That might be an over exaggeration, but if you've ever watched Family Guy, you know he's pro same-sex marriage. Champion? I don't think so. Knight? Sure, if we're handing out titles that's the one I would pick. Here he is below being interviewed on Real Time with Bill Maher (he's not as annoying as usual. Ok. I lied. He is. But not more than usual.)
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Supreme Justice: NPR Style
A new Supreme Justice will have to be named soon, and 2 of the names being thrown around right now are Kathleen Sullivan (Left) and Pam Karlan (Right). Both seem like great candidates and they both attended Stanford Law School. Another thing they have in common is that they are both lesbians, which would be the first openly gay Supreme Justice. As we know, Conservatives will have a hard time accepting this. Or will they? I was going to write a very eloquent article to this, but instead found one that states exactly what I wanted to say, on NPR by Richard Just. Read it before continuing.
Basically, while the conservatives have always claimed that they are not against homosexual people (which is just them lying to themselves) and only against same-sex marriage, their true views will be seen if they go against their nomination. Senator Jeff Session, R-Ala., the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Wednesday that he wouldn't consider homosexuality to be "an automatic disqualification." Oh, gee, thanks.
Some conservative leaders have raised warning flags that nomination of a gay or lesbian for the post would be too polarizing. But GOP senators appeared less concerned with the nominee's sexual orientation than with his or her legal knowledge and experience. Many republicans are saying that they haven't given the gay angle much thought. We all know better than to take their word for it, so we will have to wait to see. As of right now, gay rights leaders are urging President Obama to replace the retiring Justice David Souter with either of the highly qualified, openly lesbian candidates. More to come.
Basically, while the conservatives have always claimed that they are not against homosexual people (which is just them lying to themselves) and only against same-sex marriage, their true views will be seen if they go against their nomination. Senator Jeff Session, R-Ala., the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Wednesday that he wouldn't consider homosexuality to be "an automatic disqualification." Oh, gee, thanks.
Some conservative leaders have raised warning flags that nomination of a gay or lesbian for the post would be too polarizing. But GOP senators appeared less concerned with the nominee's sexual orientation than with his or her legal knowledge and experience. Many republicans are saying that they haven't given the gay angle much thought. We all know better than to take their word for it, so we will have to wait to see. As of right now, gay rights leaders are urging President Obama to replace the retiring Justice David Souter with either of the highly qualified, openly lesbian candidates. More to come.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
No Room For [Gay] Porn In Christian College
Times are hard. The economy is pretty bleak. Being able to pay for college is starting to look more and more like a sad joke. But wait. What industry manages to stay afloat no matter what? If you said the fast food industry, then you're right, but that's not what I was referring to. This industry doesn't aim for your stomach, but it goes a little lower than that. If you've reached the knees, you've gone too far. That's right, porn!
22-year-old John Gechter (also known as "Vincent DeSalvo" in the gay porn industry), was suspended from Christian university Grove City College after a person (I'd like to know who) found videos of him doing homosexual acts with other men. Apparently, the university feels that Getcher "exhibited behavior contrary to the values." I wonder if it would have made a difference if it were straight porn here was in?
Anyway, Getcher is appealing the suspension because he rightly believes that the gay porn job is none of the schools business, especially since he's using a pseudonym. The income is also used to pay for his tuition.
Times are hard indeed. No euphemism intended.
22-year-old John Gechter (also known as "Vincent DeSalvo" in the gay porn industry), was suspended from Christian university Grove City College after a person (I'd like to know who) found videos of him doing homosexual acts with other men. Apparently, the university feels that Getcher "exhibited behavior contrary to the values." I wonder if it would have made a difference if it were straight porn here was in?
Anyway, Getcher is appealing the suspension because he rightly believes that the gay porn job is none of the schools business, especially since he's using a pseudonym. The income is also used to pay for his tuition.
Times are hard indeed. No euphemism intended.
Gay Bullying
This is going to be one of my more serious topics. Why? Because gay bullying is a serious issue with devastating consequences. As of this moment, there are 5 documented cases (and who knows how many other undocumented cases there may be) of elementary school children committing suicide due to heavy anti-gay bullying. This by no means is to say that the children were in fact attracted to the same sex, but the truth is that we'll never know the answer to that. The first three confirmed cases all occurred in Illinois 
(Chatham, Evanston, and Chicago) and all in the month of February of this year. The following two are 11 year old's Carl Walker-Hoover and Jaheem Herrera. The mother's of both children, Sirdeaner L. Walker (Left) and Masika Bermudez (Right), appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show yesterday.
Both children faced severe bullying from students and often received anti-gay slurs. As a child, I was always taught that is someone ever bothered you in school, you should tell the teacher and have them take care of it. I can speak from experience saying that this method more often than naught, did not work. In fact, it just added another label for the children to harass you with: "tattle-tail".
Carl too saught protection from the daily verbal abuse by his peers, but the school administration was unable to help in the end. Carl's mother said, "He was so afraid that he ate lunch with a guidance counselor." On April 6, 2009, Carl came home after an upsetting incident at school. "This is what Carl told me. He said that his backpack had hit the TV stand and that the TV stand hit a girl," Sirdeaner says. "The girl got really upset and threatened to beat him."
Sirdeaner says Carl was afraid he'd receive a suspension. "I tried to reassure Carl," she says. "He just went quietly up to his room, and I continued making dinner." This was the last time Sirdeaner would see her son alive. After she finished preparing dinner, she went to check on her son Carl only to find him hanging from the stair banister with an extension cord around his neck.
Carl also left a note, but Sirdeaner says it did not say why he chose to take his life. In the note, Sirdeaner says Carl left his favorite toy to his sister. "He told everybody that, you know, he loved them very much. He said he was very sorry," she says. "He was looking out for his younger brother, Charles, and he didn't want him to have a difficult time."
Jaheem Herrera has a similar story. Jaheem liked to dance and sing and draw, and he was often called "gay" from students because of it. Telling the teachers only got him more teasings from the students being labeled a "snitch" and "tattle-tale". On April 16, 2009, Jaheem came home in a good mood. He showed his mother his report card with good grades on it. They gave each other a high five and the mother began to cook dinner. Shortly after, Jaheem's sister told him that some more kids were calling him "gay" in school.
Masika, Jaheem's mom, said, "He got upset. I sent him upstairs. He usually [goes] upstairs and plays with his toys and gets over it." Sadly, that was not the case this time. When Masika went upstairs to tell her son dinner was ready, she discovered her son hanging in his room with a cloth around his neck. Masika says Jaheem left no note. "He just did it," she says. "Now I won't have my boy child. That was my only boy child."
This immigrant family from the Virgin Islands said that Jaheem never received this kind of treatment in school until they came to the United States. That in itself should tell you something about the state of our school system. Jaheem's friends recounted something that happened earlier the day before he committed suicide: "Jaheem asked if anyone would miss him if he wasn’t here." His friend replied, "I am your friend and I would miss you."
Both families have hired lawyers to look into the school's administration and find out why not enough was done to curb the bullying that lead to the deaths of these two boys. A similar story is that of Ryan Halligan. Ryan was a 13 year old boy who was constantly bullied (mostly through the internet) and called "gay" and "faggot".
He was often attacked through instant messages and e-mails. A girl he had expressed interest in faked conversations online with him just so she could get personal information from him to make fun of him later about. After he came up to her in school, she called him a "loser" and told him he was just pretending to like him. He then responded, "It's girls like you who make me want to kill myself."
Ryan had hoped that this girl would become his girlfriend and the other kids would stop making fun of him. On October 7, 2003, Ryan's sister found Ryan hanging in bathroom early that morning. He was 13 years old when he died. The reason this case isn't one of the five listed above is not clear to me, but it is one of the cases listed under cyber-bullying. Below is a video with Ryan's parents recounting their tragic experiences.
I find it ludicrous that the people who oppose same-sex marriage use the old saying, "Won't anybody think of the children?" That's my point exactly. By creating dissent and division on the topic, children are effected by it. The term "gay" has become a word that no longer means being homosexual, but it has taken a destructive form that has only a negative meaning which children are using against each other usually for reasons not associated to sexual orientation. Also, at the age that Carl and Jaheem were at, they more than likely have not even come to develop their sense of self yet, let alone figure out their sexual orientation.
New York Times bestseller Judith Warner says, "Being called a 'fag,' you see, actually has almost nothing to do with being gay. It’s really about showing any perceived weakness or femininity – by being emotional, seeming incompetent, caring too much about clothing, liking to dance or even having an interest in literature."
So I repeat, why don't YOU think of the children? The hate you show to others is being inherited by your children. Your anti-gay sentiment is not only destroying the present, but also destroying the future. I hope that all you people out there never have to go through what the families of Carl, Jaheem, Ryan, and all the other kids who committed suicide had to go through. How would it feel to be the mother, father, sister or brother of a young boy or girl and to find their dead body hanging inside some room, dead. Think about that next time you spew your hatred because there always little children ears listening, including those that are no longer with us.
(Chatham, Evanston, and Chicago) and all in the month of February of this year. The following two are 11 year old's Carl Walker-Hoover and Jaheem Herrera. The mother's of both children, Sirdeaner L. Walker (Left) and Masika Bermudez (Right), appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show yesterday.
Both children faced severe bullying from students and often received anti-gay slurs. As a child, I was always taught that is someone ever bothered you in school, you should tell the teacher and have them take care of it. I can speak from experience saying that this method more often than naught, did not work. In fact, it just added another label for the children to harass you with: "tattle-tail".Carl too saught protection from the daily verbal abuse by his peers, but the school administration was unable to help in the end. Carl's mother said, "He was so afraid that he ate lunch with a guidance counselor." On April 6, 2009, Carl came home after an upsetting incident at school. "This is what Carl told me. He said that his backpack had hit the TV stand and that the TV stand hit a girl," Sirdeaner says. "The girl got really upset and threatened to beat him."
Sirdeaner says Carl was afraid he'd receive a suspension. "I tried to reassure Carl," she says. "He just went quietly up to his room, and I continued making dinner." This was the last time Sirdeaner would see her son alive. After she finished preparing dinner, she went to check on her son Carl only to find him hanging from the stair banister with an extension cord around his neck.
Carl also left a note, but Sirdeaner says it did not say why he chose to take his life. In the note, Sirdeaner says Carl left his favorite toy to his sister. "He told everybody that, you know, he loved them very much. He said he was very sorry," she says. "He was looking out for his younger brother, Charles, and he didn't want him to have a difficult time."Jaheem Herrera has a similar story. Jaheem liked to dance and sing and draw, and he was often called "gay" from students because of it. Telling the teachers only got him more teasings from the students being labeled a "snitch" and "tattle-tale". On April 16, 2009, Jaheem came home in a good mood. He showed his mother his report card with good grades on it. They gave each other a high five and the mother began to cook dinner. Shortly after, Jaheem's sister told him that some more kids were calling him "gay" in school.
Masika, Jaheem's mom, said, "He got upset. I sent him upstairs. He usually [goes] upstairs and plays with his toys and gets over it." Sadly, that was not the case this time. When Masika went upstairs to tell her son dinner was ready, she discovered her son hanging in his room with a cloth around his neck. Masika says Jaheem left no note. "He just did it," she says. "Now I won't have my boy child. That was my only boy child."This immigrant family from the Virgin Islands said that Jaheem never received this kind of treatment in school until they came to the United States. That in itself should tell you something about the state of our school system. Jaheem's friends recounted something that happened earlier the day before he committed suicide: "Jaheem asked if anyone would miss him if he wasn’t here." His friend replied, "I am your friend and I would miss you."
Both families have hired lawyers to look into the school's administration and find out why not enough was done to curb the bullying that lead to the deaths of these two boys. A similar story is that of Ryan Halligan. Ryan was a 13 year old boy who was constantly bullied (mostly through the internet) and called "gay" and "faggot".
He was often attacked through instant messages and e-mails. A girl he had expressed interest in faked conversations online with him just so she could get personal information from him to make fun of him later about. After he came up to her in school, she called him a "loser" and told him he was just pretending to like him. He then responded, "It's girls like you who make me want to kill myself."
Ryan had hoped that this girl would become his girlfriend and the other kids would stop making fun of him. On October 7, 2003, Ryan's sister found Ryan hanging in bathroom early that morning. He was 13 years old when he died. The reason this case isn't one of the five listed above is not clear to me, but it is one of the cases listed under cyber-bullying. Below is a video with Ryan's parents recounting their tragic experiences.I find it ludicrous that the people who oppose same-sex marriage use the old saying, "Won't anybody think of the children?" That's my point exactly. By creating dissent and division on the topic, children are effected by it. The term "gay" has become a word that no longer means being homosexual, but it has taken a destructive form that has only a negative meaning which children are using against each other usually for reasons not associated to sexual orientation. Also, at the age that Carl and Jaheem were at, they more than likely have not even come to develop their sense of self yet, let alone figure out their sexual orientation.
New York Times bestseller Judith Warner says, "Being called a 'fag,' you see, actually has almost nothing to do with being gay. It’s really about showing any perceived weakness or femininity – by being emotional, seeming incompetent, caring too much about clothing, liking to dance or even having an interest in literature."
So I repeat, why don't YOU think of the children? The hate you show to others is being inherited by your children. Your anti-gay sentiment is not only destroying the present, but also destroying the future. I hope that all you people out there never have to go through what the families of Carl, Jaheem, Ryan, and all the other kids who committed suicide had to go through. How would it feel to be the mother, father, sister or brother of a young boy or girl and to find their dead body hanging inside some room, dead. Think about that next time you spew your hatred because there always little children ears listening, including those that are no longer with us.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Hate Crimes Redefined
The House passed a bill updating the definitions of hate crimes to include added protections based on sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability. The bill will also provide a financial support to state and local authorities, with grants for investigation and prosecution of hate crimes. The federal government could step in and prosecute if states requested it or declined to exercise their authority.
This bill was passed especially after President Obama urged the House that the bill would "enhance civil rights protections, while also protecting our freedom of speech and association." Two years earlier, a weaker, yet similar bill was struck down in Congress when George W. Bush (of course) threatened to veto it if it ever made it to his desk.
As always, the Conservatives (Republicans) feel that this bill will divide the country by giving extra protection to "special" groups. They also said it was not fair to give other people such protection. Well I think that the people would not need this extra protection if hate crimes did not exist, but they do. Hate crimes threaten people's right to the freedom that every American is entitled to, but for some reason other people feel they do not deserve, such as the perpetrators of hate crimes. That is why extra protection is needed to ensure that in the end, everyone has the same rights as the other person.
As majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., countered against the Republicans arguments, "We in America have said we believe all people ought to be treated equally. If America stands for anything it stands for equality under the law."
Also, some interesting tidbits are there were 926 active hate groups in 2008, compared to 602 in 2000, as tracked by the Southern Poverty Law Center. An increase of over 33% in eight years. And there are currently forty-five states that have laws against hate crimes, with the five that do not being: Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Wyoming. Now tell me that the current hate crime laws are actually working. Yeah, that's what I thought.
This bill was passed especially after President Obama urged the House that the bill would "enhance civil rights protections, while also protecting our freedom of speech and association." Two years earlier, a weaker, yet similar bill was struck down in Congress when George W. Bush (of course) threatened to veto it if it ever made it to his desk.
As always, the Conservatives (Republicans) feel that this bill will divide the country by giving extra protection to "special" groups. They also said it was not fair to give other people such protection. Well I think that the people would not need this extra protection if hate crimes did not exist, but they do. Hate crimes threaten people's right to the freedom that every American is entitled to, but for some reason other people feel they do not deserve, such as the perpetrators of hate crimes. That is why extra protection is needed to ensure that in the end, everyone has the same rights as the other person.
As majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., countered against the Republicans arguments, "We in America have said we believe all people ought to be treated equally. If America stands for anything it stands for equality under the law."
Also, some interesting tidbits are there were 926 active hate groups in 2008, compared to 602 in 2000, as tracked by the Southern Poverty Law Center. An increase of over 33% in eight years. And there are currently forty-five states that have laws against hate crimes, with the five that do not being: Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Wyoming. Now tell me that the current hate crime laws are actually working. Yeah, that's what I thought.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
LGBT Educational Sites: REJECTED
The heads of the Tennessee school districts seem to have taken a stance (though stealthily) on same-sex relationships. Although they were covert about it, people still noticed. A librarian (Karyn Storts-Brinks) and 2 Tennessee high school students are asking the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for help when they discovered that their Tennessee school internet filters access to online information on LGBT issues. The filtering software (Educational Networks of America) makes it so students cannot view political and educational information about LGBT issues and well-known nationals organizations such as the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), and the Human Rights Campaign.
Oddly enough (meant to be read in the most sarcastic tone you can muster), the filter seems to keep sites that talk about "reparative therapy" for changing your sexual orientation. Side Note: How can you "repair" what was never broken to begin with? Side Side Note: The practice of "reparative therapy" has been deemed harmful and dangerous by the American Medical & Psychiatric Associations.
The blocking of this information "not only violates the law but does a disservice to the education of your students," said the ACLU. The ACLU is also asking for this ban to be remedied or they will be forced to take legal action against their illegal censorship. Karyn Storts-Brinks, the librarian from Fulton High School in Knoxville tried to unblock LGBT sites for her students in August 2007 by contacting the filtering company and individuals in her district to no avail. Storts-Brinks said:
Oddly enough (meant to be read in the most sarcastic tone you can muster), the filter seems to keep sites that talk about "reparative therapy" for changing your sexual orientation. Side Note: How can you "repair" what was never broken to begin with? Side Side Note: The practice of "reparative therapy" has been deemed harmful and dangerous by the American Medical & Psychiatric Associations.
The blocking of this information "not only violates the law but does a disservice to the education of your students," said the ACLU. The ACLU is also asking for this ban to be remedied or they will be forced to take legal action against their illegal censorship. Karyn Storts-Brinks, the librarian from Fulton High School in Knoxville tried to unblock LGBT sites for her students in August 2007 by contacting the filtering company and individuals in her district to no avail. Storts-Brinks said:
"One of the problems with this software is that it only allows students access to one side of information about topics that are part of the public debate right now. Students who need to do research for assignments on current events can only get one viewpoint, keeping them from being able to cover both sides of the issue."The whole point of going to school is to get a well-rounded education to prepare you for the future. To make a well-informed decision (like the kinds you are going to make for the rest of your life), you need to have all the facts at hand first. Showing only one side of an issue to the person does not leave them adequately prepared to make a decision on the issue. So shame on you Tennessee school districts for filtering out political and educational information on the LGBT community! You're not turning your students into well-rounded spheres, but more like incomplete dodecahedrons (yes, I did bust out some geometric shapes on you).
Conditional Love
I'm sure some of us have heard of "coming-out"stories from hell, purgatory, or whatever dark, evil place your religious preference tell you bad people go to. You tell your parents and you get either A) Disowned, or B) Accepted for who you are. How about being forced to basically run away from home because you won't "stop being gay".
Then, after you've left home, your mom catches you on the street holding hands with your boyfriend and jumps out of her car furious and chases after you yelling obscenities. No? Really? Yeah, me neither, but this is what happened to 16 year old Stuart O'Neill. Celia Duncan shouted homophobic abuse at her son after she caught him on the street holding hands with his boyfriend.
After calling them a bunch of "poofs," she then proceeded to leave a voicemail saying, "I will get you, believe me, and you will get your head kicked in," and a text message saying, "I will get you and your poof." Personally, I think it should be a crime for a mother to treat her underage son that way, and in a sense it was when the Aberdeen court system fined her £250 (about $370).
Still, no amount of money could make up for the damage she inflicted on her son, especially over a silly thing as sexual preference. Stuart O'Neill said, "I feel really betrayed by my mum. What she said to me was vile and hurtful. My mum didn't like the fact I was gay. She told me to stop being gay or get out of Aberdeen. She basically threw me out of the house."
Then, after you've left home, your mom catches you on the street holding hands with your boyfriend and jumps out of her car furious and chases after you yelling obscenities. No? Really? Yeah, me neither, but this is what happened to 16 year old Stuart O'Neill. Celia Duncan shouted homophobic abuse at her son after she caught him on the street holding hands with his boyfriend.
After calling them a bunch of "poofs," she then proceeded to leave a voicemail saying, "I will get you, believe me, and you will get your head kicked in," and a text message saying, "I will get you and your poof." Personally, I think it should be a crime for a mother to treat her underage son that way, and in a sense it was when the Aberdeen court system fined her £250 (about $370).
Still, no amount of money could make up for the damage she inflicted on her son, especially over a silly thing as sexual preference. Stuart O'Neill said, "I feel really betrayed by my mum. What she said to me was vile and hurtful. My mum didn't like the fact I was gay. She told me to stop being gay or get out of Aberdeen. She basically threw me out of the house."
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