A message for those who choose to bash and attack gay people

Run time: 05:57 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwJqJP-VgGA   Posted on YouTube: August 13, 2006 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: October 13, 2008 By DU Member: ccharles000 Views on DU: 1027

 
It has been ten years since he was killed for being gay.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard

Matthew Wayne Shepard (December 1, 1976 – October 12, 1998) was a gay American student at the University of Wyoming who was murdered near Laramie on the night of October 6–October 7, 1998. Shepard died at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, on October 12, 1998, from severe head injuries. His murder brought national as well as international attention to the issue of hate crime legislation at the state and federal levels.<1>

Russell Arthur Henderson pleaded guilty to felony murder and kidnapping, allowing him to avoid the death penalty. Aaron James McKinney was convicted of felony murder and kidnapping. Henderson is currently serving two consecutive life sentences and McKinney is serving the same but without the possibility of parole.<2>

And that we had better "shut the fuck up" or we will cost Obama the election.

Just keep in mind that "most" is as few as 50.1%.

you are who you are and it is not because of small minded people that the rest should not be free. We are only as free as the most discriminated against in our midst....You deserve full marriage and adoption rights just like anyone else, you deserve to be free to walk hand in hand and kiss in public without fear, you deseve to go for a job without discrimination, you deserve to practice that freedom you were born with.

I think what is happening is that most here assume full rights and privileges for all will be step 1 when we have sanity again. However, strategically its not a good move to bring it up before the election, or so goes the line of thinking.

No-one should ever stfu about their rights though. I haven't heard the word poor out of Obama in a while. It bothers me because I'm poor. I know that if Obama makes this election suddenly about poverty though it may tip more upper middle class voters to McCheese. I'm not gonna stop ranting about poor and union issues but I understand its 3 weeks to game day and I'm gonna bite my lip a bit and wait it out. I guess it comes down to trust.

My guess is after the election Obama and Biden, who are both constitutional scholars, will use their political skills to give the glbt community everything it wants while pretending to conservative dems they didn't want to by saying, "gee, that darn piece of paper says we are all equal, whatcha gonna do blah blah blah". Such is politics.

and a long time coming.

But also that bashing Obama and/or Biden for not bringing it front and center, which has happened quite a bit, would be counterproductive.

I won't claim to understand (I am probably as normal as it comes in relation to what rights or opportunities society gives me) but I do sympathize and believe that what you are asking should not have to be asked for.

If you think Obama will not try and correct that in the best way he sees possible(and he seems to be pretty smart), then by all means bash away.

Things are moving in the right direction, however slowly. I think you can trust him to speed things up. If he tries to swing a magic wand he might hurt that progress.

Is it right in the very sense of the word? No.
But the question is if its the best that can be done. And the best that you can expect someone to do that also has to gain the platform to do it from.

By all means speak up. But give the candidates some wiggleroom.

:cry:

As soon as the Melissa Ethridge song started, I had to turn it off. I cannot listen to it, it's too powerful.

I received my email from HRC, and signed the letter which was sent to Obama and other.
I really couldn't watch this video, or the one in the email...
Just too sad...tears my heart out....

edit: I started watching both...but couldn't go on...
peace~

"I can forgive, but I can never forget."

Actually, I'm still coming to terms with the 'forgive' part.

Such an incredibly beautiful child ...

:kick:

We all need our rights and our orientations and identities respected. No one's person-hood and sexuality should not be used as a tool by abusers of power to take away or deny us our human rights.WE GBLT people are EQUAL to any other citizen anywhere including the white,christian males,They,are no better or more deserving of rights than ANYONE else.

Did you know the murdering of transsexuals is one or more murders a month?

Gender transgression can get you killed.
http://www.metroweekly.com/gauge/?ak=2471
Look what happened in August 2002
http://www.tgcrossroads.org/news/archive.asp?aid=412
http://reelfreedom.com/MediaCoverageMurders2.htm
Nothing has changed we are still hated and killed
just for being who we ARE.
http://www.nbc11.com/news/13367105/detail.html


Trangender people are the butt of countless jokes on TV /Comedy.We are called freaks (in the bad sense) and mentally ill or worse psychopaths.Just because binary gender roles HURT us we are seen as less than persons.. We are negated, belittled and denied.My trans-women friends tell me in tears about how they get harassed on the street ,threatened,denied jobs ,pelted with rocks,and tragically sometimes it is gay people doing this to them. You would think our gay brothers knew better than to do such things but alas some don't..We ALL need our rights We all deserve to live free of threats and abuse because of our gender identity or sexual orientation..not a double or triple standard, a hierarchy based on orientation or identity.That is nothing but another kind of apartheid.

The gay people they suffer too.There is alot of homophobia out there and we all need equal rights.But some gay people want to say trans-gender is not part of the gay rights revolution. But we are,a vital part of it fighting for your gay orientation rights as well as our identity rights.And a person's Identity isn't just being the wrong gender it can be other kinds of identities some would rather just ridicule.But who has the right to deny others their own self perceptions and expressions of personhood?Even if it makes no sense to you it matters to them. NO ONE has any right to dominate and humiliate anyone into being ashamed of who and what they ARE..

Remember, anyone's gender identity and sexual orientation are indeed dual rainbows,that sometimes intertwine.Both rainbows are spectrum's and if you think of it there are countless rainbows that can become a part of who someone is and what their orientations are.

Stonewall, would it have occurred without that shoe?

Trans-people are rightfully wary defensive of those trying to"help" we have to fight through hoops and"gatekeepers " all"normals" to prove to them what we have known about ourselves for decades..and such we have to be wary.When our rights and our suffering can be dismissed over BATHROOMS,there is something very bigoted going on,and someone is trying to get out of doing what is right.

I have so much anger at the "mainstream" the "normals" and their irrational unwarranted hate of us gay/trans-gender people I just want to scream.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200703210018

For too long democrats have shifted rightward.Totally unaware of what liberal or progressive really meant because they have adopted some of the right wings bigotries..They deny our struggle for rights as valid just to suck up to ignorant fence sitters to win votes and you say this isn't bigotry? WTF??? Denying our voice to win votes is that is the ugly face of the rightward drift that still has a hold on many so called liberals even on DU. It makes me sad, pissed off and sick inside all at the same time.
When I read some of the cruel words aimed at GBL and T people here.
It has to stop.

Hope others see this video and listen to the song and the words and realize... we are all in this together... none of us are separated.... all of us are to __________ (fill in the blank)

and was even more happily shocked to have seen a play about him here in France. Gay bashing is EXTREMELY rare in France, in the five years that I have lived here I have never heard of it leading to death and have only heard of one loon beating someone for their sexuality. In the countryside or in the big city gay people can generally be themselves in public and have nothing to worry about. Some people may snicker and make quiet comments to their friends like "that guy looks like such a fag" but they do not insult the gay people themselves. Now if only the left wing party, the Socialists, had won the elections then gay people would be able to get married and adopt kids as opposed to their current civil unions. People can change. I am 29 and was homophobic up until I was 19 and at the university. ONE COMMENT CHANGED ME, I WAS CALLED A HYPOCRITE BUY A GAY MAN! That was all I needed, he pointed out how I argued for cannabis legalization because it was a matter of letting people live their own lives yet I thought gay people should not be able to get married and adopt kids. He asked "Why can't I live my life and be happy if I am hurting no one?" well, I had to stop being a hypocrite and agreed then and there that gay people deserved the same rights as me. I really think that most "homophobes" could have their minds changed by simply pointing out their hypocrisy. I am an athiest so I do not think that Matthew is in heaven, but if I were religious I would think so. STOP THE HATE!!!

Very sad story.

K&R!

Has the most beautiful roach on that I have seen yet . Just awesome regalia.
Is he your kid? He's as cute as can be!

You only ask for what is yours by natural right.