G-RatedGuys... About Us
THE
IDEA
The
idea for Grated Guys was born in the mind of a then 53 year old guy, (ME) in
1997. I came up with it after wading through all the pornography and sexually
oriented chat rooms on the internet over the years. I pretty much became tired
of the scene as it stood then and thought there needed to be a website that
focused on the Grated side of the gay Internet It then went through many incarnations
before it finally culminated in www.g-ratedguys.com
.. The concept has always been to show that gays were more than mere sexual
animals...as our website states... we can be loving, monogamous, gentlemen,
responsible and committed. Originally the website and the concept was the basis
for my first website JTMWorld.com which is no longer around. Within this website
I had a group of galleries of grated photos and I named it G-RatedGuys. Before
long I noticed that I had more people arriving at the website through the name
Grated guys than I did as JTMWorld so I dropped JTMWorld and switched to Grated
Guys.
Over
the years I have had many revisions of my thoughts on "g-ratedness",
and what it really means...... at first I thought it had to mean only "nototalnudity",
but then finally I decided that it means far more than that.... it means people
who care about their lives and their contributions to humanity and the future
of their families within a gay lifestyle. People who have no issue against
nudity but want it treated like a normal respectable adult would treat it..
with dignity, and the occasional interest in something a little less pure,
but certainly not to wallow in pornography.
I
also thought that it means that we live our lives with integrity and with
a positive outlook and with the desire for happiness.
There
are other aspects as well. I became disillusioned with the "coming out"
philosophy that says that you must "tryeverything" including unthinking
promiscuity et al, before you will know who you are as a homosexual; that
there are no morals and no values you need to ascribe to in life; that your
lifestyle as a gay male is inherently different than as a straight male; that
men by their very nature can't be monogamous, blah blah blah....
And
last but not least I started to firmly believe that there is a place for gays
in religion as well, where we can lift our hearts, our minds, and our hands
with love and praise of our Lord, in whatever religion we choose and not have
to hide our heads in shame because we are gay. That is our positive message
when it comes to religion and that is why we choose not to entertain any messages
on this community that proselytize that being gay is a sin and we must forsake
our gay lifestyle in order to live at one with our God.
So,
that is where the idea all came from. However right, or however wrong, it
is what I believe in. Providing this community and the website is something
I believe God wants me to do with my life... so in spite of the obstacles
I carry on.
THE
OBJECTIVES OF THIS COMMUNITY:
G-rated
Guys is here to provide you with a community of individuals and couples who
believe in responsible relationships or younger people who are on their way
to forming that belief. We also don't believe that it is necessary to use pornographic
materials and messages, or be rude to our fellow gays on the Internet in order
to meet others. This doesn't mean we are prudes by any means.. it only means
that we would like to have a place where we can communicate freely as responsible
adults rather than as sex objects as is the case in most gay Internet communities.
In order to ensure that our community grows and remains in this direction
we have set up a series of community rules that are a fair bit more stringent
than in many gay communities. And, although we don't moderate messages we
DO MONITOR messages and clean up the board and members (if need be) on a regular
basis. We try not to censor per se, but we use common sense as our guideline
and reserve the right to have the final say on such matters.
G-rated Guys does not have any corporate financial backing, and is run by one
manager and a couple of volunteers. This means that the processes are sometimes
slower than with other communities.
We support each and every member's right to choose to live a loving, committed,
monogamous gay lifestyle and do not entertain discussions to the contrary.
COMMUNITY
RULES:
-
Please be over 18 when you join this community
-
Please
be either a single gay male or a committed gay couple.
- Please do not
choose a sexually oriented username or email address.
-
Ensure
that your email address is a functioning email address and that it remains
so.
-
Do
not post links in messages to any websites other than your own G-rated website
No foul language, hate mail, sexual innuendoes, x-rated photos or other
obviously offensive material may be posted on the message boards. This does
not mean you can't hold reasonable discussions on the message board, just
use common sense in messages and posting of pictures.
-
We
do not allow any advertising for threesomes, casual sex, couples seeking
a third partner, etc.
-
Please
refrain from using language that is obviously sexually oriented, such as
"topman" "bottomman" "cumming" etc, etc. unless
it makes sense in the course of a normal discussion thread...
-
Please
understand that we reserve the right to remove messages without notification.
-
Please
do NOT post phone numbers on the community message board.
-
Please
do not use our mailing list for any commercial purpose and do not post any
messages of a commercial nature other than in the specific area of the message
board set up for this purpose.
BEING
BANNED FROM THE COMMUNITY
This occurs after two messages of yours have been removed, or if any x-rated
material is posted. If this happens it doesn't signify that you are never
again allowed back at G-rated Guys, only that you are being reminded to watch
the rules more closely. Once banned you can return by simply sending us an
email.
HOW
TO MEET SOMEONE:
There are two main ways to meet people. 1. Put information in your profile..
it is best to mention where you are from and your age. 2. Place a message
on the board and in there mention where you are from. If you say something
like "Would like to meet someone around my age and build" , Please
be sure to mention your age and your general build. (You'd be amazed how many
don't think of that) And 3: Use the G-RatedGuysMatchmaker
dating system. It is associated with us but is not managed by us. It includes
ONLY g-rated ads with over 4,980 g-ratedguys members signed up and access
to tens of thousands of men worldwide.
HOW
LONG WILL WE BE AROUND
The
website should flourish forever as far as I know. It is, however, susceptible
to my own longevity and I hope to have enough people involved to take over
the reigns and to eventually allow it to continue long after I am gone.
PRESS
COVERAGE
I
have occasionally seen the desire expressed that people would like to "shout
it from the rooftops" about this website, and announce it to their local
gay press. Please know that we welcome all the publicity we can get for free.
We don't have any advertising budget at present, so if you find some place
where it makes sense to advertise our site and you want to pay for it or even
just put it up for free, please do so. If you are creating copy for some advertisement
PLEASE EMAIL IT TO ME FOR APPROVAL BEFORE PUBLISHING IT.
REGARDING
YOUNGER MEMBERS:
First
of all we want you all to know you are special people... not "special"
people, but special people, just as are all people in God's world. No..this
isn't a bible-thumping message... just that whether you believe in a God or
you don't, you are all placed on this earth for a special purpose of goodness
that is unique to you and part of your journey through your younger years
is to learn what that purpose is. For the most part it isn't a difficult search..
it is just a matter of looking into your heart and your senses and seeing
what it is that you really want to do with your life. Without alcohol, tobacco
or other drugs, this search becomes so much easier... because these stimulants
actually tend to cut us off from who we are as real people. Once you have
found that passion then know that you have the strength to act upon it.
If
you are a young gay male who is just coming to terms with life.... you have
a purpose in life... and you have not only the right but the support of all
caring and compassionate people to fulfill your purpose.
It
is our belief here at G-RatedGuys, whether agreed to by the majority of the
clergy or not, that a gay life lived with commitment, monogamy, fidelity and
trust to one other person is not a sin. It is also our belief that we do not
need to lead a life apart from the rest of society; to experience all that
is bad in sexuality; to be promiscuous and free-wheeling. We believe that
we can hold true to the same respectful values taught to us as youngsters
in a heterosexual society and live them throughout our gay life. The values
are sound values...they hold true whether you are a gay or heterosexual ....
ON
GAY PRIDE:
On
being proud of who you are, we believe that you should be. But we don't believe
that we should throw who we are in everyone's face... the responsible gay
life is not about shock value or rebellion. It is about living a daily life
just as everyone else does, but knowing in our hearts that we are good and
valuable people regardless or maybe even because of our sexual orientation,
and not flaunting it in everyone's face. No one likes it when heterosexuals
flaunt their lifestyle in everyone's face... to think that they do is a pure
falacy.... the same holds true for homosexuals.
ON
INTERGENERATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS:
We
believe that age has no bearing on relationships. As long as an individual
has reached the age of majority he has the right to choose whatever adult
he wishes as his partner. We do not believe that a gay male's preference for
an older or younger adult, legally consenting partner is any different or
any less real or any less acceptable than a gay male's preference for a partner
his own age. And we do not believe that it indicates any kind of character
flaw or psychological disorder.
ON
EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULE:
Regardless
of who you are or what you believe in there will always be exceptions to the
rule. There will always be individuals who want to abuse others, take from
others, and give nothing in return. There will always be individuals who want
to defame others and denigrate all that is good about humanity.
But
here, at G-RatedGuys, our purpose is to look forward with hope and faith and
a sound, positive outlook on our future and on the futures of those around
us. Some of us hold profound beliefs in a God, whether a Christian God, a
Jewish or an Islamic God or any other subset or unique religious sect... and
some of us don't. But we are all members of the human race and we respect
that as such we all have the right to have differences and to have our own
beliefs and to support those rights for others.
ON
BEING A POLITE SOCIETY:
With
all the aforesaid, we believe that this is to be a small spot on the internet
where we can all come together in a social environment that respects the common
and decent rules of everyday society. We are not prudes, nor are we perfect,
or naive... but we put aside some of our personalities in order to congregate
in an orderly and respectful fashion...
