Five million shades of divorce.

You think that when you are fighting so hard for gay marriage to be legalized that gay divorce will come hand-in-hand. But, you thought wrong; “It's only been two months since the District of Columbia legalized same-sex marriage, Marriage may be allowed, but divorce will be much harder to do” says attorney Lawrence Jacobs. Many lawyers are warning their gay married couples. “Be careful what you ask for” because many states are denying divorce between gay couples and are even saying you may not marry again.

It seems that these laws are just appealing the issue within the present to make these people happy now. It is really showing how the Politian’s are still not thinking about these laws they are just passing them to shut us up. They are looking at the black-and white of the issue but there really is five million shades of grey with these issues.

The state of California has been dealing with many divorces after 2008 when same-sex marriage was legal. But these people are not getting fair trials as there are no set rules that they have to follow.

The entire situation just becomes very difficult to understand and resolve because states usually regonzie other state’s laws. For example a heterosexual couple may get married and divorced in new York but if they move too florida they don’t have to do it all over again.If the state doesn't recognize gay marriage, then how can that state dissolve a gay marriage? What if a state that outlaws gay marriage grants a same-sex divorce? Does that imply gay marriage is recognized?

Coming out...

Throughout my research I have found ALOT of different coming out stories. But these two in particular really pulled on my heart strings. I think it was the age that these boys’s knew they were gay and the experiences they went through at such a young age.

One of the boys Jason came from a very catholic family and grew up learning that gays were “sinners and they were going to hell”, but when he came out to his mother she was very accepting of him and even says it was somewhat of a relief that she knew her son was gay.

                McKay’s experience was totally different; he really did not know what gay was. When he finally told his Dad, he was not so accepting. He told McKay that he was no longer aloud to talk to boys or go online any more. But when McKay came out to his mother she said “I am happy you know who you are at such a young age”. The contrast that both these boys experienced put both of them in very different situations that other guys as well as girls face when coming out to their family.

                When we hear these stories about adults and even kids coming out each story is different because everyone is in a different situation. When we educate ourselves on the issues, like depression, that most people faces while coming out to their family and friends, we can form better support groups and alliances all over the world to help make coming out safer and nothing to be afraid of.

Don't ask don't tell

I do not think that I could not write a social justice blog without including an article on the DADT (Don’t Ask Don’t Tell) policy in the states. I did not know exactly what the DADT was so i did some quick research and Wikipedia told me that” DADT is the common term for the policy restricting the United States military from efforts to discover or reveal closeted gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members or applicants, while barring those that are openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual from military service” (Wiki online, para1, June 4^th 2010).  

Recently the Service members Legal Defence Network  has been trying to “improve” this policy because they want to try and reduce the number of service discharges. I say “improve” like this because I think this is the most ridiculous United States “policy” there is. The SLD says that: “The updated language does not change the fact that statements, acts, or same-sex marriage, are still grounds for discharge under DADT, including:

·         A service member can still be fired if outet by his or her parents;

·         A service member can still be fired for revealing his or her sexual orientation while making a statement to the police that would prevent or help solve a crime;

·         A service member’s middle school teacher can still out the service member 10 years after he came out to her in social studies class;

·         A service member can still be discharged if he reports that someone has threatened to kill him for being gay;

·         A service member can still be fired for hugging someone of the same sex;

·         A service member can still be fired for getting married; and

·         A service member can still be fired for saying she would like to return from Iraq to care for her dying girlfriend.

 I understand that this is supposed to protect service members of the military from discharge, but the fact that if you are a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender and you have to disclose this information to keep your job is outrageous. How come a straight person is allowed to talk about their spouse and children back home. Although I do have to give credit to Pres. Obama, as he has promised repeal it within his term. But many other countries accept LGBT military members. Ex  LGBT  service members have been asked to write letters to the president to hopefully speed up the process of repealing the policy.

Our home and native land?

Throughout my research for this project most, actually, all of my stories have been coming out of the United States. Now there are two questions that come to mind is it that Canada dose not publicise these issue like the U.S. does?

Or, is it that Canada has less “hate crimes” and human rights issues than the U.S? And unfortunately I think it is the latter. When you think of Canada’s human rights issues you probably think about the ongoing issues with the first Nations people. So it should come to no surprise to you that the first story I found coming out of Canada is... hey, what do you know, on the fight with Canada’s first nation’s people and child care!

When I read this article none of the information from it, like how children living on reserves are eight times as likely to be put into foster care, or how most parents living on reserves are alcoholics. These kids are being taken from their homes for many number of reasons , but the most common is what’s called “neglect.” This includes conditions of poverty, poor housing and physical and mental illnesses suffered by their parents. Basically the government is saying these parents cannot support their children, without support. What really gets me is that this can be avoided. The article states:

 “Advocates for the rights of First Nations children have long pointed out that things don’t need to be this way. If children’s services on reserves were linked to the needs of the children and equitable to services available in other communities, early intervention programs and other services could assure that more children receive the care they need and deserve without taking them away from their homes and their culture” (Toronto Sun, Craig Benjamin)

This is absurd! Children are being shifted from one home to another and having their culture torn from them, and all of this can be avoided? The Canadian government has stepped way over the line. We have decades upon decades of our government hurting these people and then we do this? I just don’t get it. How can we call Cananda “our home a native land” if we aren’t giving the natives the land, support and resources that are available to us how are we making it a home for them?

Haven't we seen this before?

Ok so I have not talked about this issue at all in my ISU study yet, but I think you will be hearing more and more updates from it. So the Arizona government has just passed the most ridiculous anti-immigration law. This law basically demands racial profiling from citizens and police in the state and lets police officers search ask for proper id papers to anyone they might have “probable suspicion"with.

And you guessed it, no one is happy with this. Students have been sitting outside of government buildings in Arizona while skipping school; people have even suggested “boycotting” Arizona as a whole.

I love the question the article asked, “Rep. Grijalva is talking about how un-American it is to have a person "pulled out of line" because someone does not like the way he or she looks. Sound familiar to the LGBT community?” And its totally true! Read back at the other articles I have talked about .Take Constance for example, she was separated from her entire high school because she was different, and many other . And now when the police might suspect someone (and just remember most of Arizona is Mexican immigrants) of being an illegal immigrant you are letting your people being judged and segregated from their own communities and towns.  Both communities are oftentimes not accepted by society and these issues parallel each other very well.

 I cannot imagine how frustrating it must be for these people in Arizona, thinking that the world is finally moving towards equality, and this happens. In contrast  I can’t help but think that maybe this situation might be a wakeup call for Arizona, that by segregating most of their population they will hopefully pull these two groups out of the line up and back into their own society, but that is going to take time. I just hope that this situation will bring the citizens of Arizona some good, maybe not today but tomorrow never knows!

Human rights is moving forward in Canada

I saw this add for the Canadian Human Rights Museum. I loved their perspective on the situation so I though I
should share!

Media is teaching equality

     I love musicals theatre, so it should come to no surprise to you that one of my favourite shows is Glee. I love this show for SO many reasons; they have managed to encase witty banter, fantastic musicals numbers and have also introduced some pretty serious social analysis themes in the show that teenagers are facing today. The Madonna episode did not disappoint a true Gleek like me. I don’t want to say too much without spoiling it, but glee managed to touch on the issues of how guys are treating girls in today’s society, the following weeks Glee also demonstrated the discrimination gay students face, as well as teaching viewers about loving who they are and their own bodies.

     The fact that such a popular show is pushing these issues in the viewers face makes me happy to watch something that is making a statement in a world where these things actually happen. They have been pushing the limits no other tv show has done before. Think about, what other tv show deals with these issues. The only other show that has made a teenage boy as fruity and totally awesome as Kurt is the writers of Ugly Betty.

     

     On March 18^th Betty’s nephew finally came “out of the closet” and even got his first kiss with his boy friend Austin. And believe it o not this episode made history, they were the first tv EVER to show two teenage boys kissing.

If we continue to publicize these issues it is going to give the cause more and more exposure which will in turn let the world take the finale step to human equality! 




Check out the preview for the Madonna episode of Glee. 

We are silent!

On April 16^th students all over the world participated in the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), to draw attention to anti-LGBT bullying and harassment. This year marks their 14^th annual day of silence.

I think my favourite part of this day is that it is meant to educate the public by their community’s youth. When the generation that will soon be running thus world understands rights for all then I would not mind living in that future at all.

This article is such a huge contrast from Constance’s situation where the student body were the one picking a fight with her, but by introducing a day of silence (meant to be significant as LGBT do not have a “voice” in their communities) we can make a brighter path for generations to come opposed to Constance’s high school and the example the parents and students of her high school were making.

I hope to discover more positive impacts to a big step forward in rights and freedoms for all of the World. This one day defiantly makes a huge impact.

Abortion and You (and also the Nebraska government)

Abortion, this is such a controversial topic, but interesting none the less. There really are two sides the the “human rights” part of the issues, the human that is carrying the human, and the soon-to-be human. The state of Nebraska has just passed two laws which I think are absolutely ludicrous, but I’ll let you have your own opinion. 

     The first law which Republican Governor Dave Heineman signed into law on Tuesday, requires doctors to screen women before they have abortions, to make sure they’re not being “pressured” into doing so, as well as to make sure they will not have any physical or mental problems after the abortion. Can you say crazy? And the second bill Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act would ban abortions after 20 weeks, citing that after that point, fetuses can feel pain.  What I don’t get is that before the bills was passed, Nebraska was one of a handful of states that still permitted late-term abortions without any restrictions, and they have just decided that with the signing of the first one the second one may as well go hand-in-hand. 

     The thing with abortion is it all depends on the situation you’re in, but who is it too say that your situation is ok to bring a child up in? I mean quite frankly i don’t think we should have six year old mums, ever, and I think that is a pretty good (although maybe extreme) example where abortion can get thumbs up! To me abortion is something you get to decided, not the government. That is like letting the government decided what clothes to wear for the day. I think instead of people being so concerned about the people about to come into this world, shouldn’t we look at the kids that are already in a bad situation? And give rights to the people already in this world. Mothers of these babies should get to make these decisions. 

True Colors

In contrast to many of the other stories and articles i have found this one made me smile. Cyndi Lauper (the “girls just wanna have fun” singer) is helping establish Manhattans first permanent housing for homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in Harlem.

Kids all across America and even Canada are coming out at greater numbers at a younger age, the shelter will contain 30 studio apartments, a communal space, a library and a computer room. This brain child of Laupers is accepted to cost $11 million dollars. Although it is not a free ride for the residents, they will be expected to pay rent according to their income.

When I first read the article I never even thought about having a homeless shelter just for LGBT youth that have been kicked out of their homes. And then i think back to my introduction and the question of the issues that it behind social justice. By the house being built in Manhattan I defiantly think the issues will be given exposure especially when a pop icon like Cyndi is sitting giving life to this project. I was also shocked to hear that in New York alone there is 15,000 and 20,000 homeless youth.

"I was sent to a FAKE prom!

“I was sent to fake prom”

         You are probably reading the title in total disbelieve right? A fake prom? Who the heck would even do that? For Constance McMillan this was totally real. After her school and the board refused for her to bring a female date along with her to her prom they cancelled it all together. Constance and her attorney had fought hard for her to be able to bring a female date too her school prom. The case was sent to court and a judge said that the school will host a prom that Constance and her date can attend. Parents were not happy about this and a second prom was organized by a group of parents. Constance and a few other “outcasts” of the high school were never invited.
         With all the research I have been doing with this project a lot of it has been progress and another step forward in the right direction, people supporting LGBT community. But when I hear stories like Constance’s my jaw hits the floor. How is it that a group of parents think that that girl does not deserve to go to prom just because she identifies herself differently than their own son or daughter? It shocks me that there are parents advocating and teaching their children this. Constance said that there were only seven people at the prom. The other five attendees were special needs students. She says the only thing that was really great about that night was that they felt like they could have fun, there was no one there to pick on them or too ruin their prom night. Is that the only way to `”handle” these things, by segregating the lesbians, gays bisexuals transgender? The special needs kids from the rest of their own high school?

Social Justice?

Hello! I have chosen to follow the ongoing battle with social justice throughout the world for my grade ten academic English class. I have to say that this topic is often overlooked, and for some of the public it is just coming to their attention now, maybe as they are reading this.

To be perfectly honest I do not know much about social justice, in fact, I know nothing aside from that I know it happens, but what about the issues behind the word social justice? Does that even mean anything to you? I guess that is the real issue with social justice, know one knows much about it. Do you?

I want this assignment to at least let people gain some insight on the topic. This has been an ongoing war for-I-don’t-know-how-long, although I am hoping I will be able to see the end of racial profiling, discrimination against Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transgender and gender stereo types in my life time. I will be using newspaper articles, website sources like bust.com and following the blog entries of an organization called “Give A Damn”. I am hoping my questions will be answered and your attention will be brought to what seems a never ending fight to end these battles of discrimination.