Friday, September 30, 2011

Is My Son Gay App Email Action Call

I just got an email here in the GCAGHate box, and although it was addressed to me personally, I don't think they'll mind if I share it with you all. 

Dear Greg,

Q: Can the developers of the "Is My Son Gay?" Android app actually predict someone's sexual orientation in 20 questions?

A: No. But they are definitely making a quick buck spreading a slew of stereotypes about gay people.

Targeting mothers who are questioning whether their kid might be gay, the new Android application asks whether their son "is very careful when choosing outfits," or if he "likes football" rather than "musical comedies"1. The app goes even further to insinuate that getting a divorce can make your son gay.

It's time to stop recycling the same, tired stereotypes and encouraging gay paranoia just to make a buck. Apple, makers of the iPhone, have pulled ex-gay applications in the past2, and Google has yanked some for violating user agreements3, which also bans hate speech4. The Google team now says they are investigating the issue5, but if we can get to 10,000 signatures, we'll show the team at Google's Android Marketplace that this app has got to go now:

allout.org/androidapp

We can all laugh at some of the questions the app asks - "Is he a fan of divas (Madonna, Britney Spears)?" is at the top of our list.  But others go a step farther by reducing both gay and straight people to harmful stereotypes - like only gay people are timid or have complicated relationships with their fathers.  What's worse, the app implies that being gay means you're weird and that your parents did something wrong to make you that way.  Ugh.

We can't know whether this app is meant to be serious or just a joke, but circulating these ideas far and wide is dangerous.  If it's serious, the app is belittling and misleading.  If it's a joke, it's made at the expense of millions of kids trying to just be who they are - whether or not he "reads the sports page" or "takes a long time to do his hair".

Let's ask Google's Android Marketplace to stop cashing in on an application that takes cheap shots at LGBT youth, and brings out the worst in parents:

allout.org/androidapp

All the best and All Out,
Andre, Erika, Guillaume, Jeremy, Joseph, Nita, Oli, Prerna, Tile, Wesley and the rest of the team at All Out

Links:
1. Android app asks, 'Is my son gay?'
www.gadgetbox.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/26/7968876-android-app-asks-is-my-son-gay
2. Apple Bans ‘Ex-Gay’ Christian App That Promised to ‘Cure’ Homosexuality
www.nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/03/apple_bans_app_that_promises_t.html
3. Google Pulls an Apple by Yanking 2 Android Market Apps
www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Google-Pulls-an-Apple-Yanks-2-Apps-from-Android-Market-853635
4. Android Market Developer Program Policies
www.android.com/us/developer-content-policy.html
5. L'application "mon fils est-il gay ?" suscite l'indignation [French link]
www.hightech.nouvelobs.com/actualites/20110926.OBS1106/l-application-mon-fils-est-il-gay-suscite-l-indignation.html

All Out is bringing people together in every corner of the planet and of every identity - lesbian, gay, straight, transgender and all that’s between and beyond - to build a world in which everyone can live freely and be embraced for who they are.
Our mailing address is:
Purpose Foundation
224 Centre St
New York, NY 10013
Copyright © 2011 AllOut.org, All rights reserved.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Pride!

What does the Rainbow Flag Represent?  Pride of course.  But have you ever wondered why the Gay Pride intitiative has been ongoing for so many years?  Self confidence is lacking in so many, and the LGBT Community has had it really hard.  Growing up listening to so many people say that you are an abomination can take it's toll.   How many times have you been told you're going to hell?  What's wrong with you?  Laughed at?  Excluded?  Made fun of?  False friendships that end in a joke. 

And those are the easy ones.  What about the LGBT teens that get thrown out on the street by their oh so loving parents?  Beaten?  Raped?  Or Worse? 

The fact is, there are people that which love to hate, and after all the prementioned events, self confidence is nowhere to be found.  

So we do our best to fight back with logic.  There is this overwhelming desire to set the haters straight.  To win the argument.   To gain that bit of acceptance and love that was denied by our abusers.  

Well Fuck em.  They abused us, so good riddence.  They should have no more power over us. 

Born, Choice, and everything in between

Everyone has their own sexuality they are born with which is as unique as a fingerprint.   Life's influences will also mold a person's sexuality.  Beautiful women in the 1500s were plump, while beautiful women today are Barbie clone twigs.  Well in the United States anyway.  This is due to the culture we live in. 

Yes, the way we are raised has an influence on our sexuality.   Yes, we are born with our own sexuality. 

I did say Fuck em didn't I?   I thought I did.  Lemme Bold it so there's no mistake.  Fuck em!!!  Fuck the hataz!!!  We no like you no mo!  Go away, Stay Away!  Fuck em and their propaganda too... 

The haters who made us feel worthless are still making us feel worthless.  Why?  Because we want to be accepted by our abusers.  They will never accept us.  Which is fine by me.  Why does a woman who gets beaten every day crawl back to her violent husband trying to be better for him?  Because he convinced her that she was the one with the problem, and therefore she tries desperately to make him accept her by trying harder and harder to make things perfect.   Homophobic assholes are abusive, and yet we try so hard to be accepted by them, and I ask myself why we aren't divorcing them?  Well, let's divorce them shall we. 

Divorce
  • You were born gay:  Good for you!  There is nothing wrong with being gay, and I wish you a long life of happiness. 
  • You chose to be gay:  Good for you!  There is nothing wrong with being gay, and I with you a long life of happiness. 
  • You are somewhat inbetween:  Good for you! 
  • No matter what you classify yourself as, there is nothing wrong with you.  You are perfect just the way you are, and I wouldn't change you for the world. 
What does it matter if it's a choice?  If it was a choice, it was your choice to make.  You're not going to go to hell, and the end of the world won't be your fault.   If you were born that way, then thats the way you were born.  It doesn't matter.  

I hope our abusers can prove that it's a choice.  Because if they can, then we have every right to make that choice, and choosing to go the route of the LGBT is not wrong.  If they can prove that it's a choice, then we live in a free country and they have no right to make that choice for us.  The Pursuit of Happiness is a Constitutional right we all have.  Therfore we have the right to pursue happiness in the arms of someone else of the same gender.  

The argument of being born this way or being a choice only matters because our abusers put it in our heads that it matters.  If their God says being gay is a sin, then so be it.  Their God may or may not be my God.  My God loves gay people.   I thank God we live in a country that has the freedom of religion.  Because I can choose a religion where being gay is not a sin.   God can love me for me and my gay lover too, and when we pray he wraps is big ethereal arms around us with love and support.  

Therefore I have a message to our abusers.   To those who keep us as substandard citizens.  

Message: 

Friday, September 23, 2011

A Call For AID From My Fellow Humans by James Hornik

A Note from Indie: I am not the author of this story. I simply wish to share the harsh reality of what was done to James Hornik, back in 2009. He has given me his permission to do so, and bring light to to his fight. Please support him. 

A WARNING: This story contains James' experience of rape and sexual assault. Please note this, and if you feel uncomfortable or if you feel this article may be a trigger for some of your own experiences I urge to consider that carefully before reading on.


Rape & Homophobia goes hand in hand
by James Hornik

This is my story:

I had been staying in Hollywood to work and hang with friends for much of the month of August, and all was well besides the typical drama one would find in such a big city where people never seem to sleep.

On the night of August 29th 2009 I decided to get a bed at the Orange street hostel right off of Hollywood blvd. I checked in and got my key, went to my room and met my roommate for the evening, a young slightly attractive Australian guy traveling California as he writes songs for an album he hopes to make one day. After the typical introductions our conversation quickly became sexual as he kept asking questions about my sexuality and bedroom preferences. I was really tired and totally not interested in sex, so I left to take a very long shower in the hopes he would be asleep by the time I return. I took my usual sleeping pills and was quite clumsy by the time I got back to the room. I stumbled into the room and got into bed wearing some green Adidas shorts, my favorite green T shirt, socks and of course some underwear. I hardly remember hitting the pillow after looking for my phone charger without luck, so I set my alarm for 9am since I needed to be up.

I woke up the next morning completely nude with only my underwear around one ankle, my shorts and shirt were missing, the blankets on my bed were gone and looked to be piled up on the bed of the Australian guy, and he was nowhere to be found.

I frantically jumped up still unsure how I had ended up naked and without any blankets, it was then I realized I had lube on my penis and between my butt cheeks; I was also bleeding a little bit. By then I was just absolutely in a total panic, yet sure I was going to wake up from this terrible nightmare any second. W.T.F. had happened last night, where's my clothes, where's my phone, and WHY do I have lube and blood on me. I’m now at the point of fighting back tears as I walk to the front desk to find out when my roommate had left and if I could get his name because at that point I realized I had been raped and needed to call 911.

I told the lady at the front desk I had been taken advantage of in my sleep, my phone and clothes I was wearing last night were missing and that I believe it was my roommate from room 10, she directed me to the pay phone to call 911. I called 911 and proceeded to wait. While I waited I sent out some emails to family and friends saying I needed help and that my phone was gone. At this point I hadn’t told anyone else about the rape. I was still trying to come to terms with it myself.

I waited for nearly 3 and a half hours, the police never showed up, so I reviewed the cameras with the lady at the front desk looking to see if the guy had anything in his hands as he walked out of our room. We couldn’t see much but she then pointed out he had left his bags right there next to the front desk and had left in a rush without paying for the room.

My mindset was that this guy knew he was in trouble and took my phone so I wouldn’t wake up, this way he could buy himself as much time as possible to get away. The lady at the front desk gave me his full name and even wrote it down on my receipt from the deposit I had paid on the room the night before. I let her know where I was going to be if he wanted his bag back. So I grabbed his suit case and walked out and waited at the address I said I would be at.

Another 3 hours passes and finally the cops walk up, and the lead investigative officer asked me if this is my bag. I immediately let them know I was holding the bag because this guy had taken my blackberry and sexually assaulted me in my sleep. It was all downhill from there. The cops couldn’t understand why I had shared a room with this guy and how the sex wasn’t consensual because we had shared a room. Despite me telling them time after time it’s a hostel and I don’t get to choose my roommates there. I don’t know this guy, never seen him before last night, and I had not chosen to have sex with him. Someone sitting at the same table as me spoke out in my defense and tried to explain to the officers how a hostel works, but they only threatened this person with arrest should they interfere with an ongoing investigation.

In cuffs the Australian guy and I were taken back to the hostel while they investigated things. Once the cop printed out a photo of me walking out with the bag from the hostels security system he didn’t care why I had taken it.

He flat out told me “a gay man can’t be raped” It was at that point I lost it and started to cry, plead and argue with him, saying that had he taken sleeping pills, passed out, and I then undressed him and had sex with him that YES it would be rape because he wasn’t able to consent. He told me to shut up because I was going to jail for felony theft and he didn’t want to hear another word out of my mouth.

I then was placed in the cop car to await transport to jail. During this time I realized nothing was going happen to the guy who raped me last night and I was going to jail for theft, and all I had done was taken this guys bag to hold it and confront him. He got everything back but insisted I had taken a huge list of items from him totaling some $3,110.00

Handcuffed, crying for help while in total disbelief, as I sat in the back of the police car, I took my sleeping pills out of my pocket and swallowed the whole bottle, the cops noticed once I started to pass out and saw some pills I had missed scattered around on the floor or the car. They called for an ambulance to take me to Cedar Sinai hospital. While there I told my story to everyone who would listen, but I was denied a rape kit by the staff there at the hospital after they pumped my stomach. I was handcuffed to my bed in the trauma room for almost 8 hours, and after telling 9 people thus far I had been raped nobody was willing to do anything for me.

Two new cops showed up to transport me and I told them my story also, they told me they didn’t care and was only there to transport me so I should be quiet and we will get along just fine. It was then I realized nobody wanted to help me because I was a 31 year old "gay" man by everyone’s perceptions and that this was happening to me because people were homophobic and really just didn’t care.

Even at the jail I told 3 more staff members, including the nurse and the psychologist yet nothing was done for me beyond a 800mg Motrin and a few puffs off my inhaler. I bled for two days while in jail and had to come to Ventura to get treatment, by then it was too late to collect evidence such as DNA to prove who had done this to me.
  
Now I’m facing the theft charges in the Hollywood Court system and this guy will return home to Australia on November 18th and nothing will ever happen to him for my rape or theft of my blackberry.

UPDATE

I WON MY CRIMINAL TRIAL!

This trial took two plus months of my life, here’s how it broke down time wise.... two week long mock trial to film the Australian’s side of the story, it was to be shown to the jury after he had left the country, two weeks’ worth of jury selection, six weeks’ worth of trial time, three and a half days of that I spent on the stand testifying, and then almost four days of jury deliberations.

The Jury of my peers came back as hopelessly deadlocked. All charges were dropped and dismissed in my favor, the judge was a really great guy and I think he, as well as the jury could see that the police had violated police procedure on many levels, violated my civil and constitutional rights in many ways, and were doing nothing but trying to bury me with this trial because from moment one I had been highly outspoken about how they were violating my rights and couldn’t do this to me.

Now days I’m focused on fighting for the rights of people who like myself were not only the victims of a horrible and demeaning crime, but also quite possibly victims a second time around by being denied basic medical care, justice, liberty, and most importantly the right to EQUALITY!  

So join me in this epic battle against the City of Los Angeles, The LAPD, and the four officers involved. Look up my Cause page on Facebook, Equality4Everyone.org. Help spread the word about what happened to me, help me gain funding to fight these people in court at the Federal level.

The most important key issues that will be decided in my Federal Civil Rights Case that’s set for trial on 5/12/12 is as follows “Does plaintiff’s alleged claim of failure to obtain a rape kit amount to a constitutional violation”. THAT’S HUGE right there. It can and will affect many cases brought to the courts long after mine. So let’s take a stand and show that we DEMAND equality, we DEMAND equal protection from rape as an animal or person under the age of 18. We demand the right to treatment and forensic evidence collection; we DEMAND the right to JUSTICE!
Please assist me in this epic battle, I cannot fund this Federal Civil Rights Case on my own. Alone I am powerless but together WE can overcome anything. If we don’t work together this case will fade into nothing and we will all lose out on our opportunity to provide all victims over the age of consent the right to equal protection under the law in the event of rape or sexual assault

If a child or an animal can be protected from rape, then why can’t a man?

Kindest Regards,

James Michael Hornik
1(805) 861-7990
P.O. Box 23571
Ventura, California 93002
www.facebook.com/Equality4Everyone.org
www.facebook.com/James.M.Hornik

Monday, September 19, 2011

Labels


Something I’ve noticed about the LGBT community is that we like to put labels on, if not on ourselves, than on other people, like “What kind of gay are you? A femme guy or a straight acting gay? A butch dyke or a lipstick lesbian?” And to be honest the transgender community gets the worst of it. “Are you are a man or a woman?”

Then there is the pansexual community. And I know a lot of people will be going “Huh? What is pansexuality?”  I’ll leave that description for another day.  

The thing is; it doesn’t really matter our sexuality or orientation. Whatever we are, labels don’t define us. They aren’t all we are. Aside from being LGBT we are all someone’s daughter or son, some of us are someone’s sister or brother, cousin, niece, nephew,  mother or father. We all want love and to be loved, we all have hopes and dreams and wants and needs, so why do we have to categorise ourselves when the world is all too ready to that for us?

Me, well I prefer to remain sexual ambiguous, which is basically my way of saying, “If I am not sleeping with you, it’s none of your business who is”.

The Church might hate our “Love is Love” speech and they go on about us promoting pedophilia and that we’re disgusting and wrong and all that bullshit. It sits wrong, because love between two consenting adults wasn’t illegal last time I checked. They are just more labels they want to put on us, to try and fulfill their own agenda, a world without loving diversity. It’s a fear tactic, and there is enough hate our there without us turning it on ourselves. Our sexual preferences shouldn’t cause us to discriminate. Just because someone dresses differently, or acts in a more feminine or masculine way than what we are attracted to, doesn’t give us the right to judge them, when we ourselves don’t want to be judged.

Some people might say that by not giving myself a label I am copping out, that I am not wearing the LGBT tag with pride. I don’t feel the need to define my sexual orientation to the world, I love who I love and I am proud of who I am, regardless of any label anyone may stick on me.

If you want to define yourself, that’s fine. If you don’t, that’s fine to. Be who you are with pride. At the end of the day as long as you are happy with who you are, that’s all that matters. 

- Indie Adams

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Gays and Lesbians Adopting Children



"LGBT adopting Children??? NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Did I just quote you? I'm sure you have very good reasons for wanting to keep our most precious assets away from what is clearly a different type of upringing. Or is it?

What do we do when we raise children? Let's see here.

We provide for them. Fed, Roof, Toys, that kind of thing.
We protect them.
We teach them.
We prepare them to be adults themselves.
Most importantly, we love them.

So why then is it so important to make sure that LGBT couples do NOT get children? I think it is the fear of what will happen afterwards. Let's face it. We don't understand Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, or Transgender people. How do we know that they are going to provide a happy healthy home for a child?

Fears

What are we afraid of? There are two types of fears here. There are rational fears and irrational fears. The rational fears are easy to discuss because they have substance. The irrational fears are a lot harder to discuss because they are just that; irrational. But I will do my best.

Rational Fears

Fear #1
We are afraid that children will be subjected to people like these in the Seattle LGBT Pride Parade. But lets break it down. First off, the LGBT community is celebrating their sexuality which they can't do openly in public everywhere without a threat assessment. Secondly, each person on this float does not act this way all the time. Thirdly, how many times have you gone to a bar and acted this way in a heterosexual nature?

Which begs the question? You've gone to bar and celebrated before, so do you act that way around your kids? No? Didn't think so.

Fear #2

If Gay people can adopt openly and freely, they are going to molest the children they adopt.
MOLESTATION??? Yeah, that got your attention. This is a very viable fear. Should we keep children away from the LGBT community NOW??? Nope...

Child molestation is not an LGBT problem. Most child molesters do whatever they can to integrate themselves into society by playing the part. They will marry someone of the opposite sex, and do their best to fit in and be a piller of society. Well this is the upper end anyway.

NAMBLA comes to mind here.
What is NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association)? They are an advocacy group which politicizes the right to pedophilia. They usually have partners that are men because they can't have partners that are boys. NAMBLA also does us a huge favor I would like to point out. Aside from the fact they are morally detestable, they point themselves out. Knowing who they are makes it easy to keep an eye on them. (But still? Man/boy love? Hell no: the boy has no choice in the matter, and therefore no matter how much advocating, I will never sign off on it.)

NAMBLA associates themselves with the gay community. Few in the gay community accept them however, and turn them away more often than not. Still don't understand? In fact, I'll bet your head is spinning. Let's break it down.

I like redheads. I do! A beautiful redheaded woman just drives me wild. I of course think a lot of women are beautiful. Blondes, Brunettes, Asian, Mexican, Black, and I could go on. But for some odd reason, Redheads just make my hormones shoot through the roof. And I also like a certain age. I'm 29 right now, and I prefer 26-31 year olds. I can usually stand my ground quite confidently in front of any woman of any type. Being in the presence of a 28 year old redhead on the other hand would make me studder like boy going through puberty.

That is my type so to speak. Let's take another guy the same age who likes tanned brunette women. They drive him wild. Therefore our sexuality is different, but still socially acceptable as we are both straight.

Everyone has a type. I'm tall dark and handsome, and well, needless to say, quite a few guys have hit on me. Therefore I am their type. Then again, some prefer the pretty boy blonde guys. Others prefer the big bears. These gay guys have a type. Lesbians are the same way. Some prefer model type chicas, and others prefer the butch manly woman.

To be fair, I don't get it? I really don't. When I look at another dude, I don't feel what I feel when I look at a beautiful woman. But that's my sexuality and type. Child molesters have a type too. My type grows with me. In 5 years, my ideal type will grow 5 years in age. A child molester has a specific type that does not grow. For example, one will like boys ages 5-7. LGBT people on the other hand are not child molesters, they are simply Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender.

HOW CAN WE BE SURE?

Plain and simple, a lot of kids get adopted out and put into foster care into the hands of child molesters. It's true. Very sad, but true. This is not an LGBT problem. This is a child molester problem. And like I said before, people will pretend to be as normal as possible just to get their hands on a child.

I suggest we put anyone who wants to adopt or care for a child out of the system through what I like to call the Chomo test. It's a very simple test as you just put electrodes over a few key areas on the body, and then show pictures of kids. Cute pics, such as playing in a park, or wrestling. A normal person would think to themselves. "LOL, that's cute." Whereas a child molester would get sexually aroused and then get a big "DENIED" stamp on their application.

So what's the problem? We assume that LGBT people are also child molesters, when we should be checking for child molesters before we give them a child.

Irrational Fears

Fear #3
LGBT adoptive parents will teach kids to be gay!!! Were you taught to be straight?
Being gay is a choice, and their kids will choose to be gay after their parents!!!

I'm actually going to piss a lot of gay people off with my response to this fear. Sometimes being gay is a choice, and sometimes it isn't. Let's start with Not a choice. Some people are born left handed. Sexuality is a chemical reaction from within the body, and so it stands to reason that some people can be born with their sexual polls reversed. Gay people will fight tooth and nail to say that being gay is not a choice. And for good reason too. They entered into a life of ridicule and hatred. Some being kicked out of their homes as teenagers. You think they chose that?

When being gay is a choice? People can turn gay, and my reasoning is pretty simple. I'm straight, and many have tried to turn me gay. They just keep at it and at it and at it and at it... Tired of reading at its? The hope is that if they try hard enough, I will let my inhibitions go and get freaky with em. Some can't respect my sexuality (Most do though), so I therefore must come to the conclusion that some turn gay out of choice.

So? Are gay people born that way or is it a choice? I would say, mostly born with it, and then some it's a choice gained by sexual exploration. But even then? It's their choice right? What difference does it make? And if they did choose to be that way, then a child growing up should be free to make whatever choice they decide to make as well.

Fear #4
GAYS WILL DESTROY THE WOOOOOORRLD!!!!
Remember Sodam And Gamorah? But of course you do. God came down and destroyed them because they were committing acts of homosexuality. I remember being taught at a very young age that homosexuality would bring about God's WRATH. These cities were destroyed because of it. And so on and so forth.

You know what that tells me? You know that shudder you get when someone of the same gender is eyeballing you with a little smirk? When you get hit on by someone of the same gender. It's a mixture of shock and planning. Of course, the same thing happens when someone of the opposite gender hits on us, but we have no interest. But that's beside the point. The first thought is, Oh dear god, what do I do? The prophet who wrote about Sodam and Gamorah was a homophobe. That's all that tells me. The volcano was going to erupt whether or not gays were having sex. Plain and simple. Cities were destroyed, and a guy fell on his knees and tried to make sense of it. "Why God Why?" How many times have we asked that? He made sense of it by blaming the homosexuals that disgust him.

That's really all that tells me. That a priest of old was scared of gays.

Most irrational fears come out of repulsion. We know what goes on behind the bedroom doors of gay couples. Repulsed? If you are, I wouldn't suggest getting a gay partner.

Fear #2 (We've regressed)
Gay couples adopting gay teens will have gay sex with them!!! HAHA, no. There is no better place for a gay teen to be than in the tutelage of an older gay couple. They can answer all the questions that the kid has. But let's take this irrational fear and break it down.

Gay people are attracted to other people of the same gender so does it stand to reason that they would be attracted to a gay teen of the same gender?

I'm 29 and I know a few 16 year old girls. In fact, I've driven a few around, and other such things... Hmm? I gotta tell ya, I feel paternal around them. I'm more apt to listen to what they have to say and/or offer advice. Seriously, when I'm driving my sister and her friends around, sex doesn't enter my mind. Should it? Am I messed up?

Conservatives should LOVE the idea of LGBT adoption. Millions of Loving Parents who are able to provide good homes are available to foster children who need good homes. That would mean we would stop paying for foster care, and allow adoptive parents to take over the costs of raising a child.

Here are a few statistics to think about

For the State of California:

More than one in three lesbians have given birth and one in six gay men have fathered or adopted a child.

An estimated 65,500 adopted children are living with a lesbian or gay parent.

More than 16,000 adopted children are living with lesbian and gay parents in California, the highest number among the states. [New York is second, with 7042.]

Gay and lesbian parents are raising four percent of all adopted children in the United States.

Same-sex couples raising adopted children are older, more educated, and have more economic resources than other adoptive parents.

Adopted children with same-sex parents are younger and more likely to be foreign born.

An estimated 14,100 foster children are living with lesbian or gay parents.

Gay and lesbian parents are raising three percent of foster children in the United States.

National tidbit.

A national ban on GLB foster care could cost from $87 to $130 million.

Costs to individual states could range from $100,000 to $27 million.

By Greg Fisher