Yesterday was national coming out day and next Wednesday supporters are wearing purple in memory of recent suicides due to gay abuse.
{join the facebook group here}
{join the facebook group here}
Some Facts:
** LGBT = Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (Sometimes "Q" is added onto this to include Questioning)
90% of LGBT youth experience harassment in school. source
It is still legal in some states to fire a person due to their sexual preference. source
Adoption is particularly difficult, and sometimes impossible, for same-sex couples. source
A person cannot obtain social security benefits when their same-sex partner passes away. source
Same-sex couples cannot file jointly on their taxes. source
Boy Scouts of America bans LGBT {and also atheists and agnostics} as scouts and scout leaders. source
Same-sex couples and their families are denied access to the more than 1,138 federal rights, protections and responsibilities automatically granted to married heterosexual couples. source
Protections granted to married straight couples but denied to same-sex couples: hospital visitation, Social Security benefits, immigration, health insurance, estate taxes, family leave, nursing homes, home protection and pensions. source
LGBT and questioning youth are up to four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers. source
These are only a few of the ways we discriminate the LGBT community on a daily hourly basis.
This is a picture of the tattoo that I got several years ago to show my support for the GLBT community. I am shocked and disgusted every single time that a person comes up to me and tells me that my tattoo is stupid and the cause is un-important {gross, people like this actually exist within my social circle?!?!?}. Too many people have died or been harassed or otherwise treated less than human over their sexual orientation, and my tattoo is a way for me to advocate for them anytime someone asks me what this symbol stands for.
I hope you will join all of us in this fight for equality. You don't get to choose who you fall in love with.
If you haven't already, visit the Human Rights Campaign Website and discover ways that you can help!
I absolutely loved this post Kara. Thank you for your voice, for your tattoo, for your stand. I appreciate this dearly and I stand firmly behind this too. I hope that one day, every person will be able to have the exact same rights as the next.
ReplyDeletethe abuse, torture, bullying, and suicides going on in this community have BROKEN my heart. bullying is never right, violence will never ever be the answer to anything. these poor people don't deserve such abuse. it brings tears to my eyes thinking about it. i wish i could hug them all and tell them it's going to be okay and that they are loved.
ReplyDeletetwo other things, at the moment, that are bothering me a lot right now is adoption and serving in the military. here are two capable, responsible people wanting to adopt a child and give them a beautiful life, and people think it's wrong. so you're saying you would rather have that child stay in the poverty/famine/disease stricken country where they're from and or stay in an orphanage forever, instead of growing up in a home with lots of love, happiness, and safety? that makes no sense to me. and since when did being gay or straight have anything to do with how great a soldier you are? whoever is willing to lay their lives on the line for our country, whoever they are or whoever they love, i have the utmost respect for them. i support them and pray for them, because they are selfless and brave. why do only straight soldiers get to serve? how could anyone turn down a person who WANTS to serve and fight for our nation?! it's horrible. just horrible. i wrote both of my senators about the don't ask, don't tell law and i'm thrilled they both support the repeal of it!
don't even get me started on gays in the military! they have been there the whole time serving alongside everyone else and there haven't been ANY problems. personally, i am not willing to put my life on the line and leave my family to fight for this country... so anyone who is ready and willing is a hero to me! i posted a link to this post on my facebook page yesterday and you wouldn't believe some of the hateful comments that i got from people... it's hard for me to see the other side of this issue because it's so obviouse to me that everyone should have the same rights. ugh!
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about your tattoo and had to come back to comment on it. I really wish people would see all human rights struggles as a fight that includes them. All humans are equal and deserve equal rights and any decent person sees that.
ReplyDeleteBlessings.
Preach on, sister. I agree with you 120%.
ReplyDeletegreat post Kara.
ReplyDeletelove this post. love your tattoo. love your blog! :]
ReplyDelete