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The following is my tentative response to the recent internet flurry. If you have other links or anything you think I should add, let me know.
You have no doubt seen the news. You’ve seen the call go out around your flists and on Facebook. You’ve watched Lady GaGa get as down and dirty serious as you’ve ever seen her over this Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy, aka government sanctioned homophobia, Ellen’s message on bullying, and the It Gets Better project, as well as blogposts on the bullying that queers get. And hopefully you’ve reposted and retweeted your hearts out, because someone has to hear this. This October, some people live in areas where they will be celebrating Gay and Lesbian history month. On the 20th, some are going to wear purple in honor of the six, SIX, recent deaths of teenage boys who have committed suicide, all within the past month.
This is a problem. This is a huge problem, and I know that wearing purple and retweeting is a start, but it’s not the only thing any of us can do.
I’m urging everyone this month to get out there and contact your local LGBTQA organizations. See what they’re planning. See what you can shake up. See if you can’t draft a resolution for the city council to protect queer and trans students from being bullied to death. If you can’t do that, see if you can’t get a memorial sit-in organized for all those who have killed themselves or been killed by the same fear and hate that caused these more recent tragedies. If you can’t do that, maybe somewhere local or on campus you could hook up YouTube and play the It Gets Better Project. Stand in front of the building the campus preachers usually yell at sinners from and blast Adam Lambert and Lady GaGa and Rent, among others. Throw a Gender Bender for Halloween and practice safety in numbers while celebrating being alive and the rights for individuals to live in their own damn bodies and express who they are in the way that is best for THEM in their minds and souls, and not the way that makes someone else more comfortable. Create a space in your small business for young people to gather and draw strength from one another. Turn around to those homophobes who are behind you in line and tell them to get their privileged heads out of their asses or shut the hell up.
If nothing else, if we have no local resources, or no time or energy to do other things, as it sadly happens at times, if it is not safe where you are to act up, we can do our best at what we do best. Write. Vlog. Podcast. Create. COMPLAIN.
At some point we have to decide that it is enough. We have to decide to get the momentum going, and start shoving over the first stumbling blocks that keep us from moving forward to protect the most vulnerable among us.
You have no doubt seen the news. You’ve seen the call go out around your flists and on Facebook. You’ve watched Lady GaGa get as down and dirty serious as you’ve ever seen her over this Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy, aka government sanctioned homophobia, Ellen’s message on bullying, and the It Gets Better project, as well as blogposts on the bullying that queers get. And hopefully you’ve reposted and retweeted your hearts out, because someone has to hear this. This October, some people live in areas where they will be celebrating Gay and Lesbian history month. On the 20th, some are going to wear purple in honor of the six, SIX, recent deaths of teenage boys who have committed suicide, all within the past month.
This is a problem. This is a huge problem, and I know that wearing purple and retweeting is a start, but it’s not the only thing any of us can do.
I’m urging everyone this month to get out there and contact your local LGBTQA organizations. See what they’re planning. See what you can shake up. See if you can’t draft a resolution for the city council to protect queer and trans students from being bullied to death. If you can’t do that, see if you can’t get a memorial sit-in organized for all those who have killed themselves or been killed by the same fear and hate that caused these more recent tragedies. If you can’t do that, maybe somewhere local or on campus you could hook up YouTube and play the It Gets Better Project. Stand in front of the building the campus preachers usually yell at sinners from and blast Adam Lambert and Lady GaGa and Rent, among others. Throw a Gender Bender for Halloween and practice safety in numbers while celebrating being alive and the rights for individuals to live in their own damn bodies and express who they are in the way that is best for THEM in their minds and souls, and not the way that makes someone else more comfortable. Create a space in your small business for young people to gather and draw strength from one another. Turn around to those homophobes who are behind you in line and tell them to get their privileged heads out of their asses or shut the hell up.
If nothing else, if we have no local resources, or no time or energy to do other things, as it sadly happens at times, if it is not safe where you are to act up, we can do our best at what we do best. Write. Vlog. Podcast. Create. COMPLAIN.
At some point we have to decide that it is enough. We have to decide to get the momentum going, and start shoving over the first stumbling blocks that keep us from moving forward to protect the most vulnerable among us.
