Human Development
Report,
United Nations
Development Program
03 Dec * GLAADalert for this week
BECAUSE
Gay men and lesbians are discriminated against in housing and employment AND because how we act is more important than who we are AND if we get harassed it's our problem AND if we get attacked we provoked it AND if we raise our voices we're flaunting ourselves AND if we enjoy sex we're perverts AND if we have AIDS we deserve it AND if we march with pride we're recruiting children AND if we want or have children we're unfit parents AND if we stand up for our rights we're overstepping our boundaries AND because we are forced constantly to question our own worth as human beings AND if we don't have a relationship with someone of the opposite sex we haven't given it a chance AND if we have a relationship with someone of the same sex it is not recognized AND we are told our love is not "real" AND if we come out of the closet we're just going through a phase AND because lesbian and gay history is virtually absent from literature AND because homophobia is sanctioned by the courts AND....for lots and lots of other reasons, I AM A PART OF THE LESBIAN & GAY CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT.
'If I can't dance, it's not my
revolution.'
-Emma Goldman
'Pray for the dead
and fight like hell for the living.'
-Mother Jones
'If wrinkles must be written upon
our brow,
Let them not be written upon
our heart.'
The spirit should never grow
old
-James A. Garfield
I L G A Annual
Report 1998
A report on events that
shaped the lives of
lesbians, gays, bisexuals and
transgendered over the past year
Matthew Shepard
1977-1998
30, Oct/98....The last couple of weeks I've read a couple of hundred postings generated after Matthew's death, and about the upcoming American election on 3 November. As a victim of three bashings, the last one by six teens and a metal lawn chair entering MY OWN HOME in Vancouver, I have strong feelings and opinions that I'll keep private right now. They've demanded their own page. I had them posted here, but they were taking too long to load.
I've sifted through the postings and Emails and here are the ones that shine, disturb, give hope, and made me think;
One of the best quotes I've seen out of the last couple of weeks has been this one:
"The opportunity to be threatened,
humiliated and to live in fear of being beaten to death is the only 'special
right' our culture bestows on homosexuals."
- Diane Carman, Denver Post, October
10, 1998
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'First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the communists and I did not speak out - because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me - and there
was no one left to speak out for me.'
- Pastor Martin Niemoller
(German anti-Nazi theologian,
pastor, recipient of Lenin Peace
Prize,'67
W.Germany's Grand Cross of Merit,
'71)
We all should know that diversity
makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads
of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color,"
Maya Angelou
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