NOTE: I understand this is my longest post, but I really encourage you to read it all, as it is worthwhile. Also, please do not read this if you are not 13+. Even if you are 13+, please get a parent's permission before reading this post. Thank you.Ok guys, today I'm going to talk about an issue in society that really bothers me. If I lose a few followers or maybe a few friends off my list because of this, oh well.Let me start off by telling a story. (Yes, Silverfist Storytime, I know, it's exciting.) Ok, so yesterday I was over Kyle's house jc (just chilling) with him and a few of his friends. I had to go afk for a few minutes and walk my dogs. Apparently I missed a lot. Alyssa was there too along with another friend of mine, Nicholas Firerider. Apparently Alyssa's friend, Paige, ported and then one of Paige's friends, Wolf, ported in. Wolf, proceeded to kiss Paige, Alyssa, and then Nick. Alex was inside when this happened.When I came back from the real world, Emily was very upset with Nick because she thought something happened between him and Alyssa, and was worried, being the protective older sister she is.Emily told be everything she new and I went inside and talked to Nick and Alyssa. Alyssa told me everything. (I suppose it's good that Alyssa feels comfortable talking to me. [I also don't know if she figured I would tell Emily. But oh well.])I went back outside and Alex was yelling at Emily. I told Emily the story and she and I both felt bad for this Wolf guy. I was determined to find him and talk with him about this. Alyssa was able to port to Paige and she said a guy there, named Mitchell knew who Wolf was and had him on his list.After a long time of waiting for Mitch, who runs a restaurant at his house, we learned that he knew a Wolf, but it wasn't the right one.I had to leave W101 because I was going out to dinner that night with my mom, David, and his mom.Today when I logged on, Alex was on. We talked for a bit and then, moving on to a new topic, Alex says "haha we got that faggot, Wolf, banned last night." I immediately started defending Wolf because I can't stand people making fun of others. I say "What did he ever do!?!" Alex responded with "things I don't like to say."I can't believe people. You report a guy for kissing someone? I understand this is a kids game, but it's not like we don't kiss our parents goodbye before going to school or see it in movies. What is so bad about kissing a person of the same gender? Because it's different? Is that why so many people hat gays? Because they're different? Well, so are Africans and Asians and Indians. Have we accepted them into our society? Of course! Why can't we do the same for homosexuals?Read the following and see what these kids have to go through just because people are so cruel.Facts:
=On October 7, 1998 a boy named Matthew Shepard was in a bar in a town called Laramie, Wyoming. Matthew was 21. Two boys, Aaron McKinney and Russel Henderson, decided to pretend to be gay and lure him into their car. Matthew was very innocent and gullible for a person his age, so he trusted the men. McKinney and Henderson drove just outside of Laramie. Feeling they were safe, they suddenly turned on Matthew. They beat him and took his shoes and tied him to split-rail fence. Almost 18 hours later he was found by a cyclist who had just happened to turn down that road. The man mistook him for a scarecrow untill he saw Matthew's hair. Matthew was taken to the hospital, where he died on October 12, 1998. The attention to his murder was nation-wide. Though Matthew's death was a tragedy, it opened the world's eyes to the fact that hate crimes happen every day, and every town has people who hate.
=Almost exactly four years later, on October 4, 2002, a seventeen year old girl named Gwen Araujo was at a party in Newark, California. Her supposed friends thought they knew her. She had had sexual relations with many of them. But one of the friends knew something the rest didn't. Paul Merel's girlfriend was at the party. She somehow checked Gwen's genitalia in the bathroom of the house, though the court account doesnt record how. She discovered that Gwen was, in fact, Eddie Araujo, a transgender. She told her boyfriend, Paul, who in turn told Jason Cazares, Mike Magidson, Jaron Nabors and his younger brother, Jose Merel. They forcibly checked Gwen's genitalia, and after discovering this was true, became enraged. Mike Magidson began to choke her in the hallway. Other guests that had been there began to leave. Once everyone had left, three people began to assault Gwen Araujo. Jose Merel struck her over the head with a frying pan and again with a can of tomatoes, leaving a gash in her head which bled profusely. Jaron Nabors hit her with a barbell weight. Mike Magidson kneed her head into the living room wall. The blow was so forceful that her head caused a dent in the wall. Araujo was taken into the garage of the home, where she was strangled by a rope. (Stories conflict on whether she was strangled by Mike Magdison or Jaron Nabors). She was then hog-tied, wrapped in a blanket and put in the bed of Mike Magdison's pickup truck. They drove her body to a parkland in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada called Silver Fork and buried her in a shallow grave. Almost three weeks passed. Finally Jason Nabors slipped a word to a friend. The friend called the police, a Jason Nabors was arrested. The police were led to Gwen's grave on October 16, 2002. The rest of her assailants were charged for murder and hate crime.
=How many people know the real meaning of the word "fag?" Not many. Fag means "bundle of sticks." Why are gay men called fags? Because during the witch hunts and witch burnings, the people wouldn't just use wood to burn the accused "witches." They would also tie up accused gay men and lay them at the feet of the witches, upon the wood. They would then light the men on fire, signifying that gay men were even worse sinners than the "witches." Over half the men and women burned were not gay nor were they witches.
=Almost no one knows where the term dyke came from. Most people think its those walls in Holland used to keep water back. Those are spelled dike. Dyke is actually the Roman goddess of Justice.
=The Pentagon still has homosexuality listed as a mental disorder, and has no intention of changing it.
=States who have legalized gay marriage: Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, Iowa, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Washington D.C.
Countries: Norway, Belgium, Canada, South Africa, Sweden, Spain, Netherlands
=On May 15, 2008, gay marriage was legalized in California. On November 4, 2008, Proposition 8 banned gay marriage. On May 9, Proposition 8 was upheld by the Supreme court.Maine voted against same sex marriage in early November.
=Homosexuality isn't a disease. Homophobia seems more like the disease to me.
=At almost every school, students who are gay/are believed to be gay are harassed more than overweight or fat students, and students with disabilities, combined.
=Most schools do not cover sexual orientation in their anti-discrimination policies. Only nine states have anti-bullying laws that specifically address sexual orientation.
=Think about how many times you hear the sentences "You fag." "You're such a fag." "That's so gay." "Yeah, it was so gay." Next time your in school, count how many times you hear this. THEN count how many people who say this are your friends.
=Why is it so wrong to marry the same sex? Isn't it worse to marry your own cousin (incest is a sin in the bible as well) or a man fifty years to your twenty, or marry someone just for his or her money?
=GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) youth make up over 30% of suicides each year.
=Every 5 hours and 48 minutes, a GLBT youth commits successful suicide
=Every 14 minutes, a GLBT youth attempts suicide
=Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are not special rights. They are endowed to everyone and include marriage, too.
=Many people don't realize how much of a financial problem gay couples have because they cannot be married. Insurance companies do not recognize them as couples. They have to get insurance for themselves, they cannot get it together. Thats a lot of money to pay.
=Many kids are not out of the closet as gay because they are afraid of looks they will get in the hallways, names they will be called, etc. Why make their life scarier and more stressful than a regular teenager's life is?
=STRAIGHT PEOPLE- TRY THIS. Imagine you have a deep dark secret. It can be anything, it doesn't matter. Now imagine that if you told people this secret you would be ridiculed, hated, looked at like you are a freak. Imagine how badly you want to tell someone your secret. Imagine your fear of a person's reaction if you tell them your secret. Imagine you tell someone the secret, but it leaks out and soon everyone knows. Imagine people whispering and pointing at you as you walk down the hall. Imagine people staring at you as if your a freak, as if there is something wrong with you. Imagine people throwing their lunches at you or spitting on you as you walk across the courtyard at lunch. Imagine people taunting you with names that hurt you like a bullet. Now open your eyes. Gays go through this every day. We don't have to imagine. For us, its reality.
Stories:=I'm a bisexual who wishes she was straight because I'm sick of hiding, sick of the heartacheand I'm tired of not knowing what will happen, what friends I'll lose next, what words I'll let slip, and what questions I have to avoid answering.
=I am the boy who never finished high school, because I got called a fag everyday.
=I am the boy that loved but was lonely and friendless most of the time. I am the boy who gave up on suicide at eleven just for his mother.
=I am the boy who grew up telling himself every single day of his life, "wait a little bit longer, don't say anything, don't act.. Wait..."
=I am the boy who, despite all odds, just kept on standing back up.
=I am the boy who finally promised to himself, "I will be me."I am the boy who finally revealed himself to the world not with shame or regret, but nervousness and the birth of a wavering smile and a light that won't go out. Now, I am the boy who is striding forward, confidently in the direction of his dreams. I am free.
=I am the girl kicked out of her home because I confided in my mother that I am a lesbian.
=I am the gay kid who is lost, unsure of who or what he is meant to be or do, but worries most about telling his parents.
=I am the sister who holds her gay brother tight through the painful, tear-filled nights.
=I am the boy who, after realizing I was gay, cried for hours in a shower because the knife wouldn't cut deep enough.
=I am the guy you threw against lockers, for 5 years until I couldn't take it and had to transfer school districts.
=I am the guy who brought his boyfriend to prom and then got jumped in the parking lot.
=I am the boy you beat daily for years.
=I am the straight girl who was ridiculed for telling her best friend that she loved her. The best friend that drinks, smokes and has sex daily now.
=I am the lesbian who held her ex-girlfriend after her father told her how vile she was.
=I am the girl whose girlfriend was terrified to come out until she realized how supportive her friends were.
=I am the girl who will protect my girlfriend from those who don't accept her.
=We are the parents who buried our daughter long before her time.
=I have a soul too.
=I am the boy who is hated by his father, exiled by his church, constantly a worry to his mother, a complete social reject, who has no one to confide in save his closest friend, I'm also the guy who is threatened daily with death in front of teachers who refuse to do anything for fear of "Being pulled into the Gay thing", who is a pacifist forced to either harm others or be beaten and die. I hate being hated.
=I'm the gay boy who was punched in the face by my best friend for coming out of the closet.
=I am a straight girl who is disgusted with the hate and ridicule and torment the GLBT community has to put up with because of closed-minded, homophobic, and/or bible-thumping idiots.
=I am the straight girl who has to remind her sister that a man with a mildly feminine voice does not make them gay.
=I am the straight girl who tells people that are intolerant of gays, and that they are going to Hell because God wants us to love each other.
=I am the straight girl who once cried because a child at a psychiatric hospital was sent there by his mother because he is gay.
=I'm the girl who got fired from my job because my boss found out that I liked girls.
=I am the girl who cracked her own skull because the names wouldn't stop echoing.
=I am the gay teenager who cant tell his school who he really is, because he is afraid of what they will do to him
=I am the gay athlete who wants to use the locker room, but hears the ridicule of homosexuality just outside the door
=I am the gay friend that only has a few people who actually care, but hardly get to see
=I am the gay boy that wants to cry when he hears fag, gay, or homo in a way that makes me feel less humane.
=I'm the guy who told his best friend that he was a gay, and the only answer that he got was "How long will you be like this?"
I'll spare you from the rest of the very long collection of facts and stories by LezzieLexi2QT2BSTR8 over on DeviantArt. (I don't want you guys up all night.) I do however encourage you to read through it. Here's the link.If you cry after reading through it all, like I did, I give you +100 Brownie Points. If you didn't cry, but still read it. I'll still give you +100.So, I hope this post really opened your eyes to all the horrific things that people have to deal with and go through, and maybe realize that gays aren't so different after all.This is me standing up for what is right. I hope you can do the same.Everyone can make a difference.Happy Gaming
