One thing I've learned since getting involved with LGBT issues is that it is easier for people to discriminate against facesless groups of minorities than to look them in the eye, perhaps even knowing them personally, and act like a bigot. That is why I believe it is so critically important for more LGBT people to put themselves out there (I know, easy for me to say, but still true) and show people they are not abominations by the way they live their lives and participate in their communities and their churches.
I believe that idea is supported by a post on Bilerico:
According to a new article in The American Prospect, entitled Trans in the Red States, "when we think of states like Nebraska and Wyoming, we think of people like Brandon Teen and Matthew Sheppard, both killed in vicious, nationally publicized hate crimes," and yet, despite the difficulties of living in small, conservative towns similar to Humboldt, Nebraska and Laramie, Wyoming, transgender and gender non-conforming people have chosen to take more visible roles in their communities - volunteering for political campaigns, participating in their local faith communities and even transitioning on the job without negative repercussions. Being visible in rural communities raises awareness and educates community members on issues impacting the trans community; a highly effective strategy that has secured rights for many rural trans communities.
The article states that people in very small, largely conservative communities like Loveland, Colorado - population 61,000, 92 percent white and heavily evangelical Christian - have surprisingly been receptive to anti-bullying trainings on how to honor and protect students on the basis of gender identity and expression, arming faculty and staff with fact sheets that help them answer any inappropriate questions from students and/or parents about students perceived to be transgender or gender non-conforming as well as students perceived as lesbian, gay or bisexual.
Click here to read the rest of this encouraging story.
October 31, 2008
October 29, 2008
Write to Marry Day
It is my pleaseure to be one of the many contributors to Write to Marry Day on the Mombian blog. Here is the announcement of it from Mombian (Dana Rudolph):
Please join bloggers around the country and around the world on Wednesday, October 29 to blog in support of marriage equality for same-sex couples and against California’s Proposition 8.
The event will give bloggers a chance to voice their opposition to Prop 8 and highlight what they may have already done, online or off, to stop the measure. The campaign will also educate California voters of the need to “go all the way” down the ballot to vote on the proposition.
Mike Rogers of PageOneQ approached me last week to ask if I’d organize a blog carnival like Blogging for LGBT Families Day, but this time to help generate awareness and action against Prop 8. I readily agreed, and here it is.
To participate, post on your own blog against Prop 8 on or before October 29, 2008, then submit the link to your post by completing the form below. Links to your own videos on YouTube or other video sites are also accepted.
Many of you have already done much to try and stop Prop 8 in California, donating and raising money, blogging, and talking with friends and family. Please share your efforts and post about them for Write to Marry Day, or submit a link to a previous post. This will help us create a comprehensive view of bloggers’ efforts to stop Prop 8.
I urge you to spread the word about this event as widely as possible, on both LGBT and mainstream sites. All bloggers who are against Prop 8 are welcome to contribute posts, regardless of where they live or whether they are LGBT or not.
As I post this, over 300 posts have been added. I encourage you to click on the link below and peruse the wide variety of stories--there is sure to be something that will pique your interest.
Write to Marry Day
Please join bloggers around the country and around the world on Wednesday, October 29 to blog in support of marriage equality for same-sex couples and against California’s Proposition 8.
The event will give bloggers a chance to voice their opposition to Prop 8 and highlight what they may have already done, online or off, to stop the measure. The campaign will also educate California voters of the need to “go all the way” down the ballot to vote on the proposition.
Mike Rogers of PageOneQ approached me last week to ask if I’d organize a blog carnival like Blogging for LGBT Families Day, but this time to help generate awareness and action against Prop 8. I readily agreed, and here it is.
To participate, post on your own blog against Prop 8 on or before October 29, 2008, then submit the link to your post by completing the form below. Links to your own videos on YouTube or other video sites are also accepted.
Many of you have already done much to try and stop Prop 8 in California, donating and raising money, blogging, and talking with friends and family. Please share your efforts and post about them for Write to Marry Day, or submit a link to a previous post. This will help us create a comprehensive view of bloggers’ efforts to stop Prop 8.
I urge you to spread the word about this event as widely as possible, on both LGBT and mainstream sites. All bloggers who are against Prop 8 are welcome to contribute posts, regardless of where they live or whether they are LGBT or not.
As I post this, over 300 posts have been added. I encourage you to click on the link below and peruse the wide variety of stories--there is sure to be something that will pique your interest.
Write to Marry Day
October 28, 2008
Is Marriage Equality A Barrier To Christ's Message?
Ex-Gay Watch has an article on a speech recently given by Alan Chambers, who is the leader of Exodus International. This group advocates the religious right's contention that being gay is something that you can change if you just pray hard enough. I know that's oversimplifying, but they really believe that attraction to the same sex can be changed because of coming to Christ!
Well, now Mr. Chambers has come out in this speech to a group of California's Prop 8 supporters saying that if marriage equality had been a reality when he was "in the gay lifestyle", it would have been harder for him to come to Christ! Wait a minute... So, where does that leave glbt Christians like me? Is he saying that God can't touch someone right where they are, no matter what is going on in the world? Wow. Has Mr. Chambers been reading the same Bible I have read? I don't think so. My Bible says that God is all-powerful.
Read more about it at:
http://www.exgaywatch.com/wp/2008/10/chambers-vote-against-marriage-equality-to-make-it-easier-for-ex-gays/#more-3078
What frustrates me about this speech is that Mr. Chambers makes it seem as though marriage equality will somehow lead to young gay and lesbian people turning their backs on God because, after all, being gay is inherently anti-God and anti-Christian. At least that is what he's implying. It's the old "gay agenda" argument rearing it's ugly head again. Groups like Exodus seem to feel that all glbt people are boozing, pill popping sexaholics who think of nobody but themselves and are out to recruit young children! They have decieved themselves into believing that it's not possible to be a Christian who is on fire for God and also be a glbt person. How sad for them. My life in the Lord is rich indeed and my love for my partner is strong and enduring. I have it good!
Too bad that Mr. Chambers is so unhappy with who he is that he tries to ruin it for the rest of us. I hope one day he realizes that God's love doesn't stop because we love someone of the same gender. God doesn't hate us for being gay. He loves us FOR who we are. He loves ALL of us. No strings attached. It's our job to love Him back. When will the ex-gay folks see that?!
Well, now Mr. Chambers has come out in this speech to a group of California's Prop 8 supporters saying that if marriage equality had been a reality when he was "in the gay lifestyle", it would have been harder for him to come to Christ! Wait a minute... So, where does that leave glbt Christians like me? Is he saying that God can't touch someone right where they are, no matter what is going on in the world? Wow. Has Mr. Chambers been reading the same Bible I have read? I don't think so. My Bible says that God is all-powerful.
Read more about it at:
http://www.exgaywatch.com/wp/2008/10/chambers-vote-against-marriage-equality-to-make-it-easier-for-ex-gays/#more-3078
What frustrates me about this speech is that Mr. Chambers makes it seem as though marriage equality will somehow lead to young gay and lesbian people turning their backs on God because, after all, being gay is inherently anti-God and anti-Christian. At least that is what he's implying. It's the old "gay agenda" argument rearing it's ugly head again. Groups like Exodus seem to feel that all glbt people are boozing, pill popping sexaholics who think of nobody but themselves and are out to recruit young children! They have decieved themselves into believing that it's not possible to be a Christian who is on fire for God and also be a glbt person. How sad for them. My life in the Lord is rich indeed and my love for my partner is strong and enduring. I have it good!
Too bad that Mr. Chambers is so unhappy with who he is that he tries to ruin it for the rest of us. I hope one day he realizes that God's love doesn't stop because we love someone of the same gender. God doesn't hate us for being gay. He loves us FOR who we are. He loves ALL of us. No strings attached. It's our job to love Him back. When will the ex-gay folks see that?!
October 27, 2008
"Doom and Gloom" Is Not Christian
I'm happy to announce that I will be a regular contributor to Gay Agenda, "a gay focused news source concerned with cutting through the clutter of information online to bring you the interesting and important stories that affect the LGBT community."
Here is my first piece:
The Republican Party continues to use fear mongering as one of it’s prime tactics in this election cycle, and their affiliate, the Religious Right, remains a primary source.
One painfully obvious example of this is a recent letter produced by Focus on the Family Action, quoted in this MSNBC report, titled “Letter from 2012 Obama’s America.”
Click here to read the rest of the essay.
Here is my first piece:
The Republican Party continues to use fear mongering as one of it’s prime tactics in this election cycle, and their affiliate, the Religious Right, remains a primary source.
One painfully obvious example of this is a recent letter produced by Focus on the Family Action, quoted in this MSNBC report, titled “Letter from 2012 Obama’s America.”
Click here to read the rest of the essay.
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