Armani Exchange's Spring/Summer 2010 Ad. Being gay is sexy!!!

The fashion industry is global multi-billion dollar business. Strip away the lights, glamour, supermodels, clothes, runway presentations and cameras what do you have? You have a man (though there are women designers as well), who secretly read Vogue, and believed in his vision. At the end of the day he worked hard, had the talent and drive to make his dream come true, but what’s more important: he got the world to believe in his world. Fashion is about fantasy. It’s not about eating disorders, makeup, hair, clothes or even glitter (though there’s lots of that too).

Like many of you I was attracted to boys, told it was wrong, felt out of place and didn’t know where to turn. I came out when I was 16 and yes it was hard, I would never have changed it for the world. Being homosexual rocks and in fact if there was a “heterosexual fairy” and he or she said, “I can make you straight.” I’d say, “f**k off with that.” We as gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgendered people have a unique view of the world. It’s not right or wrong (well usually it’s right) but it just is that, unique. Your voice can change the way people think, dream, love, dress, live, love, even have sex all over the world and now plus throughout history. Homosexuality is NOT abnormal, shameful, bad, or evil. It is just a part of you and as you discover a wonderful part of you.

As I now sit by the runways of the world watching dresses, suits, pants, shirts, and other pieces of clothing presented in creatively wonderful ways, I think to myself how lucky I am. In only the short time I have been with GayGuideToronto.com as their Style blogger I hope I have shown you the power of what one gay man’s vision can do. That man being an openly gay designer who changes the world each season with the power of style and is helping fans and the industry see a different visual aesthetic every season. My love is bringing that to you.

My fashion journalism mentors: Elsa Klench, the late Liz Tibardis, Tim Blanks, Grace Mirabella, David Livingstone, Francis Lear, and Suzie Menkies all taught me one thing. Whether you’re gay or straight, fashion is about allowing people to dream for a single moment and in one simple outfit you can change the way someone sees the world. Fear not gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered youth you are in great company with designers: John Galliano, Karl Lagerfeld, DSquared’s Dean and Dan Caten, Valentino, Giorgio Armani, Dolce and Gabanna, WL&T and many, many more are all openly gay men. Fashion has and always will be a gay man’s playground. From the 16 year old, awkward, pimply faced, 6 foot tall, newly out teenage to the 40-year old multimedia fashion journalist and model I am today, I lift a champagne glass to all of you and proudly say, “IT DOES GET A LOT BETTER!” Never! Never! Never! Put up with being picked on, bullied, being called names, or told you are less than. You are worth far more than that.

A wise man once told me, “Never let anyone’s baggage become yours!” It’s very true and that is what got me to being that Style Guy I am today.

October is International Coming Out Month. It was started by Robert Eichberg and Jean O’Leary in 1988 to recognize and celebrate the first anniversary of the first gay march on Washington, which took place October 11, 1987.

Since its inception, International Coming Out Day has become an opportunity for queer people to come out to their friends, family and co-workers. It’s not a rule, but simply a reminder that you are not alone and that coming out is a process that some people leap into while others take baby steps. Read the full story

So, I’m in Montreal with Shaun, he’s just completed the PWA Friends For Life Bike Rally, and I’m off to have brunch with my mom. I thought a daytime meal out on a patio in the sunshine would help lend some levity to the situation. Of course, I met her at her’s and we walked down to a little brunch spot around the corner.

We chatted and laughed and when we got about half way through the meal (I didn’t want to save it for the end because if things went poorly I didn’t want to end on that note) when I said,

Me: “So have you been on the PROUD website lately?” (knowing full well that a link to the OUTLOOKS article that outs me as a porn star appears on my show page. Read the full story

“When mom comes to visit you next week, what are you going to tell her you do?” asked my brother on the other end of the line from Montreal. I skirted the subject by making a joke, but wondered how much my brother had figured out on his own.

I was just back from Italy. We had shot “When In Rome”, and my pockets were flush with cash. Mom’s visit to L.A. went off without a hitch.  ”How’s the bar?” she’d ask. I told her I was bar backing and go go dancing at a couple of bars in West Hollywood. What? Don’t give me that look, it’s not so far off the truth! That’s how I got discovered by Chi Chi LaRue, while go go dancing at Micky’s!

With Chi Chi LaRue & Johnny Hazzard

Anyway, she left L.A. happy in the knowledge that I was doing alright for myself, if not totally aware of how I was achieving it. And doing well for myself I did. I continued on as a Rascal Exclusive for Chi Chi, traveling Europe and the United States, picking up awards and nominations all over the place, modeling for Tom Ford, T.V. interviews, books, magazines and even my own dildo!

Promoting "Stone Fox"

Now what? I had a decision to make. Years had gone by, and I had achieved more than what most porn stars ever do. I needed to continue to grow, and the only way to do that was by moving home to Canada. I wasn’t abandoning the industry, but I needed a shift in my life. I had done a radio interview as Eddie Stone with Shaun Proulx of The Shaun Proulx Show on 103.9 PROUD FM in Toronto. PROUD FM is the world’s first and only queer commercial radio station. People have always told me I had a voice for radio, so I decided to move to Toronto and look up PROUD FM to see what could come of it.

I thought that the move away from L.A. and the pursuit of other avenues, like radio, would end the eternal questioning of “Are you going to tell your mom?”

I would never have guessed that a move home would force me to face and answer that question once and for all!

Ever since the beginning, I’m talking way back to when I was debating whether or not I should do a ‘trial’ scene with an internet company here in Toronto to make some ‘summer cash’, people have asked, “What if your mom finds out?”

That was everyone’s #1 concern. What will you do when your family finds out?  Finds out?  Like I’m a serial killing cannibalist!

My response was simple. “I’m not going to live my life in fear of what others think of my choices… not even my mom!”

So, I did that trial scene, and loved it! Nothing ever felt so natural and normal. I worked the summer doing jack off scenes for that company until the fateful day that someone in L.A. spotted me on that site, and invited me down to Hollywood. I was young, fearless and a total adventurer, so I took them up on the offer!

Now in L.A., I started my new life and Eddie Stone was born. Along with Eddie came higher profile gigs. Life size cardboard cutouts of myself in store windows, magazine covers and DVD box covers.

“What does your mother think about your career?” asked the magazine interviews. “She’s on a need-to-know basis,” I’d say “And this is something she doesn’t need to know.”

Anyway, I was all the way in L.A., and it was GAY PORN, how was she EVER going to find out? …..

Me @ Pride 2006

I remember so clearly my first Pride.  I was 15 years old.  Staying with my father for the summer and fresh on the discovery of the Carlton Cinema but not yet aware that Church and Wellesley was just around the corner.  I had just told my dad that I was going to see Problem Child 2 at the Eaton Centre but what I actually did was sneak out to a matinee of “Paris is Burning”.  Read the full story