May these innocent lives rest in peace. Bullying has grown to be very costly. It cost the 4 young lives of the Gay community mentioned above in September alone. In this communication age, people, especially the young are using myspace, facebook, skype, blogs, webcams, text messages, twitter, and old fashioned face-to-face to bully one another and we must, as adults, know what our young are saying to their peers. Understand, since communication is so instant, a negative comment can turn one’s world upside down in less than a second.
THIS MUST BE ADDRESSED! No matter your sexuality, you are you, and you should never feel that taking your own life is the only way to escape bullying.
According to youthsuicide.ca.org, here are signs that one is considering suicide:
Signs of depression or feelings of hopelessness
Lack of interest or energy (or wild variations in energy levels)
Changes in eating habits, sleep patterns, or personal appearance
Increase in anxiety or anxiety related illnesses (head aches, stomach aches)
Any dramatic changes in behaviour, actions, or attitude
Being unusually quiet or unusually aggressive/angry
Dropping out of hobbies, sports, school, or job
Talking about death or cult figures who died by suicide
Preoccupation with death, dying, or suicide * (includes joking about death or suicide, creative writing, poetry, artwork)
A sudden elated mood following a time of depression*
The Trevor Project is a great resource that is available 24/7 If you or someone you care about displays any of these warning signs, please do not hesitate to call The Trevor Lifeline at: 866-4-U-TREVOR (866-488-7386) to speak with a trained volunteer counselor. CALL BEFORE ITS TOO LATE!!!
If I remember correctly, when we used to live in Chicago, the Windy City times hit newsstands every Thursday. This week marks their 25th anniversary and is Chicago’s oldest Gay & Lesbian newspaper. The Windy City Times started in 1985 with a small voice, but a long-term dream that LGBT topics would not only come from The Windy City Times, but that their own newspaper would continue, as other media, to have our news stories and issues mainstream.
Co-founder and current publisher Tracy Baim says “25 years is an important milestone because the modern gay rights movement had just begun its strongest push in the 1960s and 1970s.”
She says now that gay issues are covered better in the mainstream media, niche publications are crucial for covering the community in more meaningful ways.
This Sunday, we will be at the First and Hope Supper Club (photos above and below) where they have opened their doors to the ‘Friends of Project 10′. On the 26th, Friends of Project 10 will hold an event “Broadway Matinee” in the Fedora Cabaret Lounge. There will be live broadway performances and leaders who currently fight for the LGBT youth of Los Angeles.
Founded in 1984 by Dr. Virginia Uribe, Friends of Project 10 are dedicated to providing educational support services to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and questioning youth who attend public school campuses. Project 10 currently has groups or contact people in the majority of LAUSD’s high schools. Over the years it has expanded to include middle and continuation schools. Portions of the Project 10 model are replicated in schools across the country.
First and Hope Supper Club is located at 710 W. 1st St. on Bunker Hill. It features modern American comfort food, handcrafted cocktails, and live entertainment.
Having attended First and Hope Supper Club, its an artistic dinner experience. As soon as you walk in the supper club, you are transcended into the charm of art deco, musical delights, and food to comfort your hunger.
For more information, please contact Robert St. Genis at (213)-291-6971.
Angry? Yes. Disappointed? Yes. Creating a more Perfect Union? Outlook-Not so Good, lets shake the magic 8 ball up again, hopefully all signs will point to yes????
Growing up as a child in the late 80s, space exploration was another season, I can barely remember “Hands Across America” and I wouldn’t understand the major jump between a President Reagan and a President Obama until after my college degree is gathering dust and my wedding ring still has a shine to it. These days, even after we have come so far, we still have a long way to go.
My mother used to tell me stories about her youth in mid 60s when she was a small child; her earliest memory is JFK being assassinated and it was like the world was going to fall apart. All united and cried. Simultaneously, she can recollect the racism toward non-whites in her community. As a young Latina, she felt it, my family felt it. You will have to pardon my tangents, but I think its because our country has gone into tangents that seem so askew it’s as if self-identity is being ridiculed again by others who wear different shoes. In grade school, I can remember being ridiculed for the way I acted, effeminate, yes, different, yes, weak, no. However, I believed that when we became older, there would be more understanding and hope. We still need to grow up!
Why I bring all this up is because our Gay and Lesbian community was hit again by our own lawmakers and we feel so unprotected like the little kid in grade school who is treated poorly, differently, and the adults are arguing in the principal’s office and no one is making a correct decision that is not going to make things better for the child. We must remember that our country is still a young child not to be abused…its special.
In a time when job loss keeps growing, our lawmakers, dream makers, decided that DADT will stand and a group of individuals who serve for our country, our home, are being told they can’t and they are losing their position because of who they are. A human QUALITY that can truly unite us all in this divided world. Gays and Lesbians are NOT political pawns, they are your brothers and sisters, your sons and daughters, who want to go about their lives knowing that human kindness can overflow for them too. Personally, we don’t care that statistics show that the Great Recession is over, if this country keeps on this path of decisions that cause losses, it wont be just a dust bowl, but a caldera that will eventually reach a boiling pt and then there is nothing we can do. However, hopefully, maybe, at that point, our hands and hearts will reach across and will not care who are neighbors, fellow citizens, and fellow soldiers are, and just live for one second in peace.
I look at our leaders, and I feel like we are picking at weeds, instead of planting seeds. This is not to disrespect our president or other politicians, but they are fighting more for their own power than the people. Legacies and parties do not have to be represented by shiny statues or wars won. It can simply be a prosperous future where a price tag could NOT be placed. As long as the seeds are planted and the foundation is sound, we can truly RESTORE our country.
People must adapt to change, DADT must go, and all need to realize that even though there is a large world out there, we are just a small spec full of brothers and sisters who make an impact on each other. When you smile at someone you don’t know, that leaves a mark. When you pass negative judgement at a stranger that leaves a bruise. We do not have much time on this planet, and it would be nice to let it be and NOT have an aisle divide us.
Instead of this as a typical post, I just typed my thoughts. Whether I am right or wrong, I don’t know. What I do know is that I feel like ‘The Rose’ lyrics, that our world is in a winter and we have to dig very far beneath the bitter snow, we will find a seed, and with the sun’s love, in the spring becomes a rose.
This sapling is not done yet, may our bark be solid, our trunks be tall, and our branches reach out to justice.
Today, the winds of change could come for a our soldiers. Seventeen years ago, President Clinton enacted the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy which put into law that no soldier could serve openly as a Gay man or woman. The senate has the power to vote to repeal and that vote is today.
We want to take this vote, and put it into a brief description.
To vote to keep DADT would be DISCRIMINATION.
To vote to repeal DADT would be JUSTICE
President Clinton stated a year ago while appearing on Anderson Cooper 360 that he regrets enacting that law. Exclusive here on EqualJunction.com, Clinton stated that in 1993, he was an old man, and he acted on old man views.
Yesterday, Lady Gaga stated “Equality is the prime rib of America,” she said, urging Sens.Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe to share “the greatest cut of meat that my country has to offer” with gays and lesbians in the military.
“Equality is the prime rib of America,” she said, urging Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe to share “the greatest cut of meat that my country has to offer” with Gays and Lesbians in the military.
To keep DADT, simply put, is keeping segregation alive. President Obama should have enacted a stop-loss order so that the military would not lose qualified, intelligent men and women who want to serve our country. Erasing DADT would be a step in the right direction.
WHAT YOU CAN DO WHILE THERE IS STILL TIME…
Please call your senators at (202) 224-3121 and make sure they support the REPEAL of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Do it before tomorrow’s vote! Thank You
Well, we know that we have one more person in leadership who has our back.
United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has called on countries to stop enforcing laws that discriminate against Gays and Lesbians. He spoke of this as part of a bigger speech on human rights in Geneva. Ban Ki-moon directed his message of discrimination of Gays and Lesbians to the countries in Asia and Africa. Two continents where being homosexual can lead to a jail or death sentence.
On the morning of September 16, 1810, Father Miguel Hidalgo exclaimed to his townspeople that he was angry with Spanish rule, as were many Mexicans at the time, and it was this day 200 years ago that commenced the war to gain independence in Mexico. Its definitive liberation was in 1821.
As a proud Mexican family (who also is of Spanish descent-my family sure had some wars within the home back in the day) we celebrate not only the holiday, but of the recent freedom of marriage, its capital, Mexico City, gave to same-sex couples.
With family in Mexico, I hear about the wars that are still fought within and of course the border wars with the US. I hope that this 200 year mark will remind my brothers and sisters that war gets in the way of enjoying life. I pray for peace in Mexico and that we, as neighbors, can one day truly understand the beautiful culture that is south of the Rio Grande which laid beautiful roots in our great nation. Viva Mexico!
The photo is of the Ochoa ancestors during the time of war in the early 1900s…they were very protective of their homeland.
Seth Walsh
If I remember correctly, when we used to live in Chicago, the Windy City times hit newsstands every Thursday. This week marks their 25th anniversary and is Chicago’s oldest Gay & Lesbian newspaper. The Windy City Times started in 1985 with a small voice, but a long-term dream that LGBT topics would not only come from The Windy City Times, but that their own newspaper would continue, as other media, to have our news stories and issues mainstream.
Angry? Yes. Disappointed? Yes. Creating a more Perfect Union? Outlook-Not so Good, lets shake the magic 8 ball up again, hopefully all signs will point to yes????
Today, the winds of change could come for a our soldiers. Seventeen years ago, President Clinton enacted the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy which put into law that no soldier could serve openly as a Gay man or woman. The senate has the power to vote to repeal and that vote is today.
On the morning of September 16, 1810, Father Miguel Hidalgo exclaimed to his townspeople that he was angry with Spanish rule, as were many Mexicans at the time, and it was this day 200 years ago that commenced the war to gain independence in Mexico. Its definitive liberation was in 1821.
