Trans* rights in the United States. See a problem here?
& This is why I wont move off the west coast!
Nor I out of Minnesota!!!
just in case you folks don’t quite understand the implications of “employment discrimination” and “housing discrimination” i will break it down for you:
it means you can be FIRED from your job, no matter HOW long you’ve been working there or how great an employee you are, for NO other reason, and it means you can be KICKED OUT OF YOUR HOUSE AND/OR EVICTED for NO OTHER REASON. it means you can be DENIED a job SOLELY because you are trans* and it means you can be denied a home SOLELY because you are trans*. and it is COMPLETELY LEGAL.
mass only recently ended this with the trans* rights bill we passed just a few months ago.
i hope you understand that the legal sanctioning of stripping BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS from trans* people is DIRECTLY CORRELATED with the outrageously high homelessness and SUICIDE rates of trans* people. THIS is part of why over 50% of trans* people UNDER 20 have attempted suicide, many successfully. 50 FUCKING PERCENT.
this is not just discrimination. this is STRIPPING people of their HUMANITY and ENDORSING their deaths. this is borderline LEGAL GENOCIDE.
why i’m not at all impressed w/ Obama’s “groundbreaking” stance on gay marriage.
Via Lipstick Feminists
when was the last time you danced?
Note to self: don’t listen to sad music while working. Dance music, not sad music.
If I should have a daughter…
If I should have a daughter…“Instead of “Mom”, she’s gonna call me “Point B.” Because that way, she knows that no matter what happens, at least she can always find her way to me. And I’m going to paint the solar system on the back of her hands so that she has to learn the entire universe before she can say “Oh, I know that like the back of my hand.”
She’s gonna learn that this life will hit you, hard, in the face, wait for you to get back up so it can kick you in the stomach. But getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air. There is hurt, here, that cannot be fixed by band-aids or poetry, so the first time she realizes that Wonder-woman isn’t coming, I’ll make sure she knows she doesn’t have to wear the cape all by herself. Because no matter how wide you stretch your fingers, your hands will always be too small to catch all the pain you want to heal. Believe me, I’ve tried.
And “Baby,” I’ll tell her “don’t keep your nose up in the air like that, I know that trick, you’re just smelling for smoke so you can follow the trail back to a burning house so you can find the boy who lost everything in the fire to see if you can save him. Or else, find the boy who lit the fire in the first place to see if you can change him.”
But I know that she will anyway, so instead I’ll always keep an extra supply of chocolate and rain boots nearby, ‘cause there is no heartbreak that chocolate can’t fix. Okay, there’s a few heartbreaks chocolate can’t fix. But that’s what the rain boots are for, because rain will wash away everything if you let it.
I want her to see the world through the underside of a glass bottom boat, to look through a magnifying glass at the galaxies that exist on the pin point of a human mind. Because that’s how my mom taught me. That there’ll be days like this, “There’ll be days like this my momma said” when you open your hands to catch and wind up with only blisters and bruises. When you step out of the phone booth and try to fly and the very people you wanna save are the ones standing on your cape. When your boots will fill with rain and you’ll be up to your knees in disappointment and those are the very days you have all the more reason to say “thank you,” ‘cause there is nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline no matter how many times it’s sent away.
You will put the “wind” in win some lose some, you will put the “star” in starting over and over, and no matter how many land mines erupt in a minute be sure your mind lands on the beauty of this funny place called life.
And yes, on a scale from one to over-trusting I am pretty damn naive but I want her to know that this world is made out of sugar. It can crumble so easily but don’t be afraid to stick your tongue out and taste it.
“Baby,” I’ll tell her “remember your mama is a worrier but your papa is a warrior and you are the girl with small hands and big eyes who never stops asking for more.”
Remember that good things come in threes and so do bad things and always apologize when you’ve done something wrong but don’t you ever apologize for the way your eyes refuse to stop shining.
Your voice is small but don’t ever stop singing and when they finally hand you heartbreak, slip hatred and war under your doorstep and hand you hand-outs on street corners of cynicism and defeat, you tell them that they really ought to meet your mother.
— Sarah Kay
She’s gonna be a great Mom.
“But getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.”
Damn. My heart and mind and soul right now…can’t handle it
Via a tree called life
Stephon stood just a few feet away from Barack Obama. The president, busy shaking hands, looked right at him. “It was like he was waiting for me to say something,” he said later.
So the 26-year-old Prince George’s Community College student took his cue and spoke to President Obama in his first language: American Sign Language. “I am proud of you,” Stephon signed. The president, almost involuntary, instinctively, immediately signed back.
“Thank you,” Obama replied.
This is one of those moments that humanize the office of the presidency.
Via Lipstick Feminists
would love to see everyone there. <3
Soooo this is a real thing
From change.org:
“Why This Is Important
Ugandan legislators have re-introduced the dangerous Anti-Homosexuality Bill, a proposed law that would criminalize homosexuality in the country with extreme penalties. Under this proposed law, LGBT people could be killed or sentenced to life in prison, solely because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. As the bill’s author, David Bahati, has said, he believes the government of Uganda should “kill every last gay person.” (1)
Citibank and Barclays — two of the largest banks in the world — have major operations in Uganda. Citibank has nearly $300 million in assets invested Uganda, and is a major leader in a U.S. Chamber of Commerce based in Kampala, Uganda’s capital.
Barclays is Uganda’s third largest bank, with more than 1,000 employees in the country and 51 branches throughout the nation.
Citibank and Barclays are also well known for supporting their LGBT employees and protecting their employees and customers from anti-gay discrimination. Citibank is a huge supporter of LGBT groups in the United States, and has received a 100% rating from the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index. And just last week, Barclays was named the most LGBT-friendly company in all of Scotland, and regularly is ranked as one of the best companies for LGBT people to work for in the world.
With the “Kill the Gays” bill looming in Uganda’s parliament, Citibank and Barclays have unique and necessary voices that could help stop this bill in its tracks. Their presence in Uganda is significant, and their voices in opposition to the Anti-Homosexuality Bill could have a profound impact in keeping LGBT people safe in Uganda.
Ask Citibank and Barclays to publicly condemn Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” bill, and send a loud message to Ugandan legislators that criminalizing homosexuality with lifetime prison sentences and the death penalty won’t be supported by major international businesses.
1. “Finding The Root Of Anti-Gay Sentiment In Uganda,” NPR”
sign the petition here:
http://www.change.org/petitions/citibank-and-barclays-condemn-ugandas-kill-the-gays-bill
What’s going on with this Jeremy Lin guy? I’ve never watched a basketball game in my life, but every day the Yahoo homepage has an article about something racist somebody said about him/did to him.
But… there’s never any response from him. It’s just other people arguing about whether the racist person is really racist.
Something’s weird here.
Self Improvement?
So I’m taking a Nutrition class this semester, and have just been becoming more interested in eating right and doing healthy things in general. I’ve completely changed the way I eat, and now I actually get excited about whole wheat pasta and bread, brown rice, whole grain cereal, soy milk, fruits and vegetables, and stuff like that.
So I thought I was doing pretty good… and then, just out of curiosity, I entered all the food I ate (and was planning to eat) today into this “Supertracker” thing on mypyramid.com, that helps you see if you met your daily requirements and/or went over any limits during the day.
I didn’t have anywhere near enough vegetables, not enough grains, and also not enough protein. I was fine as far as fruit and dairy go, but I had too much saturated fat and apparently too many “empty calories”. I thought empty calories meant soda and candy, but according to this, milk and cheese are full of them.
I’m scared to think about what my charts would have looked like before I started changing my habits. I’m pretty sure I went without vegetables for months at a time. How did I even make it to this age?
Help “Reflections, India” win a film competition!
Dave’s film “Reflections, India” is a finalist in the India Is competition!
He went to India for three weeks last year with his friend Mickey and shot this amazing film. You can watch it on the website - pleaseee click this link, make an account (it’s really quick and easy) and vote for it! If you like the film, reblog and tell everybody you know :)
http://indiais.org/rateit_eachvideos.php?userid1=424&videoid=2
