Today, we are celebrating LGBT victories across the country! Thanks to those who voted for equality!
7 months ago · 2,057 notes · Reblogged from thetrevorproject
October is LGBT History Month and in celebration, we are proud to launch a new Timeline of LGBTQ History! Please Like the page and let us know what you think!
8 months ago · 331 notes · Reblogged from thetrevorproject
All Out: We are not illegal
Dear friend,
Right now, almost 80 countries around the world make it a crime to be gay, lesbian or transgender. In 10 of those nations, you can be sentenced to death or life behind bars. The majority of these nations share a connection - they are members of the Commonwealth - an organization bringing together 54 nations to discuss law, society and economic development.
The leaders of the Commonwealth nations are gathering this week in Perth, Australia where their Secretary General, Kamalesh Sharma, just gave a courageous speech calling on each of their countries to finally stop the criminalization of LGBT people. It’s historic, but hardly a done deal: Forces within the Commonwealth are working double-time to silence Sharma and others.
We need to support Secretary General Sharma and show the other heads of state that a massive global outcry is bubbling up in their own countries and demanding fairness. The meeting kicks off this Friday and we need thousands from {{ user.country|default:”your country” }} to join Commonwealth citizens around the world and sign on to our statement of support for Secretary General Sharma. If enough of us demand the Commonwealth reject criminalization in the next 48 hours, our voices will be impossible to ignore.
Will you please take a minute to sign the statement, then share it far and wide:
www.allout.org/wearenotillegal
Many leaders who defend laws that criminalize LGBT people around the world do so in the name of protecting themselves from the “western import” of a “gay lifestyle.” Ironically, the real import was not gay people, but homophobia. In fact, the British empire was often responsible for first introducing their colonies to a maze of Victorian era laws that made it a crime to be gay. Many of those laws survive to this day in the now independent nations of the Commonwealth.
But as we saw last year in India when the world’s largest democracy finally scrapped its colonial era anti-gay laws, the world is already moving toward universal decriminalization. This is our moment to push this change faster. Please sign this urgent letter of support to Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma. We’ll deliver the message publicly in Australia this week to make sure he knows that he has the support of thousands of Commonwealth citizens:
www.allout.org/wearenotillegal
Pushing this issue onto the agenda of the Commonwealth meeting may not result in immediate decriminalization, but it will force leaders around the world to speak out in favor of fairness or risk being isolated at an important international forum. It will also send a powerful message to LGBT people all around the world that on this most basic issue of fairness, we stand together — and that it’s only a matter of time before these outdated laws come crumbling down, one by one.
www.allout.org/wearenotillegal
All the best and All Out,
Andre, Emmy, Erika, Flavia, Guillaume, Jeremy, Joseph, Nita, Oli, Prerna, Tile, Wesley and the rest of the team at All Out
Sources:
Time for Oppression of Gays to Stop
www.perthnow.com.au/news/special-features/time-for-oppression-of-gays-to-stop/story-fnamyn6p-1226176661584Rudd to call for end to anti-gay laws
www.starobserver.com.au/news/2011/10/19/rudd-to-call-for-end-to-anti-gay-lawsFormer British colonies may nix homosexuality bans in effort to battle high HIV rates
www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2011/10/18/2011-10-18_former_british_colonies_may_nix_gay_bans_malayasia_australia_asked_to_legalize_h.htmlCommonwealth ‘fails to stand up for democracy’
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/8837014/Commonwealth-fails-to-stand-up-for-democracy.htmlThis Alien Legacy: The Origins of “Sodomy” Laws in British Colonialism. Human Rights Watch. 2008.
www.hrw.org/en/reports/2008/12/17/alien-legacyEnd the Commonwealth’s Silence on Homophobia
www.iglhrc.org/cgi-bin/low/article/takeaction/partners/1357.htmlThe Commonwealth is a Bastion of Homophobia
www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/17/commonwealth-homophobia-anti-gay-discrimination
1 year ago · 10 notes · Reblogged from alloutorg
1 year ago · 64 notes · Reblogged from reversingmirror
1 year ago · 23 notes · Reblogged from fearthefeminist
My mother, who joined PFLAG immediately after I came out,suggests giving my grandmother a copy of ‘Now That You Know,’ a book the group recommends and that I cynically refer to as ‘Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Homosexuality But Were Too Afraid To Hear.’
I pick up a copy for Granny.
Two weeks later, I’m home for a visit and to do some laundry. I see the book lying on the nightstand; the wrinkled spine and folded corners tells me it has been read. I turn to Granny, who’s busily working on yet another afghan.
“Hey Granny, did you read that book?”
The crochet hook stops, she looks up and says point-blank,
“Yes, and it’s disgusting!”
My heart sinks and my guard goes up. “Disgusting?”
“Yes, it’s disgusting! It says that some of the parents don’t love their children anymore.”
She makes me cry.
I pick up a copy for Granny.
Two weeks later, I’m home for a visit and to do some laundry. I see the book lying on the nightstand; the wrinkled spine and folded corners tells me it has been read. I turn to Granny, who’s busily working on yet another afghan.
“Hey Granny, did you read that book?”
The crochet hook stops, she looks up and says point-blank,
“Yes, and it’s disgusting!”
My heart sinks and my guard goes up. “Disgusting?”
“Yes, it’s disgusting! It says that some of the parents don’t love their children anymore.”
She makes me cry.
—
Mental; Funny In the Head by Eddie Sarfaty (via tron2991)
I agree with this granny! I really hate that we live in a world that we have to advise children not to be honest with their parents in case they kick them out of home. Being a parent is not always easy and we don’t always get it right (I sure haven’t at times!!) but fundamentally we should be supporting our kids and helping them grow into happy, healthy adults. We are supposed to love them unconditionally. Granny has it right! <3
(via coasm)
1 year ago · 26 notes · Source · Reblogged from coasm
My sister, Jillian, and her girlfriend, Dana, on the subway.
1 year ago · 5 notes · Reblogged from sodomyou-deactivated20130117
