ISSN: 2372-2207

August 2015 Suggested Retail Price $2.95

ORIGINSEscape to Neverland

Photo Credit: Adam Ouahmane

2 Diversity Rules MagazineAugust 2015

My Two CentsBy Jim Koury, Editor

Inside This Issue (partial listing) David-Elijah Nahmod ...................................... Page 3 Neverland .......................................................... Page 4 Kristen MacKenzie ........................................... Page 8 Amazon Trail .................................................... Page 11 Seashore ............................................................ Page 14 Montreal Pride .................................................. Page 16 Heading to Kauai .............................................. Page 17 Robert Kingett .................................................. Page 19 Resources and Diversions ..................................Page 22

Welcome to the August issue of Di-versity Rules Magazine! It is hard to believe we are bearing down on the end of summer already. The year has certainly gone by quickly thus far. It has been an exciting summer, needless to say in light of the Supreme Court decision to legalize same sex mariage through-out the land. As the old cigarette commercial used to say, “You’ve come a long way baby.” It’s only going to get better, albeit with set-backs here and there.

This month’s feature is certainly an interesting one. Diversity Rules Magazine welcomes guest writer Joseph Gerbino and his interview with Anthony DeFiore, the found-er and Creative Director of Nev-erland -- billed as a costume ball with circuit music. “Neverland is like a Studio 54-style party” says DeFiore. “Every group is repre-sented from muscle guys, hipsters, drag queens, transsexuals, club kids, and more.”

This month also features regular

columist such as Lee Lynch, Kris-ten MacKenzie, and David-Elijah Nahmod. Diversity Rules Maga-zine also welcomes Robert Kingett. Robert is a journalist and author who writes and speaks about many subjects including LGBT and dis-ability rights. His montly column should prove to be very enlighten-ing.

This month our friends at Purple Roofs take us on a trip to Kauai, Hawaii. It is a beautiful gay island destination. Over the next few months J. Scott Coatsworth shall bring Kauai to your computer screens in all its vivid glory!

Last, Diversity Rules Magazine is making another attempt at raising some funds to get back in print with a GoFundMe Campaign! My focus is always on satisfying both print and digital tastes. However the print version takes money and well, that is always the challenge to overcome. With your help Diver-sity Rules Magazine will succeed in its return to print format.

Diversity Rules MagazinePO Box 72

Oneonta, NY 13820James R. Koury, Editor/Publisher

607.435.1587

Websitewww.diversityrulesmagazine.com

Blogwww.diversityrulesmagazine.blogspot.com

E-Mailgeneralinfo@diversityrulesmagazine.com

Copyright 2015 Diversity Rules MagazineAll Rights Reserved

Disclaimers

If you have a question or comment regard-ing this issue or future issues of Diversity Rules Magazine, the publisher would love to hear from you! Feel free to contact Di-versity Rules using the e-mail above or mailing address listed above. Content sub-mission are always welcome too!

All submissions become the property of Diversity Rules Magazine. However, origi-nating authors reserve all rights to their creative works.

Diversity Rules Magazine’s physical offices are located at 189 River Street, Oneonta, NY 13820.

Diversity Rules Magazine will not know-ingly publish or advertise text which is fraudulent or misleading. The publisher reserves the right to edit, limit, revise, or reject any text without cause.

Diversity Rules Magazine does not assume any fnancial responsibility for typographi-cal errors. If any errors are found, please notify Diversity Rules Magazine immedi-ately. Materials in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without writ-ten permission from the publisher.

3Diversity Rules MagazineAugust 2015

David-Elijah Nah-mod is a film crit-ic and reporter in San Francisco. His articles ap-pear regularly in

The Bay Area Reporter and SF Weekly. You can also find him on Facebook and Twitter.

David developed Post Traumatic Syndrome Disor-der (PTSD) after surviving gay conversion therapy as a child and has found that many in the LGBT community suffer from severe, often untreated emotional disorders due to the extreme anti-gay traumas they endured. This column chronicles his journey.

“If you go, I’ll understand leave just enough love

to fill up my hand........”

-- Rod McKuen

“His name is Russell,” I was told by the vet in New York City.

“No it’s not,” I said. “It’s Charlie.” And so I took a very frightened kitty home from the vet’s office who had rescued him from the street in the Upper East Side Manhattan neighborhood where I lived during the late 1990s. Until he died on December 4, 2014, Charlie was my closest friend, my family.

The first few months were touch and go. Charlie had been aban-doned, and had obviously been abused. He was frightened and didn’t trust me at first. He hissed at me. Soon my hands were cov-ered in scabs from his almost

constant biting and scratching. Friends advised me to give him up because he was hurting me. I’m ashamed to admit that I actually considered it. Thank God I came to my senses and kept the little guy.

After about six months with me, Charlie began to calm down--I guess he realized that I wasn’t going to beat him, and besides, I was his food source! One night I was lying on the couch, watching TV. Charlie casu-ally strolled over and gently lay across my tummy. As he purred gently, I looked down upon him and fell hopelessly in love. We were soulmates from that day forward.

In 1999 I became addicted to the daytime soap opera Passions, and was quite amused by a core family on the show who carried the unlikely moniker of Lopez-Fitzgerald. I laughed out loud the first time I heard the name because it sounded so over the top. On that day my kitty’s full name became Charlie Lopez Fitzgerald--I had his medical records altered to reflect his modi-fied name.

When I moved back to California in 2003, Charlie sat quietly on the back seat of my rental car. He was amaz-ingly well behaved during the five day journey, snug-gling with me each night in motel rooms. He spent the rest of his life, 11 years, in the apartment where I still live.

Sometimes when I went out he would get angry, wrap-ping his paws around my ankles. He didn’t want me to leave. When I returned home he would greet me joyously, often jumping up into my arms.

When I sat at my desk writing stories, Charlie would sit on the window sill behind me. He was in heaven, in his own little world. I’ve not been in a relationship for many years, but with Charlie in the house I never felt alone. I got so much love from him, and I loved him just as much.

PTSD - Con’t on page 7

If You Could Read My Mind: A PTSD Memoir:

Charlie Lopez Fitzgerald: 1997-2014

By David-Elijah Nahmod