by: i_cant_believe_she (41/F/Little Rock, Arkansas)
03/20/05 02:04 pm
Msg: 211 of 258
14 recommendations
Things Republicans Believe
1. A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense. A president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is a solid defense policy
2. Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.
3. The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's driving record is none of our business.
4. What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s and John Kerry did in the 1970s is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the '80s is irrelevant.
5. Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy. Providing health care to all Americans is socialism.
6. Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.
7. Group sex and drug use are degenerate sins unless you someday run for governor of California as a Republican.
8. If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.
9. Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.
10. A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multinational corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.
11. Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.
12. A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our longtime allies, then demand their cooperation and money.
13. Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.
Monday, August 29, 2005
Sunday, August 28, 2005
News Updates - More stupidity from the white house
from Citizens for Legitimate Government
28 August 2005
Bush Cut Hurricane, Flood Protection Funding to New Orleans 06 June 2005 In fiscal year 2006, the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is bracing for a record $71.2 million reduction in federal funding. It would be the largest single-year funding loss ever for the New Orleans district, Corps officials said. I've been here over 30 years and I've never seen this level of reduction, said Al Naomi, project manager for the New Orleans district... The cuts mean major hurricane and flood protection projects will not be awarded to local engineering firms. Also, a study to determine ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane has been shelved for now. [Please forward this news item to every media outlet and listserve.]
U.S. oil surges $4 to record above $70 28 Aug 2005 U.S. crude oil futures surged more than $4 in opening trade on Monday, hitting a new record high above $70 a barrel after Hurricane Katrina [US corpora-terrorists] forced Gulf of Mexico producers to shut in more than a third of their output.
Address to receive newsletter: http://www.legitgov.org/#subscribe_clgPlease write to: http://us.f526.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=signup@legitgov.org for inquiries. lrp/mdr
CLG Newsletter editor: Lori Price, General Manager. Copyright © 2005, Citizens For Legitimate Government ® All rights reserved. CLG Founder and Chair is Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D.
Well done Shrub!!! We all know that the area is likely to get hurricanes and that some of them are catigory 5's and those are the killers!!! What are you trying to get rid of your support base now???
I have heard of some stupid things, but this is the second worst from you that I have heard. The first was the war in Iraq.
28 August 2005
Bush Cut Hurricane, Flood Protection Funding to New Orleans 06 June 2005 In fiscal year 2006, the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is bracing for a record $71.2 million reduction in federal funding. It would be the largest single-year funding loss ever for the New Orleans district, Corps officials said. I've been here over 30 years and I've never seen this level of reduction, said Al Naomi, project manager for the New Orleans district... The cuts mean major hurricane and flood protection projects will not be awarded to local engineering firms. Also, a study to determine ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane has been shelved for now. [Please forward this news item to every media outlet and listserve.]
U.S. oil surges $4 to record above $70 28 Aug 2005 U.S. crude oil futures surged more than $4 in opening trade on Monday, hitting a new record high above $70 a barrel after Hurricane Katrina [US corpora-terrorists] forced Gulf of Mexico producers to shut in more than a third of their output.
Address to receive newsletter: http://www.legitgov.org/#subscribe_clgPlease write to: http://us.f526.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=signup@legitgov.org for inquiries. lrp/mdr
CLG Newsletter editor: Lori Price, General Manager. Copyright © 2005, Citizens For Legitimate Government ® All rights reserved. CLG Founder and Chair is Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D.
Well done Shrub!!! We all know that the area is likely to get hurricanes and that some of them are catigory 5's and those are the killers!!! What are you trying to get rid of your support base now???
I have heard of some stupid things, but this is the second worst from you that I have heard. The first was the war in Iraq.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Follow the link...
It's not a pretty sight.
http://www.gay.com/news/roundups/package.html?coll=news_feature&sernum=1209&page=1
And people wonder why I am so worried about this country.
http://www.gay.com/news/roundups/package.html?coll=news_feature&sernum=1209&page=1
And people wonder why I am so worried about this country.
Saturday, August 13, 2005
WASHINGTON - Prosecutors are investigating ...
who in the Bush administration leaked the identity of undercover officer Valerie Plame. Some questions and answers on the case:
Q: What are the origins?
A: In early 2002, Vice President
Dick Cheney read an intelligence report that said the African nation of Niger had agreed to deliver 500 tons of yellowcake uranium to
Iraq. In response to questions from Cheney's office and the departments of State and Defense, the CIA's Counterproliferation Division discussed ways to obtain additional information, according to a Senate Intelligence Committee report.
Plame, a CIA division employee, suggested her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, as someone who had good relations with the prime minister and the former minister of mines in Niger. The CIA sent Wilson to Africa, where he was unable to confirm the intelligence report about yellowcake uranium.
More than a year later, with the U.S. government unable to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Wilson wrote an op-ed piece for The New York Times, "What I Didn't Find In Africa," and asked the question: "Did the Bush administration manipulate intelligence about
Saddam Hussein's weapons programs to justify an invasion?"
Eight days later, columnist Robert Novak wrote an article in which he disclosed Plame's name and cited as sources two unidentified senior administration officials. Novak wrote that the officials had told him Plame had suggested sending her husband to Niger.
Q: Why would someone in the administration leak Plame's name?
A: Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald is trying to determine that. Wilson claims it was retribution for his article and for his criticism of the administration.
Q: Was it a crime for people in the administration to leak Plame's identity?
A: Under the Intelligence Identities and Protection Act, it must be shown that someone intentionally disclosed the identity of a person known to the leaker as having undercover status. Lawyers are divided over whether someone who describes a person but does not actually disclose someone's name could be prosecuted. Fitzgerald has not charged anyone, and it is not clear that he will.
Q. Is Fitzgerald looking solely at whether that law was violated?
A. Some legal experts have said they believe the focus of the investigation may have shifted to whether anyone lied to federal agents, prosecutors or the grand jury, or intentionally obstructed the investigation. They based their opinions on descriptions of grand jury testimony from witnesses and their lawyers.
Q: Judith Miller of The New York Times is in jail even though she did not write about Plame. Why is her testimony so important?
A. That is a mystery. It is known from court rulings that the prosecutor wants Miller to provide documents and testimony related to conversations she had with "a specified government official" in the days between the articles by Wilson and Novak.
Q. How many government officials discussed Plame with reporters?
A. Probably at least three, accounts by those reporters and others familiar with the case suggest. Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove, and Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, were among the sources for Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper. Cooper wrote about Plame after publication of Novak's column.
Cooper testified to the grand jury in July, following a legal battle over whether reporters had to reveal their confidential sources. Following his testimony, he disclosed his sources in Time.
Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus wrote that he spoke to a government official who volunteered information about Plame two days before Novak's column appeared. Rove and Libby responded to questions about the topic, Cooper and a person who was briefed on Rove's grand jury testimony have said.
Q. What is the significance of a classified State Department memo that mentions Plame and the dispute over the Iraqi intelligence?
A. The memo has become an important piece of evidence because it could have been the way someone in the White House learned — and then leaked — the information that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA and played a role in sending him on the mission.
The document was prepared in June 2003 for Secretary of State
Colin Powell so that he would have an account of Wilson's trip, a retired department official has said. It was sent to Air Force One, the president's plane, because Powell was traveling with the president to Africa.
Q. Why has the name of John Bolton, the president's nominee to be U.S. ambassador to the
United Nations entered into this story?
A. Mainly because Senate Democrats are trying to persuade
President Bush not to give Bolton a recess appointment as U.N. ambassador. Bolton did not testify before the grand jury and was not interviewed by prosecutors in the leak case, State Department officials said. He was undersecretary for arms control and international security before the Iraq war.
However, Bolton didn't tell Congress he had been interviewed for a State Department investigation into the prewar intelligence that Iraq was seeking nuclear materials in Africa. A spokesman said Bolton had not remembered the interview when he claimed on a form that he had not been interviewed by investigators in any inquiry over the past five years. The revelation further raised the ire of Senate Democrats.
Bush, unable to get a vote in the Senate on the Bolton nomination, is expected to ignore Democrats and give Bolton a recess appointment. Under the Constitution, the president may bypass the Senate's authority to confirm an appointment if it is made while the Senate is in recess. It lasts only until the next session of Congress. The Senate began its summer recess Friday night.
Q: What are the origins?
A: In early 2002, Vice President
Dick Cheney read an intelligence report that said the African nation of Niger had agreed to deliver 500 tons of yellowcake uranium to
Iraq. In response to questions from Cheney's office and the departments of State and Defense, the CIA's Counterproliferation Division discussed ways to obtain additional information, according to a Senate Intelligence Committee report.
Plame, a CIA division employee, suggested her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, as someone who had good relations with the prime minister and the former minister of mines in Niger. The CIA sent Wilson to Africa, where he was unable to confirm the intelligence report about yellowcake uranium.
More than a year later, with the U.S. government unable to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Wilson wrote an op-ed piece for The New York Times, "What I Didn't Find In Africa," and asked the question: "Did the Bush administration manipulate intelligence about
Saddam Hussein's weapons programs to justify an invasion?"
Eight days later, columnist Robert Novak wrote an article in which he disclosed Plame's name and cited as sources two unidentified senior administration officials. Novak wrote that the officials had told him Plame had suggested sending her husband to Niger.
Q: Why would someone in the administration leak Plame's name?
A: Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald is trying to determine that. Wilson claims it was retribution for his article and for his criticism of the administration.
Q: Was it a crime for people in the administration to leak Plame's identity?
A: Under the Intelligence Identities and Protection Act, it must be shown that someone intentionally disclosed the identity of a person known to the leaker as having undercover status. Lawyers are divided over whether someone who describes a person but does not actually disclose someone's name could be prosecuted. Fitzgerald has not charged anyone, and it is not clear that he will.
Q. Is Fitzgerald looking solely at whether that law was violated?
A. Some legal experts have said they believe the focus of the investigation may have shifted to whether anyone lied to federal agents, prosecutors or the grand jury, or intentionally obstructed the investigation. They based their opinions on descriptions of grand jury testimony from witnesses and their lawyers.
Q: Judith Miller of The New York Times is in jail even though she did not write about Plame. Why is her testimony so important?
A. That is a mystery. It is known from court rulings that the prosecutor wants Miller to provide documents and testimony related to conversations she had with "a specified government official" in the days between the articles by Wilson and Novak.
Q. How many government officials discussed Plame with reporters?
A. Probably at least three, accounts by those reporters and others familiar with the case suggest. Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove, and Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, were among the sources for Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper. Cooper wrote about Plame after publication of Novak's column.
Cooper testified to the grand jury in July, following a legal battle over whether reporters had to reveal their confidential sources. Following his testimony, he disclosed his sources in Time.
Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus wrote that he spoke to a government official who volunteered information about Plame two days before Novak's column appeared. Rove and Libby responded to questions about the topic, Cooper and a person who was briefed on Rove's grand jury testimony have said.
Q. What is the significance of a classified State Department memo that mentions Plame and the dispute over the Iraqi intelligence?
A. The memo has become an important piece of evidence because it could have been the way someone in the White House learned — and then leaked — the information that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA and played a role in sending him on the mission.
The document was prepared in June 2003 for Secretary of State
Colin Powell so that he would have an account of Wilson's trip, a retired department official has said. It was sent to Air Force One, the president's plane, because Powell was traveling with the president to Africa.
Q. Why has the name of John Bolton, the president's nominee to be U.S. ambassador to the
United Nations entered into this story?
A. Mainly because Senate Democrats are trying to persuade
President Bush not to give Bolton a recess appointment as U.N. ambassador. Bolton did not testify before the grand jury and was not interviewed by prosecutors in the leak case, State Department officials said. He was undersecretary for arms control and international security before the Iraq war.
However, Bolton didn't tell Congress he had been interviewed for a State Department investigation into the prewar intelligence that Iraq was seeking nuclear materials in Africa. A spokesman said Bolton had not remembered the interview when he claimed on a form that he had not been interviewed by investigators in any inquiry over the past five years. The revelation further raised the ire of Senate Democrats.
Bush, unable to get a vote in the Senate on the Bolton nomination, is expected to ignore Democrats and give Bolton a recess appointment. Under the Constitution, the president may bypass the Senate's authority to confirm an appointment if it is made while the Senate is in recess. It lasts only until the next session of Congress. The Senate began its summer recess Friday night.
Gay blogger released from ‘ex-gay’ camp Tenn. teen criticizes gay activists, who say new posts reflect coercion
By ANDREW KEEGAN Aug. 05, 2005
A gay Tennessee teen who gained worldwide attention after detailing his fear of being sent to an “ex-gay” camp in an Internet posting said the entire situation has been blown out of proportion, according to his latest blog.
But some gay activists who oppose the camp said the posting shows signs of intimidation.
After coming out to his parents, Zach Stark, 16, was enrolled on June 6 at Refuge for a reported eight-week session at a cost of more than $4,000. The Christian facility, a branch of Love In Action located near Memphis, Tenn., works to convert gay youth to heterosexual orientation. It receives adolescent referrals from Exodus, an organization devoted to helping gay adults become heterosexual.
Stark’s June 3 blog about coming out to his parents and his uncertainty about the upcoming retreat included suicidal thoughts, which quickly garnered widespread attention.
But in his latest blog, posted Aug. 1, Stark states that he “is annoyed toward a lot of things,” including that Love In Action was misrepresented.
There is no mention of what transpired during the 56-day stay at Refuge by the youth from Bartlett, Tenn. Stark says that homosexuality is still a “factor” for him, but he won’t let it “run my life.” He also includes an apparent slap at gay activists who led a campaign against Love In Action.
“I refuse to deal with people who are only focused on their one-sided (biased) agendas,” Stark writes. “It isn’t fair to anyone.”
Activists won’t abandon protestJohn Smid, Love In Action’s executive director, declined to comment on Stark’s postings, while gay groups said they would continue to question the ex-gay program’s efforts.
Stark’s original posting led Memphis residents to form the Queer Action Coalition, which began daily demonstrations at the Love In Action offices to raise awareness of the dangers of ex-gay therapy. According to one of the group’s co-founders, Morgan Fox, the protests continued for two weeks, beginning the day Stark was admitted.
“At the height of the protest we had about 80 people outside the offices,” Fox said.
Responding to the teen’s latest blog, Fox said the group has great respect for Stark.
“We have always tried to protect his identity and his rights,” he said, noting the group never divulged the teen’s last name, which was obtained by media outlets.
“But we’ve always said from the beginning that this is not all about Zach.”
Since Stark’s blog post, Queer Action Coalition has received numerous e-mails from former Love In Action clients disputing the organization’s claim of reforming gays, Fox said.
“We responded in forming QAC because it was frightening to read about a kid having to deal with this,” he said. “We absolutely will not judge Zach. What we will do is focus on the message that Love In Action promotes — a lot of people have been harmed by their claim to offer choice.”
Wayne Besen, a gay author who studies the ex-gay movement and has followed Stark’s plight, said he is certain that some type of coercion was exerted on the teen, given the wording of his latest blog.
“It’s disconcerting because the boy who blogged before entering the program has a different voice,” said Besen, author of “Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth.”
“The boy who blogged after the program is no longer a free-spirited young man,” he said.
Besen points to several words in the latest blog as proof of intimidation.
“[Zach] now uses right-wing buzz words like ‘agendas’ and how homosexuality is a ‘factor’ in his life,” he said.
Besen recently posted on his Web site, www.waynebesen.com, a letter by a co-founder of Love In Action criticizing the conversion program.
Former ex-gay John Evans, who co-founded Love In Action with Rev. Kent Philpott in 1973, sent the letter July 30 to Smid, the ministry’s current director.
“In the past 30 years since leaving the ‘ex-gay’ ministry I have seen nothing but shattered lives, depression, and even suicide among those connected with the ‘ex-gay’ movement,” Evans wrote
Ok so this is 8 days old. I still wonder about parents like the young man's and wonder if my own folks would have done something like that if it had been around when I was a kid.
I whent through enough "hell" on my own without having to deal with treatment that is worse then just accepting and making a life.
You will probably never read this Zach, but I truely wish you well and have a happy life wheather you are gay or not. Only what's inside of you can truely tell you that fact.
A gay Tennessee teen who gained worldwide attention after detailing his fear of being sent to an “ex-gay” camp in an Internet posting said the entire situation has been blown out of proportion, according to his latest blog.
But some gay activists who oppose the camp said the posting shows signs of intimidation.
After coming out to his parents, Zach Stark, 16, was enrolled on June 6 at Refuge for a reported eight-week session at a cost of more than $4,000. The Christian facility, a branch of Love In Action located near Memphis, Tenn., works to convert gay youth to heterosexual orientation. It receives adolescent referrals from Exodus, an organization devoted to helping gay adults become heterosexual.
Stark’s June 3 blog about coming out to his parents and his uncertainty about the upcoming retreat included suicidal thoughts, which quickly garnered widespread attention.
But in his latest blog, posted Aug. 1, Stark states that he “is annoyed toward a lot of things,” including that Love In Action was misrepresented.
There is no mention of what transpired during the 56-day stay at Refuge by the youth from Bartlett, Tenn. Stark says that homosexuality is still a “factor” for him, but he won’t let it “run my life.” He also includes an apparent slap at gay activists who led a campaign against Love In Action.
“I refuse to deal with people who are only focused on their one-sided (biased) agendas,” Stark writes. “It isn’t fair to anyone.”
Activists won’t abandon protestJohn Smid, Love In Action’s executive director, declined to comment on Stark’s postings, while gay groups said they would continue to question the ex-gay program’s efforts.
Stark’s original posting led Memphis residents to form the Queer Action Coalition, which began daily demonstrations at the Love In Action offices to raise awareness of the dangers of ex-gay therapy. According to one of the group’s co-founders, Morgan Fox, the protests continued for two weeks, beginning the day Stark was admitted.
“At the height of the protest we had about 80 people outside the offices,” Fox said.
Responding to the teen’s latest blog, Fox said the group has great respect for Stark.
“We have always tried to protect his identity and his rights,” he said, noting the group never divulged the teen’s last name, which was obtained by media outlets.
“But we’ve always said from the beginning that this is not all about Zach.”
Since Stark’s blog post, Queer Action Coalition has received numerous e-mails from former Love In Action clients disputing the organization’s claim of reforming gays, Fox said.
“We responded in forming QAC because it was frightening to read about a kid having to deal with this,” he said. “We absolutely will not judge Zach. What we will do is focus on the message that Love In Action promotes — a lot of people have been harmed by their claim to offer choice.”
Wayne Besen, a gay author who studies the ex-gay movement and has followed Stark’s plight, said he is certain that some type of coercion was exerted on the teen, given the wording of his latest blog.
“It’s disconcerting because the boy who blogged before entering the program has a different voice,” said Besen, author of “Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth.”
“The boy who blogged after the program is no longer a free-spirited young man,” he said.
Besen points to several words in the latest blog as proof of intimidation.
“[Zach] now uses right-wing buzz words like ‘agendas’ and how homosexuality is a ‘factor’ in his life,” he said.
Besen recently posted on his Web site, www.waynebesen.com, a letter by a co-founder of Love In Action criticizing the conversion program.
Former ex-gay John Evans, who co-founded Love In Action with Rev. Kent Philpott in 1973, sent the letter July 30 to Smid, the ministry’s current director.
“In the past 30 years since leaving the ‘ex-gay’ ministry I have seen nothing but shattered lives, depression, and even suicide among those connected with the ‘ex-gay’ movement,” Evans wrote
Ok so this is 8 days old. I still wonder about parents like the young man's and wonder if my own folks would have done something like that if it had been around when I was a kid.
I whent through enough "hell" on my own without having to deal with treatment that is worse then just accepting and making a life.
You will probably never read this Zach, but I truely wish you well and have a happy life wheather you are gay or not. Only what's inside of you can truely tell you that fact.
Monday, August 01, 2005
Aretha Williams: Parents need to be compassionate and accepting of gay people
Web Posted: 08/01/2005 12:00 AM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
Dear Ms. Williams: I'm writing to thank you for your article about fathers, particularly about the importance of not assuming that one's child is not homosexual.
If parents would let their children know that their homosexual orientation is "OK" with them, what a vastly more humane world this would be. Thank you.
Grateful in Austin
Dear Grateful: You're so right — a compassionate accepting world begins at home. If as a parent you degrade gay people or never have gay friends you could be sending a deadly message to a gay child. "I don't have to worry about that because my kid's not gay," some would say. The trick here is that your child may never come out to you if he/she knows you won't be accepting.
For those parents who already know their child is gay, here is a helpful excerpt from an article dealing with the social pressures and warning signs associated with gay teens. From S. Kay Murphy at www.suite101.com/article.cfm/raising_gay_child/70698.
"Gay students may want to attend events such as football games (which are just as much social events as they are athletic), but again, they would have to interact with other teens as if they are heterosexual, constantly wary of every word, every gesture, every mannerism lest anyone even suspect they are gay. Although most teachers pretend not to see gay bashing, homophobic students at least have some constraints on them within the regular school environment. But those constraints are lifted at extracurricular events such as football games, and a gay student could very well be in danger if he or she is not careful.
"This is indeed a tough world to live in right now.
"That need to 'pretend' and dissemble in public is what makes gay teens feel 'really, really alone.' And isolation of that intensity for any teen, gay or straight, can be dangerous. Individuals who feel pain and also feel that no one understands their pain can be driven to taking desperate measures. Suicide is the third highest cause of death among teenagers. Undoubtedly, many teen suicides are committed by gays who felt they had no hope of ever living a normal, happy life.
"If you are raising a gay teen, it is imperative that you watch carefully for signs of depression or despondency, or any kind of messages, no matter how slight, that suggest hopelessness. If your teen begins to spend an inordinate amount of time separate from the family, locked away in his room, imposing further isolation on himself, bring him out. He may resist; we all recognize that teens generally only like to spend time with their own kind. But making contact, staying connected, can be critical at this point in his life."
It's crucial to know when you're in over your head and need professional help. Just be sure a therapist is friendly toward gay people and has worked with gay teens before. Avoid any programs that seek to change your child's orientation. This may only add to your teen's sense of hopelessness and rejection.
This is why teen suicide is so high. It's not easy being different in the first place and being different and gay under this religidiot's control of the country is even worse.
It's not that we are raised gay because I wasn't. It's not that we have real control over who we love anymore then any other person. To be happy, healthy, people we need to be ourselves and that means to have our partner, who ever they may be. Our "first loves" and every thing any other young person goes through. Human beings are human beings, like it or not we bleed the same, we learn the same, we love the same. It's time for us to be individuals again and quit letting everyone else speak for us. I know I am!
San Antonio Express-News
Dear Ms. Williams: I'm writing to thank you for your article about fathers, particularly about the importance of not assuming that one's child is not homosexual.
If parents would let their children know that their homosexual orientation is "OK" with them, what a vastly more humane world this would be. Thank you.
Grateful in Austin
Dear Grateful: You're so right — a compassionate accepting world begins at home. If as a parent you degrade gay people or never have gay friends you could be sending a deadly message to a gay child. "I don't have to worry about that because my kid's not gay," some would say. The trick here is that your child may never come out to you if he/she knows you won't be accepting.
For those parents who already know their child is gay, here is a helpful excerpt from an article dealing with the social pressures and warning signs associated with gay teens. From S. Kay Murphy at www.suite101.com/article.cfm/raising_gay_child/70698.
"Gay students may want to attend events such as football games (which are just as much social events as they are athletic), but again, they would have to interact with other teens as if they are heterosexual, constantly wary of every word, every gesture, every mannerism lest anyone even suspect they are gay. Although most teachers pretend not to see gay bashing, homophobic students at least have some constraints on them within the regular school environment. But those constraints are lifted at extracurricular events such as football games, and a gay student could very well be in danger if he or she is not careful.
"This is indeed a tough world to live in right now.
"That need to 'pretend' and dissemble in public is what makes gay teens feel 'really, really alone.' And isolation of that intensity for any teen, gay or straight, can be dangerous. Individuals who feel pain and also feel that no one understands their pain can be driven to taking desperate measures. Suicide is the third highest cause of death among teenagers. Undoubtedly, many teen suicides are committed by gays who felt they had no hope of ever living a normal, happy life.
"If you are raising a gay teen, it is imperative that you watch carefully for signs of depression or despondency, or any kind of messages, no matter how slight, that suggest hopelessness. If your teen begins to spend an inordinate amount of time separate from the family, locked away in his room, imposing further isolation on himself, bring him out. He may resist; we all recognize that teens generally only like to spend time with their own kind. But making contact, staying connected, can be critical at this point in his life."
It's crucial to know when you're in over your head and need professional help. Just be sure a therapist is friendly toward gay people and has worked with gay teens before. Avoid any programs that seek to change your child's orientation. This may only add to your teen's sense of hopelessness and rejection.
This is why teen suicide is so high. It's not easy being different in the first place and being different and gay under this religidiot's control of the country is even worse.
It's not that we are raised gay because I wasn't. It's not that we have real control over who we love anymore then any other person. To be happy, healthy, people we need to be ourselves and that means to have our partner, who ever they may be. Our "first loves" and every thing any other young person goes through. Human beings are human beings, like it or not we bleed the same, we learn the same, we love the same. It's time for us to be individuals again and quit letting everyone else speak for us. I know I am!
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