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Brandon Shire

Author of Contemporary Gay Romance

  • Author Bio
  • Books
    • The Love of Wicked Men
    • Afflicted – Gay Romance Series
    • Cold – Gay Romance Series
    • Erotic Short Stories
    • Summer Symphony
    • Listening To Dust
    • The Value Of Rain
    • Afflicted – Book 1
    • Afflicted – Book 2
    • Cold – MM Romance
    • Heart of Timber – Gay Romance
  • Blog
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  • LGBT Youth Organizations
  • LGBT Authors Giving Back
  • Fundraising for Homeless LGBT
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MM Romance Fans for LGBT Youth

June 28, 2013 By Brandon 3 Comments

MM_Romance_Fans_for_LGBT_YouthIt has begun. We have had enough. We are mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, teachers, bloggers, writers, grandparents, cops, firefighters, marines, plumbers, construction workers, life guards. We are people. We are romance fans. We love the ideal that everyone gets a happy ending, even though we know how unlikely that is in real life. We are on the corner with a Kindle, hiding in the coffee shop with a Nook, waiting at the office so we can get back home and read that HEA.

We have seen LGBT kids beaten, abused, jailed, institutionalized, screamed at, berated, and raped for being different. We have seen them stepped over, stepped on, pushed aside and pushed away. We have witnessed their tears, their agony, their desire and need just to be loved.

We are tired of the desolation of our LGBT Youth

This post begins our campaign to raise awareness and funds to help end homelessness among LGBT Youth. Join us. Spread the word, use the logo above and link it to our fundraising effort. Tell us your story about your interaction with LGBT homeless youth, tell us about your own efforts to help, or tells us your story AS a homeless LGBT youth.

You don’t know what these kids are going through?

Read how one child was locked in a basement for being gay, how another was simply abandoned. That’s just a start, just a small drop in the bucket of depravity that youth organizations hear every day.

Not a romance fan? You don’t have to be to understand that 500,000 homeless lgbt kids on the street is absolutely ridiculous. Join us in this effort to raise awareness and funds.

Our first goal is to raise $25,000 for Lost-n-Found in Atlanta. Every single penny donated to this all volunteer organization goes directly to aiding lgbt youth, and for as little as $10 you can help get one kid off the street for a day. Donate here.

 

Filed Under: LGBT Nonprofit News Tagged With: gay teens, gay youth, Homophobia, LGBT, lgbt fundraising, lgbt organizations, lgbt youth, mm romance

Teacher Shares Closely Guarded Dirty Secret

June 28, 2013 By Brandon 1 Comment

secretInstinctively, I knew it was bad. Yet, until September of 2012, I had no idea how bad. Ignorant. I was ignorant. Plain, simple, and completely inexcusable.

What didn’t I know? 40% of homeless youth identify as LGBT.

Why was it shocking that I did NOT know this stat? This past academic year was my twentieth year teaching mathematics; more than half of my career has been spent teaching at the college level in Boston.  Shouldn’t this be something I knew??? Sadly, the depth of my ignorance gets worse. By September of 2012, I was already actively supporting a wonderful young person discarded by family due to sexual orientation. I knew and loved a LGBT homeless teen. I thought it was an anomaly. As I spent that September night combing the university’s research holdings on the plight of LGBT youth, I had two main thoughts. [Read more…] about Teacher Shares Closely Guarded Dirty Secret

Filed Under: Brandon's Musings, LGBT Equality Tagged With: gay teens, gay youth, LGBT, lgbt homeless, lgbt youth, nonprofit

Blood is Thicker – LGBT Cinema

June 25, 2013 By Brandon Leave a Comment

When a man’s gay brother is murdered, all his beliefs are tested.

blood is thicker A poignant movie about what happens when a family fractures, when a gay child runs because he feels he has no acceptance at home, and how his murder rips his family apart even further. Blood is Thicker is in production now but you can see the trailer below.   [Read more…] about Blood is Thicker – LGBT Cinema

Filed Under: Queer Film Tagged With: bullying, gay teens, gay youth, Homophobia, lgbt films, video

Locked in a Basement for Being Gay

June 22, 2013 By Brandon 3 Comments

A weekly post about what Lost-n-Found, a Homeless LGBT Youth organization in Atlanta, deals with on a daily basis. Names are removed to protect the youth. 

lgbt youth nonprofitFrom the Hotline for Homeless LGBT Youth:

2:37 PM: The Hotline gets a phone call from a gay youth who states that his mother has locked him in a basement because he’s gay. She left him his phone and a pop-tart.

Further investigation reveals that this 17-year-old has already been to the police. His situation at home was so bad that he ran away. (He is an African American youth and his family is Muslim and will not tolerate his sexuality.) [Read more…] about Locked in a Basement for Being Gay

Filed Under: From the LGBT Youth Hotline, LGBT Nonprofit News, LGBT Youth Organizations Tagged With: LGBT, lgbt fundraising, lgbt homeless, lgbtyouth, nonprofit

Holding On – Gay Fiction by Michael Joseph

June 21, 2013 By Brandon Leave a Comment

Special Guest Post by gay author Michael Joseph.
gay fiction by Michael JosephIt was right around two years ago this month that I first opened a file for what would become Holding On. At the time, I thought I was just jotting down a scene that had been going around in my head for a week or so. I hoped that if I wrote it down I could get it out of my head so I could get back to work on Journey To Rai-Lay, the sequel to Journey To Angkor which I had released the year before. I figured it might be part of a short story or something I could come back to later.

Silly me. [Read more…] about Holding On – Gay Fiction by Michael Joseph

Filed Under: Gay Fiction Tagged With: gay authors, gay literature, LGBT

LHNB M/M Romance Story – The Touch of Hope

June 19, 2013 By Brandon 1 Comment

LHNB Touch of Hope Brandon ShireThe wait is finally over (which I guess means I can’t tease you any more.) 🙁

My story for the Goodreads M/M Romance Group event Love Has No Boundaries is now posted within the MM Romance Group. In order to read The Touch of Hope, you must be 18 and a member of the group. The story, along with many others, is available for download at the new MM Romance Group website.

Enjoy, and don’t forget to leave a review for the story here.

Filed Under: Gay Romance Novels, Short Stories Tagged With: free book, gay authors, gay love story, gay teens, mm romance

A Voice for LGBT Country Music Fans

June 16, 2013 By Brandon Leave a Comment

LGBT country music Maybe you’ve heard of Drake Jensen. Maybe not. Maybe, like me, you’ve never been a fan of country music and equated it with rednecks and bigotry. But there are new voices in the country music scene, and there are old voices dispelling the idea that all of country music is anti-LGBT.

I can’t quite remember where I bumped into him on the web, but I had a listen and I was convinced that I need to give country another listen. And maybe I need to stop equating the music with the people who listen to it and claim it as their own rebel yell to ugliness.

Drake’s brand new video (below) told me it was exactly that time. Check it out.

Filed Under: LGBT Musicians Tagged With: bullying, Homophobia, lgbt music, music monday

The First Cut Is the Deepest: My favorite story?

June 14, 2013 By Brandon 1 Comment

Welcome to the blog my friend and fellow author, Jack A. Urquhart.  After a little pleading Jack agreed to come by and talk to us about his favorite book, and I’m glad he did. 

Jack A Urquhart June 2013Asking a writer to identify a favorite story from their “literary” portfolio is to my mind akin to asking a parent to name their favorite child—which is why, I expect, so many authors respond by saying: “It’s whatever I’m working on.”  I confess that when Brandon Shire suggested I pen a guest post to answer that query, my initial response was the same.  However, a perusal of personal archives dating back decades pointed toward a different conclusion.  From that enterprise I learned that I had revised one story more often than any other—some twenty-three times, in fact, over the years following its initial 1992 publication.  The story is Irises, Purple Irises. [Read more…] about The First Cut Is the Deepest: My favorite story?

Filed Under: Author Interviews, Gay Fiction Tagged With: author interview, gay authors, interviews, LGBT

Deaf, Gay, and Left Homeless By His Parents

June 13, 2013 By Brandon Leave a Comment

lgbt youth nonprofitFrom the Hotline for Homeless LGBT Youth:

We hear a lot of youths’ stories on the HOTLINE and most would simply wretch your heart. This cry for help started out that way, but quickly turned to a positive. 

 

We got a call from a gentleman that had run into a young man that he thought we could help. We asked that he give the youth our number and to have him contact us so that we could verify his story.

The youth could not call but could text because he is deaf. His mother had him declared mentally unstable and got him onto disability, so she could control the money. [Read more…] about Deaf, Gay, and Left Homeless By His Parents

Filed Under: From the LGBT Youth Hotline, LGBT Nonprofit News, LGBT Youth Organizations Tagged With: gay teens, gay youth, Homophobia, LGBT, lgbt fundraising, lgbt homeless, lgbt organizations, nonprofit

June Book Sales Equal Donations to LGBT Charity

June 10, 2013 By Brandon 1 Comment

CALEO_Leech-Book1_Poster with text

Hello my name is james crawford author of the Leech series, a paranormal adventure about a boy who is the school outcast, who is bullied and picked on for being different. This boy, Caleo finds out that not only is his part of a magical race of people known as Leeches but he is their born leader known as an Angel. Not all the leeches are happy about him taking his rightful place and Caleo finds himself running for his life with his foster family and a mysterious man that Caleo can’t help but fall for. It’s a wild adventure about a boy who goes from zero to hero.

For the month of June I am donating $1.50 for every eBook sale of Caleo  Leech: Book 1 to GLBT Advocacy & Youth Services.

GLBTAYS is a fantastic group dedicated to engaging in effective advocacy for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people. They are committed to ensuring the physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being of youth and young adults struggling due to sexual orientation or gender identity issues. [Read more…] about June Book Sales Equal Donations to LGBT Charity

Filed Under: Gay Fiction, LGBT Youth Organizations Tagged With: gay authors, lgbt fundraising

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