Taking Responsibilty

I want to start this post with this great quote....

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer.  Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.  I will face my fear.  I will permit it to pass over me and through me.  And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.  Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I remain"
                                                                                                                                            Frank Herbert

Its impossible to fully face your fears when you sent to see some one else.  Case in point (without going to in depth).  I have this very trying circumstance where some very anti-gay remarks and overtly homophobic remarks have been made in one of the classes I am in right now.  This has happened three times as of last week.  It always happens with only seven to ten of in class, before class really begins and before the teacher even arrives in the class.

In the beginning I was not going to say anything to anyone, as I have to be in this class for a total of fifteen weeks and this is only the start of week three. But I feel so uncomfortable, afraid, uneasy and intimidated that I don't know what to do.

I was told to go to to our deans office, which I did today and everything would be handled.  Well it was not.  I was referred to someone else, who of course can not be found. I also was not reassured in the deans office that this issue was taken seriously and felt very uncomfortable when asked my name.  So much for trying to stay anonymous.  It took a lot for me to walk into that office in the first place and to leave having felt no better I wonder is it even worth it to pursue it to this next person.

I am reminded of this quote:

"Life is not easy for any of us.  But what of that?  We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves.  We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that thing, at whatever cost, must be attained."
                                                       Marie Curie

However, when the people in "power" that you turn to send you on your way to another department, another person you, or at least I do, lose faith in the system.  The system where it seems no one can step to the plate and take responsibility.  I dare at this point NOT speak out because it could make the next thirteen weeks a living hell; but do I dare just sit there class after class after class and listen to such vile verbal treatment of who I am? 

Do I disservice myself and my community by keeping my mouth shut?  Do I undue our history of brothers and sisters fighting for our equal and fair rights by remaining mute?  Do I spit on the graves of those who died of AIDS in fear and silence because they themselves had no voice and I continue that legacy of hopelessness?

I am reminded of this quote as well:

"Vision without action is a dream.  Action without vision is simply passing the time.  action with vision is making a positive difference.
                                                                 Joel Barker

I post this because I am tired of no one taking responsibility, I am tired of being treated second class, I am tired of no one listening and I am tired of a society that does this over and over again and we simply take it. 

We take it every time we are handled by a recorded systems of prompts when we call somewhere that takes ten minutes to get a live, breathing person on the other end, we do it every time we never speak to our bank teller, our grocery store cashier or the person next to us in the office.  We do it every time we build walls around ourselves and bury ourselves in our own lives that we can not and do not see the person sitting next us.

I believe we do it every time we send an e-mail versus a real paper letter, or send a text message instead of an actual phone conversation, or when driving we are babbling on the phone as we are driving, or not holding a door open for the person behind us as we walk into a building.  We have become a society were we care not for our fellow neighbor.  Oh it happens in times of crisis or concern, and yes it is out of deep concern and support but why does something terrible have to happen for us to care?  Can't we just simply do it?

In closing I am reminded of this incredible quote:

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
                                                             Maya Angelou

My final though is.... How did you make someone feel today?

Teen Claims School Expelled Him For Dressing Like A Girl

Jamie Love, a 17-year-old high school student who was allegedly expelled for wearing women's clothes, has won his fight to return to school, the Scottish Daily Record reports.

In a separate report, Love opened up to the paper about the pain he felt following his expulsion.

"It took me years to finally open up to someone about my sexuality and now I feel betrayed by the people I trusted," Love told the Daily Record. "I have always felt different but I have never been able to talk about it. They have made me feel like a fool. I left the school in tears feeling totally humiliated and embarrassed."
Love came to school wearing knee-length black shorts, hair extensions, tights, a hair band, blouse, and school tie. Once he arrived, he was met with immediate hostility from teachers, according to STV News.

"When [I] went into the class, everything was fine and then the teacher came and got me and then took me into the school and asked me what I was trying to do to the school," he told the station. "Then they said: 'You shouldn't be dressed like that.' Then two deputies came in and said my time at Govan High was over and then I got my stuff and had to leave. I asked if I could come back as a boy and they said no."

Officials at Govan High School reversed the explosion last night, and a spokesperson told the Daily Record that Love's choice of dress was never the issue.

"We welcome Jamie's assurances to commit to his education ... Jamie's choice of clothing has never been an issue ... so he can come to school dressed as a girl if he wants to," the spokesperson told the paper. "However, it's important that we put measures in place to accommodate this decision and the school would like to meet him and his mother."

Love admits he's had "behavioral problems" in the past due to his confusion about his sexuality, but told the paper he's just ready to get back to school.

"This is great news. It is a major victory for me and all the other kids who are confused about their sexuality," he told the paper. "I'm delighted I can return to school and be myself. This is a second chance for me and I won’t mess it up. I will keep my head down and work hard to get my qualifications."

Dan Savage On the GOP Field

Dan Savage On the GOP Field

"America is waking up to the fact that we're not bogeymen, and we're not coming to do any harm, and that we're your daughters and sons and neighbors, sometimes your parents, your co-workers, friends, colleagues. The Republican party, in this desperate [nod] to its dying evangelical base, is just ramping up the homophobia, and they're doing themselves real long-term damage.

"What's interesting is that, you look at who's been doing the most hate speech: Bachmann? She's out. Herman Cain? He's out. Perry? He's all but out. Santorum? He's running fourth, he's trailing even in conservative South Carolina. It's not winning them the election anymore. It's not 1992; Pat Buchanan can't get up and give a 'gay rights never, family values forever' speech at the Republican National Convention anymore. Times have changed." - Dan Savage, speaking to MTV News.

Rick Perry: Homophobic advertising

‘Adam: Next Generation Robotics’ Fights Homophobia

This gay short, by UK film maker Mike Buonaiuto, aims to raise the awareness and importance of self-acceptance. Do you think he succeeded?

The film mocks up a futuristic advert for a customisable robot and uses the mechanical metaphor to say we should never seek to control, suppress or silence a person, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. We are not robots.
New’s reports of homophobic abuse and the devastating effects it has on families are becoming ever too common. It’s hoped the film will inspire young people struggling with accepting their sexuality due to bullying or fear to find confidence within themselves. We are not machines, we are human and we cannot be controlled, suppressed or silenced.

Peter LaBarbera and AFTHA Use The Penn State Tragedy And It’s Victims To Promote Their Anti-Gay Agenda

The shock and sadness of what has happened to over 100 children at Penn State University has touched everyone in the country..  But it has touched none so much as disgusting anti-gay activists like Peter LaBarbera, the president of Naperville, Ill.-baesd Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) who are blatantly using this tragedy and its innocent victims to push thier hateful anti-gay agenda.

LaBarbera, who falsely keeps claiming that Jerry Sandusky’s horrid actions are the result of being gay even though Sandusky identifies as heterosexual, is married, and has grown children is now blaming LGBT-rights advocates for having a hand in  perpetuating sexual violence against children in an oft handed way. 

On Thursday LaBarbera sent out he following Press Release not once, but THREE times via the news-wire service the Christian Communication Network:

Sandusky is married but obviously has a homosexuality (perversion) problem. Yet pro-”gay” liberals will deny any linkage between homosexuality and Sandusky’s rape/seduction of boys. In fact, after news of the Penn State scandal came to light, “gay” activists stressed that Sandusky is married and that most pedophile cases involve “straight, married men.” However, behavior is what matters – not a person’s marital status or self-described “sexual orientation.” Sandusky was married but was he really “straight” (sexually or morally)? Some inner demons or life traumas – probably in his own youth – caused him to lust for boys, wrecking untold misery in the lives of his victims. Behavior is the issue, and this was a case of a serial homosexual predator raping boys.

For LaBarbera and other right wing  supposedly “Christian” groups to use this horrible tragedy and its victims to spout lies and misinformation just to push their own hateful agenda is monstrous.   Numerous studies and reasearch from reputable organizations and accredited institutions of higher learning, unlike that of the sham research that LaBarbera and his ilk use, proves there is NO LINK whatsoever between being gay and child molestation,

We can not allow laBarbera and the “christian right” to use this tragedy, and those poor children for their own hateful purposes and they should finally be seen by all as the hateful sociopath monsters that they really are.

Source: American Independent

Religious School to Employees: Swear You’re Not Gay, Or Else

A religious university in Georgia has told its staff that anyone who refuses to sign documents attesting to their heterosexuality will face termination, Canadian newspaper the Toronto Star reported on Nov. 4.

The stark choice was presented to the employees of Shorter University, a Southern Baptist school located in Rome, Georgia, in no uncertain terms: It’s either the school’s way or the highway.

"We understand that there are those who do not agree with our beliefs," the president of the university, Donald Dowless (pictured left), stated. "Anyone who chooses not to sign the documents will be choosing to end their employment with the university."

For sexual minorities in the school’s employ, the broader choice comes down to facing unemployment or pretending to be heterosexual and violating their personal integrity in order to hold on to their jobs.

There is a belief among much of the evangelical Christian community that gays "choose" to be romantically and sexually attracted to members of the same gender. Some evangelicals, swayed by mounting scientific evidence that gays are born with innate and unchangeable same-sex patterns of attraction and response, have begun to modify their message, declaring that even if same-sex attraction is indeed innate to gays, their conduct remains a matter of choice.

For some Biblical scholars, however, that argument rings hollow. Theologian and author Jonathan Dudley told EDGE earlier this year that the Bible references homosexuality only a handful of times, and many passages that seem to be anti-gay are not as clear-cut as anti-gay religious leaders claim. Dudley also noted that the Bible’s proscriptions against divorce are much more numerous and unequivocal than the scant few ambiguous passages addressing sexual contact between individuals of the same gender.

Author and religious scholar Jay Michaelson, in his newly published book "God vs. Gay," argues that passages often read as anti-gay are, in fact, describing sexual practices related to cultic worship that was denied the ancient Israelites--not same-sex relationships as they are currently understood. Michaelson also references an array of other behaviors that the Bible condemns, divorce among them, that are commonplace in today’s world, but that excite no fiery, demonizing speeches from either religious or political leaders.
But to Dowless, those ambiguous passages in Scripture were not at all vague or uncertain in meaning.

"These are biblical positions," Dowless told local news channel WSB-TV, according to a Nov. 3 NewsOne.com article. The news channel noted that Shorter University is a private school that does not receive taxpayer money. As a private institution, Shorter is allowed to disregard anti-discrimination laws and fire employees for being gay.

 

The "personal lifestyle statement" that employees of Shorter University are required to sign as a condition of being hired and remaining employed reads, "I reject as acceptable all sexual activity not in agreement with the Bible, including, but not limited to, premarital sex, adultery, and homosexuality."

The university also makes active membership in church a condition of employment. The article did not address the question of whether membership in a mosque or temple would be viewed as acceptable.
"Adultery and pre-marital sex are, in fact, choices," noted one employee, who spoke to the GA Voice. "Homosexuality is not. I know this point is up for debate in the fundamental Christian world, but to the rest of the world, we know that it isn’t a choice." That employee, who was not named, indicated that he would probably not sign the document, preferring to seek employment elsewhere.

Many Christian colleges and universities require their students, faculty, and staff to sign on to documentation setting out expectations for their beliefs and their professional and private conduct. But Shorter University’s uncompromisingly anti-gay stance is extreme even for religious institutions, said the president of another religious school, Hubert Krygsman of Canadian school Redeemer University College, which is located in Ontario.

"While most Christian universities and colleges in both Canada and the USA (many of which are members of the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities) do have some form of conduct policy for employees, board members, and students, these policies are expressed in many different ways," Krygsman told the Toronto Star.

"I have never seen a case where an employee has been asked to sign a statement stating specifically that they are not homosexual," Krygsman added.

For locals with some affiliation to the university, the no-gays requirement from on high seemed a shame, if not a betrayal of the institution and its people. Actor and vlogger Jeffry Self, a native of Rome, Georgia who grew up "right around the corner" from the school, lamented the anti-gay directive in a Nov. 3 Huffington Post op-ed.
Self, who described becoming involved in the university’s theatrical productions as a teenager and meeting positive gay role models, recalled how the school once "served as a beacon of hope, a reminder that I wasn’t a freak and that I wasn’t alone in the world, and that all the things I dreamed of doing were in fact very possible.

"Perhaps today this might seem like the school’s worst nightmare, but to this happily out and proud gay man, Shorter University once served as a place of open-mindedness, intelligence, and love," Self added.
"Shorter is a Baptist college, so I understand that certain ’lifestyle choices’ might not be within their ideas and beliefs, but what I don’t understand is taking what used to be a really wonderful place full of smart, open-minded, creative, inspiring people and turning it into a place of such hostile judgment and fear," Self continued. "I cannot imagine a worse learning environment."