Why we need equal rights
Earlier this week, a 28 year old lesbian woman in San Francisco, arguably the queer capital of the US, was nabbed from her car by a man and his 3 friends, insulted for being gay, ordered to strip naked, and then was raped before being forced back into the car, driven miles away to an abandoned apartment complex where (in and around her car) she was repeatedly raped for 45 minutes then left for dead in front of the building (she survived). The car was found a few miles away and the suspects are still at large.
Authorities say that since the passing of Prop 8 and similar anti-gay bills in Florida and Arkansas, hate crimes against the LGBT community have increased. Statistics are showing that as anti-gay legislation increases, so do the crimes against that community as people feel they are thus justified to take out their prejudices.
Going back to the Pope thing - it seems the only threat here is archaic legislation that limits the rights of citizens and creates divisions in the community. This just continues to prove that such divisions do NOT eliminate that class (other than to rile up people enough to kill them all and thus have no class to worry about) nor do such divisions protect that class. It only increases perceived differences, particularly when there are no true differences, and serves to heighten violence against that group - supported marginalization "justified" by the state.
Who funds the oppression of these equal rights? Most major religious groups in America (recall the enormous funding the Mormon church put into the Yes on Prop 8 campaign. So much for the division of church and state). Statistics show that the more religious a country, the fewer civil rights and lower quality of life those citizens have. America is an anomaly in the modern world in that most of our citizens have equal rights - and pretty good ones - but our infant mortality rates, illness rates, low literacy, homelessness, crime rates, and drug abuse numbers are the HIGHEST of all developed nations by a large margin. The difference? We are the only such developed nation with such a high percentage of fervent religiousness amongst our people.
It is frustrating to look at our cousin nations in Europe and see how much healthier (and safer) their people are - not just physically, but often socially, morally, emotionally. No nation is perfect, but something is really wrong with a country when millions of its citizens are marginalized to the point of such horrific violence - violence perpetuated by a body of people whose words of love and acceptance are at such odds with their real-world actions. Its time America starts putting its money where its mouth is and follow THROUGH on these policies of love for common (hu)man by enabling its brother and sister humans to live happy, safe lives. And to do so requires the passing of legislation enabling equal rights (domestic parterships, ability to adopt, inheritance, hospital visitation rights, etc.) Until then, there are always going to be those who see lack of physical action on the part of religious bodies as allowance for the traumatizing brutalization of gays.
I really need so stop reading the news. Grr.
Authorities say that since the passing of Prop 8 and similar anti-gay bills in Florida and Arkansas, hate crimes against the LGBT community have increased. Statistics are showing that as anti-gay legislation increases, so do the crimes against that community as people feel they are thus justified to take out their prejudices.
Going back to the Pope thing - it seems the only threat here is archaic legislation that limits the rights of citizens and creates divisions in the community. This just continues to prove that such divisions do NOT eliminate that class (other than to rile up people enough to kill them all and thus have no class to worry about) nor do such divisions protect that class. It only increases perceived differences, particularly when there are no true differences, and serves to heighten violence against that group - supported marginalization "justified" by the state.
Who funds the oppression of these equal rights? Most major religious groups in America (recall the enormous funding the Mormon church put into the Yes on Prop 8 campaign. So much for the division of church and state). Statistics show that the more religious a country, the fewer civil rights and lower quality of life those citizens have. America is an anomaly in the modern world in that most of our citizens have equal rights - and pretty good ones - but our infant mortality rates, illness rates, low literacy, homelessness, crime rates, and drug abuse numbers are the HIGHEST of all developed nations by a large margin. The difference? We are the only such developed nation with such a high percentage of fervent religiousness amongst our people.
It is frustrating to look at our cousin nations in Europe and see how much healthier (and safer) their people are - not just physically, but often socially, morally, emotionally. No nation is perfect, but something is really wrong with a country when millions of its citizens are marginalized to the point of such horrific violence - violence perpetuated by a body of people whose words of love and acceptance are at such odds with their real-world actions. Its time America starts putting its money where its mouth is and follow THROUGH on these policies of love for common (hu)man by enabling its brother and sister humans to live happy, safe lives. And to do so requires the passing of legislation enabling equal rights (domestic parterships, ability to adopt, inheritance, hospital visitation rights, etc.) Until then, there are always going to be those who see lack of physical action on the part of religious bodies as allowance for the traumatizing brutalization of gays.
I really need so stop reading the news. Grr.