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Civil Rights LGBTQ Issues Politics WTF

The System Is Broken, But How Do We Fix It?

So, it’s been a while since I’ve posted here but something happened tonight that is just the kind of thing that gets me to blog.  I recently met a guy named Alex and tonight when we were talking I found out his story.  He’s 27, has lived in Colorado for 3 years and is from Peru.  He’s gay and is out here but is not at a point where he feels he can tell his family or anyone back home.  He’s living here illegally; he overstayed a work visa.

I used to be a right-wing crazy who would go nuts over this kind of stuff, then I became a very conflicted and confused “moderate” who didn’t know quite what to do about these things but still strongly felt “they” should all go back and do it legally.  Now I’m a bleeding heart liberal who wants us to throw open our arms and our borders and actually live by “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” 

Why does Alex want to live in America so badly?  He wants to fall in love and be able to live openly and without fear in a same sex relationship.  As we spoke tonight he sadly told me about a close friend of his that was arrested for his immigration status almost 3 months ago.  His friend is from Morocco and is desperate to stay here because he can be jailed for his sexuality if he is sent back home.  He applied for amnesty based on his sexual orientation and was denied.  He appealed and was in the middle of the detailed and exhaustive process when he was was picked up and taken to jail for his illegal status.  He was shipped to a jail near Colorado Springs and remains there almost three months later.

I know we must have immigration laws; I understand that reality, but this is not the answer.  This man is in jail and will likely be sent back to a very unfriendly country where he may be imprisoned for who he is and we don’t consider that important enough for him to stay.

This system is broken, but how do we fix it?

Categories
Civil Rights LGBTQ Issues News

A Very Sad Anniversary

On this day one year ago 15 year old Lawrence “Larry” King was shot and killed as he sat in his 8th grade classroom.  He was murdered for having the courage Lawrence Kingto  openly be who he had known he was for years.  Larry came out when he was just 10 years old.  It took me until I was 20 years old and living 1,200 miles from my family before I would take that step.  Larry had courage beyond my understanding and despite the awful, turbulent home life he was experiencing he had the conviction to be himself.

 

Larry’s 16th Birthday would have been 1 month ago and my heart is broken that he wasn’t here for it.  Any death at that age is nearly impossible for me to understand, but for someone like Larry to have lived and survived through a very rough childhood to only then to have his life cut short simply for being something other than heterosexual, is almost too much to take.

Lawrence KingI have read accounts of Larry’s last few weeks and from what I gather Lawrence had started to self-identify as female, going by the name Letitia King.  Whether Larry was a gay boy or Letitia, self-identifying as female makes no difference.  Whether Larry or Letitia, this young life should be remembered an honored for the courage that was shown by just being true to what was inside.

So Larry…Letitia, I honor and remember you today.  Your death broke many hearts, but through that pain many more hearts were changed from fear and anger to reconciliation and love.  Rest in peace.

 

Lawrence “Larry” “Letitia” King
January 13, 1993 – February 12, 2008

Rest In Peace

4lawrenceking_story

Categories
Civil Rights LGBTQ Issues News Politics

Please Don’t Divorce My Friends


http://www.couragecampaign.org/divorce

Ken Starr, who led the campaign to impeach President Bill Clinton, filed a legal brief last month — on behalf of the “Yes on 8” campaign — that would forcibly divorce 18,000 same-sex couples that were married in California last year before the passage of Prop 8.

Watch “Fidelity” and sign our letter to the state Supreme Court. Tell the Supreme Court to invalidate Prop 8, reject Ken Starr’s case, and let loving, committed couples marry. DEADLINE: Valentine’s Day.

76,283 people have signed the letter (as of Sunday, February 8). Will you add your name now?:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/divorce

“Fidelity” used with permission from Regina Spektor and EMI Records.

Categories
Civil Rights Humor LGBTQ Issues Random

Consequences of Gay Marriage

gaymarriage

Someone over at GraphJam.com game up with this brilliant and incredibly accurate graph.
[ad#banner]

Categories
Civil Rights LGBTQ Issues Politics

Pray For Me?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoresV7LcbE[/youtube]

How utterly disturbing.  The sounds of doom and gloom, the masses marching, the warnings of terror to come.  Give it a rest.  Me getting married is not going to hurt you in any capacity.  Educated voters don’t buy that.  Does that mean you won’t win?  Not necessarily.  There are lots of uneducated, ignorant voters out there that fall for this type of fearmongering.

What do you think of this lovely show of Christian love and compassion?

Categories
Civil Rights LGBTQ Issues News WTF

After Stroke, Lesbian Couple Refused Visitation

MIAMI, June 26 (UPI) — A Washington woman said she filed a federal lawsuit accusing a Miami hospital of “anti-gay animus” after workers refused to let her see her dying partner.

Janice Langbehn and her partner Lisa Marie Pond, both aged 39, intended to enjoy a vacation cruise with three of their four children, marking the women’s 18 years as a couple in February 2007, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Thursday.

The trip abruptly ended when Pond had a massive stroke as the ship was preparing to leave port, the newspaper said.

She was taken to Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital, where Langbehn said workers would not let her see her ailing partner.

A social worker allegedly said the couple was in an “anti-gay city and state.”

Pond died about 18 hours after she arrived at Jackson’s Ryder Trauma Center.

Langbehn said she was permitted to see Pond for no more than about five minutes.

The suit, lodged in U.S. District Court in Miami, seeks at least $75,000 and accuses physicians Alois Zauner and Carlos Alberto Cruz and social worker Garnett Frederick of negligence and “intentional infliction of emotional distress.”

Source: http://www.politicalgateway.com/news/read/156028

Categories
Civil Rights LGBTQ Issues News Politics Videos

Thank You California; Larry, You’re Missed

While we are celebrating the recent decision of the California Supreme Court I wanted to post this tribute video to Lawrence Fobes “Larry” King.  The voice speaking is Ellen DeGeneres.  She made the comments on her talk show.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNep7NKwel8[/youtube]
I also encourage you to watch the video from Ellen’s show that day.
Categories
News Random

Martin Luther King Jr. – 40 Years Later

NBC’s Nightly News with Brian Williams did this fantastic piece on the end of Martin Luther King Jr’s life.  Take a minute to watch it, it’s great.

The Last Days of MLK

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Random Videos

An Amazing Gift

MLKPoster

This was a gift I received recently. The white box at the bottom has the text of his “I Have A Dream” speech. I was speechless when I unwrapped it. I think this was the only gift I’ve ever received that made me cry.

The text of his magnificent speech:

 


I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

 

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. *We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by a sign stating: “For Whites Only.”* We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest — quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the
color of their skin but
by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of “interposition” and “nullification” — one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day — this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

 


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Random

Journaling The Journey

Oh, why do the good days end
Makes me wonder now
With the way I feel
If yesterday was even real

And why, oh why do You seem so far away
Could it be that I’ve gone too far this time
And can I make You change Your mind, oh.
Why should any day, why should any day
Why should any day, should any day
Be like today?

Do I wallow in my insecurities?
Do I trust what my feelings are tellin’ me?
Or do I rest in the promise You made me
That You’ll never leave?

One of Those Days" – Chris Rice

Well, I'm finally blogging again.  It's been a while since I had my last blog.  Some people discovered it that were not supposed to see it so I had to remove it.  Here's hoping it doesn't happen again here.

All of this blog is about a journey.  I'm in a period now where I am incredibly confused, lost, and frightened.  I am questioning everything I've ever believed(again) and it's all pretty terrifying.  I am a Christian.  I am gay.  I am engaged to a wonderful guy.  I am feeling trapped.  I am twenty-three years old, and have yet to obtain my college degree.  I am passionate about civil rights, youth suicide prevention, and many other aspects of Social Work.  I am also passionate about Youth Ministry.  At this point, I am trying to figure out where God wants me, and recently, if God even has specific plans for us as I've always believed.  Is He even the God I've always believed in?  I believe in God, I believe there is a Creator…everything else is up for grabs to some degree.

Yeah, I'm questioning everything.  I feel like I've just started walking through a cave, devoid of any light.  I know I will get through it, but I'm afraid of the pain I may encounter or may cause others along the way.  I'm afraid of broken dreams, broken hopes, and broken hearts.  If you pray, pray for me.  If you've been through this journey, share your experience with me.

What if you’re right?
And he was just another nice guy
What if you’re right?
What if it’s true?
They say the cross will only make a fool of you
And what if it’s true?

What if he takes his place in history
With all the prophets and the kings
Who taught us love and came in peace
But then the story ends
What then?

But what if you’re wrong?
What if there’s more?
What if there’s hope you never dreamed of hoping for?
What if you jump?
And just close your eyes?
What if the arms that catch you, catch you by surprise?
What if He’s more than enough?
What if it’s love?

What if you dig, What if you dig
Way down deeper than your simple-minded friends
What if you dig?
What if you find
A thousand more unanswered questions inside
That’s all you find

What if you pick apart the logic
And begin to poke the holes
What if the crown of thorns is no more
Then folklore that must be told and retold

But what if you’re wrong?
What if there’s more?
What if there’s hope you never dreamed of hoping for?
What if you jump?
And just close your eyes?
What if the arms that catch you, catch you by surprise?
What if He’s more than enough?
What if it’s love?

You’ve been running as fast as you can
You’ve been looking for a place you can land so long
But what if you’re wrong?

What if you jump?
And just close your eyes?
What if the arms that catch you, catch you by surprise?
What if He’s more than enough?
What if it’s love?

"What If?" – Nichole Nordeman

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