The LGBTQQIA community has struggled for equality for decades, but it isn't until recently that our community has begun to gain some solid ground.

2009 has seen recognition from Congress like never before, with legislation aimed directly at granting us our equality;

HR 1283 - Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2009 - Introduced in March
HR 3017 - Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2009 - Introduced in June
HR 3567 - Respect for Marriage Act of 2009 - introduced in September
HR 3827 - Every Child Deserves a Family Act - Introduced in October

We can't depend on our congressional representatives to come to their senses on their own, we have to make it known that we demand these bills pass through the House and Senate. This isn't to say that we haven't seen a great amount of support from the House and Senate already!

One thing that this generation has to remember is the blood, sweat, and tears that previous generations have put into the fight for equality. As we move forward, it's important that we value their efforts because without the pioneers of the 60's and beyond, we wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

This President has already removed the traveling restrictions against HIV positive people, and has made statements that show support for our equality.

Standing together and stannding strong is the only way that our generation will make our previous generations proud, the time for unity and action is now.

Bless God and Bless the Gays

That's the solution that the African nation of Uganda has presented in their house of Parliament yesterday, the bill is called, the "Anti-homosexuality Bill 2009", and it calls for the execution of any individuals with HIV from having sex with someone of the same sex, it calls for the execution of LGBT's that have sex with disabled people and those who have sex with LGBT's under the age of 18. The bill also goes as far as to enforce life imprisonment for those found or accused of having gay sex or same-sex relations, apparently that's already a law in Uganda, but this bill offers that law more jurisdiction and power. "Promoting Homosexuality" would be illegal in all forms under this law, removing any gay publications, having a shelter for LGBT's, providing services for LGBT's, and "aiding and abetting" homosexuals are crimes that would bring imprisonment under this legislation... gays are now outlaws in Uganda!

I've checked the big websites for their tale on this and their call to action, but there is nothing! I've had to reach across the Atlantic to find anything pertninet other than a few domestic LGBT sites called www.gayagenda.com & www.akawilliam.com those are some of the only domestic sites that I saw to have the story represented.

These are crimes against humanity, and thankfully the Human Rights Watch is on the scene and preparing to mobilize both domestically in the African state as well as globally against this injustice and deliberate attempt to perform a genocide against the LGBT community which is only 500,000 in a country of 34million citizens. This is rediculous, this is evil, and this is something that we can't let go unchallenged, go to this link HRW.org and sign the petition demanding the intervention form the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon now!

It's something small that we can do, but we need to pressure the international community and force them into action for our LGBT brothers and sisters that could very well be exterminated should this legislation go unchallenged by the international community.

Bless God and Bless the Gays! 

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about what our community can do to win the social debate for our equal rights… since the country’s starting to let our plight for equality take the back burner. There are many ways to come at this problem; there are the far lefters and the radicals that want to protest and picket, that’s fne but nobody really cares about protests in this country. Then you have the moderates that want to work from within the system, and that works great as well over a potentially extended amount of time like the organizations for other civil rights movements from the 60’s. I’m saying that our community go on a nationwide PR campaign to improve our public image! It works for this nation’s largest corporations, why couldn’t it work for us?

Think about it, you’ve got oil companies putting out commercials on how much they’re trying to save the environment, when really only a fraction of one percent of their total company’s budget is dedicated to more fuel efficient technologies. Then you have some of the global conglomerates coming out in support of healthy options at their restaurants, green labels on their products, and community outreach programs after their company had a hand in devastating the community they’re now helping. If it can work for them… why not the LGBT community?

It’s simple PR, we have got to get positive exposure! I know that a lot of us are going to be resistant to actually having to do something, but it’s something that has to be done! I have a few general ideas that can be done between the major LGBT groups and organizations here in Vegas, but we would definitely need the help of regular people like you and I. One thing that I was thinking that we could do is to volunteer as a community to organize fundraisers for different charities, who doesn’t like helpful people? We could all participate in the race for the cure event next year, the march of dimes next year, and plenty of other events that would get us out in the public eye as productive members of society.

It’s the cold hard truth that we have to prove ourselves to society… I’m sorry to say it, but it’s the truth. The conservatives are always going to win the social debate over our role in society if we don’t do something to condradict those statements! I’m not talking about running pro-gay events and educational seminars on homophobia… no! We need to get involved in what other people are passionate about, so that we can forge bonds in other communities, thus building more support for our agenda without having to fight to the death against the conservatives.

If there is a group that is fighting against breast cancer, we should be there in support of them, both financially and in numbers! If there is a group advocating for the homeless, we should be there too! We should organize and volunteer within the city limits at soup kitchens, women’s shelters, charities, fundraisers, and anything else that will get us in the news for being the good people that we already are!

Plus… who wouldn’t like to get their picture in the newspaper or be interviewed on the news? We’d be the most fabulous humanitarians in the state!!!

Once we get out there and start becoming involved with making our local community a better place, it will catch on and people will start to realize that we’re not the social deviants that the religious right makes us out to be. The public will see that we’re kind hearted, caring, and good people just like everyone else, and that we deserve equal rights just like everyone else. That’s our final goal, isn’t it? I’ve said it on my blog before that we can play the political game, we can play the radical game, but nothing’s going to matter if we haven’t played and won the social game! In my opinion, our community has to first change the hearts and minds of regular people before we can change Washington.

Give it a try, even if you’re the only one there! Be out and proud while volunteering, and change one mind at a time!

God bless America.

I was recently having a discussion with one of my straight friends about politics, and I found out some interesting things that I didn’t know before…

I was over at his house and like I had mentioned, we were discussing politics, something that I find myself doing quite often with almost anyone that will have me. Well, we began discussing how I thought President Obama was doing in office, and I’ve said it before that it is our right to disagree with the president if something he’s doing doesn’t rub us the right way. We may disagree on a few key items like gay rights, full disclosure terms, as well as national security; however, I still know that he’s doing a better job than McCain/Palin would have done. I’m a Democrat through and through. That’s fine, we discussed why I had my opinions of the president, and we both went back and forth on the wars, what happened there, why we’re still there, and why Afghanistan is going to keep getting worse/whether or not our allies will support our mission in that country.

We share similar ideas about politics and how it should work for the people instead of against, because we also went into great detail over the new healthcare legislation that President Obama is trying to get passed. We both agreed that people should be allowed to keep what coverage they have now if they want, that small businesses shouldn’t be overburdoned with having to provide their employees with benefits (price tag for small business benefits shouldn’t bee too high if possible), and that we should increase the taxes on the wealthy in order to help fund this project… sounds good to me so far.

Then we moved into my favorite topic… gay rights, the grand daddy of them all. Here, I was a little taken back that we differed in our views somewhat. When I discuss gay rights, I tend to take the argument back to the civil rights era of the late 50’s, 60’s and early 70’s, because that’s when the women’s lib movement captivated the national arena, blacks took the stage and demanded equality and an end to discrimination, and the gays began to make their move for a piece of the same pie. I discussed how blacks and women were treated as being inferior to white males in their respective ways; I brought up some of the large organizations that represented each of the groups and why they either were or weren’t successful…

We were together all the way up to this point, and then things went askew…

I went into the fact that women’s place in society was that of a subservient housewife, and that blacks were seen as inferior, second class citizens to whites… then he chimed in; “I honestly don’t think that gays are being treated as if they’re inferior.”

I took that in for a second…

How could someone see the current state that our community’s in and not think that we’re being treated unfairly and less than equals to the heterosexual majority? Like I said, I took that in for a second before responding… I then asked him if he thought it was okay for blacks to be forced to sit at the back of the bus, I mean, they at least got to ride didn’t they? He responded with a confused tone, saying that it wasn’t the same thing… I didn’t get upset because anger only makes a situation like that hostile and can damage friendships, so then went into the larger cases and key points that the gay community was fighting for, marriage and the rights that go along with it, don’t ask don’t tell, and the social change that needs to be accomplished in order for all of those to come to fruition.

In my personal opinion, our community is fighting for our civil rights, to get the same rights that all other Americans get to enjoy, the same rights that other minorities had been denied in the past. Interracial marriage was against the law at one point, women weren’t offered protection in the workplace, nor were they allowed the same job opportunities as men throughout history and the early 20th century. I bring up the other civil rights movements because I feel that we have to put everything into context of the time that these events occured… revolt was imminent. There was a social upheaval of the status quo that made the stage right for the civil rights movement to swing into full effect. The context where we find ourselves now is pretty unique, because in the new millennia, we find the attempted upheaval of the status quo being bogged down by special interest groups that tell the people what to think, and when to think it. That’s why our community hasn’t been able to break through to the national arena as effectively as other movements have… but, we’re also in drastic times, with the worst economy since the Depression, international tensions focused solely on us, political cobwebs grinding down the infrastructure of our country’s principles, and on top of that… people deplore discrimination, unless it’s against gays.

My friend and I discussed this part of the issue for quite some time before we were able to meet at a common ground of sorts… what did he honestly expect me to say? “Yea, that’s cool… gays don’t mind missing out on some rights, not worries.” Or, “Who needs all their rights anyway?” Something along those lines I’m sure… it’s fine to differ on opinions as long as there is room for communication and debate. There weren’t too many counterpoints on his part, so I’m pretty sure that he has been enlightened by education. I talked about the social change that needs to occur before we make our move onto the national stage, and I meant it… my friend for quite some time didn’t see this argument my way, and that was news to me. Doesn’t he know that I’m gay? It kind of made me laugh, out of disbelief really… we need to get people educated to the fact that homophobia is wrong, inequality is wrong, and discrimination, above all else, is wrong. I think I won one over for our team, go me!

Our move for equal rights has to take on a grass roots strategy as well as a large scaled one that works within the system… if regular people don’t change their minds about giving us equality, what’s going to make the government change its mind on the issue?

Talk to people that you care about first, and try to get them to see our side of the debate if possible; there aren’t any winners or losers, just people that are willing to share their points of view, regardless if they’re the same or not.

God bless America.

So today, the popular tv program, America’s got talent, aired one of their most successful broadcasts this season… it’s a fun show that I peronally enjoy watching! Also today, President Obama made his best Billy Mays sales pitch for the healthcare plan that he’d like to see happen. Which one was everyone watching? Most likely… America’s got talent, or another show like it. There are many other bills that are affecting our community as well as our state that should be getting attention… I’m not saying that healthcare isn’t important, because it most certainly is. I’m just saying that Washington has a way of pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes in order to take the nation’s attention off of the issues that really matter.

Once again, our community gets pushed to the back of the bus… DODT and DOMA related concerns are nowhere on the senate/house legislative websites, or at least none that I have seen. These are things that affect everyone, not just our community. At a time where we need the most qualified soldiers that we can get, this President is sitting by while they are being cast out and dismissed in shame from service… it doesn’t seem right, does it? Healthcare is a very tricky measure that has conspiracy theories all over it, what with some of the key politicians receiving up to almost half of their campaign financing from large health insurance agencies and their lobbyists… that’s not what we’re talking about here, we’re talking about the fact that healthcare should be passed with a group of intelligent people in charge. Not necessarily politicians… the President pointed out the hospital system in Cleveland and others as good standards for what he wants done; we should find the best systems that work around country, and try to implement their principles on the grander national scale.

I’m sure the gays can wait for their equal rights for another year, right? I mean… we’ve waited this long, what’s another term? Hey, we’re patient, make it two! There are organizations making their stealthy moves around Washington on our behalfs, but it’s everyone else’s job to start making noise about what we want. I’ve said it on my blog, and I’ll say it here… email your representatives and make them represent you, it’s quite the clever concept, but I hear they used to actually do that at some point in the past. What ever happened to no taxation without representation? I don’t feel represented… should we also have a tea party? It’ll probably/hopefully be a little more glamorous than the ones the elephants/conservatives had last year.

Maybe I’m just beating a dead horse, and you’re probably right… however, this is a dead horse that should get the crap beat out of it until congress does something about it. It’s about our civil rights; Although, they’d probably vote on and pass an animal right’s bill that would prohibit me from beating the dead horse before they passed legislation that would give us what we deserve… Maybe I’m crazy, just maybe.

God bless America.