Attention, today's LGBT youth - It Gets Better.

If you have a Facebook or a Twitter, I'm sure you noticed that yesterday was the Spirit Day thing, where (according to Facebook) 27,990 people wore purple in honor of all the gay teens who committed suicide recently, as well as just to show support to the LGBTetc community. There have been several suicides recently, cases in which these kids were being bullied and picked on for being gay.

There's also a project on YouTube that's been going on since September, the It Gets Better Project, where dozens of celebrities have made videos telling LBGT youth that life gets better, that getting bullied right now sucks, but it's not worth killing yourself because as you get older, as the world becomes more accepting, and as you come into who you are and become proud of it, life does get better. I think it's part of or associated with The Trevor Project (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trevor_Project), which is also just amazing.

These projects are beautiful and awesome, and some of the videos in the It Gets Better project made me choke up a little, but the fact that they have to exist is sickening. The fact that children are killing themselves because their peers are so close-minded is just awful.

This subject makes me so angry. The people who say being gay is a choice, the people who don't want gays in the military or to be able to marry or adopt children, it's all just so frustrating. There are some things I'd like to say to those people:

First of all, IT IS NOT A CHOICE, YOU IDIOTS. Did you ever CHOOSE to be straight? When were you offered this choice? Birth? How can a baby make such an important decision? And I was never offered the choice - maybe I would have liked to be gay. God knows there are some things I would have liked to change, had I known we got a CHOICE. Were you also offered a choice on skin color, religion, gender? And why in the WORLD, with people like you walking around passing judgment on others for things they can't help, WHY would ANYONE choose to be gay? Or black? Or speak any other language besides English? With people like you making everyone who isn't JUST LIKE YOU feel like an abomination that doesn't deserve to be alive, WHY would anyone choose anything else? Also, sidebar - someone explain to me where the "God doesn't make mistakes" line of thought comes in.

Secondly, SHUT THE EFF UP ABOUT GAYS IN THE MILITARY, OH MY GOD. Seriously, there are people willing to go and die for their country, and you're going to tell them they can't? WHY? What could you POSSIBLY have to lose? I thought being in the military was just about the best thing an American could do, and here you guys are not letting everyone play. That's not fair. Women are allowed. Blacks are allowed. Asians are allowed. People not even from this COUNTRY are allowed, so why not gays? Woman isn't catching, and as far as I know neither are black, Asian, or foreign, so why are you so afraid that people will "turn" gay? Furthermore, what does being gay have to do with your ability to hold a gun, fly a plane, and drive a tank? The more people willingly signing up for war, the less likely your perfect straight-as-an-arrow sons will be drafted. Isn't this a good thing? Or do you just want to keep the glory of being in the military away from the gays? That's pretty selfish. =/

Third, Neil Patrick Harris and his boyfriend of like, five years, David Burtka, just adopted twins:



Look at these two. Just LOOK at them, and tell me that they shouldn't be allowed to be married, to be parents, to be IN LOVE. Look. Look at all the cute:



How can they possibly be wrong? :D <3 And there is just no argument about the babies turning out gay - I'm pretty sure NPH's parents aren't a gay couple. I don't think David's are either, actually. Hmm. How strange. I don't think Ellen DeGeneres was raised by two gay parents either, nor was her wife, Portia De Rossi. This is so weird! It's almost like the parents' sexualities make no difference on a child's sexuality! So, if we assume this is true, just, you know, based on all the evidence around us as seen in just about every single family in the world, then it simply CAN'T be true that gay parents would make a gay child! Wow. Learn something new every day, huh?

Seriously, though, it's just disgusting that there are people out there who treat their fellow human beings like this. In Sarah Silverman's It Gets Better video, she says that adults go around banning gay marriage and protesting adoption by gay couples and talking about gay people like they're the scum of the earth, and then they're all surprised when their children start bullying their gay peers. You're all shocked at the hatred and anger your children are expressing - WHERE DO YOU THINK THEY LEARNED IT? Why is it so bad to just let people be happy? Just let people love, whoever or whatever they want to love. How can it POSSIBLY hurt you if two men you don't know get married? What harm could POSSIBLY come to you and yours if two women decide to raise a child together? Do you really think that child will turn out any worse than your 14-year-old-daughter's kid?

I am so tired of hearing about these idiots. Listen, if there are any gay kids out there who happened upon this blog (thanks for reading, btw :D), pay attention: THERE ARE PEOPLE OUT HERE WHO LOVE YOU. There are people ON YOUR SIDE. There are people willing to fight for you, who've never met you but want you to be happy anyway, who never want to see you go through this pain. There are people you can talk to. Please, please, if you're a gay kid or teen being bullied at school, please don't hurt yourself. There are so many things out here to live for. And there's so much you could do. Please don't give up.

Personally, I am not homosexual, but inside, I am as close to a gay man as a woman can get. XD Many, many of my friends are LGBTs (is that a term? I guess it is now.), including one of my very best friends in the world. He is amazing and beautiful, and being gay is only a part of who he is, but without that part, he just wouldn't be the same glorious person. :D And neither would you. One of my other gay friends in high school once wore a dress to a football game, no joke. It was hilarious, and amazing, and he's just that kind of person. He actually dated my bff, and they were one of the only (possibly THE only) openly gay couples, and no one seemed to have an issue with it. And I live in South Carolina, y'all. =/

My point here is this: a) gay people are people, plain and simple; b) people who hate gays are stupid jerks and they make me sad and angry; c) The Trevor Project and It Gets Better are terrific projects and it makes me feel a little better seeing all the people who DO care; and d) if you are a gay teen being bullied, or, actually, ANYONE of ANY AGE being bullied and hurt, don't stand for it! And don't let them get you down! Talk to someone, tell on them, call the effing cops if you have to. Show them how much stronger you are than their close-minded words, and if they hurt you physically, I'm serious - go to the principal or even the police and get some help. And please, before you think about hurting yourself or someone else, please talk to someone. There are people who will listen, and people who care. Don't let the bullies win - if they keep winning, this world will never accept peoples' differences and we will all lose. =/



Go check out some of the It Gets Better videos on YouTube - Neil Patrick Harris's, Ellen's, and Sarah Silverman's are all good. Darren Hayes's (from Savage Garden) is good too, and YouTube's own Sassy Gay Friend made one as well. They are all pretty touching and emotional.

And here's the Trevor Project's site, where you can donate money, find helpful resources on suicide, and also find their suicide hotline number: http://www.thetrevorproject.org/

Short post today, sorry. =/

FIRST, an addition to yesterday's post - "I'S" DOES NOT EXIST IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. There is no instance where that's okay. It's Sarah's and MY birthday. This is Lisa's and MY new kitten. Pictures from my sister's and MY vacation. AAHHHH IT MAKES ME SO ANGRY. It's like the I/me rule - take out the other person and see if it makes sense. Or you could just use your brain and realize that "I's" makes no sense and sounds ridiculous and is not a real word.

Anyway.

I don't really have much to talk about today. I don't want to talk about 9/11, but I would like repost a formspring response from Ed Blann, also known as Eddplant on YouTube/the rest of the internet:

What's your opinion on the 9/11 attack on America? I've always wondered what an English dude thought about it.

The events of September the 11th, 2001 were a tragic loss of human life, but I think worse than that is the response it received and the actions which followed it. The events encouraged a minority of Muslims to be more outspoken about their hateful beliefs, most of which are largely unfounded and have little basis in the Qu'ran, and worse than that led the governments of the world on a wild goose chase that has so far ignited more hatred and violence than it has abated.

By all means, remember those who lost their lives in the attacks on that day, but spare a thought for the tragic deaths since that could easily have been avoided.


I would agree, Eddplant. I am very sad for the families who lost someone, and of course I think we should honor the memories of the victims and the soldiers, but I also think that the following war and prejudice and everything else is just as bad, if not worse, and could have been avoided. Remember those who lost their lives for this country, but think about why.

GRAMMAR NAZI ALERT

I feel a rant coming on. No one's going to read all of this, and I probably won't have any friends anymore, but I can't stop it.

You know what really freaking irritates me? When I see things that are for sale, like t-shirts or posters or whatever, with SPELLING ERRORS ON THEM. Especially handmade things, because then it's like, what, you just didn't check before you printed up the t-shirt? Just assumed you were right and went ahead and made it? I mean, really, if you're trying to SELL SOMETHING to people, you'd think you'd want to get it right. =/

Also really annoying - when people misuse apostrophes. I'm not talking about not doing contractions wrong, which is ALSO also really annoying; no, I mean when someone shortens a word and puts an apostrophe at the end of it for no reason. Example:

"You" to "ya" is a new word entirely, not half a word or two words smashed together.
"Want to" to "wanna" is a new word entirely. It's slang, not a contraction.
NEITHER OF THESE NEED APOSTROPHES.

And it's annoying enough to see "When are ya' coming over?" but when I see "When are ya' comin over?" my vision fades to red and I just start banging my head against the desk. APOSTROPHES AREN'T THAT HARD. Seriously, here are the basic rules of apostrophes:

1) Contractions, which are SPECIFICALLY these formats: "can not" to "can't," "will not" to "won't," "you are" to "you're," "she is" to "she's." Obviously there are more contractions than these, but these are examples of the format. We all know the contractions, but we don't all know how to use them, apparently.
2) To show possession. This is admittedly a little tricky, especially with names that end in s. "Erin's book." "Kelly's room." "Chris' problems," SINGULAR. NOW, if it's a name that ends in s and there are TWO of them, it would be "That's the Chris's problem now." Some grammarians say that it doesn't matter which you use, as long as you're consistent.
3) To shorten words. 'Cause. Goin'. These are the proper ways of shortening words - if you are simply taking off a letter or two and not adding any more, you can tack on an apostrophe.

Chris' comment shows he doesn't understand what I'm sayin'. SEE. It's EASY.


And another thing, just because it irritates me to no end:
YOUR = POSSESSIVE. Your book. Your shoe.
YOU'RE = CONTRACTION FOR "YOU ARE." You're crazy. You're wrong.
If YOU'RE not saying "you are," leave the apostrophe out of YOUR word.

There = a place. Over there. There it is.
Their = possessive, belonging to people who are not you or me. It's theirs.
They're = a contraction for "they are." They're going. They're with me.
THEY'RE going to get THEIR books from over THERE. "The" is always first no matter which one it is.

THESE ARE NOT THAT HARD, WHY DO PEOPLE GET THEM WRONG?

I'm not trying to be stuck up here or anything, but SERIOUSLY. This is our NATIVE LANGUAGE. We've all been speaking it since we were like, two or three, at least. There is no excuse, short of a mental handicap, for not knowing the basic rules of spelling and grammar. I mean, really, they haven't changed for a while. And I'm not talking about hard stuff, I'm talking about CONTRACTIONS and HOMOPHONES.

I find it particularly delicious and hilarious when I see something like this on Facebook:

"i shouldnt have to press 1 for englihs, your in AMERICA, learn the language!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Oh, I love it when people do things like this. XD Except for the blatant disregard for all rules of capitalization, spelling, and punctuation. Three exclamation points, MAX, guys. But really, the fact that they're saying "learn the language" in English that is ENTIRELY WRONG, oh, it just makes the evil part of me laugh and laugh. And then I get really scared because what if one of these people is in charge of something important? They can't even spell the name of our language, how are they going to do anything else? Then my brain and my heart huddle together and have a good cry, while the evil part of me is still snickering away.

tl;dr version: LEARN ENGLISH AND USE IT PROPERLY. There's no excuse not to, and people won't make fun of you and call you an idiot if you can speak your OWN FREAKING LANGUAGE. Well, they might, but it'll probably happen less.

*deep breath*

I want to talk about religion today. Specifically Christianity, but all others as well. It's been on my mind a lot this past week, and I would just like to have a general discussion of what I believe, what I don't believe, and how I feel. Feel free to comment about how I'm wrong, what you think I'm right about, how YOU feel, etc.

First of all, I am not a religious person. I don't KNOW what's out there - I don't know if there's a God, or many gods, or a giant tree, or a life as a hedgehog waiting for me when I die. I don't know, but I am not necessarily writing any of these off either. My eyes are open to signs, I'm open to proof in any direction, but as of yet, I haven't seen any.

I have a few major issues with Christianity specifically, and with organized religion as an idea. My issues with Christianity pretty much lie with God - Jesus was a cool guy, he said nice things and did what he could to make things better. God, on the other hand, is kind of a jerk. He's a little like an abusive boyfriend: you can't hang out with any other guys 'cause he's so jealous, he takes credit for the good things that happen but blame the bad stuff on you, and he tells you what to do and if you don't do it, you're screwed. I have issues with worshipping (shut up wiggly red line, I WANT TWO P'S IN THAT WORD) someone who does that kind of stuff. My biggest issue is the "you go to Heaven only if you believe in God" clause. I'm a pretty decent person - am I destined to burn in Hell JUST because I don't blindly believe in God? I don't think that's fair.

I feel like religion used to be a private, personal thing - you had this relationship with God, you prayed and went to church and had that community, and you lived your life in accordance with the Bible (or whatever it is you followed). Nowadays it's shoved in everyone's faces, forced to the foreground. I don't want your beliefs shouted at me as I walk down the street. I don't want to be forced to talk to someone about Jesus every time I step outside my house. That's what you believe, and that's awesome. I don't care. But you don't see me knocking on your door at 7 AM asking if I can tell you why God doesn't exist. I don't force pamphlets into your hands outside the mall detailing why you need to stop believing in Jesus or you'll be abducted by aliens. So you keep your beliefs in your house and your church, I'll keep my non-beliefs to myself, and we'll all be happy.

I'm not bashing anyone's beliefs, by the way. I respect everyone's equally: if I'm in a Christian household, I bow my head for grace; if I'm invited to Passover, I observe all of their traditions; if I were ever around Buddhists or Hindus, I would do my best not to offend them, too. Just because I don't believe doesn't mean I don't respect that you do. But if I respect your belief, I feel it's only fair that you respect my disbelief. Just don't try to convert me and we'll be fine.

Okay, so my issue with organized religion as a whole is this - it seems as though religion has become less and less about God and faith and compassion (which is really what all religions are about, being a good person and loving your God/s), and more and more about who is right. Who cares who's right? If you're a Jew and you think you're the ones who believe the right thing, why does it MATTER if I'm a Hindu and believe the wrong thing? Why does it MATTER, if you're Christian and I'm Buddhist, if I'm not going to Heaven? Why does it MATTER if Heaven doesn't exist, and all the atheists are right? Who really cares? Believe what you believe, do what you think is right, and let everyone else do their own thing. You're not going to force anyone into truly being a Christian, or a Jew, or a Buddhist, or WHATEVER, so just go about your own business. Love God or Allah or Krishna however you want, but LEAVE EVERYONE ELSE ALONE. Stop killing people over whose God is real. Stop attacking people for believing something you don't. I mean, we don't attack people for believing that French is a better language than Spanish, do we? We don't start wars over whether red is a better color than blue. No one has to die over anyone's opinion on Crocs, so why is religion different? If I'm allowed to hate Spanish, love red, and burn a pile of Crocs on my front lawn without a war breaking out, why am I not allowed to be an atheist without starting something? (... for the record, I want to speak both French and Spanish, like both red and blue, and DETEST Crocs. :D)

I just don't understand. I don't understand how some people can call themselves "Christian" while rejecting everything that Jesus Christ taught. I don't understand why these people get to go to Heaven while I'm not good enough. I don't understand why no one can see that all religions are exactly the same at the core - do good things, be a nice person, love your fellow man. And I know that a lot of the religion thing is the relationship with God, which is great and wonderful and I sometimes wish I had that, but that shouldn't be between anyone but you and God. Don't drag me into it hoping to convert me, don't use it to try to prove someone of a different faith "wrong," don't talk about it unasked or without some real reason. Your relationship with God should be private, while the benefits of that relationship should be public - your heart, your soul, your love, your kindness. These are the things we need more of, not arguments over whose God could kick whose God's omnipotent butt.

While we're at it - atheists, QUIT BEING JERKS. There is no reason for you to bash people for believing something YOU don't, either. I know, they started it by preaching to you, but SERIOUSLY. Just quietly don't believe in God, and if someone's offending you by all means speak up, but other than that, just LET IT GO. There's no need to offend people or just generally be mean. Like I said above, you keep your beliefs to yourself, we'll KEEP OUR NON-BELIEFS TO OURSELVES, and everyone will be happy, yeah? YEAH?! (I'm serious. It's just as pointless for an atheist to try to convince a Christian that God doesn't exist as it is the other way around.)

Okay. So this is my religion post. I might have more to say about it sometime, but aside from comments I'm hoping to leave it alone for a while. I don't like to talk about religion. I never want to offend people, but I don't want to be converted. I just don't. I don't want to believe in the Christian version of God, because I don't agree with what he teaches and I can't see any proof that he exists. The minute that changes, I'll let you know.

You want to know what I believe in? The majesty of nature. The mind-blowingness of science. Love of all kinds. The kind of magic that lives in nighttime car rides while blasting the Smiths with the windows down. Family and friends. Connecting to strangers in ways you never expected and creating amazing friendships. Music, how it can touch thousands of people in the same way, and yet differently. Evolution. Saving our planet. Helping people in need. Perhaps some force that helps and guides us, but how we ultimately have a choice. Dumbledore and Harry Potter. People, sometimes, though it's difficult when I watch the news. No day but today - I believe that there is only this, and we need to make it the best we can and improve it for the generations to follow. I don't care what happens after I die as long as I have made my life meaningful, touched someone else's life in a positive way, and hopefully made the world a little bit better for everyone else to live in.