I Know, Therefore I Am

The murder trial of the killers of Eudy Simalane made me realize a few things. 

 

One was that the hatred some people feel for gay and transgender people is alive and well - while a fine and upstanding woman like her is dead because of it - and the other is that up until I read a few articles on her death, I never knew that SA even had a national female soccer team - or that she was their captain. After searching through this muddle of emotion and drama in the circumstances surrounding this tragedy, I now realize why.

It's because of the Patriarchy.

Double Talk Heralds Double Standards

On Tuesday 28 July a letter was published in the EP Herald, a newspaper considered by many, including myself, to be a forward-thinking publication which frequently presents unbiased and fair articles touching on the topic of sexual and gender diversity. 

 

The letter was titled "Flaunting of gay lifestyles offensive" and penned by a certain Mike Jones of Port Elizabeth. In his letter Mr Jones berated the popular TV show "Top Billing" for "ramming gays down our throats every week", "as if their lifestyle is something to be proud of, particularly in a programme of this calibre". He also called gay people "deviates", and elaborated further on his personal prejudice by saying that he did not "regard homosexuality as 'cool'" and intimated how gay people whose homes were featured on the show "got up his nose".

 

The very first thing that popped into my head - after a healthy flush of adrenaline had run its course, and the thought of something a lot more satisfying I could get up Mr Jones's nose flashed through my mind, was the question why a supposedly straight and vehemently anti-gay man so obviously stricken with a case of toxic masculinity would be remotely interested in watching that TV show in the first place? But, brushing such private generalization and stereotyping aside, I decided to look into it.

Mirror Images

I was just thinking the other day about these blatant and militant heterosexuals and their lack of shame or consideration for others, their secret and insidious agenda, and it honestly made me quite mad.

Imagine parading around, shamelessly flaunting their heterosexuality in public - what are we supposed to think, I mean, really - seeing a man and a woman walking around holding hands and kissing? What about the effect on the children, seeing such shameless displays of public affection between two consenting adults? And imagine children growing up in such a home, seeing such shameless perversion! Living in a home with "parents" like that obviously has negative influences on a growing mind. Why, I am sure children from such a home would do badly at school and be underachievers for all their lives! And in the end what would prevent them from becoming heterosexual themselves? Everybody knows it is contagious and you can get it from poor upbringing!

Satan's Package

A Facebook friend left the following comment on my wall the other day:

"My girlfriend is an 'ex-miracle'. Her step family used to parade her around to their circle of churches and proclaimed to anyone that would listen that she was "HEALED" of being a lesbian. I have since been called (by these same family members) "SATANS PACKAGE".  

 

I have to wonder at their arrogance - they proclaim an all powerful God, and yet don't trust him enough to create people as He sees fit. They feel that they need to spend their lives trying to 'fix' what He created so that we all fit into perfect Christian-shaped blocks to make THEM feel acceptable. If God wanted robots he would have created robots... a whole world full of happy-clappy, heterosexual, hymn singing, judgmental pharisees."

Very true, very fitting and very well said.

Stirring The Pot

Many feel it is their duty to meddle in others lives. To them it is "helping others right", "doing good" and doing "the Lord's work". They're called missionaries, whether by themselves or their churches or by their comrades. They see others violating what they themselves consider to be the values and ethos of civilization - most typically their personal concept of what is euphemistically called "Christian civilization" (WTF is that, anyway?) - and cannot resist sticking their pointy little noses into the lives and affairs of others. Whether or not the activities of these other people actually affect them directly - or even indirectly - is of course the entire point of this perpetual debate on morality.

I suppose the very first question that pops into my head at this point is "WTF has my morality got to do with you?".

I could also ask these self-appointed crusaders WTF my sexuality, sex-life, choice of a partner, their gender, and who I choose to marry and what I do with them in the privacy of my bedroom has to do with them?

They meddle in the affairs of others, spreading news nobody needs to hear or cares about - and then act all "persecuted" and offended when their noses get knocked out of joint by the all too predictable slamming of a door.

A Summary Of Straight Privilege In Daily Life

The other day I found online a list of observations made by a class of heterosexual university students in the USA, asked to think about advantages held by heterosexual students over their non-heterosexual counterparts. I think they made a very good effort, and I think doing such an exercise helps to broaden the mind.

It certainly helps to show others how fortunate they are - and highlights the clear advantages straight people have over us - and thereby reveals the inequalities in society we face today. Hopefully this will show people why it is we fight for equal rights - and that we really have a few good reasons to gripe after all.

I thought about it and worked through the original posting, making some additions of my own - and this is what I came up with:

Minding Other People's Business

I always thought religion was something personal and one's own choice. Even the tenets of the Christian faith are based upon freedom of choice and free will. In order to be a Christian, apparently, you need to choose to follow Christ.

It is interesting indeed that some people think they are right to force others into believing what they believe.

Herd Instinct

I was invited to join a Facebook group touting a nationalistic Afrikaner line about independence of the "boerevolk". Offhand though, I honestly couldn't think why. I mean, isn't that a bit like being invited to join a fan group set up to adore the most infamous "little corporal" in history?

 

It was very kind of them to think of me, but I simply had to decline - which I did by leaving a short message which would be my first and last post there.

"Come on guys, quit trying to divide SA even more than it is already - the Boer War ended a hundred years ago - catch a wake up!" I typed.

 

Nevertheless, this baffling and outlandish event served to prompt some deeper thought on the subject.

Sex, Drugs And Diversity

"Gay activists are outraged after Xavier High School, a Catholic school in Albury, Australia published an anti-gay piece by a former student in its alumni newsletter. "Writing in a letter to the editor in the newsletter, former Xavier student Matt Price entreated “a world free from homosexuals”, who he said lived lives devoted to drugs and sex.

His letter called for businesses not to employ homosexuals, with Price revealing that he lobbies CEOs with his message." http://queersunited.blogspot.com/2009/07/australian-high-school-publishes-piece.html

Interesting.

Equality - A Goalpost On Wheels For Every Occasion

In December last year, a man was thrown off a moving commuter train in Johannesburg.  

 

His crime? Carrying a woman's handbag and behaving in a feminine manner.

 

The Metro security didn't come to his aid - because the two men who threw him of the train were Metro security guards.

 

Now, supposedly these security guards are there to protect the passengers from just this sort of thing, which is a most bizarre and disturbing turn of events to say the least. To compound this insult to the victim's person and dignity, when he tried to report the incident at a police station, the policemen refused to take his statement or to lay a charge against his assailants - and chased him away.

What's In A Name?

Homosexual - a word used to describe gay people. 

Note how I said that? I didn't say 'to describe homosexual people'. If you find the difference as interesting as I do, I am sure you feel it warrants a deeper look.

To The Victors...

Recently some people have very publicly claimed that "There is certainly a logical link between homosexuality, pedophilia, incest and beastiality and other deviant behaviour".

Excuse me?

Where on earth do these people get their "facts" from which they proclaim with such absolute certainty?

Christianity - The Fundamentals

Quite a long time ago, in fact more than a thousand years ago, the Christian church was very different. 

 

In some ways, it really was a bit persecuted and outnumbered by other older religions - not at all in the elevated and privileged and powerful position it holds worldwide today. Before it became the state religion of the Roman Empire, it had little power and sway over those who followed it and gathered in their own small independent little community churches. 

 

It was young and still learning the ways of control and mass manipulation. It was not yet in full agreement with itself on the dogma and scriptures it used in those days, in fact, every little church had its own particular favorite gospel - some even used the 'Gospel of Mary Magdalene', who was even viewed as one Christs Apostles - and many of these gospels were not the ones in today's bible. It was not centrally controlled and neither was the book today called the bible. In fact, back then, there was no bible. It was a loose assortment of books - and there were many more of them than those contained in the present bible used today.

In fact, even as recently as one century ago, there were stark differences in the bible and the number and names of books contained in it.

The Dogs Of War

When the new SA Constitution became fact and law back in the early 90's, discrimination in South Africa against gay and transgender people instantly passed into history and lore.

No?

You don't agree?

Why not?

If you are one of the folks who think I have been smoking my underwear and you insist that "of course we have equality now" - let me point out the following:

Bigot Speak With Forked Tongue

One of the biggest tragedies and obstacles facing gay and transgender people today is feeling too insecure or threatened to come out when we are young - and this is the best time to do so. This is one of the things that will change when education bears fruit one day, but for now the fight for acceptance and equality still rages. That is why we must continue the battle for our civil rights, equality and acceptance - so that others who come after us do not have to live a lie in order to survive - or to face the obstacles which we who are walking this path now have faced.

Breaking News - Brought To You Freshly Broken

The other night East London zoo's famous gay penguins were on the Afrikaans news, having hatched an egg and begun nursing the chick as their own. 

 

I cannot help to wonder what the viewing majority was thinking or saying, but I can guess that in some conservative homes it was probably something like "Gay penguins! The end is nigh!"

Paranoia, Guns, & Christian Fundamentalist Groups In SA

Recently while looking over the postings on the links page of a group affiliated to a larger local anti-gay hate group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/christianview/links), I found the following items:

"! A great site about Survival Survivalism Homesteading plus Firearms A website with a huge amount of info about wilderness survival, survival Training, survival skills, homesteading, preparedness, survival Navigation, survival First aid, self defense, survival books, survival guides, survivalism, firearms, handguns, rifles, shotguns, ammunition, military manuals, us army manuals, navy manuals, marine manuals, survival books, survival manuals, survivalist, survival Navigation, survival First aid, Army Survival Manual, survival Shelter, survival retreat, Survival priorities, Other survival skills, desert survival, Natural disaster survival, tornadoe survival, Hunting, Bushcraft, underground shelters, Survival knife, storing food, fallout shelters, survivalists, Civil Defense, nuclear war survival, nuclear survival, terrorist attacks survival, Bug Out Bag, BOB, survival Training, sere, patriots, sere manual, military guides, backpacking, camping, combat, disaster, emergency, emergency kits, http://www.survivalebooks.com/

! A very nice Survival plus gun forum called survivalismforum.com They have neat info about how to get concealed weapons licenses permits CCW survival gun info survival retreats how to's wilderness survival wilderness skills survivalist info survivalism info homesteading info gold mining gold prospecting military manuals gun manuals survival manuals and army field manuals army technical manuals."

Surprisingly both items were posted by a woman - and a straight (presumably) Christian fundamentalist! Now I have to ask myself: Is somebody expecting a war?

 

Should we?

Cross This Line

On several occasions supporters of the ACDP, a right wing SA political party which can only be described as religious fundamentalist (if not actually outright totally bonkers) have claimed that the party bears no ill will to gay or trans people (in their words, "homosexuals") in the country - and that we have nothing to fear should they ever come to power.

 

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

I wish I could believe them - but there is far too much openly visible hatred and intolerance in the ACDP - which I have seen first hand - and the rest of the world has been able to see even in their press releases addressing the GLBT community or our issues for anyone with two eyes and half a brain to even take that statement seriously!

The facts say otherwise.

What Do We Really Want?

Often there is dissent among people loosely grouped together in the GLBTI community who feel the interests of the whole do not serve their particular needs. In fact some have been downright negative and acerbic in their criticism of the whole community and even gone so far as to vent hatred against fellow members of the community. It is possible they do this because they feel they have been hard done by, but it is also likely that they are just a bunch of sour old farts who see a pink community that is today far more cohesive than it was in the past - and have some sour grapes about it.

Put Your Tranny Wheels On!

Let me start today's post by saying as a passable post-op male to female transsexual that in the war for acceptance, tolerance and civil rights for transgender people, it is our obvious, stereotyped and non-passing transgender sisters out there who are the bravest of us all.

Lead, Fight Or Get Out Of The Way - Pick One!

Please excuse me, but today I am going to rant a little.

Okay, a lot.

A Matter Of Perpective

Can anyone give me a satisfactory explanation why the media calls a man convicted of raping a 4 year old girl a "child rapist" - and a man convicted of raping a 4 year old boy gets labelled a "pedophile", when pedophilia knows no gender, whether referring to either victim or perpetrator? 

 

Is this not either journalistic ignorance - or a blatant attempt to reinforce the right wing image of gay people as "pedophiles"?

No More Lines To Cross

A few "ex-gay" reps have contacted me in the last month or so, using a nice sales pitch, as they like to do - thickly laying on the "Jesus loves you" jam on my perfectly nice slice of "I'm happy as I am" wholewheat toast. I held on to my restraint and presented my responses, presented below as if to one individual - or to the "ex-gay" industry as a whole.

"Change is possible"?

Yes it is - I used to be a Christian - until I saw what being a "Christian" meant - hating and persecuting innocent people in the name of a loving God. Now I'm not a Christian anymore.

Blasphemous Rumors

Whatever would God think if he knew people were saying God loves gay and trans people?

And why not? He made us too, didn't he?

After all, some people say that God hates gay people though nowhere does it actually say so - however it does say in the Christian bible that "For God so loved the world that WHOSOEVER believeth in Him..." I think you get the drift? Even God claims to love everybody (which includes us - and even you) - but it is funny that those who claim to be "true" Christians seem to pick and choose.

As Time Goes By

I had a friend who waited until her wife died before transitioning. Her name was Stephanie Bishop - and when she began transitioning, she was 79 years old.

She lost her friends and family on coming out, even her children and grand children were too conservative and short sighted to accept this - I know she cried many bitter tears over how nasty they were to her. But she was financially independent, moved to another city (where I met her) and got on with her life. 

 

She was delighted by the tendency people had of underestimating her age by 20 years or more and endured many jibes about her "toy-boy" suitors who in many cases were twenty years younger than her. I doubt she was ever lonely again, as most people her age often are.

School Of Thought

It seems in recent times, with gay-hating groups getting trounced on the grounds of attacking homosexuality in terms of "nature versus nurture" and on the subject of Pride events - that they cling to that also disproved mainstay of the anti-gay movement - "homosexuals are pedophiles". Unable to argue the facts to the contrary in these other matters, they then try to show that gay people want to lower the age of consent "because they are after our children" - for the reason that they also push the cliche'd and just as inaccurate belief that gay people become gay through "recruiting".