Two Lesbians Raised A Baby And This Is What They Got

This is another beautiful video of a presentation by Iowan student Zak, raised by lesbian parents, as he spoke before upcoming legislation that amends Iowa's constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

There are, so far, over 5911 "likes, and 4985 comments - as varied and some as idiotic as the right-wing "Christians" still use to try and justify their only answer to this controversial issue, a message of hate and intolerance for any beliefs other than their own self righteous, bible thumping screams of bigotry and hypocrisy.

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Bullied Gay Teen Fights Ariz. School District

After Merik Castro, a gay Arizona teen who was bullied so relentlessly he once considered suicide, collected more than 3,000 online petition signatures and generated publicity, the school board updated its bullying guidelines at a packed public meeting last month, adding "sexual preference" under its harassment policy.

The problem is that the wording still needs to be changed to be effective according to Castro. The word "preference" implies that orientation is a choice, he says, assigning blame to victims. Nothing new there.

"It basically says you’re choosing this lifestyle," Castro told EDGE. "You’re choosing to be bullied."

According to EDGE, "Castro said he was called names, pushed into lockers and taunted so severely by his classmates at Wigwam Creek Middle School that he wrote a suicide letter. He eventually reached out to Caleb Laieski, a 16-year-old activist for bullied LGBT youth.


After Laieski sent in an anonymous tip about a student being bullied for his sexual orientation, the school focused on Castro and launched an investigation. Three students were eventually suspended and Castro transferred schools.


'I feel like they expelled me out to get rid of the problem,' he said. 'They got rid of the victim, but not the bullying.'.

Ann Donahue, community liaison for the Litchfield Elementary School District, said Castro chose to transfer. She could not confirm allegations that the superintendent pulled aside Castro and his mother, a school district employee, and pressed them with questions about his sexual orientation.

"She told me, ’Well now that you’re choosing this alternative lifestyle, there come consequences and you’re going to get bullied,’" recalled Castro.

This is the same story we hear over and over as bullied students are either forced to change schools, commit suicide, or end up being home schooled. School Districts across the country must come to the realization that ignoring bullying does not make it better in any sense of the word.

Laieski (the 16 year-old activist) is helping Castro look into legal options and the process of recalling school board members.

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Punching, Burning, Electrocuting And Stabbing Your Gay Son Will Probably Not Make Him Straight / Queerty

From queerty.com is this tragic, but very important article about the theory that homosexuals can be "converted" to straight. This is a true story of torture, emotional and physical abuse fostered on their son by Southern Baptist missionary parents. Samuel Brinton, now a student at KSU, was the unfortunate and sad son of a Bapatist minister who, upon discovering that his son Sam might like boys instead of girls, subjected him to electric shock therapy by sticking needles in his fingers and then shocking him when he was forced to look at gay porn and other inhumane trials.

Sam, an incredible and shining example of the forgiveness that his parents ought to have shown him, has in return tried to repair the relationship with his family. His father has threatened to shoot him if he tries to contact the family or any of his siblings. This is such as sad story revolving around the idea that gays can be "converted" and that being gay is a choice.

Sam has his story here at ImFromDriftwood where he shares his story with many others in celebration of National Coming Out Day.

An excellent, interactive series from the NYTimes.

Coming Out: Audio, Photos, Stories of Gay Teens

www.nytimes.com

Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender teenagers talk about their lives in this weeklong series.

Delegate: No Gays in National Guard

By Advocate.com Editors
December 21, 2010

And another GOP, homophobic, hate monger speaks out against gays serving in the military. Even after passage of the bill repealing the DADT policy of gays serving in the military, "Del. Bob Marshall of Prince William County, who may be interested U.S. senator Jim Webb's seat, plans to introduce legislation in the 2011 general assembly that would make the discriminatory policy the rule in the Virginia National Guard," according to Fredericksburg, Va.'s Free Lance-Star

”In a written statement, Marshall, a conservative Republican who was the sponsor of the bill that banned gay marriage in Virginia, said allowing openly gay people to serve in the military ‘will weaken military recruitment and retention, and will increase pressure for a military draft,'” the newspaper reported.

"...Marshall argues that Virginia may set policies for its own National Guard, regardless of the federal law."

Rob Marshall, Courtesy Advocate.com

Where in the heck did this guy come from, better yet, what stones do these people live under? And why is it mostly a Republican, in power, looking for a higher political seat that has to bring out this sort of anti-gay hate?

This goes way back to what I said about bullying in our schools and teen suicide. The responsibility lies with our parents and adults. It's hard to blame other teens when people like Mr. Marshall are setting the example for younger people that it's okay to discriminate against gay people to any extent necessary, using tax dollars when necessary, against the laws of the land, against the recent law passed by the Congress as signed by the President, in the name of self-righteousness, to further a personal agenda.

These people need to be stopped, and the Right to Freedom of Speech does not apply here when it comes to furthering your own personal agenda at the expense of the physical health of a minority population being beaten to death in dark parks, emotionally crushed by cyberbullying by big bullies, and those who end up taking their lives by suicide because of the abuse.

These people like Mr. Marshall seem to think that to lose a few teens by suicide is nothing compared to the poor people who would be emotionally scarred for life by having to serve beside an openly gay soldier. People like him should be ostracized equally in turn and criminally charged for hate crimes! Think that will ever happen....no! He's a Republican politician with lots of money and big lawyers in his GOP pocket. I'm sure at the first hint of such a suggestion our friend, Senator McCain, another hate filled, gay basher would be right there to have his picture taken with Mr. Marshall. and spew forth some more anti-gay rhetoric to the press, eager to push forth his agenda to repeal the DADT bill entirely as he has already promised.

Gay teens more likely to be punished says study

"  Gay, lesbian and bisexual teens are about 40% more likely than straight adolescents to be punished by schools, police and courts according to a new study.

     School expulsions, arrests, juvenile and adult convictions and police stops are more likely to be meted out to them, said lead researcher Kathryn Himmelstein of Yale University who studied teenagers in the United States.

      The study, described as the first national look at sexual orientation and teen punishment, comes as a wave of bullying and suicide cases across the country has focused attention on adolescent torment.
      Research previewers studied 15,000 middle and high school students who were followed for seven years into early adulthood.
      Nearly 1,500 of the participants in the study identified themselves as lesbian, gay or bisexual, but more than 2,300 reported having felt a same-sex attraction at some point in their lives. More than 800 were in a same-sex relationship.
      A full report on the study will be published in the January edition of the journal Pediatrics."

by Dale McEwan..December 6