Tag Archives: discrimination

Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act Passed & Some Aren’t Happy…

23 Oct

The LGBT Community Will Finally Be Protected by Hate Crimes Legislation

 

Congress voted to pass a hate crimes bill  yesterday which serves to add crimes committed because of gender, sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of Federal hate crimes.  Apparently the Democrats believed the only way to get this legislation passed was to tack it onto an apparently very-much-needed $680 billion defense bill so they could count on the Republican vote.  But even so, many Republicans who were normally hard-line supporters of defense spending couldn’t bring themselves to vote for the legislation.   

The Problem

Apparently the problem for many is that Conservatives feel it creates a “special class of victim.” 

But doesn’t the definition of a hate crimes bill in itself refer to crimes against special classes of victims? Isn’t a hate crimes bill intended to protect people from violence launched at them because they’re different? So if  hate crimes bills are passed for the protection of those who are different, how are the Liberals creating a special class of victim?

Being Gay in this country is, for many, like advertising for discrimination – wearing a metaphorical sign that says Just Kick Me Now.

What is special about that? What is special about not wanting to get pulverized because of who you are, not to mention wanting to be treated with the respect that everyone deserves.  How does the desire to be treated fairly and equally put anyone in a special class?

And to also throw in a little more propaganda, some Conservatives have announced that they’re afraid the bill is a “dangerous step” toward “thought crimes.”  

How can trying to prevent bodily assault against someone who is different be a first step toward creating a thought crime?   The Bill doesn’t mandate what people can or should think, only that they cannot victimize their fellow Americans. How is this dangerous?

As said by Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Maryland, “The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act targets acts, not speech.”

What It Boils Down To

 

A discussion I had with a coworker several years ago illustrates the fundamental issue involved in LGBT equality efforts. My coworker didn’t understand why a diversity group for LGBT employees was necessary at our workplace.  She asked, “Why should they get special treatment?  they should be treated just  like everybody else.”

“And that,” I told her, “is exactly the point.”

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Back to the 70’s & Before – Racial Discrimination is Alive & Well

19 Oct

 

In 1978, much to my total shock and disbelief, my otherwise liberal father would not allow me to date anyone who wasn’t White. My dad had always been so fair – his views on this issue totally sideswiped me.  It was appalling to me that a person could be judged on their skin color and culture. I’d always had multi-cultural friends, but once I tried to date a Hispanic, the cultural understanding from my father ended there.

For much of the American population, times have now changed.  We are a more tolerant society than we were thirty (or more) years ago.  However, the new-fangled ideas of change seem to have overlooked some.  I read a news article about a white justice of the peace in Louisiana who has repeatedly refused to marry  interracial couples. He apparently screens couples in advance to identify the ethnicity of bride and groom.  The JP defends himself by saying he’s not a racist – he has many black friends (who even use his toilet!) – but he feels that the “offspring” of mixed races won’t fit in with either race, essentially being the bastards of society. (Sounds more like the JP is talking about puppies).

Wow – deja vous!  That’s exactly the reason my father had given me over thirty years ago.  The children will have no ethnic group. They would be society’s outcasts.

But of course, I didn’t agree, and being the rebel that I am, I did it anyway.

 I can honestly say that I don’t remember one time where it appeared my kids were being mistreated because they belonged to two ethnic groups.  If anything, I think being bi-racial helped them identify with both groups.

And whether you agree or disagree with the practice of interracial dating and marriage, the US Supreme court decided in 1967 that the government has no right to tell a person who they can or cannot marry. PERIOD.

What do you think about this now-not-so-controversial issue, but one that still causes some hypertension nonetheless?

 

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Ft. Worth Gay Bar Bashing – How Fun is That?….

8 Aug

Rainbow LoungeI was trying not to make judgments until the investigation into the raid on the Rainbow Lounge in Ft. Worth was completed, and now enough of it has been to say:  Homophobia and LGBT discrimination is still alive and well in Texas.  Did we really ever doubt it?  No, I don’t think so.

This article has some partial results from the investigation (thanks Andrew Sullivan for your post) – looks like the TABC and Ft. Worth police messed up big time.  When will we all realize and accept the fact that people are different, but they’re just people.  Shouldn’t we all embrace each other’s differences instead of lash out against them? 

I’m embarrassed that our State and sister city have apparently reenacted the events leading to the Stonewall Riots in 1969.  We are supposed to learn from our mistakes, and travel by leaps and bounds forward, not backward.

When will we learn?

(Picture from news article in Fort Worth Star Telegram Aug 6 2009)

Perspectives on the Child Abuser Commercial…

31 May

A person’s perspectives are shaped from his life experiences – where a person has been and what he has gone through.  I was reminded of this again the other day as my husband and I watched TV.

Our Backgrounds

My husband is Hispanic.  He was raised in a rougher part of town, and didn’t have many privileges as he was growing up.  I am White, and was raised in a very good neighborhood by an upper middle-class family.

What We Saw

As we watched TV, we both saw the same commercial, and had two totally different perspectives – I thought that was amazing.  The commercial shows two women in a store, one with a little girl.  The woman with the girl wears a black T-shirt that has the words “Child Abuser” printed on the front.  The two women are talking, and the other woman is clearly horrified that the little girl’s mother is wearing a shirt that declares her as a child abuser.  The narrator asks, “Wouldn’t it be nice if it were this easy to tell who the child abusers are?”  or something to that effect.  Then the narrator goes on to tell people to trust their instincts – if they think child abuse might be going on, they should report it.

How We Understood It

Now when I saw this commercial, I got the message that even though the girl’s mother was obviously a white middle class respectable-looking parent, no one would guess that she’s a child abuser, but she very well could be.  As evidenced by the other woman’s shock in reading the label on her shirt.  The message was that you can’t tell if someone is an abuser by the way they look or who they may appear to be.  I thought that was a good message.

My husband, on the other hand, was outraged by the commercial’s message – the one he clearly heard.  It was telling people to trust their instincts and report their suspicions about possible child abuse.  But it said nothing about facts, or proof, or any physical evidence whatsoever.  It just addressed INSTINCTS.  He said this was a very dangerous commercial – a report of child abuse is a very serious thing, and could have devastating consequences.  It is not something to accuse someone of without facts.

And I had to agree.  But I didn’t think of that angle, because I hadn’t had much experience throughout my life with false accusations, and being a minority in a society predominantly governed by the white population, where many things happen that aren’t fair.

Learn to Appreciate Our Differences

It certainly opened my eyes to how we each can see the same world in a different light, depending on who we are and where we’ve been.  And we should all remember our different backgrounds when we are dealing with a diverse population in our day-to-day lives.  A little understanding goes a long way in helping to bridge our differences!

Is Harvey Dunne? has now been published…I invite you to check Harvey out.

11 May


Now Available:Amazon pic

 Is Harvey Dunne?

A Novel

The relentless, frigid blizzard of discrimination blew into my world and changed it forever. My two lives finally collided in a soul-twisting crash, and catapulted me into the challenge of my life.  I was now dealing with the wreckage.   

Is Harvey Dunne? is a novel about braving the malicious storm of prejudice. It is about not only the arduous search sometimes required to find ourselves, but the challenge of acceptance, both from ourselves and others, we must face once we get there.

I invite you to join the Is Harvey Dunne? Fanclub  page on Facebook.

 I’d love to hear what you think – please let me know.

To purchase the novel, please click on the links below.  (More coming soon -  including eBook formats on Kindle and Smashwords).

Amazon

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Thank You!!

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