14 posts tagged “lgbt”
I work with cancer patients. Not directly; I talk to them on the phone - often just after they've received a diagnosis and are crying and lost and scared. I don't treat them, I don't counsel them - I simply point them in the right direction, give them the very first in a long series of steps they'll take in their treatment. I work for a non-profit institution that exists to help people.
It is not enough.
I work at a children's theater. Our students are primarily affluent white kids who'll go to top notch colleges and go on to great upper-middle class lives. I am completely open about my sexuality with them. My hope is that they'll get to know me and who I love and remember it in the future. That when they're given the chance to voice their opinion or vote on the rights of others they'll remember working with me and who I was to them. I hope that by being open they'll feel like they can come to me with any of their own questions about their sexuality (or anything else) in the future and know that I will support them.
It is not enough.
We've protested, we've marched. We've made signs and written letters just like them. Pithy little videos and t-shirts. We've protested in the only way that we're allowed to anymore - with permits and regulations. We've protested but we haven't disrupted anything.
It is not enough.
I remember watching footage of Vietnam and Civil Rights protests as a child and wishing I could be there. Those people made a difference in the world and I wanted to be a part of it. They were beaten, arrested and killed standing up for what they believed in. They took to the streets and they stopped traffic and they created tension. They stook in front of tanks and public buildings. They created a need for the folks in office to deal with and solve the problem because they gave them no other choice.
Lately I have this nagging feeling, like I've forgotten something, that no matter what I do it's not enough. I NEED to quit my job and stand outside on the street screaming until the people hear that I'm a person too. I want to tear down walls, burn leaders in effigy, make speeches, go to jail - fight for my rights just like the bill of rights says I should. But I want to do it RIGHT NOW. I'm sitting here and I can feel this little bubble building inside and sometimes I feel like I'm just going to burst - but I don't know what to do with that energy.
Can anyone tell me?
http://jointheimpact.wetpaint.com/?t=anon
I've never watched Gray's Anatomy. I don't have time for television and only watch series on DVD. So when I happened to catch a replay of the scene at the end of last season where two straight women kissed for the first time - I was all excited (which should tell you something). Here was a fairly popular show introducing this to pre-existing characters (you know, just like it happens in real life!), and doing so in a very responsible way. They even went to far as to hire consultants to make sure they got it right. The story line continued this season - and I've been following peripherally though recaps on AfterEllen, more to see what they do with it than because I really cared about the story.
Which turns out to be fortunate, because they've axed the story line and fired on of the actresses. Read about it here.
This drastic about-face is coming from on high, from the network execs who "had issues" with the "explicitness" of the relationship. Because god knows two lesbians laying in bed, fully clothed is FAR more explicit than any hetero scenes seen on television. Because when two women kiss it's like pure sex on screen and the kiddies can't see it. Or maybe because it excited the exec's wives a little too much....
My Mom recently told my aunt, a long time Texas native, that I'm dating a girl. Her response was fairly mild because "she suspected it already, because I live in Seattle and that's what people do up there".
Apparently I don't live in the Gray's Anatomy version of Seattle.
If I ever watched television, I'd stop watching anything on ABC.
A quote from Stuff Lesbians Like, part 16:
At some point in a young lesbian’s stint in the lesbian scene, she steps back and realizes that the scene is completely absurd and is nothing more than a beer-soaked version of Waiting for Godot.
Happy Wedding Day!
(I love this picture)
I hate it when I read things at work that make me cry. It's been happening more often lately too. Must be getting old and sentimental.
Same-sex couples line up to register as domestic partners in Oregon
It wasn't the passing of the law itself that did it. It was the idea of those people, those happy devoted people who just love each other, lining up first thing in the morning to do something that so many other people take for granted. First thing in the morning, because they finally can, because they're excited - and maybe because they're afraid the option will be taken away again. Serioulsy - how is this okay? How are we not storming the capitals and taking over universities singing Cher and Indigo Girls songs?
Anyway - I suppose the point of all of this is that I'm happy for them. I'm slightly less happy than I'd be if they actually got to get married, but I'm happy just the same. I met this adorable married lesbian couple over the weekend who kept punching their rings together and saying "ring power". They were awesome. I hope that all of the folks who got civil unioned today have "ring power" too.
