GET A GRIP ON REALITY: “...people like Mitt Romney who cause pain to people simply for being different than them tend to take that worldview into the workplace, into churches, and into governance.¨

The All New Republican Party:  A ¨pack of dogs¨ led by Romney!

Washington, D.C

¨Today, GetEQUAL a prominent LGBT advocacy group, is demanding that Mitt Romney “cut out” LGBT bullying. As The Washington Post reported this week HERE , Romney bullied Lauber for his “nonconformity” and “presumed homosexuality” throughout their time at Cranbrook. In one disturbing example, Romney rounded up a gang of students to corner Lauber in his room. Romney then tackled the young student, pinned him to the ground and, ignoring Lauber’s crying and screams for help, hacked off his hair with a pair of scissors.


Mitt Romney claims he doesn’t remember the event. But five former Cranbrook students cited in the article have independently corroborated the story. They have also all apologized. This morning, another former student and friend of Romney’s, Phillip Maxwell, came forward to ABC News HERE  to describe the “haunting memory.”  Romney and his friends acted like a “pack of dogs” during the assault, Maxwell recalls. He told ABC that it was “bullying supreme.”


In light of the painful amount of bullying experienced by students across the country, GetEQUAL went to the headquarters of the Republican National Committee today to protest Mitt Romney’s continued bullying of LGBT young people and adults via his anti LGBT policies and campaign promises.


“It’s been clear to LGBT Americans for years that Mitt Romney is a bully by looking at his unapologetic refusal to move forward on LGBT equality — now, the rest of the country is seeing his bully tendencies,” said Heather Cronk, managing director of GetEQUAL. “Bullying doesn’t end at the graduation stage — people like Mitt Romney who cause pain to people simply for being different than them tend to take that worldview into the workplace, into churches, and into governance. Romney has an obligation to govern on behalf of all Americans — but he’s made clear that he is incapable of treating people equally.” HERE

According to the National Education Association, “Students who are targets of repeated bullying behavior experience extreme fear and stress, which can be expressed as: fear of going to school, fear of using a public bathroom, fear of the bus ride to and from school, physical symptoms of illness and diminished ability to learn.”

•Everyday 160,000 students stay at home from school due to fear of being attacked or violently bullied.

•282,000 students across the nation are physically attacked at school every month

•In 85% of bully cases, there is no intervention or effort to stop action from taking place.

According to the National Youth Association,

•9 out of 10 LGBT students have experienced physical harassment or bullying at school.

•LGBT teens are bullied 2 to 3 times as much as straight teens.

•More than 1/3 of LGBT kids have attempted suicide due to bullying.

·  Thanks to ABC News
·  Thanks to The Washington Post
·  Thanks to Get EQUAL, sidebar

ATTN Bishops Rowan Williams/Gomez/Orombi/Okoh: "Every day people live in fear because of who they love: We are talking about our family members, our flesh and blood, our humanity..."

Here are the recent words of a true man of faith, Archbishop Desmond Tutu...

Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu,  Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

¨Former Archbishop Doctor Desmond Tutu is one of the world's most renowned faith-based leaders. He's a promoter of human rights and tolerance and has repeatedly used his position of power to try and promote peace.

On his birthday last month, the Archbishop announced that he would be retiring from public life, to spend more time with his family. But though his public activism has subsided, his words still carry on.

Including in this month's Essence magazine, where Tutu has an open letter addressing violence based on sexual orientation. The letter makes a plea to citizens in the United States, Africa and across the world, for acceptance of LGBT people. He asks people to stop the bullying, violence and sometimes murder of the gay and lesbian community. The letter was done in collaboration with Essence magazine and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).



LGBTI murder is ¨all to common. This must change¨

"Today I pray for people in Africa and throughout the world who long for freedom because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender," starts the letter. "It grieves me to be retiring at this crucial moment in history, so I write to you in this open letter, to invite you to pick up the work that remains to be done. More than 70 countries still imprison or execute gay and transgender people, and bullying and murders are all too common. This must change."
In a really breathtaking move, the former Archbishop of South Africa talks directly to other faith-based leaders and to politicians alike. This letter comes at a time where the respect for and recognition of LGBT people in Africa is especially weak. A Ugandan newspaper recently published the names and faces of local gays and lesbians in order to promote violence against them in a "war against homosexuality."

"Boldly, I urge all faith leaders and politicians to stop persecuting people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity," he says. "Every day people live in fear because of who they love. We are talking about our family members, our flesh and blood, our humanity. LGBT people are in our villages, towns, cities, countries — and our whole world." please read it all HERE (emphasis added by Leonardo Ricardo)

· Thanks to Archbishop Desmond Tutu
· Thanks to Essence Magazine
· Thanks to Flickr Photosharing
· Thanks to Brandon Miller
· Thanks to Change.Org/Gay Rights, sidebar

IT GETS BETTER: Everyday life is overflowing with healthy human beings equipped with various sexual orientations

In the beginning--my road to self-acceptance started at Grant School, age 5, front row/right

It´s always a temptation and sometimes even necessary to attempt to  ¨pass for heterosexual¨ and not allow the world around us to know us or to know the details of our most private thoughts/lives.  It can be a matter of personal security and most of us intuitively know the danger signs that lurk around us.

I was fortunate to grow up in a loving family, Christmas, age 16

Everyday life is overflowing with healthy human beings of various sexual orientations in our families, at school, at work and socially too. But sometimes in a hostile environment ¨Gay people¨ are forced to deal with blind rage, selective Scriptural demonizing , wild superstitions, blatant lies, uninformed opinions and plain fear/loathing that generates hate against us...all of these factors, habits/taboos and human ¨quirky¨ threatened forces are sometimes difficult to ¨live with¨ as we try to figure out how to ¨cope with¨ them in a culture that includes us, your LGBT family members.

Silence/humility/secrets/guilt seem the only options when awkward confusion, life vs. death confrontations, discrimination/persecution or abusive--self or outside--acts impact LGBT lives.  Alternative possible solutions for our frustration and choices ought appear before us but rarely do.  Dead silence!  It´s seems relationships ought to make sense just like they would in ¨heterosexual¨ peoples lives, but, hell, they don´t, what is it that life wants from us?     It´s not like someone shared real life experience with us as we¨go it¨ alone (mostly) and piece together a life for ourselves from the far outside part of the loop!


My first year at College--San Francisco Area (It Gets Better), age 18, Yearbook Picture

Now I´m experienced enough to know that sometimes my own apparent inauthenticity isn´t  always a reflection of intentional deceit.  However, I think it´s important that my ¨insides¨ and most personal character must attempt to remain clear on who I am as a ¨Gay person.¨ Attempting to not allow my personal character to be tainted by outside/twisted understandings of who and what others may think I AM is essential as I strive to be self-accountable, self-accepting and a generally responsible full-fledged citizen.  I strive for those ¨good¨ character qualities for my own peace of mind plus a added eager desire to successfully live out ¨my part¨ in life/society with my extended family, friends and loved ones.

Visitng a friend at Santiago, Atitlan, Solola, Guatemala, age 65

There seems little hope of genuine happiness if ones life is under the constant threat of intimidation and bullying by others....darkness before the dawn!

Now I don´t accept unwise ¨street talk/religious ignorance¨ as emotionally stable verdicts about people like me.  I didn´t always know who was right and who was wrong about me and people like me. Gossip or preaching laced with bigotry, blame/shame, fear and hate is not ¨wise¨ or ¨just¨ or ¨true¨ reflections of most reality. Life is sometimes difficult/unjust for everyone/anyone and doesn´t always make sense. However, becoming a LGBT willing victim of other peoples prejudices,  mental/spiritual illness by accepting lies/nonsense and slander as valid judgements against Gay people is cowardly or plain warped thinking. Learning HOW to grow and deal against outside negative pressure, false information directed against LGBT people, is key to discovering and accepting the authentic and positive version of myself that God created.  This is my challenge, this is my ongoing quest and I become more courageous along the way as I know more about me.

Recovering from multiple eye surgeries this year--A trip to beautiful/hospitable Mexico, age 66

LGBT human beings live side by side with our heterosexual brothers and sisters. Many of us, ¨straight and gay¨ aspire to love/befriend all others regardless of the possible dangers and acting-out directed against us.  We take our chances, we trust ourselves as we are mostly a well-meaning, unpunishing/non-vindictive, forgiving lot of human beings who have learned how ¨to be¨  generous of spirit under many, often difficult, REAL LIFE circumstances...¨it gets better¨ for people like me/us...it really does get better and I think the same is true for most everyone else who endures and survives real life difficulties while refusing to accept lies generated against them...ANY flat out willful ignorance, bigotry, fear or hate that comes our way has suddenly become more about the real and flawed character of  ¨those who  humiliate¨ than about us!   Now it´s time to be ¨tolerant¨ of them...what an order, I don´t know if I can go through with it as Bishop V. Gene Robinson/New Hampshire quietly suggests we are called to  ¨love them anyway.¨   Damn, this is hard but I´m glad I finally get to read about all of YOU and what YOU DO via ¨It Get´s Better¨ project. HERE

· Thanks to Dan Savage
· Thanks to The Advocate
· Thanks to The Daily News
· Thanks to ¨It Gets Better¨
· Thanks to Bishop V. Gene Robinson/New Hampshire
· Thanks to David Green, Pride Shield
· Thanks to The Episcopal Church (Welcomes Everyone)
· Thanks to My Nephew Jeff, Photos