Periodical Political Post *152
Queer News
- Thailand considers civil union bill; would be first country in Asia
- It does get better for gay teens with age a new study suggests
- Gay-hating Pope Benedict XVI is resigning at the end of February
- Video touting ex-gay therapy was shown in some US classrooms
Other News
- US are violating human rights of children, says U.N. committee
- US state wants to ban abortion after rape to “save evidence”
- Cross-dressing, porn store-owning priest busted in meth ring
- Cops nab 5-year-old for wearing wrong colour shoes to school
+1
about 3 months ago
As I’ve said before, too much emphasis/weight is put on the “It Gets better” program. It’s just too simplistic to address young adults close to suicide and that live in the now on the edge. It should be just one of a series of tools(if you can even call it that) used to keep LGBTQI students healthy and adjusted to everyday life against homophobic bullying/teasing. The counselors, the youth program providers and the suicide prevention folks for LGBTQI youth are the ones that really walk the walk and talk the talk.
about 3 months ago
The Trevor Project does save lives, I have been witness to this. That said, your point is well elucidated. While the public likes pat little slogans, telling at-risk youth that it gets better can be hollow assurance to those being bullied and harassed. Teaching those kids to find their own self-worth is the best defense we have, not only against homophobic bullying, but for all the life can throw at you. For a kid who has never tasted success or been helped to find his or her own inner strength, it can seem hopeless.
Programs like The Trevor Project should (and are meant to) serve as gateways to meaningful and competent care, rather than a means unto themselves. Where they fail is when people watch a video, click “like” and then feel as if they did something.
about 3 months ago
Or…they make a video about “It gets better” and then some months later, kill themselves. Obviously, “It gets better’ wasn’t the chicken soup they needed. Nor did they get to go further with positive reinforcement by the real people that work with youth everyday.
Today at youth group, I was massively hugged three times by the same boy. Then we talked, as I knew there was something going on. You can’t get that on youtube.
about 3 months ago
I think you and I agree, there is no substitute for being present in the moment when a boy or girl needs to talk. Our differences appear to be in where we assess the value of the Trevor Project. Your comments lead me to think you are dismissive of their efforts because several teens have made videos of their own and subsequently killed themselves.
The Trevor Project is specifically designed to take advantage of the viral nature of today’s media, spread a message of hope and provide a means for LGBT teens find help if they seek it. And that’s pretty much it. Casting the project as somewhat less than successful based on the fact that troubled teens continue to commit suicide, strikes me as a little disingenuous. I had a mentor who once described it to me this way, “Just because a ship founders on the rocks, it isn’t a reason to scrap the lighthouse.”
I can’t agree there has been too much emphasis on “It Gets Better”, but I think you are right in that we can’t rely on the message to the exclusion of real action.
about 3 months ago
I’m not dismissive of the Trever Project at all. I’m dismissive of ‘far away’ programs that don’t immediately impact rural youth. I don’t know how much more plain I can make that. I have to work with the programs and concepts that are immediately available to queer youth in rural settings…as in one-on-one.
The danger as I’ve said before of the ‘It gets better’ program, is that if it doesn’t work for a particular youth they will feel betrayal and that’s a dangerous place to be in for young adults at that age. And….they might not seek out other local programs because they feel that one is ‘supposed’ to work-the one size fits all approach. Furthermore, I’ve been to several lectures by Dan Savage and quite frankly, although he is intelligent, he’s an ass. He got in over his head with the ‘It gets better” campaign and he’s sought new venues for his brand of humor and his ‘sex’ column.
about 3 months ago
@Real 1 : Well you are right on target with your comment today. They do help a great deal when it comes to helping children who are thinking of suicide. I do with that parents would try to take more time to try to talk and understand their child. This would mean so much in the life of a any child.
about 3 months ago
I’m passionate about working with queer youth. I always threaten to move to a metro area and work with more #’s, but honestly rural queer youth need the most support, IMO.
about 3 months ago
Hurray, the evil old nazi is going, now if the whole apparatus of the catlick church could be dismantled too, what a leap forward for humanity that would be.
about 3 months ago
True dat….but with the tens of millions of blindly rabid world followers, I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
about 3 months ago
THAILAND – Somebody’s gotta be first!
IT GETS BETTER – it gets better when young queers pull their heads out of…wherever…and learn martial arts. Kids having the confidence and skill to defend themselves don’t get bullied; they have a strong self-image and rarely ever commit suicide. The training comes in handy in other ways as well – encouraging bravery, discipline, maturity, and so forth. It’s time we took responsibility for our own safety and stood up for ourselves. Welcome to the Animal Kingdom.
BENEDICT XVI – No problem. The College of Cardinals will conclave and we’ll have a newly minted Vicar Of Christ, Supreme Pontiff, Servant of The Servants of God.
VIDEO – So what else is new? U.S. Schools never cease to amaze.
UN COMMITTEE – Sorry, the ACLU and the UN have zero credibility with me. Either one could tell me the sky is blue and water is wet and I would not believe them.
NEW MEXICO – Misleading headline. It’s not the state of New Mexico, it’s just one loony legislator. Relax.
MSGR. METH – laughed my ass off. As Steve McGarrett (Hawaii Five-O) would say , ” Book ‘em Danno.”
WRONG SHOES – So what else is new? U.S. Schools never cease to amaze.
Editorial: Under the care of radical liberals for decades now, American schools have become more of a petulant child than any of their pupils ever could be. Having lost all credibility from both students and the public at large (Why Johnny Can’t Read, etc) they’ve arrived at the awkward stage of paralysis-by-analysis. At left-wing-wits end, they don’t even try to earn respect – they try instead to enforce it with the police. Idiotic policies like social promotion of failing students, zero tolerance for kids being kids while letting truly disruptive and dangerous inmates run the asylum, social engineering, failure to motivate interest and involvement from parents who have given up in disgust just as their children have, and a voracious appetite for money spent with no regard whatsoever for results, have left the public in despair. Witness the wildly successful magnet schools, parochial and private schools. Despite their example, the regular public schools never learn.
about 3 months ago
This time I agree with your comments (rare case!).. except one.
It’s not about UN and ACLU, it’s real. I don’t need them to know this, there are lots of independent journalists and news agencies. UN actually downplays it. American troops in occupied countries are not better than German SS were in Belarus.
about 3 months ago
Wherever you send soldiers, of whatever nationality, in the name of defense or what have you, there should be no surprise when there are atrocities. War itself is an atrocity, and the innocents will always be it’s worst victims. It’s very easy to point to the US as the corrupt super-power, wielding horrific force and killing children, but that ignores the fact that those troops are there because the area was unstable to begin with. There are many reports of terrible things going on there before our boy’s boots ever touched the soil.
I guess my point is, which ever country sends it’s troops anywhere, with guns, bombs and drones, to blow shit up, innocent people are going to die. Let us not traffic in righteous indignation as if somebody else’s soldiers could do any better. Rather, we must invest our energies in finding solutions that don’t involve high-velocity projectiles and deadly explosives.
about 3 months ago
“It’s very easy to point to the US as the corrupt super-power, wielding horrific force and killing children, but that ignores the fact that those troops are there because the area was unstable to begin with.”
Ha, I nearly LOL’d so hard I fell off my chair. Those troops are there because it’s of benefit to someone, usually there is mineral wealth in the country and they want to install a “democratic” government that will give them access to said minerals.
There are plenty of despotic African countries where the American soldiers aren’t doing their “liberating” bit, because there is no benefit to them (well, their masters) to do so.
about 3 months ago
About your editorial. I’m not an admirer of liberals, but it is irrelevant. Liberals, conservatives.. as if there is any difference! The main and only thing that does matter is the fact that schools belong to The State. “Free, compulsory, universal” shit invented in Prussian Kingdom of 18th cen. is the root of all troubles in education.
about 3 months ago
Mainstream American liberals aren’t left-wing.
about 3 months ago
Surely so.
about 3 months ago
That was as parsimonious and to the point as one can get. I could not agree more.
about 3 months ago
It’s more complicated than that. There have been people in the Dept of Education that have pushed certain ‘models’ for public schools to follow over the last 100yrs. The last great failure was the ‘business’ model, wherein schools & curriculum were structured like a successful business model. It of course, was a dismal failure. There is yet hope for public schools, but trendy educational models keep killing them by the day. Furthermore, career perpetuating ne’er-do-wells keep fucking it up.
Read the book:The Death and Life of The Great American school System by Diane Ravitch
about 3 months ago
I like that merry ( gay?) priest Kevin.
A modern Friar Tuck :)
about 3 months ago
“Research carried out by The University of Illinois and Brunel University in London shows bullying declines as gay teens get older”
Really? In other news, daylight lessens the nearer it gets to night time and tides go in and out under influence of the moon.
“It Gets Better” is the most laughable thing I’ve ever heard of, typically American in it’s statement, it’s basically saying “we know things are awful for you, but that’s too bad, we’re not going to do anything about, but old father time, he may help you out….maybe. At any rate, it’s your problem, not mine so suck it up, champ”
“Results found while 57% of lesbian or bisexual girls were bullied between the ages of 13 and 14, the number drops to 6% for girls aged 20-21.”
And there you have it. By 20-21 people bully you less for being gay, so it does “get better” for gay teens….only they have to stop being gay teens and become adults first….Epic (Logic) Fail there.
All those “It Gets Better” video makers should look into the eyes of a suicidal gay teen and see if they can spew that vile, frankly negligent phrase then.
Screw “It Gets Better”, how about “Let’s Make It Better”!
about 3 months ago
Hey gay teens, “It Gets Better” and guess what, you only have to wait 7 or 8 years (half your lifetime so far) for it do so…..