Make your own kind of music

Listened to this on the Métro ride home. Heard the song a thousand times before but tonight the lyrics were very much at the forefront. Sort of like when you used to listen to the Moody Blues on pot.

I can't get John from couver87 out of my head. His youtube video was so raw and awakened feelings that I had long thought were buried in my past. I think that we've all been there at one time or another. And I don't think that he is necessarily in a depression because he voiced these feelings very publicly.

These are real issues. They are justified. And they don't represent internalized homophobia. But, I believe they represent a fear of being different and a longing to be "normal". Being normal is so much easier. Being lauded for having a girlfriend, wife, kids, frat party, tailgate party, etc would be very welcome. As would putting your arms around your lover at an outdoor concert in the park, or holding hands on a public beach or reaching over a restaurant table to give a kiss.
Who wouldn't want that - if they had a choice. But as John says, we don't. We can't change in spite of what the ex-gays movement may have us believe. so society has to change. Because we won't accept anything other than being accepted as equal.

I didn't set out to lecture. All I really wanted to do is dedicate this song to John and all of us who march to a different drum and sing to a different song.
Enjoy.

Keepin' it real - When being gay isn't so "fabulous".

I subscribe to John's YouTube channel, couver87. He's a young 22 yr.old student from Arizona who usually posts video blogs on general gay issues. However, tonight he speak from a very personal place and expresses what we don't hear often from gays; what it really is like to be gay and lonely in a society that reminds you every day that you are different and not as good as... Usually, this guy is Mr. positive; so this posting is all the more poignant. If you're think you might be interested, please watch and comment.

Be careful who your friends are...

My mother always told me that you can tell a lot about someone from the company they keep.

Well, The United States has been hanging out with some very suspect friends for a while now.

America shares it's "no gays in the military" policy with such countries as:

Cuba, China, Egypt, Greece, Iran, Jamaica, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, Syria, Turkey, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen.

Now, wouldn't it be nice if Lady Liberty would chose much nicer role models like:

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Uruguay.

This is the country that gave us The Village People, people!

What's hate got to do with it?

"Matthew Shepard was only twenty-one when he was pistol-whipped, tortured and left to die, tied to a fence outside Laramie, Wyoming. All of this savagery for one grotesque reason ---young Matthew Shepard was homosexual.

Half a world away, his mother, Judy Shepard, was awakened by a call from the hospital telling her what had happened. Five days later, Matthew died. It was a murder, not for profit, not for revenge but for hate. And because of that the death of Matthew Shepard shocked the country and the world. In the aftermath, Judy Shepard, almost crushed by her son's death, decided to do something about that kind of hate."

And so I began my Sunday morning to the dulcet tones of Michael Enright's introduction to The Sunday Edition on CBC Radio One.

The previous day I had been giving some thought to what I should post this week and quite remarkably, a number of ideas came to mind. In other words, a lot of stuff really pissed me off.

Prorogation? Obvious and way too easy. The shelving of the HIV Vaccine Research project that Harper so proudly proclaimed alongside Bill Gates in 2007? What else is new? There are many more examples of his flying monkeys pulling levers in the background as he struts about the world stage reciting platitudes.

Then there was the State of Union Address Wednesday night where President Obama delivered another inspirational speech that was immediately drowned out by the bellicose pundits of Fox news and the Republicans. It seems to me that American politics have morphed into a vast national football game with Democrats facing Republicans - adversarial and single minded in its goal to defeat the opponent.

Then I heard Judy Shepard on Michael Enright's show. She was telling Michael how she and her husband Dennis felt at the trial of their son's murderers. Their ability to contain their anger and remorse was a saintlike example of Christian charity that puts to shame all those religious zealots out there that have missed the biblical message that Jesus was all about loving your neighbour.

As many parents of victims have done, the Shepards, instead of wallowing in victimization and grief, somehow found the strength to establish a foundation in their son's name that has as its mission to "Replace Hate with Understanding, Compassion & Acceptance".

They have worked tirelessly over eleven years to bring programs to schools and communities to give a face to the GLBT community as well as to the victims of hate; be they gay, black, muslim or just different. That hard work was finally rewarded eleven years after President Clinton first requested that sexual orientation be included in the federal hate crime laws of 1968.

In October, 2009 the Federal Hate Crimes Bill was amended to include the provision, called the Matthew Shepard & James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. It is named after Matthew Shepard, and James Byrd Jr., a black man who was chained to a pickup truck and dragged to his death the same year.

Among the many things that resonated with me this morning was her statement that GLBT people face persecution all over the world even in countries such as ours where we have equal protection under the law. Yes, we have it so much better here than say, oh Iran. But we can't be complacent. We can't assume that because we can get married that we can't be assaulted, or that young people can't be made to think their lives are worth less than their friends and classmates. Will there ever be a time that I don't second guess myself when I want to give my husband a kiss or embrace him on a street?

We can't and shouldn't assume that older gay men, who face alienation from their own community and intolerance from their families and caregivers, can't be made to feel humiliated and perverse.

This gem of a comic strip got the full print treatment in the Notre Dame Student Paper, The Observer:

Character 1: "What's the easiest way to turn a fruit into a vegetable?"
Character 2: "No idea."
Character 1: "A baseball bat."

Having legal rights is one thing, being treated equally with respect by your family, friends, workers, and fellow citizens is quite another.

The battle raging over same-sex marriage has little to do with protecting the sanctity of marriage and everything to do with hating someone's lifestyle as it pertains to who they love. That State after State has enacted laws barring same-sex marriage or rolled back the rights of those who have gained it for a brief moment, speaks of the very troubling level of hate that exists in the land of the free, home of the brave.

I have no doubt that this is a civil rights battle. As Canadians didn't stand aside and idly watch the 60's civil rights movements from the safety of our liberal north; we shouldn't be expected to stand by and not help where and when we can in this one.

In a country whose level of ignorance is only topped by their level of obesity, can it be a surprise that hate is so rampant? IGNORANCE=HATE.

I wish that I had the wisdom and charity of a Judy Shepard.

Matthew Shepard Foundation Organizational Video from Matthew Shepard Foundation on Vimeo.

FOUNDATION'S STORY

The Matthew Shepard Foundation was founded by Dennis and Judy Shepard in memory of their 21-year old son, Matthew, who was murdered in an anti-gay hate crime in Wyoming in October 1998.

Created to honor Matthew in a manner that was appropriate to his dreams, beliefs and aspirations, the Foundation seeks to "Replace Hate with Understanding, Compassion & Acceptance" through its varied educational, outreach and advocacy programs and by continuing to tell Matthew's story.

Read Dennis Shepard's address to the jury here:

Attending Anti Prorogation Demo in Montreal

Just got back from anti prorogation demo. I'm glad that we had one, given Quebecer's ambivalence about federal politics.

However, very disappointed with turnout and usual Quebec centric tone. For example, at beginning we got the usual cheerleading speech from the animator. He attempted to psych the crowd with cheers of "Nous sommes "Montréalais!" (crowd cheers); "Nous sommes Québecois!" (crowd cheers) - then he went on to give the parade route and set rules. I couldn't let that go so threw in a "Nous sommes Canadiens" (sound of one hand clapping).

There were more "No Tar Sands" placards than "Back to Work" ones. And of course we had the usual "Patriot" contingent.

All in all, I'm glad I went because it's important to make a stand. I only hope that the planned approximately 60 demonstrations taking place to day in the rest of the country as well as consulates in the US will draw more response and will manage to get some press coverage so that Harper will get the message that Canadians do care.

The Log Driver's Waltz

In memory of Kate McGarrigle.

He had a dream - Martin Luther King

Today was Martin Luther King day in the United States of America. And as the struggle for LBGT rights makes its inevitable journey to the American Supreme Court, Mr. King's long struggle against inequality still inspires hope that a change can truly come.

There are many, and not just in the black community that take offense when gays compare our struggle to that of the civil rights movement in the United States. Coretta King was not one of them.

"We are all tied together in a single garment of destiny...I can never be what I ought to be until you are allowed to be what you ought to be," she said, quoting her husband. "I've always felt that homophobic attitudes and policies were unjust and unworthy of a free society and must be opposed by all Americans who believe in democracy."

And she pointed out that many gays and lesbians had fought for black civil rights, demanding that blacks return the favor: (Ed Brayton)

"Gays and lesbians stood up for civil rights in Montgomery, Selma, in Albany, Ga. and St. Augustine, Fla., and many other campaigns of the Civil Rights Movement," she said. "Many of these courageous men and women were fighting for my freedom at a time when they could find few voices for their own, and I salute their contributions."

In 1994, again invoking the words of her late husband in support of equal rights for all:

"For too long, our nation has tolerated the insidious form of discrimination against this group of Americans, who have worked as hard as any other group, paid their taxes like everyone else, and yet have been denied equal protection under the law...I believe that freedom and justice cannot be parceled out in pieces to suit political convenience. My husband, Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

On another occasion he said, "I have worked too long and hard against segregated public accommodations to end up segregating my moral concern. Justice is indivisible." Like Martin, I don't believe you can stand for freedom for one group of people and deny it to others.

Coretta Scott King's strong and clear voice for freedom and equality will be sorely missed, she died January 30th, 2006.