Fact is, I am not black, or gay - but I am a woman, so I have felt some segregation and intolerance in my life. In the grand scheme of things, however, I haven't been discriminated against nearly as much as many people in this world are, and I am grateful for that. All labels aside, I am human. And as a human, I have a duty to stand up for other humans regardless of age, rage, gender, religion, sexual orientation etc. I don't know a lot of things for sure, but I do know that making other humans feel less than equal is WRONG at a fundamental level.
I recently had the opportunity to walk for an organization called The Trevor Project at the local Gay Pride Parade. The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning young people ages 13-24.
Did you know that suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among young people ages 10 to 24? Did you know that LGB youth are 4 times more likely, and questioning youth are 3 times more likely, to attempt suicide as their straight peers? Did you know that LGB youth who come from highly rejecting families are 8.4 times as likely to have attempted suicide as LGB peers who reported no or low levels of family rejection?
How is this happening? Why are we allowing this to happen to our fellow humans?
I thought about this today because I watched a movie called "The Normal Heart" about the 1980s timeframe when American's in New York were trying to identify the cause of the aids virus. It is a heart-wrenching story about a gay community that is dying off in New York. They created an activist group that keeps encouraging the government to find an answer on what the virus is and help with treatment. The amount of time and effort it took these people to get any bit of reaction from the government is baffling to me. There were roomers that the government created the virus to "kill off gay people" and the government wasn't denying it. Sound like the Holocaust at all to you? Granted, that was a rumor, but who knows what really happened. It was such a sad time, and it makes me happy for how much progress has been made since then.
We still have a long way to go so SPEAK UP and STAND UP for the underdog. That's the only way we are going to make progress as humans.
If you are a believer in equal rights, this movie is a must see. Here are just a few reviews about the play that won Tony Award and the movie from Wikipedia - "In the New York Daily News, Liz Smith said, 'An astounding drama . . . a damning indictment of a nation in the middle of an epidemic with its head in the sand. It will make your hair stand on end even as the tears spurt from your eyes.' Rex Reed stated, 'No one who cares about the future of the human race can afford to miss The Normal Heart,' while director Harold Prince commented, 'I haven't been this involved – upset – in too damn long. Kramer honors us with this stormy, articulate theatrical work.'"
Also, some great quotes from the movie, "Weakness scares the shit out of me. My father was weak and I'm afraid I'll be like him. His life didn't stand for anything and then it was over. So I fight constantly. And if I can do it, I can't understand why everyone else can't do it too." - Ned Weeks, Gay Activist
"I scare the shit out of people. The holy terror in a wheel chair. Learn how to use it, you don't need everybody's love and approval." -Dr. Emma Brookner, a physician and survivor of polio who helped with the virus research with little to no government funding.
And a quote, that, of course, I love -
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." -The Declaration of Independence
Peace and love,
Jess*
