GLBT News: Rutgers Tragedy

Rutgers freshmen, Tyler Clementi, committed suicide in September. His death, while tragic and unnecessary, forces me to ponder the state of human rights in our country. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the story. Here is a concise recap.

It pains me to think about a young man in such distress, distress that I understand and experienced as well when I was in college. I experienced shame, the urge to retreat, the intense feeling of hopelessness and uncertainty. Unlike Clementi, I did not experience this shame and retreat because of my roommate's inability to respect difference. I actually had a great roommate, and suite mates, my freshmen year of college. They were extremely open to my being gay even though they themselves were not gay. They listened and helped to guide me back to a centered place of respect for myself. They knew there was nothing wrong with me, even though the world around me told me otherwise. Thanks Keisha, Katie and Sally. Y'all were so very comforting in a world full of discomfort. You have no idea what that meant to me.

Aside from the overt issue of a lack of privacy and the shame that that induced in Clementi, I am inclined to bring up Ravi and Wei's future. Here are two young individuals faced with jail time for a crime committed based on their inability to care. Do we teach our children to care? Is the youth of this country so self-centered and cold-hearted that they do not embody the ability to empathize? That scares me. How will Ravi and Wei learn such an emotional ability if locked up in jail? Why should we as a society concern ourselves with their emotional growth? Why am I inclined to pose these questions?

I suppose it is my life's desire to live in a world where every person, regardless of difference, feels as if they are a part of the greater good--as opposed to being a threat to the greater good. And maybe that's what heaven's for, to finally get a sense of relief and acceptance after this life, or maybe that's what being on this Earth is about, learning to cope and not feeling a sense of belonging, learning life's lessons. But I'll be damned if I will live, work, love and otherwise be in a world where I can't try to impose my view of things on the world because after all, don't we each deserve a chance to live. If we, as a society, can agree on nothing else, I think it would be that we, as a whole, would prefer to not read more headlines like these:

Rutgers student Tyler Clementi's body is found in Hudson River
Uganda revives Gay Death Penalty Bill
Murdered for Being Gay
Openly gay Kansas candidate receives death threat
North grad took own life after week of "toxic" comments
Matthew Shepherd, tortured and murdered for being gay
Even in death, African gays are still abused
Gay Prisoner: Homophobia led to Death Row
Three Young Men, Three Suicides, Three Cases of Anti-Gay Bullying
Valders gay teen claims death threats
The Surge in Gay Teen Suicide
Arch-Conservative U.S. Christians Help Uganda "Kill the Gays" Bill
Was a Cumberland county man beaten to death because he's gay?
Accused Saudi prince could face death over gay claims
NOM Sign: Murder Gay Couples

Is abortion "black genocide"?

Civil rights argument of "Black Genocide" is a divisive stance for those individuals who passion for human rights. It disgusts me that pro-lifers have pulled civil rights activists into their stance against women's rights. Yes, we are all connected, and historically problems have come out of differences between ally groups, however, when one human right is fought in favor over another seems wrong to me. How can I argue for what I feel is right unless there is opposition. Yes, opposition is important but not to this degree.

What I feel is wrong is that the pro-lifers are using the civil rights activists to create an argument against a right that belongs to us all. A human right, abortion, is the same right as the right to vote for black people and women, the right for equality of men and women and black wo/men and white wo/men. But these two rights are used against each other in an attempt to win the argument or in this case the vote of Congress peoples.

http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v25n1/abortion-black-genocide.html