FAQ's Answered: Why do I write about LGBT people?

I write sci-fi stories, and over the years, I've been occasionally accused of humor - and even wit. Sometimes my work has been rather flatteringly compared to several well-known authors in humor, fantasy and sci-fi - not that it's ever gone to my head - one day if my books ever start making me actual money, it might. For now however, I concentrate on telling my stories - and telling others about them.

Unlike any of the authors I've been compared to however, I write stories that feature LGBT characters in a positive, affirming light. Some of my main characters are like me - in one or more times in my own life - lesbian, gay, bi, or transgender. One of those characters is even a plant - and another is a talking cat - not that I am or have been one of those before, but oh well, now you can see what I mean by humor!

The question I'd like to explore with you today is "Why"?

Why do I write about LGBT people? More to the point, why bother to use LGBT characters to tell my stories through?

The Opening And Closing Of Doors

2018 - and indeed, October 2018 in particular marked a turning point in my life, where I closed a few doors behind me on past endeavors, and opened a door ahead of me.

My activist past in terms of belonging to organized groups and associations is a lengthy convoluted one, and if you'd been following my blog "Sour Grapes: The Fruit Of Ignorance" since I started it in 2009, you'd probably be aware of some of this.

If It Ain't Broke...

If you can't understand this simple concept, YOU are part of the problem.

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If you would like to know more about Christina Engela and her writing, please feel free to browse her website.

If you’d like to send Christina Engela a question about her life as a writer or transactivist, please send an email to christinaengela@gmail.com or use the Contact form.

All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2019.

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New Release: "The Pink Community - The Facts" Second Edition!

New release: "The Pink Community – The Facts" - Second Edition! Back in 2009 when I was in full swing of my human rights advocacy and running two LGBT rights groups (SA GLAAD and ECGLA), I put together an online information resource which mainly consisted of useful quotes and links to articles online.

As an activist who campaigned a lot on social media against bigotry in form of homophobia and transphobia, these links came in handy to post as replies to enraged bigots, rather than typing out lengthy replies each time! Instead, the link would manifest with a reference to a useful scientific or medical article that would invalidate the bigot's viewpoint, and they would be left there, seething, embarrassed, with egg on their faces!

Gradually this list grew until it migrated from a text file I kept on my PC, into a Word document - and then, when I started my blog "Sour Grapes: The Fruit of Ignorance", I dedicated several pages to it there. Later, in about 2012, I migrated it to my official author site, where it still lurks, as a free resource for human rights advocacy. This allowed for page hierarchies rather than just a huge cluster (or clutter!) of pages on a site!

America's Shame Before The World!

I can't understand how a majority of Americans - supposedly the most forward-thinking people on the planet - could vote "Trump".

It's mind-blowingly disappointing. It's awful. Simply awful. 

 

This is a dark day for human rights, not just in America, but everywhere. Considering the orange monkey's appalling campaign promises, there will be human rights violations and civil rights losses in abundance as Trump faces pressure from his rabid supporters to live up to his election promises - build the wall, strip LGBT rights, enact racist laws, deport all immigrants, hack the constitution, make Christianity a state religion.

No LGBT Stereotypes Here!

Good day, everyone!

Today I'd like to talk to you about stereotypes!

(Before I get into an explanation of what I mean, I would like to emphasize that my stories are not just "all about LGBT people" or intended to rub straight reader's noses in a rainbow flag and sprinkle glitter all over their cornflakes!)

You see, I've been asked a rather difficult question as a writer, and that is "What exactly is my intended market?"

What DO I Really Want?

It's regarded as naive' to want everyone to 'just get along' and 'make nice'... but nevertheless, that's all I really want from the world. Every day as a human rights advocate I see words spoken by people consumed by anger and hatred towards other people, and it saddens me. Yes, I've spoken out in anger before too, and I will again today and tomorrow... but that's a reaction to the hatred and anger of others - and the acts of cruelty committed out of their hatred and anger. At least I am above committing such acts of hatred and cruelty, unlike those I usually take on as an activist.

I Won't Swallow That!

Folks, as of now I am boycotting all Coca Cola products, and I urge everyone who cares about human rights and the abuses of human rights against its own LGBT people by the Russian government - and who find the determined Coca Cola drive to sponsor the Sochi (Russian) Olympics offensive, to join me. 

Coca Cola is deleting all comments by LGBT people critical to it's determination to continue sponsoring the "Olympics of Hate" in an attempt to silence opposition and to promote its own financial interests at the cost of human dignity and lives. 

Please refer to the following article for more details:

http://oblogdeeoblogda.me/2014/01/26/coca-cola-deleting-enraged-lgbt-comments-from-facebook-page/

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If you would like to know more about Christina Engela and her writing, please feel free to browse her website.

If you’d like to send Christina Engela a question about her life as a writer or transactivist, please send an email to christinaengela@gmail.com or use the Contact form.

All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2019.

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St Marks Dr Woolard Reject Science As 'Claptrap' Since It Doesn't Suit Their Prejudice

I note with amusement in the letters column of today's Herald, that Dr Woolard still hasn't provided any of his alleged scientific sources which he claims to prove that LGBT people are the consequence of molestation, pedophilia, "broken homes" or masturbation. 

Instead, he has dismissed the findings of respected researchers in the medical field as "claptrap" in favor of persecuting LGBT people on the merit of his own apparent "medical expertise" - or that of his colleague who was a medical student once, apparently. 

That, Dr Woolard, is a demonstration of pseudo-science - twisting the name of science to suit your own prejudice, in an attempt to lend it some standing - but with no basis in fact. 

Only YOU Can Save The World (If Not You, Who Else?)

I was most fortunate to have two friends who were Methodist ministers, both very open-minded and very loving people. 

They frequently took heavy fire for being welcoming of gay folks, and even people of other faiths, and for standing up against haters in their own ranks. 

The fact that I left Christianity to follow a Pagan path never meant that they weren't my friends any more, or that they suddenly would try to change me. Instead, they continued to be good friends. It's always a pleasure to count Christians like that among my friends. But what about the others?

Read Between The Lies

In a somewhat unusual move for me, I went to a church service on Sunday 18 Aug - unusual because I am not a Christian and haven't been since I renounced the religion and all its tenets in 2010, and have affiliated with Pagan religion in the meantime. 

On the bright side, at least I didn't actually burst into flames.

I didn't go there because I had a sudden change of heart, nor because I needed to take my mother to her church. No, I went because this church, St Marks Congregational, had placed an advertisement in a public newspaper, the Weekend Post, headlined "Is Gay Okay?" 

Knowing the conservative right-wing nature of most evangelical charismatic churches in Port Elizabeth, I decided to go and see what they were about, and what they meant by their question - and the placement of something that should not even be questioned any more in my view, given the modern scientific and human rights rationale.

Russia Has Lost It's Soul... And Its Mind

Russia has begun a very enthusiastic crack-down on LGBT people, and it's using Christian religion and junk-science being peddled by Scott Lively as justification. It's very concerning. Unfortunately this is what happens when religious conservativism is allowed to run riot, and when that very important line between church and state is erased.

Uganda Again Set To Pass 'Kill The Gays Bill' - Followed by Nigeria

What can I say about this, folks - except "I told you so"? 

I've warned about it since I first started this activist blog, after all. 

Personal Statement: Divisions Within The Community

In the past I have called for more active interest and participation from the Pink Community, and I am happy to say that in recent months the community has risen to the challenge by and large, with new Pride events taking place, new community support projects springing up, and new activist voices shouting from within the wilderness to speak out against the injustices faced by our community. However;

There is an ongoing feud between the organizers of a community pageant  and other members of the community, a feud which is both unproductive and insensible, and which threatens to tear a rift right through the community. I also find it puzzling and disgusting how many people who wouldn't be seen dead voting or supporting anything political openly in defense of their own rights, have jumped in neck-deep in supporting either of the parties in this recent dispute which has been threatening to divide and weaken us as a community.

My Brief Delusional Time As A Lesbian

This morning I was lying in bed considering what to wear. I sleep naked these days, because I've enjoyed the new found freedom that being physically female brings. 

What I was wondering was, what to clothe my body with once I got out of bed, and despite the personal style I've developed over the past few years, I'm now totally at a loss for what to pick in my closet.

Being female, albeit a transgender female now 6 years post-op, the choice should have been clear to me. The reason for this dilemma is that I was told last night by a person of some prominence in the local lesbian community, that I "dress like a drag queen".

The Right Fundamentals?

The question often arises in my mind, when dealing with biblical literalists and fundamentalists, exactly WHAT their fundamentals are? What is it that makes them stand at the head of a crowd and whip them into a frenzy, spitting hatred for others - and doing so in the name of a god they claim is a god of love, and who is the personification of this all too cheap, commercialized emotion?

An Inconvenient Home Truth

It's odd how for years, articles by Melanie Nathan have been highly prized and circulated and promoted by local human rights advocates, and how for years we have welcomed her campaigning to assist our cause, and her application of public pressure from outside the country - and now we can suddenly just turn around and say something like this:

"A condescending American [Melanie] Nathan based in America, who has no jurisdiction whatsoever in dictating to South Africans what to do (as what so many Western countries are prone to do), even if she was born in South Africa, she left this country three decades ago and has no business interfering. We're not listening - go write about the problems LGBTI face in the US. There's lots." - GaySpeak Ezine.

 

An email from Mr Gay SA did the rounds in the early hours of this morning, laying out in point form "the official stance" of a Pink Community leader figure in South Africa. 

 

Point five said: "We support what Melanie Lowe and Cobus Fourie from SA GLAAD wrote about standing together, but this has become an all-out attack against Mr GSA driven by people who are serving their own interests and shamelessly using this issue of the traditional leaders to promote themselves, their blogs and their brands." 

The email closed with "Please remove us from this mailing list - we will not respond if you do."

The quote at the top of this article was then posted on numerous Coalition and LGBT Facebook groups.

Change Is As Change Does

The DA is virtually the only party in this country which includes the rights of people on the basis of gender, identity, gender identity and sexual orientation in its policies and manifestos. 

To this day, I feel that there is no viable alternative to the DA in securing the promises in the Constitution of South Africa, which pertain to freedom, equality and equal opportunity for all.

However, the recent events surrounding the matter of the Traditional Leader's Bill, and the careless statement made by Mr de Freitas as a representative of the DA - whether he himself is gay or not, have cast a different light on the Democratic Alliance and its stance on civil rights and protection issues.

Protect the Constitution Johannesburg Protest On SABC News

Kudos to all involved - this was a very unbiased video news insert.

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If you would like to know more about Christina Engela and her writing, please feel free to browse her website.

If you’d like to send Christina Engela a question about her life as a writer or transactivist, please send an email to christinaengela@gmail.com or use the Contact form.

All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2019.

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Stand With Us!

CALLING ALL HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS AND ACTIVISTS, of whatever association, be it religion, sexual orientation, gender, or cultural - it's time to stand together for our joint human rights! The SA government is debating the removal of sexual orientation protection against discrimination clauses from the SA Constitution - if they succeed in this, who will be next?