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My name is Adrian Pedroza, I am 16 and Bisexual. I am a Chicano living in Southern California. I am the Co-Publicist of my school's Gay-Straight Alliance, "Family of Colors." I love to campaign and get involved with today's issues. My specialty when it comes to social issues is LGBTQ rights, but I would love to learn even more as a member of Amplify.
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"It's a slight change to the law, it's true," Socrates, the prime minister, said. "But it is a very important and symbolic step towards fully ensuring respect for values that are essential in any democratic, open and tolerant society: the values of freedom, equality and non-discrimination."
In case you haven't heard, congress has choosen to protect Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer people by now including them as part of the group of classes of people that are discriminated against in this country and around the world. LGBTQ victims of hate crimes, illegal acts against people motivated by an intolerance or prejudice, will now be ensured that their assailants will not go unpunished or treated tepidly. Since 1969, race, color, nationality, ethnicity, sex, and religion have been recognized as protected classes, and now because of the passage of The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability will soon be included as protected classes of people. So what does the new law mean?
For more than a decade, senators have been fighting to extend protections for LGBTQ people and this Thursday their efforts along with the efforts of civil rights and gay rights activists paid off when the Senate passed the extension of hate crimes legislation. Because several states already enforce hate crimes protections upon LGBTQ people, the federal government will not change existing laws but will instead broaden the range of actions that can be considered biased against LGBTQ people such as preventing someone from voting or going to school because they are LGBTQ. The bill also includes available grants to help state and local governments fight the prevalence of hate crimes. Although the bill won’t prevent hate crimes, per se, the Matthew Shepard Act is a sign of great things to come during this era of rising progressivism in our nation. There is no doubt that the passage of this bill will pave the way towards future pro-LGBTQ legislation under the Obama administration.
Now that the bill has passed both the house and the senate, all we have to do now is wait for the president. We've been waiting for years for this bill and months for President Obama to fulfill his campaign promises to the LGBTQ community. We'll be watching what he does when he signs this bill and what he has in store for the future of civil rights.
So, the November issue of Seventeen magazine came out and there was a story in there that was suprising to say the least. The story was "My Boyfriend Turned Out to be a Girl!" It was a story about a girl who fell in love with her boyfriend who just happened to be, big twist, transgender. Derek, the boyfriend in the story, was accused of being a liar and a fraud because he didn't share with the narrator that "he used to be a she."
Well, a good friend of mine wasn't going to let it go. Ariel Bustamante has started a Facebook group, "Letter Campaign to Seventeen Magazine":
So I suppose a letter like this would suffice.The November issue of Seventeen Magazine featured a story entitled "True Life Drama: My BOYFRIEND turned out to be a gir!l"
Rather than use this opportunity to educate readers about transgender issues, it never once even uses any terminology (well, unless you consider the slur "he-she" -_- ) but instead furthers the common transphobic assumption that someone who's gender does not match their sex assigned at birth is a deceptive liar and even compares them (at the bottom) to perverts, drug addicts, and older dad's trying to get someone young w/o disclosing their parental/age status.
Please read the article (follow the link) done in poor taste with a terrible accusatory tone from the get-go and write a letter to the editor (mail@seventeen.com) expressing your opinion about the article, the implications it has, and ask them to put an apology in one of their next 2 issues.
The more responses they receive about this the better! Even if you don't read the magazine, it's important to send the message that articles like this will not be tolerated and that we don't want this hateful message being sent to young people who read it. Please invite anyone you can to write a letter, too
This is a response to your "True Life Drama: My BOYFRIEND turned out to be a girl!" article in the November issue of Seventeen magazine. I feel that the story's editor did not consider the implication that it would have on the transgender community and the readers who may or may not understand transgender people. The inappropriate use of terminology and the insensitivity on the matter in the story continues the cycle of transphobia in our community and confuses uninformed readers even more. I ask that you make a correction to your magazine in the next issue and apologize to your readers, straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, male,and female, for furthering the transphobic assumption that someone who's gender does not match their sex assigned at birth is a deceptive liar comparable to perverts and drug addicts. By keeping these ideas in your magazine and promoting them, you create a divide between all of your readers that will end up harming many people and creating a stigma attacked to people who are transgender. I hope that in the future you will learn to be more sensitive to issues concerning the GLBT community and that articles concerning to the latter will be taken in a more serious note.
Sincerely,
Adrian Pedroza
Get the full article here and write to Seventeen magazine to make sure homophobia and transphobia never touch the pages of the magazine again!
In case you missed it, the Daily Show covered the National Equality March on DC like no other news station did before. Surely a sign on the part of the media that shows the failure that we have of a system whose responsiblity is to keep Americans informed. What made my day after seeing the lack of coverage on the media is when my favorite, best straight ally went to me on Monday so that he could find out everything about the National Equality March that they didn't cover on Sunday. I love him so much. Well, in case you did miss it like Fox, CNN, and MSNBC, here's the Daily Show's "Queer and Loathing In DC." (Fear and Loathing reference).
Don't think that old ideas can never come back and find its place in American politics again. Sexism was proven to be alive and well while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was running for office and from what we've seen while she has been in office. Once again the National Republican Congressional Commitee has proven that the GOP has several members who continue to debase women and promote sexism in the United States. This time, they have attacked Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.
AP Reports:
She was taking issue with a National Republican Congressional Committee press release that accused her of backing down to liberals in her caucus who oppose Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal's recommendation for an escalation of troops in Afghanistan. Pelosi had been quoted as saying that voting for an escalation was a difficult choice for members of her caucus whose constituents oppose such action."If Nancy Pelosi's failed economic policies are any indicator of the effect she may have on Afghanistan, taxpayers can only hope McChrystal is able to put her in her place," the release said.
Clearly someone at the NRCC needs a few history lessons. This is unacceptable behavior and speech and should not be allowed in any house of Congress or government branch, period.
For years, gays have been waiting for the day that the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, the discriminatory law that bans openly gay men and women from serving in the military, is repealed. After thousands of honorable servicemen and women have been kicked out after already serving years in the military fighting for Americans and training for years to prepare for combat, the year finally came that a president would come into office supporting LGBTQ rights. After running a campaign promising all of us the oppertunity to serve this country we love, President Obama was elected, however, after eight months in office, we have not seen any of the change he has promised us.
Jon Stewart Tuesday night took Obama over to camera three for a little talk and in my opinion, nailed him!
(Follow Link Here If Above Doesn't Work)
Listen up, Mr. President. We're not backing done and we want action. So, eat up and start working for us and for what we deserve, equal rights! P.S. I loled at "The Gay After Tomorrow."
So once again The Onion has come out with a story that entertains, educates, and satirizes.
(If the above doesn't work try the link)
I usually like the Onion but this went a little too far. I know it was commenting on how "That's So Gay" is a popular phrase and on how smoking in the gay community is an epidemic, but gosh, the video was pretty harsh personally.
Well, anyway, the topic I want to bring up is the epidemic of smoking in the LGBTQ community. According to several reports, high smoking rates in the gay community is the result of stress and a number of external factors including advertising targeted towards the community.
You wouldn't believe how far my jaw dropped when I saw the trailer for this movie. You'll understand how amazed I was at what I was seeing once you see the video below.
"It's Elementary, the groundbreaking film that addresses anti-gay prejudice by providing adults with practical lessons on how to talk with children about gay people." The film first aired in 1999 on public television, yet I have never heard of it and schools are still scared to even mention the letters, "LGBTQ." This film brought to you by GroundSpark.
Representative Tammy Baldwin (D-Wi) has released a youtube video addressing the importance of healthcare reform and why people in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community should be following the debate carefully.
Congresswoman Baldwin, the first openly lesbian congresswoman in the house, has even included sections in the bills that would directly affect the LGBTQ community including extending drug access to people with AIDS and nondiscrimination policies. Her Youtube site can be found here and her official page here.
This Tuesday in the House of Representatives, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) introduced legislation that would repeal the discriminatory law that denies federal benefits to same-sex couples, the Defense of Marriage Act. The new bill, the Respect for Marriage Act, has over 90 sponsors in the lower house and support from former President Bill Clinton. The sponsors hope to educate and to gain momentum for the repeal and for future LGBTQ rights legislation. Although some believe, like Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass) who is not one of the sponsors, the repeal will not pass because the law would allow couples to take their partnership benefits across states, that did not stop the congressmen and women from coming together to fight for our rights. RMA ensures that in states like Vermont, same-sex couples are given federal marriage benefits in the state they married and where ever they choose to live even in a state like Texas. The Respect for Marriage Act will not force any state or religion into sanctioning or recognizing same-sex marriages. Congressman Polis (D-CO) states in defense of the proposed law, “Whether this takes a year, six months, three years, what we're accomplishing here today is getting the ball rolling.
From Huffingtonpost.com:
Pastor Steven Anderson of Tempe, Arizona, leads the Faithful Word Baptist Church, a loony, right-wing, god-smiting, hate church that preaches and prays for, “Barack Obama to die and go to hell.” He became relevant when Christopher Broughton, a member of the Faithful Word Baptist Church, brought an assault rifle to an Obama health care rally. He has ties to anti-government groups and was part of that day’s publicity stunt organized by Ernest Hancock, a conservative talk show radio host. It’s ironic how people who are pro-life will threaten to kill someone if they attempt to provide health insurance to millions of people.
A contraversial ad to spread AIDS awareness to the people of Germany has hit the web and has had organizations questioning if this ad has gone too far. I think y'all should judge for yourself but viewer's discretion advised. German television is a lot more lax than American TV.
Now, here's what's happening for those who don't want to watch the video. The ads show a woman having "close encounters" (sex) with several historical, tyranical dictators such as Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. The dictators are symbols of how HIV and AIDS are mass murderers and that they must be stopped from taking more lives.
The message is great and we can all get behind it but it's the execution that's the problem. Hitler is a symbol for AIDS but by having him have sex with a woman and spread the AIDS virus you can also be saying that the HIV-positive people and the people who spread the virus are the mass murderers. Clearly not the intent but it is logical to assert that that message can be portrayed in these ads.
As we have all heard, Maine will be fighting hard in the upcoming vote on human rights, specifically, marriage equality rights for LGBT people. The latest video comes from Equality Maine, an organization set on taking the recently passed law that allows same-sex marriages off hold as it is right now. So, until this Maine votes No on 1, the law will be put on hold and if Maine votes Yes then it'll be thrown out. Let's not let that happen. But first, we must know our past before we move on towards the future!
I ran into this very charming little commercial and thought y'all should see it too. The commercial comes from marriagequality.ie, an organization based in Ireland fighting for extended LGBT rights. Currently Ireland has Civil Partnerships but as we all know those partnerships and civil unions are not the same as marriages and do not guarantee the same rights and protections. Enjoy the video and don't forget that while we're fighting state-to-state for marriage equality people around the world fight on a national level for their rights just as much as us.
Sinead's Hand
Current TV's Bryan Safi returns once again as the gays-in-the-media-and-on-TV expert. This time, he gives his commentary on how television producers and writers include lesbian "flings" and create "homosexual tendencies" within the show between noramally heterosexual characters in order to enhance viewership and create a buzz for more publicity.
Not only is it disgusting that writers must include girl-on-girl action in order to rise in the ratings, the representations of LGBT people that they portray insult our community and give a tainted message to their viewers on what it really means to be LGBT.
In today's society, we're not all safe. That's why, especially for LGBTQQI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, and Intersex) tweens and teens, it's important to make sure you know the rules and practice caution in everything you do. This rings especially true for teens who are coming out.
Below is a video made by a friend of a friend about how to best come out of the closet and be safe while doing it.
Ask most LGBT people how they came out and the above video should be reminiscent to their expierences and the advice they would often give to a fellow "family member". (The submitter entered a contest on the website so make sure to support them. (ALSO click on this link if you can not view the above video.)
At this moment you should be asking why I am bringing up this topic. Well, it's because, as stated in the video, there are some places in the world where local law prohibits people from expressing who they truly are. If you haven't heard the story, yet, don't blame yourself. The media has been taking their sweet time reporting on this.
The event comes after gay couples [in Salt Lake City] and in San Antonio and El Paso, Texas, were arrested, cited for trespassing or harassed by police for publicly kissing. In Utah, the July 9 trespassing incident occurred after a couple [was] observed by security guards on a downtown park-like plaza owned by the 13 million-member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"I don't think that kiss would have turned out to be the kiss heard round the world if it were not for Proposition 8," said Ash Johnsdottir, organizer of the Salt Lake City Kiss-In. "I encourage them to promote the values they believe in and to defend their religious principles in advertisements, but civil rights have nothing to do with religious principles," Atali Staffler said.
Tortured by loneliness and his lack of success with women, George Sodini developed a plan to get even. On Tuesday night, he executed it, opening fire in a fitness center here and hitting 12 women, 3 fatally, before turning a gun on himself.
(Link To Youtube Channel Updated Daily)
As some of you may have heard, Israeli police were in search of a masked man who opened fire at a gay youth club in Tel Aviv, killing two and wounding fifteen in an attack that struck fear among the liberal city's homosexual community. This attack is considered to be the worst against the country's queer community. Join us this Friday to remember the victims of this hate crime.
The violence that exists around the world never ceases to shock me and this has to be the most shocking. Not only did this gunman viciously attack the entire gay community in Israel that night, he attacked all LGBT youth who struggle enough to identify themselves. I hope that as news of this attack spreads people realize that these were the children who were seeking an opportunity to live life to its fullest and they were stripped of that. They were so young yet they had gone so far in such little time. Maybe no one really knows who these people were but I know exactly what they stood for.JERUSALEM – Israeli police say a gunman entered a youth club for gay teens in central Tel Aviv on Saturday night and sprayed the interior with automatic rifle fire, killing three people and injuring 11.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said it was "most likely a criminal attack and not a terror attack." Tel Aviv has been a target for Palestinian militants in the past.
He said the gunman burst into the basement of the Tel Aviv Gay and Lesbian Association and opened fire on a support group for gay teenagers.
Police are searching the area for the gunman, who fled the scene, he said. Roadblocks were set up.
Rescue services said six of the wounded were badly hurt.
"This was a hate crime, a premeditated attack," witness Yaniv Weisman told Channel 10 TV. He said Cafe Noir, the basement club, was popular with youth.
"Those hurt were very young," he said.
Openly gay Knesset lawmaker Nitzan Horowitz said it was "without a doubt the biggest ever attack on the Israeli gay community, we are all in shock."
Witnesses told Israeli media that the gunman was dressed all in black, and described the scene as a "bloodbath."
When I think of this story it reminds me of my LGBT youth center, the one I go to every week, and at this moment I am at the point of breaking in tears. Those youth who go there, who are ages thirteen and older, are the bravest people I know. In a world of hate and violence, a world filled with those who concern themselves with the lives of others so much that the thought of those different from them drives them to the point of insanity and as we see here madness, not less than that. Who were those kids? Some, I’m sure were out and proud to be who they are. Some, I’m sure were coming to terms with themselves and beginning to understand their community. And I am sure that there was not a single one that thanked God, someone, everyday that they were finally somewhere that called them brother, sister.
For my next couple of blogs, I will be featuring the learning experiences that I have been privileged enough to go through while attending the Gay-Straight Alliance Network’s 3-day Activist Camp that took place last weekend. Before I go through the specifics of what I learned I wanted to start by sharing the application form to enter the camp that everyone had to complete before going to camp. Not all of them are the same questions (these questions are technically for another activity) but a majority of the questions asked revolved around the following themes of the questions.
