<3 this:
http://www.religiondispatches.org/blog/sexandgender/755/
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
no offense
I feel thoroughly sick right now. I have just watched Carrie Prejeans press release about the media storm Perez Hilton created after she expressed her Catholic views at the Miss USA pageant.
This young woman is completely entitled to her own views and opinions but I don't see how she's allowed to voice these very conservative opinions in such a public manner. She obviously doesn't support gay marriage or equality for LGBT people. And that is fine by me. I'm not going to force my views down anybody's throat. I'm not going to stand up in a public forum and debate it out with Catholic people or any other person who doesn't believe in equality for LGBT people. But the state is separate from personal beliefs. Equality should be a non biased, religion and belief free institution.
I don't believe in shoving my beliefs or my vision of right and wrong down other peoples throats. But I do believe we should all be equal in law and let live our lives as we wish as long as we are not physically, mentally or emotionally hurting any other human being in the process.
Carrie Prejean has hurt me tonight. I wish her all the best in her life, I wish her every happiness, but I want her to butt the fuck out of my life and the lives of every other LGBT person in this world.
Because quite frankly honey, it's none of your fucking business. No offense.
This young woman is completely entitled to her own views and opinions but I don't see how she's allowed to voice these very conservative opinions in such a public manner. She obviously doesn't support gay marriage or equality for LGBT people. And that is fine by me. I'm not going to force my views down anybody's throat. I'm not going to stand up in a public forum and debate it out with Catholic people or any other person who doesn't believe in equality for LGBT people. But the state is separate from personal beliefs. Equality should be a non biased, religion and belief free institution.
I don't believe in shoving my beliefs or my vision of right and wrong down other peoples throats. But I do believe we should all be equal in law and let live our lives as we wish as long as we are not physically, mentally or emotionally hurting any other human being in the process.
Carrie Prejean has hurt me tonight. I wish her all the best in her life, I wish her every happiness, but I want her to butt the fuck out of my life and the lives of every other LGBT person in this world.
Because quite frankly honey, it's none of your fucking business. No offense.
Friday, May 8, 2009
The irish school system suppressing homosexuality
Okay prepare for a bit of a rant. As I will say to everyone I meet I am very open about my sexuality. I am a gay woman, and I am quite vocal about how my school stopped me from exploring my sexuality for six years.
I was always a quiet child, very shy, didn't like forcing myself on anybody. This was perceived by my teachers in primary school as an arrogance, that I thought people should come to me instead of me approaching them. So when I entered secondary school I just wanted to blend into the pale green walls so that I wouldn't get picked on any more. My plan worked quite well, I was not academically brilliant or terrible, i never played sports and I always sat quietly in class.
I was so scared to about anything that would make me different or cause people to notice me that I refused to even let myself think about the feelings I began experiencing for people of the same gender at age 13. It wasn't until I had my first best friends in 3rd year (aged 15) that I confided in about my sexuality. An even then it was only mentioned, never discussed. I believed I was alone in these feelings, or that all the other gay people had some cool club or magically knew each other. I didn't think I was worthy of such a thing.
I think I escaped the lesbian light (that horrendously judgemental light that peers shine on you when you show no interest in boys, or even if you're only slightly non conforming) because of a "high profile" relationship between myself and the male lead of the play in my Transition Year (age 16). But inside I knew I was bisexual at the very least.
So, contented in my relative anominity and distracted by teenage drama and general life, I refused to dwell on my unhappiness and feelings of not belonging. I had never fel like I belonged anywhere, never felt like I had a real purpose in life. Had I seen a poster about young gay people or heard of a website, even in gossip, I think my school life could have been a lot better. Or perhaps a lot worse. I definately have not had a terrible school life, in fact I led the life most bullied young people crave. But seeing how much accepting my sexuality has brightened my life makes me wonder about what I could have ahieved ifI'd been allowed to discover and explore this at age 13.
What started this rant was a discussion with several current students of my former school. It seems that life there for LGBT students is exactly the same as it was for me. And according to many other students from accross Ireland my school is not alone in its ignorance of LGBT issues that its students face, to the point that some schools deny that they have "that" problem in their schools. I can almost guarantee that none of my teachers would have guessed I was gay and a lot of other young LGBT people are the same.
I never want another young person to face what I did, to feel so alone and different because the school system refuses to educate their students about LGBT issues. Lets stop this nonsense and let schools become places where young people can be whoever they want to be and discover every aspect of themselves. Imagine the diverse, open-minded young people that Ireland could have in the next few years. All it takes is the first few bold steps.
www.belongto.org
I was always a quiet child, very shy, didn't like forcing myself on anybody. This was perceived by my teachers in primary school as an arrogance, that I thought people should come to me instead of me approaching them. So when I entered secondary school I just wanted to blend into the pale green walls so that I wouldn't get picked on any more. My plan worked quite well, I was not academically brilliant or terrible, i never played sports and I always sat quietly in class.
I was so scared to about anything that would make me different or cause people to notice me that I refused to even let myself think about the feelings I began experiencing for people of the same gender at age 13. It wasn't until I had my first best friends in 3rd year (aged 15) that I confided in about my sexuality. An even then it was only mentioned, never discussed. I believed I was alone in these feelings, or that all the other gay people had some cool club or magically knew each other. I didn't think I was worthy of such a thing.
I think I escaped the lesbian light (that horrendously judgemental light that peers shine on you when you show no interest in boys, or even if you're only slightly non conforming) because of a "high profile" relationship between myself and the male lead of the play in my Transition Year (age 16). But inside I knew I was bisexual at the very least.
So, contented in my relative anominity and distracted by teenage drama and general life, I refused to dwell on my unhappiness and feelings of not belonging. I had never fel like I belonged anywhere, never felt like I had a real purpose in life. Had I seen a poster about young gay people or heard of a website, even in gossip, I think my school life could have been a lot better. Or perhaps a lot worse. I definately have not had a terrible school life, in fact I led the life most bullied young people crave. But seeing how much accepting my sexuality has brightened my life makes me wonder about what I could have ahieved ifI'd been allowed to discover and explore this at age 13.
What started this rant was a discussion with several current students of my former school. It seems that life there for LGBT students is exactly the same as it was for me. And according to many other students from accross Ireland my school is not alone in its ignorance of LGBT issues that its students face, to the point that some schools deny that they have "that" problem in their schools. I can almost guarantee that none of my teachers would have guessed I was gay and a lot of other young LGBT people are the same.
I never want another young person to face what I did, to feel so alone and different because the school system refuses to educate their students about LGBT issues. Lets stop this nonsense and let schools become places where young people can be whoever they want to be and discover every aspect of themselves. Imagine the diverse, open-minded young people that Ireland could have in the next few years. All it takes is the first few bold steps.
www.belongto.org
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