Here we are in the year 2009 and still suffering from prejudice, hatred, and discrimination. The United States Congress has begun hearings regarding the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA - H.R. 2981) and already the right-wing conservative groups are out in force. Focus on the Family, an advocate of religious rights, recently sent a letter to Congress in opposition to the bill. (for the letter's text see here: 9-2-2009 Letter From Focus on the Family) I think that it might benefit the reader to peruse this document as I fully intend to tear it and its tenets to ribbons.
The right-wingers that drafted and supported this letter had something to say about religious freedom. According to Focus on the Family, because most religious faiths oppose the practice or endorsement of homosexuality or "transgenderism," the ENDA will create workplace conflict among employees because of objections to: "religious articles on employees' desks; water cooler discussions about biblical morality; Bible verses taped to cubicle walls; fliers on company bulletin boards advertising discussions concerning traditional marriage." Where in the hell do these people work? Most places that I know tend to frown on these types of displays and activities as it is. I don't think that the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) community will be the first to raise objections or dissonance to these types of activities. The first amendment protection of religious freedom extends to ALL religions, even those that DO support (or in the very least, show no opinion on) homosexuality. Do we need to take the right to work away from Catholics or Muslims just because their belief system does not coincide with the Protestants in their workplace? Don't we already have many different peoples of many different doctrines working together in the same companies? How come people from such very different backgrounds can all get along (and are indeed guaranteed equality) but giving equal rights to the LGBT community will suddenly create such a rift? Indeed, I'm sure that there are even atheists and agnostics (both of whose rights to NOT believe are protected by the same legislation that protects the believers' rights TO believe) in the workforce today. Surely the presence of those who don't even BELIEVE in God or religion creates the same form of strife that Mr. Tom Minnery, Senior V.P. of FotF is referring to. Where is the push from the lobbyists to take away THEIR equal rights as well. If Minnery is right, then each workplace should only hire employees who subscribe to the same religious belief and wouldn't THAT be the breeding ground for insight and innovation!
Our founding fathers came here seeking the freedom to believe and worship as they chose. It was for this reason that the hand of Uncle Sam was used to protect religious right, not set religious doctrine. If we allow legislation that only supports the religious right (and indeed it will eventually turn into only CERTAIN religions that are right) then we will be no better than the despotic countries who subscribe to only ONE government-sponsored belief and persecute all non-believers.
I find it humorous that FotF claims that there is no hard evidence to prove employment discrimination against the LGBT community. If discrimination was not seen to be occurring, then why in the hell would Congress be debating a law to prevent it? It's simple logic actually. Many national and international corporations have adopted their own policies on this issue in order to prevent this very thing. Why would Blue Cross, Darden Restaurants, Chase Bank, and Microsoft all have felt the need to write such policies into their employment practices if it wasn't happening? Indeed, discrimination runs rampant. To quote Mr. Minnery, "Moreover, sexual orientation and 'gender identity' should not be equated with race, color, gender or national origin. Homosexuals, bisexuals, and 'transgender' people have never been counted as 3/5 of a person, forced to drink from separate water fountains, made to ride at the back of a bus, or denied the right to vote."
While it is true that widespread discrimination has not yet reached the boiling point that caused our forebears to leave England in the first place and we have not yet hit the rock bottom of the period of slavery, one must wonder: if discrimination is not a problem, why are so many members of the LGBT community attacked, beaten, sodomized, and murdered simply for being who they are? Why would so many legislative bodies have found it necessary to enact hate crime legislation in order to protect a minority group that is not being discriminated against? Obviously, FotF is either denying that this discrimination occurs or advocating in favor of it (I certainly do hope that it is the former). Even women, when they were at their most persecuted, were not MURDERED simply for being women.
We are giving the severely conservative (and disillusioned) groups vindication if we vote down this bill. By allowing government-sponsored (for that's what it will appear to be if the legislation is vetoed) discrimination against a minority group will become acceptable once again in the United States. If we are going to go backwards in time, then why not allow discrimination against ALL minorities? Do we really want to give the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nation, and other supremacy groups of all types license to operate once again within our borders?
You may think that this issue is about simple employment, but look at the larger picture. It is an important precedent to set by the force of legislation that the LGBT deserves equal rights. It will be immensely destructive to the civil rights of minorities as a whole if we allow them to be denied. Our founding fathers would roll over in their graves if they heard the tenets of "religious freedom" and "civil rights" being used to back a movement to ostracize, alienate, and discriminate against an entire group of people with FULL LEGAL AUTHORITY! No one seems to remember why America was founded to begin with. I seem to remember reading something somewhere about 'all men being created equal.' I guess that we have forgotten that in this modern day and age.
I can not believe that any group would lobby AGAINST equal rights and equal employment opportunity for a group of Americans that just want to be productive citizens like everyone else. I sincerely hope that everyone is as outraged as I am and takes a moment to write their senators. If our Congress votes down a bill to protect the employment rights of a portion of the American population, it will definitely be a step in the OPPOSITE direction of equality. How can we continue to be a champion of democracy and a beacon of freedom to the world if we allow prejudice, fear, hatred and bigotry to write our legislation for us? How can America continue to be the land of the free and the home of the brave if large sections of our population are, once again in our history, categorically denied basic civil rights? Voting against ENDA-type policies will send the message that "liberty and justice for all" is no longer available in America! I'm not asking for major changes in life, I'm just asking that our Congress considers the matter and votes on the side of freedom; not freedom for one group, but freedom for all!
Write your Senators... I did... Contact US Senators
Showing posts with label minority. Show all posts
Showing posts with label minority. Show all posts
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Please pay attention - our menu options have changed...
I'm so tired of things being done the way they always have been. Change is a good thing. We do it all the time as we move through life from birth to death, but somehow we are still so very averse to something so common.
Humanity, as a whole, is static. Our civilization seems to be stuck in a rut so deep that there is simply no way to get out of it. Why do we allow that to happen? How can our society function with antiquated laws, outdated sensibilities, and outmoded belief systems? Our country, as the most advanced and industrialized nation in the world, has fallen behind the rest of mankind. We are, all at once, the most closed-minded, backward-thinking, and conservative nation in existence.
The problem isn't inherent to the entire population of America. So many of us have changed with the times. Many of us have learned to cope with the changing times and adapt to the demands of the ever-more-modern world in which we live. The problem, however, is with the rulers of our country.
Our government seems to base its policies and beliefs on a number of fallacies that continue to hold our society back from the advances of the rest of the world. Our nation, founded on the premise of religious freedom, is now governed by a group of right-wing conservatives who love to live in the past and hold us to the dated and stringent system of morality of some of our more puritanical forefathers.
Have you ever wondered why the rich get richer and the poor get poorer? Ever noticed how our government is in debt but those that govern are wealthy? The reason is that the static hand of the conservative continues to reach deeper in the pockets of a continually evolving populus. There is money to be made in keeping the American people in a kind of moral straight jacket. We want to grow with the rest of humanity and change with the times but we just can't. When did our desire for self-government grant the governing body the right to legislate morality? When did the private behaviors of two consenting adults become a matter for politicians and judges? Who gave Uncle Sam the right to tell us what we can and cannot do in our own homes? I don't advocate anarchy, but one of the basic principles of our right to the pursuit of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is that, as long as it doesn't infringe on the rights of others, then we can achieve that inalienable right however we choose. Unfortunately, our government doesn't seem to agree.
That is why our freedoms get taken away from us. Smoking is governed by ever-more-strict legislation as tobacco is taxed more every day. Gay marriage is banned in more states and localities all the time while unhappy heterosexuals clog our court system with divorce proceedings. Alcohol takes the lives of both the drinker and their innocent sober victims while smoking one single joint has proven medically harmless, doesn't cause accidents, and can still send you to prison. So many things need to change and yet the vast majority of Americans are held so tight by their political overseers that they are afraid to speak out any longer. It's a vicious cycle in which more and more of our freedoms are lost every single day of our lives.
How come the bank's automated system can change its options but the most powerful nation in the world is stuck in a downward spiral dragging it more and more into a very real, if unspoken, despotism? The powerful have too much power and we need to remind them that we are a democratic republic. It is time for us to remember how to use our voice.
Humanity, as a whole, is static. Our civilization seems to be stuck in a rut so deep that there is simply no way to get out of it. Why do we allow that to happen? How can our society function with antiquated laws, outdated sensibilities, and outmoded belief systems? Our country, as the most advanced and industrialized nation in the world, has fallen behind the rest of mankind. We are, all at once, the most closed-minded, backward-thinking, and conservative nation in existence.
The problem isn't inherent to the entire population of America. So many of us have changed with the times. Many of us have learned to cope with the changing times and adapt to the demands of the ever-more-modern world in which we live. The problem, however, is with the rulers of our country.
Our government seems to base its policies and beliefs on a number of fallacies that continue to hold our society back from the advances of the rest of the world. Our nation, founded on the premise of religious freedom, is now governed by a group of right-wing conservatives who love to live in the past and hold us to the dated and stringent system of morality of some of our more puritanical forefathers.
Have you ever wondered why the rich get richer and the poor get poorer? Ever noticed how our government is in debt but those that govern are wealthy? The reason is that the static hand of the conservative continues to reach deeper in the pockets of a continually evolving populus. There is money to be made in keeping the American people in a kind of moral straight jacket. We want to grow with the rest of humanity and change with the times but we just can't. When did our desire for self-government grant the governing body the right to legislate morality? When did the private behaviors of two consenting adults become a matter for politicians and judges? Who gave Uncle Sam the right to tell us what we can and cannot do in our own homes? I don't advocate anarchy, but one of the basic principles of our right to the pursuit of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is that, as long as it doesn't infringe on the rights of others, then we can achieve that inalienable right however we choose. Unfortunately, our government doesn't seem to agree.
That is why our freedoms get taken away from us. Smoking is governed by ever-more-strict legislation as tobacco is taxed more every day. Gay marriage is banned in more states and localities all the time while unhappy heterosexuals clog our court system with divorce proceedings. Alcohol takes the lives of both the drinker and their innocent sober victims while smoking one single joint has proven medically harmless, doesn't cause accidents, and can still send you to prison. So many things need to change and yet the vast majority of Americans are held so tight by their political overseers that they are afraid to speak out any longer. It's a vicious cycle in which more and more of our freedoms are lost every single day of our lives.
How come the bank's automated system can change its options but the most powerful nation in the world is stuck in a downward spiral dragging it more and more into a very real, if unspoken, despotism? The powerful have too much power and we need to remind them that we are a democratic republic. It is time for us to remember how to use our voice.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Coloring outside of the lines...
Some rules were made to be broken; some molds were meant to be cracked and some patterns were meant to be discarded. Why are people so afraid of things that are different?
Everyone is so stuck in what is "supposed to be." Even those people who dare to think and live outside of the box still seem to be conforming to some sort of invisible standard. Of course there are the basic rules, governing behaviors from a legal standpoint. Those rules definitely have their place in human society. After all, we are all entitled to the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, so long as our rights don't infringe on the rights of another. That is, of course, what the laws of our government are meant to prevent. As a people, as we often do, we sometimes take things a little too far. There are too many rules taking away rights to count. There are too many laws stripping us of our basic freedoms and individualities to number. That is the nature of giving men power over others - they USE it!
I digress, for that is the subject for another time and there is something far more meaningful on my mind tonight. I'm stuck on something that has been bothering me for a long time and, for anyone who knows me, is something I've always talked about. I'm talking about the living, breathing stereotypes of our world. I'm referring to the many "posers" (to use outdated verbiage) that we live with every day of our lives.
Everyone is guilty of the sin of fitting in to some degree or other but I think that the disenfranchised minorities are sometimes the worst. There are so many minority groups that are hated by the ruling majority. Those groups of people who just don't fit the "norm" of the rest of society are both despised and feared by the rest of the populace. So much of this problem stems from our own actions, however. As a member of a minority, I can honestly say this - there is nothing wrong with being proud of your race/creed/color/religion. There is nothing wrong with being different because of your membership in one minority group or another. There is, however, something inherently wrong with behaving a certain way because THAT is what is expected of your minority group!
I live life as a gay man. I am proud of that fact and it's not something I hide but it does NOT govern my behaviors. I do not choose to act a certain way because that's how homosexuals are supposed to act. Those mannerisms and actions do nothing more than perpetuate the very reasons that the majority dislikes our group to begin with. I simply try to live my life as ME because the fact that I am gay is only one SMALL part of my entire being! I think that this problem stems across to ALL minorities, social groups, and other man-made forms and patterns that we, as people, are supposed to conform to (and spend most of our finite lives trying to do just that). It does no good to be different and unique if you simply try to do so in exactly the same way that someone else does! There is nothing to be proud of if your defining characteristics (the things that make you into you to begin with) are the same as everyone else like you.
Of course we have free speech and all, but I'm going to try and make this as painless as possible. I'm not saying we should be ashamed of who we are. I'm simply saying we should actually try being who we are! Why do we feel that, even as we try to be different, we have to fit into the sameness of some group of nonconformists? Why must we succumb to the will of the group and all behave like so many sheep in the pasture? Didn't anyone ever try coloring outside of the lines? There's always something new and different to explore outside of the box so why spend so much time trying to fit in?
Everyone is so stuck in what is "supposed to be." Even those people who dare to think and live outside of the box still seem to be conforming to some sort of invisible standard. Of course there are the basic rules, governing behaviors from a legal standpoint. Those rules definitely have their place in human society. After all, we are all entitled to the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, so long as our rights don't infringe on the rights of another. That is, of course, what the laws of our government are meant to prevent. As a people, as we often do, we sometimes take things a little too far. There are too many rules taking away rights to count. There are too many laws stripping us of our basic freedoms and individualities to number. That is the nature of giving men power over others - they USE it!
I digress, for that is the subject for another time and there is something far more meaningful on my mind tonight. I'm stuck on something that has been bothering me for a long time and, for anyone who knows me, is something I've always talked about. I'm talking about the living, breathing stereotypes of our world. I'm referring to the many "posers" (to use outdated verbiage) that we live with every day of our lives.
Everyone is guilty of the sin of fitting in to some degree or other but I think that the disenfranchised minorities are sometimes the worst. There are so many minority groups that are hated by the ruling majority. Those groups of people who just don't fit the "norm" of the rest of society are both despised and feared by the rest of the populace. So much of this problem stems from our own actions, however. As a member of a minority, I can honestly say this - there is nothing wrong with being proud of your race/creed/color/religion. There is nothing wrong with being different because of your membership in one minority group or another. There is, however, something inherently wrong with behaving a certain way because THAT is what is expected of your minority group!
I live life as a gay man. I am proud of that fact and it's not something I hide but it does NOT govern my behaviors. I do not choose to act a certain way because that's how homosexuals are supposed to act. Those mannerisms and actions do nothing more than perpetuate the very reasons that the majority dislikes our group to begin with. I simply try to live my life as ME because the fact that I am gay is only one SMALL part of my entire being! I think that this problem stems across to ALL minorities, social groups, and other man-made forms and patterns that we, as people, are supposed to conform to (and spend most of our finite lives trying to do just that). It does no good to be different and unique if you simply try to do so in exactly the same way that someone else does! There is nothing to be proud of if your defining characteristics (the things that make you into you to begin with) are the same as everyone else like you.
Of course we have free speech and all, but I'm going to try and make this as painless as possible. I'm not saying we should be ashamed of who we are. I'm simply saying we should actually try being who we are! Why do we feel that, even as we try to be different, we have to fit into the sameness of some group of nonconformists? Why must we succumb to the will of the group and all behave like so many sheep in the pasture? Didn't anyone ever try coloring outside of the lines? There's always something new and different to explore outside of the box so why spend so much time trying to fit in?
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