LGBT Heroes in Galaxii & Quantum – the “G” in LGBT

I've spoken at length before about my reasons for writing about LGBT characters - and specifically about being transgender and lesbian and how this enriches my writing, particularly with regard to how it influences my portrayal of LGBT characters. I've spent some time talking about my transgender characters, specifically Cindy-Mei Winter (the Quantum Series) and Marsha (Galaxii series, "Dead Beckoning") to name just two. In this article I'll be introducing you to a few of my gay characters.

FAQ’s Answered #10: Who Is Marsha In "Dead Beckoning" to Blachart?

Today in a series of replies to FAQ (frequently asked questions) sent to me by fans (and sometimes not so much), I answer the question:  "Who is Marsha in "Dead Beckoning", and what part does she she play in relation to the character of Blachart?"

What would happen if fascists took over the world?

What would happen if fascists took over the world? Not just one or two states, but all of them? How would people react to having their lives upturned? Without any alternative authorities to turn to, without any rescuers or saviors to call upon, how would they handle seeing 'undesirables' and 'enemies of the state' - their neighbors, family, friends or colleagues being dragged away to concentration camps by uniformed thugs with the full backing of the law?

How would they tell fact from fiction while those who have seized power and their news services twist the truth to cast themselves as righteous heroes and to portray their victims as unpatriotic, dangerous, threatening, impure, monsters deserving of extermination?

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.

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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Ignorance Is Not A Legitimate 'Point Of View'

The debate around the St Marks "Sex in the City - Is Gay Okay?" discussion held at the church three weeks ago just doesn't seem to want to die. 

You can view the video I took here: https://youtu.be/00-u-tJwh-o

Homophobes continue to post their ignorant remarks  in such a manner as if to show that a) they know what they are talking about and b) they have some kind of hand-written note from "God" to authorize them to hate and to persecute others in its name.

Yes sirree, Port Elizabeth has a "prophet" in its 'burbs - another one who claims to know what "God" said and meant, intent on not letting anyone get on with their lives without being told off for being the "lustful sinners" they are.

In today's episode, let's look at the comment made by a Nigel Wakeford, a regular in the Herald "chirps" column. In my humble opinion, Mr Wakeford is just showing his ignorance. 

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?

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. 

The Burning Question

A general look at similarities between some persecuted minority groups in SA, based upon differences in  race, sexual orientation, and religion or spiritual beliefs - and the similarities in the methodology of their persecution.

In this article I will broadly discuss my perception of the current situation in South Africa, in conjunction with general reference to "the Stanton Report", a model which assesses the make-up of a genocide, and to which the UN also refers. Broadly, the Stanton Report, developed and presented to the UN in 1996, demonstrates the different stages of the development of social discrimination into a full-blown genocide. There are 8 of these stages in the model, and these show how the removal of civil rights and legal protections of a social minority group is usually followed by vilification and persecution of that group, and that the persecution of the group is the real intended goal of removing such legal protections in the first place. 

SA Govt Discusses Removal Of Sexual Orientation From Constitution

An article in the Beeld newspaper yesterday explains that there is a move in government encouraging the removal of sexual orientation protection clauses from the SA Constitution. 

Not to say "I told you so", but I've been warning about this eventuality for the past 5 years.

...So, "I fucking told you so!" 

The takeaway from this fact is this: A) There is a government body actually spending official time, money and resources to entertain a band of religious fundamentalist fanatics who have for years been pressuring government to remove constitutional human rights protections from the SA Constitution. B) a body which falls under the mandate of the SA Constitution and has a duty to DEFEND it, is ostensibly giving government support and serious consideration to what amounts to un-Constitutional efforts which would not only violate the human rights of a significant portion of SA citizens - but would also stand in contradiction to several important UN mandates on human right as well

 

This is cause for significant concern indeed. 

 

Should this farcical business deliver any rotten fruit, it would set in motion a cascade-effect that would collapse the culture of human rights protections for numerous communities.

Cry, Emo Kid - They Really ARE Out To Kill You

I was shocked and saddened today, when I saw news articles of STATE SANCTIONED AND ENCOURAGED MASSACRES in Iraq. 

The target of these unholy act of unspeakable barbarism? LGBT people, feminists - and Emo kids. That's right - Iraqi religious police assisted by fanatic religious militia - and relatives of the victims, have been abducting and murdering people - including children - because they don't approve of their hairstyles, dress, or if they happen to appear a little too masculine or feminine to their liking, for their idea of "appropriate" gender! 

Nobody is safe from their brutality and terrorism - not even children! 

Monsters!

Dismantling Fear

Many transsexual people I have encountered over time have chosen to introduce themselves to friends or acquaintances as being more than "just" transsexuals. 

Instead of just being honest about having been biologically male or female, and having changed that, they invent stories about having been born intersex - presumably because in their minds, the audience will somehow view them more sympathetically that way than if they were just honest to begin with.

 

Why can't they just be honest?

 

Well, as it turns out, there may be some very good reasons why they do this.

Kicking The Crutch

The world around us is filled with people who are selfish, cocky and arrogant about their own religious beliefs. I say not these things because I resent the pride others take in their religion, but because the pride some of them take in their choice of beliefs boils over into a hatred of the religious choices of others who choose differently to them, and into persecution of those who dare to do so.

Will Somebody Please Think Of The Children?

I regularly meet a friend of mine, who is a Christian reverend, for drinks at a local coffee shop. We enjoy casual chats about religion, persecution and human needs and frailties. He mentioned to me that there is no ONE Christianity, but many, and that today there are more than 200 different formally identified "mainstream" denominations - or "churches" around the world. Ironically, each one considers itself to be the ONE TRUE Christianity, or at least, the face of it.

We Make Hate Great

Tolerance. Equality. Individual freedom. The right to self-expression. These are the things that make democracy great. These are the things that make life worth living.

And yet many people who claim to support these ideals, really do not. While they claim to, they see equality as something they are deserving of, while simultaneously they view anyone they do not personally approve of trying to gain equality with them as an attack on their own superior and privileged social positions. 

 

They distort facts and ideologies to serve their elitist and supremacist ideals, and hijack democracy in order to preserve a social order where words like "love" and concepts like "good" and "evil", and even terms like "family" and "marriage" become tools to exclude fellow human beings from equal, decent and humane treatment - and as weapons to destroy them.

Bollocks And Bellyaching

Recently I saw an article posted by a transsexual sister activist about the failings of the alliance of the Pink Community. The article was very melodramatic, bordering on the hysterical. In fact, I feel it was nothing short of a load of bollocks and bellyaching.

Cardboard Armor & Quicksand

These days, after some years of dealing with religious fundamentalist bigots, I have little patience for people who jump up and wave their fingers down at me and people like me - not for anything bad that we have done, but simply for existing. They typically use flimsy and baseless religious rhetoric as a foundation for their hatred and prejudice, quoting scripture against established scientific reality as if it were some sort of magic bullet. 

 

You're running into battle wearing cardboard armor and waving plastic swords! Go back to school and ask for a refund!