It’s something you see other people doing all the time.  It’s something movies are made about.  It’s something society has expectations for everyone to do, except it’s not legal for everyone in every country.  It’s something people put a lot of time and effort into.  It’s something that brings families together.  It’s something that can cost a lot of money.  It’s something people do for love, or connections, or money, or power or all of the above.  And it’s something I NEVER thought I’d do!

Check out my other videos HERE!

Today I walked my wonderful and talented fiance Shaun Proulx (someone’s getting lucky tonight!), over to the Pride Toronto press conference held in front of their offices on Dundonald.  In my mind I have pictured a press conference something like out of The Young & The Restless where there is 1 camera, 1 person with a microphone and maybe 1 extra to try to fill out the scene.

No so.

OMG.  As we approached the Pride headquarters we saw police vehicules parked, police men and women patrolling the streets, news vans, cameras and a throng of protesters across the street from the Pride offices.

And to think, I was just going to drop Shaun off and go to the gym… haha, no way Jose!  I was stickin’ around to watch the inevitable fireworks.

I’m not in the thick of the drama, and I am not going to pretend to know all the ins and outs of the situation, but I CAN report on what I saw with my own two eyes.

The ‘protesters’ that showed up were there with the single intention of heckling the press conference.  Chanting things like “We won’t run, we won’t hide.  Politics is what makes Pride!” and “Resign!” to Pride Toronto’s executive director, Tracey Sandilands and “Shame, shame!!”  I guess they knew the news was not what they wanted to hear because they had the chants ready! (why Pride Toronto decided to hold a press conference outside in heckling distance of crowds of displeased people, I might never understand)

Here is my beef with the entire situation.  How can anything be heard, discussed, understood and agreed upon if one side DOES NOT LISTEN TO THE OTHER SIDE.  I felt like I was watching the government.  Where people yell over each other, cut each other off and NO ONE is listening to ANYONE ELSE!

What’s the point?

I’m sure there was a lot of back and forth between the groups in the preceding weeks, but I have too much CLASS, yeah I said it, CLASS, to yell and heckle something I oppose.  Let’s talk about this like adults and come to a conclusion, but that’s me.

All that being said, Shaun stayed composed among the yelling and hate spewing and I was very proud of him.

And I am proud that we are nit picking and perfecting our state of evolvement.  Think for a second the difference of debating over extremely heated topics like the one mentioned above and it’s inclusion in Pride and the fact that many countries DO NOT EVEN CELEBRATE PRIDE, because they do not have the chance to.

We are lucky.

I’ve been on the cover and in the pages of one of the leading gay porn mag’s around, and if you’ve picked up the latest issue of UNZIPPED you’ll notice that I’m still around!

In the interview I talk about all the projects I’m up to now, including my reality show EDDIE STONE: MAKE ME A PORN STAR, my gig as Morning Show Host on the World’s First Commercial Queer Radio Station 103.9 PROUD FM (www.proudfm.com) and life in Toronto!

So, if you pass a newsstand, pick up a copy and enjoy!!

When Dorothy says in The Wizard of Oz, “There’s no place like home.” She wasn’t kidding. After so many years in Southern California and being so far away from my family and old acquaintances, it was great to be home in Toronto!

Now that I was back, I wasted no time. My second day home, I knocked on PROUD FM’s door and announced that I was in town. Shaun Proulx, who had interviewed me via the phone from L.A., seized the opportunity to do a live tete a tete in the studio. I mentioned off the air that I was back in town and looking to get into radio. (Here’s a tip for anyone aspiring to do anything.. offer to work for free!)

I started off interning for The Shaun Proulx Show, when luck of all luck the receptionist quit. (No, I did not push her down a flight of stairs! It was through an open window!)

I was in, if only as a receptionist. But when you’re eager, willing and patient, opportunities arise. Before I knew it I was hosting Saturday afternoons. Then, I was bumped up to Mid-days!

Interviewing Colt Models in the PROUD FM studio

Co-Hosting PROUD FM's 2nd Bday bash

Ready to host the Toronto Pride stage

While my radio career was taking off, I also took the opportunity to pitch a reality show idea I had while living in L.A..  A porn star reality show, where I’m the host, and potential porn stars compete against each other to become the next big porn name!

OUTtv loved the idea! We begin filming in the fall.

During this time, and in the background, Shaun and I were getting closer… and closer… and closer, until one fateful night at Circa nightclub the spark burst into a flame and our romance began.

A pre-pride parade kiss

Being two visible gay media types, we were approached by Canada’s National Gay magazine, OUTLOOKS, to do an article. In it, we appear together and the interview is very candid about both our pasts.

Slowly, the gap between Eddie Stone porn star and Patrick Marano radio host was closing. OUTtv was advertising on PROUD FM. Eddie Stone fans were listening to Patrick on the radio and the OUTLOOKS interview brought both identities out into the open.

I hadn’t left Eddie Stone in L.A., he is a part of me, he is my creation and he will continue to live on in my website and my reality show.

Eddie and Patrick were going mainstream together and it was time to tell mom.

Everything was in order. Shaun was doing the PWA Friends For Life Bike Rally from Toronto to Montreal. I was meeting him in Montreal. That would be the perfect time to tell her…. face to face!

“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!

It was just a normal sunny July afternoon in Toronto.  I was walking the dogs.  Jack had just found a good place to poo… when suddenly… I hear people screaming!!

I look over just in time to hear a loud crashing sound.  More screams.  People running.  Debris sprays across the street and a huge dust cloud rises into the air.  

WTF?!

Never one to run from trouble, I immediately head towards the commotion.  Turns out the building under construction was not secured properly.  A concrete wall at the very top, came loose, and tumbled to the street.  No one was hurt…. somehow and miraculously!

If you had asked me what my perfect Pride would consist of, never would I have been able to come up with a scenario that would come close the the perfect Pride weekend I just had!

It was the right combo of work and play.  First off the weather was flawless Saturday afternoon on the corner of Church & Wellesley.

Then what to my wondering eye should appear, but Toronto’s FIRST Trans March!  Hundreds strong they march down Church St. to thunderous applause.  (Trans is the new Gay!)

After a butt load of beer and a good night rest, I was ready to host The Pride & Remembrance Run.  Held ever year during Pride this year the beneficiaries were Casey House & Black Cap.

Which was a huge success!! 

Time to get ready to host the Saturday night main stage with Deborah Cox… did you think I wouldn’t have a ‘look’?

The next day started with rain, but exactly at 2pm, when the parade started, the sky cleared (that’s cuz God loves his gays).   One mother along the parade route held a sign I loved.  Her feelings of devotion and love for her son surpassed all others!   Perched on the back of the VW convertible we led the PROUD FM float which followed behind with a rainbow arc of coloured ballons down Yonge St. and passed 1 million+ onlookers!

Of course, the best part of the weekend, was that I got to spend it with Shaun!

Attending the Toronto Pride Gala & Award show is rubbing shoulders with Ontario’s elite.  The Premier Dalton McGuinty and Toronto City councilman Kyle Rae both took to the stage to hand out awards.  Of course, when you hold your event at the Carlu, what else do you expect but the best.

TV anchors Andria Case and Omar Sachedina hosted the event… and I was in gala heaven.  I admit it ok… I’m a gala guy!  I liked getting dressed up, sitting down to a great meal and having endless booze poured into my glass.

The night progressed, the awards given out and there were some really touching moments.  One of the highlights was a slide show that began with pictures of gay and lesbians marching through the streets of Toronto as early as 1975.  The slideshow went on to showcase how Pride has spread throughout the world and we saw stills from Pride’s in countries with names I can’t even pronounce!  I was awestruck!   Follow that with a passionate speech from Owen Levy who was present during the Stonewall riots and you’ve got an emotional night!

One of the hands down greatest moments of the night for me came when Pride Toronto’s International Grand Marshall, Victor Moukasa took to the podium.  As a transgendered man, Victor spoke of how moved he was by the slide show and how he didn’t believe he would see a change for the better in Africa in his own lifetime.  He said, listening to Owen Levy and his struggles with Stonewall and now seeing the freedoms that have come since, has given him hope that true change will come to his home country of Uganda and indeed to all of Africa.  I cried a little.

I don’t know who ended up having the highest bid on the silent auction item of the signed Madonna guitar (like she really knows how to play worth a shit), but it was definitely one of the coveted items of the evening.

A night I won’t soon forget!

As the temperature goes up and the days count down, you can literally feel the excitement building in the air.  Walking down the street, new faces and foreign tongues meet your ears (if you’re lucky) and rainbow flags adorn every store window.  The parade, the dyke march,  the parties, the stages, the tents… where do I fit in?  Where do I begin? 

As a porn star the answer was easy, hop on a float, strip down to a pair of sequined hot pants, drop an E and GO!

But this year as my alter ego self, and on-air at the world’s first and only commercial gay & lesbian radio station as their Mid-day Host, I’m treading on new territory here people.  I’ve got hosting gigs to do, big hosting gigs.

How did I get here?  Last year at this time I was still a newbie to PROUD FM (proudfm.com).  I was just squeaking out a weekly Saturday afternoon show.  Polishing my technique and happy to be on air.  

Now?  I’m hosting the Saturday night Wellesley stage introducing none other than Deborah Cox!!  Usually when I’m on stage in front of that many people, I’m stripping.  This time, I have to use my words.  What do you say to a crowd of hundreds as they wait impatiently for the dance diva to take the stage?

God, I can’t count the number of dance floors I’ve torn up in a cracked out frenzy, arms in the air, sweat pouring down my naked back to the wailing voice of Ms. Cox.

Should I back down from this new challenge?  Should I step aside and let someone more experienced take over? Do I measure me by what they think?

ABSOLUTELY NOT!

HAPPY PRIDE EVERYONE!!!