Young, Gay And Homeless: Fighting For Resources

Unfortunately I find that I'm writing more and more about a segment of our society deemed by many to be throwaways - homeless teens. Among this group between 30 and 40 percent fall into the LGBTQ group, many kicked out of their homes for being gay, or even for being perceived as being LGBT. As this article points out, and as I strongly feel, the race for equality we are so vehemently struggling for as adults is running over this group of high need young people.

In the struggle for equal rights and marriage equality we are leaving behind, or ignoring, some of the neediest of all. They are teens that are forced to survive in any way they can, whether it be by stealing, robbing, even giving up their bodies for sexual favors. Anything to survive all because nobody wants them.

In New York City, nearly 4,000 young people are homeless every night — many of them gay. Based upon statistics that's a potential 1,600 LGBT teens that have been kicked out or left the safety of their homes because they are gay, 24 hours of the day, 7 days of the week, 52 weeks a year. As if that wasn't shocking enough, a greater percentage of them are beaten by bullies and gay bashers and left to die in the street, victims of a society that chooses to ignore its most vulnerable in favor of material things and money. Even worse, our society encourages the bullying openly. Shame on us as parents, shame on our society, and shame on those who cut social programs in favor of budget shortfalls caused, in part, by excessive waste and greed among the politicians who are supposed to enact legislation to protect our children.

This holiday season ask yourself,  what am I doing to encourage this, or help stop it?

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THAT TIME IS NOW!: An Open Letter to the Republican Party

An Open Letter to the Republican Party

Dear Potential Presidential Candidates of the Republican Party: 

Thank you for clarifying the issues at hand in your many speeches, debates, campaign platforms, public forums, divine visions, multi-point plans, and private websites. If I'm understanding you all correctly, here's what I've gathered...

So starts a letter by blogger Christopher Scott Sarno. It's dead on and directly states the facts, only the facts ma'am. Read the rest here...

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"What do I do if my child is gay?"

Lead With Love is a 35-minute documentary created to help answer that question. It is free to watch at their web site. Below is a short trailer.

This is an excellent, informative film that everyone needs to watch, not just parents of LGBTQ kids. The film promises to have a profound effect on those that watch it, regardless of your sexuality or beliefs. As far as I'm concerned, it should be aavailable in schools, places of worship, and any other place that parents gather. It will change you for the better...LEAD! (watch the film for what that stands for.)

Militarized Conservatism and the End(s) of Higher Education

Tuesday 5 April 2011
by:Henry A. Giroux, Truthout 

The Truth about our "War Machine"vs. Education and the American 99%.
The Politican's and their refusal to touch the high costs of war...and the reason our country and it's poor/middle class are suffering because of the GOP greed and need to be at war!

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The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute states, "The USA's military spending accounted for 43 per cent of the world total in 2009, followed by China with 6.6 per cent; France with 4.3 per cent and the UK with 3.8 per cent."(2) The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost Americans a staggering $1 trillion to date, second only in inflation-adjusted dollars to the $4 trillion price tag for World War II."(3) Pentagon spending for 2011 will be more than $700 billion. To make matters worse, as Tom Englehardt points out, "We dominate the global arms trade, monopolizing almost 70% of the arms business in 2008, with Italy coming in a vanishingly distant second. We put more money into the funding of war, our armed forces and the weaponry of war than the next 25 countries combined (and that's without even including Iraq and Afghan war costs)."(4) Moreover, the United States maintains a massive ring of military bases and global presence around the world, occupying "over 560 bases and other sites abroad"(5) and deploying over 300,000 troops abroad, "even as our country finds itself incapable of paying for basic services."(6) In spite of how much military expenditures drain much-needed funds from social programs, the military budget is rarely debated in Congress or a serious object of discussion among the public. Rather than avoid squandering resources and human lives on foreign wars, we avoid "the realities and costs of war."(7)