The GLAAD Award Winning Derek and Romaine

Well, Bitches, I was out on the town on Friday's show and somehow only got to hear the parts of show that I was mentioned in (my ears must have been burning). So, I asked a favor of G.M. in Philly to do the show recap from Friday. (Thanks G.M.).

I actually have spent as much time thinking about this post (my last regular one for a while) as I did all of the other posts in the last week. I wanted to think of something fitting and gracious to say about Derek and Romaine:

Many of us take for granted every day turning on Sirius 109 or XM 98 and listening to The Bitches talk about dildos, Angelina Jolie or Derek's newest chemical to keep his skin that of a 4 week old baby's bottom and we don't take time to think about how amazing it is that they even have a radio show, let alone one that has been on for 6 years now. I am 35 years old and I can remember in my life not being about to say the word "gay" or "lesbian" without a lynch mob or an equally unpleasant dirty look. Now we celebrate ass sex and double fisting five days a week, (UNFUCKINGBELIEVABLE!!!), but have many of you taken the time to ever really know who Derek Hartley and Romaine Patterson are? Sure you know that Romaine was a friend of Matthew Shephard's. And yes, we all know that Derek has had many, many, many fabulous jobs. Did you realize that Romaine was the first person to make people realize you didn't have to put of with Fred Phelps and his band of crazies at a funeral or that Derek was a gay journalist when the internet was a relatively new thing? Did you realize that when Derek and Romaine first went on the air in 2003 gay marriage in any state wasn't legal yet? Now 6 years later, they received their first GLAAD Media Award (it's about Fraking time) and it was well deserved.

I spent tonight driving up I-75 from Atlanta to Ohio listening the The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later - The Lasting Legacy Of Matthew Shepard for the 5th and 6th time and just couldn't believe that I know people, personally, that are capable of making such a beautiful and relevant piece of history. If you haven't heard it you really need to, SiriusXM has made it available for download at Sirius OutQ.

I guess I started wondering why we don't have more voices out there receiving awards that are actually gay. I mean yes, Clay Aiken received an award for finally coming out (You SOOOO called that Derek) and T.R. Knight plays a lovely straight girl on Grey's Anatomy. And yes, Tyra is a crazy Tranny that has a couple of shows on TV. Derek and Romaine are gay in real life and they play gay on the radio. It seems like a simple concept, but they are one of the few in history to receive such an honor.

I have met Derek and Romaine, I know that the characters they play on their radio show are in complete contrast to the people they are in real life. I know that they do not get paid by SiriusXM to go to pride events and meet their listeners, I know that often it can be difficult to leave their friends and families to come and hang out with us, but they do it gladly. I know that they take time to talk to everyone who walks up to them at an event to make sure they tell them they appreciate them coming out. I know that eventually when Derek and Romaine move on to new careers and paths in life, that they will look back at meeting their listeners, their friends and smile.

I want anyone who reads this to let people know about OutQ and Derek and Romaine, not because you'll get a prize, but because this is Gay History, Our History and the more people who know about it, the more people who are exposed to it, the more they understand it. The less we will be relegated to the closet.

I just want to say that I am honored to listen to Derek and Romaine every day, I am honored to call them my friends, I was honored to be asked to tell you Bitches about them for the last week and look forward to the years ahead calling in and sharing my inane life with people who really do make a difference.

Talk to you soon Bitches.

Trucker James