How Does It Feel To Be Gay?

This is a copy/paste from the Queers United blog. It's too good not to share.

An Exercise in Gay Acceptance for Heterosexuals

This video is an exercise that was given at a seminar in how it feels to be isolated and discriminated against as a gay person. This video is an exercise to let straight people imagine what it would feel like if the world was gay, and heterosexuals considered deviant outcasts. It is eye opening video into heterosexual privilege and highly recommended!

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Did you know that the military is still discharging soldiers for being openly gay?

One of these soldiers is California's own Lt. Dan Choi, who is also an Arabic linguist. In March, Lt. Choi went on Rachel Maddow's show and spoke honestly about his sexual orientation. As a result, the Army sent him a letter of discharge on April 23. Lt. Choi is now fighting the discharge and fighting the discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

I just signed a Courage Campaign petition to President Obama -- signed by more than 100,000 people -- urging him to do the right thing by stopping the discharge of Lt. Dan Choi and other LGBT soldiers, and asking President Obama to uphold his promise to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The Courage Campaign will deliver this petition to the president -- that's why it is important that as many people as possible speak out right now.

Will you join me in signing and urge your friends to do the same?:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/DontFireDan

Thanks!

2 Steps back

The CA State Supreme Court ruled today to uphold the ban on Gay Marriage as approved by 52% of voters last November.

They said that a simple majority has the right to decide the civil rights of other human beings.

Frankly, what the Supreme Court did was cowardly. A year ago they gave us the right to marry and now they're afraid of pissing off 52% of the state. It's complete bullshit.

This is a huge disappointment. I cannot believe the idiocy of this decision.

For once, I'm actually out of words. I cannot express my anger, disappointment and hurt.

Marriage Equality Speech

as brought to you by a 3rd grader:





This kid is awesome and has amazing parents.

A new video...F*ck You!

I got this from the Queers United Blog.

"F*ck You" to Haters of Our LGBT Brothers and Sisters"

A new funny video "f#ck you" by Lily Allen has been altered to more accurately reflect what many in the queer community feel towards our opposition. Sometimes, we just need to laugh and express our frustration through art, so here ya go!

Virtual March

Join Equality Matters for Inauguration Week, January 17 to 24, for the first "Online March for Equality." The simple act of posting this website to your Facebook profile AND changing your profile picture will help spread the word and send a message of equality at a critical time in our Nation's political history.

If we're ever going to achieve equality, it's going to happen because we educate all Americans about the important rights we're fighting for: tax fairness, hospital visitation, medical decision-making, exemption from estate taxes, spousal immigration, and government benefits -- just to name a few.

Click here to select a badge for your profile or site.

Check out the 1,138 reasons why we must demand marriage equality.

Repeal Prop 8

I just signed a pledge to repeal Prop 8 and I thought you might be interested in joining me and over 100,000 Courage Campaign members across California.

We have to come together right now to say that we refuse to accept a California where discrimination is enshrined in our state constitution.

Please sign the "Repeal Prop 8" pledge now and forward this to your friends as soon as possible:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/RepealProp8

Thanks!

Another repost from Queers United

Keith Olbermann's eloquent plea to the American Public regarding Proposition 8.

Hospital Visitation Rights Petition

This is a repost from queersunited.blogspot.com.


Janice Langbehn and Lisa Pond were ready to depart on a family cruise with their children when tragedy struck. Lisa collapsed and was rushed to a Miami hospital. At the hospital, Janice was told she was in an antigay state and kept from seeing her partner of 20 years. Lisa lay dying alone with her family just feet away in the next room.

We're suing the hospital on Janice's behalf. We're also calling on the next President of the United States to create a health care plan that ensures fair treatment for LGBT people and people with HIV in hospitals and health care settings.

Help Lambda Legal get 10,000 signatures on the petition!

Sign the petition for all the Janice's and Lisa's in the world!

At a loss...

I want to make a post about the passing of Prop 8, but I have no words.

I tried being positive this morning, thinking of how far we have come over the last 8 years in trying to gain equality in California. However, I can't deny the fact that there are so many ignorant and bigoted people not just in this state, but in the world.

I am incredibly sad. Sad for myself. Sad for my friends. Sad for my community. Sad for humanity.

It's truly a bitter-sweet time for me. I am so happy and hopeful for this country because Barack Obama is our president elect. I know that he has the right ideas to begin getting this country back on track. To getting America back to a place where we were admired by other countries. Back to where we were the standard of democracy and freedom. Back to where it wasn't emberassing to be an American when you left the country.

But now I'm emberassed to be a Californian.

There are already lawsuits in place to appeal the decision and people are ready to go to the Supreme Court to fight this ridiculous amendment.

I am not a second class citizen.

This battle might have been lost, but the war is far from over.




Hmm...I guess I did have words.

The Sanctity of Marriage

Yes...let's "protect the sanctity of marriage" so only heterosexuals can get married...because they have such a good track record...



Zsa Zsa Gabor - 9 Husbands
Liz Taylor - 8 Husbands
Lana Turner - 8 Husbands
Mickey Rooney - 8 Wives
Robert Evans - 7 Wives
Jerry Lee Lewis - 6 Wives
Billy Bob Thornton - 5 Wives
Joan Collins - 5 Husbands
Geena Davis - 5 Husbands
William Shatner - 4 Wives
Liza Minnelli - 4 Husbands


Britney Spears - first marriage annulled after just 55 hours
Jennifer Lopez - her first marriage was just 8 months long
Nicky Hilton - also just 8 months for her first
Shannon Doherty - 5 months for one marriage, and 9 months for another
LisaMarie Pressley - married to Nicolas Cage for 3 months and 15 days
Carmen Electra - married to Dennis Rodman for 9 days before filing for divorce.


And these are just the celebrities. There are regular people out there who've been married not even a month before splitting up, and people who've married dozens of times because they haven't found the right person yet.

If you ask me, these marriages are more destructive towards the "sanctity" of marriage than homosexual couples. I mean, the divorce rate is 43%, isn't it? That doesn't seem to be saying a whole lot for marriage.

Honestly, if straight people can ruin their lives by getting married, let gay people do it, too! Why keep all that fun for yourself??

7 days left, people!!

Vow to vote NO on Proposition 8. Don't eliminate my right to marry.

I know I said I'd stop, but...

with only 2 weeks left until voting, I can't stay silent while so many struggle with deciding what to do.

On the radio

This morning, our wonderful San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom was on my favorite radio station doing a short interview. He's been the pioneer in this city to legalize same sex marriage. In 2004, he opened up marriage licenses to allow same sex couples to get married. That summer, thousands of gay couples got married, only to have the courts overturn each and every one.

Earlier this year, the state Supreme Court ruled that it's unconstitutional to restrict marriage to only straight couples. Thousands more have married this year, legally. But now there's Proposition 8 on our ballot that's designed to strip our rights to get married, and of course there are commercials for both pro and con. The con commercials have spread lies - saying that if the measure doesn't pass and it remains legal for same sex couples to marry, then it will be mandatory in schools to teach children about same sex marriage and all things gay. They're using scare tactics to get people to vote Yes on the ban. They're also using Mayor Newsom's own words against him. At a rally regarding Same Sex Marriage he said it was coming "whether you like it or not."

Anyway, they were asking him about that statement and how it's being used. He said he has no regrets, but is saddened by the other camp using his words in a negative light. The DJs then took a caller named David who had some concerns about the proposition. Just to preface this, he said he is a black gay man with an 8 year old daughter. He said he's for the proposition (against gay marriage) because he doesn't want his daughter learning about being gay while she's so young. He said that being gay is an "adult lifestyle and choice". He spouted off more ignorant thoughts, but I've blocked them out. LOL. Mayor Newsom then asked if David was educated about the Civil Rights Movement and if he was OK with his daughter being taught about that. He says "Of course, it's history". So the mayor asked him if he'd be OK with his daughter being taught all history - including gay history (Stonewall). The guy kind of stuttered, so one of the DJs asked if David would be upset if a right was taken away from him because he's black. David was like "Well, yeah."

This guy just doesn't seem to understand what an ignoramus he is and I'm shocked that as a double minority (black and gay), he has such a closed minded view about rights that apply to him and he's perpetuating hate and is going to teach his child that it's not OK to be gay and that it's a choice to be gay. WTF is that about? Who chooses to be hated?

In the news

So I read on Cnn.com just now about Chicago opening up Pride Campus - a school of about 600 students with emphasis on it being a safe-haven for gay students, though it is for all students. People are calling it, essentially, a gay school.

I, for one, am happy they are doing this. There is already Harvey Milk High School in New York that is for all students who feel harassed in regular schools, regardless of actual sexual orientation or the specific harassment. I think this is a great thing they are doing - allowing kids who might otherwise drop out or flunk out of school a healthy and safe place to continue their education and get therapy to work through the harassment issues.

Frankly, I don't see a difference in opening this school and having single sex schools. I went to an all girls high school and my brother went to an all boys high school. Overall, I think it did us each a lot of good to have a single sex education. I wasn't distracted or intimidated by boys. Classes weren't disrupted by stupid teenage boys trying to impress their girlfriends. It was a comfortable place to be. Sure, I had my own issues going on, but overall, being surrounded by people like me made school a pleasant experience.

I think every metropolitan area should have some sort of safe haven school. What I see going on around the country in hour high schools (in schools of every class - inner city, parochial, private, boarding, suburban, etc.) is not always happy and makes me want to home school my children. But maybe by the time my kids are school age there will have been improvements or I will live in an area that has a good school, not just academically, but socially as well. But even then, appearances aren't everything.

*edited to add*

Going back to the whole gay thing that started this post - I just don't understand the teaching of hate. I can understand the teaching of religious beliefs and that those beliefs don't necessarily agree that homosexuality is something that is real and needs to be accepted. But I don't understand how you teach a small child to HATE someone because they're gay while also teaching that child that God loves and Jesus saves. That's called being a hypocrite and that's just not acceptable. The Bible teaches us that we are all God's Children, does it not? It teaches us to Love Thy Neighbor, does it not?

I am so glad that my high school religion teacher (I went to Catholic school) was of an open mind and taught us that the Bible is a book of stories, written 200 years after Jesus died. He taught us to believe the principles of the stories, but never to take them at their word. He taught us that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah was a lession in how not to be a whore, but to have respect for yourself and not sleep around, not to be prostitutes. He taught us that not lying with mankind as with man meant not to sleep around, not that it meant that men couldn't sleep together. He taught us to have an open mind and an open heart. Thank you Mr. Garvin.