¨For hatred is corrosive of a person’s wisdom and conscience; the mentality of enmity can poison a nation’s spirit, instigate brutal life-and-death struggles, destroy a society’s tolerance and humanity. I hope therefore … to counter the hostility of the regime with the best of intentions, and defuse hate with love. ¨
- Liu Xiaobo, a literature professor, essayist, and dissident, awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.
· Thanks to Child of Illusion, sidebar
· Thanks to Ellie Finlay
· Thanks to Soujourners
· Thanks to Liu Xiabobo
· Thanks to Flickr Photo Sharing
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5 comments:
Leonardo, you MUST see this: Fort Worth City Council Member Joel Burns gives a tremendously honest, moving speech to gay kids trying to grow up amid the cruelty of homophobia.
Dear fs,
Thank you so much for this link and the opportunity to hear this mans story...while watching it I thought how much Leo Jack Iker and his pals at the schismatic Anglican Church of Ft. Worth need to listen and stop talking about LGBT Christians, a subject they know very little about...listening is key.
A Big Hug, thanks again,
Leonardo
another thing he said was ¨thanks to Mom and Dad for the love¨...the love that kept him alive...my story is the same.
Leonardo
Yes, people with lgbt friends are less likely to be bigots. It is easy to fear and demonize the unknown. Lgbt people need to tell their personal stories so potential bigots can see them as fellow human beings and not just "the other." Of course, certain kinds of homophobes (mainly the closeted kind) will not be moved, because what they fear is within them.
And then there's the need, especially in groups, to project outward and find scapegoats. I think that's when we get into the realm of evil.
On your mom and dad loving you -- I cannot imagine anything more important for a child than the genuine, healthy love of his/her parents, Leonardo. It's the foundation of healthy self-esteem and feeling at home in the world -- a real blessing, and I'm glad you had it. Wish every child could have it.
What seems interesting to me is that the self-loathing that I accumulated seemed to come from my peers saying things that were ugly about people (like I thought I was...I was right)...odd, in all of this I pressed on, seemed to hold my ground and sometimes even excelled...but, I did have shame and I was afraid of being disliked because I could feel the discomfort and embarrassment of being effeminate (which was coupled with lots of male physical activity too)...but, I, and I imagine, most other Gay children had lots of imagination and dreaming/fantasy outside of the box.
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