We are the world’s ONLY superpower. We are rich beyond the imagination of half of the globe. We have a moral responsibility to take in these people, 50% of whom are children. Don’t give me your bullshit about safety, these are the most screened refugees we have entering our country.
There is no fully-informed, fact-based argument against allowing them in that is not rooted in selfishness and/or racism.
One of the legends that was supposed to live forever, in my mind. Thanks for the laughs.
After all of these years I just found out that Matthew Shepard was a tiny 5’2″ in height. A bit in the news from Orlando’s Pulse massacre got me reading about him again and it broke my heart anew.
I remember being absolutely devastated by his story as a scared 15 year old with no hope of being able to tell anyone in my life who I really was or what I was dealing with. Matthew was me and I there wasn’t much hope.
Home was certainly unwelcoming for who I really was, I would find no solace there, and with Matthew’s murder it seemed the world was also against me. There were so many times I saw no possible positive future for myself.
I genuinely believed I was the only gay person in my town of 32,000 people. I thought there were maybe 7 or 8 gay people in my entire state of 4 and a half million. I was very, very alone.
I persevered because regardless of my own inevitable unhappiness, I wanted to be able to make a difference in other people’s lives. I bounced around a bit on what I wanted to be: a high school counselor, a teacher, a youth pastor, and ultimately a social worker, but it was always my hope to be able to help adolescents. That remains something I still hope for today, and have been able to put into action in many ways, though not yet as a career.
I have vivid memories from a couple years after Matthew’s murder of sneaking off to my parent’s bedroom when MTV aired their “Anatomy of a Hate Crime” movie about his murder. I pretended to be watching the news when my mom checked in to see what I was doing, making fast use of the “last” button on the remote control to cover myself. I sat on the edge of my parents’ bed trying to keep my tears to a minimum in case one of them walked in.
I felt like my chest was imploding from grief while feeling as though the rest of me were going to explode from the effort it took to prevent all out sobs. I wept for Matthew, but I also cried because there was a community at home and around the world that loved him and accepted him and didn’t think he deserved death as my church and my family had taught me he and all gays did. It was a glimmer of hope that I desperately needed. I wish I could beam a message back to that kid and tell him how much better things would get. To let him know that the community that loves him unconditionally is so much larger and stronger and warmer than he could possibly imagine, and to just hang on.
I read a series of tweets from an older lesbian earlier who was distraught over the Pulse massacre and recounted Stonewall and how the different generations after her have had their own symbols, including Matthew Shepard. Someone in the comments indicated they were in their early 20s and remarked that they had to look up who Matthew Shepard was because they had never heard of him. I guess it never occurred to me that there are young adults alive now who have never heard Matthew’s name. I don’t know why, but that hit me as incredibly tragic. It’s important to remember the names, the faces, the stories – they are all a part of our DNA as a community and a society and a reminder to work toward the kind of world we want for our children.
And though I never knew him, I will always mourn Matthew. I imagine the man he’d be today, that tiny, fragile frame having filled out some with age as he approached his 40th birthday this year. I wouldn’t know him, and that would be just fine because he’d be out there in the world happy and fulfilled living an ordinary life, not fated to being anyone’s tragic symbol.
Alright, that’s it, I’ve had it! I cannot take one more awful, sensationalized, CAPITALIZED headline from you HuffPo.
I held out as long as I could. I even held on when you cashed out to the tune of $315 million on the backs of mostly unpaid, grassroots, local bloggers.
Ultimately it was your painful lack of copyediting, lack of pertinent details on important stories, and your sensationalized headlines that pushed me over the edge. Goodbye Huffington Post.
For anyone else looking to take the leap and find Huffington Post alternatives, here are the sites where I have ended up, in no particular order:
Well I really don’t want to turn this into the “excessive force by police officers” blog, but this one is a national headline as I believe it should be.
Who are we really being terrorized by? I’m starting to question. What the hell is going on?
Is this kid going to be looking over his shoulder every time he walks down the street? Will he ever trust police officers? I’m just sickened by it.
Read the full storry at The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/24/jordan-miles-teen-violini_n_434772.html
The crazies over at the American Family Association regularly send me their hysterically funny newsletters, always full of money-begging and fear-mongering. More often than not the back page will be an ad for some family value voters summit, plastered with photos of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, etc. I sometimes forget this is coming from a religious organization and not the RNC.
Last year AFA wanted me to boycott McDonald’s because the company refused to end it’s association with the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. They sent me a cute little prewritten sticky note that I was to take to my local McDonald’s and stick on the money used to pay for my last McDonald’s meal. The note would inform the Manager that until McDonald’s stopped siding with moral corruption and became neutral in the “culture war” I simply could not in good conscience spend my hard-earned Christian dollars at the restaurant. Hilarious, right? Hilarious, odd, and scary, all swirled into one nightmarish little Neapolitan mix.
Needless to say, I never dropped off the note at McDonald’s. And the boycott was a total and complete bust, as McDonald’s stock went up nearly every single day that the boycott was active. Lots of gays drinking lots of iced coffees, yes, yes we did.
Jump to my latest mailing from AFA. GAP INC. IS EVIL! THEY WON’T SAY “CHRISTMAS” EXCLUSIVELY! Basically, I’m supposed to boycott all Gap Inc. stores (Banana Republic, Old Navy, Gap, etc.) until after Christmas the Holidays because they’re supposedly censoring “Christmas”. Unfortunately for the nonexistent credibility of the American Family Association, Gap actually has an ad out now that very obviously says “Christmas” loud and clear:
If you think I’m kidding, just click on the video and let it take you to the YouTube page and take a look at the comments. Here are a few of the crazies:
“More secular paganism to sell more cheap Chinese crap. The boycott will expand to any company who denies Christ.”
“This is supposed to appease those of us who are boycotting Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic. Just more moral and cultural relativism. Boycott not over.”
“Merry Christmas Gap, may you have no better sales than any other time of year…let’s go to Macy’s who has respect for tradition and values. Throw it all to the wind right? Why believe anything when its all "relative" to what "feels right" to whomever no matter what drugs they are on? ur ok im ok!”
“This is stupid. Do whatever feels right they say. I will not shop there. That feels right. First they refuse to use Christmas in their advertising now they throw it in with Solstice. Disrespectful! I will spend my Christmas dollars elsewhere. Merry Christmas!”
Those few comments are just from the selection made in the last hour, truly terrifying.
Now for the GAP win aspect of this post. It was just announced today that the profits of Gap Inc. were up 25% in the last quarter. The timing of AFA’s silly boycott could not have been better.
Now my fair-minded, non-crazy friends, I encourage you to pick up a few extra GAP gift cards this year for your friends and family. I know these AFA folk probably don’t normally shop at GAP anyway, but I think that regardless it couldn’t hurt for us to support GAP’s spirit of inclusiveness.
Family, friends…yes, you’re getting GAP gift cards. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Finally! 11 years after Matthew Shepard’s death, the legislation bearing his name has finally made it through Congress and on to the President’s desk. The Republicans, of course, fought it all along the way but despite their best efforts America has arrived in the 21st century. It saddens me that Senator Kennedy isn’t here to see this come to fruition, after all of his years fighting for it.
I do wish that the bill could have been sent through Congress on its own accord, but attaching it to a defense bill was the safest bet for getting it through and the Democrats did the right thing in doing so.
Matthew’s parents Judy and Dennis have worked tirelessly to see this happen and I have enormous respect for both of them. I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Judy at a Soulforce event protesting Focus on the Family and their hurtful, dangerous rhetoric. She was incredibly sweet and genuine and my heart broke all over again for this women who was thrust into a role that no parent would ever wish for. Hate took her son from her she chose to go on and fight that hate, She is my personal hero because of it.
Today as I watched the above videos I stumbled upon this great video which contains the statement that Dennis Shepard gave during the trial of one of Matthew’s murderers. The audio is from the movie “The Laramie Project”. It is incredibly moving.
Watch the video: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/13/police-brutality-cops-pun_n_203245.html
Is this happening more often or is the Internet just making us more aware of it? This police officer didn’t know he was on video, obviously. The kick in the head, then pushing the guys arm up way beyond where he needed to, then the high five…pretty disgusting.
I know the guy is a criminal and I know he’s a suspected gang member, but does this really help reform anyone? I believe this kind of behavior does nothing more than send more young kids into gangs and helps to create distrust and hate toward police officers in general.
From what I’ve read this officer hasn’t been disciplined or suspended yet, but I’ll update when I find out more.
From ky3.com:
BRANSON, Mo. — A teenager from Branson who was hit with an electric stun gun 19 times by police has recovered enough to do an interview with a reporter.
Ozark police found Mace Hutchinson on July 19 underneath the Highway F overpass over U.S. 65. Mace’s family says he broke his back in a fall off the bridge. When he wouldn’t move, police repeatedly used an electric stun gun on him.
Mace says he doesn’t remember much about that night and there are still several unanswered questions about how Mace ended up under the bridge. But what he is able to say is he believes there was no good reason why anyone in his situation would be stunned 19 times. He hopes the police officers are held accountable.
“There’s no way that they had to Tase me that many times,” he said.
Mace spent his 17th birthday lying in a hospital bed.
“I had a broken back, broken foot.”
Nearly two weeks later, he’s out of the hospital but still lying in bed, hardly able to move.
“It should be a couple months before I’m able to walk on my own.”
His family says what made his situation worse is that his surgery had to be postponed because he had been stunned by Ozark police 19 times.
“At least I’m alive though.”
Mace says he still can’t remember how he ended up at the bottom of the bridge. He says he knows he didn’t willingly jump.
“I know I’m lucky to survive that far of a fall.”
Police records say Hutchinson was aggressive with them, and tried to get up and get into traffic. Mace points out that he doesn’t weigh much and wonders why an officer didn’t just restrain him.
Police also say he yelled threatening remarks about harming officers. Those things combined were why they used the electric stun gun on him.
“He was saying things like, ‘Kill cops, shoot cops,’” Ozark Police Capt. Thomas Rousset said on July 23.
Mace says he doesn’t remember that and certainly doesn’t know how it would have been possible, with his injuries, for him to move toward the highway.
“There’s no way I could stand up. I had a broken back and a broken foot,” he said.
“I definitely want them to get punished, I don’t want them to get away with it.”
After the incident, the Ozark police chief said he launched an internal investigation. A reporter called the Ozark Police Department multiple times on Thursday but no one returned a call to provide an update on that investigation.
Am I the only one getting increasingly frustrated and concerned over these Tasing stories? This kid had a BROKEN BACK and his heel was detached from the rest of his foot. If the facts are as they appear to be, he was not possibly a threat! He could have been saying, “I’m going to murder every single one of you.” and Tasing him 19 times would still not be appropriate.
Leaving the extremely serious injuries out of the story, he’s a small kid up against multiple police officers. They keep saying he didn’t comply, what exactly was he not complying with? To get up? To stop being incoherent? If these officers were not completely and totally incompetent they would have at the very least checked for injury.
The Captain angers me most of all. “Shoot Cops. Kill Cops.” Sounds fabricated, but even if it’s completely true were they really threatened by the kid sprawled out on the pavement mumbling to shoot cops?
This is simply disgusting. Am I overreacting? What do you think?
