I am a very lucky man. Well, more blessed than lucky, really. I got to have a small sitdown with Paul Charles aka The Gay Comic Geek. We are both very busy men so I was honoured to have him take a few moments out of his schedule to talk to me about his pride experience and such. I focused specifically on pride questions because I’ve been following his career path for a bit so I’m already aware of his childhood and such from interview. Now, without further ado…
1. First question, right off the bat, when did you come out and how did it go? I came out in phases. First to close friends when I was around 18. Then to all my friends around 20 years old. Finally I called my family, who were all long distance at this point but still controlling of my life and then came out to them at the age of 21.
2. When and where was your first Pride? Any memories that stood out for you? My first Pride was when I was 13. It was by accident that I had a field trip over the summer school (it was voluntary summer school to take an advanced pre-calculus class) to a space museum that had had a program for math students. However a Pride parade was going on outside and all of the class ignored the exhibit and was outside watching the parade instead.
3. Have you ever got to participate in any parade? Like on a float. Unfortunately I have never participated in any parade float. One day!
4. Given the platform that you’ve created, what’s the main thing you always want people to learn from you? From my own platform I’m just a big geek. Sometimes we’re marginalized by all aspects of society regardless of sexuality for not being jocks or the cool people. I just try to show that we love who we are and we do our own thing that may not be as common as others.
5. You’ve had a hand in artworks, videos, vlog, reviews of all sorts. Is there anything you PERSONALLY want to do? Any projects? As for projects, I would love to collab with out YouTubers out there. WattsTheSafeWord is a great channel and I’m dying to meet up with Pup Amp and Mr Kristofer. There are a couple other vloggers that I think are wonderful and would make a great partners in a few videos.
6. Back on Pride, is there a particular Pride Parade that you have on your bucket list? I have gone to the Pride in NYC but I would absolutely love to experience San Francisco. I have never been but the city itself seems great and their Pride events seem even more spectacular.
7. Are your patreon allowed to approach you during Pride? What are the rules of engagement when hanging out with you? I have no real rules for anyone who knows me online. I encourage everyone to at least say hello. I used to always want a selfie with someone who recognizes me. It makes me feel special that anyone would know who I am out in the wild.
8. What was the worst experience you’ve had at Pride? I never had any experiences at Pride. I did have to take care of a sick friend that suddenly had some bowl issues and we left early. So far all of my experiences have been great.
9. What are some of the things you wish would change with the LGBTQ+ community? We the LGBTQ+ community have many accepting and well wishing members but there still is a blatant racist attitude to a select group that need to understand that the freedoms we enjoy today are built on the shoulders of those who came before us. The black and brown people of the world have experienced systemic racism their whole lives and have fought to be treated equal since the beginning. Without them, we would not be where we are today. They should not experience racism from the LGBTQ community as well. We are a group who have felt discrimination and 
the hypocrisy to do the same thing to other people needs to stop.
10. Finally, what are your future plans for your next Pride Parade? I have no future plans for Pride. This is 2020 and all of the events are have been called off. I do hope that I can attend Philadelphia Pride next year.
Thank you so much, Paul, for doing this brief interview with me. Please be sure to follow him on his many social media platform:
- Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/gaycomicgeek/)
- Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/gaycomicgeek)
- Twitter (https://twitter.com/gaycomicgeek?lang=en)
- Website (https://gaycomicgeek.com/)
- Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TheGayComicGeek/)
- YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX8Dqg33k5eoFowg8zb1skw)
- Tumblr (https://gaycomicgeek.tumblr.com/)
- JustFor Fans (https://justfor.fans/gaycomicgeek?tab=videos)
Now, please, don’t forget to follow me on my social media platforms (Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads) which are on the right side of my web page. Also, I do love hearing suggestions of what books to read outside of my norm (Science fiction and fantasy) as I am a part of the Goodreads’ reading challenge for 2020. My goal is to read 100 books this year and I’m already at 77. Probably end up reading 120 before the year is out.
