Help! The gays are oppressing me!

“There’s a storm gathering. The clouds are dark and the winds are strong and I am afraid. Some who advocate for same sex marriage have taken the issue far beyond same sex couples. They want to bring the issue into my life. My freedom will be taken away. I’m a California doctor who must choose between my faith and my job. I’m part of a New Jersey church group punished by the government because we can’t support same sex marriage. I’m a Massachusetts parent helpless watching public schools teach my son that gay marriage is okay. But some who advocate same sex marriage have not been content with same sex couples living as they wish. Those advocates want to change the way I live. I will have no choice. The storm is coming. But we have hope, a rainbow coalition of people of every creed and color are coming together in love to protect marriage. Paid for by National Organization for Marriage which is responsible for the content of this ad.”

This has been all over the internet by now, but this amazingly stupid ad campaign from a group calling themselves the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) was something I just had to comment on.

I swear, these people stopped just short of saying “HELP, THE GAYS SNATCHED MY PENIS!” Like, I’ve seen some bad anti-gay marriage ads in my time, but never have I seen a group of people so threatened by the sexuality of others! “Dark clouds”? Give me a break. And what’s this about “I’m a doctor who must choose between my faith and my job.” I’m sorry, but as I have said before, if you’re a doctor who refuses to do your job because it violates your so-called “moral” beliefs, you’re probably an asshole.

Also, it both distresses and amuses the fuck out of me when parents get their panties in a knot that somebody is out there teaching their children that it’s alright to be gay! The horror! Here’s something I’d like to say to all those parents. If your child is gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or otherwise queer, they will be that whether you want them too or not, with or without being taught about LGBTQ people in schools. However, if your child is taught that being queer isn’t actually that terrible, it may be the difference between that child growing up to be happy and well-adjusted, and that child committing suicide before the age of 20. That being said, I’m convinced that a lot of fundamentalists only have very conditional love for their children.

Also, the “rainbow coalition” remark made me laugh. Oh no, the gays are even stealing rainbows from the straight people! Now all races and religions can unite in their distaste for people like me.

This is all accented by the fact that a group named NOM is all too easy to make fun of. As a commenter on Feministing said, “I just can’t see their name without thinking “NOM NOM NOM,” as in, their campaign has about as much intellectual rigor as a lolcat.”

Your WTF of the Day

The UN anti-trafficking protocol, courtesy of the lovely Born Whore.

Now, I know what you may be thinking. “How can you oppose anti-trafficking measures?”

Scroll to page 6. You’ll see “highlights”.

“That the consent of a victim of trafficking is irrelevant (Art. 3b)”

Wait, what? I thought the definition of trafficking was that it was non-consensual.

Apparently not. Apparently, crossing any border to engage in sex work is considered trafficking.

What the fuck is this shit?

First of all, it’s racist in that it really only targets sex workers from outside the Western world. Like, if someone moved from Ireland to Canada, and was a sex worker, would anyone consider that trafficking? Probably not – because the assumption is that women of certain races and ethnicities can make their own decisions, and others cannot. Eww.

Of course, this is all written (or at least summarized) by Janice G. Raymond.

In which school makes me want to bang my head against a wall.

I’ve been a terrible blogger lately, and by terrible, I mean “completely absent”. As it turns out, being in grade 12 and being a slow worker is not condusive to blogging 2-3 times a week. I’ll try and get back into the swing of things, though, if anybody still bothers to read this.

But, no, lack of blogging time is not what makes me want to bang my head against the wall.

Last week, in my English class, we were having a discussion about many things. One of those nice tangential ones where a lot of ideas get tossed around. Specifically, it related to the movie Water, which is actually a really good movie. So, my English teacher asks us this question:

“Is there really such a thing as a willing prostitute?”

I knew where this was going. I chimed in with something along the lines of “Uh, you guys, I know willing prostitutes.”

My teacher (who is actually a complete sweetheart, but kind of dead wrong on this one), procceeded to explain the correlation between child abuse and prostitution, and how she read a book about Vancouver’s downtown East Side and all these people live such horrible lives, and therefore, no prostitute would actually, you know, want to do that stuff.

Talk about jumping wildly to conclusions.

Then she said something like “We can’t judge these people, they’ve all had really hard lives.”

Isn’t assuming someone to be a victim a judgement in itself?

Also, in my World Issues class, in our unit on women’s issues, there is a lesson entitled “Prostitution and Slavery.” Same lesson.

I do realize people have varying opinions about sex work. But, wilfully ignoring the voices of sex workers just because it doesn’t fit the script? That’s just ignorant.

Anxiety sucks, or why I haven’t been writing.

The title. Enough said. I’d like to write more….but there are things I need to get in order before I can start posting regularly again.

The “system”, as it were, sucks as well. I believe I was misdiagnosed the first time around. They told me that it was anxiety-NOS, it was mild, and I could just keep getting counselling at my school and I’d be fine. Well, I’m pretty sure it’s generalized anxiety, and it’s sure as hell not fine.

Getting people to listen is the challenge, really. Apparently teenagers are supposed to be nervous – but to what degree? I’m starting with a new counsellor in a couple of days, hopefully that will help.

Anyways, post your mental health rants here. I miss having robust discussions on this blog.

I’m not normally moved to tears by YouTube videos, but…

WATCH IT.

“Somewhere in Des Moines or San Antonio there is a young gay person who all the sudden realizes that he or she is gay; knows that if their parents find out they will be tossed out of the house, their classmates will taunt the child, and the Anita Bryant’s and John Briggs’ are doing their part on TV. And that child has several options: staying in the closet, and suicide. And then one day that child might open the paper that says “Homosexual elected in San Francisco” and there are two new options: the option is to go to California, or stay in San Antonio and fight. Two days after I was elected I got a phone call and the voice was quite young. It was from Altoona, Pennsylvania. And the person said “Thanks”. And you’ve got to elect gay people, so that thousand upon thousands like that child know that there is hope for a better world; there is hope for a better tomorrow. Without hope, not only gays, but those who are blacks, the Asians, the disabled, the seniors, the us’s: without hope the us’s give up. I know that you can’t live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living. And you, and you, and you, and you have got to give them hope.”

-Harvey Milk, 1978

Remember to Join the Impact in your city today! I’ll be there, protesting in Toronto.

HOPE.

So, Obama won. He is the first African-American president of the United States. Which is amazing in of itself, and even better, I do really like the guy.

This election meant a lot to people like me. Ever since I’ve been old enough to actually follow elections, they’ve had bad results. Two rounds of Bush, three of Harper. I’ve never really been happy the day after and election. So, to watch Barack Obama win, to know you lived to see history being made, was truly amazing. As he made his speech last night, I cried, and things like that don’t usually make me cry.

This morning, I cried again, but those weren’t tears of joy. Prop 8 passed, as did similar measures in Arizona and Florida. Prop K was voted down. For areas where people did vote Democrat, this was especially disheartening. Yes, progressives can be dicks too, and a whole bunch of people suffered because for some reason, people feel it’s right for the majority to veto the basic rights of the minority.

I finally got what Obama was saying when he talked about hope all this time. A mixed-race kid from a single-parent family, with an unusual name, grew up to become president. And, while queer folks in the United States still can’t get married, and sex workers in San Francisco still can’t work without the fear of being arrested. But all of us “freaks” – we don’t go down without a fight. We’ll keep fighting, and if this election showed us anything, it’s that people who are different because of what they are, or do, can be leaders. And I believe the world is moving forward, despite all the threats out there to anyone who is percieved as different. Today, there are a lot of minorities, disadvantaged folks, freaks and queers who now know that they can do anything.

Maybe even lead a country one day.

Vote, dammit!

Just reminding all my American friends (well, the ones over the age of 18, at least), to vote today. Preferably for Barack Obama, who I’m almost sure will become the next president of the United States.

I’m so excited.

Also, if you live in California, make sure you “Don’t Stop at the Top”, and vote NO on Propostion 8, an anti-gay ballot measure. If you live in San Francisco, voting YES on Prop K, a measure to decriminalize sex work, would make me a happy panda.

I’m going to start kind of an open election thread in the comments, so post as you wish, in terms of election-related things. Play nice, and don’t forget to vote!

Guess who’s back, back again…

Alright, I’ve been gone for an ungodly amount of time, for which I apologize. I was on bloggy hiatus for a while for a myriad of reasons, but I’m back and will now attempt to post with some kind of regularity. Sorry for abandoning you. (If you’re still reading).

Anyways, this thread over at Amber’s got me thinking. Well, in a tangential way, really.

I was talking to a friend once, and I honestly forget what this conversation was about. Anyways, I said something along the lines of “Well, there’s nothing wrong with having a lot of sex, as long as you’re safe and smart about it.”

She replied “Yeah, but I think there’s an element of low self-esteem that goes into that.”

She might be right, at least some of the time. Yes, some people do have sex because they need validation. However, why is having sex always the thing people like to analyze to death? Especially women having sex? Especially teenage girls having sex.

“Sexually active teenage girl”, at least if you watch TV, has become some kind of synonym for delinquent. I was looking through the “Be on the Show” section of the Dr. Phil website, just out of boredom. (No, you will not be seeing Miss Nomered coming to a TV station near you.) Anyways, an upcoming show is based on this:

“Teen daughter sexually active?”

Groan.

Granted, 13-year-olds having sex is often somewhat concerning, as most 13-year-olds don’t have the maturity level to deal with that. But, what about the 16, 17, and 18 year olds? Older teens have been having sex forever, why is it considered so horrible in the eyes of parents and the media? Especially if the one having sex is a girl?

Lesson of the day: I am stubbornly self-accepting.

So, here’s the long-overdue update on my being neurologically interesting. Essentially (and I found this out a while ago), it’s thought that I likely have NLD – non-verbal learning disorder. I have to go through some more testing to officially confirm this, but it’s thought to be fairly likely that I do have it. Oh yeah, and it’s also a possibility that I have sensory integration disorder as well.

Am I upset over this? No, not really.

I mean, it would be nice if certain things were easier for me. I’d really like to be able to write an essay test without wanting to cry by the end, for one. Also, being more at ease in social situations would be nice. But then again, I sometimes wish my nose was slightly smaller, and my eyes weren’t as close together. Despite my teenage low self-esteem moments, I have this (seemingly ridiculous at times) philosophy that all these things – the learning disability, the physical imperfections, and whatever else, are part of who I am.

Although my different learning style presents me with challenges, I believe I have many talents as well. My verbal skills are quite good – I could talk by about 10 months old, and read at the age of three. But even if I didn’t, to use a cliche: I am what I am. And my biggest issues have not come from my disability itself, but more how people react to someone like me. This is what the social model of disability is about: who I am isn’t the problem, it’s society’s treatment of people with disabilities.

So, no, I don’t want to be “cured”. I don’t think people like me need to be fixed; we’re not broken. We have a lot to offer the world.

I’m feeling rather like this song today:

Back!

Alright, folks, I’m back from camp. Since I just came back from the middle of nowhere, I haven’t beeen hearing about much news. Except for propane explosions in Toronto, and Bernie Mac dying. So it might take me a few days to make a properly topical post.

But, yes. I’m back.