If you think your religion requires discrimination, you're probably misreading your faith.
When you've grown up mis-educated, surrounded by fear and hate, unaware of your privilege, lies can sound like the truth.
Same-sex marriage has not created problems for religious institutions religious institutions have created problems for same-sex marriage.
Prejudice plunges you into a world of fear and hate. That's no way to live.
Love should never mean having to live in fear.
In the unification of two minds, orientation of sexuality is irrelevant.
The power of love is that it sees all people.
The world could use more love. Why deny it to others?
People think that LGBTs adopting children will hurt them, but it's not being in loving homes that hurts children most.
What does love mean if we would deny it to others?
If you voted for a man who said "Grab em by the pussy," you have zero room to claim to protect anyone in bathrooms.
I've fought for religious freedom and I can tell you that anti-gay 'religious freedom' bills aren't it.
Today's 'religious freedom' policies should not be seen as a problem limited to LGBT people but as a co-optation of religion that affects us all.
Love has no gender - compassion has no religion - character has no race.
Either you are homophobic or you are a human - you cannot be both.
Homosexuals are not made, they are born.
Homosexuality is immutable, irreversible and nonpathological.
Being homosexual is no more abnormal than being lefthanded.
Can you imagine, somebody telling you, your love for your dearly beloved is a sin! Can you imagine, somebody telling you, women are inferior to men, and are meant only serve the men! Can you imagine, somebody telling you, a man can have multiple wives, and yet be deemed civilized! Here that somebody is a fundamentalist ape - a theoretical pest from the stone-age, that somehow managed to survive even amidst all the rise of reasoning and intellect.
Those with unearned privileges often spin things as 'political correctness' to further silence those they wish to oppress.
Bigotry lives not just in our words, but in our actions, thoughts, and institutions.
The mere fact that I exist means that I deserve to be here and to express myself any damn why I please.
If you'd combat bigotry, use honest language and call things out for what they really are.
Saying it's hard being straight is like complaining to the poor that it's difficult being wealthy.
Persecution complexes are reaffirming to those who benefit from unearned privileges.
If you think being straight means you're being discriminated against, you're probably misreading your privilege.
Those who benefit from unearned privilege are too often quick to discount those who don't.
If you love your country, you must be willing to defend it from fraud, bigotry, and recklessness--even from a president.
Building bridges takes us further than building walls.
Discrimination is discrimination, even when people claim it's 'tradition.
Calling for an end to hate shouldn't be treated as a punishable offense.
What does religious freedom mean if we would use it as a cover for hate and privilege?
What matters most is not 'what' you are, but 'who' you are.
Political correctness’ is a label the privileged often use to distract from their privilege and hate.
It's not 'over-sensitivity' to ask to be treated with the same dignity and respect shown to others.
Bigotry and sexism destroy the unity needed for a nation to live.
It speaks volumes when people who are discriminated against go on to discriminate against others.
Standing against discrimination for some while supporting discrimination against others hurts us all.
Saying something is 'politically correct' is often a way of dismissing the voices of the oppressed.
The minute we look away, the minute we stop fighting back, that's the minute bigotry wins.
Bigotry is based on deception, of oneself and of others.
Urging an organization to be inclusive is not an attack. It's progress.
Privilege is when you can afford to sit back and watch as others' rights are trampled upon.
Never be content to sit back and watch as others' rights are trampled upon. Your rights could be next.
Terror doesn't change people from gay to straight. It just hurts innocent people.
Amazing how eye and skin color come in many shades yet many think sexuality is just gay or straight.
When we hide discrimination under the guise of 'religious freedom,' we make a mockery of human rights.
My family subscribed to this rigid belief system. They were unaware of the reality that gender, like sexuality, exists on a spectrum. By punishing me, they were performing the socially sanctioned practice of hammering the girl out of me, replacing her with tenets of gender-appropriate behavior. Though I would grow up to fit neatly into the binary, I believe in self-determination, autonomy, in people having the freedom to proclaim who they are and define gender for themselves. Our genders are as unique as we are. No one's definition is the same, and compartmentalizing a person as either a boy or a girl based entirely on the appearance of genitalia at birth undercuts our complex life experiences.
It’s been four years since Justin kissed his best friend Lucas when they were both just 12. Then Justin, afraid of what it meant, afraid of how he felt, afraid of what it made him, ran and has been running from and avoiding Lucas for these four years. The thing about running is that no matter how fast you run, the past always catches up with you, and when faced with his past and all the things he’s missed, Justin finds he doesn’t want to run anymore. Now Justin wants to try to make things right with Lucas; he wants his best friend back. But maybe it's too late. Maybe Lucas has moved on. Read the story to find out if Justin is successful. This story isn't only about internalized homophobia and the hurtful things it leads gay kids to do to themselves and others. It is much more about truth, love and hurt and coming to terms with those things, forgiving yourself, and loving yourself enough to hold yourself accountable.
It’s tough enough to be a straight boy in a small town high school looking for the love of your life. But at least your possible loves are all out in the open.
Juvenalius, 15 and gay, has been raised in a difficult family and has been held in his aunt's Diana suffocating iron grip for all of his life. He has been made to feel worthless and ashamed; with no freedom, only obedience. Yet this begins to change one day when he meets a boy named Davis at his high school who has drawn the meaningful letter 'C' on his right hand. Now Juvenalius has hope but his behavioral changes are seen as an act of defiance in his aunt's eyes until she catches Juvenalius and Davis kissing out back under the school's library windows. Then Juve's life is unexpectedly transformed.
I was on my way to talk to Davis when the car hit me". . . . . . "A dark figure emerged from the shadows, half-lit by the glittering streetlight and the pale glow of the moon". . . . . . . "Huge black wings erupted out of her back like a blooming rose. She was beautiful." . . . . "I knew who this woman was.’Are you Death?'" . . . . . “'Most people have something holding them down to this world,' she said, 'like a tether on a balloon. It could be something material, a person, or persons, an unfinished goal. There are many reasons to want to keep living. I wonder, Juvenalius, what is yours?'I smiled just thinking about it. 'His name’s Davis.'Her hand stroked my cheek so gently I wanted to cry. 'Tell me about him,' she whispered."And Juvenalius does. And you will be transfixed as Juve's first friend comes to life in his memory in this Tale with a gay twist.
Juvenalius has problems... though like most kids on the threshold of sexual awareness he only knows life sucks... he isn't clear about why. His mother rants on and on about the iniquity of his school having a gay straight alliance. She's quite safe about that, as Ryan is too shy to join, or is that scared? His only friend is a dog so the question of boy or girl-friend hardly arises... until he gets a valentine... from the least likely boy in the school.
Church is so confusing for Juvenalius. His new pastor preaches nothing but hate and condemnation of gays and lesbians, but no matter how carefully he reads his Bible, he can’t find where it says God hates him. Will things change when Juve's boyfriend Devis suggests that they all go to his church instead?
What's it like for a young teen of barely 14, trying to cope with all the normal problems of adolescence, and wrestling with the realization that he's gay on top of all that? Juvenalius struggles with accepting himself and with the idea of coming out, as well as trying to find a boy who he can love and be loved back in return. Narrated by him, find out how he deals with it all and how those important to his life help.
It’s much, much tougher when you’re a 17 year-old gay boy, part of only 10% or less of the school population and your possible loves are all in hiding, just as you are, due to the fear of being socially ostracized, laughed at, condemned and physically harassed by your peers.
Maybe some people enter in your life to create wonderful memories before they leave. Its hard to come to terms with that whether they walk away alive or dead.The only thing we can do is keeping that person in your memory as long as you can. That person does not need to please you like a girlfriend or a boy-friend but they can make you happy.That person does not need to cherish you like parents, but they can give you warmth & they are always ready to protect you.That person does not need to make us laugh at all times like friends, but they can make you smile.That some one who you won't go into hysterics when they leave, but they will always be in your memory forever
Maybe some people enter in your life to create wonderful memories before they leave. Its hard to come to terms with that whether they walk away alive or dead.The only thing we can do is keeping that person in your memory as long as you can. That person does not need to please you like a girlfriend or a boy-friend but they can make you happy.That person does not need to cherish you like parents, but they can give you warmth & they are always ready to protect you.That person does not need to make us laugh at all times like friends, but they can make you smile.That some one who you won't go into hysterics when they leave, but they will always be in your memory forever.
Maybe some people enter in your life to create wonderful memories before they leave. Its hard to come to terms with that whether they walk away alive or dead.The only thing we can do is keeping that person in your memory as long as you can. That person does not need to please you like a girlfriend or a boy-friend but they can make you happy.That person does not need to cherish you like parents, but they can give you warmth & they are always ready to protect you.That person does not need to make us laugh at all times like friends, but they can make you smile.That some one who you won't go into hysterics when they leave, but they will always be in your memory forever. JUVENALIUS
We Boys and Men need to know how to Love. Though It may sometimes hurt, we need to persevere and party it out.
The greatest people and most successful ones are the ones who never went to school . Sure.