The Rainbow Connection [LGBTS Club]

[solarowl]

I'm not Gay, but I am a Supporter of being one, so I guess it's only natural I join. XD
YES THATS RIGHT ANOTHER ALLY. DEAL WITH IT.

Hopefully I can remember to be active enough. ^^;

[Ctrl.Alt.Geak]

You can sign me up, I'll try my best to be active.

[Landorus]

Welcome to Drew, Charizard, solarowl, and Ctrl.Alt.Geek!

Here is a nice news story where Franken (Minnesota senator) speaks out against the proposed anti-gay marriage amendment

[Alternative]

I hope we do get more people being active, as this is a serious issue, and people really support it. I don't even know why people are against homosexual, bi-curious or anything of the like for that matter. They're still people, and they may have the same interests as you, and you could become good friends without one or another falling in love or anything.

What got you into supporting gay rights? Who/What was your inspiration to do so?

[Landorus]

What got you into supporting gay rights? Who/What was your inspiration to do so?

I simply just don't want people to go through what I had to go through. That is all~

[Merzbau]

If you didn't comprehend my last message, this is my official request and intent to join this group and offer my support. Now, for the big question.

Originally Posted by Alternative

What got you into supporting gay rights? Who/What was your inspiration to do so?

When I was about fourteen years old, I learned that my best friend was gay. At the time, I was a very religious kid, and very heavily homophobic. Learning this was a huge shock to me, and I had to choose between the two. I chose my friend, and left my absurd religion behind.

Later on, in my first year of university, something really bad happened. One of my friends still in high school, after a long period of abuse, harassment and beatings at school, shot himself. He was gay and physically disabled. I was hurt, depressed, scared, confused, and I had no clue how to deal with this news. I had experienced death, but never of a friend, and never of anyone younger than me. It took a year of crying, failed counseling, and talking with my partner at the time, to get through it.

On the heels of this terribly painful event, I got to tell my friend's story at an anti-bullying rally a year later, and once again at an open mic event put on at my school. But something I am more proud of happened soon after - ten days after the death of my friend, I marched. I marched in the National Equality March in Washington, D.C. and ended up on the Capitol lawn. In my mind, I marched in his stead.

Today, I am an executive board member of my campus' LGBTQ group, and the chair of the committee on gender education. I've still got a lot I'd like to do, but the future looks promising for my campus, our population, and my new family.

[twistedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Alternative

I hope we do get more people being active, as this is a serious issue, and people really support it. I don't even know why people are against homosexual, bi-curious or anything of the like for that matter. They're still people, and they may have the same interests as you, and you could become good friends without one or another falling in love or anything.

It's homophobia. I don't understand it either & part of the problem is they don't want to make the effort & educate themselves. We have to keep proving to them that homosexuality, bisexuality, transgendered people & so on, are not bad people.

What got you into supporting gay rights? Who/What was your inspiration to do so?

I'm gay. I think that answers both questions.

[Sydian]

I enjoyed (lurking) the GSA social group, so I think I'll just hop in on this one as well. I hope I can stay active, haha. Haven't joined an actual club since...2008, probably.

Also, Merzbau, your story is inspiring.

What got you into supporting gay rights? Who/What was your inspiration to do so?

I too was very religious, however, I wasn't shoving my Bible in peoples' faces and telling them that they were wrong for being gay or any of that. I've always felt that all people should be treated fairly, no matter what. So I guess in that regard, I've abandoned my religion...or something to that extent, lmao. But my best friend during high school was that Bible face-shoving person, mainly during 10th grade. She started a lot of drama, and I couldn't take that. It was seriously embarrassing. I set out to be different than her, and show that not all Christians hate gays. It wasn't til really this year that I figured out my stance on the whole deal, which is that I support gay rights (if you haven't gathered that).

Oddly enough, when I realized that I could love someone over the internet, I realized that someone's sex shouldn't have to be a factor either. I know that's a weird way to finally realize something, but that's how I gathered it together, haha. Because you don't choose to have feelings for someone, whether they're here, online, the same sex as you, a different race/nationality, or any of that. That's probably the thing. As for an inspiration...I don't know if I have one. I love Lady Gaga, but I wouldn't really call her my inspiration as far as gay rights go.

tl;dr HI GUYS. :)

[Timbjerr]

Skimming through the thread, I think I'm the first asexual representative. :D

As for the topic of the day:
What got me into gay rights? My Catholic upbringing ironically enough. The biggest value my parents instilled in me is based on one of Jesus' Commandmants: "Love your lord my Father and love one another as I have loved you. These are the greatest commandments."
Humanity is vastly diverse and we have to share this planet together, so we might as well understand and accept our differences peacefully. XD

In closing, here's something that one of my cousins linked to on Facebook and I thought it would be appropriate here. :D

[Team Fail]

What got you into supporting gay rights? Who/What was your inspiration to do so?


It was more of a personal choice to do so, mostly because I know that there isn't anything wrong with anyone. I know that it is wrong to be prejudicial based on one's orientation, let alone gender and age.

[Drew]

Good to see this place gaining such activity. Yay. :D


This might get lengthy! I apologize in advance. orz

What got you into supporting gay rights? Who/What was your inspiration to do so?
A lot of people in my life have either been supporting of, or a member of the LGBT community. It started off with finding out that a few friends of mine were gay, back when they had first figured it out, and I never even blinked an eye at it. Let alone thought about being against it. That never crossed my mind, so I guess I was a supporter of the LGBT community before I knew it as being such. xD;

Also, from a real young age my mom taught me that people love who they love, and to not judge them on it. She pretty much just shrugged it off as being okay, and so I did the same. As I got older I was able to judge for myself, but it ended up being no different. My grandpa was against the gay / transgender community, but I'd never paid him much mind in that respect. n n;

Oh, and I've had gender issues of my own for my entire life. I'm physically female, but I've always identified more as a guy. I don't dress girly, or act super girly, etc. There's some there, but y'know. It was only really recently that something clicked, and I sorta just became okay with who I was as a person, no matter what my physical gender was. I am who I am, and I don't care that I'm not a guy, I also don't care that I'm just boyish girl. -shrug- I couldn't have said that a couple of months ago, but I'm not complaining.

I still consider myself a part of the LGBT community though, as I'd still call myself transgender in a way. Even if I weren't, I'd still prefer dating girls to dating guys. So hurray.

[Shining Raichu]

What got you into supporting gay rights? Who/What was your inspiration to do so?

There was an out gay guy in my early high school years who was bullied a lot by the 'jock' stereotypes. He wasn't bashed or anything (to my knowledge) but I distinctly remember them chasing him around with a stick, poking him in the behind, chanting "He loves it, he loves it!" I was physically no match for them, so there was no way I could help him, but I remembered thinking "That's... not right." One time, after they'd finally left him alone, I went over and asked if he was OK, and we've been friends ever since. I just remembered seeing those disgusting excuses for human beings and NEVER wanting to be like them.

Before that, which is what possibly influenced my reactions above, was Will & Grace. It's just a sitcom, but people underestimate how powerful it was in de-stigmatising everything about the gay community. Growing up with it since I was 8 years old really made me believe there was nothing strange or even uncommon about being gay.

Originally Posted by Timbjerr

In closing, here's something that one of my cousins linked to on Facebook and I thought it would be appropriate here. :D

That was absolutely beautiful. I was surprised when that man high-fived the waitress for throwing the gay men out though, but on reflection I don't know why I was surprised. Overall though, that was such an amazing video. Welcome, Timbjerr!


Finally, Sydian and Merzbau, your stories are incredible and inspiring. You're amazing people, welcome

[FreakyLocz14]

What got you into supporting LGBT rights? Who/What was your inspiration to do so?

It just came to me naturally as a part of my political philosophy. I'm a conservative. When I say that; I mean a real conservative. I believe in a small, limited government that doesn't infringe on the civil liberty of the people. Liberty is the right to be left alone by the government. That includes keeping government regulation out of people's private lives.

The religious right and the Tea Party always use small government and less regulation as talking points; yet, they don't adhere to them. They want to use proactive government interference in order to regulate the private relationships of consenting adults. That expands the size, scope, and power of government.

That, my friends, is what we call a RINO.

[Sydian]

I love that video, Tommy. I've always been one to stand up for people. I'm actually a very shy person and won't stand up for myself, but I can't stand seeing other people get picked on and I have a mean temper. So yeah, I've stood up for a lot of people, no matter what the cause. I don't think it would have been any different in this situation either, for me anyway. I would have said something, even in my little conservative area of Alabama. Which, with that in mind, like I said in my first post, I sought out to prove not all Christians hate gays. I don't mean to get all religious here, but I've grown up in church all my life, and if there's one thing I can say I've learned and stuck with is that I shouldn't judge people, and neither should anyone else. My dad taught me that everyone is different in many different ways, and that's okay. Doesn't make them a bad person.

I am pretty shocked that no one did anything in New York though! But then again...southern hospitality? XD; idk. I wish this would happen in Alabama!

/mushy rant lol

Finally, Sydian and Merzbau, your stories are incredible and inspiring. You're amazing people, welcome

Bawww, my story is anything but inspiring really. ^^; Thanks though. That's awful what they did to that boy in your school btw. :<

[Vrai]

I'm not gay or any of the above, but I'd like to join and throw in my support. :)

...not that I'll post much. XD;

[Shining Raichu]

Originally Posted by Sydian

Bawww, my story is anything but inspiring really. ; Thanks though. That's awful what they did to that boy in your school btw. :<

Well I beg to differ, you saw something bad and strived to be something else And yeah it is, it's really awful, but hey - high school's over now, he's a lot happier. And he got off easy compared to a lot of gay high schoolers.

Originally Posted by Vrai

I'm not gay or any of the above, but I'd like to join and throw in my support.

...not that I'll post much. XD;

That's cool, thanks for joining anyway :D You can never have too much support.

[Hybrid Trainer]

Stupid time zones ¬.¬ why am i always asleep when this club gets replies...

What got you into supporting gay rights? Who/What was your inspiration to do so?
Well my parent's had this mutual friend who was always over who was openly gay so i was brought up knowing that being gay was nothing wrong and shouldn't be hated.
But then i went to school and around 8/9 ish i learnt how people were so homophobic stupid catholic schools teaching kids bullcrap, and me being a total hipster cat went the oposite way and preached about how being gay was the same as being straight, the only difference is that the person falls in love with someone of the same gender.
And then i hit 10/11 and i realised i was gay so it would've been pretty weird if i was a homophobe whilst still checking guys out xD

also the omastar in my signature is now linking to this club because he looks fab-u-lous

[Charizard★]

What got you into supporting gay rights? Who/What was your inspiration to do so?

My cousin and my friend. They both told me how they were bi and that they were scared of coming out of the closet due to family and peers. I decided that whenever they do decide to come out, I'll be there supporting them and protecting them from any negative things that people had to say to them. I mean, everyone deserves to love who they want, and marry who they want, they shouldn't be judges just because they're bisexual girls.

[Timbjerr]

Originally Posted by Sydian

I love that video, Tommy. I've always been one to stand up for people. I'm actually a very shy person and won't stand up for myself, but I can't stand seeing other people get picked on and I have a mean temper. So yeah, I've stood up for a lot of people, no matter what the cause. I don't think it would have been any different in this situation either, for me anyway. I would have said something, even in my little conservative area of Alabama. Which, with that in mind, like I said in my first post, I sought out to prove not all Christians hate gays. I don't mean to get all religious here, but I've grown up in church all my life, and if there's one thing I can say I've learned and stuck with is that I shouldn't judge people, and neither should anyone else. My dad taught me that everyone is different in many different ways, and that's okay. Doesn't make them a bad person.

I am pretty shocked that no one did anything in New York though! But then again...southern hospitality? XD; idk. I wish this would happen in Alabama!

Surprisingly, I've lived in Texas all my life and I can probably recall one, maybe two times where openly gay friends of mine were bullied or harassed because of it. Granted, I do live in a large metropolitan area that is considerably more liberal than the rural areas like where that hidden camera scenario took place.

Like you, I also like to set out to prove that religious people aren't entirely bigoted. The actions of the more infamous branch of Conservative Christians directly contradict Jesus' teachings after all.

[Drew]

It's cool that some of you went against the grain of what so many others believed, as far as religion and homophobia is concerned. I can't relate to that.. because my grandpa and myself went to church when I was very small, but other than that, I wasn't around friends or family that were very against homosexuality. So when I figured out that I fell into the LBGT community myself (in two different ways, apparently! orz), I really didn't have any one around me to give me a super hard time about it.

Except that I did lose two friends, both of whom I was real close with, and both were highly Christian. For both of them, it wasn't so much their own choice to break out friendship as it was their entire family telling them that they had to break contact with me. They were scared, because we were teenagers at the time, and of course they didn't want their family disowning them at that age, etc. I can't blame them. xD; It just bites that their religion controlled that choice for them.

Because there are people here who don't let religion influence their beliefs on the LGBT community, and it's a shame the rest of the world can't think the same way, religious or not.

[Sydian]

It's cool that some of you went against the grain of what so many others believed, as far as religion and homophobia is concerned. I can't relate to that.. because my grandpa and myself went to church when I was very small, but other than that, I wasn't around friends or family that were very against homosexuality. So when I figured out that I fell into the LBGT community myself (in two different ways, apparently! orz), I really didn't have any one around me to give me a super hard time about it.

Except that I did lose two friends, both of whom I was real close with, and both were highly Christian. For both of them, it wasn't so much their own choice to break out friendship as it was their entire family telling them that they had to break contact with me. They were scared, because we were teenagers at the time, and of course they didn't want their family disowning them at that age, etc. I can't blame them. xD; It just bites that their religion controlled that choice for them.

Because there are people here who don't let religion influence their beliefs on the LGBT community, and it's a shame the rest of the world can't think the same way, religious or not.

It really is. :[ I remember when my group at church would talk about it sometimes (we got off topic a lot!) and it was just so awkward being the only one there that was in disagreement with nearly everything that was said. I just felt so uncomfortable. And not like I'm perfect or anything, but I mean, at least I didn't act like it at church. People there would be completely different people outside church and I'm just like ._.; the whole time. Sooo when my mom invites me to go on Sundays, I'm just like "no thanks those people are crazy :)" That's like so unrelated it's not even funny.

One thing that always bothered me in those discussions was when people would say it's a choice to be gay. Who in their right mind CHOOSES to go through that kind of stuff though? The bullying, confusion, and teasing and such...no one would just say "k guys i'm gay now" and WANT to put up with it. My friend tried to experiment with that "choice" thing our junior year (the Bible person yes lol) and she was like "K I'LL BE BI NOW" and I'm thinking "...you can't just...ugh...WOMAN! v_v" but the point was proven. Just cause she said she was gonna be bi at that point didn't mean she actually liked boys and girls. She couldn't do it, lol. She settled down with her gay bashing after that luckily. I don't associate with her anymore though, so I don't know where she stands on it now.

I'm sorry if I'm stepping on any toes here. ;-; I can get really ranty and say things without thinking sometimes, so I apologize in advance if that ever happens. 8D; Or if that happened just now...lol

[Toujours]

I think I'll join. I'm not gay myself, but I have plenty of friends who are, as well as being part of the GSA at school...which is interesting because Notre Dame won't accept it as an actual student organization even though it's applied 15 years in a row.


What got you into supporting gay rights? Who/What was your inspiration to do so?

I never really thought about gay rights when I was younger, not until I transferred into Catholic school in 10th grade. In fact, I kind of have to say that the only people I had met that even mentioned it were the kind of people that I knew only did it for shock value, so all my experience was with people that were gay/bi as a joke pretty much, not taking it seriously and only doing it because it was cool among our group of friends. When I transferred though, I met one of my friends from middle school that came out while we hadn't been talking as being bi, and I had a huge crush on a boy that came out that year as being gay. Both of these people were in the top 10% of our class. They were honors students with big goals and big dreams, and just happened to be bi/gay (although the girl admitted later that she's actually gay as well, she just hates the word lesbian haha). From them I met a lot of people in my school who were either bi or gay, including a very popular lesbian couple.

Despite the fact that it was a Catholic school and everyone automatically thinks "oh, it's Catholic, that means everyone hates gays, right?", it mostly wasn't that way, even among the few nuns that still taught there. The principal was in love with my gay guy friend, and he would visit her for long talks about why same-sex couples can't buy couples tickets to proms, and any problems he might have with other guys messing with him. I had to visit her once with him myself because of an issue with a few guys that I happened to know, and she embodied the true Catholic spirit towards these kinds of things: she didn't think of him as an evil gay, but just as a person who's having trouble with bullying.

So after meeting more gay people in Catholic high school then I had met in my entire life (lol), I graduated and now I go to Notre Dame, where the students are...interesting. I had one friend who expressed interest in me, and one of the main reasons I would never date him is because he thinks being gay is "wrong". Meanwhile, there's a strong GSA who has applied for club status every year for 15 years straight and has been denied, and a school who refuses to add sexual orientation to their non-discrimination clause. So that's about where I am with LGBT issues right now, lol.

Sorry for the tl;dr. >_>

[Hybrid Trainer]

Originally Posted by Sydian

One thing that always bothered me in those discussions was when people would say it's a choice to be gay. Who in their right mind CHOOSES to go through that kind of stuff though? The bullying, confusion, and teasing and such...

Not that being gay is a bad thing though x]

The amount of people I've had to try and convince that being gay isn't a choice has gone way past being funny. I'm even having constant arguments with one of my best friends who refuses to believe that being gay isn't a choice simply because he said he tried to be gay at one point. Which makes no sense at all ¬.¬

Is it just me who has no idea what these GSA clubs are all about? I find it funny that even though my college does an adult course that specialises in 'Sexual Minority Therapy Counselling' (which deals with coming out, oppression and the general life style) we still lack to have one x]

[Drew]

15 years of denying a GSA club? Ugh, that's so wrong. Can't say that I'm surprised, though.

Also, yeah, I've never understood the people who think being gay is a choice. Like Syd said, what sane person would choose to just wake up one morning, decide to be gay, and go through all the suffering just for the heck of it? xD; Some people. -shakes head-

Likewise, I feel bad for the people who go through 'cleansing' or whatever, to try to get rid of their homosexuality. Like "Do these steps, repeat these actions daily, etc etc - and you will no longer be gay! The demons will be out of your body!", and then some of the people actually go with it, and say they aren't gay anymore, just to get people to leave them alone. Makes me feel bad for them. :/

[FreakyLocz14]

Well, this makes me even more glad that I never became a member of the Human Rights Campaign. They are more concerned about their liberal politics than LGBT rights.

http://www.goproud.org/hrc-officiall...a-endorsement/