Disclaimer: these are my personal opinions formed over many years of being subjected to abuse inflicted upon me by a religious family, and by the church itself... I will attempt to be as diplomatic as possible.
I love what the gentleman points out at the end. Despite the hate, discrimination, molestation, that we face as LGBTQ people for the most part we remain a warm, loving, community that continues to try to make this world a better place.
Originally I was going to post some videos that more clearly highlighted hate that is pushed upon us by the religious right, but you know what, If you want to see that more than likely you can go to your local church today, or turn on your tv and watch the news.. Better yet, listen to the people running to be your PRESIDENT.
People are Born LESBIAN, GAY, and BISEXUAL. TRANS people were born feeling as though they are in the WRONG body. We don't recruit your children. We aren't contagious. We've always BEEN there, from the beginning of time. We are just finally speaking up for ourselves and demanding that our voices be heard.
GOD, G*D, ALLAH.. Will YOUR deity judge ME more for LOVING, or YOU more for HATING. I was BORN the way that I am. You are taught to hate, to fill your children with hate. and if they are like ME you teach them to HATE themselves. There is an epidemic of DEATH in this country of LGBTQ kids taking their own lives. This keeps me up at night, and makes me cry in sorrow. I want to take every child and hug. Tell them they PERFECT just the way they are. That it will get better.
Religion... I grew up in a Catholic family. I left the Church a LONG time ago. Sometimes I miss the routine and community of religion, however I will NOT raise my children to HATE anyone else.. I always thought that God was supposed to be about LOVE, Maybe GOD is but RELIGION is not. Its rhetoric and dogma based on a book written THOUSANDS of years ago. The world has evolved since then and there is a better understanding of things.
IN my OPINION the bible is a BOOK written BY MEN, for MEN. It was also TRANSLATED AND RETRANSLATED BY MEN in times where the people in power changed things to suit themselves. So to me the bible is a book, and it can't rule MY life, and I will not live my life to HATE myself, or anyone else.
There is a long video I'm going to post at the end, by Single Dad Laughing (Dan Pearce) called: I'm Christian, unless you are Gay.. This is a video made by a White, Straight Man. Please watch it if you have time. :) I am also posting SDL's It gets better video.
I see a lot of parallels between the LGBTQ fight for the freedoms they deserve and my own battles as an Atheist.
ReplyDeleteI guess that is why they both have a "coming out" day.
Though as active as I have been in the LGBTQ community (though I am straight myself) I feel like my struggles as an Atheist are still nothing compared to what my friends and family members have had to go through.
In the end it seems the common cause for all this grief is religious bigotry.
I am trying to read all the A to Z blogs, but coming back to the ones I really like.
Tim
The Other Side
The Freedom of Nonbelief