact, a Star Wars fan. 😉
#StarWars #ChewieRocks #BestGayLife
One of the most challenging things many of us faced as young gay people was not truly feeling a part of a community, at least deep down — given that we grew up in a world that was, from what we could tell early on, mostly or almost entirely straight.
Many of us either did our best, as I did, to be a part of the one we were born into or pretended to be and feel a part of it — while feeling at some level that we weren’t. We may have, again like me, formed community as best we could while holding onto our secret.
In addition, because of hiding early on, we often lacked the foundation to connect and relate, including with other gay men, in more intimate ways.
That’s why I’m excited to start BEST GAY LIFE Group Coaching. Having a chance to deepen our connections and express more authentic intimacy with each other is something I’m thrilled for us to experience together. Looking forward to that journey with you!
For more details, click the LINK IN BIO to sign up for the waitlist and be the first to get more info very soon!
#BestGayLife #GayGroupCoaching #LGBTQ #Pride #Connection #Freedom
📸 @toddthephotographer (Thank you, Todd!)
One of the most challenging things many of us faced as young gay people was not truly feeling a part of a community, at least deep down — given that we grew up in a world that was, from what we could tell early on, mostly or almost entirely straight.
Many of us either did our best, as I did, to be a part of the one we were born into or pretended to be and feel a part of it — while feeling at some level that we weren’t. We may have, again like me, formed community as best we could while holding onto our secret.
In addition, because of hiding early on, we often lacked the foundation to connect and relate, including with other gay men, in more intimate ways.
That’s why I’m excited to start BEST GAY LIFE Group Coaching. Having a chance to deepen our connections and express more authentic intimacy with each other is something I’m thrilled for us to experience together. Looking forward to that journey with you!
For more details, click the LINK IN BIO to sign up for the waitlist and be the first to get more info very soon!
#BestGayLife #GayGroupCoaching #LGBTQ #Pride #Connection #Freedom
📸 @toddthephotographer (Thank you, Todd!)
One of the most challenging things many of us faced as young gay people was not truly feeling a part of a community, at least deep down — given that we grew up in a world that was, from what we could tell early on, mostly or almost entirely straight.
Many of us either did our best, as I did, to be a part of the one we were born into or pretended to be and feel a part of it — while feeling at some level that we weren’t. We may have, again like me, formed community as best we could while holding onto our secret.
In addition, because of hiding early on, we often lacked the foundation to connect and relate, including with other gay men, in more intimate ways.
That’s why I’m excited to start BEST GAY LIFE Group Coaching. Having a chance to deepen our connections and express more authentic intimacy with each other is something I’m thrilled for us to experience together. Looking forward to that journey with you!
For more details, click the LINK IN BIO to sign up for the waitlist and be the first to get more info very soon!
#BestGayLife #GayGroupCoaching #LGBTQ #Pride #Connection #Freedom
📸 @toddthephotographer (Thank you, Todd!)
One of the most challenging things many of us faced as young gay people was not truly feeling a part of a community, at least deep down — given that we grew up in a world that was, from what we could tell early on, mostly or almost entirely straight.
Many of us either did our best, as I did, to be a part of the one we were born into or pretended to be and feel a part of it — while feeling at some level that we weren’t. We may have, again like me, formed community as best we could while holding onto our secret.
In addition, because of hiding early on, we often lacked the foundation to connect and relate, including with other gay men, in more intimate ways.
That’s why I’m excited to start BEST GAY LIFE Group Coaching. Having a chance to deepen our connections and express more authentic intimacy with each other is something I’m thrilled for us to experience together. Looking forward to that journey with you!
For more details, click the LINK IN BIO to sign up for the waitlist and be the first to get more info very soon!
#BestGayLife #GayGroupCoaching #LGBTQ #Pride #Connection #Freedom
📸 @toddthephotographer (Thank you, Todd!)
