Tag: civil rights

civil rights, listen up!, politics, that is so gay, tragic, venting, wtf?!

redistributing hate

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I know that I already posted today, but this has me in such an uproar, that I literally feel my skin crawling as I sit here typing this. A close friend of mine who lives in California has alerted me to what can only be described as a redistribution of hate. I actually had to read this twice, because I wanted to deny that people would be this blatantly racist and hateful; especially the very people that are currently experiencing such hate themselves!!!

So listen up: GAYS!!! DO NOT become a racist because YOU think that “blacks” are to blame for Prop 8. PEOPLE are responsible for it. People voted for it, and people need to be convinced that Prop 8 has no place in the law. It doesn’t matter what color of skin they had when they voted; WHITE people voted for it to! DO NOT under any circumstances think that it is now okay to turn the hate that has been thrust upon us onto another oppressed group; doing so is so unbelievably hypocritical, not to mention insanely hurtful to the black gay and lesbians that are also a part of our community.

If you find yourself mad because of Prop 8, I am WITH YOU. But I will turn on you in a fucking heartbeat if I hear any of the shit come from that was described in the aforementioned article. There is NO PLACE for redistributed hate, and I frankly am ashamed that white gay people would act this way. You know better. We ALL know better. Let’s fight this fight together, against anyone that voted for or believes that gay people don’t deserve civil rights… the color of their skin is inconsequential, and it is outright racism to place blame on any one race; especially when white people voted for Prop 8 too.

I honestly don’t want to believe that something like this would still happen. I was born to a southern family who threw around the N word as if it were common language, and I find it unacceptable that people are still racist towards black people; especially gay people experiencing the same level of bigotry from this vote. My friend told me that he found it hard to go out and fight the fight with the rest of his so-called gay brethren because of this displaced hatred, and I really, really want him to know that I am ashamed that anyone could be so hateful, and I hope that we can stop all of this finger pointing, and focus on Prop 8; not the color of someone’s skin who voted for Prop 8. I wish that I could make everyone of those people perpetrating this behavior understand how wrong they are for doing this.

Wow. I am just in shock.

the catch-all-egory

35 years of choice

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Today is the 35th anniversary of the monumental Roe vs. Wade decision, which, for those that live under a rock, is the court case that gives women the right to choose. I find it quite fitting that this day comes the day after MLK day this year, which serves in making for two days of remembering the importance of having, upholding, and continuing to fight for civil rights.

Regardless if you are against abortion or not, you must take note, that this court decision, and its implications are paramount to protecting the rights of the women in this country. No woman should be told that she cannot do what she desires with her own body. As I have stated many, many times in the past, this is not an issue of being pro-abortion, it is an issue of choice; and that choice is the choice that every woman deserves, in order to decide what will happen within, and to, her own body.

I, for one, am elated, and honestly a little relieved, that such rights are still present in this ever politically intensifying nation. I know that there are many in power that are opposed to abortion, and I strongly urge anyone that supports them to see that this issue is, again, about choice, and not about abortion (I also suggest that you investigate what other issues they are in favor of/against). What cannot be ignored, is the further implication that this issue represents. Losing any civil right leaves an opening, into which other civil liberties can be attacked, and that cannot be allowed to happen.

Freedom to have abortion does not mean that you will; it simply means that you have the choice, should you need to have one yourself. Perhaps the most compelling argument for choice, is the fact that outlawing abortion does not mean that it would go away; it would only mean that it would be more dangerous, and more life threatening to those that were forced to seek out alternative means of aborting their pregnancies. Additionally, it would potentially take away the legally binding regulations that currently exist on abortion, meaning that there would be less control on late term abortions; which I am personally against.

What is interesting to me, is that I have read many times, that as many as 77% of anti-abortion leaders are men, yet, it still remains that 100% of men can never get pregnant. It begs for me to wonder, why are men so overly vocal on this issue? Why are we so afraid to give a woman control over her own body? Well, it should be known by now, that I am not one of those men; I am glad that this court case decision still stands, and continues to provide women a choice, and a safe option should she choose to have an abortion.

Remember, that just because you CAN have one, it doesn’t mean that you necessarily will. An old roommate of mine was against abortion because he was adopted, and I continually reminded him, that his mother made her choice; she chose not to have an abortion, which is just as much an option, so long as you have the RIGHT to choose. If you don’t agree with abortion, then it’s simple: don’t have one. However, don’t take away the rights of those that may choose to have one themselves, because that form of oppression has no place in our society.

As I reflect on this decision, I can’t help but wonder would I would do if I were a woman facing a pregnancy that was unplanned, or one that was a threat to my life. I honestly can’t tell you what I would do, and I don’t think that anyone can make that decision until they are personally faced with the situation. However, there is one thing that I can tell you; and that is that I would want the choice to make for myself, and really, that is all that matters. The freedom to choose is a powerful, powerful thing, and today, we can celebrate 35 years of women being able to make that choice.

I am pro-choice. I am pro-rights. I am pro-freedom. Because without choice, can we truly call ourselves free?

get involved, happenings, listen up!, show the love, that is so gay

Iranian spared from execution!

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Yay!!!

Amid global pressure from human rights organizations, and due to global protest, “Iran’s chief justice nullified the imminent death sentence of Makvan Mouloodzadeh”!!!!

This is FANTASTIC news. This restores a tiny bit of faith for me in humanity.

To everyone that blogged about it, and cast attention towards the issue, this shows that speaking up can make a difference! This is great news. I, for one, am very happy that at least this one case was changed because of global pressure. If we keep putting pressure on these people, hopefully, MANY more people can be spared!

(source)(source)

civil rights, get involved, hmm interesting, is it just me?, listen up!, politics, that is so gay, tragic, venting, well?, wtf?!

some wins, a major worry, and a lack of perspective (yet again)

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I want to high-five Dennis Kucinich; it does take balls to put forward something like the impeachment of Cheney (especially when we have been calling for it for so long). While it may not actually happen (boo!), I hope that it does; and I won’t forget that Dennis is the guy that got the issue actually going, which is a welcome sign that there are some balls somewhere in the house of Dem.

ENDA passed; which is a great step forward in the protection against being fired simply for being gay or lesbian. I hope that this signals more good things in store for the equalization of rights for all of us. No one should be able to be fired because their boss is a bigot, and now, it seems like they are a little safer. Bravo.

I blogged about it before, but please, don’t forget that there is a gay youth in serious danger of being hanged for being gay in Iran. This cannot happen. I am glad to see that the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission is at least paying some attention now. This is a chilling reminder that gays and lesbians are NOT free in this world, and if one of us is at risk of being murdered because of who we are, we are all at risk. It cannot be allowed to happen, and Iran must not be allowed to conduct serious acts of murder and violence against any human. I certainly feel for this boy and his family. By keeping this topic in the news, we are keeping Iran under the microscope, and hopefully, it will lead to a stay of execution indefinitely.

Finally, I was amused when I read that this is what Bush had to say about the veto override the Senate exercised in the funding of projects to rebuild the areas affected by hurricane Katrina:

“American taxpayers should not be asked to support a pork-barrel system of federal authorization and funding where a project’s merit is an afterthought,” he said.

Wait, WHAT? All of a sudden, Mr. Bush is concerned what WE taxpayers are concerned with when it comes to government spending? Uh, Mr. Bush, you can’t have a blank check for your war on the middle east, and then get all pissy when we want money to rebuild parts of our own nation; it just shows how out of touch with the real situation he really is. Someone, please get this man a large does of perspective; stat. I love how it was “an afterthought”… uh, someone really needs to get him up to speed as to what is going on in the world right now; the man clearly has no idea.

Other than that… I am sure that there is a lot more SHIT going on in the world that is scary and evil, but it almost seems too overwhelming to deal with it all, doesn’t it? I mean, just look at the CRAPPER that the economy is in… we are seriously inching towards being TOTALLY fucked instead of just being fucked. When will the great America turn things around for herself? I just hope that we can.

civil rights, get over it!, hmm interesting, is it just me?, politics, public health, that is so gay, venting, well?, wtf?!

why is gay marriage an issue?

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I keep hearing all of this stuff about trying to find each presidential candidate’s position on gay marriage, and I have ask… why is gay marriage an issue that should be the concern of a president? Seriously? The issue is not gay marriage; it is civil rights. Marriage is the word that the use to describe the religious procedure of getting bound to another person for life. The only thing that could make it an issue, is that it is currently recognized by the government as a legal union, and there are privileges that come with its status. However, it is not the issue, and I don’t get why we are so concerned with that word; marriage.

I would happily take a civil union any day; so long as it afforded me EQUAL rights. I don’t give two shits about calling my partnership a “marriage” vs. calling it a “civil union”; so long as we are treated equally under the law of our government. I personally think that should be more of the focus, as this issue will always be used as more of a wedge than anything, and no person in their right mind is going to go up against the juggernaut that is the Christian church. Also, isn’t there supposed to be a separation of church and state? So again, why not stop calling it “gay marriage” as an issue?

I think that if you get married, good for you; you should also have to file for a civil union, which should be the only union the government officially recognizes. Make it standard for everyone, and make it available for gays and lesbians as well. Keep marriage in the churches, take religion out of the equation, and things can be more acceptable for everyone, right? Perhaps this is too simple of a concept, but it boggles my mind that gay marriage is all anyone ever asks about when it comes to gay and lesbian rights and a presidential candidate. (what about gay civil rights of other people throughout the world? I think that should be a huge concern of ours as well; but that is a more lengthy conversation).

I realized this more fully when I was reading what Obama said, and the “reaction” from some of the gays that he was against gay marriage. We don’t need to fight for religious justification; we need to fight for equality. Sure, the fight for gay marriage is a fight for equality, but it isn’t necessarily the same thing; take religious practice out of the picture officially. These church driven people are NEVER going to give us the “right” to take their “sacred” practice (now with a 50+% failure-rate!) for ourselves, so we should just drop the shit already. I am tired of continually giving it back to them so they can wedge it between what’s really important and this dance that we have been stuck in forever. I am for equality; nothing less, nothing more. Doesn’t that sound like a more fruitful fight?

Unrelated link: This is quite fascinating if it is true; apparently, the first AIDS case was in 1969 in the US. This makes me wonder; why didn’t it spread to the epic proportions that it has today? What was the factor that caused it to spread so rapidly in the 1980s that was different 11 years earlier? If this man was the first documented case of AIDS, how many people had it before him; and who infected him? It really turns the notion of epidemiology on its head, because it really did occur in a seemingly singular incident. Weird.

"pointless", civil rights, is it just me?

what to blog… what to blog…

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Hmm… I have been sitting here wondering off and on to myself all day, “self, what should you blog about?”, and honestly, I haven’t come up with much of anything. I would love to say something about Bush and his speech last night, but I couldn’t stand listening to him long enough to make it all of the way through. What I did hear was a bunch of promises that I don’t see how he can meet; but we will see. At least it is a start. On the other hand, I did agree with pretty much everything Senator Jim Webb said after the SOTU speech. He is one smart and brave guy, in my opinion.

I discovered Netvibes last week, and just started using it today. We will see how long that keeps my interest.

Also today, I am in a sort of debate with Recovering Baptist about the whole abortion = murder thing, and I honestly still can’t wrap my head around why people tend to be all or nothing on this issue (i.e., there are no circumstances in which abortion isn’t murder, etc.). I can understand that one would be against abortion; fine, but abortion isn’t murder, and it is also important to point out that there are regulations on abortion to prevent it from becoming murder (i.e., not allowing them in the 3rd trimester in almost every state; because the third trimester is widely held as the first time a fetus can live outside of the body, with very being able to survive few before that). So I just wonder, why am I seen as advocating the murder of a child, when I am not? What I am advocating, is the right of a woman to choose what happens to her body, her uterus, and her life; not whether a potential child should or should not be allowed to grow and become a separate living, breathing person, which again, isn’t murder. I am not advocating or promoting abortion; if it were me, I don’t know if I could honestly say that I would have one… but I would at least like the choice to be made by me, for me.

I think, and will always think, that abortion rids the body of cells, cells that are part of the mother, cells that could become a child if allowed to continue growing and developing; but a collection of cells nonetheless. I also feel like I try to see other people’s opinions on things, even if I don’t agree and don’t change my own, but on this issue, I find that most pro-life supporters tend to (with the exception of some) be, unfortunately, very narrow minded, which I find frustrating, because it doesn’t solve nor shed any light on the argument. I know we can all be narrow minded, but I TRY not to be, and wish everyone would. I just wish that everyone could have the right to make choices about their lives; but obviously, I wish this within reason. But, I do know that this is something that is a matter of opinion, and anything that involves religious belief is impossible to truly argue for or against, so, I assume that the discussion will always go on. I know I will not be able to change most opinions on choice or abortion (even though that would be great!), but I talk about it, in order to add a voice to those that advocate freedom and choice, in order to have someone speaking against those that will advocate religious-based controls and the stripping of personal rights for women. These aren’t meant as jabs, they just are what they are; different sides of an issue… in this case, the right to choose.

Other than these random things, I have really been enjoying some great music today. I finally made a new mix cd, and I am very happy with it. I am also going to be getting stuff ready for the music podcast that I want to start doing for the Georgia Podcast Network, which is something that is motivating me to check out new stuff. Sometimes it feels like pushing a rock up a hill to get anything at all done in my life; so I tend to cling to the things that come easy and motivate me (of which, there are very few). Perhaps these things will jump start the rest of it. I also thought about posting the mix (like for DL), but wonder if anyone would actually want it. If you do, let me know… and I might just tell you what’s on it!

civil rights, is it just me?, that is so gay, tragic

Atrocity in Iran: Two boys killed for being gay

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I am sure that by now, everyone has heard about (and probably written about) the two teenaged boys that were hanged in Iran for being gay. Not only does writing this and thinking about this actually happening make my physically ill, it makes me wonder: what is it about being gay that is so wrong, that it would warrant such behavior or action? It also makes me question, and really being to look deeper at, the stance and direction the southern Baptist convention is taking in our American struggle for equality and civil rights. That�s when I begin to have scary thoughts like: Could it ever get this bad here in the USA? Could there come a time when people are hanging for being gay?

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