you don't look like a feminist

you don't look like a feminist

Posts tagged homophobia

166 notes

Missouri school district changes policy, allows gay couples to attend prom

gaywrites:

When Stacy Dawson was told he couldn’t bring his boyfriend to prom at his high school in southern Missouri, he was rightfully outraged. But after he and the SPLC threatened to sue the school district, the discriminatory policy in the student handbook that prevented same-sex couples from attending the prom has been changed. 

“I found out why the stipulation in the student handbook was originally put in there, and it’s rather innocent, to be honest,” Alvin McFerren, Scott County Central School District superintendent, said. “This was during a time 10-15 years ago that the previous administration was having issues with some of the students trying to come in on either the single rate or the couple rate. They implemented that to make sure they couldn’t circumvent the rates that students were supposed to pay as they entered into our dances.”

McFerren said Dawson will be allowed to go to prom with his boyfriend.

“It was never intended to be a discriminatory thing,” he said. “We want an educational environment for all of our kids and we’re not ever going to discriminate as to whether or not the board has the policy and we don’t do that based on sexual orientation. Period.”

Woohoo! That’s how it’s done. 

Missouri! Well done. 

Filed under Missouri gay rights queerstuff Prom! homophobia

6,302 notes

In December, [Megan Phelps-Roper, formerly one of the Westboro Baptist Church’s most vocal members] went to a public library in Lawrence, Kansas. She was looking through books on philosophy and religion, and it struck her that people had devoted their entire lives to studying these questions of how to live and what is right and wrong. ‘The idea that only [[Westboro Baptist Church] had the right answer seemed crazy,’ she says. ‘It just seemed impossible.’

Repeating: “I’m going to stick this quote into every discussion of why libraries are important.”

(via wilwheaton)

(Source: metafilter.com, via sothisiswhatshemeans)

Filed under Megan Phelps-Roper westboro baptist church homophobia Hate quotes kansas LIBRARIES!

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Watch: Today's Tearjerker From The PLACE That Helps Families Accept Their Gay Kids

projectqueer:

By: Sunnivie Brydum

In conservative Modesto, Calif., there’s a place where LGBT kids can turn to help their families understand and accept them. Founded by Elizabeth Zapien-Plata and her husband (and former Marine) Ed Plata in 2007, PLACE is an acronym for People Learning Acceptance, Creating Equality, and seeks to create a safe space for LGBTQ youth between the ages of 14 and 19, and to provide support and education for their families and the broader community. 

Click the header link above to read the full article and watch the video.

Filed under PLACE california Elizabeth Zapien-Plata queerstuff gay rights homophobia videos

90 notes

parkerkierce:

GetUp! in Australia released a commercial on Thursday from the perspective of one half of a gay couple in love. It builds to the big moment that they want legalized — a proposal to get married. 


Polls in Australia show support for marriage equality has increased to almost two-thirds of voters. But Prime Minister Julia Gillard remains opposed, arguing that “the institution of marriage has come to have a particular meaning and standing in our culture and nation and that should continue unchanged.”

In the commercial, the couple seems like any other that might fit that “meaning,” except for their gender. Groups such as The Third Way in Washington have argued based on new research that it’s a message of commitment like this one — and not about benefits or rights — that will be most effective with voters.

http://www.advocate.com/news/daily-news/2011/11/27/possibly-most-beautiful-ad-marriage-equality-weve-seen#.UQsr_nUlwxU.tumblr

Since I just cited mistakes made by Julia Gillard - being a homophobe is right at the top of the list. 

(via projectqueer)

Filed under Julia Gillard homophobia gay marriage australia

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NBC News is reporting that the Boy Scouts of America could soon drop its ban on gay leaders and members. More Info:

shortformblog:

The Boy Scouts of America, one of the nation’s largest private youth organizations, is actively considering an end to its decades-long policy of banning gay scouts or scout leaders, according to scouting officials and outsiders familiar with internal discussions.

If adopted by the organization’s board of directors, it would represent a profound change on an issue that has been highly controversial — one that even went to the US Supreme Court. The new policy, now under discussion, would eliminate the ban from the national organization’s rules, leaving local sponsoring organizations free to decide for themselves whether to admit gay scouts.

The policy has been officially recognized since 1980, though we suspect it was quietly enforced for a much longer period in some areas. Thoughts?

Congratulations I guess? But really, just welcome to society, Scouts.

(via glittertitties-deactivated20130)

Filed under Boy Scouts of America homophobia gay rights NBC

23,685 notes

tranqualizer: “Willow Smith, you’re 11 years old. Nobody needs advice about ‘being themselves’ from you. Call us back when you get your period” was tweeted and retweeted hundreds of times last night and Monday morning. Considering what black children learn about blackness, subtly and openly, in the media and in American culture, don’t we want them to have the strength and resilience to say, “I am not your stereotype, but I am me”? Don’t we want them to feel comfortable in their skin? Don’t we want black children to be as free as other children? Don’t we want to inoculate little girls against the onslaught of shitty messages about black femaleness?Perhaps we don’t. I can’t help but set reaction to Willow Smith next to the plethora of young male performers who brag about swag and girls and money without raising so much as an eyebrow. But a little black girl sings “your validation is not that important to me,” and all hell breaks loose. Much reaction to Willow Smith also confirms the way women are expected to perform femininity. One person live tweeting the BET Awards offered that Willow Smith was “turning into a little lesbian,” and that wasn’t the only message speculating on the 11-year-old’s sexuality or questioning her gender. Another tweeter snarked that rapper Tyga and Willow are one in the same. There would be nothing wrong If Willow were to identify as a lesbian or a boy, but what narrow parameters are we placing on girls and women if simply wearing our hair short, sporting a button down over skinny jeans, and daring to mount a skateboard dictates all anyone needs to know about who we are and who we love? What’s the problem? If I had a little girl, I would be excited as all get out if she were like Willow Smith. I wish I had been more like Willow at 11. (But then, I don’t have multimillionaire parents, which makes some difference, yes?). We lament the presence of strong role models for our children. They could certainly do a lot worse than idolizing a seemingly smart, engaging, self-assured, quirky black girl. That so many of us don’t recognize that says a lot about our society — none of it good. | The Willow Text: What the Reaction to Willow Smith Says About Us (x) [all the haters to the left.] 

tranqualizer:

“Willow Smith, you’re 11 years old. Nobody needs advice about ‘being themselves’ from you. Call us back when you get your period” was tweeted and retweeted hundreds of times last night and Monday morning.

Considering what black children learn about blackness, subtly and openly, in the media and in American culture, don’t we want them to have the strength and resilience to say, “I am not your stereotype, but I am me”? Don’t we want them to feel comfortable in their skin? Don’t we want black children to be as free as other children? Don’t we want to inoculate little girls against the onslaught of shitty messages about black femaleness?Perhaps we don’t.

I can’t help but set reaction to Willow Smith next to the plethora of young male performers who brag about swag and girls and money without raising so much as an eyebrow. But a little black girl sings “your validation is not that important to me,” and all hell breaks loose.

Much reaction to Willow Smith also confirms the way women are expected to perform femininity. One person live tweeting the BET Awards offered that Willow Smith was “turning into a little lesbian,” and that wasn’t the only message speculating on the 11-year-old’s sexuality or questioning her gender. Another tweeter snarked that rapper Tyga and Willow are one in the same.

There would be nothing wrong If Willow were to identify as a lesbian or a boy, but what narrow parameters are we placing on girls and women if simply wearing our hair short, sporting a button down over skinny jeans, and daring to mount a skateboard dictates all anyone needs to know about who we are and who we love?

What’s the problem? If I had a little girl, I would be excited as all get out if she were like Willow Smith. I wish I had been more like Willow at 11. (But then, I don’t have multimillionaire parents, which makes some difference, yes?). We lament the presence of strong role models for our children. They could certainly do a lot worse than idolizing a seemingly smart, engaging, self-assured, quirky black girl. That so many of us don’t recognize that says a lot about our society — none of it good. | The Willow Text: What the Reaction to Willow Smith Says About Us (x)

[all the haters to the left.] 

(via iflourish)

Filed under Willow Smith ageism race racism queer politics homophobia

5,535 notes

People of color, women, and gays — who now have greater access to the centers of influence than ever before — are under pressure to be well-behaved when talking about their struggles. There is an expectation that we can talk about sins but no one must be identified as a sinner: newspapers love to describe words or deeds as “racially charged” even in those cases when it would be more honest to say “racist”; we agree that there is rampant misogyny, but misogynists are nowhere to be found; homophobia is a problem but no one is homophobic. One cumulative effect of this policed language is that when someone dares to point out something as obvious as white privilege, it is seen as unduly provocative. Marginalized voices in America have fewer and fewer avenues to speak plainly about what they suffer; the effect of this enforced civility is that those voices are falsified or blocked entirely from the discourse.
Excerpt from Teju Cole’s essay “The White Savior Industrial Complex”.
 (via jalwhite)

(via newwavefeminism)

Filed under race homophobia misogyny racism oppression Teju Cole quotes

172 notes

Rolling Stone: "One Town's War on Gay Teens" (TW: suicide, self-harm)

gaywrites:

Minnesota’s Anoka-Hennepin school district is essentially run by evangelicals. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann exercises an extreme influence over the workings of the school district while religious and conservative groups fight to silence LGBT students and teachers - factors that arguably contribute to the district’s absurdly high suicide rate.

Nine students in this school district took their own lives in under two years, many having been bullied for being gay or being perceived as gay. When students and parents complained about bullies, school officials turned the other cheek or told them it wasn’t so bad. Hundreds of students were hospitalized for suicidal ideation or other mental health concerns. 

This Rolling Stone article about Anoka-Hennepin’s problem with teen suicide is extremely depressing, but it’s also extremely important. In a couple of pages, the author perfectly captures the ways in which extreme religious influence and administrator indifference can mess with kids. Ignoring bullying is not okay. Pretending homosexuality doesn’t exist is not okay. And these kids have realized it. 

The story has far from a happy ending because as you all know, we’re still deep into a crisis of LGBT youth suicides across the country. But more and more students are becoming aware of their administrators’ uselessness and fighting back on their own, with student-run GSAs and other ways of supporting each other. 

Reading this article - all the way through - made me cry, made me angry, but most importantly made me want to fight back. It’s stories like this that remind me why we’re in this fight. Each and every one of us is important and deserves to go to school without being harassed, even if each and every school district doesn’t see it. 

Side note: if you’re thinking of suicide or just need someone to talk to, please please please call The Trevor Project’s lifeline at 866-488-7386. 

Filed under Rolling Stone homosexuality homophobia Michele Bachmann Trevor Project bullying