Think about being at a place where you feel completely and utterly unjudged, untouched, and pristine. People around you are laughing dancing, and you don’t have a care in the world. Everyone is happy. This is how my friend Liz will feel at the Pride Festival in Riverfront Park, Harrisburg on June 29th. I have many different reasons on why I should be allowed to go in support of her. First, I think I should be able to go to the Pride Festival singly on the fact that I will help Liz feel accepted and valid. The people going are like Liz. They need to be appreciated and loved, too. Everybody there will be completely accepting towards her. Nobody will be judgemental. Second, I will be out of your hair. Liz and I will be gone at the festival for up to 6 hours. You will have time to do whatever you want. You could go to dinner, hang out with friends, or even do something as simple as renting a movie or having ‘you’ time. Whatever it is, I will not be there to bother you. Lastly, Going to the Pride Festival will (obviously) put Liz and I in a good mood when we come back …show more content…
This is her only chance once a year that she gets to be around her own kind of people and not get judged for who she is. I promise you, it will be very good for her, mentally and physically. She will be less anxious and secretive, yet not flamboyant, about her preference, and all of the running and dancing is certain to lose a little weight and boost her cardiovascular endurance. Honestly, me attending the Pride Festival might be the nicest, most endearing, accepting, common thing I could ever do for her. She will be in a place where she is extrovertly and introvertly ecstatic (which happens very little), and all the people around her will be too. The Pride Festival will be bursting at the seams with positive energy, and I, as a 110% supporter for her, will be right alongside
In addition to lobbying politicians, Pat wanted to change local attitudes so, taking advantage of her popularity as a guest speaker at Rotary, Lions, Toastmasters and other local groups, she made gay equality her subject at every meeting she spoke at, and convinced many locals previously unconcerned by the matter, of the injustices faced by the gay and lesbian communities. “I was so angry that gays were treated differently. We are all equal and should be treated the same. It is unfair and unjust to be judged as a person on your sexuality” she said.
Mercedes: So, uh, I guess that's it then. Gwen, Charlotte, I'll see you girls this Friday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. And Vickie? I'll be seeing you as well. Good luck.
I started to walk across the street to my friend Lacey’s house. Lacey lives just outside Detroit, but like my family, her family comes to the cape for the summer. Our families’ have been friends for about 10 years, but we normally don’t see or talk to each other during the year, only summertime seems to bring us together. Traditionally Lacey and I leave for the beach together, even at age 7 we walked with our mothers, so I knew I had to tell her about this errand before I left for town.
There is one part of the exhibition that I felt did make me question some of my beliefs. There was one piece where you enter into, maybe, a ten foot by ten foot area and there are large mirrors on all four walls. On the mirrors, in large, black print, were phases or slurs that would be insulting to the LGBTQ community. I do not remember all of the mirrors said, but I know that one said, “DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL,” another said, “DYKE,” and a third one said, “FAGGOT.” And you would just sit in this little area and look at yourself in the mirrors with these words somewhat covering your face. To me it just reminded me that I am a part of a world where slurs, and policies like “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” exist and have existed. It made me think more about how I fit into this world. In a description for the artwork I learned that Roman had become partial to using the phrase, “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.” Reading this made me ask myself the question, “Am I part of the solution?” While I do believe that the LGBTQ community, and in general everyone, deserves equal rights and respect, I do not really advocate for it. Whenever I hear that the LGBTQ community, or some ethnic group, wins a civil rights case I think, “Good for them,” but I have never been someone who stood outside the court house with a picket sign. To be honest, I am not sure if I ever see myself doing that. Whenever I consider doing something like that, I think something along the lines of, “It’s not my fight. I have other things to do.” So I now find myself wondering if I am really part of the solution. Though it is somewhat of a loaded phrase that is very black and white, and I know very well that almost all things in the world are not just black and white but an innumerable numbers of shades of grey. But even on a spectrum between solution and problem I am
I think this is a great and fun idea to get people to mingle and to have a good time at the event. That is also another thing she mentioned in her presentation is that there may be different types of people at your event and you want everyone to have a good time and interact with each other and get to know one another a little bit better. I loved how the interactive “host” for her event matched the theme of the event and walked people through the night and then at the end of the night queued people to start to leave by putting on pajamas and acting
Queer theory also has to be taken into consideration when discussing the need for a safe space within the film. While safe spaces are important for women in general, they are also needed for gay identifying women as they often face multiple forms of oppression. Lesbians face not only the discrimination of being female, but also from being non-heterosexual. This includes violence, abuse and the small privilege women have is also now removed due to it being granted by male relationships which lesbians reject. (Lesbians in Revolt, no
For my second diversity event, I went to "Minnesota OUT! Campus Conference- Keynote Speaker, Pidgeon Pagonis." The event was hosted by MOCC/LGBT Center/Latino Affairs. Though I did not attend the entire conference I went the last day, it was a very eye-opening experience for me. Pidgeon spoke about intersex, which I found out is the case in which "a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn't seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male" (isna.org). Before attending the event the former was known to me as "hermaphrodite." Pidgeon talked about how that term is offensive to intersex people, due to its history. There were a lot of "aha moments" for me, more than anything though a new world was being presented to me.
Now, there is nothing wrong in having ordinance, which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest” (King 416)
instead of going to the march, will be the best thing for her. (Hunter 19-20).
An amazing accomplishment happened on June 26, 2015 when marriage equality was legalized across the nation. Hearing this exciting news, I quickly celebrated, for I have urged for equal rights for all queer bodies (LGBT plus communities, minority races, and female bodies), which is my sole passion. I had first developed a strong opinion and passion about queer theory when I joined the debate team in 2012 and started debating over the topic; however, last year was the year I intensely debate this topic. It is amazing how far we’ve come to making progress in the queer movement: the movement that encompasses all minority bodies to end the depravity in society. Yet, it is also amazing how far we have to go to ensure true equality.
The diversity event I attended this semester was the tunnel of oppression. I selected this event out of all the others because I feel it is very important to experience and be informed of some of the most unfathomable issues we face in today’s society. The event took approximately 20-30 minutes but within that short time frame, I experienced many negative emotions. For example: anger, hopeless, sadness, and fear. There were many scenes we walked through that had to do with the issues we face today. Some of those issues had to do with racism, sexism, body image, homophobia, drug addition, and classism. A lot of the time I feel like we have all these issues in today’s society due to people not being culturally competent. There are hundreds of
Nowadays, being gay is everywhere. It seems like a trip to the supermarket is never complete without a magazine or commercial on the radio advertising gay pride. It seems like the most effective of these trials has to be the hit television show Glee. Many of the shows episodes revolve on the aspect be yourself, whether you are gay, straight, handicapped, or popular. But only one of these has caught the eye of the American public. Gay pride, is it possible to have been born this way? If people can be born this way, what is the proof?
At no point in my life did I previously approve of the any individual who was LGBT. However growing up in a small community, I was not immersed in the community and did not get to experience individuals firsthand. I learned that these individuals are called numerous harsh names such as “Gay Kid, Fag, Queer, and Homo”. One individual explained that he was beaten every day that he attended school, and another girl said her entire family disassociated her until she changed her views of sexual orientation. I cannot imagine going through every day with the world against you. Just because of one decision, which in all reality is not even a choice, they are shunned. I have a cousin that attended the University of Northern Iowa, who was and still is homosexual. He did not come out until he was at college and his direct family was definitely not accepting of his sexual orientation. I am glad that UNI is a very open towards LGBT individuals. Everyone deserves to be treated equally, no matter if you are heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, pan-sexual, or any other sexual orientation. I want to thank the panel for giving up a part of their day to educate others on the LGBT
Celebrities such as Bruce Springsteen, Nick Jonas and Demi Lovato have canceled their tour dates in North Carolina making pro-trans rights comments. Springsteen said: “Some things are more important than a rock show and this fight against prejudice and bigotry-which is happening as I write-is one of them. It is the strongest means I have raising my voice in opposition to those who continue to push us backwards instead of forwards” (Berman). Jonas and Lovato released a statement together saying: “We know the cancellation of of these shows is disappointing to our fans, but we trust that you will stand united with us against this hateful law. One of our goals for the tour has always been to create an atmosphere where every single attendee feels equal, included, and accepted for who they are. North Carolina’s discriminatory HB2 law is extremely disappointing, and it takes away some of the LGBT community’s most basic rights and protections” (Smith). I completely agree with Jonas, Lovato and Springsteen. This law needs to be abolished very soon. There should be a law implementing gender neutral bathrooms everywhere, so a transgender person can feel comfortable and safe, no matter where they are. Transgender
In Julie Serano’s book Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity she emphasizes that while the LGBTQ community is important and serves a purpose for its members, she also believes there is life outside such a community. Serano strongly states in her book that while the LGBTQ community serves a purpose, they would be more effective if they did not discriminate within their own community. According to Serano, discrimination within a community hurts all its members because not everyone feels accepted. In Andrew Holleran’s book Dancer from the Dance, he places a large emphasis on the need for community for those that identify as LGBTQ. In Dancer from the Dance, the community is portrayed as a place of safety and acceptance. Holleran illustrates through his characters that discrimination does not exist within their community, but he also paints the picture that there is little e...