Political leaders in St. Petersburg are about to vote on law that will make it illegal for any person to write a book, publish an article or speak in public about being gay, lesbian or transgender. The ruling party led by President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin could make millions of people invisible with the stroke of a pen.
Human rights defenders around the country are doing everything they can to stop it. They are risking their freedom to organize flashmobs and protests, but they are afraid that it won’t be enough.
Right now, the world needs to speak up and tell Russian authorities to drop the bill. Join this call to leaders around the world to reach out to their counterparts in the Russian government - and ask them to reject this discriminatory and anti-democratic law.
i don’t know what you homophobes have to be scared about.
You left off the part where people start marrying animals. Because that would clearly happen.
BUT IT’S A SIN AND THEY’LL GO TO HELL HUR HUR.
I dunno, if the homophobes believe gay people will go to hell, what is it to them? Wouldn’t it be great for them since they don’t have to share their lovely oh-so-perfect heaven with gay people?
(Source: juhcohboh, via dumb-american)
7 Year Old Transgender
Akasha Adonis and her mother of Humboldt, TN made their way to one of four entrances where there was no line. As they were entering the store, a girl from another entrance where there was a line ran up to Akasha’s mother and another woman and attempted to ram through them into the store. When Akasha stepped between the girl and her mother to protect her, the girl jumped into Akasha’s face and began cussing at her. At the same moment, a man attacked Akasha and another woman at the entrance. The assailant hit Akasha and pulled out her hair as he pulled her through the door into the store. The man then shoved his hand in her mouth with his thumb, tore three of her teeth out of socket, and broke her jaw as he forced Akasha to the ground. The assailant then stood up and walked into the store to shop as Kohl’s staff stood idly by greeting other shoppers.
Officer Ashley M. McCullar interviewed Akasha, her mother, and the woman who was attacked. At first, Officer McCullar treated Akasha with respect. But Akasha noticed a marked change in attitude towards her when the officer learned she was transgender (Akasha’s photo I.D. lists her name as Johnathan Quick):
When the officer first arrived on the scene and asked about the assault, he addressed me as she then asked for my i.d. and my name. [When] the officer saw that it was a male name, and I was a male to female transexual, he immediately changed his demeanor in how he treated me and the other witnesses. He rolled his eyes and turned his back to not look at me and said that he had ‘other places to be.’ There was no more conversation directed to me but to fellow officers and [other] people. He was short and rude/dismissive to witnesses and to the officers I was the ‘He not She.’ The officer told my mother that the case would take a few days to write up and he would get the surveillance tape and then walked away. In the officer report he put in that “the black male then defended himself and put Quick in his place.”
After learning that Akasha was transsexual, Akasha states that the officer made no real attempt to apprehend the suspect nor cared to view the surveillance video knowing that the suspect had not yet left the store.
Akasha’s mother posted about the incident on her Facebook page. A Kohl’s employee posted a comment in response which read: “no it happened before I got there. i got there at 5 AM. they said it was a guy and a guy dressed up as a woman . they said the he/she/it got its wig knocked off and some teeth knocked out.” The employee may not have realized that Akasha’s mother was relating an incident about her own child. The employee later deleted the comment from Facebook, but the comment was preserved in a forwarded Facebook email.
I am wearing purple today, as are many of my friends. I disagree with the position that it is counterproductive. We are drawing attention to a serious issue, negative or positive. Some of us today will answer the question, “why are you doing this?” Some of us may be heckled or even harassed for doing it. But raising awareness is not doing nothing.
I continue to be an active supporter of the LGBTQ community as well as a member of my school’s alliance, and I am offended by the criticism of this day of remembrance. I am not doing this to be fashionable. I am doing this because friends, family, and even myself have been harassed for being gay, trans, an ally, or standing up to bullying and it needs to stop. No place and nobody is an exception.
This day is not just about six people. It is about a much larger issue: a crisis is happening in our society. Be the change.
To make it clear: I am not against the act of wearing purple itself. I’m against the thoughts that wearing purple is enough. I know that some of those who wear purple today are people who actively support equality movement by doing other things outside wearing purple, and that’s good, that’s what people are supposed to do.
Some people, though, think that by wearing purple today they have done something truly meaningful. That’s a wrong logic. Also, I think king-of-carrot-flowers’ point #2 is correct. LGBT people shouldn’t be treated differently because they are gay, they need to be treated like every other human being. Most people missed that point. Most people also missed the point of this post which is “it’s not fine to think wearing purple have any meaning if you don’t do something real to support LGBT equality.”
Alright, then I understand and agree. ^^
I do not like the idea of singling out gay people in particular, but it is a very real issue and I don’t think it should be ignored or that we should pretend it doesn’t exist. I wear purple in support of /all/ victims of bullying.As for anyone who thinks wearing a purple shirt for a day is enough, it never will be. It is minds that we need to change here!
Reblogging for the message.
(Source: astrowebs, via candyghost)
I’m so glad because I haven’t heard any purple bullshit on reddit. I have more hope & expectation for that community rather than tumblr.
Once again, I feel the need to tell people that there’s a (supposedly, as I’m not a member of these sub-reddit) great LGBT community on reddit.
If you need help or have some questions, you can always go there and talk to some people whose opinion and experience may actually help you.
king-of-carrot-flowers: Tumblr is purple. This displeases me.
Not because I’m against the movement for LGBT rights, but because.. Well there are two points really:
1. It doesn’t do a damn thing. If you really care about a cause, do something in support of it rather than just donning a new wardrobe. Otherwise, you may as well be wearing a certain color or sporting a little ribbon-shaped magnet on the back of your car or wearing livestrong bracelets simply because it shows that you support something and that makes you cool, because everyone is doing it. It’s like having a garden gnome but no garden to put it in. Now I’ll admit, I haven’t been the one to stand up and do something outrageous in dire support of any specific cause. Therein lies the reason that I am not wearing purple today, why I don’t wear the bracelets or sport the ribbons. I’m not going to lie to myself or the world and say that I do.
2. This whole thing is in support of equality, yes? Well, by parading about looking like Grimace or Barney or the Joker because some seven gay boys committed suicide is probably as counterproductive as it gets. By singling out these seven boys and doing something in honor of them because of their sexuality isn’t very equal. They are hardly the only ones to fall to harassment which eventually leads to death. So shouldn’t we do something in honor of suicide victims in general? Doesn’t that seem highly logical? Well, yes it does, but I think I’ve failed to remember that people are not logical, that they don’t really think before they leap.
Stop practicing slacktivism and just start listening to the fucking after-school specials or something. When you see someone being harassed, stand up and be a god damn hero. I don’t care if Rule #22 just so happens to be “Don’t be a hero.” (for all you Zombieland hipster nerds like me) Some rules are made to be broken.
For fuck sake, just be a friend. Is that so hard to ask?
Do something or don’t, but don’t think for one second that wrapping the fruitcake in purple paper is going to make it go away. Fruitcake isn’t any good and it will stay on that top shelf in the back of your bedroom closet for ten years, getting worse but never expiring. Then you find it again and you’re just thinking “What the fuck is this? I don’t remember this hatecake being here.”
Basically, you can have your little orgasms regarding the appearance of things, but when it comes down to it, that’s all it is.. an appearance. The problem is still out there and it’s not necessarily getting any better.
It’s so easy to wear something purple and think it helps lgbt people. Damn, if I was a gay, a trans gender/trans sexual, I would be offended. If anyone think wearing purple does anything then they need to learn the meaning behind slacktivism.
Well, I hope at least those who wore purple today continue to actually do something that may actually help lgbt equality movement. If you see someone being abused, help them. If you know someone who’s having a hard time because they’re “different,” help them, be their friend. Donate some money to AIDS research (it will help everyone, not only lgbt people).
Grow up, tumblr. A purple background on some website does nothing. It’s an insult to think that this whole purple facade actually help anyone.
(Source: astrowebs)
