adrianmchs's Amplify Diary

Portugal Takes A Step Forward For LGBT Rights

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 12:39:00 -0500

After the disappointing news from New Jersey on same-sex marriage, it’s refreshing to wake up this morning to hear that Portugal, that little land-locked country next to Spain, has passed a law in parliament that will permit same-sex marriages as soon as April.

The Socialist country of Portugal, although predominantly Catholic and faced with conservative opposition passed the law Friday by a margin of 125 to 99.

The Canadian Press reports:

"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."

The bill still needs to be signed into law by Conservative President Anibal Cavaco Silva, however, it is unlikely that the bill will be vetoed which means that Portugal will soon join other European countries like Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Norway in recognizing the right of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender people to marry.

Now if it’s anything that I picked up from this story it’s that despite the strong presence of the Catholic Church in Portugal, there are a majority of people in the government who recognize equal rights and recognize that one of the largest churches in the world cannot stand in the way of LGBT people’s civil rights. This is the same church that not too long ago threatened to “stop feeding the homeless” if same-sex marriage was allowed in Washington D.C. It’s entirely possible to fight conservative opponents of same-sex marriage, but it takes a strong group of people to be persistent and not settle for separate but equal civil unions. This is the same country that just lifted the government’s ban on abortion two years ago and permitted same-sex unions in 2001. Change is possible if we work at it, people, even in the United States and countries that have a large demographic belonging to a historically anti-gay church.

Even though this same-sex marriage bill has been passed, the fight isn’t over in Portugal, yet. Not too long ago, Portugal refused to grant same-sex couples the right to adopt children. Hopefully, legislators will not be dissuaded by the failure to pass a bill that would allow LGBT adoption and will only be further encouraged to move forward with LGBT rights after this victory.

And if it’s any other good news, the pope plans to visit Portugal in May, the month after same-sex marriages can begin to be ratified if this bill is passed.

Peace, Love, and Solidarity!

Waiting on the President

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:19:00 -0500

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.

Letter Campaign to Seventeen Magazine

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 19:52:00 -0500

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":

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

So I suppose a letter like this would suffice.

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!

Hey, Fox! Where Were You?

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:29:00 -0500

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).

Sexism in the House

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:32:00 -0500

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.

It's Chow Time

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:08:00 -0500

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."

Big Tobacco in the Gay Community

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:17:00 -0500

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.[More]

Elementary, Yet So Controversial

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:55:00 -0500

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.[More]

Westboros Weakness

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:55:00 -0500

So I think the jury is in, we all hate the Westboro Baptist Church, that hate group from Kansas that protests war veterans’ funerals, Jewish holidays, and places where LGBTQ people are celebrated and welcomed. It’s not the people so much as their ideas. The ideas that fallen war heroes are in hell and deserve to be, murdered and mourned LGBTQ youth and equality activists are in hell and deserve to be, and that anyone who disagrees with them should burn in hell unless they convert their beliefs. Let’s admit it. They’re “the crazy,” and that’s something right and left wingers can agree with.

The Puritan revivalists were at it again in Brooklyn, but it was here that they faced unanticipated opposition. The five adults and one child (So sick and disgusting, bringing children into an environment where slurs from both sides are being yelled back and forth. In one documentary about Westboro, there was a drive-by, a 7-eleven cup filled with ice and drink was thrown, and a five to seven-year old boy was hurt badly on the forehead because his parents forced him to go to an anti-everything-sane rally. In my definition, “everything sane” includes women’s reproductive rights, LGBT rights, loving Jews, Ikea, and honoring people who have served their country) were outnumbered by the 200 students of Brooklyn Tech High School. The event for the Baptists was scheduled for 3:00 to 4:00 PM but they left earlier than expected according to reports. Nike! I guess their anti-women’s rights, anti-Semitic, anti-LGBTQ rights, and anti-veterans signs were no match for pro-love teenagers. And like any 21^st century protest, the anti-hate rally was organized by the youth through word of mouth and Facebook. Westboro is no match for constant friend updates, Kanye West memes, and Farmville. Anyone want to adopt a black sheep?

From New York Times:

[More]

Healthcare for the LGBTQ Community

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 20:54:00 -0500

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.

Respect for Marriage

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:52:00 -0500

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:[More]

Sick People

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:35:00 -0500

In light of all of the “teabaggers” rallying and complaining over the people in power, I would like to bring to light someone who maybe doesn’t have as much power as the president but enough influence over people to cause a considerable amount of harm.

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.

I would also like to mention as a part of the story the overt prevalence and signs of racism as a part of these anti-Obama rallies. AZcentral reports on Christopher Broughton:

[More]

German AIDS Ad: Too Much?

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:28:00 -0500

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.[More]

For More Than 25 Years

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 03:36:00 -0500

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!

How Would You Feel...?

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 15:55:00 -0500

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