The Gay Rights Movement

[ceez]

I saw this today on youtube. grab some tissue first :biggrin:

[iPromise]

hmm, gosh there's so many things I want to say, but I can only sit here and stare outside the window, only to wonder how much of a better place the world would be if we could all just love and care for each other, regardless of our sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, etc..

[East]

The sad thing is...so many gay men and women simply do not vote and unfortunately that means the struggle will take alot longer. Hatred will not kill us but one day apathy will.

[iPromise]

And what exactly promotes apathy within the gays/lesbians/bi's/trans?

Sometimes I feel like the LGBT isn't as concerned as they should be about politics, in America politics have so much influence in how we live a fee life here. Of course I'm not oblivious to the fact that the gay rights movement has made great strides, but I feel like we can do so much more, we just need to be more confident in ourselves.

Many LGBT's lack that confidence to be successful in something they truly desire, so in turn they don't care about it, they ignore it, until sometimes it's too late.

With so many suicides last year all over the news related to bullying and the privacy of LGBT individuals, it's made my body spin around and around in pain. How is it that we could have allowed something like this to happen? They could have been stopped, someone could have intervene, but no one did, all of people still died.

Some people argue that we're not a "community", but I feel that if you're a gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender who you embrace that you're part of this community, so why not help create a more welcoming community, have a structured community, one that where we stand together we're strong together.

[East]

It is much better than it was years ago but the sociological phenomenon where oppressed groups of people oppress each other...sometimes worse than the original oppressor...is the stumbling block.

If you want to understand this better...take an example of something you want for yourself or for the greater good of the community and ask yourself are there instances where you do not give to others what you ask for yourself? I think each person has to BE the change you are seeking because real change truly happens one person at a time.

Gay people discriminate against each other all the time...THAT needs to change.

[iPromise]

Right, and honestly I will say I discriminate against certain gay people. But I discriminate in such an aspect that it's really mattered, such as zipper hunters, instead of what really truly matters, the person. Or educational status, or plans for the future.

One of the thing that kills me is meeting a gay guy and he doesn't care about the future, he has no plans for a future, no educational background, nor does he desire to attend school or be successful. It hurts to see that, sure I may not understand truly why they have those feelings, but if it's something I want to change, I would want to change the way gays thing about their educational well being.

Educate them, much of it I find that gay people are so discriminated against that they lack the motivation to be successful. (obviously not all of them, but most of them I've come across so far).

I'm really looking forward to the next ten years and see where we will be. How things are going to change.

[Bowyn Aerrow]

Gee I'm old enough to have lived through a lot of that 'stuff' ('stuff' is an euphemism).

I hear gay youth complaining about a lot about not being allowed to marry and the very few issues left. They have no idea what it was like to be a gay male in the 1970's and the 1980's where being 'out' in nearly every field meant you would lose your job. The employers were full within their right (legally) to fire you for being a pervert (gay).

I knew guys who had undergone electroshock therapy. While that officially ended for the treatment of homosexuality in the 1970's, there were still plenty of psychiatrists who were more than willing to use electroshock therapy to treat homosexuality.

Of course that was still part of the era when they thought 225-240 volts could cure anything.

As a wanna be minister (I have my D.Min. took seminary, did ministry for a spell) I spent a good deal of time hand writing letters to bishops in the Anglican Church (Episcopal) decrying the anti-gay policies of the time.

I considered it a huge win when in 2004 The Right Reverend, Gene Robinson became the Bishop of New Hampshire. The first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church.

Up to that time from around the early 1990's the Church's stance was more or less 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'. To a point this is till the policy in many areas, however the Episcopal Church (The American arm of the Anglican Church) is far, far more open and tolerant to homosexuals in general than when I was in seminary and putting in my ministry time in order to earn my D.Min (demon - lol).

As part of my ministry I worked in a hospice environment, this was during the mid to late 1980's when Ronald Reagan was President. The fool refused to acknowledge the problem of HIV/AIDS, his administration could have stemmed plague if their conservative fear of the gay didn't exist. Had the government responded swiftly, when it first started showing up things would have went far, far differently. Instead we have/had millions dying largely through ignorance.

I watched many young men die - alone, from AIDS. It wasn't the fear of AIDS that kept family members away, it was Fear of The Gay. A decent chunk of these gay men hadn't come out to their families when they contracted the disease. The way their family found out they were gay was by the illness.

Back then few families tolerated gay children - far fewer than today.

What annoys me about all of this is we continually call it 'Gay' Rights. The truth is we are talking about Human Rights that is not applied equally to all. It is no different than Woman's Rights and Black Rights - same basic issues - same lack of understanding that we humans come in a much wider array of packaging than white, middle aged, wealthy male.

[EricOntario]

I saw this today on youtube. grab some tissue first :biggrin:

Thanks for sharing... over 85,000 views in a day is amazing. I'm pledging to help support the project and our American friends... hope others will too.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryan...ocumentary

[pellaz]

It is difficult to break the circle of abuse. A gay life leaves its scars for a person growing up. He or she expects to be a second class citizen, fear of being physically mis treated and dismissed by their family.

i think there is a fear of being gay. Look at the social conservative sometimes posting on gayspeak. They are not out, still single and getting into the >30 year old age bracket. With 11billion people on the planet being gay is not abomination.



things would be further along if we had a focal point such as MLK was for the civil rights movement here.

Homosexuality was classified a disease until 1973

gay sex was illegal in NAmerica untill 2003 sodomy laws repealed by the federal court:

lite yellow Laws repealed or struck down before 1970.
yellow Laws repealed or struck down from 1970-1989.
orange Laws repealed or struck down from 1989-2002.
red Laws struck down by the Supreme Court of the United States in 2003.

[princealbertofb]

Gee I'm old enough to have lived through a lot of that 'stuff' ('stuff' is an euphemism).
...
What annoys me about all of this is we continually call it 'Gay' Rights. The truth is we are talking about Human Rights that is not applied equally to all. It is no different than Woman's Rights and Black Rights - same basic issues - same lack of understanding that we humans come in a much wider array of packaging than white, middle aged, wealthy male.

Couldn't agree with you more.... Thanks for this long story.