Today, May 17th, is International Day Against Homophobia.
I don’t have a really long post or examples of homophobia to talk about, it’s just me speaking from the heart.
Homophobia and transphobia are bullying, plain and simple. It’s the continued perpetration of relegating GLBTQ people to second class citizenship and denying them rights afforded to everyone else. GLBTQ people all over the world are beat up, raped, tortured, stripped of their rights and shunned simply for being who they are. No one should have the right to do that to anyone else. Period.
So today, do something to support the GLBTQ community. Donate money to a cause. I’m not personally endorsing any of these, I’m just listing ones I know are reputable.
The Trevor Project – an organization that provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to GLBTQ youth.
NOH8 Campaign – an organization promoting equality through education, advocacy, social media, and visual protest.
It Gets Better – a project created to show GLBTQ teenagers stories of positivity, happiness, and the potential their lives can achieve if they can just get through the teen years. They want to remind teen members of the GLBTQ community that they are NOT alone and it WILL get better.
PFLAG an organization of parents, friends, and family members of GLBTQ people
GLAAD – GLAAD works in the entertainment industry to bring culture changing stories of GLBTQ people into millions of homes and workplaces every day.
Buy a book by a GLBTQ author, there are plenty out there, you just need to do a little research. Here’s a list I found of ten gay male fiction books. Gay Male Fiction – I’m sure there are other lists out there for GLBTQ fiction as well.
Check out some GLBTQ online publishers – Torquere, Dreamspinner, Samhain, and Ellora’s Cave are all publishers of GLBTQ fiction. Or just check the gay and lesbian tag on Amazon.
Check out music by a GLBTQ artist and not just k.d.lang, Melissa Etheridge, or Elton John. Try UhHuhHer, John Barrowman, or Adam Lambert – all three of whom have brand new albums or EPs out.
But do something because when you sit silently by and do nothing you are tacitly ratifying the discrimination of GLBTQ people everywhere.
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KH
katherinehalle 