Hello, good people lucky enough to stop and read this blog entry.

My name is Anthony Ashford, and I am just starting out as a blogger for Campus Pride, which, prior to 3 weeks, I did not even knew existed. Now, I do and I am so glad about it, and I'm especially thankful to Shane Windmeyer and Campus Pride for giving me the opportunity to get my voice and views out to our World Wide Web in a space where I know they appreciated and understood.

PERSONAL INFO:

Currently, I attend Ball State University as a junior majoring in Film and Television Studies and minoring in Multiculturalism and Leadership Studies, with aspirations of becoming a LGBT rights advocate and educator, as well as an overall educator and advisor for Student Affairs at a university. Also, in my future aspirations, I am a novelist/essayist currently and I would love to get my works (fiction and non-fiction) published.

At BSU, I am involved in a number of university organizations including, but not limited to: Spectrum (the undergraduate GSA on campus), Black Student Association, Residence Hall Council (acting as Diversity Chair), GLACURH 2011 Conference Staff (acting as Entertainment Chair), and Ball State Quidditch League (which before it is asked, YES, we DO run around on brooms).

My organizations are not the only thing that keeping me occupied.
I work two part-time jobs...because I am but a poor college student like most of you.
When I'm not working, I love to bike recreational around my hometown, Fort Wayne, IN, and...
I love to write...not just about LGBT stuff, but fiction...especially thought-provoking mystery-thrillers and unique comedies.

Right now, I am in the middle of writing three novels:
(1) "[Title Pending]" about a family thrown into a crime mystery by a strange vagrant, forced to trust only their friends and each other;
(2) "Z-Tact: The First Generation" about a nation whose faith in a controversial cure for a deadly epidemic is polarized when the first human tested with the cure turns into a flesh-eating zombie;
(3) "Great and Terrible Things" about a humble schoolteacher whose past comes back to haunt and kill her apparently in the form of her estranged sadistic and vicious siblings confronting her again. (Just of a few of the great for now...that need lots of work)
(INTERESTED IN READING ANY OF THEM...email me at [email protected] or comment and I can send you some stuff)

OTHER PERSONAL INFO...(PROBABLY MORE PERTINENT TO MY BLOG)

I am a Christian black gay male, and in my experiences in being all such qualities I have come across negativity, denial, prejudice, ill and swift judgment, but also positivity, acceptance, praise, and willingness to listen and approach me on LGBT rights in relationship to my Christian faith.

For the past two years, I have been composing, revising, meditating on, revising some more, omitting, adding, studying, researching, more studying, and writing ultimately a very important essay.

The essay is called "True Love and Real Sin: How God, the Bible, and Homosexuality Truly Come Together," and it has developed, thanks to God Almighty, into a guide which approaches the subjects of (1) BIBLICAL UNDERSTANDING AND STANCE ON HOMOSEXUALITY, (2) HUMANIST ARGUMENTS AGAINST AND FOR HOMOSEXUALITY, (3) THE CONTROVERSY OF SEXUAL CONVERSION AND CHRISTIANITY, and (4) SUPPORTING LGBT RIGHTS AND UNDERSTANDING LGBT INDIVIDUALS.

Much of my blog will be directly from "True Love and Real Sin;" however, I will also use this space to discuss the hardships and sociological studies from being both a sexual-oriented minority and being a racial minority (or, as my friends call it, "The Double Whammy").

Also, I don't just want to talk about what I know. I want to know what you want me to know. So...there will be days where I might ask for some participation and discussion on the comment board. Ex. What is the best way to explain the reason behind gender-neutral bathrooms on campus OR Tell me about the last time you felt as if someone close to you took a stab at your sexual identity or any other personal identity characteristic.

Unfortunately, High School Musical is right..."We're All In This Together." So, the last thing that I want to be known as is being close-minded or exclusive. So COMMENT...ASK ME QUESTIONS ABOUT ME OR MY BLOG...GIVE ME SUGGESTIONS...STRIKE UP A PITHY CONVERSATION OR DISCUSSION...or HIT ME UP ON MY EMAIL if you prefer it to be more private.

Thank you for getting to this part of the blog...It takes much effort to get here. So I will end on this note:

Riddle: What goes around the world, but always stays in the corner?

(The Answer on next time's blog)