ASSAULT & BATTERY

Mitt Romney returned from a three-week spring break in 1965 to resume his studies as a high school senior at the prestigious Cranbrook School. Back on the handsome campus, studded with Tudor brick buildings and manicured fields, he spotted something he thought did not belong at a school where the boys wore ties and carried briefcases. John Lauber, a soft-spoken new student one year behind Romney, was perpetually teased for his nonconformity and presumed homosexuality. Now he was walking around the all-boys school with bleached-blond hair that draped over one eye, and Romney wasn’t having it.

“He can’t look like that. That’s wrong. Just look at him!" He said. 

 
So, I'm reading this article in the Washington Post about Willard's roommates recounting this incident that happened with him and this free spirit puff. Obviously an effeminate fellow student that didn't quite fit in. What is a well-to-do, self inflated bully like Mittens to do? Well, beat up on the guy of course.
 
The story just makes me reflect on my youth as well as the generations before and after me enduring those troubling High School and College years. Granted I went to SUNY Ulster so I never faced the drama of dorm life, but I can imagine what the underclassmen must go through elsewhere. It's a formative period in our lives. Fun and exciting, but also very scary.
 
By today's standards, the holding down and cutting someone's hair would be considered assault. Perhaps in the 60's on a campus like Cranbrook, it was probably expected. I don't know, I wasn't there. But fast forward to today. Now we are faced with the possible leadership of our country with a man who thought traumatizing an assumed homosexual classmate through public haircutting was no big deal. I suppose, anyone other than the fella on his back probably walked away without so much as a care. (OK, so I was wrong)
 
The point is, this blast from the past probably wouldn't have even come back to haunt Willard had it not been for the recent Same-Gender Marriage conversation occurring at every dinner table this week. Yes, Obama has finally admitted that everyone should be treated as equals. Don't you just hate this shit? Just when so many of us were getting used to living as second class citizens, the President throws us into some kind of "I'm worth living" sense of righteousness. Ugh. Now we have to contend with the mobilization of bigots across the nation spewing the same hysterical nonsense we've heard for decades. It's so tired.
 
Saddled with the task of weeding the grounds with my co-workers this afternoon, I mentioned how some of my friends feel we are educating and changing minds every year. I continued to tell them that no, they aren't changing, they are simply being replaced. It's a generational thing. People who harbor the darkest thoughts passed on from our parent's era are simply growing old and passing on. Those of us who feel all humans are simply people worthy of equal rights are replacing them both in the home and in position of influence. Simple.

 
So I see it as some kind of evolution too. Like the President and the general public opinion that's shifted toward equality for everyone. Who knew.
But for all you faithful out there, here's to another baby step toward a better America!

SECRETARY CLINTON'S SPEECH

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's truly remarkable speech... "Gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights."  It's worth your time.

INTERNATIONAL EQUALITY & PROTECTION

Here is something startling that I never saw coming. President Obama's administration is expected to introduce a declaration to the United Nations calling for better treatment and protections for LGBT people internationally. 
It's a little bit of a surprize since we've been watching certain State Governors at home resemble foreign dictators in recent months. 

The big day is Tuesday. The declaration will be announced at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. The AP has done a head count and it looks like it has the support of more than 80 countries. 
Whodda thunk? 

In a complete reversal of how the past administrations treated gays & lesbians, this document demands that countries end such persecution. It makes sense in that we should expect all of our trading partners to respect equality amongst their citizens as much as we expect humane working conditions. 

Some of you may not realize that in some countries, It's illegal just to look gay. You would be hauled off and executed if suspected of having a relationship with the same gender and sometimes, they punish the families as well. A concern many people have with Qatar as the location of World Cup in 2022.
Considering their history on this subject. 
 
I find it remarkable that there are still countries living in the 15th century  when it comes to Human Rights. Only three years ago, the French government offered a similar proposal. Russia, China, several Islamic countries, and the Vatican were among some of the other opposing nations. With this shift in opinion by the United States, how will those countries respond this time?

Also reported by the AP; The new resolution now has support from Thailand, Rwanda, 
El Salvador, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic, which did not support the 2008 document. 

A quick search online reveals Homosexuality is still punishable as a crime in at least 85 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan, and Ghana. 
As we witness regime change in Tunisia, Egypt and now Libya...who knows what support or opposition the declaration will face.

Either way, I'm impressed.

HOMELESS YOUTH CENTERS ON THE CUT

It has come to my attention that New York State is about to lose it's moral center. I say this because while we sound the alarm about the looming budget crisis, we are pulling funding from programs that actually secure the health and safety of those who are most vulnerable.

 

Let me point out just one of the programs here. 

The Cuomo administration is looking to pull all funding for homeless youth centers. These would be the agencies that serve as our front line in defense to curtail the inevitable demise of what would otherwise be productive people. Whether they turn to a life of crime and/or government subsidy or worse yet, death by freezing, murder or suicide.

 

I bring this up because the recurring factor that reveals itself in most statistics regarding homeless youth is their sexual orientation. With numbers like 40% of the kids on the street either ran from a bad home situation or they tossed out like garbage by a guardian who deemed them unworthy for simply being born gay or lesbian.

 

The Ali Forney Center, located in New York City relies heavily on state funding to keep their doors open. It is just one of many centers in cities across the nation that are experiencing hard times. AFC however deals primarily with homeless gay & lesbian youth for the same reasons I pointed out above.

 

One of the clients, Raciel Castillo (pictured left) wrote a letter to the Governor to inform him of the impact such a cut would have on him and the others:

Governor Cuomo, I understand that you intend to end the funding from New York State to support youth shelter beds. This means that on July 1st, many of us will be put out of our shelter beds and be thrown out to the streets. I want you to understand that this will put our lives at risk.
 
It is hard to be a homeless kid, having nowhere to stay and feeling alone and unwanted. For me the worst part was feeling hopeless. I know a bunch of homeless gay kids who have told me that they considered suicide. People think it is just because of bullying in schools, but it is also because of being rejected by our families and forced to make it on the streets. One of my friends tried to throw herself in front of a subway. She said she was tired of being invisible. Thank god some of my friends were able to hold her back.
   
Governor Cuomo, I want you to understand how terrible things are for homeless kids. I want you to understand how mean and reckless it is to cut support for kids out on the streets. I have lots of friends who have nowhere safe to sleep. I know some who have to prostitute themselves just to have a place to sleep. Kids get beat up and hurt on the streets. The Ali Forney Center is named after a kid who was murdered on the streets. Too many of us were thrown out by parents who refuse to care about us. Please Governor Cuomo, don't throw us away also.

With much thanks to fellow Blogger JOEMYGOD for much of this background, I would like to also offer this link: 

Please consider adding your name to this letter urging Cuomo to maintain this funding. You need not be a New York resident to raise your voice, because so many of New York City's homeless kids flee here from other states.